Hezekiah, Paul McCartney, and the Interrupting Cow

I’ve been reading about King Hezekiah this morning… The Jewish nation was divided. Hoshea was king of Israel, Hezekiah was king of Judah. Hezekiah was seen as a good king, who instigated civil and religious reforms.

The Jews were sandwiched between the superpowers of Egypt and Assyria. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, is attacking Hezekiah. His delegation to Hezekiah in Jerusalem asks: ‘On what are you basing this confidence of yours? On whom are you depending?’

Shades of today…?

At our ‘Singing for Wellbeing’ group yesterday we were talking about the Beatles… visits to Liverpool, the Cavern Club, Abbey Road Studios… Mike said, ‘I’ve worked with Paul McCartney.’ Apparently he was an extra, a soldier in the ‘Pipes of Peace’ video.’ I don’t know what Mike looked like forty years ago; he said it would be hard to pick him out…

All ’round the world
Little children being born to the world
Got to give ’em all we can ’til the war is won
Then will the work be done?

Help them to learn
Songs of joy instead of “burn, baby, burn”
Let us show them how to play
The pipes of peace.

Yesterday I learnt that Prince William has revealed Princess Charlotte’s favourite joke…

Knock, Knock… Who’s there?… The interrupting cow… The interrupting co….MOOOOOO

Hezekiah asks: ‘On whom are you depending?’ I watch the news… World leaders… Prime Minister Sunak, would-be-Prime Minister Starmer… American President Biden, would-be-President Trump…

…Are they helping children, Middle Eastern children, to learn songs of joy, to play pipes of peace… or are they interrupting cows… saying the wrong thing at the wrong time… and what they do say doesn’t make sense!

I read this morning: ‘Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel… He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.  And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.’

…So I’m musing on Hezekiah, Paul McCartney, and interrupting cows…