Waiting in the cardiologist’s office to get my heart checked, I saw a Bible on the side table underneath a lamp. A passage from 2 Kings 20 hit me when I cracked it open — it’s the story of the good Lord extending King Hezekiah’s life for 15 years. Funny thing is, I’d read the same account just a few days earlier.
So prior to, and on the day of, getting the ol’ ticker examined with a stethoscope and accompanying battery of medical questions, I’m reading a story about a guy who’s prophesied to die but getting more years to live. The obvious question: Is this something prophetic in my own life? Gulp, or relief?
Let’s recap. Hezekiah is “sick and near death” when the prophet Isaiah pops in and says “Time’s up, king-o. God says you gonna die. Get your house in order” (Millican translation). Notably, Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall, and prayed.” Perhaps the king thought if he got down prostrate on the floor in penitence, Jehovah would take him immediately. Thus the wall. Too, the wall is as far as one can go — you can go no further. There, “Hezekiah wept bitterly,” the Bible tells us.
Long story short, God hears the acrimony and gives Hezekiah another dozen plus three years. What follows is remarkable. The king asks for a sign of his healing, and a sundial actually moves back in time, not forward. Then comes the kicker: Isaiah further prophesies toward the end of the chapter that some of his sons will eventually be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon during the Hebrew people’s captivity there.
Does Hezekiah cry out again, decrying his sons’ coming mutilation? No, he instead responds, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good. Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?” Really? That’s a good word? As I often do when puzzled by a passage, I pulled out my phone (it’s easier than lugging a clunky “Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance” around). From bibleref.com — one of my favorites with the verse in several translations and then an expandable interpretation — here’s what it says: “Since this destruction is not going to come in his lifetime, Hezekiah cares nothing about it.”
In other words, this king of ancient times had great concern for himself but not so much for his offspring. In that regard, it appears he had a major blind side. Which begs a question: Although we’re not told Hezekiah’s age, do we all get blind sides as we get older? In some aspects, it appears we certainly do. For instance — and hang on because this is what we call a pivot — seniors appear to sometimes become more gullible (a blind side) as we age. It’s one reason the Social Security Administration, and Medicare/Medicaid, are putting a focus on Thursday, March 7, as National Slam the Scam Day.
After I got an email about it, I contacted a past source, Rogena Walden, a wellness coordinator with the Northwest Georgia Area Agency on Aging.
“It’s another in a line of attempts to make people more aware of fraud and scams,” Rogena wrote back to me. “I get similar pieces from the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) each month.”
The Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center (smpresource.org) is an excellent website and warns of these latest scam attempts:
COVID-19: “As the number of people and communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic grows, so do the scams associated with it. Scammers use public health emergencies as opportunities for new fraud schemes, and because older adults are at greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, scammers may target older populations.”
Genetic testing: “Across the nation, genetic testing representatives are offering ‘free’ genetic tests to Medicare beneficiaries. These companies can steal people’s medical identity and falsely bill Medicare, draining the system of needed funds.”
Hospice: “Hospice fraud is largely unreported and can cause direct patient harm if undetected. The term ‘hospice fraud’ covers a variety of different types of fraud that are each detrimental in their own way. Fraudsters are targeting assisted living facility and nursing home residents whose life expectancy exceeds six months, and are using high-pressure and unsolicited marketing tactics to get them to agree to hospice services.”
In each category on the website, a user can click on a link to get the latest fraud alerts associated with it. For even more, go to ssa.gov/scam.
Let’s face it, seniors can sometimes be more trusting of other people’s intentions. Bibleref.com says of the King Hezekiah episode, “(It) challenges us to think about how our actions affect the next generation, rather than thinking only of our own lifetime.” Many of our seasoned citizens have spent their whole life giving of themselves and their resources, and it’s not only heartrending but criminal that people without morals can so blithely scam them.
National Slam the Scam Day this Thursday, March 7, just draws attention to a tragedy that is happening every day. Go ahead and check out the websites. I’ll go so far as to say we’re thinking only of ourselves — like Hezekiah — if we’re not watching out for our seniors and their hard-earned financial resources.
Mark Millican is a former staff writer for the Dalton Daily Citizen.