Of the 43 persons (42 men and one woman) who served as King during the seven centuries of Israelite history recorded in the scriptures, (before and after the nation split into two independent nations—Israel in the north and Judah in the south), Hezekiah ranks among the best. He was greatly accomplished, highly revered, and fabulously wealthy. Most importantly, he is feted by the biblical historians as one of the eight kings who “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Earlier this week, I stumbled across a passage of scripture that in my view helps explain why Hezekiah was so stunningly successful.

In Proverbs 25:1, the scriptures shares what on the surface may seem like an unimportant editorial tidbit:

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

But upon closer inspection, that statement is anything but. It helps us to better understand one of the factors behind Hezekiah’s stunning success.

Now of course the primary explanation for Hezekiah’s stunning success is that he “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” There is no success apart from righteousness, and to believe or behave as if we can enjoy enduring success while ignoring the moral and ethical foundations revealed in scripture is a modern illusion. The Greek historian Plutarch opined that “character is destiny,” which means what you achieve is inseparable from who you are. You can’t go right doing wrong. And you can’t go wrong doing right. As usual, our Lord Jesus said it best: “a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.” Long term productivity is impossible apart from deep, underground roots watered by goodness, righteousness and truth.

However, goodness, righteousness and truth alone do not account for success. These attributes, to paraphrase a great preacher, are often like “kings without an army.” They must be supplemented by other virtues. And one of those virtues is revealed in the brief excerpt from Proverbs cited above. To be successful, one must study success. Unfortunately, far too many of us love success, but we hate successful people. Hating succesful people is the summit of stupidity. Who else can you learn from? When Lebron James decided to “take his talents” to South Beach to play for the Miami Heat, his primary motivation for doing so was because he said he wanted to learn how to win. The General Manager of the Miami Heat is Patrick Riley, who is fourth on the list of coaches who have won the most championships in the league history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Who better to teach you how to win than someone who has won? Can a loser ever teach a winner how to win? That outcome is highly improbable and unlikely.

I find it curious that Hezekiah’s advisors took the time to “copy” the proverbs of Solomon. Why did they engage in such an action? Who instructed them to do so? Did one of them wake up one morning and say “hey Hezekiah! I think we should go write down some of the stuff that Solomon said?” Homey don’t think so. Instead, I think that Hezekiah instructed his advisors to collect and copy everything Solomon said because Hezekiah knew that Solomon had also been stunningly successful. Solomon is also on the short list of the best kings of Israel. Solomon was also greatly accomplished, highly revered, and fabulously wealthy.” I think it is safe to say that Hezekiah not only “copied” Solomon’s proverbs, but that he probably copied several other positive attributes of Solomon as well. Hezekiah was a copycat! Want to be a wealthy king? Copy a wealthy king. Want to be a reverend king? Copy a revered king. Want to be an accomplished king? Copy accomplished kings. Copy their proverbs. Study their decisions. Imitate their thinking. Simulate their concepts.

To be labelled a “copycat” is usually not a compliment. According to Urban Dictionary.com (and yes I keep telling yall…that is a real website, lol) a copycat is “an obnoxious individual who gets off on copying, imitating, emulating, simulating or miming the words, gestures and expressions of another.” I am not sure that copycats are obnoxious. But the other elements of this definition are spot on. And I too once agreed that being a copycat was the worse of all possible plights—if you limit copycat-ing to superficial behaviors like imitating someone’s words, gestures or expressions.

It was the legendary Bishop John Richard Bryant who changed my perspective. I once heard him say that “there is nothing wrong with being a copycat. It just depends on which cat you copy.” And I would add what you copy. All of us are copying somebody. We just need to make sure we are copying the right cat, and that we are copying the right stuff from the right cat. Hezekiah copied Solomon. But he did not copy his wardrobe, his weaknesses, or his walk. Hezekiah copied Solomon’s proverbs—the distilled essence of his thinking.

In the realm of Basketball, Michael Jordan copied Julius Irving. Kobe Bryant copied Michael Jordan. Jason Tatum copied Kobe Bryant. In the realm of entertainment, Michael Jackson copied Fred Astaire. Usher copied Michael Jackson. Chris Brown copied Usher. In the realm of boxing, Muhammad Ali copied Sugar Ray Robinson. Mike Tyson copied Muhammad Ali. And Floyd Mayweather copied Mike Tyson. I could muiltiply examples ad infinitum, from every conceivable realm. Everybody copies somebody!

There is nothing wrong with being a copycat. It just depends on which cat you copy. And what you copy.

Which cat are you copying?

And what are you copying?