seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?”
9 Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”
10 “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”
11 Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
12 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 13 Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”
“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
15 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”
20 As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
Remember now, O LORD: To our ears, Hezekiah’s prayer might almost sound ungodly. In it, his focus is on self-justification and his own merits. It is pretty much as if Hezekiah prayed, “LORD, I’ve been such a good boy and You aren’t being fair to me. Remember what a good boy I’ve been and rescue me.”
I will add to your days fifteen years: In response to Hezekiah’s prayer, God granted Hezekiah fifteen years more.
“Hezekiah was granted an added fifteen years; since he died c. 686 b.c. this promise can be dated from about the time of the siege of Jerusalem. His recovery was also symbolic of the recovery of Jerusalem.” (Wiseman)
What is the sign that the LORD will heal me: Hezekiah wanted a sign, and a sign that would allow him to go up to the house of the LORD. This was because he could not, and would not go up to the house of the LORD until he was healed, so the two were connected.
Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees: God promised to do something completely miraculous for the confirming sign. He promised to make the shadow on the sundial move backward instead of forward.
This was a wonderfully appropriate sign for Hezekiah. By having the shadow of the sundial move backward, it gave more time in a day — just as God gave Hezekiah more time.
“It was a miracle, whatever way we take it. God could have reversed the revolution of the earth, had He seen fit to do so — for he is a poor clockmaker even, who cannot turn the hands of his own workmanship backward; or He could have caused the phenomenon by the ordinary law of refraction.” (Knapp)
At that time: This was after the miraculous recovery of Hezekiah. The LORD was good enough to give King Hezekiah 15 years more of life; but it was up to Hezekiah if those years would be lived in wisdom and to the glory of God.
King of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered: Apparently this was a gesture of kindness from the king of Babylon, showing concern to Hezekiah as fellow royalty.
Berodach-Baladan: His presence shows that this was more than a courtesy call. This was an attempt to bring the kingdom of Judah on to the side of the Babylonians against the Assyrians.
Showed them the house of his treasures: We can imagine Hezekiah wanting to please these envoys from Babylon, and wanting to show them that they had good reason to be impressed with him and his kingdom. So he did everything he could to impress them, and showed them the very best riches of the royal household — and he showed them everything (There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them).
All that is in your house… shall be carried to Babylon: Hezekiah thought that this display of wealth would impress the Babylonians. All it did was show them what the kings of Judah had and what they could get from them. One day the kings of Babylon would come and take it all away. This was fulfilled in 2 Kings 24:10-13 and 2 Kings 25:11-17, under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
And they shall take away some of your sons… and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon: Worse than taking the material riches of the kings of Judah, the king of Babylon would take the sons of the king of Judah — his true riches!
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Yesterday we read that the king of Syria had a huge loss. An angel of the Lord wiped out 185,000 troops in one night. No one even heard it happening or tried to stop it. They must have just slept through it. I thought maybe, since Hezekiah laid it all out to God at the Arc of the Covenant, that the Arc itself might be a nuke. Hubby says it's more likely that God used a noxious gas to poison the troops. Like maybe the earth belched some poison.
We also know that the king of Syria was cut down, run through with a sword, in a temple the he built to worship fake gods.
Today, poor ol' king Hezekiah has a boil and it's diagnosed as "terminal". Isaiah confirmed the diagnosis but Hezekiah appealed to God in tears. God granted Hezekiah's appeal. God gave Hezekiah 15 more years.
Hezekiah was not so sure Isaiah wasn't toying with him when Isaiah told him God granted him another 15 years. Hezekiah wanted a sign. Isaiah wanted to know how God could placate Hezekiah. Should he cause the sun to move backwards in the sky?
Wow... Can you imagine what those people thought when the sun just moved west to east instead of east to west? I wonder, did it affect the birds in the air or the other animals who count on the normal movement of the sun? At any rate.... God made it happen for Hezekiah. Hezekiah got 15 more years.
Just to be clear.... end of life in Hezekiah's day was end of life for Hezekiah. Jesus hadn't been here. Death was still the end. There was no Heaven waiting for Hezekiah. Jesus hadn't opened the doors to Heaven yet.
And then.... We learned why Hezekiah got the boil and had to beg for more time. The Babylonians were going to blow Judah's safety and security to bits. I think God was going to spare Hezekiah all the grief of knowing his kingdom was doomed.
The envoy from Babylon showed up and Hezekiah showed off. Hezekiah wasn't worried about invasion any more. God killed 185,000 troops for him. God gave him 15 more years of life. Surely, Hezekiah must have felt it was good to show the Babylonians where all the riches were stored. Hezekiah showed off his kingdom.
Isaiah broke the news to Hezekiah, what a stupid move that was!
Did Hezekiah think God would do whatever he asked? Is that why he felt so safe showing off the kingdom's riches to the Babylonians?
Did Hezekiah think he could get God to do his bidding?
Just because the sun moved backwards!
