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Hezekiah Gets Sick
(2 Kings 20.1-11; 2 Chronicles 32.24-26)
1About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. So I went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”
2Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, 3“Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard.
4Then the Lord sent me 5with this message for Hezekiah:
I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live 15 more years, 6while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria.
7Now I will prove to you that I will keep my promise. 8Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps.
Then the shadow went back ten steps.
King Hezekiah's Song
9This is what Hezekiah wrote after he got well:
10I thought I would die
during my best years
and stay as a prisoner forever
in the world of the dead.
11I thought I would never again
see you, my Lord,
or any of the people
who live on this earth.
12My life was taken from me
like the tent that a shepherd
pulls up and moves.
You cut me off like thread
from a weaver's loom;
you make a wreck of me
day and night.
13Until morning came, I thought
you would crush my bones
just like a hungry lion;
both night and day
you make a wreck of me.
14I cry like a swallow;
I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are red
from looking to you, Lord.
I am in terrible trouble.
Please come and help me.
15There's nothing I can say
in answer to you,
since you are the one
who has done this to me.
My life has turned sour;
I will limp until I die.
16Your words and your deeds
bring life to everyone,
including me.
Please make me healthy
and strong again.
17It was for my own good
that I had such hard times.
But your love protected me
from doom in the deep pit,
and you turned your eyes
away from my sins.
18 No one in the world of the dead
can thank you or praise you;
none of those in the deep pit
can hope for you
to show them
how faithful you are.
19Only the living can thank you,
as I am doing today.
Each generation tells the next
about your faithfulness.
20You, Lord, will save me,
and every day that we live
we will sing in your temple
to the music
of stringed instruments.
Isaiah's Advice to Hezekiah
21I had told King Hezekiah's servants to put some mashed figs on the king's open sore, and he would get well. 22Then Hezekiah asked for proof that he would again worship in the Lord's temple.
Isaiah Speaks
(2 Kings 20.12-19)
1Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah was well, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him. 2Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.
3I asked Hezekiah, “Where did these men come from? What did they want?”
“They came all the way from Babylonia,” Hezekiah answered.
4“What did you show them?” I asked.
Hezekiah answered, “I showed them everything in my kingdom.”
5Then I told Hezekiah:
I have a message for you from the Lord All-Powerful. 6One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left. 7 Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king's palace.
8Hezekiah thought, “At least our nation will be at peace for a while.” So he told me, “The message you brought from the Lord is good.”
Reflect
King Hezekiah falls seriously ill, so Isaiah encourages him to get his affairs in order. Filled with grief, the prophet turns toward the wall (perhaps the nearby temple) and pleads with God to save his ailing friend. The Lord answers Isaiah’s prayer and promises to give Hezekiah another fifteen years of life. The king is jubilant.
“Your words and your deeds bring life to everyone, including me,” Hezekiah writes when he is able to leave his sickbed. “Please make me healthy and strong again. It was for my own good that I had such hard times. But your love protected me from doom in the deep pit, and you turned your eyes away from my sins” (verses 16-17).
Yet the celebration is short lived. Pride fills his heart when envoys from Babylon arrive, ostensibly to congratulate him on his recovery. In reality, they come to urge Hezekiah to join a military campaign against their overlord. The king shows off a bit with regal entertainment and a tour of his royal treasury – even his weapons storehouse. Isaiah is aghast and predicts that Hezekiah’s “power trip” will one day hurt Jerusalem. “One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left” (Isaiah 39:6).
Sin always has consequences. Perhaps not immediately, but eventually our soul-robbing choices will affect us, as well as our friends and loved ones. Take some time to prayerfully reflect on the sin in your life.
Respond
Lord Jesus, you took on the very nature of a servant and humbled yourself. And you’ve called us to follow your example. Take away the pride and sin in my life, and help me to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. I long to follow in your footsteps. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Mike Ross
Michael Ross is an award-winning journalist and former editor of Breakaway, a national youth magazine published by Focus on the Family. He is also the author, co-author, and collaborator of more than 36 books, including the bestseller What Your Son Isn’t Telling You (Bethany House). Today, Michael oversees Back to the Bible’s book publishing efforts. He and his wife, Tiffany, live in Lincoln, Nebraska, with their son.