2 Kings chapter 20.
Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 20
Second Kings, chapter 20, we come to the end of Hezekiah's reign. We know that he's a godly king, but we'll learn tonight, and as we summarize his life, he wasn't a perfect king. No man in the Bible is perfect, save one, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no hero in Scripture other than our Lord Jesus.
And that is something that the Old Testament was taught, or the persons, rather, in the Old Testament times were taught. They were taught to look forward to the coming champion, the Messiah, the Redeemer, even our Lord Jesus. So I want to read beginning in 2 Kings 20 at verse 1. In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death.
And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. Then he turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father.
I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add to your days fifteen years, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria.
And I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. Then Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?
Then Isaiah said, This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which he has spoken. Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees. No, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.
So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. At that time, Barad-dak Baladin, the son of Baladin, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah was attentive to them and showed them all the house of his treasures, the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory, all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say, and from where did they come to you? So Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, from Babylon. And he said, What have they seen in your house? So Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house.
There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord which you have spoken is good. For he said, will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, all his might and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place. Amen.
Introduction
So as I said, we are finishing up our study tonight in terms of the reign of Hezekiah, king in the southern kingdom. Remember that the northern kingdom is gone. It ended in 722. The Assyrian Empire came and destroyed Samaria, took the people of Samaria captive, led them deported them back into their own land and into other lands as well, and so we're only tracing now the history of Judah, and it's going to come to an end.
We see in this very chapter a prophecy or a statement from Isaiah concerning that end in verses 16 to 17. I think in some ways the last days of Hezekiah foreshadow the last days of the nation of Judah. So I want to look at three things tonight in the chapter. First, the extension of Hezekiah's life in verses 1 to 11.
Secondly, the folly of Hezekiah's meeting in verses 12 to 19. And then finally, the end of Hezekiah's reign in verses 20 and 21. Again, we're going to notice tonight that what we find with reference to Hezekiah is some inconsistency. In fact, one of the things that we'll summarize with as we conclude tonight is the inconsistency of our consistency.
I think in many respects, that's one of the looming lessons in this particular chapter. Remember back in chapter 18 in verses 1 to 8, we get this summary statement concerning Hezekiah. And it's a very excellent statement concerning this man's reign. He was a godly man.
He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, even as his father David did. So amongst all the kings of Judah, there were those who did right in the sight of the Lord, but not all of them are compared favorably to David. So that summary statement sort of overarches the entirety of his reign. But as we look at the nitty-gritty details, we notice that he wasn't perfect.
And as I thought through this, and especially tonight, as we look at some of these details concerning Hezekiah, I'm very thankful that God hasn't, you know, given three chapters to a detailed sort of chronology of my life. In other words, as we look in the text of Scripture tonight, as we compare, say, in 2 Chronicles, we'll see an instance concerning the pride of Hezekiah. Now, no doubt, as Bible readers, we look at something like that, we say, well, goodness me, how could he ever be such a proud man, forgetting the fact that we have a whole host of pride in our own hearts, and thanks be to God that it's not inscripturated for the entire world to see. So one of the things we ought to appreciate is that God gives an overarching good summary concerning this godly king who was nevertheless an imperfect man.
God is kind to his people and his people in turn ought to be kind to his people as well. I think that comes out very often in these Old Testament stories or in these old Testament narratives. God's assessment of His people, even in their imperfection, is nevertheless positive and nevertheless good. We need to be like God when it comes to that particular situation.
Extension of Hezekiah's Life
Well, let's look first at the extension of Hezekiah's life, a very interesting passage to be sure, including a miracle of God in terms of this shadow on these steps. But note for verse 1, in those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. That's an ambiguous sort of identification. In those days could put us chronologically right after the events of chapter 19.
But if you look at verse 6, it would seem that what we have in chapter 20 actually preceded chapters 18 and 19. Notice in verse 6, and I will add to your days 15 years, I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. Remember, that's what chapters 18 and 19 were about. Sennacherib and the armies of Assyria showed up at the fortified cities of Judah.
Specifically, they came to Jerusalem, and Sennacherib sends his three flunkies, and the Rabshakeh essentially challenges the people of Judah to betray their king, Hezekiah, and to come with them into captivity into Assyria. So the emphasis in chapters 18 and 19 was the liberation of Jerusalem from the stronghold of Sennacherib. So chapter 20 may predate that in terms of chronology. Again, this is not something that should cause any of us to go, wow, I can't believe that.
The biblical authors are never beholden strictly to chronology. The book of Judges, for instance. Chapter 17 to 21 in the book of Judges actually predates all of the judges themselves. 17 to 21 in the book of Judges tell us the conditions of Israel at the time that judges came to be on the scene. And so we need to appreciate that maybe theology or other concerns or themes drive the shape of the narrative and not so much strictly chronology.
And I would suggest that one of those, or perhaps one of the two reasons why the author does what he does here, is to sort of contrast the end of Sennacherib at the end of chapter 19, verses 35 to 37, with the end of Hezekiah. In other words, what we find in the death of Sennacherib is an ungodly, blasphemous wretch. And then in chapter 20, what we find is a godly, upright king who turns to the Lord in times of distress. of the latter prolonged. So that may be one of the reasons.
As well, I think it's also with reference to verses 16 and 17. There is some foreshadowing going on concerning the fall of the southern kingdom. We've seen that all the way back in chapter 17. In fact, you can turn there.
Chapter 17 records the fall of the northern kingdom. And as the author is rehearsing that reality, he says in verse 18, "...therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone." And then notice in verse 19, "...also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made." So you see, when the author is recording for us the fall and calamity of the Northern Kingdom, and he makes this statement concerning Judah, he is essentially telling us that what happens to the North is eventually going to happen to the South. So I said we're on top of the building, we're watching these two vehicles, the Northern tribe has already crashed.
We're still up on the top of that building, and we're watching the Southern Kingdom as they are moving closer with reference to this collision that they will inevitably hit. And then note this particular illness unto death. It was through the prophet Isaiah that this information comes. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.
So the prophet Isaiah not only speaks positive encouragements to the kings of Judah, but he also speaks those discouraging things as well. The prophet's task is to speak the truth of God. Whether it's a positive statement, for the up-building of the particular recipient, or it's a negative statement that's going to severely impact the happiness and joy, and in this case, the life of the recipient that receives that message. And as I've mentioned in our studies at this point, in chapters 18 to 20 here concerning Hezekiah, if you go to the prophet Isaiah, you find almost an exact parallel with reference to this same material in chapters 36 to 39.
So no, he receives this information, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. Now that's about as bad of news as one can possibly get, isn't it? I mean, it just doesn't get any worse than that. I guess perhaps if Revenue Canada showed up at your house and said, I want to do a full audit on everything you own, everything you've ever thought, that'd probably be a close second.
But this idea of having the Lord's prophet telling you to get your house in order because you're going to die would no doubt cause you some degree of perplexity. Well, how would we expect a godly king to respond? We'd expect him to respond exactly the way that he does.
Hezekiah's Prayer and Faithfulness
He turns to the Lord in prayer. Remember back in chapter 19, whether this is chronologically prior or after, we see something of praying Hezekiah in chapter 19. Notice in verse 15, after he had received this letter from the king of Assyrius and Acrib, notice in verse 15, that Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the king of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone.
Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone. I think this is one of the indicators that he was, in fact, a godly king. Remember back in chapter 1, Ahaziah, the king of Israel, he falls to the lattice onto the floor, and he's about to die, and he calls upon Baal in prayer, Baal Ekron.
He prays to an idol. Whereas here, godly Hezekiah does what we have seen him to do. He goes to the Lord in prayer. And he says specifically, "...remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Matthew Henry said, "...happy experiences of the prevalency of prayer are engagements to continue instant in prayer." In other words, when we have tried and proven our God in prayer, that becomes a reason for more prayer. The psalmist said, I love the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ taught parables that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Paul tells us we ought to pray in all circumstances, praying always.
It ought not to be the last resort, it ought to be the first resort. We ought to shun that idea that people often say, well, all we can do now is pray. That almost suggests that prayer is a last-tier sort of effort on the echelon of things that we are to do. We have the ear of the High King of Heaven.
That is our great privilege. That ought to be the first and continuous thing that we do when it comes to these sorts of things. So he calls upon God. Notice he cites his own faithfulness as a king in Judah.
Now some might interpret this as him being proud or arrogant or tooting his own horn. He is simply doing what David does very frequently in the Psalms. Remember, that Hezekiah is like his father David. And there are several instances in the Psalms where David does that very thing.
He cites not his perfection. not his absolute sterling character and conduct, but his covenantal faithfulness before the Lord. In fact, Davis says, I don't think Hezekiah's prayer is mere selfishness, nor that he is simply tooting his own horn. We've already read of his Davidic ways. His prayer follows the psalm pattern of appealing to one's faithfulness as a reason to be heard or delivered.
There is no thought of sinless perfection in this, but only of covenantal obedience. As you might guess, Matthew Henry and Matthew Poole make a lot concerning this. Brethren, live in such a way so that on that eleventh hour, you're able to look back on your life and again, not point out to your perfection, not point out your absolute sinlessness, but point out your overarching faithfulness, all because of the grace of God, all because of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, all because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. That's what's in this petition.
He was not a king like the other kings of Judah. He was not a king like the kings of Israel. He was not righteous in his own strength. He had the Holy Spirit, and any degree of faithfulness or loyalty that he exercised was due to the grace of God.
But nevertheless, he had a conscience void of offense, such that he was able to pray this. And this, it seems to me, ought to be something that every child of God is pursuing. Again, not to boast or say, wow, God, look at my great accomplishments over here, therefore give me another 15 years. That's not his attitude.
That's not his disposition. But it is something that we ought to seek to cultivate by the grace of God. Paul said that. I always strive to maintain a conscience void of offense toward God and men." I think that's what's in view in this instance.
If you were to ask Paul and say to him, Paul, are you sinlessly perfect? He'd say, absolutely not. The good that I wish to do, I don't find myself doing. The evil I don't want to do, I find myself doing.
Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? But in his life, he strived to maintain a conscience void of offense toward God. That's what verse 3 is. Hezekiah calls upon the Lord, and then we see, with reference to this particular prayer, he bathes it in tears.
Notice at the end of verse 3, Hezekiah wept bitterly. It's a sign of distress, a sign of sorrow, a sign of remorse, a sign of earnestness. Remember James 4, lament and mourn and weep. There are seasons and times in the lives of God's people where that's the appropriate response.
We only ever want to laugh and we only ever want to smile, but there are instances, and I would suggest that when you hear you're about to die, that's a great time for you to lament and mourn and weep when you see not as Hezekiah does for his own well-being, but if he is a godly king, and he loves the people over whom he has charge, he wants to do them good. He wants to be a benefit to them. He's no fool. He knows what the kings of Judah were like before him.
He certainly knows what has become of the northern kingdom of Israel. He has seen the effects of idolatry upon a people, and he wants to exercise this ministry of kingship over these people for their well-being. He's a genuinely godly king, and he wants to shepherd Judah in a way that's pleasing to the Lord. Now
God's Answer to Hezekiah
notice the prophet's word in response in verses 4 to 7. As we have seen many times throughout the Bible, God hears his prayer. Verse 4, it happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him saying, return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer. Isn't that beautiful?
We pray to a God who hears the prayers of His people. That's just a blessing. I think that at times we get discouraged with reference to prayer because we don't always get what we want right away. Or it's such an exercise of faith.
Prayer, in many respects, is the greatest exercise of faith of anything that we do in Christianity. I mean, when you open your Bible and read it, it's pretty tangible. Either you're reading or you're not. When you go into your secret place, you need to believe that the God who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Notice that Jesus does not predicate that sort of exchange on how you feel when you go into the secret place. In fact, turn there for just a moment to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew chapter 6. I think at times the people of God gauge prayer by how it makes them feel.
And I would suggest that there are times when prayer may make you feel just wonderful, wonderful. There are other times when you may not feel anything, and you may conclude that it's all for naught. Notice in Matthew 6, 5, When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. I mean, it's so matter-of-fact, it's so declarative, it is so absolutely, positively true. There's no room for feelings.
I don't feel like God's in the secret place. I haven't sensed God. You ever notice that? I didn't really sense God, as if God has to be sensed in order to be known.
Brethren, we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, not by sense. One of the most difficult things in our religion is to walk by faith, to believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. To believe that He's in the closet, even when we don't feel like He's in the closet.
You cannot let your prayer life degenerate into, well, I don't really feel like it, or the last time I tried to pray, nothing really happened. That's not for you to worry about. You just obey God and pray. It's a beautiful thing.
Back in 2 Kings 20. So not only does the Lord hear the prayer of Hezekiah, the Lord answers the prayer of Hezekiah, and He gives him some specific, concrete answers. It says, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add to your days fifteen years.
I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. It repeats the same thing in chapter 19 at verse 34. I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. It's the glory of God and the covenant promises of God that are the motivation for God.
Certainly he loves Hezekiah and he's kind to Hezekiah and he's good to Hezekiah and he answers the prayers of Hezekiah. But what's at stake with reference to the defense of Jerusalem at this particular time versus Sennacherib is the glory of God and the sake of my servant David. 2 Samuel 7 is foundational in the Bible. If you don't understand 2 Samuel 7, go home tonight, get alone with your Bible, and study that passage. It's the Davidic covenant.
It's where God makes a promise to David that of his seed, one will rise up, occupy David's throne and his kingdom will have no end. All of these Judaic kings in the Old Testament are types, they are down payments, they are pointers toward the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, that pinnacle of David's seed that comes to do what was promised there in 2 Samuel 7. But at this juncture in the history of Israel, it is this promise, 2 Samuel 7, that is preserving the southern kingdom. And we see its import, not only during times of godless kings, oftentimes when there was a godless Judaic king, it would say that for the sake of David, the lamp will not be extinguished.
Well, here we see that even in the midst of a godly king, the same grace of the Lord, founded on that same Davidic promise, is what is necessary to keep this people intact. We always stand in need of God's grace, whether there's a bad king, or whether there's a good king. And then note the fulfillment in verse 7. Isaiah said, take a lump of figs.
So they took and laid it on the boil and he recovered. Now, the fact that he recovered indicates that it was supernatural in nature. So there were means employed. There was this means, a lump of figs.
If you want to know why, read John Gill. He gets into the whole spiel as to why figs were, you know, probably medicinal. I mean, I'm not kidding when I suggest that John Gill knows just about everything. If you want just a wealth of data, not only on Bible stuff, but anything connected to Bible stuff, get Gill's commentary exposition on the whole Bible.
The whole Bible. You get that? The whole Bible. It's an intriguing thing, his body of practical and doctrinal divinity.
The very beginning preface, he says, after I finished the exposition of the Bible, I figured I'd now do a doctrinal and practical divinity. This was before Microsoft Word. This is when dudes sat there with pens or however they did it, probably shivering and freezing. I sometimes think about that when I get up in the morning and I put a blanket in my lap.
I wonder if I'm a little wimp. Did John Gill put a blanket in his lap? He had to have, wouldn't he? He would have froze to death.
He wasn't made of stone or metal. They would have had to put blankets over them as well. So anyways, get Gil, read Gil. You'll profit much by Gil.
So these means are employed, but it's supernatural. Gil says, and the cure so suddenly performed show that this was done not in a natural, but in a supernatural way, though means were directed to be made use of. Now,
The Sign of the Sundial
note the king's request for a sign in verses 8 to 11. This comes as a bit of a surprise to people because they say, well, he recovers in verse 7. Why in the world would he need this sign in verses 8 to 11? Well, probably one of two explanations.
In the first place, he doesn't know that this recovery is going to last three days. He doesn't know that this is indeed a permanent solution that has come upon him. Remember, he's still struggling along here. He's just been told he's going to die.
And then God answers his prayer and says, I will heal him. But nevertheless, he wants this sign. But as well, we could read verse 8 the way the NIV renders it. It's actually called the pluperfect tense.
And Hezekiah had said to Isaiah. In other words, this precedes what's already taken place. In other words, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah prior to this, prior to the actual healing and recovery, prior to that, he asks for a sign. Now, asking for a sign from God is not always condemned.
Gideon is probably the most famous sort of person that asked for a sign, and God not only gave him one, but he gave him another. I mean, Gideon gets his sign, and then he says, can I do it again? If I was God, I'd say, you know, you're pushing your luck. But God, in His goodness and in His grace, lets him do it again.
Now, there might be a contrast here with reference to Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, in Isaiah chapter 7. He was told specifically to ask for a sign, and he did not do such a thing. So we see Hezekiah yearning for this sign. Now, this sign is a little bit difficult to interpret in terms of the specifics.
The degrees here are probably steps. Most say that it was a type of step system and how the sun would shine upon it and where the sun cast its shadow. I think the obviousness of the passage is clear. Hezekiah asks for the more difficult.
In other words, not to have the shadow go forward, but let's have the shadow go backward. And in some sense, it sort of pictures what's happening with Hezekiah. Not only are you not going to die, I'm going to set the clock back or give you 15 more years. So it sort of pictures that.
In fact, Proven says, this is just like Hezekiah, sinking towards death, destined for darkness. He is miraculously to recover, however, and go up to the temple. So the shadow itself miraculously recovers ground and goes back up. God has intervened in the normal processes of the world.
The clock, metaphorically or perhaps literally, if the steps are intended for this purpose, has been turned back. So he's given, as it were, a new lease on life. And it's this particular sign that ratifies this or confirms or affirms this. If you go back to chapter 19, we see another instance where God uses nature.
He uses the natural phenomena to teach a spiritual lesson. Remember the encouragement to Israel, or Judah rather, specifically, in verse 29, this shall be a sign to you. You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from the same. Also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant and those who escape from Mount Zion. Remember the particular situation here. Sennacherib's at the gates of the city, and they are fearful that they're going to die and lose in this siege.
God tells Sennacherib through the prophet Isaiah, I'm going to cut you down. I'm going to destroy you. You have blasphemed me. You have boasted against me.
You have asserted that you have accomplished all these things. Have you not heard that it was me that was operating? I used you as my particular means. So verses 29 to 31 are an encouragement to Judah.
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself. In the second year, what springs from the same? Also in the third year, so and reap. So Hezekiah and Judah are promised here, at this particular juncture in history, at least three more years of Judah existing as a nation.
And so it's that natural phenomena that brings a particular sign to the people in chapter 19. It's the natural phenomena here where God sets the shadow back that brings this particular spiritual sign to Hezekiah. So we might summarize here, chapter 20, verses 1 to 11, Hezekiah's walk by faith. He shows himself a man of faith.
Doesn't he? I mean, he's told he's going to die, and what does he do? He prays. He asks for a sign, not out of arrogance.
This is a good thing. This is a godly thing. And the prophet gives him this sign. God doesn't upbraid him or condemn him for requesting this sign.
So we see a walk by faith in chapter 20, verses 1 to 11.
Folly of Hezekiah's Meeting with Babylon
Now we notice the folly of Hezekiah's meeting. Here he starts to walk by sight. Here, instead of trusting in Yahweh and His power, he's trusting in Babylon and their power. Now, at this particular time, Babylon was subject to Assyria.
As the prophet Isaiah says, there's a day coming when Babylon's going to carry away Judah. And as we know from not only biblical history, but from world history, after the Assyrians came the Babylonians. Well, at this particular time, according to 1724, Assyria was the power and Babylon was subject to Assyria. So when we see in verse 12, at that time Barad-dak Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
It was most likely not a genuine interest in the health of Hezekiah, and probably didn't want him to die, but that wasn't the motivating concern. The motivating concern as far as the king of Babylon was concerned is, Hey Hezekiah, how about you and I team up and fight against Assyria? This needs to be our plan. We need to form a coalition.
We need to become an alliance so that we can withstand Assyria. That's most likely what's happening here. And as we read and interpret Hezekiah's response, it seems that that's the way he's angling as well, and that's not good. The Lord God is freeing him, or promising to free him, from Sennacherib at his gates.
The Lord God is able to deal with Sennacherib. We see how the Lord deals with that specific situation at the end of chapter 19, through the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord goes out and kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. So that Hezekiah would now turn to Babylon favorably to form an alliance to oppose Assyria indicates no longer walking by faith but walking by sight.
I need Babylon's protection in order to withstand Assyria. So that's most likely the background. The Babylonians were threatened by the Assyrian Empire to the north, and so were eager to make common cause with the kingdom of Judah.
Hezekiah Shows His Treasures
Notice in verse 13, and Hezekiah was attentive to that, and showed them all the house of his treasures, the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory, all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show that. Davis, I think, is right on when he says, the letters of verse 12 the Babylonians brought were not get well cards. They likely spelled out the hidden agenda.
So Hezekiah wasn't simply taking them on a tour, but showing them his resources, the sort of punch he could bring to the table in an alliance against Assyria. He's not just showing them, look at all the great things I have. It's probably, look at the resources that we can call together, and together we can withstand the Assyrian Empire. Because see, probably by this time, Hezekiah doesn't like Sennacherib camped outside the gates of Jerusalem.
And so if Babylon can form an alliance with them, that will provide a bit more insurance to deal with this Assyrian Empire, to deal with this Assyrian threat. And isn't it ironic that the very things that Hezekiah shows the Babylonians, they eventually come and take by force. It's a very unfortunate passage, actually. Again, Hezekiah doesn't know all the ins and outs.
Isaiah is going to instruct him on that in verses 16 and 17. But for those of us who know the history of Judah and what's going to transpire, isn't it ironic he invites the Babylonians in to take a tour of all the stuff that they're going to eventually seize and then deport the Judeans off to Babylon. So this is the situation.
Isaiah's Prophecy of Babylonian Captivity
Notice the prophet's intervention in verses 14 to 18. He asks him the question, Hezekiah answers. Verse 14, they came from a far country, from Babylon, and he said, what have they seen in your house? Verse 15.
So Hezekiah answered. They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them." Now notice, in verses 16 and 17, the prophet Isaiah prophesies concerning the destruction of the southern kingdom. This is going to happen.
It's going to happen not in 15 years. been given an assurance that at least they've got another 15 years, but it's going to happen in 587, 586. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget.
And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Now, what is the significance of this particular statement? Well, if you go back to 2 Kings 17, we already referred to that. Notice in verse 19, also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. Now notice in verse 20, and the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, this is northern kingdom, afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them from his sight.
So back in chapter 20, when the prophet Isaiah says that the Babylonians are going to come, and they are going to plunder all the things that you have gathered together, all the stuff that you have accumulated. This is bad news. Furthermore, notice in verse 18, they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. This is the worst possible news that you could give to a king.
The absolute positive worst possible news. The kingship was dynastic. The kingship depended on sons. Sons that were able to impregnate women and have more sons.
So when these descendants of Hezekiah are led off to Babylon, and they are then made eunuchs to serve in the royal court for Babylon, thus ends the kingship in terms of the Davidic line. Again, the worst possible news that a king in Judah could hear is that your sons are going to be eunuchs. Proven says, what Hezekiah's Babylonian visitors saw, Isaiah tells the king, they will one day take away to the distant land from which they have come, along with some of the king's descendants. References to plunder have an air of finality about them when read in light of 2 Kings 17.
And references to royal eunuchs do not encourage confidence in the enduring nature of the Davidic line. So that's why that's such bad news, and it comes on the heel of Hezekiah's meeting with the Babylonians. So Isaiah is telling him, not only should you not be entering into an alliance with these people, but in the future, they're going to come and take everything away from our country, and they're going to destroy all the royal heirs, they're going to cease the Davidic line insofar as they are capable.
Hezekiah's Response to Judgment
And then verse 19 is an intriguing response by Hezekiah. So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord which you have spoken is good, for he said, will there not be peace and truth at least in my days? Sounds kind of mean, doesn't it? Well, you know, as long as it's OK for me, I think I've shared before in our home when the kids were little and we'd have dinner and, you know, Rebecca would always eat last and the prevailing attitude was IGM.
I got mine. Well, Rebecca and I do this now, you know, if we're making our food together. If I'm done, I'm ready to eat, and she's still kind of rolling up her burrito. I'm like, can we pray?
The idea is, I got mine. Let's eat. And she does that to me now. She gets her burrito.
That's not all we eat. She gets it wrapped up, and she's like, can we pray? And the idea is, I got mine. And that's kind of how Hezekiah sounds here.
The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good. Well, who wouldn't say that? I mean, of course, it's the prophetic word. For he said, will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?
I got mine. My reign is secure. My reign's going to be pleasant. Everything's going to be cool for me.
Some suggest that he makes a smug, self-serving comment. I got mine. Everything's great. As far as the kings of Judah go, I win.
Others suggest, and I think this is the right course, Hezekiah accepts the inevitability of judgment, yet is grateful that the events will be delayed until after his death. Is he not supposed to thank God for the fact that, you know, while we know this judgment is coming, it's not going to come on my watch? Should I at least not be appreciative of that fact? I don't think he's wishing for bad things to come upon Judah.
He's not hoping that the kings of Judah fail after him, but he has to reflect on this soberly and positively. God's sending judgment, that much we know to be true, but the fact that he's going to let me finish these next 15 years without major calamity, I ought to express praise and thanksgiving and glory to him. I ought not to shun this or disregard this. Calvin interprets this way, working in the prophet Isaiah.
The Lord might have suddenly raised up enemies to drive me out of my kingdom, but He now spares me, and by delaying, moderates the punishment which might justly have been inflicted on me. He goes on to say, while he wished well to those who should live after him, yet it would have been undutiful to disregard that token of forbearance which God gave by delaying his vengeance. For he might have been led by it to hope that this mercy would, in some degree, be extended to posterity. In other words, he's receiving a gift from God.
He needs to thank God for that. That makes no statement on whether or not he wants Manasseh and Amon and Josiah and the rest of the Judaic kings to fail. Most certainly he doesn't want them to fail, but he is appreciative to God that though there is calamity coming, nevertheless the Lord is going to grant him peace. That's a godly man, thanking the Lord for his mercies.
End of Hezekiah's Reign
Then we come to the end of Hezekiah's reign, verses 20 to 21. Verse 20 talks about this pool and tunnel that he brought water into the city with. Now brethren, this is famous. Just go on Google and type Hezekiah's pool.
You'll get a video and everything. of Hezekiah's pool. It was an ingenious development because the city was up and in order to get water during times of siege, they made this conduit or this tunnel and it brought water into the city when they needed water. If the Assyrians surrounded Jerusalem, they couldn't make them die of thirst because Hezekiah had a way to bring water into the city. Robert Alter says, the conduit is a remarkable engineering feat that one can walk through to this day.
It is a tunnel sloping gradually down from outside to inside, devised to introduce water into the town in a time of siege. It is roughly 550 yards in length, not at all in a straight line, and showing evidence that two teams of workers hewed the tunnel out of the underground rock from opposite directions, somehow managing to meet each other in the middle. So it's a pretty incredible sort of accomplishment. And whenever you read here in 2 Kings and in 2 Chronicles concerning Hezekiah, you keep seeing this.
And you say, what's the deal? Well, they didn't have taps. And if there was a siege on your city, one of the best ways to end that war was to make your enemies die of thirst. It only takes three days.
That's a good way to spare manpower and resources and all that. Just cut off their water supply and let's watch them die of thirst. And then we see that his successor is Manasseh. At the end of verse 21, so Hezekiah rested with his fathers, then Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.
Now Manasseh is going to be the What David is to godly kings, Manasseh is to bad kings. In fact, Manasseh gives Ahab a run for his money. Manasseh is just a terrible specimen of a human being. In fact, Matthew Henry makes this beautiful observation.
He says, Wicked Ahaz, Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. Wicked Ahaz was the son of a godly father and the father of a godly son. Holy Hezekiah was the son of a wicked father and the father of a wicked son. You know, these kings tell us that, you know, the best that you do, you don't have the ability to convert grace on your kids.
We need to raise our children in the training and admonition of the Lord. We need to pray to God. to them, we need to bring them to the means, both at the family altar, which all of us should be practicing with our little ones, bringing scripture to bear upon them on a daily basis, bringing prayer to bear upon them and with them on a daily basis, and then bringing them to the church on the Sabbath to hear the preaching of the gospel. We use those means, brethren, but we do not have the ability to change the heart. And so godly Hezekiah had an ungodly father and he has an ungodly son.
But Henry goes on to say, when the land was not reformed as it should have been by a good reign, it was plagued and ripened for ruin by a bad one. Yet Ben tried again with a good one that it might appear how loath God was to cut off his people. I think that's a good way to explain that connection. And the Lord willing, when we gather together again next Wednesday, we'll see Manasseh.
But
Application
I want to close with just a couple of lessons, and then we'll leave. But the first is, and you almost wonder if you should focus on or make this a lesson, but two times in this chapter, there's an emphasis on personal responsibility. You know, sometimes you meet Christians, and especially of the reformed stripe or the Calvinistic stripe, those who have a, you know, a high view of God and His sovereignty and predestination and power, and you meet people that say, well, it really doesn't matter, you know, if I take my medicine, or it really doesn't matter if I eat vitamins, or it really doesn't matter if I exercise, because, you know, God's sovereign, and, you know, whatever He's ordained is just the way it's going to be. It doesn't matter if I plan for the future.
It doesn't matter if I, you know, do this, that, or the other. But notice specifically, when Isaiah comes to announce to Hezekiah that he's going to die, he says, set your house in order. You know, that's a pretty powerful statement. Set your house in order.
Hezekiah, it's criminal to leave your wife with, you know, unpaid debt. It's terrible not to leave your children with something that they can navigate into life with. I'm not saying, Hezekiah, that they need to live on easy street, but you need to set your house in order. You need to plan.
You need to understand God is absolutely sovereign, to be sure, but that doesn't relinquish you from common decency in terms of providing for those who succeed you. And then verse 7, take a lump of figs. So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Matthew Henry draws out three practical lessons here.
It is our duty, when we are sick, to make use of such means as are proper to help nature, else we do not trust God, but tempt Him. In other words, this idea that, well, you know, God's in control. I don't need to take this pill that may save my life. Henry says that is tempting God if we neglect the pill.
That's a powerful statement in terms of personal responsibility. He says, plain and ordinary medicines must not be despised, for many such God has graciously made serviceable to man in consideration of the poor. I mean, brethren, if there's a pill that can fix something, why is it ungodly to use it? You get that.
Maybe you don't run in these circles, but sometimes you may. Well, you know, God's sovereign. I should just have this, you know, whatever malady. Well, you know, he made aspirin or he made the people that made aspirin.
You know, your kid can have his fever relieved and not die. Well, there's this aversion to this in some circles. Third, what God appoints, He will bless and make effectual. I think those are good lessons concerning that whole idea.
Westminster, larger catechism, number 135. What are the duties required in the Sixth Commandment? The paragraph is about that big, so I'm just going to pull out the pertinent place. It says, a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations.
What are the duties required in the Sixth Commandment? A sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations. Physic, medicine. Use it if you need it, because God is sovereign.
Not God's sovereign, therefore I don't need any of this stuff. God made the people, and He made the plants, and He made the herbs, and He made these things, and He told man to exercise dominion. Praise God Almighty that men have exercised dominion, and they have done some amazing things. They've enabled us to put boxes into our rooms, and put cold things in there, and keep it fresh for weeks at a time.
They've made it so that we can have light and warmth. Why don't we argue that? Well, God's sovereign. If He wants me to be warm, He'll let me grow fur.
We don't argue that way. We put coats on and blankets. We do that. And yet when it comes to this whole idea of physical stuff or planning, you know, again, it ought not to be the case that that takes all of our attention.
We got to plan everything out for now. But a responsible setting our house in order because we are going to die isn't an illegitimate thing. Now, that's kind of the practical lesson.
Walking by Faith and by Sight
The second one is with reference to Hezekiah himself. We've seen that Hezekiah walks by faith. He's dependent upon God through prayer, and he appeals to his compliance with God's covenant. Then as well, we see that Hezekiah looks to Babylon for aid with reference to the Assyrians and not to God.
In fact, if you look at the parallel in 2 Chronicles, we don't have a lot of time to go there tonight, but at one point it says that he was proud, his heart was lifted up in pride. And in fact, that section where the Babylonians come in 2 Chronicles 32, 31, or rather 32, 35, it says that God did this to test Hezekiah. And it was probably in response to the pride of Hezekiah that God lets this whole Babylonian thing happen. Not lets, as if he couldn't do otherwise.
Again, it's according to his plan. But he brings these Babylonians to Hezekiah, leaves Hezekiah alone to test him and see what he'll do. And unfortunately, Hezekiah chose the Babylonians. Hezekiah opted for the pagan relief.
Now, Davis, I think, is good here again. He says, what then do we see here in verses 12 to 19? We see him walk by faith, verses 1 to 11. We see him walk by sight, verses 12 to 19.
He says, we see a king who finds it hard to be steadfast. We see a king who seems to do better in sickness than in health, who perhaps handles blight better than blessing. This is the king of 18, 1 to 8, who trusted Yahweh, and yet seems to think Yahweh needed a little help from Babylon. How fragile our faithfulness, how changing our consistency, how easily our faith can fade.
This closing scene of Hezekiah's reign means to impress us with that. In other words, if Hezekiah, described in 18, 1-8, is this godly, faithful man, and yet throughout his history we see all these little chinks in his armor, what do you think God would have us to learn? We're not without our chinks in the armor. We're not without our inconsistencies.
We're not without our bouts of pride. We're not without our bouts of walking by sight. We may be faithful, walk for a time by faith, and then we go right back to the Babylonians and we say, help us with our, you know, whatever's, the Assyrians. Davis says, this closing scene of Hezekiah's reign means to impress us with that.
It's not a failure unique to royalty, but dogs all God's people. And if we see how quickly we can contradict our commitments and how easily we fail or fall, perhaps the Spirit will work in us a holy fear and a sacred caution that will make us cry out to God to keep us. In other words, we read passages like these and we study things like this so that when we go to prayer tonight or tomorrow morning, we say, God, I see some of Hezekiah in me. I don't see, you know, as much of the 1818 as I'd like to, but I certainly see this pride.
I see this lack of faith. I see this going to the Babylonians for protection. Keep me. See, I think one of the things that the Old Testament does is it grounds us in the practical day-in and day-out.
The New Testament has a lot to say about day-in, day-out sort of Christian living. The Old Testament has it a lot, too. A guy stopped here tonight and he said, can I have a Bible? And I said, sure.
And he says, I just want a New Testament, though. I said, what do you mean you just want a New Testament? He said, I just want a New Testament. I said, well, you're getting old and new.
He said, the new doesn't make sense without the old. But I don't like the old. He said, that's too bad. You're going to take the Old Testament.
So I gave him a Bible, the whole thing, and off he went. But that's the idea. I like the New Testament for what it teaches me. Brethren, I hope you've seen, since we began in Deuteronomy, there is so much encouragement and good stuff in the Old Testament that the people of God are missing.
We need to look at Hezekiah, and we need to see that even though a man is overarchingly faithful, godly, and good, he nevertheless has these inconsistencies that should cause us to cry out, Lord, help me to deal with my inconsistencies. And I want to look at one final thing with reference to Hezekiah. You know, he wasn't tooting his horn, he wasn't a proud, arrogant man. If you look at the prophet Isaiah, the parallel to this section contains something that our section does not.
It is a prayer of Hezekiah described in verse 9 of chapter 38 as a writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah. This is the writing, Isaiah 38, 9. This is the writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness. Notice in verse 17.
Indeed, it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness, but you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for you have cast all my sins behind your back." Hezekiah was saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. There's the Davidic connection. There is how he is like his father, David. You have cast all my sins behind your back.
It's as a result of that, the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent actings upon that in the life and ministry of Hezekiah, wherein he was faithful to God, wherein he was loyal to the Lord. That is what the Lord gives in terms of his overarching summary concerning this particular man. So God recognized it, but the people of Israel recognized it as well. at his burial, according to 2 Chronicles chapter 32 and verse 33. So Hezekiah rested with his fathers, they buried him in the upper tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death.
So you see, a man who is, by God's grace, a saved man, a man who is, by God's grace, a faithful man, is nevertheless an imperfect man, and he's going to have his sins, he's going to have his faults, he's going to have his inconsistencies, but God speaks favorably of him, and others speak favorably of him as well. So we ought to remember that in our assessment of people. If God speaks favorably concerning some of the folks in the Old Testament that perhaps you and I may not have, we ought to speak favorably concerning those that we know and love, even though they're not perfect. I think at times we expect more out of people than God expects, and we need to reorient our expectations.
Dare I say, lower them to some degree, and realize that we're dealing with men, women, boys, and girls who will always struggle with consistency, faithfulness, godliness, and righteousness. So we ought to be charitable and large-hearted toward them. Well, let's close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the very vivid explanation of your grace and your mercy toward Hezekiah. We thank you for this report concerning his life. Even with his imperfections and his inconsistencies, he nevertheless receives accolades from God Most High.
We ask that you would help us to persevere, help us in this area of consistency, help us with faithfulness and discipline and all the things that the Bible sets forth for your children. And we do live in dependence upon you. We thank you for your grace and we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ, for certainly we sin, even at the best in our lives as Christians, we always stand in need of that precious fountain.
Go with us now, we pray, and grant us grace to come together on the Lord's Day to worship you in spirit and truth. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.