Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery (2 Kings 20:1-11; 2 Chronicles 32:24-31)
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, 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.’ This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.
Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving
This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.” I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world. My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me. I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.” What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life.
You have restored me to health and let me live. Surely, for my welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. For Sheol cannot thank You; death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”
Hezekiah was mortally ill, suffering from sepsis from a boil. In the days before antibiotics, such sicknesses could be deadly, killing within days. With no other recourse, Hezekiah cried out to God for help and healing. God not only heard, but He gave Hezekiah a sign by lighting up the steps of Ahaz so that the shadow on the steps of Ahaz moved back ten steps. (There is nothing to indicate that God actually prolonged that day.)
Isaiah advised the king’s physicians to apply a poultice of figs to the boil. This advice was excellent, because the high sugar content and the moisture in the figs would help draw out the inflammation and cause the boil to rupture and drain. Figs might also contain enzymes that would help cure a bacterial infection. The boil was cured and Hezekiah lived another fifteen years.
But what were the implications for the kingdom of Judah when God added fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life? It was during those fifteen years that king Manasseh was born. Manasseh was not only one of the most wicked kings to ever rule Judah, but he was also the one who had the prophet Isaiah assassinated in a gruesome fashion. Why Manasseh later wound up as king is unclear. Didn’t Hezekiah have any other sons who could have succeeded him? Did Hezekiah favor Manasseh as the son of his old age and a miraculous child because Manasseh was born after Hezekiah’s healing? We don’t know; all we know was that Manasseh succeeded Hezekiah and Manasseh led Judah into flagrant idolatry. Ultimately, God allowed the kingdom of Judah to be destroyed because of that idolatry.
APPLICATION: Considering the fact that Hezekiah fathered Manasseh during that additional fifteen years, was Hezekiah’s healing a good thing or not? What would have happened had Hezekiah not prayed and had he died from his boil? Despite the reforms that Hezekiah had already brought, there were undoubtedly those in Jerusalem simply waiting for the opportunity to plunge back into idolatry. It’s possible to tear down all kinds of shrines, Asherah poles, etc., but if people are continuing to worship demons in their hearts, they will find any excuse to do so. And demons don’t leave because you tear down shrines or burn sacred trees. No matter who succeeded Hezekiah, sooner or later, the people of Judah and Jerusalem would have reverted to idol worship.
Several years ago, we were working in another part of Ghana when there were a number of tragic events that took place in a certain part of the town in which we were living, an area close to a local church. I was praying about this problem when I had a vivid mental picture of a huge fetish tree swarming with little demons. Checking with one of the pastors, I learned that such a tree originally occupied the property on which the church later was built. I suggested to the pastors that they needed to pray and cleanse the land because even though the tree was gone, the demons were still there. The church did so, and the tragedies abated.
Hezekiah believed that when he died, he would be cut off from those he loved as well as from the Lord. But we are living on the other side of Calvary. Because Jesus Christ came to live as a man, to die for our sins on the cross at Calvary, and to rise from the dead, we who believe in him have eternal life. For us, death is not the end of the story. But all those who refuse to believe in Jesus are in the same situation as Hezekiah was; for them, hope ends at the grave. Eternal hope or temporal-which will you choose?
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help all those who read these words to put their trust in You and in Your Son Jesus Christ and the completed work of Calvary. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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