HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS AND RECOVERY
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2 Kings 20:1. In those days was Hezekiah sick—The Assyrian invasion occurred in the fourteenth year of his reign (2 Kings 18:13), and now fifteen more years are to be added (2 Kings 20:6), making twenty-nine years, the total length of his reign (2 Kings 18:2); therefore this sickness must have occurred the very year of the invasion—“in those days”—at which time he was thirty-nine years of age. Set thine house in order—Not his domestic affairs, but those of his kingdom, for being without a child, his successor should be selected.
2 Kings 20:3. Hezekiah wept sore—So painful is it to quit life in the very prime of years; but the distress was to him greater because of the fierce menaces of the foe at the gates of his kingdom; and his plans for the religious reformation of the nation were yet incomplete.
2 Kings 20:4. Before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court—i.e., of the royal castle, not of the temple.
2 Kings 20:6. Add to thy days fifteen years—Why fifteen? He was now in the fifteenth year of his reign; God would add an equal period to that he had already enjoyed. He thus stood midway between the beginning and end of his reign.
2 Kings 20:7. Take a lump of figs—The remedy does not determine the precise character of the ailment, for Orientalists apply a poultice of figs to plague boils, and inflammatory ulcers, and carbuncles. But it was so located as certain to prove fatal but for miraculous intervention.
2 Kings 20:10. Let the shadow return backward ten degrees—This miracle has created antagonistic criticism. Either Isaiah, knowing that there would be a partial eclipse of the sun at that time, shrewdly used his knowledge; or else the story of the shadows being deflected is a myth! But the result was possible without any violent derangement of nature—“a phenomenon of refraction in the rays of light” (Keil) would effect the sign required. Yet. accepting the miracle in its most supernatural form, the phenomenon was so local and temporary as to carry with it no disturbance of universal nature.
2 Kings 20:11. The dial of Ahaz—מַעֲלוֹת may be interpreted steps, for מַעֲלָה means an ascent, or that which ascends. It can therefore be imagined that some contrivance had been arranged so that the shadow fell on a succession of steps, or slopes, each so measured as to mark the hour of the day. It was of such dimensions, and so conspicuous an object in the court, that Isaiah could point to it, and Hezekiah see it from his sick chamber.
HOMILETICS OF 2 Kings 20:1-11
LIFE PROLONGED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER
THE anxiety of the people was now transferred from the nation, so miraculously delivered, to the monarch. Hezekiah was smitten with a fatal sickness—perhaps he had been suffering for some time, and the mental anguish through which he had lately passed would tend to exacerbate the disease. He is startled to be informed that his recovery is hopeless. With cries and tears he pleads for life. He is heard, and fifteen more years are added to his career. A miracle is wrought in confirmation of the Divine promise of recovery. How highly favoured is this man for whom Jehovah so freely exercises his miraculous power Observe—
I. That the sudden approach of death fills the stoutest heart with alarm and sorrow. Death is a painful shock at any time; but, while cherishing the hope of recovery, to be abruptly assured that death is inevitable and at hand, strikes terror into the bravest heart. Hezekiah was utterly prostrate. “With that plaintive tenderness of character which he seems to have inherited from his great ancestor, he could not bear to part with life. He turned his face away from the light of day to the blank wall of his chamber. He broke into a passionate burst of tears. The darkness of the grave was before him, with nothing to cheer him. His tent was struck, his thread of life severed. The cry of a dying lion, the plaintive murmur of a wounded dove, were the only sounds that could be heard from the sick chamber. There seemed no hope of recovery” (Stanley’s Paraphrase of Isaiah 38)
Sooner or later all things pass away
And are no more. The beggar and the king
With equal steps tread forward to their end.
Southerne.
II. That there are circumstances in which prayer for continued life is justifiable. Hezekiah was in the prime of life, and with, to all natural appearances, years of useful labour before him. He had succeeded to the throne in a time of national decay, and his spirited reforms had done much to restore the national prestige. He had been rescued from great troubles, and was now in a position to look forward hopefully to a period of rest, peace, and prosperity. He was eager to do more than ever he had done for his beloved country. When, therefore, he is brought unexpectedly face to face with death, we cannot wonder that he should ask for life. Life is sweet; with all its burdens and cares, it has its enjoyments. It is a positive luxury to live. And when the powers of life are sacredly devoted to promoting the good of others, we cannot but yearn for the opportunity which continued life affords. But when wrongs have to be righted and faults rectified, how necessary and precious does life then become. Zimmerman remarks, “There appears to exist a greater desire to live long than to live well. Measure by man’s desires, he cannot live long enough; measure by his good deeds, and he has not lived long enough; measure by his evil deeds, and he has lived too long.”
III. That life and death are absolutely in the Divine disposal.
1. The best natural remedies are futile without the Divine blessing. The poultice of figs would have had no efficacy if the Lord of life had refused to interfere. Hezekiah knew this well, and he appeals immediately and directly, not to the physician, but to God. In His hands are the issues of life, and on Him they depend for their continuous outflow. “Every one,” says a certain writer, “is willing to allow that he received his life originally from the Almighty, and that the Almighty takes it away from him when He pleases. Few, however, are willing to regard themselves as existing only by virtue of His constant influx, the only way in which it can be true that in Him we live and move and have our being.” It is our duty to do all in our power to prolong life; but our best efforts must ever be in subordination to the will of God.
2. The Lord condescends to confirm the faith of His servants by the exercise of miraculous power. The transition to life was to Hezekiah as sudden and unexpected as the prospect of death. To possess what a few moments before he despaired about, seemed incredible: it was too good to be true. His faith staggered, and he asked for a sign. The shadow of the dial, visible from the window of the king’s palace, was put back ten degrees, probably by refraction—none the less a Divine act—and Hezekiah could no longer doubt. He recovered at once, and in three days passed up the steps in royal procession to the Temple to offer thanks and praise to the Lord and Giver of Life. How slow we are to believe, and how painstaking and patient is our gracious Father in encouraging us to trust Him!
LESSONS:—
1. A time of sickness is a time for special prayer.
2. God has a profound interest in the sufferings and sorrows of His people.
3. Restored health should be used in increased devotion to the service of God.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Kings 20:1 and 2 Kings 20:5. “Thou shalt die, and not live.” “I will heal thee.” The two messages.
1. How different their import—the one announcing death, the other promising life.
2. How different their effects—the one creating sorrow, the other joy.
3. Both emanating from the same authority.
4. Both demanding undoubted faith.
2 Kings 20:1. As it is wise, in time of health and strength, to set one’s house in order in a worldly sense—i.e., to make one’s will and arrange one’s affairs—so is it still more wise to set one’s house in order in a spiritual sense, and not to put off making one’s peace with God until one stands on the brink of the grave.—Lange.
2 Kings 20:3. Conspicuous piety.
1. Gives no immunity from sickness or death.
2. Is often severely tested.
3. Should guard against self-righteous boasting.
4. Leads the troubled soul to God.
—The course of Hezekiah’s thoughts was evidently directed to the promise made to David and his successors on the throne (1 Kings 8:25). He had kept the conditions as faithfully as human infirmity admitted, and as he had been all along free from any of those great crimes by which, through the judgment of God, human life was often suddenly cut short, his great grief might arise partly from the love of life and the promise of long life and temporal prosperity made to the pious and godly, which would not be fulfilled to him if he were cut off in the midst of his days; partly from the obscurity of the Mosaic dispensation, where life and immortality had not been fully brought to light; and partly from his plans for the reformation of his kingdom being frustrated by his death, and from his having as yet, which was most probably the case, no son whom he could leave heir to his work and his throne. He pleaded the fulfilment of the promise. Jamieson.
—Death is dreadful in his best looks, as is the lion, though his teeth and claws be beaten out; or as a hawk to the partridge; or as a serpent’s skin, though but stuffed with straw. But why should a saint be fond of life or afraid of death, since to him it is but as his Father’s horse to carry him to his Father’s house, or as Joseph’s chariot rattling with its wheels to carry old Jacob to his son Joseph, so him to Christ?—Trapp.
2 Kings 20:6. A fixed time to live.
1. A doubtful advantage, apt to keep the shadow of the grave ever in view.
3. Should be a constant reminder of the circumstances under which the period was fixed.
4. Is best spent in earnest, religious work.
2 Kings 20:9. Human life a dial.
1. On which time flings its shadow.
2. It has its morning.
3. Noon.
4. Evening.
5. A Divine hand regulates the time-shadow.
2 Kings 20:11. Time and how to measure it. The dial was made to measure time. Every line has a meaning; minutes and hours are numbered, and all scientifically combined, so as to tell the time of day. The Bible is God’s dial, by which we have to measure life. Every page has a meaning—a purpose—and its lines of doctrine radiate from Christ as the centre through the whole circumference and circumflex of every-day life. To the uninitiated eye the lines on the dial have no meaning; to the mind of the unenlightened and unbelieving the Bible has no spiritual value, for “the natural man knoweth not the things that are spiritual, because they are spiritually discerned.” But the dial may help us to understand this word, and serve as a foil to throw up in relief, doctrine, precept, promise, prospect. I. The dial must be so placed as to receive the rays of the sun. Every line will then come into use. The indicator concentrates the light; the angle of incidence falls within the shadow, marking off the numbers as the earth travels round the sun, and tells the time. The Bible is a system of revealed truth. Outspread before us in type and form, it invites attention. But without the light of the Sun of Righteousness it will only be as a sealed book. The Holy Spirit must shine on its pages before we can read it so as to measure life. Christ crucified, Christ our righteousness, and Christ our life, are set forth in the Bible so as to “make us wise unto salvation.” God in Providence, and grace in the heart, are also in this Book. “The hairs of your head are all numbered,” said Jesus. A sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His Father’s knowledge and permission, and all the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. But the Bible is our guide. We must place it in the sunlight of His Spirit, and not let it lie on the shelf until you may write “Death,” “Judgment,” “Eternity,” on the dust of its boards. II. The dial of Ahaz was a public instrument intended for all the people of Jerusalem. Like some of the dials in Egypt at the present day, it was the only means whereby the common people could regulate their daily duty. All would not see it at once, but those who consulted it could tell others the hour by number and by voice. In that land of sunny skies the dial was of daily value and of daily use. The Bible is for all. There was a period in the history of England when it was a rare and costly book, and a time when the “King’s Book” and “Bishop’s Book,” as it was called, were used and set up on the churches, but not allowed to the laity and the common people. It was even chained up to the desk in the crypt of St. Paul’s. But after the Reformation, and the right of private judgment was affirmed, it became public property, and is now the cheapest book in the land. An Eastern princess once sent an ambassador to the English Court, to ask of our Queen what was the secret of England’s greatness. There is a picture representing a scene in which Queen Victoria is seen standing by the side of the late Prince Consort, and surrounded by ministers of State, presenting the Ambassador with an elegantly bound Bible, saying, Tell your royal mistress that this is the secret of England’s greatness. Let us cling to this Bible as our birthright. Take what you can get from the pulpit, but let those who cannot or will not come to hear, have the “Book and its story” taken to them. There must be some knowledge before there can be any faith. The Book is for all; see then that, like the Bereans, you “search the Scriptures,” for because of this they were more noble than the Christians of Thessalonica, who took for granted that which they ought to have proved.
III. Clouds would sometimes obscure the sun. and then the dial of Ahaz was in shadow. Time could not then be measured, but past experience on judging of light would keep faith steady, and work would still be done. In this cloudy land of ours the dial is often in the shade, but the sun is always in its place, and his light is precious. Clouds sometimes come between the mind and God’s Book. But the Sun of Righteousness never sets; and there is a silver lining in the darkest cloud of the Christian’s experience. Some time since Mr. Glaisher went up in his balloon to measure the atmosphere and analyze it; and just as he was looking down and admiring the glorious landscape outspread below, a cloud overshadowed him, and all was dark as night. But rising higher and higher, the huge machine got into sunshine again, and looking up, the big sun himself was seen pouring down his golden rays, making the dark cloud white and wavy, like a sea of fleecy down. He was in a new world. So with the believer. In the darkest hour he may be rising higher and higher, until the cloud is pierced, and in the smile of his Father’s love he enjoys his life again. Clouds, too, will come when we seek to solve by reason doubts and difficulties that can only be solved by faith. But the sailor is not to throw his lead line overboard because it will not fathom the depths of the Indian Ocean, nor his chart because he sees no lines of latitude and longitude on the sea. If the line is long enough to enable him to take such soundings as will show where there is danger, and the chart such as may be relied upon by experience, he needs no more to ensure safe navigation. Just so with the Christian mariner. He has faculties, but they are limited—they cannot fathom the mind of God, but they are sufficient to discover danger, while the Bible is a chart by which he can safely work his course, and in due time reach the desired haven.
IV. The sun went backward, and not forward on the dial of Ahaz, as a sign to King Hezekiah that he would get well again. This was simply a miracle. With God all things are possible, and there we must leave it. In the moral world the law of progress appears to be sometimes in abeyance, and the dial plate indicates a down-going sun. But although at present there are signs which indicate a return to the days of darkness, let us not be alarmed for God hath said, “At evening time it will be light.” Standing on the sea shore, you have seen the back-going wave running out and tearing away the landmarks of its former progress; but look again, it is getting strength as it rises, and, gathering itself like a giant, comes roaring forward to make a higher margin than it left before. So will it be with our tide of Christian progress. It is, perhaps, in the back-going wave at present, but when the Church, like Hezekiah, rises from the bed of sickness, or it may be indifference, the Sun of Righteousness will again appear—the tide of progress will flow onwards, and the world shall yet be brought to the rule of Christ.—C. W. P.
—O God, thou wilt rather alter the course of heaven and earth, than the faith of thy children shall sink for want of support.—Bp. Hall.