HEZEKIAH TRIED
Isaiah 39:8. Then said Hezekiah, &c.
In the narrative connected with the text we find much in Hezekiah to be avoided and much worthy of imitation.
I. We find Hezekiah in great affliction. He had recently escaped from great public and national calamity; he is speedily involved in private and personal suffering (Isaiah 38:1). “He was sick,” and Isaiah was sent to prepare him for death. He was greatly alarmed at the approach of death (Isaiah 38:9-14). How different from St. Paul (Philippians 1:23). He lived in a dark and imperfect dispensation; few then had clear views of the world to come (2 Timothy 1:10). Hezekiah’s faith failed him greatly, and he clung to life with pertinacity.
II. In his trouble he sought the Lord (Isaiah 38:2-3). He made solemn vows of what he would do if spared (Isaiah 38:15). When partially restored, he renewed his vows (Isaiah 38:19). Thus believers in every kind of trouble should seek comfort of God in earnest prayer; nor is it improper then solemnly to give ourselves to God, and renew our vows. We are encouraged to do this by the speed with which a gracious answer was sent to Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:4-5). Isaiah was hardly gone out from pronouncing the judgment when he was sent back with a message of mercy (2 Kings 20:4-5). How wonderfully compassionate is God to His feeble people! Their poor, trembling prayers, uttered in fear and doubting, are heard and answered. He not only hears prayer, but answers directly (Daniel 9:20-23).
III. We find him speedily forgetful of the mercy he had received. Ambassadors arrive at his court. Whence and for what purpose? (Isaiah 39:1-2). What an opportunity for him to redeem his vows, and to proclaim the power and goodness of God to these heathens! Alas! he shows them all his riches, &c., but of God and His temple He says nothing. Flattered and betrayed by the world (Isaiah 39:3-4), what a heart his and ours must be! How could this be? We are told (2 Chronicles 32:31) that such is man when left to himself! We are never in greater danger than after seasons of great mercy and special providences (H. E. I. 4902–4904).
IV. He humbly received the rebuke that was sent to him (text). Here the habit of his mind appeared: he had fallen into the sin of vanity, but humility and resignation to the will of God, especially to His afflictive dispensations, were his usual characteristics. A clear evidence of true godliness, meekly and cheerfully to submit to fatherly correctives. Aaron (Leviticus 10:1-3), Eli (1 Samuel 3:18), the bereaved mother (2 Kings 4:26), David (Psalms 119:75).
LESSONS.—
1. Let us cultivate humility, watchfulness, and jealousy of ourselves (H. E. I. 4883, 4901).
2. Let us not be disconsolate because we are conscious of weakness and unworthiness. The errors and failings of the best of men are left on record, not to extenuate our sins, but to save us from despair. They were men of like passions with ourselves—the same infirmities and corruptions—yet God bore with them, and saved them out of all their distresses. Let us therefore “hope to the end,” and “patiently continue in well-doing,” believing that we shall be “more than conquerors through Him who hath loved us” (H. E. I. 1117, 2376).—F. Close, A.M.: Fifty-two Sketches of Sermons, pp. 52–55.
SUBMISSION UNDER GOD’S REBUKE
Isaiah 39:8. Then said Hezekiah, &c.
I. THE REBUKE.
The character of Hezekiah is well known. One of the very best of the kings of Judah (2 Kings 18:3-7). Nevertheless even in this excellent man there were moral weaknesses which were displayed when his physical malady was removed. The arrival of the Babylonian ambassadors excited within him hopes of political advantages arising from alliance with the idolatrous king whom they represented, and in order to impress the envoys with a sense of his importance, he made an ostentatious display of his wealth (Isaiah 39:2). This displeased the Lord. Why?
1. Because Hezekiah let slip a favourable opportunity of making known to the heathen the glory and the goodness of the God of Israel [1273]
2. Because his ostentation made it plain that pride was usurping the throne of his heart (2 Chronicles 32:26).
[1273] If, instead of showing them his treasures, he had related to these idolatrous Chaldeans, who were worshippers of the sun, the account of his marvellous cure, and especially the miracle by which the shadow was made to go ten degrees backward on the dial, he might have been the means of bringing them to the knowledge of the true God who made the heavens, and of convincing them that He was master even of that glorious luminary, which they ignorantly adored instead of its Creator.—Bather.
But this was not the habitual frame of Hezekiah’s mind; he was a good man, and therefore God lovingly chastened him. If it had been the wicked Ahab who had done this deed, the Lord might possibly have taken no notice of it; He might have left that idolatrous sinner to have followed his own devices. But seeing this evil spirit begin to show itself in a pious and humble man, the Lord mercifully and savingly interposed to check it in the beginning (Isaiah 39:3-7).
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS RECEIVED.
Sharp as was the rebuke sent him by Isaiah, Hezekiah so received it as to give a rare example of pious and cheerful resignation (text). Both parts of his reply are remarkable.
1. “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” None but a child of God could have used this language in sincerity, under such trying circumstances. But he has such faith in God, that although it is impossible for him to foresee what wickedness his posterity would commit, he knows that the decree will be found to be righteous (1 Samuel 3:18). But doubtless he meant something more than submission to God’s sovereignty; he meant to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord to himself, of which this very rebuke was a new manifestation (H. E. I. 190–196,162–165).
2. “He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.” That is, God hath been pleased to inform me that my children are to be carried into captivity and to suffer much affliction; but in my grief for this, I must not forget to thank Him for His tender mercies to myself. He has declared that I shall have peace, and this is far more than I deserve.
APPLICATION.—
1. We may learn what exceeding sinfulness and immense danger there often is in sins which we are apt to pass over as trifles, and hardly to notice in ourselves (H. E. I. 4897, 4898, 4516).
2. Remark an inestimable privilege of the children of God’s love: they may fall into the very same troubles as their ungodly neighbours, but in the one case calamity is the angry lash of the law, in the other it is the faithful rebuke of an anxious Father.
3. From the history of God’s dealings with Hezekiah we may infer what must be the wisest wish for any man to make, viz., that God would take us into His holy keeping and choose our inheritance for us. If we were left to determine for ourselves, some would choose one thing, and some another. Yet “sorrow is better than laughter;” and the history of Hezekiah is a proof of it (H. E. I. 211, 3986, 3998–4001).
4. If sin have brought rebuke upon you, search and try your ways, that you may see what your transgression and weakness is; and then accept the chastening of the Lord as a token of His love (H. H. I. 144–147).
5. Whatsoever may have befallen you, remember always that the mercies which remain are far greater than you deserve; and that in the day of prosperity, no less than in the evil day, there is need for perseverance and watchfulness (H. E. I. 4888–4890).—Archdeacon Bather: Sermons on Old Testament Histories, pp. 275–285.