Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness.
Hezekiah’s goodness
I. The genuine goodness shall not want appropriate record and remembrance.
1. God, the inspirer of goodness in the hearts of men, will not forget it.
2. The beneficiaries of goodness will not be unmindful of their benefactors.
3. Sympathetic imitators will mirror forth their goodness, from whom they have derived its idea and impulse. Christian philanthropists like John Howard and Elizabeth Fry are living over again in their practical admirers and copyists.
II. The seasons selected by God for such recognition are often sober and sorrowful.
1. Public calamity. Sennacherib’s invasion.
2. Personal affliction. Hezekiah’s sickness.
3. Death. Hezekiah’s burial. “Blessed are the dead.” (J. Spencer Hill.)
Goodness of heart
The wind is unseen, but it cools the brow of the fevered one, sweetens the summer atmosphere, and ripples the surface of the lake into silver spangles of beauty. So goodness of heart, though invisible to the material eye, makes its presence felt; and from its effects upon surrounding things we are assured of its existence. And they buried him in the chiefast of the sepulchres of the sons of David.
The life and character of Hezekiah
A very wise and salutary custom prevailed among the ancient Egyptians; that of sitting in judgment upon the life and character of a man after his death, that, according as he had been deserving or undeserving, honourable burial might be granted to him or denied. The Jews appear to have brought something like the same custom out of Egypt, and to have acted upon it in the ease of their wicked kings (1Ki 14:13; 2 Kings 9:10; Jeremiah 22:18; Isaiah 14:19). Hence a burial specially mentioned in the Scriptures signifies honour, approbation, and affectionate remembrance, more distinctly than among us. The funeral of Hezekiah is the proper place for a review of his life and character. Consider--
I. His public zeal for worship of God and the good of his people.
II. The peculiar troubles with which he was exercised.
III. The remarkable deliverances which he experienced.
IV. The singular circumstances under which he passed his closing years.
V. The excellences and defects of his religious character and conduct. (Daniel Katterns.).