2 Kgs 20:1-11 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, the king of Assyria “departed, went home, and lived at Nineveh” (2 Kgs 19:36), and Jerusalem did not fall into his hand.
This lesson’s passage begins with the words ‘In those days.’ This time what comes is not an enemy from outside, but Hezekiah’s own illness.
1In those days Hezekiah was sick and dying. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.’”
2Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,
3“Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, the LORD’s word came to him, saying,
5“Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘The LORD, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to the LORD’s house.
6I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”’”
7Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
8Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I will go up to the LORD’s house the third day?”
9Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”
10Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”
11Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
You will die. “In those days Hezekiah was sick and dying” (v. 1). The word Isaiah brought was direct: “Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live” (v. 1).
To the wall. “Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD” (v. 2). He said: “Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight” (v. 3). After that the passage says only: “And Hezekiah wept bitterly” (v. 3).
Before he had gone out. “Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, the LORD’s word came to him” (v. 4). The prophet was still on his way.
Heard, and seen. The LORD sent Isaiah back to say: “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to the LORD’s house” (v. 5). “I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria” (v. 6). These are the words the LORD spoke to Hezekiah.
A cake of figs. “Isaiah said, ‘Take a cake of figs.’ They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered” (v. 7).
The shadow. Hezekiah asked: “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me” (v. 8). Isaiah let him choose whether the shadow would go forward ten steps or go back ten steps (v. 9). Hezekiah said: “let the shadow return backward ten steps” (v. 10). “Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz” (v. 11).
The book of Isaiah records something Hezekiah wrote after he recovered: “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness” (Isa 38:9).
In it he speaks of how he felt when he heard that word: “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years” (Isa 38:10). He also says: “Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back” (Isa 38:17). Near the end he says: “The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children” (Isa 38:19).
Readers can see this: Hezekiah did not keep this experience to himself; he wrote it down to pass on to the next generation: “The father shall make known your truth to the children” (Isa 38:19).
Perhaps you, too, are facing death: your own illness, or someone you love lying in a hospital bed. Perhaps you have prayed too, and things did not turn out as they did for Hezekiah.
This lesson does not promise that everyone who prays will be healed; ‘fifteen years’ was the LORD’s word to Hezekiah alone. What it shows you is this: a man who heard ‘you will die’ turned his face to the wall and brought everything in his heart, tears and all, before God; and God said, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears” (v. 5). The Psalms have this line: “You count my wanderings. You put my tears into your container. Aren’t they in your book?” (Ps 56:8).
This week: Think of someone who is ill, or caring for someone who is ill. This week, visit them or give them a call, and ask: ‘How can I pray for you?’
Scripture: World English Bible.