- About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. Isaiah the prophet went in and told him, "The LORD says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, so you had better start doing what needs to be done."
- Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed,
- "Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, LORD. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right." After this, he cried hard.
- Before Isaiah got to the middle court of the palace,
- the LORD sent him back to Hezekiah with this message: Hezekiah, you are the ruler of my people, and I am the LORD God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will heal you, so that three days from now you will be able to worship in my temple.
- I will let you live fifteen years more, while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city as an honor to me and to my servant David.
- Then Isaiah said to the king's servants, "Bring some mashed figs and place them on the king's open sore. He will then get well."
- Hezekiah asked Isaiah, "Can you prove that the LORD will heal me, so that I can worship in his temple in three days?"
- Isaiah replied, "The LORD will prove to you that he will keep his promise. Will the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway go forward ten steps or back ten steps?"
- "It's normal for the sun to go forward," Hezekiah answered. "But how can it go back?"
- Isaiah prayed, and the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway built for King Ahaz.
- Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah had been sick, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him.
- Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.
- Isaiah asked Hezekiah, "Where did these men come from? What did they want?" "They came all the way from Babylonia," Hezekiah answered.
- "What did you show them?" Isaiah asked. Hezekiah answered, "I showed them everything in my kingdom."
- Then Isaiah told Hezekiah: I have a message for you from the LORD.
- One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The LORD has promised that nothing will be left.
- Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king's palace.
- Hezekiah thought, "At least our nation will be at peace for a while." So he told Isaiah, "The message you brought me from the LORD is good."
- Everything else Hezekiah did while he was king, including how he made the upper pool and tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah.
- Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became king.
As soon as Isaiah had delivered God's message that Hezekiah would die and left the room, Hezekiah turned to the Lord and pleaded with Him to spare his life. While Isaiah was still in the courtyard of the palace the Lord gave His answer to Hezekiah's prayer. "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, 'This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you." (20:5) The Lord gave two answers to prayer in this message. The first was that he would heal Hezekiah and add 15 more years to his life, and the other was that He would "deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria." (20:6)
Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would truly be healed and able to worship in the temple within three days. We are given no indication that the Lord considered this a lack of faith. Hezekiah was given a choice of the sign he wanted. Isaiah asked him, "Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?" This was a reference to the shadow of the sun advancing or going backward on Ahaz's stairway which was evidently a sundial. So the question was whether time should go forward or backward. Hezekiah thought it more difficult if time were to go backward so this was his choice and it was granted.
Sometime after this, Hezekiah received visitors from Babylon. Verse 20 says that the king of Babylon had sent letters and a gift inquiring about his health since he had heard Hezekiah had been sick. 2 Chronicles 32:31 adds that they were also inquiring "about the miraculous sign that happened in the land." This is no doubt in reference to the miracle of time going backward at Hezekiah's request. Hezekiah proudly showed these visitors "his whole treasure house--the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil--and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them." (20:13) The passage in 2 Chronicles tells us that this visit was a test from God to "discover what was in his heart." And what was discovered was pride. Did Hezekiah err in showing all his treasures or in failing to attribute them to God? I suggest that it is the later, and that had he showed all his treasures, attributing them all to the Lord, he would not have failed the test.
Afterward, Isaiah came to the king asking about the visitors and what Hezekiah had showed them. The king opening admitted showing them everything. Then Isaiah delivered a word from the Lord, "The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left, says the LORD." (20:17) Hezekiah replied that "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good," thinking it was not so bad since it would not happen in his lifetime.
As good a king as Hezekiah was, he was not without sin as was true also of David who was held in even higher esteem by God. Jesus is the only one who is without sin and the only one we should allow to rule in our hearts.
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