Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 20

Verses 1-21

Chapter 20

Now in those days Hezekiah was very sick ( 2 Kings 20:1 ).

Actually he was dying.

And Isaiah came to him, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Set your house in order; for you're going to die, and not live ( 2 Kings 20:1 ).

The word of the Lord from Isaiah to Hezekiah. Set your house in order, you're going to die and not live.

And so Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and he prayed unto the LORD, and he said, I beseech you, O LORD, remember now how I have walked with you in truth, with a perfect heart, and I have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah just really wept before God. So it came to pass, when Isaiah was leaving, as he was going through the middle of the court, the LORD said, Go back and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal you: on the third day you will go up unto the house of the LORD ( 2 Kings 20:2-5 ).

I've heard your prayer, see your tears. Okay, you'll be healed. In three days you'll be going up to the house of the Lord.

And I will add to your life fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, [Now take a make a poultice from figs.] And lay it on the boil, and he recovered. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What will be the sign that I'm going to be healed? And Isaiah said, Well, you want the sun to go back ten degrees on the sundial, or you want it to go ahead ten degrees? ( 2 Kings 20:6-9 )

Imagine asking for a sign for something and God working a sign with the sundial, either moving the sun backward or forward ten degrees for you. What would you like? He said, "Well, if it goes forward ten degrees, that wouldn't be too much." You'd think the earth is just tilting that much faster. "Let it go back ten degrees." And so the sun went back ten degrees on the sundial.

You say, "Impossible." Yes, if you've got a puny little God of your own creation. But if you can believe the first verse of Genesis, why would you have any problem with that? "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" ( Genesis 1:1 ). That's how big our God is that we serve. It is important that we remember that especially when we pray over our little problems. "O Lord, thou art God, thou hast created the heaven, and the earth, all that in them is" ( Acts 4:24 ). That's the way the apostles began their prayer, and it's a good way to begin prayer. Just sort of reminding you who you're talking to.

Now there were emissaries that came from Babylon, when they heard that Hezekiah was recovered from his sickness, and they came in to Hezekiah and they said, "Oh, we're so glad that you're well." And Hezekiah said, "Oh, let me show you around." And he took them into the treasury. He showed them all the treasures, all of the gold and silver that was in the house of the Lord. All the treasures of the land. And so Isaiah came to Hezekiah and said, "Who were those fellows? Where they come from?" And he said, "Oh, they came from a long way out. They came from Babylon." "What they want?" "Oh, they wanted to tell me they were glad I was..." "What did you show them?" "Oh, I showed them the treasures." "What? How much?" "Oh, I showed them everything." He said, "Ah, that's foolish because all of those treasures that you showed to them will be carried away captive to Babylon."

Hezekiah said, "Well, that's good." He said, "What do you mean that's good?" He said, "Well, you said it won't happen in my days."

So the rest ( 2 Kings 20:20 )

Strange way to look at it, isn't it? The rest of the acts of Hezekiah are recorded in Second Chronicles and in Isaiah. An awful lot about Hezekiah in Isaiah. How he made this tunnel from the spring of Gihon to the pool of Siloam in order that they might have a fresh water supply when they were anticipating the attack from the Assyrians. And this conduit that he built, the tunnel...and I hiked through that tunnel on a few occasions, and you feel like you're hiking in history as you are walking through the water as the spring of Gihon flows through that and on out to the pool of Siloam. "