2 Kings 20:12-21
Having come out victorious from two trials, poor Hezekiah succumbs to the third — precisely because this third test does not on the face of it appear to be a trial at all! What could be more flattering than these important messengers from the king of Babylon? They come with a letter and a present for Hezekiah. What a pity that he did not spread this letter too before the LORD! As to the present, he finds himself embarrassed by it, put under an obligation to these strangers. How dangerous are the civilities of the world for a Christian! They so often find a self-satisfied response in the vanity of our hearts! Was this not rather the opportunity for Hezekiah to speak to these men of the goodness and power of the LORD who had twice delivered him? The opportunity also for them to get to know the house of his God? Instead of that, he shows them his own house and his armoury, which had been of no use against Sennacherib, and his treasures of which the LORD now tells him nothing would be left. "What have they seen in thine house?". A serious question! What do visitors see in our houses; what do we talk to them about? Is it about treasures, all of them perishable, which we pride ourselves on possessing? Or is it of Him, to whom everything belongs?
Hezekiah admits that he has deserved judgment. And after that, the life of the faithful king comes to its end.