2 Kings 20

The name Hezekiah means “the Lord strengthens,”

and during his reign of twenty-nine years (715–687), King Hezekiah needed God’s strength to accomplish all that he did. Like Asa (1 Kings 15:11), Jehoshaphat (22:43), and Josiah (2 Kings 22:2), his model was King David, which means that, while Hezekiah wasn’t perfect, he did seek to obey the Lord and please Him. He was one of the few kings who actually removed the high places and put an end to idol worship in the hills. He restored temple worship and encouraged the people from both Judah and Israel to come to the temple in Jerusalem and worship the Lord. The Lord had commanded that there be one central place of worship, and that was at Jerusalem (Deut. 12).

The sequence of events in Hezekiah’s life as recorded in Scripture is not strictly chronological. Most students agree that the events recorded in Isaiah 38 and 39—his illness and his welcome of the Babylonian ambassadors—actually antedated the Assyrian invasion (Isa. 36—37). We will take this approach as we study Hezekiah’s life and ministry and seek to integrate the material in Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah.

According to the chronologers, this is the next important event in the life of Hezekiah. It took place fifteen years before his death in 687, so his sickness and healing, as well as the visit of the Babylonian ambassadors, occurred in the year 702 BC. The next year, the Assyrians returned and attacked Jerusalem.

Did the Lord send this sickness to discipline Hezekiah because he compromised with the Assyrians? The record in 2 Chronicles 32: tells us that the king had become proud and this was one way that the Lord humbled him. The fact that the prophet Isaiah visited him with such a solemn message indicates how serious this experience really was, for the king was going to die. “Set your house in order” involved most of all appointing an heir to the throne. Hezekiah had become king at the age of twenty-five (2 Kings 18:1) and died in 687. His son Manasseh became king in 687 at the age of twenty-two, which means he was born in 709, so he would have been seven years old when Isaiah told his father he was going to die. Joash had ascended the throne at the age of seven (11:4ff.), but he had Jehoiada the godly priest to advise him. Obviously, the throne of David was in jeopardy.

Hezekiah’s response was to turn away from all around him and pray to the Lord. If his statement in 20: and Isaiah 38: sounds like boasting, keep in mind that Hezekiah was only claiming the promise of 2 Chronicles 6:16–17. This promise was part of the Lord’s gracious covenant with David and his descendants (2 Sam. 7:1–17), and Hezekiah was simply reminding the Lord that he had been faithful to obey His law. In other words, as a faithful son of David, he was “qualified” to live. God’s message to the king through Isaiah emphasized the importance of King David and the continuation of his descendants on the throne in Jerusalem.

God answered Hezekiah’s prayer by telling Isaiah how to bring about healing and also by giving Isaiah two great promises to share with Hezekiah. First, the king would recover and worship at the temple within three days; and second, if the Assyrians returned, the Lord would defend and deliver the city of Jerusalem. Remember, Hezekiah’s illness occurred before the second invasion of Sennacherib’s army. To assure the king of the truth of these promises, God gave him a miraculous sign: the shadow on the steps of Ahaz (a large sundial) went backward ten degrees. As the sun went down, the shadow would naturally get longer, but suddenly, the shadow became shorter. Did God reverse the movement of planet Earth or simply cause the shadow itself to go back on the steps? God doesn’t explain His miracles, and it’s unwise for us to do it for Him.

God disciplines us because He loves us and wants to prevent us from disobeying Him and losing His blessing (Heb. 12:1–11). Chastening isn’t the work of a stern judge as he punishes a criminal. It’s the ministry of a loving father as he seeks to bring out the very best in his children, for the Father wants us to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: nkjv)

Scripture pictures our adversary the Devil as a serpent and a lion (Gen. 3:1ff.; 2 Cor. 11:1–4; 1 Peter 5:8–9). Satan usually comes first as a serpent to deceive us, but if that doesn’t work, he returns as a lion to devour us. This was Hezekiah’s experience. First the Babylonian ambassadors came to Jerusalem to learn how wealthy and strong Judah was, and then the Assyrian army came to ravage the land, capture Jerusalem, and deport the Jewish people to Assyria. The ambassadors deceived Hezekiah because he didn’t seek God’s wisdom from Isaiah the prophet, but the king did seek the Lord when the Assyrians invaded the land, and the Lord gave him victory.

Hezekiah’s pride (20:12–13; 32:27–30; 39:1–2). We have already learned that Hezekiah had a problem with pride (2 Chron. 32:25–26). His near-fatal sickness did humble him, but the visit of the Babylonian envoys made it clear that the old sin was still very much alive. The envoys came to Judah with two purposes in mind: (1) to find out how strong the kingdom was, and (2) to try to influence Hezekiah to unite with Babylon in opposing Assyria. Because he didn’t fully grasp their true purpose, Hezekiah assumed that it was a great honor to be visited by officials from the king of Babylon. At that time in history, Assyria was the strongest empire and Babylon was an empire on the rise. Why should Hezekiah worry about Babylon? Because one day Assyria would move off the scene and Babylon would be the key nation in the Near East. From 606 to 586, Babylon would invade Judah, destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and take the nation into captivity. Babylon first came as the serpent, then she returned as the lion.

The envoys brought expensive gifts from the king of Babylon as well as personal letters expressing his pleasure that Hezekiah had recovered from his dangerous illness. Hezekiah should have realized that Merodach-Beladan had no personal interest in the health of the king of Judah but only wanted to obligate Hezekiah to become an ally of Babylon. It’s likely that the envoys helped to inflate Hezekiah’s ego by complimenting him on his military resources and personal wealth. (See 2 Chron. 32:27–30.) Foolishly, Hezekiah gave them the grand tour and showed them his treasures and weapons. It appears that Hezekiah was better at managing his scribes and writing his psalms than he was at overseeing the politics of the kingdom. All that Hezekiah possessed came from the hand of God and belonged to God, so why should Hezekiah boast about it? He may have made a good impression on the envoys but he grieved the Lord and endangered the kingdom and the city.

Pride is one of Satan’s chief weapons in his battle against the Lord and His people. Satan himself committed the sin of pride when he rebelled against God and sought the worship and obedience that God alone deserves (Isa. 14:12–15). Pride makes us rob God of the glory that belongs to Him alone. Pride gives us a feeling of false security and this leads us into sin and defeat. Charles Spurgeon said to his London congregation, “Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.” Good advice! William Barclay wrote, “Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all the other sins come.”

Isaiah’s prophecy (20:14–18; 29:3–8). Hezekiah should have conferred with Isaiah as soon as the diplomatic pouch arrived with news that the Babylonian envoys were coming to Jerusalem. When the prophet heard that a foreign entourage had come and gone, he went to the king and asked two important questions: “What did they say and where did they come from?” The king never did answer the first question, but he did admit that the men had come from Babylon. That envoys should come to Judah from “a far country” obviously pleased the king, and no doubt he was pleased to find an ally in the battle against Assyria.

As you read the book of Isaiah, you soon discover that the prophet already knew something about the future of Babylon (see 13—14 and 20:1–10). At that time in history, most people would have pointed to Assyria as the threatening world power, for Babylon was just starting to get recognition on the world scene. Assyria had defeated the kingdom of Israel, but it would be Babylon that would conquer the kingdom of Judah, and Isaiah 39:5–7 is Isaiah’s first clear prophecy of that event. A century after Hezekiah’s death, Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and some of Hezekiah’s descendants would go into captivity and his wealth would be carried to Babylon.

The Lord’s patience (20:19). Hezekiah’s response wasn’t a sigh of relief that his generation had escaped judgment, but rather was an expression of his acceptance of the will of God. Hezekiah’s pride had been broken once again (2 Chron. 32:26), but for the sake of the nation and the throne of David, he was grateful there would be peace. The Lord had been longsuffering toward Hezekiah and the king didn’t realize that another great trial was about to begin—Assyria’s assault against Jerusalem. However, the king had learned some valuable lessons from his sickness and his mishandling of the affair of the Babylonian envoys. How gracious it is of the Lord to prepare us for what He has prepared for us!

We have seen King Hezekiah as an effective reformer who cleansed and consecrated the temple and restored the priestly ministry. But Hezekiah the negotiator capitulated to Assyria and paid tribute in order to avoid war. Then God sent a severe illness to Hezekiah to humble him and he cried out to God for mercy. Following that victory, Hezekiah stumbled again by welcoming the Babylonian envoys and showing them what they had no right to see. This was not a praiseworthy hour in Hezekiah’s life.