5 `Turn back, and thou hast said unto Hezekiah, leader of My people: Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I give healing to thee, on the third day thou dost go up to the house of Jehovah;
Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And `to' my cry give ear, Unto my tear be not silent, For a sojourner I `am' with Thee, A settler like all my fathers.
But God hath heard, He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed `is' God, Who hath not turned aside my prayer, And His loving-kindness, from me!
`At this time tomorrow, I send unto thee a man out of the land of Benjamin -- and thou hast anointed him for leader over My people Israel, and he hath saved My people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen My people, for its cry hath come in unto Me.'
And Samuel taketh the vial of the oil, and poureth on his head, and kisseth him, and saith, `Is it not because Jehovah hath appointed thee over His inheritance for leader?
is any infirm among you? let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil, in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of the faith shall save the distressed one, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if sins he may have committed, they shall be forgiven to him.
My wandering Thou hast counted, Thou -- place Thou my tear in Thy bottle, Are they not in Thy book?
And He saith, `No, for I `am' Prince of Jehovah's host; now I have come;' and Joshua falleth on his face to the earth, and doth obeisance, and saith to Him, `What is my Lord speaking unto His servant?' And the Prince of Jehovah's host saith unto Joshua, `Cast off thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place on which thou art standing is holy;' and Joshua doth so;
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not a God of dead men, but of living.'
For it was becoming to Him, because of whom `are' the all things, and through whom `are' the all things, many sons to glory bringing, the author of their salvation through sufferings to make perfect,
and the messenger said unto him, `Fear not, Zacharias, for thy supplication was heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name John,
and He saith, `If thou dost really hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and dost that which is right in His eyes, and hast hearkened to His commands, and kept all His statutes: none of the sickness which I laid on the Egyptians do I lay on thee, for I, Jehovah, am healing thee.
And Hezekiah saith, `What `is' the sign that I go up to the house of Jehovah!'
Go, and thou hast said to Hezekiah, Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, `I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I am adding to thy days fifteen years,
What do I return to Jehovah? All His benefits `are' upon me. The cup of salvation I lift up, And in the name of Jehovah I call. My vows to Jehovah let me complete, I pray you, before all His people.
I enter Thy house with burnt-offerings, I complete to Thee my vows, For opened were my lips, And my mouth spake in my distress: `Burnt-offerings of fatlings I offer to Thee, With perfume of rams, I prepare a bullock with he-goats.' Selah.
And he hath been reproved With pain on his bed, And the strife of his bones `is' enduring. And his life hath nauseated bread, And his soul desirable food. His flesh is consumed from being seen, And high are his bones, they were not seen! And draw near to the pit doth his soul, And his life to those causing death. If there is by him a messenger, An interpreter -- one of a thousand, To declare for man his uprightness: Then He doth favour him and saith, `Ransom him from going down to the pit, I have found an atonement.' Fresher `is' his flesh than a child's, He returneth to the days of his youth. He maketh supplication unto God, And He accepteth him. And he seeth His face with shouting, And He returneth to man His righteousness.
And in the eighth year of his reign (and he yet a youth), he hath begun to seek to the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he hath begun to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the shrines, and the graven images, and the molten images.
`And lo, with us -- at `our' head -- `is' God, and His priests and trumpets of shouting to shout against you; O sons of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah, God of your fathers, for ye do not prosper.'
and Nathan saith unto David, `All that `is' in thy heart do, for God `is' with thee.' And it cometh to pass on that night that a word of God is unto Nathan, saying, `Go, and thou hast said unto David My servant, Thus said Jehovah, Thou dost not build for Me the house to dwell in:
And Isaiah saith, `Take ye a cake of figs;' and they take and lay `it' on the boil, and he reviveth. And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, `What `is' the sign that Jehovah doth give healing to me, that I have gone up on the third day to the house of Jehovah?'
And Nathan saith unto the king, `All that `is' in thine heart -- go, do, for Jehovah `is' with thee.' And it cometh to pass in that night, that the word of Jehovah is unto Nathan, saying, `Go, and thou hast said unto My servant, unto David, Thus said Jehovah, Dost thou build for Me a house for My dwelling in?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 20
Commentary on 2 Kings 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
2Ki 20:1-7. Hezekiah's Life Lengthened.
1. In those days was Hezekiah sick—As his reign lasted twenty-nine years (2Ki 18:2), and his kingdom was invaded in the fourteenth (2Ki 18:13), it is evident that this sudden and severe illness must have occurred in the very year of the Syrian invasion. Between the threatened attack and the actual appearance of the enemy, this incident in Hezekiah's history must have taken place. But according to the usage of the sacred historian, the story of Sennacherib is completed before entering on what was personal to the king of Judah (see also Isa 37:36-38:1).
Set thine house in order—Isaiah, being of the blood royal, might have access to the king's private house. But since the prophet was commissioned to make this announcement, the message must be considered as referring to matters of higher importance than the settlement of the king's domestic and private affairs. It must have related chiefly to the state of his kingdom, he having not as yet any son (compare 2Ki 20:6 with 2Ki 21:1).
for thou shall die, and not live—The disease was of a malignant character and would be mortal in its effects, unless the healing power of God should miraculously interpose.
2. he turned his face to the wall—not like Ahab (1Ki 21:4), in fretful discontent, but in order to secure a better opportunity for prayer.
3. remember now how I have walked before thee, &c.—The course of Hezekiah's thoughts was evidently directed to the promise made to David and his successors on the throne (1Ki 8:25). He had kept the conditions as faithfully as human infirmity admitted; and as he had been all along free from any of those great crimes by which, through the judgment of God, human life was often suddenly cut short, his great grief might arise partly from the love of life, partly from the obscurity of the Mosaic dispensation, where life and immortality had not been fully brought to light, and partly from his plans for the reformation of his kingdom being frustrated by his death. He pleaded the fulfilment of the promise.
4. afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court—of the royal castle.
5. Thus saith … the God of David thy father—An immediate answer was given to his prayer, containing an assurance that the Lord was mindful of His promise to David and would accomplish it in Hezekiah's experience, both by the prolongation of his life, and his deliverance from the Assyrians.
on the third day—The perfect recovery from a dangerous sickness, within so short a time, shows the miraculous character of the cure (see his thanksgiving song, Isa 38:9). The disease cannot be ascertained; but the text gives no hint that the plague was raging then in Jerusalem; and although Arab physicians apply a cataplasm of figs to plague-boils, they also do so in other cases, as figs are considered useful in ripening and soothing inflammatory ulcers.
2Ki 20:8-20. The Sun Goes Ten Degrees Backward.
8-11. Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What will be the sign that the Lord shall heal me—His recovery in the course of nature was so unlooked for, that the king asked for some token to justify his reliance on the truth of the prophet's communication; and the sign he specified was granted to him. The shadow of the sun went back upon the dial of Ahaz the ten degrees it had gone down. Various conjectures have been formed as to this dial. The word in the original is "degrees," or "steps," and hence many commentators have supposed that it was a stair, so artfully contrived, that the shadows on the steps indicated the hours and course of the sun. But it is more probable that it was a proper instrument, and, from the Hebrews having no term to designate it, that it was one of the foreign novelties imported from Babylon by Ahaz. It seems to have been of such magnitude, and so placed in the court, that Isaiah could point to it, and the king see it, from his chamber. The retrogression of the sun's shadow on the dial was miraculously accomplished by the omnipotent power of God; but the phenomenon was temporary, local, confined to the notice, and intended for the satisfaction, only of Hezekiah and his court.
12-19. Berodach-baladan—(Isa 39:1), the first king of Babylon mentioned in sacred history; formerly its rulers were viceroys of the Assyrian monarchs. This individual threw off the yoke, and asserting his independence, made with varying success, a long and obstinate resistance [Rawlinson, Outlines]. The message of congratulation to Hezekiah, was, in all likelihood, accompanied with proposals for a defensive alliance against their common Assyrian enemy. The king of Judah, flattered with this honor, showed the ambassadors all his treasures, his armory and warlike stores; and his motive for this was evidently that the Babylonian deputies might be the more induced to prize his friendship.
13, 14. the silver, and the gold—He paid so much tribute to Sennacherib as exhausted his treasury (compare 2Ki 18:16). But, after the destruction of Sennacherib, presents were brought him from various quarters, out of respect to a king who, by his faith and prayer, saved his country; and besides, it is by no means improbable that from the corpses in the Assyrian camp, all the gold and silver he had paid might be recovered. The vain display, however, was offensive to his divine liege lord, who sent Isaiah to reprove him. The answer he gave the prophet (2Ki 22:14) shows how he was elated by the compliment of their visit; but it was wrong, as presenting a bait for the cupidity of these rapacious foreigners, who, at no distant period, would return and pillage his country, and transfer all the possessions he ostentatiously displayed to Babylon, as well as his posterity to be court attendants in that country—(see on 2Ch 32:31).
19. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken—indicating a humble and pious resignation to the divine will. The concluding part of his reply was uttered after a pause and was probably an ejaculation to himself, expressing his thankfulness, that, though great afflictions should befall his descendants, the execution of the divine judgment was to be suspended during his own lifetime.
20. pool and a conduit—(See on 2Ch 32:30).