2 KINGS 20
Read 2 Kings 20:1-21
In this chapter we read of two rather contrasting incidents in the life of Hezekiah. In the first, Hezekiah is ill and God sends a message via his prophet Isaiah that he will not recover from this illness and that he needs to get his affairs in order. Hezekiah’s reaction is to turn right away to prayer. His prayer seems to be sincere and he reminded God of how he had been faithful towards God over the years. Is he trying to hold God to ransom here? Is he saying that he deserves to have a longer life because he has been faithful? Maybe, but I think what he is really doing is following his ancestor David who in the psalms had a pattern of appealing to his faithfulness as a reason for God to hear him and perhaps then to save him (see for example Psalm 7:3-5, Psalm 17:1-5). What lies behind Hezekiah’s appeal to God is not some idea of sinless perfection, but of obedience to the covenant relationship that God established with his people.
God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and gave him an extended life span. Does God change his mind? Well, yes. We have seen this before when he was going to wipe out the world with the flood, but them allowed Noah and his family to survive (again, because of Noah’s righteousness – his obedience before God). Also, Abraham negotiated with God for the lives of the righteous people of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:23ff.
Isaiah returned to Hezekiah with the good news and prepared a healing potion. Is God’s word not sufficient on its own to heal Hezekiah. Of course it is, and we see instances of that in the New Testament with Jesus, but we must also remember that God is sovereign and works his will in different ways. He can and does use the medium of skilled human beings to carry out his healing work, today as much as in biblical times. Hezekiah, faithful and trusting as he was, still asked God for a sign. He wanted to make sure that Isaiah was not misleading him (and we have seen many prophets giving kings the answer that they wanted to hear rather than the truth) but Isaiah reassured Hezekiah that the Lord is faithful and true and they devised a sign whereby God would overcome the usual laws of nature to indicate his faithfulness, As ever, God honoured his promise and carried out the sign to validate his promise and gave Hezekiah another fifteen years of life.
The final part of the chapter shows a shift in the power politics of the region. The Assyrian threat had subsided, but a new force, the Babylonians, came into view. At this stage they were not attacking, this was just a diplomatic visit to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery. Hezekiah was perhaps a bit flattered by thus visit; an important dignitary of a powerful nation coming in (apparent) friendship to see this king of what, in political terms, was a minor and insignificant country. Hezekiah was a little naïve and foolish here and gave a guided tour of Judah’s wealth. Isaiah must have sensed something amiss here and asked what was going on and said ‘maybe we need to speak to God’. Then came the shocking news of the exile to Babylon that was to come which we will see a few chapters time.