| << Isa 37 | ||
| << Psa 75 | ||
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| This is the New King James text of the passages. |
Isaiah 38-39; Psalm 76
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Hezekiah gets sick...real sick (Isaiah 38)
Click here to see the record of this account in II Kings 20:1-11.
Isaiah 38 |
II Kings 20 |
| 1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ” 2 ¶ Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, 3 and said, “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 ¶ And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’ 7 And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down. 9 ¶ This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: 10 I said, “In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.” 11 I said, “I shall not see YAH, The LORD in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world. 12 My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. 13 I have considered until morning— Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed; Undertake for me! 15 “What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, And He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul. 16 O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live. 17 Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. 19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children. 20 “The LORD was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the LORD.” 21 ¶ Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.” 22 ¶ And Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?” |
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ” 2 ¶ Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 ¶ And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ” 7 ¶ Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8 ¶ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?” 9 ¶ Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?” 10 ¶ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.” 11 ¶ So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. |
Hezekiah's so sick, he's about to die; he goes back to God in prayer (verses 1-3) asking that his life might be spared...at least for the immediate future.
Through Isaiah, God makes two promises to Hezekiah:
In II Kings 20:8, Hezekiah wants an immediate sign that God will fulfill his two promises here. That's where the sun dial comes into play. After a little negotiation with God regarding which way he wanted the sun to abnormally move, backward or forward, Hezekiah decides he'd like to go look at his Dad's (Ahaz) sun dial and see the sun's shadow move back 10 degrees (some specific unit of measurement) on the dial. Since we don't have the details of the construction of this sun dial, we don't know exactly how it was marked. Therefore, it is impossible to tell exactly how much of the day's sunlight was repeated on this occasion. Here's what we do know; God gave a sign of his promise to Hezekiah on the sun dial that was definitive. More details are available in the notes on II Kings 20:1-11.
In verses 9-20, Hezekiah writes down his thoughts regarding his sickness:
As a deal capper, God gives Hezekiah that special sun-dial miracle to demonstrate his ability to keep his promise regarding the extension of Hezekiah's life. In the II Kings account, we see that Hezekiah specifically only mentions this aspect of the promise. We see one more interesting fact about the healing of Hezekiah that day in II Kings 20:7; Hezekiah had a nasty-looking boil upon which Isaiah commanded a lump of figs should be laid - briefly mentioned in Isaiah's account here in verses 21-22.
Hezekiah, what have you done! (Isaiah 39)
Click here to see the record of this account in II Kings 20:12-21.
Isaiah 39 |
II Kings 20 |
| 1 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 ¶ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” ¶ So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 ¶ And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” ¶ So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” 5 ¶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. 7 “And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 8 ¶ So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.” |
12 ¶ At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 ¶ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” ¶ So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.” 15 ¶ And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” ¶ So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” 16 ¶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 17 “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. 18 “And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 19 ¶ So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?” 20 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 21 So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place. |
Here's the man (Hezekiah) who went before God and pled for his city and then for his life. God honored both prayers. But Hezekiah never quite got it. You will recall that he had first tried to hedge his bets against the Assyrians by forming an alliance with Egypt. Egypt subsequently fell to the Assyrians. While Hezekiah had a firm relationship with God, he liked to cover all his bases. It was Isaiah who held Hezekiah's feet to the fire. And...to Hezekiah's credit, he gave heed to Isaiah's counsel. However, in verse 1, visitors from afar show up at Hezekiah's door - messengers from Merodachbaladan of Babylon.
Here's the entry regarding "Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon" of Isaiah 39:1 taken from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
The son of Baladan, is mentioned in Isa 39:1, as a king of Babylon who sent an embassy to Hezekiah, king of Judah, apparently shortly after the latter’s illness, in order to congratulate him on his recovery of health, and to make with him an offensive and defensive alliance. This Merodach-baladan was a king of the Chaldeans of the house of Yakin, and was the most dangerous and inveterate foe of Sargon and his son Sennacherib, kings of Assyria, with whom he long and bitterly contested the possession of Babylon and the surrounding provinces. Merodach-Baladan seems to have seized Babylon immediately after the death of Shalmaneser in 721 BC; and it was not till the 12th year of his reign that Sargon succeeded in ousting him. From that time down to the 8th campaign of Sennacherib, Sargon and his son pursued with relentless animosity Merodach-Baladan and his family until at last his son Nabushumishkun was captured and the whole family of Merodach-Baladan was apparently destroyed. According to the monuments, therefore, it was from a worldly point of view good politics for Hezekiah and his western allies to come to an understanding with Merodach-Baladan and the Arameans, Elamites, and others, who were confederated with him. From a strategical point of view, the weakness of the allied powers consisted in the fact that the Arabian desert lay between the eastern and western members of the confederacy, so that the Assyrian kings were able to attack their enemies when they pleased and to defeat them in detail.
But where was Isaiah when these envoys show up to visit Hezekiah? They said they came to pay their respects because they heard that Hezekiah had been sick. That sounds suspicious. Although, as a vassal state of Assyria at the time, Merodachbaladan must have admired the fact that Jerusalem alone had withstood the Assyrian assault - something he had failed to do up to this point. Hezekiah wanted to make their trip worthwhile, so he showed them everything he owned. After all, they had a common enemy - Assyria.
Then Isaiah shows up and says something to the effect of, "You did what?!" Isaiah breaks some bad news to Hezekiah. These people will be back. They'll return one day as conquerors...and lead your descendants into captivity. Some good news though - you'll die before this happens; all this will happen to your kids, not you. News that I think I would find depressing seems to please Hezekiah (verse 8) - "at least it won't happen to me!"
The miracle of Isaiah's prophecy...revisited
The prophecy issued by Isaiah to King Hezekiah here is so remarkable, it should be emphasized again.
Following are the essential components of Isaiah's prophecy:
What a prophet of God! In the face of impossible odds, Isaiah correctly prophesies that Jerusalem will not fall. Yet, Isaiah prophesies that Jerusalem will fall 115 years later to an empire that in 701 B.C. was not even an empire - just a vassal state of Assyria. Just as I said, "REMARKABLE!"
God's a glorious and majestic judge (Psalm 76)
To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1 ¶ In Judah God is known;
His name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is His tabernacle,
And His dwelling place in Zion.
3 There He broke the arrows of the bow,
The shield and sword of battle.
Selah
4 You are more glorious and excellent
Than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted were plundered;
They have sunk into their sleep;
And none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands.
6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
Both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep.
7 You, Yourself, are to be feared;
And who may stand in Your presence
When once You are angry?
8 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
The earth feared and was still,
9 When God arose to judgment,
To deliver all the oppressed of the earth.
Selah
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise You;
With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and pay them;
Let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who ought to be feared.
12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes;
He is awesome to the kings of the earth.
This Psalm is chronologically inserted here on BibleTrack along with Isaiah 38-39 because several of the references contained herein seem to describe the Assyrian threat on Jerusalem. It was quite possibly written during this time period. In this Psalm, we find an enemy who is supernaturally defeated because they fall into a deep sleep. And...that's what happened to the Assyrians in 701 B.C. outside of Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah.
