Hezekiah: March 2017
Table of Contents
Hezekiah
“The heart is deceitful above all things. ... Who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jer. 17:9-10). Hezekiah is a wonderful example of faith and faithfulness to the Lord, a man who followed the Lord wholeheartedly. Our God of all grace responded to Hezekiah’s prayers of need and wonderfully delivered him from the enemies of God’s people. At times his life was a positive influence on the lives of many others. And in following the Lord and depending upon Him he prospered. But he and we have our hearts searched out by the Lord. David wisely said to the Lord, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psa. 139:23). Hezekiah and David provide a contrast for us to learn from. When the Lord prospered David, he took what was given to him and dedicated it to the Lord for the building of the Lord’s temple. By contrast, Hezekiah, when prospered in wealth and glory, was lifted up in pride of what he called “his precious things.” May we remember, as we trace out Hezekiah’s life, that how we respond to the grace of God will affect not only our own lives but the lives of others. He prospered, but in the righteous ways of God many were negatively affected by how he responded to God’s grace to him.
Hezekiah?s Faithfulness
All through the Word of God, the Spirit of God is careful to record the faithfulness and the failures of the people of God. Nowhere is this more evident than in the life of Hezekiah, one of the godly kings of Judah. As with several other godly kings, he did not have a godly father, but both his grandfather (Jotham) and his great-grandfather (Uzziah, or Azariah) were among those of whom it is recorded that they “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” But Hezekiah stands out, so that it is recorded of him that “he trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him” (2 Kings 18:5). No doubt this comment includes only those kings who reigned in Judah after the kingdom was divided, and thus the clause “nor any that were before him” does not include David or Solomon. The Word of God notices four good things that Hezekiah did, each of which has a lesson for us in our day.
The House of the Lord
First of all, it is recorded in 2 Chronicles 29:3 that “he, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.” The account goes on to show how he cleansed the temple of all the filthiness that had accumulated there, reinstituted the sacrifices of Jehovah, and again set up the courses of the Levites, as David, Gad and Nathan had commanded. Here was a good start, for nothing can be right until the Lord has His portion. So it is in our lives: When we have gotten away from the Lord, we must recognize where we are and seek, first of all, to honor His Word and once again seek to worship Him “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). What is due to the Lord must always come before what is due to man.
More than this, Hezekiah recognized that the Lord looked upon Israel as one—all twelve tribes. Man’s failure had brought in division, but God still looked upon Israel as being one people, even if the majority had departed from His center. (As a result, probably about the year 721 B.C., God allowed the Assyrians to carry the ten tribes away captive, leaving a mixture of people in the land.) About this time, Hezekiah kept a wonderful Passover, and he called not only the people of Judah but also sent messengers throughout Israel, inviting all to come and celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. It is a little unclear whether this Passover was kept before or after the captivity of the ten tribes, but we know that the northern kingdom had become subservient to Assyria some years before they were finally carried into captivity.
The Twelve Tribes
It was impossible again to unite Israel again into one kingdom, but it was possible to act on God’s thoughts about His people and to call them, as one nation, to meet in God’s center. So it is today. It is impossible to reunite Christendom, but we can act on the truth of the one body and invite believers to come together on that basis—the same basis on which they gathered at the beginning. Many mocked at Hezekiah’s invitation, but some responded to it by humbling themselves and coming up to Jerusalem. Scripture records that no such time of joy and blessing had occurred since the time of Solomon.
The blessed result of this obedience was threefold. First, more idols were destroyed, not only in Judah, but also in other parts of Israel. Second, further improvements were made in setting up the order of the priests and Levites as well as the daily sacrifices and other offerings of the Lord. Third, the people were encouraged to bring in their tithes, and a real overflow of goods was brought in for the support of the priests and Levites. In all these things, it is recorded that “in every work that he [Hezekiah] began ... he did it with all his heart, and prospered” (2 Chron. 31:21).
Refusal to Serve the Assyrians
The next thing we notice about Hezekiah was that he refused to serve the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:7). His father Ahaz had capitulated to Tiglath-pileser and paid him a large sum to help him against the Syrians. Hezekiah rightfully rejected such help and refused to ally himself with Assyria. He trusted only in the Lord. Again, this is a lesson for us today, for sometimes it is tempting to seek the world’s help when difficulties arise, instead of relying only on the Lord. For example, I have known a believer in financial trouble to go and ask for money from a wealthy unbeliever, instead of getting down and praying about it and asking for the Lord’s help. But the Lord wants our confidence and trust.
The Philistines
The third thing we notice about Hezekiah is that he smote the Philistines (2 Kings 18:8). The Philistines had been a constant thorn in the side of Israel, as far back as the days of the judges. They were never totally defeated or driven out of the land of Israel, and they are still a problem here in the days of Hezekiah. In the time of his father Ahaz, they had invaded and taken over a number of the cities of Judah (2 Chron. 28:18). Spiritually, they speak of man in the flesh, energized by Satan, intruding into the things of God. In type, they illustrate his power in harassing the Christian and spoiling both his enjoyment of Christ and his testimony. Hezekiah wisely smote them and was successful.
Trust in the Lord
Finally, we find Hezekiah doing that for which Scripture specially commends him—trusting the Lord in the face of what seemed an impossible threat. At the time of Hezekiah’s reign, the Assyrians were the strongest empire in the world, and they had been so for more than 150 years. They had conquered many countries and were noted for their ruthlessness and brutality. Also, it seems that about this time Hezekiah’s serious illness took place, an event which would have further weakened him, and as he saw most of the cities of Judah fall into Sennacherib’s hands, his faith initially failed him, and he surrendered, much as his father Ahaz had done. He admitted his offence in rebelling against him and tried to buy off the Assyrians, even giving them silver and gold from the house of the Lord. But the Lord was not going to let this agreement stand, for it seems that Sennacherib wanted not merely silver and gold, but the same full control that he already had over the northern kingdom. Accordingly, Sennacherib launched a treacherous and arrogant siege against Jerusalem and called upon Hezekiah to surrender completely.
Here we find the Lord graciously restoring Hezekiah’s faith, for the emissaries of the king of Assyria mocked not only Hezekiah’s strength to resist, but also the power of the Lord Himself. As with Goliath, so here with Sennacherib: The enemy had challenged not merely the Lord’s people, but the Lord Himself. Here Hezekiah did several things that are a lesson to us. First of all, he took the blasphemous letter from Sennacherib and “spread it before the Lord” (2 Kings 19:14). Second, he sought advice and counsel from the prophet Isaiah (2 Kings 19:2; Isa. 37:2). Third, he himself prayed unto the Lord (Isa. 37:15-20; 2 Kings 19:15-19). Humility, coupled with dependence on the Lord, will never go unrewarded.
The Prophetic Promise
Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord answered with a wonderful promise that not only would Sennacherib not touch the city of Jerusalem, but that he would be compelled to retreat back to his own country and would “fall by the sword in his own land” (Isa. 37:7). Humanly speaking, the situation looked impossible, for no other nation had been able to stand against the Assyrians. Yet here was the firm word of the Lord, and Hezekiah was given faith to believe it and to resist all the threats made against him. And so it came to pass, for the angel of the Lord came and destroyed in one night 185,000 men of the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:35; Isa. 37:36), compelling Sennacherib to retreat in disgrace and shame. Later he was assassinated by his own sons.
Faith for the Future
Once again, what a lesson for the believer today! God sometimes allows seemingly impossible situations in our lives, but only to encourage and strengthen our faith in Him and to embolden us to rely on Him alone. He may indeed in this way test our faith, but He will never disappoint our faith. He loves our complete confidence, and when we are in the path of His will, all His power is on our side. All the power of Satan cannot resist Him; God will give us the victory.
The result of all this was further blessing, for Scripture records that “Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor ... for God had given him substance very much” (2 Chron. 32:27,29). More than this, his example of faith and of keeping the Lord’s commandments no doubt influenced his great-grandson Josiah, another godly king who reigned almost a century later, and of whom it is written that “he turned to the Lord with all his heart ... according to the law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25).
W. J. Prost
A Piece of Brass
There is another occasion of real faithfulness in the life of Hezekiah, of which we have not yet spoken. More than 700 years before and towards the close of their time in the wilderness, Israel had murmured against the Lord and against Moses, complaining about their manna and the lack of water. In consequence, the Lord had sent “fiery serpents” among them, and it is recorded that “much people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). When Moses prayed to the Lord, He directed him to make a serpent of brass and place it upon a pole. A look to the serpent of brass was enough to heal anyone who had been bitten. It was a type of Christ made sin for us on the cross, and the Lord Jesus Himself could say, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). As the Israelite of old was healed of the serpent’s bite, so sinners today can be healed from their sins by simple faith in the Lord Jesus.
Idolatry
It seems, however, that this serpent of brass had been carried through the rest of the wilderness journey, brought into the land of Canaan, and carefully preserved all through Israel’s history until Hezekiah’s day. Having turned to idolatry, the people of God actually worshipped that serpent of brass, and they even “did burn incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4).
A similar occasion occurred in the life of Gideon. He had faithfully destroyed an idol right on his father’s property and thrown down the altar of Baal. But later in his life, he too had a different and perhaps more subtle kind of altar. It is recorded that he took all the golden earrings of the slain Midianites, and out of them he made a golden ephod. Here again was something ordained of God, as a garment for the priests when they approached to God, yet Scripture tells us that “all Israel went thither a whoring after it” (Judg. 8:27). The ephod was of no value without the priest who wore it, yet it became itself an object of veneration.
Present Forms of Idolatry
While we, in the light of Christianity, may deplore this idolatry of material objects, yet we must recognize that in some branches of Christendom, such things still go on. Beautiful buildings, supposed relics, images of so-called “saints,” instrumental music and many other things take the place of the worship of Christ Himself. More than this, even true Christians have made idols of such things as baptism, ministry, prayer, the church, and other precious truths that God gave for the blessing of His people and for His glory. But separated from Christ, they become idols and a supposed approach to God which is of no value.
Often added to this kind of idol are the traditions of men—traditions which in some cases were originally founded on truth. However, when the enjoyment of the truth is lost, often the traditions are kept, and these become an idol that has no value without the accompanying communion with the Lord and the seeking of His honor. Like the Pharisees of old, believers can become attached to traditions that make them seem very spiritual, belying their walk and ways which are far from the Lord. In one sense, the sin for true Christians in this dispensation is greater, in the face of much greater light than they had in the Old Testament.
The Destruction of Idols
Hezekiah in his day faced up to this serious idolatry of the brazen serpent, and as he destroyed the heathen idols that his father had brought into Judah, he also “brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made” (2 Kings 18:4). It must have taken courage to do this, for the relic had been around for many centuries. Although no such remark is recorded in Scripture, yet it is quite possible that some accused him of sacrilege and of destroying an important memory of Israel’s past. But faithfulness to the Lord demanded it, and the people no longer had before them something which took their hearts away from Him.
We all need to take this lesson to heart. We may be ruthless in keeping ourselves from idols in the world, but the temptation for the believer is far more subtle, and correspondingly far more serious, when something given of the Lord becomes an idol. Christ wants our hearts to be attached to Him, and what He has given us for our blessing is of value only insomuch as it draws our hearts to Him.
W. J. Prost
Hezekiah’s Failure
There are many examples of real faithfulness recorded in the Word of God concerning Hezekiah, and he stands out among the kings of Judah for his trust in the Lord. However, God also records some failures in his life as a warning to us. I would suggest that there are three areas in his life where his conduct was not altogether according to God and in keeping with the faith he exhibited at other times.
First of all, it is evident that at the time of the initial threat from Sennacherib, his faith failed him. Having already refused to serve the king of Assyria at the beginning of his reign, he now says to Sennacherib that he was wrong to have refused, and he offers to pay whatever tribute was laid upon him. The amount demanded (three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold) was evidently paid in full, although it was necessary to give not only all the silver from the house of the Lord, but also gold stripped from the doors and posts of the temple.
A Lapse of Faith
Like Peter’s lack of faith while he was walking on the water, this was not a true lack of belief in the heart, but rather a temporary lapse of his faith due to circumstances that seemed overwhelming. The might of the Assyrian empire was well-known, and their cruelty to anyone who resisted them was legendary. By this time the northern kingdom had already fallen, and apparently the destruction of Samaria had been accompanied by slaughter and torture, as well as by the taking of many into captivity. Also, Hezekiah’s serious illness probably occurred about this time and may have added to his fragility.
Whatever the circumstances, however, it was scarcely right before God to give in to the claims of the Assyrian king, and this is borne out by the fact that nothing was gained by it. Sennacherib reacted with treachery and even greater demands. The Lord used all this, including Sennacherib’s subsequent direct challenge to God Himself, to strengthen Hezekiah’s faith and give him courage to stand firm on God’s promises.
Faithfulness or Grace
Second, Hezekiah’s reaction was not entirely in submission to the Lord, when Isaiah was sent to tell him that he would not recover from his sickness, but was going to die. Of course, we must make allowance for the fact that in the Old Testament, the interval between death and resurrection was shrouded in mystery. It was not until the New Testament that “our Savior Jesus Christ ... annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” (2 Tim. 1:10 JND). But Hezekiah pleads, not God’s grace, but rather his record of faithfulness, as a reason why he should not have to die. To remind the Lord that he had walked before Him “in truth and with a perfect heart” was somewhat presumptuous, even if there was truth in the statement. How much better the words of Paul, who could say, “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). Likewise, when speaking of his own life, Paul would not speak of his faithfulness, but simply commented, “I judge not mine own self ... but he that judgeth me is the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:3-4).
We know that Hezekiah’s subsequent recovery and victory over the Assyrians is a type of Israel’s recovery and restoration to blessing in a coming day, and also the annihilation of the latter-day Assyrian—first the king of the North, and eventually the Russian confederacy. Also, Hezekiah is a type of the Lord Jesus, who actually did go into death and rose triumphant over the grave and all of Satan’s power. But every type falls short, and we are here only commenting on Hezekiah’s failure as a man.
The Place of Greatness
The third and, perhaps, the most significant of Hezekiah’s failures occurs after his recovery and the destruction of Sennacherib’s army. As another has commented, he was able to stand firm against the frown of the world, but later succumbed to the friendship of the world. As a result of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, Hezekiah became a great man before the world. Who else had dared to resist Assyria and come out victorious? Suddenly Hezekiah was honored and sought after.
In addition to this, the “wonder that was done in the land” (2 Chron. 32:31) had come to the attention of other nations, for who had ever heard of the sundial going back ten degrees? The amount of time involved was forty minutes—enough that it was noticed by “the princes of Babylon,” who came to ask about this most significant event.
The Display of His Treasures
Finally, word had evidently gotten around that Hezekiah had been seriously ill, but had recovered. Thus we read that “Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered” (Isa. 39:1). But he was not the only one to send a present; we read also that “many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth” (2 Chron. 32:23).
Sad to say, it appears that all this went to his head, so to speak. God had “left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” and “his heart was lifted up” (2 Chron. 32:31,25). Favorable circumstances manifested something in his heart that nothing else had revealed. Instead of giving the Lord the glory and using the visit of the king of Babylon as an opportunity of honoring the God of Israel, he displayed before him “all that was found in his treasures” and everything in “all his dominion.”
We can understand this pride, and especially when material blessing was a sign of the Lord’s favor in the Old Testament. But it was really pride in himself, rather than thankfulness for what God had done. How easily we too, as believers, can be proud of what we have and what we are spiritually, and like Job of old, attribute to ourselves what God’s grace has worked in us. As a result, we read that “there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chron. 32:25). More than this, the prophet Isaiah told him that the king of Babylon had sinister intentions; his successors would come back at a future day and carry into Babylon all the treasures that Hezekiah had displayed as well as his descendants.
A Good Ending
But the story has a happy ending for Hezekiah. As a result of the discipline of the Lord, it is recorded that he “humbled himself for the pride of his heart ... so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah” (2 Chron. 32:26). It is sad to see failure, either in others or in ourselves, but when we are under the hand of God as a consequence, how good it is to see true humbling before Him. In Hezekiah’s case, God did not revoke his purposed judgment, but as a result of his humility, He allowed Hezekiah to go to his grave in peace.
With ourselves, the “chastening of the Lord” can produce either despising or fainting, and both are wrong (Heb. 12:5). But those who are “exercised thereby” will find that the Lord is gracious and that His dealings with us will produce “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). The lessons learned here in the wilderness may be hard, but they will pay eternal dividends.
W. J. Prost
Hezekiah: The Danger of Prosperity
It is very often so that God’s prosperings are attended with greater danger to our souls than is the devil’s harassment. We have an illustration of this in Isaiah 36-39. In chapters 36-37, the Assyrians thunder at the gates of Jerusalem, but Hezekiah is not dismayed. The letter of the invader with all its boastings is laid down quietly before the Lord, and the Lord declares concerning its writer, “Because thy rage against Me ... is come up into Mine ears ... I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest” (Isa. 37:29).
Like David, a “dead dog” in his own eyes, and like Paul, in that time of trouble which came upon him in Asia, having the sentence of death in himself, Hezekiah takes hold of the strength of the mighty God of Jacob, believes that He is (Heb. 11:6), and so believing is upheld by the right hand of His righteousness.
“That Which Was Right”
Bright would have been the portrait of this saint, had the record closed here. He had indeed done “that which was right in the sight of the Lord” and “trusted in the Lord God of Israel: so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him” (2 Kings 18:3,5). But the Spirit of God is a faithful biographer. Hezekiah had been proving the Lord in His power and faithfulness. We have now to look at him in other circumstances, proving what he himself is.
Prosperity
It is the hour of prosperity. The Lord by His favor has wrought deliverance, riches flow in from every side, and the renown of his name is spread abroad. “Many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth” (2 Chron. 32:23). How many a saint has been lifted into a place of prominence before his fellow saints and before the world, through a course of unaffected simplicity of dependence and of purpose of heart for God! Hezekiah “was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth,” but he was magnified also in his own sight.
Sickness
When Hezekiah was sick unto death, Isaiah the prophet was sent to him to say, “Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live” (Isa. 38:1). How does Hezekiah receive the message? “Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord” (vs. 2). So far all is right. But what is his cry? “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore” (vs. 3). In the temple he had spread before the Lord the letter with its blasphemies; now he spreads his graces before the Lord and appeals to Him on the credit of them.
The Lord does not deny the truth of what Hezekiah says. He takes it at its worth and tells him He will yet add fifteen years to his life. To a casual observer there might be nothing wonderful in this recovery of one who had been sick unto death. But a wonder has been wrought in the land. The Lord has recovered him and made him to live, and he celebrates this in the writing which he wrote when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness. The lump of figs laid as a plaster on the boil is but a lump of figs. If healing and health have flowed into his veins immediately through them, he acknowledges that it is God that has been at work.
The Wonder of the Sun
There is an accompanying wonder, the news of which reaches even to Babylon: “So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down” (vs. 8). The princes of Babylon send to inquire about this wonder, and congratulate the king on whose behalf it has been wrought, for the same God who can reverse the laws of nature in healing can reverse the actions of the heavenly bodies.
With the sense of this deliverance fresh upon his soul, the purpose of Hezekiah’s heart is not merely that of paying that which he has vowed in the presence of the Lord’s people, of sacrificing unto Him with the voice of thanksgiving; his thought is that he shall bear along with him the remembrance of these days all his life. What man is and what death is, as he saw and felt about them then, will never be forgotten. But it is one thing to recognize the truth of these things with the face to the wall; it is altogether another thing so to live in the continual sense of God’s presence as to disallow every pretension of the flesh.
Resolutions
What resolutions, not insincere but formed in ignorance of self, are recorded in this memorandum of a convalescent Hezekiah! He who expected death is about to enter afresh for a definite added term upon the scenes and activities of life. How will he carry himself in them? Bearing about with him in all its wholesome bitterness the lesson of death, his purpose is to live on the principle of continuous gratitude, the worshipper and extoller of the Lord. Alas! His purpose is built upon the “I shall” and “we will” of a sincere but self-ignorant heart.
The very next chapter brings before us a different state of things. It is again a time of prosperity; the sackcloth is put off, and the wearer of it is girded with gladness. The ambassadors of the king of Babylon have come, and Hezekiah’s heart is “lifted up”; the man who was to go softly is a self-exalter. “Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chron. 32:31).
The Treasures
He has put God in remembrance of the perfection of his heart, and God leaves him that he may know what that heart is. The ambassadors come; an opportunity is presented for magnifying the Lord, for making known the truth. What does he do? Then “Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found, in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not” (Isa. 39:2). He was glad of them; this explains it all. He calls them to examine his treasures, but God is calling him to the examination of his own heart. There is nothing of the dead man in all this, nothing of going softly. It needs only that we be left a little moment so that we should be tried, for us to know all that is in our hearts, and that which is in the heart comes out.
We read in 2 Chronicles 32:25 that Hezekiah “rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.” He humbles himself under the hand and word of the Lord. “Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon” (Isa. 39:3-7).
The Grace of God
“Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days” (Isa. 39:8). What a justifying of God in His ways have we here! However humbling the needed process through which His saints are put, the grace is pure that does it. Our profit is attained when, exercised through the discipline, we turn from self and from eyeing our graces to find in God our help. The expression, “Good is the word of the Lord that thou hast spoken,” instead of being a reflection of self-interest, in that the judgment would not fall in Hezekiah’s day, is rather an expression of thankfulness for the grace of God extended to Him. His mind is once again on the grace of God, rather than on his own glory.
Christian Friend (adapted)
Sennacherib and the Lord
The account of Hezekiah’s life in 2 Kings begins with his revolt against Sennacherib and the humiliation of the king because of his lack of trust, followed by the invasion of Judah. This is because the account here presents to us the careers of kings placed under responsibility. God’s discipline toward Hezekiah on this occasion shows him that only trust in the Lord is able to sustain him. Next we find Sennacherib’s attack against Jerusalem, where Hezekiah’s absolute confidence in the Lord is put to the proof and comes forth victorious.
In the account in Chronicles, we find the kings and the people viewed according to the counsels of God and His sovereignty in working out His purposes in spite of man’s failure. Judah is nothing more than a little insignificant remnant, confined to Jerusalem; the history of Sennacherib’s attack against Jerusalem is much briefer here than in the other two accounts.
In Isaiah we have the history of Hezekiah from the prophetic point of view. Three facts only are set forth in detail there: Sennacherib’s attack and Hezekiah’s grievous illness, followed by the visit of the ambassadors, which sets forth prophetically Babylon’s rise and fall in relation to Judah. In this account Hezekiah is in some respects a type of the Messiah, but in many other respects a type of the godly Jewish remnant.
The Things That Remained
After the Assyrian’s threats against him, Hezekiah goes up to the house of the Lord a first time. As it appeared, little was left to this poor king; all Judah was sacked, and the Assyrian army was besieging the only city still remaining standing. Did they have any resource, this weak “remnant that is left” (2 Kings 19:4)? Yes, indeed! They still had Jehovah’s temple, His beloved city, Mount Zion, and the prophet, the bearer of the word of God! The flesh might become discouraged, but amid this indescribable disaster, faith possessed everything that gave it firm assurance. It hearkens to the voice of the prophet and closes its ear to the blaspheming voice of the enemy’s servants. It gathers around the Lord’s anointed king.
Not that this confidence excluded a recognition of the extreme danger which pressed upon the heart: They wear sackcloth and rend their garments in token of affliction, of humiliation and of mourning. But the danger drives Hezekiah and his people towards the house of God to receive counsel, strength and consolation. “This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth” (2 Kings 19:3). In such times, as well as in our own day, our part is deep humiliation. Like the little remnant in Judah, we have to feel reproach and express it by our tears over the state of Christendom. But one thing suffices the afflicted remnant and ought to suffice us: The Lord is there, and it is He, not ourselves, that has been defied.
The Word of the Lord
“Be not afraid,” said Isaiah, “of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit into him and he shall hear tidings, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land” (2 Kings 19:6-7). The word of the Lord is fulfilled to the letter. The news that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, who had seized Egypt, was advancing against him when his own objective was precisely the conquest of Egypt caused him to depart suddenly to meet him.
But before his departure, Sennacherib sends a written message to Hezekiah. He had previously sent his spokesmen with this message to the people: “Let not Hezekiah deceive you ... neither let Hezekiah make you rely upon Jehovah” (2 Kings 18:29-30 JND). Now he says to Hezekiah, “Let not thy God, upon whom thou reliest, deceive thee” (2 Kings 19:10), likening Him to the false gods that he, the Assyrian, had destroyed. It was a direct “reproach” against the “living God.” The rage that filled the Assyrian monarch, hindered in his project and wounded in his pride, now shows itself in its true character. It is the God of Israel whom he opposes.
The Name of the Lord
Hezekiah goes up to the house of the Lord a second time. It is no more a question of humiliation like the first time, but one of a direct attack upon the name of the Lord whom Hezekiah honors. God must take account of this letter. The king places God’s cause into God’s own hands, but he knows that to honor His name, the Lord will save His humbled people. “Now, Jehovah our God, I beseech thee, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou, Jehovah, art God, Thou only” (2 Kings 19:19 JND).
Then Isaiah causes the king to know the word of the Lord pronounced against the Assyrian. Hezekiah bears upon his heart the interests of God, and God justifies the character and honor of His beloved ones, guilty but humbled, when these justify His personal honor and character. The Assyrian had been the rod of the wrath of God, but he had become proud of his success and had not feared to lift himself up against God. The Lord said, “Because thy raging against Me and thine arrogance is come up into Mine ears, I will put My ring in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will make thee go back by the way by which thou camest” (2 Kings 19:28 JND).
The Assyrian should not enter the city nor shoot arrows into it nor cast a bank against it; nevertheless the enemy army was surrounding it at that very moment. But God intervened because of His name and because of David His servant, toward whom He would neither revoke His covenant nor His promises (2 Kings 19:32-34).
Judgment of the Enemy
The very night of this prophecy the camp of the Assyrians was smitten. In the morning they were all dead bodies. “The stouthearted are made a spoil, they have slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. ... When God rose up to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth” (Psa. 76:5-6,9). It will be thus also that the Assyrian of the end time, the king of the North, shall meet his judgment: “Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate, and utterly to destroy many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the mountain of holy beauty; and he shall come to his end, and there shall be none to help him” (Dan. 11:44-45). He himself, the head of his army, suffers the sentence pronounced against him by the prophet (2 Kings 19:37). His sons smite him with the sword as he was bowed down in the house of Nisroch his god. He had said to Hezekiah, “The Lord will not deliver you,” but his god Nisroch was incapable of delivering him when he worshipped before him.
Progress
In all this we follow the progress of the man of God and the reward which his trust in the Lord receives. At the beginning he rebels against the Assyrian when perhaps, lacking knowledge of his own heart, he could have mistaken confidence in himself for confidence in God alone. Then he loses his confidence before the enemy, but God uses the discipline to remove from him all his self-confidence. In this trial Hezekiah, humbled by the state of his people, seeking no support within his own heart, commits all to God. His confidence increases in the measure that the trial grows. He no longer thinks of himself nor of his people, except to judge them; he seeks only the glory of the Lord, linking the salvation of Israel to this glory, however. God answers him by showing him that Jerusalem, the son of David, and the beloved remnant occupy His thoughts exclusively. He delivers His people by judgment, answering the humble prayer “the remnant that is left” addresses to Him by the mouth of the prophet (2 Kings 19:4).
H. L. Rossier (adapted)
Hezekiah and Manasseh
Hezekiah "trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him.” If we looked only upon the surface, we might have considered that the piety of Hezekiah would have been rewarded in the exaltation of the nation over which be reigned. That his reign was very greatly beneficial to his subjects we freely admit. When, however, we draw a comparison between the days of Jehoshaphat and those of Hezekiah, we are struck by certain sure signs that, notwithstanding the latter's godliness, the nation has declined to a much lower footing before the Lord.
On the Assyrian coming upon the scene, Hezekiah proclaims no fast, as did Jehoshaphat; instead of the nation standing before the Lord, its godly king enters the sanctuary to make his own earnest prayer as an individual. In a day of national adversity, we read of two individuals, simply, as praying and crying to heaven (2 Chron. 32:20). Hezekiah indeed spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, but instead of an instant answer, the reply is sent by Isaiah to him (2 Kings 19:20). Then the army of Judah is in no way associated with the overthrow of the Assyrians, and instead of gathering spoil, poor Hezekiah had already endured the mortification of humbling himself before his enemy (2 Kings 18:14) and, what must have grieved him not less, of the sanctuary despoiled of silver and gold, in a vain attempt to satisfy the greed of his powerful adversary (vss. 15-16).
Had Hezekiah been content to set his house in order and die, the nation had been spared much suffering. During those added fifteen years was born Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1); the heart of Hezekiah became lifted up, to his own and to the nation's hurt (2 Chron. 32:25-26).
Bible Treasury (author unknown)
Double Revivals
I may remark that there were two great revivals in the history of Judah’s kings, that under Hezekiah and that of Josiah. The first was characterized by faith. You will remember how Hezekiah prayed and spread the letter before the Lord, and the Lord came in and destroyed the army of Sennacherib. But Josiah’s revival had another characteristic, which was attention to the Word of God. The roll of the book was found, and then came the wondrous revolution effected by this judging of all things by that perfect standard.
In analogy you have these two revivals in the history of the church. That of the Reformation was characterized by bold faith, breaking up existing things, and although the word of God was in measure the basis of appeal, all things were not judged according to its standard. Rather it was a reformation of that which seemed to be the church around them. In the present day, beginning more than 150 years ago, another action has come, and God is leading souls back to Scripture; close attention to the Word of God gives a character to the action of His Spirit in souls at the present time. Everything is judged to which the veneration of centuries and the antiquity of ages lent a charm and led souls away from Scripture. God has taken care, in His infinite, boundless mercy, that when He has commended us to Scripture in these last days, we should find in it everything needed for the exigencies of this time.
F. G. Patterson
Whose Faith Follow
We like to look to those who lead,
And from their meditations feed…
That build us up.
But there may be a glaring fault,
Or more insidious step of walk
That trips us up.
We must discern their faith to trace,
And count the rest to have no place…
Keep looking up!
Let no man block that single eye
That looks past man—right up on high…
Till we’re caught up.
Selected