Written by Philip Thompson
Isaiah 38:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
Isaiah 38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
Isaiah 38:3 And said, 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.
Isaiah 38:4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Isaiah 38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
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Isaiah 39:1 At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
Isaiah 39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed 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 armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Isaiah 39:3 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.
Isaiah 39:4 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 shewed them.
Isaiah 39:5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
Isaiah 39:6 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.
Isaiah 39:7 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.
Isaiah 39:8 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.
In these passages we read in the book of Isaiah there is much pointed instruction to be gleaned. Hezekiah will be our focus in this examination.
I want to say first that in the book of Isaiah, Chronicles and in Kings we see that there is mostly good written of Hezekiah, in fact this passage contains one of the few instances we read in which he is not being a good example, he’s an example of what not to follow here.
We see first of all his cry in distress, in Isaiah 38:2-3
Hezekiah is going through difficulties, he is on his deathbed, he has just received word from God’s prophet of his soon departure from this earth and his response is to cry out to God!
This is of course a wonderful thing, how much should we cry out to God in our troubles and try to hear something from Him, how we should wait for His guidance and counsel in our most challenging situation!
Hezekiah’s track record for crying out to God when he is faced with troubles is one to take note of, he called on God when he was threatened by the king of Assyria, and when he was given a death sentence. We should indeed be bringing things to God when we are struggling with life’s challenges.
We see further that Hezekiah’s response to God’s deliverance in this situation, at least initially is one of praise to God!
The following is just one portion of Hezekiah’s full praise:
Isaiah 38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
This aspect of Hezekiah’s actions is one to replicate!
We see second Hezekiah’s carelessness in his deliverance, in Isaiah 39:1-8
We read of some letters and a present from the king of Babylon to Hezekiah, celebrating his recovery. This is where the coin flips, instead of trying to replicate Hezekiah’s actions in chapter 39 we should be doing our best to do the opposite.
Isaiah 39:1 At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
Isaiah 39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed 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 armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Isaiah 39:3 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.
Isaiah 39:4 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 shewed them.
Hezekiah becomes very careless when he recovers from his illness. To a foreign king he swings open his house’s door and allows them to see all that is in his house.
This is very foolish of course, we can see in hindsight that this is wrong, God deliver’s his pronouncement of judgement by Isaiah immediately as we read in V. 5-8, but why did Hezekiah act in the rather ridiculous matter that he did?
It’s clear that it’s because he got haughty, he began to neglect the fact that God healed him in favor of only thinking about how wonderful it was to be healed. He was made proud and exalted in his mind because of this situation.
We know this because of 2nd Chronicles 32:25, which speaks of this same incident.
2nd Chronicles 32:25 But 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.
The idea of “lifted up” can be better attained when we see what else the Hebrew word is translated as elsewhere in our KJV Bible.
It is translated as the following:
“haughty, proud, he was higher, raised it up a very great height, upward, they are exalted, mount up.”
Thus we see, Hezekiah did what he did because in the trials he was able to understand his need for God, but seemingly when God helped Him, when God put him in a good place, he lost sight of God, and his need for Him.
What is the moral here? It is NOT that we shouldn’t desire blessings from God, we should desire all the blessings God has for us.
What the moral IS, is that we should always understand that “we are dust”, Psalm 103:14, and we need Him every day of our lives, no matter how well it’s going.
This action of Hezekiah’s brought great distress that would be enacted on the next generation! Certainly something not to replicate!
Arguably the worst part is his response, notice what he says after the judgement is pronounced:
Isaiah 39:6 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.
Isaiah 39:7 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.
Isaiah 39:8 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.
He was so proud and haughty and lifted up, that he says in reference to heavy unimaginable judgement “Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”, It is clear he didn’t care at all.
How much should we care about the next generation! How we should strive to set them on the right path with the right preparation!
Here’s the gleaning summed up nice and tidy:
Follow Hezekiah’s example in your trials, cry out to God, be thankful for his deliverance.
Don’t follow Hezekiah’s example when things are going well, don’t ignore God.
Care about the future generations, the world doesn’t end with us!