Isaiah 38:1-8, Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery-Part 1
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ISAIAH HEZEKIAH’S ILLNESS & RECOVERY, PART 1, ISAIAH 38:1-8 The events of chapter 38, Hezekiah’s illness and recovery, occurred before the events of chapter 37. We know this because of Yahweh’s promise of deliverance from the aggressions of the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and his army (v. 6) that were the subject of chapter 36 and which had yet to occur. Isaiah 39:1 is timed alongside Hezekiah’s illness; therefore, the events of that chapter must also have occurred before the invasion of Judah. We also know that Merodach-Baladan was the king in Babylon before the Assyrian invasion of Judah. He reigned over Babylon from 721-710 BC and again for 9 months in 703 BC both of which are prior to the events of chapter 37. Another indication that these events were prior to the Assyrian invasion is that Hezekiah had stripped the Temple of its treasures and sent them to Sennacherib as tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16) after the Assyrian Army had conquered Lachish. If the Babylonian delegation had come to Jerusalem after that incident, there would have been no treasures left in the Temple to show them (Is. 39:2), but the Temple treasures were present when they visited the city. As I mentioned in a previous lesson, the placement of chapters 38 and 39 was most likely a strategic placement in the narrative designed to dissuade people from assigning the role of Messiah to Hezekiah. People may have been tempted to believe that Hezekiah was the promised child and son of Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7. Hezekiah, however, was a mere man, a proud man, and a fallible man who could be faithful and trust in God and follow after his father David, but he could also be very unfaithful and try to do things in his own power. He was not the Messiah as Isaiah’s historical account makes very clear. Hezekiah became ill with some sort of malady that was so serious that it was going to take the king’s life. And Isaiah the prophet .[חָלָה] ill [מּות] Isaiah 38:1 1In those days Hezekiah became mortally the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” Exactly what “in those days” refers to is unknown. It is probably a general way of referring to Hezekiah’s life as king of Judah, particularly during the time leading up to the Assyrian invasion. Whatever time period it was, it was before the Assyrian invasion of Judah, although probably not too long before. This must be the case because we know Hezekiah’s age, his lifespan, and the year that Assyria invaded Judah. Hezekiah was born in 740 BC, he reigned from 716/715 to 687/686 BC, and he died in 687/686 BC at the age of 53. The invasion of Judah by Sennacherib that is the subject of this section of Isaiah occurred in 701 BC, and Hezekiah died in about 686 BC. Hezekiah’s illness must have occurred before the invasion which places it before 701 BC, probably in 703 BC or slightly before because that date includes the last segment of Merodach-Baladan’s two-part reign in 703 BC who was the Babylonian king who sent the delegation to Jerusalem in response to Hezekiah’s illness (Is. 39:1). The problem I have with that thought is that the fifteen years of additional 1 life that was granted Hezekiah fits into the 701 to 686 BC time span, while the 703 BC does not quite fit. There is always a problem with exactly figuring out and synthesizing ancient dates, but we do know the Assyrians invaded Judah in 701 BC. The point is the dates are just a bit conflicting. means to die, dying, dead, or to perish referring to passing from physical life , מּות ,Mortally and losing all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life. Whatever the nature of this illness, it was going to take the king’s life. means to be weak or sick referring to being or becoming affected by an , חָלָה ,Ill impairment of normal physical or mental function. These words leave no doubt that Hezekiah was on his death bed; this illness was going to take his life; he was sick and about to die. The words of Isaiah, the prophet, the man of God, reinforced that fact when he announced that Yahweh said Hezekiah was going to die and not live. It is interesting to note that the Scriptures do not say that Hezekiah sent for the prophet which means Yahweh apparently sent the prophet to the king. The other option is that Isaiah went to the king on his own given the gravity of the message he was given. Whatever the reason for his appearance before the king, the prophet delivered the message directly to Hezekiah. We know that Hezekiah, absent the intervention of Yahweh, was going to die. Whether Yahweh sent this deadly health issue to the king, or He was simply allowing this problem to run its course is not stated. All we know is that this malady was going to take the king’s life, and Yahweh was going to allow that to happen. When the prophet of God announces, under the proclamation, “Thus says the LORD,” we know that what follows must take place. In this situation, Hezekiah was going to die and not live. The text is very emphatic and reads, “you are dying and you will not live.” We do know that Hezekiah had a pride problem that caused wrath to come on Judah and Jerusalem. By entering into an alliance with Egypt and by consorting with Babylon, he was rejecting the promises God made to Israel to protect the nation from harm. That, in turn, invoked God’s promises of divine, temporal discipline for unfaithfulness. The timeline looks like this: Hezekiah became ill, Yahweh healed him, he became proud which was at least partly revealed by his positive reception of the Babylonian delegation, but he then humbled his pride, and Yahweh withdrew his wrath from Jerusalem which was revealed by the destruction of the Assyrian soldiers at the hand of the angel of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 32:24–26 24In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign. 25But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was commanded to set his house in order which could refer to the arrangement of such end of life issues such business, finance, and family that must be finalized before 2 one dies. More importantly, the command could be referring to getting his spiritual house in order. Finally, it could have to do with establishing an orderly process for succession to the throne. There was, however, one problem with the impending death of the king— Hezekiah had no son to assume the throne. In that culture, to be childless was a very serious source of shame and concern, and especially to be without a male heir the importance of which is magnified when it concerns the continuation of the Davidic line of kings. Hezekiah then did what all of us should do when faced with life’s problems, he turned to Yahweh in prayer. He reminded God that he had been a faithful king during his reign. While the Bible does assign to him the highest of accolades— “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chron. 29:2)—he did exhibit some serious lapses in judgment at times. Pride and entering into alliances with pagan nations being two examples. Nevertheless, he knew that Yahweh was a faithful and merciful God, so the king turned to him for deliverance. Isaiah 38:2–3 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3and now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth [זָכַר] said, “Remember ”.in Your sight [טֹוב] and have done what is good ,[לֵב] heart [שָ לֵם] and with a whole [אֱמֶ ת] And Hezekiah wept bitterly. It is not unheard of for Yahweh to relent and turn away from a proclamation of destruction. In Exodus, Yahweh told Moses that in response to the Israelite’s worship of the golden calf, He would destroy them and make a great nation out of Moses. Moses entreated Him to change His mind, presented his argument for so doing, and Yahweh relented and did not destroy the Israelites to start over with Moses (Ex. 32:1-14). The same thing happened when the Israelites refused to enter the land after the report the spies brought back concerning the might of the Canaanites. Yahweh was going to destroy the nation and start over with Moses, but Moses appealed to Yahweh to spare them, and He did (Num. 14:1-20). In the same way, Yahweh was going to respond to Hezekiah’s plea and spare his life for fifteen years. At this point, Hezekiah was still a man in the prime of his life, in his mid to late thirties, probably 37 or 38.