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. 37:2929Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. (Isaiah 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. 11:66But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 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 18:3,53And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. (2 Kings 18:3)
5He 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)). 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. 32:2323And 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 Chronicles 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. 38:11In 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 38:1)). 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. 32:3131Howbeit 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 Chronicles 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. 39:22And 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. (Isaiah 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 32:2525But 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. (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. 39:3-73Then 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. 4Then 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. 5Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6Behold, 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. 7And 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 39:3‑7)).
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. 39:88Then 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. (Isaiah 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)