"At that time Hezekiah was seized with a mortal sickness: and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him, and said unto him: Thus says Jehovah: Give orders concerning your affairs to your family; for you must die; you shall no longer live. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall; and made his supplication to Jehovah. And he said: I beseech You, O Jehovah, remember now, how I have endeavored to walk before You in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept, and lamented grievously. Now [before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court (2 Kings 20:4)] the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying: Go [back], and say unto Hezekiah, thus says Jehovah, the God of David your father: I have heard your supplication; I have seen your tears. Behold [I will heal you; and on the third day you shall go up into the house of Jehovah. And (2 Kings 20:5)] I will add unto your days fifteen years. And I will deliver you, and this city, from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city. [And Hezekiah said: By what sign shall I know that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah? And Isaiah said: (2 Kings 20:20)] This shall be the sign unto you from Jehovah, that Jehovah will bring to effect this word which He has spoken. Behold I will bring back the shadow of the degrees, by which the sun is gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. And the sun returned backward ten degrees, on the degrees by which it had gone down." (Isaiah 38:1-8,Lowth) "And Isaiah said: Let them take a lump of figs; and they bruised them, and applied them to the boil; and he recovered." (2 Kings 20:21,Lowth)
In studying this lesson, reference should be made to the record in 2 Kings 20:1-11. It will be noticed that the Lowth's Translation, which we have reprinted here, two sections are inserted in brackets in the fourth and fifth verses, from the corresponding verses of the account in 2 Kings.
Also, in order that the record of the event may be complete in one lesson, verses 21 and 22 are brought into the narrative in the regular course, instead of being left, as in our common version, at the close of Hezekiah's song of thanksgiving.
Let the student diligently compare this reading with that in his Bible. There is no alteration, but only a bringing of the different parts of the narrative into one. "At that time." (Isaiah 38:1,Lowth)
At what time? For an answer read chapter 36 and 37. The lesson itself (verse 6) indicates that it was at the time that the king of Assyria was besieging Jerusalem. Read also the accounts in 2 Kings 18 and 19 and 2 Chronicles 32.
The first thing that claims our attention in this study is the kindness of God in giving Hezekiah timely warning of his approaching death. For what reason Hezekiah was to die at that time, is not stated, and we have no business to conjecture. It would do no good if we should. Of one thing we may be sure: it was not because Hezekiah was a bad man. The record concerning his reign is that "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done." (2 Chronicles 29:2) "[He] wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered." (2 Chronicles 31:20-21)
No king has ever had a better testimony given him than that. One of the most common things when a kind, benevolent, and good person dies, is to hear people say,
"What had he done, that he should be taken away? if it had only been such and such a one, I could understand it, for he would never have been missed; but to take away so useful a member of society,--it is inexplicable."
Or sometimes a parent says, when a devoted and pious child is taken, "What have we done, that she should be taken from us?"
Just as though God never thought of anything but devising some means of punishing people, and trying to make them miserable! Just as though it would be a mark of greater mercy on the part of God if He should allow all the unprepared ones to die, leaving behind only those who are ready either for life or death! God has "No pleasure in the death of him that dies." (Ezekiel 18:32) "The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." (Isaiah 57:1)
The death of a good man, indispensable as he may seem to be, is often the greatest mercy that could befall both him and those who are left behind. Indeed, we may be sure that whatever takes place, the mercy of God endures for ever. "For He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." (Lamentations 3:33)
Death a Costly Thing
Let no one, however, think that it is a light matter to the Lord that any person, whether good or bad, dies. Death is not in God's plan for men. He is the living God, and the God of life. (Matthew 16:16; Psalm 36:9) He is the Father of all, and from Him all parental love comes. There is no fatherly love on earth that is not simply a little fragment of the love of God for all men.
Then let any father think of his own sorrow at the death of a loved child, and he will have an exceedingly faint idea of the sorrow that moves the heart of God when one of His children dies. See Jesus shedding tears at the grave of Lazarus, even when He knew that in a few minutes He would call His friend back to life. (John 11:34-36) Read the 116th Psalm. Note especially the fifteenth verse: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:15)
That word "precious" is from the same word that is often rendered "costly," and it always has that meaning, as anyone will know, who considers its origin. So we should read the verse as it appears in several versions, "Costly in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:15)
It costs the Lord more than the human mind can compute, for Him to allow one of His saints to die, even though it be necessary. Death is an expensive thing to the Lord. It costs Him many a heartache. It is a personal loss to Him; He feels it, because every creature is a part of himself. "We are His offspring, [and] in Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
But more, it is a loss to Him in the great work that He has to do in the earth. It is a common thing for men to say that God could get along without any of us, as though He were so self-contained and so self-satisfied and so far above all human feelings that nothing can move Him; when the fact is that everything moves Him.
God has given the earth to man, and has never recalled the gift. Through man He has purposed to rule the world, and although we in our selfishness may not be able to understand it, it is a fact that God cannot get along without man. He showed this in that He gave His life for us. He could not live without man. He desires man to be His constant companion. It is for that purpose that He created man.
Therefore we may be sure that it was not with a light heart that God said to Hezekiah, "you shall die, and not live." (Isaiah 38:1)
Death an Enemy
Hezekiah did not wish to die; the thought of it was most painful to him. "Hezekiah wept sore." (Isaiah 38:3)
Was it because he felt that he had been a bad man, and therefore dreaded to meet his God? No; for he had so little consciousness of guilt that he could recount to the Lord the integrity in which he had walked before Him.
If dying means, as the theologians tell us, to be with the Lord, why should Hezekiah have felt so sorrowful at the thought of dying? Ah, he knew better. There is no man in his senses that would not rather live than die. The tears that people shed over the dead, even while they try to make themselves believe that death is a friend, show that it is impossible for anybody to believe that lie. Every funeral train and every tear are testimonies to the effect that death is an enemy, and not a friend. Death speaks of the devil, the adversary of mankind. "The righteous has hope in his death," simply because he has the assurance through Christ that death shall be destroyed, and he be delivered from its grasp. Death is always and everywhere a thing for tears, and not for joy.
"No" as an Answer to Prayer
"Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add unto your days fifteen years." (Isaiah 38:4-5)
The Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer, and allowed him to live a little longer. Yes, "He heard his prayer." How natural it is for us to say that, when we have prayed for something, and have got it. But suppose we do not get it, what then? Then we shake our heads mournfully, and say, "The Lord didn't see fit to hear us."
Just as if there were ever anything that God did not hear. People in their selfishness generally have the idea that the universe is run for their own individual benefit, regardless of anybody else, and each one thinks that his own wishes should be attended to in every detail, and at once, no matter how many others may be distressed by it. So if God does not say "Yes" to every request of theirs, they feel that they have been greatly abused, and even insulted, because, say they, "I prayed to the Lord, and He did not answer me."
Haven't they ever heard that "No" is as much an answer as "Yes" is? And has not God as good a right to say "No" once in a while as any earthly parent has, who knows several things that his child does not know? Many a child has lived long enough to find out that the answer "No," to a request for some much-longedfor thing, which seemed to him almost like a death blow, was the greatest blessing that could have been given him. It is always so when God says it, for He gives everything that is good, and He gives nothing that is not good.
Hezekiah Gained Nothing
But Hezekiah received "Yes" as an answer to His prayer. We will not say that he received "a favorable answer." He got what he asked for, although it was directly contrary to what God had said he should have. Did he really get it, though? "Certainly he did," you say.
Let us see. What did he ask for? He asked for a reversal of the decree that had gone forth, that he should die, and not live. "And he did live," you say.
How long? Fifteen years. That is not very long, and when that time had elapsed, what then? Why, then he died. Yes, that was what God had said concerning him. He had to die just the same as if it had happened fifteen years before; death is just the same one time as another.
But how much better off was Hezekiah after the close of that fifteen years than he was at the beginning? What had he gained by trying to overthrow the word of God? Ah, God works all things after the counsel of His own will; His word will be fulfilled sooner or later, and it is well for mankind that it is so.
Hezekiah's Healing a Public Calamity
Whatever Hezekiah may have gained personally in his own feelings by the result of his prayer, it is certain that the people lost by it. We do not hear very much of Hezekiah after that incident. He appears only once, and then in a circumstance that is not greatly to his credit. But we know that in that fifteen years Manasseh was born, for Manasseh was only twelve years old when he succeeded him at his death. Read a little about him: "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began his reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel." (2 Chronicles 33:1-9) "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." (2 Kings 21:16)
Surely the people of Israel had no reason to be very jubilant over the result of Hezekiah's prayer.
Right and Wrong Praying
When we look at what followed, it seems quite evident that it would have been better if Hezekiah had kept still and allowed things to take the course pointed out by the Lord. "What! Isn't it always right to pray to the Lord for what we want, especially for life and health?"
Yes; provided we pray in accordance with the will of God. That is always the rule. We must allow that God knows best. He sees the end from the beginning; and when God tells a man that he is to die, and sends a special messenger, a holy prophet, to bear the message, the very best thing for that man, and for everybody else, is that he should die. There is "A time to be born, and a time to die," (Ecclesiastes 3:2) and knowing how much the death of one of His children costs the Lord, we may be sure that the time for a man to die is when God says so. "Shall we then not dare ask the Lord for a continuance of life?"
Why not? We have not received any message from the Lord, telling us that we are to die, and not live. On the contrary we are told, "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5:13-15)
That is for us, unless we have received some direct intimation from the Lord that we are to be an exception. But let us remember that it is the prayer of faith, that saves the sick, and that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17)
Then we must not ask for anything contrary to the Word of God, and we must know the Word of God as personally addressed to us.
The Use of Remedies
"And Isaiah said: Let them take a lump of figs: and they bruised them, and applied them to the boil; and he recovered." (Isaiah 38:21,Lowth)
Someone will say, "Why, Hezekiah was healed by natural means, after all; it was a strange and unusual remedy, to be sure, but it was a remedy, nevertheless."
Well, what of it? "Oh, when the Lord heals, He does not use remedies."
Ah, how did you learn that? Does not the Lord use instruments for the performance of His will? He uses things that are, and even things that are not, for the accomplishment of His purpose. Do not imagine that a thing is any the less a work of God, because He has done it through some agency, human or otherwise.
Know this, that there was never a person healed of any disease in this world except by the Lord, and that He always uses some means, visible or invisible. The means is none the less real, if it is invisible.
Do not get the idea that when you see a thing done, and see the thing that does it, it is not from the Lord; and that the miracle occurs only when you cannot see anything but the result. The words of the Lord are medicine, whether they are in visible form, or are invisible. "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and medicine to all their flesh." (Proverbs 4:20-22,margin)
It is His Word that He sends to heal the afflicted: "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalm 107:20)
Remedies are always in place when people are sick, and are always perfectly consistent with fervent prayer for their recovery, even with the course that is set forth in the 5th chapter of James. But remember that they must be only the Lord's remedies. They must be remedies which are the embodiment of the living Word of God. They must not be things which contain death, and are themselves but the agencies of death. God heals by imparting life, not by giving death. "Men ought always to pray," (Luke 18:1) but that does not mean that they should sit still and do nothing. We ought to pray for our daily bread; but the command to do that comes from the same source as the command that "If any would not work, neither should he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
When we have done an honest day's work, and have received food as the reward, we are to thank God for the gift just as much as if the ravens had been sent to feed us while we sat by the brook. It is from His hands just the same.
And so we are always to pray for the recovery of the sick, and at the same time to make use of every means that God has made known to us as serviceable. This does not include poisonous drugs, for they are not life-bearers, but death agents.
And then if, after applying the means that God himself indicated, the patient recovers, we are to thank the Lord just as heartily for the performance of a miracle of healing as if we had heard Him speak with an audible voice, and tell the disease to depart.
The Lord is the Great Physician, and there is not a medical man in the world that cannot learn things from Him that will astonish him.
A Sign from the Lord
"And this shall be a sign unto you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down." (Isaiah 38:7-8)
The Lord gave Hezekiah a sign by which he might know that he should recover. We notice by reading 2 Kings 20:8-10 that Hezekiah was very particular as to the sign. He did not want any doubt about it. "And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shall you have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees." (2 Kings 20:8-10)
So the shadow on the dial was made to go backward ten degrees. Wonderful! Yes; but no more so than the healing of Hezekiah. Nay, it was no more wonderful than is the daily going forward of the shadow. Everything is wonderful, for in everything the eternal power and Divinity of God are manifest.
We have known professed Christian men who had the audacity to attempt to explain the miracle of the going backward of the shadow on the dial, as well as the standing still of the sun in the days of Joshua. Some people think that they are in duty bound to seem to know as much as the Lord; but all will at the last be obliged to admit that the Lord knows many things that we do not.
We would not minimise the going backward of the shadow, or the standing still of the sun, but would magnify the miracles that are taking place every day, and which are unnoticed because of their frequency. The fact that the sun keeps its place in the heavens, and that all the heavenly bodies move in their courses so exactly that men who watch them closely can tell to a second when to expect them at any particular point, is a stupendous miracle. God placed them in the heavens "for signs," (Genesis 1:14) as well as "for seasons, and days, and years." (Genesis 1:14)
They are signs to all men that the power and mercy of the Lord are everlasting. They are signs of the faithfulness of God, which is established in the very heavens. "Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and your faithfulness reaches unto the clouds." (Psalm 36:5) "For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: your faithfulness shall You establish in the very heavens." (Psalm 89:2)
When we see the shadow moving forward we may be as sure of the fulfillment of the Word of God to us as Hezekiah was when he saw it going backward. No word of God can fail, and every sunbeam is proof of it. God has not left himself without witness, and we are not obliged to ask for something special in our case. All we have to do is to look round us.--Present Truth, July 27,1899--Isaiah 38:1-8, 21, 22.