2 Kings20
New Living Translation
1About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”
2When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
3“Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord:
5“Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord.
6I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”
7Then Isaiah said, “Make an ointment from figs.” So Hezekiah’s servants spread the ointment over the boil, and Hezekiah recovered!
8Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What sign will the Lord give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the Lord three days from now?”
9Isaiah replied, “This is the sign from the Lord to prove that he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?”
10“The shadow always moves forward,” Hezekiah replied, “so that would be easy. Make it go ten steps backward instead.”
11So Isaiah the prophet asked the Lord to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!
12Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick.
13Hezekiah received the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”
15“What did they see in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”
16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord:
17The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.
18Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.”
19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”
20The rest of the events in Hezekiah’s reign, including the extent of his power and how he built a pool and dug a tunnel to bring water into the city, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.
21Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became the next king.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Kings 20.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Hezekiah's sickness, His recovery in answer to prayer. (1–11). Hezekiah shows his treasures to the ambassadors from Babylon, His death. (12–21).
vv1-11
Hezekiah was sick unto death, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem. A warning to prepare for death was brought to Hezekiah by Isaiah. Prayer is one of the best preparations for death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God, to enable us to finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he was unwilling to die; it is in the nature of man to dread the separation of soul and body. There was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case; he was now in the midst of his usefulness. Let Hezekiah's prayer, see Isa 38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is like his having been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment. Hezekiah's piety made his sick-bed easy. “O Lord, remember now;” he does not speak as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us; nor, as if the reward might be demanded as due; it is Christ's righteousness only that is the purchase of mercy and grace. Hezekiah does not pray, Lord, spare me; but, Lord, remember me; whether I live or die, let me be thine. God always hears the prayers of the broken in heart, and will give health, length of days, and temporal deliverances, as much and as long as is truly good for them. Means were to be used for Hezekiah's recovery; yet, considering to what a height the disease was come, and how suddenly it was checked, the cure was miraculous. It is our duty, when sick, to use such means as are proper to help nature, else we do not trust God, but tempt him. For the confirmation of his faith, the shadow of the sun was carried back, and the light was continued longer than usual, in a miraculous manner. This work of wonder shows the power of God in heaven as well as on earth, the great notice he takes of prayer, and the great favour he bears to his chosen.
vv12-21
The king of Babylon was at this time independent of the king of Assyria, though shortly after subdued by him. Hezekiah showed his treasures and armour, and other proofs of his wealth and power. This was the effect of pride and ostentation, and departing from simple reliance on God. He also seems to have missed the opportunity of speaking to the Chaldeans, about Him who had wrought the miracles which excited their attention, and of pointing out to them the absurdity and evil of idolatry. What is more common than to show our friends our houses and possessions? But if we do this in the pride of ours hearts, to gain applause from men, not giving praise to God, it becomes sin in us, as it did in Hezekiah. We may expect vexation from every object with which we are unduly pleased. Isaiah, who had often been Hezekiah's comforter, is now is reprover. The blessed Spirit is both, Joh 16:7, 8. Ministers must be both, as there is occasion. Hezekiah allowed the justice of the sentence, and God's goodness in the respite. Yet the prospect respecting his family and nation must have given him many painful feelings. Hezekiah was indeed humbled for the pride of his heart. And blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
Key Words
הֵם: they (only used when emphatic)
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
חִזְקִיָּה: Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other Israelites
חָלָה: properly, to be rubbed or worn; hence (figuratively) to be weak, sick, afflicted; or (causatively) to grieve, make sick; also to stroke (in flattering), entreat
מוּת: to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill
יְשַׁעְיָה: Jeshajah, the name of seven Israelites
נָבִיא: a prophet or (generally) inspired man
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָמוֹץ: Amots, an Israelite
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
Cross References
2 Kings 20The parallel account of Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, containing his personal thanksgiving song.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The exact parallel prophetic account of the Babylonian embassy and Isaiah's subsequent rebuke.
Supported by JFB
Chronicles parallel summarizing Hezekiah's sickness, the miracle of recovery, and his heart's pride.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Explains God left Hezekiah to test him during the visit of the Babylonian ambassadors.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The conditional promise to David's line that Hezekiah pleads before God in prayer.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Verbatim promise of God defending Jerusalem for His own sake and for David's sake.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Provides details on Hezekiah's engineering feat of routing the upper watercourse of Gihon.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The major Old Testament parallel where God alters the sun's natural course for His servants.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfillment where Nebuchadnezzar carries all the treasures of Jerusalem's temple to Babylon.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Fulfillment of the prophecy that Hezekiah's descendants would be eunuchs in Babylon's palace.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Illustrates that conditionally expressed prophetic warnings can be averted through repentance and prayer.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Shows Manasseh was born three years after this extension, during Hezekiah's fifteen added years.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The parallel detail from Isaiah specifying the application of a lump of figs to the boil.
Supported by JFB
Eli's similar submissive response to divine judgment: 'It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.'
Supported by Matthew Henry