After the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian armies (chapters 36-37) we are given an account of a miraculous deliverance of Hezekiah from sickness and death (chapter 38). As the Lord can save His nation, He can also save its king. As Psalm 68:20 exclaims, “Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.”
Hezekiah’s severe sickness (“at the point of death”—1) coincided with the threat posed by the Assyrian armies; the opening phrase of verse 1 (“In those days”) links this episode with the previous account of God’s deliverance of Jerusalem. So, either during the difficult days of the Assyrian threat (hinted at in verse 6) or closely afterwards, Hezekiah’s health breaks. If his illness happened while Jerusalem was facing attack, this illness would have been doubly severe for the nation. If after God had rescued the city, it would have been a sudden downturn after a time of elation.
Isaiah the prophet comes to see the ailing king. We’re not told Isaiah prayed for him or comforted him; rather, he gives a sober warning: “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover” (2). This seems both clear and final—Hezekiah will not live through this illness.
Hezekiah’s response is both to cry (“wept bitterly”—3) and to cry out to the Lord. He pleads with the Lord to remember his wholehearted devotion and his faithful, consistent obedience (“done what is good in your sight”—3).
The Lord hears Hezekiah’s emotional request and sends Isaiah to give a positive answer: “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your faith: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold I will add fifteen years to your life” (4). The Lord also pledges to deliver Jerusalem “out of the hand of the king of Assyria” and to “defend this city” (6).
Putting together the final verses in the chapter, it would seem that Isaiah also was instructed to have a “cake of figs” put as a poultice on “the boil” inflicting Hezekiah (21). It would also seem that Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would indeed recover and “go up to the house of the Lord” (22). Whereas Ahaz would not ask God for a sign of deliverance (7:10), Hezekiah does. The sign he is given, ironically, is linked to Ahaz. The Lord makes the “shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps” (8).
In response to God’s restorative goodness in his life, Hezekiah composes a psalm of lament and praise (9-20). Verses 10-16 lament his suffering and express his sadness and fears in facing death at the Lord’s hand. Verses 17-20 celebrate God for His goodness in healing Hezekiah and allowing him to continue to praise Him in His house.
The opening lines of the psalm express Hezekiah’s grief at the prospect of an early death (“in the middle of my days”—10). He grieves that he will no longer see the Lord or other people “in the land of the living” (11). He feels his life is being pulled like a shepherd’s tent and cut off like a weaving from the loom (12). It’s clear to Hezekiah that the Lord is the one bringing his life to an untimely close; twice he repeats the line, “from day to night you bring me to an end” (12-13). Acknowledging the “bitterness” of his soul, he appeals to the Lord to restore his health and make him live (15-16).
The psalm turns from lament to praise beginning in verse 17. Hezekiah, writing this psalm “after he had been sick and had recovered” (9), can see how God used the illness for good: “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness” (17). He credits God’s love with delivering his life from “the pit of destruction” and forgiving his sins (17). Since only the living can praise the Lord on earth (18), Hezekiah responds with thanks and praise to the Lord, telling his children of God’s goodness to him (19). He closes the psalm by anticipating going to the house of the Lord to “play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives” (20).
Behold Your God
The Lord not only hears our prayers but sees our tears. In the Lord’s response to Hezekiah’s desperate prayer, he says, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears” (5). Here is another evidence of the Lord’s great love (17): He enters into the sorrows and griefs of His people.
The Lord responds to heartfelt prayers in a way that changes the course of our lives. It would seem that the Lord changed his mind. First, He has Isaiah tell Hezekiah that he will die of his sickness and “not recover” (1). After Hezekiah’s prayer, Isaiah returns with a new message from the Lord: “Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life” (7). Evidently, the Lord’s first message to Hezekiah was not an unchangeable decree. It’s what would have happened if Hezekiah had not prayed and asked for deliverance. God’s dealings with us are impacted by our prayers to Him.
The Lord is one who gives, sustains and ends our lives. It is clear from this passage that our lives are in God’s hands. He can end or extend them. We live and die by His will according to His timetable. Thankfully, our lives are in the hands of a God who loves His people (17).
Here Am I
I should bring my heart-felt requests to God knowing He hears us. From the psalm Hezekiah composed after he recovered, it’s evident his prayers for God’s help continued during his illness. He kept asking for healing grace through the night; he kept looking upwards to God for help (13, 14). The Lord’s message to Hezekiah was, “I have heard your prayer” (5). Our prayers are known to the God who can change history. So, I want to persevere in pray with both feeling and faith!
Even if God extends my life, it will one day end. Hezekiah is granted fifteen years of life after his sickness. But fifteen years eventually came and went. So, I should keep “my house in order” (1), being ready to meet the Lord when the number of days He has ordained for me run out (Psalm 139:16). Thankfully, on the far side of earthly death, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6).
God’s great mercies to me should elicit great thankfulness from me. Hezekiah speaks of living out his thankfulness for God’s healing goodness: “The living, the living, he thanks you as I do this day” (19). I live by God’s sustaining grace and should live out sustained gratitude.
God’s goodness should be the theme of my testimony and the prompt for my songs. Hezekiah pledges to be a father who tells his children of God’s faithfulness (19). He also anticipates singing his music to God in the house of the Lord (20). May I be one who speaks to my children of God’s goodness and sings out my praise with His people.
Rick and Linda Reed 