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Hezekiah's Sickness
v. 1. In those days, some time during the latter part of his reign, after he had ruled fourteen years, was Hezekiah sick unto death. He was then thirty-nine years old and in the prime of his life. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, literally, "Command regarding thy house"; he was to take the steps ordinarily taken by a person expecting to die with reference to the disposal of his property and the management of his affairs; for thou shalt die, and not live, his illness was mortal unless some supernatural agency intervened.
v. 2. Then he turned his face to the wall, in order to commune with the Lord without interference and disturbance, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
v. 3. I beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee, in his entire life and actions, in truth and with a perfect heart, his worship of Jehovah had been without hypocrisy, and he had earnestly opposed every form of idolatry, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. To die in the prime of life was to the believing Jews an indication of God's special displeasure. Cf Pro_10:27. And Hezekiah wept sore, deeply moved by this apparent sign of God's displeasure.
v. 4. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, he had not yet left the middle city, Mount Zion, where the royal palace was situated, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
v. 5. Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of My people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, to whom Hezekiah had clung with such firmness all his life, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, both of which pleaded for an extension of life. Behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord, his health and strength being miraculously restored to him as in the case of the New Testament healings.
v. 6. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, who had started on his expedition against Jerusalem in this year, 2Ki_18:13; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake and for My servant David's sake, 2Ki_19:34.
v. 7. And Isaiah, having returned to the palace according to the command of the Lord, said, Take a lump, a pressed mass, of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, the inflammation, ulcer, or carbuncle, which caused all the trouble; and he recovered, he revived immediately, the Lord gave him life and health.
v. 8. 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? This question was probably asked before Isaiah called for the pressed figs, when he had announced to the king that lie would recover. Hezekiah was so anxious that he wanted an external sign to strengthen his faith in the prophet's words.
v. 9. And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He hath spoken shall the shadow, namely, on the shadow-measurer, or sun-dial, where the length of the shadow was a means of telling the time, go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?
v. 10. And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, if it would merely advance ten steps, this would not seem so very extraordinary; nay, but let the shadow return backwards ten degrees, returning through the space which it had already traversed. If we suppose the sun-dial to have consisted of a column surrounded with circular steps, the shadow at noon striking the highest step in the center, and in the morning and evening the lowest step on either side, we have some idea of how it worked.
v. 11. And Isaiah, the prophet, cried unto the Lord; and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. The miracle consisted either in a supernatural breaking of the light rays that struck the dial, or, more probably, in the fact that the sun actually returned degrees, as Isaiah has it, (Isa_38:8). Our God is the almighty Lord of the universe, having not only the laws of nature, but also the power over life and death, in His hand. And no matter what God does, it serves, in the final analysis, for the welfare of His children.