2 Kings 20:1-11 (NASB)
1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?”
9 Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”
10 “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”
11 Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
Before we go further with this passage in 2 Kings, I want to first give some background on Hezekiah. He was a king of Judah, and his name is mentioned in 124 verses and twelve different books of the Bible. His life story is told in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles and the book of Isaiah. Given how much of the Bible is devoted to him, I think it’s a good idea to become familiar with him. 2 Kings 18:3-7 tells us, “He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, […] he removed the high places and smashed the memorial stones to pieces, and cut down the Asherah. He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it; […] He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; […] For he clung to the Lord; he did not desist from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he was successful. And he revolted against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.”
This king of Assyria defeated Hoshea, king of Israel, and led Israel into exile to Assyria, enslaving them. Verse 12 of chapter 18 tells us this happened because, “they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but violated His covenant, all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.”
No longer being satisfied with what he had conquered so far, 2 Kings 18:13-16 tells us, “Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent messengers to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong. Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will endure.’ So the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah the payment of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah then gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.”
Even this large payment was not enough. The Assyrians wanted to capture Jerusalem. Knowing that the Assyrians were going to attack, Hezekiah came up with a plan.
2 Chronicles 32:2-8 tells us what happened:
2 Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, 3 he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. 4 So many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the region, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?” 5 And he resolutely set to work and rebuilt all of the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great numbers. 6 He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the public square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, 7 “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the One with us is greater than the one with him. 8 With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Hezekiah wanted to fortify the city and cut off water to the Assyrian army, so he had an elaborate tunnel built to bring water into the city. This tunnel is truly an amazing accomplishment. In 1883, an American researcher discovered it. The tunnel is 1,752 feet long. Two groups of workers dug it out of solid rock, working from opposite ends and met in the middle. There are inscriptions on the walls that describe how they worked and when they met. If you went to Jerusalem today, you can take a tour and walk through the tunnel. Interestingly, there is debate amongst Jewish leaders as to whether Hezekiah should have built this tunnel. Some agree with the Rabbi who said, “Hezekiah should have trusted the Holy One Blessed is He, who promised ‘I will protect this city, to save it.’” They reason the tunnel was pointless because immediately after it was built, the Assyrian army was destroyed, and so the water was unnecessary. (https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5489254/jewish/The-Incredible-Tunnel-of-King-Hezekiah.htm#footnote6a5489254)
Necessary or not, while this tunnel was being constructed, the Assyrian king sent a delegation to Hezekiah. They spoke to all the people and tried to get them to surrender by disrespecting God; comparing Him to the weak gods of the nations they had conquered. God spoke to Isaiah and told him how He was going to make the king of Assyria leave to fight a different nation, and the king did leave, but the army of almost 200,000 was still there, outside the wall of the city. Faced with this crisis, Hezekiah sought the Lord. 2 Kings 19:19 tells us he prayed, “But now, Lord our God, please, save us from [Sennacherib’s] hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”
The prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah that God would protect them from the Assyrians. In Isaiah 37:33-35, we read what God says through Isaiah and what happened. He says, “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. 35 ‘For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’ 36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead.”
The Lord rescued the people and kept them from being captured by the Assyrians. It was truly miraculous. Not only did Hezekiah deal with all of that, but while dealing with that, he also faced another challenge. Chapter 20 tells us that, “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death.” We know that this was happening at the same time, for God spoke through Isaiah and said in verse 6, “I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’” God had not yet delivered them from the invading army when Hezekiah became sick. Now faced with his impending death, Hezekiah prays and asks God to extend his life, and God agrees, but then Hezekiah wants proof that God will indeed extend it. God offers him a choice of how He can confirm His promise: “Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”
This is such an interesting offer, isn’t it? Hezekiah states that it’s easy to bring the shadow forward, for that is what naturally happens each day. The shadow retreating would be miraculous. How could the shadow reverse? There is a lot of speculation as to how exactly God accomplished this feat, but the one that seems the most probable to me is that there was an eclipse. According to the website, biblicalarchaelogy.org, “On March 5 in 702 B.C.E., the 16th year before Hezekiah’s death, a prominent solar eclipse appeared over the Middle East (see NASA’s Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses). Its path crossed the Arabian Peninsula, and the obscuration of the sun over Israel was more than 60 percent. If a stairway had been engulfed in darkness and then restored to daylight, the shadow would have appeared to retreat. A shadow wave, produced by an eclipse, may also have given the appearance of a shadow retreating” (https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/august-2017-eclipse-of-biblical-proportions/).
However God moved the shadow, the shadow retreated, and it confirmed to Hezekiah that Isaiah’s prophesy was true. After this happened, word of this event must have gotten around. Let’s read what happened next, picking up at 2 Kings 20:12-21, it says:
12 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 13 Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”
“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
15 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”
20 As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
If we only read the 2 Kings account, we might not understand why Isaiah spoke the words he said. But if we read the other account of his life as told in 2 Chronicles, we see the reason for Isaiah’s word from the Lord to him. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 says, “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.”
Putting the previous text of 2 Kings together with this text in 2 Chronicles, we see the reason Hezekiah showed off all this treasures was because Hezekiah’s heart was proud. Rather than pointing out all that God had done, he showed off all that he had collected or accomplished. Thankfully, we also see that Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart.
What is the application for us today from Hezekiah’s life? We most likely will not be leader of a nation, but is there still a lesson to be learned from studying Hezekiah’s life? I think there are many. The first is that prayer changes things. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord when faced with the invading army, and he prayed to the Lord when he learned he would die from his illness. In hopeless situations, Hezekiah turned to the Lord in prayer. That was his first response to trouble. Sadly, for many people, prayer is often the last resort. Prayer should be our first response to any problem. James 5:13-14 tells us, “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” As 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, we are to “pray without ceasing.” In all situations, in all things, we should make our requests known to God so He can help us. Just as Philippians 4:6 assures us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When we bring our problems to God in prayer, then we will find real help for our trouble.
Another lesson to glean from Hezekiah’s life is a warning. When God blesses us and we succeed in our endeavors, we run the risk of becoming prideful. We need the Lord to keep our hearts from becoming proud. James 4:6b,10 says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble […therefore] humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
We will stay humble only if we remember the blessings and success we may have are given to us by the Lord. If we think we have accomplished things, such as building a massive water tunnel by our own genius, then we will become prideful. Whereas, if we remember that all good things come from the Father, then we will not forget that even the intellect, talent or ideas we have, all those things have been given to us from God. They are not for us to boast about. He is the giver of all gifts, just as James 1:7 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” There is no room for pride when we acknowledge that everything good is from God. Instead of being proud, we should give thanks for the gifts He has given us. Thankfully, just as Hezekiah experienced, there is forgiveness for us when we repent of our sin. For if we confess our sins, then He will forgive us and cleanse us, as 1 John 1:9 assures us.
Finally, I want to point out one more lesson I see from Hezekiah’s life. Following those Jewish leaders’ line of thinking, Hezekiah didn’t need to build that tunnel; God supernaturally destroyed the invading army. I wonder how many times we unnecessarily complicate our lives when there is no need to do so. We face a crises and think that we need to solve it, when what we really need to do is seek the Lord in prayer. I think often times, people’s tendency is to try and tackle the problem on their own, and when that doesn’t work, then they seek the Lord in prayer. But what if we went to God first? What if instead of trying to solve the problem on our own, we simply went to God in prayer? Maybe that would save us from a lot of unnecessary trouble and needless work. Maybe God will tell us to ‘build a tunnel,’ but maybe He won’t. Sure Hezekiah’s tunnel is an engineering marvel, but how many people died building it? According to one researcher, the achievement was remarkable because it would have been difficult for oxygen to reach so far into the rock. That means the endeavor was dangerous. What if people needlessly died? What if instead, Hezekiah simply told his people that he wasn’t worried about the invading army because God had spoken that He would save them? After all, God had already proven His word could be trusted by moving the shadow. What sort of effect would that have had on the people if their king lived by faith instead of building the tunnel? Would more people have worshiped God? This is all conjecture, certainly, yet the lesson is solid. Instead of working needlessly, trying to save ourselves, what if we trusted God’s word?
I know that for most of us, we don’t have the miracle of God proving His word to us by moving the shadows backward, but we have something people at that did not have. We have the Bible. We have centuries of documented examples of the faithfulness of God. We have untold numbers of testimonies from believers showing us God is real and can be trusted. Let’s not be like the people about whom Jesus said in John 6:36 “you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe.” Let’s be the people about whom Jesus said in John 20:29b (ESV), “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Let us look at Hezekiah and see him as the excellent king that he was: he tore down idols, kept the commandments, and sought the Lord in prayer. But, let’s also heed the warning we see to not become prideful, and to wait for the Lord’s help or instruction instead of thinking we can save ourselves.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are the God who does not change. Thank You that You are still the same God who defeated armies and defended Your people. Please help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to be strong and courageous, and to not fear or be dismayed when trouble comes, for You are with us, and You are greater than our troubles. Help us to trust in You. Please give us faith to believe Your word to us. Please forgive us for the times we have been prideful, and help us to walk humbly with You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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