Hezekiah does what we would expect a person to do when given such bad news. "Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, '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." (Isaiah 38:2-3) If I were faced with such news I know I would weep and cry out to the Lord.
It is true that Hezekiah has been faithful to the Lord. In our study of the kings we learned that Hezekiah had a heart like David's for the Lord. Hezekiah tore down all the idols of his late father and tore down the hilltop altars around Jerusalem. Those hilltop altars had been used in the past for worship of the Lord before the temple was built but, now that the temple is in Jerusalem, those altars weren't to be used anymore. They presented a temptation to people to go about their religion in the way that suited them, not in the way that the Lord commanded. They also presented a temptation to mix pagan religious practices with their worship of the Lord. Now that the temple exists, people are to worship together there where they are taught the word of God and where worshiping as one body will help them not to stray from the word of God.
The Lord hears and answers Hezekiah's prayer. I don't know why the Lord allowed Hezekiah to get sick but am certain there was a purpose for it. Perhaps there was some sort of wrong attitude in his heart that he needed to face and repent of to the Lord. Although he has been faithful to the Lord, he is not a perfect man because no one is perfect. He is stating his faithfulness to the Lord but that does not mean there isn't something that needs work. Or it could be that this trial is a form of training for the remainder of his reign. Not everything bad that happens to us is a result of sin. Sometimes it is but sometimes it is simply the result of living in a world polluted by sin---a world where bad things happen. But when the Lord allows a bad thing to happen in the life of a believer, it is for a purpose. We don't know what the purpose was for Hezekiah but I believe there was one.
This is the Lord's response to the king's prayer: "Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 'Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; 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.'" (Isaiah 38:4-6)
The text above indicates that Hezekiah became ill around the time that the Assyrian army was threatening the city. We have already studied the portion of the book of Isaiah regarding the Lord's deliverance of the city, which would make us think Hezekiah's illness took place after that, but the text above makes us think that these events aren't being related to us in precise chronological order.
Hezekiah's illness and the plague that struck down 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army may be closely linked together in a biological sense as well. It has been speculated that Hezekiah was sick with the Bubonic Plague and that this is what struck the army too, albeit the soldiers' illness and death was quite swift, taking place in only one night. But later in our chapter we will find a clue that Hezekiah may have been ill with that particular plague. In addition to that, in the annals of ancient Egypt there is a reference to an outbreak of the plague at a time that would line up with the reign of King Hezekiah.
As we continue on in our chapter we will find the Lord giving Hezekiah a sign, we will find Hezekiah composing a song about the trial he endured, and we will find a clue regarding the nature of his illness.
No comments:
Post a Comment