Isaiah Chapter 38
GOD HEALS HEZEKIAH
Isaiah 38:1-6 NLT:
1 About 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.”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord:
5 “Go back to Hezekiah and 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 add fifteen years to your life,
6 and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
Sweet words in verse 5: “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.” God hears every prayer His children utter. He not only sees our tears, He collects them and makes note of them (Psalm 56:8). He remembers them. So if the enemy tries to convince you that God doesn’t care about your prayers and your needs and your feelings, remember that God says, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.” But also remember that God’s timing and purposes are not always the same as ours. Remember that His timing is perfect and His ways are perfect.[fn]
For whatever reason, Isaiah chose to place God’s cure for Hezekiah’s disease at the end of this chapter. But in the sequence of events, verses 21 and 22 should be included here.
Isaiah 38:21,22 NLT:
21 Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants,
“Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”
22 And Hezekiah had asked, “
What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the Lord three days from now?
In the parallel account in 2 Kings these two verses in Isaiah precede the giving of the sign (2 Kings 20:7-9). An ointment of dried figs, a common treatment for boils and ulcers in those days, applied to the boil (possibly an inflamed ulceration or cancer), was used by God medicinally to promote the healing. This is an example of healing occurring because of a combination of prayer, medicine, and God’s work.
God does not scoff at medicine; He often chooses to work through it, but it is still God who heals. Hezekiah’s question, “What will be the sign . . . ?” didn’t suggest a lack of faith. In fact it was the opposite. Believing that he would be healed, he asked God to give him a sign as a confirmation of His word.[fn]
Isaiah 38:7,8 NLT:
7 “ ‘And this is the sign that the Lord will give you to prove he will do as he promised:
8 I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’ ” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.[fn]
God confirmed His Promise to Hezekiah by a sign. Apparently a special stairway had been built as a time device, a kind of sundial. As the sun went down in the west, a shadow would move upward on the staircase so that people could ascertain the time of the day. Interestingly Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, had rejected a sign from the Lord (Isaiah 7:10-12) but now on a staircase named for him, his son Hezekiah was given a sign. How this miracle of the reversal of the sun’s shadow occurred isn’t known. Perhaps the earth’s rotation was reversed or perhaps the sun’s rays were somehow refracted.[fn]
Isaiah 38:9-14 NLT:
9 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem about his experience:
10 I said, “In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of my normal years?”
11 I said, “Never again will I see the Lord God while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or laugh with those who live in this world.
12 My life has been blown away like a shepherd’s tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over.
13 I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.
14 Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”
King Hezekiah tells us how he felt during his experience of illness and recovery. He had some new experiences that made him a better person.
For one thing, God gave him a new appreciation of life. We take life for granted till it is about to be taken from us, and then we cling to it as long as we can. Hezekiah pictured death as the end of a journey, a tent taken down, and a weaving cut from the loom. Life was hanging by a thread!
He also had a new appreciation of prayer. Were it not for prayer, Hezekiah could not have made it.
At night, the king felt like a frail animal being attacked by a fierce lion; and in the daytime, he felt like a helpless bird. During this time of suffering, Hezekiah examined his own heart and confessed his sins; and God forgave him. Hezekiah continues:
Isaiah 38:15-20 NLT:
15 But what could I say? For he himself had sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt.
16 Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You have restored my health and have allowed me to live!
17 Yes, it was good for me to suffer this anguish, for you have rescued me from death and have forgiven all my sins.
18 For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to destruction can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
Hezekiah, like Job, developed an appreciation for the purpose of suffering and the personal realization that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). He says that it was good for him to have suffered this anguish, which is definitely a spiritual perspective, not human.
19 Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next.
20 Think of it—the Lord has healed me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the Lord.
The king ended with a new appreciation of opportunities for service. There was a new humility in his walk, a deeper love for the Lord in his heart, and a new song of praise on his lips. He had a new determination to praise God all the days of his life, for now those days were very important to him. This attitude reminds us of Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
[fn] Psalm 31:15; 2 Samuel 22:31-33; Isaiah 55:8, 9.
[fn] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B. & Dallas Theological Seminary. 1983-c1985. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: an Exposition of the Scriptures. Victor Books: Wheaton, IL.
[fn] See also 2 Chronicles 32:24-31.
[fn] The change in the apparent position of a celestial body due to bending of the light rays emanating from it as they pass through the atmosphere.
