Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 103rd episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapters 38 and 39. It’s best that these chapters are studied together because they add depth to the character of Hezekiah as well as establish context for chapters 40-55. So we just came off a monumental display of faith from Jerusalem’s king Hezekiah in the last two chapters. It looked like the Assyrian Empire was going to destroy him and his city but in the final moments Hezekiah’s faith held and God intervened. The story left us with an image of Hezekiah that made him look like the always-faithful hero. That’s probably why Isaiah put chapters 38 and 39 after that story. These two chapters document events that actually took place about 3 years before Assyria’s invasion of Judah. They are meant to show us that even Hezekiah was just a fallen human who made some pretty big mistakes. These chapters tell us that even when humanity is at its best – we remain self-centered, short-sighted, and untrustworthy. God Himself was the only hope for Jerusalem and to this day God Himself is the only hope we have.
Despite Hezekiah’s shortcomings and his at-times-questionable faith, God remained good to him and God remained faithful. God’s love, God’s goodness, and God’s faithfulness do not depend on our quality of character or our faith. God always loves you, God’s goodness never changes, and God is always faithful to His word – the only difference is whether or not you choose God. I think these chapters will bring comfort to you by showing you that even a biblical hero like Hezekiah had plenty of problems and had moments where his faith in God faltered. In the final analysis God doesn’t love the high points and the low points in your life – God loves you. So let’s time travel back a few years before the great Assyrian drama and look at one of the low points in Hezekiah’s life. Chapter 38:1
Isa 38:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”
When you read this verse I want you to understand that you are looking at a man in the darkest moments of his life. Hezekiah was crushed under the weight of depression and anxiety after being forced to capitulate to Sennacherib. Hezekiah wanted national independence but for now he was stuck under the boot of the Assyrians. On top of all that stress, Hezekiah was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The illness brought a painful boil or some kind of lesion to his skin so it was likely leprosy or maybe even the bubonic plague. He was only 39 years old when this illness struck him.
Isaiah doesn’t say why the king fell ill, but in 2 Chronicles Hezekiah was described as having a proud heart that did not respond to the kindness shown to him – therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him. I’m very careful to avoid saying that any person’s sickness is a punishment from God – although it certainly could be. Jesus Himself speaks against the idea of claiming all sicknesses are forms of punishment. But I think in Hezekiah’s case I’m comfortable with allowing that it was indeed punishment. That’s because it was abnormal for famous, righteous kings to die at a young age without some reason or without God’s involvement.
I think it’s interesting that Isaiah came to the king’s court to speak with him about his illness. There’s nothing to indicate that Hezekiah called him. This was a moment in history where Hezekiah and Isaiah didn’t exactly get along. Isaiah’s preaching had a tendency to conflict with Hezekiah’s political and military aspirations. Isaiah told the king that he needed to put his house in order before his death. This meant naming a successor as well as drawing up the necessary policies to keep Judah in order after he was gone. But it also meant getting right with God. When we approach death, each of us have two houses we need to put in order. We have our physical house which includes things like last will and testament, advance directives, and funeral expenses. And we have our spiritual houses which includes repenting of our sins and recommitting our lives to Christ if necessary. So Isaiah was pretty blunt with Hezekiah. Let’s see how the king responds in verses 2-3:
Isa 38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
Isa 38:3 and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
The king was devastated to hear Isaiah’s prediction. He wasn’t ready to die at such a young age and without an heir to take his place. Hezekiah didn’t bother to argue with Isaiah but instead he turned away from the prophet and took the issue to God Himself. He asked God to remember all of the times that he walked in faithfulness with a whole heart and did what was good in God’s sight. Appealing to past righteousness was a common method of reasoning used in intercessory prayers that sought God’s grace. But you can notice right away that Hezekiah’s prayer was not nearly as humble as the one he would use to call God against Assyria. When he prayed for his health, Hezekiah didn’t open with a declaration of bold and uncompromising faith in the character of God. He didn’t confess how great God is or how He is the Creator who is above all. He didn’t repent of his sins. And he wasn’t motivated to see God proclaim His glory to all the nations.
It was almost as if Hezekiah brought a case before God as to why he deserved better treatment than this. Hezekiah left out the fact that he wasn’t all that faithful when it came to armaments and political alliances. The fact that he broke down and wept bitterly might be an indication that deep down he knew his heart wasn’t right in this prayer. Sitting outside of the difficulty of Hezekiah’s situation, I can see some mistakes in his prayer. The first is that asking God for desirable treatment on the basis of your righteousness is you investing your faith in good works and not in God. If I just do these things or avoid these things then God will give me what I want. The second is that God doesn’t actually owe us anything – but we owe Him everything. Sometimes good people die young. The best we can do is repent of our sins and seek God’s salvation. Faith in God is not the expectation that He will save us from suffering in this life, rather it’s the blessed assurance that no matter what happens God holds the reason for it and He will make it right in the end. Let’s read verses 4-6:
Isa 38:4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
Isa 38:5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
Isa 38:6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
Immediately, God gave Isaiah the words of hope Hezekiah had been praying for. I want you to notice something about God’s response. God completely disregarded Hezekiah’s claims to piety and righteous works. He totally ignored Hezekiah’s attempt to earn grace from Him. What God noticed and took into account was the king’s tears. The shock of his diagnosis may have caused Hezekiah to lash out in pain because he felt he didn’t deserve to die so young. But once the shock wore off, Hezekiah wept as a person broken before God. God cited Hezekiah’s tears and his covenantal relationship to king David as the reasons for adding years to his life.
Not only was God going to heal Hezekiah of this illness, but He also looked ahead and promised deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrians. Adding 15 more years to Hezekiah’s life and promising to defend the city from the empire was far more than Hezekiah could have known to ask for. It’s possible that God needed to take Hezekiah through this near fatal illness to build his faith so that the king would learn to trust Him with the even greater threat of Sennacherib.
When we pray to God today, it’s best that we do it out of a sense of humility. We might think we want something and we might desperately petition God for it – but God is the only One who knows what we need to fulfill His ultimate purpose for us. Hezekiah just wanted his illness to go away. He had no idea that in three short years the mighty Assyrian army would be knocking down his door. If he knew that, he would have been at least as terrified of the invasion as he was of being sick. But God knew the whole time. God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer with more than the king wanted. That’s because God is not interested in giving us what we want – He’s interested in giving us what we need. Let’s read verses 7-8:
Isa 38:7 “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised:
Isa 38:8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
This was God turning the clock back on Hezekiah’s life. Hezekiah’s father king Ahaz had built these steps that, either by design or by accident, had a shadow that measured the movement of the sun on a normal day. Since miracles are God’s supernatural acts in the world, it makes sense that God’s sign for Hezekiah’s miracle would be something that went against the natural order. Watching the shadow move in the opposite direction as the day progressed would certainly fit the bill for supernatural. There’s two reasons why God gave this sign. First was to encourage Hezekiah and give him hope. At this point in his life his faith was shaky and he probably needed something to assure him that God would act.
Second was to make sure he remembered God when the miracle took place. Often, God will work a miracle in our lives and we’re quick to claim the credit for it or give the credit to someone else. It’s also not unusual for us to totally forget how far God has brought us and the miracles he’s given us in the past. The most common form of missed miracle is the averted tragedy. Tragedies that are averted almost always go unnoticed. It’s hard to say how many times God has acted to save your life from your own stupidity already – yet He did so in a way that went unnoticed.
Okay so the next passage is Hezekiah’s psalm which takes a break from the narrative story to present us with a record of his personal reflections regarding his sickness. Let’s read verses 9-13:
Isa 38:9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
Isa 38:10 I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
Isa 38:11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
Isa 38:12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;
Isa 38:13 I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
Hezekiah’s psalm can be divided into his anguish at the prospect of death, his hope of deliverance, and his concluding confession of faith. He began with a lament of what he viewed as a premature death. He was depressed about all of the things that he would not get to experience because of his life being cut short. He developed several comparative analogies of things being taken away before their time. In the king’s view, he was still in the middle of his life and closer to his prime than he was to his retirement. Consequently, he felt robbed of the rest of his years and that dying now would violate normal expectations for life.
When he spoke about the gates of Sheol he meant the gates of death. He felt like there was nothing left for his life but to wait at those gates until they opened – for he must walk through. It wasn’t that Hezekiah feared death – rather it was an anguish associated with something being totally unfair. Anyone who has lost a loved one at a comparatively young age has felt the sharp pain of this unwarranted experience. It feels an awful lot like betrayal by God.
Hezekiah went on to express regret over the fact that he would no longer be able to experience the presence of God in an earthly sense. He enjoyed going to the temple to worship. He would miss the sounds of the trumpets blaring, the Levitical choirs singing, the priests praying, and the movement of all the people at the annual festivals. He also thought about his friends and family – he would miss them and it was painful to think he would no longer be able to interact with them in this life. Hezekiah had a fear that death would negate the two relationships that gave life meaning: his relationship with God and his relationship with people.
Hezekiah appropriately compared his earthly life to a shepherd’s tent. His body was just a temporary home for his eternal soul. God is the Shepherd and at His will the tent is struck and moved on to the next land. He also thought of his life as a tapestry that was suddenly rolled up and cut from the loom. The fabric left on the loom was the life he would no longer be a part of. When he used the expression, from day to night you bring me to an end, he was commenting on the suddenness of going from life to death. His view of God as a lion who was ravaging his body might have been an acknowledgment of his illness. But more likely it was an allusion to death and decay itself. So you can see that Hezekiah opened his psalm with sad, defeated reflections. In the next verses he made one last appeal to God for deliverance. Let’s read verses 14-16:
Isa 38:14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
Isa 38:15 What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
Isa 38:16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!
Hezekiah’s voice had grown weak and weary from being sick. He was to the point where he no longer had the strength to offer up a traditional prayer. He could only groan out a few words as he petitioned God for help. He said his eyes were weary with looking upward which meant he’d been seeking God’s help for a long time and to no avail. Was God even listening? Was God even there? Hezekiah’s prayer got straight to the point: I am oppressed. This language would indicate that Hezekiah felt the stress and pressure of a debtor who was unable to pay back his debt. He viewed God as the creditor who was oppressing him. Hezekiah had no where else to turn except to the oppressor himself. In his urgent need the king requested God to be his pledge of safety. This meant he wanted God to stand up for him and to bear the burden of his debt so he no longer had to shoulder it himself. Asking God to save him was the deathbed humility Hezekiah needed in order to set himself into proper relationship to God.
Once Hezekiah realized that God was going to restore him to health and bring him back from the brink of death – he really didn’t know how to react. He was dumbfounded and speechless – he had become so certain that his life was over. What should he do now? How should he live? He thought maybe he should walk slowly and let go of the frantic pace of life he experienced before. Perhaps he should savor each moment and live for each day. This is a common reaction for people who endure near-death experiences and are granted a new lease on life. You can tell that Hezekiah felt sorry about the bitterness he expressed during the times that he lost hope.
The king’s brush with death brought a new perspective to the importance of peaceful well-being. It was a humble acceptance of his time spent sick and an admission that he grew through the process. His faith in God felt renewed and strengthened because he was given assurance that he would live longer. He developed a much deeper appreciation for his loved ones and for the little things that he realized he would miss after death. It’s worth noting that these Old Testament characters lived before the Gospel of Jesus Christ – so their view of death was much more ambiguous and fearful than it needs to be for Christians today. Let’s read verses 17-20:
Isa 38:17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
Isa 38:18 For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
Isa 38:19 The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.
Isa 38:20 The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD.
Hezekiah’s bitterness had two main sources: his sickness and his political and military defeats. Before almost dying, the thought of subjection to the Assyrian Empire was intolerable for Hezekiah. He wanted political independence for Judah. After almost dying, he was given a new perspective as to how he could integrate vassalage with a balanced life of well-being. He still didn’t like it but at least now he could tolerate it. The big change in his character was the fact that he repented of his pride. Being desperately helpless as he wept against the wall had a way of showing him that he wasn’t as great as he thought he was. This repentance led to God putting all of Hezekiah’s sins behind him.
When you repent, Scripture says that God forgets about your past sin and no longer looks at it. He literally wipes your record clean. And you might say: that seems too easy. But that’s the most important part of Christianity that separates it from every other worldview: you are too damaged to save yourself. There’s nothing you can do to set yourself back to the pre-fall condition of humanity. You were doomed to face the wrath and judgment of a Holy God until He Himself became incarnate as Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only sinless human to live an earthly life. His life was a perfect rendition of God’s intended order. Therefore, it is only by faith in Christ that you allow yourself to be sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you, too, will stand before God as He intended. Pride is what stands in the way.
Hezekiah had this figured out as he went through the throes of terminal illness. As he recovered, he resolved that the only way to live properly was to leave behind the grief and bitterness by joyously praising God instead. He thought that praising God meant thanking Him, putting hope in Him, and telling everyone about the wonderful things God has done. Before getting sick, Hezekiah was more interested in his own acts of piety and the merit of himself. His near-death experience caused him to focus on God’s faithfulness instead. At the peak of this experience, Hezekiah felt absolutely certain that God would save him. He made declarations about the things he would do for God – he would go to the Temple to sing and glorify Him. He would help others in their faith journey by being a living example of the miracles God could work. He would even worship privately in his palace room.
All of this renewal and commitment to God paints the picture of someone who has just been saved. You often see new Christians who speak and act as if there’s never enough they can do for God. They’re on fire for Christ. Most of these feelings of elation are a temporary byproduct of passing from death to life. It’s very important that every Christian understands these emotions are temporary. It’s not unlike the excitement you feel at the beginning of a new relationship. It’s deeply unwise to build your relationship with God on this sense of euphoria. Your relationship with God should be founded on your self-sacrificial love of God and of your neighbor. This is a disciplined practice that requires patience, study of Scripture, prayer, and most of all faith.
There’s two problems with mistaking the high you feel with the Holy Spirit. First is that worship in the house of God is not the only experience that can bring you this high. Many highs are the consequence of self-indulgence. If you can experience the high by way of sin, then that means the high is not God. The high can be a consequence of experiencing the presence of God, but the high itself is not God. Second is that you won’t have access to this high when tragedy strikes you – and it will strike you. There’s going to be times in your life where the thought of God doesn’t inspire feelings of elation – rather it inspires feelings of betrayal and grief. Hezekiah felt this when Isaiah told him he was going to die. I really like Hezekiah because he is such an accurate representation of us. Certain moments of his life see him praising God with all his heart and other moments see him questioning God’s goodness or even His very existence. He experienced the high of being saved from death and he declared he would commit the rest of his life to praising and worshiping God. But when the high began to subside so did Hezekiah’s steadfast faith. The final verses of chapter 38 lead us into what will be one of Hezekiah’s more famous mistakes in chapter 39. So let’s read verses 21-22:
Isa 38:21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”
Isa 38:22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”
Isaiah came to Hezekiah with medicinal treatment and told him that he would recover. This is a reversal of his visit at the beginning of the chapter. Figs were used as medicine throughout the Ancient Near East. In Ugarit they were used to help horses and in Mesopotamia they treated human toothache and lung problems. I want to make a few statements regarding Hezekiah’s thoughts throughout this ordeal. It’s important that we remember these because otherwise we run the risk of misinterpreting God’s relationship to death. Hezekiah never blamed God for his sickness. He understood that God is the source of life. He believed that God’s promises are true. He knew that God forgives sins. And he concluded that the only reasonable response to these truths was to live a life of praise and worship of God for His salvation.
God didn’t save Hezekiah because of anything that Hezekiah did or said. God’s restoration of Hezekiah was purely an act of divine grace and it was a rare one at that. Most of the time God does not grant extension of life. Whatever the reasons for bringing Hezekiah back from illness – we can be sure that God only did it because it was part of His grand design to do it. It’s okay for Christians to ask God for extended life – but the proper place for believers is always to trust God enough to accept His plan no matter what it is. He has all the information and we are flying blind.
In the last verse of chapter 38 we see that Hezekiah asked for another sign. It could be that he needed a sign to determine when it would be safe for him to go around other people at the Temple. He didn’t want to spread his illness. But requesting a sign might also reveal his already diminishing faith that will become evident in the next chapter. Let’s read chapter 39:1-2:
Isa 39:1 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
Isa 39:2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
Merodach-baladan was a cunning chieftain of the Yakin tribe from a territory east of the mouth of the Euphrates river. He conquered and ruled Babylon from 722-711 B.C. and conquered it again for two years from 705-703 B.C. He was an obstinate rebel who sought Babylonian independence from Assyria after the death of Sargon II. In the months after Hezekiah was fully recovered from his illness, Merodach-baladan sent ambassadors to speak with the Judean king. They brought Hezekiah a gift – which was likely some form of bribe to win his attention. Hezekiah was attracted to Babylon because they were powerful and they shared his desire for independence. Instead of greeting the ambassadors with news of God’s grace in healing him, Hezekiah decided to flaunt his treasure and his military power.
He did this because he wanted Babylon to see that he was ready to go to war in the event they should form an alliance in their respective rebellions against Assyria. Hezekiah didn’t consider Babylon to be a threat because they were so far away from Judah. Giving them this tour was a really stupid decision because the ambassadors would return to Babylon and inform their king that Judah made a good target for plunder. So only months after God saved Hezekiah from dying, the king had fallen back into his old ways of depending on human power and glory to impress other leaders. The ambassadors from Babylon made Isaiah suspicious and so he confronted Hezekiah about them. Isaiah had warned him before about making alliances with other nations in an effort to rebel against Assyria. Let’s read verses 3-4:
Isa 39:3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
Isa 39:4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
Isaiah began by asking the king who these ambassadors were and where they were from. It’s worth noting that Hezekiah didn’t lie to Isaiah during this exchange. He told him they were from Babylon – a far away country. Isaiah didn’t bother to ask Hezekiah why the men were there. He jumped straight to the point and asked Hezekiah how much these ambassadors have seen. Hezekiah’s words confirmed Isaiah’s worst fears. Hezekiah had chosen to defy Isaiah’s warnings against alliances and instead throw in his lot with Babylon. The king had failed in obeying God’s command and had sold out Judah to a future Babylonian exile. Let’s read verses 5-7:
Isa 39:5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
Isa 39:6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.
Isa 39:7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
God promised Hezekiah that he would beat his sickness and that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem. God told Hezekiah that in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. So it’s very difficult to excuse Hezekiah’s actions in trusting Babylon – he knew better than to do this. The problem with Hezekiah was that he had more faith in his treasure, his military, and his alliances than he had in God. He believed he could fend off the Assyrians on his own if only he played his cards right.
In response to this, God would remove every source of human trust from Jerusalem. Every last piece of treasure would be stolen and taken to Babylon. His royal sons and grandsons would be turned into eunuchs and forced to serve a pagan king. This fateful decision to look to Babylon for deliverance would leave a permanent black mark on Hezekiah’s reign. Despite the fact that Hezekiah would learn to trust God more completely when God would save Jerusalem from Sennacherib – this foolish mistake would always remain part of his legacy. Let’s finish with verse 8:
Isa 39:8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
Well, that is not a good look for king Hezekiah. He had effectively sold out the future of his children and grandchildren and when he heard about the incoming punishment – he didn’t much care because it wouldn’t take place until after he was dead. This is what I mean by Hezekiah being such a good representation of the human condition. Human beings are capable of doing such wonderful things as exhibiting bravery and faithfulness during the most trying of times. But these same human beings are equally capable of being self-interested and trusting worldly power more than they trust God. We all do it. Hezekiah’s life gives us a priceless look into why we cannot save ourselves. None of us have pure hearts where there exists only good. Evil and the fallen nature has infected us all. This means that we all sin and the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. All of us would be doomed to face God’s holy wrath if he didn’t love us enough to sacrifice Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. That is the heart of the Gospel. That is what being a Christian is about. Allowing yourself to let go of grief, pride, and pain in exchange for experiencing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – because you believe that God has saved you from death. Now is the time to cast off the burdens of trusting only in yourself and to take on the peace of mind that comes from trusting in God. Jesus said:
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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