Hezekiah, a king of Judah, distinguished himself through his unwavering faith in God, eliminating idolatry and trusting in divine intervention during his reign. Facing a terminal illness, he prayed earnestly and was granted 15 more years of life, showcasing God's mercy and power. His story serves as a reminder of the importance of faith, obedience to God's law, and the miraculous nature of divine intervention in times of crisis.

1. HezekIaH’s GlowInG RepoRt
2 Kings 18:1-5
Isaiah 38

2. 2 Kings 18:1 NET In the third year of the
reign of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah,
Ahaz's son Hezekiah became king over
Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother
was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

3. 3 He did what the LORD approved, just as
his ancestor David had done. 4 He
eliminated the high places, smashed the
sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the
Asherah pole. He also demolished the
bronze serpent that Moses had made, for
up to that time the Israelites had been
offering incense to it; it was called
Nehushtan.

4. 5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; in
this regard there was none like him among
the kings of Judah either before or after.
How about that for a “GlowInG”
report!

5. The same words are used of Josiah. 2
Kings 23:25 NET No king before or after
repented before the LORD as he did, with
his whole heart, soul, and being in
accordance with the whole law of Moses.

6. At first sight there may seem to be
contradiction between the two passages,
since absolute preeminence over all the
other kings is ascribed to Hezekiah in one
of them, to Josiah in the other; but the
context shows that the pre-eminence is not
the same in the two cases.

7. To Hezekiah is ascribed pre-eminence in
trust; to Josiah, pre-eminence in an exact
observance of the Law: one excels in faith,
the other in works; Josiah’s whole life is one
of activity, Hezekiah’s great merit lies in his
being content, in the crisis of his fate, to
stand still, and see the salvation of God.
(Pulpit Commentary
2 Kings 18:5)

8. (Pulpit Commentary
2 Kings 23:25)
“No king before or after...” The writer of
Kings cannot be said to place Josiah above
Hezekiah, or Hezekiah above Josiah. He
accords them the same degree of praise,
but, in Hezekiah"s case, dwells upon his
trust in God; in Josiah"s, upon his exact
obedience to the Law.

9. On the whole, his judgment accords very
closely with that of the son of Sirach (Ecc
49:4). "All, except David and Ezekias and
Josias, were defective: for they forsook the
Law of the Most High." “repented before the
LORD as he did, with his whole heart, soul,
and being…”

10. This triple enumeration is intended to
include the whole moral and mental nature
of man, all the energies of his
understanding, his will, and his physical
vitality. Compare Deuteronomy 6:5 NET
You must love the LORD your God with
your whole mind, your whole being, and all
your strength.

11. “…and being in accordance with the whole
law of Moses.” This is an indication that, in
the writer's view, the whole Law was
contained in the book found by Hilkiah. “No
king before or after...” This is but moderate
praise, since the four kings who reigned
after him Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin,
and Zedekiah were, one and all, wicked
princes.

12. If only we could be found trusting The Lord
like Hezekiah & repentant, using all we
have, our whole heart, soul, and being to
turn wholly in obedience to God, like
Josiah.

13. Isaiah 38:1 NET In those days Hezekiah
was stricken with a terminal illness. The
prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and
told him, "This is what the Lord says, 'Give
instructions to your household, for you are
about to die; you will not get well.' "

14. Neither men's greatness nor their goodness
will exempt them from the arrests of
sickness and death. Hezekiah, a mighty
potentate on earth and a mighty favourite of
Heaven, is struck with a disease, which,
without a miracle, will certainly be mortal;
and this in the midst of his days, his
comforts, and usefulness.

15. It should seem, this sickness seized him
when he was in the midst of his triumphs
over the ruined army of the Assyrians, to
teach us always to rejoice with trembling.
(Matthew Henry)

16. 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and
prayed to the Lord, 3 "Please, Lord.
Remember how I have served you faithfully
and with wholehearted devotion, and how I
have carried out your will." Then Hezekiah
wept bitterly.

17. When we pray in our sickness, though God
send not to us such an answer as he here
sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids
us be of good cheer, assures us that our
sins are forgiven, and that, whether we live
or die, we shall be his, we do not pray in
vain.
(Matthew Henry Concise Commentary)

18. The invasion of Judah occurred in the
fourteenth year of his reign;
2 Kings 18:13 NET In the fourteenth year of
King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of
Assyria marched up against all the fortified
cities of Judah and captured them.

19. It is true that in the scripture Hezekiah's
illness is recorded after the story of the
slaughter of Sennacherib and his army.
However not precisely but with a general
annotation only of the time, "In those days."
For this happened before his sickness,
these scriptures plainly show.

20. Now if we subtract from the 29 years which
Hezekiah reigned, these 15 years, we shall
find that the slaughter of Sennacherib and
his army happened in the latter end of the
14th year of his reign. (Ussher Annals of the
World)

21. 4 The Lord told Isaiah, 5 “Go and tell
Hezekiah: 'This is what the Lord God of
your ancestor David says: "I have heard
your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I
will add fifteen years to your life, 6 and
rescue you and this city from the king of
Assyria. I will shield this city." ' "

22. 7 (38:21) Isaiah ordered, "Let them take a
fig cake and apply it to the skin blister and
he will get well." 8 (38:22) Hezekiah said,
"What is the confirming sign that I will go up
to the Lord's temple?"

23. 9 (38:7) Isaiah replied, "This is your sign
from the Lord confirming that the Lord will
do what he has said: 10 (38:8) Look, I will
make the shadow go back ten steps on the
stairs of Ahaz." And then the shadow went
back ten steps.

24. As concerning the retrograde motion of the
Sun as mentioned in, Isaiah 38:8 it is when
the sun stood still at the prayer of Joshua
the moon also stood still at the time.
(Joshua 10:12,13)

25. It is apparent that with the sun the moon
also, and all the frame of heaven went
backward and that there was as much
subtracted from the night, as there was
added to the day.

26. There was a miraculous alteration in the
parts of the normal day. By divine
providence things were so ordered that no
harm or hindrance did happen to the
constant and ever self-like motion and
harmony of the heavenly bodies.

27. This is evident by those three solar
eclipses, of which I (Ussher) spoke earlier,
from Ptolemy. The account of these if
calculated from our times backward yields
the same result of the times as was
formerly observed by the Chaldeans
(Babylonians)

28. and in the same manner as if no such
retrogradation or going back of the sun had
ever happened. (Ussher Annals of the World)
The important thing to note is that the
earlier eclipse data was not disturbed by
the events in Hezekiah’s day.

29. Whatever happened, effected at the very
least the sun, earth and moon system. God
made time go backward not just have the
earth rotate backward. Otherwise the
eclipse data would be thrown off for
eclipses that occurred before Hezekiah’s
event happened. An undesigned
coincidence in the scriptures verifies their
authority.

30. Of all the people in the world, it is only
recorded that the Chaldeans, (Babylonians)
visited Hezekiah. They were very careful in
noting astronomical events and had noticed
something strange as far away as Babylon.

31. They no doubt heard that Hezekiah had
something to do with it and hence they went
to him to learn more of this event. In 331BC
they turned over 1903 years of
astronomical observations to Callisthenes
when Alexander the Great was in Babylon.

32. In response to this gracious provision of
extended life, Hezekiah recorded his song
of thanksgiving for that answer to prayer.
The last two verses record what Hezekiah
had done for the healing, and what he had
asked as a sign. (21,22) Any exposition
of the song will have to provide the historic
background for the situation.

33. To capture the tone of the song and get the
proper interpretation of the lines, the literary
genre must be established.
This is a classic declarative praise song, a
todah song that would be offered in the
Sanctuary, accompanied by the giving of
the peace offering. (Allen Ross , Th.D., Ph.D.)

34. 13 (38:11) "I thought, 'I will no longer see
the Lord in the land of the living, I will no
longer look on mankind with the inhabitants
of the world. 14 (38:12) My dwelling place
is removed and taken away from me like a
shepherd's tent. I rolled up my life like a
weaver rolls cloth; from the loom he cuts
me off. You turn day into night and end my
life.

35. 11 (38:9) This is the prayer of King
Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and
then recovered from his illness: 12 (38:10)
"I thought, 'In the middle of my life I must
walk through the gates of Sheol, I am
deprived of the rest of my years.'

36. 15 (38:13) I cry out until morning; like a lion
he shatters all my bones; you turn day into
night and end my life. 16 (38:14) Like a
swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a
dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to
the sky.

37. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help
me! 17 (38:15) What can I say? He has
decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my
years because I am overcome with grief.
18 (38:16) O sovereign master, your
decrees can give men life; may years of life
be restored to me.

38. Restore my health and preserve my life.'
19 (38:17) "Look, the grief I experienced
was for my benefit. You delivered me from
the pit of oblivion. For you removed all my
sins from your sight.

39. 20 (38:18) Indeed Sheol does not give you
thanks; death does not praise you. Those
who descend into the pit do not anticipate
your faithfulness. 21 (38:19) The living one,
the living one, he gives you thanks, as I do
today.

40. A father tells his sons about your
faithfulness. 22 (38:20) The Lord is about
to deliver me, and we will celebrate with
music for the rest of our lives in the Lord's
temple."
We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving. It is
well for us to remember the mercies we
receive in sickness. Hezekiah records the
condition he was in.

41. He dwells upon this; I shall no more see the
Lord. A good man wishes not to live for any
other end than that he may serve God, and
have communion with him.
Our present residence is like that of a
shepherd in his hut, a poor, mean, and cold
lodging, and with a trust committed to our
charge, as the shepherd has.

42. Our days are compared to the weaver's
shuttle, passing and repassing very swiftly,
every throw leaving a thread behind it; and
when finished, the piece is cut off, taken out
of the loom, and showed to our Master to
be judged of.

43. A good man, when his life is cut off, his
cares and fatigues are cut off with it, and he
rests from his labours. But our times are in
God's hand; he has appointed what shall be
the length of the piece.

44. When sick, we are very apt to calculate our
time, but are still at uncertainty. It should be
more our care how we shall get safe to
another world. And the more we taste of the
loving-kindness of God, the more will our
hearts love him, and live to him. It was in
love to our poor perishing souls that Christ
delivered them.

45. The pardon does not make the sin not to
have been sin, but not to be punished as it
deserves. It is pleasant to think of our
recoveries from sickness, when we see
them flowing from the pardon of sin.

46. Hezekiah's opportunity to glorify God in this
world, he made the business, and pleasure,
and end of life. Being recovered, he
resolves to abound in praising and serving
God.
God's promises are not to do away, but to
quicken and encourage the use of means.
Life and health are given that we may
glorify God and do good.
(Matthew Henry Concise Commentary)

47. What have we learned from Hezekiah by
reading Isaiah 38? The Lord, with all
His power to create or destroy loves
humans that are faithful to Him.

48. His power not only prolonged Hezekiah’s
life, but also, on a great, vast, immense,
and enormous scale made time go
backwards. And he did it all without
throwing our universe out of sync.

49. We learned to praise The Lord by repeating
back to Him the goodness He’s done for us.
Things we think insignificant are wonderful
miracles.
The fact that we aren’t thrown off this
spinning globe is outstanding. Even food,
water, & sleep, keep these earthly bodies
functioning. Marvelous!

50. Such wisdom and power displayed in our
daily lives. But the greatest of all, God The
Son left paradise to became a human, died,
and rose from the dead so our sins may be
forgiven and we be drawn to The Father.