2 Chronicles 32:24

In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS—HIS PRIDE AND WEALTH—THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY—CONCLUSION (2Chronicles 32:24-33).

(24) In those days Hezekiah was sick.—This single verse epitomises 2Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38

To the death.—Unto dying.

He spake unto him.—By the mouth of Isaiah.

And he gave him a sign.—The recession of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz. Literally, and a sign He gave him; the emphatic word first.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:24-33 God left Hezekiah to himself, that, by this trial and his weakness in it, what was in his heart might be known; that he was not so perfect in grace as he thought he was. It is good for us to know ourselves, and our own weakness and sinfulness, that we may not be conceited, or self-confident, but may always live in dependence upon Divine grace. We know not the corruption of our own hearts, nor what we shall do if God leaves us to ourselves. His sin was, that his heart was lifted up. What need have great men, and good men, and useful men, to study their own infirmities and follies, and their obligations to free grace, that they may never think highly of themselves; but beg earnestly of God, that he will always keep them humble! Hezekiah made a bad return to God for his favours, by making even those favours the food and fuel of his pride. Let us shun the occasions of sin: let us avoid the company, the amusements, the books, yea, the very sights that may administer to sin. Let us commit ourselves continually to God's care and protection; and beg of him never to leave us nor forsake us. Blessed be God, death will soon end the believer's conflict; then pride and every sin will be abolished. He will no more be tempted to withhold the praise which belongs to the God of his salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare 2 Kings 20 and notes. The "sign" is not (as in the margin) the miraculous cure, but the going back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz (see 2 Chronicles 32:31).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 32:24-26. Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery.

24. In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death—(See on [469]2Ki 20:1-11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of which see a more particular account 2 Kings 20:1.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

In those days Hezekiah was sick,.... Of which sickness, and of his prayer, and of the sign given him, see Isaiah 38:1 and the notes there.

Geneva Study Bible

In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him {r} a sign.

(r) To confirm his faith in God's promise, who declared to him by his prophet that his life would be prolonged fifteen years.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24–33 (cp. 2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38, 39)). Hezekiah’s Sickness. The Ambassadors from Babylon. Hezekiah’s Death

24. In those days] The phrase is taken over from 2 Kings 20:1, and it cannot be determined what date is intended, though we might conclude from 2 Kings 20:6 that it was a time at which the Assyrian danger was not yet past, and that it was about the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (reigned 14 + 15 = 29 years).

he spake] The Heb. word means in certain connexions, “to promise,” and the idea of “promise” is present here, the sense being “God made him a promise and confirmed it by a wonder”; cp. 2 Kings 20:5-6; 2 Kings 8-11.

a sign] Rather, a wonder (R.V. mg.), as in 2 Chronicles 32:31.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - The extreme brevity again of our compiler, in the account of Hezekiah's illness, and his passing so lightly over whatever in it cast shades upon his character and career, cannot escape our notice. Much fuller is the narrative of 2 Kings 20:1-21. Gave him a sign (see 2 Kings 20:8-11, and our ver. 31, middle clause. See also at length of the sickness of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38.). 2 Chronicles 32:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Hezekiah's sickness and recovery; his pride and his humiliation. - 2 Chronicles 32:24. As to the sickness of Hezekiah, and the miraculous sign by which the prophet Isaiah assured him of recovery, see the account in 2 Kings 20:1-11 and Isaiah 38. The Chronicle has only given us hints on this matter. ויּאמר and נתן refer to the same subject - God. Hezekiah prayed, and in consequence of his prayer God spake to him, sc. by the mouth of the prophet, and gave him a miraculous sign.