2 Chronicles 32:24 In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him, and he gave him a sign.… I. HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS. 1. The time of it. "In those days" (ver. 24; 2 Kings 20:1; Isaiah 38:1) - an indefinite expression, differently understood. (1) In the days of Sennacherib's invasion, either at its beginning (Keil), during its continuance (Thenius), or after its close (Ewald); but as, according to the monuments, this occurred B.C. 701, or in Hezekiah's twenty-fourth year, either Hezekiah lived more than twenty-nine years in all, or his sickness must be placed earlier. (2) In the days of Sargon's invasion in B.C. 711, and therefore in Hezekiah's fourteenth year (see preceding homilies). 2. The nature of it. A boil (2 Kings 20:7; Isaiah 38:21); but whether an ordinary abscess or a carbuncle cannot be determined, though there is no ground for connecting it with the pestilence that cut off Sennacherib's army. It probably arose out of the bodily weakness induced by long labours in reforming religion, and heavy anxieties in meeting and resisting the Assyrian invasion. 3. The severity of it. "Even unto death." It had all the appearance of being fatal. Hezekiah himself expected nothing else than that "in the noontide of his days he should depart unto the gates of Sheol, and be deprived of the residue of his years" (Isaiah 38:10). Even had his malady not suggested this to his mind, Jehovah's message to him by Isaiah (Isaiah 39:1) would have done so. All sickness a prelude to, and premonition of, the last. II. HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. 1. To whom directed. The Lord; the only living and true God, as welt as the only Hearer of prayer (Psalm 65:2). Doubtless Hezekiah also recognized Jehovah's hand in his affliction, and understood that he alone could remove the malady by whose permission it had come. Asa, in his disease, sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians (2 Chronicles 16:12); and the result with him was different. 2. By what supported. (1) Bitter grief. "Hezekiah wept sore" (2 Kings 20:3). Like Antigone (line 198, etc.), he lamented his sad fate, not merely because he was to die, but because he was being cut off in the middle of his days, and when as yet he had no heir (cf. Genesis 15:2). (2) Strong arguments. He had walked before Jehovah in truth and with a perfect heart, and had done what was good in his sight; and was thus in a manner entitled to the blessing of long life (Deuteronomy 25:15; Psalm 34:12). 3. In what ended. Jehovah spake unto him, granting his request, adding fifteen years to his life, and gave him a sign. The cure was effected by Isaiah laying a cake of figs upon the boil - the vis medicatrix, however, proceeding not from the fruit, but from him who had said, "Behold, I will heal thee'" Jehovah-rophi (Exodus 15:26) one of Jehovah's names. The sign granted at Hezekiah's request was the turning back of the shadow upon the sun-dial, or step-clock, of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8). This sundial, or step-clock, was probably "an obelisk upon a square or circular elevation ascended 1,y steps, which threw the shadow of its highest point at noon upon the highest steps, and in the morning and evening upon the lowest, either on the one side or the other, so that the obelisk itself served as a gnomon." How the shadow was turned back is best explained by "the assumption of a miraculous refraction of the sun's rays, effected by God at the entreaty of the prophet" (Keil on 2 Kings 20:11; cf. Delitzsch on Isaiah 38:8), though it has been well said, "refraction to the extent required would be very strange and abnormal" (Rawlinson, 'Kings of Israel and Judah,' p. 199). LESSONS. 1. The liability of all to affliction. 2. The certainty of death. 3. The contingency of many of the Divine decrees. 4. The efficacy of prayer. 5. The weakness of faith in some good men - Hezekiah needed a sign. 6. The condescension of God - in stooping to regard faith's infirmity. 7. The Divine control over nature's resources. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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