2 Kings 20

2. K. 20: 1 IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up unto the house of the LORD the third day? And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign unto thee from the LORD, that the

I am deprived of the residue of my years.11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD in the land of the living : I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.12 Mine age is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd’s tent : I have rolled up like a weaver my life ; he will cut me off from the loom : From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.13 I quieted myself until morning ; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones : From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.14 Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter ; I did mourn as a dove : mine eyes fall with looking upward ; O LORD, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it : I shall go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.16 O Lord, by these things men live, And wholly therein is the life of my spirit: Wherefore recover thou me, and make me to live.17 Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness : But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption ; For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee : They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day : The father to the children shall make known thy truth.20 The LORD is ready to save me ; Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of the LORD.21 Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil,22 and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD? 39 : 1 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah : for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and

LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken : shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go 10 back ten steps? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps : nay, but let the shadow return 11 backward ten steps. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD : and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.12 At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah : for he had heard 13 that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures : there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.14 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Baby- 15 lon. And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen : there is nothing among my treasures that I have 16 not shewed them. And Isaiah said unto 17 Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon : nothing shall be left, saith the 18 LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away ; and they shall be eunuchs 19 in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

20. Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of

21 the kings of Judah? And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

THE simple, common-sense view of the matter is, that since the traditional position of these chapters among the writings of Isaiah corresponds exactly to the known fact of his having written a part of the history of Judah, the presumption in favor of his having written both the passages in question cannot be shaken by the mere possibility, or even the intrinsic probability, of other hypotheses, for which there is not the least external evidence. The specific end for which the narrative is here appended to the foregoing prophecies appears to be that of showing the fulfilment of certain prophecies which had relation to a proximate futurity, and thereby gaining credence and authority for those which had a wider scope and a remoter consummation. A.

It is well known that Isaiah wrote portions of the historic records of his nation—e.g., the life of Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:22) and of Hezekiah (2 Chron. 33:22). None can doubt that he wrote these historic chapters. Both the resemblances and the differences of these two narratives are easily accounted for upon this highly probable supposition. The narrative in 2 Chron. 32 differs very considerably from either of these, omitting much; condensing some of the points which it introduces, yet bringing out some new matter. It can scarcely be doubted that this account is of later date and purposely supplementary to the other two. There is abundant reason to conclude that the books of Chronicles were chiefly compiled by Ezra and his associates, the matter, whether original or selected, being adapted to certain moral purposes which were then of paramount importance to the recently restored exiles. H. C.