2 Kings 20
PATVer^l. JLn those days was Hezekiak sick unto death. This is set down after the death of Sennacherib; but with this general note only of the time, wherein this sickness fell out, in those days. Which, as primate Usher observes in his Annals, doth not relate to what went just before (to the time when the king of Assyria invaded the land), as is evident from ver. 6. of this chapter; where he promises to add fifteenyears to his life, and also to deliver him from the king of Assyria. Which deliverance, therefore, was after this sickness, which was in the latter end of his fourteenth year; to which if we add fifteen, they make up the whole twenty-nine years of his reign. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.’] That is, his disease was, in its own nature, mortal, and could not be cured by any human remedy: therefore he wished him to settle his estate, and, as we speak, to make his will; how all things in his house should be disposed when he was dead. Vcr. 2. Then he turned his face unto the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying.] That is, towards the wall of the sanctuary, as the Targum expounds it. (See Dr. Hammond upon Acts x. annot. 6.) He thought, as it was not beyond the power of God to restore him, so he had not peremptorily decreed that he should die: but there was a tacit condition in the message, (as in other cases, Jonah iii. 4.) otherwise he would not have prayed to be spared. Vcr. 3. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have Walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and liave done that which is good in thy sight.] He was not conscious to himself that he had omitted any thing which was to be done for the restoring the true worship of God. In which he had been so exact, as to take away the high places, which had continued ever since the time of David, and none durst remove them: and therefore he presumed to beg that he might live, to settle and establish what he had begun to do. And Hezekiah wept sore.] One reason was, as many think, that he had not yet a son to succeed him on the throne. For he lived after this fifteen years; and when he died Manasseh was but twelve years old, who therefore was born after this sickness.
2 Kings 20:4
And it came to pass, afore Isaiah xvas gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came unto him, saijing. It is doubtful whether we are to understand the middle of the court of the king’s house, or the middle of the city; for the one is in the text, the other in the margin of the Hebrew Bibles. But it is not’ material which wc follow; for the meaning is, that he was not gone far before he was ordered to go back, and carry a new message that his prayer was heard. J.
2 Kings 20:5
Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, The God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the LordJ] Recover his strength so fast, as to be able in three days* time to go to the temple, and give God thanks for his cure; which appears by this to have been miraculous.
2 Kings 20:6
And I will add unto thy days fifteen years. More than he could have lived according to the course of nature. And I will deliver this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.] For this sickness was that year when he threatened to destroy it. (See upon vcr. 1.) It was a great encouragement to faithful obedience, that God so often mentions David’s services with such a kind remembrance of them.
2 Kings 20:7
And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs: and they took and laid it on the bile, and he recovered. There might be some natural virtue in this cataplasm, to soften and ripen a hard humour, as this seems to* have been (some think a plague-sore), but it was a supernatural power which made so speedy a cure; of which God used this as a sign. •
2 Kings 20:8
And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up intothe house of the Lord the third day?. He did believe, no doubt, what the prophet said, otherwise he would have been sharply reproved. But he made bold to desire" a confirmation of his faith, as good men had done in other cases: particularly Gideon, who threw down the altar of Baal, and cut down the grove at God’s command, and blew the trumpet, and gathered an army, which were arguments of a strong faith; and yet, after all this, desired a sign from God, that God would deliver Israel by his hand. (Judg. vi. 25. 34. 36, 37, &c.)
2 Kings 20:9
And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken; Shall the shadow goforward ten degrees, or back ten degrees?. Sometimes God/ who is a free agent, intending to convince men by great wonders that he is to be believed, is so graciously condescending, as to give them leave to choose what they would have him do, or when, that his power may be the more notorious, and no room left for doubting. So he did with Pharaoh, Exod. viii. 9, 10. and with Ahaz; Isa. vii. 11. and here with his son Hezekiah.
2 Kings 20:10
And Hezekiah said, It is a light thing for the shadow to go doivn ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. It w r as comparatively small, because to go forward was the natural course of it; but to - return back was a miracle, both in the thing and in the manner of it.
2 Kings 20:11
Andlsaiah the prophet cried unto theLord; and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. It is observed by many modern interpreters, that there is not a word here spoken concerning the sun’s going back; but only of the shadow upon the dial, which might by the power of God go either forward or backward, the sun still holding its course, as it 3X2 A COMMENTARY UPON [chap. XX. was wont to do. And the degrees or lines in tho dial may signify either hours, or half hours, or, as some think, quarters. (See Vossius, do Orig. et Progrcssu Idol. lib. ii. cap/9.) Now the* going back being three times mentioned in this chapter, and always spoken of the shadow, therefore they conclude the miracle was Avrought upon the dial only, not upon the very body of the sun. It is said, indeed, in Isa. xxxviii. 8. So the sun returned ten degrees; but they think that may be meant of the shadow of the sun (as it goes before), God so disposing the rays of the sun, and ordering the light, that no shadow should be projected, but where the prophet foretold. This I thought fit to represent; but must add, that the ancient Jews, and Christians too, took the words of Isaiah to signify that the sun itself went back, and not merely the shadow. Whom primate Usher in his Annals follows, Avhose words are these: The sun and all the heavenly bodies went back; and as much was detracted from the next night as was added to this day. (A. M. 4001.) Which was done, I suppose, on a sudden, by the power of God, and lasted not long before all was restored again to their usual place; so that no change was made in the state of the heavenly bodies. But, that there was some change for the present, was observed both in the northern part of the world at Babylon, (from whence Merodach-Baladan sent to inquire about this wonder, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31.) and also in the southern, in the land of Egypt. As we may gather from a remarkable passage in Herodotus, who tells us in his Euterpe, cap. i. 42.- that the Egyptians had observed strange alterations in the motions of the sun; so that ithadrisen four times, ££ ijStwv, out of its usual course, ivrtvStv vvv Sic KcrrctSucrcu, IvTtvSzv Sic tTravruXai, &c. it rising.twice where it now sets, and setting twice where it now rises; and yet, ovSlvTiJvicaT’Alyvin’iwvv7rbTavTaiTepotw^nvail and yet no change at all made among the Egyptians by these things, neither in the earth, nor the river, nor any thing else. This is a plain evidence that their neighbours (and manyothcrs^ it is like) had heard of the unusual motions of the sun (though without any alteration in the heavenly bodies, which were soon returned to:thcir former station), but had not a perfect knowledge of them; or had corrupted their knowledge; for to those two mentioned in Scripture, in the time of Joshua and Hezckiah, the Egyptians added two more, and make them to have been near the same time. But the Jews themselves have been thus fabulous, who say in the chapter Chelek, that the day on which Ahaz died, was but two hours long; but now when Hezekiah’s life was prolonged, God restored those ten hours which were then wanting, and so brought time even. * (Sec Schickard, in his Bechinah Happcruschim, p. 122.), They also believe this niiracic was wrought a little before sun-set; but that excellent, person/ whom I have often mentioned,* Dr. Alix, thinks it evident it was before noon, about our ten of the clock.
2 Kings 20:12
At that time Berodach-Baladan, the son ofBaladan, king of Babylon. Who is called Merodach-Baladan in Isa. xxxix. I.- “Mcrodach was the name of an idol among the Babylonians, as Baal or Bel was another; together with Adan or Adonis, as Sir J. Marsham observes. Joscphus calls him BaXaSac, and so doth Bcrosus. He wasi,but <x tributary to the king of Assyria, till Nebuchadnezzar came to reign, who cast off the yoke of Assyria,; and made thatmonarchy. subject to him. -,-. Sent letters.’] Some think to make a league with him against the king of Assyria: and, it is likely, to inquire about the.wonder done in the land, (2 Chron. xxxii. 31.) And apresent unto Hezekiah.] As the manner was when they sought any one’s friendship. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.] And therefore in these letters, I suppose, he also congratulated his happy recovery to health.
2 Kings 20:13
And Hezekiah hearkened unto them. He gave them a friendly and benign audience (as Abarbincl explains it), being glad at their coming, as Isaiah tells us, (xxxix. 2.) because he knew them to be enemies to Sennacherib. And the words seem to, import that they came about some weighty business, to which he consented. And shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the, precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures.] He was so pleased, or rather transported with joy, at the honour the king of Babylon had done him, that ho not only gave them a gracious audience, as was said before, but ordered his officers to shew them all the rarities he had in his treasures. For though his country had been lamentably’ harassed by the king of Assyria, and he had endeavoured to appease him with great gifts, (xviii. 14, 15.) yet there were many good things remaining in Jerusalem; and great presents had been made to Hezekiah, since the stroke from heaven upon Sennacherib’s army, (2 Chron. xxxii. 23.) The precious ointment here mentioned, is called, by Kimchi and other Hebrew doctors, apharsemon; which they say was the true balsam; not to be found any where, but near to Jericho. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Hezekiah shewed them not.] There were other valuable things in other parts of the realm, besides those in his own palace at Jerusalem, which he thought worth their seeing, and therefore ordered,his officers to shew them to these ambassadors.
2 Kings 20:14
TJten came Isaiah the j>rophet 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 afar country, even from Babylon.] He answers to the last part of Isaiah’s question, but not a word of the first, what their business with him was? and he calls that a far country from whence they came (though it was not very remote), to express tho great honour that was done him,, by a prince at such a distance from him. Ver.” 15. And he said, What have they seen in thy house?] He knew well enough w r hat they had seen; but had a mind to hear whether Hezekiah would confess the truth, or excuse his folly. And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in my house Iiave they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.] He honestly relates the truth; being insensible of how dangerous a piece of vanity he had been guilty; in shewing strangers those treasures, which he might well think would invite them to endeavour to make themselves masters of them.
2 Kings 20:16
And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the ivordof the Lord. How he resents this action. Which was the more blamcable, because he had lately received such great benefits from God, and seen such an astonishing wonder as he wrought for the confirmation of his faith; whereby he viicro s lj # i *& CHAP. XX.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. should have been moved not to glory in any thing but the goodness of God to him, nor confide in the friendship of great princes, but only in the power of the Almighty.
2 Kings 20:17
Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up unto this day.) There had been several great kings in Judah who had overcome many enemies, and got great spoils, some remainders of which were still in their stores: but Isaiah foretells all should be carried away to that very place, from whence he had been complimented by those ambassadors. Shall be carriedinto Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.] The most pertinent observation that I can make upon these words, is that of Dr. Jackson (in his Answer to John’s Question), where he saith, that whosoever will consider the state of things in this time, and the small power which the Babylonians now had, in respect of their mighty neighbour the king of Assyria (whom the Jews had reason to fear above all other princes); the accomplishment of this prophecy of Isaiah was, according to human conjecture, far more unlikely and improbable, than if a man should in the last age have taken upon him to foretell, that the duke of Saxony, or some such prince in Germany, should conquer France and Spain, and lead them captive to Dresden. But the word of the Lord stands fast for ever; and Isaiah was proved a hundred and twenty-five years after to be a true prophet….. >, [ Vcr. 18. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away.] That is, his posterity descended from him….:.. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’] AVait upon him as his servants, (xxiv. 15.) This was partly fulfilled in Daniel and his companions, (Dan. i. 1.) •.’ 1 1’ *..- ^ *
2 Kings 20:19
TJien said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?. As if he had said, Thanks.be to God it is no worse; let him do his pleasure. Have I not reason to be thankful, if, according to his promise, he deliver me from the king of Assyria, (ver. 6.) and not only prolong my days, but let me enjoy firm peace and true religion as long as I live? • Some take this to be a careless speech, as if he did not concern himself what became of his posterity, so he himself did live happily. But this is inconsistent with such a pious mind as he had; which, no doubt, was sensible of the vanity and pride for which the prophet reproved him; and submitted to the punishment of it, which might have been immediately inflicted, if God had not been very merciful unto him.
2 Kings 20:20
And the rest oftJie acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city. If he brought water into the city by private passages, whereby the enemy was deprived of the benefit of it, while the city enjoyed it (as Grotius understands it), it was certainly a work of admirable contrivance. (See 2 Chron. xxxii. 3.) Are they not writtenin the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?] The same great person here observes, that the book of the Chronicles spoken of here, and in other places, were journals, as these books were annals. Out of which journals Ezra took many more passages in his book of the Chronicles, not omitting what he had written in these annals…..
2 Kings 20:21
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. Here is no mention of his burial with his fathers in the city of David: but Ezra,, in 2 Chron. xxxii. 33. tells us they buried, him “in the chiefestof the sepulchres of the sons of David,” and that all the people " did him honour at his death."