2 Kings 20:1

_IN THOSE DAYS WAS HEZEKIAH SICK UNTO DEATH. AND THE PROPHET ISAIAH 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._ In those days was Hezekiah sick. As his reign lasted twenty-nine years (2 Kings 18:2), and his kingdom was invaded in the fourteenth (2 Kings 18:13), it is evident that this sudden and severe illness must have occurred in the very year of the Syrian invasion. Between the threatened attack and the actual appearance of the enemy, this incident in Hezekiah's history must have taken place. But according to the usage of the sacred historian, the story of Sennacherib is completed before entering on what was personal to the king of Judah (see also Isa. 38:39). Dean Stanley is of opinion that the king

1-11 Hezekiah was sick unto death, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem. A warning to prepare for death was brought to Hezekiah by Isaiah. Prayer is one of the best preparations for death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God, to enable us to finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he was unwilling to die; it is in the nature of man to dread the separation of soul and body. There was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case; he was now in the midst of his usefulness. Let Hezekiah's prayer, see 2 Kings 20:38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is like his having been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment. Hezekiah's piety made his sick-bed easy. "O Lord, remember now;" he does not speak as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us; nor, as if the reward might be demanded as due; it is Chr...

CHAPTER XX _Hezekiah's sickness, and the message of the prophet to him, to_ _prepare for death_, 1. _His distress and prayer to God_, 2, 3. _The Lord hears, and promises to add_ fifteen _years to his life,_ _and Isaiah prescribes a means of cure_, 4-7. _Hezekiah seeks a sign; and to assure him of the truth of God's_ _promise, the shadow on the dial of Ahaz goes back_ ten _degrees_, 8-11. _The King of Babylon sends a friendly message to Hezekiah, to_ _congratulate him on his recovery; and to these messengers he_...

IN THOSE DAYS - Hezekiah seems to have died 697 B.C.; and his illness must belong to 713 or 714 B.C. (compare 2 Kings 20:6), a date which falls early in the reign of Sargon. The true chronological place of this narrative is therefore prior to all the other facts related of Hezekiah except his religious reforms. THE PROPHET ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ - This full description of Isaiah (compare 2 Kings 19:2), by the addition of his father’s name and of his office, marks the original independence of this narrative. The writer of Kings may have found it altogether separate from the other records of Hezekiah, and added it in the state in which he found it. This history (compare...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 20:1 ILLNESS OF HEZEKIAH AND EMBASSY OF MERODACH-BALADAN. HEZEKIAH'S DEATH. The writer proceeds to relate an illness and a recovery of Hezekiah, which happened about the middle of his reign, probably in B.C. 713, and which was accompanied by strange, if not miraculous, circumstances (2 Kings 20:1). Hezekiah's recovery was followed by an embassy of congratulation from Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon, which led Hezekiah into an act of folly, and brought upon him the rebuke of Isaiah (verses 12-19). The narrative terminates with a notice of some of Hezekiah's great works, and of h

Ver. 1-3. IN THESE DAYS WAS HEZEKIAH SICK UNTO DEATH,.... Of this sickness of Hezekiah, the message of the prophet Isaiah to him, and his prayer upon it, Isaiah 38:1, Isaiah 38:2, Isaiah 38:3....

2 Kings 20:1. _In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah 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._ That is to say, in the common course of providence, without a miracle, Hezekiah must have died. God did by no means change when afterwards he permitted him to live. This time he spoke after the order of nature; the next time he spoke according to the extraordinary work of his marvelous power. 2 Kings 20:2. _Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,_ What did he do that for? Well, as he could not rise from his bed through weakness he gets the greatest privacy he can, and the God who accepted Carmel as Elijah's prayer-shrine, would

3. HEZEKIAH'S ILLNESS, RECOVERY, FAILURE, AND DEATH CHAPTER 20 _ 1. Hezekiah's illness and recovery (2 Kings 20:1; 2 Chronicles 32:24)_ 2. Hezekiah's failure (2 Kings 20:12; 2 Chronicles 32:25) 3. The death of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:32) Hezekiah's sickness must have occurred about the second invasion of the Assyrian. Then the prophet Isaiah delivered to him the m

SICKNESS OF HEZEKIAH. This is related in the parallel passage, Isaiah 38, in a much abbreviated form, save that it adds the prayer of Hezekiah after his recovery. Isaiah 38 omits 2 Kings 20:4 (Isaiah being recalled afore he was gone out of the middle court (_mg._) of the palace, 2 Kings 20:5_ b_ (promising that Hezekiah shall go up to the Temple on the third day), 2 Kings 20:8 (Hezekiah's request for a sign), 2 Kings 20:9_ a_ (the alternative sign, Hezekiah's choice, and Isaiah's crying to Yahweh). 11. THE DIAL OF AHAZ: Heb. the steps (_mg.)._ Probably the shadow on certain steps indicated the hours of the

THOSE DAYS. About the time of the second invasion (2 Kings 18:13), but before the deliverance of 2 Kings 19:35. THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. SET THINE HOUSE IN ORDER. Give charge concerning thine house. See the Structure of Isa 36:39. DIE, AND NOT LIVE. Figure of speech _Pleonasm_ (App-6),. double emphasis....