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, I HAVE SEEN THY TEARS: BEHOLD, I WILL HEAL THEE: ON THE THIRD DAY THOU SHALT GO UP UNTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD._ Thus saith ... the God of David thy father. An immediate answer was given to his prayer, containing an assurance that the Lord was mindful of His promise to David, and would accomplish it in Hezekiah's experience, both by the prolongation of his life and his deliverance from the Assyrians. ON THE THIRD DAY. The perfect recovery from a dangerous sickness, within so short a time, shows the miraculous character of the cure (see his thanksgiving song, Isaiah 38:9). The disease cannot be ascertained; but the text gives no hint that the plague was raking then in Jerusalem; and although Arabian as well as Persian (Morier) physici

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...

THE CAPTAIN OF MY PEOPLE - This phrase (which does not occur elsewhere in Kings) is remarkable, and speaks for the authenticity of this full report of the actual words of the prophet’s message (abbreviated in Isaiah 38:1, etc.). The title, “Captain נגיד _nāgı̂yd_ of God’s people,” commonly used of David, is applied to Hezekiah, as David’s true follower 2 Kings 18:3....

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

TURN AGAIN, AND TELL HEZEKIAH THE CAPTAIN OF MY PEOPLE,.... The king of them, as the Targum: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF DAVID THY FATHER, I HAVE HEARD THY PRAYER, I HAVE SEEN THY TEARS; Isaiah 38:5 BEHOLD, I WILL HEAL THEE; instantly, miraculously; and none but God could heal him, his disease being in its kind mortal, and he had been told from the Lord that he should die: ON THE THIRD DAY THOU SHALT GO UP UNTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: the temple, to give thanks for his recovery; and this he should do on the third day from thence; so soon should he be well, which would show the cure to be miraculous....

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

GOD OF DAVID (Hebrew. _Elohim._ This tells us the nature of Hezekiah's prayer. He had no heir to the throne, but remembered Jehovah's word to David in 2 Samuel 7:12. Hence his anxiety, as manifested in his "Songs of the degrees". Compare Psalms 127:3; Psalms 138; Psalms 132. See App-67. (Manasseh not born till three years later, 600 B.C.) BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ Introducing the fivefold (App-10) promise and answer to his prayer in verses: 2 Kings 20:5 and...

_tell_[R.V. SAY TO] _Hezekiah the captain_[R.V. PRINCE] _of my people_ The first of these changes is in conformity with Isaiah. The latter clause -the captain &c." is not in the parallel place in Isaiah, where, in this portion of the narrative, the whole record is much briefer. The name -prince" (Heb. _nagid_) is that which was applied by Jehovah Himself to the first elected king of Israel (1 Samuel 9:16), Saul. _behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up_unto _the house of the Lord_ These words are not found in Isaiah. But there is given there the thanksgiving of Hezekiah which expresses the feelings with which the king would go up to the temple to acknowledge the goodness which had spared his life. It is called -the writing of Hezekiah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness" ...