2 Kings 20

2 Kings 20:13: “Hezekiah was attentive to them.”

These 3 chapters (18-20) on the reign of Hezekiah are significant in the Scriptures. They are given to us 3 times in the Old Testament (cf. also 2 Chron. 29-32 and Isaiah 36-39).  Why this emphasis?

In the case of Isaiah’s inclusion of this in his prophecy it provides a critical water-shed moment in the life of the nation.  The regional (world) power when Hezekiah became king was Assyria.  They literally stomped on everyone around them, taking control of the nations.  And God used them to exact punishment on the idolatrous Northern Kingdom of Israel, resulting in their removal from the promised land.  Assyria’s eventual demise however has it’s beginnings when they come to do the same to Judah.  There God honors His name by delivering Hezekiah.

Amazingly, in his prophecy, Isaiah 40-66 places special emphasis on Judah’s enemy, but the enemy is Babylon, not Assyria.  Babylon’s rise to prominence is still 100 years off.  Yet Isaiah treats them as if they are the ones to fear.  Thus the position of these chapters in Isaiah indicates the turning from Assyria whom God uses to punish Israel to the next enemy, Babylon, whom God will use to punish Judah.  It is likely that Isaiah 40-66 was written after this meeting of the Babylonian emissaries with Hezekiah.  It seemed so innocent at the time, and yet was God’s means of moving the prophet to understand the years and centuries to come.

The 2 Chronicles version of the story of Hezekiah’s healing and the visit of the Babylonians is given only in a summary form.  Here is what it says.

24 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the LORD; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah’s showing of his riches was not so innocent.  It was a failure to thank God for the healing.  His pride was the same kind of response the nation would have in the coming years in the 55-year reign of Manasseh.  All of this is suggested by the term “attentive” in 2 Kings 20:13.  The word means to “hear” but to hear “intelligently”.  Hezekiah treated them “as if they were something special”, an attention that belonged only to God Who had blessed him.

Today we will each be living out the story God has planned for us (Eph. 2:10).  Let us not fall into the trap of thinking there will be insignificant conversations or events along the way.  Always we are being given opportunities to exalt our Father and His Son Jesus Christ!  By God’s grace let us do so.