20:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’ ”
King Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness and was about to die.
20:2 He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
King Hezekiah was very much like David. He took this situation to the Lord in prayer.
20:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
King Hezekiah did not pray for healing. He just reminded the Lord that he had been faithful to Him. He may have been concerned about another Assyrian attack. Another possibility may have been that his son Manasseh was too young to rule.
20:4 Isaiah was still in the middle courtyard when the Lord told him, 20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow you will go up to the Lord’s temple.
The Lord promised to heal Hezekiah.
20:6 I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.” ’ ”
Jehovah added fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life. Hezekiah was immortal until this prophecy was fulfilled.
20:7 Isaiah ordered, “Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered.
Isaiah used a fig cake to heal Hezekiah’s ulcer. The fig cake was well known in the ancient world as a means of helping to heal boils and ulcers, but this medicine was prescribed by God and not by doctors.
20:8 Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What is the confirming sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple the day after tomorrow?”
The prophets always accompanied a distant prophecy with an immediate prophecy to authenticate that the message was from God.
20:9 Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said. Do you want the shadow to move ahead ten steps or to go back ten steps?”
Time was kept in Israel by the shadows of the sun. Hezekiah was given a choice of moving the shadow forward of backward by ten steps.
20:10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for it to go back ten steps.”
Hezekiah asked for the shadow to reverse ten steps.
20:11 Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.
2 Chronicles 32:31 recorded that this was a geographically localized miracle, meaning it did not involve the reversal of the earth’s rotation, Otherwise, this miracle would have affected the entire world.
20:12 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.
Merodach was a form of the name of Babylon’s main deity, probably a deification of its founder Nimrod.
20:13 Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.
The Scriptures were not written in chronological order. This event occurred before Sennacherib’s invasion. Otherwise there would have been no silver and gold in the temple to show the Babylonians. It was all given to Sennacherib.
Judah prospered under the reign of Hezekiah. The wealth of the world was there, which was not general knowledge among the ancients at that time.
20:14 Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They come from the distant land of Babylon.”
Isaiah the prophet asked King Hezekiah about his foreign visitors.
20:15 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything in my treasuries.”
King Hezekiah was flattered that ambassadors traveled from such a long way to visit him. He gave these Babylon ambassadors the royal tour. This was a foolish thing for Hezekiah to do. He let the ambassadors see the treasure that Solomon had gathered.
20:16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the word of the Lord, 17 ‘Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
Isaiah predicted the Babylon Captivity 115 years before its fulfillment.
20:18 ‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
Some of the descendants of King Hezekiah’s own family will be castrated and made eunuchs in the land of Babylon. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah will one day become four of these eunuchs. They were “of the king’s seed and of the princes,” and were placed in the king’s palace under “Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs” (Daniel 1:3). Later they were placed directly under Melzar by “the prince of the eunuchs” (Daniel 1:11).
20:19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” Then he added, “At least there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”
King Hezekiah may not have been arrogant or unconcerned as many commentators suggest. He was glad that during his rule, there would be peace and prosperity. Judah will later be judged because of Manasseh’s sin, not because of Hezekaiah’s treasure-room tour.
20:20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
King Hezekiah built an internal water supply to protect Jerusalem from a possible siege by the Assyrians. His other works were recorded in an uninspired history book which has been lost to this day.
The conduit and pool were constructed by King Hezekiah in anticipation of a possible Assyrian siege. The tunnel was cut into solid rock under mount Zion. Archaeologists rediscovered the tunnel in the 19th century. A Hebrew inscription commemorating the completion of the tunnel was found on the wall. Radiocarbon dating has confirmed that the tunnel was constructed at the same time of the peril of Hezekiah.
20:21 Hezekiah passed away and his son Manasseh replaced him as king.
Manasseh became the next King of Judah. He will become a very evil king.