HEZEKIAH In Sickness and in Health
LIKE MOST OF US, KING HEZEKIAH HAD good moments and not-so-good moments. He cleaned house after his wicked father, Ahaz, died—purifying the Temple, reinstituting Passover, and eliminating idols throughout Israel (2 Chr 29–31). Against this backdrop of religious reform, Assyria threatened Jerusalem (2 Chr 32:1-23), directly challenging the people’s faith in God’s provision. In despair, Hezekiah asked Isaiah to pray for deliverance. His appeal to God models godly leadership. Hezekiah acknowledged God’s unique sovereignty, asked for rescue that only the true God could provide, and reminded the Lord that this deliverance would testify to the nations. Through Isaiah, the Lord assured Hezekiah that despair was unnecessary because God was in control and would defeat his people’s enemies.
Seek God first, in good times and bad
Later, during a life-threatening illness, Hezekiah cried out to God, who mercifully granted him fifteen more years of life. Hezekiah composed a beautiful hymn of thanksgiving that acknowledged God’s sovereignty over life, death, sickness, and health, and testified to the importance of suffering as a means of discipline to restore right relationship with the Lord.
Not long after that, Hezekiah showed off his possessions to visiting Babylonian ambassadors, revealing his proud heart and practically asking to be conquered. Isaiah prophesied that Babylon would take all those possessions—including Hezekiah’s own sons, who would be made into eunuchs and forced to serve a foreign king—after Hezekiah’s death. This time, rather than seeking God’s forgiveness and asking Isaiah to intercede, Hezekiah retreated into a falsely pious acceptance of the Lord’s word. Hezekiah’s response was astonishingly shortsighted—and yet so very human. We are all tempted to see consequences as insignificant if they don’t affect us directly. Godly leadership means thinking of those we are responsible for, interceding on their behalf, and working for their good. The contrast between Hezekiah’s leadership and Isaiah’s prophecies about a better ruler—the Servant who would suffer personally for the sake of his people—is quite remarkable.