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2 Kings Chapter Twenty

 

2 Kings 20 Outline of Contents

Hezekiah’s Life Extended (v.1~11)

The Babylonian Envoys (v.12~19)

Death of Hezekiah (v.20~21)

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 20

In this chapter is an account of Hezekiah's sickness, and of the means of his recovery, and of the sign given of it, 2 Kings 20:1 of the king of Babylon's congratulatory letter to him upon it, when he showed to the messengers that brought it his treasures, in the pride and vanity of his heart, 2 Kings 20:12 for which he was reproved by the prophet Isaiah, and was humbled, and submitted to the sentence pronounced on his house, 2 Kings 20:14, and the chapter is concluded with his reign and death, 2 Kings 20:20.

 

2 Kings 20:1  In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’”

   YLT  1In those days hath Hezekiah been sick unto death, and come unto him doth Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, and saith unto him, `Thus said Jehovah: Give a charge to thy house, for thou art dying, and dost not live.'

Verses 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; see Gill on Isaiah 38:1; see Gill on Isaiah 38:2; see Gill on Isaiah 38:3.

 

2 Kings 20:2  2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,

   YLT  2And he turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah, saying,

 

2 Kings 20:3  3 “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

   YLT  3`I pray Thee, O Jehovah, remember, I pray Thee, how I have walked habitually before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that which [is] good in Thine eyes I have done;' and Hezekiah weepeth -- a great weeping.

 

2 Kings 20:4  4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

   YLT  4And it cometh to pass -- Isaiah hath not gone out to the middle court -- that the word of Jehovah hath been unto him, saying,

And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court,.... Of the king's palace, which is called the other court within the porch, 1 Kings 7:8 so it is according to the marginal reading, which we follow; but the textual reading is, "the middle city"; Jerusalem was divided into three parts, and this was the middle part Isaiah was entering into: but before he did, so it was:

that the word of the Lord came to him, saying; as follows.

 

2 Kings 20:5  5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

   YLT  5`Turn back, and thou hast said unto Hezekiah, leader of My people: Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I give healing to thee, on the third day thou dost go up to the house of Jehovah;

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; See Gill on 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 20:6  6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.”’”

   YLT  6and I have added to thy days fifteen years, and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over this city for Mine own sake, and for the sake of David My servant.'

And I will add unto thy days fifteen years,.... See Gill on Isaiah 38:5.

and I will deliver thee, and this city, out of the hand of the king of Assyria; by which it appears that this sickness and recovery were before the destruction of the Assyrian army:

and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake: for the sake of his honour and glory in the temple, and the service of it, that were in Jerusalem, and for the sake of his promise to David and his seed.

 

2 Kings 20:7  7 Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

   YLT  7And Isaiah saith, `Take ye a cake of figs;' and they take and lay [it] on the boil, and he reviveth.

And Isaiah said, take a lump of figs,.... Not moist figs, but a cake of dried figs, as the word used signifies, and so the less likely to have any effect in curing the boil:

and they took, and laid it on the boil, and he recovered; made a plaster of it, and laid it on the ulcer, and it was healed. Physicians observeF21Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 620. Vid. Levin. Lemnii Herb. Bibl. Explicat. c. 19. p. 60. , that as such like inflammations consist in a painful extension of the fibres by the hinderance of the circulation of the blood, through the extreme little arteries, which may be mitigated, or dissipated, or ripened, by such things as are emollient and loosening, so consequently by figs; and, in a time of pestilence, figs beaten together with butter and treacle have been applied to plague of boils with great success; yet these figs being only a cake of dry figs, and, the boil not only malignant, but deadly, and the cure so suddenly performed, show that this was done not in a natural, but in a supernatural way, though means were directed to be made use of.

 

2 Kings 20:8  8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

   YLT  8And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, `What [is] the sign that Jehovah doth give healing to me, that I have gone up on the third day to the house of Jehovah?'

And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah,.... Or "had said",F23ויאמר "dixerat autem", V. L. Vatablus. before the plaster of figs was directed to, or, however, laid on, and as soon as he was told he should be healed:

what shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? not that he disbelieved the promise of God, or doubted of a cure, but this he requested for the confirmation of his faith; which good men sometimes asked, when they doubted not, as Gideon; and Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, was bid to ask a sign for the like purpose, and it was resented in him that he did not, see Judges 6:17.

 

2 Kings 20:9  9 Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”

   YLT  9And Isaiah saith, `This [is] to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth the thing that He hath spoken -- The shadow hath gone on ten degrees, or it doth turn back ten degrees?'

And Isaiah said, this sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken,.... Cure him of his disorder, so that he should be able to go to the temple on the third day:

shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? that is, the shadow of the sun on a dial plate; it was left to his option to choose which he would, as the confirming sign of his recovery.

 

2 Kings 20:10  10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

   YLT  10And Hezekiah saith, `It hath been light for the shadow to incline ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow turn backward ten degrees.'

And Hezekiah answered, it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees,.... That is, it was comparatively so, otherwise to go down ten degrees at once would be extraordinary and miraculous; but that was more agreeable to the nature and course of it to go forward, and so the miracle would be less apparent:

nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees; which was directly contrary to its natural order and course, whereby the miracle would appear more clear and manifest: these degrees are by some saidF24Weemse's Christ. Synagog. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 6. p. 167. See his Exposition of the Judicial Laws, c. 25. p. 90. &c. to be half hours, and not full ones, since it is observed the sun shines not twenty full hours on any dial, unless under the pole; the sun is supposed to have been now at the fifth full hour; the sun was brought back five whole hours, then came forward five, then came forward two degrees, or one hour, to the sixth hour; which made sixteen; then it was six hours to sunset; so that day was prolonged twenty two hours: the ChineseF25Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 4. p. 138. relate, that, in the time of Kingcungus, the planet Mars, for sake of the king, went back three degrees.

 

2 Kings 20:11  11 So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

   YLT  11And Isaiah the prophet calleth unto Jehovah, and He bringeth back the shadow by the degrees that it had gone down in the degrees of Ahaz -- backward ten degrees.

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed, as the Targum; and was very earnest in prayer, that what Hezekiah had desired might be granted:

and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz; Ben Gersom understands it not of the sun itself, but of the shadow of it only; See Gill on Isaiah 38:8.

 

2 Kings 20:12  12 At that time Berodach-Baladan[a] the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

   YLT  12At that time hath Berodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick;

Verses 12-19

At that time Berodachbaladan,.... He is called Merodachbaladan, Isaiah 39:1, so here in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; See Gill on Isaiah 39:1; and by MetasthenesF26Ut supra. (De Judicio Temp. fol. 221. 2.) his father is called Merodach, and he Ben Merodach, who reigned twenty one years, and his father fifty two; from hence to the end of 2 Kings 20:12 the same account is given in the same words as in Isaiah 39:1 throughout, except in 2 Kings 20:13, where it is, "hearkened unto them", and there, "glad of them"; heard the letter the ambassadors brought with pleasure; see the notes there. See Gill on Isaiah 39:1 and following.

 

2 Kings 20:13  13 And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all[b] his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

   YLT  13and Hezekiah hearkeneth unto them, and sheweth them all the house of his treasury, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that hath been found in his treasuries; there hath not been a thing that Hezekiah hath not shewed them, in his house, and in all his dominion.

 

2 Kings 20:14  14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”

YLT  14And Isaiah the prophet cometh in unto king Hezekiah, and saith unto him, `What said these men? and whence come they unto thee?' And Hezekiah saith, `From a land afar off they have come -- from Babylon.'

 

2 Kings 20:15  15 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

   YLT  15And he saith, `What saw they in thy house?' and Hezekiah saith, `All that [is] in my house they saw; there hath not been a thing that I have not shewed them among my treasures.'

 

2 Kings 20:16  16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:

   YLT  16And Isaiah saith unto Hezekiah, `Hear a word of Jehovah:

 

2 Kings 20:17  17 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.

   YLT  17Lo, days are coming, and borne hath been all that [is] in thy house, and that thy father have treasured up till this day, to Babylon; there is not left a thing, said Jehovah;

 

2 Kings 20:18  18 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

   YLT  18and of thy sons who go out from thee, whom thou begettest, they take away, and they have been eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'

 

2 Kings 20:19  19 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”

   YLT  19And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, `Good [is] the word of Jehovah that thou hast spoken;' and he saith, `Is it not -- if peace and truth are in my days?'

 

2 Kings 20:20  20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

   YLT  20And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and bringeth in the waters to the city, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might,.... Which he exerted in his wars with his enemies, and in the reformation of religion, and abolition of idolatry:

and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city; at the same time that he cut it off from the enemy without, see 2 Chronicles 32:3,

are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? a book often referred to in this history, but since lost; many of his acts are recorded in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 29:1.

 

2 Kings 20:21  21 So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

   YLT  21And Hezekiah lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Manasseh his son in his stead.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers,.... Died, as they did; no mention is here made of the place of his burial, but there is in 2 Chronicles 32:33 where he is said to be buried in the principal part of the sepulchres of the sons of David, and to have honour done him at his death by the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, by the vast concourse of people attending his interment, and by burning spices for him, and making a public mourning on his account a certain stated time:

and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead; of whose wicked reign an account is given in the next chapter.

 

──John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Kings 20:12 Spelled Merodach-Baladan in Isaiah 39:1
  2. 2 Kings 20:13 Following many Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, and Targum; Masoretic Text omits all.