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2
Chronicles Chapter Thirty-two
2 Chronicles 32
Chapter Contents
The invasion of Sennacherib, His defeat. (1-23)
Hezekiah's sickness, His prosperous reign, and death. (24-33)
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 32:1-23
(Read 2 Chronicles 32:1-23)
Those who trust God with their safety, must use proper
means, else they tempt him. God will provide, but so must we also. Hezekiah
gathered his people together, and spake comfortably to them. A believing
confidence in God, will raise us above the prevailing fear of man. Let the good
subjects and soldiers of Jesus Christ, rest upon his word, and boldly say,
Since God is for us, who can be against us? By the favour of God, enemies are
lost, and friends gained.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 32:24-33
(Read 2 Chronicles 32:24-33)
God left Hezekiah to himself, that, by this trial and his
weakness in it, what was in his heart might be known; that he was not so
perfect in grace as he thought he was. It is good for us to know ourselves, and
our own weakness and sinfulness, that we may not be conceited, or
self-confident, but may always live in dependence upon Divine grace. We know
not the corruption of our own hearts, nor what we shall do if God leaves us to
ourselves. His sin was, that his heart was lifted up. What need have great men,
and good men, and useful men, to study their own infirmities and follies, and
their obligations to free grace, that they may never think highly of
themselves; but beg earnestly of God, that he will always keep them humble!
Hezekiah made a bad return to God for his favours, by making even those favours
the food and fuel of his pride. Let us shun the occasions of sin: let us avoid
the company, the amusements, the books, yea, the very sights that may
administer to sin. Let us commit ourselves continually to God's care and
protection; and beg of him never to leave us nor forsake us. Blessed be God,
death will soon end the believer's conflict; then pride and every sin will be
abolished. He will no more be tempted to withhold the praise which belongs to
the God of his salvation.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 32
Verse 1
[1]
After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria
came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and
thought to win them for himself.
After, … — An
emphatical preface, signifying, that notwithstanding all his zeal for God, God
saw fit to exercise him with a sore trial. And God ordered it at this time,
that he might have an opportunity of shewing himself strong, on the behalf of
his returning people. It is possible, we may be in the way of our duty, and yet
meet with trouble and danger. God permits this, for the trial of our confidence
in him, and the manifestation of his care over us.
Verse 3
[3] He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of
the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
To stop —
And withal to draw the waters by secret pipes underground to Jerusalem.
Verse 21
[21] And
the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the
leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with
shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god,
they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
The Lord sent an angel — The Jewish comment says the word of the Lord sent Gabriel to do this
execution, and that it done with lightning, and in the passover night, the same
night wherein the first-born in Egypt were slain.
Verse 25
[25] But
Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his
heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and
Jerusalem.
Lifted up —
For that prodigious victory over the Assyrians, for his miraculous restoration
from sickness, and for the honour since done him by an embassy from the great
king of Babylon. All which probably raised in him too great an opinion of
himself, as if these things were done for his piety and virtues.
Verse 29
[29] Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in
abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
Provided — He
repaired, fortified, and beautified them for the honour and safety of his
kingdom.
Verse 30
[30] This
same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it
straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in
all his works.
Stopped, … — A
rivulet near Jerusalem consisting of two streams, the upper which was brought
into one pool, called the upper pool, Isaiah 7:3, and the lower which was brought into
another, called the lower pool, Isaiah 22:9. The former he diverted and brought
by pipes into Jerusalem, which was a work of great art and labour.
Verse 31
[31]
Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent
unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to
try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Wonder that was done — Either the destruction of the Assyrians, or the going back of the sun.
These miracles were wrought to alarm and awaken a stupid, careless world, and
to turn them from dumb and lame idols to the living God.
God left him — To
himself, and suffered Satan to try him; that he might know he had infirmities
and sins as well as virtues. O what need have great men, and good men, and
useful men, to study their own follies and infirmities, and to beg earnestly of
God, that he would hide pride from them!
Verse 33
[33] And
Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the
sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
Did him honour — It
is a debt we owe to those who have been eminently useful, to do them honour at
their death, when they are out of the reach of flattery, and we have seen the
end of their conversation.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
32 Chapter 32
Verses 1-33
Verse 4
Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
Stopping the fountains
Nothing was more thought of in ancient times in order to add to
the greatness of
a city than an abundant water supply. It was one of the greatest glories of old
Rome that it had never-failing aqueducts, and the same thing was true of
Jerusalem in still earlier times. In all the hard sieges the city endured there
never was any failure of the water supply. The Jews had chiefly to thank
Hezekiah for this. He was both most brave and wise--this old-time Judean king.
He turned his attention first of all to the water supply of the country north
of Jerusalem, by the route along which the invading hosts must come. There was
the upper watercourse of Gihon, not far from the holy city. The springs were
abundant there and their fresh waters united to form a brook which ran strongly
down the valley. Hezekiah’s engineers saw what was to be done, at once to
cripple the enemy and greatly to benefit the Jews. The springs should be drawn
from their natural outlet to pour their waters into a capacious subterranean
aqueduct built strongly and leading the current into vast reservoirs in
Jerusalem cut in the rock far below the foundations of the temple, between the
walls of Jerusalem proper and the city of David. So it is said by the inspired
chronicler that Hezekiah stopped the fountains, that is, he covered them up
after diverting the water, so that the Assyrians might not find them, and he
brought the stream by aqueduct straight down to the west side of the city of
David. For why should the kings
of Assyria come and find much water?
I. We are
justified in thinking of ourselves in our character as the servants of God in
the Christian life, as typified by the people of God in olden time, the jews;
and the king of assyria for us is the evil one himself with all his hateful
hosts. He has ever desired to avail himself of the springs of our human life,
to sustain and aid him in his assaults upon our souls. The springs of human
life are many and various.
1. There are our intellectual faculties, the mind with all its
marvellous power of imagination and memory, the intelligence which reasons out
things, and by sheer force of resistless logic discerns the true from the
false.
2. There is the will, that strange forceful energy which drives our
powers and faculties in this way or in that, compelling them to work its
bidding, a will so often, alas! set against the Divine will and purpose which
called us into being.
3. There are our affections, the emotional side of our nature,
working sometimes quite independently of reason, persuading us to this or that course
of action because the present inclination outweighs every other consideration.
II. These springs
of our human life are full of vigour and send forth a full stream of effective
energy. It is no wonder that the enemy of souls desires to appropriate them to
his own purpose.
1. He would use the mind to set reason against faith, to be wise in
its own conceits, to refuse to accept anything that is not made plain to it.
2. He would use our wills to perform his own purposes against the
Most High. He says to us, “You are free agents, to do as you please. You shall
not surely die if you eat of the forbidden fruit.”
3. Once more there is the emotional side of our nature, our
affections. We feel that these have relation especially to the pleasures of
life, the happiness of love and of sell-indulgence in natural desires of many
sorts. The devil would use these for his own purposes, as of old the kings of
Assyria would eagerly have used the springs of Gihon. Cunningly does he urge it
on the human soul, “Why has God given you passions and natural desires of all
sorts if you are not meant to gratify them?”
III. Now that wise
king Hezekiah in the olden time, when he perceived that the abundant springs of
Gihon were likely to help his enemy to the grievous discomfiture of the people
of God, set to work at once to cover the springs, having diverted the channel
that the water might flow by subterranean conduits into the holy city. The
first great thought he had was to hinder the Assyrian from availing himself of
those precious springs. And that may well read to us a lesson of the exceeding
profitableness of covering our minds and wills and affections from the evil
one.
1. Our intellectual powers should be covered that the enemy of souls
may not use them to our discomfiture.
2. The will is likewise one of those springs of life which Satan
especially seeks to find and to avail himself of. We cover it from him by
subjecting ourselves to a higher will through the principle of obedience.
3. Then there are those choice springs of life which we call the
affections. We must set restraint upon our natural desires in all sorts of
ways, by remembering that our nature has been perverted by original sin; its
lusts and appetites are in rebellion against their lawful master the will, and
they are sure to lead us into mischief unless strongly repressed by loyalty to
the teachings of God.
IV. Hezekiah was
not content to stop the fountains of Gihon that his enemy might not find
abundant water in that dry and dusty country; with a master stroke of policy he
built a great subterranean conduit, and carried all the fresh sweet water from
its source in the valley to enormous rock-hewn reservoirs which he constructed
in jerusalem. One who did not know what the king had done might come to that
place where once the waters of Gihon had flowed so freely, and lament the dry
wady and filled-up wells. And so the world often looks upon the lives of
earnest Christians, thinking how much they are losing through their scruples;
the intellectual powers restrained within the dull limits of orthodoxy, the
will subjected to what seems like a servile obedience to old-time traditions,
the affections not allowed any strong vigorous license to brighten the sadness
of this present world. It is only those who do not comprehend the real truth
who can talk so however.
1. The mental powers which here would not be prostituted to taking
interest in those subjects of human research which blasphemed God’s truth, and
ridiculed the faith of the ages; subjects which under the specious disguise of
realism delved unblushingly into vice and shameful immoralities, and declared
it was the part of true wisdom to know the evil as well as the good--these
shall find splendid exercise and joyous development ever more and more in the
eternal truths of the universe, in the mysteries of the Divine Being, in the
secrets of Divine love which are inexhaustible, and which overflow with
supremest delights.
2. The will which here refused to assert its independence of the
known laws of the Creator, shall in the holy city find full range for all its
craving after freedom.
3. The affections which here resisted the drawings of sensuality and
of worldliness, being willing to surrender the loves of this present world for
the love of God, shall in the city which is on high find the rapture of heart
joy, the bliss of satisfied affection surging back upon the soul from the very
being of God Himself. (Arthur Ritchie.)
Verse 7-8
With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God.
Hezekiah and the Assyrians
The story of Hezekiah and his preservation is one of the most
vivid and thrilling. Rightly interpreted, it echoes the words of our text to
all time. The king of Assyria is a representative character. The powers of this
world are joined against the children of God, and they are variously commanded.
Some Sennacherib rises from hour to hour and threatens, often with formidable
front and fell purpose. But God’s people may always say, “There be more with us
than with him,” etc. (Monday Club Sermons.)
We look too much to men
Oliver Cromwell was but a gentleman farmer, but the exigency of
his time was such that he took up arms on behalf of his country. He was a man
of prayer, and went to the battlefield from the prayer meeting. After one great
victory, he writes to Parliament, “God brought them into our hands God is not
enough owned. We look too much to men and to visible helps. This hinders our
success.”
The arm of flesh
I. The character
of our enemies described by an arm of flesh.
II. The source, of
our support, and cause of victory. “But with us is the Lord our God, to help
us, and to fight our battles.” This denotes--
1. Possession.
2. Presence.
3. Support.
4. Victory.
5. The Father is with us.
6. The Son is with us.
7. And the Holy Ghost is with us.
III. The result of
God’s manifested presence. “And the people rested themselves upon the words of
Hezekiah, king of Judah.” (T. B. Baker.)
Conditions of victory
I. At the negative
side.
1. Numbers are no surety. Gideon’s army had to be reduced before it
could conquer the Amalekites.
2. Worldly wisdom, policy, shrewdness, enterprise, will not ensure
success.
3. Unlimited creature resources of every kind are insufficient.
4. The most seemingly favourable outward circumstances, as to time,
place, auspices, expectations, combinations, oftentimes but deceive into carnal
security and insure the worst kind of defeat.
II. At the positive
side--the assured, unfailing conditions of victory in the sense of
Righteousness and Godliness.
1. We must have God on our side. There must be no doubt on this
point.
2. We must be careful to be on God’s side.
3. This brings out the point which the Apostle John emphasises so
strongly (1 John 5:4-5). (J. M.
Sherwood.)
And the people rested
themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.--
Words to rest on
I. The kind of man
whose words are likely to be rested on. He must be--
1. A great man.
2. A good man.
3. A courageous man.
4. A hearty man.
5. In such a case God will add His sanction by granting success and
he will be a prosperous man.
6. A man who has respect for God’s word.
II. In the second
place let us turn the other way and look at the kind of people who rest on such
a man’s word.
1. Children do so with their parents.
2. Illiterate people who cannot read.
3. Unconverted persons who have no spiritual discernment.
4. Persons who naturally run in a groove. Having attended at such a
place of worship, and having been brought up in the midst of a certain set of
godly people, they scarcely deviate one jot from the teaching that they have
received. Almost by the necessity of their nature they rest on what they hear.
5. Persons who profess always to do their own thinking. If you will
trace them home, they are in nine cases out of ten the veriest slaves that ever
lived. They are the bondservants of some heretic or other who has put it into
their heads that in following him they become free men.
III. The kind of
words you may rest on. You may safely rest on--
1. Words which urge you to faith in God.
2. Words which are the words of God Himself.
3. Words which are sealed by the Lord Jesus.
4. Words which have been blessed to other men.
5. Words which breathe a sense of rest into the soul. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 20
Prayed and cried to heaven.
True prayer
True prayer is not pestering the Throne with passionate entreaties
that a certain method of deliverance which seems best to us, should be
forthwith effected; but is a calm utterance of need, and a patient, submissive
expectance of fitting help, of which we dare not define the manner or the time.
They are wisest, most trustful and reverent, who do not seek to impose their
notions or wills on the clearer wisdom and deeper love to which they betake
themselves, but are satisfied with leaving all to His arbitrament. True prayer
is the bending of our own wills to the Divine, not the urging of ours on it.
When Hezekiah received the insolent letter from the invader, he took it and
“spread it before the Lord,” asking God to read it, leaving all else to Him to
determine: as if he had said, “Behold, Lord, this boastful page. I bring it to
Thee, and now it is Thine affair more than mine.” The burden which we roll on
God lies lightly on our own shoulders; and if we do roll it thither, we need
not trouble ourselves with the question of how He will deal with it. (Alex.
Maclaren, D.D.)
“Fire upwards”
A story of the wars of the first Napoleon has often come back to
me. He was trying in a winter campaign to cut off the march of the enemy across
a frozen lake. The gunners were told to fire on the ice and break it, but the
cannon balls glanced harmlessly along the surface. With one of the sudden
flashes of genius he gave the word, “Fire upwards!” and the balls crashed down
full weight, shattering the whole sheet into fragments, and the day was won.
You can fire upwards in this battle even if you are shut out from fighting it
face to face. You can do your share within the four walls of your room. (Miss
Trotter.)
In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death.
Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery
I. The great
contrasts in the events of life.
II. The suddenness
with which these events happen.
III. The distress
with which they are often attended.
IV. The wonderful
deliverance which God can grant. (James Wolfendale.)
But Hezekiah rendered not
again according to the benefit done unto him--
A ruler’s sin
I. An undoubted
truth; that sins of the rulers and the people ruled, are so intimately
connected, that one invariably involves the other (Zechariah 10:3).
II. The
intelligible motive. God gives us in the present order of things a large share
in one another’s punishments, that He may make us take a deeper interest in one
another’s duties. All are deeply interested in all. The government of every
Christian country is intimately connected with the transgressions of the
people; and the governed are closely involved in the sins of the government; so
that each has an important duty to perform to the other. The government, apart from all
political considerations, to curb and repress the immoralities and the
wickedness of the people; and the people, firmly though mildly, to warn and
caution and speak plainly to the government, lest by partaking silently and
voluntarily of other men’s sins, they become partakers in other men’s pains. (H.
Blunt.)
Hezekiah deserted
I. The person here
spoken of.
1. His personal character.
2. His peculiar necessities.
II. The dispensation
here described.
1. The suspension of grace.
2. The withdrawment of comfort.
III. The purpose of
that dispensation.
1. To discover sin, with a view to its cure.
2. To conduct to greater happiness and honour.
IV. The issue of
the trial--he sinned.
1. Wherein was the sin? He neglected an opportunity of proclaiming
the true God, and indulged in a vain self-seeking.
2. How small in comparison with the sins of others--of ourselves.
3. How soon repented of.
4. How severely visited. (J. C. Gray.)
Ingratitude to God an heinous but general iniquity
Among the many vices that are at once universally decried and
universally practised in the world, there is none more base or more common than
ingratitude; ingratitude is the sin of individuals, of families, of Churches,
of kingdoms. None of us can flatter ourselves that we are in little or no
danger of this sin when even so good and great a man as Hezekiah did not escape
the infection. In order to make you the more sensible of your ingratitude
towards your Divine Benefactor, I shall--
I. Give a brief
view of his mercies towards you.
II. Expose the
aggravated baseness of ingratitude under the reception of so many mercies. (S.
Davies, M.A.)
A rendering for mercies
I. That those that
have received mercies must be careful to give in answerable returns or render
according to what they have received.
1. There must be a rendering. There is a reflection upon God from all
His works. Hell-fire casts back the reflection of the lustre of His justice and
the power of His wrath. The world is round, and the motion of all things
circular; they begin in God, and end in God (Romans 11:36).
(a) Greater trust in God.
(b) Greater love to Him (Psalms 116:1-2).
(c) Fearing Him more, lest we should offend so good a God (Hosea 3:5).
(d) More complete obedience.
2. This rendering must be proportionate.
(a) If the acknowledgment be in word, it must be taken notice of in a
more than ordinary manner (Psalms 150:2).
(b) If in deed, some notable thing must be done for God (Esther 6:3; 2 Samuel 7:2).
3. This reproves--
(a) We must be first reconciled to God before we can do anything
acceptable.
(b) Awaken the heart to the work.
(c) Search out the works of God (Psalms 111:2).
(d) Consider what the world gaineth by every discovery of God.
(e) Desire God to give you the heart to render (Psalms 51:15).
(f) Reason and argue from your experiences to your duty (Ezra 9:13).
II. That it is a
sign we are unthankful under mercies when the heart is lifted up upon the
enjoyment of them.
1. Because God can never be rightly praised or exalted while the
heart is proud (Isaiah 2:17). God is exalted in the
creature’s self-abasement.
2. A proud heart cannot be rightly conversant about blessings. It
doth not give them their--
3. How shall we know when the heart is lifted up? It is mainly
shown--
(a) By contention. When we are delivered, then we revive old quarrels;
as timber warpeth in the sunshine.
(b) By insultation over enemies.
(c) By oppression and violence.
4. Use.
3. Take heed of the pride of self-dependence.
Conclusion:
1. A special recognition and recalling of sins is not unseasonable (Ezekiel 36:30-31).
2. Meditate upon the changes of providence (Psalms 39:5). Belisarius, a famous
general to-day, and within a little while forced to beg for a halfpenny. Things
and persons are as the spokes of a wheel, sometimes in the dirt and sometimes
out. (S. Manton, D.D.)
Verse 26
Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his
heart.
Hezekiah’s sin and humiliation
I. Show the nature
and grounds of hezekiah’s humiliation. His sin does not seem great in human
estimation; but it was exceeding sinful in God’s sight.
1. He sought his own glory. He wished to show what a great man he
was, in order that his alliance might be courted and his power feared.
2. He sought his own glory in preference to God’s honour. He had now
a happy opportunity of magnifying the God of Israel. He might have
3. He sought his own glory before the good of his friends. He should
have recompensed the great kindness of the ambassadors by instructing them in
the knowledge of the God of Israel.
II. Enquire whether
we also have not similar grounds for humiliation.
1. Pride is deeply rooted in the heart of fallen man. We are vain
2. We indulge this disposition to the neglect of God’s honour and of
the eternal welfare of those around us.
III. Inferences.
1. What dreadful evils arise from small beginnings. Hezekiah at first
probably intended only to show civility to his friends.
2. How great is the efficacy of fervent prayer and intercession. God
deferred the evil threatened till the next generation. (Skeletons of Sermon.)
Verse 31
God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his
heart.
Hezekiah’s fall considered and applied
I. Hezekiah’s sin.
1. Its nature.
(a) He was actuated by a wrong spirit.
(b) His action had a wrong tendency.
It was calculated to erase every serious impression which a
recital of the wonder done in the land might have made on these heathen
strangers. It was also calculated to confirm them in the conviction that the
kings of Judah, notwithstanding their superior pretensions to the knowledge and
favour of the true God, in reality neither possessed nor avowed any better
source of protection and prosperity than the kings of other nations enjoyed.
2. Its aggravations.
II. The particular
view of this transaction exhibited in the text.
1. It unfolds the cause of Hezekiah’s fall. “God left him.” What a
striking illustration is thus incidentally presented to us of man’s depravity
and weakness. No sooner was the barrier removed than the stream rushed with
impetuosity into the channel of sin. To guard us against presumption the
Scriptures present to us the examples of some of the most eminent servants of
God, not all falling whenever they were left to themselves, but falling in
those very points where we should conceive them to have been most firmly
established; Abraham, Moses, etc. What need for us to pray, “Take not
Thy Holy Spirit from us.”
2. It discloses to us the secret reasons of the Divine conduct in
thus permitting him for a season to be overcome. God left him “to try him,”
that Hezekiah himself might know all that was in his heart.
(a) Regard our heart with a holy jealousy.
(b) Studiously examine the secret motives of our conduct.
(c) Sedulously avoid those
places and practices which are most likely to prove a snare to us.
(d) Be instant in prayer for a supply of the grace that is in Christ.
(e) Fear to resist and
grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
1. Those who studiously close their eyes and shut their ears against
every discovery of the sin which dwelleth in them.
2. Those who having in vain endeavoured to stifle their convictions
of sin, are filled with consternation and terror at the extent of their
depravity. (E. Cooper.)
Hezekiah’s trespass with the ambassadors from Babylon
1. Nations professing God’s holy name must beware of sinful
compromises with those by whom His truth is corrupted. The chief fault for which
judgment befel Hezekiah was listening to the proposal to become the ally of a
heathen prince.
2. It is an imperative duty which rests upon Christians to do
somewhat for the spiritual welfare of foreigners who visit them.
3. The necessity for recognising every moment our need of Divine
help. (R. Bickersteth, M.A.)
Hezekiah’s sin
A fragment of the history of the Assyrian writer Berosus tells us that at
this time Babylon had shaken off for a season the supremacy of Assyria, and,
under Berodach Baladan, was strengthening herself as a rival sovereignty. The
fame of the discomfiture of Sennacherib before Jerusalem had reached his ears,
and it might well seem to him that an alliance with Hezekiah would be useful
against a common danger. The recovery of Hezekiah and the miraculous sign
furnished a suitable occasion for an embassy which was sent ostensibly to
congratulate the king and “inquire of the wonder done in the land.” There was
no sin in Hezekiah showing the embassy what was costly, useful, beautiful, but
in the vanity which gave these things chief prominence.
I. Here is a
lesson for us as a nation. Let us also show strangers whatever we have of
interest; but let us not keep in the background what should be chief of all,
and let them go away thinking that what we most value is wealth, power,
pleasure. It is the duty of the Christian pulpit at such a time to ask the
people, “What have you shown? What is in your heart?” Has God the chief place?
Is righteousness more to us than riches, and principle than policy? Are we more
desirous to live in the fear of God than to keep in awe other nations? If we
pompously display our treasures, may we not some day be ignominiously
despoiled? If in any form we embrace Babylon, may not our nation some day be
crushed by Babylon? Whatever our princes and statesmen may do, let the people,
who, more and more, are the nation and responsible for its character and
conduct, let the people cherish and make manifest the conviction that worth is
more than wealth, and piety than power, and righteousness than rank, and purity
than pleasure, and God than gold. “In the fear of the Lord is strong
confidence”; “The throne is established by righteousness”; “Righteousness
exalteth a nation”; “Seek, first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you.”
II. The lesson is
applicable to the Church as well as to the Nation. What is our idea of the
chief excellence and stability of any Church? Is it the support of Law, the
patronage of princes, a grand hierarchy, rich endowments? Is it noble
buildings, imposing ritual, inspiring music? Is it learning and eloquence in
the pulpit, with congregations numerous, or cultured, or wealthy? These
features have their value more or less, and these can be shown, displayed,
gloried in. But the chief treasures of the Church cannot thus be exhibited.
Alas for the Church that prides itself chiefly in the outward and visible. Do
we desire for our church such things chiefly and regard them most worth
seeking, prizing, extolling? Or are we cultivating, praying for, and valuing
far more--Penitence, Faith, Love, Zeal, Holiness, Usefulness? What is in our
heart?
III. We may apply
the lesson to individuals. What do we ourselves regard as our chief treasure?
This may be developed by circumstances. It has been said that after the
massacre at Culloden certain flowers bloomed where blood had been copiously
shed, unknown before. The seeds were dormant, till favourable conditions
brought them forth. Hezekiah was a good man, but in his heart were latent
weaknesses, which it was well for him to know before it was too late. Better that
they should be revealed and cured than be hidden, unchecked, and with worse and
more lasting fruits. Crises in the life of nations and individuals have
developed unsuspected capacities, both for good and evil. For both in the case
of David and Peter. For the commission of the worst of crimes in the case of
Judas. If occasion occurred of displaying our most valued possession, what
would we select? We may reasonably show what is showable--house, garden, books,
pictures, children; if gratefully to the Giver, and not in vanity. But are
these our chief treasures? If angels came to us from their far country, what
would they see we prize most? Were some such unexpected visitor to enter our
abode to interview us, would he find family religion--the gathered household at
the domestic altar, private prayer, personal godliness? Is the maturity of
Christian character sought more than the prosperity of business and the
increase of wealth? Do we regard the favour of God more than the praise of men;
communion with heaven more than intimacy with the great ones of the earth; a
good conscience more than stores of silver and gold? Temptation may come to try
what is in our heart. By some departure from strict integrity business may be
promoted and wealth increased. If we yield it is evident that we regard money
as more worth having than a good conscience. If some gratification is indulged
at the cost of sobriety and virtue, we show that pleasure is more to us than
purity. On what do our thoughts chiefly dwell? “As a man thinketh in his heart
so is he.” On what do we chiefly set our affections and direct our energies?
“Where a man’s treasure is there will his heart be also.” Hezekiah’s wealth
went to the Babylon he courted. If we choose the world we perish with it.
Jerusalem in ruins is an emblem of a soul without God. (Newman Hall, LL.B.)
Danger of prosperity
The naturalists observe well, that the north wind is more
healthful, though the south be more pleasant; the south with his warmth raiseth
vapours, which breed putrefaction, and cause diseases; the north with his cold
drieth those vapours up, purging the blood, and quickening the spirits. Thus
adversity is unpleasant, but it keepeth us watchful against sin, and careful to
do our duties; whereas prosperity doth flatteringly lull us asleep. It never
goes worse with men spiritually than when they find themselves corporeally best
at ease; Hezekiah was better upon his sick-bed than when he was showing off his
treasures to the ambassadors of the King of Babylon. (J. Spencer.)
The danger of being left to oneself
One day I went out with my little girl. I said to her,
“Emma, you had better let me take hold of your hand.” She said, “No; I had
rather keep my hands in my muff,” and she walked off very proudly. Presently
she came to some ice, and down she went, and was hurt a little. I said, “You
had better let me hold on to your hand.” She said, “No; but let me hold on to
your finger.” Presently she came to some more ice; she could not hold on to my finger, and down
she went, and hurt herself still more. Then she said, “Papa, I wish you would
hold on to my hand.” So I took her wrist in my hand, and she couldn’t fall. (D.
L. Moody.)
Verse 32-33
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness.
Hezekiah’s goodness
I. The genuine
goodness shall not want appropriate record and remembrance.
1. God, the inspirer of goodness in the hearts of men, will not
forget it.
2. The beneficiaries of goodness will not be unmindful of their
benefactors.
3. Sympathetic imitators will mirror forth their goodness, from whom
they have derived its idea and impulse. Christian philanthropists like John
Howard and Elizabeth Fry are living over again in their practical admirers and
copyists.
II. The seasons
selected by God for such recognition are often sober and sorrowful.
1. Public calamity. Sennacherib’s invasion.
2. Personal affliction. Hezekiah’s sickness.
3. Death. Hezekiah’s burial. “Blessed are the dead.” (J. Spencer
Hill.)
Goodness of heart
The wind is unseen, but it cools the brow of the fevered one,
sweetens the summer atmosphere, and ripples the surface of the lake into silver
spangles of beauty. So goodness of heart, though invisible to the material eye,
makes its presence felt; and from its effects upon surrounding things we are
assured of its existence. And they buried him in the chiefast of the sepulchres
of the sons of David.
The life and character of Hezekiah
A very wise and salutary custom prevailed among the ancient
Egyptians; that of sitting in judgment upon the life and character of a man
after his death, that, according as he had been deserving or undeserving,
honourable burial might be granted to him or denied. The Jews appear to have
brought something like the same custom out of Egypt, and to have acted upon it
in the ease of their wicked kings (1 Kings 14:13; 2 Kings 9:10; Jeremiah 22:18; Isaiah 14:19). Hence a burial specially
mentioned in the Scriptures signifies honour, approbation, and affectionate
remembrance, more distinctly than among us. The funeral of Hezekiah is the
proper place for a review of his life and character. Consider--
I. His public zeal
for worship of God and the good of his people.
II. The peculiar
troubles with which he was exercised.
III. The remarkable
deliverances which he experienced.
IV. The singular
circumstances under which he passed his closing years.
V. The excellences
and defects of his religious character and conduct. (Daniel Katterns.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》