Second Kings

 

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04092017HezekiahAndJudah2Ki20DonRuhl

 

Hezekiah and Judah 

Second Kings 20

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • April 5, In the year of our Lord, 2017

  1. Second Kings 20.1 | An Incurable Disease

    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.”

    1. What did Isaiah mean by, “Set your house in order”?
    2. Have you been told you have a short time to live?
    3. How did the news affect you?
  2. Second Kings 20.2–3 | The King Prays to God

    2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 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.

    1. Why did he turn his face to the wall?
    2. What three things did Hezekiah want the Lord to remember?
      1. How he had walked before the Lord in truth.
      2. How he had walked before the Lord with a loyal heart.
      3. How he had done what was good in the Lord’s sight.
    3. What did Hezekiah mean by these things? What did he want from the Lord?
  3. Second Kings 20.4–6 | Hezekiah Gets Another Fifteen Years

    4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 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. 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.”

    1. How long before the Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer?
    2. Does this show we can change the Lord’s mind about things?
      1. Does contradict God’s unchangeableness?
      2. God is unchangeable in His character, but He leaves some things that He plans to do open to change.
    3. Would Hezekiah’s healing be miraculous?
      1. No, because it would take three days.
      2. Also, verse 7 will show the use of medicine.
      3. Does this deny the Lord’s work in this matter?
    4. How many more days or years would Hezekiah live?
      1. He was 39 at this time, so 54 years of age may have seemed ancient.
      2. How fast does 15 years pass?
    5. In addition to healing Hezekiah, what else did the Lord promise to do?
      1. To deliver the king and the city from the king of Assyria.
      2. God would defend Jerusalem.
    6. For whose sake would God defend the city?
      1. For His own sake.
        1. What does that mean?
      2. For David’s sake.
        1. Why for David’s sake?
  4. Second Kings 20.7 | The Power of Figs

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

    1. Was this something that they had not tried before?
    2. Or was it something that they had and now God made it work?
  5. Second Kings 20.8–11 | A Sign of Healing

    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?” 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?” 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.” 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.

    1. Why do you think Hezekiah wanted a sign?
      1. Since the healing would not happen instantly, he wanted a way to know that the Lord was the One who did the healing.
      2. It was not just a promise of healing, but that it would happen on the third day.
    2. Why do you think the Lord gave Hezekiah a choice?
      1. Why did the Lord give David a choice? 2Sa 24
      2. It removes any changes of coincidence, but puts it all in the Lord’s hands.
  6. Second Kings 20.12–18 | Judah Shall Lose All Its Treasure

    12 At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 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 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. 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.” 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.” 16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 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. 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.”

    1. Why would Hezekiah show the king of Babylon all Judah’s treasures?
    2. The visit from the Babylonian king must have given Hezekiah a good feeling!
    3. Yet, the Lord explained that Babylon would take all the treasure.
  7. VII.Second Kings 20.19 | The Word Is Good

    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?”

    1. How could Hezekiah speak against the word of the Lord?
    2. In what did the king find comfort?
  8. VIII.Second Kings 20.20–21 | Hezekiah Summarized

    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? 21 So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

    1. What major project did the writer highlight?
      1. Why was the pool and tunnel so significant?
      2. The water allowed them to withstand a long siege from Assyria.
    2. We will see whether Manasseh followed his father.