Yes, my poor time management conquered me this morning; so, I am having "afternoon devotions".
Isaiah is such a complicated book. It is full of stories, warnings, poetry...
Sometimes I wonder why certain stories are in the Bible or why God does the things He does. I wondered both of those when reading Isaiah 38:1-8.
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3“Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
7“ ‘This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: 8I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ ” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.
The first part of this chapter tells of an illness befalling King Hezekiah.
Apparently, he had one heck of a boil; the infection from it had spread extensively throughout his body. (Some postulate that this pustule was from a pestilence similar to the Bubonic Plague of the middle ages.) Regardless, he was so ill that he was told by Isaiah he was going to die soon from the malady.
Should we assume that Isaiah received this word from God? Isaiah plainly stated, "God says..." in verse 1.
Yet, after Hezekiah refuses to "take this lying down" (awful pun) and goes to God in prayer, God grants him 15 more years.
Did God "change His mind"? How can He do that if He knows everything from beginning to end? (Isaiah 46:10)
Is it possible that Isaiah misunderstood God the first time?
This story is also recorded in 2 Kings 20:1-11. Look at it for the sake of comparison.
In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.’” 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, 3 “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.4 It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 5 “Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. 6 I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’” 7 Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.”
They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?” 9 Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.” 11 Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.
When you read that parallel passage in 2 Kings, more clarity appears. It becomes evident that God intended the first message to test Hezekiah because, as Isaiah was leaving (and Hezekiah was weeping and praying), God directed Isaiah to turn around and give Hezekiah the "reprieve" message (that he'd live another 15 years).
What this says to me is that, when I get that "final diagnosis", so to speak, I'm going to God for "a second opinion"! Notice, though, that Hezekiah does not pray to be delivered from death. He prays that God will remember him. While it is natural to shed tears and dread the separation of the spirit from the body, Hezekiah merely prayed that God would remember how faithfully he had served Him.
Then, something even more curious happens: God felt compelled to give Hezekiah a sign of confirmation that day, to demonstrate for sure that Hezekiah had "heard Him right". God did not just "make time stand still"; He reversed time for a portion of that day!
Wrapped up in God's promise to heal Hezekiah was His promise to deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrians who were poised to invade their land, in about 11 years. The Assyrian army was destroyed in Isaiah 37, which puts Isaiah 38 out of chronological order. This type of thing is not uncommon in the Old Testament, which makes it even more challenging to decipher. (I will add, however, that some commentators disagree about this story taking place before the Assyrian invasion.)
Do you like figs? They are not a favorite of mine, but my mother loves them. Of all the healing poultices to treat a deadly infection....a poultice of figs, or a fig cake? Go "fig"ure! Okay, okay,....
But, I couldn't help noticing Hezekiah's own play on words in verse 10 in the 2 Kings passage: "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps...."
In both of these O.T. passages, King Hezekiah asks how soon he will be able to return to worshipping in the Lord's house. The reason for this is that the Hebrew people were commanded by Mosaic Law to be isolated from their fellow man when they had an infectious disease. They had strict laws about how long they had to remain in quarantine, until they were ceremonially "clean" again. The question demonstrates how much Hezekiah loved worshipping in God's house. Do we? Or do we look for any excuse we can find, to justify staying away?
"Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better than spending a thousand elsewhere."
Psalm 84:10
O Lord, you do use the foolish things of the world to stupefy the wise! (1 Cor. 1:27) You use figs to cure a severe boil, and you roll back time. Mighty are your works, O Lord! "I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds." (Psalm 77:12) In Jesus' name, amen.
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