December 10: ATTENTION BABYLONIANS! (part 1)

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death… And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “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…’” 2 Kings 20:1,4,5

The LORD honors Hezekiah by saying David your father. Hezekiah’s unbelieving father had launched the course of events that resulted in all the trouble with Assyria. Remember that Ahaz had appealed to Tiglath-pileser (Assyria’s king at the time) for protection from the coalition of Israel with Syria against Judah. “Never before had such a coalition threatened the very existence of the Davidic dynasty.” Roy E. Gane

Hezekiah’s kingship was well marked with concerted efforts to reverse the terrible effects of Ahaz’s negative leadership. In our believer’s hindsight, it’s fairly obvious that Satan would desire to bring about the death of Hezekiah and Jerusalem’s fall, for he would reason that if Hezekiah were out of the way, the reformations of God’s remnant would cease, making his “job” of the demolition of God’s people much easier.

Another contrast between Ahaz and Hezekiah: Ahaz rejected the God-given opportunity of receiving a sign from the LORD of His protection from the coalition (7:10-13). But when Hezekiah was deathly ill, the LORD answered his tearful prayer and gave him the opportunity to choose a sign of assurance of that answer (2 Kings 20:8-11). God chose the parameters of the sign and invited Hezekiah to choose the direction of a supernatural shift of the shadow on his father Ahaz’s sundial. 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” (2 Kings 20:10). This answer of Hezekiah was an answer of faith in the power of his God.

Now the Babylonians were known for their study of the heavenly bodies and their movements. These were meticulously recorded. God knew that they would notice the sun’s unusual position and wonder what it meant. The Babylonians had heard of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery, and made the connection between that event and the strange movement of the sun. Their king sent a delegation of Babylonian princes as ambassadors to Hezekiah. They bore gifts and were tasked to inquire about the wonder that had occurred. What a glorious opportunity to shift the attention of these sun-worshippers to the One who made the sun!

And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. Deuteronomy 4:19