The Sovereign's Ear and the Suppliant's Tears Text: 2 Kings 20:1-11
Introduction: The Collision of Decrees and Desperation
We live in an age that is deeply uncomfortable with the sharp edges of divine sovereignty. We want a God who is manageable, a deity who runs the universe according to the bylaws of a committee we get to chair. We want a God whose decrees are more like suggestions, flexible and open to revision based on our passionate appeals. And when we come to a passage like this one in 2 Kings, the modern mind short-circuits. Here we have a collision that seems impossible to our sensibilities: an apparently fixed, unalterable decree from God, met with the desperate, tear-stained prayer of a man, resulting in a complete reversal of that decree. "You shall die," says the Lord. Fifteen years are added to his life.
How do we make sense of this? The Arminians will rush in and say, "You see! Man's free will and heartfelt prayer can change God's mind!" They see this as a great victory for human autonomy. On the other hand, a certain kind of hyper-Calvinist might retreat into a stoic silence, muttering about inscrutable decrees and secondary causes, afraid to give prayer its full, biblical weight for fear of compromising God's absolute control. Both are missing the glorious point. This passage is not a problem to be solved, but a portrait to be studied. It is a portrait of the living God, whose sovereignty is not a static, mechanical force, but a dynamic, personal, and covenantal reality.
God's sovereignty and our responsibility to pray are not two truths at war with each other. They are two truths that hold hands. God does not just ordain the ends; He ordains the means to those ends. And one of the primary means He has ordained to accomplish His purposes in the world is the passionate, persistent, and sometimes tearful prayers of His people. Hezekiah's prayer was not a wrench thrown into the gears of God's divine machine. Hezekiah's prayer was one of the gears. This story is designed to teach us something profound about the nature of God, the power of prayer, and the way God governs His world, not in spite of His people, but through them and for them, for His own glory.
The Text
In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And 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.’ ” Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept greatly. Now it happened that Isaiah had not gone out of the middle court, and the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “Return and say to Hezekiah the ruler of My people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “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. And I will add fifteen years to your life, and 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 My servant David’s sake.” ’ ” Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he was restored to life. Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?” And 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 turn back ten steps?” So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to stretch forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh, and He turned the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
(2 Kings 20:1-11 LSB)
The Death Sentence and the Desperate Plea (vv. 1-3)
We begin with the stark and unwelcome intrusion of mortality.
"In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And 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 Kings 20:1)
Hezekiah, the great reformer, the king who trusted God against the Assyrian hordes, is now brought low by a boil. This is a humbling reminder that no amount of piety or public success exempts us from the curse of the fall. Sickness and death are the great levelers. But notice the message from Isaiah. It is not a suggestion. It is a declaration from Yahweh Himself. "Set your house in order." This is a command to prepare for the end. Settle your affairs, write your will, make your final arrangements. Why? "For you shall die and not live." This is not a prognosis; it is a verdict. It appears to be an unconditional, declarative statement about what is going to happen.
How does Hezekiah respond? Does he fatalistically resign himself to his fate? Does he begin to stoically set his house in order? No. He turns his face to the wall and prays. This is a significant posture. He turns away from the courtiers, the physicians, and even the prophet, to deal with God directly. This is the first and most important lesson for us in our distress. Before you update your Facebook status, before you call your friends, before you exhaust all human options, turn your face to the wall. Get alone with God.
"Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept greatly." (2 Kings 20:3)
Now, this prayer might strike our modern, evangelical ears as self-righteous. Is Hezekiah trying to bargain with God based on his own good works? Is this a works-based salvation plea? Not at all. Hezekiah is praying covenantally. He is not claiming sinless perfection. He is appealing to God on the basis of the covenant promises. The Davidic covenant, and the Deuteronomic blessings and curses, promised long life and prosperity for faithfulness. Hezekiah is essentially saying, "Lord, I have sought to be a faithful covenant king. I have torn down the high places. I have restored true worship. My life has been oriented toward you. Does this not count for something within the terms of your own covenant with your people?" He is appealing to God's character and God's promises. He is holding God to His own Word. And he does so with great emotion. "Hezekiah wept greatly." This is not the quiet dignity of a stoic; this is the raw, passionate desperation of a man who loves life and does not want to die. These are not tears of manipulation, but tears of genuine anguish. And as we will see, God notices tears.
The Divine Reversal and Covenantal Grace (vv. 4-7)
The answer comes with astonishing speed.
"Now it happened that Isaiah had not gone out of the middle court, and the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 'Return and say to Hezekiah the ruler of My people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you...' " (2 Kings 20:4-5a)
Isaiah hasn't even had time to leave the palace grounds. This is a beautiful picture of God's readiness to hear. Before they call, I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will hear. God intercepts His own prophet with a new message. So, did God change His mind? In one sense, no. God is not like a man, that He should repent. His eternal, secret decree never changes. But in another sense, yes. God's revealed will, His interaction with us in time and space, does change in response to our actions, particularly our prayers. The initial decree, "you shall die," was a true statement of what would happen if things continued on their present course. It was also, we can now see, the very instrument God intended to use to provoke the prayer He intended to answer. God's first word was the setup for His second word. He brought the sentence of death in order to produce the prayer for life.
Notice how God identifies Himself: "the God of your father David." This is a direct reference to the covenant. God is not just acting out of arbitrary kindness; He is acting out of covenant faithfulness. He then gives the basis for His action: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears." Prayer and passion move the heart of God. This should be a tremendous encouragement to us. Your prayers are not empty words spoken into the void. God hears them. Your tears are not meaningless biological functions. God sees them. And He acts.
"On the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. And I will add fifteen years to your life, and 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 My servant David’s sake." (2 Kings 20:5b-6)
The promise is specific. Healing will come, and it will be confirmed by a return to public worship. "On the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh." Sickness isolates, but restoration brings us back into the fellowship of the saints. And God doesn't just grant a reprieve; He gives a specific extension: fifteen years. Furthermore, He bundles this personal promise with a national one. He reminds Hezekiah that his life is tied to the fate of Jerusalem. God will defend the city, not because of Hezekiah's merit, but "for My own sake and for My servant David's sake." God's ultimate motivation is always His own glory and His covenant faithfulness.
Then comes the practical instruction: "Take a cake of figs." And they apply it to the boil, and he recovers. This is another crucial point. God's miraculous intervention does not preclude the use of means. Isaiah did not say, "Just pray and believe, don't use any medicine." No, he says pray, believe, and apply the fig poultice. We are not to be Christian Scientists who deny the reality of the material world and the legitimacy of medicine. Nor are we to be materialists who rely only on medicine and never pray. The biblical pattern is to use the means God has provided, whether it's a fig poultice or modern antibiotics, while trusting Him for the result. Faith and works, prayer and action, divine power and human means, all work together.
The Sign and the Sovereign (vv. 8-11)
Hezekiah, having received this staggering promise, asks for a confirmation.
"Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?”" (2 Kings 20:8)
This is not a sign of unbelief, like Zechariah in the temple. This is a request for assurance, like Gideon with his fleece. God has just promised something extraordinary, and Hezekiah asks for an extraordinary confirmation. God graciously condescends to this request. Isaiah offers a choice: "shall the shadow go forward ten steps or turn back ten steps?" Hezekiah's logic is sharp. "It is easy for the shadow to stretch forward ten steps." In other words, a little supernatural nudge to speed up the natural process wouldn't be as convincing. He asks for the hard thing, the thing that goes directly against the grain of nature: "let the shadow turn backward ten steps." He asks for God to rewind the cosmos.
"Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh, and He turned the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz." (2 Kings 20:11)
And God does it. He reverses the rotation of the earth, or bends the light of the sun, or whatever means He used to accomplish it. The God who created time is the Lord of time. He can make it stand still, as He did for Joshua, and He can make it run backward, as He did for Hezekiah. This sign is a powerful demonstration. The God who can turn back the sun is certainly able to heal a boil. The God who governs the macrocosm of the solar system can certainly govern the microcosm of Hezekiah's body. The sign was not the source of the power, but it was the confirmation of the promise. It was God's signature on the contract, assuring Hezekiah that His word was good.
Conclusion: The Greater Hezekiah
This entire episode is a glorious foreshadowing of a greater story of sickness, death, and resurrection. Like Hezekiah, all of humanity was sick to the point of death, not with a physical boil, but with the spiritual cancer of sin. And God sent not a prophet, but His own Son, with a verdict: "The wages of sin is death." The sentence was passed. The whole world was under a divine death decree.
But the greater Hezekiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, turned His face not to a wall, but to Jerusalem. He prayed in the garden, not with tears for His own life to be spared, but with sweat like drops of blood, submitting to the Father's will. He did not appeal to His own righteous walk, though He was the only one who could. Instead, He who knew no sin became sin for us.
And on a cross, He took the full force of the divine death sentence that was upon us. He died. His house was put in order. But on the third day, God gave a greater answer to a greater prayer. He did not add fifteen years to His life; He gave Him life forevermore. He raised Him from the dead. And God gave a greater sign. He did not just turn back the shadow on the sundial. He rolled back the stone from the tomb. He reversed the irreversible decree of death itself.
Because of this, the message to us is not, "Set your house in order, for you shall die." The message of the gospel is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall live and not die." Through faith in Him, our prayers are heard. Our tears are seen. God reverses the sentence of death over us and writes a new decree: eternal life. He doesn't just heal our boils; He heals our souls. And He gives us this promise, that though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for He is with us. He is the God who hears prayer, who sees tears, and who has conquered death. To Him be all the glory.