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Commentary on 2 Kings 20 verses 1–11
The historian, having shown us blaspheming Sennacherib destroyed in the midst of the prospects of life, here shows us praying Hezekiah delivered in the midst of the prospects of death - the days of the former shortened, of the latter prolonged.
I. Here is Hezekiah's sickness. In those days, that is, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem; for he reigning reigned? in all twenty-nine years, and surviving this fifteen years, this must be in his fourteenth year, and so was that, Kg2 18:13. Some think it was at the time that the Assyrian army was besieging the city or preparing for it, because God promises (Kg2 20:6): I will defend the city, which promise was afterwards repeated, when the danger came to be most imminent, Kg2 19:34. Others think it was soon after the defeat of Sennacherib; and then it shows us the uncertainty of all our comforts in this world. Hezekiah, in the midst of his triumphs in the favour of God, and over the forces of his enemies, is seized with sickness, and under the arrest of death. We must therefore always rejoice with trembling. It should seem he was sick of the plague, for we read of the boil or plague-sore, Kg2 20:7. The same disease which was killing to the Assyrians was trying to him; God took it from him, and put it upon his enemies. Neither greatness nor goodness can exempt us from sickness, from sore and mortal sicknesses. Hezekiah, lately favoured of heaven above most men, yet is sick unto death - in the midst of his days (under forty) and yet sick and dying; and perhaps he was the more apprehensive of its being fatal to him because his father died when he was about his age, two or three years younger. "In the midst of life we are in death."
II. Warning brought him to prepare for death. It is brought by Isaiah, who had been twice, as stated in the former chapter, a messenger of good tidings to him. We cannot expect to receive from God's prophets any other than what they have received from the Lord, and we must welcome that, be it pleasing or unpleasing. The prophet tells him, 1. That his disease is mortal, and, if he be not recovered by a miracle of mercy, will certainly be fatal: Thou shalt die, and not live. 2. That therefore he must, with all speed, get ready for death: Set thy house in order. This we should feel highly concerned to do when we are in health, but are most loudly called to do when we come to be sick. Set the heart in order by renewed acts of repentance, and faith, and resignation to God, with cheerful farewells to this world and welcomes to another; and, if not done before (which is the best and wisest course), set the house in order, make thy will, settle thy estate, put thy affairs in the best posture thou canst, for the ease of those that shall come after thee. Isaiah speaks not to Hezekiah of his kingdom, only of his house. David, being a prophet, had authority to appoint who should reign after him, but other kings did not pretend to bequeath their crowns as part of their goods and chattels.
III. His prayer hereupon: He prayed unto the Lord, Kg2 20:2. Is any sick? Let him be prayed for, let him be prayed with, and let him pray. Hezekiah had found, as recorded in the foregoing chapter, that it was not in vain to wait upon God, but that the prayers of faith bring in answers of peace; therefore will he call upon God as long as he lives. Happy experiences of the prevalency of prayer are engagements and encouragements to continue instant in prayer. He had now received the sentence of death within himself, and, if it was reversible, it must be reversed by prayer. When God purposes mercy he will, for this, be enquired of, Eze 36:37. We have not if we ask not, or ask amiss. If the sentence was irreversible, yet prayer is one of the best preparations for death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God to enable us to finish well. Observe,
1.The circumstances of this prayer. (1.) He turned his face to the wall, probably as he lay in his bed. This he did perhaps for privacy; he could not retire to his closet as he used to do, but he retired as well as he could, turned from the company that were about him, to converse with God. When we cannot be so private as we would be in our devotions, nor perform them with the usual outward expressions of reverence and solemnity, yet we must not therefore omit them, but compose ourselves to them as well as we can. Or, as some think, he turned his face towards the temple, to show how willingly he would have gone up thither, to pray this prayer (as he did, Kg2 19:1, Kg2 19:14), if he had been able, and remembering what encouragements were given to all the prayers that should be made in or towards that house. Christ is our temple; to him we must have an eye in all our prayers, for no man, no service, comes to the Father but by him. (2.) He wept sorely. Some gather from this that he was unwilling to die. It is in the nature of man to have some dread of the separation of soul and body, and it was not strange if the Old Testament saints, to whom another world was but darkly revealed, were not so willing to leave this as Paul and other New Testament saints were. There was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case: he was now in the midst of his usefulness, had begun a good work of reformation, which he feared would, through the corruption of the people, fall to the ground, if he should die. If this was before the defeat of the Assyrian army, as some think, he might therefore be loth to die, because his kingdom was in imminent danger of being ruined. However, it does not appear that he had now any son: Manasseh, that succeeded him, was not born till three years after; and, if he should die childless, both the peace of his kingdom and the promise to David would be in danger. But perhaps these were only tears of importunity, and expressions of a lively affection in prayer. Jacob wept and made supplication; and our blessed Saviour, though most willing to die, yet offered up strong cries, with tears, to him whom he knew to be able to save him, Heb 5:7. Let Hezekiah's prayer interpret his tears, and in that we find nothing that intimates him to have been under any of that fear of death which has either bondage or torment.
2.The prayer itself: "Remember now, O Lord! how I have walked before thee in truth; and either spare me to live, that I may continue thus to walk, if, if my work be done, receive me to that glory which thou hast prepared for those that have thus walked." Observe here, (1.) The description of Hezekiah's piety. He had had his conversation in the world with right intentions ("I have walked before thee, as under thy eye and with an eye ever towards thee"), from a right principle ("in truth, and with an upright heart"), and by a right rule - "I have done that which is good in thy sight." (2.) The comfort he now had in reflecting upon it; it made his sick-bed easy. Note, The testimony of conscience for us that we have walked with God in our integrity will be much our support and rejoicing when we come to look death in the face, Co2 1:12. (3.) The humble mention he makes of it to God. Lord, remember it now; not as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us (he is greater than our hearts, and knows all things), or as if the reward were of debt, and might be demanded as due (it is Christ's righteousness only that is the purchase of mercy and grace); but our own sincerity may be pleaded as the condition of the covenant which God has wrought in us: "It is the work of thy own hands. Lord, own it." Hezekiah does not pray, "Lord, spare me," or, "Lord, take me; God's will be done;" but, Lord, remember me; whether I live or die, let me be thine.
IV. The answer which God immediately gave to this prayer of Hezekiah. The prophet had got but to the middle court when he was sent back with another message to Hezekiah (Kg2 20:4, Kg2 20:5), to tell him that he should recover; not that there is with God yea and nay, or that he ever says and unsays; but upon Hezekiah's prayer, which he foresaw and which his Spirit inclined him to, God did that for him which otherwise he would not have done. God here calls Hezekiah the captain of his people, to intimate that he would reprieve him for his people's sake, because, in this time of war, they could ill spare such a captain: he calls himself the God of David, to intimate that he would reprieve him out of a regard to the covenant made with David and the promise that he would always ordain a lamp for him. In this answer, 1. God honours his prayers by the notice he takes of them and the reference he has to them in this message: I have heard thy prayers, I have seen thy tears. Prayers that have much life and affection in them are in a special manner pleasing to God. 2. God exceeds his prayers; he only begged that God would remember his integrity, but God here promises (1.) To restore him from his illness: I will heal thee. Diseases are his servants; as they go where he sends them, so they come when he remands them. Mat 8:8, Mat 8:9. I am the Lord that healeth thee, Exo 15:26. (2.) To restore him to such a degree of health that on the third day he should go up to the house of the Lord, to return thanks. God knew Hezekiah's heart, how dearly he loved the habitation of God's house and the place where his honour dwelt, and that as soon as he was well he would go to attend on public ordinances; thitherward he turned his face when he was sick, and thitherward he would turn his feet when he was recovered; and therefore, because nothing would please him better, he promises him this, Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee. The man whom Christ healed was soon after found in the temple, Joh 5:14. (3.) To add fifteen years to his life. This would not bring him to be an old man; it would reach but to fifty-four or fifty-five; yet that was longer than he had lately expected to live. His lease was renewed, which he thought was expiring. We have not the instance of any other that was told before-hand just how long he should live; that good man no doubt made a good use of it; but God has wisely kept us at uncertainties, that we may be always ready. (4.) To deliver Jerusalem from the king of Assyria, Kg2 20:6. This was the thing which Hezekiah's heart was upon a much as his own recovery, and therefore the promise of this is here repeated. If this was after the raising of the siege, yet there was cause to fear Sennacherib's rallying again. "No," says God, "I will defend this city."
V. The means which were to be used for his recovery, Kg2 20:7. Isaiah was his physician. He ordered an outward application, a very cheap and common thing: "Lay a lump of figs to the boil, to ripen it and bring it to a head, that the matter of the disease may be discharged that way." This might contribute something to the cure, and yet, considering to what a height the disease had come, and how suddenly it was checked, the cure was no less than miraculous. Note, 1. It is our duty, when we are sick, to make use of such means as are proper to help nature, else we do not trust God, but tempt him. 2. Plain and ordinary medicines must not be despised, for many such God has graciously made serviceable to man, in consideration of the poor. 3. What God appoints he will bless and make effectual.
VI. The sign which was given for the encouragement of his faith. 1. He begged it, not in any distrust of the power or promise of God, or as if he staggered at that, but because he looked upon the things promised to be very great things and worthy to be so confirmed, and because it had been usual with God thus to glorify himself and favour his people; and he remembered how much Gos was displeased with his father for refusing to ask a sign, Isa 7:10-12. Observe, Hezekiah asked What is the sign, not that I shall go up to the thrones of judgment or up to the gate, but up to the house of the Lord? He desired to recover that he might glorify God in the gates of the daughter of Zion. It is not worth while to live for any other purpose than to serve God. 2. It was put to his choice whether the sun should go back or go forward; for it was equal to Omnipotence, and it would be the more likely to confirm his faith if he chose that which he thought the more difficult of the two. Perhaps to this that of this prophet may refer (Isa 45:11), Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command you me. It is supposed that the degrees were half hours, and that it was just noon when the proposal was made, and the question is, "Shall the sun go back to its place at seven in the morning or forward to its place at five in the evening?" 3. He humbly desired the sun might go back ten degrees, because, though either would be a great miracle, yet, it being the natural course of the sun to go forward, its going back would seem more strange, and would be more significant of Hezekiah's returning to the days of his youth (Job 33:25) and the lengthening out of the day of his life. It was accordingly done, upon the prayer of Isaiah (Kg2 20:11): He cried unto the Lord by special warrant and direction, and God brought the sun back ten degrees, which appeared to Hezekiah (for the sign was intended for him) by the going back of the shadow upon the dial of Ahaz, which, it is likely, he could see through his chamber-window; and the same was observed upon all other dials, even in Babylon, Ch2 32:31. Whether this retrograde motion of the sun was gradual or per saltum - suddenly - whether it went back at the same pace that it used to go forward, which would make the day ten hours longer than usual - or whether it darted back on a sudden, and, after continuing a little while, was restored again to its usual place, so that no change was made in the state of the heavenly bodies (as the learned bishop Patrick thinks) - we are not told; but this work of wonder shows the power of God in heaven as well as on earth, the great notice he takes of prayer, and the great favour he bears to his chosen. The most plausible idolatry of the heathen was theirs that worshipped the sun; yet that was hereby convicted of the most egregious folly and absurdity, for by this it appeared that their god was under the check of the God of Israel. Dr. Lightfoot suggests that the fifteen songs of degrees (Psa 120:1-7, etc.) might perhaps be so called because selected by Hezekiah to be sung to his stringed instruments (Isa 38:20) in remembrance of the degrees on the dial which the sun went back and the fifteen years added to his life; and he observes how much of these psalms is applicable to Jerusalem's distress and deliverance and Hezekiah's sickness and recovery.
The vine, and that not in a few places, refers to the Lord himself, and the fig tree to the Holy Spirit, as the Lord makes glad the hearts of people and heals them. And therefore Hezekiah is commanded first to make a plaster with a lump of figs—that is, the fruit of the Spirit—that he may be healed—that is, according to the apostle—by love; for he says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;” which, on account of their great pleasantness the prophet calls figs. Micah also says, “They shall sit everyone under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.” Now it is certain that those who have taken refuge and rested under the Spirit and under the shadow of the Word shall not be alarmed or frightened by him who troubles the hearts of humankind.
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SUMMARY
Second Kings 20:7 concisely records the application of a fig poultice to King Hezekiah's life-threatening boil, an act immediately preceding his miraculous recovery. This brief but potent verse serves as a testament to God's compassionate response to prayer, demonstrating His sovereign power to heal, often working through both supernatural intervention and the use of natural, humanly accessible means. It underscores the interplay between divine command and human obedience in the unfolding of God's redemptive purposes.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is an integral part of the dramatic narrative concerning King Hezekiah's illness and miraculous recovery, spanning 2 Kings 20:1-11. Immediately preceding, the prophet Isaiah had delivered a death sentence from the Lord to Hezekiah 2 Kings 20:1. Hezekiah's fervent prayer and weeping 2 Kings 20:2-3 prompted God to reverse His decree, promising an additional fifteen years of life and deliverance from Assyria 2 Kings 20:4-6. Verse 7 then describes the practical, yet divinely instructed, step taken to facilitate the healing, followed by the sign of the sun dial's shadow moving back ten steps 2 Kings 20:8-11. This sequence highlights God's immediate and tangible response to His faithful servant's plea, demonstrating His active involvement in the lives of His covenant people.
Historical & Cultural Context: King Hezekiah reigned over Judah from approximately 715-686 BC, a tumultuous period marked by the encroaching power of the Assyrian Empire. His illness, likely occurring around 701 BC, is explicitly linked to the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, as indicated by the promise of deliverance in 2 Kings 20:6. Boils (Hebrew: shechin) were a common and often severe affliction in the ancient Near East, sometimes fatal, as seen in the plagues of Egypt Exodus 9:9-11 and Job's suffering Job 2:7. The use of a "lump of figs" as a poultice was a known ancient remedy for drawing out infection or soothing skin inflammations, suggesting a practical medical application that would have been culturally understood. This practice, though seemingly mundane, underscores the ancient world's reliance on natural remedies, even when divine intervention was sought or expected.
Key Themes: The narrative of Hezekiah's healing in 2 Kings 20 profoundly explores several key themes. Foremost is God's Sovereignty and Compassion, as He demonstrates absolute power over life and death, responding mercifully to the sincere prayer of His servant. The episode also emphasizes the Efficacy of Prayer, showcasing how a king's humble, earnest plea can alter a divine decree, as seen in 2 Kings 20:4-5. Furthermore, the use of the fig poultice introduces the theme of Divine Means and Human Agency, illustrating that God often chooses to work through natural means and human obedience, rather than exclusively through overt supernatural displays. This does not diminish His power but rather integrates human action into His divine plan, as seen in other biblical healings where a physical act or substance was involved, such as the mud applied to the blind man's eyes in John 9:6. Finally, the narrative subtly highlights the Interplay of Prophecy and Divine Action, as Isaiah, God's messenger, is central to both the pronouncement of judgment and the instruction for healing, exemplifying God's communication through His chosen prophets.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The narrative of 2 Kings 20:7 employs several literary devices that enrich its theological message. The most prominent is Divine-Human Collaboration, where God's sovereign will and miraculous power are intricately intertwined with human obedience and the use of natural means. Isaiah's instruction and the servants' immediate action are presented not as independent efforts, but as the human side of God's orchestrated healing work. The "lump of figs" itself functions as Symbolism, representing God's profound ability to utilize the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary, transforming a common, earthly remedy into a channel for divine intervention. This also introduces a Test of Faith and Obedience, where the efficacy of the seemingly simple act is entirely dependent on the divine command and the trust placed in God's word behind it. Furthermore, the Narrative Economy of the verse, moving swiftly from prophetic instruction to human action and then to miraculous outcome, powerfully underscores the immediate and undeniable nature of God's power and faithfulness, leaving no doubt as to the source of Hezekiah's recovery.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
The healing of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:7 powerfully illustrates God's compassionate nature and His responsiveness to the earnest prayers of His people. While God possesses the power to heal instantly and supernaturally, this account demonstrates His willingness to work through natural means, highlighting that His sovereignty is not limited to one mode of operation. The fig poultice was not the source of healing, but the divinely appointed channel through which God's power flowed, emphasizing that our trust must always be in the Healer, not the method. This narrative reinforces the principle that faith often involves obedient action, even when the means seem ordinary or inadequate for the promised outcome. It points to a God who engages with humanity, inviting participation in His redemptive work, and who validates His promises through tangible acts of deliverance.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
The story of Hezekiah's healing in 2 Kings 20:7 offers profound encouragement and practical lessons for believers today. It reminds us that God is intimately involved in the affairs of His people, hearing and responding to our prayers, even when our circumstances seem dire or hopeless. Hezekiah's earnest prayer was met with divine compassion, demonstrating that our access to God through prayer is real and effective. Furthermore, this passage teaches us about the diverse ways God works. He is not confined to a single method of healing or intervention; He can act instantaneously, or He can work through natural remedies, medical professionals, or other human instruments. Our faith is to be placed in God's power and wisdom, trusting that He will accomplish His purposes, whether through overt miraculous intervention or through the ordinary means He has provided. Our role is to pray fervently, believe in His sovereign power, and obey the guidance He provides, even if the steps seem small or insignificant in comparison to the magnitude of the need, recognizing that our obedience often becomes the channel for His divine work.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Was it the figs that healed Hezekiah, or was it God?
Answer: It was unequivocally God who healed Hezekiah. The "lump of figs" was a natural remedy, known in ancient times for its soothing and drawing properties, but it was not the inherent medicinal power of the figs that cured a life-threatening, divinely-decreed illness. The healing was a direct, miraculous act of God in response to Hezekiah's fervent prayer 2 Kings 20:5. The application of the figs was a divinely instructed step, a means God chose to use to demonstrate His power and to involve human obedience in the process. This account powerfully illustrates that God can work through both supernatural intervention and natural means, often integrating human action into His divine plan. The ultimate power resided with God alone, the sovereign Giver of life and health.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The healing of King Hezekiah, a monarch facing certain death, serves as a powerful Old Testament foreshadowing of the ultimate Physician and Life-Giver, Jesus Christ. Hezekiah's recovery, granted through divine compassion and a simple, divinely-prescribed means, points to Christ's comprehensive healing ministry. Jesus, the Son of God, not only healed countless physical ailments with a word or a touch Matthew 8:16, but also demonstrated His supreme authority over death itself, raising Lazarus from the tomb John 11:43-44 and Jairus's daughter from her deathbed Mark 5:41-42. Just as God used the ordinary figs in Hezekiah's case, Christ sometimes employed physical means, like mud and spit, to heal the blind John 9:6-7, signifying that His power transcends and sanctifies the ordinary. Ultimately, Hezekiah's extended life was temporary, but Christ offers eternal life and complete healing from the spiritual "boil" of sin through His atoning sacrifice on the cross Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24. His glorious resurrection guarantees victory over death and sickness for all who believe, culminating in the complete restoration of body and soul in the new heavens and new earth, where there will be no more death or pain.