Hezekiah's Plea

I have been reading the books of I and II Kings recently.  There are many fascinating stories of these ancient rulers of Israel and Judah.  None of the kings of Israel between Solomon and the time of Israel going into captivity in Assyria are recorded as being wholehearted followers of God and obedient to His commands.  Judah, however, did have several kings who attempted to live righteously and destroyed idols and the places in which they were worshipped.  Among the “good guys” was Hezekiah.

Hezekiah reigned for almost thirty years beginning when he was twenty-five.  Although his father Ahaz had not followed God, Hezekiah did.  “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.” (II Kings 18:5-6).  God consistently blessed him, including an occasion when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, besieged Jerusalem with over 185,000 soldiers.  Hezekiah pleaded for God’s protection and was delivered when God sent an angel at night and put 185,000 Assyrian soldiers to death.  Sennacherib broke camp and went back to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  There he was assassinated by two of his sons.

Shortly after this, Hezekiah became deathly ill.  He apparently had a boil and the infection was spreading.  We sometimes forget that antibiotics to fight such things were not even discovered until the 1920s.  For the millennia preceding our time, such infections were often a death sentence.  Hezekiah inquired of the prophet Isaiah as to whether he would live or die.  The Lord gave Isaiah the message that Hezekiah should put his affairs in order, because he would not recover.  Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly.  He pleaded for his life, asking the Lord to remember that he had been faithful and wholeheartedly devote to God.

Isaiah had not yet left the palace when God told him to go back and give Hezekiah the word that He would not die and that God would give him 15 more years.

Now comes the part that fascinates me.  When Hezekiah did die after those 15 years, it was his 12 year old son Manasseh who became king.  That means that Manasseh was born in the time period God granted Hezekiah, because he begged for additional life.  Manasseh is recorded as one of the most wicked kings of Judah.   The places of idol worship which had been destroyed by Hezekiah were rebuilt at Manasseh’s direction.  He worshipped multiple false gods.  He even sacrificed his own son to Baal.   “Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end…” (II Kings 21:16)

Through His prophets, God pronounced severe judgment on Judah, because of the sin of Manasseh and the fact that the people followed him in this sin.  “I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle….I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” (II Kings 21:1213)   Eventually, this did happen as the people of Judah went into captivity in Babylon.

I can’t help but wonder how the situation would have played out if Hezekiah had died when first predicted and Manasseh had never been born.  I don’t understand how God’s sovereignty and our prayers combine together to bring about God’s purposes in human history.  But, this story does give me pause.  If I am ever given the diagnosis that I am terminally ill, I’m thinking I won’t plead for my life.  I’m hoping I won’t weep bitterly and try to remind God of all the “good” I’ve done.  The most perfect person who ever lived said, “…not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)