The King of Babylon sent envoys to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery from his illness.
• Hezekiah must have felt important. There is something gratifying to have people from faraway places showing interest in you.
• So Hezekiah pay attention to them and showed them all his treasures – from the storehouses to his own palace – the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil.
• He showed them even his armoury and all his resources. “There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.” (20:13)
Hezekiah was seeking to impress. It was more than just a casual visit.
• The pagan Babylonians have just become the first foreigners to see probably all the treasures that were accumulated and kept hidden over the generations.
• Whatever the agenda the visitors had, this was a foolish thing to do. But it doesn’t matter when you want to show off.
This was clearly a mistake, by the way the prophet Isaiah reacted. He came questioning Hezekiah.
• “What did they say? Where did they come from? What have they seen?”
• Hezekiah’s reply was: “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” (20:15)
• Then came the key moment, Isaiah responded with, hear what the Lord has to say (20:17): “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.”
That’s the irony. “All that you used to impress others will be taken away.”
• The “everything” you boasted about and used to impress the Babylonians will be taken away by the same Babylonians.
• And they too will take “everything, leaving nothing”. It’s a mockery of his pride.
And not just that, Isaiah says (20:18): "And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs (officials) in the palace of the king of Babylon."
• Isaiah prophesied the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews by Babylon, an event which took place a little over 100 years later.
• Isaiah regarded this error as so troubling that he recorded it in his own book of prophecy (Isaiah 39), which we read at our scripture reading last week.
Then came the even-greater surprise - Hezekiah’s care-less response to Isaiah’s words.
• “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” (20:19)
• “Even if the city falls and our sons are taken away as captives, well, that’s in the future, not at my watch. It’s fine, at least I’m spared from this disaster.”
• Imagine this, the treasures that he has just shown the Babylonians will be carted away ultimately to Babylon, and he says, well, that’s okay.
We see a different side of Hezekiah here. He was self-centred and arrogant. He felt great about himself. He was flaunting his wealth and might with pride.
• He was so carried away by the fact that the Babylonians, living so far away, would be interested in him.
• It’s like getting a visit from the Prime Minister when we are in the hospital.
He was full of self-importance. This came right after his miraculous healing from a near-death sickness, and when God blessed him with another 15 more years!
When God is abundantly good and generous to us, be careful. We can be in danger.
• In danger of forgetting God’s goodness and grace. In danger of thinking that we are someone great and deserving of God’s gifts.
• It’s easy to be so consumed with the gifts that we forget the Giver! When we are healthier than most people, when we are more talented, more capable, more gifted than many. We forget God’s grace.
• We end up worshiping the blessings and boasting about our blessings.
It is helpful to know when exactly this visit took place.
• The King of Babylon heard about Hezekiah’s illness.
• This illness happened BEFORE the Assyrian’s siege that we read about in chapters 18-19. It was before all the trials and threats from Assyria.
• We know this because when he was sick, the Lord came and said in 20:6 that “I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
It was before 18:13 when King Sennacherib of Assyria came and threatened Hezekiah.
• 18:15 says “Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.”
• The treasures of the palace were still there. The Babylonian visitors saw them before the Assyrian came.
Hezekiah was then at his prime. 2 Chron 32:27-29 summarised for us:
27Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. 28He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches.
Prior to the Assyrian’s threat, Hezekiah was doing great. He had great riches and honour and possessions.
• And in addition to all these material successes, he was blessed with a miraculous healing and given another 15 years of life.
• We can understand now why he was so full of self-importance. He has wealth and health, power and success.
• With everything going for him, Hezekiah became proud.
Chronicles gave us this insight - 2 Chron 32:24-25
• 24In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. 25 BUT Hezekiah's heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.
• ESV: But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud.
• Hezekiah did not honour the SOURCE of his blessings. We read of no gratitude, no gratefulness. We read only about how great he was.
WHEN SELF GETS IN THE WAY
A father bought a beautiful painting of Jesus and put it up in his daughter’s bedroom.
• The young girl woke up the next morning and saw the picture reflected in the mirror of her dressing table, while she was lying on the bed.
• She said to her dad, “Oh daddy, I can see Jesus through the mirror!”
• A moment later, she sat up, hoping to get a better look. But in so doing, her own body came between the picture and the mirror, and she could only see herself.
• So she laid down on her bed again. She was able to see the picture again.
• She was up and down, up and down, for quite a few times. Then looking at the mirror, she called out to her father, “Oh dad, when I can’t see myself, I can see Jesus. But every time I see myself, I don’t see Him.”
How true this is. When self gets in the way, we lose sight of Jesus!
Now on hindsight, we can understand why the trials from Assyria were good.
• The threats broke him. The trials broke his pride. He lost confidence in himself. The siege caused him to see how weak and helpless he was.
• We saw him going into Temple of the Lord to pray and seek God’s help.
The Assyrian’s invasion turned out to be an act of God’s grace, not a punishment.
• It redeemed him. 2 Chron 32:26 “Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the LORD's wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.”
• Hezekiah humbled himself and trusted God BECAUSE of the trials.
• His turn-around was so remarkable that the author says he was known to be the King who trusted God most in all of Judah’s history (18:5).
Sometimes, we just have to learn to thank God for the trials of life. They make us a better person.
• At the end of the day, the Lord is more concerned about our CHARACTER than our COMFORT.
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Let this account reminds us of how frail our faith in God can be and how inconsistent our walk with the Lord can be.
• We are like Hezekiah, if we are not careful. We become proud of God’s blessings. We feel that God owes us these blessings and that we deserve them.
• We can be end up like Peter, boasting to Jesus, “I will never disown you” (Mt 26:35) and then denying 3 times “I don’t know the man!” (Mt 26:72), all in the same night.
We don’t boast because we have nothing to boast.
• We are who we are and we have what we have, because of the grace of God.
• To be proud is to be blind. Blind to the grace and gifts of God, blind to our own frailty and pride. It is something that people around us can see but we cannot.
• Sometimes, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves before we can see that, like King Hezekiah. And that’s a good thing.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 23This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD
Ponder:
• Can we boast about that? Is there a long way to go until we can do that, and bring delight to God?
• What are you not seeing and others are seeing?
