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1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.3 And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
In this story Hezekia was sick and
Isaiah told him he would die.
(That would be shocking news to anyone.) Then Hezekiah prayed for his life to be spared and the Lord
answered his prayers, and gave him a sign as a promise. The sign the Lord gives (v7-8) is very
interesting.
The promise the Lord gave to Hezekiah
was 15 more years of life. The
sign was to be that the shadow of the sundial would go back 10 degrees. That might seem like an odd sign to
give. A moving shadow. But behind that moving shadow was
something very unusual on an astronomical scale. It would look like the sun was moving, but we know it was
really the earth that moved, that it slowed imperceptibly, then stopped, and
reversed its rotation until it had gone 10 degrees backward, then slowed,
stopped, and began rotating in the usual direction again, all without any
detrimental inertial effects on the earth’s inhabitants.
Amazing, huh? Yes, and it is also amazing that all that was done for the sake of one man. Doesn’t that
almost seem like…overkill?
But I suppose that shows just how much the Lord loves the one.
I also realized that the sign was
actually meant to teach Hezekiah something about the Lord’s power. Not simply that the Lord could move
astronomical bodies hither and yon at will, but that the Lord really did have the power to lengthen
Hezekiah’s life. Turning the
shadow of the sundial back 10 degrees had the effect of lengthening that day,
so Hezekiah was to understand that if the Lord could lengthen one of Hezekiah’s
days, He could and would lengthen Hezekiah’s life as promised.
To me this teaches me that the Lord has control over my life
span and while I do my part to take care of my body, ultimately the Lord is in
charge of how long I live.
2 comments:
I love this record of Hezekiah, one of my favorites. I remember reading commentary on this passage, and the thought was that this was a fore-shadow of the Atonement of the Savior. What is happening is that for a "small moment",(imperceptible) Hezekiah is allowed to "cheat" death,and even though he will die at an appointed time,15 years later,the promise to him and everyone, is that it will be for a "small moment", because of the atonement of Jesus. Note that Isaiah is the "sitting" prophet at that time. Think of all of his prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, of his work and his victory over the grave, over death and Hell.
Psalm 8:1-3
1O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
(The enemy is death, the avenger is Satan)
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of Man, that thou visit him?
Good point, Ramona, I like how you draw the connection to the atonement.
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