Hezekiah's Illness

[Leslie]

What is supposed to be the take-home message on this? Was Hezekiah's request for an extension on his life morally right, neutral, or wrong?
Right because it gave Israel more years of godly rule?
Neutral because the text neither lauds nor condemns his request?
Wrong because the extension produced Manassah who was a disaster?

 

[Gryphonette]

Rather a mixture, don't you think?

As is so often the case. It seems to me it shows that there's nothing inherently dishonoring to the LORD to prefer to not die just now, but instead remain on Earth. Which, naturally, Christ Himself tacitly pointed out by asking this cup be taken from Him.

But it also shows that monkeying with the LORD's timing is tricky business, as the Manassah incident demonstrates.

Interesting question!

What is supposed to be the take-home message on this? Was Hezekiah's request for an extension on his life morally right, neutral, or wrong?
Right because it gave Israel more years of godly rule?
Neutral because the text neither lauds nor condemns his request?
Wrong because the extension produced Manassah who was a disaster?

 

[jambo]

Wrong because the extension produced Manassah who was a disaster?

I don't think it is fair to "blame" Hezekiah's request for healing for Manasseh's disastrous reign. It is true that had Hezekiah not received those 15 extra years, Manasseh would not have been born. But then no Manasseh would mean no grandson, Josiah either.

Secondly in the providence of God, Manasseh, wicked as he was, was an ancestor of Christ and part of the "seed of the woman".

Thirdly although Manasseh was wicked and corrupt, there was that element of repentance which has proved to be a source of encouragement for many in the church today.

The Lord was gracious in giving Hezekiah extra years and he was gracious in humbling Manasseh (2 Chro 33.12) Truly the Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve.

According to both 2 Kgs 20 and 2 Chro 32, Hezekiah just prayed when he was told his life was about to end. It does not say he asked for extra years. The Lord just gave him it. "Shall not the Judge of al the Earth do right."

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Looking at this from the biblical-theological perspective,

I would see Hezekiah's great concern as having to do with succession to the throne and the promises to David and to the People Israel.

Both 2Ki.20:1 and Is.38:1 read: "In those days, Hezekiah was sick and near death..." In both passages the case of his illness is put after the episode of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem; but according to scholars, the congratulatory note sent by Babylonian envoys (2Ki.20:12; Is 39:1) from their king must have been sent while he was alive, and he died some two years or so before the siege.

This puts us back some time before the siege (701BC) and closer to Manasseh's birthdate, which was most likely in 709 BC, and maybe even before it. (The supposition that because Manasseh was given status as king at 12 yrs, that must have been Hezekiah's death-date, is based on a faulty understanding of the succession mechanism in Judah, which ordinarily included a period of co-regency.) So, I think there was some concern he had for the time he thought necessary to participate in God's promises.

Whether the child was Hezekiah's only son, or if he was even born, for some reason Hezekiah was distraught either over the possibility that he would not remain in the direct line of God's promises (which I think is LESS likely), or that he would not have the opportunity to raise up his son in the way he ought to go. He praises the Lord, Is 38:19 "The living, the living man, he shall praise you, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children."

 

[Leslie]

Thanks for your replies as they help my understanding of the passage. At least it was not morally wrong for him. The next question then is does this passage permit or encourage a person with a terminal diagnosis to plead for some extra years?

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Nothing wrong with asking God for any lawful boon. Paul asked the Lord three time to take away his "thorn in the flesh," whatever that was. God said "no" but never stopped loving him.

 

[TimV]

Great thread.

 

[Leslie]

Does anyone know of a Hezekiah event? I'm personally familiar with only one. 15 years ago a guy who was at missionary candidate school with us was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, a kind that responds to neither chemotherapy nor radiation. He had surgery and was sent home to die. As of about 2 years ago when we lost contact, he was very alive and well. There was no "faith healer" or alternative medicine at all. It was obviously a sovereign act of God with no other explanation.