Second Kings 20:1-21
‘Hezekiah was sick unto death…. He…prayed…. The Word…came to him (Isaiah), saying: “Turn back, and tell Hezekiah…’I have heard your prayer!… I will heal you!’…, and…add to your days 15 years!”… (Thereafter,) Hezekiah fell asleep with his fathers.’
Second Kings 20:1-21.
Calvin said in his Institutes IV:14:18 & I:16:2 & 17:12, that God “made the shadow go back 10 degrees on the (sun)dial, to assure Hezekiah of his recovery…. As a favour…, its (the sun’s) shadow receded ten degrees (Second Kings 20:9-11)…. After He had…given Hezekiah intimation of his death, He was moved by his…prayers to defer it (Second Kings 20:15)” for another 15 years.
In his commentary on Isaiah 38:1-21, Calvin says Hezekiah was sick “‘even unto death’…. Mortal disease brings along with it sharp pains…. As soon as he had been rescued from (being overrun by the Assyrians in Isaiah 36 and 37)…, he was immediately dragged to death. He had no children, and there was reason to believe that his death would be followed by a great disorder….
“‘You shall die, and shall not live!’.. There would be no hope of remedy…. Hezekiah…was twice informed that he must die…. ‘Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall’…. He does not break out into rage or indignation like unbelievers — but bears this affliction patiently. He does not debate with God…, but…bows to the judgments of God in calm silence…. It is a remarkable pattern of piety that, when he had received the sentence of death, he did not cease to call upon God….
“God…supported him by secret influence, when he appeared to have been slain…. He strengthened and fortified himself…. He concluded that, although he (thought he then) must die — still his services had not been displeasing to God….
“‘Then came the word of Jehovah’…. It is certain that the glad tidings of life were not brought until, after long and severe struggles, he perceived that he was utterly ruined….. While death was threatened against Hezekiah, still, God had not decreed it — but determined in this manner to put to the test the faith of Hezekiah….
“Having opened the door of hope…, Hezekiah (was told) that God ‘had heard his prayers’…. ‘Behold, I add to your days 15 years!’…. Hezekiah…had been excluded from the hope of life, and therefore must justly have reckoned to be gain, what was afterward added — as if he had been raised up from the grave to a second life….
“‘Look, I bring back the shadow of degrees!’ The sign which is here given to Hezekiah, is the going back of the shadow on the sundial — along with the sun — ‘ten degrees’…. It is as if He (the Lord God) had said: ‘As it is in My power to change the hours of the day and to make the sun go backwards, so it is in My power to lengthen your life!’
After those 15 extra years, ‘Hezekiah fell asleep with his fathers.’ Such was Hezekiah’s reprieve, in his sickness unto death!
