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| 1 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. |
In those days – Somewhere in the period of Hezekiah's prosperity and consequent pride. R2382:6
731 BC, 125 years before the removal of the crown from Zedekiah (606 BC); corresponding to the date of the French Revolution, 1789 AD, from which Christendom recovered, though it must have seemed to be a "sickness unto death"; which was 125 years before 1914, when Gentile crowns are removed. R3574:1, 2*
Was Hezeklah sick – Penalty for his failure to render unto the Lord according to his blessings. R2382:6
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| 2 And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah saying, |
And prayed – Isa. 38:9-22 records in poetic form Hevious prayer. R2382:6
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| 3 Ah! Jehovah, remember, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept much. |
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| 4 And it came to pass before Isaiah had gone out into the middle city that the word of Jehovah came to him saying, |
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| 5 Return, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah; |
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| 6 and I will add to thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. |
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| 7 And Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. |
And Isaiah said – Isaiah did not pray with Hezekiah, nor suggest prayer, but was surprised when sent back to inform Hezekiah that he would recover. R2028:6
A lump of figs – A poultice. Many who believe in faith healing today would object to a fig poultice or any other human instrumentality being used. R2029:1
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| 8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that Jehovah will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah the third day? |
Shall be the sign – The Lord's people of the New Creation should avoid putting the Lord to tests and signs. He desires his people to walk by faith and not by sight. R3589:1
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| 9 And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? |
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| 10 And Hezekiah said, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: no, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. |
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| 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and he brought the shadow back on the degrees by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. |
Brought the shadow – Probably by means of conditions in the upper atmosphere causing two parhelia or mock suns. R2383:1, * R3589:2; Q770:4
Ten degrees backward – Professor Garbet declares that he knew of an afternoon when, on sundials in Southern England, there occurred exactly the same wonder. R2383:1, R3589:4; Q770:4
Perhaps symbolically representing the ten years from the French Revolution to the beginning of the Time of the End. R3574:3*
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| 12 At that time Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. |
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| 13 And Hezekiah hearkened to them, and shewed them all his treasure-house, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the fine oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found among his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not shew them. |
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| 14 Then came the prophet Isaiah to king Hezekiah and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, from Babylon. |
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| 15 And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewn them. |
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| 16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah: |
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| 17 Behold, days come that all that is in thy house, and what thy fathers have laid up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah. |
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| 18 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be chamberlains in the palace of the king of Babylon. |
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| 19 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not so? if only there shall be peace and truth in my days! |
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| 20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the aqueduct, and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? |
Brought water – This seems to shadow forth the founding of the various Bible Societies at the beginning of the last century. R3574:3*
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| 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. |
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