Right Words

(Read 2 Kings 20:1-7; cf. 2 Chr. 32:24, Is. 38:1-22)

Much could be said about this significant event in Old Testament history, e.g., the consequences of Hezekiah‘s life extension (his spiritual lapse later, Manasseh’s birth, etc.), but in this post I want to point out three media that God used in this healing.

1. Prayer. Hezekiah prayed about his own illness. While 2 Chron. 32:20 affirms that both Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed about Sennacherib’s threatenings, nothing is said in any of the three passages listed above about Isaiah praying for Hezekiah when he was ill. Hezekiah took it upon himself to approach the Lord about his physical condition, not depending on anyone else. It was a medium that God used to bring about his healing.
2. Medicine. In exposition, the emphasis is usually on Hezekiah’s tearful prayer, but God uses the medium of medicine in this healing, even after Hezekiah‘s prayer. I think that he moved Isaiah to request medicine to affirm his divine support of it as a medium of healing. The balance here is that both prayer and medicine were involved, not one to the exclusion of the other. Compare 1 Tim. 5:23 where Paul recommends medicine to Timothy, and Col. 4:14, where he is divinely led to underscore the value of Luke’s medical training, even in the midst of apostolic work.
3. Miracle. The healing is miraculous, and a divine sign accompanies it (sun shadow going backward), but the prayer and medical care are dealt with first, since those are trans- dispensational. Note that Hezekiah is healed within three days following the application of the medicine to his boil. Normally one would expect this process to take longer, but I believe that God miraculously accelerated the cure, knowing how ardently Hezekiah wished to return to worship, and that he had to be clean from the boil before he could enter the temple. This last point is something I had not considered until today. Hezekiah could not have returned to the temple until the boil was completely healed. Who knows – maybe it was healed immediately after the application of the figs!

Besides the salutary nature of figs, there’s likely something symbolic about that fruit being used to heal the boil. Sometimes this tree represents Israel, so it’s fitting for its fruit to be used in healing the king and, in a sense, the nation.