1. Hezekiah The Man Who Knew How Long He Would Live
2 Kings 20:1-11
Isaiah 38:1-8

2. Isaiah 38:1-8
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’“
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD,
and said, “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

3. Isaiah 38:1-8 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.
“I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.”‘

4. Isaiah 38:1-8
“And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken:
“Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.

5. Hezekiah Son of and successor to Ahaz as king of Judah - 716-686 BC
Grandson of Zechariah through his mother
Began his reign when 25 years old
Nation of Assyria had risen to power
Ahaz began pro-Assyrian policies by submitting Judah to Assyria
Ahaz’s political involvements with Assyria brought idolatry and paganism into the Temple
2 Kings 16:7-20

6. Hezekiah
Hezekiah began his reign by bringing religious reform to Judah
The Temple in Jerusalem was reopened
The idols were removed
Destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had erected in the wilderness so the people would not worship it
Temple vessels desecrated by Ahaz were sanctified for use
High places of idol worship were destroyed
The sacrifices & worship were begun again
With singing and the sounds of musical instruments
Priests and Levites were organized for the conducting of religious services
The tithe was reinstituted
Began to observe the religious feasts called for in the Law
Invited the Israelites to join in the celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem

7. Hezekiah 711 BC - Sargon II of Assyria captured Ashdod
Hezekiah fortified the city of Jerusalem and organized an army
Source of water was crucial to withstand a seige
Hezekiah constructed a tunnel through solid rock from the spring of Gihon to the Siloam pool
Isaiah warned Hezekiah not to become involved with Assyria
705 BC - Sennacherib became king of Assyria
Heavy tribute of silver and gold was forced on Judah
701 BC Hezekiah became seriously ill
Hezekiah prayed that God would intervene
God answered by promising Hezekiah 15 more years of life and deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria

8. Hezekiah
689 BC - Sennacherib destroyed the city of Babylon & marched toward Egypt
Sennacherib sent letters to Hezekiah ordering him to surrender
Hezekiah took the letters to the Temple and prayed for God’s help
From Isaiah came the message that Sennacherib would not prevail
Sennacherib’s army was destroyed in a miraculous way
185,000 soldiers died overnight!
681 BC - Sennacherib was killed by two of his sons as prophesied by Isaiah in 701 BC
Hezekiah died in 686 BC and Manasseh, his son, succeeded him

9. Two Questions
Did God have a special purpose in lengthening Hezekiah’s life?
Yes! God certainly had a special purpose!
How did Hezekiah use those added 15 years?
Hezekiah used those added 15 years so profitably that we are still reaping the benefit today
2 Chronicles 31: Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. 21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.

10. Hezekiah Prepared the Word of God for Others
Arrangement and transmission of the OT Scriptures
Every time we read the Old Testament we are in debt to good king Hezekiah and his men
Hezekiah’s delight was in the worship of Jehovah, and in the word of Jehovah
In restarting the temple worship, we see his familiarity with, and strict adherence to the Scriptures concerning David’s reign 300 years earlier
2 Chronicles 29
v all the temple praise is “according to the commandment of David and of the prophets”
v it shall be “with the instruments ordained by David”
v it shall be “with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer”
The Scriptures were his guide and authority in all the service
2 Chronicles 31:21
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.

11. Hezekiah Prepared the Word of God for Others
 “The men of Hezekiah”
Hezekiah set apart a group of men for gathering all the Scriptures together
Proverbs 25 - marks the 3rd of the 3 main divisions of the book
v. 2- “These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out”
These copyists/transcribers did not just begin and end their work with this one Book of Proverbs
Hezekiah himself was the chief supervisor of all their work in the collecting and arranging the Scriptures
2 Kings 18:18 says the leaders of “the men of Hezekiah” were “Shebna the scribe, and Joab the son of Asaph, the recorder”, and Isaiah the prophet

12. Hezekiah Prepared the Word of God for Others
 The Old Testament “Unicals”
There is an unmistakable confirmation of Hezekiah’s work on the Scriptures - very few people know about it!
At the end of many of the books of the OT in Hebrew, 3 capital letters are found
3 “uncials” in palaeographical terminology
No Hebrew transcriber has dared to omit these 3 capital letters through the years!
No one can tell us how they came to be there, or exactly what they mean
But they are still there, even to this day, transcribed both in the manuscripts and in the printed editions of the Hebrew Scriptures

13. Hezekiah Prepared the Word of God for Others
 The Old Testament “Unicals”
And what are these 3 capital letters?
3 Hebrew letters - Heth, Zayin, Qoph
In English, H Z K
These 3 letters are the first 3 in the Hebrew name of Hezekiah!
Very likely an abbreviation of his name
The same way that men put their initials on documents today!
Hezekiah dedicated the rest of his life to passing on God’s Word to others!
As a result, the Old Testament Scriptures have come down to us today

14. Hezekiah Told Others How God Had Worked in His Life
The Song of Degrees – 2 Kings 20:8-11
Psalms 120 to psalms titled “The Songs of Degrees”
Each title in Hebrew “A Song of THE Degrees”
Are there any such degrees mentioned in the Bible?
There are, and they are the only “degrees” mentioned in the Bible
The degrees on the great sundial of King Ahaz, at Jerusalem
An elaborate and very conspicuous edifice in Jerusalem
Scores of steps in a long, straight stairway
Step by step, or degree by degree, the shadow moves from the sun

15. Hezekiah Told Others How God Had Worked in His Life
The Song of Degrees – 2 Kings 20:8-11
Are we told anything special about the sundial of Ahaz?
We are - something very special!
On this sundial, in the reign of Hezekiah, the shadow went back ten “degrees” or “steps” as a sign that 15 years were to be added to Hezekiah’s life!
This supernatural happening is recorded in 2 Kings 20:8‑11
The word “degrees” is emphasized by repetition
The “Songs of the Degrees” relate directly to Hezekiah and the degrees on the sundial of Ahaz!

16. Hezekiah Told Others How God Had Worked in His Life
The Song of Degrees – 2 Kings 20:8-11
Hezekiah organized the Book of Psalms into its form today
Hezekiah was a psalm writer
Isaiah 38:9ff one of the psalms which he wrote
Isaiah also refers to a set of “songs” written by Hezekiah
Isaiah 38:20 “The Lord was ready to save me. Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord”
These were the “Songs of the Degrees” which now appear in our Book of Psalms

17. Hezekiah Told Others How God Had Worked in His Life
The Song of Degrees – 2 Kings 20:8-11
The number of the “Songs of the Degrees” is 15
The number of years added to Hezekiah’s life is 15
The shadow went back 10 degrees on the sundial
10 of the “Songs of the Degrees” are anonymous
The remaining 5 are not anonymous
4 attributed to David and 1 to Solomon
In a sense of humility Hezekiah likely left the ten written by himself without his name

18. Hezekiah Told Others How God Had Worked in His Life
The Song of Degrees – 2 Kings 20:8-11
5 groups of 3 psalms each
In each group 2 are by Hezekiah and 1 by David or Solomon
In each group of 3
1st psalm is one of trouble
2nd psalm is one of trust
3rd psalm is one of triumph
Hezekiah was using these psalms to tell others what God did in his life!

19. Hezekiah Had a Son 2 Kings 20:20 – 21:2
20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah--all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city--are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
21 So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

20. Hezekiah Had a Son Manasseh The 13th king of Judah
During this 15 extra years, Hezekiah fathers Manasseh, the most evil of all the kings of Judah!
The 13th king of Judah
His 55-year reign is longer than any other king in Judah or in Israel BC
His long and wicked reign is described in 2 Kings 21:1-26 and 2 Chronicles 33:1-20
He even resorted to a series of murders to stay in power
He rebuilt the high places for pagan worship
Encouraging Baal, sun, moon, and star worship
He even burned his own son as a child sacrifice!

21. Hezekiah Had a Son
But how could God answer Hezekiah’s prayer and then have it turn out so bad?!
Matthew 1:10 - in the genealogy of Jesus Christ – “10Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah”
God in His Sovereignty, used even this evil king Manasseh, son of the great king Hezekiah, to bring about His Kingdom!
We need to pray that God will use the time we have left to advance His kingdom!

22. Hezekiah Had a Son Hezekiah saw these evil traits in his son
He must have prayed fervently for his son’s salvation!
2 Chronicles 33:11-16
Manasseh was taken as a prisoner of war to Babylon
In a Babylonian prison he repented and then God restored him as king
He went back to Jerusalem and tried to abolish his former pagan practices and to restore proper worship of God alone
Manasseh died at the age of 67
His son Amon reverted to his father’s wicked practices
Only reigned 2 years before being assassinated
But, praise the Lord, Manasseh’s godly grandson Josiah led the people back to the true worship of the Lord God
2 Kings 23:4-14

23. Practical Lessons We do not know how long we have left to live!
Are your remaining days on earth are many or few?
The only thing about our life that is certain is that it is uncertain!
Your “house” should always be “set in order” in the sight of God
Do not take tomorrow for granted!
“Fool, this night your soul shall be required of you” – Luke 12:20
In the matter of your soul’s salvation, do not assume that you will see tomorrow!
“Now is the accepted time” – 2 Corinthians 6:2
“Today,” says the Holy Spirit, if we will “hear His voice”
“Whosoever believes on Him shall never perish, but have everlasting life” – John 3:16
Nothing is more important than getting right with God, and then living with our house “set in order”

24. Practical Lessons Each day we have is a special gift from God!
Those extra 15 years were a special gift of God to Hezekiah
So are the days or years which we have left on earth!
One of the reasons why God gave those years to Hezekiah was that we might see that it is God who portions out the lives of all human beings

25. Practical Lessons Each day we have is a special gift from God!
What then will you do with God’s gift of years to you?
Follow Hezekiah’s example!
Use every day that God gives you
To pass on God’s Word to others
To tell others how God has worked in your life!
Pray for your children and grandchildren, that God would use them in a mighty way to help bring about His Kingdom!

26. Practical Lessons God has a great purpose for our life!
There was a great purpose running through Hezekiah’s life and there is a great purpose for each of our own lives!
Hezekiah’s life was prolonged for the fulfilment of that purpose
If we are truly living in and for the will of God, our life will be preserved until God achieves that purpose through us
George Whitefield in the thick of persecution said, “I am immortal till my work is done”

27. Practical Lessons
Prayer is the key to fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives!
When Isaiah brought God’s message to Hezekiah, “Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live,” Hezekiah’s response was to pray!
A godly person knows that his standing before God is all about God’s grace and not of human merit!
Yet Hezekiah knew that he could appeal to God on the basis of his steadfastness
And God said, in effect, “Yes, Hezekiah, you are right; and I will do what you ask”

28. Practical Lessons
Prayer is the key to fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives!
In answer to Hezekiah’s prayers
The Assyrian army was destroyed, and Jerusalem was saved
Hezekiah’s own life was extended for 15 years!
God reigns above all the laws of the universe
He answers the prayers of His people sovereignly in His own supernatural time and way
Good King Hezekiah is a striking example of the power of prayer in the life of a believer!

29. The Supreme Lesson of Hezekiah
Not the 15 years God gave him!
The value and impact on others of being a Godly man!
God will do the same in your life!
Even if you don not know how much longer you will live
Trust the Lord God in all things!
Call out to Him and let Him show you great and marvelous things that you know not!