HEZEKIAH, THE PRAYING KING
_One can form a habit of study until the will seems to be at rest and
only the intellect is engaged, the will having retired altogether from
exercise. This is not true of real praying. If the affections are
laggard, cold, indifferent, if the intellect is furnishing no material
to clothe the petition with imagery and fervor, the prayer is a mere
vaporing of intellectual exercise, nothing being accomplished worth
while._--REV. HOMER W. HODGE.
The great religious reformation under King Hezekiah and the prophet
Isaiah was thoroughly impregnated with prayer in its various stages.
King Hezekiah, of Judah, will serve as an illustration of a praying
elder of God’s Church, white-robed and gold-crowned. He had genius and
strength, wisdom and piety. He was a statesman, a general, a poet and
a religious reformer. He is a distinct surprise to us, not so much
because of his strength and genius--they were to be expected--but in
his piety, under all the circumstances connected with him. The rare
statement, “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” is
a glad and thrilling surprise when we consider all his antecedents
and his environments. Where did he come from? Under what circumstances
was his childhood life spent? Who were his parents and what were their
religious character? Worldliness, half-heartedness and utter apostasy
marked the reign of his father, grandfather and his great-grandfather.
His home surroundings as he grew up were far from being favorable to
godliness and faith in God. One thing, however, favored him. He was
fortunate in having Isaiah for his friend and counselor when he assumed
the crown of Judah. How much there is in a ruler’s having a God-fearing
man for a counselor and an associate!
With what familiar and successful praying did he intercede with God
is seen in the Passover feast, in which a number of the people were
unfitted to participate. They had not prepared themselves by the
required ceremonial cleansing, and it was important that they be
allowed to eat the Passover feast with all the others.
Here is the brief account with special reference to the praying of
Hezekiah and the result:
“For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified;
therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passover
for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord.
“For a multitude of the people had not cleansed themselves yet did
they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah
prayed for them saying, The Good Lord pardon every one.
“That prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers,
though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the
sanctuary.
“And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”
So the Lord heard him as he prayed, and even the violation of the most
sacred law of the Passover was forgiven in answer to the prayer of this
praying, God-fearing king. Law must yield its scepter to prayer.
The strength, directness and foundation of his faith and prayer are
found in his words to his army. Memorable words are they, stronger and
mightier than all the hosts of Sennacherib:
“Be strong and courageous; be not afraid nor dismayed for the king
of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there be
more with us than with him.
“With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help
us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon
the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.”
His defense against the mighty enemies of God was prayer. His enemies
quailed and were destroyed by his prayers when his own armies were
powerless. God’s people were always safe when their princes were
princes in prayer.
An occasion of serious import came to the people of God during his
reign which was to test his faith in God and furnish opportunity to
try the prayer agency to obtain deliverance. Judah was sorely pressed
by the Assyrians, and, humanly speaking, defeat and captivity seemed
imminent. The King of Assyria sent a commission to defy and blaspheme
the name of God and to insult King Hezekiah, and they uttered their
insults and blasphemy publicly. Note what Hezekiah immediately did
without hesitation:
“And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his
clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house
of the Lord.”
His very first impression was to turn to God by going to the “house of
prayer.” God was in his thoughts, and prayer was the first thing to be
done. And so he sent messengers to Isaiah to join him in prayer. In
such an emergency God must not be left out of the account. God must be
appealed to for deliverance from these blasphemous enemies of God and
His people.
Just at this particular juncture the forces of the King of Assyria,
which were besieging Hezekiah, were diverted from an immediate attack
on Jerusalem. The King of Assyria, however, sent to Hezekiah a defaming
and blasphemous letter.
For the second time, as he is insulted and beset by the forces of this
heathen king, he enters the house of the Lord, the “house of prayer.”
Where else should he go? And to whom should he appeal but unto the God
of Israel?
“And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers,
and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and
spread it before the Lord.
“And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord: O Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel that dwellest between the cherubim, Thou art the God, even
thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven
and earth.
“Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou
only.”
And note the speedy answer and the marvelous results of such praying by
this God-fearing king. First, Isaiah gave the King full assurance that
he need fear nothing. God had heard the prayer, and would give a great
deliverance.
Then secondly, the angel of the Lord came with swift wings and smote
185,000 Assyrians. The king was vindicated, God was honored, and the
people of God were saved.
The united prayers of the praying king and of the praying prophet were
almighty forces in bringing deliverance and destroying God’s enemies.
Armies lay at their mercy, defenceless; and angels, swift-winged and
armed with almighty power and vengeance, were their allies.
Hezekiah had ministered in prayer in destroying idolatry and in
reforming his kingdom. In meeting his enemies, prayer had been his
chief weapon. He now comes to try its efficiency against the set and
declared purposes of Almighty God. Will it avail in this new field
of action? Let us see. Hezekiah was very sick, and God sends his own
familiar friend and wise counselor and prophet, Isaiah, to warn him of
his approaching end, and to tell him to arrange all his affairs for his
final departure. This is the Scriptural statement:
“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the Prophet Isaiah,
the son of Amoz, came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord:
Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.”
The decree came direct from God that he should die. What can set aside
or reverse that Divine decree of heaven? Hezekiah had never been in a
condition so insuperable with a decree so direct and definite from God.
Can prayer change the purposes of God? Can prayer snatch from the jaws
of death one who has been decreed to die? Can prayer save a man from an
incurable sickness? These were the questions with which his faith had
now to deal. But his faith does not seem to pause one moment. His faith
is not staggered one minute at the sudden and definite news conveyed to
him by the Lord’s prophet. No such questions which modern unbelief or
disbelief would raise are started in his mind. At once he gives himself
to prayer. Immediately without delay he applies to God who issued the
edict. To whom else could he go? Cannot God change His own purposes if
He chooses?
Note what Hezekiah did in this emergency, sorely pressed, and see the
gracious result:
“Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
“I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee
in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good
in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.”
It was no self-righteous plea which he offered to God for recovery. He
was only pleading his fidelity, just as Christ did in after years:
“Father, I have glorified thee on earth.” He is the Lord’s reminder,
and is putting Him in mind as to his sincerity, fidelity and service,
which was in every way legitimate. This prayer was directly in line
with that of David in Psalm 26:1, “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked
in my integrity.” This is not a prayer test with Hezekiah, nor is it a
faith cure, but it is a testing of God. It must be God’s cure if a cure
comes at all.
Hezekiah had hardly finished his prayer, and Isaiah was just about
to go home when God gave him another message for Hezekiah, this time
one more pleasant and encouraging. The mighty force of prayer had
affected God, and had changed His edict and reversed Him in His purpose
concerning Hezekiah. What is that which prayer cannot do? What is it
which a praying man cannot accomplish through prayer?
“And it came to pass before Isaiah had gone out into the middle
court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
“Turn again, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus, saith
the Lord, 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 the Lord.
“And I will add unto 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 my own sake, and for David, my servant’s sake.”
The prayer was to God. It was that God should reconsider and change His
mind. Doubtless Isaiah returned to his house with a lighter heart than
he did when he delivered his original message. God had been prayed to
by this sick king, and had been asked to revoke His decree, and God
had condescended to grant the request. God sometimes changes His mind.
He has a right to do so. The reasons for Him to change His mind are
strong reasons. His servant Hezekiah wants it done. Hezekiah had been
a dutiful servant and had done much for God. Truth, perfection and
goodness have been the elements of Hezekiah’s service and the rule of
his life. Hezekiah’s tears and prayer are in the way of God’s executing
His decree to take away the life of His servant. Prayer and tears are
mighty things with God. They are to Him much more than consistency and
much more to Him than decrees. “I have heard thy prayer; I have seen
thy tears; behold I will heal thee.”
Sickness dies before prayer. Health comes in answer to prayer. God
answered more than Hezekiah asked for. Hezekiah prayed only for his
life, and God gave him life, and in addition promised him protection
and security from his enemies.
But Isaiah had something to do with the recovery of this praying king.
There was something more than prayer in it. Isaiah’s praying was
changed into the skill of the physician. “And Isaiah said, Take a lump
of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.”
God often uses remedies in answering prayer. It frequently takes a
stronger faith to rise above means and not to trust in them, than it
does to wholly reject all means. Here was a simple remedy that all
might know that it did not cure the deadly disease, and yet a means to
aid or to test faith. But still more praying was to be done. Isaiah and
Hezekiah could not do things without much praying:
“And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord
will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the
third day?
“And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the
Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: Shall the shadow go
forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
“And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down
ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.
“And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and he brought the
shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of
Ahaz.”
Hezekiah meets the occasion and covers the answer to his prayer with
thanksgiving. The fragrance of the sweet spices are there, and the
melody of the harp also.
Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds
prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer. These things
cannot be too often repeated. Prayer breaks all bars, dissolves all
chains, opens all prisons and widens all straits by which God’s saints
have been holden.
Life was sweet to Hezekiah and he desired to live, but what can brook
God’s decree? Nothing but the energy of faith. Hezekiah’s heart was
broken under the strain, and its waters flowed and added force and
volume to his praying. He pleaded with great strivings and with strong
arguments; and God heard Hezekiah praying, saw his tears, and changed
his mind, and Hezekiah lived to praise God and to be an example of the
power of mighty praying.
Like Hezekiah, the decent, soulless way of praying did not suit Paul.
He puts himself in the attitude of a wrestler, and charges his brethren
to join him in the agony of a great conflict. “Brethren, I beseech
you,” he says, “for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of
the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God
for me.” He was too much in earnest to touch the praying business
genteelly or with gloved hands. He was in it as an agony, and he
desired his brethren to be his partners in this conflict and wrestling
of his soul. Epaphras was doing this same kind of praying for the
Colossians: “Always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye
may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” An end worth
agonizing for always. This kind of praying by these early pastors of
the Apostolic Church was one secret of the purity, one source of the
power of the Church. And this was the kind of praying which was done by
Hezekiah.
Here was prayer born in the fire of a great desire, and pursued through
the deepest agony of conflict and opposition to success. Our spiritual
cravings are not strong enough to give life to the mighty conflicts of
prayer? They are not absorbing enough to stop business, arrest worldly
pursuits, awaken us before day, and send us to the closet, to solitude,
and to God; to conquer every opposing force and win our victories from
the very jaws of hell. We want preachers and men and women who can
illustrate the uses, the forces, the blessing, and the utmost limits of
prayer.
Isaiah laments that there was no one who stirred himself up to take
hold of God. Much praying was done, but it was too easy, indifferent,
complacent. There were no mighty movements of the soul toward God, no
array of all the sanctified energies to reach out and grapple God and
draw out his treasures for spiritual uses. Forceless prayers have no
power to overcome difficulties, no power to win marked results, or gain
a complete and wonderful victory.