THE PRAYERS OF HEZEKIAH
II Kings 19:14–19, 20:1–6
The recorded prayers of Hezekiah are short, they were uttered under differing circumstances and they are of great importance for us to understand our own prayer Life. He prays when real danger threatens him and the country of Judah. Again he prays when he is very sick. At such times we also turn to our God in prayer and we often wonder how we should pray under such circumstances.
An Imminent Danger
In the first Scripture passage noted above, Hezek.iah is dealing with the danger posed by the armies of Assyria under Sennacherib as they are about to attack Judah. This is a tremendous host. No one has been able to stop these arm ies. Sennacherib boasts about this fact. What can Judah do? Isaiah the prophet has already given Hezekiab assurance concerning the threatening danger. Isaiah has a very important place in the kingdom of Hezekiah. He has access to the royal house at any time and is a trusted counselor of the God–fear ing Hezekiah. Isaiah tells of the history which is here unfolding in chapters 37 and 38 of his prophecy. It must , therefore, not escape our attention that Isaiah has already spoken about the outcome of this “danger” before Hezekiah prays. Hezekiah send s ambassadors to Isaiah to ask for guidance and for the prayers of the prophet. Now Hezekiah may pray calmly and confidently.
The king of Judah has received a letter of the king of Assyria uttering his threats against Hezekiah and against Judah. The king of Judah reads the letter and then takes it to the house of God. Dramatically he spreads this letter before God for Him to read what this man is threatening as though God were a fellow human being. See what this letter contains that so deeply disturbs Hezekiah! He lays the whole problem before God.
The Address
In Hezekiah’s touching prayer he adores the God to Whom he comes. That ought always to be first. He comes to Jehovah, the God of Israel, Who has given His promises to His people—He is the covenant God. This is the God who sits above the cherubim. Hezekiah is not in the Holy of Holies, he may not come there. He spreads out this letter before God but God dwells in the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant stands with its cherubim folding their wings toward each other above the mercy seat. Now God is enthroned above these cherubim. He is the God, the God “of all the nations of the earth.” Many of these nations have made their own gods, but He is the God Who has made heaven and earth. In other words, these gods of the other nations have no standing. These other nations and kingdoms should also acknowledge that the God of Israel is the only God Who is to be feared. Sennacherib has spoken of the impotence of the gods of the nations. He has defeated them all and he puts the God of Israel on the same plane with these other gods. Hezekiah must not think, says Sennacherib, that his God can save out of my hand.
A Confession of Faith
This adoration of God is also Hezekiah’s confession. He confesses his faith in this God and confesses Who He is . He is the Maker of Heaven and earth and He is also his covenant God. This is the God in whom Hezekiab trusts. He knows that this God may not be placed on the same plane with those who are not gods.
The king continues to speak to God as to a fellow human being. He asks God to “incline His ear” and to “open His eyes” to all the evil that the king of Assyria is planning against the people of God. However, he is not only plotting against the people of Judah; he is defying the living God! The honor of God is very closely related to the well–being of His people. If Sennacherib conquers Judah, what will happen to the promises given by God to Hi s people throughout the centuries? What will the heathen say? With this kind of argumentation Hezekiah shows that the king of Assyria would then indeed place the God of Judah on one level with all other gods. So must His people pray. They must base their petition on God’s promises!
Hezekiah continues by asserting that the kings of Assyria have indeed laid all the other nations waste. They have conquered all that they faced. Assyria is a power to be reckoned with! Not only have these kings destroyed the lands around them; they have also burned the gods of these nations. They could do this, says Hezekiah, because they were wood and stone. The kings of Assyria could destroy the nations together with the gods in whom they trusted . This emboldens Sennacherib to think that be will also be able to destroy Judah and her God!
Hezekiah now prays that God will save him together with his people out of the hand of the king of Assyria. This is not an idle request. His trust in his God knows no bounds. If God is willing to do it, He surely is able. No earthly king shall be able to stand before Him. Therewith Hezekiah and his people will be rescued out of the hand of this hostile king; thereby also all the nation s of the earth shall know that the God of Judah is the only God Who exists. No other gods have been able to save out of his hand. Jehovah can! All men shall realize through this salvation that the God of Judah alone is to be feared. He only is worthy of homage. This salvation will honor Judah’s God.
Anticipating Total Salvation
Throughout this episode we are reminded of the full salvation of the people of God which is to come at a later date. It is the same God who will give complete salvation from sin. The One Who prays for his people is greater than Hezekiah!
A Prayer in Illness
In the second passage listed at the top of this lesson, Hezekiah prays in the midst of very serious sickness. This is a very moving passage, but also a difficult one. The occasion is clear. Isaiah the prophet is commissioned to go to the king to tell him that he will not recover—that he is going to die. What a painful message he is called to convey to this man of God who is deathly sick. Will this message now so upset him that he loses the will to live. Or would the will to live now be sin? Besides all this, consider that this word of the “unchangeable” God does not go into effect, but that He “changes” His mind! These are some of the great difficult matters which face us in this passage.
Because Hezekiah will not recover from this illness, he must set his house in order. He must regulate and make his final arrangements for all the things which pertain to his house and property. How do you do that? There is evidently still time to do this. He also had a mind able to do this. But, what distressing news to hear in the prime of life! It is thought that Hezekiah was about 35 or 36 years old at this time cut off in the midst of his days!
What is the proper reaction to this news? Should he just say: The Lord who does not change has spoken and, therefore, His will be done? I think this would be a proper answer, but, it is not the answer or the reaction of Hezekiah. He turns himself to the wall and prays. Why pray when the judgment has already been made? A question which often rises in the hearts of God’s people is, “Does prayer really change things?” Surely, no one will come to the conclusion that Hezekiah is not submissive to the will of God! The question is: How are we to deal with the God Who hears and answers prayer? Does Hezekiah now have sufficient excuse to cease from praying? Has the time come to stop praying when the prophet has brought this word?
The content of his prayer sounds strange to us. Hezekiah asks God to remember how he has lived before Him, “in truth and with an undivided heart.” He has done that which was good in the sight of the Lord. Is he here basing his prayer for restoration on his own goodness? It may sound that way. However, Nehemiah also prays virtually these same words again and again and they find favor in the sight of God. Has God not promised long life to those who walk before Him according to His law? (Proverbs 10:27) Here, too, he bases his petition on God’s word, on His promise. It is always a mystery to the people of God when the wicked live a long life (See Psalm 73). But why must a man such as Hezekiah, a God-fearing king, be cut off right in the midst of his life? That is the content of his prayer. And , we read, Hezekiah “wept sore.” Is he afraid to die? That conclusion does not follow from his weeping. We must realize that life is sweet for the believer. Neither was the outlook on eternal life as clear then as it was made later in the New Testament.
Recovery!
The sequel is amazing. While Hezekiah prays and Isaiah has not left the royal property, the prophet is told to go back to Hezekiah with not only a different message, but one that was the very opposite of what he had been given before. What a glorious message it was. This “sick visitor” must tell Hezekiah that his prayer has been heard and that his tears have been noted. Isaiah must go to “the prince of my people” with the words of “Jehovah, the God of David thy father.” Not only is his prayer heard, it is answered in a way beyond anything he would have dreamt. “I will heal thee,” says God! In the days when medical science knew little concerning the human body, God would heal him. He is the only One who can heal. To show that the cure is miraculous, he is also assured that he will go up to the temple on the third day. The man who was deathly sick will in 72 hours be well enough to go up to the house of God. The promise assumes that Hezekiah will want to go there to bring his thanks for restoration.
The answer to his prayer now becomes very specific. Isaiah must tell him that the Lord will add fifteen years to his life! Has anyone else ever lived who could walk in the assurance that he would live another fifteen years? He will not be an old man when these fifteen years are completed, but he will certainly live to an age which is above average for his time.
Besides his bodily restoration the Lord also informs him that he will be delivered out of the hand of the king of Assyria. His fifteen years will not be spent as a captive in Assyria! The God to Whom he prays is able to prolong his life and is also able to defeat world-powers. He is the God to Whom His people pray.
Hezekiah has seen correctly. God will defend Jerusalem “for mine own sake” and for my servant David’s sake. The promise which He has once made shall stand throughout the generations. This God is our God forever!
Questions for discussion:
1. What do you think of the “dramatic” way in which Hezekiah spreads the letter of the king of Assyria before God? Is this example to teach us to entrust all our needs to Him and hide nothing? 2. Is there a difference between the adoration of God and thanks to God in prayer? 3. Is it wise for us to allude to various attributes of God in our prayers? Why does Jesus tell us to use the simple address: Father? 4. How well must we know the word of God in order to be able to base our petitions on His word? 5. God does not change (Mal. 3:6; I Sam. 15:29; cf. 11). How then must we understand the one word of God to Hezekiah that he will die and the other that he will live? Can we understand this difference? 6 . May we ever think of the unchangeableness of God as though He were unfeeling? 7. Is there a conflict between Hezekiah’s prayer after he bas been told he will die and Paul’s decision not to pray anymore concerning his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:8 ff.)?
Lesson 14
THE PRAYER OF DANIEL
Daniel 9:2–19
Daniel ranks among the greatest heroes of Old Testament times. While he was still very young he stood head and shoulders above the other Jews found in Babylon. He was heroic in the stand which he took against the commandment of the Babylonian king regarding the food which he and his friends were to eat. He would not “defile himself with the king’s dainties” and thereby sin against the law of his God concerning clean and unclean food. Again, although he knew the edict which had gone out that no one was allowed to pray to any god for a certain time, he prayed to the Lord his God as he had done before. Neither did he do this in secret; with his windows open to Jerusalem, so that anyone could see him, he prayed. He would not permit his religious practices and convictions to be compromised by those who were out to entrap him. Regardless of threatened consequences, he felt safe only in obedience to his God.
Prompted by a Scripture
Daniel’s lengthy prayer in the ninth chapter of his book is an example of confession and intercession which has seldom been equaled. This prayer is occasioned by the fact that Jeremiah had spoken of 70 years of captivity for the people of God. The end of their captivity would be closely connected with the fall of Babylon, the country which had taken Judah captive. Daniel studied the prophecy of Jeremiah, and many of the expressions used in this book remind one of the style of Jeremiah. He refers especially to chapters 25 and 29 of Jeremiah’s prophecy . Babylon has fallen. Darius the Mede is on the throne. Persia has conquered Babylon. It had seemed for a long time that this kingdom of Babylon would continue for ages because of its strength. However, the strength of the nations is a fleeting thing. Since Babylon is fallen, is the redemption of Israel from this captivity now coming near? Perhaps the rest of the people have not taken note of Jeremiah’s words or understood the time when Judah would go back to its own land. This prophet, Daniel, sees the implications of the words which God spoke through Jeremiah, and he now begins to plead for his people. The prophet is fully aware of his duties. He will speak the word of God when he is called to do so and he will also intercede for his people as a true priest of God. Such leaders God’s people need!
Addressing God
The prayer which Daniel utters in this chapter is not a liturgical prayer, as some have thought, but it is an intensely personal prayer which he prays for the whole people. This is not a contradiction in terms. He feels himself one with the people of Judah and with her kings. He pours out his heart in this prayer. It gives us a glimpse of the true spiritual life of a devout child of God. He begins in all humility. Even though he is a great man in the kingdom of Darius, as he also was in the kingdom of Babylon, before the face of God everyone is simply a sinner. He calls on his God in prayer “with sackcloth and ashes.” These often in Scripture denote an attitude of deep humility. Thus Daniel addresses God.
God is now spoken of in the highest and most endearing terms. He is the covenant God. It is important that God’s people realize that they come to God Who has given His promises to His people and that these promises shall always stand. No other people know of a god such as Jehovah. But, He is also the great and dreadful God. He is awesome in His power. However, He is the One Who keeps covenant and loving–kindness with all those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Penitence
This, however, is the difficulty. Why should this God listen to the prayer of Daniel or any of these people? They have not kept His commandments? They have done the opposite.
Although it is the purpose of Daniel to pray for the release of the people of Judah from the bondage of their captors, he must first make confession. The sin of the people was the reason they had been led into captivity. They had not repented of their sins. They had often bemoaned the state in which they found themselves now, but they didn’t come to the conclusion that it was their own fault. Daniel says, “we have sinned.” He completely identifies himself with the people of God. They have dealt perversely and have done wickedly. They have rebelled and have turned away from the commandments which their God had given them to keep. God had sent His prophets again and again to inform the people of their sin and the danger of their ways but we didn’t listen to them. They had not listened to the Lord Himself when He warned them.
The prophet now draws a clear contrast between the God against whom they have sinned and His people. To God belongs righteousness. All that He does is righteous. Men must confess that! They must confess that even when they do not understand! On the other hand, to the people belongs confusion of face, utter shame! This is true of all the people. They ought to be ashamed of the fact that their God had to send them into this captivity! Shame belongs to them as long as that captivity continues! He has scattered them out of their own land . They have been sent to Babylon and to various other nations. All Israel, the northern kingdom as well as Judah, is guilty of the sins which Daniel confesses. Had there only been this spirit of confession years ago-how different would have been the history of His people! They have trespassed against their God. They are guilty of treason! Unless God shows lovingkindness, there will be no hope for Judah.
Daniel reiterates his confession in verse 8. It is now evident that this shame belongs not only to the common people, but also to their leaders. They must also come ashamedly before their God. Kings and princes and the fathers must all humble themselves under His mighty hand. A man’s station in this life or in this world is of no use to him when he appears before God!
The situation of his people and the reason for their captivity do not fill the heart of Daniel with hopelessness. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him. The nature and character of God give hope. The situation of the people is bleak. Looking at them now or in the past would smother all hope, but with the Lord are mercies and forgiveness! And this people desperately need these! They have to live on the mercies and the forgiving spirit of God. The people have rebelled and do not deserve His favor. They have not obeyed the voice of their God which came to them through the prophets. They have gone their own way. This has cost them their freedom and their prosperity. When will this people learn that the law of their God is for their profit? When will they learn that their life is only to be found in their obedience to the commandments which He bas given? Daniel prays for them and confesses the sins of the people. Who else prays so in Judah? They continue in their waywardness.
It may seem to some that Daniel is repetitious in this prayer. The truth is rather that there is no end to the sins which have to be confessed. He includes all Israel, not distinguished in northern and southern kingdoms, in the confession he now makes. Because all the people have transgressed, God has dealt with them as He had already warned in the law of Moses. He is righteous. He does all that which He said He would do. They have now experienced it. They could have known long before it actually happened that evil would come upon them because they had turned from the law which He had given through Moses. One may not deal lightly with the law of God. He holds man to it. Its demands stand.
He has simply confirmed the words which He spoke in the earliest times, says Daniel. He had warned them time and again. He had warned their judges and rulers throughout their history. No other people had laws like Israel’s. No other people was blest as Israel was. Therefore, when they fell, they fell lower than any other people. No city has now suffered the way Jerusalem has suffered. When the best falls, it falls lower than all others. This was the people that should have known what to expect. God did not “wink” at any of the sins of Israel!
The law of Moses had plainly warned of the great evil that would befall those who would not obey its admonitions. This had been made so clear to Israel that everyone of the people should have realized it. Then, when the evil came, they should have realized that it came because of their sins. But, they didn’t. “We have not entreated the favor of Jehovah!” Unbelievable! “We have not turned from our iniquities. We have not confessed our sins.” Of what good is the truth to such a people as this? They have not used it wisely. Seemingly they have not learned anything from the truth which God had revealed to them.
God was always aware of the sin which Israel committed. Therefore He brought all this present evil on the people. He maintains His righteousness!
Daniel will mention the sins of the people again before he concludes this prayer, but he now comes to the purpose of this prayer. He reminds the Lord of the way in which He had redeemed Israel out of Egypt. He has obtained a great name among all people for that deed, and, even though it is so long ago, that fame continues till now. However, let the righteousness of God stand and let His anger and wrath be turned from Jerusalem. Is this possible? Can there be forgiveness while the righteousness of God is maintained? Of course! That is the gospel! Let the Lord now hear and answer the prayer of this humble child of God. Do it not for us, but for Thy great name’s sake. Jerusalem is closely connected with the Name of the God of Israel. That city is called by His name and it is lying desolate. Daniel prays “Not for our righteousnesses, for we have none, but for Thy great mercies’ sake, Oh Lord.” Let the mercies ofGod be extolled. Daniel pleads for forgiveness . If the sins are taken away, Jerusalem can be restored! Now , in very brief sentences he pleads for God’s mercy. “Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, don’t postpone. This city and this people are called by Thy name!” Not only is the glory ofIsrael departed, but the name of God will not be properly honored as long as Jerusalem is desolate.
This beautiful prayer teaches us to pray. It teaches us to pray Biblically.
Questions for discussion:
1. Daniel knew what time it was on Gods clock by studying the prophets. Is it true today that we could better know our times through such study?
2. Are the attributes which he ascribes to God logical? Is there any conflict between His covenant faithfulness and His righteousness? 3. Must confession always have as prominent a place in prayer as Daniel gives it?4. How is the former redemption from Egypt a real source of comfort to Daniel when he prays for the deliverance out of the present captivity?
5. Is there a conflict between God’s forgiveness and the fact that He remembers all the sins which are committed against His law? 6. In the concluding verse of this prayer Daniel unites the honor of the name of God to the answer to his prayer. Do we dare to do that? Do we dare to “hold Him to His word?”