I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you

2 Kings 20:1-21

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.

Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”

To the people of the Old Testament, the hope of life after death was bague. The prospect of death reduces Hezekiah to tears. And God responds to the ing's destress. This is one of a number of Old Testament stories about a more lenient course of action in response to people's pleas.

Babylon at this time was a small state south of Assyria, looking for allies, Isaiah predicts its future power and the fate of Judah.

Why?

Everyone will die, but when king Hezekiah prayed to the Lord with humility and tears, the Lord listen to his prayer, healed his disease, and extended his life by 15 years.

When Hezekiah is healed and everything going well, the proud is come out, he shows his prosperity to the messenger of Babylon, so the Lord told him what will happen to his country. What he is proud of treasure will be taken by Babylon.

----------------------

巴比倫使者來，正好猶大想和巴比倫結盟，抵抗亞述。使者來一定是想要知道猶大有什麼?財力如何等?給巴比倫使者看寶物及兵器等。西希家聽從巴比倫使者的話！已經開始從倚靠耶和華變成依靠巴比倫。人經過神蹟後自己開始覺得自己很厲害，使者一定給他灌迷湯，讓西希家驕傲，他是曾經打敗亞述的君王，因此忘了他是誰，神就是收回恩典。

以賽亞的話，西希家的回答似乎不在乎了!我死以後我不管，我只在乎活著的時候有好名聲就好了！只顧他自己！經歷偉大的神蹟，反而把恩典當作自己的功勞！神主要目的要救城裏的名脫離亞述的我的民，我的百姓，因為大衛的緣故。西希家竊取了神的榮耀！

----------------------

How?

Be humble before the Lord, when we pray with humility and tears, God will take care of our request with great love. Pride brings the downfall.