At the end of chapter 37 we learned about the destruction of the Assyrian army and Sennacherib’s assassination in the temple of his god. Chapter 38 spoke of Hezekiah being sick unto death and his miraculous restoration. In chapter 39 we meet the Babylonians. This people, at the time subject to Assyria, would soon be the new regional superpower. God uses the rise and fall of empires to accomplish His will and to educate His people. May the Lord grant us grace to take the long view of God’s sovereign purpose and not be fretful about day to day disappointments.

Once again we have an embarrassment of riches in this passage. It is like a Russian doll of miracles; miracle within miracle, wonder within wonder. Yet the miracles are only the start. ‘The writing of Hezekiah’, this confession of the king in his sickness and upon his recovery, is full of spiritual wisdom and the earnest wrestling of a child of God. In facing his own mortality this dying man opened his heart and his mouth to the Saviour whom he loved and bequeathed to the church a blessed testimony of God’s grace, faithfulness and mercy. A lesson for all time Because the phrase ‘in those days’ is somewhat imprecise it is not clear exactly when this sickness afflicted Hezekiah, or indeed the order of…