2 Kings Chapters 20-21 Commentary

Second Kings Chapters 20-21 Chapter 20 “Two clues aid in the chronological placement of 2 Kings 20. First, fifteen years were added to the life of King Hezekiah. Since that king died in 686 B.C., his miraculous healing ….must have taken place in 701 B.C., the very year that the Assyrians invaded Judah. Second, in 2 Kings 20 Hezekiah still had possession of his treasure (vv. 13-17). Thus the illness and recovery must have taken place prior to the Assyrian invasion when the king was forced to drain his treasury to pay tribute to Sennacherib (cf. 2 Kings 18:13-16)” (Smith p. 621).

20:1 The expression “in those days”, refers to the days of the invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, recorded in 18:13-19:36. At this time God sent Isaiah to Hezekiah and told him to put his house in order, which would include making a will, giving one’s last instructions, and perhaps also naming a successor.

Hezekiah would have been about 39 at this time. 20:2-3 Some commentators see this as kind of a self-serving prayer, but I believe they are misguided in making this accusation. First, the Assyrian issue had not yet been resolved, because verse 6 puts deliverance from Sennacherib in the future. Hezekiah did not want to give the Assyrians the advantage and to leave his people leaderless at such a crucial time. He might have felt that his death would give Sennacherib something to boast about. Second, if putting his house in order involved naming a successor, he was in trouble because his son Manasseh was still too young to be king. Third, it was only natural that a hardworking, dedicated and faithful king would want to continue to serve God and His people.

It is all right to pray for length of days, for God honored this prayer. In addition, Hezekiah knew he was right with God, for he had walked before God in truth with a whole heart, and had done what was right. In other terms, Hezekiah’s faith was sincere, there was no deceit in his faith and his faith was active, he had been obedient to the Divine will expressed in the Scriptures. We run into a good number of people today who want to muddy the water and insist that everyone 1

is habitually doing something that is wrong, even the most devout Christian.

But Hezekiah disagrees, he knew that he had been walking in the light (1 John 1:5ff), he knew that his faith was genuine and that he had been obedient to God. “The king’s prayer is a model for those who are afflicted with serious illness. He first called upon Yahweh to remember how he had tried his very best to walk throughout life so as to meet with divine approval. This was not presumptuous self-righteousness. Hezekiah knew that he honestly had endeavored to serve God and do His will” (Smith p. 622).

We need to appreciate the fact that God is upfront with us: “’Give commands to your household, for you are going to die and no get well’ (20:1). That’s pretty direct and clear. And kind. Would that some families and medics were that straight-forward so that a loved one could have a distinct opportunity to prepare for death” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 293).

20:4-5 God’s answer to Hezekiah’s prayer arrives before Isaiah can even leave the palace complex. The “middle court” was the second of three courtyards which surrounded the royal palace. 20:6 God would grant Hezekiah 15 additional years, in addition God did more that Hezekiah had even requested (Ephesians 3:20). He promised to deliver Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrians, for the sake of His reputation both in Judah and among the heathen, and for the sake of His commitment to David. 20:7 The poultice of figs was well known in the ancient world as a means of helping a heal boils and ulcers.

“The instruction to prepare a poultice of figs to be applied to the boil or sore or infection that was life threatening does not imply that the sore was a minor illness that could be cured by a simple fold remedy. This act of healing might be put in the same category as Naaman’s dipping in the Jordan for healing from his leprosy. The application of the poultice was in obedience to the instruction of the man of God who had brought two specific commands of God in the last couple of hours or so” (Vos p. 204).

20:8 Hezekiah seems to expect that God will give him a sign that he will indeed to healed and in three days, and be once again worshipping God in the temple.

“Rather than an indication of unbelief, his request should be viewed against the background of Ahaz’s refusal of a sign in Isaiah 7:12. Isaiah gladly offers Hezekiah a choice of signs” (House p. 373).

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20:9-11 Evidently Hezekiah lay in a room on an upper story or in an elevated area approached by steps that King Ahaz had built during his reign. As the day would wear on, the shadows cast by the sun would lengthen on the steps. As a sign of God’s working, the shadow went back ten steps instead of forward.

Visitors from Babylon 20:12 During the same period of time, a delegation came from Berodach-baladan (bih ROE dak BAL uh dan), which is a form of the name “Merodach-Baladan” (MEHR oh dack BAL ah dahn). This man was Babylonian prince who had been trying to establish his power of Babylon during the days of the Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, and Sennacherib and had running battles with all three of them. In 703 B.C. this prince had organized a Chaldean insurrection in Babylonia, but Sennacherib forced him out of Babylon. While Sennacherib was busy with Hezekiah, Merodach-baladan planned another rebellion in Babylon, In 700 B.C. Sennacherib was forced to launch another campaign against him, and this prince fled to Elam and finally passed off the stage of history. Apparently, this prince wanted to establish some sort of alliance with Hezekiah. If Hezekiah could be successful on one end of the Assyrian empire and Merodach-baladan on the other, perhaps there was some hope for both of them.

20:13 Hezekiah rashly showed the Babylonians all his palace, treasury and armory, perhaps in the spirit of, “Here are the resources I have to add to an alliance against the Assyrians”. 20:14-18 The writer of Second Chronicles states that after his recovery Hezekiah became a proud man for a while (32:25).

Showing the Babylonians all his “stuff” might have been motivated by such pride. Instead of telling such men about the true God, Hezekiah might have bragged on himself and his accomplishments. “Hezekiah was dazzled by the attention bestowed upon him by these visitors from Babylon…He may have been trying to convince these guests that he indeed would be a valuable ally” (Smith pp. 623-624). Be impressed that Hezekiah is completely truthful, he makes no attempt to hide what he had done from Isaiah.

“Hezekiah had gotten involved with a nation which ultimately would destroy Judah. All the treasures he boastfully had displayed to the ambassadors would one day be carried off as plunder to far-off Babylon…Mere human foresight would never have suspected that within a century, insignificant Babylon would have completely turned the tables on mighty Assyria” (Smith p. 624).

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20:19 It seems that Hezekiah accepted the prophetic rebuke. Compare this verse with 2 Chronicles 32:26. He didn’t resent God’s judgment upon Judah, rather he declared that the message from God was “good”. Hezekiah appears to be grateful that such judgment will not fall in his lifetime, for he probably thought that God would have been just in bringing judgment right then and there. The expression, “Is it not so, if there shall be peace and truth in my days”, may have been his way of saying, “Is it not right to desire peace and truth during one’s lifetime?” “While he was thankful that God would keep His promise not to surrender Judah and Jerusalem in his day, yet he realized that his own actions had put his nation and his prosperity in danger” (Gaebelein p. 276). This verse infers that it is all right to desire peace during your lifetime (1 Timothy 2:2). In addition, “the king recognizes the mercy and restraint in Yahweh’s word. After all, it could have been much worse—the judgment could have been immediate, perhaps Yahweh giving Hezekiah over to the Assyrians after all. On this view, Hezekiah is saying Yahweh’s word is ‘good’, that is, kind, in that judgment has been postponed” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 298).

Hezekiah seems to fall into the familiar trap that we fall into at times. “God is all I need---Well now I’m not so sure about that”. He found himself placing a lot of confidence in material resources. Instead of showing the Babylonians his material resources, he should have showed them his God. 20:20 The “pool” and the conduit” mentioned here refer to Hezekiah’s efforts to give Jerusalem a water supply which any invading enemy couldn’t touch. This was accomplished by building a tunnel about 1780 feet long connecting the Gihon Spring on the east side of the city to the pool of Siloam within the walls at the south end of the city. Then Hezekiah had the spring covered up so that invaders would not discover it and cut off the city’s water supply. This tunnel can still be seen in Jerusalem—and one can walk all the way through it. The inscription describing the construction of this tunnel has been removed from the tunnel and is now in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. “It is quite an impressive experience to walk through the tunnel today and marvel at the achievement of Hezekiah’s skilled workmen who started at each end and met in the middle of the rock with very little variation” (Dilday p. 454). More information concerning this tunnel is found in 2 Chronicles 32:1-8.

“Hezekiah’s days of reform were only an island in a sea of apostasy. With his son Manasseh the tide of wickedness would rise once more and ultimately would engulf the state. The ministry of good kings served to revitalize the state periodically and to postpone the evil day” (Vos p. 206). Judah had been warned 4

concerning the future! The same is true in the New Testament. From all the warnings concerning apostasy and false teachers, the church will always be an island in a sea of apostasy.

Chapter 21 21:1-2 What a contrast! Judah’s next two kings manage to reverse nearly all of Hezekiah’s achievements. “It would be difficult to imagine a more dramatic reversal in character and practice than that which took place when Manasseh assumed the throne of Judah in the place of his father. If Hezekiah was the best king Judah had, then his son Manasseh must have been the worst. Hezekiah received the high distinction of being compared to David (2 Kings 18:3), but Manasseh was the only king of Judah who was likened to wicked king Ahab of Israel (21:3)” (Dilday p. 457).

21:1 The name of Manasseh’s mother was “Hephzibah” (HEF zih buh). He will reign for 55 years, the longest reign in Judah’s history (698-642 B.C.). I don’t find God blaming Hezekiah for how his son turned out. It might be that Hezekiah simply didn’t live long enough to give his son all the guidance that he needed.

In the end, Manasseh will repent and try to undo all his evil deeds (2 Chronicles 33:18-19). Manasseh’s evil is inexcusable, for this young man certainly had been alive when God delivered Judah from the Assyrians! In addition, God had also given his father an extra 15 years of life. If any young man should have been eager and grateful to serve God, Manasseh had been given every incentive to do the right thing. “Manasseh’s fifty-five years constitute the longest reign of any king of Judah or Israel. Yet in them he wiped out Hezekiah’s reforms, exponentially increased wickedness, and exhausted the patience of God (23:2627). Why so long to do so much damage? If ‘the years of the wicked will be short’ (Proverbs 10:27), why weren’t they? Why make Manasseh an exception?

In spite of his gross godlessness, at least as far as 2 Kings 21 goes Manasseh meets with no reported personal or professional adversity. The narrator tells of us long reign and peaceful burial in a garden” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 302).

21:3 He actually went against the faith of his father and restored the idolatrous shrines which his father had removed. The Canaanite practices associated with the worship of Baal and Asherah were reintroduced, as well as the worship of the stars and planets. The Assyrians were famous for worshipping the sun, moon, and the stars. “Archaeologists have discovered a seal from the time of Manasseh’s reign that bears the inscription, ‘belonging to Manasseh, son (or

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steward) of the king”. On the seal are a six-pointed star and a crescent, suggesting that the owner worshipped the host of heaven’” (Dilday p. 458).

21:4-5 He actually erected altars to the sun, moon, and stars in the temple itself.

21:6 He practiced child sacrifice (2 Kings 16:3), he practiced sorcery and divination and consulted purveyors of occult activity. 21:7 Finally, he placed the Asherah pole within the temple itself! And nobody stopped him! All can be lost in one generation, and this is why we need to keep on preaching the same truths, and this is one reason why each new generation needs to hear the same sermons on the plan of salvation, the inspiration of the Scriptures, Bible Authority, the organization and work of the church, etc… Clear commands in the Law condemned all the above practices that Manasseh introduced. It is amazing how brazen false doctrine can be. And false doctrine is still just as brazen today.

People insist that you can’t fall away (Heb. 10:26ff); that one is saved prior to baptism (Mark 16:16), or love has nothing to do with obeying Biblical commands (John 14:15). The list of Manasseh’s perversions are a direct contrast to the reforms of his father (2 Kings 18:3-8).

Note what happens when a person abandons God. They become enslaved to superstition. “Manasseh superstitiously keep track of his lucky days. He resorted to enchantments” (Smith p. 632). He didn’t stand for the truth—so he fell for every lie out there. False religion will demand of you more than God ever will! God never would demand that Manasseh offer his own son in sacrifice!

21:8 Manasseh and the people forgot that keeping the promised land was conditioned upon their obedience to Him (2 Kings 18:11-12). 21:9 Instead of listening the God’s prophets and the clear warnings in the Scriptures, the people listened to the smooth speeches of Manasseh (2 Timothy 4:3). “Not only did Manasseh involve himself in all these evil practices, but he also seduced the people so they did grater evil than did the former inhabitants of Canaan before Israel entered” (Vos p. 208). Compare with Romans 1:32. This is one reason why we can’t just let false teachers alone, for such men and women are never content to keep quiet. It is amazing that some people who have no real interest in serving God, instead of leaving or quitting, insist upon spreading their error among God’s people. When we encounter members who are constantly making accusations against the church of Christ, we need ask them, “Then why don’t you leave?”

“Now step back from this pile of paganism and note the common virus that infects it all. It’s all about control. In fertility worship I use my practice of sex to 6

manipulate or encourage the heavenly powers to act in the same way and grant fertility. In astral worship I seek out omens that are indicators of future events; likewise in spiritism I want the secret knowledge that will enlighten me on how to act or react in view of what is coming…Paganism is the way I manage my life over against the various ‘powers’ that may determine it” (Dale Ralph Davis p.

305).

21:10 God doesn’t keep silent, and when error surfaces in our time, we need to speak out as well! (2 Timothy 4:2; Ephesians 5:11). 21:11-12 The announcement of judgment begins with the notion that the king’s actions have set in motion a judgment so severe “the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle” (Jeremiah 15:1-4). The severity of this judgment would be of such untold dimension that it would strike terror into the hearts of all who heard of its execution (see 1 Samuel 3:11; Jeremiah 19:3-9). The Amorites were one of the most wicked people in Palestine in Joshua’s day. “The prophets make much of this theme that God’s people should have behaved better than their neighbors who worshipped idols (Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 2:9-13)” (Dilday p. 459). Compare with Matthew 11:22.

Something is wrong in our preaching if our presentation of the reality of hell doesn’t make the ears of the sinner tingle! God says that our ears need to tingle when we hear of the condemnation that He will bring upon the unrepentant!

Being terrified of hell is a good and healthy thing—even in the New Testament (Matthew 10:28).

21:13 “Stretching the measuring line and plumb line over Jerusalem refers to the standards by which Judah would be judged, and scouring Jerusalem as one scours a dish applies not only to the totality of judgment but also to the cleansing of corruption by means of this violent act of judgment. The writer wants to leave no doubt of the completeness of judgment” (Vos p. 208). 21:14-16 The phrase “innocent blood” would include his son and, according to Jewish tradition, the blood of the prophet Isaiah. This could also include the killing of innocent people for the sake of taking their land, etc….None of this had been a secret, since the time of Moses God had made clear His will (Deut. 28:49-68).

21:17-18 Manasseh died a natural death at the age of 67. According to the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 33, Manasseh was put in chains and carried to Babylon by the king of Assyria. There he repented and prayed to God. He then abolished the pagan idols, rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and called upon the people of Judah to serve Him alone. “’The sin which he sinned’ was ‘written’.

Recorded in clear and fluent Hebrew in all its shame and scandal. What a 7

memory to leave. Manasseh, the only king specially noted for his sin” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 309). Yes, Manasseh did repent and it appears to have been genuine—yet his repentance made no impression upon his son. The impression had already been made. “There may be a warning for us here. A healthy spiritual legacy seldom flows from a late and sudden conversion but from the practice of lifelong and attractive godliness” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 310).

21:18-19 Manasseh’s son Amon reigned only two short years (642-640 B.C.).

“Since he was twenty-two years old when he began to reign and had therefore been under the influence of Judah’s wickedest king for nearly a quarter of a century, it is no surprise that he too did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Dilday p.

465). “The Assyrian annuals add one detail about the reign of Manasseh. He is mentioned as a faithful vassal of Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.). He even contributed troops for the Great King’s invasion of Egypt in 669 B.C.” (Smith p.

633). Amon’s mother, who bore the Arabian name “Meshullemeth” (meh SHUHL uh meth), came from “Jotbah”, which was located about twenty miles north of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba. Hence, Amon not only had a bad father, but it appears that his mother wasn’t Jewish, which means that she probably introduced him to various pagan ideas and influences.

21:20-26 Evil often has a way of self-destructing. Amon is assassinated and his son Josiah, who will be one of the best kings that Judah will have, assumes the throne. “Although the Scriptures give no reason for the conspiracy, its cause may lie within the tangled web of revolts that Ashurbanipal (an Assyrian king) suppressed from 642-639 and that caused him to turn his attention to the west.

Certainly his menacing advance too him as far as Phoenicia. At this time, too, he may have resettled newly deported elements in Samara (Ezra 4:9-10). Amon’s death may thus reflect a power struggle between those who wished to remain loyal to the Assyrian crown and those who aspired to link Judah’s fortunes to the rising star of Psammetik I (664-609), of Egypt’s Twenty-Sixth Dynasty” (Gaebelein pp. 280-281).

Closing Comment In many respects, Amon had reaped what he had sown. Evil rulers who undermine the morals of a nation, have nothing to complain about if they are assassinated, for they have contributed to the moral decay that creates people who are bold enough to murder.

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In like manner, today we are reaping the consequences of such popular myths as “no absolute truth”, “do your own thing”, “God won’t punish anyone”, “Truth is what you want to be the truth”, and, “If it feels good do it”. We shouldn’t be surprised when people in a self-serving society start serving themselves.

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