But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Sermons
I. HEZEKIAH'S SIN. 1. Its character. (1) Ingratitude. "He rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him." That benefit had been great - deliverance from a more powerful assailant than the King of Assyria, even from the king of terrors (Job 18:14) - and ought to have awakened undying thankfulness in Hezekiah's besom, as, indeed, he promised it would (Isaiah 38:20). But it did not. Ingratitude, a sin of which Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16) and Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12:1) before him bad been guilty, with which men in general are often chargeable (Luke 17:17; Romans 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:2), and into which the best of men occasionally fall (2 Samuel 12:7, 8, 9). (2) Pride. "His heart was lifted up." Like other good men before and since, his vows upon his sick-bed were better than his performances when health was restored. He had engaged "to go softly all his years, because of the bitterness of his soul" (Isaiah 38:15); but instead, his heart was lifted up, not as Jehoshaphat's had been, "in the ways of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 17:6), but as Uzziah's (2 Chronicles 26:16) and Amaziah's (2 Chronicles 25:19) had been, in self-sufficiency - the allusion being to his behaviour in connection with the Babylonian envoys, who shortly after his recovery visited Jerusalem, and endeavoured to enlist him in a league against Assyria (see homily on ver. 31). 2. Its punishment. The wrath of Jehovah was threatened (1) upon himself, the immediate offender, which was righteous (2 Chronicles 19:2; 2 Chronicles 24:18; cf. Romans 1:18); and (2) upon Judah and Jerusalem, by the law of imputation, and in accordance with the solidarity of nations. The punishment of sin often falls on the innocent, because of their connection with the guilty. Children suffer for the evil-doing of their parents, and subjects for that of their rulers. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2). II. HEZEKIAH'S REPENTANCE. 1. The self-abasement of the king. "He humbled himself for the pride of his heart." The wrath of Jehovah, pronounced against him and his people by Isaiah, was the Babylonish captivity. When Hezekiah heard the prophet's threatening, he realized that he had sinned, and humbled himself before Jehovah, saying, "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken" (2 Kings 20:14-19; Isaiah 38:3-8). 2. The concurrence of the people. "He and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Probably they had not been unfavourable to a Babylonian alliance against Assyria, and were really "art and part" co-criminals with Hezekiah; if they had no share in Hezekiah's action, they had still cause to humble themselves before God on account of Hezekiah their king. 3. The clemency of Jehovah. The judgment was to fall on Hezekiah's sons rather than on himself, which Hezekiah recognized as a mercy, and acknowledged by adding, "Is it not so [i.e. good] if peace and truth shall be in my days?" LESSONS. 1. The possibility of spiritual declension. 2. The duty of repentance, 3. The obligation of gratitude. 4. The sin of pride. - W.
In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death. I.II. III. IV. (James Wolfendale.) But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him I. AN UNDOUBTED TRUTH; THAT SINS OF THE RULERS AND THE PEOPLE RULED, ARE SO INTIMATELY CONNECTED, THAT ONE INVARIABLY INVOLVES THE OTHER (Zechariah 10:3).II. THE INTELLIGIBLE MOTIVE. God gives us in the present order of things a large share in one another's punishments, that He may make us take a deeper interest in one another's duties. All are deeply interested in all. The government of every Christian country is intimately connected with the transgressions of the people; and the governed are closely involved in the sins of the government; so that each has an important duty to perform to the other. The government, apart from all political considerations, to curb and repress the immoralities and the wickedness of the people; and the people, firmly though mildly, to warn and caution and speak plainly to the government, lest by partaking silently and voluntarily of other men's sins, they become partakers in other men's pains. (H. Blunt.) 1. His personal character. 2. His peculiar necessities. II. THE DISPENSATION HERE DESCRIBED. 1. The suspension of grace. 2. The withdrawment of comfort. III. THE PURPOSE OF THAT DISPENSATION. 1. To discover sin, with a view to its cure. 2. To conduct to greater happiness and honour. IV. THE ISSUE OF THE TRIAL — he sinned. 1. Wherein was the sin? He neglected an opportunity of proclaiming the true God, and indulged in a vain self-seeking. 2. How small in comparison with the sins of others — of ourselves. 3. How soon repented of. 4. How severely visited. (J. C. Gray.) Among the many vices that are at once universally decried and universally practised in the world, there is none more base or more common than ingratitude; ingratitude is the sin of individuals, of families, of Churches, of kingdoms. None of us can flatter ourselves that we are in little or no danger of this sin when even so good and great a man as Hezekiah did not escape the infection. In order to make you the more sensible of your ingratitude towards your Divine Benefactor, I shall —I. GIVE A BRIEF VIEW OF HIS MERCIES TOWARDS YOU. II. EXPOSE THE AGGRAVATED BASENESS OF INGRATITUDE UNDER THE RECEPTION OF SO MANY MERCIES. (S. Davies, M.A.) I. THAT THOSE THAT HAVE RECEIVED MERCIES MUST BE CAREFUL TO GIVE IN ANSWERABLE RETURNS OR RENDER ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED.1. There must be a rendering. There is a reflection upon God from all His works. Hell-fire casts back the reflection of the lustre of His justice and the power of His wrath. The world is round, and the motion of all things circular; they begin in God, and end in God (Romans 11:36).(1) We must be effected with the mercies.(2) Solemnly praise God for them.(3) Renew the remembrance of them (Psalm 111:4).(4) Improve them to some good use. We must improve them to — (a) (b) (c) (d) 2. This rendering must be proportionate.(1) Real mercies require real acknowledgments.(2) The acknowledgment must answer the proportion of the mercy. (a) (b) 3. This reproves —(1) Those that instead of rendering according, render the quite contrary; who the more God hath blessed them, grow unthankful, proud, sensual, dead formal in prayer, less in communion with God, more licentious in their actions. They are like tops never well but when they are scourged; abuse their mercies to the contempt of God, as the Israelites took the earrings of gold and silver, which were the spoils of the Egyptians, and made a golden calf of them. As the sea turneth all the sweet dews and influences of heaven into salt water, so they turn all their mercies into occasions of sin.(2) Those that do not render ought at all. There was a law in (Ezekiel 46:9). He that went in at one gate was not to go out at the same gate, but an opposite; some say, lest he should turn his back upon the mercy-seat.(3) Those that render something but not suitable. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) II. THAT IT IS A SIGN WE ARE UNTHANKFUL UNDER MERCIES WHEN THE HEART IS LIFTED UP UPON THE ENJOYMENT OF THEM. 1. Because God can never be rightly praised or exalted while the heart is proud (Isaiah 2:17). God is exalted in the creature's self-abasement. 2. A proud heart cannot be rightly conversant about blessings. It doth not give them their — (1) (2) (3) 3. How shall we know when the heart is lifted up? It is mainly shown —(1) In security. Men live as if they were above changes. God is neglected, or but coldly owned, as if we now had no more need of Him (Lamentations 1:9).(2) In insolency. This is manifested — (a) (b) (c) 4. Use. (1) (2) 3. Take heed of the pride of self-dependence.Conclusion: 1. A special recognition and recalling of sins is not unseasonable (Ezekiel 36:30, 31). 2. Meditate upon the changes of providence (Psalm 39:5). Belisarius, a famous general to-day, and within a little while forced to beg for a halfpenny. Things and persons are as the spokes of a wheel, sometimes in the dirt and sometimes out. (S. Manton, D.D.) 1025 God, anger of Some Buildings in Acra. Bezeiha. Millo. The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal Temporal Advantages. Gihon, the Same with the Fountain of Siloam. The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3 Chronicles |
    |