Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 20:19
Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, [Is it] not [good], if peace and truth be in my days?
19. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken ] Bp Hall takes these words of Hezekiah as uttered in a proper spirit. ‘The rod was smart, yet good Hezekiah kisses it. His heart struck him no less than the mouth of the prophet, meekly therefore doth he yield to this divine correction God’s children are neither waspish nor sullen, when they are chid or beaten: but patiently hold their backs to the stripes of a displeased mercy: knowing how much more God is to be magnified for what He might have done than repined at for what He hath done’.
Some however have thought that the sentiment of the next sentence is too full of selfishness to accord with such a perfect character. The Chronicler however (2Ch 32:26) speaks of the king’s humbling himself for his pride of heart.
Is it not good [R.V. so ], if peace and truth be [R.V. shall be ] in my days? ] These words are spoken, as it seems, after reflection on the previous utterance, and seem to breathe a spirit of thankfulness mainly for the peace and security promised for Hezekiah’s own lifetime. That this would be granted is implied because the prophecy speaks only of the evils which should come upon his descendants.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Good is the word … – The language is, according to some, that of a true spirit of resignation and humility; according to others, that of a feeling of relief and satisfaction that the evil was not to come in his day. Such a feeling would be but natural, and though not according to the standard of Christian perfectness, would imply no very great defect of character in one who lived under the old Dispensation.
Peace and truth – Rather, peace and continuance. The evils threatened were war and the dissolution of the kingdom.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 20:19-20
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
The peace
The text is susceptible of two propositions. First, that peace is a blessing only on a basis of truth. He said, Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days? Secondly, that the godliest celebration of peace is to resume the social and religious benefactions interrupted by war. Hezekiahs might was diverted to the construction of the pool and the conduit of water for the relief of his people.
I. That peace without truth is not the peace of God is capable of abundant evidence and illustration. As in a religious sense there may be a cry of Peace, peace, where there is no peace, except the unnatural stillness of a moral stupefaction, a stifling of the voice of conscience, and a compromise of principle with the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, and under whose influence, when the strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace, such as it is–but it is at the best only the torpor of sordid subjection to spiritual bondage, the tranquillity of a dungeon, or the quiescence of a corpse, dead in its trespasses and sins–so in the political moralities of nations there may be a peace that has no truth in it, neither in the reality of its foundation, the assurance of its continuance, nor the uprightness of its conditions. That is a peace at the expense of truth which is not true to the eternal and inalienable principles of international rights–which is bought by the ignoble subsidy of subjection to wrong and injustice, or which consents to spare itself the possible cost and sacrifice of a generous intervention on behalf of the weak against the strong–which ignores the great plea of national brotherhoods, and asks with the first fratricide, Am I my brothers keeper? and which entails upon itself the malediction written against those who were not grieved with the afflictions of Joseph. That is a peace without truth which looks every man to his own things, and not every man to the things of others also; and if this maxim be a canon binding on any one man in reference to any other man, it is equally binding on any one nation in reference to any other nation.
II. Our second deduction from the text is, that the godliest celebration of peace is to resume the social and religious benefactions interrupted by the war. Hezekiah so improved even a period of respite. He made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city. If God condescended to put twice on record the mere municipal zeal of this pious prince; if, the pool, the conduit and the water are counted worthy of a place in the compendious annals of Inspiration, we may be sure the activities of Christian benevolence in the same direction will meet with His gracious approval. It is a miserable mistake to suppose, that Christianity has nothing to do with the common tenements, the daily vulgar wants and homespun miseries of our fellow-men. It stirs our sympathy to listen to the recital of the far-off dark places of the earth and their habitations of cruelty; but it is not so easy to extort a sigh over the dark back lanes and more noisome and cruel abodes in the next street behind us. There are no Hezekiahs pools, except in fever-brewing abominations of the cesspool, nor other conduit except the constant exhalations of disease and death from the sluggish gutter, nor better homes than the vile hovels where in guilt and penury alike seek a covert to sin, and suffer and die. If the bitter mass of gratuitous suffering and mortality arising from a defective commissariat in the Crimea should drag into reluctant notice the amount of misery dally endured from a similar neglect of sanitary provisions in the crowded courts and alleys of the metropolis, the poor battalions will not have perished in vain. They will have incidentally achieved an involuntary victory on behalf of their fellow-citizens, attended perhaps with more comfort than glory, but none the less precious for the public welfare. Oh! there is more hope of the Gospel gaining audience of the wild Indian in the cheerful freedom of his native forests, than of its penetrating the gross darkness of the denizens alongside the Thames, or the purlieus of the city. If we would speak with any hope of evangelising effect of the pool of Siloam, and of the Fountain of living waters, we must first tread in Hezekiahs footsteps, provide the pool and the conduit of sanitary necessities, the possibilities of popular decency and comfort, the practicableness of a family hearth and home, the humble means of health and cleanliness, of light and air and water, freely as God bestows them, and fully as a seasonable adoption of remedial agents would supply them. Such a celebration of the peace abroad would afford the happiest prospect of more peace at home, and co-operate with city missionaries and ministers of religion with the most hopeful pledges of success, in their more directly spiritual efforts for the evangelisation of our fellow-citizens. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
Submission
Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him: therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet was sent to say to him, Behold the days come that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons which shall issue from thee–shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. This was the humiliating and distressing message to which the penitent king made the reply in our text, Good is the word of the Lord which thou bass spoken. Shall I call your attention to the holiness and happiness of such a temper, and to the universal obligation on mankind to offer this homage to their God and King? In doing this I will,
I. Explain precisely what the temper is. It is a temper of universal and absolute submission to the will of God. There is a forced submission–a yielding because we cannot help it; but this is not the thing required. There is an acquiescence in the will of God when that will sends prosperity; but this is only a consenting that another should make us happy. The only true submission is that hearty acquiescence in the will of God which arises from supreme love to him. The reason why the wicked do not submit, is that they love themselves and their own enjoyments most. While such a temper continues, they must of course value their own gratification more than the Divine pleasure, and approve of the will of God only so far as that will is tributary to them. This selfishness is the root and core of all rebellion. When our own wishes and interests are less dear to us than that universal interest which is wrapt up in the Divine will, what can tempt us to unsubmission? what is there for us to oppose to that will? what interest have we to maintain against the wishes of God? But so certain as we love another interest better than that which the Divine will protects, we shall set up that interest against God, and resist whenever he lays his finger upon it. True submission then is the necessary effect of supreme love to God, and can arise from no other principle. This submission is to be distinguished from that morbid inactivity and aversion to care which, retiring from exertion, leaves God to be the only agent in the universe–which puts off burdens upon Him just as the indolent shift them off upon each other–which, instead of exerting a dependent agency with an eye fixed upon an overruling providence, leaves God to perform both His part and ours. That may be called submission to a providential dispensation, which really is indolence shrinking from an effort to change the posture of affairs. It is an essential part of Gods plan, and for His glory, that creatures should obtain good by their own activity; otherwise there would be no use for their immortal powers. This activity He has therefore enjoined. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, is the Christians motto.
II. I am to dwell a little on the holiness and happiness of such a temper, and the universal obligation on mankind to exercise it. To love the righteous will of God, in which are balanced all the interests of the universe–which is perfectly wise and benevolent and right–to love that will better than our own interests, and to subject our interests and wishes to that; must be holy if any thing is holy–must be pure and sublime benevolence. How generous and noble is the temper. How infinitely superior to the littleness and meanness of a selfish spirit. And it is precisely what God commands. If then holiness consists in obeying God, it consists in rendering him that supreme love which will produce the submission in question. What can be holiness, what can be goodness, if it is not subjection to the will of eternal wisdom and benevolence? This submission to the will of God, so far as it operates, necessarily excludes all evil passions and conduct. For instance, it excludes all discontent. For one who knows that the providence of God is universal, and extends to the most minute events, and who is willing that the will of the Lord in all things should be done, and delights in that will more than in anything which that will can take away; what ground can there be for discontentment? If events are crossing to his feelings, still His supreme desire is gratified, for the will of the Lord is done; and though He may suffer he would by no means change a single circumstance about which the Divine will has been clearly expressed. But when the pleasure of God is known, a particle of discontentment evinces a want of submission. With proper resignation, we shall feel, under any cross event, that we have nothing to do, in mind or body, but to use the means which God has appointed to remove or support the evil. In looking forward into the wide expanse of futurity, or in contemplating the issue of any particular event, the Christian knows that nothing can happen but what the will of God appoints. While that will engages his supreme regard, how can he be anxious? It follows of course that submission will exclude every complaining word, every, angry, or bitter word, every impatient word. Submission will cure every inordinate desire after wealth, honour, pleasure, friends, ease, or whatever else we regard. An inordinate desire is an unsubmissive desire. Submission is an effectual cure of all envious feelings towards our neighbour. It follows of course that submission will exclude every falsehood, and I may add, every transgression. The temptation to transgress is a desire for some object which we cannot obtain without going counter to a Divine precept. Where the object is placed in this predicament by the providence of God, it is plain that submission to providence take away all motives to transgress. I add finally, that submission, so far as it extends, must quench every evil passion, and thus extinguish the inward fire from which all outward eruptions proceed. If it suppresses every inordinate desire, every feeling of discontent, all distrust of God, every motion of impatience. Thus the holiness of this temper appears. And its happiness is no less evident. Submission to God, as we have seen, excludes all those uncomfortable passions which make the wicked like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. It clears away everything that can agitate or corrode the mind. And as its very life-blood consists in supreme delight in the will of God, it has always the happiness of knowing that its dearest object is safe–that the ground of its highest exultation and joy is secure–that the will of infinite wisdom and benevolence will in all things be done. And in respect to the universal obligation, who can doubt that this is precisely the temper in which all moral agents ought to unite? The very definition of moral agents is, that they are under obligation to feel and do right and to avoid wrong. But in the temper under consideration, all the right feelings in the universe are involved, and by it all the wrong feelings in the universe are excluded. If you revolt from these conclusions, you must go back to the full admission that all men are under indispensable obligations to yield unlimited submission to God. Is he not our rightful King, and are we not His subjects? Is not His will perfect? Has not the Creator and Proprietor of all things a right to govern His own world according to His own pleasure? This is the religion Of the Old Testament and the New. Under the severest trials this resignation has all along been exemplified in the history of the Church. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord, said Job when all his children and possessions were destroyed. Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil? was his language when covered with one tormenting ulcer from head to foot. In more general and common matters, the same acknowledgment of God and the same resignation to His will have all along been exemplified. A general acquiescence and joy in His government have always distinguished His true servants. All down the ages they have sung, The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. (E. D. Griffith, D. D.)
Resignation in affliction
The Fram, which went in search of the North Pole, escaped many of the perils that injured other expeditionary vessels, because her commander built her wide at the decks and narrowing her down to the keel, so that she did not withstand the ice, but yielded to its pressure. The cruel masses could not get a grip of the wisely constructed craft. The pressure, so far from crushing her, lifted her clean out of the ice, and she rode triumphantly on the floes. How many of our life troubles which if faced resentfully, sullenly, proudly, threaten to grind us to powder; but meet them meekly, resignedly, recognising in them Gods wiser will for us than we for ourselves, and they will in the end lift us upward and bear us onward towards the eternal Light. (H. O. Mackey.)
Unshaken faith
The Rev. Dr. Campbell Morgan tells the following pathetic story concerning Commander Booth-Tucker, who lost his wife in a railway accident last autumn. A few weeks ago, he, says, in a city of Nebraska, I was holding meetings. There came to that city my dear friend Commander Booth-Tucker. It was the city of Omaha. I shall never forget my talk with him there. I said to him, Commander, the passing of your beloved wife was one of the things that I freely confess I cannot understand. He looked at me across the breakfast table, his eyes wet with tears, and yet his face radiant with that light which never shone on sea or land, and he said to me, Dear man, do you not know that the Cross can only be preached by tragedy? Then he told me this incident: When I and my wife were last in Chicago I was trying to lead a sceptic to Christ in a meeting. At last the sceptic said, with a cold glittering eye and a sarcastic voice, It is all very well. You mean well; but I lost my faith in God when my wife was taken out of my home. It is all very well; but if that beautiful woman at your side lay dead and cold by you, how would you believe in God? Within one month she had been taken through the awful tragedy of a railway accident, and the Commander went back to Chicago, and, in the hearing of a vast multitude, said, Here, in the midst of the crowd, standing by the side of my dead wife as I take her to burial, I want to say that I still believe in Him, and love Him, and know Him. (C. L. MCleery.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Good is the word of the Lord] He has spoken right, I have done foolishly. I submit to his judgments.
Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?] I believe Hezekiah inquires whether there shall be peace and truth in his days. And the question seems to be rather of an interested nature. He does not appear to deplore the calamities that were coming on the land, provided peace and truth might prevail in his days.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Good is the word of the Lord: I heartily submit to this sentence, as being both just, because deserved and procured by mine and my peoples sins; and merciful, because the punishment is less than I have deserved.
Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? which speaks not as if he were careless and unconcerned for his posterity, (which neither the common inclinations and affections of nature in all men, nor that singular piety and charity which was eminent and manifest in Hezekiah, can suffer us to believe,) or for the church and people of God, for whose welfare he was so solicitous and industrious in the whole course of his life; but because it was a singular favour that this judgment did not immediately follow his sin, the cause of it, but was suspended for a longer time.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Good is the word of the Lordwhich thou hast spokenindicating a humble and piousresignation to the divine will. The concluding part of his reply wasuttered after a pause and was probably an ejaculation to himself,expressing his thankfulness, that, though great afflictions shouldbefall his descendants, the execution of the divine judgment was tobe suspended during his own lifetime.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[See comments on 2Ki 20:12]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) Good is the word of the Lord . . .Pious acquiescence in the will of God. (Comp. Elis: It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good. Comp, also a similar expression in 1Ki. 2:38.)
Is it not good, if peace . . .This rendering appears to be right. Severe as is the prophetic word of judgment, it contains an element of mercy, in that Hezekiah himself is spared. The words are introduced by and he said, to indicate that they were spoken after a pause.
Peace and truth.Rather, peace and permanence (or, security, stability; Jer. 33:6). Ewald, Thenius, and Bhr render: Yea, only may there be peace, &c, in my days. (Comp. the prayer of the church: Give peace in our time, O Lord.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Good is the word of the Lord A pious expression of submission to the Divine judgment. Compare the similar language of Eli. 1Sa 3:18, and of Shimei, 1Ki 2:38. “He calls that good,” says Le Clerc, “in which it is right to acquiesce, as having proceeded from Him who does nothing but what is not only most just, but tempered with the greatest goodness, even when he inflicts punishment.”
If peace and truth be in my days He can regard it as nothing but pure goodness and special deference to himself that the judgment is not to come in his own time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 379
HEZEKIAHS RESIGNATION
2Ki 20:19. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
IF of active virtues it may be said, that they are more fascinating and beautiful in the eyes of men; of passive virtues it may be said, that an equal degree of divine grace is displayed in them. It is as much an effect of divine grace to suffer patiently the will of God, as it is to perform it diligently. Accordingly we find, that most of the eminent saints of old were as remarkable for a meek submission to the divine disposals, as for a zealous execution of the divine commands. Aaron [Note: Lev 10:3.], Eli [Note: 1Sa 3:18.], Job [Note: Job 1:21.], David [Note: Psa 39:9.], and many others, are recorded as bright examples of the passive graces: and the history of Hezekiah, as contained in the words before us, furnishes us with an admirable specimen of pious resignation.
We shall consider his resignation,
I.
As an act of piety
The judgments denounced against his family and kingdom were of the most distressing nature
[All the wealth that he possessed, together with the holy city and temple, were to be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans; and his sons, whom he should beget, should be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. To a monarch, what could be more distressing than the overthrow of his whole kingdom? To a pious monarch, what more grievous than the destruction of Gods temple, and the triumph of idolatry over the true religion? And to a monarch that was a parent, what more terrible than such degradation and misery as were denounced against his offspring?
Some may think that these judgments were not very afflictive, because they were not to affect the king himself, but only to attach upon his descendants: but, we apprehend that any personal affliction whatever would have been esteemed light, in comparison of the calamities here threatened [Note: See 2Sa 24:17.].]
Yet were the tidings of them received with the most perfect submission
[What could any man say more? Hezekiah justified in the strongest terms the denunciations that had been delivered. Though he was taken entirely off his guard, and had not the smallest expectation of any such message from the Lord, yet, on the delivery of it, he bowed at once, and accepted it as the punishment of his iniquity [Note: Lev 26:41.]. Grievous as the chastisement was, he approved of it as coming from the hands of a righteous God, and declared it to be not only just, but good.]
Instead of murmuring against God for the severity of his judgments, he instantly expressed his gratitude for the mercy blended with them
[He was informed that in his days the nation should enjoy peace; and that truth should triumph over the idolatry and wickedness which had overrun the land. These considerations, independent of his own personal welfare, were consolatory to his mind; because, if God had been extreme to mark what had been done amiss, he might have justly executed his threatened judgments instantly, without any intervention of grace and mercy. On these mitigated circumstances Hezekiah fixed his mind; and, whilst he acknowledged the equity of the judgments in their fullest extent, he more especially adored the goodness of God in suspending them for so long a period: Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? The prospect of the prevalence of true religion, though but for a season, was cheering to him: and he accounted the long-suffering of God to be salvation.]
If, as an act of piety, we admire his resignation, much more shall we do so,
II.
As a lesson of instruction
Truly in this view the history before us is very important. From it we learn many valuable lessons:
1.
That pride, however light and venial it may appear in our eyes, is most offensive in the sight of God
[It was pride which led Hezekiah to display before the Babylonish ambassadors all the monuments of his wealth and power: he felt an undue complacency in the things themselves, as though they of themselves could make us happy; and next, he relied on them as inducements to the king of Babylon to court his alliance. According to the common estimation of men, there would be no great evil in this conduct: but God regarded as a very heinous sin, the indulgence of such vain conceits; and marked the extent of his displeasure by the severity of his judgments.
Let not any one then imagine that an inordinate attachment to earthly things, or a vain confidence in them, is a light offence. Whatever we have that distinguishes us from our fellow-creatures, it is given us of the Lord; and, instead of engrossing our affections, it should lead us to him in thankfulness and praise. If we take glory to ourselves for our possession of it, we provoke him to jealousy, and excite his indignation against us. How highly did God resent the pride of Nebuchadnezzar [Note: Dan 4:29-33.], and of Herod [Note: Act 12:22-23.]! And shall we escape, if we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Let us be thankful for what we possess; but let our affections centre in God alone.]
2.
That just views of sin will lead us to justify God in all the judgments that are denounced against it
[We are ready to think that the punishment inflicted on Hezekiah was more severe than the occasion required: but he thought not so, because he saw his sin in all its malignity In like manner, when the everlasting displeasure of God is denounced against sin and sinners, the proud heart of man is ready to rise up against God, and to say, that it would not be just to inflict eternal punishment for the sins of time, especially if those sins have not been of the most flagrant kind. But a just view of our demerit silences at once all those rebellious murmurs. We then say with David, Thou art justified in thy saying, and wilt be clear when thou judgest. It is remarkable, that the man who was cast out for not having on the wedding garment, is represented as not having one word to utter in arrest of judgment; he was speechless [Note: Mat 22:12.]: and so will it be with all at the last day, yea and with all in this life also, who are made sensible of their iniquities. Under the deepest of earthly afflictions they will say, Shall a living man complain? a man for the punishment of his sins? No; I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Under the apprehension of his eternal displeasure also they will cry, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Let us beg of God then to give us an insight into our own wickedness; that under all circumstances we may approve of God as doing all things well.]
3.
That a humble mind will be more thankful for the mitigating circumstances of an affliction than querulous about the affliction itself
[We greatly admire this in the history before us. And who does not see what sweet composure such conduct is calculated to bring into the mind? The generality of persons are ready to fix on every circumstance that can aggravate their affliction; and hence they make themselves far more miserable than they would otherwise be: but if, like Hezekiah, they looked on the brighter side of their troubles, and noticed the mercies with which they were blended, they would be comparatively happy under them. Even self-love might dictate such a line of conduct, if we were actuated by no better motive: for, if once we saw, how much more afflictive our circumstances might have been, and how much heavier judgments we have merited, we should feel gratitude rise up in our bosoms, and bless our God, no less when he takes away, than when he gives: we should confess it to be of the Lords mercies that we are not utterly consumed.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
DISCOURSE: 380
THE BENEFITS ARISING FROM PEACE AND TRUTH [Note: Thanksgiving for Peace, in 1816.]
2Ki 20:19. Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?
BY many it is thought that a knowledge of futurity would contribute to their happiness: but we are persuaded that it would prove only a source of misery: the good that would be foreseen would lose more than half its zest, whilst the evil that was anticipated would embitter the remainder of their days. It was as a punishment, and not as a favour, that an insight into futurity was given to King Hezekiah. He had displeased the Lord by his conduct towards the ambassadors of the king of Babylon: and God sent him word what calamities should befall both his family and nation through the instrumentality of that monarch. This judgment however was tempered with mercy; the execution of it being deferred to a generation yet unborn. Hence the judgment was submitted to with pious resignation: Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?
It is not our intention to enter any further into the Jewish history than just to fix the precise import of our text. The text is applicable to all persons in every age, and particularly so to this present season. We shall therefore take occasion from it to shew,
I.
What blessings God is now conferring upon us
What we are to understand by peace and truth will be best seen by a reference to the preceding context
[God had declared that the king of Babylon should invade Judea, and take all the wealth of Hezekiah for a prey, and carry captive his children, and entirely destroy the whole Jewish polity. But, inasmuch as these judgments should be deferred, Hezekiah, instead of beholding the subjugation and captivity of his children, should have peace; and, instead of seeing the abolition of the temple worship, should have truth continued to him.]
Now these are the very blessings for which we are peculiarly called to render thanks this day
[Peace is now happily once more restored: and such a peace as places our country in a state of greater security than it has ever enjoyed since it became a nation
Truth, also, with an undisturbed enjoyment of all religious ordinances, is now secured to us. We are no longer in danger of having the temples of our God converted into barracks for a licentious soldiery, or magazines for the implements of war. No longer have we any reason to fear lest a victorious enemy should deprive us of our religious liberty, or a yoke of superstition be imposed upon us as the only worship tolerated in the land. Blessed be God! we enjoy the Gospel in all its purity; and every man throughout the whole land is permitted to serve his God in the way that seems to him to be most agreeable to the Divine commands ]
Such blessings being now insured to us, let us consider,
II.
In what light they should be viewed
The continuance of them to Hezekiah was deemed by him a mercy, a great and undeniable mercy: Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? To us then is the possession of them,
1.
A rich mercy
[How rich a mercy peace is, we, who have never had our country the seat of war, are but ill qualified to judge. It is our happiness indeed that we cannot judge of it; since it can only be known by an experience of those calamities which war brings in its train.
Nor can we adequately conceive how much we are indebted to God for the possession of truth. To estimate this aright, we should behold all the degrading superstitions of heathen nations, and see what self-tormenting methods they practice for the obtaining of peace with their senseless deities of wood and stone. We should see also how the far greater part of those who call themselves Christians are blinded by ceremonies of mans invention, and debarred the use of those sacred oracles which are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Some sense, we trust, many of us have of the value of a Saviour, through whom the vilest of sinners find access to God, and obtain all the blessings of grace and glory. But we must go up to heaven and behold the felicity of the Saints made perfect; and go down to hell to behold the miseries of the damned, before we can fully appreciate that Gospel, by which we are quickened from death in trespasses and sins, and are translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Gods dear Son.]
2.
An undeserved mercy
[Hezekiah felt that he might justly have been deprived of these blessings, and been made to experience in his own person all the calamities which were denounced against him in his posterity. And what was Hezekiahs fault? It was this: that when the ambassadors came to congratulate him on his recovery from a dangerous illness, he neglected to commend to them the God of Israel, by whom their souls, and the souls of their countrymen, might be saved; and sought rather to aggrandize himself by an ostentatious display of his own wealth and power. Now we are far from wishing to extenuate his guilt: it was doubtless exceeding great: and the pride of his heart merited from God the severest chastisement [Note: 2Ch 32:25-26.]. But what was his guilt compared with ours? We scarcely hear on any occasion the glory of our successes ascribed to God; nor do we find one in a thousand who relies truly and simply on God for a continuance of them: self-glorying, and confidence in an arm of flesh, are the leading features of our whole people; so that we might justly have been left to experience defeats answerable to all our victories. And how is the truth improved amongst us? As, on the one hand, there is not a nation under heaven where it shines with purer lustre, so neither, on the other hand, is there a nation under heaven where it is treated with greater contempt. And as to those who profess to value it, how little are its fair and beauteous lineaments visible in their hearts and lives! Well indeed might our mis-improvement of the light have long since provoked God to take away his candlestick from us: and it is a most unmerited mercy that the glorious Gospel of the blessed God is yet continued to us.]
3.
A mercy that may well reconcile us to all events connected with it
[We are not to suppose that Hezekiah was indifferent about the welfare of his posterity: it was nothing but his sense of the greatness of the mercy vouchsafed to him, that led him to acquiesce so meekly in the sentence as it was denounced against him. The prospect of the calamities that would come on his posterity was doubtless a source of bitter anguish to his mind: but it was a great matter that he had obtained a respite, and that the judgment was not inflicted instantly upon him. This favour therefore he acknowledged as a mercy, which might well compose and tranquillize his mind.
Now it is certain that the blessings which we enjoy are far from coming without alloy. They will, it is to be feared, prove in the issue a source of misery to many. The peace, which leads to the disbanding of so many thousand troops, will leave multitudes in a state unfavourable to their best interests. Many will find it difficult to return to the employment of honest industry; yea perhaps may find it difficult even to get employment: and many who in the scenes of war have been accustomed to blood and pillage may bring home with them a disposition to exercise amongst their brethren the same evil habits which they deemed allowable amongst their enemies: and thus our domestic security may be invaded, and the perpetrators of these crimes be subjected to an untimely death by the hands of the public executioner. This is an evil felt at the termination of every war: yet must it by no means indispose us to acknowledge the blessings of peace.
The very truth of God also, even the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, brings on many, through their rejection of it, an heavier condemnation. Good would it have been for many, if they had never heard the Gospel; yea good, if Jesus Christ had never come into the world to save our ruined race. It was declared at the very time that he did come, that he was set for the fall, as well as for the rising again, of many in Israel [Note: Luk 2:34.] and that, though he should be a sanctuary to some, he should prove to others a stumbling stone and a rock offence [Note: Isa 8:14.].Thus does the Gospel itself, that greatest gift of God to mankind, become to some a savour of life unto life, but to others a savour of death unto death [Note: 2Co 2:16.]. Still however we must not suffer these things to diminish our value for the Gospel. If some abuse their food to intemperance, we must not therefore be unthankful for our food: nor if men abuse the Gospel, must we impute it to any defect in the Gospel, but to the depravity of their own hearts, which turns the blessing into a curse. We say then, that whatever evils may, by accident, be connected with the blessings we have received, even though those evils should fall upon our own children, it becomes us to adore and magnify our God that those blessings are not withheld from us, but that we are privileged to possess them in our days.]
4.
A mercy which should be gratefully and diligently improved
[A state of peace, and a quiet enjoyment of Gospel ordinances, is extremely favourable for the attainment of vital godliness. So it proved to the Christian Church in its infant state [Note: Act 9:31.]; and so it will be to us. Do we ask, In what way we should improve the present occasion? We answer, In the way that David and Solomon improved their circumstances, when God had favoured them with the blessings which are now conferred on us. David bethought him, What can I do for God? I will build him an house that shall be worthy of his divine Majesty [Note: 2Sa 7:1-2.]. Solomon also adopted precisely the same resolution under the same circumstances [Note: 1Ki 5:4-5.]. The same holy zeal should now inflame our hearts. We are not indeed called to build for the Lord an house of wood and stone, but a house of living stones, that shall be an habitation of God through the Spirit to all eternity. O see what myriads of stones there are lying in the quarry of corrupt nature, that through your instrumentality may be formed and fashioned to build the temple of the Lord. Look at the blind obdurate sons of Abraham, and see what may be done to bring them to the knowledge of that Saviour whom they have crucified. Look at the Gentile world, all lying in darkness and the shadow of death; and see what may be done for the enlightening of their minds, and for the saving of their souls alive. To employ our time, and property, and talents according as God shall give us opportunity, in such works, will be the best return that we can make to God for the light and peace that we enjoy: and, if we exert ourselves diligently in these labours of love, verily we shall have reason to all eternity to say, Was it not good, that peace and truth were in our days?]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 20:19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, [Is it] not [good], if peace and truth be in my days?
Ver. 19. Good is the word of the Lord, &c., ] i.e., It is just and equal; and blessed be God that it is no worse. Quintilian saith of Vespasian, that he was patientissimus veri, one that could endure to be freely and faithfully dealt with. Theodosius honoured Ambrose, and our Henry VIII father Latimer, the more for their plain dealing. So did David the prophet Nathan, and Hezekiah the prophet Isaiah, not raging at his so sharp a message, but patiently receiving it; judging himself, and justifying God. Good men are neither waspish nor sullen, when they are either chid or beaten by “the father of their spirits”; but patiently hold their backs to the stripes of a displeased mercy.
And he said, Is it not good? &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Good. Hezekiah’s submission was like Eli’s. Compare 1Sa 3:18.
Is it not good, if: or, Is it not that, &c. Figure of speech Erotesis. Septuagint reads “Let there be good”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Good: Lev 10:3, 1Sa 3:18, Job 1:21, Psa 39:9, Lam 3:22, Lam 3:39
Is it not good, etc: or, Shall there not be peace and truth, etc.
peace and truth: Est 9:30, Jer 33:6, Zec 8:19, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:14
Reciprocal: 1Ki 2:38 – The saying 1Ki 11:12 – in thy days 2Ch 32:26 – Hezekiah 2Ch 34:28 – neither Act 21:14 – The will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
PEACE AND TRUTH GOOD FOR US
And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?
2Ki 20:19
If war was, to a great extent, sanctioned and even commanded under the Old Testament, peace is the very base and end of the New. War, viewed from every side, is a terrible thing. War is the great demoraliserin savaging the human mind, and feeding the worst passions of our nature. It is the very hotbed of cruelty and crime. War turns the most beautiful gardens of our world into wildernesses. War outrages the very Empire of the Prince of Peace, and is rebellion against the great Fatherhood of God over all His creatures. To inflict death to prevent death is the only valid cause, and legitimate cause, for any war that is in the world.
And when peace departs, is it too much to say truth follows in its wane? The envenomed atmosphere of war is very killing to all that is true. War is itself half made up of falsehoods. I do not wonder that the pious King of Judah united peace and truth and made truth and peace mutually each the cause of the other, and their union the source of a strange and secret mingling of happiness: Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?
I. See how peace and truth combine to rule in the Kingdom of God.The great problem was, how in such a world as this, so sinful and so rebellious, peace could be compatible with truth. For God had said, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
How then could any man, seeing all are wicked, not die? or how could any man on the earth be at rest? God must be true and His own Word verified.
In His marvellous wisdom and grace, Christ solved the problem. Heinfinite in His Deity, yet perfect Manbecame all mens substitute, so that when He died, all that were His died too. Therefore, in very fact, we have died, and God has kept His Word. And, therefore, peace can have a universal reign without the infringement of one iota of the Fathers justice. Forgiveness is justice, and peace is truth.
Peace and truth thus blend in the mind and government of God.
II. So the great originals become the patterns which all governments and all minds are, as far as in them lies, faithfully to copy.First in a mans own soul. Peace and truth make Gods kingdom there. If peace be not built on truth it is baseless; it must fall. And truth grows out of peace as necessary as a flower grows from its root. Just as fear is the certain mother of cunning and deceit, so the mind at rest with God, and the peace which flows, are the sure authors of all truth.
This is the genealogy of peace. Peace with God begets peace with the conscience; peace with the conscience begets peace with all men.
And, equally, this is the history of truth. Be true with God and you will be true with yourself; be true with yourself and you will be true with your fellow-creatures.
III. Then let me earnestly beseech you to be quite sure that you are at peace with God.It is the keystone of life. How may I know it? And if I am not, how can I obtain it?
Accept your peace as freely as it is offereda pure, instant gift of God.
In this war there needs no mediation but that which is already made; no terms, but simple acceptance; no payment, where all is paid. The compact is all drawn out, and waits only for you to put the one seal of faith.
Then, having peace, be true. If I had to mention what I think to be the great failure in the religion of most of us, I should say, Want of reality. There are so many things concurring in the present day to make religion unreal.
Whatever you are, be real. Take care that your religion is the same wherever you are; and, wherever you are, a very practical thingwords and acts accurately representing the mind. Love neither simulating what it is not nor dissimulating what it is, compromising and concealing its reality.
Use plain words. Pray real thoughts. Be what you seem, and seem what you are. And let this be the double stamp on everyday lifepeace and truth.
War is dear at any time, and peace is worth any priceshort of righteousnessat which it may he attained.
But begin with the true beginning. First, be yourself a man of peace; a man of truth with God and man; and then lay yourself out to extend everywhere what you have proved and found so exceeding good to your own soul.
Rev. Jas. Vaughan
Illustration
Many an answered prayer has brought a corresponding leanness of soul to the one who would not leave the decision restfully with God. When King Hezekiah was unwilling to be sick unto death, he pleaded earnestly for recovery; and when a favourable answer was given to his prayer the issue showed that his prolonged life was no added gain to his character or to his career of usefulness. Some who have said that they must recover from sickness are the losers by the answer to their prayers; while others, who would not thus choose for themselves, are the gainers through continuing in sickness. We may indeed shrink from the presumption of deciding unqualifiedly that it is best for ourselves or for our dear ones to be recovered of a sickness that seems unto death; and it is important for us to know that such presumption is inconsistent with true faith.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 20:19. Good is the word of the Lord I heartily submit to this sentence, as being most just and merciful. All true penitents, when they are under divine rebukes, call them not only just, but good: not only submit to, but accept of the punishment of their iniquity. So Hezekiah did, and by this it appeared he was indeed humbled for the pride of his heart. Undoubtedly it was most grievous to him to hear of the calamities that should befall his children; but, notwithstanding, with a truly penitent and pious mind, he pronounced the sentence good, as coming from that Being who not only does nothing but what is right, but nothing but what is tempered with mercy and goodness, even when he punishes; and therefore a resigned submission to his will is highly reasonable and proper, and our absolute duty.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou hast {l} spoken. And he said, [Is it] not [good], if {m} peace and truth be in my days?
(l) He acknowledges Isaiah to be the true prophet of God and therefore humbles himself to his word.
(m) Seeing that God has shown me this favour to grant me quietness during my life: for he was afraid lest the enemies would have had opportunity to rejoice if the Church had decayed in his time, because he had restored religion.