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Now King Hezekiah of Judah became very sick and the Prophet Isaiah went to see him. He inquired of Isaiah if the sickness would lead unto death. Isaiah told him to get his things in order and prepare to die. Hezekiah broke down and cried and pleaded with the Lord to let him live. Before Isaiah got out of the courtyard, the Lord spoke to him again. He told Isaiah to go back and tell the King that his prayers had been heard and his tears of repentance had been seen and that He would heal him and add 15 years to his life and not only that but his extremely weak condition would be healed also and he would be worshipping in the Temple in 3 days. Hezekiah, though healed, was very weak and could not see how he would be able to be in the Temple in three days so he asked Isaiah for a sign. Notice the sign that God gave Isaiah to give Hezekiah. He gave Hezekiah his choice. He would move time forward 5 hours or back 5 hours whatever Hezekiah wanted. Ten points on a sundial was 5 hours. According to tradition, it was noon, the question was, do you want it to be 5 o'clock in the evening, or 7 o'clock in the morning? Since time normally goes forward, Hezekiah chose to move it backward which God did and Hezekiah was convinced.
Why did the Lord pick the number 3? "Three days and you will be worshipping in the Temple." What did "three" mean to the Jews? i.e. three days in the belly of a large fish, three days in the tomb etc., why did Jesus wait "four" days before going to Bethany to bring Lazarus back to life? From "four" on, there was no hope, four was final. If Jonah had stayed four days in the belly of the whale, he would not have gotten out. Since Lazarus had been dead four days, Mary and Martha had no hope of his return. Jesus knew this so He waited four days so that they would know that it was by God's power that Lazarus was raised from the dead, not a chance revival. It is still the tradition today to wait three days before burying someone.
Bal-a-dan was king of Babylon and when his son, Mer-o-dach, heard of Hezekiah's illness, he sent ambassadors with presents to see how he was doing. When they arrived in Jerusalem, Hezekiah welcomed them with open arms. He gave them a royal tour of the city. He showed them his treasury, his armament, his palace and his army. When the Prophet Isaiah heard of this, he went to Hezekiah and reprimanded him for his carelessness, and he told him that the Lord had said that all that he had shown the ambassadors would soon belong to the Babylonians. Hezekiah accepted the "inevitable" as the will of God. In his heart he was concerned only for himself and God had already granted him 15 more years.
According to tradition, Hezekiah was not all bad. He fostered many reforms for the Nation of Judah, he made many improvements in the city of Jerusalem for streets, walls, gates and buildings, but of most importance was his bringing of water into the city through an underground conduit. Running water was a luxury in those days.
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