But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit [done] to him, for his heart was lifted up; and there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Hezekiah had just come through a deadly illness and a great deliverance, and then his heart grew proud. This verse raises two hard questions: why did a good king fail in good times, and why did his pride bring wrath on a whole nation?
The failure came right after the success. Gifts and fame poured in, and one writer traces the line from public honour to private self-importance:
"And many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward." Fame, a great name like the names of the great men of the earth, is the fruit of faith. It grows out of faith that knows its own nothingness and deals with God. Hezekiah's story here is not unusual. Many a believer has risen to a place of prominence, before other Christians and before the world. It came through a life of simple, genuine dependence and purpose of heart for God. Hezekiah "was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward" — yes; but sadly, he was exalted in his own sight too. In all times of our prosperity let us say, "O Lord, hold me up!"
The charge is not that Hezekiah did some new evil. He took for himself the credit for what God had done. One writer ties this to the resolve Hezekiah formed while ill — "to go softly," that is, to live quietly the rest of his days:
For fourteen years he had walked humbly with God and magnified Him. But when he recovered, others magnified him first, and then he magnified himself. He took the honour as the man for whom the Lord had worked a miracle. A marvel easily draws people, but their wonder fixes on something short of God Himself. They look at the wonder and at the person it happened to, not at the God who worked it... He had thought in his own heart that if the Lord recovered him, it would be for him "to go softly" all his days.
The occasion was a friendly visit from Babylon. One writer sets it beside Sennacherib's hostile letter, and names the kind of pride at work:
Sennacherib's letter and his rude envoys could not bring him down; they only drove him to his knees. The friendly letter and delegation from Merodach-baladan of Babylon did bring him down — and almost ruined him and his kingdom. How like the Christian and this world! Its frown has little power; its subtle favour is what we have most to fear... This was not spiritual pride, like his great-grandfather Uzziah's, but worldly pride — "the pride of life," we might say. He showed the ambassadors from Babylon his precious things, his armour, his treasures, his house, his lands.
The pride did not come from nowhere. God allowed the test to bring what was already there into the open:
2 Chronicles 32:25-26 and 31 make it plain that God's kind deliverances led to pride in Hezekiah's heart. God allowed these men from Babylon to come, "in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart." The Babylonians, whether they knew it or not, set a trap, and he fell into it. He put on show, for his own glory, everything God had allowed him to acquire.
The wrath is not private. The whole people stand under it, because of one man's heart:
"But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud," and so even this good king brings wrath on Israel. Again, it is the king who decides everything. How blessed it will be when a king reigns in righteousness, and everything is decided in favour of the people, without a flaw!
The verse ends in wrath, but that is not where the chapter ends. Hezekiah bowed under the word that exposed him:
"Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart... so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah." He humbles himself under the hand and the word of the Lord. It is always this way with someone who, by grace, is true at heart. That look brings the sin to mind. At the same time it assures us that the One our sin was against is unchanged in His love, and that He has provided for it all. That is what breaks the spirit.
- Lifted — the deliverance that exalted Hezekiah before the nations also exalted him in his own eyes. He fell in good times, not hard ones.
- Withheld — to "not make return" was to take the honour for the miracle to himself instead of pointing to the God who did it.
- Flattered — Sennacherib's threats drove him to his knees; Babylon's friendly letter undid him. The world's favour is the more dangerous weapon.
- Exposed — God allowed the test so that what hid in his heart would come out into the open.
- Restored — the wrath touched Judah and Jerusalem too, because a king's heart decides a nation's fate. Hezekiah humbled himself, and the Lord held it back in his lifetime.
And Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah had spent his whole life with God, and then his heart was lifted up in the hour of prosperity. This verse is the turn: the king bows, the city bows with him, and God holds back His wrath for a lifetime.
The pride named here grew out of success, not disaster:
It is the hour of prosperity. The good hand of his God has brought deliverance. Riches flow in from every side, and the fame of his name is spread abroad. … Popularity, a great name like the name of the great men of the earth, is the result of the faith that had to do with God in the sense of his own nothingness. … Hezekiah "was magnified in the sight of all nations from then on" — yes; but he was magnified also in his own sight. In all times of our prosperity let us say, "O Lord, hold me up!"
That this happened at the end of a devoted life makes it heavier, not lighter:
The Scriptures relate only one failure of this faithful king. All his life he had been devoted to the LORD and had trusted Him through the greatest of trials. Near the end of it, Hezekiah had to learn what was in his own heart. "God left him, to try him" (2 Chr. 32:31). … God sums up Hezekiah's attitude in these few words: "his heart was lifted up." Such words are serious for a man who spent all his life with God. All that the grace of God had produced in his heart made his responsibility greater.
Chronicles does not describe the act; the parallel accounts do. When Isaiah announced that his treasures and his sons would be carried to Babylon, Hezekiah answered that the word spoken was good. Chronicles supplies the reading of that answer:
God sent the prophet Isaiah to open his eyes to the true character of his behaviour. Isaiah told him that all the treasures he was proud of would soon be carried off to the palace of Babylon, along with some of his descendants. The second book of Kings and the book of Isaiah record Hezekiah's reaction: "Good is the word of the LORD that you have spoken." If we only had these two books, we might have doubts about this reply, since Hezekiah added "there shall be peace and truth in my days." However, the book of Chronicles clearly says: "But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." This defines the character of his declaration. The heart that had been lifted up was brought down and bowed under the discipline of God. It is no small thing to consider as "good" the word of judgment pronounced against us!
Commentators differ on how far that submission went. Leslie M. Grant calls the comfort Hezekiah took in his own lifetime "too limited a viewpoint": "Did he have no real concern for the days of his successors in Judah?… We wonder therefore if Hezekiah was not sufficiently impressed with the seriousness of his failure."
Humbling here is what happens when the love a man has wronged meets him:
He humbles himself under the hand and word of the Lord. It is always so with one who, through grace, is true at bottom. The look that brings sin to mind also assures us of two things. The One against whom that sin was done is unchanged in His love, and He has provided for it all. That look works brokenness of spirit.
The verse names the people of the city alongside their king:
"But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem," Chronicles tells us. Blessed result of personal humiliation — it produced the same result in others.
The clause "in the days of Hezekiah" is a limit as well as a mercy:
The book of Chronicles links Hezekiah's humiliation with the delay of divine judgment. … The king was not alone. His court and his people had been united with him in pride and worldliness, and then united with him in humiliation. God took account of this. He would still carry out the judgment He pronounced, but later. Nearly a century would pass before its fulfilment through Nebuchadnezzar.
Even so, the man himself gained what the kingdom lost. H. L. Rossier writes that "his soul, through discipline, had recovered its fellowship with the Lord and that humble confidence in Him which it had forsaken for a moment."
- Cause — prosperity. Faith brought success, and success became the soil of pride. The nations magnified Hezekiah, and then he magnified himself.
- Test — exposure. God left him to try him, and Hezekiah learned what was in his own heart.
- Gift — bowing. He called the word of judgment against him "good." That is what humbling looked like, and a love that never changed toward him produced it.
- Reach — the city. One man's humbling produced the same humbling in others, and the whole city bowed with him.
- Result — delay. God counted their humbling and held back His wrath for a lifetime. The sentence still stood, and fell about a century later under Nebuchadnezzar.