2 Kings — Chapter 20

In those days Ezechias was sick unto death; and Isaias the prophet the son of Amos came to him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. Lapide: Hezekiah received the announcement of his death and immediately turned his face to the wall and prayed — not from despair but from deep trust, recalling his past fidelity. God heard him even before Isaiah had left the inner court. This speed of hearing shows that God is closer to a tearful prayer than to all earthly arguments; tears are the most powerful prayer.

Go back and tell Ezechias the captain of my people: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears; and behold I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord. Lapide: God's response to Hezekiah's weeping — \"I have seen thy tears\" — shows that tears of compunction are a prayer in themselves, heard immediately. Lapide: \"Lacrimae sunt orationes sine verbis\" — tears are prayers without words. God promised healing and fifteen added years. The three days after which Hezekiah would ascend the temple are read by some Fathers as a figure of the three days of Christ's burial and resurrection.

Isaias said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had brought it, and laid it upon his ulcer, he was healed. Lapide, with Vallesius (Sacr. Philos.): The fig poultice was medicinally appropriate (figs were used to soften tumours), but the real healing was miraculous — the figs served as an instrument of the divine will, just as Elisha's salt healed the spring at Jericho. God ordinarily uses natural means as instruments of supernatural healing to show that creation serves His purposes.

Ezechias said: It is easy a thing for the shadow to go forward ten lines: I do not desire this. But let it return back ten degrees. Lapide: Hezekiah chose the harder sign — the retrogression of the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz by ten degrees — preferring a greater miracle as a greater pledge of God's faithfulness. Lapide discusses at length whether this was a local or universal phenomenon. Most commentators (including Abulensis) hold it was local to Jerusalem, the sun's light being miraculously reflected by God without a universal change in the heavens.

Ezechias said to Isaias: Good is the word of the Lord which he hath spoken; let there be peace and truth in my days. Lapide notes that some have found fault with Hezekiah for his apparent indifference to the fate of his descendants, but defends him: he did not rejoice in their misfortune, but submitted with complete resignation to the divine will. This is the model of holy resignation — accepting whatever God decrees and being at peace even with chastisements that affect those dear to us.