Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?
Isaiah 38:22 belongs to the historical account of Hezekiah's sickness and the Lord's healing of him. In that account God mercifully interposed to defer the execution of a threatened death and grant him a further period of life. The verse records his petition in which he asked for a sign that he would go up to the house of the Lord. The chapter is an example of asking for one's own will rather than submitting to God's will, in that Hezekiah urged his request until it was granted, and the outcome serves as an admonition.
His healing, with its accompanying astronomical miracle, gave him an opportunity to reveal God and the gospel to Babylon. That miracle drew Babylonian leaders to Judea to learn the truth. Instead of giving God glory for his healing, he displayed himself and his kingdom's earthly riches and wealth to the Babylonian ambassadors, turning their attention from spiritual life and light toward spoil and stirring their desire to seize the riches.
Isaiah 38:22 belongs to the historical account of Hezekiah's sickness and the Lord's healing of him. In that account God mercifully interposed to defer the execution of a threatened death and grant him a further period of life. The verse records his petition in which he asked for a sign that he would go up to the house of the Lord. The chapter is an example of asking for one's own will rather than submitting to God's will, in that Hezekiah urged his request until it was granted, and the outcome serves as an admonition.
His healing, with its accompanying astronomical miracle, gave him an opportunity to reveal God and the gospel to Babylon. That miracle drew Babylonian leaders to Judea to learn the truth. Instead of giving God glory for his healing, he displayed himself and his kingdom's earthly riches and wealth to the Babylonian ambassadors, turning their attention from spiritual life and light toward spoil and stirring their desire to seize the riches.