Psalm 186 from Beyond Psalm 150
Three books in the Bible record the life of King Hezekiah. We can read his story in 2 Kings 18–20, 2 Chronicles 29–32, and Isaiah 36–38. Each passage covers similar information, yet each also provides unique content.
All three talk about an illness that brings Hezekiah close to death.
The passages in 2 Kings and Isaiah give additional information. In these accounts, Isaiah goes to the king and tells him to put his house in order, for he will soon die. Weeping, Hezekiah seeks Yahweh, asking him for a reprieve.
Right away Isaiah receives an update from God.
God now promises that Hezekiah will recover from his near-fatal illness and live another fifteen years. But Hezekiah asks Isaiah for a sign that this will happen.
This request makes sense because in the span of a few minutes, Isaiah had delivered conflicting words to the king.
To confirm that the second prophecy supersedes the first, God causes the sun to travel backward for a time to prove that Hezekiah’s recovery will take place. Hezekiah recuperates, as promised, and the king lives fifteen more years.
After Hezekiah’s recovery, he pens this psalm of praise to God:
I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.
Isaiah 38:10–20 (WEB)
I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
I said, “I won’t see Yah,
Yah in the land of the living.
I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
My dwelling is removed,
and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He will cut me off from the loom.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
I waited patiently until morning.
He breaks all my bones like a lion.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
I chattered like a swallow or a crane.
I moaned like a dove.
My eyes weaken looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.”
What will I say?
He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it.
I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
Lord, men live by these things;
and my spirit finds life in all of them:
you restore me, and cause me to live.
Behold, for peace I had great anguish,
but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
For Sheol can’t praise you.
Death can’t celebrate you.
Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today.
The father shall make known your truth to the children.
Yahweh will save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.
Reflections on Hezekiah’s Lament and Praise
When God tells Hezekiah he will soon die, the king doesn’t accept it. Instead, he seeks the Almighty and asks for more time. God changes his mind and blesses Hezekiah with another fifteen years.
Do we believe that God still changes his mind today? Have we ever heard conflicting instructions from him? What do we do to reconcile this?
When we receive discouraging news, do we accept it as inevitable or seek God’s intervention? May we discern when to ask Yahweh for a reprieve and when to accept what he decrees.
Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.
Discover more sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament throughout the Bible.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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