2 Kings 20:1-7 (ESV)
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”
Hezekiah was a good king. Throughout the book of 2 Kings the stories of the various kinds always start out with a declaration by the Spirit of God that states whether they were a good king or an evil king. Note the following said about him in the beginning of this passage:
2 Kings 18:3 (ESV)
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
So, He did right. He will eventually do wrong, as they all seem to do, but for the most part Hezekiah did good things, meaning he obeyed God’s commands. He was also a man of prayer. In the above text we see one of these times of prayer. Sick and told that he would die he turns to God and ask God to remember all the good things he did for God. God rewards him with more time on the planet. He will eventually prove he is not worthy of this extra time, but he is given it by God as gift and answer to his prayer. It is assumed that many people on the earth have asked God to live longer. This is a story of a specific ask and a specific answer of 15 years. Notice, however, at the end of the passage, that the prophet Isaiah instructs Hezekiah’s servants to dress the wound Hezekiah is afflicted with by putting a “cake of figs” on the boil. Fig trees are used often in the Bible for many reasons. One of which is as a symbol or sign for redemption. If you do a search for the fig tree in God’s Word you will find many times it is used by the prophets as well as Jesus in the New Testament. When Isaiah instructed them top a cake of figs on Hezekiah’s boil we have to ask if it was a medicinal or a miracle? It was probably more a sign miracle, meaning that for those around Hezekiah it as a sign of the prophet’s prayer being heard. If there was anything medicinal in the cake, it was provided by Isaiah’s prayer over it. The more likely thought is that since Hezekiah prayed and God answered, the prophet was instructed to provide the cake to show the connection between the King, the Prophet and God. The people would understand that if something was instructed by the prophet, it was from the hand of God. That is the point that needed to be made. Hezekiah prayed and God intervened. That is the significance of prayer and God’s intervention in a life. We ought not to be afraid to ask God to do great things for us. God does and will intervene as He sees fit. Prayer changes things whether it is followed by a cake of figs or not!
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