PRIMARY
AGE: 6 - 7
YEARS
STANDARD
(GRADE): I & II
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LESSON – 20
KING HEZEKIAH IS HEALED
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There was a king called
Hezekiah who ruled over the Kingdom of Judah. He was a righteous king. He loved
God and obeyed His commandments. One time King Hezekiah became very ill. Prophet
Isaiah lived in Israel at that time. While King Hezekiah was sick, God sent
prophet Isaiah to him with a message. King Hezekiah was disappointed when he
heard the message. Prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah to make arrangements to
hand over his responsibilities and set his house in order because he was not
going to live long. King Hezekiah decided to ask God for help!
As soon as Prophet
Isaiah left, King Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and cried. He began
to pray to God and pleaded with him to remember all the righteous things he had
done for God. God listened to King Hezekiah’s prayers.
God told Prophet Isaiah to go back to Hezekiah and tell him that He had heard his prayers and would heal him. In three days, King Hezekiah would be better enough to go to the Temple of God. God revealed through his prophet that He would add fifteen more years to King Hezekiah’s life. Prophet Isaiah did just as God told him to do. He went to King Hezekiah and told him what God said. Prophet Isaiah also instructed King Hezekiah’s servants to apply a lump of pressed figs on the boils causing his illness.
King Hezekiah
wanted a sign from the Lord that he would go to the Temple in three days and
would live for fifteen more years. Prophet Isaiah asked him whether the shadow on
the sundial of Ahaz should go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees as a
sign of his miraculous healing. King Hezekiah said it should go back ten degrees.
Do you know a long time ago people did not have watches or
clocks to mark time? They would tell time by the shadows the sun would make as
it moved across the sky! An instrument called sundial was used for this purpose.
The sun cast a shadow on the dial and as the shadow moved with the declining
sun, it would show the passing of time. Normally the shadow would move forward
as the day progressed. But God’s sign to Hezekiah was to make the shadow cast
by the sun move backwards by ten degrees.
As King Hezekiah watched, a miracle happened! The shadow from the sun falling on the sundial retreated and moved backwards by ten degrees. King Hezekiah knew God would make him well, since it happened just as Prophet Isaiah told him. King Hezekiah’s servants applied a lump of pressed figs on the boils on his body as advised by Prophet Isaiah.
King Hezekiah was healed from
his illness and lived fifteen more years. King Hezekiah was thankful to God for
his delivery. King Hezekiah composed a beautiful song of praise to be sung in
the Temple of God with stringed instruments after recovering from his illness
(Isaiah 38:20)
Holy Bible
Reference: II Kings 20, Isaiah
38
Memory verse: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save
me and I shall be saved, for You are my praise. (Jeremiah 17:14)
Teacher’s
notes:
Even though, it is generally considered that the shadow went
backwards in the sundial of Ahaz, there is an alternative explanation given by
Bible scholars. The Hebrew word for sundial given in the Holy Bible is “maalah”, which
is used to denote "steps" or "stairs" in the Old Testament.
Jerusalem was built on a hilly region with two deep valleys. There were
steps that descended eastward down the slope, with the Palace buildings on the
top. This made the shadow of the Palace roof to fall upon the topmost step, and
thereafter the shadow would move down the stairs to the end, as the day
progressed. That is the shadow that had gone down ten of the steps (or 'degrees')
and turned backward, which was given as a sign to King Hezekiah. According to historian
Josephus (Antiquities, Book X, Chapter 2), the shadow had gone down ten
steps of the staircase and then returned.
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ASSESSMENT
ACTIVITIES
Answer the following questions:
1. Which Kingdom did King Hezekiah rule over?
......................................................................................
2. Who came to visit King Hezekiah when he was ill?
.......................................................................................
3. How many years did God add to King Hezekiah’s life?
........................................................................................
4. How
many steps did King Hezekiah want the shadow to go back?
.......................................................................................
5.
Prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah’s servants to apply a lump of which fruit?
.......................................................................................
Match
the following:
1. Hezekiah - Time
2. Isaiah
- Pressed figs
3. Ahaz - King
4. Hezekiah’s servants
- Prophet
5. Shadow - Sundial
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