Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
Isa 38:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
Isa 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
Isa 38:3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Isa 38:4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
Isa 38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.
Isa 38:6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
Isa 38:7 “‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised:
Isa 38:8 I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.'” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.
Isa 38:9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
Isa 38:10 I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
Isa 38:11 I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
Isa 38:12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.
Isa 38:13 I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.
Isa 38:14 I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”
Isa 38:15 But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
Isa 38:16 Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.
Isa 38:17 Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
Isa 38:18 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
Isa 38:19 The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.
Isa 38:20 The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.
Isa 38:21 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
Isa 38:22 Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?”
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help
1 Hezekiah, having received a message of death, by prayer hath his life lengthened. 8 The sun goes ten degrees backward, for a sign of that promise. 9 His song of thanksgiving.
Isa 38:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
In those days. For comment see on 2 Kings 20:1.
Isa 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
Prayed. See on 2 Kings 20:2. Isa 38:3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Isa 38:3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
With a loyal heart. See on 2 Kings 20:3. At this time of crisis Hezekiah may have felt that the nation needed his services and that it was entirely right for him to plead his honourable record as a reason why he should be allowed to live.
Isa 38:4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
Isa 38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.
Thus saith the Lord. See on 2 Kings 20:4, 5. Hezekiah’s tears touched the heart of God, and God intervened.
Isa 38:6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ‘
I will deliver you. Deliverance was to be twofold, from death and from the hands of Sennacherib. Satan was determined to bring about both the death of Hezekiah and the fall of Jerusalem, reasoning no doubt that if Hezekiah were out of the way, his efforts at reform would cease and the fall of Jerusalem could be the more readily accomplished. The Dead Sea scroll 1QIsa adds to the verse, “for my sake and for the sake of my servant David” (see 2 Kings 20:6).
Isa 38:7 “‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised:
A sign. See on 2 Kings 20:8. Regardless of appearances, Hezekiah would be healed. The sign preceding the healing was given to strengthen his own faith and that of his people (see on ch. 37:30).
Isa 38:8 I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.'” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.
According to 2 Kings 20:9, 10, Hezekiah was given the choice of whether the shadow of the sundial should go backward or forward. He chose the more difficult alternative. Here the record is abbreviated (see on 2 Kings 20:10, 11).
Isa 38:9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
Isa 38:9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
The writing of Hezekiah. This psalm of Hezekiah (vs. 9–20) is not found in the parallel record of 2 Kings. Verses 21, 22 seem to have originally followed v. 8, but in drawing up the record in its present form Hezekiah’s poem was inserted within the narrative rather than added to it.
This verse (v. 9) forms the superscription to the psalm, and is similar to a number of the headings found in the book of Psalms. Like many of the psalms, the poem is a record of an individual’s experience, yet written in a form suitable for use in the Temple worship.
The theme of the poem is the experience of a man face to face with death praying earnestly for life, and having his prayer heard. Perhaps to make the poem suitable for liturgical use, items of a more personal nature are not mentioned.
Isa 38:10 I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
At this time Hezekiah was probably about 40 years old (see on 2 Kings 18:2, 13).
Isa 38:11 I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
Not see the Lord. Death would not bring him into the presence of God, but cut off communication with Him, as it would cut him off from contact with man (see Job 14:21; 17:13; Ps. 6:5; 115:17; 146:4; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Isa. 38:18).
Isa 38:12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.
According to the figure Hezekiah’s abode would be removed from the land of the living to that of the dead (see 2 Cor. 5:1–3; cf. Phil. 1:23).
Hezekiah has been weaving the web of life, but the pattern is now to be changed, and he must roll up the web before the pattern has been completed and cut it from the loom. In this figure Hezekiah expresses his disappointment and frustration at the prospect of prematurely terminating what seems to him a half-completed task.
Isa 38:13 I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.
Finding himself within the relentless grasp of an enemy—disease—before which he is powerless, Hezekiah faces the prospect of reconciling himself to what appears to be the inevitable. The entire verse is missing in the Dead Sea scroll 1QIsb, but is found in 1QIsa.
Isa 38:14 I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid
Hezekiah compares his cries in suffering to the plaintive calls of the birds here mentioned. At times he would groan aloud; again, only inwardly and inaudibly. He scarcely has strength to lift up his eyes to God and cry for deliverance from the terror that stands over him like an executioner with his weapon raised.
The figure is that of a debtor who finds himself in the hands of an exacting creditor. Death presses Hezekiah for immediate payment, and he appeals to God to rescue him.
Is Isa 38:15 But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul
If the Lord, whom he considered his Friend, has permitted him to come to the gates of death—what can he say? There is nothing left for him to do but to grieve and bemoan his fate, to pass his days in bitterness of soul.
Isa 38:16 Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.
Man lives by the words of God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4), whether it be the life of the body or of the soul. When Hezekiah found physical life and healing, he also found spiritual restoration. In restoring the king’s body to health the Lord granted far more than he had asked (see Isa. 38:17; Matt. 9:2–7).
Isa 38:17 Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
The affliction that brought Hezekiah so much anguish was not for his hurt but for his benefit. God looked upon him in tender compassion and lifted him out of the pit of corruption. It was the power of divine love that saved him from the power of death.
All my sins.
The healing of the body was tangible assurance of the healing of his soul. Divine forgiveness is not simply a legal transaction that releases a man from paying the penalty for past offenses; it is a transforming power that restores and strengthens the spiritual man’s nature and shapes him anew in the moral image of his Creator.
Isa 38:18 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
The grave. Death brings the complete cessation of all thought and activity (see on Ps. 115:17; 146:4; Eccl. 9:5). What particularly distressed Hezekiah was the thought that in death he could not give thanks or praise to God (Ps. 6:5; 30:9; 88:10, 11; 115:17).
Isa 38:19 The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.
Thankfulness inspired Hezekiah to tell others of the faithfulness and goodness of God.
Isa 38:20 The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.
The fact of God’s readiness to save Hezekiah bore him up in a transport of joy, expressed in this psalm (see on v. 9).
We will sing. The remainder of v. 20 is in the form of a postscript stating the king’s purpose in composing the psalm and his intention as to the use to be made of it.
Isa 38:21 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
Aa fig poultice (see on 2 Kings 20:7). The Lord might have healed Hezekiah without the use of this poultice, but where natural remedies exist God intends that they should be used in the healing of disease. To use them does not show a lack of faith; on the contrary, a refusal to do so is presumption and reveals a lack of sound judgment.
Isa 38:22 Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?”
See on 2 Kings 20:8. Through Isaiah the Lord had already told Hezekiah that he would be healed and that on the third day he would be able to go to the house of the Lord (2 Kings 20:5). For comment concerning the nature of this sign see on Isa. 38:7, 8.