Verse 1
This chapter has the account of the fatal illness survived by Hezekiah and of God's 15-year extension of his life, and also the record of the Psalm which Hezekiah wrote in commemoration and thanksgiving for the event.
"In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said unto him; set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live."
"In those days" (Isaiah 38:1) does not fix the date of Hezekiah's illness; and, consequently, there are diverse opinions as to when this event occurred. Kelley pointed out that it "is very difficult"[1] to fix the date, but thought it might be around 705 B.C. Hailey gave the date as "701 B.C."[2] Rawlinson noted that, "The illness of Hezekiah is fixed by Isaiah 38:5 here and 2 Kings 20:6 to the fourteenth year of his reign, or B.C. 714."[3] Adam Clarke listed 713 B.C. in the margin of his commentary on this verse;[4] and Cheyne wrote that, "Since, according to 2 Kings 18:2, Hezekiah reigned 29 years, his illness must have occurred in his fourteenth year, and must have synchronized, or nearly so, with the invasion of Sargon."[5]
There is too much uncertainty as to when the beginning and ending of the reigns were calculated for some of the kings mentioned in Isaiah to allow dogmatic conclusions to carry very much weight. There is also the possibility mentioned by several that God actually extended Hezekiah's life somewhat longer than the fifteen years promised here. There is also the question of the overlapping of reigns in certain cases. See the Introduction. Another possibility, already mentioned earlier is that Hezekiah calculated the latter part of his reign, after the extension of his life, as a "Second Reign." We do not pretend to have an adequate solution of this problem.
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