Isaiah 38:5 - Exposition

Thus saith the Lord,… I have heard thy prayer . According to the author of Kings, the full message sent to Hezekiah was, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold , I will heal thee : on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy clays fifteen years; and I will deliver time and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake , and for my servant David ' s sake " ( 2 Kings 20:5 , 2 Kings 20:6 ). The words in italics are additional to those here reported by Isaiah. Fifteen years . This was doubling, or rather more than doubling, the length of Hezekiah's reign, and allowing him a length of life exceeding that of the great majority of the kings of Judah, who seldom attained the age of fifty. Hezekiah lived to be fifty-four.