Isaiah 38:1

In those days The incident must have preceded by some months the embassy of Merodach-Baladan, the probable date of which will be considered in the Introduction to ch. 39. The order of the Chapter s cannot be chronological, and the vague expression "in those days" need not perhaps mean more than "in the time of Hezekiah." If, as Delitzsch and others have supposed, ch. 38 f. stood before 36 f. in the original document, the note of time would naturally refer to some other events in Isaiah's biography which had been previously narrated. The best justification of this hypothesis is the solution it furnishes of the chronological difficulties presented by this group of Chapter s.

Set thine house in order Lit. "Give commandment to thy house," the last duty of a dying man (2 Samuel 17:23). An example of what is meant may be found in David's elaborate death-bed charge to Solomon (1 Kings 2:1-9).