Isaiah 38 - Introduction

This chapter contains the record of an important transaction which occurred in the time of Isaiah, and in which he was deeply interested - the dangerous sickness, and the remarkable recovery of Hezekiah. It is introduced here, doubtless, because the account was drawn up by Isaiah (see Analysis of Isaiah 36); and because it records his agency at an important crisis of the history. A record of the same transaction, evidently from the same hand, occurs in 2 Kings 20:1. But the account differs more than the records in the two previous chapters. It is abrigded in Isaiah by omitting what is recorded in Kings in Isaiah 38:4, and in the close of Isaiah 38:6, it is transposed in the statement which occurs in regard to the application of the ‘lump of figs;’ and it is enlarged by the introduction of the record which Hezekiah made of his sickness and recovery Isaiah 38:9.

The contents of the chapter are:

1. The statement of the dangerous sickness of Hezekiah, and the message of God to him by the prophet Isaiah 38:1.

2. The prayer which Hezekiah offered for his recovery Isaiah 38:3.

3. The assurance which God gave to him by the prophet that his days should be lengthened out fifteen years, and the sign given to confirm it by the retrocession of the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz Isaiah 38:5.

4. The record which Hezekiah made in gratitude to God for his recovery Isaiah 38:9; and

5. The statement of the manner in which his recovery was effected Isaiah 38:21.