Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 38:4

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Hezekiah’s illness and recovery (38:1-22)

The events recorded in Chapters 38 and 39 probably happened before those of the previous chapters. Hezekiah was about to die (38:1), but in answer to his prayer God gave him an extension of life. It seems that the reason for preserving Hezekiah’s life was to enable him to bring Judah through the time of conflict with Assyria (2-6). God gave Hezekiah a miraculous sign to confirm that this extension of life was according to the divine will (7-8).
Hezekiah then sang a psalm of praise to God for his recovery. He had expected to die, and his lack of knowledge of the future life gave him no cause for joy at all. Life seemed to him so short. Death, it seemed, would cut him off from all living things, even God (9-13). He was depressed, knowing he could do nothing to help himself, for life and death were in God’s hands (14-15).
This realization, however, now gave Hezekiah cause for hope. If his life was in God’s hands, God could save him. He realized that his sickness had been sent by God for his own benefit, so that his faith might be strengthened (16-17). He could not praise God if he were dead, but he could if he remained alive. He therefore determined that he would keep on praising God, both privately before his children and publicly in the temple (18-20).
Isaiah, who had announced God’s promise of healing to the king (see v. 4-6), adds a note to explain how the healing may have come about (21-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Then came the word of Jehovah unto Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”

The parallel account in 2 Kings 20:4 reveals that Isaiah left Hezekiah and was on the way to departing from the palace, being as far as the middle court, when the Word of God came to Isaiah again, instructing him to reveal that the Lord had heard his prayers and was extending his life by some fifteen years. “So swiftly does God answer the prayer of faith!”The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 10b, p. 37. From this we may conclude that God approves of our prayers for health, for life and for strength.

As Douglas commented, this great prayer of Isaiah, “May be ranked with Abraham’s intercession for Sodom, with Elijah’s prayer for rain, and with the Syrophoenician’s pleading with the Saviour for her daughter.”George C. M. Douglas, p. 293.

Notice that the disease that threatened Hezekiah was a fatal malady; yet Hezekiah did not fail to pray. We believe that Christians today, due to the increase of knowledge, appear to settle such matters without regard to God, much in the same manner that a deacon in Bakersfield, California, once prayed for a patient diagnosed as being terminally ill with cancer, praying, in substance, as follows: “God, we know there’s nothing you can do for him, but if possible help him to be easy in his last days!” To us, such a prayer approaches blasphemy. This writer has definite knowledge of a man from Moundsville, West Virginia, who was diagnosed as having “inoperable cancer of the trachea” by seven of the leading surgeons in Washington, D.C., whose principal physician was Dr. James Jerry McFarland, a noted surgeon in that city. That man was given a maximum life expectancy of six months, but eight years later he walked into Dr. McFarland’s office completely whole. He said that God healed him. This report, incidentally was reported in the American Medical Journal (approximately 1955).

As Jamieson correctly commented: “At this point, Isaiah 38:21-22 would normally have appeared in the narrative; but Isaiah placed them later in order not to interrupt the message of God.”Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary, p. 471.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Then came the word of the Lord - In the parallel place in 2 Kings 20:4, it is said, ‘And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came unto him.’ That is, the message of God name to Isaiah before he had left Hezekiah; or as soon as he had offered his prayer. This circumstance is omitted by Isaiah on the revision of his narrative which we have before us. But there is no contradiction. In this place it is implied that the message came to him soon, or immediately.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

4.Then came the word of Jehovah. Isaiah had departed, leaving the sting, as the saying is, in the wound, reckoning as abandoned him on whom he had pronounced sentence in the name of God himself. Yet with what trembling uneasiness he was tormented, and even with what terror he was seized, may be partly learned from the song. What interval of time elapsed between the Prophet’s departure and return we know not, but it is certain that the glad tidings of life were not brought until, after long and severe struggles, he perceived that he was utterly’ ruined; for it was a severe trial of faith that he should be kept plunged in darkness by the hiding of God’s face. We have said that, while the doctrine of consolation was taken away, still the faith of the good king was not extinguished so as not to emit some sparks, because, by the secret influence of the Spirit, “groans that could not be uttered” (Romans 8:26) arose to God out of the gulf of sorrow. Hence also we conclude that, while “in the day of trouble” (Psalms 50:15) God heareth believers, yet the favor of God does not all at once shine on them, but is purposely delayed till they are sincerely humbled. And if a king so eminent in piety needed almost to suffer anguish, that he might be more powerfully excited to seek the favor of God, and, being almost wasted by grief, might groan from hell to God; let us not wonder if he sometimes permits us for a time to be agitated by fears and perplexities, and delays longer to bestow consolation in answer to our prayers.

But it may be thought strange that God, having uttered a sentence, should soon afterwards be moved, as it were, by repentance to reverse it; for nothing is more at variance with his nature than a change of purpose. I reply, while death was threatened against Hezekiah, still God had not decreed it, but determined in this manner to put to the test the faith of Hezekiah. We must, therefore, suppose a condition to be implied in that threatening; for otherwise Hezekiah would not have altered, by repentance or prayer, the irreversible decree of God. But the Lord threatened him in the same manner as he threatened Gerar for carrying off Sarah, (Genesis 20:3,) and as he threatened the Ninevites. (Jonah 1:2.)

Again, it will be objected, that it appears to be inconsistent with the nature of God to threaten what he does not intend to execute, and that it takes away from the authority of the word, and causes the promises and threatenings to have less weight. But what we have already said as to the sentence must likewise be maintained as to the form of the words. God threatened the death of Hezekiah, because he was unwilling that Hezekiah should die; and, indeed, it would have been unnecessary and even useless to predict it, if a remedy had not been provided. Now, as it was the purpose of God to humble his servant by fear and terror, that he might voluntarily condemn himself, and might thus escape punishment through prayer; so by harsh language and an absolute threatening of death, he intended to slay him, that, rising like a dead man out of the grave, he might feel that life had been restored to him. And thus we must suppose an implied condition to have been understood, which Hezekiah, if he did not immediately perceive it, yet afterwards in good time knew to have been added. Nor are we at liberty to infer from it that God used dissimulation by accommodating his discourse to the capacity and attainments of man; for it is no new thing if he “kill before he make alive.” (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6.) In order to prepare Hezekiah by a spiritual resemblance of death, and gradually form him to a new life, he keeps back a part of the discourse.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 38

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set your house in order: for you shall die, and not live ( Isaiah 38:1 ).

These are pretty heavy tidings. You get sick and a prophet of God comes and says, "Hey, set your house in order, man, this is it. You're going to die and not live." There are things that we must take care of before we die. Important things to take care of. The most important thing that I take care of before I die is my relationship with God. And that's really what the prophet was referring to. "Set your house in order. You're going to die and not live."

So Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before you in truth and with a complete heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept. Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add fifteen years to you. And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down ( Isaiah 38:2-8 ).

Interesting thing. Just to prove a point that what God said is true. "All right, I'll give you fifteen years. Don't cry. And to prove it, I'll bring the shadow on the sundial back ten degrees." So here is actually a long day. Ten degrees backward, and by the time it started again would give you about a forty-five minute lapse time here as God took... Now how did God pull that one off? I don't know. There are those who scoff at the miracles in the Bible and try to either rationalize them completely or just say that they didn't exist. We have the case in Joshua's time where the sun stood still for the space of almost a day in order that Joshua was able to completely wipe out the enemies.

Now if the sun stood still in the evening time and the moon there in the valley of Ajalon, then it would mean that over here on this side of the earth they would have had a long night, which, of course, the Aztec and Inca records do record. And Velikovsky in his book, Worlds in Collision, traces this long day of Joshua around the world. Now there are the scoffers who say, "Wait a minute, the sun doesn't revolve around the earth anyhow. We have that kind of an illusion only because the earth is spinning on its axis. So rather than the sun standing still, it must be that the earth came to a halt. But the earth is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and if the earth would suddenly stop, everybody would be thrown off." And so they tried to deny the reality of that miracle through this idea that anything stopped spinning at a thousand miles an hour, everything would be thrown off of it.

Well, who said God put on the brakes that hard? Say God took fifteen minutes to slow the earth to a stop? Oh my, that's easing down, because from a thousand miles in fifteen minutes, you would hardly even notice the brakes being applied at that speed. So if God, say, slowed it down in five minutes, it would be like applying your brakes at sixty miles an hour to stop at a signal that is a half a mile away. So there's no problem. God didn't just slam on the brakes, yank, and everybody goes flying off. He just applied the brakes, stopped the thing. The miracle to me is how did He get it going again? Now here is a little bit better. He actually reversed the thing a little bit. Let it go back ten degrees before He fired it up. So the only reason why people have difficulty with these facets of scriptures is because their concept of God is so small. And the reason why their concept of God is small is because they have created their own ideas of God.

If you believe in the God that is revealed in the Bible, then these things present absolutely no problem at all. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" ( Genesis 1:1 ). That's a pretty big God. And if He created the heavens and the earth, He has no problem in guiding and directing and in stopping if He wants the rotation of this earth upon its axis for a moment. Starting it up again. It's an interesting thing Velikovsky in his book believes that when God started up again, He started in the opposite direction. That actually the earth used to rotate from west to east. He believes and seeks to prove it in his book. But interesting. God just to prove to the king, "Hey, I mean it. Show you little proof just to encourage you."

Now when Hezekiah was sick, this is what he wrote. You talk about a negative confession. I mean, this guy had a classic negative confession. So this is what Hezekiah wrote when he was sick.

I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go down to the gates of hell: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me ( Isaiah 38:10-13 ).

Boy, what a negative confession! Now if what you say is what you get, then Hezekiah really would have been done in. But in spite of all of his negative confessions, God answered his prayer and gave him fifteen years. But that brings up a problem. Should he really have died at that time? It would appear that God's primary will for Hezekiah was that he should die at that time.

There's a theological debate on whether or not prayer really changes things. Can I by prayer really change the mind of God? God declares, "Behold, I am God, I change not" ( Malachi 3:6 ). Should I by prayer seek to change the mind of God? What would be the purpose of changing the mind of God? The only purpose I can see of seeking to change the mind of God is that I've got a smarter thought than God does. "Now God, I want You to see it my way."

It is interesting how that so often in our prayers they are really real hyped jobs in trying to, in a sense, change the mind of God-at least the way we pray it. It is as though we're trying to make God see it our way and to convince God that our way is right. To sell God on my program here. But is that really the real thrust of prayer and the purpose of prayer, to change the mind of God? Does prayer really change God?

Now it would appear that there is a direct will of God for our lives, but then there is this area that we might title the permissive will of God for us. And quite often, God's direct will is expressed first. This is what is best. But I get in there and I begin to push and shove and insist and God says, "Well, all right. If that's what you really want, have at it."

It would appear that this did happen when Barak the king sent to Balaam to curse the people that were coming through the land. And Balaam prayed unto the Lord and the Lord said unto Balaam, "Do not go down to the king. Do not curse these people because they are My people." So Balaam sent back a message to Barak and said, "I'm sorry, king, I can't come down. The Lord won't let me. Neither can I curse these people for the same reason." So king Barak sent other messengers with great rewards, a lot of loot, and said, "Just come on down and counsel me concerning these people that are coming through the land." So Balaam was a greedy fellow and when he saw all the loot that the king was offering for counseling fees, he thought, "Wow, could I ever use that! Get me a new donkey and a new house." And greed really filled his heart.

So he prayed again. Now God had already said don't go down. But I can hear Balaam this time, "Oh, Lord, just please let me go. Lord, just, I'll be good, Lord. But oh, just let me go down, Lord. After all, what can it hurt me going down, Lord? Please, God." God finally said, "All right, go ahead, but you just be careful you don't say any more than what I tell you." But the anger of the Lord was kindled against Balaam. Evidently, you see, though Balaam insisted and God more or less gave him a tentative, "Sure do it," yet it wasn't God's direct will for this guy's life because an angel of the Lord stood in the path with a drawn sword. And that wise little donkey saw the angel though Balaam didn't. And he turned off the path and Balaam beat him and got him back on the path. But again the angel of the Lord stood where there was a cliff and the donkey edged up against the side of the cliff and got old Balaam's ankle, and he beat the donkey again and got him going. The third time and the angel stood in the path there was no place for the donkey to go; he just sat down. And Balaam began to beat him. And the donkey turned around and said, "You think that's right beating me three times? Haven't I been a faithful donkey ever since you owned me? Have I ever done anything like this to you before?" Balaam was so angry he answered the donkey back and said, "You bet your life I'd do right to beat you. If I had a stick I'd kill you."

He evidently was insisting that God allow him to go and God permissively said, "Yes, go." And yet, it wasn't the direct will of God. God allows things that are not His direct will. I can force my will. I can force my way. Where God more or less reluctantly says, "Well, if that's what you want, have at it." But yet, it isn't really pleasing to God. Now whenever these issues are forced, then the consequences are always disastrous.

I believe that Hezekiah's time to die had come and I think he would have been much better off. I know the nation of Israel would have been much better off had Hezekiah died at that time. Those extra fifteen years that God allowed him were disastrous. For two years later he had a son named Manasseh who became the ruler, the king over Judah when Hezekiah died, and Manasseh was indeed the foulest, rottenest king that ever reigned in Judah. And it was a result of Manasseh's ungodly reign that Judah got on the road downhill from which it was never able to recover. Now had Hezekiah died when God planned and wanted him to die, then Manasseh would never have been born and the history for the nation could have been different.

Whenever we insist upon our way over God's, you're not getting the best. God's way is always the best. Though we may not understand it or see it at the time, God's way is always the best. So it is possible that through our pig-headed bullishness, we might be able to get God to consent to something that we desire. But the result is always negative. How much better that we learn to say, "Oh God, Thy will be done," and to flow in the center of God's will. So Hezekiah prayed, cried, oh, he really was going at it.

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter ( Isaiah 38:14 ):

All night long here he was chattering like a little bird.

I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me ( Isaiah 38:14 ).

You see, he was really going at it. And God said, "Come on, you want fifteen years, all right." The guy's just really going at it. God said, "Ah, shut up. Fifteen years, go ahead, take it."

What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The LORD was ready to save me: therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life ( Isaiah 38:15-20 )

So this is a song that he wrote during this time and it's a psalm of Hezekiah.

For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it on as a plaster on his boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD? ( Isaiah 38:21-22 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Hezekiah’s illness 38:1-8

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God sent His answer to Hezekiah’s prayer back to him through Isaiah (cf. 2 Kings 20:4). The Lord identified Himself as the God of David, his forefather. Perhaps the reference to David helped Hezekiah remember God’s promises to David about the perpetuity of his dynasty (2 Samuel 7). This reminded the king that God would remain faithful and care for His people.

God had noted Hezekiah’s prayer and his tears, and they had touched Him. The Lord graciously promised him 15 more years of life. Long life was a blessing that God had promised the godly under the Old Covenant, so His grace was in harmony with His promises.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah,.... Before he had got out into the middle court, 2 Kings 20:4:

saying, as follows:

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.   2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,   3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.   4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,   5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.   6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.   7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;   8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

      We may hence observe, among others, these good lessons:-- 1. That neither men's greatness nor their goodness will exempt them from the arrests of sickness and death. Hezekiah, a mighty potentate on earth and a mighty favourite of Heaven, is struck with a disease, which, without a miracle, will certainly be mortal; and this in the midst of his days, his comforts, and usefulness. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. It should seem, this sickness seized him when he was in the midst of his triumphs over the ruined army of the Assyrians, to teach us always to rejoice with trembling. 2. It concerns us to prepare when we see death approaching: "Set thy house in order, and thy heart especially; put both thy affections and thy affairs into the best posture thou canst, that, when thy Lord comes, thou mayest be found of him in peace with God, with thy own conscience, and with all men, and mayest have nothing else to do but to die." Our being ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but much the easier: and those that are fit to die are most fit to live. 3. Is any afflicted with sickness? Let him pray,James 5:13. Prayer is a salve for every sore, personal or public. When Hezekiah was distressed by his enemies he prayed; now that he was sick he prayed. Whither should the child go, when any thing ails him, but to his Father? Afflictions are sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our knees. When Hezekiah was in health he went up to the house of the Lord to pray, for that was then the house of prayer. When he was sick in bed he turned his face towards the wall, probably towards the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom we must look by faith in every prayer. 4. The testimony of our consciences for us that by the grace of God we have lived a good life, and have walked closely and humbly with God, will be a great support and comfort to us when we come to look death in the face. And though we may not depend upon it as our righteousness, by which to be justified before God, yet we may humbly plead it as an evidence of our interest in the righteousness of the Mediator. Hezekiah does not demand a reward from God for his good services, but modestly begs that God would remembers, not how he had reformed the kingdom, taken away the high places, cleansed the temple, and revived neglected ordinances, but, which was better than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices, how he had approved himself to God with a single eye and an honest heart, not only in these eminent performances, but in an even regular course of holy living: I have walked before thee in truth and sincerity, and with a perfect, that is, an upright, heart; for uprightness is our gospel perfection. 5. God has a gracious ear open to the prayers of his afflicted people. The same prophet that was sent to Hezekiah with warning to prepare for death is sent to him with a promise that he shall not only recover, but be restored to a confirmed state of health and live fifteen years yet. As Jerusalem was distressed, so Hezekiah was diseased, that God might have the glory of the deliverance of both, and that prayer too might have the honour of being instrumental in the deliverance. When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven us, that his grace shall be sufficient for us, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his, we have no reason to say that we pray in vain. God answers us if he strengthens us with strength in our souls, though not with bodily strength, Psalms 138:3. 6. A good man cannot take much comfort in his own health and prosperity unless withal he see the welfare and prosperity of the church of God. Therefore God, knowing what lay near Hezekiah's heart, promised him not only that he should live, but that he should see the good of Jerusalem all the days of his life (Psalms 128:5), otherwise he cannot live comfortably. Jerusalem, which is now delivered, shall still be defended from the Assyrians, who perhaps threatened to rally again and renew the attack. Thus does God graciously provide to make Hezekiah upon all accounts easy. 7. God is willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that they may have an unshaken faith in it, and therewith a strong consolation. God had given Hezekiah repeated assurances of his favour; and yet, as if all were thought too little, that he might expect from him uncommon favours, a sign is given him, an uncommon sign. None that we know of having had an absolute promise of living a certain number of years to come, as Hezekiah had, God thought fit to confirm this unprecedented favour with a miracle. The sign was the going back of the shadow upon the sun-dial. The sun is a faithful measurer of time, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race; but he that set that clock a going can set it back when he pleases, and make it to return; for the Father of all lights is the director of them.