Isaiah · chapter 38 of 66
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Isaiah 38 tells how King Hezekiah falls deathly ill and receives from Isaiah the order to set his house in order. Hezekiah prays weeping, and the Lord grants him fifteen more years of life, promises to deliver Jerusalem from Assyria and confirms the promise by making the shadow on the sundial go back. The chapter also records Hezekiah's poem, which expresses his anguish and his gratitude.
Isaiah 38 follows the deliverance of Jerusalem in chapter 37 and is parallel to 2 Kings 20:1-11. It shows a personal crisis for the same king who had prayed for the city. Hezekiah's illness and prayer raise questions about the frailty of life, God's answer to prayer and gratitude for life received.
In those days Hezekiah becomes sick and is at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz comes to him and says, from the Lord, that he must set his house in order, for he will die and not recover. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays to the Lord: he remembers that he has walked before him in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and has done what is good in his sight. And Hezekiah weeps bitterly.
Before Isaiah has gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord comes: go and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, that I have heard his prayer and seen his tears; I will add fifteen years to his life, and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. As a sign that the Lord will do what he has said, he will make the shadow that has gone down on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps. So it happens. Later the account notes that Isaiah told them to apply a lump of figs to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered; he had asked what the sign would be that he would go up to the house of the Lord.
Then comes a writing of Hezekiah, after his recovery. He tells how he thought that in the middle of his days he would go to the gates of Sheol, deprived of the rest of his years, and would no longer see the Lord in the land of the living. His life was pulled up like a shepherd's tent and rolled up like a weaver's cloth. He asked the Lord to be his pledge. Then he acknowledges that the Lord has delivered him and that, even in bitterness, he has kept his life from the pit, because he has cast all his sins behind his back. Sheol cannot thank you, but the living, the living, he thanks you, as I do today. The father makes known to the children your faithfulness. The Lord is ready to save me, and we will play on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Isaiah tells Hezekiah, deathly ill, to set his house in order because he will die and not recover. It is hard news, and the text does not soften it.
The Lord answers that he has heard Hezekiah's prayer and seen his tears, and adds fifteen years to his life. Sincere prayer moves God's heart; he listens even when he has already announced a hard word.
Hezekiah acknowledges that his great bitterness was for his good and that God kept his life from the pit and cast all his sins behind his back. In his gratitude he sees not only physical healing but forgiveness.
The living is the one who praises the Lord, and the father makes known his faithfulness to his children. Life received becomes an opportunity for testimony and teaching for the next generation.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To set his house in order, because he would die and not recover. — Isaiah 38:1
Answer: He turned his face to the wall, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. — Isaiah 38:2-3
Answer: Fifteen years. — Isaiah 38:5
Answer: He would deliver Hezekiah and the city from the hand of the king of Assyria. — Isaiah 38:6
Answer: The shadow went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. — Isaiah 38:7-8
Answer: That the Lord cast all his sins behind his back. — Isaiah 38:17
Isaiah 38 shows that we can bring the hardest news to the Lord. Hezekiah does not argue with the prophet; he turns to the wall and speaks with God. In a Sunday school class you can reflect on how to pray when health or the future wobbles, without hiding fear or tears and without demanding a particular answer.
Hezekiah's poem also teaches us to remember. After his healing, he wrote down what he had lived through. In a small group you can encourage writing down the times God has answered, to tell them to children and to other believers. Life received is an opportunity to praise him.
Isaiah 38 ends with a healed king ready to go up to the temple with gratitude. Chapter 39 will show how Hezekiah uses those extra years with the visit of messengers from Babylon, an episode that prepares the announcement of the exile.
The text presents God's answer to prayer as a real action. Interpreters explain in different ways how this relates to his knowledge and plan: some stress that the announcement of death was conditional, others that God relates to his people personally. What is clear is that the Lord heard the prayer and answered.
The text mentions steps or degrees of the dial of Ahaz, over which the shadow moved. Scholars debate whether it was a sundial or a stairway used to measure time. The central point is that the Lord turned the shadow back as a sign for Hezekiah.
In Old Testament poetry, Sheol stands for the grave or the place of the dead, where praise in the present life is cut off. Hezekiah is not denying later hope; he is saying that while he lives he wants to praise the Lord and tell of his faithfulness.