Isaiah 38:1 - Exposition

In those days . The illness of Hezekiah is fixed by Isaiah 38:5 (and 2 Kings 20:6 ) to the fourteenth year of his reign, or b.c. 714. The entire narrative of this chapter and the next is therefore thirteen or fourteen years earlier than that of Isaiah 36:1-22 ; Isaiah 37:1-38 ; which belongs to Hezekiah's closing years, b.c. 701-698 (see the comment on Isaiah 26:1 , Isaiah 26:2 ). Sick unto death ; i.e. attacked by a malady which, if it had run its natural course, would have been fatal. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz . This double designation of Isaiah, by his office and by his descent, marks the original independence of this narrative, which was not intended for a continuation of Isaiah 37:1-38 . Thou shalt die, and not live . Prophecies were often threats, and, when such, were conditional, announcing results which would follow unless averted by prayer or repentance (compare Jonah's prophecy, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," Jonah 3:4 ).