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ISAIAH CHAPTER 38
OBSERVATION STAGE
The purpose of
the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the
normative rules of language, context and logic 
.
.This
limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Isaiah. This
will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more
importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective
comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.
Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.
(Isa 38:1 NKJV) ''''In those days, Hezekiah [had become] sick [unto dying]. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz went to him and said to him, '''Thus the LORD [has said] to him, "Set your house in order, for [your shall be dying] and you will not live." '''
(Isa 38:2 NKJV) Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he prayed to the LORD
(Isa 38:3 NKJV) And he [Hezekiah] said, "[Please] remember [now that] I have walked before You [with faithfulness] and with a [complete] heart, and the good in Your sight that I have done." And Hezekiah wept bitterly [lit., a great weeping]
(Isa 38:4 NKJV) And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, [lit. to say],
(Isa 38:5 NKJV) "Go and [say to] Hezekiah, 'Thus [has said] the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; [behold] I [am adding] to your days fifteen years.
(Isa 38:6 NKJV) [And] I will [rescue] you and this city and I will defend this city from the hand of the king of Assyria."
(Isa 38:7 NKJV) And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken:
(Isa 38:8 NASB) "Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway [sundial], which has gone down with the sun on the [stairway / sundial] of Ahaz, to go back ten steps [degrees]." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps [degrees] on the stairway on which it had gone down.
(Isa 38:9 NASB) A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
(Isa 38:10 NASB) "I said, 'In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol [realm of the afterlife]; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.'
(Isa 38:11 NASB) I said, 'I shall not see the LORD, [even] the LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.'
(Isa 38:12 NASB) Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed [has been uncovered] from me; [in the sense of his life span is over]. As a weaver I [have] rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make and end of me.
(Isa 38:13 NASB) I have considered [lit., quieted myself] until morning - Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me.
(Isa 38:14 NASB) Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
(Isa 38:15 HOLMAN) What can I say? [Since] He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
(Isa 38:16 NASB) O LORD, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health [lit., strength] and let me live!
(Isa 38:17 NASB) Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You Who has kept my soul from the pit of [destruction], For you have cast all my sins behind Your back.
(Isa 38:18 NASB) For Sheol [realm of the afterlife] cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
(Isa 38:19 NKJV) The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father [makes] known Your truth to the children
(Isa 38:20 HOLMAN) The LORD will save me; we will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the LORD
(Isa 38:21 NASB) Now Isaiah said, 'Let them [lift up] a cake of [pressed] figs, and apply it [as a poultice on] the boil, [then he will live].'
(Isa 38:22 NKJV) And Hezekiah ...said, 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD? ' " ''' ''''
(Isa 38:1 NKJV) '''In those days, Hezekiah [had been] sick [and] near death. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz went to him and said to him, "Thus the LORD [had said] to him, 'Set your house in order, for [your shall be dying] and you will not live.' " ''' '''' =
When
Sennacherib, king of Assyria and his armies swept through Judah and
reached the fortified city of Laschish near Jerusalem in 701 B.C; King
Hezekiah trembled before the Assyrians. He showed no faith in the LORD's
repeated promises of deliverance, (Isa 10:24-25; 31:5; 37:35). Hezekiah's
alliance with Egypt, which was made against the command of the LORD, had
already been defeated at Eltekeh ,
proving that the Egyptians were useless against the vast Assyrian forces.
Instead of trusting alone in the LORD to protect Jerusalem and the people
of the LORD, King Hezekiah sent a message to the king of Assyria at
Lachish saying, "I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you
impose on me I will pay," (2 Kings 18:14). And the king of Assyria
assessed Hezekiah king of Judah a ransom of three hundred talents of
silver [~ ten metric tons] and thirty talents of gold - a huge fortune,
which in part came from stripping gold from the House of the LORD to give
to the blaspheming Sennacherib, king of Assyria - a great offense to the
LORD! (cf. 2 Kings 18:14-18 ).
And that did not change Sennacherib's intent to destroy
Jerusalem and take the people of the LORD into captivity, (Isa 36:1-7
.)!!
When
Hezekiah pleaded with king Sennacherib of Assyria for mercy and sent the
huge ransom, his dependence upon the LORD was totally lacking. His
relationship with the LORD was estranged. Hezekiah had been repeatedly
told not to seek any alliances such as he had done with Egypt, (cf. Isa
30:1-7 ).
The King was to rely solely upon the LORD. Hence Hezekiah had become
terminally ill at the hand of the LORD, (cf. Isa 38:15).
Isaiah told him that the LORD had said for him to set his house in order
for he would die. So Hezekiah prayed to the LORD for mercy with bitter
tears at the premature ending of his life. When Hezekiah turned to the
LORD in prayer, he began to grow in his faith in the LORD. He received the
LORD's mercies of recovery and fifteen more years to live; and the LORD
repeated His promise that He would rescue him and the city of Jerusalem,
i.e., defend the city from the hand of the king of Assyria, (cf. Isa
38:5-6). This implied that the time for that rescue had not yet come but
was close at hand. Hezekiah's turning to the LORD was especially evident
in his writing about his illness and his recovery. In that writing he
wrote of his joy at regaining his health; his salvation from sins unto
eternal life; and he honored the LORD with thanksgiving and praise.
So the phrase in Isa 38:1 rendered "In those days, King
Hezekiah [had become] sick [unto dying]," in the NKJV referred to the
period of time just after Hezekiah pleaded for mercy and
paid the huge ransom to Sennacherib. Since
Hezekiah died in 686 B.C., his illness and recovery occurred fifteen years
earlier, sometime in the year 701 B.C. - the year of Sennacherib's
invasion of Judah.
Since
Hezekiah's terminal illness came right after his unfaithfulness and
estrangement from the LORD when he pleaded for mercy and paid Assyria the
ransom; and since the LORD declared in His answer to Hezekiah's prayer for
mercy, that He would rescue Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem from the
hand of the king of Assyria; then the timeframe of his illness and
recovery was evidently before Sennacherib sent his great army from
Laschish to surround Jerusalem and make demands to Hezekiah for Jerusalem
to surrender to enslavement or be tortured and destroyed
.
When Sennacherib made harsh demands for Hezekiah to surrender, Hezekiah
continued to show faith in the LORD. He did not respond to Sennacherib's
demands for surrender. Instead he sought the LORD's protection through the
prayers of Isaiah the Prophet, (Isa 37:1-7 );
and shortly thereafter, King Hezekiah prayed directly and earnestly to the
LORD for deliverance with great spiritual fervor and wisdom. He evidenced
a great concern for the Holiness and Sovereignty of the LORD which the
blaspheming Sennacherib had mocked, (Isa 37:14-20
).
Whereupon Hezekiah's prayers were answered: the LORD promised once more to
protect His people and His city - stipulating that Sennacherib would
receive a spirit and be sent away to his homeland where he would die by
the sword .
The next day, Sennacherib's great army lay dead at the gates of Jerusalem
and Sennacherib was on his way back to his land, leaving Jerusalem
untouched, .,
(Isa 38:1).
(Isa 39:1 NKJV) ''At that time Merodach-Baladan, [Marduk-Apla-Idinna], the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard [lit., was hearing] that he had been sick and had recovered [lit., was recovering]." =
The arrival of a delegation at Jerusalem carrying letters and a present for King Hezekiah from Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon corroborates the time when King Hezekiah was terminally ill and recovered supernaturally by the hand of the LORD.
During Sennacherib's rulership of Assyria, Merodach-Baladan [Marduk-Apla-Idinna according to Assyrian records] ruled Babylon from 722/721 to 710 B.C. and for nine months in 703-702 B.C. when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, ousted him from the throne to regain control of Babylon. Merodach-Baladan [Marduk-Apla-Idinna] sent a delegation bearing letters and a present to Hezekiah as a goodwill gesture to King Hezekiah because of the King's illness and recovery. Merodach-Baladan was also endeavoring to firm up an alliance with Judah against Assyria in anticipation of forming alliances with tribes in Babylonia and Elam to regain control of Babylon. With Sennacherib busy in the west, Merodach-Baladan took advantage of the help of the anti-Assyrian party in Babylon and was joined by a Chaldean prince, Shuzubu. Merodach-Baladan took control as king of Babylon and stirred up active revolt. Note that the arrival of Merodach-Baladan's delegation which addressed Hezekiah's recovery from terminal illness by definition / context must have followed Hezekiah's recovery / repentance to faith in the LORD. Furthermore, Hezekiah's illness and the subsequent visit of the delegation of Merodach-Baladan could not have occurred prior to when Hezekiah was unfaithful to the LORD with his plea and payment of ransom to Sennacherib. For Hezekiah would then have reverted from repentance after recovering from his illness to estrangement from the LORD in the face of the Assyrian threat, when the context at this time was that King Hezekiah was growing in his faith through the time when the LORD delivered Jerusalem from the hand of the king of Assyria. Furthermore, the timeframe of the arrival of the Merodach-Baladan delegation which by definition must follow Hezekiah's illness and recovery could not have been while Sennacherib was rampaging through Judah. For the delegation would not have been able to get past the enemy Assyrian camps to enter Jerusalem. And at that time, King Hezekiah was busy making preparations in order to respond to the oncoming Assyrian threat, (2 Chr 32:1-8; 2 Kgs 20:20). Hence, the arrival of the delegation must have been after Hezekiah's mortal illness and supernatural recovery at the hand of the LORD, as well as after the great Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem was destroyed and the Assyrian king went back to his country.
Note that
Merodach-Baladan would not succeed in regaining his throne. For after
abandoning his campaign against Jerusalem and Egypt, king Sennacherib
began a series of battles for control of Babylon in 700 B.C. He finally
defeated Merodach-Baladan in 689 B.C., eleven years later - corroborating
the loss of his great army at Jerusalem. Sennacherib destroyed the city of
Babylon and flooded it into a marshland. Merodach-Baladan died in exile in
Elam, where he had fled ..,
(Isa 39:1).
(Isa 38:1 NKJV) '''In those days, Hezekiah [had been] sick [and] near death. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz went to him and said to him, "Thus the LORD [had said] to him, 'Set your house in order, for [your shall be dying] and you will not live.' " (Isa 38:2 NKJV) Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he prayed to the LORD (Isa 38:3 NKJV) And he [Hezekiah] said, '[Please] remember [now that] I have walked before You [with faithfulness] and with a [complete] heart, and the good in Your sight that I have done." And Hezekiah wept bitterly [lit., a great weeping] (Isa 38:4 NKJV) And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, [lit. to say], (Isa 38:5 NKJV) Go and [say to] Hezekiah, "Thus [has said] the LORD, the God of your father, David: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; [behold] I [am] adding to your days fifteen years. (Isa 38:6 NKJV) [And] I will [rescue] you and this city and I will defend this city from the hand of the king of Assyria.' " ''' '''' =
Isaiah 38:2-3 stipulated that when Hezekiah was told that he would shortly die, (Isa 38:1), he turned his face to the wall - evidently in his bed - and pleaded with the LORD in prayer for deliverance from his illness so that he could live out his years. With bitter tears, he implored the LORD to remember, in the sense of consider, how he had walked before Him in faithfulness - with a complete, i.e., loyal heart. He declared that he had done what was good in the sight of the LORD - making a case for being rewarded to live out his years and not having his life cut short in the prime of his life. On the other hand, his bitter weeping was a sign that he still lacked a strong faith in the LORD. Although, King Hezekiah had called for a grand celebration of the Passover at the beginning of his full reign, had done much to get rid of idolatry, and reinstituted worship of the LORD in the House of the LORD, (cf. Isa 36:7; 2 Chr 29-30); Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt for protection against Assyria. against the command of the LORD Who, through Isaiah, told him to trust instead in the LORD, (cf. Isa 10:24-34; 19:14-16; 30:1-7; 31:1-3; 36:5-6; 37:6-7; 33-35). Furthermore, Hezekiah took matters into his own hands, and defeated the Philistines and took control of their territory as far as Gaza, (cf. 2 Ki 18:8). And he imprisoned the Philistine King Padi of Ekron in Jerusalem for trying to keep his city, Ekron, from joining Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria. And when Assyria went on its indomitable rampage through Judah and laid seige to the fortified city of Lachish a few miles from Jerusalem; Hezekiah showed estrangement from the LORD by not appealing to the Him for help. Instead he pleaded to Assyria for mercy and paid a huge ransom largely through stripping the gold from the House of the LORD.
The Assyrians continually mocked the God of Israel. Twenty years before they surrounded Jerusalem, they conquered and dispersed the northern kingdom. Now in 701 B.C. their ruler, king Sennacherib, frequently declared that he and his gods were more powerful than the God of Israel. So the LORD had a monumental stake in defending His city, His veracity and His honor, (cf Isa 36:4-10, 18-20; 37:10-13, 17-20, 22-29).
Then the word
of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, "Go and [say to] Hezekiah, 'Thus
[has said] the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your
prayer, I have seen your tears; [behold] I [am adding] to your days
fifteen years. [And] I will [rescue] you and this city and I will defend
this city from the hand of the king of Assyria." The LORD's
description of Himself as "the LORD, the God of David your father"
implied that He would be faithful to His promise to continue the line of
David to the throne of Israel through King Hezekiah to finally be the
everlasting possession of the Messiah; and hence prove out His sovereignty
and veracity to the world, (cf. Isa 7:13-14; 9:1ff; 11:1ff; 32:1). So God
defended His city, His Honor and His Veracity as promised, (cf. Isa 37:36
.).
And Hezekiah lived 15 more years and died in 686 B.C. Since Hezekiah died
in 686 B.C., his terminal illness would have begun in 701 when Sennacherib
was rampaging through Judah, (Isa 38:4-6).
(Isa 38:7 NKJV) '''' '''And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken. (Isa 38:8 NASB) "Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway [sundial], which has gone down with the sun on the [stairway / sundial] of Ahaz, to go back ten steps [degrees]." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps [degrees] on the stairway on which it had gone down.''' '''' =
Isaiah chapter 38 goes on to indicate that The LORD would provide a supernatural sign of His promise to extend Hezekiah's life by 15 years and deliver the city of Jerusalem from destruction by the Assyrians: ''' "And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken: "Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway [sundial], which has gone down with the sun on the [stairway / sundial] of Ahaz, to go back ten steps [degrees]." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps [degrees] on the stairway on which it had gone down.''' ''''
The phrase rendered, "The shadow on the stairway [sundial], which has gone down with the sun on the [stairway / sundial] of Ahaz, to go back ten steps [degrees]," in the NASB refers to the shadow which the Sun makes relative to the earth on a particular sundial. It implies that as sunlight fell on the man made steps of one of the stairways ascending to the King's palace - which was built by King Ahaz, Hezekiah's father - it indicated the precise degree of passing time. Hence the stairway also served as a sundial. The time of day was indicated by the number of steps reached by the shadow. The sundial was of such a size, and so placed, that Hezekiah could evidently witness the LORD's miracle from his chamber.
Note that the retrogression of the shadow may have been fully supernatural or in some manner the LORD caused some kind of refraction such as a cloud denser than the air interposing between the gnomon and dial, or a solar eclipse. But the use of a natural cause does not lessen the characteristic of this being a miracle. For God gave Hezekiah the choice of whether the shadow should go forward or backward; and He therefore regulated the time and place. In any case, there has been discovered no evidence of an uncharacteristic change in the relative positions of the sun and the earth during that time. Other passages indicate that the Babylonian king sent his astronomers to Jerusalem to inquire about the news of this event occurring in the land of Judah, (Isa 38:7-8).
(Isa 38:5 NKJV) ''' "Go and [say to] Hezekiah, 'Thus [has said] the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; [behold] I [am adding] to your days fifteen years.... (Isa 38:9 NASB) A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: (Isa 38:10 NASB) "I said, 'In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol [realm of the afterlife]; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.' (Isa 38:11 NASB) I said, 'I shall not see the LORD, [even] the LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.' (Isa 38:12 NASB) Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed [has been uncovered] from me; [in the sense of his life span is over]. As a weaver I [have] rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make and end of me. (Isa 38:13 NASB) I have considered [lit., quieted myself] until morning - Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me. (Isa 38:14 NASB) Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security. (Isa 38:15 HOLMAN) What can I say? [Since] He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. (Isa 38:16 NASB) O LORD, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health [lit., strength] and let me live! (Isa 38:17 NASB) Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You Who has kept my soul from the pit of [destruction], For you have cast all my sins behind Your back. (Isa 38:18 NASB) For Sheol [realm of the afterlife] cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. (Isa 38:19 NKJV) The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father [makes] known Your truth to the children. (Isa 38:20 HOLMAN) The LORD will save me; we will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the LORD" ''' '''' =
After he was
healed, King Hezekiah wrote about his episode of facing imminent death due
to illness and then having the LORD grant him fifteen more years to live.
At first, he agonized and wept bitterly about having to face a premature
journey to the gates of Sheol. His reference to Sheol in verse 10 conveyed
an image of a city - a dwelling - where individuals go after they die,
.
Hezekiah mourned that the LORD had numbered, in the sense of limited the remainder of, his years while he was in the prime of his life. He evidently expected a long life. So he bitterly lamented that he would no longer be able to "see the LORD in the land of the living." Nor would He be experiencing life as he knew it: the LORD's presence in mortal life in the Temple in Jerusalem, the hearing of His word from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. He entreated the LORD for mercy, saying that he would no longer have the opportunity to "Look on man... among the inhabitants of the world." Nor would he be able to experience temporal things of any kind in the world. The repetition of the word rendered "LORD" in Isa 38:11 expressed his agitated state due to facing the end of his life. His tone was bitter, implying a lack of trust in the LORD,(Isa 38:9-11).
He wrote that his years were to be taken away from him by the LORD like a shepherd's tent was taken down and carried away; and like a weaver rolled up a finished length of cloth and cut it off from his loom. Then he continued his self-centered, bitter lament, saying, "I have considered [lit., quieted myself] until morning - Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me," implying that he expected to be dead by the time the day turned to night. When that didn't happen, he spent the night in prayer, but with no relief the next "morning." For Hezekiah wrote that he felt that the next morning was like God had suddenly fallen upon him like a preying lion who broke his bones and devoured him - in the sense that he expected death by the day's end, (Isa 38:12-13).
Hezekiah kept on chattering like birds native to Palestine, changing his mood from the shrill chatter and twitter of a crane or a swallow which portrayed his pain; to the plaintive notes of doves which portrayed his mournfulness. All of this self-centered emotionalism made him weaker - more oppressed. Hezekiah indicated that his eyes had failed with looking upward in prayer to the LORD - to the heights in the sense of up to God, conveying a picture of his intense focus which failed for the moment in his appeal to God to forgive and restore him to live out his years. He entreated to the LORD to alleviate his suffering, "O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security!" (Isa 38:14).
Hezekiah declared that the LORD brought the terminal illness upon him for His purposes to which Hezekiah responded bitterly at first - having gone through the experience of facing death in such a self-centered manner. But then he realized a change of mind - an acknowledgement and repentance toward the sovereignty of the LORD over his life: "What can I say? [Since] He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul," (Isa 38:15).
In the next section of Hezekiah's writing, (verses 16-20), Hezekiah's mood changed from bitterness and self-centeredness at the prospect of his imminent premature death to one of humility resulting in thanksgiving and praise when he was told that he had fifteen more years added to his life: "O LORD, by these things [in the sense of humbling oneself before God] men [are to] live, And in all these is the life of my spirit [in the sense of living with a humble spirit]; O restore me to health [lit., strength] and let me live!" In his writing, the king referred to the LORD's promise to restore his health and give him fifteen more years of life, (cf. Isa 38:5). But notice the lack of mention of the LORD's promise to deliver the city and people of Jerusalem from the hand of the king of Assyria, (cf. 38:6). The Hebrew phrase rendered "O restore me to health [lit., strength] and let me live!" in verse 16 is in the imperative mood which conveys Hezekiah's command to the LORD to let him be restored to health, in the sense of Hezekiah's knowing of the LORD's promise to restore him to fifteen more years of life. The King was expressing his jubliant and confident hope that the LORD would heal him. He acknowledged the sovereignty of God in the lives of all men both physical and spiritual; celebrating Him with praise and worship. He wrote that all men are to praise God in their temporal lives while they can. So by verse 16, it is evident that King Hezekiah had learned humility and gratitude from his illness and the LORD's consequent promise of recovery, (Isa 38:16).
Hezekiah then wrote, (v. 17), "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness" in the sense that the LORD had a purpose in causing Hezekiah's illness: to experience facing imminent death resulting in his repentance. So Hezekiah declared that his experience was for his own benefit. For the King turned back to the LORD in the face of his imminent death and promise of recovery. Later, when faced the destruction of the city and people of Jerusalem at the hand of the king of Assyria, King Hezekiah came to the LORD in prayer - his faith increasing with each prayer. Notice that in all this that Hezekiah acknowledged that the LORD had delivered him from the pit of corruption, i.e., from eternal condemnation because the LORD had cast all of his sins behind His back. It is evident that forgiveness of his sins unto eternal life is in view solely by the grace - free gift of the LORD. The phrase "pit of destruction," refers to eternal condemnation in Gehenna, i.e., hell which the LORD declared Hezekiah delivered from unto entrance into the eternal kingdom of God, (Isa 38:17).
Finally, Hezekiah wrote that those who were in Sheol, the realm of the afterlife cannot thank the LORD in the sense of being physically alive to give thanks for temporal blessings - they are no longer experiencing this. Hezekiah explained, "Death [in the sense that those who are dead] cannot praise [the LORD]." The King was making the point that those in Sheol could no longer experience God's truth in the temporal life for they were now in the realm of the dead. Hezekiah was not denying that there was life after death; but he was affirming that in death one's mortal activities on earth cease so that one's service and temporal experiences on earth for God have terminated. Just as Hezekiah wrote that he had praised the LORD "today," in the sense of in his mortal life; he is making the point that only the living, the living [repeated to be emphatic] can praise the LORD. For after one dies, one cannot thank God in the temporal life for temporal things, for one has exited the temporal realm. Note that blessings in the afterlife are not addressed by the King. His focus was only on the present circumstances in his mortal life which he held on too dearly - which life would, in his understanding, shortly cease. Nevertheless, Hezekiah made a good point that only in this mortal life can man hope to receive God's truth to benefit himself in his temporal life. So fathers can only make known to their children the LORD's faithfulness while they are alive. Thereafter, in the realm of the afterlife there remains no opportunity to do this. So they must not be remiss in teaching their children about the LORD while they are alive and have that chance, (Isa 38:18-19).
In the final sentence of his writing Hezekiah wrote, "The LORD will save me," referring to the LORD's promise to deliver him from his terminal illness. Therefore, [Hezekiah wrote with a joyous and repentant tone], "We will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the LORD." He indicted his joy at receiving another fifteen years to live, and promised to be faithful by making his life a life of praise to the LORD in the house of the LORD, (Isa 38:20).
(Isa 38:21 NASB) '''' ''' "Now Isaiah said, 'Let them [lift up] a cake of [pressed] figs, and apply it [as a poultice on] the boil, [then he will live].' (Isa 38:22 NKJV) And Hezekiah ...said, 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD? ' " ''' ''''
Isaiah declared relative to Hezekiah, "Let them [lift up] a cake of [pressed] figs, and apply it [as a poultice on] the boil, [then he will live," (Isa 38:21). Evidently the core of Hezekiah's illness was a boil of some kind. Note that a poultice of fried figs was a common treatment for boils. Hezekiah had asked God, "And Hezekiah ...said, 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?' " (Isa 38:22); evidently referring to the sign which the LORD gave Hezekiah which confirmed His promise to give him fifteen more years to live, (Isa 38:8). This was not evidence of a lack of faith, but an indication that the King acknowledged that he would be healed and had asked the LORD for tangible confirmation as was often the case in such matters of God's rule in Hezekiah's time. And the sign was provided by the LORD, (Isa 38:8): the shadow of the sun on the Jerusalem palace stairway / sundial returned backwards ten degrees, (Isa 38:21-22).