Historical Chapters (Chs. 36-39). 

        Chs. 36 and 37 obviously hang together, as do 38 and 39. The chronology of Hezekiah’s reign is far from certain, but whichever we adapt, the fifteen years of 38:5 would seem to bring us to a date before 701 B.C., the date of Sennacherib’s invasion. Our knowledge of Merodach-baladan and his move­ments point in the same direction. Once we accept the Isaianic authorship of the whole book, Isaiah is just as likely to have influenced the order in IIKings as vice versa. In that case we have one more example of chronology being made subservient to spiritual ends. Chs. 36, 37 are placed first as rounding off the prophecies about Assyria; chs. 38, 39, though earlier in time, are placed last as looking forward to the cap­tivity in Babylon to which 40-55 introduce us.

        It is not easy to reconcile the general picture of Hezekiah in IIKings 18-20, IIChron. 29-32 with Isa. 28-33. Ch. 39 may help us. The resigned words of ver. 8 are not due to personal selfishness, content so long as trouble came later; they are rather the recognition of God’s mercy by one who knew himself guilty. It is obvious that here we have one more example of the foreign intrigues that Isaiah denounced so unsparingly; but Hezekiah had gone into it with his eyes open. Even good kings like Hezekiah found prophets like Isaiah unwelcome at times.