Chapter Thirty-Six
1. The embassy of Sennacherib to Hezekiah.
Preliminary remark on chapters 36–39 of the book of Isaiah. These chapters represent almost a literal repetition of the section from the 4th book of Kings, extending from chapter 18, verse 13, to chapter 20, verse 19. The prophet adds from himself only the prayer of King Hezekiah (Isa 38:9-20). It is evident that the history of the invasion of Sennacherib upon Jerusalem is communicated by Isaiah with the purpose of showing how his prophecies about Assyria in its relation to the kingdom of Judah were fulfilled. As for chapters 38 and 39, where the discourse is about the illness and miraculous healing of Hezekiah, as well as the arrival to him of an embassy from the Babylonian king, these chapters serve as a transition to the following part of the prophet Isaiah’s book, in which the discourse is primarily about the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. It should be noted that in the section under consideration, the prophet arranges the historical material not in chronologically sequential order, but systematically. Therefore, the titles of chapters 36 and 38 should be placed one in place of the other, since, according to all data of modern chronology, Hezekiah’s illness falls precisely on the 14th year of his reign, while the invasion of Sennacherib upon Jerusalem falls on the 27th year of the reign of the same king.
Which text – Isaiah or the 4th book of Kings – is the original text?
Critics diverge in solving this question and one and the same points are taken as supports for completely different solutions. It is most probable, however, that opinion according to which in the book of Kings we have the original text, since there the entire history of Sennacherib’s invasion is in the closest and most inseparable connection with all the narrative of the book of Kings and is presented much more thoroughly than in the book of Isaiah. As for the abbreviations of this history allowed in the book of Isaiah, they consist partly in the omission of historical references which do not correspond to the purpose of a prophetic book (for example, Isa 36:1; Isa 37:36; Isa 38:4-7), and partly in the omission of historical turns of phrase met with in the writer of the 4th book of Kings (Isa 36:2; Isa 37:4; Isa 39:2). In Isaiah too, sometimes the words of the 4th book of Kings are replaced by other corresponding terms (Isa 36:5; Isa 37:2; Isa 38:2 and others).
For explanation, see Interpretive Bible vol. 2, 2 Sam 18– 2 Sam 20:19.