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This chapter contains an initial prose section relating Hezekiah’s illness unto death (v.1), his prayer for healing, and his testament of devotion (vv.2-3). God’s response through Isaiah is a promise of deliverance for both Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem (vv.4-6). The promise is confirmed by a sign, the meaning of which is not entirely clear (vv.7-8). The increasing shadow may have been viewed by the king as paralleling his own demise. To move the shadow backwards was in effect to lengthen the light of day for both himself and Jerusalem.
The prose section is followed by a psalm of thanksgiving, which is not included in the 2 Kings account. It conveys Hezekiah’s trust that God will heal him. Vv.10-15 reflect on the illness as a past event, while vv.16-20 look to his restoration of health.
The emphasis on the king’s faithfulness (v.3) and the call for a sign (v.22) heighten the contrast with Ahaz. It was the unfaithfulness and disobedience of Ahaz that led to his and Judah’s demise initially; now it is Hezekiah’s faithfulness and devotion that lead to his and Judah’s deliverance.
Ch. 39 provides the transition to the Babylonian chapters that follow. Hezekiah’s unthinking disclosure of his country’s treasures to the Babylonian visitors leads Isaiah to predict the eventual Babylonian invasion and the removal of Jerusalem’s inhabitants to exile in Babylon, all of which is regarded as a reality in the opening verses of ch. 40.