In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him,
Thus says the LORD,
Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.
All Commentaries on 2 Kings 20:1 Go To 2 Kings 20
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Days, before the destruction of Sennacherib's army; (ver. 6.; Menochius) though some suppose that Ezechias was afflicted with sickness, because he had not shown sufficient gratitude for his deliverance, 2 Paralipomenon xxxii. 24. (Eusebius and St. Jerome, in Isaias xxxix. (Calmet)
But it might be sent only to purify him the more (Menochius)
He fell ill the same year that the Assyrian invaded his dominions, ver. 6., and chap. xviii. 13. The nature of his disorder in not fully known. (It was probably an abscess, (Calmet) brought on by a fever; or an ulcer, for which the things which promote suppuration, are always proper. Thus God teaches us to make use of natural remedies, yet so as to place our whole confidence in him. (Haydock)
Others think it was a pleurisy, (John xxi. Thesaur. 26.) or a quinsey, (Barthol.) or the pestilence (Calmet)
Unto death, of an illness, which would naturally have proved mortal; as that of Benadad was the reverse, chap. viii. 10.
Not live, very shortly; though he does not express the time. We should always bear in mind this awful warning. (Haydock)
The prediction was conditional, like that of Jonas; (iii. 4.; Calmet) otherwise it would have been sinful to strive to render it ineffectual. (Estius)
