Chapter 38: the illness of Chizkiyah and his Cure

• The illness of Chizkiyah: During those days [three days prior to the fall of Sancheirev], Chizkiyah became deathly ill.
• Yeshayahu instructs Chizkiyah to write a will: Yeshayahu arrived to visit the sick king and he told in the name of G-d that he should write a will for his family being that his death has already been decreed and therefore he will not recover from this illness.
• The prayer and tears of Chizkiyah: When Chizkiyah heard this news he turned to the wall and began praying to G-d [to nullify the decree]. He prayed as follows, “please oh G-d, remember and let it stand in my merit that I have served you with a true and complete heart and I’ve done the good in your eyes” Chizkiyah then cried profusely.
• A prophecy for Chizkiyah-G-d accepts his prayers and saves Jerusalem: G-d then came to Yeshayahu and told him the following prophecy regarding Chizkiyah which he instructed Yeshayahu to tell Chizkiyah: I have heard your prayers and I have seen your tears and I have decided to add to your days 15 years of life. I’ve also decided to save you from the hands of Sancheirev and save and protect the city of Jerusalem.
• The omen for the truthfulness of the prophecy: The following is a sign from G-d that G-d will live up to the above prophecy. I will make the sun delay its daily orbit by 10 hours, making up for the 10 hours that I hastened its orbit in the time to your father Achaz [to prevent him from being eulogized as he was a very evil king].
• Chizkiyah writes a letter of thanks to G-d: The following is a letter written by Chizkiyah the king of Judah regarding his illness, after he recovered. “I thought that I would die from this illness at a young age and be doomed for purgatory, and instead I had years added to my life. I thought that I would no longer see the miracles of G-d, or the figure of people. I saw my life being taken from beneath me, and in the end, I was saved from my illness. I looked up to G-d like a dove and pleaded with him not to take me. I must praise G-d for all that He has done for me after I have fallen into illness and that He has saved me.
• The cure for the illness: Yeshayahu instructed king Chizkiyah to take for his cure a wheel of pressed figs and to smear it over the boils and it will get healed. Chizkiyah proclaimed with joy over the sign that G-d gave him that he will recover, and that all the nations will see the great miracle that happened to him.