Isaiah 36:1-22

1. In the fourteenth year] The chronology is difficult. From Isaiah 38:1; Isaiah 39:1 we might conclude that Hezekiah's sickness and the Babylonian embassy followed Sennacherib's invasion, whereas Isaiah 38, 39 chronologically must precede Isaiah 36, 37. Samaria fell in 722, Hezekiah's 6th year (2 Kings 18:10); Sennacherib's invasion of Judah was in 701, which would therefore be Hezekiah's 27th year. The date 14th year here given must then be an error. Hezekiah reigned in all 29 years; 15 additional years were promised in his sickness (Isaiah 38:5), which accordingly must have befallen him in his 14th year. It looks as though the note of time in this v. originally applied to Isaiah 38, where it would be accurate, but has by the compiler been transposed to the commencement of this historical appendix to Isaiah's prophecies.