Hezekiah's Prayer and Childlessness: Variant Forms of a Tradition, as Reflected in LXX, Josephus, and Rabbinic Sources

Owing to its linguistic opacity and redactional complexity, Hezekiah's Psalm (Isa 38,1-22) has long vexed students of the Hebrew Bible. The challenges posed by this composition are evident already in the earliest stages of this text's reception, as demonstrated by the variant readings and interpretations encountered in LXX, Josephus, and rabbinic sources. The present essay addresses the treatment of two particular difficulties posed by this composition, viz., Hezekiah's age at the time of his illness and the circumstances surrounding his malady, as formulated in LXX, Josephus, and the Babylonian Talmud. The article concludes with an examination of the possible textual/exegetical relationship obtaining among these sources and an analysis of the implications of each source regarding classification of the psalm's genre.