Isaiah 38 commentary

When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his, we do not pray in vain. See II Kin. 20:1-11.

We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving. It is well for us to remember the mercies we receive in sickness. Hezekiah records the condition he was in. He dwells upon this; I shall no more see the Lord. A good man wishes not to live for any other end than that he may serve God, and have communion with him. Our present residence is like that of a shepherd in his hut, a poor, mean, and cold lodging, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the shepherd has. Our days are compared to the weaver's shuttle, Job 7:6, passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw leaving a thread behind it; and when finished, the piece is cut off, taken out of the loom, and showed to our Master to be judged of. A good man, when his life is cut off, his cares and fatigues are cut off with it, and he rests from his labours. But our times are in God's hand; he has appointed what shall be the length of the piece. When sick, we are very apt to calculate our time, but are still at uncertainty. It should be more our care how we shall get safe to another world. And the more we taste of the loving-kindness of God, the more will our hearts love him, and live to him. It was in love to our poor perishing souls that Christ delivered them. The pardon does not make the sin not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. It is pleasant to think of our recoveries from sickness, when we see them flowing from the pardon of sin. Hezekiah's opportunity to glorify God in this world, he made the business, and pleasure, and end of life. Being recovered, he resolves to abound in praising and serving God. God's promises are not to do away, but to quicken and encourage the use of means. Life and health are given that we may glorify God and do good.

1. In those days. The Prophet now relates that the pious king was violently assailed by a different kind of temptation, namely, that he was seized with a mortal disease and despaired of life; and not only so, but likewise that he suffered dreadful agony, in consequence of having received from God a warning of his death, as if in a hostile manner God had thundered on his head from heaven. At what time that happened, whether after the siege, or during the siege, is not very evident; but it is unnecessary to give ourselves much trouble on that subject. It may be easily inferred from the sacred history, that this event happened about the fourteenth year of his reign, either while he was invaded by the Assyrian, or after he was delivered, for he reigned twenty-nine years, (2 Kings 18:2;) in the fourteenth year of his reign the Assyrian attacked Judea, (2 Kings 18:13,) and fifteen years were added by the promise which is here related by the Prophet, (2 Kings 20:6,) and this makes up twenty-nine years. Hence it appears that it must have been about the fourteenth year of his reign that Hezekiah was afflicted by this disease.

The only doubtful point is, whether it was during the time of the siege, or afterwards, that he was sick. For my own part, I look upon it as a more probable conjecture, that he was attacked by this disease after the siege had been raised; for if he had been sick during the time of the siege, that circumstance would not have been left out by the Prophet, who, on the other hand, has related that Hezekiah sent messengers, went into the temple, spread a letter before the Lord, and sent for the Prophet. These circumstances do not at all apply to a man who was suffering heavy sickness; and if disease had been added to so many distresses, that circumstance would not have been omitted. In doubtful matters, therefore, let us follow what is more probable, namely, that the pious king, having been delivered from the enemy, is attacked by disease and is in great danger.

Yet it is not without reason that our attention is also directed to an almost uninterrupted succession of events, that we may know that he scarcely had leisure to breathe, but, after having scarcely reached the shore from one ship-wreck, suddenly fell into another equally dangerous. Let us therefore remember that believers must endure various temptations, so that they are assailed sometimes by wars, sometimes by diseases, sometimes by other calamities, and sometimes one calamity follows another in unbroken succession, and they are laid under the necessity of maintaining uninterrupted warfare during their whole life; so that, when they have escaped from one danger, they are on the eve of enduring another. They ought to be prepared in such a manner, that when the Lord shall be pleased to add sorrow to sorrow, they may bear it patiently, and may not be discouraged by any calamity. If any respite be allowed, “S’ils ont quelque loisir de reprendre haleine.” “If they have any leisure to draw breath.” let them know that this is granted for their weakness, but let not a short truce lead them to form a false imagination of a lengthened peace; let them make additional exertions, till, having finished the course of their earthly life, they arrive at the peaceful harbor.

Even unto death. The severity of the disease might be very distressing to the good man. First, mortal disease brings along with it sharp pains, especially when it is attended by an inflammatory boil. But the most distressing of all was, that he might think that God opposed and hated him, because, as soon as he had been rescued from so great a calamity, he was immediately dragged to death, as if he had been unworthy of reigning. Besides, at that time he had no children; and there was reason to believe that his death would be followed by a great disorder of public affairs. (2 Kings 21:1.) This dread of the wrath of God occasions far more bitter anguish to the consciences of believers than any bodily disease; and if they lose their perception of the favor of God, it is impossible that they should not be immediately grieved. But God, as if he expressly intended to add oil to the flame, absolutely threatens death, and, in order to affect him more deeply, takes away all hope of life.

For; thou shalt die, and shalt not live. The clause, thou shalt not live, is not superfluous, but is added for the purpose of giving intensity or confirmation, as if it had been said that there will be no hope of remedy. Men practice evasion, even though death is at hand, and eagerly seek the means of escape; and, therefore, that Hezekiah may not look around him as if he were uncertain, he is twice informed that he must die.

Give charge concerning thy house, “Set thine house in order. Heb., Give charge concerning thy house.” — Eng. Ver. or, to thy house. Quoad domum taam, vel, domui tuae. In order that he may bid adieu to the world, the Prophet enjoins him speedily to order what he wishes to be done after his death; as if he had said, “If thou dost not wish that death shall seize thee, give immediate orders about thy domestic affairs.” Here we see in passing, that the Lord approves of a practice which has been always customary among men, namely, that when they are about to die, they give orders to their neighbors or servants, and arrange the affairs of their family.

Jonathan renders it, “Give up thy house to another;” but the construction conveys a different meaning. Every person, when he must depart from this life, ought to testify that he pays regard to his duty, and that he provides even for the future interests of his family. But his chief care ought to be, not about testaments and heirs, but about promoting the salvation of those whom the Lord has committed to his charge.

2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. He now relates the manner in which Hezekiah was affected when he received this message, that we may see his piety and faith. He does not break out into rage or indignation like unbelievers, but bears this affliction patiently. He does not debate with God, as if he had already endured enough of distresses from enemies, and ought not to be again chastised so severely by a new kind of afflictions. And this is true patience, not merely in a single instance to endure patiently any distress, but to persevere to the end, and always to be prepared for enduring new troubles, but, above all, to bow to the judgments of God in calm silence, and not to murmur at his severity, though it appear to be great; as David acknowledges that “he was dumb, because he saw that he had to deal with God.” (Psalm 39:9.)

And such is the import of “turning the face to the wall;” for, in consequence of being overwhelmed by shame and grief, as if he shunned the face of men, he summons up his energy, and turns wholly to God, so as to rely entirely upon him. The mere attitude, indeed, is immaterial; but it is of very great importance to us, that nothing should be presented to our eyes or senses which would drag us away from prayer, that we may pour out our desires more freely before God. We are naturally unsteady, and easily drawn aside; and therefore we cannot be too diligent in fixing our attention. If we must pray in public, we are restrained by shame, lest, if we manifest excessive vehemence, we should be thought to do so for the sake of ostentation; or we are afraid of falling into improper attitudes; and therefore we ought to remove everything that would lead us aside.

Hezekiah, therefore, does not turn away his face, as if he were overwhelmed, or as if he bitterly and obstinately rejected the message that had been brought to him, but in this manner sharpens his eagerness for prayer. That he does not present his prayers openly, as when he formerly went up into the temple, followed by the rest of the multitude, (Isaiah 37:14,) is an indication of the deepest anxiety, as if grief had seized his whole frame. Yet it is a remarkable pattern of piety, that, when he has received the sentence of death, he does not cease to call upon God.

These words, Thou shalt die, and shalt not live, tended not only to startle him, but deeply to wound and pierce his heart, as if God were rushing upon him in a hostile manner to destroy him. It was an alarming token of wrath to be thrown headlong out of life in the very flower of his age, and to be cast out of the world, as if he were unworthy of the society of men; and therefore he had to contend not only with death, but with hell itself and with frightful torments.

Hence it follows that he attached to the Prophet’s words more meaning than they actually conveyed; for, although he could not all at once disentangle himself, yet the Holy Spirit suggested to his dark and confused heart “groanings that could not be uttered.” (Romans 8:26) And indeed it would have been a foolish message if God had not supported him by secret influence, when he appeared to have been slain by the external voice of his servant. But since he would never have aimed at repentance if he had been seized with despair, the slaying came first, and was next followed by that secret energy which dedicated the dead man to God.

3. And said, I beseech thee, Jehovah. He appears here to expostulate with God, and to remonstrate with him about his own past life, as if he were undeservedly distressed; but the case is far otherwise. On the contrary, he strengthens and fortifies himself against a heavy and dangerous temptation, which might otherwise have been suggested. For the great severity with which the Lord chastised him might lead him to think that the Lord had cast off, forsaken, and disapproved him, and had rejected all that he had formerly done. On this account he strengthens and encourages himself, and declares that whatever he did was done by him with a good conscience. In short, he concludes that, although he must die, still his services have not been displeasing to God, that he may thus open up for himself a path to prayer and good hopes.

Remember now that I have walked before thee in truth. He does not plead his merits against God, or remonstrate with him in any respect, as if he were unjustly punished, but fortifies himself against a sore temptation, that he may not think that God is angry with him for correcting the vices and removing the corruptions which prevailed throughout the whole of his kingdom, and especially in regard to religion. Yet the Lord permits his people even to glory, in some degree, on account of their good actions, not that they may boast of their merits before him, but that they may acknowledge his benefits, and may be affected by the remembrance of them in such a manner as to be prepared for enduring everything patiently. But sometimes the unreasonable conduct of their enemies constrains them to holy boasting: that they may commend their good cause to their judge and avenger; as David boldly meets the wicked slanders of enemies by pleading his innocence before the judgment-seat of God. (Psalm 7:8; and 17:2.) But here Hezekiah intended to meet the craftiness of Satan, which believers feel, when, under the pretense of humility, he overwhelms them with despair; and therefore we ought earnestly to beware lest our hearts be swallowed up by grief.

With a perfect heart. We learn from his words what is the true rule of a pious life; and that is, when integrity of heart holds the first place, for nothing is more abhorred by God than when we endeavor to deceive either him or men by our hypocrisy. Although the eyes of men are dazzled by the splendor of worlds, yet pretended holiness, which is as it were a profanation of his name, provokes his anger; and, because “he is a Spirit,” (John 4:24,) he justly demands spiritual obedience, and declares that he abhors “a double heart.” (Psalm 12:2.) Most properly, therefore, does Hezekiah begin with sincerity of heart. The Hebrew word שלם, (shalem,) which is translated perfect, means nothing else than integrity as contrasted with hypocrisy, which is also evident from the use of the word truth; as Paul affirms that

“the end of the law is brotherly love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5.)

And have done what is good in thine eyes. He brings forward also the fruits which spring from an upright heart as from a root, not only to confirm himself, but likewise to confirm others, in reference to those things which might have given any occasion of offense. Hezekiah therefore did not hesitate or waver, but wished to take away what might have given offense to many persons. But again, it ought to be observed in what manner we must regulate our life, if we desire that God shall approve of our conduct. We must do nothing but what is agreeable to his command; for, as he rejects and condemns all the pageantry of which hypocrites boast, so he likewise reckons of no value all the false worship in which foolish men weary themselves in vain, while they labor to obtain his favor by disregarding his word. Accordingly, Hezekiah, who knew that “obedience is of greater value than sacrifice,” (1 Samuel 15:22,) says not only that he ran, (which is often done in a disorderly manner,) but that he regulated his life in obedience to God, who alone is competent to judge. Hence we may conclude how great was his earnestness in prayer; for though he sees on every hand nothing but the tokens of God’s anger, yet he does not cease to fly to him, and to exercise faith, which all believers ought earnestly and diligently to do amidst the heaviest afflictions.

4. Then came the word of Jehovah. Isaiah had departed, leaving the sting, as the saying is, in the wound, reckoning as abandoned him on whom he had pronounced sentence in the name of God himself. Yet with what trembling uneasiness he was tormented, and even with what terror he was seized, may be partly learned from the song. What interval of time elapsed between the Prophet’s departure and return we know not, but it is certain that the glad tidings of life were not brought until, after long and severe struggles, he perceived that he was utterly’ ruined; for it was a severe trial of faith that he should be kept plunged in darkness by the hiding of God’s face. We have said that, while the doctrine of consolation was taken away, still the faith of the good king was not extinguished so as not to emit some sparks, because, by the secret influence of the Spirit, “groans that could not be uttered” (Romans 8:26) arose to God out of the gulf of sorrow. Hence also we conclude that, while “in the day of trouble” (Psalm 50:15) God heareth believers, yet the favor of God does not all at once shine on them, but is purposely delayed till they are sincerely humbled. And if a king so eminent in piety needed almost to suffer anguish, that he might be more powerfully excited to seek the favor of God, and, being almost wasted by grief, might groan from hell to God; let us not wonder if he sometimes permits us for a time to be agitated by fears and perplexities, and delays longer to bestow consolation in answer to our prayers.

But it may be thought strange that God, having uttered a sentence, should soon afterwards be moved, as it were, by repentance to reverse it; for nothing is more at variance with his nature than a change of purpose. I reply, while death was threatened against Hezekiah, still God had not decreed it, but determined in this manner to put to the test the faith of Hezekiah. We must, therefore, suppose a condition to be implied in that threatening; for otherwise Hezekiah would not have altered, by repentance or prayer, the irreversible decree of God. But the Lord threatened him in the same manner as he threatened Gerar for carrying off Sarah, (Genesis 20:3,) and as he threatened the Ninevites. (Jonah 1:2; and 3:4.)

Again, it will be objected, that it appears to be inconsistent with the nature of God to threaten what he does not intend to execute, and that it takes away from the authority of the word, and causes the promises and threatenings to have less weight. But what we have already said as to the sentence must likewise be maintained as to the form of the words. God threatened the death of Hezekiah, because he was unwilling that Hezekiah should die; and, indeed, it would have been unnecessary and even useless to predict it, if a remedy had not been provided. Now, as it was the purpose of God to humble his servant by fear and terror, that he might voluntarily condemn himself, and might thus escape punishment through prayer; so by harsh language and an absolute threatening of death, he intended to slay him, that, rising like a dead man out of the grave, he might feel that life had been restored to him. And thus we must suppose an implied condition to have been understood, which Hezekiah, if he did not immediately perceive it, yet afterwards in good time knew to have been added. Nor are we at liberty to infer from it that God used dissimulation by accommodating his discourse to the capacity and attainments of man; for it is no new thing if he “kill before he make alive.” (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6.) In order to prepare Hezekiah by a spiritual resemblance of death, and gradually form him to a new life, he keeps back a part of the discourse.

5. Thus saith Jehovah the God of David thy father. At first, when he struck terror alone, he reckoned it enough to mention the bare and simple name of God, to whose heavenly judgmentseat he summoned him as a criminal; but now, when he brings consolation, he distinguishes God by a peculiar and honorable title in order to point out the cause and origin of grace; as if he had said that, from a regard to his covenant which he made with David, he is inclined to mercy, so that he does not deal rigorously with Hezekiah. (2 Samuel 7:12.) We know that nothing is more difficult than for hearts that have been greatly alarmed by the conviction of God’s anger to be encouraged to entertain favorable hope, so as to perceive that God is reconciled to them. That confirmation was therefore necessary, that the pious king, who in himself was ruined, might know that he could be again raised up to that life from which he had fallen; for the prophecy concerning the eternity of that kingdom could not fail. Since, therefore, he fainted when he thought that he had no hope of living, in order that he may breathe again, he is reminded of a promise, which at that time was universally known, that kings of the seed and posterity of David would always reign over the elect people,

“as long as the sun and moon should shine in the heavens.” (Psalm 89:36, 37.)

That was the plank which he seized, and by which he escaped shipwreck.

David is not mentioned in this passage as a private individual, but as an eternal king, to whom had been committed the promise which might support Hezekiah; eternal, I say, not in himself, but in his blessed seed. Now, since that eternity was at length to be manifested in Christ, of whom Hezekiah along with other kings was a type, it must have been a solid ground of favorable hope that he was a son of David. “Puis qu’il estoit ills et successeur de David.” “Since he was a son and successor of David.” Whenever, therefore, we feel that our own sins hinder us from drawing near to God, in order that we may obtain his favor, let us think of this preface, that, although we have been estranged from him by our own fault, still he is the Father of Christ, who is our head, and

“in whom our salvation always remains hidden.” (Colossians 3:3.)

In a word, God had lately spoken in the character of a judge, but now he is reconciled, and points out a Mediator who comes forth to appease him.

I have heard thy prayer. Having opened the door of hope, he tells Hezekiah that God “has heard his prayers.” This ought greatly to encourage us to earnestness in prayer; for, although God of his own accord takes a deep interest in our salvation, and anticipates us by his kindness, not only while we are asleep, but “before we were born,” (Romans 9:11,) yet, when he testifies that all the benefits which he bestows are granted in answer to our prayers, our negligence is altogether inexcusable, if, after having received such large invitations, we neglect to perform the duty of prayer, “Si nous ne daignons ouvrir la bouche pour prier.” “If we do not deign to open our mouth in prayer.” And yet we must not imagine that prayers, to which God so graciously listens, are meritorious; but, in giving freely what he freely promised, he adds this as the crowning excellence of his kindness, in order more strongly to stimulate our faith. It is no ordinary privilege to be able to approach to him freely, and in a familiar manner to lay our cares in his bosom. If Hezekiah had not prayed, God would undoubtedly have secured that, in one way or another, some government of the kingdom should be preserved in the posterity of David; but what he would do from a regard to his truth, he says that he will give in answer to the prayers of Hezekiah, that he may acknowledge that he has obtained very abundant fruit from his faith which he exercised in prayer.

And I have seen thy tears. He mentions tears as a sign of repentance, and likewise of warmth and earnestness; not that in themselves tears procure favor, or have any power of appeasing God, but because they distinguish sincere prayers from those which are offered in a careless manner.

Behold, I add to thy days fifteen years. At length he adds that God has prolonged the life of Hezekiah to the extent of “fifteen years.” This might, indeed, at first sight, appear to be absurd; for we were created on the condition of not being able to pass, by a single moment, the limit marked out for us; as Job also says, “Thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5.) But the solution is easy. What is said about an extended period must be understood to refer to the views of Hezekiah, who had been excluded from the hope of life, and, therefore, must; have justly reckoned to be gain what was afterwards added, as if he had been raised up from the grave to a second life.

6. And I will deliver thee. Those who think that Hezekiah was sick during the time of the siege found an argument on this, that otherwise this promise would appear to be superfluous. But there is little force in that reasoning; for the Assyrian might have recruited his forces, and mustered a fresh army, at a later period, for the purpose of again invading Judea and attacking Jerusalem. The very defeat of which we have now read might have been a provocation to his rage and cruelty, so that the Jews had good reason for being continually alarmed at any reports which they heard. “Quand on leur apportoit nouvelles de l’ ennemi.” “When news were brought to them about the enemy.” That promise, therefore, is far from being superfluous, because along with life it promises protection from the enemy, against whom he would not otherwise have been secured, and may be regarded as an enlargement and increase of that blessing which the Lord promised to Hezekiah; as in the former chapter he promised abundance of fruits to accompany the deliverance. (Isaiah 37:30.)

7. And this shall be a sign to thee. The sacred history relates in the proper order that Hezekiah asked a sign from the Lord, (2 Kings 20:8,) and that it was granted to him; which the Prophet will likewise mention at the end of this chapter. But it is no new thing for Hebrew writers to reverse the order of the narrative. God gives some signs of his own accord, without being asked; and he grants other signs to his people who ask them. Signs being generally intended to aid our weakness, God does not for the most part wait till we have prayed for them; but at first he appointed those which he knew to be profitable to his Church. If at any time, therefore, believers wished to have their faith confirmed by a sign, this circumstance, being rare, ought not to be produced as an example. Thus, to Gideon, whom he called from the sheepfold to govern Israel, he gave one sign and then another, when he asked them, (Judges 6:17, 37, 39,) that he might be more fully convinced of his calling. He commonly gave, as we have said, other signs, in accommodation to the weakness of men; as to Adam the tree of life, (Genesis 2:9,) to Noah the bow in heaven, (Genesis 9:12,) and next the cloud and pillar of fire, (Exodus 13:21,) and the serpent of brass in the wilderness. (Numbers 21:8.) The same remarks apply to the passover, (Exodus 12:8,) and to all the sacraments, both those which were formerly observed, and those which have now been appointed by Christ, “Tant sous le vieil que sous le nouveau testament.” “Both under the Old and under the New Testament.” and which no one asked from God.

But it may be thought that Hezekiah insults God, by refusing credit to his word, when he asks a sign. I reply, we must not accuse him of unbelief, because his faith was weak; for we shall not find. any person who ever had faith which was perfect and complete in every respect. In seeking some assistance to support his weakness, he cannot, be blamed on that account; for, having embraced the promise made to him by the Prophet, he shews his confidence in God by seeking a remedy for distrust. And if there had been no weakness in man, he would not have needed any signs; and consequently we need not wonder that he asks a sign, since on other occasions the Lord freely offers them.

Yet it is proper also to observe, that believers never rushed forward at random to ask signs, but were guided by a secret and peculiar influence of the Spirit. The same thing might be said about miracles. If Elijah prayed to God for rain and for drought, (James 5:17, 18,) it does not follow that others are at liberty to do the same. We must, therefore, see what God permits to us, lest, by disregarding his word, we bargain with him according to the foolish desires of our flesh.

8. Lo, I bring back the shadow of degrees. The sign which is here given to Hezekiah is the going back of the shadow on the sundial, along with the sun, ten degrees by which it had already gone up, This is evidently an oversight, but the author’s reading is “ascenderat.” which corresponds to the French version, “qu’il estoit monte“ In Calvin’s version, prefixed to the commentary on this chapter, ירדה (yaradah) is correctly rendered “descenderat,” that is, “had gone down.” — Ed that is, had advanced above the horizon. And this sign bears a resemblance to the event itself, as all other signs generally do; for it is as if he had said, “As it is in my power to change the hours of the day, and to make the sun go backwards, so it is in my power to lengthen thy life.” As to the shadow not going back as many degrees as there were years added to his life, that was impossible, because there were not more than twelve degrees on the sundial; for the day was divided by them into twelve hours, either longer or shorter, according to the change of the season. We need not, therefore, give ourselves any uneasiness about the number; it is enough that there is a manifest correspondence and resemblance.

On the sundial of Ahaz. See Note at the end of this volume — Ed. Here the Jews make fables according to their custom, and contrive a story, that the day on which Ahaz died was shorter than ten hours, and that what God had justly inflicted on him as a punishment for his sins was reversed for the benefit of Hezekiah; because the shortening of one day was the lengthening of another. But there is no history of this, and it is entirely destitute not only of evidence but of probability; nor is there anything said here about the death of Ahaz, or about the change which took place when he died, but about the sundial which he had made.

9. The writing of Hezekiah. Though sacred history gives no account of this writing, yet it deserves to be recorded, and is highly worthy of observation; for we see that Hezekiah was unwilling to pass in silence, or to bury in forgetfulness, so remarkable a blessing which he had received from God. By his example he shews what all believers ought to do, when God miraculously and in an unusual manner exerts his power on their behalf. They ought to make known their gratitude, not only to their contemporaries, but also to posterity; as we see that Hezekiah did by this song, which may be regarded as a public record. We see that David composed many psalms on this subject, when he had been delivered from very great dangers, so that he took care to celebrate till the end of the world what was worthy of being remembered by all ages. (Psalm 18:2, and 27:1.) Especially, the more eminent any man is, and the higher the station which he occupies, the more is he bound to consider himself as placed by God on a theater, and enjoined to perform this duty. “Doit considerer et savoir que ce que fait ici Ezechias, luy est enjoint en cas semblable.” “Ought to consider and know that what Hezekiah does here is enjoined on him in a similar case.” Yet all men, whether they be of ordinary rank or nobles and great men, ought to beware of ambition, lest, while they profess to imitate Hezekiah and David, they magnify their own name more than the name of God. “The conjecture of Grotius, that Isaiah dictated the psalm, or put it into Hezekiah’s mouth, is perfectly gratuitous. That Hezekiah should compose a psalm is not more strange than that he should make a collection of proverbs. (Proverbs 25:1.) It would have been far more strange if one so much like David, in character and spirit, had not followed his example in the practice of devotional composition.” — Alexander.

10. I said in the cutting off of my days. This is a very melancholy song; for it contains complaints rather than prayers. Hence it is evident that he was oppressed by so great perplexity, that he was weary with groaning, and sunk in lamentations, and did not venture to rise up freely to form a prayer. Murmuring thus within himself, he expresses the cause and intensity of his grief.

As to the cause, it might be thought strange that he had so strong an attachment, and so ardent a longing for this fading life, and that he so much dreaded death. The tendency of the first elements of heavenly doctrine is, that we may learn to sojourn in this world, and to advance swiftly towards the heavenly life. Hezekiah appears to be as warmly devoted to the earth as if he had never had the smallest particle of piety; he shuns and abhors death, as much as if he had never heard a word about heavenly doctrine. Now, what purpose did it serve to commit to writing those stormy passions which would rather prompt readers to the same excess than induce them to obey God? For we are too prone to rebellion, though there be no additional excitements of any kind.

But when it shall be minutely, and wisely, and carefully examined, we shall find that nothing could have been more advantageous to us than to have this picture of a man overwhelmed with grief painted to the life. It was not the object of the good king, in proclaiming his virtues, to hunt for the applause of the world. His prayer was undoubtedly a proof both of faith and of obedience; but, as if he had been overcome by fear, and dread, and sorrow, he leaves off prayer, and feebly utters complaints. He unquestionably intended to make known his weakness, and thus to give a lesson of humility to all the children of God, and at the same time to magnify the grace of God, which had brought out of the lowest depths of death a ruined man.

As to the manner in which he deplores his lot, when he is near death, as if he placed his existence on the earth, and thought that death reduced men to nothing, we must attend to the special reason. For while death is not desirable on its own account, yet believers ought to “groan continually,” (Romans 8:23,) because sin holds them bound in the prison of the flesh. They are forbidden also to “mourn as unbelievers usually mourn,” (1 Thessalonians 4:13,) and are even commanded to “lift up their heads,” when they are about to depart from the world, because they are received into a happier life. (Luke 21:28.) Nor was the ancient Church under the Law destitute of this consolation; and, although the knowledge of a blessed resurrection was less clear, yet it must have been sufficient for mitigating sorrow. “Pour adoucir la tristesse des fideles de ces tempsla.” “For soothing the grief of the believers of that age.” If that impostor Balaam was forced to exclaim, “Let my soul die the death of the righteous,” (Numbers 23:10,) what joy must have filled the hearts of believers, in whose ears resounded that voice, “I am the God of Abraham!” (Exodus 3:6.)

But although with steady and assured hope they looked forward to the heavenly life, still we need not wonder to see in Hezekiah what David confesses as to himself, (Psalm 30:9,) who yet, when his time was come, full of days, calmly left the world. (1 Kings 2:10.) It is therefore evident that both of them were not assailed by the mere dread of death, but that they prayed with tears to be delivered from death, because they saw in it manifest tokens of God’s anger. We ought to remember that the Prophet came as a herald, to announce the death of Hezekiah in the name of God. This messenger might naturally have plunged all the senses of Hezekiah into a frightful deluge of grief, so that, thinking of nothing but God’s wrath and curse, he would struggle with despair.

Thus the piety of Hezekiah already begins to shew itself, when, placing himself before the tribunal of his judge, he applies his mind to meditation on his guilt. And, first, there might occur to him that thought by which David confesses that he was tempted: “What did God mean by treating his servants with cruel severity and sparing profane despisers? (Psalm 73:3.) Next, he saw that he was exposed to the jeers of the wicked, by whom true religion also was basely reviled. He saw that it was scarcely possible that his death should not shake the minds of all good men; but especially, he was oppressed by God’s wrath, as if he had been already condemned to hell and to the eternal curse. In a word, because our true and perfect happiness consists in having fellowship with God, Hezekiah, perceiving that he was in some measure alienated from him, had good reason for being so greatly alarmed; for that word, “Thou shalt die, and shalt not live,” had seized his mind so completely, that he believed that he must die. “Qu’il faisoit son conte de mourir.” “That he laid his account with dying.” This is expressed by the phrase I said; for in Hebrew it does not mean merely to speak, or to pronounce a word, but to be persuaded or convinced in one’s own mind. Even though hypocrites receive a hundred threatenings from God, still they look around them on all sides, so that if they see any opening by which they think that they can escape, they may mock God, and give themselves up to luxury and indifference. But Hezekiah, being a sincere worshipper of God, did not resort to subterfuges; but, on the contrary, believing the words of the Prophet, he concluded that he must prepare for dying, because it was God’s good pleasure.

In this sense he speaks of the cutting off of his days, because he believed that an angry and offended God had broken off the course of his life; for he does not merely say in the ordinary manner that his life is cut short by a violent disease, but recognises that undoubted judgment of God as the cause of “the cutting off.” Now, life is “cut off,” whether we die at the entrance of life, or in middle life, or in old age; but they who are hurried away in the very flower of their age are said to be “cut off” from life, because they appear to die too soon, and before they have finished their course. The case was different with Hezekiah; for he perceived that the remaining part of life was “cut off” by the sword of God, because he had provoked God’s wrath by his offenses. Thus he complains that, as if he had been unworthy of enjoying it, God suddenly deprives him of life, which otherwise would have lasted longer. Such is the import of the phrase, “the residue of the years;” for although, being born mortal, we have reason to expect death every moment, yet since it was threatened as a punishment, he has good reason for saying that those years had been taken from him which he might have lived, if it had been the good pleasure of God.

11. I said, I shall not see God. Amidst such earnest longing for an earthly life, Hezekiah would have gone beyond bounds, if his grief had not been aggravated by the conviction of God’s wrath. Since, therefore, he is violently dragged away by his own fault, as if he were unworthy of enjoying the ordinary light of the sun, he exclaims that he is miserable, because henceforth he shall never see either God or man. Among believers the statement would have been regarded as liable to this exception, that, so long as we dwell on the earth, we wander and are distant from God, but that, when the entanglements of the flesh shall have been laid aside, we shall more closely “see God.”

In the land of the living. These words are indeed added as a, limitation; but in this way Hezekiah appears to limit “the seeing of God” to the present life, as if death extinguished all the light of understanding. We must therefore keep in view what I formerly remarked, that when he received the message of God’s vengeance, it affected him in such. a manner as if he had been deprived of God’s fatherly love; for if he was unworthy of beholding the sun, how could he hope for what was of higher value? Not that hope was altogether effaced from his mind, but because, having his attention fixed on the curse of God, he cannot so soon or so quickly rise to heaven, to soothe present grief by the delightfulness of a better life.

Thus it sometimes happens that godly minds are overclouded, so that they do not always receive consolation, which for a time is suppressed, but still remains in their minds, and afterwards manifests itself. Yet it is an evidence of piety, that, by the proper and lawful object of life, he shews how grievous and distressing it is to be deprived of it. Even to cattle it gives uneasiness to die, but they have almost no use for their life except to feed and eat to the full; while we have a far more excellent object, for we were created and born on the express condition, that we should devote ourselves to the knowledge of God. And because this is the chief reason why we live, he twice repeats the name of God, and thus expresses the strength of his feelings; “I shall not see God, God in the land of the living.” “יה יה (Yahh Yahh) is not an error of the text for יהוה (Yehovah) (Houbigant,) but an intensive repetition similar to those in verses 17, 19. Or the second may be added to explain and qualify the first. He did expect to see God, but not in the land of the living.” — Alexander.

If it be objected that here we do not “see God,” the answer is easy, that he is visible in his works; because “through the visible workmanship of the world,” as Paul says, “his eternal power and Godhead are known.” (Romans 1:20.) Hence also the Apostle calls this world a mirror of invisible things. (Hebrews 11:3.) The more nearly he manifests himself to be known by believers, the more highly did Hezekiah value that spiritual beholding; as David also says that they see the face of God who confirm their faith by the exercises of piety in the sanctuary. (Psalm 42:2; 63:2.) So far as relates to men, he grieves that he is withdrawn from their society, because we were born for the purpose of performing mutual kind offices to each other.

12. My dwelling is departed. He proceeds in his complaints, by painting his life under a beautiful metaphor; for he compares it to a shepherd’s tent. Such indeed is the condition of human life in general; but he does not relate so much what happens to all universally as what has befallen himself as an individual. The use of tents is more common in those countries than in ours, and shepherds often change their residence, while they drive their flock from one place to another. He does not therefore say absolutely that men dwell in a frail lodginghouse, while they pass through the world, but that, after he had dwelt at ease in a royal palace, his lot was changed, just as if “a shepherd’s tent” were pitched for two days in one field and afterwards removed to another.

I have cut off, as a weaver, my life. It is worthy of observation, that he indiscriminately ascribes the cause of his death, sometimes to himself, and sometimes to God, but at the same time explains the grounds; for when he speaks of himself as the author, he does not complain of God, or remonstrate that God has robbed him of his life, but accuses himself, and acknowledges deep blame. His words are equivalent to the proverbial saying, “I have cut this thread for myself, so that I alone am the cause of my death.” And yet it is not without reason that he soon afterwards ascribes to God what he had acknowledged to have proceeded from himself; for although we give to God grounds for dealing severely with us, yet he is the judge who inflicts punishment. In our afflictions, therefore, we ought always to praise his judgment; because he performs his office when he chastises us as we deserve.

From lifting up he will cut me off. Some translate מדלה (middallah) “through leanness,” or “through sickness,” and others translate it “by taking away.” The former derive this noun from דלל (dalal) which means “to diminish,” and the latter from דלה (dalah) which means “to carry off by lifting up.” But let my readers consider if the word “lifting up” be not more appropriate; for Hezekiah appears to complain that his life, while it tended to advance farther, was suddenly east down; just as if God should cause the sun to set, while it was still ascending in the sky.

From day even to night. He now adds that in a short space of time he was brought down; and by this circumstance again expresses the severity of God’s wrath; because he consumes men by the breath of a moment; for to be laid low in a single day means that men die very rapidly.

13. I reckoned till the dawn. Others translate it “I determined,” or “I laid down.” Here it means what we express by the ordinary phrase, (Je fasoye mon compte,)” I laid my account.” From this verse it may be inferred that Hezekiah labored two days at least under the disease; for in the preceding verse he pronounced its severity to be so great that he expected immediate death. And now, when one day was past, he still waited till the dawn, and again, from day even to night, so that he said that he would die every moment. The meaning therefore is, that though he reached “the dawn,” still through constant tossings he was hastening to death, because, having been struck by a terrible judgment of God, he cared nothing about his life; and as the Greeks, when they intended to say that nothing is more vain than man, said that he was (ἐφήμερον) “an ephemeral animal,” that is, “the creature of a day,” so Hezekiah means by “the life of a day” that which is fading and has no duration.

As a lion, so hath he broken my bones. The comparison of God to a lion ought not to be reckoned strange, though God is naturally “gracious, merciful, and kind.” (Exodus 34:6.) Nothing certainly can more truly belong to God than these attributes; but we cannot be aware of that gentleness, when we have provoked him by our crimes and urged him to severity by our wickedness. Besides, there is no cruelty and fierceness in wild beasts that is fitted to strike such terror as we feel from the bare mention of the name of God, and justly; for the Lord’s chastisements must have sufficient power to humble and cast us down to hell itself, so that we shall be almost destitute of consolation and regard everything as full of horror. In like manner also, we see that David has described these terrors, when he says that “his bones are numbered, his couch is moistened with tears, his soul is troubled, and hell is opened.” (Psalm 6:3-6; 22:17; 38:6.) Thus must the godly be sometimes terrified by the judgment of God, that they may be more powerfully excited to desire his favor.

14. As a crane, or a swallow. Hezekiah cannot satisfy himself in explaining the severity of his anguish. He now says that he was reduced so low that he could not utter an articulate voice, but muttered some confused sound, like persons who are almost at the point of death. Hence it is evident that his distress was excruciating; for the severity of the pain took away his voice, and his voice, he says, stuck in his throat; nothing was heard but indistinct groans.

Such is the import of these metaphors of “the crane and the swallow,” which the Prophet employs. Still it is certain that this indistinct sound of the voice is nevertheless heard by God; though all our senses are oppressed by pain, and our throat is choked by grief, still God beholds our hearts and listens to godly sighs, “Et exauce les souspirs faits en foy.” “And listens to sighs heaved in faith.” which will be even more powerful than plain and direct words, provided that the Spirit is present, who produces in us those “groanings that cannot be uttered,” of which Paul speaks. (Romans 8:26.) There is no believer who does not feel that in prayer, when his heart is oppressed by any heavy sorrow, he either stammers or is almost dumb.

My eyes were lifted up on high. These words are translated by some, “My eyes are weakened;” but that would not agree with the phrase, “on high.” The sense of “lifting-up” belongs not to דלל (dalal) but to דלה (dalah) Jerome adopted the sense of “weakened,” and brought out the meaning by a supplement, in which he has been followed by almost all modern commentators. “My eyes were weakened (looking) on high.” This rendering has been almost literally adapted in diodati’s Italian version. “I mici occhi erano scemati (riguardando) ad alto.” Professor Alexander translates thus, “My eyes are weak (with looking) upward, or, on high.)” — Ed. On this account we must adopt a simpler meaning, that, although Hezekiah’s eyes were nearly worn out with weakness, so that he almost fainted, yet. he did not cease to lift up his eyes to heaven; and that he never was stupified to such a degree as not to know that he ought to ask assistance from God. Let us therefore learn by the example of Hezekiah to lift up our eyes to heaven, when our hearts are afflicted and troubled; and let us know that God does not demand from us great eloquence.

O Lord, it hath oppressed me; “Le mal m’ oppresse.” “Disease oppresses me.” comfort me. He confirms the sentiment already expressed, by immediately directing his discourse to God and imploring his aid. Being oppressed by the violence of disease, he desires that God would be present to assist him. Some render the words, “Be surety for me;” “Undertake for me; rescue me out of the hand of the angel of death, and answer for me, to deliver me. The word signifies ‘answering,’ or, as we say, ‘suretiship;’ as in that passage, Answer (or, be surety) for thy servant for good. (Psalm 119:122.)” — Jarchi. “Or, contend for me, undertake my cause; for thus, according to Jarchi, עשוק (gnashuk) must be translated, if we read it with Sin, (not Schin,) as he appears to have done; and in the Hebrew copy which I have used the point is on the left horn of the letter.” — Breithaupt. and the verb ערב (gnarab) is often used in this sense; but it is more appropriate to say, “Comfort me,” or “Cheer me.” Or perhaps it will be thought preferable to translate, as some have done, “Cause me to rest.” Undoubtedly he asks comfort from God, that he may not sink under the violence of disease; and we ought to be assured of this, that the greater the weight of afflictions that oppresses us, the more will God be ready to give us assistance.

15. What shall I say? This is generally supposed to be an exclamation, such as frequently bursts forth in a season of joy, as if he congratulated himself on having already obtained his wish. But I think differently. Hezekiah appears to proceed in his complaints; for he speaks as men commonly do when they are overcome by grief; “What shall I say? for he who said it hath also done it;” that is, “life and death are in his hand; it is useless for me to argue or contend with him; it is useless for me to complain.” In the book of Job also words and sayings of this sort are often found. (Job 7:4.) I think that this is the true meaning; for Hezekiah previously looked around on all sides to see if any assistance appeared, and now, when he sees that he is about to die, and that God has threatened it, he concludes that he ought no longer to resist but to obey.

Yet we ought to mark the emphatic statement, that God hath actually fulfilled what he had threatened by his word. They who explain it to mean simply, “what God said to me by the Prophet he hath fulfilled,” express a part of the truth, but. not the whole; for Hezekiah does not coldly relate that he has perceived the effect of the word, but, by bringing forward the power of God, he cuts off every occasion to murmur or complain. Thus also David says, “I am dumb, because thou hast done it.” (Psalm 39:9.) We never cease to complain until we are restrained by the fear of the power of God. Thus also Job, considering that he has to deal with God, says, “I will lay my finger on my mouth,” (Job 40:4,) and “I will humbly make supplication to my judge.” (Job 9:15.) Hezekiah, therefore, enjoins silence on himself on this ground, that it is useless to contend with God.

At the same time, he means that he has no hope of life, because the Lord gives actual demonstration that it was a serious threatening; and hence he infers that he gains nothing, because there are no means of evasion. This sentiment, it is true, proceeds from despair; because in this manner, thinking that God is his enemy, he shuts the door against his prayers. But that in very severe distresses words of this kind should escape our lips, which deter us from confidence in prayer, is neither new nor strange, provided that, on the other hand, we rely on that calling upon God which the views of the flesh pronounce to be of no avail. There is reason to believe that the pious king labored under such perplexity that he fainted through weakness; but that he chiefly considered what I have said, that there was nothing preferable to silence, because that it would serve no purpose to dispute with God, will appear more clearly from what immediately follows.

I shall walk trembling I shall go softly. — Eng. Ver. all my life. Hence we may infer that he now holds out to his view the dreadful power of God, in order to dispose himself to true humility. As דדה (dadah) sometimes signifies “to move,” and sometimes “to walk softly,” אדדה (eddaddeh) is translated by some commentators, “I shall be moved,” or “I shall be troubled,” and by others, “I shall walk softly.” For my own part, I have no doubt that it denotes a trembling and feeble step; for Hezekiah had been reduced to so great weakness that he despaired of ever afterwards recovering his former strength. This trembling must be attributed to fear, for it immediately follows, in bitterness; which means, that the sorrow which he had endured was so deeply rooted in his heart, that it could never be removed. Hence arose that weakness which he mentioned.

אדדה (eddaddeh) is translated by the Vulgate, “I will call to remembrance,” on which account this passage has been tortured by Papists to support auricular confession, but so absurdly that even old wives can laugh at it. But the plain meaning is, that Hezekiah does not speak of calling to remembrance, but of that agitation and trembling with which he says that he will be struck during the whole period of his life.

16. O Lord, even to all who shall live after them. The concise style of the Prophet has given rise to various interpretations. The interpretation most commonly received is “O Lord, they shall live beyond those years, Outre ces ans-ci. ” that is, “they shall lengthen their life.” This is equivalent to saying, “When thou shalt have lengthened my life, thou wilt grant that others also shall enjoy the same favor.” But that meaning does not agree with the text, and I look upon it as forced. I rather think that Hezekiah’s meaning was this” O Lord, whosoever shall live beyond those years, to them also will the life of my spirit be known.” We must therefore supply the relative אשר, (asher,) who, as the Hebrew writers frequently do, and there will be nothing forced in this interpretation; for there can be no doubt, and nobody denies it, that he speaks of the years which the Lord had lengthened out to him. Thus he means that, this favor will be acknowledged not only by the men of that age, but also by posterity.

And didst cause me to sleep, and didst make me alive. In this way he magnifies the greatness of the favor, because it will also be well known to a future age, and will continue to be engraven on the remembrance of all, even when Hezekiah himself is dead, and not only so, but will be reckoned to be a kind of resurrection. By the word sleep he means death, as the Scriptures frequently do. (1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 2 Peter 3:4.) Thus he compares this mortal disease to death; for he was so near death that he utterly despaired of life.

17. Lo, in peace ray bitterness was bitter. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness,” or, “On my peace came great bitterness.” — Eng. Ver. Again, another circumstance aggravates the severity of the distress; for sudden and unexpected calamities disturb us more than those which come upon us in a gradual manner. The grievousness of the disease was the more insupportable, because it seized him suddenly while he enjoyed ease and quietness; for nothing was farther from his thoughts than that he was about to depart from this life. We know also that the saints sometimes rely too much on prosperity, and promise to themselves unvarying success, which David too acknowledges to have happened to himself, “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved; but thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” (Psalm 30:6, 7.)

Nothing more distressing, therefore, could happen to Hezekiah than to be taken out of life, especially when the discomfiture and ruin of his enemy left him in the enjoyment of peace; for I think that Hezekiah fell into this disease after the defeat of Sennacherib, as has been already said. Amidst that joy and peace which smiled upon him, lo, a heavy sickness by which Hezekiah is fearfully distressed and tormented. This warns us that, since nothing is solid or lasting in this life, and since all that delights us may be speedily taken away, we ought not to grow sluggish in prosperity, but, even while we enjoy peace, we ought to think of war, and adversity, and afflictions, and, above all, to seek that peace which rests on God’s fatherly kindness, on which our consciences may safely repose.

And thou hast been pleased (to rescue) my soul from the pit. This part of the verse admits of two meanings. Since the verb חשק (chashak) signifies sometimes “to love,” and sometimes “to wish,” that meaning would not be unsuitable, “It hath pleased thee to deliver my soul.” But if nothing be understood, the style will be equally complete, and will flow not less agreeably, “Thou, O God, didst embrace my soul with favor and kindness, while it was lying in the grave.” “Thou hast loved my soul, from the pit of destruction. (This exactly agrees with our authors marginal reading.) “We have here another instance of pregnant construction, to love from, that is, so to love as to deliver from. This sense is expressed in the English Bible by a circumlocution.” — Alexander. It is well known that “soul” means “life;” but here the goodness of God is proclaimed, in not ceasing to love Hezekiah, even when he might be regarded as dead. In this way the copulative particle must be translated But.

For thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins. By assigning the reason, he now leads us to the fountain itself, and points out the method of that cure; for otherwise it might have been thought that hitherto he had spoken of nothing else than the cure of the body, but now he shews that he looks at something higher, namely, that he had been guilty before God, but by his grace had been forgiven. He affirms, indeed, that life has been restored to him, but reckons it of higher value that he has been reconciled to God than a hundred or a thousand lives. And, indeed,

“it would have been better for us never to have been born” (Matthew 26:24)

than by living a long life to add continually new offenses, and thus to bring down on ourselves a heavier judgment. He therefore congratulates himself chiefly on this ground, that the face of God smiles cheerfully upon him; for to enjoy his favor is the highest happiness.

At the same time he declares that all the distresses which God inflicts upon us ought to be attributed to our sins, so that they who accuse God of excessive severity do nothing else than double their’ guilt; and he does not only condemn himself for one sin, but confesses that he was laden with many sins, so that he needed more than one pardon. If, then, we sincerely seek alleviation of our distresses, we must begin here; because when God is appeased, it is impossible that it can be ill with us; for he takes no pleasure in our distresses. It often happens with us as with foolish and thoughtless persons, when they are sick; for they fix their attention on nothing but (συμπτώματα) symptoms or accidental circumstances, and the pains which they feel, and overlook the disease itself. But we ought rather to imitate skillful physicians, who examine the causes of disease, and give their whole attention to eradicate those causes. They know that outward remedies are useless, and even hurtful, if the inward cause be unknown; for such remedies drive the whole force of the disease inward, and promote and increase it, so that there is no hope of cure.

Hezekiah therefore perceived the cause of his distress, that is, his sins; and when he had received the forgiveness of them, he knew that punishment also ceased and was remitted. Hence we see how absurd is the distinction of the Papists, who wish to separate the remission of punishment from the remission of guilt. But Hezekiah here testifies that punishment has been remitted to him, because guilt has been remitted.

We ought carefully to observe the form of expression which Isaiah employs, thou hast cast behind thy back; for it means that the remembrance of them is altogether effaced. In like manner, a Prophet elsewhere says that God

“casteth them into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19.)

It is likewise said in another passage, that he casteth them away

“as far as the east is distant from the west.” (Psalm 103:12.)

By these modes of expression God assures us that he will not impute to us the sins which he has pardoned; and if, notwithstanding of this, he chastise us, he does it not as a judge, but as a father, to train his children and keep them in the discharge of their duty. Papists are mistaken in dreaming that punishments contain some kind of satisfaction, “Satisfaction ou recompenses.” “Satisfaction or compensations.” as if God exacted vengeance, because he would not bestow a free pardon. But when God chastises his people, he promotes their future advantage.

18. For hell shall not confess thee “For the grave cannot praise thee.” — Eng. Ver. “For the grave shall not confess thee.” — Alexander. When he says that he would not have celebrated the praises of God, if his life had been taken away, he promises that he will be thankful and will keep it in remembrance, and at the same time declares that the highest and most desirable advantage that life can yield to him is, that he will praise God. But although it is a sign of true piety to desire life for no other reason than to spend it in the unceasing praises of God, yet Hezekiah appears to employ language which is too exclusive; for the death of believers declares the glory of God not less than their life, and, being after death perfectly united to God, they do not cease to proclaim his praises along with the angels. Again, another question arises, “Why was Hezekiah so eager to avoid death and so earnestly desirous of an earthly life?” And though even this second question were answered, still the reader will likewise call to remembrance, that this terror was not produced by death alone, for the same Hezekiah, when his life was ended, did not resist, but willingly yielded to God; but that the pious king, when he had been struck by God’s wrath, grieved only on this account, that by his sins he had excluded himself from life, as if he would never afterwards enjoy any favor or blessing.

On this also depends the answer to the first question; for we need not wonder if the pious king, not only supposing that he must depart out of life, but thinking that death is the punishment of sins and the vengeance of God, groan and weep that he is condemned as unworthy of devoting himself to the advancement of the glory of God. All who have been struck by this thunderbolt are unable, either living or dead, to celebrate the praises of God, but, being overwhelmed with despair, must be dumb. In the same sense also David says,

“In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall praise thee?” (Psalm 6:5.)

And the whole Church says,

“The dead shall not praise thee, nor those that go down into silence.” (Psalm 115:17.)

The reason is, that they who are ruined and lost will have no ground of thanksgiving.

Yet it ought likewise to be observed that the saints, when they spoke in this manner, did not consider what kind of condition awaited them after death, but, under the influence of the pain which they now felt, looked only at the end for which they were created and preserved in the world. The chief object of life, as we said a little before, is that men should be employed in the service of God; and with the same design God protects his Church in the world, because it is his will that his name shall be celebrated. Now, he who sees himself cast down, because he does not deserve to be reckoned, or to hold a place, among the worshippers of God, does not calmly and attentively, consider what he shall do after death, but, under the darkening influence of grief, as if after death all the exercise of piety would cease, takes from the dead the power of praising God, because the glory of God appears to be buried along with the witnesses of it.

19. The living, the living, he shall confess thee. He does not include all men without exception; for many live, who yet extinguish the glory of God by their ingratitude, as far as lies in their power, and undoubtedly have nothing farther from their thoughts than that they were born to praise God. But he simply declares that men, so long as God supports them in this life, may justly be regarded as the lawful heralds of his glory, when he invites them, by his kindness, to the discharge of that office. And this contrast shews that the statement which he made a little before, that “in death or in the grave there is no remembrance of God,” is a general declaration, that they who would willingly be employed in praising God are deprived of this favor, when they are driven out of the world.

As I do this day. He solemnly declares that he will be one of the witnesses of the glory of God, and thus gives a manifest indication of gratitude towards God; for he declares that he will not be forgetful, but will continually give thanks to God, and will make known the favor which he has received; and that not only to the men of his own age, but also to posterity, that they too may celebrate those praises and adore the author of so great a favor.

The father shall make known to the sons thy truth. Hence we ought to learn a useful lesson, that children are given to men on the express condition, that every man, by instructing his children, shall endeavor, to the utmost of his power, to transmit the name of God to posterity; and, therefore, the fathers of families are chiefly enjoined to be careful in this respect, that they shall diligently mention the benefits which God has bestowed on them. By the word truth he means that faithfulness which God exercises towards his people, and all the testimonies of his grace by which he proves that he is true.

20. Jehovah to save me. “Le Seigneur m’a delivre.” “The Lord hath delivered me.” He acknowledges that he was delivered, not by the aid or industry of men, but solely by the kindness of God. The rendering given by some, “It belongs to the Lord to save me,” does not express enough, and appears to be more remote from the literal meaning; for he praises not only the power of God, but also the work by which he hath given an evident proof of it. In a word, he contrasts God’s keeping with the death to which he had been sentenced; because, having formerly dreaded him as a severe judge, he now avows him as his deliverer, and leaps with joy. “The obvious ellipsis in the first clause may be variously filled with ‘came, hastened, commanded, was ready, be pleased,’ or with the verb ‘is,’ as an idiomatic periphrasis of the future, ‘is to save’ for ‘will save.” — Alexander.

And we will sing our songs. For the reason now stated, he not only prepares himself for singing in token of gratitude, but also calls on others to join and accompany him in this duty, and on this account mentions the Temple, in which the assemblies of religious men were held. Had be been a private individual and one of the common people, still it would have been his duty to offer a public sacrifice to God, that he might encourage others by his example. Much more then was the king bound to take care that he should bring others to unite with him in thanksgiving; especially because in his person God had provided for the advantage of the whole Church.

All the days of our life. He declares that he will do his endeavor that this favor of God may be known to all, and that the remembrance of it may be preserved, not only for one day or for one year, but as long as he shall live. And indeed at any time it would have been exceedingly base to allow a blessing of God so remarkable as this to pass away or be forgot, ten; but, being forgetful, we continually need spurs to arouse us. At the same time, he takes a passing notice of the reason why God appointed holy assemblies. It was, that all as with one mouth might praise him, and might excite each other to the practice of godliness.

21. And Isaiah said Isaiah now relates what was the remedy which he prescribed to Hezekiah. Some think that it was not a remedy, becausefigs are dangerous and hurtful to boils; but that the pious king was warned and clearly taught by this sign that the cure proceeded from nothing else than from the favor of God alone. As the bow in the sky, “L’arc en la nuce.” “The bow in the cloud.” by which God was pleased to testify that mankind would never be destroyed by a flood, (Genesis 9:13,) appears to denote what is absolutely contrary to this; (for it makes its appearance, when very thick clouds are gathering, and ready to fall as if they would deluge the whole world;) so they think that a plaster, which was not at all fitted for curing the disease, was purposely applied by the Prophet, in order to testify openly that God cured Hezekiah without medicines. But since figs are employed even by our own physicians for maturing a pustule, it is possible that the Lord, who had given a promise, gave also a medicine, as we see done on many other occasions; for although the Lord does not need secondary means, as they are called, yet he makes use of them whenever he thinks proper. And the value of the promise is not lessened by this medicine, which without the word would have been vain and useless; because he had received another supernatural sign, by which he had plainly learned that he had received front God alone that life of which he despaired.

22. Now, Hezekiah had said. Some explain this verse as if this also had been a sign given to Hezekiah, and therefore, view it as connected with the preceding verse, and look upon it as an exclamation of astonishment. But it is more probable that in this passage the order has been reversed, as frequently takes place with Hebrew writers, and that what was spoken last is related first. Isaiah did not at the beginning say that Hezekiah had asked a sign, though the sacred history (2 Kings 20:8) attests it; and therefore he adds what he had left out at the proper place.

That I shall go up. He means that it will be his chief object throughout his whole life to celebrate the name of God; for he did not desire life for the sake of living at ease and enjoying pleasure, but in order to defend the honor of God and the purity of his worship. Let us therefore remember that God prolongs our life, not that we may follow the bent of our natural disposition, or give ourselves up to luxury, but that we may cultivate piety, perform kind offices to each other, and frequently take part in the assembly of the godly and the public exercises of religion, that we may proclaim the truth and goodness of God.

CHAPTER 39

Isaiah 39:1-8

1. At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezzekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered.

1. Tempore illo misit Merodach Baladan, filius Baladan, rex Babel, ad Ezechiam literas et munus, ex quo audieret eum aegrotasse, et convaluisse

2. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

2. Laetatus est autum de iis Ezechias, et ostendit illis domum thesauri sui, argentum et aurum et aromata, unguentum pretiosum, et omne armamentarium suum, et quicquid inveniebatur in thesauris suis: non fuit res ulla, quam non ostenderit Ezechias in domo sua, totoque regno suo.

3. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? And from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.

3. Tum venit Isaias propheta ad regem Ezechiam, dixitique illi: Quid dixerunt viri isti? Et unde venerunt ad te? Respondit Ezechias, E terra longinqua venerunt ad me, e Babel

4. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

4. Tunc dixit: Quid viderunt domi tuae? Et dixit Ezechias: Cuncta quae domi meae sunt viderunt; nec res ulla est, quam non illis ostenderim in thesauris meis.

5. Then Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

5. Tunc ait Isais Ezechiae: Audi verbum Iehovae exercituum.

6. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

6. Ecce dies veniunt, ut tollatur in Babylonem quicquid est domituae, et quicquid recondiderunt patres tui ad hunc usque diem; nec residuum quicquam manebit, dicit Iehova.

7. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

7. E filiis tuis qui egressi fuerint ex te, quos genueris, tollent; eruntque eunuchi in palatio regis Babel.

8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

8. Dixit Ezechias Isiae: Bonus est sermo Iehovae quem pronumtiasti. Et dixit: Saltem erit pax et stabilitas in diebus meis.

CHAPTER 38

Is 38:1-22. Hezekiah's Sickness; Perhaps Connected with the Plague or Blast Whereby the Assyrian Army Had Been Destroyed.

1. Set ... house in order--Make arrangement as to the succession to the throne; for he had then no son; and as to thy other concerns.

thou shall die--speaking according to the ordinary course of the disease. His being spared fifteen years was not a change in God's mind, but an illustration of God's dealings being unchangeably regulated by the state of man in relation to Him.

2. The couches in the East run along the walls of houses. He turned away from the spectators to hide his emotion and collect his thoughts for prayer.

3. He mentions his past religious consistency, not as a boast or a ground for justification; but according to the Old Testament dispensation, wherein temporal rewards (as long life, &c., Ex 20:12) followed legal obedience, he makes his religious conduct a plea for asking the prolongation of his life.

walked--Life is a journey; the pious "walk with God" (Ge 5:24; 1Ki 9:4).

perfect--sincere; not absolutely perfect, but aiming towards it (Mt 5:45); single-minded in walking as in the presence of God (Ge 17:1). The letter of the Old Testament legal righteousness was, however, a standard very much below the spirit of the law as unfolded by Christ (Mt 5:20-48; 2Co 3:6, 14, 17).

wept sore--Josephus says, the reason why he wept so sorely was that being childless, he was leaving the kingdom without a successor. How often our wishes, when gratified, prove curses! Hezekiah lived to have a son; that son was the idolater Manasseh, the chief cause of God's wrath against Judah, and of the overthrow of the kingdom (2Ki 23:26, 27).

4. In 2Ki 20:4, the quickness of God's answer to the prayer is marked, "afore Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him"; that is, before he had left Hezekiah, or at least when he had just left him, and Hezekiah was in the act of praying after having heard God's message by Isaiah (compare Is 65:24; Psa 32:5; Da 9:21).

5. God of David thy father--God remembers the covenant with the father to the children (Ex 20:5; Psa 89:28, 29).

tears--(Psa 56:8).

days ... years--Man's years, however many, are but as so many days (Ge 5:27).

6. In 2Ki 20:8, after this verse comes the statement which is put at the end, in order not to interrupt God's message (Is 38:21, 22) by Isaiah (Is 38:5-8).

will deliver--The city was already delivered, but here assurance is given, that Hezekiah shall have no more to fear from the Assyrians.

7. sign--a token that God would fulfil His promise that Hezekiah should "go up into the house of the Lord the third day" (2Ki 20:5, 8); the words in italics are not in Isaiah.

8. bring again--cause to return (Jos 10:12-14). In 2Ki 20:9, 11, the choice is stated to have been given to Hezekiah, whether the shadow should go forward, or go back, ten degrees. Hezekiah replied, "It is a light thing (a less decisive miracle) for the shadow to go down (its usual direction) ten degrees: nay, but let it return backward ten degrees"; so Isaiah cried to Jehovah that it should be so, and it was so (compare Jos 10:12, 14).

sundial of Ahaz--Herodotus (2.109) states that the sundial and the division of the day into twelve hours, were invented by the Babylonians; from them Ahaz borrowed the invention. He was one, from his connection with Tiglath-pileser, likely to have done so (2Ki 16:7, 10). "Shadow of the degrees" means the shadow made on the degrees. Josephus thinks these degrees were steps ascending to the palace of Ahaz; the time of day was indicated by the number of steps reached by the shadow. But probably a sundial, strictly so called, is meant; it was of such a size, and so placed, that Hezekiah, when convalescent, could witness the miracle from his chamber. Compare Is 38:21, 22 with 2Ki 20:9, where translate, shall this shadow go forward, &c.; the dial was no doubt in sight, probably "in the middle court" (2Ki 20:4), the point where Isaiah turned back to announce God's gracious answers to Hezekiah. Hence this particular sign was given. The retrogression of the shadow may have been effected by refraction; a cloud denser than the air interposing between the gnomon and dial would cause the phenomenon, which does not take from the miracle, for God gave him the choice whether the shadow should go forward or back, and regulated the time and place. Bosanquet makes the fourteenth year of Hezekiah to be 689 B.C., the known year of a solar eclipse, to which he ascribes the recession of the shadow. At all events, there is no need for supposing any revolution of the relative positions of the sun and earth, but merely an effect produced on the shadow (2Ki 20:9-11); that effect was only local, and designed for the satisfaction of Hezekiah, for the Babylonian astronomers and king "sent to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land" (2Ch 32:31), implying that it had not extended to their country. No mention of any instrument for marking time occurs before this dial of Ahaz, 700 B.C. The first mention of the "hour" is made by Daniel at Babylon (Da 3:6).

9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.

22. house of the Lord--Hence he makes the praises to be sung there prominent in his song (Is 38:20; Psa 116:12-14, 17-19).

In those days - The reader is requested to consult the notes on 2 Kings 20 in reference to the principal parts of this chapter.

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall - The furniture of an eastern divan or chamber, either for the reception of company or for private use, consists chiefly of carpets spread on the floor in the middle; and of sofas, or couches ranged on one or more sides of the room, on a part raised somewhat above the floor. On these they repose themselves in the day, and sleep at night. It is to be observed that the corner of the room is the place of honor. Dr. Pococke, when he was introduced to the Sheikh of Furshout, found him sitting in the corner of his room. He describes another Arab Sheikh "as sitting in the corner of a large green tent, pitched in the middle of an encampment of Arabs; and the Bey of Girge as placed on a sofa in a corner to the right as one entered the room." - Harmer's Observ. 2 p. 60. Lady Mary Montague, giving an account of a visit which she made to the Kahya's lady at Adrianople, says, "She ordered cushions to be given me; and took care to place me in the corner, which is the place of honor." - Letter 33. The reason of this seems to be, that the person so placed is distinguished, and in a manner separated, from the rest of the company, and as it were guarded by the wall on each side. We are to suppose Hezekiah's couch placed in the same situation; in which turning on either side, he must turn his face to the wall; by which he would withdraw himself from those who were attending upon him in his apartment, in order to address his private prayer to God. Isa 38:3 And he said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, remember now how I have endeavored to walk before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept, and lamented grievously. - L. Isa 38:4 Now [before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court] the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, Go [back], and say unto Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah the God of David thy father, I have heard thy supplication; I have seen thy tears. Behold [I will heal thee; and on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of Jehovah. Isa 38:5 And] I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee, and this city, from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city. And [Hezekiah said, By what sign shall I know that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah? Isa 38:7 And Isaiah said], This shall be the sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah still bring to effect this word which he hath spoken.

The words in the translation included within crotchets are supplied from the parallel place, 2Kgs 20:4, 2Kgs 20:5, to make the narration more perfect. I have also taken the liberty, with Houbigant, of bringing forward the two last verses of this chapter, and inserting them in their proper places of the narration with the same mark. Kimchi's note on these two verses is as follows: "This and the following verse belong not to the writing of Hezekiah; and I see no reason why they are written here after the writing; for their right place is above, after And I will protect this city, Isa 38:6. And so they stand in the book of Kings, "2Kgs 20:7, 2Kgs 20:8. The narration of this chapter seems to be in some parts an abridgment of that of 2 Kings 20. The abridger, having finished his extract here with the eleventh verse, seems to have observed, that the seventh and eighth verses of 2 Kings 20 were wanted to complete the narration: he therefore added them at the end of the chapter, after he had inserted the song of Hezekiah, probably with marks for their insertion in their proper places; which marks were afterwards neglected by transcribers. Or a transcriber might omit them by mistake, and add them at the end of the chapter with such marks. Many transpositions are, with great probability, to be accounted for in the same way.

I will defend this city - The other copy, 2Kgs 20:6, adds:" for mine own sake, and for the sake of David my servant;" and the sentence seems somewhat abrupt without it.

Which is gone down "By which the sun is gone down" - For בשמש bashshemesh, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read השמש, hashshemesh. - Houbigant. In the history of this miracle in the book of Kings, (2Kgs 20:9-11), there is no mention at all made of the sun, but only of the going backward of the shadow: which might be effected by a supernatural refraction. The first ὁ ἡλιος, the sun, in this verse is omitted in the Septuagint, MS. Pachom.

The writing of Hezekiah - Here the book of Kings deserts us, the song of Hezekiah not being inserted in it. Another copy of this very obscure passage (obscure not only from the concise poetical style, but because it is probably very incorrect) would have been of great service.

The MSS. and ancient Versions, especially the latter, will help us to get through some of the many difficulties which we meet with in it.

The Lord "Jehovah" - יה Yah, יה Yah, seems to be יהוה Yehovah, in MS. Bodl., and it was so at first written in another. So the Syriac. See Houbigant. I believe יהוה Yehovah was the original reading. See the note on Isa 12:2 (note).

Mine age - is removed from me as a shepherd's tent - רעי roi is put for רעה roeh, say the rabbis (Sal. Den Melec on the place); but much more probably is written imperfectly for רעים roim, shepherds. See note on Isa 5:1.

I shall be removed from this state to another, as a shepherd removes his tent from one place to another for the sake of his flock. Is not this a strong intimation of his belief in a future state?

I have cut off like a weaver my life "My life is cut off as by the weaver" - קפדתי kippadti. This verb is rendered passively, and in the third person, by the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.

The last line of the foregoing verse מיום עד לילה תשלימני miyom ad layelah tashlimeni, "In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web; "or, as the common version has it, "From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, "is not repeated at the end of this verse in the Syriac version; and a MS. omits it. It seems to have been inserted a second time in the Hebrew text by mistake.

I reckoned till morning, etc. "I roared until the morning like the lion" - For שויתי shivvithi, the Chaldee has נהמית nihameith: he read שאגתי shaagti, the proper term for the roaring of a lion; often applied to the deep groaning of men in sickness. See Psalm 22, Psa 32:3; Psa 38:9; Job 3:24. The Masoretes divide the sentence, as I have done; taking כארי caari, like a lion, into the first member; and so likewise the Septuagint.

Like - a swallow "Like the swallow" - כסיס kesis; so read two MSS., Theodot., and Hieron.

Mine eyes fail - For דלו dallu the Septuagint read כלו calu, εξελιπον. Compare Psa 69:4; Psa 119:82, Psa 119:123; Lam 2:11; Lam 4:17, in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint.

O Lord "O Lord" - For יהוה Jehovah, thirty MSS. and eight editions read אדני Adonai.

Undertake for me "Contend for me" - עשקה ashekah, with ש shin, Jarchi: this sense of the word is established by Gen 26:20 : "He called the name of the well עשק esek, because they strove with him:" התעשקו hithasseku, equivalent to יריבו yaribu, at the beginning of the verse.

I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul "Through the rest of my years will I reflect on this bitterness of my soul" - אדדה eddaddeh; recogitabo, Vulg., reputabo, Hieron. in loc.

By these things men live "For this cause shall it be declared" - Περι αυτης γαρ ανηγγελη σοι, και εξηγειρας μου την πνοην, Sept. They read in their copies עליה יחוו לך ותחיי רוחי not very different from the present text, from which all the ancient Versions vary. They entirely omit two words, ולכל בהן ulecol bahen; as to which there is some variation in the MSS. One MS. has ובכל ubechol, and in all; two others וכל vechol, and all, and ten MSS. have בהם bahem, in them, in the masculine gender.

Taking this as in the common Version, we may observe, it is not an unfrequent case, that afflictions, and especially such as tend to a speedy death, become the means, not only of saving the soul, but also of lengthening the life.

Make me to live "Hast prolonged my life" - A MSS. and the Babylonish Talmud read ותחיני vetachayeni, and so the ancient Versions. It must necessarily be in the second person.

For peace I had great bitterness "My anguish is changed into ease" - מר לי מר mar li mar, "mutata mthi est amaritudo." Paronomasia; a figure which the prophet frequently admits. I do not always note it, because it cannot ever be preserved in the translation, and the sense seldom depends upon it. But here it perfectly clears up the great obscurity of the passage. See Lowth on the place.

Thou hast rescued - חשכת chashachta, with כ caph, instead of ק koph; so the Septuagint and Vulgate; Houbigant. See Chappelow on Job 33:18.

From perdition - משחת בלי mishshachath beli, ἱνα μη αποληται, Sept. ut non periret, "that it may not perish." Vulg. Perhaps inverting the order of the words. See Houbigant.

Thou hast in love to my soul - חשקת chashakta, "thou hast lovingly embraced" or kissed "my soul out of the pit of corruption."

Thy truth - אל אמתך el amittecha. A MS. omits אל el; and instead of אל el, an ancient MS. and one edition read את eth. The same mistake as in Psa 2:7.

Let them take a lump of figs, etc. - God, in effecting this miraculous cure, was pleased to order the use of means not improper for that end. "Folia, et, quae non maturuere, fici, strumis illinuntur omnibusque quae emollienda sunt discutiendave." - Plin. Nat. Hist. 23:7. "Ad discutienda ea, quae in corporis parte aliqua coierunt, maxime possunt-ficus arida," etc. - Celsus, 5:11.

See the note on 2Kgs 20:7 (note). Philemon Holland translates the passage as a medical man: "The milke or white juice that the figge tree yieldeth is of the same nature that vinegre: and therefore it will cruddle milke as well as rennet, or rendles. The right season of gathering this milkie substance is before that the figs be ripe upon the tree; and then it must be dried in the shadow: thus prepared, it is good to break impostumes, and keepe ulcer open."

I reckon - When I could not rest all the night even 'till morning, my thoughts were presaging that God would instantly break me to pieces, and the like thoughts followed me from morning 'till evening.

By these - By thy promises, and thy performance of them; therefore it is not strange, that one word of God hath brought me back from the jaws of death.

Praise - The dead are not capable of glorifying thy name among men upon earth. They cannot expect nor receive the accomplishment of thy promised goodness in the land of the living.

Was ready - Was a present help.

9. The writing of Hezekiah king of Iudah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

Who was a good Man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and inspired by him to Write this, both as a Testimony of his own Gratitude to God, and for the Instruction of after Ages.

10. I said in the cutting off of my days , I shall go to the gates of the grave ; I am deprived of the residue of my years .

To and within my self I Concluded it.

When my days were cut off by the Sentence of God, related here, ver. 1.

I perceive, That I must die without any hopes of prevention. The Grave is called a Man's long home, Eccles. 12. 5. and The house appointed for all living Men, Job. 30. 23. and Death opens the gates of this House. We read also of the gates of death, Psal. 9. 13. & 107. 18.

Which I might have lived according to the common course of Nature, and of God's dispensations; and which I expected, and hoped to live for the Service of God, and of my Generation.

Marginal references: Heb. hell Mat. 16. 18.

11. I said, I shall not see the LORD , even the LORD in the land of the living ; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world .

I shall not enjoy him; for seeing is put for enjoying, as hath been frequently noted.

In this World▪ which is so called, Psal. 27. 13. & 116. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]sa. 53. 8. in his Sanctuary. Which Limitation is prudently added to intimate, That he expected to see God in another place and manner, even in Heaven, Face to Face.

I shall have no more Society with Men upon Earth.

12. Mine age is departed , and is removed from me as a shepherds tent : I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness , from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me .

The time of my Life is expired.

Which is easily and speedily removed.

To wit, by my Sins, provoking God to do it. Or, I do declare, and have concluded, That my Life is or will be suddenly cut off: For Men are oft said in Scripture, to do those Things which they onely declare and pronounce to be done, as Men are said to pollute, and to remit and retain sins, and the like; when they onely declare Men and Things to be polluted, and Sins to be remitted or retained by God.

Who cutteth off the Web from the Loom, either when it is finished, or before, according to his pleasure.

The Lord, who pronounced this Sentence against him.

With a consuming Disease, wasting my Spirits and Life. Some render this Word, from the thrum, from those Threds at the end of the Web, which are fastned to the Beam. So the similitude of a Weaver is continued.

The Sence is, Either 1. this Sickness will kill me in the space of one day. Or rather 2. thou dost pursue me night and day with continual Pains, and wilt not desist till thou hast made a full End of me; so that, I expect that every day will be my Last day.

Marginal references: Or, from the [illegible: 1+ letters]rum.

13. I reckoned till morning ▪ that as a lion▪ so will he break all my bones, from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

When I was filled with Pain, and could not Rest all the Night long, even till Morning my Thoughts were working and presaging, That God would instantly break me to peices, and that every moment would be my last; and the like restless and dismal Thoughts followed me from Morning till Evening. But he mentions onely the time before Morning, to aggravate his Misery, that he was so grievously Tormented, when others had sweet Rest and Repose.

14. Like a crane or a swallow , so did I chatter : I did mourn as a dove ; mine eyes fail with looking upward : O LORD, I am oppressed , undertake for me .

Or, a crane and [illegible: 1+ letters]llow; the conjunction, and, being here, as it is Hab. 3. 11. and elsewhere, understood, as is manifest from Ier. 8. 7. where it is expressed with these very words.

My complaint and cry was like to the noise of a Swallow, quick and frequent; and like that of a Crane, loud and frightful. And this very Comparison is used of Mourners, not onely in Scripture, but in other Authors; concerning which, the Learned Reader may consult my Latine Synopsis.

Whose mournful Tone is observed, Isa. 59. 11. Ezek▪ 9. 16. and elsewhere.

Whilst I lift up mine Eyes and Heart to God for relief, but in vain.

By my Disease, which like a Serjeant hath seized upon me, and is haling me to the Prison of the Grave.

Stop the Execution, and rescue me out of his hands.

Marginal references: Or, ease me.

15. What shall I say ? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself have done it ▪ I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul .

I want words sufficient to express my deep Sense of God's dealings with me. He did foretel it by his Word▪ and effect it by his Hand. This Clause and Verse is, Either 1. a Continuance of his Complaint hitherto described: God hath passed this Sentence upon me, and hath also put it in Execution, and to Him I must submit my self: Or 2.

Transition or entrance into the Thanksgiving, which is undoubtedly contained in the following Verses. So the Sence is, God hath sent a gracious Message to me by his Prophet▪ concerning the prolongation of my Life; and he, I doubt not, will make good his Word therein. And this Sence seems the more probable: 1. Because here is mention of his years to come, whereas in his sickness he expected not to live to the end of a day. 2. Because the Chaldee Paraphrast, and the Seventy, and Syriack, and Arabick Interpreters expound it so in their Versions. 3. Because this suits best with the context and coherence of this Verse, both with the former, and with the following Verse. For as he endeth the foregoing Verse with a Prayer to God for longer Life, so in this Verse he relates God's gracious Answer to his Prayer: And if this Verse be thus understood, the next Verse hath a very convenient Connexion with this; whereas it seems to be very abrupt and incoherent, if the Thanksgiving begin there.

I shall walk in the course of my Life; Either 1. humbly, with all humble thankfulness to God for conferring so great a Favour upon so unworthy a Person: Or 2. easily and peaceably with leasure, not like one affrighted, or running away from his Enemy: Or 3. by slow and gentle paces, as Men commonly spin out their Days by degrees unto a just length, which is not unfitly opposed to his former state and time of Sickness, wherein his days were swifter than a weavers shuttle, and than a post, as Iob complained upon the same occasion, Iob 7. 6. & 9. 25. and▪ were cut off like a weavers Web, as he complained, ver. 12.

Arising from the remembrance of that desperate Condition, from which God had delivered me: For great dangers, though past, are oft-times very terrible to those that seriously reflect upon them. But the Words may be rendred, upon or after (as this particle is rendred, Isa. 18. 4.) the bitterness of my soul, after the deliverance from this bitter and dangerous Disease. Which may be compared with ver. 17. where he saith, For or after peace, I had great bitterness▪ as here he presageth and assureth himself of the contrary, That he should have Peace after his great bitterness. The Chaldee Paraphrast renders the Words, Because of my deliverance from bitterness of Soul; bitterness being put for deliverance from bitterness, as five is put for lack of five, as we render it, Gen. 18. 28. and fat for want of fat, Psal. 109. 24. and fruits for want of fruits, Lam. 4. 9. And other such like Defects there are in the Hebrew, which is a very concise Language.

16▪ O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit : so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live .

By vertue of thy gracious Word or Promise, and powerful Work, by thy Promises, and thy performances of them, mentioned in the foregoing Verse. This place may be explained by comparing it with Deut. 8. 3. Man doth not live by bread, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. The Sence is, Not I onely, but all Men do receive and recover, and hold their Lives by thy Favour, and the Word of thy Power: And therefore it is not strange, That one Word of God hath brought me back from the very jaws of Death.

And as it is with other Men, so hath it been with me in a special manner; for In these above all other things is the life of my Spirit or Soul, i. e. either the comfort (which is sometimes called Life) of my Spirit: or rather, That Life which is in my Body, from my Spirit or Soul united to it.

Or, and or for thou hast recovered me, &c. to wit, by these Things.

Marginal references: Or, hast recovered me and made me forer, &c.

17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness , but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back .

My Health and Prosperity was quickly changed into bitter Sickness and Affliction. Or, as others render it, My great bitterness was unt[illegible: 1+ letters] peace, was turned into Prosperity, or became the occasion of my safety and further advantages: For that drove me to my prayers, and my prayers prevailed with God for a gracious Answer, and the prolonging of my Life.

In kindness to me, the soul being oft put for the Man. This is an emphatical Circumstance: For sometimes God prolongs mens dayes in anger, and in order to their greater misery.

Thou hast forgiven those sins which brought this evil upon me, and upon that account hast removed the punishment of them; which sheweth that thou didst this in love to me. The phrase is borrowed from the custome of men, who when they would accurately see and observe any thing, set it before their faces, and when they desire, and resolve not to look upon any thing, turn their backs upon it, or cast it behind them.

Marginal references: Or, on my peace came great bitterness.; Heb abou hast loved my soul from the pit.

18 For the grave cannot praise thee e, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit connot hope for thy truth .

In this and the following verse, he declares Gods design in delivering him, that he might praise him in his Church; which if he had died he could not have done.

They cannot expect nor receive the accomplishment of thy promised goodness in the Land of the Living.

l The dead are not capable of glorifying thy Name among men upon Earth: which I desire and determine to do. See the like expressions, Psal. 6. 5. and 30. 9. and 88▪ 10. &c. The Grave is put for the persons lodged in it by a Metonymy.

Marginal references: Heb. Hell.; Psal. 115. 17.

19 The Living, the living, he shall praise thee , as I do this day, the father to the children shall make known thy truth .

They are especially obliged to it, and they onely have this priviledge.

They shall not onely praise thee whilst they live, but take care to propagate and perpetuate thy Praise and Glory to all succeeding generations.

20 The LORD was ready to save me , therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments , all the days of our life, in the house of the LORD.

Was a present help to me, ready to hear, and succour me upon my prayer in my great extremity.

According to the custom of those times.

q Both I and my People, who are concerned in me, and for me will sing forth those songs of praise which are due especially from me, for Gods great mercy to me.

21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover .

This was rather a sign appointed by God, than a natural means of the cure: For if it had a natural faculty to ripen a sore, yet it could never cure such a dangerous and pestilential disease at least in so little tune.

Marginal references: 2 King. 20. 7

22 Hezekiah also had said , what is the sign, that I shall go up to the house of the LORD .

Or, For Hezekiah had said, had asked a sign, which is here added as the reason, why Isaiah said what is related in the foregoing verse: to wit, in answer to Hezekiahs question.

Within three dayes, as is more fully related, 2 Kings 20. 5, 8.

For thither he designed in the first place to go, partly that he might pay his vow and thanksgivings to God, and partly that he might ingage the people to praise God with him, and for him.

Isa 38:1-3

There is nothing to surprise us in the fact that we are carried back to the time when Jerusalem was still threatened by the Assyrian, since the closing vv. of chapter 37 merely contain an anticipatory announcement, introduced for the purpose of completing the picture of the last Assyrian troubles, by adding the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prediction of their termination. It is within this period, and indeed in the year of the Assyrian invasion (Isa 36:1), since Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years, and fifteen of these are promised here, that the event described by Isaiah falls - an event not merely of private interest, but one of importance in connection with the history of the nation also. “In those days Hizkiyahu became dangerously ill. And Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thine house in order: for thou wilt die, and not recover. Then Hizkiyahu turned (K. om.)his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah, and said (K.saying), O Jehovah, remember this, I pray, that I have walked before thee in truth, and with the whole heart, and have done what was good in Thine eyes! And Hizkiyahu wept with loud weeping.” “Give command to thy house” (ל, cf., אל,   2Sa 17:23) is equivalent to, “Make known thy last will to thy family” (compare the rabbinical tsavvâ'âh, the last will and testament); for though tsivvâh is generally construed with the accusative of the person, it is also construed with Lamed (e.g., Exo 1:22; cf., אל, Exo 16:34). חיה in such a connection as this signifies to revive or recover. The announcement of his death is unconditional and absolute. As Vitringa observes, “the condition was not expressed, because God would draw it from him as a voluntary act.” The sick man turned his face towards the wall (פּניו הסב, hence the usual fut. cons. ויּסּב as in 1Ki 21:4, 1Ki 21:8, 1Ki 21:14), to retire into himself and to God. The supplicatory אנּה (here, as in Psa 116:4, Psa 116:16, and in all six times, with ה) always has the principal tone upon the last syllable before יהוה = אדני (Neh 1:11). The metheg has sometimes passed into a conjunctive accent (e.g., Gen 50:17; Exo 32:31). אשׁר את does not signify that which, but this, that, as in Deu 9:7; 2Ki 8:12, etc. “In truth,” i.e., without wavering or hypocrisy. שׁלם בלב, with a complete or whole heart, as in 1Ki 8:61, etc. He wept aloud, because it was a dreadful thing to him to have to die without an heir to the throne, in the full strength of his manhood (in the thirty-ninth year of his age), and with the nation in so unsettled a state.

Isa 38:4-6

The prospect is now mercifully changed. “And it came to pass (K. Isaiah was not yet out of the inner city; keri סהצר,the forecourt, and)the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah (K.to him) as follows: Go (K.turn again) and say to Hizkiyahu (K. adds,to the prince of my people),Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thine ancestor, I have heard thy prayer, seen thy tears; behold, I (K.will cure thee, on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah)add (K.and I add) to thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee ad this city out of the hand of the king of Asshur, and will defend this city (K.for mine own sake and for David my servant’s sake).” In the place of העיר (the city) the keri and the earlier translators have הצר. The city of David is not called the “inner city” anywhere else; in fact, Zion, with the temple hill, formed the upper city, so that apparently it is the inner space of the city of David that is here referred to, and Isaiah had not yet passed through the middle gate to return to the lower city, where he dwelt. The text of Kings is the more authentic throughout; except that עמּי נגיד, “the prince of my people,” is an annalistic adorning which is hardly original. סהלוך in Isaiah is an inf. abs. used in an imperative sense; שׁוּב, on the other hand, which we find in the other text, is imperative. On yōsiph, see at Isa 29:14.

Isa 38:7-8

The pledge desired. “(K.Then Isaiah said)and (K. om.)let this be the sign to thee on the part of Jehovah, that (אשׁר, K. כּי)Jehovah will perform this (K.the)word which He has spoken; Behold, I make the shadow retrace the steps, which it has gone down upon the sun-dial of Ahaz through the sun, ten steps backward. And the sun went back ten steps upon the dial, which it had gone down” (K. “Shall the shadow go forward [הלך, read הלך according to Job 40:2, or הילך]ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps? Then Yechizkiyahu said, It is easy for the shadow to go down ten steps; no, but the shadow shall go back ten steps. Then Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and turned back the shadow by the steps that it had gone down upon the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten steps backward”). “Steps of Ahaz” was the name given to a sun-dial erected by him. As ma‛ălâh may signify either one of a flight of steps or a degree (syn. madrigâh), we might suppose the reference to be to a dial-plate with a gnomon; but, in the first place, the expression points to an actual succession of steps, that is to say, to an obelisk upon a square or circular elevation ascended by steps, which threw the shadow of its highest point at noon upon the highest steps, and in the morning and evening upon the lowest either on the one side or the other, so that the obelisk itself served as a gnomon. It is in this sense that the Targum on 2Ki 9:13 renders gerem hamma‛ălōth by derag shâ‛ayyâ', step (flight of steps) of the sun-dial; and the obelisk of Augustus, on the Field of Mars at Rome, was one of this kind, which served as a sun-dial. The going forward, going down, or declining of the shadow, and its going back, were regulated by the meridian line, and under certain circumstances the same might be said of a vertical dial, i.e., of a sun-dial with a vertical dial-plate; but it applies more strictly to a step-dial, i.e., to a sun-dial in which the degrees that measure definite periods of time are really gradus. The step-dial of Ahaz may have consisted of twenty steps or more, which measured the time of day by half-hours, or even quarters. If the sign was given an hour before sunset, the shadow, by going back ten steps of half-an-hour each, would return to the point at which it stood at twelve o'clock. But how was this effected? Certainly not by giving an opposite direction to the revolution of the earth upon its axis, which would have been followed by the most terrible convulsions over the entire globe; and in all probability not even by an apparently retrograde motion of the sun (in which case the miracle would be optical rather than cosmical); but as the intention was to give a sign that should serve as a pledge, and therefore had not need whatever to be supernatural, it may have been simply through a phenomenon of refraction, since all that was required was that the shadow which was down at the bottom in the afternoon should be carried upwards by a sudden and unexpected refraction. Hamma‛ălōth (the steps) in Isa 38:8 does not stand in a genitive relation to tsēl (the shadow), as the accents would make it appear, but is an accusative of measure, equivalent to בּמּעלות in the sum of the steps (2Ki 20:11). To this accusative of measure there is appended the relative clause: quos (gradus) descendit (ירדה; צל being used as a feminine) in scala Ahasi per solem, i.e., through the onward motion of the sun. When it is stated that “the sun returned,” this does not mean the sun in the heaven, but the sun upon the sun-dial, upon which the illuminated surface moved upwards as the shadow retreated; for when the shadow moved back, the sun moved back as well. The event is intended to be represented as a miracle; and a miracle it really was. The force of will proved itself to be a power superior to all natural law; the phenomenon followed upon the prophet’s prayer as an extraordinary result of divine power, not effected through his astronomical learning, but simply through that faith which can move mountains, because it can set in motion the omnipotence of God. Isa 38:7-8

On 2Ki 20:9 - Even הלך is syntactically admissible in the sense of iveritne; see Gen 21:7; Psa 11:3; Job 12:9. Isa 47:12-15 ἀλμενιχακά in Plut., read Porph., viz., in the letter of Porphyrios to the Egyptian Anebo in Euseb. praep. iii. 4, init.: τάς τε εἰς τοὺς δεκανοὺς τομὰς καὶ τοὺς ὡροσκόποὺς καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους κραταιοὺς ἡγεμόνας, ὧν καὶ ὀνόματα ἐν τοῖς ἀλμενιχιακοῖς φέρεται; compare Jamblichos, de Mysteriis, viii. 4: τά τε ἑν τοῖς σαλμεσχινιακοῖς μέρος τι βραχύτατον περιέχει τῶν ̔Ερμαικῶν διατάξεων. This reading σαλμεσχινιακοῖς has been adopted by Parthey after two codices and the text in Salmasius, de annis clim. 605. But ἀλμενιχιακοῖς is favoured by the form Almanach (Hebr. אלמנק, see Steinschneider, Catal. Codd. Lugduno-Batav. p. 370), in which the word was afterwards adopted as the name of an astrological handbook or year-book. In Arabic the word appears to me to be equivalent to 'l - mnâch, the encampment (of the stars); but to all appearance it was originally an Egyptian word, and possibly the Coptic monk (old Egyptian mench), a form or thing formed, is hidden beneath it. Isa 57:10 נואשׁ - Fleischer says: “Just as in Arabic 'ml and rj' the meaning of hope springs out of the idea of stretching and drawing out, so do Arabic ayisa and ya'isa (spem deposuit, desperavit) signify literally to draw in, to compress; hence the old Arabic ya'asun = sillun, consumption, phthisis. And the other old Arabic word waysun, lit., squeezing, res angustae = fakr wa-faka, want, need, and penury, or in a concrete sense the need, or thing needed, is also related to this.” Isa 65:11 Μήνη appears in μηναγύρθς = μητραγύρθς as the name of Cybele, the mother of the gods. In Egyptian, Menhi is a form of Isis in the city of Hat-uer. The Ithyphallic Min, the cognomen of Amon, which is often written in an abbreviated form with the spelling men (Copt. MHIN, signum), is further removed.

Isa 38:9

As a documentary proof of this third account, a psalm of Hezekiah is added in the text of Isaiah, in which he celebrates his miraculous rescue from the brink of death. The author of the book of Kings has omitted it; but the genuineness is undoubted. The heading runs thus in Isa 38:9 : “Writing of Hizkiyahu king of Judah, when he was sick, and recovered from his sickness.” The song which follows might be headed Mikhtam, since it has the characteristics of this description of psalm (see at Psa 16:1). We cannot infer from bachălōthō (when he was sick) that it was composed by Hezekiah during his illness (see at Psa 51:1); vayyechi (and he recovered) stamps it as a song of thanksgiving, composed by him after his recovery. In common with the two Ezrahitish psalms, Ps 88 and 89, it has not only a considerable number of echoes of the book of Job, but also a lofty sweep, which is rather forced than lyrically direct, and appears to aim at copying the best models.

Isa 38:10-12 Strophe 1 consists indisputably of seven lines:“I said, In quiet of my days shall I depart into the gates of Hades: I am mulcted of the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see Jah, Jah, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more, with the inhabitants of the regions of the dead. My home is broken up, and is carried off from me like a shepherd’s tent: I rolled up my life like a weaver; He would have cut me loose from the roll: From day to night Thou makest an end of me.” “In quiet of my days” is equivalent to, in the midst of the quiet course of a healthy life, and is spoken without reference to the Assyrian troubles, which still continued. דּמי, from דּמה, to be quiet, lit., to be even, for the radical form דם has the primary idea of a flat covering, of something stroked smooth, of that which is level and equal, so that it could easily branch out into the different ideas of aequabilitas, equality of measure, aequitas, equanimity, aequitas, equality, and also of destruction = complanatio, levelling. On the cohortative, in the sense of that which is to be, see Ewald, §228, a; אלכה, according to its verbal idea, has the same meaning as in Ps. 39:14 and 2Ch 21:20; and the construction with בּ (= ואבואה אלכה) is constructio praegnans (Luzzatto). The pual פּקּדתּי does not mean, “I am made to want” (Rashi, Knobel, and others), which, as the passive of the causative, would rather be הפקשׂדתּי, like הנסהלתּי, I am made to inherit (Job 7:3); but, I am visited with punishment as to the remnant, mulcted of the remainder, deprived, as a punishment, of the rest of my years. The clause, “Jah in the land of the living,” i.e., the God of salvation, who reveals Himself in the land of the living, is followed by the corresponding clause, הדל עם־יושׁבי, “I dwelling with the inhabitants of the region of the dead;” for whilst הלד signifies temporal life (from châlad, to glide imperceptibly away, Job 11:17), הלד signifies the end of this life, the negation of all conscious activity of being, the region of the dead. The body is called a dwelling (dōr, Arab. dâr), as the home of a man who possesses the capacity to distinguish himself from everything belonging to him (Psychol. p. 227). It is compared to a nomadic tent. רעי (a different word from that in Zec 11:17, where it is the chirek compaginis) is not a genitive (= רעה, Ewald, §151,b), but an adjective in i, like אוילי רעה in Zec 11:15. With niglâh (in connection with נסּע, as in Job 4:21), which does not mean to be laid bare (Luzz.), nor to be wrapt up (Ewald), but to be obliged to depart, compare the New Testament ἐκδημεῖν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος (2Co 5:8). The ἁπ γεγρ קפד might mean to cut off, or shorten (related to qâphach); it is safer, however, and more appropriate, to take it in the sense of rolling up, as in the name of the badger (Isa 14:23; Isa 34:11), since otherwise what Hezekiah says of himself and of God would be tautological. I rolled or wound up my life, as the weaver rolls up the finished piece of cloth: i.e., I was sure of my death, namely, because God was about to give me up to death; He was about to cut me off from the thrum (the future is here significantly interchanged with the perfect). Dallâh is the thrum, licium, the threads of the warp upon a loom, which becomes shorter and shorter the further the weft proceeds, until at length the piece is finished, and the weaver cuts through the short threads, and so sets it free (בצּע, cf., Job 6:9; Job 27:8). The strophe closes with the deep lamentation which the sufferer poured out at that time: he could not help feeling that God would put an end to him (shâlam, syn. kâlâh, tâmam, gâmar) from day to night, i.e., in the shortest time possible (compare Job 4:20).

Isa 38:13-14

In strophe 2 the retrospective glance is continued. His sufferings increased to such an extent, that there was nothing left in his power but a whining moan - a languid look for help.I waited patiently till the morning; like the lion, So He broke in pieces all my bones: From day to night Thou makest it all over with me. Like a swallow, a crane, so I chirped; I cooed like the dove; Mine eyes pined for the height. O Lord, men assault me! Be bail for me.”

The meaning of shivvithi may be seen from Psa 131:2, in accordance with which an Arabic translator has rendered the passage, “I smoothed, i.e., quieted (sâweitu) my soul, notwithstanding the sickness, all night, until the morning.” But the morning brought no improvement; the violence of the pain, crushing him like a lion, forced from him again and again the mournful cry, that he must die before the day had passed, and should not live to see another. The Masora here has a remark, which is of importance, as bearing upon Psa 22:17, viz., that כּארי occurs twice, and לישׁני בתרי with two different meanings. The meaning of עגוּר סוּס is determined by Jer 8:7, from which it is evident that עגּור is not an attribute of סּוס here, in the sense of “chirping mournfully,” or “making a circle in its flight,” but is the name of a particular bird, namely the crane. For although the Targum and Syriac both seem to render סוס in that passage (keri סיס, which is the chethib here, according to the reading of Orientals) by כּוּרכּיא) (a crane, Arab. Kurki), and עגוּר, by סנוּניתא) (the ordinary name of the swallow, which Haji Gaon explains by the Arabic chuttaf), yet the relation is really the reverse: sūs (sı̄s) is the swallow, and ‛âgūr the crane. Hence Rashi, on b. Kiddusin 44 a (“then cried Res Lakis like a crane”), gives âg, Fr. grue, as the rendering of כרוכי; whereas Parchon (s.verse ‛âgūr), confounds the crane with the hoarsely croaking stork (ciconia alba). The verb 'ătsaphtsēph answers very well not only to the flebile murmur of the swallow (into which the penitential Progne was changed, according to the Grecian myth), but also to the shrill shriek of the crane, which is caused by the extraordinary elongation of the windpipe, and is onomatopoetically expressed in its name ‛âgūr.The call of the parent cranes, according to Naumann (Vögel Deutschlands, ix. 364), is a rattling kruh (gruh), which is uncommonly violent when close, and has a trumpet-like sound, which makes it audible at a very great distance. With the younger cranes it has a somewhat higher tone, which often passes, so to speak, into a falsetto.Tsiphtsēph, like τρίζειν, is applied to every kind of shrill, penetrating, inarticulate sound. The ordinary meaning of dallū, to hang long and loose, has here passed over into that of pining (syn. kâlâh). The name of God in Isa 38:14 is Adonai, not Jehovah, being one of the 134 ודּין, i.e., words which are really written Adonai, and not merely to be read so.Vid., Bär, Psalterium, p. 133.

It is impossible to take עשׁקה־לּי as an imperative. The pointing, according to which we are to read ‛ashqa, admits this (compare shâmrâh in Psa 86:2; Psa 119:167; and on the other hand, zochrālli, in Neh 5:19, etc.);Vid., Bär, Thorath Emeth, pp. 22, 23. but the usage of the language does not yield any appropriate meaning for such an imperative. It is either the third person, used in a neuter sense, “it is sorrowful with me;” or, what Luzzatto very properly considers still more probable, on account of the antithesis of ‛ashqâh and ‛ârbēni, a substantive (‛ashqah for ‛osheq), “there is pressure upon me” (compare רזי־לי, Isa 24:16), i.e., it presses me like an unmerciful creditor; and to this there is appended the petition, Guarantee me, i.e., be bail for me, answer for me (see at Job 17:3).

Isa 38:15-17

In strophe 3 he now describes how Jehovah promised him help, how this promise put new life into him, and how it was fulfilled, and turned his sufferings into salvation.“What shall I say, that He promised me, and He hath carried it out: I should walk quietly all my years, on the trouble of my soul?! 'O Lord, by such things men revive, and the life of my spirit is always therein: And so wilt Thou restore me, and make me to live!' Behold, bitterness became salvation to me, bitterness; And Thou, Thou hast delivered my soul in love out of the pit of destruction For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.”

The question, “What shall I say?” is to be understood as in 2Sa 7:20, viz., What shall I say, to thank Him for having promised me, and carried out His promise? The Vav in ואמר introduces the statement of his reason (Ges. §155, 1,c). On הדּדּה (= התדּדּה), from דּדה (= דּאדא), see at Psa 42:5. The future here, in Isa 38:15, gives the purpose of God concerning him. He was to walk (referring to the walk of life, not the walk to the temple) gently (without any disturbance) all his years upon the trouble of his soul, i.e., all the years that followed upon it, the years that were added to his life. This is the true explanation of על, as in Isa 38:5; Isa 32:10; Lev 15:25; not “in spite of” (Ewald), or “with,” as in Psa 31:24; Jer 6:14, where it forms an adverb. A better rendering than this would be “for,” or “on account of,” i.e., in humble salutary remembrance of the way in which God by His free grace averted the danger of death. What follows in Isa 38:16 can only be regarded in connection with the petition in Isa 38:16, as Hezekiah’s reply to the promise of God, which had been communicated to him by the prophet. Consequently the neuters עליהם and בּהן( dna  (cf., Isa 64:4; Job 22:21; Eze 33:18-19) refer to the gracious words and gracious acts of God. These are the true support of life (על as in Deu 8:3) for every man, and in these does the life of his spirit consist, i.e., his inmost and highest source of life, and that “on all sides” (לכל, which it would be more correct to point לכּל, as in 1Ch 7:5; cf., bakkōl, in every respect, 2Sa 23:5). With this explanation, the conjecture of Ewald and Knobel, that the reading should be רוּחו, falls to the ground. From the general truth of which he had made a personal application, that the word of God is the source of all life, he drew this conclusion, which he here repeats with a retrospective glance, “So wilt Thou then make me whole (see the kal in Job 39:4), and keep me alive” (for ותחיני; with the hope passing over into a prayer). The praise for the fulfilment of the promise commences with the word hinnēh (behold). His severe illness had been sent in anticipation of a happy deliverance (on the radical signification of mar, which is here doubled, to give it a superlative force, see Comm. on Job, at Job 16:2-5). The Lord meant it for good; the suffering was indeed a chastisement, but it was a chastisement of love. Casting all his sins behind Him, as men do with things which they do not wish to know, or have no desire to be reminded of (compare e.g., Neh 9:26), He “loved him out,” i.e., drew him lovingly out, of the pit of destruction (châshaq, love as a firm inward bond; belı̄, which is generally used as a particle, stands here in its primary substantive signification, from bâlâh, to consume).

Isa 38:18-20

In strophe 4 he rejoices in the preservation of his life as the highest good, and promises to praise God for it as long as he lives.“For Hades does not praise Thee; death does not sing praises to Thee: They that sink into the grave do not hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he praises Thee, as I do today; The father to the children makes known Thy truth. Jehovah is ready to give me salvation; Therefore will we play my stringed instruments all the days of my life In the house of Jehovah.”

We have here that comfortless idea of the future state, which is so common in the Psalms (vid., Psa 6:6; Psa 30:10; Psa 88:12-13, cf., Psa 115:17), and also in the book of Ecclesiastes (Ecc 9:4-5, Ecc 9:10). The foundation of this idea, notwithstanding the mythological dress, is an actual truth (vid., Psychol. p. 409), which the personal faith of the hero of Job endeavours to surmount (Comment. pp. 150-153, and elsewhere), but the decisive removal of which was only to be effected by the progressive history of salvation. The v. is introduced with “for” (kı̄), inasmuch as the gracious act of God is accounted for on the ground that He wished to be still further glorified by His servant whom He delivered. לא, in Isa 38:18, is written only once instead of twice, as in Isa 23:4. They “sink into the grave,” i.e., are not thought of as dying, but as already dead. “Truth” ('ĕmeth) is the sincerity of God, with which He keeps His promises. Isa 38:19 reminds us that Manasseh, who was twelve years old when he succeeded his father, was not yet born (cf., Isa 39:7). The להושׁיעני יהוה, μέλλει σώζειν με, is the same as in Isa 37:26. The change in the number in Isa 38:20 may be explained from the fact that the writer thought of himself as the choral leader of his family; ay is a suffix, not a substantive termination (Ewald, §164, p. 427). The impression follows us to the end, that we have cultivated rather than original poetry here. Hezekiah’s love to the older sacred literature is well known. He restored the liturgical psalmody (2Ch 29:30). He caused a further collection of proverbs to be made, as a supplement to the older book of Proverbs (Pro 25:1). The “men of Hezekiah” resembled the Pisistratian Society, of which Onomacritos was the head.

On Isa 38:21, Isa 38:22, see the notes at the close of Isa 38:4-6, where these two vv. belong.

Isa 38:21-22

The text of Isaiah is not only curtailed here in a very forced manner, but it has got into confusion; for Isa 38:21 and Isa 38:22 are removed entirely from their proper place, although even the Septuagint has them at the close of Hezekiah’s psalm. They have been omitted from their place at the close of Isa 38:6 through an oversight, and then added in the margin, where they now stand (probably with a sign, to indicate that they were supplied). We therefore insert them here, where they properly belong. “Then Isaiah said they were to bring (K.take)a fig-cake; and they plaistered (K. brought and covered)the boil, and he recovered. And Hizkiyahu said (K.to Isaiah), What sign is there that (K.Jehovah will heal me, so that I go up)I shall go up into the house of Jehovah?” As shechı̄n never signifies a plague-spot, but an abscess (indicated by heightened temperature), more especially that of leprosy (cf., Exo 9:9; Lev 13:18), there is no satisfactory ground, as some suppose, for connecting Hezekiah’s illness (taken along with Isa 33:24) with the pestilence which broke out in the Assyrian army. The use of the figs does not help us to decide whether we are to assume that it was a boil (bubon) or a carbuncle (charbon). Figs were a well-known emmoliens or maturans, and were used to accelerate the rising of the swelling and the subsequent discharge. Isaiah did not show any special medical skill by ordering a softened cake of pressed figs to be laid upon the boil, nor did he expect it to act as a specific, and effect a cure: it was merely intended to promote what had already been declared to be the will of God. על ויּמרהוּ is probably more original than the simpler but less definite על ויּשׂימוּ. Hitzig is wrong in rendering ויּהי, “that it (the boil) may get well;” and Knobel in rendering it, “that he may recover.” It is merely the anticipation of the result so common in the historical writings of Scripture (see at Isa 7:1 and Isa 20:1), after which the historian goes back a step or two.

Hezekiah's Sickness. (b. c. 710.)

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord , Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord , 3 And said, Remember now, O Lord , I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. 4 Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord , the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. 7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord , that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken; 8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

We may hence observe, among others, these good lessons:—1. That neither men's greatness nor their goodness will exempt them from the arrests of sickness and death. Hezekiah, a mighty potentate on earth and a mighty favourite of Heaven, is struck with a disease, which, without a miracle, will certainly be mortal; and this in the midst of his days, his comforts, and usefulness. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. It should seem, this sickness seized him when he was in the midst of his triumphs over the ruined army of the Assyrians, to teach us always to rejoice with trembling. 2. It concerns us to prepare when we see death approaching: "Set thy house in order, and thy heart especially; put both thy affections and thy affairs into the best posture thou canst, that, when thy Lord comes, thou mayest be found of him in peace with God, with thy own conscience, and with all men, and mayest have nothing else to do but to die." Our being ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but much the easier: and those that are fit to die are most fit to live. 3. Is any afflicted with sickness? Let him pray, James v. 13. Prayer is a salve for every sore, personal or public. When Hezekiah was distressed by his enemies he prayed; now that he was sick he prayed. Whither should the child go, when any thing ails him, but to his Father? Afflictions are sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our knees. When Hezekiah was in health he went up to the house of the Lord to pray, for that was then the house of prayer. When he was sick in bed he turned his face towards the wall, probably towards the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom we must look by faith in every prayer. 4. The testimony of our consciences for us that by the grace of God we have lived a good life, and have walked closely and humbly with God, will be a great support and comfort to us when we come to look death in the face. And though we may not depend upon it as our righteousness, by which to be justified before God, yet we may humbly plead it as an evidence of our interest in the righteousness of the Mediator. Hezekiah does not demand a reward from God for his good services, but modestly begs that God would remembers, not how he had reformed the kingdom, taken away the high places, cleansed the temple, and revived neglected ordinances, but, which was better than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices, how he had approved himself to God with a single eye and an honest heart, not only in these eminent performances, but in an even regular course of holy living: I have walked before thee in truth and sincerity, and with a perfect, that is, an upright, heart; for uprightness is our gospel perfection. 5. God has a gracious ear open to the prayers of his afflicted people. The same prophet that was sent to Hezekiah with warning to prepare for death is sent to him with a promise that he shall not only recover, but be restored to a confirmed state of health and live fifteen years yet. As Jerusalem was distressed, so Hezekiah was diseased, that God might have the glory of the deliverance of both, and that prayer too might have the honour of being instrumental in the deliverance. When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven us, that his grace shall be sufficient for us, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his, we have no reason to say that we pray in vain. God answers us if he strengthens us with strength in our souls, though not with bodily strength, Ps. cxxxviii. 3. 6. A good man cannot take much comfort in his own health and prosperity unless withal he see the welfare and prosperity of the church of God. Therefore God, knowing what lay near Hezekiah's heart, promised him not only that he should live, but that he should see the good of Jerusalem all the days of his life (Ps. cxxviii. 5), otherwise he cannot live comfortably. Jerusalem, which is now delivered, shall still be defended from the Assyrians, who perhaps threatened to rally again and renew the attack. Thus does God graciously provide to make Hezekiah upon all accounts easy. 7. God is willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that they may have an unshaken faith in it, and therewith a strong consolation. God had given Hezekiah repeated assurances of his favour; and yet, as if all were thought too little, that he might expect from him uncommon favours, a sign is given him, an uncommon sign. None that we know of having had an absolute promise of living a certain number of years to come, as Hezekiah had, God thought fit to confirm this unprecedented favour with a miracle. The sign was the going back of the shadow upon the sun-dial. The sun is a faithful measurer of time, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race; but he that set that clock a going can set it back when he pleases, and make it to return; for the Father of all lights is the director of them.

Hezekiah's Thanksgiving. (b. c. 710.)

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: 10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11 I said, I shall not see the Lord , even the Lord , in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord , I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. 17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. 18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. 20 The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord . 21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord ?

We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, 2 Chron. xxix. 30. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affections in his own words, which is most natural and genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that he might review it himself afterwards, for the reviving of the good impressions made upon him by the providence, and that it might be recommended to others also for their use upon the like occasion. Note, There are writings which it is proper for us to draw up after we have been sick and have recovered. It is good to write a memorial of the affliction, and of the frame of our hearts under it,—to keep a record of the thoughts we had of things when we were sick, the affections that were then working in us,—to write a memorial of the mercies of a sick bed, and of our release from it, that they may never be forgotten,—to write a thanksgiving to God, write a sure covenant with him, and seal it,—to give it under our hands that we will never return again to folly. It is an excellent writing which Hezekiah here left, upon his recovery; and yet we find (2 Chron. xxxii. 25) that he rendered not again according to the benefit done to him. The impressions, one would think, should never have worn off, and yet, it seems, they did. Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. Now in this writing he preserves upon record,

I. The deplorable condition he was in when his disease prevailed, and his despair of recovery, v. 10-13.

1. He tells us what his thoughts were of himself when he was at the worst; and these he keeps in remembrance, (1.) As blaming himself for his despondency, and that he gave up himself for gone; whereas while there is life there is hope, and room for our prayer and God's mercy. Though it is good to consider sickness as a summons to the grave, so as thereby to be quickened in our preparations for another world, yet we ought not to make the worse of our case, nor to think that every sick man must needs be a dead man presently. He that brings low can raise up. Or, (2.) As reminding himself of the apprehensions he had of death approaching, that he might always know and consider his own frailty and mortality, and that, though he had a reprieve for fifteen years, it was but a reprieve, and the fatal stroke he had now such a dread of would certainly come at last. Or, (3.) As magnifying the power of God in restoring him when his case was desperate, and his goodness in being so much better to him than his own fears. Thus David sometimes, when he was delivered out of trouble, reflected upon the black and melancholy conclusions he had made upon his own case when he was in trouble, and what he had then said in his haste, as Ps. xxxi. 22; lxxvii. 7-9.

2. Let us see what Hezekiah's thoughts of himself were.

(1.) He reckoned that the number of his months was cut off in the midst. He was now about thirty-nine or forty years of age, and when he had a fair prospect of many years and happy ones, very happy, very many, before him. This distemper that suddenly seized him he concluded would be the cutting off of his days, that he should now be deprived of the residue of his years, which in a course of nature he might have lived (not which he could command as a debt due to him, but which he had reason to expect, considering the strength of his constitution), and with them he should be deprived not only of the comforts of life, but of all the opportunities he had of serving God and his generation. To the same purport (v. 12), "My age has departed and gone, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent, out of which I am forcibly dislodged by the pulling of it down in an instant." Our present residence is but like that of a shepherd in his tent, a poor, mean, and cold lodging, where we are upon duty, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the shepherd has, of which we must give an account, and which will easily be taken down by the drawing of one pin or two. But observe, It is not the final period of our age, but only the removal of it to another world, where the tents of Kedar that are taken down, coarse, black, and weather-beaten, shall be set up again in the New Jerusalem, comely as the curtains of Solomon. He adds another similitude: I have cut off, like a weaver, my life. Not that he did by any act of his own cut off the thread of his life; but, being told that he must needs die, he was forced to cut off all his designs and projects, his purposes were broken off, even the thoughts of his heart, as Job's were, ch. xvii. 11. Our days are compared to the weaver's shuttle (Job vii. 6), passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw leaving a thread behind it; and, when they are finished, the thread is cut off, and the piece taken out of the loom, and shown to our Master, to be judged of whether it be well woven or no, that we may receive according to the things done in the body. But as the weaver, when he has cut off his thread, has done his work, and the toil is over, so a good man, when his life is cut off, his cares and fatigues are cut off with it, and he rests from his labours. "But did I say, I have cut off my life? No, my times are not in my own hand; they are in God's hand, and it is he that will cut me off from the thrum (so the margin reads it); he has appointed what shall be the length of the piece, and, when it comes to that length, he will cut it off."

(2.) He reckoned that he should go to the gates of the grave—to the grave, the gates of which are always open; for it is still crying, Give, give. The grave is here put not only for the sepulchre of his fathers, in which his body would be deposited with a great deal of pomp and magnificence (for he was buried in the chief of the sepulchres of the kings, and all Judah did him honour at his death, 2 Chron. xxxii. 33), which yet he himself took no care of, nor gave any order about, when he was sick; but for the state of the dead, that is, the sheol, the hades, the invisible world, to which he saw his soul going.

(3.) He reckoned that he was deprived of all the opportunities he might have had of worshipping God and doing good in the world (v. 1): "I said," [1.] "I shall not see the Lord, as he manifests himself in his temple, in his oracles and ordinances, even the Lord here in the land of the living." He hopes to see him on the other side death, but he despairs of seeing him any more on this side death, as he had seen him in the sanctuary, Ps. lxiii. 2. He shall no more see (that is, serve) the Lord in the land of the living, the land of conflict between his kingdom and the kingdom of Satan, this seat of war. He dwells much upon this: I shall no more see the Lord, even the Lord; for a good man wishes not to live for any other end than that he may serve God and have communion with him. [2.] "I shall see man no more." He shall see his subjects no more, whom he may protect and administer justice to, shall see no more objects of charity, whom he may relieve, shall see his friends no more, who were often sharpened by his countenance, as iron is by iron. Death puts an end to conversation, and removes our acquaintance into darkness, Ps. lxxxviii. 18.

(4.) He reckoned that the agonies of death would be very sharp and severe: "He will cut me off with pining sickness, which will waste me, and wear me off, quickly." The distemper increased so fast, without intermission or remission, either day or night, morning or evening, that he concluded it would soon come to a crisis and make an end of him—that God, whose servants all diseases are, would by them, as a lion, break all his bones with grinding pain, v. 13. He thought that next morning was the utmost he could expect to live in such pain and misery; when he had outlived the first day's illness the second day he repeated his fears, and concluded that this must needs be his last night: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. When we are sick we are very apt to be thus calculating our time, and, after all, we are still at uncertainty. It should be more our care how we shall get safely to another world than how long we are likely to live in this world.

II. The complaints he made in this condition (v. 14): "Like a crane, or swallow, so did I chatter; I made a noise as those birds do when they are frightened." See what a change sickness makes in a little time; he that, but the other day, spoke with so much freedom and majesty, nor, through the extremity of pain or deficiency of spirits, chatters like a crane or a swallow. Some think he refers to his praying in his affliction; it was so broken and interrupted with groanings which could not be uttered that it was more like the chattering of a crane or a swallow than what it used to be. Such mean thoughts had he of his own prayers, which yet were acceptable to God, and successful. He mourned like a dove, sadly, but silently and patiently. He had found God so ready to answer his prayers at other times that he could not but look upwards, in expectation of some relief now, but in vain: his eyes failed, and he saw no hopeful symptom, nor felt any abatement of his distemper; and therefore he prays, "I am oppressed, quite overpowered and ready to sink; Lord, undertake for me; bail me out of the hands of the serjeant that has arrested me; be surety for thy servant for good, Ps. cxix. 122. Come between me and the gates of the grave, to which I am ready to be hurried." When we recover from sickness, the divine pity does, as it were, beg a day for us, and undertakes we shall be forthcoming another time and answer the debt in full. And, when we receive the sentence of death within ourselves, we are undone if the divine grace do not undertake for us to carry us through the valley of the shadow of death, and to preserve us blameless to the heavenly kingdom on the other side of it—if Christ do not undertake for us, to bring us off in judgment, and present us to his Father, and to do all that for us which we need, and cannot do for ourselves. I am oppressed, ease me (so some read it); for, when we are agitated by a sense of guilt and the fear of wrath, nothing will make us easy but Christ's undertaking for us.

III. The grateful acknowledgment he makes of God's goodness to him in his recovery. He begins this part of the writing as one at a stand how to express himself (v. 15): "What shall I say? Why should I say so much by way of complaint when this is enough to silence all my complaints—He has spoken unto me; he has sent his prophet to tell me that I shall recover and live fifteen years yet; and he himself has done it: it is as sure to be done as if it were done already. What God has spoken he will himself do, for no word of his shall fall to the ground." God having spoken it, he is sure of it (v. 16): "Thou wilt restore me, and make me to live; not only restore me from this illness, but make me to live through the years assigned me." And, having this hope,

1. He promises himself always to retain the impressions of his affliction (v. 15): "I will go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul, as one in sorrow for my sinful distrusts and murmurings under my affliction, as one in care to make suitable returns for God's favour to me and to make it appear that I have got good by the providences I have been under. I will go softly, gravely and considerately, and with thought and deliberation, not as many, who, when they have recovered, live as carelessly and as much at large as ever." Or, "I will go pleasantly" (so some understand it); "when God has delivered me I will walk cheerfully with him in all holy conversation, as having tasted that he is gracious." Or, "I will go softly, even after the bitterness of my soul" (so it may be read); "when the trouble is over I will endeavour to retain the impression of it, and to have the same thoughts of things that I had then."

2. He will encourage himself and others with the experiences he had had of the goodness of God (v. 16): "By these things which thou hast done for me they live, the kingdom lives" (for the life of such a king was the life of the kingdom); "all that hear of it shall live and be comforted; by the same power and goodness that have restored me all men have their souls held in life, and they ought to acknowledge it. In all these things is the life of my spirit, my spiritual life, that is supported and maintained by what God has done for the preservation of my natural life." The more we taste of the loving-kindness of God in every providence the more will our hearts be enlarged to love him and live to him, and that will be the life of our spirit. Thus our souls live, and they shall praise him.

3. He magnifies the mercy of his recovery, on several accounts.

(1.) That he was raised up from great extremity (v. 17): Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. When, upon the defeat of Sennacherib, he expected nothing but an uninterrupted peace to himself and his government, he was suddenly seized with sickness, which embittered all his comforts to him, and went to such a height that it seemed to be the bitterness of death itself—bitterness, bitterness, nothing but gall and wormwood. This was his condition when God sent him seasonable relief.

(2.) That it came from the love of God, from love to his soul. Some are spared and reprieved in wrath, that they may be reserved for some greater judgment when they have filled up the measure of their iniquities; but temporal mercies are sweet indeed to us when we can taste the love of God in them. He delivered me because he delighted in me (Ps. xviii. 19); and the word here signifies a very affectionate love: Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of corruption; so it runs in the original. God's love is sufficient to bring a soul from the pit of corruption. This is applicable to our redemption by Christ; it was in love to our souls, our poor perishing souls, that he delivered them from the bottomless pit, snatched them as brands out of everlasting burnings. In his love and in his pity he redeemed us. And the preservation of our bodies, as well as the provision made for them, is doubly comfortable when it is in love to our souls—when God repairs the house because he has a kindness for the inhabitant.

(3.) That it was the effect of the pardon of sin: "For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back, and thereby hast delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, in love to it." Note, [1.] When God pardons sin he casts it behind his back, as not designing to look upon it with an eye of justice and jealousy. He remembers it no more, to visit for it. The pardon does not make the sin not to have been, or not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. When we cast our sins behind our back, and take no care to repent of them, God sets them before his face, and is ready to reckon for them; but when we set them before our face in true repentance, as David did when his sin was ever before him, God casts them behind his back. [2.] When God pardons sins he pardons all, casts them all behind his back, though they have been as scarlet and crimson. [3.] The pardoning of the sin is the delivering of the soul from the pit of corruption. [4.] It is pleasant indeed to think of our recoveries from sickness when we see them flowing from the remission of sin; then the cause is removed, and then it is in love to the soul.

(4.) That it was the lengthening out of his opportunity to glorify God in this world, which he made the business, and pleasure, and end of life. [1.] If this sickness had been his death, it would have put a period to that course of service for the glory of God and the good of the church which he was now pursuing, v. 18. Heaven indeed praises God, and the souls of the faithful, when at death they remove thither, do that work of heaven as the angels, and with the angels, there; but what is this world the better for that? What does that contribute to the support and advancement of God's kingdom among men in this state of struggle? The grave cannot praise God, nor the dead bodies that lie there. Death cannot celebrate him, cannot proclaim his perfections and favours, to invite others into his service. Those who go down to the pit, being no longer in a state of probation, nor living by faith in his promises, cannot give him honour by hoping for his truth. Those that lie rotting in the grave, as they are not capable of receiving any further mercy from God, so neither are they capable of offering any more praises to him, till they shall be raised at the last day, and then they shall both receive and give glory. [2.] Having recovered from it, he resolves not only to proceed, but to abound, in praising and serving God (v. 19): The living, the living, he shall praise thee. They may do it; they have an opportunity of praising God, and that is the main thing that makes life valuable and desirable to a good man. Hezekiah was therefore glad to live, not that he might continue to enjoy his royal dignity and the honour and pleasure of his late successes, but that he might continue to praise God. The living must praise God; they live in vain if they do not. Those that have been dying and yet are living, whose life is from the dead, are in a special manner obliged to praise God, as being most sensibly affected with his goodness. Hezekiah, for his part, having recovered from this sickness, will make it his business to praise God: "I do it this day; let others do it in like manner." Those that give good exhortations should set good examples, and do themselves what they expect from others. "For my part," says Hezekiah, "the Lord was ready to save me; he not only did save me, but he was ready to do it just then when I was in the greatest extremity; his help came in seasonably; he showed himself willing and forward to save me. The Lord was to save me, was at hand to do it, saved me a the first word; and therefore," First, "I will publish and proclaim his praises. I and my family, I and my friends, I and my people, will have a concert of praise to his glory: We will sing my songs to the stringed instruments, that others may attend to them, and be affected with them, when they are in the most devout and serious frame in the house of the Lord." It is for the honour of God, and the edification of his church, that special mercies should be acknowledged in public praises, especially mercies to public persons, Ps. cxvi. 18, 19. Secondly, "I will proceed and persevere in his praises." We should do so all the days of our life, because every day of our life is itself a fresh mercy and brings many fresh mercies along with it; and, as renewed mercies call for renewed praises, so former eminent mercies call for repeated praises. It is by the mercy of God that we live, and therefore, as long as we live, we must continue to praise him, while we have breath, nay, while we have being. Thirdly, "I will propagate and perpetuate his praises." We should not only praise him all the days of our life, but the father to the children should make known his truth, that the ages to come may give God the glory of his truth by trusting to it. It is the duty of parents to possess their children with a confidence in the truth of God, which will go far towards keeping them close to the ways of God. Hezekiah, doubtless, did this himself, and yet Manasseh his son walked not in his steps. Parents may give their children many good things, good instructions, good examples, good books, but they cannot give them grace.

IV. In the last two verses of this chapter we have two passages relating to this story which were omitted in the narrative of it here, but which we had 2 Kings xx., and therefore shall here only observe two lessons from them:—1. That God's promises are intended not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage, the use of means. Hezekiah is sure to recover, and yet he must take a lump of figs and lay it on the boil, v. 21. We do not trust God, but tempt him, if, when we pray to him for help, we do not second our prayers with our endeavours. We must not put physicians, or physic, in the place of God, but make use of them in subordination to God and to his providence; help thyself and God will help thee. 2. That the chief end we should aim at, in desiring life and health, is that we may glorify God, and do good, and improve ourselves in knowledge, and grace, and meetness for heaven. Hezekiah, when he meant, What is the sign that I shall recover? asked, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord, there to honour God, to keep up acquaintance and communion with him, and to encourage others to serve him? v. 22. It is taken for granted that if God would restore him to health he would immediately go up to the temple with his thank-offerings. There Christ found the impotent man whom he had healed, John v. 14. The exercises of religion are so much the business and delight of a good man that to be restrained from them is the greatest grievance of his afflictions, and to be restored to them is the greatest comfort of his deliverances. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Ver. 1. IN thoſe dayes was Hezekiah ſick] See 2 King. 20.1, 2. 2 Chron. 32.24. with the Notes.

Ver. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. See as before.

Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah] Scriptum confeſſionis, A ſong of thankſgiving ſet forth by Hezekiah, and here inſerted by the Prophet Iſaiah, as a publick inſtrument, and laſting monument of Gods great goodneſſe to him in his late recovery: ſuch a thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir. Heathens in ſuch a caſe were wont to hang up tables in the Temples of their gods. Papiſts build Chappels, erect Altars, hang up Memories (as they call them) and vow preſents to their hee-Saints and ſhe Saints. But amongſt us (alas) it is according to the Italian Proverb, When the diſeaſe is once removed, God is utterly defrauded, Sciapato il morbo, fraudato il ſancto.Aegrotus ſurgit, ſed pia vota jacent.

We may be wondred at, not without cauſe, as the Emperour Conſtantine marvelled at his people that were newly become Chriſtians: I marvel, ſaid he, how it comes to paſſe, that many of my people are worſe now than before they were Chriſtians.

Ver. 10. I ſaid in the cutting off of my dayes] When I looked upon my ſelf as a dead man. Here he telleth us what paſſed betwixt God and him whileſt he lay deſperately ſick. The utmoſt of a danger eſcaped is to be recognized and recorded: This will both inſtruct the judgement, enlarge the heart, and open the mouth.

I ſhall go to the gates of the grave] He maketh the grave to have gates: either by a poetical fiction, or elſe by a proverbial expreſſion. So the gates of death, Pſal. 9. 13. & 107.18. See 1 Sam. 2.6.

I am deprived of the reſidue of my years] ſc. that I might have lived in a natural courſe. Vox baec queritantis quidem eſt: Quis enim vult mori? prorſus nemo. Nature ſhunneth death as its ſlaughter-man.

Ver. 11. I ſaid I ſhall not ſee the Lord] In the glaſs of his Ordinances; his love whereunto made Hezekiah ſo loth to depart: as alſo his delight in the Communion of Saints, and his deſire to do more good amongſt them on all occaſions. This made good Paul in a ſtrait alſo. Philip. 1.23, 24. I loved the man (ſaid Theodeſius concerning Ambroſe) for that when he died, he was more ſollicitous of the Churches welfare then of his own.

Even the Lord] Non videbo Jah Jah. I ſhall not ſee the Lord of the Lord,Leo Caſtrius. Deum Dei, vel Deum de Deo. That is, Chriſt in the fleſh, as I had well hoped to have done: ſo ſome ſenſe it. Others ſay He redoubleth the word Jah to expreſs his ardent affection to Gods ſervice, and to intimate his deſire of life to that purpoſe, Ver. 22.

Ver. 12. Mine age is departed] Or, my generation, or, my habitation: here I have no ſettled abode, no continuing City, but am flitting, as a ſhepherds ſhed.

I have cut off like a weaver my life] By my ſins I have ſhortned my daies, as Gen. 38.7.10. Or rather, God as a weaver that hath finiſhed his web, cutteth me out of the Loom of life. We know what the Poets fain of the Fates, Clotho colum bajulat, Lacheſis trabit, Atropos occat.

He will cut me off with pining ſickneſſe] Or, from the thrum; for the ſame Hebrew word ſignifieth both; becauſe of the thinneſ, and weakneſs of it.

From day even to night] So that by night I ſhall be dead, as they ſtory of the Ephemerobii; and as Ariſtotle writeth that the River Hypanis in Thracia every day bringeth forth little bladders, out of which come certain flies, which are thus bred in the morning, fledgd at noone, and dead at night.

Ver. 13. I reckoned until morning] And then, at utmoſt, I thought there would be an end of my life and pain together: for what through troubles without, and terrours within, he was in a woe caſe, even as if a Lion had broke all his bones. Hoc ſentiunt qui magnis febribus aeſtuant, ſaith an Interpreter. Now whereas ſome ſay All dye of a feaver, let us take care we dye not of a cold ſhaking fit of fear.

Ver. 14. Like a Crane or a Swallow, ſo did I chatter] Ita pipiebam; perapta ſunt ſimilitudines. Broken petitions coming from a broken heart are of ſingular avayl with God, Pſal. 51.17. Ah Pater, breviſſima quidem vox eſt, ſed omnia complectitur, ſaith Luther, i. e. Ah Father, it a ſhort prayer, but very complexive and effectual. So is the prayer here recorded.

O Lord, I am oppreſſed, undertake for me] Miſerere mihi miſero. Tu tuam fidem interpone. Hezekiah though a moſt holy man, begged pardon at his death, and flyeth to Chriſt his ſurety. So did Auguſtine (he prayed over the ſeven penitential Pſalms) and Fulgentius, and Arch-Biſhop Ʋſher. Some render it Pertexe me, weave me out, lengthen my life to its due period.

Ver. 15. What ſhall I ſay?] This he ſeemeth to ſpeak in a way of wondering at Gods goodneſs in delivering him from ſo great a death. The like doth the Apoſtle, Rom. 8.31. What ſhall we then ſay to theſe things?

He hath both ſpoken unto me, Dixit & fecit. and himſelf hath done it] He no ſooner bade me be well, but he made me ſo. Thus he attributeth his recovery to the moſt faithful promiſe of God, and not to the lump of figs, &c.

I ſhall ſhall go ſoftly all my years in the bitterneſs of my ſoul] Or, I ſhall go quietly and chearfully all my years, after my ſouls bitterneſs. ſc. when it is paſt and gone.Scultet.

Ver. 16. O Lord, by theſe things men live] By thy promiſes ſo performed, the juſt do live by Faith, and live long in a little while: For life conſiſteth in action; and ſome live more in a day, then others do in a year. An Elephant liveth two hundred years, ſaith Ariſtotle: three hundred and fifty ſaith Philoſtratus: and yet man, though of much ſhorter a continuance, is not inferiour to an Elephant. For this is not the beſt thing in nature, ſaith Scaliger, to live longeſt, but to live to beſt purpoſe. Now mans life is a way to life eternal. Other creatures have that they live for: Not ſo Man, whilſt here.

And in all theſe things is the life of my Spirit] The godly eſteem of life by that ſtirring they find in their ſouls: Elſe they lament as over a dead ſoul.

So wilt thou recover me] Or, haſt thou recovered me?

Ver. 17. Behold for peace I had great bitterneſſe] Mar Mar; the approach of death was to this good man bitter bitterneſſe: and yet Chriſt had taken away from him the ſting (or gall) of death; ſo that he might better ſay then Agag did, Surely the bitterneſſe of death is paſt, or then Lucan doth of the Gaules and Britones, — animaeque capaces Mortis:

But thou haſt in love to my ſoul] Or, thou haſt embraced my ſoul out of the corrupting pit. Complectendi verbum, affectum planè paternum, & ſtudium juvandi ſingulare exprimit.

For thou haſt caſt all my ſins behind thy back] As an old oreworn evidence, that's out of date, and of no uſe. Here it is well noted, that we muſt ſet our ſins before our face, if we would have God to caſt them behind his back, Pſal. 50.2[illegible: 1 letter]. and 51.3.

Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praiſe thee] i. e. Palam & cum aliis, openly and exemplarily. See Pſal. 6.5. with the Notes: David deſires to live for no other end (and ſo Hezekiah) then to be glorifying of God.

They that go down into the pit] Of the grave: ſo, of deſpair. It is a ſin for any man to ſay I am a reprobate: for it keeps him in ſin, and cuts the ſinews of endeavour.

Ver. 19. The living, the living, he ſhall praiſe thee] Thoſe that live the life of nature if withall they live the life of Grace, and ſo are living living, and not dead whilſt they live: for the wicked cannot praiſe God: they can ſay God a thank, and that's all. But as it is with the hand-diall, the finger of the diall ſtandeth at twelve, when the dial hath not moved one minute: ſo though their tongues are forward in praiſes, yet their hearts ſtand ſtill. What they do this way is but dead work.

The Father to the Son ſhall make known] and for this end Parents may deſire to live longer. Hezekiah did his part, no doubt, by wicked Manaſſeh, who alſo at length repented and was ſaved.

Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to ſave] Heb. The Lord to ſave. Servati ſumus ut ſerviamus. Hezekiah was the better for his ſickneſs: God had brought health out of it, as he doth out of all his, by bringing the body of death into a conſumption.

Therefore we will ſing my ſongs] Quales quae ſo illi? ſaith Scultetus, what kind of ſongs would he ſing in the houſe of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people, as long as he bad a day to live? Surely this here recorded among and above the reſt, though it ſet forth his queritations and infirmities: Deprimunt ſe ſancti ut Deus exaltetur. The Saints gladly abaſe themſelves, if thereby God may be exalted.

Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs] Commendatur hic uſus Medicinae. The Patient muſt pray, but withall make uſe of means; truſt God, but not tempt him. See the Note on 2 King. 20.

Ver. 22. See on 2 King. 20.8.