The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 38
Chapter XXXVIII · Vol. III, pp. 1191–1193
1 Hezekiah, having received a message of death, 4 by prayer hath his life lengthened. 8 The sun goeth ten degrees backward, for a sign of that promise. 9 His psalm of thanksgiving.
1 In thosea 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:1 for thou shalt die, and not live.2
a 2 Ki.20.1-11. 2 Ch.32.24. Ac.14.22. Ja.1.2. Ps.34.19. Jn.16.33. He.12.6-11. Ps.94.12. Job 5.17-19.
1 Heb. give charge concerning thy house, 1 Co.14.26,40. 2 Sa.17.23.
2 Thy disease is in its nature mortal, and admits of no human remedy.—C.
3 And said, cRemember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how dI have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect3 heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiah wept sore.4
5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the gGod of David thy father, hI have heard thy prayer, iI have seen thy tears: behold, I will jadd unto thy days fifteen years.5
6 And kI 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 la sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;
l Ge.9.13. Ju.6.36,37,39. ch.7.11-14.
8 Behold, nI will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.6 So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
n 2 Ki.20.11. Jos.10.12-14. 2 Ch.32.31.
6 Heb. degrees by or with the sun.
9 Theo writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:7
* In the parallel passage in 2 Ki. xx. this psalm or song of thanksgiving is wanting. Whether it was originally composed by Hezekiah himself, or written by Isaiah and adopted and sung by the king on his recovery, cannot now be known. The style is concise, and in places obscure.—P.
A.M. cir. 3292. B.C. cir. 712.
o ch. xii. xxv. xxvi. Ex. xv. Ju. v. 1 Sa. ii. Ps. xviii. xxx. xxxiv. cxiv.
7 See note * in first column.
10 I said, pin the cutting off of my days, I shall go qto the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11 I said, rI shall not see the LORD,8 even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall sbehold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 Minet age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life; uhe will cut me off with pining sickness:9 from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
13 I reckoned till morning, that, vas a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.1
† Alexander supposes that the word Jehovah is understood in the first clause of this very obscure verse, and the sense will then be, I set Jehovah before me, i.e. I viewed him as present, I imagined or conceived of him as a lion, and expected him to act as such, saying, As a lion he will crush all my bones.—P.
v 1 Ki.13.26. Da.6.24. Job 10.16,17. Ps.51.8; 50.22; 102.10. 1 Co.11.32. Re.3.19. Am.3.2. He.12.6-11. Job 4.20. ver.12.
1 See note † in first column.
14 Likex a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove: ymine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, zI am oppressed; undertake for me.
15 Whata shall I say? he hath both 2spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: bI shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.3
16 O Lord, cby these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to 4live.5
c Jn.6.63. Ps.107.20; 71.20; 103.1-5; 119.25,37. De.8.3. Mat.4.4. ch.64.5. Job 33.22-28. Ps.13.5,6; 85.6.
4 By these gracious promises and faithful performances.—C.
5 The language is very obscure, but the general sense of the passage seems to be, that all life, and especially Hezekiah's life under existing circumstances, is wholly dependent upon the power of God.—P.
17 Behold, for peace I had great 6bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit7 of corruption: for dthou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.8
6 Or, on my peace came great bitterness, Job 3.24; 10.16,17.
7 Heb. thou hast loved my soul from the pit, Ps.40.2; 55.23; 118.18; 86.13.
d ch.43.25. Ps.85.2; 32.1,2; 103.12. Je.31.34. Mi.7.18,19. 1 Jn.1.7,9. Ac.13.38,39. Ep.1.7. Col.2.13, with Je.16.17. Ho.7.2.
8 'Lo, to peace my intense bitterness (is turned), and in love hast thou brought my soul from the pit of destruction, for thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins.'—P.
18 For ethe grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
19 Theg living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: hthe father to the children shall make known thy truth.
20 Thei LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs9 to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
Notes
Ver. 1. In those days. It appears from ver. 6, that Hezekiah's sickness was during the invasion, and before the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrians. This event occurred in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, as he lived fifteen years after; and reigned, in all, twenty-nine years. C.
Ver. 3. And Hezekiah wept sore. The melancholy prospects of his family, of his country, and of religion, and not any mere dread of dying, must be looked to as the causes of Hezekiah's grief. Such godly sorrow is by no means inconsistent with the most decided resignation. Even Jesus wept at the sorrows he meant to relieve—he wept over Jerusalem in the prospect of its ruin; and, 'in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears,' He. 5. 7. C.
Ver. 8. The sun returned ten degrees. The sun, by an ordinary and necessary abbreviation of speech, here stands for the sunbeams. It is of no use to show how a certain condensation of the atmosphere might inflect the sun's rays backward. The whole was a miracle; and God alone can tell how it was effected. C.
Ver. 12. Mine age . . . is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. The shepherds of Palestine and the adjoining countries move their tents frequently from place to place in search of pasture and water—an apt emblem of the unsettled condition of man, who should always feel that here he has no continuing city, and therefore seek a 'city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'—From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 'In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web' (Lowth). There are no phrases more common, or more expressive, than the thread or web of life. C.
Ver. 13. As a lion, so will he break all my bones. They must have felt the agony of certain forms of fever racking the bones, who would judge of the expressive and terrible accuracy of this description. C.
Ver. 14. I am oppressed with sorrow for my family, my country, and the church—overwhelmed with a feeling of my own unworthiness and incalculable mercies of my gracious God. C.
Ver. 18. They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 'They cannot hope for' any more discoveries of 'thy light and truth,' Ps. 43. 3, as the subject of consoling thought, Ps. 51. 6, and godly conversation, ver. 19. C.
Reflections.—Death being the common fate of mankind, every one ought seriously to prepare for it. And nothing can be more seasonable than fervent prayer in a time of great trouble; nor anything more pleasant than the testimony of a good conscience, washed in Jesus' blood. It is a relief to a distressed heart to unbosom itself to God, whose ears are open to its cry. Nor can pious souls take much pleasure in life or personal comforts, unless God's church be revived and comforted along with them.—God takes pleasure in showing his people the immutability of his counsels, that they may have strong consolation. And if one miracle served to confirm Hezekiah's faith, why do not thousands confirm ours in the glorious Redeemer? And why are we so careless of keeping memorials of our afflictions and deliverances, and of the working of our hearts under them, for the benefit of ourselves and others?—It is hard to keep the heart from despondency under sore and complicated troubles. God's providences indeed ought to affect our spirits with humility and constant fear; and in him alone should we hope for support and deliverance. Great is the kindness, the full forgiveness, that he manifests in delivering from the utmost extremity of trouble. And the opportunity of living to his glory ought to be our principal reason for esteeming or desiring life. Blessed are those parents whose great care is to inform their children concerning Jesus and his truths! No means of relief ought to be used without dependence on the power and kindness of God. And we ought as eagerly to thank him for our deliverances as ever we prayed for them.