Bible Commentaries

c) Hezekiah’s Psalm of Thanksgiving

Isaiah 38:9-20

No one doubts the genuineness of this song. That it was not composed during the sickness, appears from the second half, which contains thanks for recovery. But it is probable, too that the song was no involuntary burst of joyful and grateful feeling, such as might well forth from the heart in the first moments after deliverance. For, as Delitzsch has remarked, the song bears evident marks of art, and of choice, and partly of antiquated expression. Such forms of expression are: פֻּקַּדְתִּי (again only Exodus 38:21) and חֶדֶל (ἅπ. λεγ.) Isaiah 38:11; דּוֹר in the sense of “dwelling” (perhaps again Psalm 49:20), רֹעִי (adjective form only here), קִפֵּד and דַּלָּה meaning “licium” (ἅπ. λεγ.) Isaiah 38:12; שִׁוָּה meaning “composuit animum” (again only Psalm 131:2) Isaiah 38:13; סוּם עָגוּר (again only Jeremiah 8:7) and עָשְׁקָה (ἅπ. λεγ.) Isaiah 38:14; Hithp. הִדַּדָּה (again only Psalm 42:5) Isaiah 38:15; חָשַׁק Isaiah 38:17 and נִגֵן Isaiah 38:20 with the accusative instead of the usual construction with בְּלִי;בּ as substantive=interitus, and joined with שַׁחַת (only here) Isaiah 38:17. Added to this are echoes from Job, especially in the first, lamenting part of the song: נִסַּע Niph. Isaiah 38:12 (again only in Job 4:21). יבצעני Isaiah 38:12, comp. Job 6:9 ( Isaiah 27:8); תשׁלימני Isaiah 38:12, comp. Job 23:14. מיום עד־לילה Isaiah 38:12, Job 4:20; דַּלּוּ וגי׳ Isaiah 38:14, comp. Job 16:20; ערבני Isaiah 38:14, comp. Job 17:3; חלם Isaiah 38:16, comp. Job 39:4. Compare the list by Delitzsch in Drechsler’s Komm. II. p620 sq. It is, therefore, conjectured, not without reason, that the learned king, well acquainted with the ancient literature of his people, produced this song later as he had time and leisure for it, as a monument both of his art and learning. Apart from the superscription Isaiah 38:9, the song has evidently two parts; a lament ( Isaiah 38:10-14), and a joyful thanksgiving ( Isaiah 38:15-20.

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α) SUPERSCRIPTION. Isaiah 38:9

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

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

It is doubtful if מִכְתָּם = מִכְתָּב. For although b. and m. are in general kindred sounds, still an interchange specially of the roots כָּתַב and כָּתַם never occurs. For neither נִכְתַּם ( Jeremiah 2:22, see my remarks in loc.) nor the noun כֶּתֶם has anything to do with כָּתָב. We have besides, as derived from the unused root כָּתַם only מִכְתָּם in the superscriptions of Psalm 16, 56-60. Why should the exchange of ב and מ be made just for this species of Psalm? Why was not מכתב used in the superscription of those Psalm as well as for our passage, if both words are actually of like meaning? Beside מכתב occurs elsewhere, and means either abstractly the writing, mode of writing ( Exodus 32:16; Exodus 39:30; Deuteronomy 10:4; 2 Chronicles 36:22; Ezra 1:1), or in the concrete sense, a something written, piece of scripture, copy ( 2 Chronicles 21:12; 2 Chronicles 35:4). Here, too, it means a writing, a written document or record. The word would give us to know that another source for this song lay before the author than for other parts of chapters36–39. The Book of Kings does not contain the song of Hezekiah. From that therefore the author could not take it. There lay before him a document that was either held to be a writing of Hezekiah’s or actually was such. In fact we may take the word “writing” in the sense of original manuscript. For the unusual word, מכתב, doubtless chosen on purpose, and on purpose put first, intimates that not only the contents of the writing came from Hezekiah, but also that the manuscript of it was his. It may be remarked as a curiosity, that Grotius conjectures that the song was dictated to the king by is, thus was properly the production of the latter. Excepting this no one has doubted Hezekiah’s authorship. He is known to have been a very active man in the sphere of art and literature. He was the restorer of the Jehovah-cultus in general, and of the instrumental and vocal temple music of David in particular ( 2 Chronicles 29). According to Proverbs 25:1, he had a college or commission, called the אַנְשֵׁי חִזְקִיָה, which appears to have been charged with collecting and preserving ancient documents of the national literature. See Delitzsch in Drechsl.Komm. II2, p221. From the words בחלתו and ויחימחליו we see that the sickness and recovery are treated as a total. In the second of these periods, inexactly defined, the song originated. The second period is named, not by the infinitive as the first, but by means of the verb. fin., according to that frequent Hebrew usage, in which the discourse quickly returns from subordinate to the principal form. Comp. Isaiah 18:5.

β) THE DISTRESS

Isaiah 38:10-14

10 I said in ⁸the cutting off of my days,

I shall go to the gates of the grave:

I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11 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 ⁹world.

12 ¹⁰Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent;

I have ¹¹cut off like a weaver my life:

He will cut me off ¹²with pining sickness:

From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

13 ¹³I 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 ¹⁴a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter:

I did mourn as a dove;

Mine eyes ¹⁵fail with looking upward:

O Lord, I am oppressed; ^{16 17}undertake for me.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 38:10. Views differ very much about דְּמִי ימי. The Ancient Versions guess at it. The LXX. have ἐν ὕψει (they probably read רמי); the Vulgate, “in dimidio” (if this was not for the sake of resemblance in sound between דמי and dimidium, then it was from a calculation that the point of culmination is at the same time solstitium). The Syrian, also, by reason of the same combination, has in mediis diebus meis;” Targ. Jonatan has in moerore dierum meorum; Aqu. and Symm. have ἐν ἀσθενεἰᾳ (they take the root דָּוָה = דָּמָה); the Arabּ and various Rabbins translate “in ademtione, excisione dierum meorumְ” in which they proceed from the meaning “to destroy,” which דָּמָה certainly has, especially in the Niph. (comp. Hosea 10:15; Isaiah 6:5; Isaiah 15:1, etc.). Many modern expositors, following the precedent of Eberh. Scheid (Diss. philol. exeg. ad Cant. Hisk. Lugd. Bat. 1769), translate the word as do the Vulg. and Syr, viz, in dimidio, medio (comp. בַּחֲצִי יָמַי Psalm 102:25). This meaning is supported by reference to the supposed still-stand of the sun in the midst of its course; but it is over ingenious and entirely isolated here. For in other places of its occurrence דמי undoubtedly means: “being still, pause” ( Isaiah 62:6-7; Psalm 83:2). Most expositors now adopt this sense (Gesenius, Maurer, Umbreit, Drechsler, Knobel, Delitzsch). Yet they differ also; some understanding by the stillness the political still-stand consequent on Sennacherib’s defeat (Gesen. Maur, Drechsler), or that promised to follow the hoped-for retreat of the Assyrians (Knobel). Others refer to the expression בִּימֵי חָרְפִּי (“in the days of my harvest” Job 29:4), and suppose the meaning to be “the time of manly maturity when the spirit of men begins to be clearer and quieter” (Umbr.), or “the quiet course of healthful life” (Del.). Thus all these expositors take דמי in a good sense, i. e., of quiet, happy condition, of rest of spirit, of vigor of life, vigor. But I cannot think it has this positive meaning. One must not transfer to דמה the sense of נוּחַ. The root דָּמָה has the predominant meaning “not to be, to bring to nought, to annihilate,” whether this comes from the notion of making like (the earth), or elsewhere. For דמה means “to destroy,” once in Kal. ( Hosea 4:5), always in Niph. ( Hosea 4:6; Hosea 10:7; Hosea 10:15; Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 47:5; Obadiah 1:5; Zephaniah 1:11); in Piel in the solitary instance of this conjugation ( 2 Samuel 21:5). Kal. occurs beside only in the sense of negative rest, of being no more, ceasing (cessare): Jeremiah 14:17; Lamentations 3:49. And also דמי, in the three instances where it occurs ( Isaiah 62:6-7; Psalm 83:2), is primarily only a designation for ceasing to speak, being silent, as Delitzsch himself remarks on Isaiah 62:6. Accordingly I think that דמי ימי means rather “being still, standing still, the quenching of life-power.” Thus the king would say: “as I noted that the clock of my life gradually stopped, I thought: now it goes in the gate of Hades.” It is plain that, with this construction דמי ימי must be referred to אמרתי, whereas those who construe דמי positively must refer it to אלכה. For it is self-evident that one whose life-clock stops must enter the gates of Hades, whereas it needs to be made emphatic that one, still in the vigor of life, must make up his mind to this fatal entry. The Masorets understood the words in the latter sense; hence the pause in אֵלֵֽכָה indicated by Tiphhha. One is necessitated thereby to construe הלך emphatically “to go off,” and the connection with בשׁערי שׁ׳ as a pregnant construction, which is needless with our exposition. The cohortative form in אלכה seems to me to mean that the speaker, as it were, spurs himself on to do what he must do, but does unwillingly (comp. Ewald, 228, a).—Pual פֻקַד occurs again only Exodus 38:21, where it means “to be mustered, inscribed, inventoried.” It is plain that it cannot mean this here. Hence some take it=“made to miss, deprived of, frustrari.” But Delitz. justly remarks that then it ought to read הָפְקַדְתִּי (comp. on Isaiah 29:6). Gesen. translates: “I am missed through the rest of my years,” grammatically correct but flat. The most inviting is the rendering: “I am fined the residue of my years,” which is grammatically possible since פָּקַד occurs with the accusative of the person meaning “to visit, punish” ( Jeremiah 6:15; Jeremiah 49:8; Psalm 59:6).

Isaiah 38:11. Concerning יָהּ see on Isaiah 12:2.—If the words עם ישׁבי חדל are taken as parallel with בארץ החיים, then of course one must cast doubt upon חדל (ἅπ. λεγ.) as Cheyne, Delitzsch, Diestel and others do, and read חָֽלֶד, i. e., “world in the sense of earthly presence” (αίὼν οὗτος) Psalm 17:14; Psalm 49:2; Psalm 89:48. But if we are correct in referring בארץ הח׳ to the object and not to the predicate (see comm. below), and if, according to the principle of parallelism, the same construction obtain in the second half of the verse, then the position of עוֹד after אָדָם and then also the difficulty of connecting הח׳ בארץ and also אדם עם חדל, show that עם ישׁבי חדל is not to be joined to the object but to the predicate, that therefore there is an antithetical parallelism. Therefore חָֽדֶל is correct, and is to be taken the sense μὴ εἶνει of a relative not being, or being no more.

Isaiah 38:12. If דּוֹר be taken in its usual sense of “œtas, time, life-time” (Drechsler) there ensues the disadvantage that the predicates נסע ונגלה do not fit to it. For they contain the notion breaking off, removal in respect to space, which is applicable to dwelling-space, room, but not to the time of dwelling. Hence most expositors recur to the dialects wherein דור (likely because of a relation to גּוּר) has very constantly the sense of “dwelling.” Thus in Chaldee גּוּר is a very common word for “dwelling;” Daniel 2:38; 3:31; 4:9, 18, 32. Thence come the expressions of the Targum דַּיָּר “the inhabitant,” דִּירַא “the dwelling.” In Syriac, too, dairo, dajoro, dairono is “the dwelling;” and in Arabic dar. It seems that the radical idea “rotundum, orbis” has in Hebrew developed more to the meaning “circuit, periodus, period, age,” whereas in the dialects it has been restricted more to the meaning of the round tent-dwelling. Still there are not wanting examples to prove that in Hebrew also the word has retained its original sense of “being round” in reference to things of space. Thus Isaiah 22:11 דּוּר means “ball;” Isaiah 29:3 כַּדּוּר=circumcirca; Ezekiel 24:5 מְדוּרָה = דּוּר “the wood-pile in round layers.” Indeed Psalm 49:20 דּוֹר very likely means specifically “dwelling.” It is very probable that Hezekiah, a learned prince and well acquainted with the ancient monuments of the national tongue, in solemn poetry, availed himself of an antiquated expression.—נָסַע used for pulling up the tent-pegs, Isaiah 33:20; Niph. Found again only Job 4:21, and with the same meaning.—נגלה from גָּלָה “to uncover,” “to clear out the land, evacuare,” then specifically “migrare,” Niph.=“migrare factus, deportatus.—רֹעִי is an adjective formation from רֹעֶה=pastoricius: it occurs only here. That קָפַד (ἅπ. λεγ.) does not mean “to cut off” seems probable to me also. For all kindred roots קפץ,קפז,קפא, as also the derivative קִפּוֹד “the porcupine,” indicate that it means “to contract, wrap together, lay together.” Thus many moderns translate: “I have wound up my life.” But if one so understands it: “I regard my life as wound up,” i. e., done, finished, I have finished with life, then it seems to me not to suit the first person, nor the primary sense of קפדתי. My rendering (see Exeg. and Crit. below) makes plain why we find the first and then the third person. יבצעני (reminds strongly of Job 6:9, comp. Isaiah 27:8).—מיום עד־לילה recall Job 4:20; and תשׁלימנו Job 23:14.

Isaiah 38:13. שִׁוָּה is “componere, complanare.” We had the word with a physical sense Isaiah 28:25; here it has a moral sense like Psalm 131:2, where it means composui et compescui animum. In our text נפשׁי is wanting. It is seen from this that the poet uses the word in that direct causative sense, so frequent in Hebrew, according to which שִׁוָּה can mean, not only “to make alike, even, mild, quiet,” but also “to effect equality, evenness (aequitatem animi), equanimity, quietness.”—כָּֽאֲרי, (pointed with the art. like Psalm 22:17), though referred by the Masorets to שׁויתי still manifestly, as to sense, belongs to what follows. For the lion is no example of that animum componere.—The retrospective כֵּן after a כְּ immediately preceding occurs here like it does directly after, at the beginning of Isaiah 38:14.

Isaiah 38:14. The words כסום עגור are difficult. First, as to סוּם it is to be remarked that Jeremiah 8:7, the only other place where the words occur, K’ri would read סִים. This shows that the word has nothing to do with סוּם “horse,” whatever may be the etymology of the latter word. The conjecture of Velthusen (Beitrag zur Aufklaerung des Dankliedes Hiskiae zur Befoerderung theol. Kenntnisse von J. A. Cramer, P. I. p61 not.), seems to me reasonable, that the Masorets, beside the pronunciation sus, intimate another süs or sis, because the latter better corresponds to the sound-mimicry of the word. For it is very probable that the bird receives its name from the sound it makes (like cuckoo, Uhu “owl,” etc.).—עגור. There is no root עָגַר in Hebrew. It is regarded as coming by transposition from גָּעַר increpare, but which in Ethiopic is said to mean “to sigh,” in Arabic “to implore plaintively.” Boettcher (Aehrenlese, p33) takes עגור for a softened עָכוּר=“disturbed, troubled,” and this “as the peculiar mark of the restless swallow that flies back and forth.” But this does not suit Jeremiah 8:7, where it is pure arbitrariness to omitוְ.—It is, certainly no accident that in many languages the crane is designated by a word containing the sound g (k) and r, and it shows that all these denominations are ’ονοματοποιητικά. The name in Arab, is Kurki; Aram, kurkeja; Greek, γέρανος; Lat. grus, etc. This meaning suits very well Jeremiah 8:7, but is less suitable in our text.—כסים עגור is the same as כסים בעגור (Fuerst): The asyndeton (the like occurs Nahum 2:12; Habakkuk 3:11) gives emphasis: “like a swallow, (still more) like a crane I sigh.” There are cases where, not the species, but the individual forms the basis of comparison. Thus the rule that would require it, to read כַּסּוּם if עגור is co-ordinate and not subordinate, cannot be strictly carried out. Beside the examples just given, comp. Numbers 23:24; Numbers 24:9; Numbers 24:6; Job 16:14.—חָנָה is used for the note of the dove also Isaiah 59:11, comp. Ezekiel 7:16; Nahum 2:8.—עָֽשְׁקָה־לִּי; so punctuated עשׁקה can only be perf 3 d per. fern, and the fem. is to be construed as neuter. But עשׁק occurs no where else in an intransitive sense. Hence, and for the sake of antithesis to ערבני (as Luzzatto well remarks, see in Delitzsch), it is better to read עָשְָׁקֽה, which must then be taken as substantative=“oppressio, anxiety.”—דָּלַל “to hang down limp,” Job 28:4, then, generally, “languidum, debilem esse,” comp. Isaiah 19:6; Psalm 79:8; Psalm 116:6; Psalm 142:7)—ערבני is sponde pro me. The construction with the accusative of the person like Genesis 43:9; Genesis 44:32; Proverbs 11:15.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The poet depicts how he felt in the moment of extreme peril of life, when he thought he must enter the gates of Hades, and, as it were, pay the penalty of the remnant of his days ( Isaiah 38:10). Then he believed he would for ever be robbed of the blessing that is enjoyed in contemplating the works of Jehovah and in the companionship of men, by his exile in the land of unsubstantial shades ( Isaiah 38:11). He sees his body already broken up and removed away like the tent of a wandering shepherd; he was in the midst of the labor of weaving his life and rolling it up, like the weaver his web on the weaver’s beam; but in the midst of this labor he sees his life suddenly cut off. By day still untouched, it is mortally smitten before night comes ( Isaiah 38:12). In anxious expectation he drags on till morning. But that brings only new suffering. Like a lion the disease falls upon him to crush his bones, and anew it seems as if between day and night his life must end ( Isaiah 38:13). Mortally sick, he can only utter weak murmurs and groans, like the complaining sounds of the swallow, the crane, the dove. Yet his languishing eyes look upwards; he has great anguish, but he is able still to call on the Lord to be surety for him ( Isaiah 38:14).

2. I said——of the world.

Isaiah 38:10-11. אני before אמדתי, beginning Isaiah 38:10, seems to stand in antithesis to ואמר, Isaiah 38:15. I thought, the poet would say, that all was up; but the Lord thought otherwise. אמר stands for what one says, i. e., thinks inwardly to himself (comp. Genesis 26:9; Genesis 44:28; 1 Samuel 20:3, etc.).

The expression gates of Hades occurs only here: comp. Psalm 9:14; Psalm 107:18; Job 38. By the rest of my days Hezekiah means, of course, the extent of life he hoped for according to the natural conditions of life. It is the same as is expressed in “the half of my days” ( Psalm 102:25; Jeremiah 17:11). Having mentioned the evil that was in prospect (10a), and named the good in a general way of which he was to be deprived (10b), Hezekiah proceeds in Isaiah 38:11 to specify the particulars of this good. He puts first that he shall no more see Jah, namely, Jah in the land of the living. But can one any way see Jah? With the bodily eye, certainly not, and least of all in the land of the living. But to see Jehovah means nothing else than to observe and enjoy the traces of His being and essence. For “to see” stands here, as often, in the wider sense of perception of the senses generally (comp. Psalm 37:13; Psalm 34:13; Jeremiah 29:32; Ecclesiastes 3:13; Ecclesiastes 9:9, etc.). [It is both more obvious and more edifying, and more to the honor of Hezekiah, to explain this seeing Jehovah by a reference to Psalm 63, especially Isaiah 38:2; Isaiah 38:6; coll. Isaiah 38:20 of the text. The whole Psalm mutat. mutand. may be taken as the amplification of our Isaiah 38:11 a; or, vice versa,11a may be taken as Hezekiah’s epitome of Psalm 63, which may have been his solace in the languishing night-watches. It is strong confirmation of this explanation of “the seeing,” that Isaiah communicates to Hezekiah his near recovery by promising that in three days he shall enjoy what he here represents as the prime blessing of life: “the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord” ( 2 Kings 20:5). The promise may be completed in the words of Psalm 63:2 : “to see (לראות) Jehovah’s power and glory, as thou hast seen Him in the sanctuary.” According to the exposition that follows, “the third day” might be from the beginning of the disease.—Tr.]

The clause in the land of the living is a limitation and nearer definition. Not that he means that Jehovah is not to be observed in the land of the dead, and as if that land lay outside of Jehovah’s power and dominion. How contrary to Old Testament Scripture that sentiment would be appears from Amos 9:2; Job 26:6; Psalm 139:8 : Proverbs 15:11. Hence the poet defines his meaning: “I thought never more to see theJah who reveals Himself in the land of the living.” This is the first and greatest good that the deceased loses. But he loses also the companionship of men. And this, again, is not to be understood absolutely, but relatively. For in Hades the dead person is with other dead men. But they are even no right and proper men any more, but only shades. Comp. Naegelsbach:Homer Theol. VII. § 25, p398 sqq.; Die nachhomer. Theol. des griech. Volksglaubens VII. § 25, p 413 sqq. (see Text. and Gram.).

3. Mine age——for me.

Isaiah 38:12-14. The king depicts in these verses, by a succession of images, the progress of his sickness to its culmination, then the turn brought about by his believing prayer, דורי means “my dwelling” and not “mine age” (see Text. and Gram.). By this Hezekiah evidently means his body (comp. 2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:4; 2 Peter 1:13-14). Though in the body still, he contemplates the separation of body and soul as already accomplished. Comparing the body to a shepherd’s tent, which after a while is struck, so his tent he regards as already struck and removed. The next image is drawn from the weaver (see Text, and Gram.). I understand the words thus: I sit at the loom and roll up my life continuously on the weaver’s beam; He cuts me off from the thrum (דלה, i.e., the ends of the threads attached to the beam). The Lord, by His cutting off, interrupts the labor of Hezekiah, who is, so to speak, weaving his life. “From day to night thou finishest me.” This seems to depict the feeling of the poet at the close of his first day of suffering. Such was the rapid progress of the disease that it seemed about to do its work in one day. By evening, indeed, he was not dead, but only by the greatest effort the patient wards off despair. “I composed myself to the morning” (on שׁויתי see Text. and Gram.). On the following day the torments of the disease continue. He feels its power like that of a lion that crunches the bones of its prey (comp. Proverbs 25:15, where is a different sense). A second time he thinks the evening will end his sufferings, and awaits the issue with murmurings and groanings comparable to the querulous notes of the swallow, crane and dove.

The second clause of Isaiah 38:14 forms the turning point. With painful longing, under severe oppression, the poet lifts his eyes to the Lord. His prayer is only a short one. He regards himself as a debtor hard pressed by his creditor, and prays the Lord to be surety for him. ערבני, is, moreover, a literal quotation from Job 17:3. Hezekiah thinks of suffering Job, and concludes a similar event with the same appeal.

γ) THE DELIVERANCE

Isaiah 38:15-22

15 What shall I say?

He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it:

I shall ¹⁸go softly all my years

¹⁹In the bitterness of my soul.

16 O Lord, by these things men live,

²⁰And in all these things is the life of my spirit:

So wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

17 ²¹Behold, ²²for peace I had great bitterness:

But ²³thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of ²⁴corruption:

For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

18 For the grave cannot praise thee,

Death can not celebrate thee:

They ²⁵that 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 ²⁶was ready to save me:

Therefore ²⁷we 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 plaister upon

22 the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 38:15. The Hiph. הִדַּדָּה (denoting the solemn walk of those visiting the temple), occurs again only Psalm 42:6. To take it as meaning the walk of life seems to me unwarranted in view of that passage, and in the entire absence of any supporting passage. The same may be said of taking עַל here, as in other passages after verbs or nouns denoting cumulation ( Isaiah 38:5; Isaiah 32:10; Leviticus 15:25), in the sense of “according to.” Nor may we take על=“spite of,” which it never means. It is here simply causal.

Isaiah 38:16. The suffix in עליהם can only refer to the two notions אמר ועשׂה. The plur. masc, need not surprise: comp. Ezekiel 18:26; Ezekiel 33:18-19.—עַל joined to חָיָה denotes the ground or cause of life; and it is to be noted that a Hebrew regards as the basis of life what we regard as the means of living. Hence that from which one lives in the usual sense, i. e., his support, is joined with עַל ( Genesis 27:40; Deuteronomy 8:3). Much more הָיָה may stand with עַל when the absolute foundation of life is to be designated. The plural יחיו has for subject the living generally, for which we may use “one.”—Among the many explanations, more or less forced, of the following clause, the most admissible seems to be that of Gesenius, afterwards amplified by Drechsler. It takes all from ולכל to החייני as one clause, and thus has the double advantage of obtaining for ולכל a suitable reference and for the verbs at the close a suitable connection. “And to the totality, i. e., the completeness, full power of the life of my spirit mayest thou by the same both strengthen and make me live.” בָּהֶן refers to אמר ועשׂה Isaiah 38:15. The change of gender is common in Hebrew. The insertion of בהן between כל and היי corresponds to the frequent insertion of עוד after כל, a form of expression that occurs once in Hosea 14:3 in reference to נִשָׂא and in Isaiah even Isaiah 40:12 in reference to חָלַם .בַּשָּׁלִישׁ with that meaning that alone suits here occurs only in this Hiph. and again in Kal, Job 39:4. The meaning of Kal is “pinguis, fortis fuit;” thus Hiph. would mean “to make fat, strong, healthy.” Instead of החייני the Vulg. and Talmud seem to have read תחייני. One Codex reads thus, and many expositors adopt it. In fact there is no alternative but either to read תַּחֲיֵינִי [Lowth], or to take וְ before תחלימני in that demonstrative retrospective sense in which we had it Isaiah 37:26; Isaiah 17:14; Isaiah 9:4, and which, in fact, occurs generally in clauses that are expanded either extensively or intensively. Comp. 2 Samuel 14:10; Proverbs 23:24; Numbers 23:3; Isaiah 56:6 sqq. According to this the וְ would refer to the remote וּלְכֹל. But והחייני would denote emphatically the chief result contemplated by the poet. Hezekiah was convalescent when he composed this song. He could therefore wish that he might be restored to the full power of his spirit. But if, instead of this imperative, one reads תחייני, then the double Vav before the verbs=et—et, as in Isaiah 38:15. The sense remains essentially the same.

Isaiah 38:17. לשׁלום is not = בשׁלום. But the meaning is “for peace, for good it was bitter to me.” It is not to be objected to this that then היה ought not to be wanting, for, apart from its absence being quite normal here (comp. Isaiah 38:20), מַר may itself be regarded as a verb [“preterite Kal of מור, not elsewhere used, though the Hiph. is of frequent occurrence.”—J. A. Alex.]. (Comp. Isaiah 24:9; Job 22:2; Ruth 1:20). But it is more likely that מר is adjective used as noun as in Ruth 1:13; Lamentations 1:4. Comp. עשׁקה לי, Isaiah 38:14.—According to our construction of לשׁלום we must regard ואתה חשׁקת a causal clause expressive of the situation.—חָשַׁק=“to be lovingly attached” ( Deuteronomy 7:7; Deuteronomy 10:15, etc.); but while elsewhere construed with בְּ, it is here (comp. נִגֵן Isaiah 38:20, with the accusat. though elsewhere always with בּ, joined with the accusat. of the object, and beside this with מִן to designate the terminus a quo of the way of deliverance (construct. prœgnans) [coll. Hebrews 5:7, καὶ εἰσακουσθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας—Tr.].—The combination שׁחת בלי “the pit of destruction,” occurs only here; even the substantive use of בלי does not occur elsewhere.

Isaiah 38:18. לא before שׁאול ת׳, by a familiar usage, ( Isaiah 23:4; 1 Samuel 2:3, etc.) extends to the following clause.—The יודרי בור (comp. Isaiah 14:19; Psalm 28:1; Psalm 88:5, etc.) are not those going down, but those gone down. For in Hebrew the Participle is in itself devoid of tense signification, which must be ascertained from the nature of what is affirmed or from the context. Here the hopelessness is during the endless stay in Hades.

Isaiah 38:19. הודיע with אל arises from the direct causative use of this Hiph. For הודיע = “to make, prepare דַּעַת, knowing, knowledge.” Accordingly he for whom the knowledge is prepared, i. e., to whom it is imparted must be in the dative. The object of knowledge is designated by אֶל in accordance with the frequent use of this preposition with verbis decendi (comp. Genesis 20:2; 1 Samuel 4:19; 2 Kings 19:9, etc.).

Isaiah 38:20. In יהוח להושׁיעני we are to supply הָיָה (comp. Isaiah 38:17; Isaiah 21:1; Isaiah 37:26). We must not translate: “Jehovah was there to save me,” for Hezekiah certainly did not feel the saving hand of God as something that withdrew after accomplishing its work. He felt it as something still present. He still needed it, as appears from Isaiah 38:16. This is precisely the sense of this periphrastic construction, that it does not represent the verbal notion simply, but with the additional notion of continued occupation with something.—נִגֵּן is pulsare, and is used of playing stringed instruments ( 1 Samuel 16:16; 1 Samuel 16:23, etc.). Hence נְגִינוֹת is to be understood of instrumentum pulsatile, (not cantus), as in the superscriptions of many Psalm 4, 6, 54, etc.; Habakkuk 3:19.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. In this second part of his song Hezekiah expresses his gratitude to the Lord. “What shall I say?” he begins, as if he could not find the proper word to express in a suitable manner what he had been permitted to experience. In two brief words, he first expresses comprehensively what he has to say. “He promised it, and has also done it!” But I, as long as I live, will walk before the Lord, in gratitude for His imparting to me by means of bitter suffering so much joy ( Isaiah 38:15). Such is, as it were, the theme. In what follows the details are amplified. First, the king expresses the great truth that God’s word and act are the foundation of life for all, and adds the petition that God would by word and Acts, also fully restore him to life ( Isaiah 38:16). This petition forms the transition to further thanksgiving. The poet acknowledges that his suffering had inured to his salvation: the Lord had precisely in the depth of suffering made him to know the height of His love. But how could such salvation accrue to the sinner? Because the Lord graciously forgave his debt ( Isaiah 38:17). But also because it is in a measure important to the Lord Himself to preserve man alive. For in Hades there is no thanksgiving to God nor any more trusting in Him ( Isaiah 38:18). Only the living can do this, and that both for themselves, and by handing down the praise of the divine faithfulness to their posterity ( Isaiah 38:19). Because he knows the Lord to be near as his redeemer and Saviour, he will, in the church and in the house of the Lord, let his song sound as long as he lives ( Isaiah 38:20). Verses21, 22, which are here out of place, were explained above at Isaiah 38:6.

2. What shall I say—my soul.

Isaiah 38:15. The sentiment is, that there is properly an infinite amount to say. What shall the poet select from mass of material. One may compare 2 Samuel 7:20. Hezekiah resolves to make two things prominent: 1) that the Lord was as good as His word2) that Hebrews, for his part, will give solemn thanksgiving as long as he lives. The construction ואמר והוא ע׳ must not be taken as giving a reason. The antithesis of “saying” and “doing” reveals that we have here two correlative members, and that וְ before אמר does not point backward, but forward. The וְ—וְ is here simply=et-et. In the second number הוּא “idem” is added for emphasis. For the “truth” that is so lauded Isaiah 38:18-19 only exists when the performer is identical with the promiser (comp. Numbers 23:19). Therefore אמר “He hath said” refers back to Isaiah 38:5, and stands in an emphatic sense, as in general the notion אמר is capable of various emphasis (comp. 2 Chronicles 32:24). The second clause of the verse expresses in brief the thanks that Hezekiah means to pay. He promises zealous Jehovah-worship (on אדדה see Text. and Gram.), as proof of his thanks for the misfortune sent him that had become the source of so much good fortune to him, as he expressly confesses Isaiah 38:17. The thought recalls Isaiah 12:2, where the Prophet thanks Jehovah for being angry at him.

3. O Lord—to live.

Isaiah 38:16. These words contain a nearer definition of “he said and he did,” Isaiah 38:15, from which is seen that the poet attaches great importance to this thought. By the words עליהם יחיו he first utters the general sentence, that all life rests on God’s word and deed (Drechsler appropriately refers to the creative word and act Genesis 1). The following clause applies this universal truth to the poet himself. (See Text. and Gram.).

4. Behold, for peace—thy truth.

Isaiah 38:17-19. In these verses the poet gives in brief outline the story of his suffering and the deliverance from it. The bitter distress of death serves him as a foil that lets the light of the deliverance shine all the brighter. He praises the miraculous power of God that has brought it about that precisely what was bitter accrued to his salvation. Therefore he repeats emphatically מר “bitterness” (comp. חי חי Isaiah 38:19; Isaiah 24:16; Isaiah 27:5). This gracious deliverance comes from the Lord’s no more remembering the poet’s sins ( Psalm 90:8), and casting them behind Him ( Psalm 51:11; Micah 7:19).

In Isaiah 38:18-19 Jehovah’s deliverance is explained from another side. It is shown that the Lord Himself has an interest in preserving Hezekiah alive. The Sheol (metonomy: the total for the individuals that constitute it) does not praise the Lord; death (also metonomy) does not celebrate Him: those that have gone down into the pit hope not in His faithfulness. We have here quite the Old Testament representation of the condition of the dead as something that excludes all free and conscious action. Thus in Psalm 6:6 (5). “For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Bring together also in one conspectus the expressions Psalm 88:11-13; Psalm 30:10; Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 and comp. Job 14:10 sqq.; Psalm 115:17. One sees that the spiritual activity of the dead was looked upon as paralyzed by the shades of death. They cannot hope,etc. points to the future as what precedes does to the past. The dead have as little remembrance of the benefits received from God in life, as they have hope in the faithfulness of God that rules over them and promises a better future. [“The true explanation of the words is given by Calvin,viz., that the language is that of extreme agitation and distress, in which the prospect of the future is absorbed in contemplation of the present, and also that, so far as he does think of futurity, it is upon the supposition of God’s wrath. Regarding death, in this case, as a proof of the divine displeasure, he cannot but look upon it as the termination of his solemn praises.”—J. A. Alex.].

With jubilant emotions, Hezekiah feels that he again belongs to the living, hence the repetition of חַיwho lives, who lives, he praises,etc., and the joyous כמוני היום as I this day, in which appears how much the contrast between the mournful yesterday, and the blessed to-day moves the heart of the poet. The words father to the children,etc., have a peculiar significance in Hezekiah’s mouth. His successor man, according to 2 Kings 21:1, ascended the throne at twelve years of age. Consequently he cannot have been born at this time. Indeed, since it was customary for the eldest son to succeed, it is very probable that at that time Hezekiah had no son at all, which seems to be confirmed by יֵצְאוּ,וגוּ׳39:7. Considered from this point of view our words appear prophetic. Yet, when one reflects what sort of a son Manasseh was, it would almost seem to have been better had Hezekiah done nothing to avert the sentence of death Isaiah 38:1.

5. The Lord——house of the Lord.

Isaiah 38:20. Concluding verse, containing once again the chief thought, and a summons to continual praise of Jehovah. “Jehovah is present to save me,” see Text. and Gram.So will we touch my stringed instruments,ibid. The song accompanying the stringed instrument is not excluded, though the latter alone is mentioned. The plural has been urged as favoring the meaning “song.” But could not the musical King Hezekiah understand various sorts of playing on stringed instruments? Or, if not this, may not the plural be that of the general notion? Some suppose, that by the plural נְנַגֵּן “we will touch,” Hezekiah sets himself as the chorus-leader of his family. But one must not forget the Levitical musicians that he himself had instituted for the service of God’s house ( 2 Chronicles 29:30). Corresponding to the אדדה Isaiah 38:15, Hezekiah thinks here not of private divine service, but of the worship of Jehovah in the temple. The preposition עַל is surprising. Perhaps one may compare Hosea 11:11. Perhaps, too, the preposition has reference to the elevated way which, according to 2 Kings 16:18, led the king into the temple, and afforded him an elevated place from which he saw the greater part of the house beneath him. Moreover it is to be remarked, that tarrying in the house of the Lord has a prominent place in many Psalm 15:1; Psalm 23:6; Psalm 42:5; Psalm 43:4; Psalm 84:2 sqq11, etc.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 36:4 sqq. “Haec proprie est Satanae lingua et sunt non Rabsacis sed ipsissimi Diaboli verba, quibus non muros urbis, sed medullam Ezechiae, hoc Esther, tenerrimam ejus fidem oppugnat.”—Luther. “In this address the chief-butler, Satan performs in the way he uses when he would bring about our apostacy1) He urges that we are divested of all human support, Isaiah 36:5; Isaiah 2) We are deprived of divine support, Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 3) God is angry with us because we have greatly provoked Him by our sins, Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 4) He decks out the splendor, and power of the wicked, Isaiah 36:8-9; Isaiah 5) He appeals to God’s word, and knows how to turn and twist it to his uses. Such poisonous arrows were used by Satan against Christ in the desert, and may be compared with this light ( Matthew 4:2 sqq.). One needs to arm himself against Satan’s attack by God’s word, and to resort to constant watching and prayer.”—Cramer.

The Assyrian urges four particulars by which he would destroy Hezekiah’s confidence, in two of which he was right and in two wrong. He was right in representing that Hezekiah could rely neither on Egypt, nor on his own power. In this respect he was a messenger of God and announcer of divine truth. For everywhere the word of God preaches the same ( Isaiah 30:1-3; Isaiah 31:1-3; Jeremiah 17:5; Psalm 118:8-9; Psalm 146:3, etc.). But it is a merited chastisement if rude and hostile preachers must preach to us what we were unwilling to believe at the mild and friendly voice of God. But in two particulars the Assyrian was wrong, and therein lay Hezekiah’s strength. For just on this account the Lord is for him and against the Assyrian. These two things are, that the Assyrian asserts that Hezekiah cannot put his trust in the Lord, but rather he, the Assyrian is counseled by the Lord against Hezekiah. That, however, was a lie, and because of this lie, the corresponding truth makes all the deeper impression on Hezekiah, and reminds him how assuredly he may build on the Lord and importune Him. And when the enemy dares to say, that he is commissioned by the Lord to destroy the Holy Land, just that must bring to lively remembrance in the Israelite, that the Lord, who cannot lie, calls the land of Israel His land ( Joel 4:2; Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 16:18, etc.), and the people of Israel His people ( Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:10; Exodus 5:1, etc.).

2. On [“In regard to the indelicacy of this passage we may observe: 1) The Masorets in the Hebrew text have so printed the words used, that in reading it the offensiveness would be considerably avoided2) The customs, habits and modes of expression of people in different nations and times, differ. What appears indelicate at one time or in one country, may not only be tolerated, but common in another3) Isaiah is not at all responsible for the indelicacy of the language here. He is simply an historian4) It was of importance to give the true character of the attack which was made on Jerusalem. The coming of Sennacherib was attended with pride, insolence and blasphemy; and it was important to state the true character of the transaction, and to record just what was said and done. Let him who used the language, and not him who recorded it bear the blame.”—Barnes in loc.].

3. On Isaiah 36:18 sqq. “Observandum hic, quod apud gentes olim viguerit πολύθεια adeo, ut quaevis etiam urbs peculiarem habuerit Deum tutelarem. Cujus ethnicismi exemplum vivum et spirans adhuc habemus apud pontificios, quibus non inscite objici potest illud Jeremiae: Quot civitates tibi, tot etiam Dei ( Jeremiah 2:28).”—Foerster.

4. On Isaiah 36:21. Answer not a fool according to his folly ( Proverbs 26:4), much less the blasphemer, lest the flame of his wickedness be blown into the greater rage ( Sirach 8:3). Did not Christ the Lord answer His enemies, not always with words, but also with silence ( Matthew 26:62; Matthew 27:14, etc.)? One must not cast pearls before swine ( Matthew 7:6). After Foerster and Cramer.

5. On Isaiah 36:21. “Est aureus textus, qui docet nos, ne cum Satana disputemus. Quando enim videt, quod sumus ejus spectatores et auditores, tum captat occasionem majoris fortitudinis et gravius premit. Petrus dicit, eum circuire et quaerere, quem devoret. Nullum facit insidiarum finem. Tutissimum autem est non respondere, sed contemnere eum.”—Luther.

6. [On Isaiah 37:1-7. “Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the traveler’s coat from him, makes him wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabshakeh reproaches God, the more Hezekiah studies to honor Him.” On Isaiah 37:3. “When we are most at a plunge we should be most earnest in prayer. When pains are most strong, let prayers be most lively. Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth.”—M. Henry, in loc.]

7. On Isaiah 37:2 sqq. Hezekiah here gives a good example. He shows all princes, rulers and peoples what one ought to do when there is a great and common distress, and tribulation. One ought with sackcloth, i. e., with penitent humility, to bring prayers, and intercessions to the Lord that He would look on and help.

8. On Isaiah 37:6 sq. “God takes to Himself all the evil done to His people. For as when one does a great kindness to the saints, God appropriates it to Himself, Song of Solomon, too, when one torments the saints, it is an injury done to God, and He treats sin no other way than as if done to Himself. He that torments them torments Him ( Isaiah 64:9). Therefore the saints pray: ‘Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily’ ( Psalm 74:22).”—Cramer.

9. On Isaiah 37:7. “God raises up against His enemies other enemies, and thus prepares rest for His own people. Example: the Philistines against Saul who pursued David, 1 Samuel 23:27.”—Cramer.

10. On Isaiah 37:14. Vitringa here cites the following from Bonfin Rerum Hungar. Dec. III. Lib. VI. p464, ad annum Isaiah 1444: “Amorathes, cum suos laborare cerneret et ab Vladislao rege non sine magna caede fugari, depromtum e sinu codicem initi sanctissime foederis explicat intentis in coelum oculis. Haec sunt, inquit ingeminans, Jesu Christe, foedera, quae Christiani tui mecum percussere. Per numen tuum sanctum jurarunt, datamque sub nomine tuo fidem violarunt, perfide suum Deum abnegarunt. Nunc Christe, si Deus es (ut ajunt et nos hallucinamur), tuas measque hic injurias, te quaeso, ulciscere et his, qui sanctum tuum nomen nondum agnovere, violatae fidei poenas ostende. Vix haec dixerat .… cum proelium, quod anceps ac dubium diu fuerat, inclinare coepit, etc.”

[The desire of Hezekiah was not primarily his own personal safety, or the safety of his kingdom. It was that Jehovah might vindicate His great and holy name from reproach, and that the world might know that He was the only true God. We have here a beautiful model of the object which we should have in view when we come before God. This motive of prayer is one that is with great frequency presented in the Bible. Comp. Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 43:25; Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalm 83:18; Psalm 46:10; Nehemiah 9:6; Daniel 9:18-19. Perhaps there could have been furnished no more striking proof that Jehovah was the true God, than would be by the defeat of Sennacherib. The time had come when the great Jehovah could strike a blow which would be felt on all nations, and carry the terror of His name, and the report of His power throughout the earth. Perhaps this was one of the main motives of the destruction of that mighty army.”—Barnes, on Isaiah 37:2].

11. On Isaiah 37:15. “Fides Ezechiae verba confirmata magis ac magis crescit. Ante non ausus est orare, jam orat et confutat blasphemias omnes Assyrii. Adeo magna vis verbi Esther, ut longe alius per verbum, quod Jesajas ei nunciari jussit, factus sit.”—Luther.

12. On [“It is bad to talk proudly and profanely, but it is worse to write Song of Solomon, for this argues more deliberation and design, and what is written spreads further and lasts longer, and does the more mischief. Atheism and irreligion, written, will certainly be reckoned for another day.”—M. Henry].

13. On Isaiah 37:21 sqq. [“Those who receive messages of terror from men with patience, and send messages of faith to God by prayer, may expect messages of grace and peace from God for their comfort, even when they are most cast down. Isaiah sent a long answer to Hezekiah’s prayer in God’s name, sent it in writing (for it was too long to be sent by word of mouth), and sent it by way of return to his prayer, relation being thereunto had: ‘Whereas thou hast prayed to me, know, for thy comfort, that thy prayer is heard.’ Isaiah might have referred him to the prophecies he had delivered (particularly to that of chap10), and bid him pick out an answer from thence. The correspondence between earth and heaven is never let fall on God’s side.”—M. Henry.].

14. On Isaiah 37:31 sqq. “This is a promise of great extent. For it applies not only to those that then remained, and were spared the impending destruction and captivity by the Assyrians, but to all subsequent times, when they should enjoy a deliverance; as after the Babylonish captivity, and after the persecutions of Antiochus. Yea, it applies even to New Testament times from the first to the last, since therein, in the order of conversion to Christ, the Jews will take root and bring forth fruit, and thus in the Jews (as also in the converted Gentiles) will appear in a spiritual and corporal sense, what God at that time did to their fields in the three following years.”—Starke.

15. On Isaiah 38:1. “ is, although of a noble race and condition, does not for that regard it disgraceful, but rather an honor, to be a pastor and visitor of the sick, I would say, a prophet, teacher and comforter of the sick. God save the mark! How has the world become so different in our day, especially in our evangelical church Let a family be a little noble, and it is regarded as a reproach and injury to have a clergyman among its relations and friends, not to speak of a son studying theology and becoming a servant of the church. I speak not of all; I know that some have a better mind; yet such is the common course. Jeroboam’s maxim must rather obtain, who made priests of the lowest of the people ( 1 Kings 12:31). For thus the parsons may be firmly held in rein (sub ferula) and in political submission. It is not at all good where the clergy have a say, says an old state-rule of our Politicorum.” Feuerlein, pastor in Nuremberg, in his Novissimorum primum, 1694, p553. The same quotes Spener: “Is it not Song of Solomon, that among the Roman Catholics the greatest lords are not ashamed to stand in the spiritual office, and that many of them even discharge the spiritual functions? Among the Reformed, too, persons born of the noblest families are not ashamed of the office of preacher. But, it seems, we Lutherans are the only ones that hold the service of the gospel so low, that, where from a noble or otherwise prominent family an ingenium has an inclination to theological study, almost every one seeks to hinder him, or, indeed, afterwards is ashamed of his friendship, as if it were something much too base for such people, by which more harm comes to our church than one might suppose. That is to be ashamed of the gospel.”

16. On [“We see here the boldness and fidelity of a man of God. Isaiah was not afraid to go in freely and tell even a monarch that he must die. The subsequent part of the narrative would lead us to suppose that, until this announcement, Hezekiah did not regard himself as in immediate danger. It is evident here, that the physician of Hezekiah had not informed him of it—perhaps from the apprehension that his disease would be aggravated by the agitation of his mind on the subject. The duty was, therefore, left, as it is often, to the minister of religion—a duty which even many ministers are slow to perform, and which many physicians are reluctant to have performed.

No danger is to be apprehended commonly from announcing to those who are sick their true condition. Physicians and friends often err in this. There is no species of cruelty greater than to suffer a friend to lie on a dying bed under a delusion. There is no sin more aggravated than that of designedly deceiving a dying man, and flattering him with the hope of recovery, when there is a moral certainty that he will not and cannot recover. And there is evidently no danger to be apprehended from communicating to the sick their true condition. It should be done tenderly and with affection; but it should be done faithfully. I have had many opportunities of witnessing the effect of apprising the sick of their situation, and of the moral certainty that they must die. And I cannot now recall an instance in which the announcement has had any unhappy effect on the disease. Often, on the contrary, the effect is to calm the mind, and to lead the dying to look up to God, and peacefully to repose on Him. And the effect of that is always salutary.” Barnes in loc.]

17. On Isaiah 38:2. It is an old opinion, found even in the Chald, that by the wall is meant the wall of the temple as a holy direction in which to pray, as the Mahometans pray in the direction of Mecca. But הקיר cannot mean that. Rather that is correct which is said by Forerius: “Nolunt pii homines testes habere suarum lacrymarum, ut eas liberius fundant, neque sensu distrahi, cum orare Deum ex animo volunt.”

18. On Isa 38:8 :—

Non Deus est numen Parcarum carcere clausum.

Quale putabatur Stoicus esse Deus.

Ille potest Solis cursus inhibere volantes,

At veluti scopulos flumina stare facit.”

—Melanchthon.

19. On Isaiah 38:12. “Beautiful parables that picture to us the transitoriness of this temporal life. For the parable of the shepherd’s tent means how restless a thing it is with us, that we have here no abiding place, but are driven from one locality to another, until at last we find a resting-spot in the church-yard. The other parable of the weaver’s thread means how uncertain is our life on earth. For how easily the thread breaks.” Cramer. “When the weaver’s work is progressing best, the thread breaks before he is aware. Thus when a man is in his best work, and supposes he now at last begins really to live, God breaks the thread of his life and lets him die. The rational heathen knew something of this when they, so to speak, invented the three goddesses of life (the three Parcas minime parcas) and included them in this little verse:

Clotho colum gestat, Lachesis trahit,

Atropos occat

But what does the weaver when the thread breaks? Does he stop his work at once? O no! He knows how to make a clever weaver’s knot, so that one cannot observe the break. Remember thereby that when thy life is broken off, yet the Lord Jesus, as a master artisan, can bring it together again at the last day. He will make such an artful, subtle weaver’s-knot as shall make us wonder through all eternity. It will do us no harm to have died.” Ibid.—Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo.

[“As suddenly as the tent of a shepherd is taken down, folded up, and transferred to another place. There is doubtless the idea here that he would continue to exist, but in another place, as the shepherd would pitch his tent in another place. He was to be cut off from the earth, but he expected to dwell among the dead. The whole passage conveys the idea that he expected to dwell in another state.” Barnes in loc.].

20. On [“Note1) 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 back2) When God pardons sin, He pardons all, casts them all behind His back, though they have been as scarlet and crimson3) The pardoning of sin is the delivering the soul from the pit of corruption4) 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.” M. Henry in loc.]

21. On [Cannot hope for thy truth. “They are shut out from all the means by which Thy truth is brought to mind, and the offers of salvation are presented. Their probation is at an end; their privileges are closed; their destiny is sealed up. The idea is, it is a privilege to live because this is a world where the offers of salvation are made, and where those who are conscious of guilt may hope in the mercy of God.” Barnes in loc.] God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance ( 2 Peter 3:9). Such is the New Testament sense of these Old Testament words. For though Hezekiah has primarily in mind the preferableness of life in the earthly body to the life in Hades, yet this whole manner of representation passes away with Hades itself. But Hezekiah’s words still remain true so far as they apply to heaven and hell. For of course in hell, the place of the damned, one does not praise God. But those that live praise Him. These, however, are in heaven. Since then God wills rather that men praise Him than not praise Him, so He is not willing that men should perish, but that all should turn to repentance and live.

22. On Isaiah 39:2. “Primo (Deus) per obsidionem et bellum, deinde per gravem morbum Ezechiam servaverat, ne in praesumtionem laberetur. Nondum tamen vinci potuit antiquus serpens, sed redit et levat caput suum. Adeo non possumus consistere, nisi Deos nos affligat. Vides igitur hic, quis sit afflictionum usus, ut mortificent scilicet carnem, quae non potest res ferre secundas.” Luther.

23. On Isaiah 39:7. “God also punishes the misdeeds of the parents on the children ( Exodus 20:5) because the children not only follow the misdeeds of their parents, but they also increase and heap them up, as is seen in the posterity of Hezekiah, viz.: Manasseh and Amon.”—Cramer.

HOMILETICAL HINTS

[The reader is referred to the ample hints covering the same matter to be found in the volume on 2 Kings18-20. It is expedient to take advantage of that for the sake of keeping the present volume within reasonable bounds. Therefore but a minimum is here given of what the Author offers, much of which indeed is but the repetition in another form of matter already given.—Tr.]

1. On Isaiah 37:36. “1) The scorn and mockery of the visible world2) The scorn and mockery of the unseen world.” Sermon of Domprediger Zahn in Halle, 1870.

2. On the entire38. chapter, beside the 22 sermons in FEUERLEIN’S Novissimorum primum, there is a great number of homiletical elaborations of an early date; Walther Magirus, Idea mortis et vitae in two parts, the second of which contains20 penitential and consolatory sermons on Isaiah 38. Danzig, 1640,1642. Daniel Schaller (Stendal) 4sermons on the sick Hezekiah, on Isaiah 38. Magdeburg, 1611. Peter Siegmund Pape in “Gott geheilighte Wochenpredigten,” Berlin, 1701, 4sermons. Jacob Tichlerus (Elburg) Hiskiae Aufrichtigkeit bewiesen in Gesundheit, Krankheit und Genesung, 18 sermons on Isaiah 38. (Dutch), Campen, 1636. These are only the principal ones.

3. On Isaiah 38:1. “I will set my house in order. This, indeed, will not be hard for me to do. My debt account is crossed out; my best possession I take along with me; my children I commit to the great Father of orphans, to whom heaven and earth belongs, and my soul to the Lord, who has sued for it longer than a human age, and bought it with His blood. Thus I am eased and ready for the journey.” Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, p620.

4. On Isaiah 38:1. “Now thou shouldest know that our word ‘order his house’ has a very broad meaning. It comprehends reconciliation to God by faith, the final confession of sin, the last Lord’s Supper, the humble committing of the soul to the grace of the Lord, and to death and the grave in the hope of the resurrection. In one word: There is an ordering of the house above. In reliance on the precious merit of my Saviour, I order my house above in which I wish to dwell. Moreover taking leave of loved ones, and the blessing of them belongs to ordering the house. And finally order must be taken concerning the guardianship of children, the abiding of the widow, and the friend on whom she must especially lean in her loneliness, also concerning earthly bequests.” Ahlfeld, Das Leben im Lichte des Wortes Gottes, Halle, 1867, p522.

5. On Isaiah 38:2-8. This account has much that seems strange to us Christians, but much, too, that quite corresponds to our Christian consciousness. Let us contemplate the difference between an Old Testament, and a New Testament suppliant, by noticing the differences and the resemblances. I. The resemblances1) Distress and grief there are in the Old, as in the New Testament ( Isaiah 38:3). 2) Ready and willing to help beyond our prayers or comprehension ( Isaiah 38:5-6) is the Lord in the Old as in the New Testament. II. The differences1) The Old Testament suppliant appealed to his having done nothing bad ( Isaiah 38:3). The New Testament suppliant says: “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and “Give me through grace for Christ’s sake what it pleases Thee to give me.” 2) The Old Testament suppliant demands a sign ( Isaiah 38:7-8; comp. Isaiah 38:22); the New Testament suppliant requires no sign but that of the crucified Son of man, for He knows that to those who bear this sign is given the promise of the hearing of all their prayers ( John 16:23). 3) In Hezekiah’s case, the prayer of the Old Testament suppliant is indeed heard ( Isaiah 38:5), yet in general it has not the certainty of being heard, whereas the New Testament suppliant has this certainty.

Footnotes