Isaiah 38:13
Ver. 13. I reckoned till morning,.... Or, "I set my time till the morning {m}"; he fixed and settled it in his mind that he could live no longer than to the morning, if he lived so long; he thought he should have died before the night came on, and, now it was come, the utmost he could propose to himself was to live till morning; that was the longest time he could reckon of. According to the accents, it should be rendered, "I reckoned till morning as a lion"; or "I am like until the morning as a lion"; or, "I likened until the morning (God) as a lion"; I compared him to one; which agrees with what follows. The Targum is,
"I roared until morning, as a lion roars;''
through the force of the disease, and the pain he was in: or rather,
"I laid my bones together until the morning as a lion; "so indeed as a lion God" hath broken all my bones {n}:''
so will he break all my bones; or, "it will break"; that is, the sickness, as Kimchi and Jarchi; it lay in his bones, and so violent was the pain, that he thought all his bones were breaking in pieces; such is the case in burning fevers, as Jerom observes; so Kimchi interprets it of a burning fever, which is like a fire in the bones. Some understand this of God himself, to which our version directs, who may be said to do this by the disease: compare with this Job 16:14 and to this sense the following clause inclines: from day even tonight wilt thou make an end of me; he lived till morning, which was more than he expected, and was the longest time he could set himself; and now be reckoned that before night it would be all over with him as to this world. This was the second day of his illness; and the third day he recovered, and went to the temple with his song of praise.{m} rqb de ytywv "statui, [vel] posui usque ad mane", Pagninus, Montanus; "constitui [rursum terminum] usque mane", Vatablus. {n} Reinbeck de Accent Heb. p. 411. Isaiah 38:14Ver. 14. Like a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter,.... Rather, "like a crane and a swallow", like both; sometimes loud and clamorous, like a crane {o}, when the pain was very acute and grievous; and sometimes very low, through weakness of body, like the twittering of a swallow; or the moan he made under his affliction was like the mournful voices of these birds at certain times. Some think he refers to his prayers, which were quick and short, and expressed not with articulate words, but in groans and cries; at least were not regular and orderly, but interrupted, and scarce intelligible, like the chattering of the birds mentioned:I did mourn as a dove; silently and patiently, within himself, for his sins and transgressions; and because of his afflictions, the fruit of them:mine eyes fail with looking upwards; or, "on high"; or, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions express it, "to the height of heaven"; to the Lord there, whose Shechinah, as the Targum, is in the highest heavens: in his distress he looked up to heaven for help, but none came; he looked and waited till his eyes were weak with looking, and he could look no longer; both his eyes and his heart failed him, and he despaired of relief; and the prayer he put up was as follows:O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me; or, "it oppresseth me {p}"; that is, the disease; it lay so heavy upon him, it bore him down with the weight of it, he could not stand up under it; it had seized him, and crushed him; it held him fast, and he could not get clear of it; and therefore entreats the Lord to "undertake" for him, to be his surety for good, as in Ps 119:122, he represents his disease as a bailiff that had arrested him, and was carrying him to the prison of the grave; and therefore prays that the Lord would bail him, or rescue him out of his hands, that he might not go down to the gates of the grave. So souls oppressed with the guilt of sin, and having fearful apprehensions of divine justice, should apply to Christ their surety, and take refuge in his undertakings, where only peace and safety are to be enjoyed. So Gussetius renders the words, "I have unrighteousness, be surety for me" {q}; and takes them to be a confession of Hezekiah, acknowledging himself guilty of unrighteousness, praying and looking to Christ the Son of God, and to his suretyship engagements, who, though not yet come to fulfil them, certainly would.{o} So it is said in the Talmud, "Resh-Lakish cried like a crane", T. Bab. Kiddushin, col. 42. 1. {p} "Opprimit me, [sub.]infirmitas, vel morbus", Munster. {q} yl hqve "[njustitia est mihi] hoc est, habeo injustitiam, reus suro injustitia, [sponde pro me]", Ebr. Comment, p. 654. Isaiah 38:15Ver. 15. What shall I say?.... In a way of praise and thankfulness, for the mercies promised and received; I know not what to say; I want words to express the gratitude of my heart for the kindness bestowed. What shall I render to God for all his benefits? So the Targum,"what praise shall I utter, and I will say it before him?''for here begins the account of his recovery, and his thanksgiving for it:he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it; the Lord had sent him a message by the prophet, and assured him that he should recover, and on the third day go up to the temple; and now he had performed what he had promised, he was restored, and was come to the house of God with his thank offering; whatever the Lord says, he does; what he promises, he brings to pass:I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul; before he did not reckon of a day to live, now he speaks of his years, having fifteen added to his days, during which time he should "go softly", in a thoughtful "meditating" frame of mind {r}; frequently calling to remembrance, and revolving in his mind, his bitter affliction, and recovery out of it, acknowledging the goodness and kindness of God unto him: or leisurely,step by step, without fear of any enemies, dangers, or death, having a promise of such a length of time to live: or go pleasantly andcheerfully, after the bitterness of my soul {s}, as it may be rendered; that is, after it is over, or because of deliverance from it. So the Targum,"with what shall I serve him, and render to him for all the years he hath added to my life, and hath delivered me from the bitterness of my soul?''{r} hdda "motitando meditabor", Tigurine version; "leniter, vel pedetentim incedam" Vatablus; "alacriter incedam", Piscator, Vitringa. {s} rm le "post amaritudinem", Piscator. Isaiah 38:16Ver. 16. O Lord, by these things men live,.... Not by bread only, but by the word of God: by the promise of God, and by his power performing it; and by his favour and goodness continually bestowed; it is in him, and by his power and providence, that they live and move, and have their being, and the continuance of it; and it is his lovingkindness manifested to them that makes them live comfortably and go on cheerfully:and in all these things is the life of my spirit; what kept his soul in life were the same things, the promise, power, and providence of God; what revived his spirit, and made him comfortable and cheerful, was the wonderful love and great goodness of God unto him, in appearing to him, and for him, and delivering him out of his sore troubles. Ben Melech renders and gives the sense of the words thus; "to all will I declare and say, that in these", in the years of addition (the fifteen years added to his days) "are the life of my spirit"; so Kimchi. The Targum interprets it of the resurrection of the dead,"O Lord, concerning all the dead, thou hast said, that thou wilt quicken them; and before them all thou hast quickened my spirit:''so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live; or rather, "and" or "for thou hast recovered {t} me, and made me to live"; for the Lord had not only promised it, but he had done it, Isa 38:15, and so the Targum,"and hast quickened me, and sustained me.''{t} So Gataker. Isaiah 38:17Ver. 17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness,.... Meaning not that instead of peace and prosperity, which he expected would ensue upon the destruction of Sennacherib's army, came a bitter affliction upon him; for he is not now dwelling on that melancholy subject; but rather the sense is, that he now enjoyed great peace and happiness, though he had been in great bitterness; for the words may be rendered, "behold, I am in peace, I had great bitterness"; or thus, "behold my great bitterness is unto peace": or, "he has turned it into peace" {u}; it has issued in it, and this is my present comfortable situation: "but", or rather,and thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: the grave, where bodies rot and corrupt, and are quite abolished, as the word signifies; see Ps 30:3 or "thou hast embraced my soul from the pit of corruption {w}"; it seems to be an allusion to a tender parent, seeing his child sinking in a pit, runs with open arms to him, and embraces him, and takes him out. This may be applied to a state of nature, out of which the Lord in love delivers his people; which is signified by a pit, or dark dungeon, a lonely place, a filthy one, very uncomfortable, where they are starving and famishing; a pit, wherein is no water, Zec 9:11 and may fitly be called a pit of corruption, because of their corrupt nature, estate, and actions; out of this the Lord brings his people at conversion, and that because of his great love to their souls, and his delight in them; or it may be applied to their deliverance from the bottomless pit of destruction, which is owing to the Lord's being gracious to them, and having found a ransom for them, his own Son, Job 33:24, and to this sense the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions seem to incline; "for thou hast delivered my soul that it might not perish": in love to their souls, and that they may not perish, he binds them up in the bundle of life, with the Lord their God; he redeems their souls from sin, Satan, and the law; he regenerates, renews, and converts them, and preserves them safe to his everlasting kingdom and glory; in order to which, and to prevent their going down to the pit, they are put into the hands of Christ, redeemed by his precious blood, and are turned out of the broad road that leads to destruction:for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back; as loathsome and abominable, and so as not to be seen by him; for though God sees all the sins of his people with his eye of omniscience, and in his providence takes notice of them, and chastises for them, yet not with his eye of avenging justice; because Christ has took them on himself, and made satisfaction for them, and an end of them; they are removed from them as far as the east is from the west, and no more to be seen upon them; nor will they be any more set before his face, or in the light of his countenance; but as they are out of sight they will be out of mind, never more remembered, but forgotten; as what is cast behind the back is seen and remembered no more. The phrase is expressive of the full forgiveness of sins, even of all sins; see Ps 85:2, the object of God's love is the souls of his people; the instance of it is the delivery of them from the pit of corruption; the evidence of it is the pardon of their sins.{u} ynmylxtw Abendana, after Joseph Kimchi, interprets it of changing bitterness into peace; he observes in the phraserm Mwlvl rm yl that the first rm signifies change or permutation as in Jer. xlvlii. 11. and the second bitterness: and that the sense is this, behold, unto peace he hath changed my bitterness, that is the bitterness and distress which I had, he hath changed into peace. {w} ylb txvm yvpn tqvx htaw "et tu amplexus es amore animam meam a fovea abolitionis"; Montanus; "tu vero propenso amore complexus es animam meam", Piscator; "tu tenero amore complexus animam meam", Vitringa. Isaiah 38:18Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee,.... That is, they that are in the grave, and under the power of death, they cannot celebrate the praises of God with their bodily organs; their souls may praise him in heaven, but they in their bodies cannot till the resurrection morn, or as long as they are under the dominion of the grave; so the Targum,"they that are in the grave cannot confess before thee, and the dead cannot praise thee;''in like manner the Septuagint and Arabic versions: this shows the design of God in restoring him from his sickness, and the view he himself had in desiring life, which was to praise the Lord; and which end could not have been answered had he died, and been laid in the grave:they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth: for the performance of promises, in which the truth and faithfulness of God appear; or for the Messiah, the truth of all the types of the former dispensation; those that go down to the pit of the grave, or are carried and laid there, can have no exercise of faith and hope concerning these things. Isaiah 38:19Ver. 19. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day,.... Every one of the living, or such who are both corporeally and spiritually alive; and therefore the word is repeated; none but such who are alive in a corporeal sense can praise the Lord in this world; and none but such who are spiritually alive can praise him aright, and such do under a true sense of the greatness of his mercies, and of their own unworthiness; and such a one was Hezekiah; for the words may be rendered, "as I am this day {x}"; that is, alive in both the above senses; and so did he praise God, in such a spiritual manner, even on the day he committed this to writing, and was now in the temple offering up this thanksgiving:the father to the children shall make known thy truth: not meaning himself, for at this time he had no children; though, no doubt, when he had any, as he afterwards had, particularly Manasseh, he took care to acquaint him with the truth and faithfulness of God in the fulfilling of his promises to him; and which every religious parent would do, and so transmit the memory thereof to future ages.{x} Mwyh ynmk "quails ego sum hodie", Syr. Isaiah 38:20Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save me,.... Or, "the Lord to save me {y}"; he was at hand to save him; he was both able and willing to save him; he was a present help in time of need; he arose for his help, and that right early; he very quickly delivered him out of his distress; he, who one day expected death every moment, was the next day in the temple praising God:therefore will we sing my songs; which were made by him, or concerning him, or which he ordered to be sung, as he did the Psalms of David, 2Ch 29:30:to the stringed instruments: which were touched with the fingers, or struck with a quill or bow; which distinguishes them from wind instruments, which were blown with the mouth; each of these were used in the temple service:all the days of our life; he had before said "we will sing", meaning his family and his friends with him, his courtiers, princes, and nobles, or he and the singers of Israel; and this he determined to do as long as he and they lived; signifying, that the mercy granted would never be forgotten by him, as well as there would be new mercies every day, which would call for praise and thankfulness: and this he proposed to doin the house of the Lord; in the temple; not only privately, but publicly; not in his closet and family only, but in the congregation of the people; that the goodness of God to him might be more known, and the praise and glory given him be the greater.{y} yneyvwhl hwhy "Dominus ad servandum me", Montanus; "Jehova est ad salvandum me", Cocceius, Vitringa. Isaiah 38:21Ver. 21. For Isaiah had said,.... Before the above writing was made, which ends in the preceding verse; for this and the following are added by Isaiah, or some other person, taken out of 2Ki 20:7. The Septuagint version adds, "to Hezekiah"; but the speech seems rather directed to some of his servants, or those that were about him:let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover; which was done, and he did accordingly recover. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and. Kimchi, all of them say, that this was a miracle within a miracle, since figs are hurtful to ulcers; and so say others; though it is observed by some, that they are useful for the ripening and breaking of ulcers; however, it was not from the natural force of these figs, but by the power of God, that this cure was effected; for, without that, it was impossible so malignant an ulcer and so deadly a sickness as Hezekiah's were could have been cured, and especially so suddenly; nor were these figs used as a medicine, but as a sign of recovery, according to the Lord's promise, and as a means of assisting Hezekiah's faith in it. Isaiah 38:22Ver. 22. Hezekiah also had said,.... Unto Isaiah, as in 2Ki 20:8:what is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? both of his health, and of his going up to the temple with thanksgiving for it; though the former is not here mentioned, as it is elsewhere; partly because it is supposed in the latter, for without that he could not have gone up to the temple; and partly because he was more solicitous for the worship and honour of God in his house, the for his health. The Syriac version transposes these verses, "Hezekiah had said, what is the sign? &c. and Isaiah had answered, let them take a lump of figs", &c. as if this latter was the sign; whereas it was that of the sun's going down ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, Isa 38:7,See Gill on "Isa 38:7",See Gill on "Isa 38:8".
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.