The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 359

fe.ther-HeEekia.h obtains meroy, both aa royal attendants obtained o. lump of figs, David's son and as David's imitator (see and applied it to the inllBmed boil or cnr• eh. xviii. 8)-I have heard thy prayer, I buncle, as Isaiah had suggested. It is have seen thy teani (comp. Exod. ii. 24'; impossible to say what exactly wne the iii. 7; Ps. lvi. 8). There is not a cry, not naturo of the "boil," since diseases ohange a groan, not a tear, not a sigh of his faithful their charo.cters, nud every nge he.a its own one,a, to which the heart of God is not open, spcciill disorders; but modern medicnl whir.h does not touch him, move him, dmw science knows of more thnn one kind of forth his sympa.thy. If he does not always pustular swelling, which, as soon as it is grant our prayers, it is because we "ask detected, is regarded ns futal. A.nd he re- amiss "-without f&ith, or without fervour, covered. Not suddenly, but by degrees: or thinge not good for us. Hezekiah's after the manner of natural remedie3. n ee.mest, faithful, and not unwise prayer was three days before he was well ewmgh was, ll.S such prayers always are, effectual. to quit the palace, aud offer thanks in the llehold, I will heal thee : on the third day temple for his miraculous cure (see ver. 5). thou &halt go up unto the house of the Ver, 8.-And Hezekiah said nnto Isaiah, Lord; i.e. thou she.It be so completely What shall be the sign that the Lord will recovered as to be able to quit thy palace heal me 1 Having regard to the wee.knees and pay thy vows in the courts of the of humo.n faith, God, under the old covenant, Lord's house. God knows that to do this of~eu gave, ?r offered, near "signs" of pro- will be Hezekie.h's first wish, as eoou as his mised blessrngs that were more remote, in siokness is past (comp. Isa. xxxviii. 20). order to sustain and encourage the doubtful Ver. 6.-And I will &dd unto thy daya and the wavering (comp. Exod. iii. 12; fifteen years. God "does exceeding abun- eh. xix. 29; Isa. vii. 11, H, etc.). Heze- dantly more than we either ask or think" kiah assumes that a near "sign" will now (Eph. iii. 20). Hezekiah hu.d asked for be granted to him, and simply asks what nothing more than immediate escape from the sign is to be. And that I shall go up death. God grants him fifteen ndditioual into the house of tho Lord the third AAY 1 years of life, i.e. more than doubles the length Three days would be a long and weary time of his reign. And I will deliver thee and to we.it. It was not unnatural that Heze- this city out of the ha.nd of the King of kiah should crave some more immediate Assyria.. If Hezekiah's illness took place assurance that his prayer was indeed heard, in B.c. 713. a.nu Jerusalem was then in Neither God nor the prophet was angry at danger of being attacked by the Assyrians, his request. the king who threatened the attack must Ver. 9.-And Isaiah so.id, This sign she.It have been Sargon. Sargon me.de an expe- thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do dition into Palestine in B.C. 720, another in the thing that he he.th spoken. Hezekiah B.c. 713, and a third in B.O. 711. In none is no more reproved for asking for e. sign of them does he seem to have invn.ded than was Gideon (Judg. vi. 37, 39). Ahuz, J uclrea; but in the third be counts the Jews his father, had been reproved for not asking among his e11ernies (' Eponym Canon,' p. (Isa. vii. 13). It would bt1 fe.ithleBB now for 130, line 32). Hezekiah, who had revolted Christians to demand signs; but in an age of from him (eh. xviii. 7), may well have felt miracles, when there were prophets upon the alarm bo!h in B.c. 713 e.nd 711. And I earth empowered to give signs, faithful men will defend this oity for mine own sake, might request them without incurring Go<l'd '"n.d for my servant David's sake (comp. displeasure. Shall the shadow go forward eh. :i.ix. 34c). The promise given in B.C, ten deg-rees 1 The Hebrew text will·ecarcely 713 in respect of Se.rgon was repeated in bear this translation, which, however, seems n.c. G9'.J (?) with respect to Senne.cherib in to be required by Hezekie.h'e answer. Per- almost tl.te same words. haps foq~i) we should read 'iJ°'O!l· Or go b!Lok Ver. 7.-And Isaiah said, To.ke a lump ten degrees 1 literally, in botll olnusos, of figs. Figs were the UBUal remedy for ten steps. There are abundant reasons for boilH. Dioacorides says of the fig, fi1a<1>op•i believing that the early dials consisted of CTKA71pias; Pliny, "Ulcera aperit;" while e. gnomon set up on the top of R flight of Jerome, in his commente.ry on Isaiah, has st1;ps, and that time was moasured by the the following: "Juxta artem medicorum number of steps on which the shadow of omnis sanies siccioribus ficis atque contusis the gnomon fell (seo a paper by Mr. Do- in cutia auperficiem provocatur." The aanquet, iu the 'Tre.neactions of the Society remedy is said to be still in use among of Biblical Archmology' for 1874', pp. Easterns. It ce.n scarcely be supposed to 1-82). he.ve cured e. malignant boil by its intrinsic Ver. 10.-And Hezekiah answered, It is force; but un<ler the Divine blessing it was a light thing for the shadow to go down ten me.de effectual, and the cnre followed. And degrees. Hezekiah views it os a compara- they took ud laid it on the boil. 1'he tively easy tiling for the ahe.dow, which ia tin. xx. 1-21.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINUS. 407