The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 37

(2) from the beginning of ver. 19 to the end I expected him o.11 do.y long to make o.n end or Yer. 14; (3) from the beginning or ver. ofme." J 5 to the end of ver. 17; (4) from the begin- Ver. H.-Like a oraneoro. swallow. The 11ing of ..-er. JS to the end of ver. 20. In the sus, here trnnsluted" crane," ie probnbly "the tirst two the monarch is looking forward to swift," which ho.s a loud, shrill note. The death, and his strain is mournful; in the 'agur is, perhaps, "the crane;" but this is Inst two he hM recehcd the promise of re- very uncertain. The two words occnr as tbe c,i,·ery, nnd pours out his thankfulness. names of birds only here o.nd in Jer. viii. 7. Ver. 10.-In the outting off of my days; So did I oho.tter; rather, so did I scream literolly. in the pa1U!i11.g of my days-which (Cheyne). I did mourn; rather, I did moan. is taken by some to mean" the noon-tide of ~ e eyes fail with looking upward; ro.ther, my life "-when my sun had reached its mine eyes are tl!eak to loo/, upward; i.e. I zenith, and might have been expected to have scarcely the courage or the strength begin ro decline; by others to signify "the to look to Jehovah ; yet still I do look to still tranqnillity of my life," when it was him fo.lteringly, and mo.ke my o.ppeo.l ; O gliding qnieUy o.nd peacefully along without Lord, I o.m oppreseed; undertake for me anything to disturb it. Ver. 6 is o.ga.inst (comp. Job xvii. 3); litero.lly, be Surety for this latter new. I shall go to the gates of me. "The image,'' as Mr. Cheyne so.ye, the grave; rather, I shall enter in at the "is t~at ~f a debto~, who is being dragged gate.s of hell (or, Hades}--the plo.ce or de- to prison' at the Slllt of an exacting creditor, parted spirits (see t~e comment on eh. xiv. and for whom there is but one hope of relief 9). Hezekiah bewails his fate somewhat as viz. if he can obtain o. sufficient surety'. Antigone: •A>..>..' r,,· d 'lr4j'ICOiTa.s, At511s (<;,,,.,.., Hezekiah calls on God to be the Surety; but ~.,, .. """ 'Ax•po.,,,.os aJCTav (Soph., '.Ant.,' 11 God is the Creditor! Still, there is an appeal 810-813). from God's justice to God's mercy-from Ver. 11.-l shall not see the Lord (comp. Jehovn.h who punishes to Jehovah who for- Ps. n. 5, "In cicath there is no remembr-a.nce gives sin; and this appeal Hezekiah seems of thee; in the grave (Sheol) who shall give to intend to make when he beseeches God to thee thanks?" e.nd see also Ps. xx:x. 9 ; " undertake for him." lmnii. 10-12; cxv. 17). The Jews had Ver. 15.-What shall I say1 The strain not yet attained the conception of o. blissful is suddenly changed. Hezekiab's prayer re~on in Hades, where God manifested him- has been answere.d, and be bes received the self, e.nd the saints, who were awaiting the answer (vers. 5-8). He is "at o. loss to resurrection, saw him and praised him. express his wonder and his gratitude" Even the Lord. (For examples of repetition (Cheyne); comp. 2 So.m. vii. 20. God bas for tbc sake of ~mphe.sis, see eh. x:xix. 1 ; both spoken unto him-i.e. given him o. pro- xxxiii. 22; mviii. 19; xl. l; Ii 17, etc.) mise of recovery-and also himself bath done In the land of the living ; i.e. "as I do now it; i.e. bas performed hie promise. .Already in tbe land of the living" (comp. Ps. xxvii he feels in himself the beginning~ of amend- 13; cxvi. 9). ment-he is conscious tho.t the worst is past, Ver. 12.-lline o.ge is departed; rather, and that the me.lady ho.a taken a turn for the my dtt!elling u pluclced up. The body seems better. I shall go softly all my yoo.rs. De- to be viewed e.s tLe dwelling-place of the litzscb renders, "I shall wo.lk quietly;" Mr. ~oul. Hezekinh'e ie to be taken from him, Cheyne, "I sho.11 wo.l.k at case;" b.:>th ap- and carried faro.way, like o. shepherd's tent, parently understanding the expression of o. while be, bia true sdf, i.e. his soul, is left quiet, easy life, mo.de the more pleascmt by be.re o.nd naked (comp. 2 Cor. T, 1-4). I contrast witbje.st pain. But it seems better have eut off like a weaver my life; rather, to understan the "soft going," with Dr. I have rolled up, lil:e a u,eaver, my life. The Kay, of a hushed o.nd subdued spirit, con- careful weaver rolls up the web, as it ad- sequent upon tbe crisis past, o.nd thenceforth vances, to keep it cleo.n and free from duet. continuing-the king walking, as it were, Hezekiah had been equally careful of his perpetually in God's presence. In the bitter- life; he had o.bout half finished it, when ness; rather, after the bitterness (Delitzsch), Jo I "Jebonih takes up the fat.al scissors" when it bas departed; and "because of it" (CLeyne), and severs the unfinished cloth (N o.gelsbo.ch), through its remembrance. from the loom (compare the Greek myth of Ver. IG.-:By these things; i.e. "the things Clotbo, Le.chesis, and .Atropoe). With pining which thou speake~t and doest" (ver. 15). liclmess; rather, as in the margin, from Man does not '' live by bread alone, but by t/1£ thrum. The "thrum" ie the portion of every word tho.t proceedeth out of the mouth the warp wbicb adjoins the upper ba.r of the of the Lord" (Dcut, viii. 3). And in o.ll these joom. things. This rendering is ago.inst the lnws Ver. 13.-I reckoned till morning, etc.; i.e. of grammar. Translate, and wholly in them. ·• I le.y thinking till the morning, that God Ver. 17.-:Behold, for peaoe I ho.d greo.t would crush me u a lion crushee his prey- bitterne11; ro.ther, beh-Old, it was for ffiJI ou. XXXVIIL 1-22.] TIIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 39