mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 38.xml

<div2 id="Is.xxxix" n="xxxix" next="Is.xl" prev="Is.xxxviii" progress="13.95%" title="Chapter XXXVIII">
<h2 id="Is.xxxix-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xxxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xxxix-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah.
Here is, I. His sickness, and the sentence of death he received
within himself, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.1" parsed="|Isa|38|1|0|0" passage="Isa 38:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II.
His prayer in his sickness, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.2-Isa.38.3" parsed="|Isa|38|2|38|3" passage="Isa 38:2,3">ver. 2,
3</scripRef>. III. The answer of peace which God gave to that
prayer, assuring him that he should recover, that he should live
fifteen years yet, that Jerusalem should be delivered from the king
of Assyria, and that, for a sign to confirm his faith herein, the
sun should go back ten degrees, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.4-Isa.38.8" parsed="|Isa|38|4|38|8" passage="Isa 38:4-8">ver.
4-8</scripRef>. And this we read and opened before, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.20.1" parsed="|2Kgs|20|1|0|0" passage="2Ki 20:1">2 Kings xx. 1</scripRef>, &amp;c. But, IV. Here
is Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery, which we had not
before, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.9-Isa.38.20" parsed="|Isa|38|9|38|20" passage="Isa 38:9-20">ver. 9-20</scripRef>. To
which are added the means used (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.21" parsed="|Isa|38|21|0|0" passage="Isa 38:21">ver.
21</scripRef>), and the end the good man aimed at in desiring to
recover, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.22" parsed="|Isa|38|22|0|0" passage="Isa 38:22">ver. 22</scripRef>. This is
a chapter which will entertain the thoughts, direct the devotions,
and encourage the faith and hopes of those that are confined by
bodily distempers; it visits those that are visited with
sickness.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xxxix-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38" parsed="|Isa|38|0|0|0" passage="Isa 38" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xxxix-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.1-Isa.38.8" parsed="|Isa|38|1|38|8" passage="Isa 38:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xxxix-p1.10">
<h4 id="Is.xxxix-p1.11">Hezekiah's Sickness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p1.12">b. c.</span> 710.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xxxix-p2" shownumber="no">1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto
him, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.1">Lord</span>, Set thine
house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.   2 Then
Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.2">Lord</span>,   3 And said, Remember now,
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.3">O Lord</span>, I beseech thee, how I have
walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done
<i>that which is</i> good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
  4 Then came the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.4">Lord</span> to Isaiah, saying,   5 Go, and say to
Hezekiah, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.5">Lord</span>, the
God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy
tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.   6 And
I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of
Assyria: and I will defend this city.   7 And this <i>shall
be</i> a sign unto thee from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.6">Lord</span>, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p2.7">Lord</span> will do this thing that he hath spoken;
  8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees,
which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.
So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone
down.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p3" shownumber="no">We may hence observe, among others, these
good lessons:—1. That neither men's greatness nor their goodness
will exempt them from the arrests of sickness and death. Hezekiah,
a mighty potentate on earth and a mighty favourite of Heaven, is
struck with a disease, which, without a miracle, will certainly be
mortal; and this in the midst of his days, his comforts, and
usefulness. <i>Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.</i> It
should seem, this sickness seized him when he was in the midst of
his triumphs over the ruined army of the Assyrians, to teach us
always to rejoice with trembling. 2. It concerns us to prepare when
we see death approaching: "<i>Set thy house in order,</i> and thy
heart especially; put both thy affections and thy affairs into the
best posture thou canst, that, when thy Lord comes, thou mayest be
found of him in peace with God, with thy own conscience, and with
all men, and mayest have nothing else to do but to die." Our being
ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but much the
easier: and those that are fit to die are most fit to live. 3. Is
any afflicted with sickness? <i>Let him pray,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.13" parsed="|Jas|5|13|0|0" passage="Jam 5:13">James v. 13</scripRef>. Prayer is a salve for
every sore, personal or public. When Hezekiah was distressed by his
enemies he prayed; now that he was sick he prayed. Whither should
the child go, when any thing ails him, but to his Father?
Afflictions are sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our knees.
When Hezekiah was in health he <i>went up to the house of the
Lord</i> to pray, for that was then the house of prayer. When he
was sick in bed <i>he turned his face towards the wall,</i>
probably towards the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom we
must look by faith in every prayer. 4. The testimony of our
consciences for us that by the grace of God we have lived a good
life, and have walked closely and humbly with God, will be a great
support and comfort to us when we come to look death in the face.
And though we may not depend upon it as our righteousness, by which
to be justified before God, yet we may humbly plead it as an
evidence of our interest in the righteousness of the Mediator.
Hezekiah does not demand a reward from God for his good services,
but modestly begs that God would remembers, not how he had reformed
the kingdom, taken away the high places, cleansed the temple, and
revived neglected ordinances, but, which was <i>better than all
burnt-offerings and sacrifices,</i> how he had approved himself to
God with a single eye and an honest heart, not only in these
eminent performances, but in an even regular course of holy living:
<i>I have walked before thee in truth</i> and sincerity, <i>and
with a perfect,</i> that is, an upright, <i>heart;</i> for
uprightness is our gospel perfection. 5. God has a gracious ear
open to the prayers of his afflicted people. The same prophet that
was sent to Hezekiah with warning to prepare for death is sent to
him with a promise that he shall not only recover, but be restored
to a confirmed state of health and live fifteen years yet. As
Jerusalem was distressed, so Hezekiah was diseased, that God might
have the glory of the deliverance of both, and that prayer too
might have the honour of being instrumental in the deliverance.
When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an
answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids
us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven us, that
his grace shall be sufficient for us, and that, whether we live or
die, we shall be his, we have no reason to say that we pray in
vain. God answers us if he <i>strengthens us with strength in our
souls,</i> though not with bodily strength, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.138.3" parsed="|Ps|138|3|0|0" passage="Ps 138:3">Ps. cxxxviii. 3</scripRef>. 6. A good man cannot take
much comfort in his own health and prosperity unless withal he see
the welfare and prosperity of the church of God. Therefore God,
knowing what lay near Hezekiah's heart, promised him not only that
he should live, but that he should <i>see the good of Jerusalem all
the days of his life</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.128.5" parsed="|Ps|128|5|0|0" passage="Ps 128:5">Ps. cxxviii.
5</scripRef>), otherwise he cannot live comfortably. Jerusalem,
which is now delivered, shall still be defended from the Assyrians,
who perhaps threatened to rally again and renew the attack. Thus
does God graciously provide to make Hezekiah upon all accounts
easy. 7. God is <i>willing to show to the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel,</i> that they may have an unshaken
faith in it, and therewith a strong consolation. God had given
Hezekiah repeated assurances of his favour; and yet, as if all were
thought too little, that he might expect from him uncommon favours,
a sign is given him, an uncommon sign. None that we know of having
had an absolute promise of living a certain number of years to
come, as Hezekiah had, God thought fit to confirm this
unprecedented favour with a miracle. The sign was the going back of
the shadow upon the sun-dial. The sun is a faithful measurer of
time, and <i>rejoices as a strong man to run a race;</i> but he
that set that clock a going can set it back when he pleases, and
make it to return; for the Father of all lights is the director of
them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xxxix-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.9-Isa.38.22" parsed="|Isa|38|9|38|22" passage="Isa 38:9-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xxxix-p3.5">
<h4 id="Is.xxxix-p3.6">Hezekiah's Thanksgiving. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p3.7">b. c.</span> 710.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xxxix-p4" shownumber="no">9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he
had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:   10 I said
in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the
grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.   11 I said,
I shall not see the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.1">Lord</span>,
<i>even</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.2">Lord</span>, in the land of
the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the
world.   12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a
shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut
me off with pining sickness: from day <i>even</i> to night wilt
thou make an end of me.   13 I reckoned till morning,
<i>that,</i> as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day
<i>even</i> to night wilt thou make an end of me.   14 Like a
crane <i>or</i> a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove:
mine eyes fail <i>with looking</i> upward: <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.3">O Lord</span>, I am oppressed; undertake for me.  
15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath
done <i>it:</i> I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of
my soul.   16 O Lord, by these <i>things men</i> live, and in
all these <i>things is</i> the life of my spirit: so wilt thou
recover me, and make me to live.   17 Behold, for peace I had
great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul <i>delivered
it</i> from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back.   18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death
can <i>not</i> celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth.   19 The living, the living, he
shall praise thee, as I <i>do</i> this day: the father to the
children shall make known thy truth.   20 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.4">Lord</span> <i>was ready</i> to save me: therefore we
will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our
life in the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.5">Lord</span>.
  21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and
lay <i>it</i> for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
  22 Hezekiah also had said, What <i>is</i> the sign that I
shall go up to the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxix-p4.6">Lord</span>?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p5" shownumber="no">We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song,
which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might
have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of
them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones.
He appointed <i>the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of
David,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.30" parsed="|2Chr|29|30|0|0" passage="2Ch 29:30">2 Chron. xxix.
30</scripRef>. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his
heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself
to the compositions he had, though of divine inspiration, but would
offer up his affections in his own words, which is most natural and
genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that he might review
it himself afterwards, for the reviving of the good impressions
made upon him by the providence, and that it might be recommended
to others also for their use upon the like occasion. Note, There
are writings which it is proper for us to draw up after we have
been sick and have recovered. It is good to write a memorial of the
affliction, and of the frame of our hearts under it,—to keep a
record of the thoughts we had of things when we were sick, the
affections that were then working in us,—to write a memorial of
the mercies of a sick bed, and of our release from it, that they
may never be forgotten,—to write a thanksgiving to God, write a
sure covenant with him, and seal it,—to give it under our hands
that we will never return again to folly. It is an excellent
writing which Hezekiah here left, upon his recovery; and yet we
find (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.32.25" parsed="|2Chr|32|25|0|0" passage="2Ch 32:25">2 Chron. xxxii. 25</scripRef>)
that <i>he rendered not again according to the benefit done to
him.</i> The impressions, one would think, should never have worn
off, and yet, it seems, they did. Thanksgiving is good, but
thanksliving is better. Now in this writing he preserves upon
record,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p6" shownumber="no">I. The deplorable condition he was in when
his disease prevailed, and his despair of recovery, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.10-Isa.38.13" parsed="|Isa|38|10|38|13" passage="Isa 38:10-13"><i>v.</i> 10-13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p7" shownumber="no">1. He tells us what his thoughts were of
himself when he was at the worst; and these he keeps in
remembrance, (1.) As blaming himself for his despondency, and that
he gave up himself for gone; whereas while there is life there is
hope, and room for our prayer and God's mercy. Though it is good to
consider sickness as a summons to the grave, so as thereby to be
quickened in our preparations for another world, yet we ought not
to make the worse of our case, nor to think that every sick man
must needs be a dead man presently. He that brings low can raise
up. Or, (2.) As reminding himself of the apprehensions he had of
death approaching, that he might always know and consider his own
frailty and mortality, and that, though he had a reprieve for
fifteen years, it was but a reprieve, and the fatal stroke he had
now such a dread of would certainly come at last. Or, (3.) As
magnifying the power of God in restoring him when his case was
desperate, and his goodness in being so much better to him than his
own fears. Thus David sometimes, when he was delivered out of
trouble, reflected upon the black and melancholy conclusions he had
made upon his own case when he was in trouble, and what he had then
<i>said in his haste,</i> as <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.22 Bible:Ps.77.7-Ps.77.9" parsed="|Ps|31|22|0|0;|Ps|77|7|77|9" passage="Ps 31:22,77:7-9">Ps. xxxi. 22; lxxvii. 7-9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p8" shownumber="no">2. Let us see what Hezekiah's thoughts of
himself were.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p9" shownumber="no">(1.) He reckoned that the number of his
months was cut off in the midst. He was now about thirty-nine or
forty years of age, and when he had a fair prospect of many years
and happy ones, very happy, very many, before him. This distemper
that suddenly seized him he concluded would be the <i>cutting off
of his days,</i> that he should now be <i>deprived of the residue
of his years,</i> which in a course of nature he might have lived
(not which he could command as a debt due to him, but which he had
reason to expect, considering the strength of his constitution),
and with them he should be deprived not only of the comforts of
life, but of all the opportunities he had of serving God and his
generation. To the same purport (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.12" parsed="|Isa|38|12|0|0" passage="Isa 38:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), "<i>My age has departed</i>
and gone, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent, out of which
I am forcibly dislodged by the pulling of it down in an instant."
Our present residence is but like that of a shepherd in his tent, a
poor, mean, and cold lodging, where we are upon duty, and with a
trust committed to our charge, as the shepherd has, of which we
must give an account, and which will easily be taken down by the
drawing of one pin or two. But observe, It is not the final period
of our age, but only the removal of it to another world, where the
tents of Kedar that are taken down, coarse, black, and
weather-beaten, shall be set up again in the New Jerusalem,
<i>comely as the curtains of Solomon.</i> He adds another
similitude: <i>I have cut off, like a weaver, my life.</i> Not that
he did by any act of his own cut off the thread of his life; but,
being told that he must needs die, he was forced to cut off all his
designs and projects, his <i>purposes were broken off,</i> even the
<i>thoughts of his heart,</i> as Job's were, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.11" parsed="|Job|17|11|0|0" passage="Job 17:11"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 11</scripRef>. Our days are compared
to the weaver's shuttle (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.6" parsed="|Job|7|6|0|0" passage="Job 7:6">Job vii.
6</scripRef>), passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw
leaving a thread behind it; and, when they are finished, the thread
is cut off, and the piece taken out of the loom, and shown to our
Master, to be judged of whether it be well woven or no, that we may
<i>receive according to the things done in the body.</i> But as the
weaver, when he has cut off his thread, has done his work, and the
toil is over, so a good man, when his life is cut off, his cares
and fatigues are cut off with it, and he rests from his labours.
"But did I say, <i>I have cut off my life?</i> No, my times are not
in my own hand; they are in God's hand, and it is he that <i>will
cut me off from the thrum</i> (so the margin reads it); he has
appointed what shall be the length of the piece, and, when it comes
to that length, he will cut it off."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p10" shownumber="no">(2.) He reckoned that he should go to the
gates of the grave—to the grave, the gates of which are always
open; for it is still crying, <i>Give, give.</i> The grave is here
put not only for the sepulchre of his fathers, in which his body
would be deposited with a great deal of pomp and magnificence (for
he was buried in the chief of the sepulchres of the kings, and all
<i>Judah did him honour at his death,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.32.33" parsed="|2Chr|32|33|0|0" passage="2Ch 32:33">2 Chron. xxxii. 33</scripRef>), which yet he himself
took no care of, nor gave any order about, when he was sick; but
for the state of the dead, that is, the <i>sheol,</i> the
<i>hades,</i> the invisible world, to which he saw his soul
going.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p11" shownumber="no">(3.) He reckoned that he was deprived of
all the opportunities he might have had of worshipping God and
doing good in the world (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.1" parsed="|Isa|38|1|0|0" passage="Isa 38:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>): "<i>I said,</i>" [1.] "<i>I shall not see the
Lord,</i> as he manifests himself in his temple, in his oracles and
ordinances, <i>even the Lord</i> here <i>in the land of the
living.</i>" He hopes to see him on the other side death, but he
despairs of seeing him any more on this side death, as he had seen
him in the sanctuary, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.63.2" parsed="|Ps|63|2|0|0" passage="Ps 63:2">Ps. lxiii.
2</scripRef>. He shall no more see (that is, serve) the Lord in the
land of the living, the land of conflict between his kingdom and
the kingdom of Satan, this seat of war. He dwells much upon this:
<i>I shall no more see the Lord, even the Lord;</i> for a good man
wishes not to live for any other end than that he may serve God and
have communion with him. [2.] "<i>I shall see man no more.</i>" He
shall see his subjects no more, whom he may protect and administer
justice to, shall see no more objects of charity, whom he may
relieve, shall see his friends no more, who were often sharpened by
his countenance, as iron is by iron. Death puts an end to
conversation, and removes our acquaintance into darkness, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.88.18" parsed="|Ps|88|18|0|0" passage="Ps 88:18">Ps. lxxxviii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p12" shownumber="no">(4.) He reckoned that the agonies of death
would be very sharp and severe: "<i>He will cut me off with pining
sickness,</i> which will waste me, and wear me off, quickly." The
distemper increased so fast, without intermission or remission,
either day or night, morning or evening, that he concluded it would
soon come to a crisis and make an end of him—that God, whose
servants all diseases are, would by them, <i>as a lion, break all
his bones</i> with grinding pain, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.13" parsed="|Isa|38|13|0|0" passage="Isa 38:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. He thought that next morning
was the utmost he could expect to live in such pain and misery;
when he had outlived the first day's illness the second day he
repeated his fears, and concluded that this must needs be his last
night: <i>from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.</i>
When we are sick we are very apt to be thus calculating our time,
and, after all, we are still at uncertainty. It should be more our
care how we shall get safely to another world than how long we are
likely to live in this world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p13" shownumber="no">II. The complaints he made in this
condition (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.14" parsed="|Isa|38|14|0|0" passage="Isa 38:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>):
"<i>Like a crane, or swallow, so did I chatter;</i> I made a noise
as those birds do when they are frightened." See what a change
sickness makes in a little time; he that, but the other day, spoke
with so much freedom and majesty, nor, through the extremity of
pain or deficiency of spirits, <i>chatters like a crane or a
swallow.</i> Some think he refers to his praying in his affliction;
it was so broken and interrupted with groanings which could not be
uttered that it was more like the chattering of a crane or a
swallow than what it used to be. Such mean thoughts had he of his
own prayers, which yet were acceptable to God, and successful. He
<i>mourned like a dove,</i> sadly, but silently and patiently. He
had found God so ready to answer his prayers at other times that he
could not but look upwards, in expectation of some relief now, but
in vain: his <i>eyes failed,</i> and he saw no hopeful symptom, nor
felt any abatement of his distemper; and therefore he prays, "<i>I
am oppressed,</i> quite overpowered and ready to sink; <i>Lord,
undertake for me;</i> bail me out of the hands of the serjeant that
has arrested me; <i>be surety for thy servant for good,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.122" parsed="|Ps|119|122|0|0" passage="Ps 119:122">Ps. cxix. 122</scripRef>. Come
between me and the gates of the grave, to which I am ready to be
hurried." When we recover from sickness, the divine pity does, as
it were, beg a day for us, and undertakes we shall be forthcoming
another time and answer the debt in full. And, when we receive the
sentence of death within ourselves, we are undone if the divine
grace do not undertake for us to carry us through the valley of the
shadow of death, and to preserve us blameless to the heavenly
kingdom on the other side of it—if Christ do not undertake for us,
to bring us off in judgment, and present us to his Father, and to
do all that for us which we need, and cannot do for ourselves. <i>I
am oppressed, ease me</i> (so some read it); for, when we are
agitated by a sense of guilt and the fear of wrath, nothing will
make us easy but Christ's undertaking for us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p14" shownumber="no">III. The grateful acknowledgment he makes
of God's goodness to him in his recovery. He begins this part of
the writing as one at a stand how to express himself (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.15" parsed="|Isa|38|15|0|0" passage="Isa 38:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): "<i>What shall I
say?</i> Why should I say so much by way of complaint when this is
enough to silence all my complaints—<i>He has spoken unto me;</i>
he has sent his prophet to tell me that I shall recover and live
fifteen years yet; <i>and he himself has done it:</i> it is as sure
to be done as if it were done already. What God has spoken he will
himself do, for no word of his shall fall to the ground." God
having spoken it, he is sure of it (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.16" parsed="|Isa|38|16|0|0" passage="Isa 38:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>Thou wilt restore me, and
make me to live;</i> not only restore me from this illness, but
make me to live through the years assigned me." And, having this
hope,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p15" shownumber="no">1. He promises himself always to retain the
impressions of his affliction (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.15" parsed="|Isa|38|15|0|0" passage="Isa 38:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): "<i>I will go softly all my
years in the bitterness of my soul,</i> as one in sorrow for my
sinful distrusts and murmurings under my affliction, as one in care
to make suitable returns for God's favour to me and to make it
appear that I have got good by the providences I have been under.
<i>I will go softly,</i> gravely and considerately, and with
thought and deliberation, not as many, who, when they have
recovered, live as carelessly and as much at large as ever." Or, "I
will go pleasantly" (so some understand it); "when God has
delivered me I will walk cheerfully with him in all holy
conversation, as having tasted that he is gracious." Or, "I will go
softly, even <i>after the bitterness of my soul</i>" (so it may be
read); "when the trouble is over I will endeavour to retain the
impression of it, and to have the same thoughts of things that I
had then."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p16" shownumber="no">2. He will encourage himself and others
with the experiences he had had of the goodness of God (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.16" parsed="|Isa|38|16|0|0" passage="Isa 38:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>By these
things</i> which thou hast done for me <i>they live,</i> the
kingdom lives" (for the life of such a king was the life of the
kingdom); "all that hear of it shall live and be comforted; by the
same power and goodness that have restored me all men have their
souls held in life, and they ought to acknowledge it. <i>In all
these things is the life of my spirit,</i> my spiritual life, that
is supported and maintained by what God has done for the
preservation of my natural life." The more we taste of the
loving-kindness of God in every providence the more will our hearts
be enlarged to love him and live to him, and that will be the life
of our spirit. Thus our souls live, and they shall praise him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p17" shownumber="no">3. He magnifies the mercy of his recovery,
on several accounts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p18" shownumber="no">(1.) That he was raised up from great
extremity (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.17" parsed="|Isa|38|17|0|0" passage="Isa 38:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
<i>Behold, for peace I had great bitterness.</i> When, upon the
defeat of Sennacherib, he expected nothing but an uninterrupted
peace to himself and his government, he was suddenly seized with
sickness, which embittered all his comforts to him, and went to
such a height that it seemed to be the bitterness of death
itself—<i>bitterness, bitterness,</i> nothing but gall and
wormwood. This was his condition when God sent him seasonable
relief.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p19" shownumber="no">(2.) That it came from the love of God,
from love to his soul. Some are spared and reprieved in wrath, that
they may be reserved for some greater judgment when they have
filled up the measure of their iniquities; but temporal mercies are
sweet indeed to us when we can taste the love of God in them. <i>He
delivered me because he delighted in me</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.19" parsed="|Ps|18|19|0|0" passage="Ps 18:19">Ps. xviii. 19</scripRef>); and the word here signifies a
very affectionate love: <i>Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of
corruption;</i> so it runs in the original. God's love is
sufficient to bring a soul from the pit of corruption. This is
applicable to our redemption by Christ; it was in love to our
souls, our poor perishing souls, that he delivered them from the
bottomless pit, snatched them as brands out of everlasting
burnings. <i>In his love and in his pity he redeemed us.</i> And
the preservation of our bodies, as well as the provision made for
them, is doubly comfortable when it is in love to our souls—when
God repairs the house because he has a kindness for the
inhabitant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p20" shownumber="no">(3.) That it was the effect of the pardon
of sin: "<i>For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,</i> and
thereby hast <i>delivered my soul from the pit of corruption,</i>
in love to it." Note, [1.] 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 back. [2.] When God
pardons sins he pardons all, casts them all behind his back, though
they have been as scarlet and crimson. [3.] The pardoning of the
sin is the delivering of the soul from the pit of corruption. [4.]
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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p21" shownumber="no">(4.) That it was the lengthening out of his
opportunity to glorify God in this world, which he made the
business, and pleasure, and end of life. [1.] If this sickness had
been his death, it would have put a period to that course of
service for the glory of God and the good of the church which he
was now pursuing, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.18" parsed="|Isa|38|18|0|0" passage="Isa 38:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>. Heaven indeed praises God, and the souls of the
faithful, when at death they remove thither, do that work of heaven
as the angels, and with the angels, there; but what is this world
the better for that? What does that contribute to the support and
advancement of God's kingdom among men in this state of struggle?
<i>The grave cannot praise God,</i> nor the dead bodies that lie
there. <i>Death cannot celebrate him,</i> cannot proclaim his
perfections and favours, to invite others into his service.
<i>Those who go down to the pit,</i> being no longer in a state of
probation, nor living by faith in his promises, cannot give him
honour by hoping for his truth. Those that lie rotting in the
grave, as they are not capable of receiving any further mercy from
God, so neither are they capable of offering any more praises to
him, till they shall be raised at the last day, and then they shall
both receive and give glory. [2.] Having recovered from it, he
resolves not only to proceed, but to abound, in praising and
serving God (<scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.19" parsed="|Isa|38|19|0|0" passage="Isa 38:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>The living, the living, he shall praise
thee.</i> They may do it; they have an opportunity of praising God,
and that is the main thing that makes life valuable and desirable
to a good man. Hezekiah was <i>therefore</i> glad to live, not that
he might continue to enjoy his royal dignity and the honour and
pleasure of his late successes, but that he might continue to
praise God. The living must praise God; they live in vain if they
do not. Those that have been dying and yet are living, whose life
is from the dead, are in a special manner obliged to praise God, as
being most sensibly affected with his goodness. Hezekiah, for his
part, having recovered from this sickness, will make it his
business to praise God: "<i>I do it this day;</i> let others do it
in like manner." Those that give good exhortations should set good
examples, and do themselves what they expect from others. "For my
part," says Hezekiah, "<i>the Lord was ready to save me;</i> he not
only did save me, but he was ready to do it just then when I was in
the greatest extremity; his help came in seasonably; he showed
himself willing and forward to save me. <i>The Lord was to save
me,</i> was at hand to do it, saved me a the first word; and
therefore," <i>First,</i> "I will publish and proclaim his praises.
I and my family, I and my friends, I and my people, will have a
concert of praise to his glory: <i>We will sing my songs to the
stringed instruments,</i> that others may attend to them, and be
affected with them, when they are in the most devout and serious
frame in the house of the Lord." It is for the honour of God, and
the edification of his church, that special mercies should be
acknowledged in public praises, especially mercies to public
persons, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.18-Ps.116.19" parsed="|Ps|116|18|116|19" passage="Ps 116:18,19">Ps. cxvi. 18,
19</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> "I will proceed and persevere in
his praises." We should do so all the days of our life, because
every day of our life is itself a fresh mercy and brings many fresh
mercies along with it; and, as renewed mercies call for renewed
praises, so former eminent mercies call for repeated praises. It is
by the mercy of God that we live, and therefore, as long as we
live, we must continue to praise him, while we have breath, nay,
while we have being. <i>Thirdly,</i> "I will propagate and
perpetuate his praises." We should not only praise him all the days
of our life, but <i>the father to the children should make known
his truth,</i> that the ages to come may give God the glory of his
truth by trusting to it. It is the duty of parents to possess their
children with a confidence in the truth of God, which will go far
towards keeping them close to the ways of God. Hezekiah, doubtless,
did this himself, and yet Manasseh his son walked not in his steps.
Parents may give their children many good things, good
instructions, good examples, good books, but they cannot give them
grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxix-p22" shownumber="no">IV. In the <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.21-Isa.38.22" parsed="|Isa|38|21|38|22" passage="Isa 38:21,22">last two verses</scripRef> of this chapter we have
two passages relating to this story which were omitted in the
narrative of it here, but which we had <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.20.1-2Kgs.20.21" parsed="|2Kgs|20|1|20|21" passage="2Ki 20:1-21">2 Kings xx.</scripRef>, and therefore shall here only
observe two lessons from them:—1. That God's promises are
intended not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage, the use of
means. Hezekiah is sure to recover, and yet he must <i>take a lump
of figs and lay it on the boil,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.21" parsed="|Isa|38|21|0|0" passage="Isa 38:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. We do not trust God, but tempt
him, if, when we pray to him for help, we do not second our prayers
with our endeavours. We must not put physicians, or physic, in the
place of God, but make use of them in subordination to God and to
his providence; help thyself and God will help thee. 2. That the
chief end we should aim at, in desiring life and health, is that we
may glorify God, and do good, and improve ourselves in knowledge,
and grace, and meetness for heaven. Hezekiah, when he meant,
<i>What is the sign that I shall recover?</i> asked, <i>What is the
sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord,</i> there to
honour God, to keep up acquaintance and communion with him, and to
encourage others to serve him? <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.22" parsed="|Isa|38|22|0|0" passage="Isa 38:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. It is taken for granted that
if God would restore him to health he would immediately go up to
the temple with his thank-offerings. There Christ found the
impotent man whom he had healed, <scripRef id="Is.xxxix-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:John.5.14" parsed="|John|5|14|0|0" passage="Joh 5:14">John
v. 14</scripRef>. The exercises of religion are so much the
business and delight of a good man that to be restrained from them
is the greatest grievance of his afflictions, and to be restored to
them is the greatest comfort of his deliverances. <i>Let my soul
live, and it shall praise thee.</i></p>
</div></div2>