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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Isaiah XXXVIII].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXXVIII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
This chapter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah. Here is,
I. His sickness, and the sentence of death he received within himself,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:1">ver. 1</A>.
II. His prayer in his sickness,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>.
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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:4-8">ver. 4-8</A>.
And this we read and opened before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+20:1">2 Kings xx. 1</A>,
&c. But,
IV. Here is Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery, which we had not
before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:9-20">ver. 9-20</A>.
To which are added the means used
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:21">ver. 21</A>),
and the end the good man aimed at in desiring to recover,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:22">ver. 22</A>.
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>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Isa38_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hezekiah's Sickness.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and
not live.
&nbsp; 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed
unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
&nbsp; 3 And said, Remember now, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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.
&nbsp; 4 Then came the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> to Isaiah, saying,
&nbsp; 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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.
&nbsp; 6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the
king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
&nbsp; 7 And this <I>shall be</I> a sign unto thee from the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that the
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will do this thing that he hath spoken;
&nbsp; 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.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
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>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:13">James v. 13</A>.
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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+138:3">Ps. cxxxviii. 3</A>.
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>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+128:5">Ps. cxxviii. 5</A>),
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>
<A NAME="Isa38_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_18"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_19"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_20"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_21"> </A>
<A NAME="Isa38_22"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hezekiah's Thanksgiving.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick,
and was recovered of his sickness:
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 11 I said, I shall not see the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>even</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, in the
land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the
inhabitants of the world.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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: O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I am
oppressed; undertake for me.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 20 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 22 Hezekiah also had said, What <I>is</I> the sign that I shall go
up to the house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>?
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
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>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+29:30">2 Chron. xxix. 30</A>.
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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+32:25">2 Chron. xxxii. 25</A>)
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The deplorable condition he was in when his disease prevailed, and
his despair of recovery,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:10-13"><I>v.</I> 10-13</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
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
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+31:22,77:7-9">Ps. xxxi. 22; lxxvii. 7-9</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. Let us see what Hezekiah's thoughts of himself were.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
"<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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+17:11"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 11</A>.
Our days are compared to the weaver's shuttle
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:6">Job vii. 6</A>),
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+32:33">2 Chron. xxxii. 33</A>),
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(3.) He reckoned that he was deprived of all the opportunities he might
have had of worshipping God and doing good in the world
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
"<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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+63:2">Ps. lxiii. 2</A>.
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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+88:18">Ps. lxxxviii. 18</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The complaints he made in this condition
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
"<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>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:122">Ps. cxix. 122</A>.
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
"<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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
"<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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. He promises himself always to retain the impressions of his
affliction
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
"<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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. He will encourage himself and others with the experiences he had had
of the goodness of God
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
"<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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. He magnifies the mercy of his recovery, on several accounts.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) That he was raised up from great extremity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
<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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:19">Ps. xviii. 19</A>);
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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
<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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+116:18,19">Ps. cxvi. 18, 19</A>.
<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> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. In the
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:21,22">last two verses</A>
of this chapter we have two passages relating to this story which were
omitted in the narrative of it here, but which we had
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+20:1-21">2 Kings xx.</A>,
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>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
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?
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
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,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+5:14">John v. 14</A>.
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>
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