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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXXVIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah. Here is,
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I. His sickness, and the sentence of death he received within himself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:1">ver. 1</A>.
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II. His prayer in his sickness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>.
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III. The answer of peace which God gave to that prayer, assuring him
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that he should recover, that he should live fifteen years yet, that
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Jerusalem should be delivered from the king of Assyria, and that, for a
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sign to confirm his faith herein, the sun should go back ten degrees,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:4-8">ver. 4-8</A>.
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And this we read and opened before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+20:1">2 Kings xx. 1</A>,
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&c. But,
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IV. Here is Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery, which we had not
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before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:9-20">ver. 9-20</A>.
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To which are added the means used
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:21">ver. 21</A>),
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and the end the good man aimed at in desiring to recover,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:22">ver. 22</A>.
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This is a chapter which will entertain the thoughts, direct the
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devotions, and encourage the faith and hopes of those that are confined
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by bodily distempers; it visits those that are visited with
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sickness.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa38_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hezekiah's Sickness.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the
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prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus
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saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and
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not live.
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2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed
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unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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3 And said, Remember now, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I beseech thee, how I have
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walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have
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done <I>that which is</I> good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
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4 Then came the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> to Isaiah, saying,
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5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the God of
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David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears:
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behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
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6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the
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king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
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7 And this <I>shall be</I> a sign unto thee from the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will do this thing that he hath spoken;
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8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which
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is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So
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the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We may hence observe, among others, these good lessons:--
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1. That neither men's greatness nor their goodness will exempt them
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from the arrests of sickness and death. Hezekiah, a mighty potentate on
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earth and a mighty favourite of Heaven, is struck with a disease,
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which, without a miracle, will certainly be mortal; and this in the
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midst of his days, his comforts, and usefulness. <I>Lord, behold, he
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whom thou lovest is sick.</I> It should seem, this sickness seized him
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when he was in the midst of his triumphs over the ruined army of the
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Assyrians, to teach us always to rejoice with trembling.
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2. It concerns us to prepare when we see death approaching: "<I>Set thy
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house in order,</I> and thy heart especially; put both thy affections
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and thy affairs into the best posture thou canst, that, when thy Lord
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comes, thou mayest be found of him in peace with God, with thy own
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conscience, and with all men, and mayest have nothing else to do but to
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die." Our being ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but
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much the easier: and those that are fit to die are most fit to live.
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3. Is any afflicted with sickness? <I>Let him pray,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:13">James v. 13</A>.
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Prayer is a salve for every sore, personal or public. When Hezekiah was
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distressed by his enemies he prayed; now that he was sick he prayed.
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Whither should the child go, when any thing ails him, but to his
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Father? Afflictions are sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our
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knees. When Hezekiah was in health he <I>went up to the house of the
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Lord</I> to pray, for that was then the house of prayer. When he was
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sick in bed <I>he turned his face towards the wall,</I> probably
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towards the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom we must look by
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faith in every prayer.
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4. The testimony of our consciences for us that by the grace of God we
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have lived a good life, and have walked closely and humbly with God,
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will be a great support and comfort to us when we come to look death in
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the face. And though we may not depend upon it as our righteousness, by
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which to be justified before God, yet we may humbly plead it as an
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evidence of our interest in the righteousness of the Mediator. Hezekiah
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does not demand a reward from God for his good services, but modestly
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begs that God would remembers, not how he had reformed the kingdom,
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taken away the high places, cleansed the temple, and revived neglected
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ordinances, but, which was <I>better than all burnt-offerings and
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sacrifices,</I> how he had approved himself to God with a single eye
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and an honest heart, not only in these eminent performances, but in an
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even regular course of holy living: <I>I have walked before thee in
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truth</I> and sincerity, <I>and with a perfect,</I> that is, an
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upright, <I>heart;</I> for uprightness is our gospel perfection.
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5. God has a gracious ear open to the prayers of his afflicted people.
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The same prophet that was sent to Hezekiah with warning to prepare for
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death is sent to him with a promise that he shall not only recover, but
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be restored to a confirmed state of health and live fifteen years yet.
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As Jerusalem was distressed, so Hezekiah was diseased, that God might
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have the glory of the deliverance of both, and that prayer too might
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have the honour of being instrumental in the deliverance. When we pray
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in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here
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sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer,
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assures us that our sins are forgiven us, that his grace shall be
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sufficient for us, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his,
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we have no reason to say that we pray in vain. God answers us if he
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<I>strengthens us with strength in our souls,</I> though not with
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bodily strength,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+138:3">Ps. cxxxviii. 3</A>.
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6. A good man cannot take much comfort in his own health and prosperity
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unless withal he see the welfare and prosperity of the church of God.
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Therefore God, knowing what lay near Hezekiah's heart, promised him not
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only that he should live, but that he should <I>see the good of
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Jerusalem all the days of his life</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+128:5">Ps. cxxviii. 5</A>),
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otherwise he cannot live comfortably. Jerusalem, which is now
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delivered, shall still be defended from the Assyrians, who perhaps
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threatened to rally again and renew the attack. Thus does God
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graciously provide to make Hezekiah upon all accounts easy.
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7. God is <I>willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability
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of his counsel,</I> that they may have an unshaken faith in it, and
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therewith a strong consolation. God had given Hezekiah repeated
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assurances of his favour; and yet, as if all were thought too little,
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that he might expect from him uncommon favours, a sign is given him, an
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uncommon sign. None that we know of having had an absolute promise of
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living a certain number of years to come, as Hezekiah had, God thought
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fit to confirm this unprecedented favour with a miracle. The sign was
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the going back of the shadow upon the sun-dial. The sun is a faithful
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measurer of time, and <I>rejoices as a strong man to run a race;</I>
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but he that set that clock a going can set it back when he pleases, and
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make it to return; for the Father of all lights is the director of
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them.</P>
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<A NAME="Isa38_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa38_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hezekiah's Thanksgiving.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick,
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and was recovered of his sickness:
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10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the
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gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
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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
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land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the
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inhabitants of the world.
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12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's
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tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off
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with pining sickness: from day <I>even</I> to night wilt thou make an
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end of me.
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13 I reckoned till morning, <I>that,</I> as a lion, so will he break
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all my bones: from day <I>even</I> to night wilt thou make an end of
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me.
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14 Like a crane <I>or</I> a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn
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as a dove: mine eyes fail <I>with looking</I> upward: O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I am
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oppressed; undertake for me.
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15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself
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hath done <I>it:</I> I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness
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of my soul.
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16 O Lord, by these <I>things men</I> live, and in all these <I>things
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is</I> the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me
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to live.
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17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in
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love to my soul <I>delivered it</I> from the pit of corruption: for
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thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
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18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can <I>not</I> celebrate
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thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
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19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I <I>do</I> this
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day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
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20 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>was ready</I> to save me: therefore we will sing my
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songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the
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house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay
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<I>it</I> for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
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22 Hezekiah also had said, What <I>is</I> the sign that I shall go
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up to the house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine
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direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms
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of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might
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have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed <I>the Levites to
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praise the Lord with the words of David,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+29:30">2 Chron. xxix. 30</A>.
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But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of
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devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he
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had, though of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affections in
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his own words, which is most natural and genuine. He put this
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thanksgiving in writing, that he might review it himself afterwards,
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for the reviving of the good impressions made upon him by the
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providence, and that it might be recommended to others also for their
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use upon the like occasion. Note, There are writings which it is proper
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for us to draw up after we have been sick and have recovered. It is
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good to write a memorial of the affliction, and of the frame of our
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hearts under it,--to keep a record of the thoughts we had of things
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when we were sick, the affections that were then working in us,--to
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write a memorial of the mercies of a sick bed, and of our release from
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it, that they may never be forgotten,--to write a thanksgiving to God,
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write a sure covenant with him, and seal it,--to give it under our
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hands that we will never return again to folly. It is an excellent
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writing which Hezekiah here left, upon his recovery; and yet we find
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+32:25">2 Chron. xxxii. 25</A>)
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that <I>he rendered not again according to the benefit done to him.</I>
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The impressions, one would think, should never have worn off, and yet,
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it seems, they did. Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better.
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Now in this writing he preserves upon record,</P>
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<P>
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I. The deplorable condition he was in when his disease prevailed, and
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his despair of recovery,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:10-13"><I>v.</I> 10-13</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. He tells us what his thoughts were of himself when he was at the
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worst; and these he keeps in remembrance,
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(1.) As blaming himself for his despondency, and that he gave up
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himself for gone; whereas while there is life there is hope, and room
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for our prayer and God's mercy. Though it is good to consider sickness
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as a summons to the grave, so as thereby to be quickened in our
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preparations for another world, yet we ought not to make the worse of
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our case, nor to think that every sick man must needs be a dead man
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presently. He that brings low can raise up. Or,
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(2.) As reminding himself of the apprehensions he had of death
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approaching, that he might always know and consider his own frailty and
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mortality, and that, though he had a reprieve for fifteen years, it was
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but a reprieve, and the fatal stroke he had now such a dread of would
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certainly come at last. Or,
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(3.) As magnifying the power of God in restoring him when his case was
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desperate, and his goodness in being so much better to him than his own
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fears. Thus David sometimes, when he was delivered out of trouble,
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reflected upon the black and melancholy conclusions he had made upon
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his own case when he was in trouble, and what he had then <I>said in
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his haste,</I> as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+31:22,77:7-9">Ps. xxxi. 22; lxxvii. 7-9</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. Let us see what Hezekiah's thoughts of himself were.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) He reckoned that the number of his months was cut off in the
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midst. He was now about thirty-nine or forty years of age, and when he
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had a fair prospect of many years and happy ones, very happy, very
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many, before him. This distemper that suddenly seized him he concluded
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would be the <I>cutting off of his days,</I> that he should now be
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<I>deprived of the residue of his years,</I> which in a course of
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nature he might have lived (not which he could command as a debt due to
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him, but which he had reason to expect, considering the strength of his
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constitution), and with them he should be deprived not only of the
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comforts of life, but of all the opportunities he had of serving God
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and his generation. To the same purport
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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"<I>My age has departed</I> and gone, and is removed from me as a
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shepherd's tent, out of which I am forcibly dislodged by the pulling of
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it down in an instant." Our present residence is but like that of a
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shepherd in his tent, a poor, mean, and cold lodging, where we are upon
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duty, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the shepherd has, of
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which we must give an account, and which will easily be taken down by
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the drawing of one pin or two. But observe, It is not the final period
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of our age, but only the removal of it to another world, where the
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tents of Kedar that are taken down, coarse, black, and weather-beaten,
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shall be set up again in the New Jerusalem, <I>comely as the curtains
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of Solomon.</I> He adds another similitude: <I>I have cut off, like a
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weaver, my life.</I> Not that he did by any act of his own cut off the
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thread of his life; but, being told that he must needs die, he was
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forced to cut off all his designs and projects, his <I>purposes were
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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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
3. He magnifies the mercy of his recovery, on several accounts.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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