Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Isaiah Chapter 38

Isaiah 38:1. In those days, &c.— Though the sacred historian has placed this sickness immediately after the defeat and death of Sennacherib, yet it is evident from Isa 38:6 that it happened before that time. Hezekiah reigned in all twenty and nine years; he had reigned fourteen years when Sennacherib invaded him, and after his sickness he reigned fifteen years. Consequently this sickness happened in the very same year that the king of Assyria invaded Judaea; but the sacred historian thought proper to defer the account of it, till he had finished the history of Sennacherib. Schultens reads ill, instead of sick unto death. Compare Isaiah 38:21.

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Isaiah 38:2. Then Hezekiah turned his face— See note on 2Ki 1:4 for an account of the Eastern beds; from the position whereof, as there described, it will appear that Hezekiah made use of this posture, that his attendants might not take notice of the fervency of his devotion; for he turned his face from them, and not towards the wall of the temple, as some have too fancifully imagined.

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Isaiah 38:3. And Hezekiah wept sore— Under the law, long life and uninterrupted health are promised as rewards of obedience, and immature death is denounced as a punishment. See Exodus 20:12.Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 30:16. When we reflect on this, we need not be surprised at the sorrow which this good king expressed at his approaching dissolution. He looked upon it as a punishment, and consequently as a mark of the divine displeasure. Other reasons too might strongly operate upon a good mind, which yet was not perfect in the love of God: the suddenness of this terrible unexpected denunciation; the unsettled state both of his public and domestic affairs; and the natural dread of death inherent in the human mind, and which was not so commonly subdued by gracious souls under the law as under the Gospel, and which might in this case possibly be augmented from a sense of his own defects, and from a thorough persuasion that God was displeased at him, by cutting him off in such a manner in the very flower of his age, and when his kingdom and family so particularly required his best assistance. However, be the reasons what they might, it behoves us certainly to judge with great candour of a prince, whose character is so good as that of Hezekiah: and perhaps, blest as we are with a brighter view of a future state than Hezekiah enjoyed, there are but few comparatively who can look upon death, respectable as it is even to the best, without some degree of serious concern.

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Isaiah 38:8. Behold, I will bring again, &c.— The dial in use among the Jews was a kind of stairs; the time of the day was distinguished not by lines, but by steps, here called degrees; and the shade of the sun moved forward a new degree every half hour. The Jewish doctors and the ancient Christian fathers were of opinion, that the sun itself actually went backward. They endeavour to support this opinion by shewing that Merodach-baladan was incited by the view of this miracle to send his messengers to Hezekiah; see 2Ch 32:31 and as a further confirmation they add, that it is really taken notice of by Herodotus in his Euterpe, chap. 142 where he expressly asserts, that the Egyptians had observed strange alterations in the motion of the sun, it having arisen four times out of its usual course. Though this observation should be allowed to be true, yet we are under no necessity hence to admit that the sun itself or the earth was retrograde, that is to say, that either of them went backwards; all that the Scripture requires of us is, to admit the fact of the shadow's going backward, and this may be accounted for without supposing any uncommon motion either in the sun or in the earth. Nothing more is required to effect this phoenomenon than a reflection of the sun's rays, and this might have been caused by an alteration in the density of the atmosphere. To this it may be added, that the original mentions nothing of the sun, but only of its beams or shadow; and how its beams might be inflected by a change made in the atmosphere, may easily be conceived by any person conversant in natural philosophy. This endeavour to account for the phoenomenon by no means lessens the miracle; for we assign the alteration of the atmosphere to the immediate and extraordinary operation of God; and every extraordinary interposition of Providence is essentially and properly a miracle. Let it further be observed, we by no means offer this solution in exclusion of others; and if any one thinks that the miracle can be better accounted for in any other way, we shall very readily subscribe to that opinion. Liberum de eo judicium lectori committo, says Vitringa. See Scheuchzer's Dissertation on the subject in his Physique Sacree, upon 2 Kings 20:0.

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Isaiah 38:9. The writing of Hezekiah— We have here an example of the piety of king Hezekiah, like a true son of David, singing to his harp (for it appears from Isa 38:20 that this was a song fitted to that instrument) and pouring forth his sacred meditations as was usual among the pious of this nation. Grotius is of opinion, that this song was dictated by Isaiah; Vitringa, however, thinks that there is something in it more involved and less sublime than in the writings of Isaiah.

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Isaiah 38:10. I said, in the cutting off of my days— I said, while my days are cut off I shall depart; yea, even to the gates of the grave;—of sheol. Vitringa. Respecting the place of departed souls, and the several expressions concerning a future state found in this song, similar to those in the book of Job and of Psalms, having already spoken sufficiently, I shall only beg leave to refer my reader to the annotations on those books.

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Isaiah 38:11. I shall not see the Lord, &c.— It is plain, that Hezekiah in this verse speaks singly and simply of the advantages which he should certainly lose by being suddenly cut off from life; without any respect to a future state. By not seeing the Lord in the land of the living, he seems to mean, that he should not see and enjoy the effects of his grace and goodness in the deliverance of his people. The meaning of the last clause, according to Vitringa, is, I shall behold man no more, being joined to the inhabitants of the world of rest.

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Isaiah 38:12. Mine age is departed— My habitation is taken away, and is removed from me, like a shepherd's tent: my life is cut off, as by the weaver; he will sever me from the loom; in the course of the day thou wilt finish my web. Lowth. Vitringa understands the word דור dor, rendered age, to signify the body; that habitation, or dwelling, in which the soul rather lodges as a guest in a moveable tent, than lives as in a fixed house; he means therefore to say in this passage, that the tabernacle of his body was removed, and as it were carried away by force, like a shepherd's tent, which, on occasion of any violence, is suddenly taken down and transferred elsewhere. The writer probably had in view the tents of the Arabs. See 2 Corinthians 5:4. 2 Peter 1:13. The metaphor in the next clause is taken from weaving. The king, dejected in mind, bears a tender sense of his sins and infirmities, whereby he had offended God, and had given him occasion to cut off the not yet finished thread of his life. Nay, he goes on, increasing the expression, that the weaver had not only cut the web which he had begun to weave, but that he had even cut it from the very first threads, (for so the original may be rendered,) and had wholly destroyed the woof. For, when Hezekiah, flourishing in life and power, proposed to himself a happy continuance of each; behold! a hand comes, which, having begun this pleasing web, seems now determined to cut it off entirely. The meaning of the last phrase is; "The web of my life, which thou hadst begun to weave, (the address being elegantly turned to God,) seemed to be a short work, and scarcely of one day's continuance; so that, having begun it in the morning, thou seemedst about to finish it before the evening." It answers to the former clause. Hezekiah, in the extremity of his misery, did not conceive that he should survive till the evening. See Vitringa.

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Isaiah 38:13. I reckoned till morning, &c.— The meaning of the first clause is, "When I found myself surviving till the evening, I then thought with myself, that the next morning would be the utmost term of my life: in the mean time I experienced the most grievous pains, as if a lion broke all my bones." He repeats the sentence of the preceding verse, From day even to night, &c. to shew how he passed another day of grievous pain. See Vitringa.

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Isaiah 38:14. Like a crane, or a swallow— That is, "My pains were sometimes so violent, that they forced me to cry aloud; at other times my strength was so exhausted, that I could only groan inwardly, and bemoan my unhappy condition in sighs." The reader will find in Bochart. Hieroz. pars ii. 1. 1. c. 10. copious illustration of this verse, and also in Scheuchzer on the place. See Psa 119:122 and Psalms 130:1; Psa 130:8 which fully explain the latter phrase.

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Isaiah 38:15. What shall I say? &c.— What say I more? he hath promised me, and he hath performed. The meaning of the verse is, "The suddenness of my deliverance so greatly surprises me, that I want words to express my thankfulness. He hath heard my prayer, and hath performed all my desires; and the remembrance of the misery I endured will excite me more and more to renew my thankfulness for his unbounded mercies." In the bitterness of my soul, is rendered more strongly by Vitringa, discharged of, or made superior to, the bitterness of my soul.

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Isaiah 38:16. O Lord, by these things men live— The meaning is, that the promises of grace, attained by humble prayer, and their quick and ready application, give life to the soul; or, that divine grace, and the promises of divine grace, are the life of the soul, are the food and nourishment of true life.

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Isaiah 38:17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness— That is to say, "When I thought of, perceived, and feared no evil, and seemed to enjoy my usual health, then this terrible evil came upon me: but thou hast delivered me, and freely forgiven me my sins." Thus Hezekiah does not claim exemption from guilt, but readily and humbly confesses that he deserved punishment, and was indebted solely to the divine mercy.

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Isaiah 38:18. For the grave, &c.— See Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 30:12.

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Isaiah 38:20. The Lord was ready to save me— JEHOVAH was present to save me. Lowth. It seems probable from this verse, that Hezekiah composed several other songs, some of which may be still extant among the Psalms. We may just remark from this passage of Scripture, that the proper fruit and consequence of deliverance from evils is thanksgiving, diffusing itself through all the actions of life. It exhibits to us a picture of our duty and state, who, redeemed as we are, by the precious blood of the Son of God, from everlasting destruction, ought with all the powers of our souls and bodies to celebrate his name and glory, that our whole life may appear one continued thanksgiving. See Vitringa.

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