XXXVIILI.
temple, that the deftruction was; and that it was the firft day of the paffover; and that this was before the city of Ferufalem was delivered from him; and the fears of him feem clear from y. 6. and fome are of opinion, that his ficknefs was occafioned by the confternation and terror he was thrown into, by reafon of the Arian army, which threatened ruin to him and his kingdom. Tho’ Yo/ephus ® fays, that it was after his deliverance from it, and when he had given thanks to God for it however, it is certain it was in the fame year, fince it was in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign that Sexnacherib invaded ‘Judea, and from this his ficknefs and recovery fifteen years were added to his days, and he reigned no more than twentynine years, 2 Kings yiii. 2, 13. and xx. 6. what this ficknefs was, cannot be faid with certainty; fome haye conjectured it to be the plague, fince he had a malignant ulcer, of which he was cured by a plaifter of figs; but be it what it will, it was a deadly one in its own nature, it was a ficknefs unto death, a mortal one; tho’ it was not eventually fo, thro’ the interpofition of divine power, which prevented it. The reafon of this ficknefs, which Yarchi gives, that it was becaufe he did not take to himfelf a wife, is without foundation; more likely, the reafon of it was, to keep him humble, and that he might not be lifted up with the deliverance, or be more thankful for it: and Iaiah the prophet, the fon of Amox, came unto him; not of his own accord to vifit him, but was fent by the Lord with a mefiage to him: and faid unto him, thus faith the Lord, fet thine boufe in order, or, give orders to thine houfe*, to the men of thine houfe, as the Targum; his domettics, his counfellors and courtiers, what they fhould do after his death; how his perfonal eftate fhould be difpofed of; how the throne fhould be filled up; who fhould fucceed him, fince he had no fon: the family and fecular affairs of men fhould be put in order, and direction given for the management of c snva5 YS precipe domui tuz,
200 Fy, eg ae them, and their fubftance and eftates fhould be difpofed of by will before their.death; and much more a concern fhould be fhown for the fetting in order their {piritual affairs, or that they may be habitually ready for death and eternity: for thou foalt die, and not live, or not recover of thy ficknefs, as the Largum adds: for thou art a dead man, as it may be rendered, in all human appearance; the difeafe being deadly, and of which. he could not recover by the help of any medicine; nothing but almighty power could fave him; and this is faid, to obferve to him his danger, to give him the fentence of death in himfelf, and to fet him a praying, as it did.
¥. 2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall,
&c.] Not figuratively to the wall of his heart, as Ferom; but literally, either to the wall of his bedchamber where he lay fick, that his tears might not be feen, and his prayers interrupted, and that he might deliver them with more privacy, freedom, and fervency;,or elfe to the. wall of the temple, as the Targum, towards which good men ufed to look when they prayed, 1 Kings viii. 38. Dan. vi. 10. which was a type of Chrift,'to whom we fhould have refpeét in all -our petitions, as being the only Mediator between God and man: and prayed unto the Lord; as follows,
¥. 3. And faid, remember now, O Lord, I befeech thee, &c.] He puts the Lord in mind of his good walk and works, which are never forgotten by him, tho’ they may feem to be: and this he the rather did, becaufe it might be thought that he had been guilty of fome very enormous crime, which he was not con{fcious to himfelf he had; it being unufual to cut men off in the prime of their days, but in fuch a cafe: how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfe? heart, or rather, that I have walked before thee, as Noldius, fince the manner of walking is declared in exprefs terms; fo the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic verfions, and others; that the courfe of his life in the fight of God, having the fear of him upon his heart, and before his eyes, was according to the truth of his word, inftitutions, and appointments; that he walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, and in the fincerity, integrity, and uprightnefs of his foul; and however imperfect his fervices were, as no man fo walks as to be free from fin, yet he was fincere and without diffimulation in the performance of them; his intentions were upright, his views were purely to the glory of God: and have done that which is good in thy fight; agreeable both to the moral and ceremonial law, in his own private and perfonal capacity as a man, ‘in the adminiftration of juftice In his government as a king; and particularly in reformmg the nation; in deftroying idols, and idol-worfhip; in breaking in pieces the brazen ferpent, when ufed to idolatrous purpofes; and in fetting up. the pure-worfhip of God, and his ordinances; and which he does not plead as meritorious, but mentions as well’ pleafing to God, which he gracioufly accepts of, and encourages. with promifes of ‘reward: amd Hezekiah wept fore, not only becaufe of his death, the news of which might be fhocking to nature; but becaufe of the diftreffed condition the nation would be in; having now the Afyrian army in it, or at leaft not wholly free from fears, by reafon of that monarch; and befides, had no -fon to’ fucceed him in the throne, and fo difficulties and troubles might arife within themfelves about a fucceffor; and it may be, what troubledyhim moft of all was,. that dy-
‘the Mefiiah could not fpring - from his feed.’ Paes Ae on ‘- |
¥. 4. Then came the word of the Lord to Vaia &c.] Before he had got out into the middle cou 2 Kings xx. 4: faying, as follows; ~~ 7"
¥. 5. Go and fay to Hezekiah, &c.] Ea, ang and tell him, 2 Kings xx. 5: thus feith thé Lord the God of David thy father, this is faid, to fhev that he remembered the covenant he made with David his father, concerning the kingdom, and ceffion of his children in it; and that he had @ re gard to him, ‘as walking in his fteps: Thave beard thy prayer; and therefore was not furely’a’;
one, as Luther fomewhere calls it, ‘fince” it was heard and anfwered fo quickly: J have Jeen thy tears; which he fhed in prayer, and fo ftudioufly concealed from others, wheh he turned his face “to the wall: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years, that is, to the days he had lived already, and beyond which it was not probable, according to the nature of his difeafe, he could live; and befides, he had the fentence of death pronounced on him, and had it within himfelf, nor did he pray for his life; fo that thefe fifteen years’ were over and above what he could or did expeét to. live; and becaufe it was unufual in fuch a cafe, and after fuch a declaration made, that a man fhould live, and efpecially fo long a time after, it is ufhered in with a dehold, as a note of admiration; it being a thing unheard of, and unprecedented, and entirely the Lord’s doing, and which, no doubt, was marvellous in the eyes of the king, = © 7 y. 6. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Affyria, &c.| So that it feems that Hezekiah’s ficknefs was whilft the king of Afyria was near the city of Ferufalem, and about to befiege it, and before the deftruétion of the 4 - jyrian army; unlefs this is faid to fecure Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Yerufalem from all fears of a return of that king, to give them frefh’ trouble: and I will defend this city; from the prefent’ fie laid to it, ruin threatened it, or from any" ficatke upon it, by the Affrian monarch, y. 7. And this fhall’ be a fign unto thee from the Lord, &c.] And which it feems Hezekiah afked, and it was put to him, which he would ‘chufe, whether the fhadow on the fun-dial fhould go forward or backward ten degrees, and he chofé the latter, 2 Kings xx. 8—11. which was a token confirming and affuring, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath [poken; recover Hezekiah from his ficknefs, fo that on the third day he thould ¢ up to the temple; have fifteen years added skis days; and the city of erufalem protected from the attempts of the 4/yrian monarch. neh ie y. 8. Bebold, I will bring again the, Q degrees, &cc.] Or lines made‘on a dial-plat fhew.the progrefs of the fun, and what time’ of'¢ it was. Some think only the fhadow was brought back by the power of God, the fun keepit courfe as ufual; but in the next claufe the exprefsly faid to return tén ‘degrees: befide: not eafy to conceive how the fhadow of the fur fhould go back, unlefs the fun itfelf did; if it ha been only the fhadow of it on Abaz’s dial, it woul not have fallen under the notice of other 1 or have been the fubjeét of their enquiry; as it was of the Babylonians, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31: which — is gone down on the fun-dial of Abaz, the firft fan= dial we read of; and. tho’ there 1 +t at this time, yet the lines or a Le plain in this; and befides, this poate near tn
" king’s bed-chamber, and to which he could look out, at, and fee the wonder himfelf, the fhadow to return, ten degrees backward; what thofe degrees, Jines, or marks on the dial fhewed, is not certain. The Tergum makes them to be hours, paraphrafing the words thus; ‘* behold, I will bring again the “< fhadow of the ftone of hours, by which the fun *< is gone down on the dial of Abaz, backwards ** ten degrees; and the fun returned ten hours on “< the figure of the ftone of hours, in which it ‘«¢ went down;” but others think they pointed out half-hours; and others but quarters of hours; but be it which it will, it matters not; the miracle was the fame: 0 the fun returned ten degrees, by. which degrees it wes gone down, and fo this day was longer by thefe degrees than a common day, be they what they will, and according as we fuppofe the fun went back, fuddenly, or as it ufually moved, tho’ in a retrograde way, and made the fame pro- refs again thro’ thefe degrees. The ews have a fable, that the day king daz died was fhortened ten hours, and now lengthened the fame at this feafon, which brought time right again. According to Gufetius, thefe were not degrees or marks on a fun-dial; to know the time of day, for this was a later invention, afcribed to Anaximenes, a difciple of Anaximander *, 200 years after this; but were fteps or ftairs built by dbaz, to go up from the ground to the roof of the houfe, on the outfide of it, and which might confift of twenty fteps or more; and on which the fun caft a fhadow all hours of the day, and this declined ten of thefe fteps, which might be at the window of Hezekiah’s bed-chamber. Vid. Comment. Ebr. p, 606.
¥. g. The writing of Hezekiab king of Fudab, &c.] The Septuagint and Arabic verfions call it, a@ prayer; but the Targum much better, “ a wri- ** ting of confeffion;”’ in which the king owns his murmurings and complaints under his affliction, and acknowledges the goodnefs of God in delivering him out of it: this he put into writing, as a memorial of it, for his own benefit, and for the good of pofterity; very probably he carried.
this with him to the temple, whither he went on the third day of his illnefs, and hung it up in fome proper place, that it might be read by all, and be fung by the priefts and the Levites; and the prophet J/aiah has thought fit to give it a place
_among his prophecies, that it might be tranfmitted to future ages: when be had been fick, and was recovered of his ficknefs; or, on his being fick*; on his ficknefs and recovery, which were the fubjectmatter-of his writing, as the following fhew; tho’ it is true alfo of the time of writing it, which was after he had been ill, and was well again.
y. 10. I faid in the cutting off of my days, &c.] When he was told that he fhould die, and he believed he fhould; this he calls a cutting off, in allufion to the weaver’s web, ¥. 12. and a cutting off bis days, he being now in the prime of his age, about 39 or 40 years of age, and not arrived to the common period of life, and to which, according to his conftitution, and the courfe of nature, he might have attained. The Jews call fuch a death a cutting off, that is, by the hand of God, which is before a man is fifty years of age. The / > Latin verfion is, iz the midft of my days; as it Was, according to the common term of life, being threefcore and ten, and at moft eighty, Pf xc. 10: I fhall go to the gates of the §rave; and enter there into the houfe appointed for all living, which he faw were open for him, and ready to receive him: I am deprived of the re- Jidue of my days; the other thirty or forty years which he might expect to have lived, according to the courfe of nature; of thefe he was bereaved, according to the fentence of death he now had in him: what if the words were rendered? I am vifited with more of my years‘; and {0 the fenfe be, when I was apprehenfive that I was juft going to be cut off, and to be deprived of the days and years I might have lived, and hoped I fhould, to the glory of God, and the good of my fubjects; juft when I faw it was all over with me, I had a gracious vifit or meflage from the Lord, affuring me that fifteen years fhould be added to my life: and fo this is mentioned as a fingular inftance of divine goodnefs, in the midft of his diftrefs; and to this fenfe the Targum agrees, ‘‘ becaufe he re- *¢ membered me for good, an addition was made s* to my years,”
y. 11. I faid, I fhall not fee the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living, &c.| Not any more, in this world, though in the other, and that more clearly, even face to face: his meaning is, that he fhould no more fee him in the glafs of the word; no more praife him in his houfe; worfhip him in the temple; enjoy him in his ordinances; and fee his beauty, power, and glory in the fanctuary; and confefs unto him, and praife his name *. The Targum is, ** I fhall no more appear before the ‘¢ face of the Lord in the land of the houfe of his “¢ Shekinah, in which is length of life; and I fhall *¢ no more ferve him in the houfe of the fanc- “ tuary.” In the Hebrew text it is, I /ball not fee Fah, Fab, a word, the fame with Jehovah; and is repeated, to fhow the vehemency of his affection for the Lord, and his ardent defire of communion with him: unlefs it fhould be rendered, J fall not fee the Lord's Lord in the land of the living*; or the Lord’s Chrift in the flefh: J shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world; or time i; of this fading tranfitory world, which will quickly ceafe, as the word for it fignifies: next to God, his concern was, that he fhould no more enjoy the company of men, of his fubjects, of his courtiers, of his relations, companions, and acquaintance; particularly of the faints, the excellent in the earth.
¥. 12. Mine age is departed, and is removed fram me as a foepherd’s tent, &c.| Or, my habitation *; meaning the earthly houfe of his tabernacle, his body; this was juft going, in his apprehenfion, to be unpinned, and removed like a fhepherd’s tent, that is eafily taken down, and removed from place to place. Some underftand it of the men of his age or generation; fo the Targum, ** from the “* children of my generation my days are taken away; Csmie an Ap, $ Ben Melech obferves, that feeing or appearing before the
Creator, fignifies confeflion and praife-before him, and confideration of bis ways; and this fenfe of the words, he fays, R. Saadiah ar) Pl TINIAN ps, exits & un sow To cwrngior ve Qe, Sept. non videbo Jah Jah, Montanus, Vatablus. i Sear ney, cum habitatoribus temporis, Montanus. So Ben Melech explains it; and which will quickly ceafe.
mundus, tempus cito definens — bn, prodit mundi ceffabilitatem, quatenus eft collectio rerum pereuntium, Guffet. Ebr. Com- carried elfewhere: J have cut off like a weaver my life; who, when he has finifhed his web, or a part of it, as he pleafes, cuts it off from the loom, and difpofes of it: this Hezekiah afcribes to himfelf, either that by reafon of his fins and tranfgreffions he was the caufe of his being taken away by death fo foon; or this was the thought. he had within himfelf, that his life would now be cut off, as the weaver’s web from the loom; for otherwife he knew that it was the Lord that would do it, whenever it was, asin the next claufe: se will cut me off with pining fickne/s; which was now upon him, wafting and confuming him apace: or, will cut me off from the thrum'; keeping on the metaphor of the weaver cutting off his web from the thrum, faftened to the beam of his loom: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, he means the Lord’ by 4e in the preceding claufe, and in this he addreffes him; fignifying that the affliction was fo fharp and heavy upon him, awhilich was the firft day of it, that he did not expect to live till night, but that God would put a period to his days, fill them up, and finifh his life, and difpatch him out of this world.
y¥. 13. I reckoned till morning, &c.| Or, I fet my time ¢i/] the morning”; he fixed and fettled it in his mind, that he could live no longer than to the morning, if he lived fo long; he thought he fhould have died before the night came on, and now it was come, the utmoft he could propofe to himfelf, was to live till morning; that was the longeft time he could reckon of. According to the accents, it fhould be rendered, I reckoned till morning as a lion; or, I am like until the morning as a lion; or, I likened until the morning (God) as a lion; I compared him to one; which agrees with what follows. The Targum is, “ I. roared until *¢ morning, as a lion roars;” thro’ the force of the difeafe, and the pain he was in: or rather, ‘* I ‘© laid my bones together until the morning as a ** lion; fo indeed as a lion God hath broken all my ** bones":” fo will he break all my bones or, it will break; that is, the ficknefs, as Kimchi and Farchi; it lay in his bones, and fo violent was the pain, that he thought all his bones were breaking in pieces; fuch is the cafe in burning fevers, as Ferom obferves; fo Kimchi interprets it of a burning fever, which is like a fire in the bones. Some underftand this of God himfelf, to which our verfion directs, who may be faid to do this by the difeafe: compare with this od xvi. 11—14. and | ¢ to this fenfe the following claufe inclines: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me; he lived till morning, which was more than he expected, and was the longeft time he could fet himfelf; and now he reckoned that before night it would be all over with him as to this world. This was the fecond day of his illnefs; and the third day he recovered, and went to the temple with his fong of praife.
when the pain was very fometimes very low, th groans and cries; at leaft were not’ orderly, but interrupted, and fcarcé ‘in like the chattering of the birds ae hdd mourn as a dove; filently and patiently, Wi nhimfelf, for his fins and tranfgreffions; and *becauie of his afflictions, the fruit of them: mine Lote with looking upwards or, on high; or as the tuagint and Arabic verfions exprefs it, 70: thé be. of heaven to the Lord there, whofe Shekinah, as the Targum, is in the higheft heavens: inh | {trefs he looked up to heaven for help, but no came; he looked and waited till his eyes were weak with looking, and he could look no longer 5 both his eyes and his heart failed him, and he defpaired of relief; and the prayer he put up, was, as’ follows: O Lord, I am oppreffed, undertake for me or, it oppreffeth me? that is, the difeafe; it lay fo heavy upon him, it bore him down with the wéight of it, he could not ftand up under it; it “had feized him, and crufhed him; it held’ him faft, and he could not get clear of it; ‘and therefote entreats the Lord to undertake for him, to be’ his furety for good, as in Pf. cxix. 122. he reprefents his difeafe as a bailiff that had arrefted him, and was carrying him to the prifon of the grave; and therefore prays that the Lord would bail*him,’ or refcue him out of his hands, that he might not go down to the gates of the grave. So fouls oppreffed with the guilt of fin, and having “feartul apprehenfions of divine juftice, fhould apply to Chrift their furety, and take refuge in his undértakings, where only peace and fafety are tobe enjoyed. So Guffetius renders the words, 7 bave'wnrighteoufnefs, be furety for me; and takes them to be a confeffion of Hezekiah, acknowledging himfelf guilty of unrighteoufnefs, praying and looking to Chrift the Son of God, and to his futretythipengagements, who tho’ not yet come to fulfil them, certainly would. — y. 15. What foall I fay? &c.] In a way Of praife and thankfulnefs, for the mercies promifed and received; I know not what to fay;. I want words to exprefs the gratitude of my heart, for the kindnefs beftowed. What fhall I render to God for all his benefits? So the Targum, ‘‘ what praife fhall I ut- “ ter, and I will fay it before him?” for an. gins the account of his recovery, and his thankf- fage by the prophet, and affured fhould recover, and on the third da temple; and now he had pcHOaRIn Ww promifed, he was reftored, and was com houfe of God with his thank-offering the Lord fays he does, what he pron to pafs: J fball go foftly all my years in of my foul; béfore he did not reckon live, now he fpeaks of his years, hay added to his days, during which time 0 oe ae ’
gofoftly, in a thoughtful meditating frame of mind’; t tly calling to rememberance, and revolving in his mind his bitter affli@tion, and recovery out of it, acknowledging ‘the goodnefs ‘and kindnefs out fear of any.enemies, dangers, or death, having a promife of {uch a length of time to.live: or go pleafantly and chearfully, after the bitternefs of my foul *, as it may be rendered; that is, after it is over, or becaufe of deliverance from it. So the Targum, with what fhall I ferve him, and ren- «¢ der to him for all the years he hath added to ‘* my life, and hath delivered me from the bitter- “¢ nefs of my foul °”
y..16. O Lord, by thefe things men live, &c.] Not by bread only, but by the word of God; by the promife of God, and by his power performing it; and by his favour and goodnefs continually beftowed; it is in him, and by his power and providence, that they live and move, and have their being, and. the continuance of it; and it is his loving kindnefs manifefted to them, that makes them live comfortably, and go on chearfully: and in all thefe things is the life of my fpirit,; what kept his foul in life were the fame things, the promife, power, and providence of God; what revived his {pirit, and made him comfortable and chearful, was the wonderful love, and great goodnefs of God unto him, in appearing to him, and for him, and delivering him out of his fore troubles. Ben Me- Jech renders and gives the. fenfe of the words thus; to all will I declare and fay, that zz ¢hefe, in the years of addition (the fifteen years added to his days).are the life of my fpirit; {fo Kimchi. The Targum interprets it of the refurrection of the dead, «¢ OQ Lord, concerning all the dead, thou hait faid, ‘* that thou wilt quicken them; and before them *¢ all thou haft quickened my fpirit:” /o wilt thou recover me, and make me to live; or rather, and or for thou baft recovered‘ me, and made me to live, for the Lord had not only promifed it, but he had done it, y. 15. and fo the Zargum, ‘ and haft “< quickened me,, and fuftained me.”
y.17. Bebold, for peace I had great bitterne/s, &c.] Meaning not that inftead of peace and profperity, which he expected would enfue upon the deftruction of Sennacherib’s army, came a bitter affliction upon him; for he is not now dwelling on that melancholy fubject; but rather the fenfe is, that he now enjoyed great peace and happineis, tho’ he had been in great bitternefs; for the words may be rendered, debold, 1 am in peace, I had great bitterne/s or thus, behold my great bitterne s is unto peace; or, be has turned it into peace“; it has iffued in it, and this is my prefent comfortable fituation: but, or rather, and thou hajt in love to my foul celivered it from the pit of corruption; the grave, where bodies rot and corrupt, and are quite abolifhed, as the word fignifies; fee P/ xxx. 3. or, thou hajt embraced my foul from the pit of corruption’; it feems to be an allufion to a tender parent, feeing his child finking in a pit, runs with open arms to him, and embraces him, and takes him out. This may be applied to a ftate of nature, out of which the Lord in love delivers his peoples which is fignified by a pit, or dark dungeon, a lonely place, a filthy one, very’ uncomfortable, where they. are ftarving and famifhing 3a pit, wherein is no water, Zech, ix. 11, and may fitly be called:a pit of corruption, becaufe of their corrupt nature, eftate, and actions; out of this the Lord brings his people at converfion, and that becaufe of his: great love to their fouls, and his delight in them or it may be applied to their deliverance from the bottomlefs pit of deftruction, which is owing to the Lord’s being gracious to them, and having found a ranfom for them, his own fon, Fob, xxxiii. 24, and to this fenfe the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic ver> fions feem to incline; for thou bajt delivered my foul that it might not perifo: in love to their fouls, and that they may not perifh, he binds them up. in the bundle of life, with the Lord their God; he redeems their fouls from fin, fatan, and the Jaw; he regenerates, renews, and converts them, and preferves them fafe to his everlafting kingdom and glory; in order to which, and to prevent. their going down to the pit, they are put into the hands of Chrift, redeemed by his precious blood, and are turned out of the broad road that leads to deftruction: for thou haft caft all my fins behind tby back; as loathfome and abominable, and fo as not to be feen by him; for tho’ God fees all the fins of his people with his eye of omnifcience, and in his providence takes notice of them, and chaftizes for them, yet not with his eye of avenging juftice; becaufe Chrift has took thern on himfelf, and made fatisfaction for them, and an end of them; they are removed’from them as far as the eaft is from the weft, and no more to be feen upon them; nor will they be any more fet before his face, or in the light of his countenance; but as they are out of fight, they will be out of mind, never more remembered, but forgotten; as what is caft behind the back is feen and remembered no more. The phrafe is expreffive of the full forgivenefs of fins, even of all fins; fee Pf. Ixxxv. 2, and ciii. 3, 4. the objeét of God’s love is the /ouls of his people; the inftance of it is the delivery of them from the pit of corruption; the evidence of it is the pardon of their fins. ¥. 18. For the grave cannot praife thee, death cannot celebrate thee, &c.) ‘That is, they that are in the grave, and under the power of death, they cannot celebrate the praifes of God, with their bodily organs; their fouls may praife him in heaven, but they in their bodies cannot till the refurrection-morn, or as long as they are under the dominion of the grave; fo the Targum, ‘* they that ‘* are in the grave cannot confeis before thee, and “© the dead cannot praife thee;” in Jike manner the Septuagint and Arabic verfions: this fhews the defign of God in reftoring him from his ficknefs, and the view he himfelf had in defiring life, which was to praife the Lord; and which end could not have been anfwered had he died; and been laid in the grave: they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth, for the performance of promifes, in which the truth and faithfulnefs of God appear; or for the Meffiah, the truth of all the types of the former difpenfation; thofe that go down to the pit of a so >RmM. Abendana after Jofeph Kimchi interprets it of changing bitternefs into peace; he obferves in the phrafe 4/5 % “I mibw, that the firft "$9 fignifies change - ‘or permatation, a3 in Jer. xlviii. 11. and the fecond, bitternefs; and that the fenfe is this, behold, into peace he hath changed my
~ bitternefs, that is, the biternefs and diflreis which | had, he hath changed into peace.
73 MM & tu amplexus es amore animam meam a fovea abolitionis, Montanus; tu vero propenfo amore complexus es animam meam, Pifcator; tu tenero amore complexus dnimam meam, Vitringa.
204 7 Stad il wd of the grave, or are carried and laid there, can have no exercife of faith and hope concerning thefe things.: y¥. 19. The living, the living, be foall praife thee, as I do this day, &c.] Every one of the living, or fuch who are both corporally and fpiritually alive; and therefore the word is repeated, none but fuch who are alive in a corporal fénfe can praife the Lord in this world; and none but fuch who are fpiritually alive can praife him aright, and fuch do under a true fenfe of the greatneis of his mercies, and of their own unworthinefs; and fuch an one was Hezekiah; for the words may be rendered, as Iam this day*; that is, alive in both the above fenfes; and fo did he praife God,-in fuch a fpiritual manner, even on the day he committed this to writing, and was now in the temple offering up this thankfgiving: the father to the children fhall make known thy truth; not meaning himfelf, for at this time he had no children; tho’ no doubt when he had any, as he afterwards had, particularly Manajfeb, he took care to acquaint him with the truth and faithfulnefs of God in the fulfilling of his promifes to him; and which every religious parent would do, and fo tranfinit the memory thereof to future ages.
¥. 20. The Lord was ready to fave me, &c.] Or, the Lord to fave me’; he was at hand to fave him; he was both able and willing to fave him; he was a prefent help in time of need; he arofe for his help, and that right early; he very quickly delivered him out of his diftrefs; he who one day expected death every moment, was the next day in the temple praifing God: therefore will we fing my fongs; which were made by him, or coricerning him, or which he ordered to be fung, as he did the Pfalms of David, 2 Chron. xxix. 30: to the Stringed inftruments; which were touched with the fingers, or ftruck with a quill or bow; which diftinguifhes them from wind-inftruments, which were blown with the mouth; each of thefe were ufed in the temple-fervice: all the days of our lifes he had before faid, we will fing, meaning his family, and his friends with him, his courtiers, princes, and nobles, or he and the fingers of J/rael; | and this he determined to do as long as he and they lived; fignifying that the mercy granted would never be forgotten by him, as well as there would
HIS chapter gives an account of Hezekiah’s | fall into fin after his recovery, and the cor-' The king of Babylon fent, meflengers to him to congratulate him upon his recovery, ¥.1. Hezekiah received them with great joy, and in the pride of his heart fhewed them all his| treafures, ¥. 2. J/aiab the prophet examined him about it, which he readily owned, ¥. 3, 4. upon | which the Badylonifh captivity is foretold, when all ' his riches and his children too fhould be carried into that land, ¥. 5, 6, 7. to which fentence he quietly and patiently fubmitted, y. 8.
¥.1. At that time Merodach-Baladan the fon of Baladan, king of Babylon, &c.| The fame is called Berodach, 2 Kings xx. 12. which according to Hiillerus *, is the fame with Bar-Merodach, the fon of
© iol) oD qualis ego fum hodie, Syr.
eft ad falvandum me, Cocceius, Vitringa.
Fi. Ch. xxxvitt. ¥. yg 22... be new mercies every day, which would call for — praife and thankfulnefS: and this he propofed to do, in the houfe of the Lordy in the temple; not only privately, but publickly; not in his clofet and family only, but in the congregation of the people; that the goodnefs of God to him might be more known, and the praife and glory given him be the greater. Cea y. 21. For Iaiab had faid, &c.}\ Before the above writing was made, which ends in, the ceding verfe; for this and the following are. by J/aiah, or fome other perfon, taken out of 2 Kings xx. 7, 8. The Septuagint verfion adds, to Hezekiah; but the fpeech feerns rather direéted to fome of his fervants, or thofe that were about him: let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaifter upon the boil, and he fhall recover; which was done, and he did accordingly recover. Aben Exra, Farchi, and Kimchi, all of them fay, that this was a miracle within a miracle, fince figs are hurtful to ulcers; and fo fay others; tho’ it is obferved by fome, that they are ufeful for the ripening and breaking of ulcers; however, it was not from the natural force of thefe figs, but by the power of God that this cure was effected; for without that, it was impoflible, fo malignant an ulcer, and fo deadly a ficknefS as Hezekiah’s were, could have been cured, and efpecially fo fuddenly; nor were thefe figs ufed as a medicine, but as a fign of recovery, according to the Lord’s promife, and as a means of affifting Hezekiah’s faith in it.
¥.22. Hezekiah alfo bad faid, &c.| Unto Teiab, as in 2 Kings xx. 8: what is the fign that I foail go up to the boufe of the Lord? both of his health, and of his going up to the temple with thankfsiving for it; tho’ the former is not here mentioned, as it is elfewhere; partly becaufe it is fuppofed in the latter, for without that he could not have gone up to the temple; and partly becaufe he was more folicitous for the worfhip and honour of God in his houfe, than for his health. The Syriac. verfion tranfpofes thefe verfes, Hezekiah had faid, what is the fign? 8c. and Ifaiah had anfwered, let them take a lump of figs, &c. as if this latter was the ~ fign; whereas it was that of the fiin’s going down ten degrees on the dial of Abaz, y. 7, 8. fee the notes there.