16 O LORD, by these things men | of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, live, and in all these things is the life and make me to live. m Mal. 4. 4. New Translation. 16. O Lord! it is thus men live; And thus altogether is the life of my spirit. Thou hast recovered me, and caused me to live. guish, and despair. In this he records the sudden and surprising deliverance which God had granted; which it was so great that no words could express his sense of it. Nothing could be more natural than this language; nothing more appropriately express the feelings of a man who had been suddenly restored to health from dangerous sickness, and brought from the borders of the grave. ¶ He hath both spoken unto me. That is, he has promised. So the word is often used. Deut. xxvi. 17, Jer. iii. 19. He had made the promise by the instrumentality of Isaiah, ver. 5, 6. The promise related to his recovery, to the length of his days, and to his entire deliverance from the hands of the Assyrians. And himself hath done it. He himself has restored me according to his promise, when no one else could have done it.¶I shall go softly. Lowth renders this, in accordance with the Vulgate, "Will I reflect," "Will I reflect," But the Hebrew will not bear this construction, The word here used (77) occurs in but one other place in the Bible. Ps. xlii. 4. "I went with them to the house of God;" i. e. I went with them in a sacred procession to the house of God; I went with a solemn, calm, slow pace. The idea here is, 'I will go humbly, submissively all my life; I will walk in a serious manner, remembering that I am travelling to the grave; I will avoid pride, pomp, and display; I will suffer the remembrance of my sick. ness and of God's mercy to produce a calm, serious, thoughtful demeanor all my life.' This is the proper effect of sickness on a pious mind, and it is its usual effect. And probably one design of God was to keep Hezekiah from the ostentatious parade usually attendant on his lofty station; from being elated with his deliverance from the Assyrian; from improper celebrations of that deliverance by revelry, and pomp; and to keep him in remembrance that though he was a monarch, yet he was a mortal man, and that he held his life at the disposal of God. In the bitterness of my soul. I will remember the deep distress; the bitter sorrows of my sickness, and my surprising recov 17 Behold, for peace I had great | my soul delivered it from the pit of bitterness; but thou hast 9 in love to corruption: for thou hast cast all my 8 or, on my peace came. 9 loved my soul from the pit. sins behind thy back. o Ps. 10. 2. New Translation. 17. Lo! instead of peace I had great anguish. But thou in love hast recovered my soul from the pit of destruction; ery; and will allow the remembrance of that to diffuse seriousness and gratitude over all my life. 16. O Lord by these things men live. The design of this, and the following verses is evidently to set forth the goodness of God, and to celebrate his praise for what he had done. The phrase "these things," refers evidently to the promises of God and their fulfilment ; and the idea is, that men are sustained in the land of the living only by such gracious interpositions as he had experienced. It was not because men had any power of preserving their own lives, but because God interposed in time of trouble; sustained in times of sickness; and restored to health when there was no human prospect that they could recover. ¶And in all these things. In these promises, and in the divine interposition. ¶ Is the life of my spirit. I am alive in virtue only of these things. So wilt thou recover me. Or so hast thou recovered me; that is, thou hast restored me to health. 17. Behold for peace. That is, instead of the health, happiness, and prosperity which I had enjoyed, and which I hope still to enjoy. ¶ I had great bitterness. Heb. "Bitterness to me, bitterness ;" an emphatic expression denoting intense sorrow. ¶ But thou hast in love to my soul, &c. Marg. "loved my soul from the pit." The word which occurs here (p) denotes properly to join, or fasten together; then to be attached to any one; to be united tenderly; to embrace. Here it means that God had loved him; and had thus delivered his soul from death. ¶ Delivered it from the pit of corruption. The word rendered corruption, a, denotes consumption, destruction, perdition. It may be applied to the grave, or to the deep and dark abode of departed spirits; and the phrase here is evidently synonymous with Sheol, or Hades. The grave, or the place for the dead is often represented as a pit-deep and dark-to which the living descend. Job xvii. 16, xxxiii. 18, 24, 28, 30, Ps. xxviii. 1, xxx. 3, lv. 23, lxix. 15, lxxxviii. 4. Comp. Note Isa. xiv. 15, 19. For thou hast cast VOL. II.* 54 They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 19. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as 1 do this day; The father to the children shall make known thy faithfulness. all my sins behind thy back. Thou hast forgiven them; hast ceased to punish me on account of them. This shows that Hezekiah, in accordance with the sentiment every where felt and expressed in the Bible, regarded his suffering as the fruit of sin. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee. The Hebrew word here is Sheol. It is put by metonomy here for those who are in the grave, that is, for the dead. The word praise here refers evidently to the public and solemn celebration of the goodness of God; or to such kind of praise as Hezekiah desired to offer. It is clear, I think, that Hezekiah had a belief in a future state, or that he expected to dwell with "the inhabitants of the land of silence" (ver. 11,) when he died. But he did not regard that state as one adapted to the celebration of the public praises of God. It was a land of darkness; an abode of silence and stillness; a place where there was no temple, and no public praise such as he had been accustomed to. A similar sentiment is expressed by David in Ps. vi. 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee; In the grave who shall give thee thanks? In regard to the Jewish conceptions of the state of the dead see Notes on ch. xiv. 15, 19. ¶ Cannot hope for thy truth. They are shut out from all the means by which thy truth is brought to the mind, and the offers of salvation are presented. Their probation is at an end; their privileges are closed; their destiny is sealed up. The idea is, it is a privilege to live because this is a world where the offers of salvation are made, and where those who are conscious of guilt may hope in the mercy of God. 19. The living, the living. An emphatic or intensive form of ex 20 The LORD was ready to save me : therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. 21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall re cover. New Translation. 20. JEHOVAH was for my salvation; And upon my stringed instruments will we sing, In the house of JEHOVAH. 21. Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay them softened pression, as in vs. 11, 17. Nothing would express his idea but a repetition of the word, as if the heart was full of it. He shall praise thee. Shall celebrate thy goodness and mercy in the temple, or in songs of praise. The father to the children. One generation of the living to another. The father shall have so deep a sense of the goodness of God that he shall desire to make it known to his children, and to perpetuate the memory of it in the earth. He was prompt, quick to T Therefore will we sing The song of Hezekiah was 20. The LORD was ready to save me. save me. He did not hesitate, or delay. my songs. Or my family, and nation. designed evidently not as a mere record, but to be used in celebrating the praises of God, and probably in a public manner in the temple. The restoration of the monarch was a fit occasion for public rejoicing; and it is probable that he composed this ode to be used by the company of singers that were employed constantly in the temple. To the stringed instruments. We will set it to music, and will use it publicly. See Notes on ch. v. 12. 21. For Isaiah had said. In the parallel place in Kings the statement in these two verses is introduced before the account of the miracle on the sun-dial, and before the account of his recovery. 2 Kings xx. 7, 8. The order in which it is introduced however is not material. Let them take a lump of figs. The word here used 7-denotes a round cake of dried figs pressed together in a mass. 1 Sam. xxv. 18. Figs were thus pressed together for preservation, and for convenience of conveyance. And lay it for a plaister. The word here used, n, denotes properly to rub, bruise, crush by rubbing; then to rub in, to anoint, to soften. Here it means they were to take dried figs and lay them softened on the ulcer. ¶ On the 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is | the sign that I shall also go up to the the sign that I shall 22. on the ulcer; and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, what is the sign that I shall go up to the house of JEHOVAH. boil. ulcer. This word means a burning sore or an inflamed Ex. ix. 9, 11, Lev. xiii. 18-20. The verb in Arabic means The noun is used to denote a species to be hot, inflamed; to ulcerate. of black leprosy in Egypt called Elephantiasis, distinguished by the black scales with which the skin is covered, and by the swelling of the legs. Here it probably denotes a pestilential boil; an eruption, or inflamed ulceration produced by the plague, that threatened immediate death. Jerome says that the plaister of figs was medicinal, and adapted to reduce the inflamation, and restore health. There is no improbability in the supposition; nor does any thing in the narrative prohibit us from supposing that natural means might have been used adapted to restore him. The miracle consisted in the arrest of the shade on the sun-dial, and in the announcement of Isaiah that he would recover. That figs when dried were used in the Materia Medica of the ancients is asserted by both Pliny, and Celsus. See Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxiii. 7, Celsus, v. 2,-quoted by Lowth. 22. Hezekiah also had said, &c. What evidence, or proof have I that I shall be restored, and permitted to go to the temple of God? The miracle on the sun-dial was wrought in answer to this request, and as a demonstration that he should yet be permitted to visit the temple of God. See Note on ver. 7. |