Isaiah 38

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 38:21

Let them take a lump of figs, etc. - God, in effecting this miraculous cure, was pleased to order the use of means not improper for that end. " Folia, et, quae non maturuere, fici, strumis illinuntur omnibusque quae emollienda sunt discutiendave ." - Plin. Nat. Hist. 23:7. " Ad discutienda ea, quae in corporis parte aliqua coierunt, maxime possunt-ficus arida ," etc. - Celsus, 5:11. See the note on 2 Kings 20:7 ; (note). Philemon Holland translates the passage as a medical man:... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

In those days . The illness of Hezekiah is fixed by Isaiah 38:5 (and 2 Kings 20:6 ) to the fourteenth year of his reign, or b.c. 714. The entire narrative of this chapter and the next is therefore thirteen or fourteen years earlier than that of Isaiah 36:1-22 ; Isaiah 37:1-38 ; which belongs to Hezekiah's closing years, b.c. 701-698 (see the comment on Isaiah 26:1 , Isaiah 26:2 ). Sick unto death ; i.e. attacked by a malady which, if it had run its natural course, would have... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

The duty of men, in view of death, to set their house in order. Nothing is more manifest than the duty of all men, in view of that departure which they know to impend over them as an absolute certainty, only doubtful in respect of its date, to arrange their worldly affairs as prudence requires, and not leave them in confusion. In complicated societies, and in states where civilization is advanced, the duty presses more especially, since the greatest care constantly requires to be taken lest,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

The strain of notice to die. Satan is represented in the Book of Job as poetically describing man's clinging to life thus: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." Usually death creeps on us with so slow and silent a tread that we grow familiar with it; our powers fade, and passing becomes easy. But sometimes the arrest comes in the very midst of life, when hope smiles, when the future makes large promises, and the claims upon us seem so great that we cannot be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-3

A vision of death. The scene is one of true pathos; it is one of those touches of nature which" make the whole world kin." We have— I. DEATH SUDDENLY PRESENTING ITSELF TO MAN IN HIS PRIME . ( Isaiah 38:1 .) Death is very common in infancy; it must be near in old age. It occasions no surprise, and brings comparatively little pain or grief when it occurs at either of these extremes. Infancy does not understand it, and age accepts or even welcomes it. But occasionally,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-8

Sickness and recovery of Hezekiah. All pathos ultimately turns upon contrast, and the greatest of all contrasts is that between death and life. All who have passed through a dangerous illness, and have been brought nigh unto the gates of death, will feel touched by this narrative, which hints meanings that lie below the surface. I. THE WARNING . The king falls into deadly sickness; and the prophet's voice assures him that his days are numbered. "Thou shalt die, and not live." The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-22

SECTION II .— HEZEKIAH 'S ILLNESS , AND THE EMBASSY OF MERODACH - BALADAN ( Isaiah 38:1-22 ; Isaiah 39:1-8 .). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2

Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall . The action resembles that of Ahab ( 1 Kings 21:4 ); but the spirit is wholly different. Ahab turned away in sullenness, Hezekiah that he might pray undisturbed. Beds seem to have been placed in the corners of rooms, with the head against one wall of the room, and one side against another. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2

Private and personal prayer. It should be noticed that Hezekiah was a man who so believed in prayer as to immediately resort to it in every new emergency of life. It was his first way of relief. He sought God at once. In a time of great national distress, he went into the house of the Lord, and spread the insulting letter of his enemies before the Lord. In a time of personal peril, when disease was gaining ground and vitality was failing, and it was made evident that he must die, he sought... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2-6

The power of prayer. The story of these chapters (36-38.) is remarkably illustrative of the power of "effectual fervent prayer." Four points may be noted. I. PRAYER IS POTENT TO DESTROY THE ADVERSARIES OF GOD AT THE GREATEST HEIGHT OF THEIR GLORY AND BOASTING . Assyria had reached the acme of her might. She had destroyed nation after nation; she had "gone up and overflowed." All Western Asia was hers, and now she threatened to effect a lodgment in... read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 38:21

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-8

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 38:2-6

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