In these days was Hezekiah sick unto death ,.... Of this sickness of Hezekiah, the message of the prophet Isaiah to him, and his prayer upon it; see Gill on Isaiah 38:1 ; see Gill on Isaiah 38:2 ; see Gill on Isaiah 38:3 . read more
And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court ,.... Of the king's palace, which is called the other court within the porch, 1 Kings 7:8 so it is according to the marginal reading, which we follow; but the textual reading is, "the middle city"; Jerusalem was divided into three parts, and this was the middle part Isaiah was entering into: but before he did, so it was: that the word of the Lord came to him, saying ; as follows. read more
Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people ,.... The king of them, as the Targum: thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears ; See Gill on Isaiah 38:5 . behold, I will heal thee ; instantly, miraculously; and none but God could heal him, his disease being in its kind mortal, and he had been told from the Lord that he should die: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord : the temple, to give thanks... read more
And I will add unto thy days fifteen years ,.... See Gill on Isaiah 38:5 . and I will deliver thee, and this city, out of the hand of the king of Assyria ; by which it appears that this sickness and recovery were before the destruction of the Assyrian army: and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake : for the sake of his honour and glory in the temple, and the service of it, that were in Jerusalem, and for the sake of his promise to David and his... read more
And Isaiah said, take a lump of figs ,.... Not moist figs, but a cake of dried figs, as the word used signifies, and so the less likely to have any effect in curing the boil: and they took, and laid it on the boil, and he recovered ; made a plaster of it, and laid it on the ulcer, and it was healed. Physicians observe F21 Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 620. Vid. Levin. Lemnii Herb. Bibl. Explicat. c. 19. p. 60. , that as such like inflammations consist in a painful extension... read more
And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah ,.... Or "had said", F23 ויאמר "dixerat autem", V. L. Vatablus. before the plaster of figs was directed to, or, however, laid on, and as soon as he was told he should be healed: what shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day ? not that he disbelieved the promise of God, or doubted of a cure, but this he requested for the confirmation of his faith; which good men sometimes asked, when... read more
And Isaiah said, this sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken ,.... Cure him of his disorder, so that he should be able to go to the temple on the third day: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees ? that is, the shadow of the sun on a dial plate; it was left to his option to choose which he would, as the confirming sign of his recovery. read more
And Hezekiah answered, it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees ,.... That is, it was comparatively so, otherwise to go down ten degrees at once would be extraordinary and miraculous; but that was more agreeable to the nature and course of it to go forward, and so the miracle would be less apparent: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees ; which was directly contrary to its natural order and course, whereby the miracle would appear more clear and manifest:... read more
And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord ,.... Or prayed, as the Targum; and was very earnest in prayer, that what Hezekiah had desired might be granted: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz ; Ben Gersom understands it not of the sun itself, but of the shadow of it only; See Gill on Isaiah 38:8 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 20:1-11
The historian, having shown us blaspheming Sennacherib destroyed in the midst of the prospects of life, here shows us praying Hezekiah delivered in the midst of the prospects of death?the days of the former shortened, of the latter prolonged. I. Here is Hezekiah's sickness. In those days, that is, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem; for he reigning reigned? in all twenty-nine years, and surviving this fifteen years, this must be in his fourteenth year, and so was... read more