Isaiah 38:21, Isaiah 38:22 KJV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 38:9-22

We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, 2 Chron. 29:30. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of divine... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 38:21

For Isaiah had said ,.... Before the above writing was made, which ends in the preceding verse; for this and the following are added by Isaiah, or some other person, taken out of 2 Kings 20:7 . The Septuagint version adds, "to Hezekiah"; but the speech seems rather directed to some of his servants, or those that were about him: let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover ; which was done, and he did accordingly recover. Aben Ezra, Jarchi,... read more

Adam Clarke

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 38:1-22

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 38:9-22

The song of Hezekiah. It is a song of peculiar sweetness—from a literary point of view, characterized by great elegance; from a spiritual point of view, unfolding some deepest elements of Hebrew and of human pathos. I. THE CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH . It was in middle life , in the "noon-tide of his days," that he had to face the dark gates of Sheol. "Midway in life, as to Dante, came his peril of death." It has been said that there is a peculiar melancholy in middle life.... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 38:21

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 20:7-8. The order in which it is introduced, however, is not material.Let them take a lump of figs - The word used here (דבלה debēlâh) denotes “a round cake” of dried figs pressed together in a mass 1 Samuel 25:18. Figs were thus pressed together for preservation, and for convenience of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 38:21-22

Isaiah 38:21-22. For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs See note on 2 Kings 20:7. Hezekiah also had said Or, for Hezekiah had said; What is the sign that I shall go up Namely, within three days, as is more fully related 2Ki 20:5 ; 2 Kings 20:8; to the house of the Lord? For thither he designed to go first, partly that he might pay his vows and thanksgivings to God, and partly that he might engage the people to praise God with him and for him. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 38:1-22

Hezekiah’s illness and recovery (38:1-22)The events recorded in Chapters 38 and 39 probably happened before those of the previous chapters. Hezekiah was about to die (38:1), but in answer to his prayer God gave him an extension of life. It seems that the reason for preserving Hezekiah’s life was to enable him to bring Judah through the time of conflict with Assyria (2-6). God gave Hezekiah a miraculous sign to confirm that this extension of life was according to the divine will (7-8).Hezekiah... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Isaiah 38:21

"Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?"This injection of some pertinent fact into a narrative subsequently to its actual chronological occurrence is a typical feature of the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. As an example, in Jonah, after the men cast lots and charged him with being the cause of the danger they were in, learned... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 38:21

Isaiah 38:21. For Isaiah had said, &c.— Now Isaiah had said. "It seems to me extremely probable, (says Dr. Mead,) that the king's disease was a fever, which terminated in an abscess: for, in cases of this kind, those things are always proper which promote suppuration, especially digestive and resolving cataplasms, and dried figs are excellent for this intention. Thus the Omnipotent, who could remove this distemper by his word alone, chose to do it by the effect of natural remedies. And here... read more