Isaiah 37:30

Isaiah 37:30. And this shall be a sign unto thee— The discourse is here directed to Hezekiah, whose faith in the event just predicted God is pleased to confirm by an additional sign; which sign, as it was not to happen till the event above predicted was fulfilled, was to be considered as a token, not only of God's interposition in that event, but also of his peculiar favour and protection after Sennacherib was departed. In other passages of Scripture we have signs given in the same manner, particularly Exodus 3:12. See also ch. Isa 7:14 of our prophet. At the time that Isaiah spoke this, nothing seemed more improbable than that the Jews, delivered from the Assyrians, should freely use and enjoy their land, and be supported from its spontaneous productions, as well in this as in the subsequent sabbatical year. Pilkington observes, that the word ספיח saphiiach rendered such things as grow of themselves, properly signifies, the "natural produce of the ground the first year it was cultivated;" and the word שׁחיס shachiis, rendered, that which springeth of the same, denotes, "the natural produce of the ground the second year;" which likewise was produced by the seed scattered in the preceding harvest.