_A.M. 3295. B.C. 709._ Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, 2 Kings 20:1. The sign given him, 2 Kings 20:8. He shows the Babylonians all his treasures, 2 Kings 20:12; 2 Kings 20:13. The Babylonish captivity foretold, 2 Kings 20:14. He dies, _2Ki 20:20, 2 Kings 20:21._... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death_ That is, in the same year in which the king of Assyria invaded Judea; for Hezekiah reigned in all twenty-nine years, and surviving this sickness fifteen years, it must have happened in his fourteenth year, which was the year in which Sennacherib invaded h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then he turned his face to the wall_ As he lay in his bed. He could not retire to his closet; but he retired as well as he could; he turned from the company to converse with God. When we cannot be so private as we would in our devotions, nor perform them with the usual outward expressions of revere... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember how I have walked before thee in truth_ Sincerely, with an honest mind. I am not conscious to myself of any exorbitances, for which thou art wont to shorten men's days. _And Hezekiah wept sore_ “Under the law, long life and uninterrupted health were promised as the rewards of obedience, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court_ Namely, of the king's palace. This is mentioned to show God's great readiness to hear the prayers of his children. _Thus saith the God of thy father David _ I am mindful of my promise made to David and his house, and will make it good in thy person.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will add to thy days fifteen years_ Beyond what thou dost now expect, and beyond the time thou wouldst live if I left thee to the force of thy disease. We have not an instance of any other who was told beforehand just how long he should live. God has wisely kept us at uncertainties, that we may b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take a lump of figs_ Though the deliverance was certainly promised, yet means must be used, and those suitable. The figs would help to ripen the bile, and bring it to a head, that the matter of the disease might be discharged that way. This means, however, would have been altogether insufficient of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hezekiah said to Isaiah_ Or rather, _had said;_ for it is evident this was said before his recovery, though his recovery be mentioned before it. _What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me?_ He asks a sign, not because he distrusted the divine promise, but for the strengthening of his faith,... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is a light thing for the sun to go down_ Namely, in an instant: for that motion of the sun is natural as to the kind of it, though miraculous for the swiftness of it; but the motion backward would be both ways miraculous.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord_ Being moved by God's Spirit, first to offer him this sign, and then to pray for it. _And he brought the shadow ten degrees backward_ “The dial in use among the Jews,” says Dr. Dodd, “was a kind of stairs; the time of the day was distinguished, not by lines, b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Berodach-baladan_ He seems to have been the king of Assyria's viceroy in Babylon; and, upon the terrible slaughter in the Assyrian host, and the death of Sennacherib, and the differences among his sons, to have usurped absolute sovereignty over Babylon: and either himself or his son destroyed the A... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hezekiah hearkened unto them_, &c. He was so pleased, or rather, transported with joy, at the honour the king of Babylon had done him, that he not only gave his ambassadors a gracious audience, and granted them a league and amity, but ordered his officers to show them all the rarities and precious... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country_ A vain-glorious expression, intimating the great honour which he had from all parts, far and near. _Even from Babylon_ That potent monarchy; which he mentions to magnify his own honour and happiness. _What have they seen in thy house?_ He asks, not b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Isaiah said, Hear the word of the Lord_ Hear what his judgment is of this, and how wide his thoughts are from thy thoughts! Thou wast transported when the messengers of the king of Babylon arrived; to thy eye it appeared the most favourable conjuncture that could have happened to thee; thou madest... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, the days come_, &c. So small was the power of the Babylonians at this time, in respect of their mighty neighbour, the king of Assyria, whom the Jews stood in perpetual fear of, that nothing could seem more improbable than that the Babylonians should carry away the inhabitants of Jerusalem c... [ Continue Reading ]
_And of thy sons_, &c. Thy grand-children, who are often called sons. _They shall be eunuchs_, &c. They shall be servants to that heathen monarch, whereby both their bodies will be subject to slavery, and their souls exposed to the peril of idolatry, and all sorts of wickedness. This was a very sore... [ Continue Reading ]
_Good is the word of the Lord_ I heartily submit to this sentence, as being most just and merciful. All true penitents, when they are under divine rebukes, call them not only just, but good: not only submit to, but accept of the punishment of their iniquity. So Hezekiah did, and by this it appeared... [ Continue Reading ]