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Hezekiah’s Illness38 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the L ord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the L ord: 3“Remember now, O L ord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Then the word of the L ord came to Isaiah: 5“Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the L ord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this city. 7 “This is the sign to you from the L ord, that the L ord will do this thing that he has promised: 8See, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
9 A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: 10 I said: In the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. 11 I said, I shall not see the L ord in the land of the living; I shall look upon mortals no more among the inhabitants of the world. 12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end; 13 I cry for help until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like a swallow or a crane I clamor, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security! 15 But what can I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. All my sleep has fled because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things people live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh, restore me to health and make me live! 17 Surely it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but you have held back my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. 18 For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. 19 The living, the living, they thank you, as I do this day; fathers make known to children your faithfulness.
20 The L ord will save me, and we will sing to stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the L ord.
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.” 22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the L ord?” New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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8. Lo, I bring back the shadow of degrees. The sign which is here given to Hezekiah is the going back of the shadow on the sundial, along with the sun, ten degrees by which it had already gone up, 7878 This is evidently an oversight, but the author’s reading is “ascenderat.” which corresponds to the French version, “qu’il estoit monte“ In Calvin’s version, prefixed to the commentary on this chapter, ירדה (yaradah) is correctly rendered “descenderat,” that is, “had gone down.” — Ed that is, had advanced above the horizon. And this sign bears a resemblance to the event itself, as all other signs generally do; for it is as if he had said, “As it is in my power to change the hours of the day, and to make the sun go backwards, so it is in my power to lengthen thy life.” As to the shadow not going back as many degrees as there were years added to his life, that was impossible, because there were not more than twelve degrees on the sundial; for the day was divided by them into twelve hours, either longer or shorter, according to the change of the season. We need not, therefore, give ourselves any uneasiness about the number; it is enough that there is a manifest correspondence and resemblance. On the sundial of Ahaz. 7979 See Note at the end of this volume — Ed. Here the Jews make fables according to their custom, and contrive a story, that the day on which Ahaz died was shorter than ten hours, and that what God had justly inflicted on him as a punishment for his sins was reversed for the benefit of Hezekiah; because the shortening of one day was the lengthening of another. But there is no history of this, and it is entirely destitute not only of evidence but of probability; nor is there anything said here about the death of Ahaz, or about the change which took place when he died, but about the sundial which he had made. |