Isaiah 38:12-22
Isa 38:12
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a
shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with
pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
At this point Hezekiah is about thirty nine years old.
He believes that his days have been cut short as a tent which is used by
shepherds that can be uprooted and moved at any time to be able to follow the
feeding and watering of the flock.
The weaver’s cloth is one that is cut off from the loom when the woven garment
is completed. A pining sickness is
one that causes one to languish in sickness and disease until the end.
He had expected that before the night fell that he would be dead from the
disease.
Isa 38:13
I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will
he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of
me.
He believed that he could live no longer than the
following morning. Just like a lion
who breaks the bones of his prey, he believed God would do the same to him in a
symbolic way but he was in such pain that he felt that his end was close and
would be sudden like a lion who kills his prey.
He still felt that God would take him in death before the night fell upon
Judah.
Isa 38:14
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did
mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am
oppressed; undertake for me.
He had made noises in his disease as a bird who is
frightened and chatters or chirps.
The mourning dove has such a haunting sound and always sounds like it is in
distress. He had looked heavenward
to God for relief but it did not come and it was like he was looking in vain.
He had asked God to help alleviate his suffering.
He asked God to undertake relief for him or healing from this disease.
He knew that the physicians could not help in this matter.
Isa 38:15
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and
himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of
my soul.
God’s answer to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah had
granted him healing. God was the
one who healed Hezekiah and granted him fifteen more years of life.
He knows that the next fifteen years is not going to be an extended
vacation but will be filled with trials and tribulations which he must face as
king of Judah. To go softly means
he will live his years in meditation and prayer living his life in calmness and
not arrogancy like the pagan kings.
Isa 38:16
O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these
things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to
live.
“These things” refers to the fact that humility and not
arrogance is the way that people should live their lives.
Hezekiah had humbled himself before the LORD and the LORD heard his
request and granted him fifteen more years of life.
The LORD not only promised that Hezekiah would recover but would be
granted fifteen more years of life.
Isa 38:17
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast
in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast
cast all my sins behind thy back.
God had allowed him to suffer this sickness because now
Hezekiah knows the peace that God has given him in comparison to the great
bitterness he had known in sickness.
God had shown Hezekiah much love as he brought him back from the
precipice of death. Hezekiah then
brings in the fact that God has cast all his sins behind his back, that is, he
has forgiven any sins which Hezekiah has committed and will never bring them up
against him. The true believer in
Christ can also claim this promise that God has forgiven and removed our sins
from us.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)
When a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior,
all their sins are forgiven and removed.
The soul is made clean and ready for Heaven at that moment.
Isa 38:18
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not
celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Hezekiah continues to praise and extol the God of Heaven
who has granted him recovery and fifteen more guaranteed years of life.
He brings to the forefront the reality that if he would have died, he
would no longer be able to praise the LORD and speak of his works.
The physically dead in the grave are just that, dead, and do not have the
ability to praise the LORD.
For in death
there is no remembrance of
thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? (Psalm 6:5)
There is also a spiritual aspect to this also.
Those who are spiritually dead cannot praise the LORD nor can they
celebrate him as one who is born again and has the Holy Spirit indwelling in
them.
God
is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
Once a person is in the grave, there is no more chance to hear the true
gospel anymore.
Isa 38:19
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do
this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. (Romans 6:4) Only those
who are truly born again who are the spiritually alive can in reality praise the
LORD. We were once spiritually dead
but God resurrected us to newness of life.
Just as Hezekiah was sick unto death, God healed him and that was a
picture of the true believer as they are taken from sin sickness to spiritual
wholeness. This resulted in
Hezekiah promising to make known the deeds of the LORD to the next generation.
It is like a person who is born again and determines to send forth the
gospel to the best of their ability reaching as many as he can.
Isa 38:20
The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will
sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house
of the LORD.
The LORD was ready to hear the supplications of Hezekiah
and was more than willing to grant his request as he prayed according to the
will of God. As a result of the
LORD showing great kindness to him, he determines that he will rejoice in the
house of the LORD and will use stringed instruments or whatever is available to
sing the praises of the LORD. The
fifteen added years was like a time of revival for Hezekiah.
Isa 38:21
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and
lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
God had promised Hezekiah that he would recover but by
placing the lump of figs God was also giving a principle.
He wanted Hezekiah fully involved with his recovery.
The promise was there for recovery and extended life but Hezekiah was to
have a part in his own recovery.
This principle was carried over into the New Testament.
In John 9, Jesus healed the blind man but to complete his healing, he was
to wash in the pool of Siloam.
6 When he had thus spoken, he
spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of
the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the
pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore,
and washed, and came seeing. (John 9:6-7)
Now could Jesus have healed him without him washing in the pool?
Of course, Jesus could blink his eye and cure every disease in the world
in a nanosecond but he wants us fully involved in every aspect of our Christian
walk, from the physical to the spiritual.
Isa 38:22
Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I
shall go up to the house of the LORD?
The Hezekiah asks concerning the sign that will be
evident that he will go up to the house of the LORD.
If you recall it was the sundial which was to go back ten degrees.