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Isaiah Chapter
Thirty-eight
Isaiah 38
Chapter Contents
Hezekiah's sickness and recovery. (1-8) His thanksgiving.
(9-22)
Commentary on Isaiah 38:1-8
(Read Isaiah 38:1-8)
When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us
such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be
of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven, and that, whether we live
or die, we shall be his, we do not pray in vain. See 2 Kings 20:1-11.
Commentary on Isaiah 38:9-22
(Read Isaiah 38:9-22)
We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving. It is well for us
to remember the mercies we receive in sickness. Hezekiah records the condition
he was in. He dwells upon this; I shall no more see the Lord. A good man wishes
not to live for any other end than that he may serve God, and have communion
with him. Our present residence is like that of a shepherd in his hut, a poor,
mean, and cold lodging, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the
shepherd has. Our days are compared to the weaver's shuttle, Job 7:6, passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw
leaving a thread behind it; and when finished, the piece is cut off, taken out
of the loom, and showed to our Master to be judged of. A good man, when his
life is cut off, his cares and fatigues are cut off with it, and he rests from
his labours. But our times are in God's hand; he has appointed what shall be
the length of the piece. When sick, we are very apt to calculate our time, but
are still at uncertainty. It should be more our care how we shall get safe to
another world. And the more we taste of the loving-kindness of God, the more
will our hearts love him, and live to him. It was in love to our poor perishing
souls that Christ delivered them. The pardon does not make the sin not to have
been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. It is pleasant to think of our
recoveries from sickness, when we see them flowing from the pardon of sin.
Hezekiah's opportunity to glorify God in this world, he made the business, and
pleasure, and end of life. Being recovered, he resolves to abound in praising
and serving God. God's promises are not to do away, but to quicken and
encourage the use of means. Life and health are given that we may glorify God
and do good.
¢w¢w Matthew Henry¡mConcise Commentary on Isaiah¡n
Isaiah 38
Verse 13
[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.
I reckon ¡X When I could not rest all the night even 'till
morning, my thoughts were presaging that God would instantly break me to
pieces, and the like thoughts followed me from morning 'till evening.
Verse 16
[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.
By these ¡X By thy promises, and thy performance of them;
therefore it is not strange, that one word of God hath brought me back from the
jaws of death.
Verse 18
[18] For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not
celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Praise ¡X The dead are not capable of glorifying thy name among
men upon earth. They cannot expect nor receive the accomplishment of thy
promised goodness in the land of the living.
Verse 20
[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.
Was ready ¡X Was a present help.
¢w¢w John Wesley¡mExplanatory Notes on Isaiah¡n
38 Chapter 38
Verse 1
Verses 1-22
Verses 1-8
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death
Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness: the historical framework
It cannot surprise us now to be carried back to the time when
Jerusalem was still under the despotic sceptre of Assyria, since the purpose of
the concluding piece Isaiah 37:36-38) was merely in
anticipation to complete the picture ofthe last Assyrian troubles, by relating
their termination as foretold by Isaiah Isaiah 31:8).
(F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The parallel
passage
(2 Kings 20:1-11) varies more from
that before us than in the preceding chapter. So far as they are parallel, the
narrative in Kings is more minute and circumstantial, and at the same time more
exactly chronological in its arrangement. On the other hand, the Psalm is
wholly wanting in that passage. All these circumstances favour the conclusion
that the text before us is the first draft, and the other a repetition by the
hand of the same writer. (J. A. Alexander.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness and recovery
This sickness and recovery of Hezekiah from the gates of death,
was an event of such national importance as made it properly find a place here,
as well as in the historical books. For the throne of David, as far as we know,
was without an heir at this moment; and Hezekiah¡¦s death might have been
followed by some such interregnum, anarchy, and seizure of the crown by a
soldier, as hastened the downfall of the kingdom of Ephraim. Such a failure in
the succession, in times of national depression and disorganisation, would be
pregnant with evil even in England now; and we must remember that in Judea
then, as in all Eastern and patriarchal governments still, the personal
character of the hereditary sovereign was of an importance to the people which
it has to a great degree, though not utterly, lost in every country of Europe
except Russia, Let us contrast the character and acts of Hezekiah with those of
his immediate predecessor and successor, and we shall see of what moment it was
that the interval by which his reign separated theirs should be prolonged
fifteen years; and especially when the country needed a hand disciplined by
experience and guided by faith to recover it from the moral and material
disorganisation into which (as we know from Isaiah¡¦s discourses) it had fallen
during the Assyrian supremacy. And thus this crisis in the personal life of
Hezekiah--the fact cannot be denied, though here, as in so many like cases, our
philosophy cannot trace out the connection of cause and effect became the type
and symbol of the like crisis in the life of the nation: it, too, was sick unto
death, and was granted a new period of life by God after it was past the help
of man. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
disease
When the prophet first came to him he addressed him in words
clearly indicating the gravity of the disease. ¡§Thus saith the Lord, Set thine
house in order,¡¨ &c. We cannot, therefore, think that it was an ordinary
simple boil with which the king was affected. Nor have we any ground for
supposing, as some have suggested, that the disease was bubo-plague, which does
not occur as an isolated case, and we have no evidence to lead us to think that
any epidemic of such a disease prevailed. But it might have been, and probably
was, a carbuncle, which is often a most severe and painful thing, endangering
and often terminating the life of the sufferer. For this a poultice of figs
would be an appropriate local remedy, as in the present day are cataplasms of
various kinds. But doubtless the recovery of the king was through Divine
interposition, by which the danger to life was averted, and of which Isaiah¡¦s
prescription was but a symbol. The answer to his prayer, accompanied by the
promise that on the third day he should go up to the house of the Lord, is
sufficient evidence that the cure of a disease by which he had been brought to
death¡¦s door, was not brought about by natural means. (Sir Risdon Bennett,
M. D. , LL. D.)
What was
Hezekiah¡¦s disease?
My friend, Dr. Lauder Brunton, tells me that he has been led to
view the disease as ¡§tonsillitis,¡¨ from the similarity of the symptoms
described by Isaiah with those of some cases of quinsy (tonsillitis). ¡§In many
cases,¡¨ says Dr. Brunton, ¡§that I have seen, the pains in the bones have been
so severe as to attract the attention of the patient, to the exclusion of all
mention of sore throat. If Hezekiah suffered from tonsillitis, his comparison
of a lion breaking his bones is a very apt one, and the swelling, of the
tonsils would also explain the alteration in his speech, which made him
¡¥chatter like a crane or a swallow.¡¦ The dried figs would be almost the only
poultice that could be applied to the boil in his fauces, and the rapid
maturation of the inflamed boil in the throat affected by the poultice would
explain the rapid recovery.¡¨ (Sir Risdon Bennett, M. D. , LL. D.)
Every disease
is a little death
I have heard it said that every disease is a little death;
therefore God sends us many little deaths to instruct our preparation for the
great death. The oftener a man dies, the better he may know how to die well. (T.
Adams.)
A sick man¡¦s
glass
I. THE MESSAGE sent to Hezekiah while he was sick.
1. The time.
2. The person to
whom it was sent.
3. The person by
whom it was sent.
4. The message
itself. ¡§Set thine house in order.¡¨
5. The reason why
the king is advised so to do. Thou shalt die, and not live.
II. THE BEHAVIOUR OF HEZEKIAH when he had heard the message.
1. He turned his
face to the wall.
2. He prayed.
3. He wept sore. (R.
Hachet, D. D.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness
1. These words
present to our view a person
2. By the goodness
of God, a prophet was sent to him, to admonish him of the preparation that his
state required: and the same goodness hath provided that you shall all be
frequently admonished of the same thing, by the ministers of His Word.
3. The admonition
given him was the means of prolonging his days in peace and comfort: and those
given you, if received in a right manner, may, both naturally and
providentially, contribute to procure you longer and happier lives in this
world; and will certainly lead you to a life of eternal happiness in the next.
(T. Seeker, LL. D.)
The duties of
the sick
The text mentions the obligations of sick persons--
I. RESPECTING THEIR FELLOW-CREATURES. ¡§Set thine house in order.¡¨
This direction may well be enlarged to comprehend--
1. Due regulation
of all affairs in which the sick are interested.
2. Proper advice
to all persons with whom the sick are connected.
II. RESPECTING MORE IMMEDIATELY GOD AND THEIR OWN SOULS. ¡§Then
Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord.¡¨ His prayer, indeed, if the whole of it be
recorded in Scripture, was only that he might recover; a request which for the
public good he had urgent reasons to make in the first place. And that being
instantly granted, he had no need to apply further to God, in relation to his
sickness, otherwise than by thanksgiving, which he did. But they who have more
extensive wants at that time are both authorised and bound to enlarge in
proportion the subject of their addresses to the throne of grace; and therefore
I shall endeavour to comprehend under this head all the religious duties of the
sick.
1. The first
principle of all regard to God is faith. There are indeed very good persons
who, m illnesses, are tempted to partial, or even total unbelief. And if any
seeming reasons for it be suggested to their minds, they ought to inquire
after, and oppose to them reasonable answers.
2. Self-examination.
3. Such repentance
as our case requires.
4. The sick ought
to be very constant in every other exercise of private piety. For as they are
cut off from active life, they have more leisure for religious contemplation.
And as they want all the improvement and comfort which they can have, so they
will receive the most of both by frequent lifting up of their hearts to ¡§the
God of patience and consolation.¡¨ (T. Seeker, LL. D.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness and recovery
I. THIS SICKNESS WAS VERY GRIEVOUS, upon several accounts.
1. For the nature
of the disease, which is supposed to have been pestilential.
2. The pain of his
distemper was aggravated with the sentence which the prophet passed upon him in
the name of God. The hope of recovery, which contributes very much to the cure
of any distemper, was taken away from him.
3. Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness and sentence of death were embittered with this consideration, that he
was going to be cut off in the strength of his age. This shortening of life was
always esteemed as one of the calamities of our mortal condition; especially in
so high and happy a station as that of a king. David prayed against it, saying,
¡§O my God, take me not away in the midst of my age.¡¨
4. That which made
Hezekiah more lath to leave the world at this time was, that he had no child to
succeed him in his throne.
II. HIS REQUEST he enforces with the following arguments.
1. He begs God to
remember how he had walked before Him in truth and with a perfect heart.
2. Whereas other
kings had been too apt to consult their ease and carnal interests in the
practice of religion, Hezekiah had a true and thorough zeal for the glory of
God in all that he did.
III. He urged it with importunate cries and tears,
WHICH PREVAILED WITH GOD TO HEAR HIM AND GRANT HIS REQUEST. (W. Reading, M.
A.)
Supreme
attention to spiritual concerns
(with Luke 10:42):--Let us reflect--
I. ON ¡§THE ONE THING NEEDFUL,¡¨ i.e., living religion.
II. ON THE CONSEQUENT DUTY OF ¡§SETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER, knowing
that we shall die, and not live.¡¨ (W. Graham.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
sincerity
This verse (Isaiah 38:3) is not an angry
expostulation, nor an ostentatious self-praise, but an appeal to the only
satisfactory evidence of his sincerity. (J. A. Alexander.)
Set thine house in order.
Human
mortality
I. We have here set before us THE FACT OF OUR MORTALITY. ¡§Thou shalt
die, and not live.¡¨ How apt we are to think of other people¡¦s death, but not of
our own. We are ready to say, ¡§O! it was no wonder that little, weak infant
died--it was no wonder that worn-out, aged man or woman died--it was no wonder
that sickly person died.¡¨ And when we hear of suddendeaths, by some strange
disease or accident, we have a secret feeling that the same thing is not likely
to happen to ourselves. There was something peculiar in their condition or
circumstances, which made them more open than ourselves to that awful visitation.
Yet why all this foolish hiding of the truth? Until we are able boldly and
peacefully to face this truth, there is no real comfort for us in this world.
When our Almighty Father in heaven sends to us such a message as this, ¡§Thou
shalt die, and not live,¡¨ it is not to vex and to distress us, but only to
awaken in us those thoughts which are needful for us in our present state of
being.
II. HOW WE ARE TO ¡§SET OUR HOUSE IN ORDER,¡¨ so as to be able to meet
with calmness both the actual coming of death and the thought of its coming.
With the best of men, the near approach of that last dread hour is a time of
deep solemnity.
1. The first point
in this work is to see that our hope for eternity is placed upon a right
foundation; and none other can be found but that which God Himself has laid for
us to build on--namely, His own free mercies in His dear Son, Jesus Christ.
2. If we would
¡§set our house¡¨ truly ¡§in order,¡¨ we must remember that there is a work to be
wrought in us, as well as for us. ¡§Without holiness no man shall see the Lord!¡¨
(J. W. Colenso, D. D.)
Preparation
for the end of time
I. THE INJUNCTION URGED. ¡§Set thine house in order.¡¨ We refer--
1. To temporal
affairs. This is evident from the more literal translation: ¡§Give charge
concerning thine house.¡¨
2. To spiritual
matters.
II. THE REASON. ¡§For thou shalt die, and not live.¡¨
1. Death is
certain for all.
2. The time is
uncertain; therefore, it is every one¡¦s duty to be prepared.
3. The time may be
very near.
4. The best of men
need special preparation.
Hezekiah was not a bad man, but he had a special message. So God
often scuds a time of sickness as a special warning. How much better and
happier will every man be if he has set his house in order! (Homilist.)
New Year¡¦s
thoughts
The first Sunday in the new year is surely, with every minister of
Christ who watcheth with the eye and love of a true shepherd over his flock, a
time for--
1. General rebuke.
2. Remonstrance.
3. Godly
encouragement.
I. THE AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION. It came directly from God at the
mouth of His prophet; and whatever comes from God must be characterised by
God¡¦s attributes, must bear the impress of His wisdom, must be pregnant with
the purposes of His love.
II. THE SUDDENNESS OF THE COMMISSION. How it must have startled the
king on his bed!
III. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE COMMISSION. ¡§Set thine
house in order¡¨--this is the direction; ¡§for thou shalt die, and not
live¡¨--this is the doom. Thou art the man upon whom the mark is set, this
carries the reflections home. When shall I die? How shall I die? Shall I die a
hard or a peaceful death? Shall I die as an impenitent and despairing sinner,
or as a pardoned, a redeemed, a rejoicing saint? (T. J. Judkin.)
Preparation
for death
Our being ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but
much the easier; and those that are fit to die are most fit to live. (M.
Henry.)
Contemplating
the time of death
Perhaps the most awful moment of our lives is when we first feel
in danger of death. All our past life then seems to be a cloud of words and
shadows, altogether external to the realities of the soul. Not only childhood
and youth, happiness and sorrow, eager hopes and disturbing fears, but even our
communion with God, our faith in things unseen, our self-knowledge, and our repentance,
seem alike to be but visions of the memory. All has become stern, hard, and
appalling. It is as if it were the beginning of a new existence; as if we had
passed under a colder sky, and into a world where every object has a sharpness
of outline almost too severe for sight to bear. Let us see what we ought to do
when God warns us.
I. WE MUST ASK OURSELVES THIS QUESTION, Is there any one sin, great
or small, of the flesh or of the spirit, that we willingly and knowingly
commit? This is, in fact, the crisis of our whole spiritual life. By consent in
one sin, a man is guilty of the whole principle of rebellion. A holy man is not
a man who never sins, but who never sins willingly. A sinner is not a man who
never does anything good, but who willingly does what he knows to be evil. The
whole difference lies within the sphere and compass of the will.
II. WE MUST NEXT SEARCH AND SEE WHETHER THERE IS AN ANYTHING IN WHICH
OUR HEART IN ITS SECRET AFFECTIONS IS AT VARIANCE WITH THE MIND OF GOD for if
so, then so far our whole being is at variance with His.
III. A third test by which to test ourselves is
THE POSITIVE CAPACITY OF OUR SPIRITUAL BEING FOR THE BLISS OF HEAVEN. When St.
Paul bids us to follow after ¡§holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord,¡¨ he surely meant something more than a negative quality. Doubtless he
meant by ¡§holiness¡¨ to express the active aspirations of a spiritual nature,
thirsting for the presence of God.
IV. There are TWO SHORT COUNSELS which it may be well to add.
1. That we strive
always to live so as to be akin to the state of just men made perfect.
2. That we often
rehearse in life the last preparation we should make in death. (H. E.
Manning, D. D.)
Hezekiah
warned
1. He was warned.
2. He was
religiously warned. Isaiah was charged with the intelligence.
3. He was
considerately warned. He was not to die on the morrow, he was to have time to
set his house in order. Sometimes we feel as if we would rather not have that
time, and yet there is a merciful dispensation in the arrangement which gives a
man an opportunity of calmly approaching the end. (J. Parker, D. D.)
¡§Set thine
house in order¡¨
What does this injunction signify?
I. THAT WE ARE TO GIVE ACCOUNT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP.
II. THAT WE ARE TO BE DILIGENT IN OUR DAILY WORK
III. WE MUST LEARN TO LEAVE OUR POSSESSIONS, AND
HOLD OURSELVES READY TO DEPOT. (C. Schwartz.)
The habitual
thought of death not painful
The time will of necessity come when to every man that lives these
words will be spoken: God Himself will speak them in the manifest dealings of
his providence, making this known to us in some way which our own hearts will
instinctively interpret. Why should we be afraid to think of death!
1. Do you reply
that there is in man a natural love of life? No doubt there is. But what, then,
is that true life which lies beyond, and to which the act of departure, which
we call death, is but the entrance?
2. Or, do you say
that we are naturally repelled from mortality, and that we shrink from thinking
of the lifeless and decaying flesh? I admit it, and there is a necessary and
wholesome lesson in the bitterness of it, for how should we know what sin was
without some little conception of what death was? But I plead that this is but
for a time, till the body shall rise again in glory. The horror is to those who
live and watch the dead.
3. Or, do you say
that you fear death because it will stop for ever all the schemes and
activities of life? Do you think that the state into which we shall enter will
be a passive calm? Every hint and word in Scripture appears to me to point to
something very different.
4. Or, do you say
that you shrink from the idea of never seeing again the blue skies and the
sweet flowers, and losing all the sights and sounds that make this world
beautiful? Again, I think that you are wrong. Certainly all the imagery of the
Bible suggests a different conclusion.
5. Or, do you say
that you dread death because you cannot bear to think of parting from those you
love, and losing that sweet intercourse, and that happy interchange of mutual
affection, which spring from love? Well, all separation is painful; but in
itself, and of necessity, this separation need only be for a time--a brief
parting, with an eternal reunion beyond it, when, free from the little
hindrances that mar a perfect love on earth, we shall renew a pure affection,
consecrated for ever by the seen presence of God.
6. Do you say that
you dread to think of death because you are not certain of your state before
God? Ah! here we reach the deepest secret of all, the true source of the
uneasiness with which men think of their mortality. ¡§The sting of death is
sin,¡¨ &c. The Eternal Father is ready to forgive; the Eternal Son
sufficient to atone; the Eternal Spirit almighty to convert and sanctify; all
ready; nay, all pleading, inviting, expostulating, entreating.
7. Do you say that
you dread to think of death because the thought saddens and darkens life?
Surely this is no longer true, if, accepted in Christ Jesus, we have peace with
God. (E. Garbett, M. A.)
Preparing for
the end
I. Preparation for death is an immediate duty, because YOU CANNOT
TELL WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH.
II. IT OUGHT TO BE A CALM, DELIBERATE, AND INTELLIGENT PREPARATION.
Not with panic, or haste, or gloom.
III. THERE IS A GOD TO MEET, whose eyes will
inspect the house.
IV. THERE ARE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO BE ADJUSTED ARISING FROM OUR HUMAN
RELATIONS. (Homiletic Review.)
Thou shalt die
Death
I. DEATH.
1. In its causes.
The primary cause of death was sin. But the immediate and acting cause of
mortality is the frailty of our bodies.
2. In its nature.
What is it to die! It is not to terminate our existence. We are well assured
that nothing in being can cease to be, either of itself or by the influence of
other finite beings, but only by an exercise of the almighty power of the
Creator. To die is to undergo a solution of our present mode of existence, in
which the immaterial soul is severed from the material body, and exists
thenceforth for a time alone; whilst the body, bereft of life, loses the
qualities necessary to preserve its substance, and becomes disorganised, and
resolved into its primitive elements. How near is this world to the next! God¡¦s
wisdom and goodness have appointed a bed of sickness to be the general
precursor of death. By this He repeats solemnly, and enforces, His thousand
other warnings to us, and, in our seclusion from the engagements and pleasures
of time, gives us a further opportunity of becoming familiar with the things of
eternity, and making our peace with Him. But His wisdom discovers in what ways
our deceitful hearts will teach us to abuse His mercy, and He provides against
the evil. Had we always the warning and opportunity of sickness, we might
neglect God till it was given to us; and God has, perhaps, therefore, appointed
that death should sometimes come unwarned.
3. In its
consequences. I will not view them as they affect the body: let us leave it,
lifeless and cold, in the narrow coffin and the quiet grave, awaiting the
trumpet of the archangel. The effects of death on the soul include, doubtless,
the enlargement of its capacities, as well as its entrance on eternal joy or
misery.
II. ITS PERSONALITY. ¡§Thou.¡¨ The young. Those in the prime of life.
Those of mature years, &c.
III. ITS CERTAINTY. ¡§Thou shalt die.¡¨
1. What has become
of all our race--Adam, Noah, &c.?
2. Where are the
multitudes that have peopled your town in past days? All who have lived before
us have died, and all now living are dying. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)
Death
sometimes sudden and unexpected
I have known the bride to expire on her bridal day, the shopkeeper
when serving his customers, the player on the stage, the clergyman in his
pulpit, the lowly Christian on his knees in prayer, the swearer uttering his
curse, the thief with his plunder at his side. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)
The human
body, beautiful yet frail
The beautiful frame of man it is impossible to consider unaffected
by its frailty. A distinguished philosopher, on rising from the study of the
human frame, was so impressed with this and With the complicated nature of its
machinery, and the numberless parts that must all duly discharge their
functions to continue existence, from moment to moment, that he trembled and
feared to move, lest, by disordering some one of them, he should fall on the floor
a corpse. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)
¡§The biography
of death¡¨
¡§The biography of death¡¨ was the title of a sermon preached by a
famous London minister. For death has had a parentage, birth, history, a career
of conquest and victory, a coronation and kingdom, a ghastly dining-hall and
retinue of hired servants, and, finally, a record of disaster, defeat, and
death! The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. (Homiletic Review.)
Hezekiah
warned
Is there any peculiar significance in the announcement? There
ought not to be. All life is a warning that we are going to die. (J. Parker,
D. D.)
Facing death
When the physician told General Grant that his disease was fatal,
and might quickly do its dire work, for a little while he seemed to lose, not
courage, but hope. It was like a man gazing into his open grave. He was in no
way dismayed, but the sight was still appalling. The conqueror looking at his
inevitable conqueror: the stern soldier to whom armies had surrendered,
watching the approach of that enemy to whom even he must yield. (H. O.
Mackey.)
Looking over
the brink
A godly minister who was fond of visiting his sick and dying
people on Saturday afternoons, was asked by a brother minister, who met him on
this errand one day, why he did this, instead of staying at home and preparing
his sermons. He replied, ¡§I like to take a look over the brink.¡¨ Sometimes it
is a blessing to a man to be brought suddenly to the brink in his own life, to
look over it seriously and prayerfully, and then to take back into life the
lessons he has learned there. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Death, the
ringing of the curfew bell
William the Conqueror established the ringing of curfew bells. The
meaning of that curfew bell, sounded at eventime, was, that all the fires
should be put out or covered with ashes, all the lights should be extinguished,
and the people should go to bed. Soon for us the curfew will sound. The fires
of our life will be banked up in ashes, and we shall go into the sleep, the
cool sleep, I hope the blessed sleep. But there is no gloom in that if we are
ready. The safest thing that a Christian can do is to die. (T. De Witt
Talmage, D. D.)
A true life
the best preparation for death
An old slave, when told by his doctor that he was near death,
said: ¡§Bless you, doctor, don¡¦t let that bother you; that¡¦s what I¡¦ve been
living for.¡¨ (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Verse 2-3
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall
Hezekiah¡¦s
face turned to the wall
The obvious meaning is the wall of the room, towards which he
turned, not merely to collect his thoughts, or to conceal his tears, but as a
natural expression of strong feeling.
(J. A. Alexander.)
Self-retirement
The sick man turns his face to the wall in order to retire into
himself and God. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
A natural
shrinking from death
The voice sounded naturally as it pleaded with the Lord. The old
man wants to die; he says, I am living amongst strangers: who is he! and who is
she? what are those people? what is their occupation! I do not know where I am:
I will live in the sacred past. But the young man in middle life does not want
to die. The child does not want to go to rest at nine o¡¦clock in the morning.
We feel as if we had a call to work. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
face turned to the wall
The place of honour in an Eastern room is an angle of the
apartment, so that whichever side Hezekiah turned upon, his face would be to a
wall, and screened from observation. (E. W.Shalders, B. A.)
A good man¡¦s
plea
1. Holy men did
sometimes make mention of their good deeds before the Lord, in their prayer to
Him (Nehemiah 13:14; Jeremiah 15:15-17).
2. When they did
make mention of their good deeds before the Lord, they did it, for the most
part, when they were in trouble.
3. They did not
mention them as meritorious causes of whet they prayed Nehemiah 13:22).
4. The reason why
they mention their good deeds at such time is--
And Hezekiah wept sore
Hezekiah¡¦s
tears
In these tears we can discover--
I. A DREAD OF DEATH COMMON TO HUMAN NATURE.
1. This dread of
death has a moral cause. What is the cause? A consciousness of sin, and an
apprehension of its consequences. On the assumption that man would have died,
had he not sinned, his death, we presume, in that case, would have been free
from all that is terrible.
2. This dread of
death has a moral antidote. ¡§O death, where is thy sting?¡¨ &c. Those who
apply this remedy hail rather than dread mortality; they ¡§desire to depart,¡¨
&c.
II. THE INABILITY OF THE WORLD TO RELIEVE HUMAN NATURE. Hezekiah was a
monarch. His home was a palace, and the great men of the nation were his
willing attendants. Whatever wealth could procure, he could get at his bidding;
and yet with so much of the world, what could it do for him? Could it raise him
from his suffering couch? Nay! Could it hush one sigh, or wipe one tear away?
No! In truth, the probability is that his earthly possessions and splendour
added to the awfulness of the idea of death. The world has no power to help the
soul in its deepest griefs and wants. The soul weeps in palaces.
III. THE POWER OF PRAYER TO HELP HUMAN NATURE.
These tears were the tears of prayer as well as of fear, and his fear
stimulated his prayer. And what was the result of this prayer? ¡§I have seen thy
tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.¡¨ This is a remarkable
instance of the power of prayer, and is recorded here to encourage our
suffering nature to direct its cries to heaven. (Homilist)
Hezekiah¡¦s
distress and prayer
Hezekiah had tried to serve God faithfully, and had been taught to
expect length of days as his reward. The very consciousness of his integrity,
and of his desire to honour the Lord in the presence of his people, must have
added to his distress. What had been the fatal flaw in his service that had
brought upon him this unexpected doom? Life and immortality had not been
brought to fight. Death, for him, seemed banishment from the presence of the
Lord. In the grave he could not praise Him; dead, he could not celebrate His
glory (Isaiah 38:11; Isaiah 38:18). Twice he says, ¡§Thou wilt
make an end of me.¡¨ We seldom realise how much we owe to that resurrection
which lifted the veil that was spread over all nations. But Hezekiah teaches us
how much strength, consolation, and joy may be found in communion with God in
this life. His earthly experience, which he thought was to come to an end, was,
after all, part of the life eternal. The Hebrew¡¦s vivid sense of God¡¦s presence
with him in this life, were it more generally ours, would make our fear more
reverent, our obedience and submission more complete, and would put an end to
much of that practical atheism which prevails in the world of to-day. Let us
not miss the consolation of the message Isaiah brought to his king, ¡§I have
heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears.¡¨ Our prayers may be ignorant and
shortsighted, we may not know what to pray for as we ought, but our tears are
not overlooked. When our sadness is speechless, the scalding tears that tell
our heart¡¦s woe, move the Divine pity, and plead for us more eloquently than
any words we can put into frame. ¡§In all our afflictions, He is afflicted¡¨--to
believe this is to be consoled. (E. W. Shalders, B. A.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
prayer in affliction
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO THE UTTERANCE OF THIS PRAYER.
1. Hezekiah was
sorely afflicted. The exact nature of his disease may be difficult to
determine. There is no ground for the vague supposition that he was afflicted
with the plague which destroyed the Assyrians. The malady was probably ¡§a fever
boil¡¨ (Ewald), or ¡§a single carbuncle formed under the back of the head¡¨
(Thenius), or ¡§fever terminating in abscess¡¨ (Meade). The word shechin,
translated boil, means strictly inflammation. The crude state of medical
science then would make many diseases fatal which are now easily removed. The
body is subject to multifarious maladies. Few have perfect health. Doubtless
better health would come from wiser habits and simpler faith. But many causes
of disease are indefinable. A sick body often ministers to the growth of the
soul. It casts the shadow of eternity over the fife. It awakens prayer in the
most callous. It brings the prayerful nearer God.
2. Hezekiah
believed that his affliction would be ¡§unto death.¡¨ He probably encouraged a
hope of recovery until Isaiah came; though, as Josephus informs us, ¡§the
physicians despaired of him, and expected no good issue from his sickness; as
neither did his friends.¡¨ Hope dies hard in a sick man¡¦s breast. Isaiah,
perhaps, did what, none of Hezekiah¡¦s physicians or courtiers were prepared to
do. He faithfully delivered the Divine message. It was a painful duty. The
dying should be warned. Not to do so is an unkindness and a sin. All have some
preparations to make when death comes unexpectedly. The house of the soul needs
to be set in order as well as the estate.
3. Hezekiah met
death with great reluctance. Men generally shrink from death at its first
approach. Dr. Johnson held that no man met death willingly. Many doubtless
have. But to meet death without reluctance is no direct proof of meetness for
eternity. Remember Bunyan¡¦s ¡§Weary of the World.¡¨ The good may be unwilling to
die. Hezekiah was not spiritually unprepared. He was reluctant to die--
(1) From the
natural disinclination which men feel towards death. He was in the prime of
life. His hold of all earthly things was firm. Age loosens the grasp. He saws
time of quiet and prosperity dawning upon his kingdom, and he desired to live
to enjoy it.
II. HEZEKIAH¡¦S PRAYER.
1. He does not
utter the desire that was uppermost in his mind. We may not have recorded all
that he prayed: probably his prayer was broken off abruptly in weeping. He knew
God could interpret his broken words, his sighs, his tears. Many prayers are
too elaborately expressed. They prove their shallowness by the smooth elegance
of the language in which they are uttered. Strong feeling makes the tongue
falter. Much in prayer may be left to God¡¦s omniscience, justice, wisdom,
tenderness, and love. Like a father He interprets the heart of His child.
2. Hezekiah
appeals to his past life as a reason why his life should be prolonged. Few can
do this. Most lives are so marred, so imperfect, so sinful, that they can
furnish no argument before God. But, it has been asked, was there not in this
prayer a spirit of self-commendation contrary to the spirit of the Gospel? Not
a conscious self-clothing of deceit, but a pernicious self-ignorance? We think
not. Hezekiah lived under a dispensation of religious thought that led him to
believe that a man¡¦s character and conduct were the grounds upon which God¡¦s
favour or displeasure was bestowed. And this is true under a dispensation of
grace; though we, under that dispensation, realise as Hezekiah could not that
all our virtue is by the help of God¡¦s Spirit, and can merit little in His
sight. The modern habit of self-analysis and eagerness to find some evil to
condemn at every turn, so as to describe ourselves as the vilest of the vile,
was unknown to him. Many merely attempt to descend to some imaginary standard
of vileness which they suppose is the proper depth of self-humiliation to reach
to secure God¡¦s favour. Much of this confession of being miserable sinners is
but miserable cant. Sick-bed confessions are exposed to this danger. Such
lip-service may be, as Lynch says, ¡§most suspicious and affrighting.¡¨ What God
desires is an honest expression of our heart¡¦s convictions.
This Hezekiah gave. This prayer was uttered with true humility.
Whatever had been his sins--and he recognised them (verse 17)--he could claim--
1. Sincerity. He
had walked before God in truth. He was conscious of no deceit, no inward
angularities, no warping of conscience, no sophistical coverings, no histrionic
attitudes. He lived out the verities of his soul.
2. Simplicity of
purpose. His heart was perfect in its consecration to the Divine glory. He had
no double aims. In building up the religious life of the nation he had not
sought his own honour but God¡¦s.
3. That his acts
had been regulated as in God¡¦s sight, and had been to increase goodness in the
earth. His life was indeed his prayer. Life will have to be reviewed. A life of
sin makes a death-bed terrible.
III. THE EMOTIONS WITH WHICH THIS PRAYER WAS
OFFERED.
1. Hezekiah was
filled with grief. But while grief prostrates the mental and physical energies
it often gives great potency to prayer. The gaze of Hezekiah¡¦s almost
speechless soul was fixed on God with beseeching earnestness, and the poignancy
of his grief arrested the Divine arm.
2. There was in
Hezekiah¡¦s mind a feeling of bitter disappointment. He expected to live, and
his expectation rested upon his religious belief. In his day, under the
incompleted revelation of t he Divine purposes, centering in human life and
destiny, which was then possessed, longevity was regarded as one of the
peculiar rewards of piety (Psalms 90:16). Hezekiah had fulfilled the
conditions and he now looked for the reward. He was disappointed in God. To be
disappointed in God is the direst disappointment that can fill a man¡¦s soul
with bitterness. If God fail him, what is there in the universe that is firm?
God sometimes permits men to think that He has not been faithful to them. This
is, perhaps, the severest test that the human heart can bear. Christ descended
to that ¡§profundity of woe¡¨ when He uttered His agonising cry upon the cross.
Many fail in such hours. But true faith can enable us to triumph even then. It
will enable us to lie weeping before God, waiting for the explanation that it
assures us God can and will give; clinging to His garments even when His face
seems turned away, and His form, once so near and trusted, has changed, and
seems moving steadily away from us. Thus Hezekiah waited, weeping Sore.
3. There was also
within him the feeling of utter helplessness. All earthly resources had failed
him. When he turned his face to the wall, he felt that no power on earth could
help him. His physicians, his attendants, his most trusted counsellors, could
render no assistance. He had only God.
Hezekiah, even in such circumstances, found God nigh to help and
to save. Isaiah was speedily sent back to comfort him with the Divine message:
¡§I have heard thy prayers, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy
days fifteen years.¡¨ Learn--
1. That true piety
will enable us to seek and find God m life¡¦s most painful extremities.
2. That in our
hours of bitterest grief prayer will reach God¡¦s ear and bring us relief and
deliverance. (Homiletic Magazine.)
Verse 4-5
I have heard thy prayer
s
Hezekiah¡¦s recovery an unmitigated blessing?
Most of us who have had some experience of life, have seen
instances in which a man who has set his heart too fondly upon one object, has
gained that object, and with it (to use the language of St. Paul to his
shipmates) ¡§much harm and loss.¡¨ He has won the position which he coveted; but
perhaps he finds himself saddled with the burden of a crushing responsibility;
or perhaps his health--the one condition of enjoyment--breaks up just as he
grasps the prize; or perhaps he is snatched away by death, ¡§while the meat is
yet in his mouth¡¨; and those who knew him are unpleasantly reminded of the end
of Israel¡¦s lusting in the wilderness, ¡§He gave them their desire, and sent
leanness withal into their soul.¡¨ And thinking men say, when they hear of this
result, ¡§Strong wishes for earthly blessings are to be avoided.¡¨ The Book of
God, as being the book of Truth, gives an exact echo of human experience in
this matter. God acceded to Hezekiah¡¦s request, and added fifteen years to his
life. But now comes the grave question, Did the fifteen years thus added prove,
in the issue, a blessing to Hezekiah personally, or to the nation over which he
so worthily presided? The sacred narrative gives an emphatic negative to both
branches of the question.
1. Hezekiah, when
God had originally proposed to take him to Himself, and had sent Isaiah with
the message, ¡§Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live,¡¨ was
at the zenith of his spiritual prosperity. And now Hezekiah was to be gathered
to his fathers, full, if not of years, yet of honours, spiritual and temporal.
But by his prayers and his tears he succeeded in prolonging his span; and the
first result of this, which the history brings before us, points to a spiritual
decline in Hezekiah (chap. 39.). The sweet ointment of Hezekiah¡¦s graces was
flawed and corrupted by the dead fly of vanity. Had Hezekiah died when God
proposed to take him, he would have died humble; as it is, he dies after being
humbled by God; and all those who read the narrative thoughtfully will surely
say, ¡§Better far he had died at first.¡¨
2. But more than
personal interests are at stake in the life of princes; and we are led to
inquire what, as far as it is given us to know them, may have been the effects
upon the Jewish nation of the addition of fifteen years to Hezekiah¡¦s life? The
answer is conveyed in these words: ¡§Manasseh (Hezekiah¡¦s son, who succeeded to
the throne) was twelve years old when he began to reign;¡¨ so that if Hezekiah
had died when God intended he should, Manasseh would never have existed. Now
who was Manasseh? and what part did he play in Jewish history? Manasseh, by his
extraordinary wickedness, surpassing that of all who had gone before him,
involved the nation which he governed in ruin. Manasseh¡¦s crimes cried to
heaven for vengeance, and were heard, long after Manasseh s body had mingled
with the dust, and long after Manasseh¡¦s soul had become, through Divine grace,
profoundly penitent. For when the author of the Books of Kings traces up the
captivity to its originating cause, thus he writes: ¡§Surely at the commandment
of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sine
of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that
he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood), which the Lord would not
pardon.¡¨ Possibly, then, if Manasseh had not existed, the great national de
gradation of the Jews by the captivity, and the demolition of the city and
temple, would never have taken place. (Dean Goulburn.)
Ministers
should have access to the sick
Besides its other important lessons, this history teaches the
propriety of admitting the minister of God into the chamber of sickness. His
soothing words and the prayer of faith, always secure to the sufferer some
blessing, which he could little afford to lose. No intelligent, right-minded
medical man will bar the door of the sickroom against the physician of the
soul. (J. N. Norton.)
Hezekiah a
life prolonged
He had an interview with the Giver of life. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 7-8
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord
The shadow on
the sun-dial of Ahaz
We are not to imagine that in this miracle any effect was wrought
upon the motion of the earth round its axis.
A miraculous refraction of the sun¡¦s rays was effected by God on a particular
sun-dial, at the prayer of King Hezekiah. It was a miracle, wrought on a
particular dial, in a particular place, showing that it concerned a particular
person; and it was not wrought on the solar orb, but on the solar light. (Bp.
Wordsworth.)
The shadow
reversed on the sun-dial of Ahaz
This astounding miracle could only have been affected by a light.
¡§brighter than the sun,¡¨ rising on the other side of the sun-dial. We all know
how electric light reverses the shadow of gas light. At St. Paul¡¦s conversion,
¡§the light from heaven,¡¨ the Shechinah brightness of Immanuel, outshone the
splendour of the noonday sun. In the heavenly city there is no need of the sun
to shine on it, nor of the moon to lighten it, for the glory of God and the
Lamb is the light thereof. Unfortunately, we cannot tell on which side of the
temple at Jerusalem the sun-dial of Ahaz was situated. It was probably a
monolith or obelisk, resembling that on the Thames embankment, elevated on
steps--translated ¡§degrees¡¨--and intended to regulate the hours of public
worship. The setting sun had thrown the shadow across the steps; it had gone
down ten degrees, when suddenly from the gate or window from the mercy-seat
behind the veil of the naos, or temple proper, there flashed forth the
majestic light of Divine glory that dwelt between the cherubim, reversing the
shadow of the natural sun, and converting for Hezekiah the shadow of death into
morning. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
The Light of
the Mosaic past
To the ardent eyes of the old prophet the light that had reversed
the shadow on the sundial was the old ¡§Light¡¨ of the Mosaic past. It had
illumined the land of Goshen in the days of supernatural darkness that
overspread the rest of Egypt. It had flashed out with more than electric
brightness upon the hosts of Israel as they struggled on through the night and
the sea to escape the pursuing army of the Pharaoh. It had ¡§glided¡¨ as a fiery
pillar before the tribes through the rocky desert, warning off their enemies,
and guiding the pilgrim army homeward to the fatherland. It had synchronised
their movements with those convulsions of nature that arrested the Jordan at
harvest flood, and shook down the walls of Jericho at the moment when they were
prepared to cross and capture the devoted city. And it had stood over Gibeon as
a sun that would not go down, and as a moon that would not withdraw, while
Jehovah fought for Israel, and gave them their ¡§crowning victory¡¨ over the
idolatrous Canaanites. Isaiah knew the Light. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
Christ the
glory of His people Israel
Was it this, I wonder, that evoked from Isaiah that unwonted
outburst of enthusiasm in the chapter beginning, ¡§Arise, shine, for thy Light
is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee¡¨? ¡§Thy sun shall no more
go down . . . for Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God
thy glory¡¨? If so, how appropriate the words to the occasion. It is easy to
identify the Light of Israel with Christ, the Light of the world. (R.
Balgarnie, D. D.)
Christ dispels
and reverses life¡¦s shadows
I do not consider that I am putting any undue strain upon the text
in applying it to Christ. The Shechinah was the recognised token to Israel of
the presence of her covenant God. It led the Magi to Bethlehem. It shone around
the shepherds on the night of the nativity. It overwhelmed Saul of Tarsus on
the way to Damascus. Christ is the Light that dispels and reverses our shadows.
Christ has dispelled and reversed--
I. THE SHADOW OF, SIN.
II. THE SHADOW OF GRIEF.
III. THE SHADOW OF DEATH. ¡§If He be in thee,¡¨
wrote John Pulsford, ¡§who is the Light of Life, very Light and very Life, then,
when the candlelight of ,thy body¡¦s life goes out, the sunlight of thy soul¡¦s
life shall be bright about thee. ¡¥ (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
The great
miracle
The miracle is how God Himself began. Why will men always attack
the wrong point, as if it were a wonderful thing that a man should have fifteen
years added to his life; and yet we omit the stupendous miracle that man ever
began to live. Thus attack what mystery we may we only go backward and upward
until we come to Deity Himself. That is the great mystery, and there is none
other. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verses 9-20
The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah
Hezekiah¡¦s
recovery
1.
He
was sick, and then he prayed.
2. He is
recovered, and now he gives thanks. (R. Harris, D. D.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
song
I. THE INSCRIPTION acquaints us--
1. With the
author of the song.
2. With the nature
of it--a poem written.
3. With the
argument of it--a song of thanksgiving for the removal of sickness, and
restoring of health.
II. THE DESCRIPTION presents unto us the parts of it.
1. An aggravation
of Hezekiah¡¦s former misery.
2. An
amplification of the present mercy. (R. Harris, D. D.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
experience
In the first part of this psalm, he describes the views and
feelings which occupied his mind when he saw himself apparently on the brink of
the grave.
1. Though he had
been one of the best kings with which God ever blessed a nation, he viewed his
sins as great and numerous, and felt that he was, on account of them, justly
exposed to the Divine displeasure.
2. Hence death
appeared dreadful to him, and his dread of it was increased by the darkness
which, at that time, before Christ had brought life and immortality to light,
hung over a future state.
3. Hence, too, he
was assailed by fearful apprehensions of God¡¦s anger (Isaiah 38:13).
4. In consequence
of these apprehensions he could neither look nor ask for help from God with
confidence, as he had been accustomed to do. ¡§My eyes,¡¨ he exclaims, ¡§fail
upward;¡¨ that is, I cannot look upward, cannot look to heaven for relief and
consolation, as I formerly could.
5. And when he
endeavoured to pray, he found that he offered nothing which deserved the name
of prayer; for unbelief and despondency prevailed. ¡§Like a crane or a swallow,¡¨
says he, ¡§so did I chatter;¡¨ that is, my prayers were little better than the
complaints of a bird entangled in the snare of the fowler.
6. Finally, he
gave up all hope, and cried in bitterness of soul, ¡§I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord in the land of the living.¡¨
7. But to the
righteous there ariseth light in the darkness. There did in this case. And as
soon as it began to dawn, faith revived, and he cried, though still with a
feeble voice, ¡§O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me;¡¨ that is, be my help
and deliverer, make my cause Thine own, and do all that for me which Thou seest
to be necessary. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The prayer of
Hezekiah
It is a strain most natural and pathetic. It is the simple
expression of one who has found this life beautiful and desirable, and who
would fain be permitted to remain till the limit of human existence has been
reached. Its very simplicity, the very honesty with which it depicts the
clinging to life and the shrinking from death, has been a stumbling-block to
many--has been at complete variance with their preconceived notions as to the
frame of mind in which a good man would meet such an hour. He appealed to the
life which he had led, to the work which he had done, to the integrity of
purpose with which he had done it. He also ventured to recall, as it were, to
the Hearer of his prayer, that in his removal there would be one worshipper the
less. ¡§The grave cannot praise Thee,¡¨ &c. There would be--such is the daring
argument which he employs:--loss to God as well as to himself: if Hezekiah lost
all that he had prized and hoped for, God would likewise be deprived of praise
and honour which would have been His in days to come. It is a method of
expostulation which we who have, through Christ, boldness to enter into the
holiest, would hardly venture to employ. Then, on the other hand, the unfeigned
alarm with which he contemplates the approaching change--the evident
superiority which he assigns to the present life compared with what lies beyond
the grave--is not in accordance with the language which would be used by one
who cherished the glorious hope which Christ has enkindled. But, with all this
admitted--it may even be on this very account--we find in this poem the expression
of a human heart like our own, brooding over the great mystery of life and of
death, uttering, without reserve, its sorrow and complaint; shrinking, yet
trusting; resisting, yet submitting; delighting in life, but finding in God its
only portion. The poem is but the record of what any human spirit would feel in
being confronted with death, and in seeing death again withdraw. (P. M.
Muir.)
The fear of
death
What are the main elements of this fear in the writing of
Hezekiah? Why is his spirit oppressed and overwhelmed as the great change
approaches? Some of the reasons are what we all have experienced; others of
them may be only too strange to us.
I. One reason is that HE MUST BID FAREWELL TO THE JOYS OF LIFE. He
was deprived of the residue of his years. Life had been to him full of interest
and of beauty. In this respect there were even elements of weakness in his
character. His love of case and of display showed itself in various ways.
II. Another and a nobler reason for the sadness of Hezekiah, is to be
found in the fact that HE WAS ABOUT TO BE CUT OFF FROM THE WORK ON WHICH HIS
HEART WAS SET. That is a sorrow which is apt to overcloud a lofty mind. The
idolatry which he had sought to crush might again lift up its head. The ritual
which he had restored might again be suffered to decay. The bondage from which
he had kept his country might lay hold upon it. Because, after his day, the
hand of the spoiler might seize the wealth which he had amassed for the good of
the nation, he might well desire that his day should be prolonged.
III. He shrank from death as AN ENTRANCE ON AN
UNKNOWN SPHERE. It is an exaggeration to say that kings and righteous men of
the Old Testament had no conception of a future state. There are sayings which
infer that the thought of life was not bounded by the grave, that there was a
conviction of union with Him who is eternal. But the sayings are comparatively
few: there is no greater difference between the Old Testament and the New than
the difference of the way in which they speak of the life hereafter. So dim, so
fluctuating, so uncertain are the allusions in the Old Testament, that the
revelation of the New may well be called the bringing of life and immortality
to light. Even with that revelation, ¡§our knowledge of that life is small, the
eye of faith is dim¡¨; but, without it, the horror of a great darkness may
naturally oppress the soul.
IV. The reason which, most of all, produced the regret of Hezekiah in
the thought of quitting the visible world is to us the strangest of all. It was
that HE SHOULD BE MORE DISTANT FROM GOD. ¡§I said, I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord, in the land of the living.¡¨ This is to us a strange
contradiction, an evidence of marvellous ignorance. It was exactly in that
world, to the confines of which he was drawing near, that he would find God.
This is true, and there is ground for our astonishment. But might not Hezekiah,
in his turn, be astonished at us? Does his lamentation convey to us no lesson,
no reproach? He was mournful at the prospect of seeing God no more in the land
of the living, of seeing Him no more in the glories of the world around, of
seeing Him no more in the worship of His temple. Were we honest with ourselves
and with one another, might we not confess that our talk of seeing God
hereafter is all the more voluble because we have not seen Him here? We too
much forget that He is here at all. And one element of terror in our
imagination of the hereafter consists too often in the reflection that He is
there. (P. M. Muir.)
Hezekiah¡¦s return
to health
If we may learn something from Hezekiah even in his imperfect,
hopeless mode of looking on impending death, much more may we learn from him in
his joyous mode of welcoming returning health. That he should be glad is no
cause for wonder.
1. There is
perhaps no keener sense of enjoyment than that which attends convalescence,
when simple pleasures, which may once have palled, are felt again in all their
freshness, when strength is actually felt to be reanimating the enfeebled
frame. For the man who has been tossing and turning in restlessness and pain,
the restoration of peace and ease brings a pleasure before unknown
2. But it was not
simply this delight in outward things which inspired Hezekiah. It was that the
vision of God would again be granted, that the worship which he loved could
again be offered, that the work which had been interrupted might again be taken
up, that his recovery was a pledge of
Divine favour, of sin forgiven and forgotten, and must awake the
gratitude of his heart, the service of his whole life. Whatever has been our
past, whatever is to be our future, the present is ours to use, to improve, to
spend in the service of God and of man. (P. M. Muir.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
sickness and recovery
I. THE AFFLICTION AND DANGER OF HEZEKIAH. This writing records his
affliction. From his previous character, you perhaps expect to find that he
will welcome the message which announces his release from suffering, or at
least receive it with calmness and submission. But there are two principles on
which we account for this emotion.
1. From that love
of life which is the strongest instinct of our nature.
2. Hezekiah was
engaged in a great and important work.
II. THE DELIVERANCE WROUGHT ON HIS BEHALF.
1. He traces his
recovery to God.
2. He desires to
retain the salutary impressions he had received (Isaiah 38:15).
3. He acknowledges
the beneficial influence of affliction (Isaiah 38:16).
4. He gratefully
commemorates the Divine goodness (Isaiah 38:17). (H. J. Gamble.)
The wisdom of
keeping a record of one¡¦s life
It is well, for the purpose of frequent review, to keep a record
of the principal events of our lives, and of the thoughts which in trying
circumstances have most deeply impressed us. This is the way both to multiply
and prolong the advantages of experience. Such a record may be of great use
also to our successors, and especially to our children. Of all the periods of
life pregnant with materials for such an instructive memorial, that of
sickness, for the supports attending it, the thoughts that arise out of it, and
the influence to be exercised by them upon the subsequent course of our lives,
seems to have a pre-eminent claim to notice. It is to a record of this kind,
penned by the pious monarch of Judah, and which was probably- of great service
to his son Manasseh, that our text refers; and the consideration of which may
serve to remind us of what we should aspire after, and what we should
cautiously avoid, in a similar situation. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)
Sickness and
recovery
I. THE GENERAL CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF BODILY SICKNESS. Man is much
more liable to attacks of this nature than the mere animals. The peculiar
organisation of the human being, and the wearing effect of mental excitement
upon the corporeal system, may m part account for this. But moral causes must
also be taken into consideration. Sin is the great parent of our bodily
maladies. Though some conditions of human society are more exposed to disease
than others, yet no station in life forms any certain security against the
interruption of health. Even piety itself, though a preservative against
spiritual ills, and a preventive of many bodily ailments, is far from being a
shield against the shafts of disease. We have a vivid picture, in Hezekiah¡¦s
complaints, of the humiliating state both of body and mind to which sickness
reduces us. While much importance should not be attached to what persons in
sickness think of themselves, yet we may learn the desirableness of avoiding
those dispositions and practices, while in health, which would furnish just and
solid occasion for uneasiness in our duller hours. We may invite God to our
sick chamber with confidence, when we have not driven Him away from us by
impiety and neglect in our more joyous and prosperous seasons.
II. THE ANXIETIES OF A PIOUS MIND UNDER SICKNESS, AND THE GOOD EFFECTS
OF PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION. The message of Isaiah to Hezekiah was indeed
calculated to produce alarm and despondency as to his recovery. In this
situation, his desire of life moved him to make the most earnest and passionate
entreaties. The good men of that age felt a strong attachment to life, which
was far more excusable in their case than in ours.
III. THE SPIRITUAL AND DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS WITH
WHICH DELIVERANCE FROM SICKNESS MAY BE ACCOMPANIED IN THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE OF
GOD. The removal of the bodily ill was the least part of his deliverance; it
was accompanied and followed with a sweet sense of the removal of guilt from
his soul, and with the presence of the gladdening beams of the Divine favour.
It is sometimes one end of God, in the case of the affliction of His people, to
prepare them for such manifestations, and to prove the power of Divine
principles in conferring a sublime superiority to all the impressions of the
surrounding scene.
IV. THE INFLUENCE WHICH THE VISITATION OF SICKNESS, THE SUPPORTS UNDER
IT, AND DELIVERANCE OUT OF IT, IN THE CASE OF GOOD MEN,
SHOULD HAVE UPON THEIR FUTURE CONDUCT. The beneficial effects of
such visitation are too often confined to the hours of its endurance, or
extended only to a short period after its termination. This arises from the
influence of outward scenes and circumstances upon the mind, and the natural
tendency of a change in the one to operate a similar change in the other. It is
only to be prevented by a due resistance to such tendency, and a careful effort
to preserve, by frequent meditation and review, the just discoveries made by us
in our affliction, and the proper feelings then entertained, in reference to
the character of human life, and the importance of religion. Probably the great
cause of sinful relapses is to be found in a forgetfulness of our mercies.
Application--
1. The subject may
be useful to such as have not yet been afflicted. We see in the sufferings of
others how precarious is the continuance of our comforts, and our vigour and
health to enjoy them.
2. Such as have
been afflicted in vain, may be furnished with a salutary remonstrance.
Affliction is often amongst the last resources employed by infinite wisdom and
mercy for our benefit.
3. Such as are
labouring under the pressure of disease may, especially if Christians, learn
how to turn it, while it lasts, to good account, as well as to gain a benefit
from it for the future. There are many consoling and reconciling
considerations. It is fraught with a benevolent design on the part of Him who
permits or causes it. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)
Face to face
with death
1. However death
is feared and resisted, it is most by those who are in the midst of their days.
The reasons for this are worth looking into.
2. Man¡¦s most
solemn words are uttered when he stands face to face with death; then, if ever,
he forms a right estimate of life, and of preparation for dying.
3. Prayer is a
real power. (W. Wheeler.)
Hezekiah¡¦s
poem
The poem, or psalm, in which Hezekiah describes his experience,
may be divided into two parts.
I. HOW DEATH LOOKED (Isaiah 38:10-15). There is a point in the
sun¡¦s daily climb of the heavens when it seems to stand still, a pause before descending
the western slope. Hezekiah felt he had reached just such a meridian of his
life. In the tranquillity, or noontide, of his days, he was to enter the gates
of the grave. Loss of God¡¦s presence, loss of human companionships and
interests--this was what death meant for him. His age, his natural term of
life, was to be carried away like a shepherd¡¦s tent that had been struck--his
life rolled up like a piece of cloth cut from the thrums of the weaver¡¦s loom.
The dreary night of his pain, when his very bones seemed broken, and he could
only moan and mourn like some lonely, crying bird, how well he remembered it,
what a bitter experience it was! His eyes failed with looking upward, but he
did look upward; weighed down with pain and weakness, his soul still cried,.
¡§Be Thou my surety.¡¨ He knew not what to say, because God had done it all.
Never, through all the respite of years allotted to him, could he forget his
bitterness of soul. The memory of it would always chasten him. Some of us have
never known what it is to spend hours of pain and weakness, with death
apparently near at hand, and, in the absence of this experience, the sick
king¡¦s account of his dreary night will be hard to understand. But anyone who
has been in the shadowed valley will recognise the truthfulness of the picture,
and the sincere piety of Hezekiah¡¦s looking upward to God.
II. HOW RESTORED LIFE LOOKED (Isaiah 38:16-20). First of all, he is
sensible of the preciousness of his chastisement. He had learned in those dark
and terrible hours lessons never learned before. It was in deep experiences of
need and of God¡¦s present help given him then, that he had found the true life
of his spirit. He had discovered God¡¦s love to his soul, and obtained an
assurance of forgiveness which was a joy unspeakable. Blessed is he who,
looking up to God in the face of Jesus Christ, can say, ¡§Thou hast cast all my
sins behind Thy back.¡¨ Whoever went back of God? Life for him is an opportunity
to praise God, to make known His truth, to testify before all the Lord¡¦s
readiness to save. This story is a chapter out of an ancient biography, a story
of a soul in close personal dealing with God. It reminds us that He is a very
present help in trouble, and that none who turn to Him in trust and hope will
ever be refused. (E. W. Shalders, B. A.)
Verse 10
I shall go to the gates of the grave
Views of the
grave
1.
It
was doubtless from veneration for the dead, that the practice first arose of
depositing their ashes around the temple where the living worship. That dust,
which once was tenanted by an immortal spirit,--that dust, through which once
the intelligence and the feelings of an immortal spirit shone,--becomes in
itself hallowed to the fancy. Collecting it around the place which most we
honour, we trust that we remove it beyond the reach of profane intrusion.
2. To the
Christian there appears a peculiar propriety in this simple and affecting
arrangement. The dust of the departed is doubly valuable in the Christian¡¦s
regard, who knows that ¡§this mortal¡¨ is destined to ¡§put on immortality.¡¨ In
placing it near the temple of our God, we seem to express our humble confidence
in the promise which He hath given; we seem to leave it under His own especial
protection.
3. The practice
which arose from reverence for the dead, is powerfully enforced by its
usefulness to the living. If we would listen to the thought, there is in it
eloquence irresistible, that around the place where we assemble to worship our
God, the ashes of our fathers and of our brethren sleep. We act the part of
fools when we banish from our minds any theme, uninviting though its aspect be,
by which our spiritual welfare might he so essentially advanced. (A.
Brunton, D. D.)
Appeals of the
grave
1. Come hither, ye
proud! Look around you on this scene of universal stillness, and show us the
trace of those distinctions in which you glory. Tell us which is noble and
which is vulgar dust l
2. Come hither, ye
who value yourselves upon the graces of your outward form. Have you courage to
meet the aspect here of that which late was lovely?
3. Come hither, ye
votaries of wealth; and show us in this receptacle of human dust, what
advantages have gone down to the grave with him who preceded you in your
anxious labours. The riches of this world descend not into the grave. But there
are treasures of which the value outlives the tomb.
4. Children of
intemperance and folly, those who once were your associates in riot, are laid
in the grave. Silent is now the wit that was to charm for ever; and quenched
the smile that was never to fade! Are you prepared for a change like this?
5. Son of wisdom,
and holiness, and piety, thine associates also are sleeping here.
6. Come hither,
and stand by this new-formed grave. It is the grave of thine enemy. He cannot
harm thee now. Thou mournest to think that the remembrance of injuries which he
had done or suffered may have agonised his deathbed. Thou shudderest at the
thought, either that he died execrating and abhorring thee, or suing for
reconciliation and peace in vain; that the departing spirit may have gone
hence, unforgiving or unforgiven. Is there, then, one to whom, at this moment,
thou bearest enmity? ¡§Go,¡¨ while yet the lesson is warm upon thy heart, ¡§leave
thy gift before the altar,¡¨ &c.
7. Reverence and
attachment lead thee onward to the spot where the instructor of thy youth, the
guide of thy childhood, lies. All the lessons of his wisdom rush upon thy
remembrance, as thou standest by his grave. Improve the moment,--it is rich in
usefulness.
8. The scene
around may well rouse thee to self-examination. For, see, here is laid thine
equal in age. He began with thee the career of life, gay and careless as
thyself. The same with thine own were his pursuits. The same with thine own
were his hopes. Seest thou that vacant space by his side? God only knows, how
soon thou mayest be called to fill it. In this land of shadows one thing is
certain,--it is death; ¡§one thing is needful,¡¨--it is an interest in Him who
hath vanquished death and the grave. (A. Brunton, D. D.)
The gates of
the grave
The region of the grave is bounded. God keeps the gates.
I. ALL MEN¡¦S DREAD. Through--
1. Sin.
2. Natural fear of
the unknown.
3. Want of faith.
II. ALL MEN¡¦S DESTINY.
1. Certain.
2. Men may
approach these gates and return, but once passed they are passed for ever.
3. They are the
portals of endless joy or woe. (W. O. Lilley.)
I am deprived of the residue of my years
The shortening
of human life
The words of the text naturally suggest this general observation:
that God deprives many of the human race of the residue of their years.
I. CONSIDER WHEN GOD DOES THIS.
1. God deprives
all those of the residue of their years whom He calls out of the world before
they have reached the limits of life which are to be found in Scripture.
2. Whom He calls
out of the world before they have reached the bounds of life fixed by
Providence. Though the Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet
Providence oftens extends it to a longer period.
3. Who die before
they have reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of nature.
Nature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world. All, therefore, who die
by sickness, or accident, or violence, or any other cause than the course of
nature, are really deprived of the residue of their days.
II. Inquire WHY GOD THUS SHORTENS THE LIVES OF MEN.
1. To teach the
living that He is not dependent upon them in the least degree.
2. To teach
mankind their constant and absolute dependence upon Himself.
3. To teach the
living the necessity of being continually prepared for another life.
4. To teach the
living the importance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it.
5. God may
sometimes cut short the days of the wicked to prevent their doing evil in time
to come.
6. God may
sometimes shorten the lives of His faithful servants to prevent their seeing
and suffering public calamities.
III. IMPROVEMENT.
1. If God does not
always deprive men of the residue of their years, but allows some to reach the
bounds of nature, then there is propriety in praying for the lives of the aged
as well as of the young.
2. If God so often
deprives men of the residue of their years, then it is extremely unreasonable
and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of living a great while in
the world.
3. We ought to
beware of placing too much dependence upon the lives of others, as well as upon
our own.
4. Long life is a
great as well as distinguishing favour.
5. If God always
has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the residue of their years, then
it is as reasonable to submit to His providence in one instance of mortality as
another. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The residue of
years
Life has crises. Men often feel as if life were re-given. Wisdom
is born in such hours. The residue of life is regarded with reverence. The
residue of year
I. ARE, WITH US, UNCERTAIN.
II. SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE EXPERIENCES OF PAST YEARS.
III. SHOULD BE MOST SERENE AND HAPPY.
IV. SHOULD BE MOST PIOUS AND FRUITFUL IN GOOD TO OTHERS. (W.
O.Lilley.)
Verse 11
I said, I shall not see the Lord
Hezekiah¡¦s
distress
I.
HEZEKIAH¡¦S
DISTRESS AT THE THOUGHT OF NOT SEEING GOD. This manifested--
1. True affection
towards God.
2. Fervent desires
for the revelation of God¡¦s glory.
3. Spiritual power
to apprehend God.
II. HEZEKIAH¡¦S DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE THOUGHT OF NOT SEEING GOD ON
EARTH. He would see Him--
1. In deliverances
wrought out for His people.
2. In Divine
manifestations in the temple.
3. In Divine
benediction upon himself and nation. Happy they who desire to see God. He may
be seen in this land of death. In the true land of the living men ever behold
Him face to face. (W. O. Lilley.)
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the
world
One, and only
one probation, a benevolent arrangement
(with Luke 16:26):--There are two facts that
give death profound solemnity.
1. It separates a
man for ever from his connections in this world. Hezekiah felt this now. Job
felt this. ¡§When a few years are come,¡¨ &c. What living man has not been
impressed with this idea! The old scene of his first impressions, anxious
labours, tender friendships, and dear associations is left for ever. However
trying this world may be, it contains very much that is dear to us. Here we
felt the first sensations of life; here the first trains of thought arose; here
we have received the elements of our character; here all our joys have been
experienced, our trials endured, and our labours prosecuted. Here sleep the
dust of our parents and our friends. To leave all this for ever is a sad
thought.
2. It separates a
man for ever from all probationary means of improvement. Abraham gave this idea
to the rich man in the world of perdition: he assured him there was an
impassable ¡§gulf¡¨ fixed between him and all remedial means. After death
character seems stereotyped. This is a more solemn fact than the other, though
perhaps not so deeply and generally felt. To be cut off for ever, if we are
wicked, from Bibles, sanctuaries, and all mediatorial influences and helps; to
have an impassable gulf between all that is bright and fair in the universe and
one¡¦s self;--how solemn this! This fact, which is profoundly solemn, is neither
cruel nor unjust, but on the contrary highly benevolent.
I. THERE IS MORE GOODNESS IN THIS ARRANGEMENT TO THE INDIVIDUAL
HIMSELF. Three facts will illustrate this.
1. In case a man
had a second probation, and it failed, his guilt and misery would be
considerably enhanced by it.
2. The man who
abused the first probation would be most likely to abuse the second. If a man
pass through all remedial influences of the first probation nature, sacred
literature, sanctuaries, the counsels and admonitions of the pious, the Gospel
ministry--and not be saved, but hardened, by all, would there not be a
certainty that, if he entered upon a second probation, the second would also
fail?
3. Man¡¦s knowledge
of a second probation would tend to counteract upon his mind the saving
influence of the first.
Verse 12
As a shepherd¡¦s tent
The
inconstancy of earthly life
He saith ¡§a shepherd¡¦s tent,¡¨ because that represents the
inconstancy and uncertainty of our life, more than any other tent.
The soldier¡¦s tent may stand pitched long in a place, as in sieges and the
like; but shepherds change the place of their tent every day, because of the
opportunity of fresh pasture for their cattle. (W. Day, M. A.)
As a shepherd
s tent
I. MAN¡¦S LOT HAS NO PERMANENCE.
II. IT IS EASILY REMOVED.
III. IT MAY BE SPEEDILY REMOVED.
IV. IT IS OFTEN REMOVED SUDDENLY.
V. IT IS REMOVED TO ANOTHER PLACE. (W. O. Lilley.)
I have out off like a weaver my life
The art of
weaving
The art of weaving seems to have been coeval with the first dawn
of civilisation. We do not know where or at what time it was invented; but we
find that at an early age in the world¡¦s history the Egyptians manifested great
skill in it. The vestures of fine linen such as Joseph wore were the product of
Egyptian looms, and the existing specimens of the mummy cloth of Egypt are said
to compare favourably with the finest cambric of modern times. There are
various incidental references to this art in the Scriptures. We are told that
the staff of Goliath¡¦s spear was like a weaver¡¦s beam. Job says that his days
are swifter than a weaver¡¦s shuttle. And among the experiments which Delilah
tried in ascertaining the secret of Samson¡¦s strength, we find one that
consisted in weaving the seven locks of his hair with the web of her loom. ¡§She
fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee,
Samson; and he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam,
and the web.¡¨ Here we have references to some of the parts of the loom as it
exists in the present day, the beam, the shuttle, the pin to which the web was
attached. Indeed, we learn on reliable authority that though the introduction
of machinery has made some important changes in the loom as used by the
ancients, yet the essential features of it remain unaltered. (W. V.
Robinson, B. A.)
Man as a
weaver
We need, therefore, but a slight acquaintance with the art of
weaving in its present state to enable us to understand the meaning of our
text. Let us suppose that a man is standing before his loom. The warp has been
supplied to him by his master, and fixed to the weaver¡¦s beam. The threads pass
over the loom, and the weft is shot through by means of the shuttle. The web is
then complete, and is rolled on to another beam. When the required length of
cloth has been woven, the threads of the warp are cut, and if the master has no
more work for the weaver, he is dismissed from his employ. (W. V. Robinson,
B. A.)
The web of
life
Life is like a web of which man is the weaver, and the threads may
at any moment be cut by the master, and the weaver dismissed from the loom.
I. LIFE IS LIKE A WEB, OF WHICH GOD SUPPLIES THE MATERIALS, AND OF
WHICH MAN IS THE WEAVER.
1. God supplies
the warp of life.
2. The weft of
life, as we conceive of it, consists of the desires and purposes and
resolutions that we bring to bear upon our capacities and circumstances. There
are some who weave with the coarse yarn of selfishness, who use their strong
physical natures for the gratification of their bodily appetites, who allow
their strong reasoning powers to lift them up in rebellion against God, who
oppress and crush their weaker brethren with their firm wills and imperious
natures. When a coarse thread is woven into a fine warp, the cloth is not good.
Neither can that life be good which has a selfish purpose woven into the Divine
plan. But there are others who weave with the fine yarn of Christian
consecration, and the web of their lives cannot but be well pleasing in the
sight of God. It is true that the weft of life is supplied to us as well as the
warp, and yet each man possesses the power to choose the thread that he will
weave into his life. It is ours to choose either the selfish purpose or the
Christ-like purpose. Any weaver may lay aside the yarn that his master has
supplied to him, and substitute for it an inferior yarn and work with that. And
that is exactly what many are actually doing. On the one side, the Divine
Spirit is prompting him to all that is noble and good; and on the other side
are the spirits of darkness, who cannot compel one single man to choose the
wrong, but who can, and do tempt him to it; and if a man, either through
indifference or presumption, allows himself to be influenced by that which is
evil, for the life that is thus marred he is accountable to God.
II. GOD KNOWS BEST OF ALL WHEN THE WEB OF LIFE IS REALLY FINISHED. The
Greeks believed that the fates were spinning the web of human life, and that
they determined when it should be cut off from the loom. Ours is a truer and a
more comforting creed. It is no cruel fate but a loving Father that determines
for us the length of life¡¦s fabric.
1. We sometimes
think that some lives are ended before they are completed. What means the
broken column, so frequently to be seen in our cemeteries, but that some mourning
friend thinks that one life, perhaps dearer than any other life, has been cut
off before it is completed. But God knows best when a life is really finished.
Every life is finished when God¡¦s purpose in that life has been fulfilled. The
life of Jesus only reached over thirty-three short years; but no one thinks of
suggesting that it would have been better if He had lived to be sixty. His work
was finished.
2. Again, are
there not many who seem to us to have lived long after their work on earth was
over? It may be that in the patient waiting of their lives, in the dim glory of
their eventide, He has some threads for them to weave into the warp that He has
supplied.
3. But after the
fabric has been rolled up, it must be unrolled again. How few are there who
can, without emotion, take a retrospect of their past life! To some it is a
punishment greater than they can bear! And is there any man, however good, who
can think of the past without regret? The memory of God¡¦s goodness, indeed, may
fill him with gratitude, and joy, and wonder; but the recollection of his share
in life¡¦s fabric must fill him with grief and shame. And this life must be
Unrolled before the searching eye of the Great Master, in the fierce light that
beats about His throne. ¡§For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of
Christ.¡¨ How can we bear to present such imperfect and sin-stained lives to
God? Let us take courage. For are there not some standing before the throne
whose lives were no better than ours? How can they stand there? ¡§They have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.¡¨ And we, too,
can receive forgiveness and cleansing where they received it. The Great Master
might well say that such clumsy and faithless weavers as we are should have no
place in His service and in His home. But He will receive us for the sake of
His dear Son. (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)
Two typical
cases: Judas Iscariot and Paul
Judas Iscariot was a man of whose capacities we know little. We
may infer, however, that he possessed some valuable gifts, or his brethren in
the apostolate would never have assigned to him the important office of
purse-bearer and almoner to the little band. His circumstances, we know, were
unusually good. He was drawn, with the other apostles, to the feet of Jesus by
the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. For three years he
accompanied our Lord in His journeys. He heard the discourses to which He gave
utterance, and he lived under the influence of His character. This was the warp
of his life. But what does he weave into it? Is it avarice, or is it
vindictiveness, or is it a conceited idea that he can force the triumph of his
Master, or is it bitter disappointment at the spiritual character of Christ¡¦s
kingdom, that forms the weft of his life? Whatever it is, it is a dark, coarse
thread. Satan enters into him. He betrays his Master even with the kiss of
loyalty and affection. And when he comes to look at the web that he has woven,
he himself is so overwhelmed with grief and remorse, that he cuts himself off
from the loom. ¡§He went, and departed, and hanged himself.¡¨ Saul of Tarsus was
a very different man; a man of weak physical constitution, but of strong
intellect; a man of deep conscientiousness and rousing enthusiasm. Drought up
in a comfortable home and trained in the Pharisaism of his day, he weaves into
his early life a simply lurid thread of persecution of the Christians. Jesus
meets him on the way to Damascus, and he gives himself up completely to the
influences that are brought to bear upon him. How changed his life is! He has
severe physical sufferings to endure; he has persecutions innumerable to face;
but inwoven into all the threads of the Divine providence is the grand purpose
of consecration to Christ¡¦s service. Henceforth the motto of his life is, ¡§To
me to live is Christ.¡¨ Christ is the aim of all his labours, of all Iris
sufferings, of all his successes. And now that that life is unrolled for us in
the Scriptures it is acknowledged to be one of the noblest and best ever lived
upon earth. (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)
The life of
Jesus
But even that life pales before the resplendent glory that streams
forth from the one perfect life upon earth, the life of Him who was at once the
Son of Mary and the Son of God. Born in the stable of the inn at Bethlehem,
bred in the humble home of Nazareth, pursuing the calling of a carpenter, He
possessed little that men would covet. But that life was glorious, not because
of its circumstances, but because of its high and holy purpose. ¡§My Father¡¦s
business,¡¨ that was the aim that He set before Himself from the beginning; and
that was the aim that He pursued to the close of His career. When at last the
supreme moment has come, He can shout triumphantly, ¡§It is finished.¡¨ He has
glorified God on the earth, He has finished the work that was given Him to do.
Like His own seamless robe, His life was of one piece throughout. And He lived
for us, He died for us. Trusting in Him, following in His footsteps, our lives
may, in some measure, be like His. Humbler they can scarcely be; but are there
any that are so full of glory? (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)
Human life a
weaving
I. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE WORK ITSELF. Now what is this?
The formation of personal character. There are two great elements which might
well correspond with the weaver¡¦s warp and woof. The first may represent the
principles of scriptural trust in God; pardon, providence, hope, &c. These,
like the weaver¡¦s warp, are strong and firmly fixed. The second are our own
dally deeds. Each is a thread, woven into the character; both are necessary in
cloth making: so are faith and works, in character weaving. Now observe about
this work what it is.
1. The weaver¡¦s
own. I do not mean that the materials, either before or after they are made up,
belong to him, but the work itself. A thousand weavers may use the same wool in
common, while the work of each will be the product of each individual workman.
Now this is a solemn fact in character weaving. Every man is making, and must
make, his own; nobody can make it for him, nor can God give it him.
2. It is a work of
increasing progress. We have to choose, not whether the work shall go on, but
only whether the work shall be good or bad.
3. It is a work of
growing ease. It is difficult at first, but soon, and in proportion to the
weaver¡¦s assiduity, he becomes dexterous, and may sing all day at his loom; ay,
he shall have plenty to sing about too! So it is with character weaving.
4. It is a work of
changeful feeling. We may be full of joy or grief, gaiety or gloom, only let
the work go on. The finest cloth is often woven while we Job 7:6). Poor Job! You little thought
what was in your loom then! Every age admires that work of yours! Christian
weaver, do not think too much of your frames and feelings.
II. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE MATERIALS. These are the
doctrines of truth, all the agencies of the Spirit, and particularly all the
events of life, all the calls to self-denial, duty, trust and righteousness
which our lot furnishes. Observe of them--
1. They are like
the weaver¡¦s wool, all supplied by the Master. And the Master gives that
material which best suits the workman.
2. They are only
materials after all. They are valuable for the cloth¡¦s sake, rather than for
themselves. The man that works the worst material best, shall have the best pay
and praise, and vice versa. Always remember that the part you play in
life¡¦s drama is the choice of God, the manner of playing it alone is yours.
These materials are abundant. The master never lacks them so that work should
be short. Every workman has his hands full.
III. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE END. ¡§I have
cut off,¡¨ &c. Observe--
1. The fabric
lasts for ever. Cloth wears out, character does not.
2. The work is
over at death. The loom must then stop for ever. No unpicking bad work,
finished or unfinished, bad or good. The shuttle is still, and the shears cut
off the cloth, and it is delivered up.
3. The Master
inspects it. Here, reputation will be nothing; character, all. It will be held
up to the sun, £`̓£d£f£d£e£l£d́£h£`£d£\.
4. The Master
disposes of it according to its worth. In reviewing all this, think--
Verse 14
I did mourn as a dove
¡§I did mourn
as a dove¡¨
The possessions of the world are often the means of lightening
life¡¦s sorrows, and of increasing its enjoyments.
What experience teaches us in this respect the Word of God allows. Prosperity
is recognised by it as a subject for gratitude. But that riches in themselves
are insufficient to make us happy is undeniable. At all seasons the limitation
of their power is obvious; but at no time does it appear more strikingly than
when the king of terrors gives challenge to an earthly potentate, and he finds
that ¡§there is no discharge in that war.¡¨ The history connected with our text
will furnish us with an instance.
I. THE CAUSES OF MOURNING. This image of mourning as a dove is not
confined to this one passage (Isaiah 59:11; Ezekiel 7:16; Nahum 2:7). Now the plaintive mourning
notes of the dove we will suppose to be descriptive of various classes of men
of sorrow.
1. We will begin
with those mourning from the same cause as the author of our text. It was
pining sickness which wounded the monarch¡¦s spirit, and the prospect which it
presented to him of certain dissolution. If, while as a dove you mourn
plaintively, your mourning be dove-like because it is meek and submissive,
still your mourning will be real.
2. Another source
of mourning is the untowardness of worldly circumstances
3. Other sources
of sorrow are to be found in the coldness of former friends, the treachery of
those whom you trusted, or persecution from those who should encourage and
support.
4. Another common
cause of mourning like a dove is the departure of endeared ones.
5. A further
source of mourning is remembrance of iniquity.
II. THEIR REMEDIES OR RELIEFS.
1. To the
afflicted in body there is an obvious consolation--the possibility of their
cure. The ease before us is thus encouraging. Another support in bodily
affliction is the conformity which it gives us to our Lord. Again, Jesus Christ
hath ¡§brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.¡¨
2. What, next, is
our relief in case of the wreck of worldly circumstances? The possession of
wealth is no sure criterion of God¡¦s approval. If your earthly losses have
brought you to reflection, and led you to a right judgment of worldly goods; if
the changes and chances of this mortal life have induced you to set your
affection on things above; if they have broken your proud spirit, brought you
to Christ, and ensured you an interest in His ¡§unsearchable riches,¡¨ then mourn
not as a dove, but sing as a lark.
3. We touch next
on the grief which springs from dishonour done to us by familiar friends. We
account this a curse: God may turn it into a blessing. We were wont to trust in
man; we loved the creature with too ardent an attachment. Henceforth we think
more of that Friend ¡§who sticketh closer than a brother¡¨; ¡§who is the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever¡¨; concerning whom it is our privilege to exclaim, ¡¥ Whom
have I in heaven but Thee? ¡§&c. If the ill-treatment of which we complain
consists in persecution for righteousness¡¦ sake, our Lord¡¦s words in the
beatitude supply all necessary consolation: ¡§Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you,¡¨ &c. ¡§As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth by Christ.¡¨
4. Separation from
those we love was the fourth cause of mourning for which we were to seek for a
relief. Though in lands remote, they tread the same earth. The rough ocean is
kind to each of us: he bears on his bosom the swift messengers carrying the
interchange of tokens that many waters cannot quench our love. The weeds of
widowhood may be twined with flowers of cheerfulness; for ¡§a defender of the
widow is God in His holy habitation.¡¨ The orphan¡¦s lamentation may be hushed;
for God is ¡§a Father of the fatherless.¡¨ God can give ¡§a place and a name
better than of sons and of daughters.¡¨ And is it a small thing that ¡§the
righteous are taken away from the evil to come¡¨; that ¡§they rest from their
labours¡¨; that they are ¡§present with the Lord¡¨?
5. The last source
of mourning which we noticed was the remembrance of iniquity. Is the wound
incurable? ¡§Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?¡¨ (T. W.
Thomson, M. A.)
Affliction the
occasion of murmuring
¡§Like a crane,¡¨ &c.
I. AFFLICTIONS OFTEN LEAD TO RASH AND FOOLISH MURMURINGS. They
often--
1. Obscure God¡¦s
goodness.
2. Lead us to
forget past mercies.
3. Darken our
future.
II. AFFLICTIONS LEADING TO RASH AND FOOLISH MURMURINGS EXPOSE US TO
GREAT MORAL DANGERS. We may, then--
1. Wrongly
interpret God¡¦s providence.
2. Lose the
benefit which God intended.
3. Dishonour Him.
4. Bring discredit
upon our religious profession.
III. AFFLICTIONS HAVING LED TO RASH AND FOOLISH
MURMURINGS, SUCH MURMURINGS SHOULD BE ACKNOWLEDGED. This will--
1. Show our sense
of the evil of our conduct.
2. Tend to repair
the injury we may have done.
3. Obtain pardon
from God. (W. O. Lilley.)
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me
The oppressed
soul seeking Divine interposition
If language was ever uttered by man, which all men ought to adopt;
if a petition was ever presented by man, which all men ought to present before
the mercy-seat, it is this.
I. YOU ALL NEED SOME ONE TO UNDERTAKE FOR YOU. Some one to make your
cause his own, and to assist you in performing that work on the performance of
which your everlasting happiness depends. You need some one to undertake--
1. To support and
comfort under the trials of life, and carry you safely through them.
2. To be your
guide through life. You need a guide, a counsellor, who knows not only what is
in man, but what every man will prove to be in future life. But if you need
such a guide as it respects this world, how much more as it respects the world
to come I
3. Still more do
you need some one who will undertake to afford you effectual assistance in
subduing your spiritual enemies, the enemies which oppose your salvation.
4. Most of all do
you need some one who can and will undertake to plead your cause in heaven, and
effect a reconciliation between you and Four justly offended God.
II. THERE IS NO ONE ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN WHO IS BOTH ABLE AND WILLING
TO UNDERTAKE FOR YOU, EXCEPT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The
Christian¡¦s grand resource
There is scarcely any feeling more painful than that of
desolation. The Scriptures frequently refer to it. Micah 7:1-2.) When this feeling first
comes upon us, there is as it were a total prostration of strength. Consider--
I. THE CHRISTIAN UNDER TRIAL. The text is applicable--
1. To the young
Christian just entering upon the duties of life.
2. To the young
man entering upon his religious course.
3. To the
Christian perplexed in the path of duty.
4. To the
Christian under conviction of sin.
5. To the
Christian in a state of grief for the loss of one near and dear to him.
6. To the
Christian on his dying bed.
7. To the
Christian as he stands before the Lord at His second advent.
II. THE CHRISTIAN¡¦S RESOURCE. The world has many resources. The
Christian has but one. But that one is of infinitely greater worth than all
those possessed by an unconverted and ungodly world. (M. Villiers, M. A.)
The burdened
soul¡¦s relief
I. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF YOUR OPPRESSION?
1. Is it some
burden of sadness that has fallen upon you--some loss, or cross, or
disappointment, that has shown you the fleeting uncertainty of all earthly
treasures?
2. Is it some
persecution of the ungodly?
3. Or do you stand
perplexed by the foiling of some well-laid plan; or the unsuccessful issue of
your efforts to remove the prejudices and enlighten the ignorance and improve
the hearts of men?
4. Or do
temptations beset you, almost too strong for flesh and blood to bear?
5. Is it not
merely at the deceitfulness of your heart, but at its ¡§desperate wickedness¡¨
that your heart sinks within you?
II. WILL YOU NOT GO ON TO SAY, ¡§O LORD, UNDERTAKE FOR ME¡¨?
1. How doth God
undertake for us? Is it by removing from the sinner all temptation to sin? Is
it by taking from the afflicted and mourner the immediate cause of his
affliction, and restoring all things according to his shortsighted wish? No, it
is by a far different process. He will suggest to his heart good resolutions,
and holy impulses; and if he cherish these, the spirit of Jesus will afford him
measures of special grace. And as to him that is bowed down with sorrow--it is
not God¡¦s way to reverse His sentence, and at once remove the cause. But He
gives us such faith in Him, that we believe that ¡§the thoughts which He
thinketh towards us, are thoughts of peace, and not of evil.¡¨ And in proportion
as faith makes herself heard, the voice of fretting dies away.
2. What ground of
confidence we have that God will undertake for us.
The yearning
for sympathy met in Christ
There is such a vast disproportion between a man and some of his
own feelings--between the inner and the outer life of a man--that the wonder is
not that we should sometimes feel the burden of existence, but that there
should be any man who should not be always saying, ¡§I am oppressed.¡¨
I. THERE ARE FEW MINDS WHO DO NOT LOOK OUT FOR SYMPATHY. It is an
instinct of our nature, that we must lean somewhere. Almost all error, all
superstition, all worldliness, resolves at last into the feeling that a man
must lean; but he is leaning on a wrong base. It is upon this great principle
in the man¡¦s breast that the Gospel lays hold and points it to Christ. It sets
Him forth as the one great Undertaker for all His people¡¦s wants.
II. WHAT ARE CHRIST¡¦S UNDERTAKINGS FOR US?
1. He has
undertaken to pay all our debts: they are very great.
2. He has
undertaken that we shall never be alone. ¡§I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee.¡¨
3. He has
undertaken that you shall never be really overcome. ¡§My strength is made
perfect in weakness.¡¨
4. He has
undertaken to place you on the sunny side of everything all life through; for
¡§He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.¡¨
5. He has
undertaken that you shall always have a place of refuge. ¡§Come unto Me, all ye
that labour,¡¨ &c.
6. He has
undertaken that death shall be to you only a name, not a reality. ¡§He that
believeth on Me shall never die.¡¨ (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
¡§Undertake for
me¡¨
Hezekiah here represents his disease as a bailiff that had
arrested him and was carrying him to the prison of the grave, and therefore
prays that the Lord would bail him or rescue him out of his hands. (J. Gill,
D. D.)
God needed in
the dying hour
Ten days before the late Dean Burgon died he said, ¡§Nothing but
the Everlasting Arms can support me now.¡¨ (F. Harper, M. A.)
The cry of an
oppressed spirit
Our individuality is strong in suffering. The ego rises to
throw off the chains that bind it.
I. A CRY OF AN OPPRESSED SPIRIT. The human spirit is oppressed with--
1. Sin.
2. Circumstance.
3. Trouble.
4. Mysteries of
life.
II. A CRY ADDRESSED TO THE TRUE HELPER.
1. God alone can
undertake the cause of the soul.
2. He alone can
bring true deliverance.
3. He will deliver
those who seek Him.
4. His
deliverances are eternal (W. O. Lilley.)
Verse 15
What shall I say?
--
A bewildered
soul
Such an exclamation escaped from the lips of Joshua, and it was
the language of bitter disappointment, for Israel fled before their enemies (Joshua 7:8). The same words were uttered
by our adorable Lord when His soul was overwhelmed with grief in the prospect
of His agonies and bloody sweat, His cross and sacrificial death (John 12:27). Here it is the language of
one who was filled with perplexity by the dispensations of Divine Providence.
Such is the case with us sometimes; our circumstances are so painful, so
different from what we anticipated, that in bewilderment we exclaim, ¡§What
shall I say?¡¨ We must say--
1. That God¡¦s
dealings are very mysterious.
2. That the words
of Jesus are still true, ¡§In the world ye shall have tribulation.¡¨
3. That some of
God¡¦s promises require strong faith to believe them.
4. That God will
do just as He pleases with His own children.
5. That the trial
of faith is often very severe, exceedingly painful.
6. That patience
and perseverance are required under our trials.
7. That when Satan
hinders, none but God can effectually help; therefore we must look to Him.
8. That however
rough the road, the end will more than make up for its toils and trials, for
the end shall be blessed. (James Smith.)
I shall go softly all my years
Past troubles
remembered
The Revised Version has it: ¡§I shall go softly all my years,
because of the bitterness of my soul.¡¨ The marginal reading of the Revised
Version is: ¡§I shall go in solemn procession all my years because of the
bitterness of my soul.¡¨ That ¡§because of¡¨ means--since I hold in memory the
bitterness of my soul. So that we may state the significance of our Scripture
thus: I will walk henceforth in solemn, subdued, reverent way, remembering
always and thankfully the bitterness out of which my soul has been delivered. (W.
Hoyt, D. D.)
Escape from
death gives a new meaning, to life
Hereafter he should walk with the step and the mien of a
conqueror; or with the carefulness of a worshipper who sees at the end of his
course the throne of the Most High God, and makes all his life an ascent
thither. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Outlook in
affliction
I. A wise RESOLVE. Reckless ambition is folly. Our stage of action is
polluted, insecure, and vanishing. We are weak and dying. To walk in humility,
self-distrust, and holy fear is wisdom.
II. ITS CAUSE. Afflictions change our views of life. They change us.
Wisdom is often born out of soul-bitterness. A severe affliction should be an
epoch in a man¡¦s life. It should pluck out his follies, and make his future a
more tender, gentle, lovable thing. (W. O. Lilley.)
Verse 16
O Lord, by these things men live
Affliction as
related to life
The conception and quality of life as affected by the discipline
of any form of trial--that is the topic.
I. Take THE CONCEPTION OF LIFE AS A WHOLE, and see how that is
modified or altered by experiences like those through which Hezekiah passed.
They who have had no such critical experience in any form have never fully
awakened to the difference which there is between mere existence and life. In
sleep there is as real existence as when we are awake; but what a paltry thing
life would be if it were to be a constant sleep! Yet there are those among us
in whom, though their time may be busily occupied, and though their intellects
may be keen and vigilant, the spirit slumbers. They are like the landowner on
whose estate there is an undiscovered silver mine, who is no richer for his
hidden wealth, and who cannot be said even to possess it. Nothing has come to
reveal them to themselves, or to give them any vivid sense of the existence of
God and their relationship to Him. Nothing has opened their eyes to the
possibilities of life that are yet undeveloped in them. One day has been to
them like another; and the unbroken monotony of their experience has fostered
in them the expectation that things will always continue with them as they have
always been. Thus they verify the psalmist¡¦s words, ¡§Because they have no
changes, therefore they fear not God.¡¨ But when something like that which came
to Hezekiah comes to them, then there is a thorough, if also a rude, awakening,
and they discover that they have yet to begin to live. One may easily see this
exemplified in the votary of pleasure. Or take the case of him whose object in
existence has been the accumulation of wealth.
II. Passing to THE QUALITY OF THE LIFE, we may see how that also is
affected by such experiences of affliction. Here many features of character are
evoked or developed by trial.
1. There is the
element of strength, whether in its passive exercise as patient endurance, or
in its active manifestation as persevering energy. The poet has caught the
truth when he bids his readers ¡§learn to suffer and be strong.¡¨ He who has
known no affliction is easily worn out. The old sailor, who has been all but
shipwrecked, is not dismayed by a summer squall. It is the same with life as a
whole. You will find the strongest characters always among those who have been
most sorely afflicted. We ought, then, to be reconciled to the afflictions by
which alone it can be developed.
2. We can see that
experiences like this of Hezekiah have a great influence in producing
unselfishness in a man. When a man has been in the grip of the last enemy, and
has recovered; or has been within a little of losing all he had, and has
escaped, you can understand how such an experience sends him out of himself. It
intensifies for him the idea of life as a stewardship for God, and he sees the
folly of making all the streams of his effort run into himself. Howard¡¦s life
of benevolence was the outcome of a critical illness; and of multitudes more
than of him it can be said that they sloughed off their selfishness in the
crucible of trial.
3. But it is only
a broadening out of this remark when I affirm that sympathy is born out of such
experiences as those of Hezekiah. He who would be a helper must first be a
sufferer. He who would be a saviour must somewhere and somehow have been upon a
cross.
4. Experiences
like Hezekiah¡¦s have much to do with the usefulness of a man¡¦s life. Usefulness
is not a thing which one can command at will. It is, in most cases, the result
of a discipline; and is possessed by those who, in a large degree, are
unconscious that they are exercising it. It depends fully more on what a man is
than on what he does, or, if it is due to what he does or says, that again is
owing very much to what he is, and what he is now has been determined by the
history through which he has been brought. You see that in the case of a
physician. His experience goes far more to the making of him than his college
training has done. It is so, also, in spiritual things. The helpfulness of
another to us in the prosecution of the Christian life is determined more by
his personal experience than by his intellectual pre-eminence. Here is the
secret of the difference between one man and another in the matter of pulpit
power. I must add one word of caution. It is not every affliction that works
out such results; and whether any trial will do so or not depends entirely on
the spirit in which it is borne. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Luther¡¦s life
enriched by trial
Luther was wont to say that his three great teachers were prayer,
study, and trial; and any reader of his life can perceive that if he had been
required in the early part of his career to face some of the dangers which
menaced him at a later date he would have faltered in his course. But through
the minor experience he gained strength for the severer ordeal; and so it came
about that what would have appalled him at the outset made almost as little
impression on him at the last as ¡§the whistling of the idle wind that he
regarded not.¡¨ (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Sympathy
engendered by trouble
Those of us who have lost little children feel a prompting within
us to speak a word of comfort to every parent who is passing through a similar
experience. Indeed, it was in connection with an affliction of that sort that
my attention was first drawn to this text. I had just a few weeks before buried
a beloved daughter, the light of the household, and had gone to attend a
meeting of Synod where an honoured minister, who had been through the same
trial oftener than once before, came up to me and took me by the hand, and said
to me, with a reference to my sorrow, ¡§By these things men live.¡¨ That was all,
but each successive year since then has given a new verification of his words,
for oh! how often in the interval have I been enabled to comfort others with
the comfort with which I have been comforted of God, and the efficacy of the consolation
lay largely in the fact that it was offered by one who had proved its value for
himself. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The life of
the spirit
Whosoever is really alive, that is, has life in his spirit, the
life of man and not a beast, the only life which is worthy to be called life,
then that life is kept up in him in the same way that it was kept up in
Hezekiah. Let us see, then, what things they were which gave Hezekiah¡¦s spirit
life.
1. Great joy,
great honour, great success, wealth, health, prosperity, and pleasure? Not so!
2. Trouble upon
trouble came on Hezekiah.
3. Death looked to
him an ugly and an evil thing--as it is; the Lord¡¦s last enemy. He conquered
death by rising from the dead: but nevertheless we die. Hezekiah lived before
the Lord Jesus came to bring life and immortality to light by rising from the
dead; and, therefore, he dreaded it, because he knew not what would come after
death. He prayed hard not to die.
4. What was the
use of his sickness and his terror if, after all, his prayer was heard, and
after the Lord had told him, ¡§Thou shalt die, and not live¡¨--that did not come
to pass; but the very contrary happened? Of this use,at least; it taught him
that the Lord God would hear the prayers of mortal men. Is not that worth going
through any misery to learn? Hezekiah did not pray rightly. He thought himself
a better man than he was. But he did pray. And then he found that the Lord was
ready to save him; that what the Lord wished was not to kill him but to make
him live more really and fully and wisely and manfully.
5. What Hezekiah
saw but dimly we ought to see clearly. For the Gospel tells us that the same
Lord who chastened and taught and then saved Hezekiah, was made flesh, that He
might in His own person bear all our sickness and carry our infirmities; that
He might understand all our temptations and be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. He who made, He who lightens every man who comes into the world,
He who gave you every right thought and wholesome feeling that you ever had in
your lives--He counts your tears; He knows your sorrows; He is able and willing
to save you to the uttermost. Therefore do not be afraid of your own
afflictions. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)
Spoil from the
fight with death
Hope and joy returned with restored health, and we see (Isaiah 38:16-20) what Hezekiah brought
back with him from his fight with death
1. A new peace.
2. Forgiveness.
3. A new sense of
the dignity of life, and of the encompassing eternal realities.
4. A joyful sense
of God¡¦s personal love for him. (E. W.Shalders, B. A.)
Physical
benefit may accrue from sickness
Strange as it may appear, it is no less true that life is often
lengthened and health invigorated by a sharp illness. Like a ship put in dock
for repairs, an illness or an accident lays a man aside for a time out of the
reach of work and worry, and the rest of mind and body restores the balance of
his exhausted energies. Typhus fever successfully treated often clarifies the
whole system, just as a chimney is cleansed by setting it on fire; and a severe
illness often acts as a solemn warning, leading men to consider their ways and
their work, and to diminish the strain which is overtaxing the system, or to give
up some vicious habit of self-indulgence which is laying the axe to the root of
the tree. (W. Johnston, D. D.)
The uses of
affliction
The allusion of our text is not to the life of the body, but to
that which is far more important, the life of the soul. In what manner does
severe sickness or affliction of any kind conduce, by the blessing of God, to
the creation and development of our spiritual life?
I. AFFLICTION TEACHES US OUR ENTIRE DEPENDENCE UPON GOD.
II. AFFLICTION DISROBES US OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. Hezekiah yielded to
the insidious promptings of self-righteousness and self-glorification.
Affliction was the disrobing process through which he was called upon to pass,
the school in which he must learn his unworthiness as well as his weakness. And
in this disrobing of all self-righteousness there was the life of his spirit.
III. AFFLICTION BRINGS US TO REALISE AND ENJOY THE
FULNESS OF CHRIST. When Hezekiah was awakened to a sense of his want of
righteousness before God, he expected to go softly in the bitterness of his
soul all the years of his life. But the self-righteous idea of innocence and
excellence is no longer the broken spear on which to lean and pierce his hand.
The Sun of Righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings; bitterness and disquietude
pass away together, and Hezekiah is made to see what he had never seen so
clearly before--that in love to his soul, the Lord, his God in covenant, had
afflicted his body, had thus delivered his soul from the pit of corruption, and
had cast all his sins behind His back.
IV. SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION STIMULATES US IN CHRISTIAN WORK. Hezekiah
learned on the bed of sickness that there are but twelve hours in the day, that
the night cometh when no man can work, and that the brief period of life must
be diligently and devoutly improved. And it is when laid upon the bed of severe
sickness, with time in the past and eternity in the near future, that we shall
realise in all its solemnity the importance and responsibility of life, and
resolve, if spared like Hezekiah yet a little longer to recover strength before
we go hence to be no more, that our chief end shall be to glorify God and enjoy
Him for ever. (W. Johnston, D. D.)
The life of
the spirit
Hezekiah was a rich and prosperous king. Surrounded by the dignities
of rank, the refinements of elegance, and the gratifications of voluptuousness,
he, doubtless, viewed these as the very end and delight of his being, and
wished for nothing, knew of nothing better or beyond them. No; very different
was his character; very different were the things of which he spake. These
words were not uttered in ¡§the house of his armour,¡¨ but in the chamber of his
sickness; not at the festive table of his royal banquets, but upon the couch of
lassitude and pain. Let us endeavour, by a few examples, to verify his pensive
contemplation; and this, that we may learn ¡§so to number our days, that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom.¡¨
1. Take the case
of a professed scoffer at religion. He is arrested, we will suppose, by the arm
of Omnipotence, in his profligate course; he is thrown by a stronger hand than
his own upon the couch of pain and dejection; he learns for the first time to
tremble; we will suppose him humbled, converted. Sanctified affliction was the
first step. This softened the stony ground: this prepared the heart for holy
impressions. Will not such a one be ready to exclaim with Hezekiah, ¡§By these
things men live, and by these is the life of the spirit¡¨?
2. Imagine a man
careless and indifferent to religion, though not a hardened scoffer. He is too
busy with the world to spend a thought upon his eternal safety. But God brings
him low. In the silence and solitude of affliction he is forced to think. What
cause will such a one have for ever to bless Him who wounds that He may heal,
who kills that He may make alive!
3. Let us imagine
an inconsistent backsliding Christian brought into deep affliction. He returns
to Him whom he had forsaken.
4. Look at the
Pharisee. God brings him within sight of death and eternity. He is unmasked to
himself, and begins to exclaim, ¡§What must I do to be saved?¡¨ What a blessing
has affliction been to such a character!
5. The dejected
Christian. How often has such a one had reason to exclaim of afflictions, that
¡§by these things men live¡¨! The season of weakness and distress is often that
which God selects for the brightest manifestations of His love and tenderness.
(Family Sermons.)
The
restoration of belief
In the especial ease of Hezekiah, belief was restored by a great
shock, which brought him into contact with reality. God appeared to him--not as
to Adam, in the cool of the day, but as He came to Job, in the whirlwind and
the eclipse--and Hezekiah knew that he had been living in a vain show. The
answer of his soul was quick and sad: ¡§By these things men live, O Lord.¡¨
I. THE BLOW WHICH SOBERED HEZEKIAH WAS A COMMON ONE. It did nothing
more than bring him face to face with death. The process whereby his dependence
on God was restored was uncomplicated. But there are far worse shocks than
this, and recovery from them into a Godlike life is long and dreadful. There
are things which at first seem to annihilate belief, and change an indifferent
or a happy nature into earnest, even savage bitterness. One of these is the
advent of irrecoverable disease, protracted weakness, or protracted pain. God
forgives our human anger then, but we speak roughly to Him at first. It is a
dark anger, and may grow in intensity till faith and love are lost for this
life; but it will not reach that point if we have some greatness of soul, if we
are open to the touch of human love. One day the Gospel story in all its sweet
simplicity attracts and softens the sufferer¡¦s heart. He reads that Christ¡¦s
suffering in self-sacrifice brought redemption unto man. Surely, he seems to
dream this is no isolated fact. I too, in my apparent uselessness, am at one
with the Great Labourer: I bear with Christ my cross for men. This is not only
the restoration of belief, it is the victory of life.
II. BUT THERE ARE MORE DREADFUL THINGS THAN LONG DISEASE. There is
that shipwreck which comes of dishonoured love. Many things are terrible, but
none is worse than this. In some there is no remedy but death, and far beyond
the immanent tenderness of God. But there are many who recover, whom God leads
oat of the desert into the still garden of an evening life of peace and
usefulness and even joy. Lapse of time does part of the work. In the quietude
of middle life we look back upon our early misery, and only remember the love
we felt. Faith is restored, hope is renewed, when, like Christ, you can turn
and say, Father, forgive him, forgive her, for they knew not what they did.
III. There have been and are many of us who are
conscious that, as we have passed into the later period of life and mingled
with the world, OUR EARLY FAITH HAS ALSO PASSED AWAY. We have lost belief
because our past religion was borrowed too much from others. If we wish for
perfection, and are not content to die and love no more, the restoration of
belief may be attained by the personal labour of the soul. It is worth trying
what one personal effort to bring ourselves into the relation of a child to a
father, in all the naturalness and simplicity of that relation, will do towards
restoring faith and renewing life with tenderness. (S. A. Brooke, D. D.)
Verses 17-19
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness
Hezekiah¡¦s
return of praise for his recovery
I.
A
SAD, HEAVY AFFLICTION. ¡§Behold, for peace,¡¨ &c. The affliction is
aggravated--
1. By a
description of it in its own nature.
2. By opposition
of the blessing which is removed--¡§peace¡¨; a word that comprehends an temporal
blessings, and more particularly is taken, in Holy Writ, for health--a blessing
without which all other blessings have no relish in them.
3. By the surprise
of it--¡§Behold!¡¨ as a strange thing.
4. And this
further aggravated it, if we understand it, as we must in a spiritual
sense--that, his sickness calling his sins to remembrance, and causing some
distrust of God¡¦s love, instead of that peace of conscience he had had
heretofore, his spirit was now troubled and greatly embittered. And ¡§a wounded
spirit, who can bear?¡¨
II. A MERCIFUL DELIVERANCE OUT OF THIS AFFLICTION. ¡§Thou hast in
love,¡¨ &c. The mercy of the deliverance wants not its heightening
circumstances; as--
1. From the
efficient cause. It was God delivered him.
2. From the motive
or impulsive cause--¡§love.¡¨
3. From the danger
he was delivered out of, and that no ordinary one--¡§a pit¡¨--¡§the pit of
corruption,¡¨ even the grave.
III. A BLESSED IMPROVEMENT OF THIS MERCY. ¡§For
Thou hast cast,¡¨ &c. This is the crown of mercies, when temporals are thus
accumulated with spirituals; this a recovery indeed, of the whole man, when
health is improved unto salvation, and strength of body accompanied with pardon
of sins. This is right ¡§saving health.¡¨
IV. A THANKFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THIS IMPROVED MERCY. That is set
forth--
1. By showing the
impossibility for the dead to perform this duty.
2. And then
showing, not the possibility only, but the probability, that the living will, i.e.,
such as Divine mercy continues in life, and especially such as are by that
mercy preserved from imminent danger of death.
3. Exemplified in
himself. ¡§As I do this day.¡¨ (A. Littleton, D. D.)
The pains and
pleasures attending religion
I. THE FELICTIOUS CONDITION OF THE GOOD HEZEKIAH IN THE POSSESSION OF
PEACE. Shall I speak of him as a man enjoying health in his body; as a king
blessed with prosperity and tranquillity through all his dominions? These are
invaluable privileges. Rather let us consider him as a sinner whose, conscience
has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, by virtue of which he enjoys that
peace which consists in a sweet sense of the Divine friendship.
II. ATTEND HEZEKIAH WHEN HIS PEACE IS FOLLOWED BY TROUBLE.
III. REFLECT ON THE LOVE OF GOD, DISPLAYED TOWARDS
HEZEKIAH in lengthening out his life and pardoning all his sins. (John
Rippon.)
The assurance
of faith
I. THE DISTRESS Hezekiah was in before our Saviour spoke peace to
him, and delivered him from his sins.
II. THE ASSURANCE he had of being pardoned and accepted by his
Heavenly Father and saved; and how boldly he testifies that this must be the
case with all the children of God.
III. THE CAUSE OF ALL, which he says was the love
of Jehovah to him. (John Cennick.)
The purpose of
God¡¦s love
The purpose of God¡¦s love is to draw us away from all pits,
dejections, humiliations, prostrations, and to give us life, vigour, triumph,
sense and guarantee of immortality. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Love¡¦s
medicines and miracles
I. HEALTHFUL BITTERNESS. You have it in the first sentence, which
runs in Hebrew very nearly as follows: ¡§Behold, to peace (or to health) my
bitter bitterness.¡¨ This means--
1. That Hezekiah
underwent a great, sad, and unexpected change. Let us never boast ourselves of
to-morrow, for we know not what a day may bring forth.
2. Hezekiah¡¦s
condition was one of emphatic sorrow, for he says, ¡§Behold, to peace, Marah,
Marah--bitter, bitter.¡¨ Marah was a notable spot in the journeys of the
children of Israel, and Hezekiah had come spiritually to a double Marah. Have
you ever passed that way and drank of double bitterness--the wormwood and the
gall? Some of us know what it means, for we have had at the same time a body
racked with pain, and a soul full of heaviness. Perhaps the double Marah has
come in another form: it is a time of severe trouble, and just then the friend
in whom you trusted has forsaken you. Or, peradventure, you are in temporal
difficulties, and at the same time in great spiritual straits. The flying fish
is pursued by a fierce enemy in the sea, and when it flies into the air birds
of prey are eager afar it; in like manner, both in temporal and spiritual
things we are assailed. ¡§Deep calleth unto deep.¡¨
3. The meaning of
our verse is not at all exhausted by this explanation; we find in it a better
meaning by far. ¡§Behold, to peace bitter bitterness¡¨--that is to say the king¡¦s
double bitterness wrought his peace and health. Take the word in the sense of
health first. Many a time when a man has been exceedingly ill the medicine
which has met his case has been intensely disagreeable to the taste; but it has
operated as a strengthening tonic, it has purged away the cause of the malady,
and the man has recovered. Hezekiah bore witness that God had sanctified his
bodily sickness and his mental sorrow to his spiritual health. While he lay
with his face to the wall, he read a great deal upon that wall which he had
seen nowhere else. The king¡¦s bitterness of soul led him to repent of his
wrongdoing, as he saw wherein he had sinned.
4. This bitter
bitterness made Hezekiah see the need of his God more than ever he had seen it
before.
II. LOVING DELIVERANCE. The original runs thus: ¡§And Thou hast loved
my soul from the pit of destruction.¡¨ Taken in its first sense, the king
ascribes to the love of God his deliverance from death and the grave, and
praises God for his restoration to the land of the living. But the words of
inspired men frequently have a deeper significance than appears upon the
surface, and indeed they often conceal an inner sense which perhaps they
themselves did not perceive, and hence the king¡¦s words are as dark sayings
upon a harp full of meaning within meaning. At any rate, taking the language
out of the mouth of Hezekiah, we will use it for expressing our own emotions,
and give to it a wider sense if such be not the original range of its meaning.
Let us notice three things.
1. The deed of
grace: ¡§Thou hast brought my soul from the pit of corruption.¡¨
2. The power which
performed it. Love. Divine love is a catholicon, a universal medicine.
No spiritual disease can resist its healing power.
3. The modus
operandi of this love. ¡§Thou hast embraced my soul out of the pit of
corruption.¡¨ Yonder is the child in the pit, and the father, wishing to save
it, goes down into the pit and embraces his beloved one, and so brings him up
to life and safety again. After this manner dig Jesus save us. He embraced us
by taking our nature, and so becoming one with us. All our lives He communes
with us, and embraces us with arms of mighty love, and so uplifts us from the
pit of corruption.
III. ABSOLUTE PARDON. ¡§For Thou hast cast all my
sins behind Thy back.¡¨ This King Hezekiah mentions as the cause of his restored
peace and health. Sin was the foreign element in his spiritual constitution,
and as long as it was there it caused fret and worry and spiritual disease.
Notice--
1. The burden.
Sins.
2. The owner of
this burden. ¡§My sins.¡¨
3. The
comprehensiveness of the burden. ¡§All my sins.¡¨ The Lord comes to deal with
them. He casts them behind His back. Where can that be? It means annihilation,
non-existence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
Miracles of
love
¡§Thou hast loved my soul out of the pit of corruption¡¨ (margin).
I. We were in the beginning LOVED INTO GRACE.
1. The love of
Christ to sinners was the topic which arrested our solemn attention to the
Gospel.
2. We sat in the
region of the shadow of death, and would have remained there had we not been
loved into faith.
3. At the time
when faith came into our hearts, there came with it the sister grace, namely,
repentance.
II. We have been LOVED INTO GROWTH IN GRACE. The great motive power
urging us onward has always been the self-same love of God. The Lord loves us
out of love to sin. He loves us out of the pit of idolatry. There is another
pit of corruption into which children of God sometimes fall, namely, that of
sluggishness. The only effectual cure for a slumbering Christian is to let him
have the love of Christ shed abroad in his heart. The same is true of that
abominable pit of selfishness and self-esteem and pride and self-seeking, into
which our feet so easily glide. The love of Christ is equally a cure for
despondency and unbelief. Many a child of God can bear witness that the Lord
has loved him out of his impatience.
III. The Lord will LOVE US OUT OF GRACE INTO
GLORY. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Deliverance
from destruction
I have heard a story of a man, who, travelling late and being in
drink, rode over a narrow footbridge where there was a great, deep water
underneath, that the least trip of the horse¡¦s foot would have posted the rider
to his long home. Next morning, when he came to himself, being asked which way
he came, and brought to the place, the apprehension of his last night¡¦s
adventure did so astonish his sober thoughts, that he fell down dead in the
very place at the sight of it. And when we look back upon the follies and
vanities of our past lives, how can we but be justly startled, when almost
every step we have trod has been upon the brink of destruction! (A.
Littleton, D. D.)
Soul-pits
abound
I. THE PIT.
1. Horrible.
2. Nigh to every
man.
3. Treacherous at
its edge.
4. Bottomless.
II. ONE CONSCIOUS OF DELIVERANCE FROM IT.
1. He attributes
his deliverance to God.
2. That it was
God¡¦s love, and not his merit, that originated his deliverance.
3. That all may
possess this consciousness of deliverance.
4. That unless the
soul is delivered it will sink into this pit eternally. (W. O.Lilley.)
Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back
A sense of
pardoned sin
I. A SENSE OF PARDON AS GIVEN BY GOD TO THE SINNER.
1. We are not to
wait for this sense of pardon before we come to Christ.
2. This
consciousness of pardon includes many things, although it is not alike
comprehensive in all souls.
3. But, saith one,
¡§How does this sense of pardon come?¡¨ It comes in different ways and forms.
Many men receive their consciousness of pardon in an instant. With others it is
of slower growth. This conviction is sometimes conveyed to us in the most
extraordinary manner. I have known it brought home to the soul by some singular
saying of a minister. At other times, some strange providence has been the singular
means of giving joy and relief.
4. Permit me to
dwell upon the joy which this sense of pardon creates. It is but taking God at
His word, when the soul knows that as a necessary consequence of its faith it
is saved. But, besides that, the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are born of God.
II. A SENSE OF FORGIVENESS ENJOYED BY MAN, NOT AS A SINNER, BUT AS A
PARDONED CHILD. I have sometimes heard uninstructed Christians ask how it is
that when a man is once pardoned he has nevertheless to ask every day that his
sins may be forgiven. The difficulty lies in a forgetfulness of the
relationship which Christians sustain to God. As a sinner I come to Christ and
trust Him. God is then a Judge; He takes the great book of the court, strikes
out my sins, and acquits me. At the same moment, out of His great love, He
adopts me into His family. Now I stand in quite a different relationship to
Him. I am not so much His subject as His child. He is no longer to me a Judge,
but has become a Father. And now I have new laws, a new discipline, new
treatment; now I have new obedience. I go and do wrong. What then? Does the
Judge come and at once summon me before His throne? No! He is a Father, and
that Father brings me up before His face, and frowns on me--nay, takes the rod
and begins to scourge me. He never scourged me when He was a Judge. Then, He
only threatened to use the axe. If I do that which is wrong, I am bound to go
to Him as on a child¡¦s knees, and say, ¡§Our Father which art in heaven, forgive
me these trespasses, as I forgive them that trespass against me.¡¨ (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Pardon
realised
The strangest story I ever remember to have read, with regard to
peace given after a long season of despondency, is the case of Mrs. Honeywood.
Living in puritanic times, she had been accustomed to hear the most thundering
of its preachers. She became so thoroughly broken in peace with the
consciousness of sin, that for, I think, some ten years, if not twenty years,
the poor woman was given up to despair. It seemed that in this case, a kind of
miracle must be wrought to give her peace of mind. One day, an eminent minister
of Christ, conversing with her, told her there yet was hope. Grasping a Venice
glass that stood on the table, made of the thinnest material that can be
conceived, the woman dashed it down on the ground, and said--¡§I am lost, as
sure as that glass is broken into a thousand pieces.¡¨ To her infinite surprise,
the glass suffered no damage whatever, but remained without a crack. From that
instant she believed that God had spoken to her. She opened her ears to hear
the words of the minister, and peace poured into her spirit. (W. O.Lilley.)
Sins behind
God¡¦s back
The back of God! Where is that?
I. A MAN¡¦S SINS. May be--
1. Many.
2. Various
3. Heinous.
II. THEIR DIVINE REMOVAL.
1. God alone has
the right to east them away.
2. God alone can.
3. He removes them
so as to see them no more for ever.
4. He casts all
sin away that is repented of. (W. O. Lilley.)
Verse 18-19
For the grave cannot praise Thee
The praiseful
life
Bacon says, ¡§Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament,
adversity is the blessing of the New.
¡¨ He would have been nearer the truth had he said, that temporal blessings were
the promise of the Old Testament, spiritual blessings the promise of the New.
The remark, however, suggests thoughts introductory to the consideration of our
text from a Christian standpoint.
1. The Jews were
for the most part influenced by the prospect of temporal rewards and
punishments. Hezekiah in this place seems to have no thought of a future life,
and to be moved only by the prospect of leaving this. There is a development in
revelation, in this as in other matters.
2. When our Lord
came, the germ of the doctrine of the future life, only dimly discernible to
the spiritual mind, was developed.
I. THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE GOD.
1. This is true of
natural death. The hands once strong to labour are now nerveless and still,
there is no ¡§disquisition¡¨ in the eyes, and the heart is unmoved by the things
of joy and grief that thrilled it in life.
2. It is true of
spiritual death, of which natural is in the New Testament the constant type.
II. THE LIVING MUST PRAISE GOD.
1. The natural
duty of praising God is recognised by Hezekiah; and it would be strange if it
were not so, for we have a loathing of ingratitude from man to man.
2. But those who
have been partakers of the spiritual resurrection can alone truly praise God,
for they alone can fully realise all His bounty.
3. But the most
perfect praise will be in the spiritual body after the resurrection. (J. G.
Pilkington, M. A.)
Hezekiah in
prospect of death
Hezekiah was, in the full sense of the word, a good king. His piety
is shown--
I. The essence of the history is this, that IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH
HEZEKIAH¡¦S STRENGTH OF MIND QUITE BROKE DOWN. He looks upon death as a thing to
be dreaded and shunned; he speaks of it in a way in which no Christian who has
learned the Lord¡¦s prayer could ever venture or even wish to speak of it.
Hezekiah knew that he must serve God while life lasted; he had manifestly no
express revelation beyond, and therefore he looked upon the grave with dismay.
II. WE HAVE GREATER SPIRITUAL HELP THAN HEZEKIAH, and brighter light,
and clearer grounds of hope, and it is incumbent on us to act, not like those
who groped their way in the twilight of the old dispensation, but like those
upon whom the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God has shined in the
face of Jesus Christ. (Bp. Harvey Goodwin, D. D.)
Verse 19
The living, the living, he shall praise Thee
The right life
The right life is a praise-giving life.
Such a life is--
I. THE MOST HONOURABLE.
II. THE MOST BENEFICIAL TO THE MAN HIMSELF.
III. THE MOST BENEFICIAL TO OTHERS. ¡§The father to
the children shall make known Thy truth.¡¨
IV. THE CONSIDERATION OF THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE OUGHT TO INDUCE US TO
SPEND OUR TIME IS PRAISING GOD. Hezekiah felt that the years given him to live
on the earth would soon come to an end, hence the emphasis placed on ¡§the
living, the living.¡¨ (Homilist.)
The praise of
the living
I. THE WORSHIPPER. ¡§The living.¡¨
II. THE OBJECT AND NATURE OF THE PRAISE RENDERED. The prolongation of
life is a legitimate cause for Christian thanksgiving. It is only in our state
as ¡§the living¡¨ that we have an opportunity of uttering that which we may term
practical and generative praise--a praise which induces others to join us in
our work--a praise which begets praise, and tends to propagate itself, by God¡¦s
blessing, throughout the length and breadth of an ungrateful world. It is
evident that Hezekiah referred to such praise as this; for he says, ¡§The father
to the children shall make known Thy truth.¡¨ (D. F.Jarman, B. A.)
The value and
use of life
I. THE DUTY OF SERIOUSLY MEDITATING ON OUR BEING MERCIFULLY SPARED
among the living. It is right and rational to rejoice in this prolongation of
your life; but such rejoicing is useless, unless it be founded on a serious
thought of the blessing received. To rejoice in being alive, for the sole
selfish enjoyment which you hope to derive from life, is nothing better than
the natural instinct of a mere animal.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF SUCH A BLESSING. There is nothing in creation
more amazing than what is called life; a miracle, indeed, perpetually
witnessed, and therefore generally overlooked; but curious to be contemplated,
and most difficult to be comprehended in its various attendant circumstances.
1. As a mere
object of curiosity, a mere piece of machinery, the lowest living creature is
above the utmost reach of human intelligence.
2. But how much
more important is life when considered as a means of enjoyment.
3. How much higher
still does life rise in its interest and importance when considered in
connection with an understanding mind.
4. Yet all this is
the least of the matter; and if the life of man were nothing more than what we
see of it here, wonderful as it is, it would be only as an empty show, or as a
fleeting meteor, bursting on the view and gazed at for a moment, but gone for
ever, even before it could be understood.
5. But this very
fleeting nature of life imparts an additional value to its possession, when
viewed in its true light, namely, as connected with an eternal state.
6. How much more
exalted still does our idea of life become, when it is connected with
salvation!
III. THE WAY IN WHICH YOU SHOULD EXPRESS THIS
THANKFULNESS AND USE THIS BLESSING. ¡§He shall praise Thee.¡¨
1. Nothing can
possibly be more clearly right and reasonable than this, that we are bound to
live to the praise of that gracious Being by whose power and providence we do
live.
2. This, indeed,
is the great, the express end for which you were brought into the number of
¡§the living¡¨; the only occupation also m which you will find any solid
happiness m life, namely, to praise or glorify God; to make His will the rule
of your life, to make His glory the aim of your life.
3. But these words
do evidently express something more than merely the duty of living to the
praise of God, and of praising Him the more fervently the longer that He spares
us among the living. They seem particularly to proclaim the importance of life
on this account alone, that it affords us an opportunity of showing forth the
praises of God. So the devout believer feels a relish in life, altogether
distinct from his natural instincts or personal enjoyments; namely, in the
power which it puts into his hands of praising the gracious Author of his
spiritual privileges and eternal hopes. Nor is it enough to say, that he might
still better praise God m the heavenly courts. There are calls for this praise
more urgent, and opportunities of this praise more direct, even in this mortal
scene, than in the eternal state; occasions for bearing your testimony to God¡¦s
perfections, which are not required in heaven above; occasions for exercising
your great Christian graces of faith and charity, which are not afforded, and
which cannot be afforded in a state of perfect holiness and felicity. (J.
Brewster.)
The Jew valued
the present life
The Jew, in all his thought and religion, showed a keen sense of
the value of the present life. The very deficiencies in his religious conceptions
seem to arise from this cause. The presence of God in this world seemed to
obscure the future from his eyes, just as in later ages the bright vision of
the future has thrown the present into the shade. But as the Jewish spirit
became saddened by experience the sense of the presence of God in the world
became weaker. The Jew did not relax his hold on practical righteousness, but
the faith of childhood began to lose its simplicity. His thoughts took a wider
range, and began to be directed to the future. The revelation of Christ
completed the change for which other influences had helped to prepare the way;
and the new faith stood opposed to the old, as the spiritual to the carnal. (W.
W. Jackson, M. A.)
The importance
of the present life
But has the central conception of early Jewish religion
disappeared, or has it only been matured and purified? Is not human life, as we
have experience of it here, in the present, with all its cares, and joys, and
sorrows, still the great concern of religion? Does it not still afford us the
best means of drawing Dear to God, and realising His presence? Does not Christ
Himself teach us that our first business is in this life, when He prays to the
Father that He should not take the disciples out of the world, but that He
should keep them from the evil? (W. W. Jackson, M. A.)
The Christian
view of life
1. The feeling
which the Jew had entertained on the subject of death differs as widely as
possible from that entertained by St. Paul. The change of sentiment had been
consummated by Christ, who had ¡§abolished death and brought life and
immortality to light through the Gospel.¡¨ The life of the Christian was
thenceforth ¡§hid with Christ in God.¡¨ The affections were thenceforth to be
¡§set on things above.¡¨ The opposition between the things of the world and the
things of God had been declared. But as soon as the Christian asked himself
what was the means by which he could make this view his own, there could be
only one reply. He must live after it. He must take the spirit of Christ into
the world. But he could rise to the height of his duty here, only by keeping
his eye fixed on the pattern in the heavens.
2. This conception
of Christian life suggests reflections of two different kinds--
The peculiar
mercy and business of life
I. THE MERCY OF LIFE. ¡§The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,¡¨
&c.
II. WHEREIN THE PECULIAR MERCY OF IT CONSISTS.
1. Ask the carnal
man where lies the mercy of life. And--
2. Ask the renewed
man in an ill frame of spirit, where lies the mercy of life. If he is in
outward prosperity he will be ready to reckon it lies in the comforts of this
life. If he is in adversity, the troubles of life are so great, that the mercy
of it is small in his view; only heaven bulks in his eyes, and that as a place
of rest from trouble. But there is nothing of this either in the text.
3. The decision
is, the mercy of life lies in the business of life, to wit, being serviceable
for God in the world. ¡§The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,¡¨ &c.
Which speaks a high esteem of God and His service, as men count it a favour to
serve their prince; and an ardent love to Him, as men delight to serve the
interests of those they dearly love. Now, the business of life for which it is
desirable, is twofold.
(a) What he has
access to do for that end; namely, to praise God to the younger sort, that are
likely to five after he is gone; especially to his own children.
(b) How he may do
it, namely, by making Him known to them as an object worthy of their faith.
¡§Shall make known Thy truth.¡¨ (T. Boston.)
Praising God
I. WHAT PRAISING GOD IS. It is the acknowledging and declaring the
glorious excellencies of God, as He has manifested Himself in His word and
works, and imports
1. Belief of the
Being of God.
2. The knowledge
of God.
3. The love of
God. Love is the mother of praise.
4. The admiration
of God, which is love and esteem raised to a high pitch.
5. Expressing that
love and admiration to Him. This is twofold--
II. WHAT ARE THE PECULIARITIES OF THE PRAISES OF THE LIVING.
1. They are the
praises of the whole man, in soul and body too (1 Corinthians 6:20).
2. They are
praises which may spread among the living (Colossians 3:16).
3. They are
praises raised by the way to the heavenly kingdom.
4. They are
praises of faith, not of sight.
5. They are
praises to God amidst much dishonour done to Him. (T. Boston.)
Motives
1. God is the Author
of thy life.
2. The Preserver
of thy life.
3. The Giver of
all thou hast, whereby thou mayest honour Him.
4. God puts
opportunities in thine hand for honouring Him.
5. There are some
who are deprived of those abilities or occasions ye have to honour God. The
pagan world, &c.
6. Ye have
forfeited by sin all your abilities, opportunities, and your very life. His
patience has suffered us long, &c. Should not this engage us to live to His
honour?
7. This was the
design of the redemption purchased by Christ (Titus 2:14).
8. It is the
design of the sanctification of the Spirit (1 Peter 2:9).
9. It is a lost
life that is not lived to the honour of God. (T. Boston.)
Thanksgiving
and thanksliving
Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. (M. Henry.)
Ingratitude
common
A lady who had heard a great many prayers offered for sick people,
in a large city church, said to her husband, ¡§Do all the sick people who are
prayed for in our church die?¡¨ ¡§Why, no,¡¨ he answered, ¡§of course not; but why
do you ask?¡¨ ¡§I supposed that they all died,¡¨ she said, ¡§because I hardly ever
heard of one who had got well enough to give thanks!¡¨ (J. N. Norton.)
The father to the children
Propagating
religion
What is it to propagate religion, God¡¦s name and praise, to the
rising generation? It implies--
1. The having
religion ourselves.
2. The profession
of religion.
3. A desire to
continue and spread religion in the world.
4. Contributing
our endeavours to bring others, and particularly the rising generation, to the
knowledge and practice of religion. (T. Boston.)
¡§The father to
the children¡¨
1. Fathers of the
State, to their political children (Isaiah 49:23).
2. Fathers in the
Church, ministers, and other Church officers, to their ecclesiastical children.
3. Fathers of
families, to their children, servants, &c.
4. Fathers in
gifts or graces to those who are children in these respects in comparison of
them (1 John 2:12-13).
5. Fathers in
years to those who are children in respect of age to them 1 Timothy 5:1-2). (T. Boston.)
The obligation
to propagate religion
1. Divine
authority (Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 11:19).
2. Gratitude to
God.
3. Justice to
former generations, who have propagated religion to us.
4. Our own
interest.
5. Charity to the
rising generation. (T. Boston.)
Claims of
children
Socrates once said, ¡§Could I climb to the highest place in Athens,
I would lift my voice and proclaim, Fellow-citizens, why do ye turn and scrape
every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom
one day you must relinquish it all?¡¨ (Family Circle.)
Parental
relationship a medium of Divine revelation
Revelations of God¡¦s faithfulness are precious. They are the
ground of human hope. Every life has some peculiar revelation of God¡¦s truth in
it. The parental relationship, with its tender solicitudes and loves, furnishes
a means of transmission. This duty should be conscientiously performed--
I. THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MAY INCREASE FROM AGE TO AGE.
II. THAT THE GRATITUDE OF ONE GENERATION SHOULD GLORIFY GOD BY
MINISTERING TO THE MORAL LIFE OF THE NEXT.
III. THAT THE GENERATION FOLLOWING MAY HAVE A
SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND TRUST IN HIM. (W. O. Lilley.)
Verse 21
He shall recover
Christ in the
sick room
I.
The
Holy Ghost shows us a king and ruler of men, a dweller in palaces, a possessor
of all that money can obtain, a good man, a friend of God, laid low by disease
like the poorest man in the kingdom.
1. This is the old
story. After all there is nothing wonderful in this. The tabernacle in which
our soul lives is a most frail and complicated machine. I do not wonder so much
that we die as that we live so long.
2. But whence
comes this liability to sickness, disease, and death? There is only one book
that supplies an answer to this question. That book is the Bible, The fall of
man at the beginning has brought sin into the world, and sin has brought with
it the curse of sickness, suffering, and pain. Here lies one among many proofs
that the Bible is given by inspiration of God. It accounts for many things
which the Deist cannot explain.
II. Learn from this chapter that sickness is not an unmixed evil.
Hezekiah received spiritual benefit from his illness. Sickness ought to do us
good. And God sends it in order to do us good.
1. Sickness is
meant to make us think, to remind us that we have an immortal soul; and that if
this soul is not saved we had better never have been born.
2. Sickness is
meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave, and that the world we
now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be
no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin.
3. Sickness is
meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously.
4. Sickness is
meant to make us see the emptiness of the world, and its utter inability to
satisfy the highest and deepest wants of the soul.
5. Sickness is
meant to send us to our Bibles.
6. Sickness is
meant to make us pray.
7. Sickness is
meant to make us repent and break off our sins.
8. Sickness is
meant to draw us to Christ.
9. Sickness is
meant to make us sympathising towards others. (Anon.)
A fig-plaster
The application of figs leaves it uncertain whether a boil (bubon)
or a carbuncle (charbon) is to be supposed. Figs were a popular emolliens
or maturans; they were used to hasten the rising of the swelling,
and therefore the mattering-process. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Verse 22
What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?
--
Seeking a sign
Real religion is the same in every country and every age. Hence we
have so much of the history and experience of the people of God recorded in the
Scriptures of truth, that we may compare our experience with theirs. Let us
take these words and consider them four ways--
I. AS THE LANGUAGE OF A MAN DESIROUS OF LIFE. There are persons who
can talk lightly of death; but it is a solemn thing to die. What was the
fortitude of Hume when dying, joking of Charon and his boat, but like
¡§whistling aloud to keep his courage up¡¨? But we have to observe that death is
not always inviting even to a good man.
1. We live under a
blessed dispensation; but, though the revelation of God¡¦s will is complete,
there are those who are not yet led into all its truths.
2. Sometimes a
good man¡¦s connections draw him back and attach him still to life. A minister
may wish ¡§to depart and be with Christ,¡¨ but he sees a congregation which hang
upon his lips; a husband and father may be looking for that blessed hope, and
rejoicing in it, but he knows that his death will make the wife a widow and the
children fatherless. You talk of self-denial! Who is it that denies himself
like that man who is assured of heaven, and yet is willing to forego the
blessedness from year to year, who is willing to weep on and war on for the
sake of usefulness to others?
3. A good man¡¦s
evidences of glory are not always clear; this will affect his experience.
4. There may be an
event to which the believer may attach some importance, that has not taken
place, and which may produce some hesitation in his mind. There was something
of this kind, surely, in regard to David; he therefore pleaded for sparing
mercy--¡§O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no
more seen.¡¨ Simeon, too, had the assurance that he should not see death till he
had seen the Lord¡¦s Christ.
5. There is also a
constitutional timidity in some. If they are not afraid of death itself, they
are afraid of dying. The very apostles wished to enter heaven, if possible,
without being unclothed, and therefore said, ¡§We that are in this tabernacle do
groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon,
that mortality may be swallowed up of life.¡¨ The fear of death is not sinful.
Nature must abhor its own destruction, and if there be anything that can
reconcile us to it, it must be supernatural.
II. AS THE LANGUAGE OF A MAN ATTACHED TO THE HOUSE OF GOD: for he does
not inquire, ¡§What is the sign that I shall ascend my throne?¡¨ or ¡§that I shall
give audience to ambassadors, or commands to generals? What is the sign that I
shall head my army, or that I shall travel through my country?¡¨ No, but ¡§What
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?¡¨ What is it that
attaches a good man so much to the house of God?
1. Perhaps ¡¥tis
his birthplace: we refer to his second birth; and if you are not born twice
before you die once, it would have been well if you had never been born at all.
2. It is a place
of intercourse.
3. It is a place
of instruction.
4. It is also a
place of devotion. ¡§My house shall be called the house of prayer.¡¨ If Hezekiah
loved the house of God before, you may be sure he did not love it less now,
having been detained so long from it by sickness. We commonly know best the
worth of our mercies by the want of them. How pleasing is the morning after the
darkness of the night! How alluring is the spring after the dreary winter! How
health is sweetened after the bitterness of pain! and how is liberty endeared
by the sufferings of bondage!
III. AS THE LANGUAGE OF A MAN CONCERNED TO SHOW
HIS GRATITUDE FOR MERCIES RECEIVED. He wished this, not only for the enjoyment
of a privilege, but for the performance of a duty. Having experienced
delivering mercy, he knew he ought to praise God, by acknowledging His goodness
publicly, and dedicating himself afresh to His glory. So did David Psalms 66:13, &c.). This is not
always the case. There are many whose only concern when in affliction is to
escape from it: whereas, a good man dreads the removal of it, unless it be
sanctified, and the end of God be answered in bringing him nearer to Himself. A
proper improvement of deliverance from sickness does not lie simply in the
offering up of a single thanksgiving: it requires a great deal more than this,
which will be mere formality and mockery in the sight of God, unless accompanied
with real gratitude, and thankful views and feelings; and unless the actions
and the life correspond therewith. Hezekiah had a sad falling off. ¡§Hezekiah
rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was
lifted up.¡¨
IV. AS THE LANGUAGE OF A MAN WHOSE FAITH REQUIRES CONFIRMATION. ¡§What
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?¡¨ Why? Had he not been
assured of this by good Isaiah? He ought to have been satisfied. He did not
believe it, and he did believe it. Ah, Christians! you know how to explain such
an experience as this. (W. Jay, M. A.)
Fear of dying
The excellent Dr. Conyers often said, ¡§I am not afraid of death,
but I am afraid of dying; I am not afraid of the end, but of the passage.¡¨ He
therefore often said in prayer, ¡§O Lord, if it be Thy blessed will, let me die
in Thy blessed service!¡¨ And his wish was granted, for he sank down in the
church, and even in the pulpit. (W. Jay, M. A.)
¢w¢w¡mThe Biblical Illustrator¡n