Isaiah 38:22

Isa 38:22 Hezekiah also had said, What [is] the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

Ver. 22. {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:8"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_38:22

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 Gods will is complete, there are those who are not yet led into all its truths.

2. Sometimes a good mans 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 mans 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 Lords 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 Psa_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.)

.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38:22 Hezekiah could not go to the Temple with an infection (see Lev 13), so going to the Temple signifies restored health.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As verse 7.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

house of the Lord--Hence he makes the praises to be sung there prominent in his song (Isa 38:20; Psa 116:12-14, Psa 116:17-19).

Next: Isaiah Chapter 39

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hezekiah also had said - What evidence or proof have I that I shall be restored, and permitted to go to the temple? The miracle on the sun-dial was performed in answer to this request, and as a demonstration that he should yet be permitted to visit the temple of God (see the note at Isa 38:7).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lord. The answer is given, (4 Kings xx. 9.) which seems to evince that this is only an extract. (Calmet) --- The prophet prescribed the medicine, and the king asked for a sign before he sung the canticle. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hezekiah also had said; or, For Hezekiah had said; had asked a sign, which is here added as the reason why Isaiah said what is related in the foregoing verse, to wit, in answer to Hezekiah’s question.

That I shall go up, within three days, as is more fully related, 2Ki 20:5,8,

to the house of the Lord; for thither he designed in the first place to go, partly that he might pay his vow and thanksgiving. to God, and partly that he might engage the people to praise God with him, and for him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hezekiah also had said; literally, and Hezekiah said. Our translators, both in this verse and at the commencement of ver. 21, have endeavoured to conceal the awkwardness of the nexus, or rather want of nexus , with what precedes, by a modification of the rendering. The true sense is brought out by the proceeding, which is, however, a little arbitrary.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“And Hezekiah said, What sign that I shall go up (to) the house of Jehovah?” The ellipsis is easily supplied by reading, what sign dost thou give, or what sign is there, or more simply still, what is the sign? The question is more fully given in 2Ki 20:8 as follows. ‘And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What sign that Jehovah is about to heal me, and that I shall go up, on the third day, to the house of Jehovah?’ The reference is to the promise as recorded in v. 5 of the same chapter. ‘Return and say to Hezekiah the chief of my people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I am about to heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah.’ The last two verses of this chapter in Isaiah are evidently out of their chronological order, and the question has been raised, whether this transposition is to be ascribed to the original writer, and if so how it is to be accounted for. The obvious and simple supposition is that the passage before us is the first draft or original form of Isaiah’s narrative, in which the facts recorded in these two last verses were added by a kind of afterthought, and that in re-writing the account, as a part of the national history, he naturally placed them in their chronological order. It would probably be easy to produce many parallel cases from the correspondence of voluminous letter-writers, or from other cases of repeated composition on the same subject by the same writer.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What a sign How good and how beautiful is this sign which is given to me that I will go up to the house of the Lord!

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויאמר חזקיהו Hezekiah also had said before, What is the sign, as mentioned above (38:7)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.