|
2.
|
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well
nigh slipped. Hezekiah’s terrible disease and the overpowering
Assyrian invasion happened at the same time, and just about devastated him: Isa.
38:5,6; 2 Kings 20:5,6.
|
4.
|
For there are no bands (“pangs”: RV, RSV)
in their death. Hezekiah rightly saw himself as a sacrifice on behalf of
his people (hence the “Messianic” language of Isaiah 53, applied
firstly to him). In his sufferings on account of the sins of the nation, it was
as though he were bound with cords to the horns of the altar (Psa.
118:27).
|
5.
|
Neither are they plagued like other men. This is an
allusion to Hezekiah’s “plague” of leprosy (s.w. in Isa. 38:21
as in Leviticus 13:18-23). Here the word is pega, which is used
over 50 times for leprosy, especially in Lev. 13 and 14.
|
6.
|
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence
covereth them as a garment. The Assyrians were world-class boasters (see the
taunts of Sennacherib and Rabshakeh in Isa. 36 and 37), but they also had the
destructive power to back up those boasts — to a point!
|
7.
|
Their eyes stand out with fatness. “Their eyes
gleam through folds of fat” (NEB). The besiegers of Jerusalem were
well-fed by comparison with those on short rations inside the city.
|
|
They have more than heart could wish is, literally,
“more than can be pictured in stone” — an allusion, perhaps,
to the many vivid Assyrian bas-reliefs (as in the British Museum). The NEB has:
“While vain fancies pass through their minds.”
|
8.
|
They speak wickedly concerning oppression. Slavery
under the Assyrians was dressed up to sound like a veritable paradise, and the
slave-masters like the most wonderful humanitarians:
|
|
“Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of
Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye
every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the
waters of his own cistern: until I come and take you away to a land like your
own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards” (Isa.
36:16,17).
|
|
The repetition speak... speak... mouth... tongue (vv.
8,9) alludes to the smooth “propagandist” (i.e., liar!) Rabshakeh
(cp. Psa. 75:4,5 — where “fools” = boasters).
|
9.
|
They set their mouth against the heavens. Rabshakeh
repeatedly directed his tirades against the Jews’ faith in Jehovah.
Compare, generally, the boasts of the builders of the tower of Babel (Gen.
11:1-4), and, more specifically, that of the king of Babylon/Assyria in Isa.
14:13,14.
|
|
Their tongue walketh through the earth. This is an
idiomatic way of describing Assyrian boasting of conquest, but it is also a
round-about suggestion of similarity to the serpent of Gen. 3:14: “Upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust thou shalt eat.” To walk with
one’s tongue is surely to “eat dust”!
|
10.
|
Therefore his people return hither. This alludes to
repeated Assyrian inroads into Palestine — e.g. 2 Kings 17:6,18 (against
Samaria) and 18:9,13 (against the cities of Judah). Alternatively, by adding
“saying” at the beginning of the verse, this may be read: ‘Let
Him (Jehovah) bring back His people hither’, with reference
to the 200,000 captives which Sennacherib had taken in Judah (Taylor prism). And
the Lord did bring them back (Isa. 35:7-10; 49:9-23; etc.)!
|
11.
|
And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in
the most High (Elyon)? More railing against the God of
Israel.
|
13.
|
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my
hands in innocency. Hezekiah’s zealous personal and national
reformation apparently brought only disaster and suffering, for himself and for
his people.
|
14.
|
For all the day long have I been plagued by my disease
(cp. v. 5).
|
|
And chastened every morning (Isa. 38:13!) by defeat and
Assyrian bullying.
|
15.
|
If I said, I will speak thus (i.e., like Rabshakeh: vv.
8,9), I should offend, that is, be disloyal to my own people. Hezekiah
knew that he carried their well-being on his own shoulders.
|
16.
|
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.
In trying to understand the seemingly mysterious ways of God, Hezekiah was
coming very near to losing his faith.
|
17.
|
Until I went into the sanctuary of God. This Hezekiah
did, carrying the letter of his humiliation to spread before the Lord (Isa.
37:14).
|
|
Then understood I their end. This verse is not true of
many men of faith, but it was literally true of Hezekiah:
|
|
“Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against
Sennacherib king of Assyria: This is the word which the Lord hath spoken
concerning him: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and
laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee...
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears,
therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will
turn thee back by the way by which thou camest” (Isa.
37:21,22,29).
|
18.
|
Thou castedst them down into destruction:
|
|
“Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they
arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses” (Isa.
37:36).
|
19,20.
|
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they
are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh. This is a
wonderful description of the devastation of the Assyrian camp, and remarkably
like the words of Isaiah, describing the same event:
|
|
“And the multitude of all the nations that fight against
Ariel [i.e., Jerusalem, see v. 1], even all that fight against her and her
munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth:
but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth,
and behold, he drinketh: but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul
hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against
mount Zion” (Isa. 29:7,8).
|
20.
|
Thou shalt despise their image. As Sennacherib and
Rabshakeh despised the God of Israel, so He in turn despised their foolish trust
in their “gods”, which were but images of vanity, or
nothingness (see Isaiah 40-44 for repeated sarcastic expansions upon this
theme).
|
|
Moreover, God despised the image (singular) of such
men, for their “image” (Hebrew tselem, s.w. Gen.
1:26,27; 5:3; 9:6) — now so terribly distorted by sin — was no
longer His “image”!
|
21.
|
Thus my heart was grieved. This and the next verse are
reminiscences, referring back to the earlier despair that Hezekiah had felt (vv.
13-16).
|
23.
|
Thou hast holden my right hand. The Hebrew makes a play
on “Ahaz”. Jehovah was Hezekiah’s true Father. Compare Isa.
45:1, which makes a play on the name “Hezekiah” (there is good
reason to suppose that this passage is not about king “Cyrus” at
all, but about Hezekiah — see H.A. Whittaker, Isaiah, pp.
393-412).
|
24.
|
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, through
Isaiah.
|
|
And afterward receive me to glory. Referring to a
vision of the Shekinah Glory, which Hezekiah must have seen when he went into
the sanctuary (v. 17).
|
25.
|
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee. A wonderful expression of Hezekiah’s
renewed faith and righteousness.
|
26.
|
My flesh and my heart faileth. His disease ravaged his
flesh, but his spirit rested in Jehovah. Then finally his heart
(mind) and his flesh were restored.
|
|
God is... my portion for ever. Of course, 15 years is
not “for ever”! But this fine man believed in the resurrection! For
the idea of portion, or “inheritance”, see Psa. 16:5,6.
|
27.
|
Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Was Rabshakeh a renegade Jew (cp. Psalms Studies, Vol. 1, p. 367)?
|
|
2.
|
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well
nigh slipped. Certainly, this is Jesus in Gethsemane. Perhaps it is also
Peter, when he attempted to walk on the sea (Matt. 14:30,31). But his Savior
held his hand (cp. v. 23 here) to keep him from sinking.
|
8,9.
|
They are corrupt... speak wickedly... loftily... they set
their mouth against the heavens. A good picture of the power-drunk leaders
of Israel who were hostile to Jesus.
|
10.
|
Waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. That which
was appointed for Jesus — the cup of suffering (Matt. 26:39) — came
(and will come again) in full measure to those who condemned him.
|
13.
|
I have cleansed my heart. Jesus shared our human
nature, a nature that required cleansing (Psalms Studies, Vol. 1, pp. 47,
108, 154, 155, 184, 202, 229, 230, 297, 298, 397, 398) — but he
disciplined and subdued that nature to the ultimate glory of his
Father.
|
|
In vain. Compare v. 21. When in Gethsemane it seemed as
though his entire ministry was fruitless. The frustration, remorse, and despair
that he must have felt — even if only temporarily — is revealed in
Isa. 49:4:
|
|
I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought,
and in vain.”
|
|
Such feelings were also reminiscent of Job’s complaint
(at least as restated by Elihu):
|
|
It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with
God” (Job. 34:8,9).
|
|
And washed my hands in innocency. Concerning Jesus this
was quite literally true. Compare Psa. 26:6.
|
14.
|
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened
every morning. This suggests the many (daily?) exasperations during the
course of his ministry.
|
15.
|
If I say, I will speak thus... (that is, answering his
adversaries on the same level as their attacks on him, then...) behold, I
should offend against the generation of thy children. That is, ‘What
would become of God’s redeeming purpose in me?’
|
17.
|
Until I went into the sanctuary of God. In the temple
Jesus was repeatedly reminded that there would come the judgments of God on
these evil men (see note in Par. 5). Also, in the “sanctuary” of
prayer there would be constantly renewed a sense of true perspective. Compare,
generally, Psa. 27:4; 42:2; 63:1,2; 84:1-4.
|
18,19.
|
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou
castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in
a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. Within one short
generation it all came to pass! They had built all their hopes on the shifting
sands (Matt. 7:24-27). Like the bursting of a great dam, God’s wrath would
break forth upon a stiff-necked and perverse nation and sweep them
away.
|
23.
|
I am continually with thee. This is true of Jesus as it
could be of no other man.
|
24.
|
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, both in Holy
Scripture and in his personal communion with his Father.
|
|
And afterward receive me to glory. His
ascension.
|
26.
|
God is the strength of my heart. In Gethsemane Jesus
was strengthened by an angel (Luke 22:43), almost certainly Gabriel, whose name
means “the strong one of God”.
|
|
1.
|
Truly is a very expressive Hebrew particle meaning
“nothing but this” — i.e., ‘What else but good may come
from God?’ The s.w. occurs in vv. 13 (verily) and 18 (surely).
|
|
Even to such as are of a clean heart. A good definition
of the true Israel: cp. Jer. 12:1-3; Psa. 24:3-6 (contrast vv. 4-7 here); Matt.
5:8.
|
2.
|
My steps had well nigh slipped. But not altogether!
However, contrast what does happen to the wicked (v. 18).
|
3.
|
For I was envious. Envy is the natural bent of man
(James 4:5), but it is a sure killer (Job 5:2). Envy is absolutely incompatible
with true Scriptural love (1 Cor. 13:4).
|
|
Prosperity is literally “peace”: see Psa.
72:3; Isa. 57:20; Deut. 29:19.
|
4.
|
There are no bands in their death. For
“bands”, the LXX has a word (ananeo) meaning
“renewal” (literally, ‘to make young — or new —
again’): s.w. Eph. 4:23 only. Does this mean: ‘When they die, they
have no hope of a resurrection’?
|
6.
|
Pride compasseth them about as a chain. They are
captive to their pride, like those led away into slavery by the Assyrians. The
Hebrew phrase reads like: ‘Pride is their Anak — i.e.,
their strength’.
|
|
Violence covereth them as a garment. They wear their
violent characters openly and proudly, flaunting them before all men (cp. phrase
in 109:18,19). But the meek, and godly, cover themselves in a very different
manner (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10,12,14).
|
9.
|
NIV: Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues
take possession of the earth. But, in contrast, the righteous seeks nothing
— either in heaven or in earth — but his God (v. 25)!
|
12.
|
Who prosper in the world (olahm, or
“age”). The ungodly prosper in this age, and in this age
only.
|
17.
|
Then understood I their end. In the sanctuary one might
see the brazen plates on the altar of burnt-offering, and recall their origin:
for this was all that was left of the proud presumption and rebellion of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16:39; cp vv. 18,19,27 here). See also Psa.
37:9,10,20,22,28, etc.
|
|
To enter the “sanctuary” is to see the unseen
things (2 Cor. 4:17, 18; Heb. 11:1), and to properly differentiate between
transient “reality” and absolute reality!
|
18,19.
|
“Sheol” as the place of destruction: cp. Psa.
49:14,15.
|
21.
|
Thus, when contemplating vv. 3-14.
|
|
My heart was grieved. RV: in a ferment. The Hebrew word
is the same as for leaven.
|
22.
|
As a beast before thee: Psa. 49:12,20.
|
23.
|
Nevertheless I am continually with thee. The Hebrew
word tamid often refers to the continual burnt offering.
|
24.
|
Receive me to glory: Psa. 49:15.
|
25.
|
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee. Thus Peter asks, “To whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
|
26.
|
God is the strength, or tsur, a great
rock or place of refuge (s.w. Psa. 18:2; 19:14).
|
28.
|
It is good for me to draw near to God. Compare 1 Cor.
6:17, where “joined” alludes to the name of Levi.
|