Isaiah 38:9-20 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:… 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.) Parallel Verses KJV: The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:WEB: The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness. |
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