Isa 38:9-22 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 9. The writing of Hezekiah ] Here the book of Kings deserts us, the song of Hezekiah not being inserted in it. Another copy of this very obscure passage (obscure not only from the concise poetical style, but because it is probably very incorrect) would have been of great service. The MSS. and ancient Versions, especially the latter, will help us to get through some of the many difficulties which we meet with in it.

‏ Isaiah 38:9-22

Verse 9. The writing of Hezekiah] Here the book of Kings deserts us, the song of Hezekiah not being inserted in it. Another copy of this very obscure passage (obscure not only from the concise poetical style, but because it is probably very incorrect) would have been of great service. The MSS. and ancient Versions, especially the latter, will help us to get through some of the many difficulties which we meet with in it.

Verse 11. The Lord-"JEHOVAH"] Yah, Yah, seems to be Yehovah, in MS. Bodl., and it was so at first written in another. So the Syriac. See Houbigant. I believe Yehovah was the original reading. See Clarke on Isa 12:2.

Verse 12. Mine age-is removed from me as a shepherd's tent]

roi is put for roeh, say the rabbis (Sal. ben Melec on the place;) but much more probably is written imperfectly for roim, shepherds. See Clarke on Isa 5:1.

I shall be removed from this state to another, as a shepherd removes his tent from one place to another for the sake of his flock. Is not this a strong intimation of his belief in a future state?

I have cut off like a weaver my life-"My life is cut off as by the weaver"] kippadti. This verb is rendered passively, and in the third person, by the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.

Verse 13. The last line of the foregoing verse migom ad layelah tashlimeni, "In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web;" or, as the common version has it, "From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me," is not repeated at the end of this verse in the Syriac version; and a MS. omits it. It seems to have been inserted a second time in the Hebrew text by mistake.

I reckoned till morning, &c.-"I roared until the morning like the lion"] For shivvithi, the Chaldee has nihameith: he read shaagti, the proper term for the roaring of a lion; often applied to the deep groaning of men in sickness. See Ps 22:1; 32:3; 38:9; Job 3:24. The Masoretes divide the sentence, as I have done; taking caari, like a lion, into the first member; and so likewise the Septuagint.

Verse 14. Like-a swallow-"Like the swallow"] kesis; so read two MSS., Theodot., and Hieron.

Mine eyes fail] For dallu the Septuagint read calu, εξελιπον. Compare Ps 69:4; 119:82, 123; La 2:11; 4:17, in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint.

O LORD-"O Lord"] For Jehovah, thirty MSS. and eight editions read Adonai.

Undertake for me-"Contend for me"] ashekah, with shin, Jarchi: this sense of the word is established by Ge 26:20: "He called the name of the well esek, because they strove with him:" hithasseku, equivalent to yaribu, at the beginning of the verse.

Verse 15. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul-"Through the rest of my years will I reflect on this bitterness of my soul"] eddaddeh; recogitabo, Vulg., reputabo, Hieron. in loc.

Verse 16. By these things men live-"For this cause shall it be declared"] περιαυτηςγαρανηγγελησοικαιεξηγειραςμουτην πνοην, Sept. They read in their copies not very different from the present text, from which all the ancient Versions vary. They entirely omit two words, ulecol bahen; as to which there is some variation in the MSS. One MS. has ubechol, and in all; two others vechol, and all, and ten MSS. have bahem, in them, in the masculine gender.

Taking this as in the common Version, we may observe, it is not an unfrequent case, that afflictions, and especially such as tend to a speedy death, become the means, not only of saving the soul, but also of lengthening the life.

Make me to live-"Hast prolonged my life."] A MSS. and the Babylonish Talmud read vetachayeni, and so the ancient Versions. It must necessarily be in the second person.

Verse 17. For peace I had great bitterness-"My anguish is changed into ease"] mar li mar, "mutata mthi est amaritudo." Paronomasia; a figure which the prophet frequently admits. I do not always note it, because it cannot ever be preserved in the translation, and the sense seldom depends upon it. But here it perfectly clears up the great obscurity of the passage. See Lowth on the place.

Thou hast rescued] chashachta, with caph, instead of koph; so the Septuagint and Vulgate; Houbigant. See Chappelow on Job 33:18.

From perdition] mishshachath beli, ιναμηαποληται, Sept. ut non periret, "that it may not perish." Vulg. Perhaps inverting the order of the words. See Houbigant.

Thou hast in love to my soul] chashakta, "thou hast lovingly embraced" or kissed "my soul out of the pit of corruption."

Verse 19. Thy truth] el amittecha. A MS. omits el; and instead of el, an ancient MS. and one edition read eth. The same mistake as in Ps 2:7.

Verse 21. Let them take a lump of figs, &c.] God, in effecting this miraculous cure, was pleased to order the use of means not improper for that end. "Folia, et, quae non maturuere, fici, strumis illinuntur omnibusque quae emollienda sunt discutiendave."-PLIN. Nat. Hist. xxiii. 7. "Ad discutienda ea, quae in corporis parte aliqua coierunt, maxime possunt-ficus arida," &c.-CELSUS, v. 11. See the note on 2Ki 20:7. Philemon Holland translates the passage as a medical man:-"The milke or white juice that the figge tree yieldeth is of the same nature that vinegre: and therefore it will curddle milke as well as rennet, or rendles. The right season of gathering this milkie substance is before that the figs be ripe upon the tree; and then it must be dried in the shadow: thus prepared, it is good to break impostumes, and keepe ulcer open."