Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 38:17
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
17. Behold, for peace bitterness) (lit. “it was bitter to me, bitter”), i.e. the bitterness of affliction was mercifully overruled so as to yield “peaceable fruit” through his recovery (cf. Heb 12:11).
but thou hast in love pit ] Lit. (according to the Hebrew text) “and thou hast loved my soul out of the pit ” a pregnant construction of perhaps unexampled boldness. The true reading probably is “thou hast kept back my soul, &c.” ( sakt for shaqt).
For pit of corruption render pit of annihilation.
cast behind thy back ] An image for utter forgetfulness: 1Ki 14:9; Neh 9:26; Psa 50:17. The Psalmist recognises in his deliverance the pledge that his sins are forgiven and forgotten.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, for peace – That is, instead of the health, happiness, and prosperity which I had enjoyed, and which I hope still to enjoy.
I had great bitterness – Hebrew, Bitterness to me, bitterness; an emphatic expression, denoting intense sorrow.
But thou hast in love to my soul – Margin, Loved my soul from the pit. The word which occurs here ( chashaqta) denotes properly to join or fasten together; then to be attached to anyone; to be united tenderly; to embrace. Here it means that God had loved him, and had thus delivered his soul from death.
Delivered it from the pit of corruption – The word rendered corruption ( bely), denotes consumption, destruction, perdition. It may be applied to the grave, or to the deep and dark abode of departed spirits; and the phrase here is evidently synonymous with sheol or hades. The grave, or the place for the dead, is often represented as a pit – deep and dark – to which the living descend (Job 17:16; Job 33:18, Job 33:24-25, Job 33:30; Psa 28:1; Psa 30:3; Psa 55:23; Psa 69:15; Psa 88:4; compare Isa 14:15, note, Isa 14:19, note).
For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back – Thou hast forgiven them; hast ceased to punish me on account of them. This shows that Hezekiah, in accordance with the sentiment everywhere felt and expressed in the Bible, regarded his suffering as the fruit of sin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 38:17-19
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness
Hezekiahs 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.
(1) In the quality of it–bitterness.
(2) In the quantity of it–great bitterness.
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 Gods 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 Gods love
The purpose of Gods 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.)
Loves 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. Hezekiahs 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 kings 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 kings 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 kings 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.
(1) From the pit of hell.
(2) Of sinfulness, as horrible a pit as hell itself; indeed, under some aspects it is the same thing, for sinfulness is hell, and to live under the power of sin is to be condemned.
(3) From the awful consciousness of wrath under which we once groaned.
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 horses 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 nights 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 Gods 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 childs 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 Gods back
The back of God! Where is that?
I. A MANS SINS. May be–
1. Many.
2. Various
3. Heinous.
(1) They are his curse.
(2) He cannot east them away.
(3) He must own them for ever unless Divine mercy interpose.
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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, , 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.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For peace I had great bitterness; my health and prosperity was quickly changed into bitter sickness and affliction. Or, as others render it, my great bitterness was unto peace; was turned into prosperity, or became the occasion of my safety and further advantages; for that drove me to my prayers, and prayers prevailed with God for a gracious answer, and the prolonging of my life. In love to my soul; in kindness to me, the soul being oft put for the man. This is an emphatical circumstance; for sometimes God prolongs mens days in anger, and in Order to their greater misery.
Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back; thou hast forgiven those sins which brought this evil upon me, and upon that account hast removed the punishment of them; which showeth that thou didst this in love to me. The phrase is borrowed from the custom of men, who when they would accurately see and observe any thing, set it before their faces; and when they desire and resolve not to look upon any thing, turn their backs upon it, or cast it behind them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. for peaceinstead of theprosperity which I had previously.
great bitternessliterally,”bitterness to me, bitterness”; expressing intense emotion.
in loveliterally,”attachment,” such as joins one to another tenderly;”Thou hast been lovingly attached to me from the pit”;pregnant phrase for, Thy love has gone down to the pit, and drawn meout from it. The “pit” is here simply death, inHezekiah’s sense; realized in its fulness only in reference to thesoul’s redemption from hell by Jesus Christ (Isa61:1), who went down to the pit for that purpose Himself (Psa 88:4-6;Zec 9:11; Zec 9:12;Heb 13:20). “Sin” andsickness are connected (Ps 103:3;compare Isa 53:4; Mat 8:17;Mat 9:5; Mat 9:6),especially under the Old Testament dispensation of temporalsanctions; but even now, sickness, though not invariably arising fromsin in individuals, is connected with it in the general moralview.
cast . . . behindbackconsigned my sins to oblivion. The same phrase occurs(1Ki 14:9; Neh 9:26;Psa 50:17). Contrast Ps90:8, “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, oursecret sins in the light of thy countenance.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness,…. Meaning not that instead of peace and prosperity, which he expected would ensue upon the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, came a bitter affliction upon him; for he is not now dwelling on that melancholy subject; but rather the sense is, that he now enjoyed great peace and happiness, though he had been in great bitterness; for the words may be rendered, “behold, I am in peace, I had great bitterness”; or thus, “behold my great bitterness is unto peace”: or, “he has turned it into peace” u; it has issued in it, and this is my present comfortable situation: “but”, or rather,
and thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: the grave, where bodies rot and corrupt, and are quite abolished, as the word signifies; see Ps 30:3 or “thou hast embraced my soul from the pit of corruption w”; it seems to be an allusion to a tender parent, seeing his child sinking in a pit, runs with open arms to him, and embraces him, and takes him out. This may be applied to a state of nature, out of which the Lord in love delivers his people; which is signified by a pit, or dark dungeon, a lonely place, a filthy one, very uncomfortable, where they are starving and famishing; a pit, wherein is no water, Zec 9:11 and may fitly be called a pit of corruption, because of their corrupt nature, estate, and actions; out of this the Lord brings his people at conversion, and that because of his great love to their souls, and his delight in them; or it may be applied to their deliverance from the bottomless pit of destruction, which is owing to the Lord’s being gracious to them, and having found a ransom for them, his own Son, Job 33:24, and to this sense the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions seem to incline; “for thou hast delivered my soul that it might not perish”: in love to their souls, and that they may not perish, he binds them up in the bundle of life, with the Lord their God; he redeems their souls from sin, Satan, and the law; he regenerates, renews, and converts them, and preserves them safe to his everlasting kingdom and glory; in order to which, and to prevent their going down to the pit, they are put into the hands of Christ, redeemed by his precious blood, and are turned out of the broad road that leads to destruction:
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back; as loathsome and abominable, and so as not to be seen by him; for though God sees all the sins of his people with his eye of omniscience, and in his providence takes notice of them, and chastises for them, yet not with his eye of avenging justice; because Christ has took them on himself, and made satisfaction for them, and an end of them; they are removed from them as far as the east is from the west, and no more to be seen upon them; nor will they be any more set before his face, or in the light of his countenance; but as they are out of sight they will be out of mind, never more remembered, but forgotten; as what is cast behind the back is seen and remembered no more. The phrase is expressive of the full forgiveness of sins, even of all sins; see Ps 85:2, the object of God’s love is the souls of his people; the instance of it is the delivery of them from the pit of corruption; the evidence of it is the pardon of their sins.
u Abendana, after Joseph Kimchi, interprets it of changing bitterness into peace; he observes in the phrase
that the first signifies change or permutation as in Jer. xlvlii. 11. and the second bitterness: and that the sense is this, behold, unto peace he hath changed my bitterness, that is the bitterness and distress which I had, he hath changed into peace. w “et tu amplexus es amore animam meam a fovea abolitionis”; Montanus; “tu vero propenso amore complexus es animam meam”, Piscator; “tu tenero amore complexus animam meam”, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. Lo, in peace ray bitterness was bitter. (91) Again, another circumstance aggravates the severity of the distress; for sudden and unexpected calamities disturb us more than those which come upon us in a gradual manner. The grievousness of the disease was the more insupportable, because it seized him suddenly while he enjoyed ease and quietness; for nothing was farther from his thoughts than that he was about to depart from this life. We know also that the saints sometimes rely too much on prosperity, and promise to themselves unvarying success, which David too acknowledges to have happened to himself, “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved; but thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” (Psa 30:6.)
Nothing more distressing, therefore, could happen to Hezekiah than to be taken out of life, especially when the discomfiture and ruin of his enemy left him in the enjoyment of peace; for I think that Hezekiah fell into this disease after the defeat of Sennacherib, as has been already said. Amidst that joy and peace which smiled upon him, lo, a heavy sickness by which Hezekiah is fearfully distressed and tormented. This warns us that, since nothing is solid or lasting in this life, and since all that delights us may be speedily taken away, we ought not to grow sluggish in prosperity, but, even while we enjoy peace, we ought to think of war, and adversity, and afflictions, and, above all, to seek that peace which rests on God’s fatherly kindness, on which our consciences may safely repose.
And thou hast been pleased (to rescue) my soul from the pit. This part of the verse admits of two meanings. Since the verb חשק (chashak) signifies sometimes “to love,” and sometimes “to wish,” that meaning would not be unsuitable, “It hath pleased thee to deliver my soul.” But if nothing be understood, the style will be equally complete, and will flow not less agreeably, “Thou, O God, didst embrace my soul with favor and kindness, while it was lying in the grave.” (92) It is well known that “soul” means “life;” but here the goodness of God is proclaimed, in not ceasing to love Hezekiah, even when he might be regarded as dead. In this way the copulative particle must be translated But.
For thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins. By assigning the reason, he now leads us to the fountain itself, and points out the method of that cure; for otherwise it might have been thought that hitherto he had spoken of nothing else than the cure of the body, but now he shews that he looks at something higher, namely, that he had been guilty before God, but by his grace had been forgiven. He affirms, indeed, that life has been restored to him, but reckons it of higher value that he has been reconciled to God than a hundred or a thousand lives. And, indeed,
“
it would have been better for us never to have been born” (Mat 26:24)
than by living a long life to add continually new offenses, and thus to bring down on ourselves a heavier judgment. He therefore congratulates himself chiefly on this ground, that the face of God smiles cheerfully upon him; for to enjoy his favor is the highest happiness.
At the same time he declares that all the distresses which God inflicts upon us ought to be attributed to our sins, so that they who accuse God of excessive severity do nothing else than double their’ guilt; and he does not only condemn himself for one sin, but confesses that he was laden with many sins, so that he needed more than one pardon. If, then, we sincerely seek alleviation of our distresses, we must begin here; because when God is appeased, it is impossible that it can be ill with us; for he takes no pleasure in our distresses. It often happens with us as with foolish and thoughtless persons, when they are sick; for they fix their attention on nothing but ( συμπτώματα) symptoms or accidental circumstances, and the pains which they feel, and overlook the disease itself. But we ought rather to imitate skillful physicians, who examine the causes of disease, and give their whole attention to eradicate those causes. They know that outward remedies are useless, and even hurtful, if the inward cause be unknown; for such remedies drive the whole force of the disease inward, and promote and increase it, so that there is no hope of cure.
Hezekiah therefore perceived the cause of his distress, that is, his sins; and when he had received the forgiveness of them, he knew that punishment also ceased and was remitted. Hence we see how absurd is the distinction of the Papists, who wish to separate the remission of punishment from the remission of guilt. But Hezekiah here testifies that punishment has been remitted to him, because guilt has been remitted.
We ought carefully to observe the form of expression which Isaiah employs, thou hast cast behind thy back; for it means that the remembrance of them is altogether effaced. In like manner, a Prophet elsewhere says that God
“
casteth them into the depths of the sea.” (Mic 7:19.)
It is likewise said in another passage, that he casteth them away
“
as far as the east is distant from the west.” (Psa 103:12.)
By these modes of expression God assures us that he will not impute to us the sins which he has pardoned; and if, notwithstanding of this, he chastise us, he does it not as a judge, but as a father, to train his children and keep them in the discharge of their duty. Papists are mistaken in dreaming that punishments contain some kind of satisfaction, (93) as if God exacted vengeance, because he would not bestow a free pardon. But when God chastises his people, he promotes their future advantage.
(91) “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness,” or, “On my peace came great bitterness.” — Eng. Ver.
(92) “Thou hast loved my soul, from the pit of destruction. (This exactly agrees with our authors marginal reading.) “We have here another instance of pregnant construction, to love from, that is, so to love as to deliver from. This sense is expressed in the English Bible by a circumlocution.” — Alexander.
(93) “ Satisfaction ou recompenses.” “Satisfaction or compensations.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) For peace I had great bitterness . . .The words in the Authorised Version read like a retrospect of the change from health to suffering. Really, they express the very opposite. It was for my peace (i.e., for my salvation, in the fullest sense of the word) that it was bitter, was bitter unto me (emphasis of iteration). All things were now seen as working together for good.
Thou hast in love to my soul . . .The italics show that the verbs delivered it are not in the present Hebrew text. A slight change, such as might be made to correct an error of transcription, would give that meaning, but as it stands, we have the singularly suggestive phrase, Thou hast loved me out of the pit of corruption. The very love of Jehovah is thought of as ipso facto a deliverance.
Thou hast cast all my sins . . .As in our Lords miracles, the bodily healing was the pledge and earnest of the spiritual. Arise and walk guaranteed, Thy sins be forgiven thee (Mat. 9:2-5). (For the symbols of that forgiveness, comp. Mic. 7:19.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Behold Hezekiah here challenges attention to an important fact, namely, In place of my former healthful, peaceful life, I came to have extreme anguish. But God has saved me from the dreaded sheol, the pit of corruption, as it was held by the ancients in its first intention. With all Hezekiah’s rectitude he yet was sinful, and this was his chastisement, meant, however, for his good; and it bringing its appropriate results, no longer were his sins remembered.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 38:17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness That is to say, “When I thought of, perceived, and feared no evil, and seemed to enjoy my usual health, then this terrible evil came upon me: but thou hast delivered me, and freely forgiven me my sins.” Thus Hezekiah does not claim exemption from guilt, but readily and humbly confesses that he deserved punishment, and was indebted solely to the divine mercy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 917
FORGIVENESS KNOWN AND ENJOYED
Isa 38:17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
IN all the Scriptures there is not any thing more tender and pathetic than this writing of Hezekiah after he had recovered from his sickness. In it he delineates all his feelings in the view of his expected dissolution. He could appeal to God that he had walked before God with truth and with a perfect heart [Note: 2Ki 20:2-3.]; and yet in the prospect of death was more alarmed and agitated than any other person of whom we read. To account for this, commentators have supposed that he had respect only to the welfare of his Church and people, who by his removal would lose the benefit of all his past exertions for their good, and of those which he yet contemplated. But whilst we agree in ascribing much of his grief to this, we yet think that it by no means sufficiently accounts for many of his expressions, which evidently refer to his own personal concerns. In our text he complains that for peace he had had great bitterness; though from it he was now mercifully relieved. His anguish being now changed [Note: So Bishop Lowth translates the first clause.], he returned thanks to God, saying, Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
These words of his I shall,
I.
Explain
They may not unfitly be considered as referring to,
1.
The recovery of his body
[Sickness and death were originally introduced by sin: and in many instances have they been inflicted in token of Gods displeasure on account of sin. The leprosy of Miriam was a visitation on account of sin, as was that also of Gehazi. And the worms which preyed on the vitals of King Herod received their commission from an offended God. Even the Christian Church is exposed to the same kind of correction from the hand of an angry Father: for, on account of the abuses which obtained among the Corinthians at the Lords supper, many were weak and sickly among them, and many had fallen asleep [Note: 1Co 11:30.]. Not unfrequently were temporal judgments inflicted with an express view to prevent the necessity of inflicting far heavier judgments in the world to come [Note: 1Co 11:32. as also 1Co 5:4-5.].
Now it seems evident that Hezekiah viewed his sickness in this light, namely, as a judgment sent from God on account of some iniquity which he had committed. As the enemies of David said in his sickness, An evil disease, that is, a disease judicially inflicted, cleaveth fast unto him [Note: Psa 41:8.]; and as the enemies of the Lord Jesus accounted him to be judicially stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted [Note: Isa 53:4.]; so did Hezekiah judge respecting himself at that time: he thought that God was now calling his sins to remembrance [Note: 1Ki 17:18.], and punishing him on account of them.
With such views as these, we cannot wonder that during the continuance of the affliction he should have great bitterness; and that in the removal of it he should find such an occasion of joy and gratitude. And it is worthy of observation, that the Psalmist speaks of the removal of temporal judgments from the people of Israel in terms exactly similar to those which Hezekiah uses in reference to his recovery from sickness: Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob: thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sin: thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger [Note: Psa 85:1-3.].
This then shews us why the pious Hezekiah so grievously complained of his sickness, and so earnestly implored a restoration to health. This explains those words of his, Like a crane or a swallow, so did I twitter; I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail for looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.]
The state of his soul
[When he complains of God having, like a lion, broken all his bones, it seems evident, that God had withdrawn from him for a season his wonted consolations, and that he was much in the state of David, who, under the pressure of a dangerous illness, cried, Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps: thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves [Note: Psa 88:3-7.]. Whether there was any particular occasion for this dispensation, we are not informed, We know that Job, who was esteemed by God himself a perfect man, was subjected to a similar trial for his good. And, if this dispensation had no other end than to counteract that propensity to pride which afterwards broke forth, and brought down upon Hezekiah the severest displeasure of the Almighty, it was justly and graciously ordained.
For deliverance from a state like this, we wonder not that Hezekiah should bless and magnify the Lord. Who can think of being delivered from the pit of corruption, and not rejoice? Who can contemplate God as having cast all his sins behind his back, and not bless him from his inmost soul [Note: Psa 103:1-4.]? Consider what is implied in this expression: it imports that God will remember our sins no more. Once he set our iniquities before him, and our secret sins in the light of his countenance [Note: Psa 90:8.]; but now he hides his face from them [Note: Psa 51:9.], blots them out [Note: Isa 43:25.] from the book of his remembrance, and casts them into the very depths of the sea [Note: Mic 7:18-19.], from whence they shall never rise to appear against us in judgment. Verily, if on the receipt of such a mercy as this he had held his peace, the very stones would have cried out against him.
We must not omit to notice the source to which Hezekiah traces this great deliverance: it is to Gods sovereign love and mercy. He does not say, From a respect to my deserts thou hast done thus; but, in love to my soul thou hast done it. And to this must all spiritual blessings be traced. Whatever mercy God has vouchsafed to us, it is the fruit of his great love wherewith he has loved us [Note: Eph 2:4.], even of that love which knows neither beginning nor end [Note: Jer 31:3.].]
The words thus explained, I shall now proceed to,
II.
Improve
There are two remarks which I will make upon them. They shew us, in a very forcible way,
1.
What should be our chief desire under any afflictive dispensation
[Our great concern usually is to get the affliction itself removed. But judgments may be removed in anger, as well as sent in anger [Note: Hos 13:11.]: and God may cease to smite us, only because he is determined not to strive with us any longer, but to give us over to final impenitence [Note: Gen 6:3. Isa 1:5.]. Our first object should be, to inquire of God Wherefore he contendeth with us [Note: Job 10:2.]? and then to seek the removal of that sin which God has visited with his displeasure. If we can fix on no particular sin, which has provoked God to anger, yet we know that there is an immense load of guilt upon our souls: and therefore we should pray as David did, The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses! look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins [Note: Psa 25:17-18. Here a variety of sins may be pointed out, as subjects of self-examination.]! Sin, even one single sin, being retained before Gods face, will be the heaviest curse that can befall us: but, if our sins be cast behind his back, the most accumulated trials shall only augment our eternal weight of glory [Note: 2Co 4:17.] ]
2.
What exalted happiness we are privileged to enjoy
[Hezekiah spoke of the forgiveness of his sins as already granted, yea, and manifested also with full assurance to his soul. And this is the common privilege of all believers. As Isaiah had a live coal from off the altar applied to his lips, with this assurance, Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged; so have we the promises applied to our souls at this day, the Holy Spirit of promise sealing them upon our hearts [Note: Eph 1:13.], and thereby becoming to us a Spirit of adoption, and a witness of our being the children of God [Note: Rom 8:15-16.]. Doubtless there are marks by which these manifestations must be determined [Note: 1Jn 5:13; 1Jn 3:14.] but it is not by the marks alone that we can attain the consolations here spoken of: these can be imparted only by Him who is emphatically called the comforter: but the assurance itself is, if not the attainment of all, yet certainly the privilege of all, who truly believe [Note: 1Jn 5:20.].
Live not then below your privileges. And, as God generally makes use of afflictions to prepare us for the enjoyment of them, learn to welcome any trials which it may please God to send [Note: Rom 5:3-5.]
Only, if God cast your sins behind his back, be the more concerned to set them ever before your own face [Note: Psa 51:3.]; that your own souls may be the more deeply humbled [Note: Eze 16:63.], and that the grace of God may be the more abundantly exalted [Note: 1Ti 1:12-14.] ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
Ver. 17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. ] Mar Mar; the approach of death was to this good man bitter bitterness, and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting or gall of death, so that he might better say than Agag did, “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” or than Lucan doth of the Gauls and Britons.
– “ Animmque capaces
Mortis. ”
“Life and spaceous corpse.”
But thou hast in love to my soul.
For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
pit of corruption. = pit or corruption.
behind Thy back. Sins unforgiven are said to be “before His face” (Psa 109:14, Psa 109:15. Jer 16:17. Hos 7:2). Compare Mic 7:19. Hence the “happinesses” of Psa 32:1, Psa 32:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
for peace I had great bitterness: or, on my peace came great bitterness, Job 3:25, Job 3:26, Job 29:18, Psa 30:6, Psa 30:7
in love to my soul delivered it from the pit: Heb. loved my soul from the pit, Psa 30:3, Psa 40:2, Psa 86:13, Psa 88:4-6, Jon 2:6
thou hast cast: Isa 43:25, Psa 10:2, Psa 85:2, Jer 31:34, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19
Reciprocal: Num 5:18 – the bitter water Num 23:21 – hath not 2Sa 12:13 – The Lord Job 7:11 – the bitterness Job 10:1 – I will speak Job 17:16 – the bars of the pit Job 33:24 – Deliver Job 33:28 – will deliver Job 33:30 – enlightened Psa 6:4 – deliver Psa 25:7 – Remember Psa 51:9 – Hide Psa 55:23 – pit Psa 71:20 – shalt bring Lam 3:17 – thou Lam 3:39 – doth Eze 28:8 – shall bring Jon 2:4 – I said Mar 2:5 – sins Luk 5:20 – Man 1Co 15:42 – in corruption Phi 2:27 – but God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 38:17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness When I perceived and feared no evil, and seemed to enjoy my usual health, then this terrible evil came upon me. The Hebrew, however, , may be properly rendered, Behold my grievous anguish is turned into ease; or, My great bitterness was unto peace, that is, became the occasion of my safety and comfort, for it drove me to prayer, and prayer prevailed with God for a gracious answer, and the prolonging of my life. Thou hast in love to my soul, &c. That is, in kindness to me, (the soul being put for the man,) delivered it from the pit of corruption This is an emphatical circumstance, for sometimes God prolongs mens days in anger, foreknowing that they will only fill up still more the measure of their iniquities. For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Thou hast forgiven those sins that brought this affliction upon me, and, upon that account, hast removed the punishment of them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
38:17 Behold, for {s} peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my {t} sins behind thy back.
(s) While I thought to have lived in rest and ease being delivered from my enemy, I had grief upon grief.
(t) He values more the remission of his sins, and God’s favour than a thousand lives.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord’s announcement, at first bitter to Hezekiah, had turned into a learning experience for him (cf. Rom 8:28). He had learned that God loved him, and he rejoiced in that. God had forgiven his sins, and he would not descend into the grave. The figure of God casting sin behind His back pictures Him throwing it away, out of His sight, because it is of no further interest to Him. Evidently Hezekiah believed that his premature death would have been a punishment for sin.