TRUE Beg Beseech Bitter Bitterly Devotion Faithfully Faithfulness Grievously Habitually Heart Hezekiah Hezeki'ah Mind O Perfect Remember Sight Sore Truth Walked Weepeth Weeping Wept Wholehearted
20:3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a {b} perfect heart, and have done [that which is] good in thy sight. And Hezekiah {c} wept sore.
(b) Meaning, without all hypocrisy.
(c) Not so much for his own death, as for fear that idolatry would be restored which he had destroyed, and so God's Name be dishonoured.
20:3 In truth - Sincerely with an honest mind. I am not conscious to myself of any gross exorbitances, for which thou usest to shorten mens days. Wept - For that horror of death which is and was common to men, especially, in the times of the Old Testament, when the grace of God in Christ was not so fully manifested, as now it is: and, for the distracted condition in which the church and state were then likely to be left, through the uncertainty of the succession to the crown.
20:1-11 Hezekiah was sick unto death, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem. A warning to prepare for death was brought to Hezekiah by Isaiah. Prayer is one of the best preparations for death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God, to enable us to finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he was unwilling to die; it is in the nature of man to dread the separation of soul and body. There was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case; he was now in the midst of his usefulness. Let Hezekiah's prayer, see Isa 38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is like his having been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment. Hezekiah's piety made his sick-bed easy. O Lord, remember now; he does not speak as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us; nor, as if the reward might be demanded as due; it is Christ's righteousness only that is the purchase of mercy and grace. Hezekiah does not pray, Lord, spare me; but, Lord, remember me; whether I live or die, let me be thine. God always hears the prayers of the broken in heart, and will give health, length of days, and temporal deliverances, as much and as long as is truly good for them. Means were to be used for Hezekiah's recovery; yet, considering to what a height the disease was come, and how suddenly it was checked, the cure was miraculous. It is our duty, when sick, to use such means as are proper to help nature, else we do not trust God, but tempt him. For the confirmation of his faith, the shadow of the sun was carried back, and the light was continued longer than usual, in a miraculous manner. This work of wonder shows the power of God in heaven as well as on earth, the great notice he takes of prayer, and the great favour he bears to his chosen.
Ah Beg Beseech Bitter Bitterly Devotion Eyes Faithfully Faithfulness Good Great Grievously Habitually Heart Hezekiah Hezeki'ah Mind Perfect Remember Sight Sore True. Truth Walked Way Weepeth Weeping Wept Whole Wholehearted
Ah Beg Beseech Bitter Bitterly Devotion Eyes Faithfully Faithfulness Good Great Grievously Habitually Heart Hezekiah Hezeki'ah Mind Perfect Remember Sight Sore True. Truth Walked Way Weepeth Weeping Wept Whole Wholehearted
