I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
Parallel Translations
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I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
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I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
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I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, even to the gates of the nether-world; I am deprived of the residue of my years.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Isaiah 38:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 102:24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
- 2 Corinthians 1:9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
- Job 7:7 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good.
- Psalms 107:18 Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death.
- Job 6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
- Job 17:11-16 My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness. If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? as for my hope, who will see it? Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
- Isaiah 38:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’ ”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain At what time it was told me, that I…
At what time it was told me, that I should die.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 38:10 I said in the cutting off of…
Isa 38:10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
Ver. 10. I said in the cutting off of my days.] When I looked upon myself as a dead man. Here he telleth us what passed between God and him while he lay desperately sick. The utmost of a danger escaped is to be recognised and recorded. This will both instruct the judgment, enlarge the heart, and open the mouth.
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I shall go to the gates of the grave.] He maketh the grave to have gates, either by a poetic fiction, or else by a proverbial expression. So "the gates of death." {Psa 9:13; Psa 107:18 1Sa 2:6}
I am deprived of the residue of my years,] sc., That I might have lived in a natural course. Vox haec queritantis quidem est: Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo. Nature shunneth death as its slaughter man.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I said, to and within myself, I concluded it.
I said, to and within myself, I concluded it.
In the cutting off of my days; when my days were cut off by the sentence of God, related here, Isa 38:1.
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I shall go to the gates of the grave; I perceive that I must die without any hopes of prevention. The grave is called a man’s long home, Ecc 12:5, and the house appointed for all living men, Job 30:23, and death opens the gates of this house. We read also of the gates of death, Psa 9:13; 107:18.
I am deprived of the residue of my years; which I might have lived, according to the common course of nature, and of God’s dispensations; and which I expected and hoped to live, for the service of God and of my generation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I said, I shall not see the Lord, even…
I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living,.... Not any more, in this world, though in the other, and that more clearly, even face to face: his meaning is, that he should no more see him in the glass of the word; no more praise him in his house; worship him in his temple; enjoy him in his ordinances; and see his beauty, power, and glory, in the sanctuary; and confess unto him, and praise his name (g). The Targum is,
"I shall no more appear before the face of the Lord in the land of the house of his Shechinah, in which is length of life; and I shall no more serve him in the house of the sanctuary.''
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In the Hebrew text it is, "I shall not see Jah, Jah"; a word, the same with Jehovah; and is repeated, to show the vehemency of his affection for the Lord, and his ardent desire of communion with him: unless it should be rendered, "I shall not see the Lord's Lord in the land of the living (h)"; or the Lord's Christ in the flesh:
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world; or "time" (i); of this fading transitory world, which will quickly cease, as the word for it signifies: next to God, his concern was, that he should no more enjoy the company of men, of his subjects, of his courtiers, of his relations, companions, and acquaintance; particularly of the saints, the excellent in the earth.
(g) Ben Melech observes, that seeing or appearing before the Creator signifies confession and praise before him, and consideration of his ways; and this sense of the words, he says, R. Sandiah gives. (h) , Sept. "non videbo Jah Jah", Montanus, Vatablus. (i) "cum habitoribus temporis", Montanus. So Ben Melech explains it; and which will quickly cease. "mundus, tempus cito desinens"----ldx, "prodit mundi cessabilitatem, quatenus est colectio rerum pereuntium", Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 242. "cum habitatoribus terrae cessationis", Vitringa.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 38:10-11. I said — Within myself; I concluded,…
Isa 38:10-11. I said — Within myself; I concluded, in the cutting off of my days — When my days were cut off by the sentence of God, related Isa 38:1; I shall go to the gates of the grave — I perceive that I must die without any hopes of prevention. The grave is called man’s long home, Ecc 12:5; and the house appointed for all living, Job 30:23; and death opens the gates of this house. I am deprived of the residue of my years — Which I might have lived according to the common course of nature, and of God’s dispensations; and which I hoped to live for the service of God and of my generation. I shall not see the Lord — I shall not behold his beauty and glory as he manifests them in his temple, in his oracles and ordinances; I shall not enjoy him: for seeing is frequently put for enjoying; even the Lord in the land of the living — In this world, which is often so called; which limitation is prudently added, to intimate that he expected to see God in another place and manner, on the other side death; but he despairs of seeing him any more on this side death, as he had seen him in the sanctuary, Psa 63:2. I shall behold man no more. &c. — I shall have no more society with men upon earth. Many good men, under the law, had but imperfect notions of a future state, and thought it a great unhappiness to be deprived, by death, of the communion of saints here upon earth. But by not seeing the Lord in the land of the living, Hezekiah might probably mean that he should not see the effects of God’s grace and goodness in the deliverance of his people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I said - Probably the words ‘I said’ do…
I said - Probably the words ‘I said’ do not imply that he said or spoke this openly or audibly; but this was the language of his heart, or the substance of his reflections.
In the cutting off of my days - There has been considerable diversity of interpretation in regard to this phrase. Vitringa renders it as our translators have done. Rosenmuller renders it, ‘In the meridian of my days.’ The Septuagint, Ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἡμερῶν μου En tō hupsei tōn hēmerōn mou - ‘In the height of my days,’ where they evidently read ברמי instead of בדמי, by the change of a single letter. Aquila, and the Greek interpreters generally, rendered it, ‘In the silence of my days.’ The word used here in Hebrew (דמי demı̂y) denotes properly stillness, quiet, rest; and Gesenius renders it, ‘in the quiet of my days.’ According to him the idea is, ‘now when I might have rest; when I am delivered from my foes; when I am in the midst of my life, of my reign, and of my plans of usefulness, I must die.’ The sense is, doubtless, that he was about to be cut off in middle life, and when he had every prospect of usefulness, and of happiness in his reign.
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I shall go to the gates of the grave - Hebrew, ‘Gates of sheol.’ On the meaning of the word sheol, and the Hebrew idea of the descent to it through gates, see the notes at Isa 5:14; Isa 14:9. The idea is, that he must go down to the regions of the dead, and dwell with departed shades (see the note at Isa 38:11).
The residue of my years - Those which I had hoped to enjoy; of which I had a reasonable prospect in the ordinary course of events. It is evident that Hezekiah had looked forward to a long life, and to a prosperous and peaceful reign. This was the means which God adopted to show him the impropriety of his desire, and to turn him more entirely to his service, and to a preparation for death. Sickness often has this effect on the minds of good people.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Hell. Sheol, or Hades, the region of the dead.…
Hell. Sheol, or Hades, the region of the dead. (Challoner) --- He was afraid to die without issue. (St. Jerome; ver. 12.) --- Manasses was born three years later. (Calmet) --- The king would naturally have died. (St. Augustine, de Gen. ad lit. vi. 17.) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain cutting off--ROSENMULLER translates, "the meridian"; when the sun stands…
cutting off--ROSENMULLER translates, "the meridian"; when the sun stands in the zenith: so "the perfect day" (Pro 4:18). Rather, "in the tranquillity of my days," that is, that period of life when I might now look forward to a tranquil reign [MAURER]. The Hebrew is so translated (Isa 62:6-7).
go to--rather, "go into," as in Isa 46:2 [MAURER].
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residue of my years--those which I had calculated on. God sends sickness to teach man not to calculate on the morrow, but to live more wholly to God, as if each day were the last.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10, 11. I said — In my heart, my…
10, 11. I said — In my heart, my thought.
In the cutting off of my days — Of all the opinions on these very perplexing words, that seems the best which renders them, In the meridians, in the high noon, of life, just as I had attained the summit of my best years.
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I shall go to the gates of the grave — Of sheol, the under world. No more of life here remaining to me.
Shall not see the Lord — Or, Jah, namely, in his working and providence on earth. Shall no more have demonstrations of his power and goodness in this state of being, but shall die and go away among the dead.
With the inhabitants of the world — The “world” here, (in the Hebrew חדל, chedel, the land of stillness, of cessation from activity,) is a state sometimes dreaded even by the good. The import of the whole phrase, then, is, “I, with those in the land of stillness, shall no more see man.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. in the cutting off of my days] R.V.…
10. in the cutting off of my days] R.V. In the noontide of my days (lit. “in the stillness of my days”). The phrase has been variously interpreted; but the best sense is that given by the R.V., whether the noon be conceived as the time of rest, or (as in an Arabic idiom) the time when the sun seems to stand still in the heavens. Hezekiah was at the time in his thirty-ninth year. (Cf. “in the midst of my days,” Psa_102:24.)
the gates of the grave (lit. of Sheol)] Cf. Job_38:17; Psa_9:13; Psa_107:18.
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I am deprived (lit. “punished”) of the residue of my years] The verb for “be punished” does not elsewhere bear the sense of “be mulcted” as it must do in this translation. Duhm, with a different division of the verse, renders as follows:—
“I said, In the noon-tide of my days I must depart;
I am consigned (cf. Jer_37:21) to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) I said in the cutting off of my…
(10) I said in the cutting off of my days . . .—The words have been very differently interpreted—(1) “in the quietness,” and so in the even tenor of a healthy life. As a fact, however, the complaint did not, and could not, come in the “quiet” of his life, but after it had passed away; (2) “in the dividing point,” scil., the “half-way house of life.” Hezekiah was thirty-nine, but the word might rightly be used of the years between thirty-five and forty, which were the moieties of the seventy and eighty years of the psalmist (Psa_90:10). We are reminded of Dante’s “Nel mezza del cammin di nostra vita” (Inf. i. 1).
The gates of the grave.—The image is what we should call Dantesque. Sheol, the Hades of the Hebrews, is, as in the Assyrian representations of the unseen world, and as in the Inferno of Dante (iii. 11, vii. 2, x. 22), a great city, and, therefore, it has its gates, which again become, as with other cities, the symbol of its power. So we have “gates of death” in Job_38:17; Psa_9:18; Psa_107:18.
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The residue . . .—The words assume a normal duration, say of seventy years, on which the sufferer, who had, as he thought, done nothing to deserve punishment, might have legitimately counted.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In the cutting off of my days; literally, in…
In the cutting off of my days; literally, in the pausing of my days which is taken by some to mean "the noon-tide of my life when my sun had reached its zenith, and might have been expected to begin to decline; by others to signify "the still tranquillity of my life," when it was gliding quietly and peacefully along without anything to disturb it. Ver. 6 is against this latter view. I shall go to the gates of the grave; rather, I shall enter in at the gates of hell (or, Hades) the place of departed spirits. (see the comment on Isa_14:9) Hezekiah bewails his fate somewhat as Antigone: All em o pagkoitav Aidhv zwsan agei tarontov aktan (Soph., "Ant.," 11. 810-813).
Vers. 10-12. Figures of life and death.
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Some of the Scripture figures of death are full of the sweetest poetry for sensitive souls. Illustrating Hezekiah"s figure, an Eastern traveller says, "It was in the bleak season of a cold autumn, by the side of a large moor, that I one day saw a shepherd"s tent. It was composed of straw and fern, and secured under the warmer side of a hedge, with a few briars and stakes. Thither for about a week, he took shelter, until the herbage failed his flock, and he removed I knew not whither. His tent was, however, left behind. A few days after I rode that way, and looked for the shepherd"s tent, but it was all gone. The stormy winds had scattered its frail materials, and only a few fragments strewed the ground, to mark out that once, for a brief day, the tent had its residence, and the shepherd his solace, there. And such is this life, and such are all the airy expectations, and imaginary felicities, and hoped-for ports and places beneath the sun. Time scatters them, as the storm did the fern and straw of the shepherd"s tent" "What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away; ... My days are swifter than the post;" "They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle hasting to the prey;" "My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle;" "Oh, remember, that my life is wind." With what exquisite pathos it is said of wrestling, crafty, managing Jacob, "He gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people"! In view of his long and passionate affection for Rachel the beautiful, how tender is that last expression! Death for us is but passing from the fellowship of one company of beloved ones to join the other company that has gone on before. David speaks of the dead as "going down into silence." Is not that also most expressive? The man who has been so full of anxious cares and worldly troubles just steps aside to rest passes from the bustle of life to the stillness, the silence, of death. The Apostle Paul says, "If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved," broken up, the pins removed, the ropes loosened, the canvas folded, "we have a building of God," no mere tent, a substantial building," a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." So the decay of our body is only our removal to a new house, built for us, fitted for us, and, as we pass into it, the old tent-body is taken down, folded up, and put away. Dr. A. Raleigh dwells very beautifully on one of the most familiar figures of the grave, "There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest." "This is man"s long home. Other homes are but calling-places, in which a wayfaring man tarries for a few days and nights in pursuing a great journey; but in this long home "man lieth down and riseth not, till the heavens be no more." There is no earth quite so profound as that of a quiet country churchyard. The hills stand in silence watching. The river, as it flows by, seems to hush its waters in passing; and the trees make soft and melancholy music with the evening wind, or stand in calm, voiceless grief, lest they should disturb the sleepers. Quiet is the dust below quiet the scarcely moving grass of the graves quiet the shadows of the tombstones quiet the overarching sky. It is, indeed, a quiet resting-place, where we may lie in stillness for a while, until Christ shall bring us to another home, the last, the best of all in heaven, the quietest resting place of all." And Jesus our Lord said," Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." That is all. Death is only the sleep of God"s beloved ones; over it he watches with more than motherly care, and, one wondrous day, the sweet morning light of the great glory shall stream in at the windows, and wake the sleeping children. After showing thus the mingling of sadness with hope in the Bible figures of hurrying life and masterful death, illustrate the things which help to make dying and death seem to us a foe so greatly to be dreaded. It is a foe
I BECAUSE OF THE BREAKING DOWN AND CORRUPTION OF THE BODY WHICH IT INVOLVES. There is something humiliating and revolting even in the change through which our bodies must pass. We turn away from the sight of the dead, and cannot bear to think that we must be even as they.
II BECAUSE IT INVOLVES THE ENDING OF ALL OUR EARTHLY PLEASURES. And there are pleasures and friendships and scenes which make life very dear to us all rightly dear. It is no way of honouring God to call this earth and life that he has given us a "desert land, which yields us no supplies." But death takes the cup right away from our lips, and bids us leave all the playthings on the board, and come away.
III BECAUSE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING IT. As Bacon long ago reminded us, it is the suffering body, the darkened chamber, the weeping friends, the pangs of separation, the trappings of woe, that make so much of the bitterness of death.
IV BECAUSE OF THE UNTIMELINESS OF ITS COMING. And it is almost always untimely; oftentimes painfully so. He plucks young buds. He takes opening flowers. tie cuts down bearded grain. He delays until the grain is shed, and the straw is trembling to its winter fall. Always coming; almost never wanted. Yet, for true and trustful hearts, changed into an angel of light, the Father"s messenger calling his children home. They are quiet even from the fear of death who can pray with McCheyne"In whatsoever form death comes to me In midnight storm, whelming my bark, or in my nest Gently dismissing me to rest; Oh, give me in thy Word to see A risen Saviour beckoning me. My Lamp and Light In the dark night. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I shall go to the gates of the grave
Isa_38:10
I shall go to the gates of the grave
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Views of the grave
1.
It was doubtless from veneration for the dead, that the practice first arose of depositing their ashes around the temple where the living worship. That dust, which once was tenanted by an immortal spirit,--that dust, through which once the intelligence and the feelings of an immortal spirit shone,--becomes in itself hallowed to the fancy. Collecting it around the place which most we honour, we trust that we remove it beyond the reach of profane intrusion.
2. To the Christian there appears a peculiar propriety in this simple and affecting arrangement. The dust of the departed is doubly valuable in the Christians regard, who knows that this mortal is destined to put on immortality. In placing it near the temple of our God, we seem to express our humble confidence in the promise which He hath given; we seem to leave it under His own especial protection.
3. The practice which arose from reverence for the dead, is powerfully enforced by its usefulness to the living. If we would listen to the thought, there is in it eloquence irresistible, that around the place where we assemble to worship our God, the ashes of our fathers and of our brethren sleep. We act the part of fools when we banish from our minds any theme, uninviting though its aspect be, by which our spiritual welfare might he so essentially advanced. (A. Brunton, D. D.)
Appeals of the grave
1. Come hither, ye proud! Look around you on this scene of universal stillness, and show us the trace of those distinctions in which you glory. Tell us which is noble and which is vulgar dust l
2. Come hither, ye who value yourselves upon the graces of your outward form. Have you courage to meet the aspect here of that which late was lovely?
3. Come hither, ye votaries of wealth; and show us in this receptacle of human dust, what advantages have gone down to the grave with him who preceded you in your anxious labours. The riches of this world descend not into the grave. But there are treasures of which the value outlives the tomb.
4. Children of intemperance and folly, those who once were your associates in riot, are laid in the grave. Silent is now the wit that was to charm for ever; and quenched the smile that was never to fade! Are you prepared for a change like this?
5. Son of wisdom, and holiness, and piety, thine associates also are sleeping here.
6. Come hither, and stand by this new-formed grave. It is the grave of thine enemy. He cannot harm thee now. Thou mournest to think that the remembrance of injuries which he had done or suffered may have agonised his deathbed. Thou shudderest at the thought, either that he died execrating and abhorring thee, or suing for reconciliation and peace in vain; that the departing spirit may have gone hence, unforgiving or unforgiven. Is there, then, one to whom, at this moment, thou bearest enmity? Go, while yet the lesson is warm upon thy heart, leave thy gift before the altar, &c.
7. Reverence and attachment lead thee onward to the spot where the instructor of thy youth, the guide of thy childhood, lies. All the lessons of his wisdom rush upon thy remembrance, as thou standest by his grave. Improve the moment,--it is rich in usefulness.
8. The scene around may well rouse thee to self-examination. For, see, here is laid thine equal in age. He began with thee the career of life, gay and careless as thyself. The same with thine own were his pursuits. The same with thine own were his hopes. Seest thou that vacant space by his side? God only knows, how soon thou mayest be called to fill it. In this land of shadows one thing is certain,--it is death; one thing is needful,--it is an interest in Him who hath vanquished death and the grave. (A. Brunton, D. D.)
The gates of the grave
The region of the grave is bounded. God keeps the gates.
I. ALL MENS DREAD. Through--
1. Sin.
2. Natural fear of the unknown.
3. Want of faith.
II. ALL MENS DESTINY.
1. Certain.
2. Men may approach these gates and return, but once passed they are passed for ever.
3. They are the portals of endless joy or woe. (W. O. Lilley.)
I am deprived of the residue of my years
The shortening of human life
The words of the text naturally suggest this general observation: that God deprives many of the human race of the residue of their years.
I. CONSIDER WHEN GOD DOES THIS.
1. God deprives all those of the residue of their years whom He calls out of the world before they have reached the limits of life which are to be found in Scripture.
2. Whom He calls out of the world before they have reached the bounds of life fixed by Providence. Though the Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet Providence oftens extends it to a longer period.
3. Who die before they have reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of nature. Nature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world. All, therefore, who die by sickness, or accident, or violence, or any other cause than the course of nature, are really deprived of the residue of their days.
II. Inquire WHY GOD THUS SHORTENS THE LIVES OF MEN.
1. To teach the living that He is not dependent upon them in the least degree.
2. To teach mankind their constant and absolute dependence upon Himself.
3. To teach the living the necessity of being continually prepared for another life.
4. To teach the living the importance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it.
5. God may sometimes cut short the days of the wicked to prevent their doing evil in time to come.
6. God may sometimes shorten the lives of His faithful servants to prevent their seeing and suffering public calamities.
III. IMPROVEMENT.
1. If God does not always deprive men of the residue of their years, but allows some to reach the bounds of nature, then there is propriety in praying for the lives of the aged as well as of the young.
2. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, then it is extremely unreasonable and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of living a great while in the world.
3. We ought to beware of placing too much dependence upon the lives of others, as well as upon our own.
4. Long life is a great as well as distinguishing favour.
5. If God always has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the residue of their years, then it is as reasonable to submit to His providence in one instance of mortality as another. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The residue of years
Life has crises. Men often feel as if life were re-given. Wisdom is born in such hours. The residue of life is regarded with reverence. The residue of year
I. ARE, WITH US, UNCERTAIN.
II. SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE EXPERIENCES OF PAST YEARS.
III. SHOULD BE MOST SERENE AND HAPPY.
IV. SHOULD BE MOST PIOUS AND FRUITFUL IN GOOD TO OTHERS. (W. O.Lilley.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain (A Funeral Sermon.)
THE SHORTENING OF HUMAN LIFE
(A Funeral Sermon.)
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Isa_38:10. I am deprived of the residue of my years.
Briefly narrate the facts of Hezekiah’s illness. The words of the text naturally suggest this general observation, that God deprives many of the human race of the residue of their years.
I. WHEN GOD DEPRIVES ANT OF MANKIND OF THE RESIDUE OF THEIR YEARS.
1. When He calls them out of the world before they have reached the limits of life which are to be found in Scripture (Psa_90:10). Hezekiah undoubtedly numbered his years according to this standard when he spoke (at forty years of age) of being deprived of the residue of his years.
2. When He calls them out of the world before they have reached the bounds of life fixed by Providence. Though the Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet Providence often extends it to a longer period, even to a century. Many aged persons enjoy a large measure of health, strength, and activity; should any of these be suddenly cut down by disease or accident, they would be deprived of the residue of their years which they had anticipated, according to the course of Divine providence in fixing the limits of life to the aged.
3. Even those who die before they have reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of Nature, may be said to be deprived of the residue of their days. Nature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world, not excepting human life. What the natural limit of human life is we cannot tell, but from the fact that some have survived for over a century and a half, we may infer that God has deprived the vast majority of the human race of the residue of their years, and has not allowed even one in a million to reach the bounds of life which Nature has set.
II. WHY GOD THUS SHORTENS THE LIVES OF MEN AND CUTS OFF THEIR EXPECTED YEARS.
1. Sometimes it is to teach the living that He is not dependent upon them in the least degree. Though He can and does employ them in His service, yet He can lay them aside whenever He pleases, and carry on His designs without their assistance. Let eminent and useful men like Hezekiah remember this, that they may not yield to the temptation of pride (H. E. I. 2218–2219).
2. In order to teach mankind their constant and absolute dependence upon Himself. This they are extremely inclined to forget, and their forgetfulness arises in a great measure from the consideration of the general bounds of life which Scripture, Providence, and Nature have set. To these well-known periods they naturally extend their views, desires, and expectations. But to make them sensible that they still live, move, and have their being in Himself, God continually deprives one and another, and much the largest portion of mankind, of the residue of their years.
3. To teach the living the necessity of being continually prepared for another life (H. E. I. 1543–1546).
4. To teach the living the importance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it. All men are naturally slothful and strongly inclined to postpone present duties to a more convenient season. The best and most industrious of men need the sharp spur of the possibility of sudden death, and of being called away before their work is complete. When God cuts down the active and useful in the midst of their days, He warns us most solemnly (Ecc_9:10; H. E. I. 1562–1566).
5. God sometimes cuts short the days of the wicked to prevent their doing evil in time to come (Psa_55:23; Pro_10:27; Ecc_7:17).
6. God sometimes shortens the lives of His faithful servants to prevent their seeing and suffering public calamities. It seems to have been in mercy to Hezekiah that God added only fifteen years to his life; had fifty years been added (and then at death he would only have been ninety), he would have been involved in the dreadful evils which were coming upon both his family and his kingdom (Isa_57:1).
APPLICATION.—
1. If God does not always deprive men of the residue of their years, there is a propriety in praying for the lives of the aged as well as for the lives of the young. Even the oldest persons living, though labouring under pains, infirmities, and diseases which seem to indicate the near approach of death, may yet pray for the removal or mitigation of their disorders, and for a longer space of life. Life is a blessing, and to pray for its continuance is a duty.
2. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, it is extremely unreasonable and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hope of living a great while in the world. What ground have we to expect that our days will be greatly prolonged; that we shall escape all the dangers and diseases which have proved so fatal to others, and live as long as man can live according to the course of nature? This expectation is as dangerous as it is absurd. It encourages the wicked to continue in sin. It is the strangest and most fatal error that mankind ever embraced (Jas_4:14; Mat_22:44).
3. Since God deprives so many of the residue of their years, we ought to beware of placing too much dependence upon the lives of others, as well as of our own. Others are as liable to leave us as we are to leave them (Psa_146:3-5).
4. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, then long life is a great as well as a distinguishing favour. It is a talent capable of being improved to the highest public and private advantage. We should desire it for the sake of having greater opportunity of getting good, and still more of doing good. Had Hezekiah, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, and David died in early manhood, how little comparatively they could have done for Israel! Since good men are to be rewarded according to their works, the longer they are permitted to live, the greater opportunity they enjoy of promoting their own future blessedness.
5. If God always has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the residue of their years, then it is as reasonable to submit to His providence in one instance of mortality as another. He knows all the disappointment which a strong man feels in being cut down in the midst of his days, all acute sorrow that is caused by an untimely death, and He sympathises with it all. He never afflicts willingly, nor grieves the children of men; He takes no pleasure in giving anxiety and distress to the dying, nor in desolating the hearts of the living; and when He does either, it is for a reason that is infinitely wise and infinitely kind. It behoves us then to say with Job: (Isa_13:15, or Isa_1:21).—Dr. Emmons: Works, vol. iii. pp. 79–92.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
grave
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 38:10 enter the place of the dead? (literally enter…
38:10 enter the place of the dead? (literally enter the gates of Sheol?): This image comes from an ancient idea that people enter death through gates (see 14:9). Old Testament believers did not understand the afterlife as the New Testament reveals it. It was a shadowy place where all the dead were together and where no praise of God existed (see 38:18; Pss 88:10; 115:17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.