16 Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
O Lord, even to all who shall live after them. The concise style of the Prophet has given rise to various interpretations. The interpretation most commonly received is "O Lord, they shall live beyond those years, [1] " that is, "they shall lengthen their life." This is equivalent to saying, "When thou shalt have lengthened my life, thou wilt grant that others also shall enjoy the same favor." But that meaning does not agree with the text, and I look upon it as forced. I rather think that Hezekiah's meaning was this" O Lord, whosoever shall live beyond those years, to them also will the life of my spirit be known." We must therefore supply the relative 'sr, (asher,) who, as the Hebrew writers frequently do, and there will be nothing forced in this interpretation; for there can be no doubt, and nobody denies it, that he speaks of the years which the Lord had lengthened out to him. Thus he means that, this favor will be acknowledged not only by the men of that age, but also by posterity. And didst cause me to sleep, and didst make me alive. In this way he magnifies the greatness of the favor, because it will also be well known to a future age, and will continue to be engraven on the remembrance of all, even when Hezekiah himself is dead, and not only so, but will be reckoned to be a kind of resurrection. By the word sleep he means death, as the Scriptures frequently do. (1-Corinthians 11:30; 1-Thessalonians 4:14; 2-Peter 3:4.) Thus he compares this mortal disease to death; for he was so near death that he utterly despaired of life.
1 - Outre ces ans-ci.
O Lord, by these things men live - The design of this and the following verses is evidently to set forth the goodness of God, and to celebrate his praise for what he had done. The phrase 'these things,' refers evidently to the promises of God and their fulfillment; and the idea is, that people are sustained in the land of the living only by such gracious interpositions as he had experienced. It was not because people had any power of preserving their own lives, but because God interposed in time of trouble, and restored to health when there was no human prospect that they could recover.
And in all these things - In these promises, and in the divine interposition.
Is the life of my spirit - I am alive in virtue only of these things.
So wilt thou recover me - Or so hast thou recovered me; that is, thou hast restored me to health.
By these things men live "For this cause shall it be declared" - Περι αυτης γαρ ανηγγελη σοι, και εξηγειρας μου την πνοην, Sept. They read in their copies עליה יחוו לך ותחיי רוחי not very different from the present text, from which all the ancient Versions vary. They entirely omit two words, ולכל בהן ulecol bahen; as to which there is some variation in the MSS. One MS. has ובכל ubechol, and in all; two others וכל vechol, and all, and ten MSS. have בהם 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 ותחיני vetachayeni, and so the ancient Versions. It must necessarily be in the second person.
O Lord, (q) by these [things men] live, and in all these [things is] the life of my spirit: so wilt thou (r) restore me, and make me to live.
(q) They who will outlive the men that are now alive, and all they who are in these years will acknowledge this blessing.
(r) That after that you had condemned me to death you restored me to life.
O Lord, by these things men live,.... Not by bread only, but by the word of God: by the promise of God, and by his power performing it; and by his favour and goodness continually bestowed; it is in him, and by his power and providence, that they live and move, and have their being, and the continuance of it; and it is his lovingkindness manifested to them that makes them live comfortably and go on cheerfully:
and in all these things is the life of my spirit; what kept his soul in life were the same things, the promise, power, and providence of God; what revived his spirit, and made him comfortable and cheerful, was the wonderful love and great goodness of God unto him, in appearing to him, and for him, and delivering him out of his sore troubles. Ben Melech renders and gives the sense of the words thus; "to all will I declare and say, that in these", in the years of addition (the fifteen years added to his days) "are the life of my spirit"; so Kimchi. The Targum interprets it of the resurrection of the dead,
"O Lord, concerning all the dead, thou hast said, that thou wilt quicken them; and before them all thou hast quickened my spirit:''
so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live; or rather, "and" or "for thou hast recovered (t) me, and made me to live"; for the Lord had not only promised it, but he had done it, Isaiah 38:15, and so the Targum,
"and hast quickened me, and sustained me.''
(t) So Gataker.
by these--namely, by God's benefits, which are implied in the context (Isaiah 38:15, "He hath Himself done it" "unto me"). All "men live by these" benefits (Psalm 104:27-30), "and in all these is the life of my spirit," that is, I also live by them (Deuteronomy 8:3).
and (wilt) make me to live--The Hebrew is imperative, "make me to live." In this view he adds a prayer to the confident hope founded on his comparative convalescence, which he expressed, "Thou wilt recover me" [MAURER].
By these - By thy promises, and thy performance of them; therefore it is not strange, that one word of God hath brought me back from the jaws of death.
*More commentary available at chapter level.