Isaiah 38:21
in Isaiah 38Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
KJV
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
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This verse in Isaiah 38
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verses 21, 22.) And Isaiah commanded them to take a lump of figs and apply it to the boil, and he would be healed. And Hezekiah said that the sign would be that he would go up to the house of the Lord. This should be read before Hezekiah's prayer, or Scripture, which we have just interpreted: for the poultice was applied to the wound first, and the sign of future healing was requested from him before he thanked the Lord for healing him.
This site's exposition
a lump of figs
on Isaiah 38:21-22
The narrative resumes after the writing with the ordinary means used alongside the extraordinary promise, a lump of figs laid as a plaister on the boil, a remedy the bench reads as a real medical application rather than a magic charm, the healing accomplished through means rather than in spite of them. Hezekiah's own question, what is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord, is the request the shadow on the dial answered, named here at the chapter's close as the reason for the sign given earlier. Gill reads the two details together as proof against reading the recovery as instantaneous apart from any process, the fig applied and the days still needed before the king could go up to the temple.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
779. Now Isaiah had ordered. Here he sets out the order of the healing. And this has been transposed and ought to be before the giving of the sign, as is clear from 2 Kings 20:7–11; but because he intends not to give history, but …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For Isaiah had said,.... Before the above writing was made, which ends in the preceding verse; for this and the following are added by Isaiah, or some other person, taken out of 2Ki 20:7. The Septuagint version adds, "to Hezekiah"; but the speech seems rather directed to some of his servants, or those that were about him: let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover; which was done, and he did accordingly recover. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and.
We must not put physicians, or physic, in the place of God, but make use of them in subordination to God and to his providence; help thyself and God will help thee. That the chief end we should aim at, in desiring life and health, is that we may glorify God, and do good, and improve ourselves in knowledge, and grace, and meetness for heaven.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Let them take a lump of figs, etc. - 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. 23:7. “Ad discutienda ea, quae in corporis parte aliqua coierunt, maxime possunt-ficus arida,” etc. - Celsus, 5:11. See the note on 2Ki 20:7 (note). 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 cruddle 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.”
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For Isaiah had said - In the parallel place in Kings the statement in these two verses is introduced before the account of the miracle on the sun-dial, and before the account of his recovery 2Ki 20:7-8. The order in which it is introduced, however, is not material. Let them take a lump of figs - The word used here (דבלה debēlâh) denotes “a round cake” of dried figs pressed together in a mass 1Sa 25:18. Figs were thus pressed together for preservation, and for convenience of conveyance.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְשַׁעְיָ֔הוּ | yesha'yahu | Isaiah | H3470 → | 39 times |
| יִשְׂא֖וּ | yisu | let them take | H5375 → | 656 times |
| דְּבֶ֣לֶת | develet | a cake of | H1690 → | |
| תְּאֵנִ֑ים | teenim | figs | H8384 → | 39 times |
| וְיִמְרְח֥וּ | veyimrechu | and let them rub [it] | H4799 → | |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַשְּׁחִ֖ין | hashechin | the boil | H7822 → | |
| וְיֶֽחִי׃ | veyechi | so he may live | H2421 → | 282 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְשַׁעְיָ֔הוּIsaiah
yesha'yahuH3470 →39 times
יִשְׂא֖וּlet them take
yisuH5375 →656 times
דְּבֶ֣לֶתa cake of
develetH1690 →
תְּאֵנִ֑יםfigs
teenimH8384 →39 times
וְיִמְרְח֥וּand let them rub [it]
veyimrechuH4799 →
עַֽל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַשְּׁחִ֖יןthe boil
hashechinH7822 →
וְיֶֽחִי׃so he may live
veyechiH2421 →282 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Mark 7:33So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
it leads to
- Mark 8:23
So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 9:6–7
When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
- Mark 5:40
And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child.
- 1 Kings 17:19–22
But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
- 2 Kings 4:33–34
So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.
- Mark 8:23
Through
John 9:6When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
it leads to
- Mark 7:33
So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
- Revelation 3:18
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to…
- Mark 7:33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.