Isaiah 38:21-22

3. PRESCRIPTION

TEXT: Isaiah 38:21-22

21

Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.

22

Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?

QUERIES

a.

What value did the cake of figs have for Hezekiah?

PARAPHRASE

For Isaiah had told Hezekiah's servants, Make an ointment of crushed figs and spread it over the boil, and he will get well again. And then Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, What sign will the Lord give me to prove that He will heal me?

COMMENTS

Isaiah 38:21 OINTMENT: The Hebrew word marahk, translated plaster, means literally, rub, bruise, crush. Isaiah's instructions evidently were to crush some figs into a soft, fluid ointment that could be rubbed on the boil. If the reader will compare the parallel account of Hezekiah's illness in 2 Kings 20:1-11 he will find the psalm of thanksgiving omitted. The account in II Kings ends with the medicinal ointment and the omen. Isaiah 38:21-22 are not out of order here. The psalm of thanksgiving is simply inserted in Isaiah's account and omitted in the Kings account. The Ras Shamra (Ugaritic) literature indicates that figs and their juices were used by the ancients for healing purposes. However, it would seem here the fig ointment was used more as a symbolic agent rather than an actual medicinal cure. Hezekiah's illness was terminal! Hezekiah's healing was miraculous. The fig ointment was commanded of God as a test of Hezekiah's faith. It is the same principle with our eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. The emblems are symbolic, not the actual flesh and blood of the physical body of Jesus. Partaking of the emblems serves as a means of proving our faith. They serve as a test of our obedience. What the shehkiyn (boil) was is difficult to know. The word may mean hot or inflammed or ulcerated. It would bring death in Hezekiah's case.

Isaiah 38:22 OMEN: The Hebrew word aoth is translated sign and also may be translated token, or type. One of the great differences between Ahaz, the king who displeased God in his leadership of the nation of Judah, and Hezekiah who pleased God in his leadership, was that Ahaz refused to seek God's sign of divine guidance while Hezekiah sought a sign from God of His divine help. When an abundance of divine signs have been demonstrated it is displeasing to God to seek after more signs (cf. Matthew 12:38-42). It would not honor God for men and women today to seek signs from God. He has given His greatest miraculous sign, once and for all, Jesus Christ, God Incarnate! (cf. Hebrews 1:1). Many eyewitnesses have left us a record of God's complete and final supernatural revelationthe New Testament. But Hezekiah did not have such an abundance of confirmation, He was not wrong in asking for a sign.

QUIZ

1.

What was the nature of the medicinal application made to Hezekiah's boil?

2.

Are these two verses out of order?

3.

How could fig juice heal a terminal disease?

4.

Was Hezekiah correct in asking for a sign?

5.

Why would it displease God for men to ask for more signs today?