John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 7. And Isaiah said, take a lump of figs , etc.] Not moist figs, but a cake of dried figs, as the word used signifies, and so the less likely to have any effect in curing the boil: and they took, and laid it on the boil, and he recovered ; made a plaster of it, and laid it on the ulcer, and it was healed. Physicians observe f240 , that as such like inflammations consist in a painful extension of the fibres by the hinderance of the circulation of the blood, through the extreme little arteries, which may be mitigated, or dissipated, or ripened, by such things as are emollient and loosening, so consequently by figs; and, in a time of pestilence, figs beaten together with butter and treacle have been applied to plague of boils with great success; yet these figs being only a cake of dry figs, and, the boil not only malignant, but deadly, and the cure so suddenly performed, show that this was done not in a natural, but in a supernatural way, though means were directed to be made use of.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 brough 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 enabl us to finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he wa 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 Is 38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is like his havin been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment. Hezekiah' piety made his sick-bed easy. "O Lord, remember now;" he does not spea 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 tha is the purchase of mercy and grace. Hezekiah does not pray, Lord, spar 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 it 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 ho 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 no trust God, but tempt him. For the confirmation of his faith, the shado of the sun was carried back, and the light was continued longer tha 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.
Original Hebrew ויאמר559 ישׁעיהו3470 קחו3947 דבלת1690 תאנים8384 ויקחו3947 וישׂימו7760 על5921 השׁחין7822 ויחי׃2421
