John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 38:15

"What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul." — Isaiah 38:15 (ASV)

What shall I say? This is generally supposed to be an exclamation, such as frequently bursts forth in a season of joy, as if he congratulated himself on having already obtained his wish. But I think differently. Hezekiah appears to proceed in his complaints, for he speaks as people commonly do when they are overcome by grief: “What shall I say? For He who said it has also done it;” This means, “Life and death are in His hand; it is useless for me to argue or contend with Him; it is useless for me to complain.”

In the book of Job, words and sayings of this sort are also often found (Job 7:4). I think that this is the true meaning, for Hezekiah previously looked around on all sides to see if any assistance appeared. Now, when he sees that he is about to die and that God has threatened it, he concludes that he should no longer resist but obey.

Yet we should mark the emphatic statement that God has actually fulfilled what He had threatened by His word. Those who explain it to mean simply, “What God said to me by the Prophet He has fulfilled,” express a part of the truth, but not the whole. For Hezekiah does not coldly relate that he has perceived the effect of the word, but, by bringing forward the power of God, he cuts off every occasion to murmur or complain.

Thus David also says, “I am dumb, because thou hast done it” (Psalms 39:9). We never cease to complain until we are restrained by the fear of the power of God. Thus Job also, considering that he has to deal with God, says, “I will lay my finger on my mouth” (Job 40:4), and “I will humbly make supplication to my judge” (Job 9:15). Hezekiah, therefore, enjoins silence on himself on this ground: that it is useless to contend with God.

At the same time, he means that he has no hope of life, because the Lord gives actual demonstration that it was a serious threatening; and hence he infers that he gains nothing, because there are no means of evasion. This sentiment, it is true, proceeds from despair, because in this manner, thinking that God is his enemy, he shuts the door against his prayers.

But that in very severe distresses words of this kind should escape our lips, which deter us from confidence in prayer, is neither new nor strange, provided that, on the other hand, we rely on that calling upon God which the views of the flesh pronounce to be of no avail. There is reason to believe that the pious king labored under such perplexity that he fainted through weakness. However, that he chiefly considered what I have said—that there was nothing preferable to silence, because it would serve no purpose to dispute with God—will appear more clearly from what immediately follows.

I shall walk trembling all my life. From this we may infer that he now keeps in view the dreadful power of God, to bring himself to true humility. As דדה (dadah) sometimes signifies “to move,” and sometimes “to walk softly,” אדדה (eddaddeh) is translated by some commentators as, “I shall be moved,” or “I shall be troubled,” and by others, “I shall walk softly.”

For my own part, I have no doubt that it denotes a trembling and feeble step, for Hezekiah had been reduced to such great weakness that he despaired of ever again recovering his former strength. This trembling must be attributed to fear, for it immediately follows, in bitterness; which means that the sorrow he had endured was so deeply rooted in his heart that it could never be removed. From this arose the weakness he mentioned.

אדדה (eddaddeh) is translated by the Vulgate as, “I will call to remembrance,” for which reason this passage has been distorted by Papists to support auricular confession, but so absurdly that even old women can laugh at it. But the plain meaning is that Hezekiah does not speak of calling to remembrance, but of that agitation and trembling with which he says he will be struck for the rest of his life.