- the boil:
- The word shechin, from the Arabic sachana, to be hot, signifies an inflammatory tumour, or burning boil; and some think that Hezekiah's malady was a pleurisy; others, that it was the plague; and others, the elephantiasis, a species of leprosy, as one of the Hexapla versions renders in "So went²° Satan² forthª°¹ from¹¹ the presenceª of the LORD,ª and smoteª°¹ Jobª with soreª boilsª from the soleª¹ of his footª unto¹ his crown.ª" {Job 2:7}. A poultice of figs might be very proper to maturate a boil, or dismiss any obstinate inflammatory swelling; but we need not discuss its propriety in this case, because it was as much the means which God chose to bless for his recovery, as the clay which Christ moistened to anoint the eyes of the blind man; for in both cases, without Divine interposition the cure could not have been effected.
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