Tafsiran Yesaya 38:17: Rashi & Ibn Ezra

Behold for peace, it is bitter for me, yea it is bitter When I was notified of the tidings of peace, even that was bitter for me, for my recovery was dependent upon the merit of others (v. 5): “So has the Lord God of your father David said...”; (supra 37:35) “For My sake and for the sake of David your father.” Here You let me know that I am a sinner (See Ber. 10b). (So did the Sages explain it, but in order to reconcile the verse, it appears to mean: Behold for peace, it was bitter for me, yea it was bitter - When I was given the news by You that You would save me from the hand of Sennacherib, it was bitter for me, yea it was bitter because of my illness, that I was close to death, and I did not rejoice with the news.) But You desired my soul, that it descend not to the grave.

Behold when I hoped for peace,³⁰A. V., Behold for peace. etc., when I was in the middle of my years, (Hezekiah was 39 years old, when he was taken ill); for when the choler³¹The four humours of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed are: blood רם, choler מרה אדומה, phlegm לחה, melancholy מרה שחורה; the prevalence of the one or the other in man was believed to determine the constitution of his mind, or his temper. As man becomes older, the choleric temper disappears, while the phlegmatic humour increases. is predominant in man, he is ailing in his youth, but healthy in his old age; the reverse takes place, if the phlegm is predominant; but the middle years are generally expected to be peaceful.

מר לי מר I had great bitterness. The repetition indicates emphasis. Some derive מר from תמורה