In that day shall he swear
Or "lift up", that is, his hand F5, which was a gesture used in swearing, and therefore is so rendered; the meaning is, that he shall at once immediately give an answer, and for the solemn confirmation of it shall say an oath with it, saying, I will not be a healer,
or "a binder"; that is, of wounds, of political wounds, made in the nation, and which were incurable. See ( Isaiah 1:6 ) for the meaning is, that he neither was fit to be, nor could he be, a healer of the distempered state of the nation, it was so desperately bad. The Targum is,
``I am not fit to be a head or governor;''and so Kimchi explains it of a governor, who, he says, is so called, because he binds and imprisons those that transgress his commands; and to this sense Jarchi and Abarbinel: for in my house [is] neither bread nor clothing;