Verse 21. When ye turn to the right hand,
Verse 22. Ye shall defile—" Ye shall treat as defiled"] The very prohibition of Moses, Deut. vii. 25, only thrown out of the prose into the poetical form: " The graven images of their gods ye shall burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold that is on them; nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God."
Verse 26. Shall be sevenfold] The text adds ^^N^ □"OTl njUK' keor shibath haiyamayim, " as the light of seven days," a manifest gloss, taken in from the margin; it is not in most of the copies of the Septuagint. It inteiTupts the rhjahmical construction, and obscures the sense by a false, or at least an unnecessary, interpretation.
By moon, sun, light, are to be understood the abundance of spiritual and temporal felicity, with which God should bless them in the days of the Messiah, which should bo sevenfold, i. e., vastly exceed aU that they had ever before possessed.
Verse 27. And the burden thereof is heavy — " And the flame raged violently"] nNifD massaah; this word seems to be rightly rendered in our translation, the flame, Judg. xx. 38, 40, &c.; a sign oi fire, Jer. vi. 1; called properly nX'i'D masseeth, an elevation, from its tending upwards.
Verse 28. To sift the nations with a sieve of vanity — " To toss the nations with the van of perdition"] The word niJ^nV lahannphnh is in its form \er\ irregu- and streams of waters in the '^g '^ 'j!,'; 7^3' day of the cri-eat slaughter, when Oiymp. xvr. 4.
26 Moreover —the light of the ^- '^°""'"' ^- moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning luith his anger, * and the burden thereof is ' heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And " his breath, as an overflowing stream, ■^ shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be ^ a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
lar. Kimchi says it is for t]'jn^ lehaniph. Houbigant supposes it to be a mistake, and shows the cause of it; the joining it to the n he, which should begin the following word. The true reading is D'Un ']'jn'7 lehaniph haggoyim, " to sift the nations."
The Vulgate seems to be the only one of the ancient interpreters who has explained rightly the sense; but he has dropped the image: ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, " to reduce the nations to nothing." KimchVs explanation is to the following effect: " n33 naphak is a van with which they winnow corn; and its use is to cleanse the corn from the chaff and straw: but the van with which God will winnow the nations will be the van of emptiness or perdition; for nothing u.^eful shall remain behind, but all shall come to nothing, and perish. In like manner, a bridle is designed to guide the horse in the right way; but the bridle which God wiU put in the jaws of the people shall not direct them aright, but shall make them err, and lead them into destruction." This latter image the prophet has applied to the same subject afterwards, ch. xxxvii. 29: —
" I will put my bridle in thy jaws. And turn thee back by the way in which thou camest."
And as for the former it is to be observed, that the van of the ancients was a large instrument, somewhat like a shovel, with a long handle, with which they tossed the corn mixed with the chaff and chopped straw into the air, that the wind might separate them. See Hammond on Matt. iii. 12.
There shall be a bridle in the jaws] A metaphor taken from a headstrong, unruly horse: the bridle checks, restrains, and directs him. What the true God does in restraining sinners, has been also attributed to the false gods of the heathen. Thus JEschylus, Prorn. Vinct. 691: —
29 Ye shall have a song, as oTymp. xvi. 4. in the night ^ when a holy solem-
Numa; PompUij, nity IS Kcpt; and gladness oi R. Roman., 3. i^ggj-t^ ^g when One goeth with a pipe to come into the ^ mountain of the Lord, to the ^ mighty One of Israel.
30 ^ And the Lord shall cause '' his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring foe, with scattering, and tempest, ° and hailstones.
31 For '' through the voice of the Lord shall
Verse 30. The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard] Kimchi understands this of the great destruction of the Assyrian host by the angel of the Lord. Instead of VN ^i'D bezaaph ats, " with swift anger," five of Dr. KennicotCs MSS. and one of my own, read ^IX Di'iS bexaam aph, " with detestation indignant." For yx ats, " swift," which is the common reading, forty-two of Kennicott^s, forty-three of De Rossi's, and two of my own, have f]S aph, "wrath or fury." The former reading, yx ats, is not found in any Bible previously to that of Van der Hooght, in 1705; and there it seems to be a typographical mistake.
Verse 3 1. WTiich smote with a rod — " He that was ready to smite with his staff"] " Post "llB'X ashshur, forte excidit T^S asher." — Secker. After "iliyx ashshur, probably It^N asher, " which," has been omitted.
Verse 32. The grounded staff — " The rod of his correction"] For mDT3 musadah, the grounded staff, of which no one yet has been able to make any tolerable sense, Le Clerc conjectured n^DlO musarah, of correction; (see Prov. xxii. 15;) and so it is in two MSS., (one of them ancient,) and seems to be so in the Bodleian MS. The Syriac has m^VltyT deshue-
32 And ' 171 every place where Numaj Pompiui, the grounded staff shall pass, ^- "°"'^" ' ^- which the Lord shall e lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of '■shaking will he fight 'with it.
33 '' For Tophet is ordained ' of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
hedah, virgo damans, vet subjectionis, — " the taming rod, or rod of subjection."
With tahrets and harps] With every demonstration of joy and thanksgiving for the destruction of the enemy in so wonderful a manner: with hymns of praise, accompanied with musical instruments. See ver. 29.
Verse 3^3. For Tophet is ordained] Tophet is a valley very near to Jerusalem, to the south-east, called also the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna; where the Canaanites, and afterwards the Israelites, sacrificed their children, by making them pass through the fu-e, that is, by burning them in the fire, to Molech, as some suppose. It is therefore used for a place of punishment by fire; and by our blessed Saviour in the Gospel for hell-fire, as the Jews themselves had applied it. See Chald. on Isa. xxxiii. 14, where chj,' 'Hpn mokedey olani is rendered " the Gehenna of everlasting fire." Here the place where the Assyrian army was destroyed is called Tophet by a metonymy; for the Assyrian army was destroyed probably at a greater distance from Jerusalem, and quite on the opposite side of it: for Nob is mentioned as the last station, from which the king of Assyria should threaten Jerusalem, chap. X. 32, where the prophet seems to have given a very exact chorographical description of his march in order to attack the city; which however he never reached. — L.
TTie Jeios again reproved for their confidence in Egypt, finely contrasted with their neglect of the power and protection of God, 1-3. Deliverance and protection are, notwithstanding, promised, expressed by two similes; the first remarkably lofty and poetical, the latter singularly beautiful and tender, 4, 5. Exhortation to repentance, joined tuith the prediction of a more reformed period, 6, 7. This chapter concludes, like the preceding, with a prophecy of the fall of Sennacherib, 8, 9.
NumiPom^iii, on hor.ses, and trust in chariots, R. Roman., 3. ijgcguge they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, ■= neither seek the Lord!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and ^ will not ' call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are ^men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand,
The Israelites reproved
Verse 1. Wo to them that go doicn to Egypt] This is a reproof to the Israelites for forming an alliance with the Egyptians, and not trusting in the Lord.
And stay on horses — " Who trust in horses"] For hy\ veal, and upon, first twenty MSS. of KennicotCs tliirty of De Rossi's, one of my own, and the Septuagint, Arabic, and Vulgate, read ly al, upon, without the conjunction, which disturbs the sense.
Verse 3. He that helpcth (the Egyptians) shall fall, and he that is holpen (the Israelites) shall fall down — together.
Verse 4. Like as the lion] This comparison is exactly in the spirit and manner, and very nearly approaching to the expression, of Homer.
Hiad xii. 299. As the liold lion, mountain-bred, now long Famished, with courage and with hunger stung, Attempts the thronged fold: him nought appals. Though dogs and armed shepherds stand in guard Collected; he nathless undaunted springs O'er the high fence, and rends the trembling prey; Or, rushing onward, in his breast receives The well-aimed spear.
Of metaphors, allegories, and comparisons of the Hebrew poets, in which the Divine nature and attributes are represented under images taken from brutes and other low objects; of their effect, their sublimity, and the causes of it; see De Sac. Poes. Heb., Pra;lect. xvi. sub. fin.
and he that is holpen shall fall Oiymp. xvi. 4. down, and they all shall fail Numte Pompilii, together. ^- """""- =^'
4 For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, s Like as the lion, and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the ^ noise of them: ' so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Momit Zion, and for the hill thereof.
5 ''As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending ' also he will
generality of interpreters observe in this place an allusion to the deliverance which God vouchsafed to his people when he destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, and exempted those of the Israelites sojourning among them by a peculiar interposition. The same word is made use of here which is used upon that occasion, and which gave the name to the feast which was instituted in commemoration of that deliverance, noiJ pesach. But the difficulty is to reconcile the commonly received meaning of that word with the circumstances of the similitude here used to illustrate the deliverance represented as parallel to the deliverance in Egypt.
" As the mother birds hovering over their young. So shall Jehovah God of hosts protect Jerusalem; Protecting and delivering, passing over, and rescuing her." This difficulty is, I think, well solved by Vitringa, whose remark is the more worthy of observation, as it leads to the true meaning of an important word, which hitherto seems greatly to have been misunderstood, though Vitringa himself, as it appears to me, has not exactlj"^ enough defined the precise meaning of it. He says, " nD3 pasach signifies to cover, to protect by covering; Sxs'jfatfci ufAttj, Septuagint. Jehovah obteget ostium; ' The Lord will cover or protect the door:' " whereas it means that particular action or motion by which Gpd at that time placed himself in such a situation as to protect the house of the Israelite against the destroying angel; to spring forward, to throw one's self in the way, in order to cover and protect. Cocceius comes nearer to the true meaning than Vitringa, by rendering it gradiim facere, to inarch, to step forward; Lexicon in voc. The common meaning of the word n33 pasach upon other occasions is to halt, to be lame, to leap, as in a rude manner of dancing, (as the prophets of Baal did, 1 Kings xviii. 26,) all which agrees very well together; for the motion of a lame person is a perpetual springing forward, bv throwing himself from the weaker upon the stronger leg. The common notion of God's passage over tho
7 For in that day every man shall " cast away his idols of silver, and ° his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for p a sin.
8 Then shall the Assyrian ifall with the
houses of the Israelites is, that in going through the land of Egypt to smite the first-born, seeing the blood on the door of the houses of the Israelites, he passed over, or skipped, those houses, and forbore to smite them. But that this is not the true notion of the thing, will be plain from considering the words of the sacred historian, where he describes very explicitly the action: "For Jehovah wiU pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood on the lintels and on the two side posts, Jehovah will sprinoforward over (or before) the door, nnsn V niH' HDiJl upasach Yehovah al happethach, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you," Exod. xii. 23. Here are manifestly two distinct agents, with which the notion of passing over is not consistent, for that supposes but one agent. The two agents are the destroying angel passing through ' to smite every house, and Jehovah the Protector keeping pace with him; and who, seeing the door of the Israelite marked with the blood, the token prescribed, leaps forward, throws himself with a sudden motion in the umy, opposes the destroying angel, and covers and protects that house against the destroying angel, nor suffers him to smite it. In this way of considering the action, the beautiful similitude of the bird protecting her young answers exactly to the application by the allusion to the deliverance in Egypt. As the mother bird spreads her wings to cover her young, throws herself before them, and opposes the rapacious bird that assaults them, so shall Jehovah protect, as with a shield, Jerusalem from the enemy, protecting and delivering, springing forward and rescuing her; iitrspfSaivuv, as the three other Greek interpreters, Aquila, Si/mmachus, and Theodotion, render it. The Sepluagint, «Sfiiroir)if;<rai- instead of which MS. Pachom. has *£- f ipniTETai, circumeundo proteget, " in going about he shall protect," which I think is the true reading. — Homer, II. viii. 329, expresses the very same image by this word: —
and the sword, not of a mean Oiymp. xvi. 4. man, shall devour him: but he Num'a=~iii, shall flee 'from the sword, and R- Roman., 3. his young men shall be ^ discomfited.'
9 And " he " shall pass over to ^ his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in
7; Deut. xxii. 25, in the margin.^ vHeb. his rock shall pass way for fear. "Or, his strength.
AXXa Seuv «spil3ri, xai oi (Taxof ajiipexaXuvJ/S:
" -But Ajax his broad shield displayed.
And screened his brother with a miglity shade."
Which the scholiast explains by vs^ifSs^-qxag, i'tregij.a.- Xm, i. e., " Thou who strictly guardest Chryses." — L.
On this verse Kimchi says, " The angel of the Lord which destroyed the Assyrians is compared to a lion, ver. 4, for his strength; and here (ver. 5) to flying birds, for his swiftness.
Verse 6.' Have deeply revolted — " Have so deeply engaged in revolt."] All the ancient Versions read Ip'aj'n taamiku, in the second person, instead of Ip'Di'n heemiku, they have deeply revolted, &c.
Verse 7. Which your own hands have made unto you for a sin — " The sin, which their own hands have made."] The construction of the word NDPI chet, sin, in this place is not easy. The Scptuaginf have omitted it: MSS. Pachom. and i. D. n. and" Corf. Marchal. in margine, supply the omission by the word ajxapTiav. sin, or ajxafrrifAa, said to be from Aquila's Version, which I have followed. The learned Professor Schroeder, Institut. Ling. Heb. p. 298, makes it to be in regimine with D3''T' yedeijchem, as an epithet, your sinful hands. The Septuaginl render the pronoun in the third person, ai x^'P^S avruv, their hands; and an ancient MS. has, agreeable to that rendering, DhS lahem, to them, for DuS lachem, to you; which word they have likewise omitted, as not necessary to complete the sense.
Verse 8. Then shall the As.syrianfall, cf-c] Because he was to be discomfited by the angel of the Lord, destroying in his camp, in one night, upwards of one hundred and eighty thousand men; and Sennacherib himself fell by the hands of the princes, his own sons. Not mighty men, for they were not soldiers; not mean men, for they were princes.
Prophecy of great prosperity under Hezehah; but, in its highest sense, applicable to Christ, 1-8. Descrtption of impending calamities, 9-14. Rejection of the Jews, and calling of the Gentiles, 15. The future prosperity of the Church, 16-20.
hiding-place from the wind, and '' a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a ° great rock in a weary land.
3 And " the eyes of them that see shall not he dim, and the cars of them that hear shall hearken.
4 The heart also of the ° rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak ^ plainly.
Verse 1. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness] If King Hezekiah were a type of Christ, then this prophecy may refer to his time; but otherwise it seems to have Hezekiah primarily in view. It is evident, however, that in the fullest sense these words caimot be applied to any man; God alone can do all that is promised here.
Verse 2. As the shadow of a great rock] The shadow of a great projecting rock is the most refreshing that is possible in a hot country, not only as most perfectly excluding the rays of the sun, but also as having in itself a natural coolness, which it reflects and communicates to every thing about it.
ViRG. Georg. iii. 145. " Let the cool cave and shady rock protect them." E*si xsqiakift xcu yomoLTa 2sipios a^Ei,
Verse 3. And the eyes of them that see shall not he dim — " And him the eyes of those that see shall regard"] For nSi vein, and not, Le Clerc reads iSl velo, and to him, of which mistake the Masoretes acknowledge there a.re fifteen instances; and many more are reckoned by others. The removal of the negative restores to the verb its true and usual sense.
Verse 5. The vile person shall no more be called liberal] The different epithets here employed require minute explanation.
The vile person — S^J nabal, the pampered, fattened, brainless fellow, who eats to live, and lives to eat; who will scarcely part with any thing, and that which he does give he gives with an evil eye and a grudging
6 For the vile person -:" R- Roma
speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviselh wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even s when the needy speaketh right.
Liberal— yi2 nadib; the generous, open-hearted, princely man, who writes on all his possessions, For myself and mankind, and lives only to get and to do good.
The churl — 'bo hilai, the avaricious man; he who starves himself amidst his plenty, and will not take the necessaries of life for fear of lessening his stock.
Thus he differs from '73J nabal, who feeds himself to the full, and regards no one else; like the rich man in the Gospel. The avaricious man is called 'bo kilai, from 'D ki,for, and '''7 li, myself; or contracted from ^3 cul, all, and ''S li, to myself: all is mine; all I have is my own; and all I can get is for myself: and yet this man enjoys nothing; he withholds
From back and belly too their proper fare: — O cursed lust of gold, when for thy sake The wTetch throws up his interest in both worlds. First starved in this, then danmed in that to come \ Bountiful — ]!W shoa, he who is abundantly rich; who rejoices in his plenty, and deals out to the distressed with a liberal hand.
Verse C. The vile person will speak villany — " The fool will still utter foil}'"] A sort of proverbial saying, which Euripides (Baccha?, 369) has expressed in the very same manner and words: Mwpa ya^ (Aupoj Xsysr " The fool speaks folly." Of this kind of simple and unadorned proverb or parable, see De S. Po'is Hebr. Pra;lect. x.xiv.
Against the Lord — " Against Jehovah"] For Sx El, tw-o MSS. read bj? al, more properly; but both are of nearly the same meaning.
Verse 7. The instruments also of the churl are evil — " As for the niggard, his instruments are evil"] His machinations, his designs. The paronomasia, which the prophet frequently deals in, suggested this expression V^D '''7D1 vechelai kelaiv. The first word is expressed with some variety in the MSS. Seven MS.S. read 'VjJl vekili, one ^01 vechol, another ^h^\2^ vecoli.
To destroy the poor with lying words — " To defeat the assertions of the poor in judgment"] A word seems to have been lost here, and two others to have suffered a small alteration, which has made the sentence very obscure. The Septuagint have happily
are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10 '' Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
1 1 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12 They shall lament for the teats, for 'the pleasant fields, for the fmitful vine.
13 ™ Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; ° yea, upon all the houses of joy in ° the joyous city:
retained the rendering of the lost word, and restored the sentence in all its parts: Kai SiadxeSaffai Xoyouj Ta^Eivuv £u xpiffsi- 02\i/D2 JTiX 'n2T "ISnSl ulehapher dibrey ebyon be^nishpat, " And disperse the words of the poor in judgment." They frequently render the verb lijn haphar by Siagxsliadai. A MS. reads "lanSl uledabber, which gives authority for the preposition *? lamed, to, necessary to the sense; and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read OiJiyD^ lemishpat, in judgment.
Verse 8. Liberal things — " Generous purposes"] " Of the four sorts of persons mentioned ver. 5, three are described, ver. 6, 7, and 8, but not the fourth." — Secker. Perhaps for Nini veku, and he, we ought to read J.'1iyi veshoa, the bountiful.
From this verse to the end of the fourteenth, the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans appears to be •oretold.
Verse 1 1. Gird sackcloth] i>'i) sak, sackcloth, a word necessary to the sense, is here lost, but preserved by the Septuagint, MSS. Alex, and Pachom., and I. D. ii., and edit. Aid. and Comp., and the Arabic and Syriac.
Tremble — be troubled — strip you] T\0'i2/3 peshotah, riiiT regaznh, &c. These are infinitives, with a paragogic D he, according to Schultens, Institut. Ling. Hebr. p. 453, and are to be taken in an imperative 'ense.
14 p Because the palaces shall 'g" cb 7T3'' be forsaken; the multitude of the Oiymp. xvi. 4.
city shall be lelt; the 1 torts and Numa; Pompilii, towers shall be for dens for ever, ' "'"""- ^- a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until 'the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and ^ the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
1 6 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 'And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
thorn and the brier shall come up"] All the ancient Versions read TOK'l veshamir, with the conjunction. And an ancfent MS. has 13 n^^i'D taaleh bo, " shall come up in it," which seems to be right; or rather n3 bah: and there is a rasure in the place of 1 3 bo in another ancient MS.
Yea, upon all the houses of joy'] For O hi, the ancient Versions, except the Vulgate, seem to have read 1 ve. "ID hi may perhaps be a mistake for 13 bo, or n3 bah, in it, above mentioned. It is not necessary in this place.
The description of impending distress which begins at ver. 13 belongs to other times than that of Sennacherib's invasion, from which they were so soon delivered. It must at least extend to the ruin of the country and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings which follows was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensation; they belong to the kingdoji of Messiah. Compare ver. 15 with chap. xxix. 17, and see the note there.
Verse 14. The palaces shall be forsaJcen] The house of the sanctuary (the temple) shall be destroyed.— Targum.
The forts — " Ophel"] It was a part of Mount Zion, rising higher than the rest, at the eastern extremity, near to the temple, a little to the south of it; called by Micah, chap. iv. 8, " Ophel of the daughter of Zion." It was naturally strong by its situation; and had a wall of its own, by which it was separated from the rest of Zion.
Verse 15. And the fruitful field] Sr3l3ni vehaccarmel. So fifteen MSS., six ancient, and tico editions; which seems to make the noun an appellative.
The effect of righteousness] rn3y abodafh, the culture. Righteousness, cultivated by peace, produces tranquillitv of mind and permanent security. Reader,
19" When it shall hail, coming down ' on the forest; ^^ and the city sliall be low in a low place.
hast thou the principle 1 If so, dost thou cultivate it T If thou dost, thou hast peace of conscience, joy in tlie Holy Ghost, and a sure and certain hope of everlasting life.
Verse 19. The city shall be low in a low place. — " The city shall be laid level with the plain."] For nbaa'^l ubashephelah, the Si/riac reads nbilti'OI uieshepkelah. The city — probably Nineveh or Babylon: but this verse is very obscure. Saltus; Assyriorum regnum: civitas; magnifica Assyriorum castra. Ephrera Syr. in loc. For nn31 ubarail, a MS. has HTI vaiyered; and so conjectured Abp. Seder, referring to Zech. xi. 2.
Verse 20. That sow beside all waters — " WTio sow your seed in every well-watered place"] Sir John
Chardin's note on this place is: — " This exactly answers the manner of planting rice; for they sow it upon the water, and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and asses, who go mid-leg deep; and this is the way of preparing the ground for sowing. As they sow the rice on the water, they transplant it in the water." Hanner^s Observ. vol. i. p. 280.
20 Blessed are ye that sow be- ^^ M. dr. 3291. side all waters, that send forth Oiymp. xvi. 4. thither the feet of " the ox and Numje Pompiiii, the ass. ^•"°°"'"-^-
^ Or, and the city s/iaU be utterly abased.-
" Rice is the food of two-thirds of mankind." Dr. Arbiithnot. " It is cultivated in most of the eastern countries." Miller. " It is good for all, and at aU times." Sir /. Chardin, ib. " Le ris, qui est leur principal aliment et leur froment (i. e., des Siamois,) n'est jamais assez arros6; il croit au milieu de I'eau, et les campagnes ou on le cultive ressemblent plutot a de marets que non pas a des terras qu'on laboure avec la charue. Le ris a bien cette force, que quoy qu'il y ait six ou sept pieds d'eau sur lui, il pousse toujours sa tige au dessus; et le tuyau qui le porte s'eleve et croit k proportion de la hauteur de I'eau qui noye son champ. Voyage de TEveque de Beryte, p.
144. Paris, 1666. — L. " iJice, which is the principal grain and aliment of the Siamese, can never be too much watered. It grows in the water, and the fields where it is sown resemble 'marshes rather than fields cultivated b}' ploughing. Rice has that property that although it be covered with water six or seven feet deep, yet it raises its stallv above it; and this grows long in proportion to the depth of the water by which the field is inundated."
This chapter contains the sequel of the prophecy respecting Sennacherib. The prophet addresses himselj to the Assyrian monarch, 1-4. The mercy and power of God acknowledged by the Jeivs, 5, 6. Distress and despair of the Jews at the approach of Sennacherib, 7-9. Gracious promise of deliverance, 10-13. Dreadful apprehensions of the wicked, and security of the righteous, 14-17. The security of the Jews under the reign of Hezekiah, and the wretched condition of Sennacherib and his army, 18—24.
Nurns Pompiiii, dealcst treachcrouslv, and tliev dealt not treacherously with thee!
thou shalt be spoiled; and Oiymp. xvi. 4.
when thou shalt make an end Xuma; PompiUi,
The plan of the prophecy continued in this chapter, and which is manifestly distinct from the foregoing, is peculiarly elegant. To set it in a proper light, it will
invaded countries, yet he should fall, and become an easy prey to those whom he had intended to subdue. In verses 5 and 6, a chorus of Jews is introduced.
be necessary to mark the transitions from one part of acknowledging the mercy and power of God, who it to another. jjaj undertaken to protect them; extolling it with di-
In ver. 1, the prophet addresses himself to Senna- | rect opposition to the boasted power of their enemies, cherib, briefly, but strongly and elegantly, expressing | and celebrating the wisdom and piety of their king the injustice of his ambitious designs, and the sudden Hezekiah, who had placed his confidence in the favour disappointments of them.! ^f QqJ
In ver. 2, the Jews are introduced offering up their j Then foUows, in verses 7, 8, and 9, a description eajiiest supplications to God in their present distress- of the distress and despair of the Jews, upon the king ful condition; with expressions of their trust and con- of Assvria's marching against Jerusalem, and sending fidence m his protection. his summons to them to surrender, after the treaty he
In verses 3 and 4 the prophet in the name of God, had made with Hezekiah on the conditions of his or rather God himself, is introduced addressing him- paying, as he actually did pay to him, three hundred self to Sennacherib, and threatening him that, notwith- 1 talents of silver and' thirty talents of gold. 2 Kings standing the terror which he had occasioned in the 1 wiii 14-16
TTte Lord will be exalted
R. Roman., 3. c y/Q jjaye Waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
5 ^ The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on
In ver. 10, God himself is again introduced, declaring that he will interpose in this critical situation of affairs, and disappoint the vain designs of the enemies of his people, by discomfiting and utterly consuming them.
Then follows, ver. 11-22, still in the person of God, which however falls at last into that of the prophet, a description of the dreadful apprehensions of the wicked in those times of distress and imminent danger; finely contrasted with the confidence and securit)' of the righteous, and their trust in the promises of God that he will be their never-failing strength and protector.
The whole concludes, in the person of the prophet, with a description of the security of the Jews under the protection of God, and of the wretched state of Sennacherib and his army, wholly disconvfited, and exposed to be plundered even by the weakest of the enemy.
IMuch of the beauty of this passage depends on the explanation above given of ver. 3 and 4, as addressed by the prophet, or by God himself, to Sennacherib; not as it is usually taken, as addressed by the Jews to God, ver. 3, and then ver. 4, as addressed to the Assyrians. To set this in a clear light, it may be of use to compare it with a passage of the Prophet Joel; where, speaking of the destruction caused by the locusts, he sets in the same strong light of opposition as Isaiah does here, the power of the enemy, and the power of Jehovah, who would destroy that enemy. Thus Isaiah t' Sennacherib: —
'• When thou didst raise thyself up, the nations were dispersed" — Ver. 3.
" His stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall ascend; Though he hath done great things. Fear not, 0 land; be glad and rejoice; For Jehovah wUl do great things." — L.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIII. Verse 1. And dealest treacherously — " Thou plunderer"] See note on chap. Xii. 2.
6 And wisdom and knowledge Numffl'pompiUi, shall be the stability of thy times, ^ ^°'"''" ' ^- and strength of ' salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
7 Behold, their '^ valiant ones shall crj'' without: s the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
8 ''The highways lie waste, the wayfanng man ceaseth: ' he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
Verse 2. Be thou their arm every morning — " Be thou our strength every morning"] For Oi'll zeroam, their arm, the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate read Wi,'X zeroenu, oitr arm, in the first person of the pronoun, not the third: the edition of Felix Pratensis has IJ'ili'lt zcrootheynu in the msa-gin.
The prophet is here praying against the enemies of God's people; and yet this part of the prayer seems to be in their behalf: but from the above authorities it appears that our arm is the true reading, though I do not find it confirmed by any of KennicolC s, De Rossi's, or my oven i\I.SS. My old MS. Bible has, — 25e tljou oure arm in etlp.
Verse 3. At the noise of the tumult — " From thy terrible voice."] For Jion hamon, " multitude," the Septuagint and Syriac read TON arnica, " terrible," whom I follow.
Verse 7. Their valiant ones shall cry loithout — " The mighty men raise a grievous cry"] Three MSS. read l^''^^"'*^ erelim, that is, lions of God, or strong lions. So they called valiant men heroes; which appellation the Arabians and Persians still use. See Bochart. Hieroz. Part I. lib. iii. cap. 1. " Mahomet, ayant reconnu Hamzeh son oncle pour homme de courage et de valeur, lui donne le litre ou sumom d'Assad Allah, qui signifie le lion de Dieu." D'Herbclot, p. 427. And for HJ'n chatsah, the Syriac and Chaldee read ntyp hashah, whom I follow. The Chaldee, Syriac, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion read □n'? nsiN ereh lahem, or DNT yireh, with what meaning is not clear.
The word dSxiN erellam, which we translate valiant ones, is very difficult; no man loiows what it means. Kimchi supposes that it is the name of the angel that smote the Assyrian camp! The Vulgate, and my Old MS., translate it seers; and most of the Versions un-
9 ^ The eaith mouxneth and, holding of bribes, that stoppeth
laiiTuisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and ' hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
10 ■" Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
11 "Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: ° as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
13 Hear, Pye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
10 He that i walketh ''righteously, and speaketh ^ uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of * oppressions, that shaketh his hands from
derstand it in this way. None of the MSS. give us any help, but as we see above in Lowth.
Verse 9. Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits — " Bashan and Carmel are stripped of their beauty."] 'bti.tiKi. sdTOU, made manifest. Sept. They read mj?31 veneerah.
Verse 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid] Zion has been generally considered as a type of the Church of God. Now all the members of God's Church should be holy, and given to good works; sinners in Zion, therefore, are portentous beings! but, alas! where are they not % Tlie Targum on this verse is wortliy of notice: " The sinners in Zion are broken down; fear hath seized the ungodly, wlio are suffering for their ways. They say, Wlio among us shall dwell in Zion, where the splendour of the Divine Majesty is like a consuming fire \ Who of us shall dweU m Jerusalem, where the ungodly are judged and delivered into hell for an eternal burning?" (JEhctbiirpnje btsnnpngij?. Old MS. Bible.
Verse 15. That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood — " Wlio stoppetli his cars to the proposal of bloodshed"] A MS. reads D'On^ hedamim, "in blood."
16 He shall dwell on ^high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold ■■" the land that is very far off.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror, y Where is the scribe? where is the ^ receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 "Thou shall not see a fierce people, *> a people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a "^ stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
20 '' Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see " Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; ^ not one of s the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
pointed by the king of Assyria to estimate their number and property in reference to their being heavily taxed.
Where is he that counted the toioers.?] That is, the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where to make the assault with the greatest advantage; as Capaneus before Thebes is represented in a passage of the Phcenissa; of Euripides, which (^rotius has applied as an illustration of this place: —
Measuring with eager eye."
He that counted the toioers — " Those who were ordered to review the fortified places in Judea, that they might be manned and provisioned for the king of Assyria. So siure was he of gaining Jerusalem and subduing the whole of Judea, that he had alread}- formed all these arrangements." — Dodts notes.
Verse 20. Look upon Zion — " Thou shall see Zion"] For ntn chazeh, " see," read riinn iechezch, " thou shall see," with the Chaldee. — Houiigant. At the end
NumKPompiiii, 01 broad rivci's and streams; R. Roman, 3. ^ijerein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ' lawgiver, "^ ^ the Lord is our king; he will save us.
of this verse we find in the Masoretic Bibles this note, ISDH "Sn chat.ii hasscpher, '• the middle of the book;" that is, the middle of the book of Isaiah.
Verse 21. The glorious Lord — " The glorious name of Jehov.4.h"] I take VW shem for a noun, with the Septuagint3.nASijriac. SeePsa.sx. 1; Prov.xviii. 10.
Verse 23. Thy tacklings are loosed] Here the Assyrians are represented under the figure of a ship ■\viecked by a violent storm; and the people on the beach, young, old, feeble, and diseased, gathering the spoil without any to hinder them. Kimchi, who understands the whole of this chapter of Hezekiah and the king of Assyria, says, " There are others of our rabbins who apply it all to the da}'s of the Messiah."
Their mast — " Thy mast "] For □Jin tornam, " their mast," the Syriac reads yjin tomeycha, " thy mast;" the Septuagint and Vulgate, '\y\r\ tornecha, 0 irfros (fou £xXjv£v, " thy mast is fallen aside." — Septuagint. They seem to have read 7V2i natah or T\i2 panah, "|3ir\ tornecha, or rather, ]D ih lo cun, " is not firm," the negative having been omitted in the present text by mistake. However, I have followed their sense, which seems very probable, as the present reading is to me extremely obscure.
erse is somewhat obscure. The meaning of it seems 10 be, that the army of Sennacherib shall by the stroke of God be reduced to so shattered and so weak a condition, that the Jews shall faU upon the remains of them, and plunder them without resistance; that the most infirm and disabled of the people of Jerusalem shall come in for their share of the spoil; the lame shall seize the prey; even the sick and the diseased shall throw aside their infirmities, and recover strength enough to hasten to the general plunder. See above.
The last line of the verse is parallel to the first, and expresses the same sense in other words. Sickness being considered as a visitation from God, and a punishment of sin; the forgiveness of sin is equivalent to the removal of a disease. Thus the psalmist: —
they could not well strengthen Olymp. xvi. 4. their mast, they could not spread Numi Pompiiii, the sail: then is the prey of a R- Ro°'an..3. great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: " the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
" Who forgiveth aU thy sin; And healeth all thine infirmities." Psa. ciii. 3. Where the latter line only varies the expression of the former. And our blessed Saviour reasons with the Jews on the same principle: " AATiether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say. Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk V Mark ii. 9. See also Matt. viii. 17; Isa. liii. 4. Qui locus Isaiffi, 1 Pet. ii. 24, refertur ad rcmissionem peccatorum: hie vero ad sanationem morborum, quia ejusdeni potentiae et bonitatis est utrumque pra;stare; et, quia peccatis remissis, et morbi, qui fructus sunt pcccatorum, pelluntur. " Which passage of Isaiah has reference, in 1 Pet. ii. 24, to the remission of sins, and here to the healing of diseases, because both are effects of >he same power and goodness; and because with the remission of sins was associated the removal of disorders, the fruits of sin." — Welstein on Matt,
That this prophecy was exactly fulfilled, 1 think we may gather from the history of this great event given by the prophet himself It is plain that Hezeldah, by his treaty with Sennacherib, by which he agreed to pay him three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold, had stripped himself of his whole treasure. He not only gave him all the silver and gold that was in his own treasury and in that of the temple, but was even forced to cut off the gold from the doors of the temple and from the pillars, with which he had himself overlaid them, to satisfy the demands of the king of Assyria: but after the destruction of the Assyrian army, we find that he " had exceeding much riches, and that he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones," &c. 2 Chron. xxxii. 27. He was so rich, that out of pride and vanity he displayed his wealth to the ambassadors from Babylon. This cannot be otherwise accounted for, than by the prodigious spoil that was taken on the destruction of the
Assyrian army. — L. And thus, in the providence of God, he had the wealth which was exacted from him restored.
The prophet earnestly exhorts all nations to attend to the communication which he has received from Jehovah, as the matter is of the highest importance, and of universal concern, I. The wrath of God is denounced against all the nations that had provoked to anger the Defender of the cause of Zion, 2, 3. Great crowd of images, by vihich the final overthrow and utter extermination of every thing that opposes the spread of true religion in the earth are forcibly and majestically set forth; images so very bold and expressive as to render it impossible, tvithout doing great violence to symbolical language, to restrain their import to the calamities which befell the Edomites in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, or in that of any other potentate, or even to the calamities lohich the enemies of the Church have yet suffered since the delivery of the prophecy. Edom must therefore be a type of Antichrist, the last grand adversary of the people of God; and consequently this most awful prophecy, in its ultimate signification, remains to be accomplished, 4-15. The Churches of God, at the period of the consummation, commanded to consult the book of Jehovah, and note the exact fulfilment of these terrible predictions in their minutest details. Not one jot or tittle relative even to the circumstances shadowed forth by the impure animals shall be found to fail; for what the mouth of the Lord has declared necessary to satisfy the Divine justice, Itis Spirit will accomplish, 16, 17.
R. Roman., 3. jj^^^ jg therein; the world, [ 3 Their slain also shall be cast ^- ^°""'"- ^- and all things that come forth of it. j out, and "^ their stink shall come up out of
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon their carcasses, and the mountains shall be all nations, and his fury upon all their armies:, melted with their blood.
This and the following chapter make one distinct prophecy; an entire, regular, and beautiful poem, consisting of two parts: the first containing a denunciation of Divine vengeance against the enemies of the people or Church of God; the second describing the flourishing state of the Church of God consequent upon the execution of those judgments. The event foretold is represented as of the highest importance, and of universal concern: all nations are called upon to attend to the declaration of it; and the wrath of God is denounced against all the nations, that is, all those that had provoked to anger the Defender of the cause of Zion. Among those, Edom is particularly specified. The principal provocation of Edom was their insulting the Jews in their distress, and joining against them with their enemies, the Chaldeans; see Amos i. II; Ezek. XXV. 12; xxxv. 15; Psa. cxxxvii. 7. Accordingly the Edomites were, together with the rest of the neighbouring nations, ravaged and laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar; see Jer. xxv. 15-26; Mai. i. 3,4, and see Marsham, Can. Chron. Sssc. xviii., who calls this the age of the destruction of cities. The general devastation spread through all these countries by Nebuchadnezzar may be the event which the prophet has primarily in view in the thirty-fourth chapter: but this event, as far as we have any account of it in history, seems by no means to come up to the terms of the prophecy, or to justify so highly wrought and terrible a description; and it is not easy to discover what connexion the extremely flourishing state of the Chmch or people of God, described in the next chapter, could have with those events, and how the former could be the consequence of the latter, as it is there represented to be. By a figure, very common in the prophetical writings, any city or people, remarkably distinguished I as enemies of the people and kingdom of God, is put ' for those enemies in general. This seems here to be the case with Edom and Botsra. It seems, therefore, reasonable to suppose, with many learned expositors, that this prophecy has a farther view to events still future; to some great revolutions to be effected in later times, antecedent to that more perfect state of the kingdom of God upon earth, and serving to introduce it, which the Holy Scriptures warrant us to expect.
That the thirty fifth chapter has a view beyond any thing that could be the immediate consequence of those events, is plain from every part, especially from the middle of it, ver. 5, 6; W'here the miraculous works Avrought by our blessed Saviour are so clearly specified, that we cannot avoid making the application: and our Saviour himself has moreover plainly refen'ed to this very passage, as speaking of him and his works. Matt. xi. 4, 5. He bids the disciples of John to go and report to their master the things which they heard and saw; that the blind received their sight, the lame walked, arid the deaf heard; and leaves it to him to draw the conclusion in answer to his inquiry, whether he who performed the very works which the prophets foretold should be performed by the Messiah, was not indeed the Blessiah himself. And where are these works so distinctly marked by any of the prophets as in this place? and how could they be marked more distinctly? To these the strictly literal interpretation of the prophet's words dii-ects us. According to the tillegorical interpretation, they may have a farther view; this part of the prophecy may run parallel with the former, and relate to the future advent of Christ; to the conversion of the Jews, and their restitution to their land; to the extension and purification of the Christian faith; events predicted in the Holy Scriptures as preparatory to it. Kimchi says, " This chapter points out the future destruction of Rome, which is here called Bosra; for Bosra was a great city of the Edomites. Now the major part of the Romans are Edomites, who profess the law of Jesus. The Emperor Cajsar (qy. Constantino) was an Edomite, and so were all the emperors after him. The destruction of the Turkish empire is also comprehended in this prophecy.''^ — L. As
Verse 1. Hearken — "Attend unto me"] A MS. adds in this line the word "Sx ali, unto me, after D'rrsS leiimmim; which seems to be genuine.
fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a '" falling _/?^ from tlie fig-tree.
5 ' For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, '' it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidnej's of rams: for ' the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the " unicorns shall come down with them, and tlie bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be " soaked with blood.
Verse 5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven — " For my sword is made bare in the heavens"] There seems to be some impropriety in this, according to the present reading; " My sword is made drunken, or is bathed in the heavens;" which forestalls, and expresses not in its proper place, what belongs to the next verse: for the sword of Jehovah was not to be b.athed or glutted with blood in the heavens, but in Botsra and the land of Edom. In the heavens it was only prepared for slaughter. To remedy this, Archbishop Seeker proposes to read, for D'OtVD hashshamayim, Dm3 iedamim; referring to Jer..xlvi. 10. But even this is premature, and not in its proper place. The Chaliee, for nnn rh'vethah, has "Sji-in tithgalli, shall be revealed or disclosed: perhaps he read nxin teraeh or nnxij nirathah. WTiatever reading, different I presume from the present, he might find in his copy, I follow the sense which he has given of it.
Verse 0. The Lord hath a sacrifice — " For Jehovah celebrateth a sacrifice "] Ezekiel, chap, xxxix. 16, 17, has manifestly imitated this place of Isaiah. He hath set forth the great leaders and princes of the adverse powers under the same emblems of goats, bulls, rams, fatlings, &c., and has added to the boldness of the imagery, by introducing God as summoning all the fowls of the air, and all the beasts of the field; and bidding them to the feast which he has prepared for them by the slaughter of the enemies of his people: — " And thou, son of man.
8 For it is the day of the Lord's Numa; Pompiiii, ° vengeance, and the year of re- Tt. Roman., 3. compenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 pAnd the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
1 0 It shall not be quenched night nor day; "■the smoke tJiereof shall go up for ever: ''from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
1 1 ^ But the ' cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and " he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
drink; Of rams, of lambs, and of goats. Of bullocks, all of them the fat ones of Bashan; And ye shall eat fat, till ye are cloyed, And drink blood, till ye are drunken; Of my slaughter, which I have slain for you." The sublime author of the Revelation, chap. xix. 17, 18, has taken this image from Ezekiel, rather than from Isaiah.
Verse 7. The unicorns shall come down'\ D'ONI reemim, translated wild goats by Bishop Lowth. The DS"> reem Bochart thinks to be a species of wild goat in the deserts of Arabia. It seems generally to mean the rhinoceros.
With blood — " With their blood"] Qma middamam; so two ancient MSS. of Kennicott's, the Si/i-iac, and Chaldee.
Verse 8. The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion — " The year of recompense to the defender of the cause of Zion"] As from [n dun, \—\ din, a judge; so from Dn rub, T'\ rib, an advocate, or defender; Jiidici Sionis: Syriac.
Verse 1 1. The cormorant] nxp kaath, the pelican, from the root N"p ki, to vomit, because it is said she swallows shell-fish, and when the heat of her stomach has killed the fish, she vomits the shells, takes out the dead fish, and eats them.
The bittern] ISp kippod, the hedge-hog, or porcupine. The oivT] fllBT ynnshoph, the bittern, from ']',!/} nashaph, to bloii:, because of the blowing noise it m.tkes, almost like the lowing of an o,r. My old IMS. Bible renders the words thus: — ^Chc foiilc in fate like on ajSiSc, anb tijc ptcljoiin, anb tljc;Sniite (snipe.)
Oiymp. XVI. 4. tliereof to the kingdom, but none NumiB Pompiiii, shall be there, and all her princes
13 And " tliorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and '"it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for "■ owls, y
14 ^ The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with " the wild beasts of the island, and ihe satp shall cry to his fellow; the ^ screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
and gather under her shadow: NumajPompiiii, there shall the vultures also be ^- ^°'°^' ^- gathered, every one with her mate.
1 6 Seek ye out of " the book of the Lord and read; no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate, for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness — " The plummet of emptiness over her scorched plains."] The word n'ln choreyha, joined to the 12th verse, embarrasses it, and makes it inexplicable. At least 1 do not know that any one has yet made out the construction, or given any tolerable explication of it. I join it to the 11th verse, and supply a letter or two, which seem to have been lost. Fifteen MSS., five ancient, and two editions, read ri'lin choreyha; the ftrst printed edition of 1486, I think nearer to the truth, ri'in lin chor choreyha. I read n'linn becharereyha, or nmn h)} al chorereyha; see Jer. xvii. 6. A MS. has n"nn ckodiah, and the Syriac reads nnn chadiiah, gaudium, joining it to the two preceding words; which he likewise reads differently, but without improving the sense. However, his authority is clear for dividing the verses as they are here divided. I read Qtj? shem, as a noun. They shall boast, 1N^p' yikreu; see Prov. xx. 6.
Verse 13. And thorns shall come up in her palaces^ rr'nuniJO n^tl vealu learmcnotheyha; so read all the ancient versions.
-4 court for owls.'] nJl'' yaanah, the ostrich, from ny anah, to cry, because of the noise it makes. " They roar,'''' says Dr. Shaw, " sometimes like a lion — sometimes like a bull. I have often heard them groan as if in the utmost distress."
Verse 14. The wild beasts of the desert] a"S Zijyim, the mountain cats. — Bochart.
Verse 15. The great ou-T] ilSp ijjo^o^, the axovnaj, or darter, a serpent so called because of its suddenly leaping up or darting on its prey. Probably the mongoz or ichneumon may be intended.
The vultures] nn daiyoth, the black vultures. My old MS. Bible renders these names curiously; 3Cni).igcpn cumcn ^clml t)cb»li;S: tlie bcjitc, partp of an xigjSc, anb pattn of,i tnan: anb the luobtoo?£, tlje totljct ^clial tricn to tljs tathct. djcre.sciial bun lantpa, tliat i«i, tl)rig;sc, ot a bc«rtc iiabunge the boSti liic a tooniAn, itnb lior.ai feet. -Eljct \-\AO\si bicliip', tlje prcljoun, anb nutpljibe out littil cljitti^S. ilTljere bctt gabtcb ftiiti^, tijc top to the top. What language!
Every one ivith her mate.] A MS. adds hn el after ntyx ishshah, which seems necessary to the construction; and so the Syriac and Vulgate. Another MS. adds in the same place ns eih, which is equivalent.
vah"] For Nin hu, five M.SS., (three ancient,) read niiT' Yehovah, and another is so corrected; so likewise the Septuagint. Two editions have aiS tsivam; and so the Septuagint, 'Vulgate, and -Arabic, with the edition of 1486, and a MS. has as:!p kebatsam, with the masculine pronoun instead of the feminine: and so in the next verses it is □n'? lahem, instead of |n'7 lahen, in fourteen MSS., six of them ancient. — L.
To see the importance of these various readings, the Hebrew Bible must be consulted.
Flourishing state of the Church of God consequent to the auful judgments predicted m the preceding chapter. The images employed in the description are so very consolatory and sublime as to oblige us to extend their fulfilment to that period of the Gospel dispensation when Messiah shall take unto himself his great power and reign. The fifth and sixth verses were literally accomplished by our Saviour and his apostles: but that the miracles wrought in the first century were not the only import of the language used by the prophet, IS sufficiently plain from the context. They, therefore, have a farther application; and are contemporary with, or rather a consequence of the judgments of God upon the enemies of the Church in the latter days; and so relate to the greater influence and extension of the Christian faith, the conversion of the
Jews, their restoration to their own land, and the second advent nf Christ. Much of the iinagery of this chapter seems to have been borrowed from the exodus from Egypt: hut it is greatly enlivened by the life, sentiments, and passions ascribed to inanimate objects; all nature being represented as rejoicing with the people of God in consequence of their deliverance; and administering in such an unusual manner to their relief and comfort, as to induce some commentators to extend the meaning of the prophecy to the blessedness of the saints in heaven, 1—10.
Numa- Pompiiii, them; and tlie desert shall rejoice, "■ ^°°""' ^- and blossom as the rose.
2 '' It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
3 " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
The various miracles our Lord wrought are the best comment on this chapter, which predicts those wondrous works and the glorious state of the Christian Church. See the parallel texts in the margin.
On this chapter Bishop Lowth has offered some important emendations. I shall introduce his translation, as the best yet given of this singular prophecy: — I. The desert and the waste shall be glad;
And the wilderness shall rejoice, and flourish: 2 Like the rose shall it beautifully flourish;
rejoice: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, The beauty of Carmel and of Sharon; These shall behold the glory of Jehov.\h, The majesty of our God.
3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, And confirm ye the tottering knees.
4. Say ye to the faint-hearted, Be ye strong; Fear ye not; behold your God! Vengeance will come; the retribution of God: He himself will come, and will deliver you.
5. Then shall be unclosed the eyes of the blind; And the ears of the deaf shall be opened:
6. Then shall the lame bound like the hart. And the tongvie of the dumb shall sing:
7. And the glowing sand shall become a pool. And the thirsty soil bubbling springs:
And in the haunt of dragons shall spring forth The grass with the reed and the bulrush.
And it shall be called The way of holiness:
5 Then the ' eyes of the blind shall be opened, and ' the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the s lame man leap as a hart, and the '' tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall ' waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a
Xll.
Nor shall the tjnrant of the beasts come up thither: Neither shall he be found there; But the redeemed shall walk in it. 10. Yea, the ransomed of Jehovah shall return; They shall come to Sion with triumph; And perpetual gladness shall crown their heads. Joy and gladness shall they obtain; And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Verse 1. Shall be glad] OliJ'K''' ycsusurn; in one MS. the □ mem seems to have been added; and ilDlty sum is upon a rasure in another. None of the ancient versions acknowledge it; it seems to have been a mistake, arising from the ne.xt word beginning with the same letter. Seventeen MSS. have CDVi'ia''' yesusum, both vans expressed; and^ce MSS. OtJ?!!;' yesusum, without the vans. Probably the true reading is, " The wilderness and the dry place shall be glad." Not /or them.
sand"] Z'W sharab; this word is Arabic, i^Tj"' as well as Hebrew, expressing in both languages the same thing, the glowing sandy plain, which in the hot countries at a distance has the appearance of water. It occurs in the Koran, chap. xxiv.: " But as to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain, which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until,
pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in ^ the habi-
Nim!ep"omi°iiii, tatloH of dragons, wherc cach lay, sJiall he ' grass with reeds and
8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called. The way of holiness; ™ the unclean shall not pass over it; ° but it shall be for those: the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
when he cometh thereto, he iiiideth it to be nothing." Mr. Sale's note on this place is, " The Arabic word serab signifies that false appearance which in the eastem countries is often seen on sandy plains about noon, resembling a large lake of water in motion, and is occasioned by the reverberation of the sun beams: ' by the quivering undulating motion of that quick succession of vapours and exhalations which are extracted by the powerful influence of the sun.' — Shaiv, Trav. p. 378. Tt sometimes tempts thirsty travellers out of their way; but deceives them when they come near, either going forward, (for it always appears at the same distance,) or quite vanishing." Q. Curtius ha.= mentioned it: " Arenas vapor eestivi soils accendit; camporumque non alia, quam vasti et profundi aequoris species est." — Lib. vii., c. 5. Dr. Hyde gives us the precise meaning and derivation of the word. " Dictum nomen Barca npl2n hahheraJiah, splendorem, seu splendentem regioitem notat; cum ea regio radiis solaribus tam copiose coUustretur, ut reflexum ab arenis lumen adeo intense fulgens, a longinquo speetantibus, ad instar corporis Solaris, aquarum speciem I'eferat; et hinc arenarum splendor et radiatio, (et lingua Persica petito nomine,) dicitur "-hI/^ serab, i. e., aquae superficies seu superficialis aquarum species." Annot. in Peritsol., cap. ii.
" Shall spring forth"] The n he in Hi'DI relitseh seems to have been at first iZ3 mem in MS. Bodl., whence Dr. Kennicotl concludes it should be tU'S^I rebitsim. But instead of this word the Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee read some word signifying to grow, spring up, or abound. Perhaps ^S^3 paretsah, or 1X13 paretsu, or TSnn p2 parats hachatsir, as Houbigant reads. — L.
Verse 8. And a highway] The word pni vederech is by mistake added to the first member of the sentence from the beginning of the following member. Sixteen MSS. of Dr. KennicotVs, seven ancient, and two of De Rossi's, have it but once; so likewise the Syriac, Septuagint, and Arabic.
Err therein.] A MS. of Dr. KennicotCs adds n bo, in it, which seems necessary to the sense; and so the Vulgate, per earn, " by it." One of De Rossi's has Oty sham, there.
But it shall be for those — " But he himself shall be ivith them, walking in the way."] That is, God; see ver. 4. " Wlio sliall dwell among them, and set them an example that they should follow his steps." Our old English Version tran.slated the place to tlu.^ pur-
9 »No Hon shall be there, nor ^-M; cir. 3291 any ravenous beast shall go up Oiymp. xvi. 4.
thereon, it shall not be round Numa; Pompiiii, there; but the redeemed shall ^ ^°'°="'- ^- walk there:
10 And the p ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and 1 sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
pose; our last translators were misled by the authority of the Jews, who have absurdly made a division of the verses in the midst of the sentence, thereby destroying the construction and the sense.
Verse 9. It shall not be found there — " Neither shall he be found there"] Three MSS. read sSl velo, adding the conjunction; and so likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate. And four MSS., one ancient, read NV3' yimmatsa, the verb, as it certainly ought to be, in the masculine form.
TTie redeemed shall walk there] D'SlXJ geulim. Those whose forfeited inheritances are brought back by the kinsman, h>X'\l goel, the nearest of kin to the family. This has been considered by all orthodox divines as referring to the incarnation of our Lord, and his sacrificial offering. After D''71NJ geulim, one of De Rossi's MSS. adds dSij' '^V eid olam, for ever. " The redeemed shall walk there for ever."
Averse 10. The ransomed] '^M3 peduyey, from T\f 3 padah, " to redeem by paying a price." Those for whom a price \vas paid down to redeem them from bondage and death.
Sighing shall flee aii'ny.] nrUN anachah. Never was a sorrowful accent better expressed than in this strong guttural word, an-ach-ah; nearly the same with the Irish in their funeral wailings, och-och-on. The whole nation express all their mournful accents by these three monosyllables.
2. The prophet may be considered as addressing the teachers of the Gospel, to show them that it was their business to encourage and direct the people in their expectation of redemption.
5. The privileges of Christianity are specified; there shall be, 1. Thorough teaching; 2. Holy walking.
The chapter shows also that no impurity should be tolerated in the Church of God; for as that is the mystical body of Christ, it should be like himself, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Sennacherib, iing of Assyria, comes against Judah, and takes all the fenced cities, 1. He afterwards sends a great host against Jerusalem; and his general Rahshaheh delivers an insulting and blasphemous message to Hezekiah, 2-20. Hezekiah and his people are greatly afflicted at the words of Rabshakeh, 21, 22.
Numas Pompiiii, zekiah, that Sennacherib king of R. Roman., 3. ^ss}Tia Came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's iield.
3 Then came forth imto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the '' scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
4 "= And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but •vain words) "I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
The history of the invasion of Sennacherib, and of the miraculous destruction of his army, which makes the subject of so many of Isaiah's prophecies, is very properly inserted here as affording the best light to many parts of those prophecies, and as almost necessary to introduce the prophecy in the thirty-seventh chapter, being the answer of God to Hezekiah's prayer, which could not be properly understood without it. We find the same narrative in the Second Book of Kings, chaps, xviii., six., xx.; and these chapters of Isaiah, xxxvi., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., for much the greater part, (the account of the sickness of Hezekiah only excepted,) are but a different copy of that narration. The difference of the two copies is little more than what has manifestly arisen from the mistakes of transcribers; they mutually correct each other, and most of the mistakes may be perfectly rectified by a collation of the two copies with the assistance of the ancient versions. Some few sentences, or members of sentences, are omitted in this copy of Isaiah, which are found in the other copy in the Book of Kings. Whether these omissions were made by design or mistake may be doubted. — L.
Verse 3. Then came forth unto him] Before
whereon it a man lean, it will go Numae Pompiiii, into his hand, and pierce it: so is «■ Roman., 6. Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7 But if thou say to me. We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, \ c shall worship before this altar?
8 Now therefore give ^ pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of AssjTia, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen 1
10 And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? the Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
1 1 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah
these words the other copy, 2 Kings xviii. 18, adds, 1'70n 7X INip'l vaiyikreu el hammelech, " And they demanded audience of the king."
Verse 5. / say — " Thou hast said"] Fourteen MSS. {three ancient) of KennicotCs and De Rossi's have it in the second person, mrJS amarta; and so the other copjf, 2 Kings xviii. 20.
But they are but vain words] □TISB' "i3T debar sephathayim, a word of the lips. Thou dost talk about counsels, but thou hast none; about strength, but there is none with thee.