ToS A VEL OE oa hee
*¢ mouth, and thine iniquities. are removed, and
** thy fins are expiated, or forgiven.” “id
¥. 8. Alfo I heard the voice of the Lord, &c.} The Zargum renders it, the voice of the word of the Lord, as if it was the fecond perfon, the word that was heard fpeaking; but it feems rather to be the voice of the firft perfon, the Father: /ayimg, whom foall I fend? to the people of J/rael, to reprove them for their blindnefs and ftupidity, and to threaten them, and foretell unto them, their ruin and deftruction, intimating, that it was a difficult thing to pitch upona proper perfon; and ° that there were but few that were fit to go on fuch an errand: this is fpoken after the manner of mens. otherwife the Lord. knew whom to fend, and whom he would fend; and could eafily qualify any one he pleafed, and fend with fuch a mefiage: aad who will go for as? not directing his difcourfe to the Seraphim, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi;. as if he confulted with them: for who of all the creatures is the Lord’s counfellor? but to the Son and Spirit, who ’tis certain were concerned in this miffion; for the following words were faid, when J/aiah faw the glory of Chrift, and fpake of him, Johu xii. 4tand they are exprefsly.attributed to the Holy Ghoit in Afs xxviii. 25, '26. the Sepiuagint and “febic verfions, inftead of for us, read umto this people s and the Zargum ‘is, ** whom’ fhall I fend to pro- ‘© phefy? and who will go to teach 2” shen faid 1, here am I, fend me: for he who. before thought himfelf undone, and unworthy to be employed “1 the fervice of God, now having a difcovery, and application of pardoning grace, freely offers himfelf to God: this. fhows the true nature and effect of an application of pardon; it gives a man free— dom and boldnefs in the prefence of God, and Itimulates to a ready and chearful obedience to his will, and. engages him with the utmoft alacrity in his, fervice; fo far is the doctrine of free, and full pardon by the blood of Chrift, from being a licentious doctrine.
¥.9. And he faid, go, and tell this people, 8cc,} What is, and will be their cafe and condition, as follows: hear ye indeed; the words of the prophets fent unto them, yea Chrift himfelf incarnate preaching among them; the great prophet, Mo/es faid fhould be raifed up unto them: but underfland not;
neither that. he is the Meffiah, nor the doétrines - delivered by him; which were fpoken to them in parables’; fee Mast. xiii. 13, 14, 15: and fee ye indeed, thé miracles wrought by him, as raifing the dead, cleanfing the lepers, reftoring fight to the blind, caufing the deaf to hear, and the dumb to fpeak': dut perceive not, that he is the Meffiah; tho” all the characteriftics pointed at in prophecy are upon him, and fuch miracles are done by pT ep ' om
' yy. 10. Make. the beart of this people fat, 8c.] Grofs and heavy, ftupid and unteachable, hard and obdurate; which is fométimes done by the preachi of the gofpel, thro’ the wickednefs of man’s heart, that being the favour of death unto death to fome, juft as the-fun hardens the clay; or declare that their hearts are thus grofs and ftupid; or tl will give them up to a judicial hardnefs of heart; and make their ears heavy; that they cannot the word, fo as to underftand it; they havin; ftopped the ear, and plucked away the fh it is in righteous judgment that they are’ gi to fuch an infenfibility, as not to be capable of hearing and underftanding what is delivered in the miniftry of the word: and fhut their eyes; they having wilfully fhut their own eyes againft all evidence of the Meffiah, and the truth of his doétrines, they are given up to a judicial blindnefs 5; which ftill continues upon them, and will. until the fulnefs of the Gentiles is brought in: Jef they fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and underftand with their heart; tho’ only in a notional way, the things relating to the Meffiah, the truths of the gofpel, and the ordinances thereof, and what may belong to their outward peace: and convert; or turn themfelves by external repentance and reformation: and be healed, or forgiven in fuch fenfe, as to be preferved from national ruin; which God willed not; for feeing they went fuch great lengths in fin, in rejecting the Meffiah, and his gofpel, they were given up to a reprobate mind, to do things that were not convenient, that they might be deftroyed; which deftruction is after prophefied of. y. 11. Then faid I, Lord, how long? &c.] That is, how long will this blindnefs, hardneis, ftupidity, and impenitence remain with this people, or they be under fuch a fore judgment of God upon them: and he anfwered, until the cities be wafted without inhabitant, and the houfes without man, and the land be utterly defolate; until there is not an inhabitant in the cities of Fudea, nor in Ferufalem, the metropolis of the land, nor a fingle man in any houfe in them; which denotes the utter defolation of the land and city; and can refer to no other than to the defolation thereof by the Romans, and till that time, the blindnefs which happened to them continued; the things which belonged to their peace were hid from their eyes, till their city was deftroyed, and not one ftone left upon another, Luke xix. 42, 43, 44. till that time, and even to this day, the veil of blindnefs, ignorance, and impenitence is on their hearts, and will remain until they are converted to the Lord, in the latter day; fee Rom. xi. 25,26. 2 Cor-iii. 14, 15, 16. ¥.12. And the Lord have removed men far away, &c.] Not to Babylon, but to the ends of the earth, into the moft diftant countries, by means of the Romans; for they were but inftruments of carrying the Fews captive out of their own land, and difperfing them among the feveral nations of the world; it was the Lord’s doing, and a judgment which he inflicted upon them for their fins: and there be a great forfaking in the midft of the land, not that there fhould be many left in the land, and multiply and increafe in it; which is the fenfe of the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic verfions; -but that the land fhould be greatly forfaken of men; there fhould be many places in the midft of the land deftitute of them; and this fhould continue a long time, as Kimchi obferves; which therefore can’t be underftood of the Babylonifh captivity, but of their prefent one.
¥. 13. But yet in it thall be a tenth, &c.] Which fome underftand of ten kings that fhould reign:over
Fudah from this time, the death of Uzziah, unto.
the captivity, as archi and Aben Ezra obferve; and which are, as Kimchi reckons them, as follows,. F senssees9 decima ejus, i. e. dei.;
ha HX. 45 Fotham, Abaz; ‘Hezekiah, Manaffeh, Amon, Fofiab, Fehoahaz, Feboiakim, Feboiackin, Zedekiab 5 but the prophecy, as we have feen, refpects not the captivity of the Fews in Babylon, but their prefent one; wherefore the words’ are to be underftood of a few perfons, a remnant, according to the election of grace, that fhould be called, and faved amidft all the blindnefs, darknefs, and deftruction that fhould come upon that people; and’ may be illu- {trated by the words of the apoftle in Rom. xi. 5. and thefe chofen, called, and faved ones, are the tenth, that is, the Lord’s tenth, as the words may be rendered". To this fenfe the Targum agrees, “‘ and *¢ there fhall be left in it righteous perfons, oné *¢ out of ten;” tho’ indeed the chriftians were not left in Ferufalem when it was deftroyed, but were called out of it juft before, and were preferved from that ruin. And it hall return, and foall be eaten; or be for burning. I thould chufe to render it, *t fhall return, and be burnt*; that is, it thall be burnt again; it was burnt a firft time by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army, er. lii. 13. and a fecond time by Titus Vefpafian, to. which this prophecy refers: as a teyl-tree, and as an oak, whofe fubjtance is in them, when they caft their leaves; the word Be/ballecheth, which we render, when they caft their leaves, is by fome, as ‘Farchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi obferve, thought to be the name of a gate in Ferufalem, called Shallecheth, from which a caufe-way went towards the king’s palace, from whence it had its name, 1 Chrow. xxvi: 16. and along which caufe-way, as is fuppofed, were planted teyl-trees and oaks, which are here referred to. But the Targum, Farchi, and Kimchi, intrepret the word as we do, of cafting their leaves: and the fenfe feems to be this; that as the teyl-tree and oak, when they caft their leaves in autumn, and look as if they were dry, withered and dead, yet have a fubftance in them, and in fpring appear alive, and green, and flourifhing again; fo the Fews, notwithftanding their miferable deftruction by the Romans, when they were {tripped of all their riches and glory, yet were not utterly confumed as a people; but remained an entire diftinét people, and do fo to this day, among the nations of the world; tho’ like a dry withered trunk of a tree, without verdure or beauty.; the reafon of this follows: fo, or, becaufe the holy feed fhall be the fubfrance. thereof; that is, they fhall fubfift, or continue a diftinét people, tho’ in this miferable condition; becaufe there is an holy feed, or a certain number, whom God has chofen to be holy, that is to arife from them, and will be called and con+ verted in the latter day;-hence they have a fubftance, a fubfiftence, and fhall remain till that comes, arid, that chofen remnant is called and faved, Rom. xi..25,.26. The Targum is, ‘ as the elm <¢ and oak, when their leaves fall, and are like to “© dry érees, and yet are moift to raife up feed from ‘ them; fo the captivities of J/rael thall be ga- “¢ thered, and fhall return to their land; for the. feed which is holy, is their plantation.” Some interpreting the paflage of the Babylonifh captivity by the oly seed, underftand the Meffiah. See Luke i. 35‘.
& convertatur fitque in incendium, Syrs _* Ericus Phaletranus de ablat. Sceptr. Jud. in Grav.
he chapter contains a prophecy of the pre~ fervation of the kingdom of ‘fudab from its enemies; a confirmation of it by a fign; and a. prediction of various calamities that fhould come upon it, antecedent to the accomplifhment of that fign. The enemies of Judea are named, and the _ befieging of Ferufalem by them, and the date of it, which was without effect, are mentioned; ¥. 1. the fear and dread which feized the houfe of David upon the news of this confederacy, y. 2. the orders given by the Lord to the prophet J/aiah, to take with him his fon, and meet Abaz, at a certain place pointed at, y. 3. whofe errand was to comfort him, and exhort him to be quiet and eafy, fince the confpiracy formed againft him fhould be fruitlefs, and the kingdom of J/rael fhould be | broken to pieces, ¥.. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. after which, the king is put upon afking a fign of the Lord, for the confirmation. of it; which he refufing to do, under a pretence of tempting the Lord, is reproved; and a fign neverthelefs is given; which is that of the birth of the Meffiah of a virgin, who would be truly God, as his name Lmmanuel this is mentioned to fix and carry on the date of the prophecy: that Rezin the king of Syria} and Pekab the fon. of Remaliah king of I/rael, went up towards Ferufalem to war againft it, at the. latter end of Fotbam’s reign, and the beginning of Abaz’s; thefe two feparately came up againft Fudeb, and. greatly diftrefled and afflicted the kingdom, flew. many; and carried others captive, 2 Kings XV. 372 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6, 7. but afterwards, in the third, or fourth * year of Abaz, as it is faid, they joined together to befiege Ferufalem, which this re~ fers to, 2 Kings xvi. 5: but could not prevail againft. it; or he could not, that is, according to Aber Ezra, the king of I/rael, Pekab the fon of Remaliah; but according to Kimchi, it was Rezin king, of Syria, who, he fays, was the principal in the war, and brought Pekch along with him; but it may very well be underftood of them both, fince in 2 Kings xvi. 5. the plural number is ufed; and they could not; and fo the Septucgini, Vulgate Latin, and Oriental verfions here. P y. 2. And it was told the houfe of David, ®e.] Abaz, and his family, the princes 9f the blood, fhews, and truly man, as his birth, his food, and; gradual knowledge of good and evil prove, y. ¥0,; II, 12, 13, 14, 15. yea, "tis fuggefted, that the deliverance of Judea from the two kings of Syria his court and counfellors; who had intelligence of the defigns and preparations of the Syriens and J/raelites againft them: faying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, the ten tribes, or the kingdom and and J/rael, fhould be very fpeedy; even before the young child J/aiah had with him was capable of knowing to refufe evil, and chufe good, y. 16, but as a chaftifement of the houfe of David for their incredulity in this matter, and flight of the divine goodnefs, various things are threatened to befal them, before the birth of the Meffiah; even fuch as had not been fince the revolt.of the ten tribes; as that their enemies, the Afyrians, and others, fhould come upon them in great numbers, and fill all places, fo that they would be in the utmoft diftrefs, and not be able to efcape, ¥. 17, 18, 19. that there would be a great confumption of men of all forts, high and low, fignified by fhaving off the hair of the head, beard, and feet; fo that the few that remained, would enjoy plenty, y. 20, 21, 22..and for want of men to till the land, it would be covered with thorns and briars; ‘and becaufe of wild beafts, the few men in it would be obliged to defend themfelves with bows and arrows, y. 23, 24. and yet, after this, the land fhould become fruitful again, before the Meffiah’s coming,
¥. 25. as fome interpret it.
¥. 1. And it came to pafs in the days of Abaz the fon of Fotham, the fon of Uzziab king of Judah, &c,] Here begins a new prophecy under the reign | of another king; who, tho’ a wicked king, had religious anceftors; and who are mentioned, not as. the Fewifh writers“ generally fay; becaufe it was’ owing to their worthinefs that the enemies of Abaz could not prevail againft him; but becaufe it was’ under thefe kings the prophet had prophefied: what is contained in the firft five chapters were delivered ' in the times of Uzziah; and the vifion in the fixth. was in the times of Fotham, in the beginning of his reign; and what is faid here, and in fome following chapters, was in the time of dbaz; fo that
Some render it, Syria led; thet is, its army unto Ephraim”, marched it into the land of I/rael, and there joined the king’ of /rael’s army; others, as the Vulgate Latin verfion, Syria refis goon Ephraim* depends upon, trufts in, takes heart and encouragement from Ephraim, or the ten trid:s,, being his ally. The Septuagint verfion is, Syria hath agreed with Ephraim, entered into-a-coni~ deracy and alliance with each other; which is the fenfe of our verfion; and is confirmed by the Yargum, which is, * the king of Syria is joined with. “the king of J/rael:” and bis heart was moved, and the heart of bis people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, the metaphor denotes the ftreneth and force of the confederate armies, comparable’ to a ftrong, bluftering, boifterous wind;. fee If) xxxii. 2. Fer. iv. 14, 12. and the weaknefs of the king and people of Fudah, who were like to trees fhaken by the wind; and alfo the fear they were poflefied with, partly thro’ confcioufnefs of guilt, and partly thro’ diftruft of divine power and providence; ‘and alfo on account of what they had
| juffered already from thefe powerful enemies, when they attacked them fingly; and therefore might much more dread them, as they were combined together againft them; fee 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6—8. ¥. 3. Then foid the Lord unto Ifaiah, &c.] The prophet, the infpired pen-man of thefé prophecies, that go by his name; what follows, the Lord faid unto him in vifion, or by an articulate voice, or by an impulfe on his mind: go forth now to meet Abaz:, the prophet ‘was in the city of Ferufalem, and Abaz* was without, as appears: by the place after mentioned, where he ‘was to ‘meet him; per- _ haps Azaz was at his county house ig upon the news brought him of the defigns of his enemies, he leaves, and betakes hi f _ be * Yalkut Simeoni in loc.
be more fafe » or he, had -been out to Teconnoitre the pafies about Ferujfalem, and. give orders and directions for the {trengthening and keeping of them; thou, and Shear-jafhub thy Jon; whole name fignifies the remnant foall return, and who was eg _ with the prophet, to fuggeft either that the rem: nant that were, left of the former devaftations by thofe two kings, ought’ to ree to the Lord by repentance; or that ain ’ the people of Fudab thould hereafter be,carried captive by the Afpyrians,, yet.a yemnantfhould return again. The Targum inter- | prets, this. not, of Laiak’s natural fon, but of, his didciples.; peraphiating it thus, ‘* thou, and the
“+ reft of thy difciples, who have not finned, and * are turned.from fin:”. at. the end of. the conduit of the upper.pool; for there was an upper pool, and a lower one; fee ch. xxii. 9.
Hearted, ox let thy heart be foft.”, and melt like wax, thro’ dread and.diffidence: forthe two,tails of: Smoking fire-brands,. meaning the, two kings gf Syria and J/rael:, and fo the Largum, “ for thefe two ‘AS kings, who. ate-as fmoking fire-brands,;’ *,4,me¢-.taphor,ufed,to, ‘exprefs the, weaknefs of, thefe their vain, wrath and impotent fury,, and Ahe.thort and fo Kimchi thinks, that he was. a man’ of the children of Ephraim, whom they though? to"make this was without’ king in ferufalem. The Targum underftands ‘not any particular perfon, but any one that fhould’ be thought proper; and paraphrafes it thus, “ let us * appoint a king in the midft of it, who is right “ for Us, = OF pleafes us; the name feems to be Syriac, fee Ezra iv. 7. 1 Kings xv. 18." Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is the fame with Tabrimmon, the name of fome famous family in Syria. “One ’ fignifies Good God; ‘and the other Good Rimmon, ‘which'was the name of the idol of the Syrians, 2 Kings v. 18.
the city, and is the fame place where Rab/hekab afterwards ftood, and delivered his blafphemous and terrifying fpeech, 2 Kings XVil..17:, im the high way of the fullers field. where they wafhed and dried their, garments, and whitened them; the pool, conduit, and field, being fit for their purpoke. bah 4. And fay unto him, take heed,. and Be quiet, &e.] Or keep thyfelf, notwithin the city, and from fighting with.his enemies,.but from unbelief, fear, and dread; or as the Septuagint verfion, keep thyfelf, that thou mayep be-quiet*, be eafy, ftill, and filent, and fee the. falvation of God: writers interpret the firft-word of refting and fettling, as wine upon the lees; fee ‘Yer. xlviii. 11: fear not; this explains the former:
]| y. 7. Thus faith the Lord, it foal. not ftand, &c. } ‘the Sequi lh That is, the counfel they 1 had ‘taken againft Judah to yex it, make a breach in it, and’ fet a king’ of their own liking over it; fo the Sépruaghit “and neither be Saint- Arabic verfions render the. "words, that ' ‘conafel ‘(pail | not fiand, the counfel’ of God fhalf ftand? "but not fh the counfel of men, when itis Slee hin,” Prod. | xix. 21. IJ, xlyi..10: Sneitper “foal it: com ‘1b Daf; or Shall not be; fo far “from ftahding; Mfucdeeding,. and going forward, ‘tll it as brought'to@ final a¢- princes, erwin it fhould ‘Hot, take “heat or. r page a being athe geawolel and Bee cake, againtt, sees only among them, and then part the.kingdom between us ©; or if we can’t agree on ‘that, Tet ts fet“up a king of our own, as Polis and feta king in ‘the midft of it, even the fon’ of Tabeal’, which farchi, by a fituation of the alphabet the “Yeats call Albam, makes it to be the fame with Remala,’ that is, Re: maliab, and {fo fuppofes, that the*intentién Was to fet Pekab, fon of Remaliah, king “of eas ovet Fudah; but it is’ not reafonable to think, that the: king of Syria fhould join’ in fuch a defi n; and befides, the method of’ interpretation, ‘Aber "Ezra fays, is mere vanity; and whofe fenfe of the words is much. preferable, taking Tabeal to be the name of fome great prince, either of Tjrael or of Syria;
ie i, Be dh ee Ve ‘Year's pull epbraim > 4, wf) gt it be not a 1G ie; which is by” fome receres t_ from the ‘time oF this ‘prophecy, that ara. he third of fourth year, of Abaz, who reigned in. all but fixteen years; ‘atid inthe ninth. of gia. i ed sl and in Le fi aa of fie. sis welled in fe ANLNR, (aS ws, | | Zaks “dah, Samaria eh, “an, dna bet us £0 up. mine Be Ye Pet apt v6, “into Feat iy. 1 vii. 6. “By befieging or diftreffing it) on Jir,gt up,tp war | XViil, ove ha mu ees éightee: or re., eds Farebi anterprets, if ty pander. us, make; doch eqn years from a ua rae ¢ think ae n° othenein ifr Hs-5, in Pai eA city, ©. ali 1€ ne. Wish jortene ee ecm > OF their fins fie ‘h is lem, and -ehter in, at, dt, Boos’ +: ARpeat, Bor “is it p robable’: ‘and others of joih,oand\put, it’ 10 Wea? er and far chide let * Al leu de fens “any tii Within’ hone term; eles us,'.as-this valley, whichis meanin ng ME unddubtédly is, 'as‘the Tarae oir aia gy, a hee of Sy and five years, the Iie oo aif te was, ‘the. ot a. =a
“© the kingdom of the houfe of J/rael thall ceafe.” This is commonly reckoned by the Fewi/h writers *, from the prophecy of mos, who prophefied two years before the earthquake in Uzziab’s time, concerning the captivity both of Syria and Irael, Amos iI, 5. and vil. 11, 17. which account may be carried either thro’ the kings of Fudab or of I rael;
archi goes the former way, reckoning thus, “‘ the “* prophecy of Amos was two years before Uzziab “* wag {mitten with the leprofy, according to Amos <j. 1, Uzziah was a leper 25 years, lo 27. Fotham reigned 16 years, Abaz 16, and Hezekiah 6; as it is faid, in the fixth year of Hezekiah (that is, the ninth year of Hofbea king of Ijrael) Samaria was taken, 2 Kings xviii. 10. lo 65 years.” So Abarbinel; but Kimchi goes the latter way, which comes to the fame, reckoning thus, ‘‘ the pro- “< phecy of 4mos, according to computation, was in the 17th year of ‘Feroboam, fon of Foafb, king of I/rael, how is it? Feroboam reigned 41 years, Menahem to, fo there are 51; Pekabiab the fon of Menahem 2, fo 53; and Pekah 20, fo 73; and Ho/bea the fon of Elab g, and then J/rael were carried captive, fo there are 82: take out of them 17 (the years of Feroboam before the prophecy) and there remain 65, the number intended; for we don’t reckon the fixth months of Zechariah, and the month of Shallum.” — Cocceius reckons from the death of Feroboam, who died in the 41ft year of his reign, and in the rsth of Uzziah, fo that there remained 37 years of Uzziah; in the 20th of Fotham, that is, in the 4th after his death, Ho/bea fon of Elah was made king, this was the 12th of Abaz, 2 Kings xv. 30. and xvii. r. dnd in the oth of Hofbea, Samaria was taken, and J/rael carried captive. But Funius and Tremellius are of a different mind from either of thefe, and think the prophecy wholly refpects time to comes they obferve that,.‘* J/aiah in thefe words
“* firft fhews, that the kingdom of Syria fhould be “* immediately cut off, and the king fhould die, ** which at furtheft muft needs happen four years “* after; fo (fay.they) we may fuppofe that thefe ** things were faid by the prophet in the firft year of Abaz; thence; from the deftruction of the Syrians, to the full carrying captive of the J/- raelites, or from the time of this prophecy, 65 years muft have run out; for altho’ the kingdom _of J/rael was abolifhed in the 6th year of Hezekiah, yet I/rael did ‘not immediately ceafe to be a people, when only fome part of it was carried-away; but they éntirely ceafed to be a people, when new colonies were introduced by Efar-haddon, the fon of. Sennacherib, and all the Jfraelites were forced into bondage, which the Samaritans explain, Ezra iv..2. wherefore fo’ we fix the feries of the times, from the 4th ‘year of Abaz, in which the kingdom of Syria fell, unto the end, are 11 years, Hezekiah reigned 29 years, fo the laft tranflation, df the J/raelites was in the 25th year of Manaffeh’s reign; but if you begin from the time of the prophecy, the ‘thin
of this mind. was the learned Dr. Prideaux*, who obferves, that in the 22d year of Manafehs Efarhaddon prepared a great army, and marched ‘into the parts of Syria and Paleftine, and again ‘added them to the Affjrian empire; ‘and adds, “* and then
‘* was accomplifhed the prophecy which was fpoken’ by J/aiah in the firft year of Abaz againft Sama~ ria, that within threefcore and five years Ephraim fhould be abfolutely broken, fo as from thenceforth to be no more a people; for this year be-: ing exactly fixty-five years from the firft of Abaz, Efar-haddon, after he had fettled all affairs in Syria, marched into the land of [rael, and there taking captive all thofe who were the remains of the fetil captivity (excepting only fome few, who efcaped his hands, and conti~ nued {till in the land) carried them away into Babylon and Affyria; and then, to prevent the land becoming defolate, he brought others from’ Babylon, and trom Cutha, and from Havab, and Hamath, and Sepbervaim, to dwell in the cities of Samaria in their ftead; and fo the ten tribes of J/rael, which had feparated from the houfe of David, were brought to a full and utter de+ ftruction, and never after recovered themfelves” ‘‘ again.” And this feems to be the true accom=*
plifhment of this prophecy; tho’ the fenfe of the JFewi/o writers is followed by many; and preferred by Noldius; fo that there is no need with Grozius and Vitringa to fuppofe a corruption of the text. Guffetius ' fancies, that ww, fignifies twice fix, that is, twelve; as "wy, twice ten, or twenty; and fo five added to twelve, makes feventeen; and from the fourth of Abaz, to the taking of Sama— ria, was about feventeen years. } ¥. 9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, &e. Samaria was the metropolis or chief city of Ephraim, or the ten tribes of I/rael: and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s fon; Pekab, fon of Remaliah, was king of Samaria, as of all I/racl. The fenfe is, that until the fixty-five years were’ ended, there” fhould be no enlargement of the kingdom of J/rael;’ Fudah fhould not be added to it; Samaria Thould continue, and not Feru/alem be the metropolis of it; and Pekab, during his life, fhould be king of Jrael, but not of Fudab. If ye will not believe, the Targum adds, ‘* the words of the prophet 3”?! urely ye foall not be eftablifbed, or remain ®, that is, in their own land, but fhould be carried captive) as. they were after a time; orit is, becaufe ye are mot true and firm; in the faith ‘of God, as Kimchi: in=* terprets it; or, Lecaufe ye ‘are not confirmed® y that is, by a fign; wherefore it follows, © bys y. 10. Moreover the Lord {pake again unto Ahaz, &c.] By the prophet J/ciah; faying, as fellows). y. 11, 4k thee a fign of the Lord thy’God, Bec} For tho’.dbaz was a wicked man, yet the Liord was his God, as he was the'God of the’ people» of Tfrael in general, as a nation; and knowing his” unbelief and diffidence of his word unto ‘himjoffers” to confirm it by a fign or miracle + o/h itveither én ‘the depth, or in the height above in earth, or inheaven: fo the Targum, -** afk that a miracle may» “* be done*for thee upon’earth, or pre nae Hs)
‘be fhown ‘thee in ‘heaven';”” either'that the might gape and open its mouth, as inthe days of© Mo/es; ‘or that the fun might ftand ftill, “as i A times of Fofbua, or that a dead man might be raifed out of the depth of the earth; ‘or thatthere - might be-fonte ftrange appearances in the heavens» y. 12. But Abaz foid, I will not afk, Sec Thar is, a fign Gr miracle to be wrought 5 Potion ling to take the advice tobe ftill and 1 il: abelian