Exposition of the Whole Bible

make no preparation for war, or feek out for help fromthe Afyrians, and to rely upon. the promife and.power of God, and therefore chofe not to have it.confirmed by a fign); adding as an excufe, neither will I tempt the Lord, by afking a fign; fuggefting that this was contrary to the command of God, Deut. vi. 16. fo pretending religion and reverence of God;, whereas, to afk a fign of God when it was offered, could not be reckoned a tempting him; but, on the contrary, to refufe one when offered, argued great ftubbornnedfs and ingratitude, as Calvin well obferves,, oi 03~ And he faid, &c.| That is, the prophet Haiah; which. fhows that it was by him the Lord tpoke the foregoing words: hear ye now, O houfe of David, for not. only Abaz, but his family, courtiers, and counfellors were all of the fame mind with him, not to afk a fign of God, nor to depend upon his promife of fafety, but to feck out for help, and provide againft the worft themfelves. Some think that Abaz’s name is not mentioned, and that this phrafe is ufed by way of contempt, and as expreflive of indignation and. refentment: is,ita fmall thing for you to weary man; meaning fuch as. himfelf, the prophets of the Lord; fo the Targum, ‘is ita {mall thing that ye are trouble- ‘« fome to the prophets;” difturb, grieve, and vex them, by obftinacy and unbelief: dut will ye weary my God alfo? the Targum is, ‘‘ for ye are trouble- “* fome to the words of my God;” or injurious to them, by not believing them; or to God himfelf, by rejecting fuch an offer of a fign, as was made to them. ¥. 14. Therefore the Lord himfelf fhall give you a Sign, &c.] Whether they would afk one or no; a fign both in heaven and earth, namely, the -promifed Meffiah; who being the Lord from heaven, would take flefh of a virgin on earth; and who as man, being buried in the heart of the earth, would be raifed from thence, and afcend up into heaven; and whofe birth, tho’ it was.to be many years after, was a; fign..of.prefent deliverance to ‘Judah, from the confederacy of the two kings of Syria and J rael;

and of future fafety, fince it was not poffible that this kingdom fhould ceafe to be one, until the Meffiah was. come, who was to pring: from Fudah, and beof the:-houfe of David; wherefore by how much the longer off was.his birth, by fo much the longer was their fafety. _ Bebold a virgin fhall conceive, and beara, fon; this is not to be underftood of Hezekiah, the fon of Abaz, by his wife, as fome ‘Fewifh writers interpret it; which interpretation

Farchi refutes, by obferving that Hezekiah was nine years old when his father began to reign, and this being, as he fays, the fourth year of his reign, he’ ruft be at this time thirteen years of age; in like. manner, ben Exra and, Kimchi object to it; and befides,,his.mother.could not be’ called a virgin; and for the fame reafon, it can’t be underftood of, any.other fon,of his either by his wife, as. Kimchi’ thinks, or by fome young woman; moreover, no! other, fon.of his was ever Lord.of Judea, as this| Tinmanuel is reprefented ‘to. be, in. ch. viii. 8. nor cam. it’ be. interpreted of. [/aiah’s wife and fon, as Mben Exra and Farchi think, fince the prophet! could never call her a virgin, who had bore him: ‘children, one of which was now with him; nor indeed a young woman, but rather the prophete s, as:

in ch, viii. 3. nor was any fon of his king of 7ufabs. as this appears to be, in the place before cited; but the Meffiah is here meant, who was.to be born of a,pure virgin as the word here ufed wledge.of good and bad food, {9 as to chufe fignifies, in all places-where:it-is' mentioned, as ‘Gen. xxiv. 43. Exod. ii. 8. Pf Ixviiio21,.Cant. i: 3. and vi. 8. and even in Prov. xxx.'19. which is the in- {tance the Fews give of the word “being ufed ofa woman. corrupted; fince it does not appear that» the maid and the adulterous woman’are one and the fame perfon; and if they were, fhe might,’ tho’ vitiated, be called a maidor virgin, *from her own profeffion of herfelf, or as fhe appeared ‘to others who knew her not, or as fhe was antecedent to her defilement;. which is no unufual thing in {cripture, fee Deut. xxii. 28. to which may be added, that not only the Evangelift Marthew renders the word by wae’sG, a virgin; but the Septuagint interpreters, who were ews, fo rendered the word ' hundreds of years before him; and beft agrees with: the Hebrew word, which comes from the root toby, which fignifies to bide or, cover; virgins being covered and unknown to men; and in the eaftern country were ufually kept reclufe, and were fhut up from the public company and converfation of men:.and now this was the fign that was to be civen, and a miraculous one it was, that the Mef-"

fiah fhould be born of a pure and incorrupt virgin;

and therefore a behold is prefixed to it, as a note of admiration; and what elfe could be this fign or wonder? not furely that a young married woman, either Abaz’s or T/atab’s wife, fliould be with child, which is nothing furprifing, and of which there are repeated inftances every day; nor was it, that the* young woman was unfit for conception at the time of the prophecy, which was the fancy of fome, as Farchi reports, fince no fuch intimation is given either in the text or context; nor did it lie in this,’ that it was a male child, and not a female, which was predicted, as R. Saadiah Gaon, in Aben Ezra, would have it; for the fign or wonder does not lie. in the truth of the prophet’s prediction, but in the creatnefs of the thing prediéted; befides, the verification of this would not have given the prophet’ much credit, nor Abaz and the houfe of David much comfort, fince this might have been afcribed father to an happy conjecture, than to a fpirit of prophecy; much lefs can the wonder be, ‘that this child fhould eat butter and honey, as foon as it was born, as Aben Exra and Kimchi fuggeft, fince nothing is more natural to, and'common with young children, than to take down any kind of liquids which are fweet and pleafant. And shall call bis name Immanuel, which is by. interpretation, God with us,‘ Matt. i. 23. whence it appears, that the Mefiiah. is. truly God, as well. as truly man: the naine is expreflive of the union of the two natures, human and divine, in him; of his office as’ Mediator, who being both God and man, is a middle perfon between both; of his converfe with men on earth, and of his fpiritual prefénce with his people. See Jobn i. 14. 1.Tim. iii. 16. % y.15. Butter and honey foall he eat, 8cc.] As the Meffiah Jefus no doubt did; fince he was born in a Jand flowing with milk and honey, and in a time of plenty, being a time of general peace; fo that this. phrafe points at the place where, and the time when, the Meffiah fhould be born, as well as

‘expreffes the truth of his human nature, and the ‘manner of his bringi up, which was in common with that of other children. «NOM fignifies the cream of milk, as well as butter, as Farchi in Gen. xviii. 8. obferves; and milk and honey were common food for infants: that he may know to refuse the evil, and chufe the good, meaning not knowthe one, one, and refule the other;

good ahd evil; and this does not defign the end’ of his eating buttér and honey, as if that was in order to gain fuch knowledge, which have no fuch ufe and tehdency; but the time until which he the fhould live on fuch food; namely, until he was grown up, or come to years of difcretion, when he a te diftinguifh between good’ and evil; fo that as the former phrafe fhews that he affimed a true body like ours, which was nourifhed with proper food; this, that he affamed a reafonable foul, which by degrees grew and increafed in wifdom and knowledge; fee Luke ii. 52. ymy‘9 fhould be rendered, until be knows; as wD in Lev. xxiv. 12. which the Chaldee paraphrafe of Onkelos renders, until it was declared to them; and fo the Targum here, “ butter and honey fhall he eat, whilft but knowledge of moral;ced cities, excepting ‘Ferufalem, and came up e1 to that, 2 Kings xviii. 13—17. and in the times Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, « up againft Feru/alem, and deitroyed it, and ¢ people of Fudab-captive, 2 Kings xxv. 1—2 and thefe are the evil days, the days of af and adverfity here threatened: days that have come, from the day that Ephraim departed from meaning the revolt of the ten tribes from the h of David, in the times of Reboboam, 1 Kings xii. 16—20. which was a day of great adverf Ys a great afflition to the houte of Yudab; and there had been feveral evil days fince, and that very lately; as when the king of Syria came into the land, and carried away great multitudes captives to Damafcus; and when, Pekah king of I/rael, flew in fudeb on one’day a hundred and twenty thoufand

“© or before the child knows not, or until he knows ’ “¢ to refufe the evil, and chufe the good.”

¥.16. For before the child fhall know to refufe the evil, and chufe the good, 8c.) This may be underftood, of J/aiah’s child, Shear-Fafhub, he had along with him, he was bid to take with him; and who therefore muft be fuppofed to bear fome part, or anfwer fome end or other, in this pro- ‘phecy; which ’tis very probable may be this, viz. to affure dbaz and the houfe of David, that the land which was abhorred by thein, fhould be forfaken of both its kings, before the child that ‘was with him was grown to years of difcretion; tho’ it may be underftood of any child, and fo of the Meffiah; and the fenfe be, that before any child, or new-born babe, fuch an one as is promifed ¥. 14. arrives to years of difcretion, even in the fpace of a few years, this remarkable deliverance fhould be wrought, and the Yews freed from all fears of being deftroyed by thefe princes: the land that thou “abhorreft. foall be forfaken of both her kings; meaning not the land of Fudea, now diftrefled by them, which they fhould leave; for that could not be faid to be abhorred by Abaz, or the houfe of David; but the land of J/rael and Syria, called one land, becaufe of the confederacy between the kings of them, Rezin and Remaliah’s fon, which Abaz and his nobles abhorred, becaufe of their joining’ to- ether againft them; and fo it was, that in a’ very fittle time both thefe kings were cut off; Pekab the fon of Remaliah was flain by Hofbea the fon of Elab, who feigned in his ftead, 2 Kings xv. 3o. and Rezin was flain by the king of dfjria, 2 Kings valiant men, and catried captive two hundred thous fand women, fons and daughters, with a great fpoul, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6, 7, 8. and yet theie ‘were. not to be compared with the calamitous times ye ‘come: even the king of Afpria, or with the king of Afpria, as the Vulgate Latm verfion senders it 5 rather the meaning is, that thofe days of trouble fhould come, dy the king of Affyria’, as they The Septuagint verfion renders it, from the day Ephraim took away from Judah the king of the rians; and the Syriac and Arabic verfions, juft reverfe, from the day that the king of the Afyrians, or Afyria, carried away Ephraim from Fudeas neither of ‘them right. HES Toe a a eae ¥.18. And it foall come'to pafs in that day, cae | The time when thofe evil. days before fpoken: 6 fhould take'place: that the Lord foal ‘bifs for ‘the Sty that is in the-uttermoft part of the rivers of Egypt 5- or flies, as ‘the Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic ¢ fions tender it; the Egyptians fo called,” cal their country abounted with flies; ‘and ‘becaufe “oF the multitude of their armies, and ‘the fwiftnels” their march; this feems to have had its'accon plith ment, when Pharath-Nechob ‘king’ of Egypt Fofiah, put -his fon Fehoahaz, that “reigned him, -in bands, placed Eliakim~his ‘brother in _ ftead, and made thé land ‘of ‘Yudeh tributary to him, 2 Kings xxiii, 29 —35. tho’ fome think eithet the “Edomites or Philijtines, that bordered’on Eg are’ meant; who in 4baz’s time invaded ‘Fuda brought it low, 2 Chron. xxviii. 17, 18," 9. ore the Lthiopians, that inhabited on the ‘Ai erm borders of Egypt, ‘and the rivers. of it; who either XVi. 9. ats came up ‘feparatély againft Fudab, “or ferved unde: ~ ¥_ 47. The Lord fhall bring upon thee, &c.| “Thele ‘words are directed to Abaz; and’ fhew, that’ tho’ -he and his kingdom would be fafe. from the two Kings that conipired againit him, ‘yet evils fhould ‘come upon him from another ‘quarter, “even from | Nebuchadnezzar, {ee If. xvti.1, and xx: 1. ahd xxkvii. 9. 2 Kings xxiv. 2:-and es bi in the land of Afpria, the Affprian army becaufe the country ‘abounded with! bees $7an Caufé ‘of the nurhber. of their armies, * cir: m

: ar sabtaebaiee #% vet wa Inishe Wr> ake BRE Ol < Gig gh Sobor Seen ar a “facl STAs 1 Sse SSy n& per regem Adyrie, Junius & Treméllius; Picators and Which 4s preferred by Noldius, hives into the fields, and from thence into their hives again, by tinkling of brafs, or by fome mufical found, in one way or another,; ¥.19. And they fhall come, &c.) The Egyptian and Ajjyrian armies, when the Lord calls for them in his providence, and his time is come to make ufe of them, as a fcourge to his people: and shall reft all of them in the defolate vallies; made fo by war; this is faid in allufion to flies and bees refting on trees and flowers; and fignifies that thefe armies, after long and tedious marches, fhould all of them without being diminifhed by the way, enter the land of Fudea, fill all places, and take up their abode there for a while: and in the holes of the rocks. Kimchi thinks that the former phrafe defigns cities in vallies, and this, fortified cities which are upon rocks: and upon all thorns, and upon all bufhes; in allufion to flies and bees. Kimchi interprets this of unwalled towns and villages. The Targum of the whole verfe is, ‘* and they fhall all of them come *© and dwell in the ftreets of the cities, and in the ** clifts of the rocks, and -in all deferts full of ** fedges, and in all houfes of praife.” The fenfe is, that they fhould be in all cities, towns, and villages, whether fortified or not, and in all houfes high and low, rich and. poor, in cottages and in palaces; there would be no place free from them, nor no efcaping out of their hands, y¥.20. In the fame day Jhall the Lord foave with a razor that is hired, &c.] Meaning the Afprian monarch, whom he would ufe as an inftrument in his hand to fpoil and cut off the people of the Fews; who is compared to a razor for fharpnefs; and for the thorough work, and utter ruin and deftruction, he fhould be the means of; and called an hired one, either in reference to the prefent baz fent to the king of Affpria, by which-he prevailed upon him to come and help him againft the kings of Syria and Jfrael, 2 Kings xvi..7, 8, 9. or to a-reward given by the Lord to Nebuchadnezzar for. the fervice in which he employed him, fee Ezek, xxix. 18, 19, 20: namely, by them beyond the river; not Nile, but Euphrates; even the Affyrians, Chaldeans, and Babylonians, who lived on the other fide that river; which, with what follows, explains the fimile of the razor: dy the king of Afpria;. who ruled over thofe beyond the river: the bead and the hair of the feet; and it fhall alfo confume the beard; fignifying that as a razor cuts off the hair entirely wis it is applied, and leaves nothing behind, whether of the head, beard, or feet, or privy parts, which are meant by the latter; fo the king of 4fyria fhould carry all clean off captive out of the land of Judea; king, princes, nobles, and common people; thofe of the higheft, and of the middling, and of the loweft clafs,. The Targum is, ‘‘ in that “< time the Lord fhall flay them as one is flain by “< a fharp fword, by clubs, and by faws, by thofe “< beyond the river, and by the king of Afyria; the «< king, and his army, and even his rulers together “ fhall he deftroy.” So archi explains it. Several of the Jewi/b writers, as Aben Ezra, Abarbinel, and Kimchi*, explain this of the angel of the Lord deftroying Sennacherib’s army, when before Ferufalem, in Hezekiab’s time; fo the latter, interprets it: the head; the heads of his armies: the hair of the feet, the multitude of the people: the, deard the king who died, not in the camp, but was killed His higtonnin isa own land;,,but.this is not a pro- We frid ofs son ogee ait wl [24 awe W& Vid. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 95. 2. and 96. 1. Noldium, N°. 937- = Venu, Ie Nea.

Which was about two fhillings and fix-pence of our money.

phecy of the deftruction of the Afjrian army, but of the Fewih people by it; and the whole denotes the mean and low condition, the ftate of flavry and bondage, the Jews fhould be brought into; of which the fhaving of the hair is the fymbol; it was ufual to fhave the head and hair of fuch as were taken captive, as a fign of reproach and fervitude 3; fee 2 Sam. x. 4'.

¥.21. And it foall come to pafs in that day, &e.] Not in the days of Hezekiah, after the deftruction of Sennacherib’s army, when there followed great fruitfulnefs and plenty, J: xxxvii. 30, 31. as Kimchi and Farchi interpret it; but in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, after the deftruétion of Ferufalen, when fome poor men were left in the land to till it, Jer. xxxix. 10. for of thefe, and not of rich men, are the following words to be underftood: that 4 man foall nourifo a young cow, and two foeep; this feems to denote both the {carcity of men and cattel, thro’ the ravages of the army of the Chaldeans; that there fhould not be large herds and flocks, only a fingle cow, and two or three fheep; and yet mien fhould be fo few; and families fo thin, that thefe would be fufficient to fupport them comfortably,

¥. 22. And it fhall come to pafs, fcr the abundance of milk that they foall give, &c.| The cow and the two fheep, having large paftures, and few cattel to feed upon them, thofe few would give fuch abundance of milk, that the owner of them would make butter of it, and live upon it, having no occafion to eat milk; and there being few or none to fell it to: be fhall eat butter; the milk producing a fufficient quantity of it for himfelf and his family: for butter and honey foall every one eat that is left in the land, fignifying that tho’ they would be few, they would enjoy a plenty of fuch fort of food, as their {mall flocks and herds would furnifh them with, and the bees produce. The Targum and Farcbi' interpret this of the righteous that fhall be left in the land; but it is rather to be extended unto all; righteous and unrighteous,

¥.23. And it foall come to pafs in that day, that every place fall be, &c.| Barren and unfruitful, for want, of men to till the ground: where there were a thoufand vines, at a thoufand filverlings, which were fo good, as to be fold or let out for fo many filver fhekels™; or the fruit of them came to fuch a price; fee Cant. viii. 11: it foall even be for briers and thorns; for want of perfons to ftock the ground and cultivate it.

¥.24. With arrows and with bows foall men come thither, 8cc.] For fear of wild beafts, ferpents, and {corpions,.as Yarchi; or in order to hunt them, as others; or becaufe of thieves and robbers, as ben Ezra: becaufe all the land foall become briers and thorns; among which fuch creatures, and fuch fort of men, would hide themfelves.

¥.25. And on all hills that foall be digged with the. mattock, &c.] Which could not be ploughed with a plough, but ufed to be dug with a mattock or fpade, and then fowed with corm: there fhall not come. thither, the fear of briers and thorns; where thorns and briers ufed not to grow, and where there was no fear or danger of being over-run with them, as the vineyards in the vallies and champain country; yet thofe places fhould become defolate in another way; or rather, there fhall be now no fences made of briers,and thorns, which deter pen from entering into fields and vineyards thus fenced: ‘put it foall be for the fending’ forth of oxen; and for the treading of leffer cattel; there being'no fence of briers’and thorns to‘keep'them out’; cattel both of the greater and lefir fort fhould get into the corn, and teéd upon it, and make’ fuch places defolate, where much pains were taken to cultivate ‘them. The Targum is, * it fhall be for’a place of ‘lying

FEANAIS chapter contains a confirmation of the

] fudden deftruction of the kingdoms of Syria and J/rael, by another fign; a threatening to thofe that gloried in the kings of thofe nations, with an invafion’ of their land, by the Afprien monarch; a farcaftic addrefs’ to thofe that joined in confederacy againtt Fudab, fome directions and in{tructions to the people of God; and fome prophecies concerning the Meffiah, and the miferabie eftate of the Yews, that fhould reject him and his gofpel. ‘The fign given is a fon-of the prophet J/aiab, whom his wife conceived and bore, and whofe name was written with ‘a\ man’s pen, Maber-/halal-haj/b-baz, of ‘which there -were witnefles, whofe names are mentioned; and.’tis: predicted, that before this child fhould have knowledge to call his father and mother, Damafcus and Samaria, the chief cities of Syria and J/rael; would be taken and fpoiled by the king of Afyria; x. 1, 2; 3, 4. who would invade the land ‘of Jracl, and-even pafS thro’ the land: of Fudah, as a chaftifement not only of the J/rae/ites that rejoiced in Reziz and Remaliah’s fon, the kings of Syria and Jfrael; but alfo of thofe ews who chofe to'be under them, or neglected the promife of God, and‘ applied. to Afpria tor help, ¥.5, 6, 7, 8. and then both the people of J/ae/ and of Syria are addrefled* ina ‘farcaftic way, to affociate and take counfel ‘together, ‘when they fhould be broke to pieces, and their counfél come to nought, ¥. 9, ro. and the prophet’ being inftruéted by the Lord*how to behave among the people of the Yews, advifes them not to join with them whofe cry was a confederacy with Afpria, nor to be afraid: of the two kings thatvwere ‘come up againft them, but? 'to fanctify' the Lord of hofts, and ‘truft in him, ‘and’ make him the object of their: fear and dread,’ ¥. 11, 12,13. whichis enforced. from the: confideration of what the Lord, who is no other: than the Meffiah; would be, both to-his own people, and to: his enemies 5 tothe one afanctuary, and to the other atftoré“of ftumbling, a rock of offence, a gin, and am{nare, v.14} 15. then follows an inftruction to the prophet:to:take care of the gofpel of Chrift; and communicateit to his-difciples, ¥. 16. upon which the prophet determines to keep waiting ‘and looking for his coming, who ‘at prefent was hidden from thé people of God; ¥v17. wherefore the Meffiah iv introduced,:as prefenting himfelf and his children to the® prophet’s view,*which would. be for figns ahd wonders in Irae, gazed ‘at and reproached, ya°r8i “and ‘then the folly and>wanity of feeking counfel ‘of the Scribes and “Pharifees) when ‘Chrift fhould be’ come in the fleth, is expofed p whofe gofpel fhould be attended “to, and not ‘thofé dark afid blind guides, ¥/-19,'20) and the ‘chapter is concluded with the wretched ‘condition: of the Fews that called Jefus accurfed; they fhould paf§ thro’

‘© down of oxen,’ and for a place of dwelling ‘of flocks of fheep;” not for’paftures,’ but for folds for them; tho’ the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic verfions fuggeft, thefe places fhould become paftures; and therefore fome underftand this as a prophecy of a change in the country for the better; and of the great fruitfulnefs of it after the Fews return from the Babylonifh captivity.’ ~ +.» | | FOS HAT a 59 (8 utah Say 3 Ae Had?; Mee yo the land,.and find no food $ and look into it, and fee-nothing but darknefs and mifery, ¥. 215.2200 y¥. 1. Moreover, the Lord faid unto me, 8c.) This is another. prophecy, confirming. the fame thi that was promifed in the preceding chapter} namely, fafety to the Fews from the two kings Of “Sy and Jfrael, which combined againft them: take thee a great roll, or volume, a writing-book,’ a ¥oll of parchment, in which form» the ancients’ uféd- to write, P/) xl. 7. ~The Targum renders it, a table's a writing-table, fuch an one'as Zacharias called far, Luke i. 63. and this was to be a yreat or large one; becaufe much was to be written in it; or whatiwas to be written, was to be written in) large letters! and write in it with a man’s pen; fach as men ufaally write with; and in fuch a ftile and language as may be eafily underftood by men, even tho? unlearned; and fo-clearly and plainly, that he that runs may read; and fo the Tergum, “* write in it ‘* a clear writing;” very plain, and explicit; and legible: concerning Maber-fhalal-hafb-baz, a fon of the prophet J/aiah, fo called, ¥. 3. whofe name’ was very fignificant, and was given -him on pur~ pofe to exprefs the fudden deftruction of the enemies of Fidah. The Targum renders it, ** haften “€ to feize the prey, and to take away the fpoil’” Some tranflate it, in haftening the prey, the poiler haftens; perhaps it maybe better rendered,. bafen to the pol, haften to the prey, as if the words werefpoken to the Afyrian monarch, to haften. to- the’ {poil of Damafcus and Samaria, and the’ repetition’ of’ the fame thing” im different words, *may’ have refpect to the fpoils of both, fee ¥. 4. and for-the' greater Confirmation of the thing: Gufetius has a. very peculiar fancy about the fenfe of this text “he obferves that 7M; rendered a pen, fignifies fome’ hollow veffel, ‘in which things were put; and fup-" pofes. that it here defigns a man’s cheft, or fome’ fuch thing; in which garments might’ be laid up and referved: and”y)"43, is the fingular of a word” ufed in ‘chap. iii} 23 for fome fort of luxuriousi garments wore by women; fo that upon the whole; * the réading and fenfe of the words are, ‘that the” prophet is bid to take ‘a large garment of the-above fort, and‘write upon jt, putting it into the: cheft, - this for Maber-/halal-hafh-baz, fignitying it was to liethere till this child was°born.; an ating hereby, that the women, far from battel, would-be” {poiled of their foft and pretious garments, «as+w of Huetius",; that the whole is an’euphe in- modeft terms, expreffing the prophet’s coition with - _ his’ wife. OM SR SUED 9110) i 2 oe et hls And EB took unto -me faithful witneffes ta- record, 8c.) Not his marriage, nor the birth cate jah yattnedard.Uaik Ee fh ow: taods ro SV antigo Sods- ih wa his fon, nor the name he gave him, but the prophecy written in the roll, concerning the {poiling of Syria and J/rael, in a very fhort time; that fo when it came to pafs, it might be a clear and certain point, that it had been foretold by him: Uriah the prieft; of whom mention is made in 2 Kings xvi. ‘ro. which fome object to, becaufe he proved a wicked man, and obeyed the king’s command, contrary to the law of God, in building an altar according to the form of one at Damajfcus; but to this it is replied, that it was before this: happened, that J/ziah took him to be a witnefs; and befides, becaufe of the authority of his office, and his familiarity with 4baz, he muft be allowed to be a proper and pertinent perfon to bear teftimony in this cafe. Some indeed, and fo the Fewi/h commentators, Yarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, would have Uriah the prophet meant, who prophefied in the times of Feboiakim, and was flain by him, Yer. xxvi. 2023. to which it is objected, that he was no prieft, as this was; and befides, was not born at this time; it was an hundred and forty years after, that he lived: and Zechariah the fon of Feberechiah, this was Zechariah the prophet, as the Targum, and all the Fewifh writers fay°; who lived in the times of Darius, which was two hundred and forty years after this; but moft likely this Zechariah is he, who was Abaz’s wife’s father, 2 Kings xviii. 2. or rather, as Vitringa thinks, Zechariah a Levite, a fon of Ajaph, 2 Chron. xxix. 13. tho’ there are fome learned men *, who think the two prophets Uriah and Zethariah are meant, tho’ then unborn; who prophefied of the like or fame things as J/aiah did; and fo were faithful witneffes of his prophecy, as of the calamities that fhould come on the land, the ‘reftitution of it to its former fruitfulnefs, and the coming of the Meffiah; nor is the obfervation of Abarbinel tobe defpifed, taken from the antient Fews, that thefe are the words, not of the’ prophet, but of God himfelf; as alfo that they are to be read in the future tenfe, and I will take to me, &c.

¥. 3. And I went unto the prophetefs, &c.} His wife, fo called not bedcaufe fhe prophefied, but becaufe fhe was the wife of ‘a prophet; and befides, the birth of her fon after-mentioned, sand his name, had in them the nature of a prophecy. The phrafe of going unto her is an euphemifm, a modeft way of exprefling the conjugal debt: and foe conceived and bare a fon; which Farchi would have the fame with Immanuel in chap. vii. 14. but this is an after-prophecy, and a diftinct ‘one from that; and not only the names of the children are’

different, but the’ mothers-alfo’; the one a virgin, the other the prophet’s wife. Then faid the Lord to me, call bis name Maber-alal-ba/b-baz of the fignification’ of this name fee the note on ¥. 1. Kimchi thinks that his name did not confift of thefe four words, only of two of them; and’ that he was fometimes called Maher-/balal, and fometimes Hofb-baz, both fignifying the fame thing. Some think that all this was-done only in‘a vifion, and not in reality, to declare and confirm what' follows; tho” by that it feems rather to be a real fact.. yg. For before the child foall have knowledge to crys my father, and my mother, 8cc.} Which are commonly the firft words children learn to fay; and fo it fignifies* that what follows fhould happenin a year or two; as it did: she riches of Damajcus, and the fpoil of Samaria, foall be taken away before the king of Afyria; or he foall take away the richess, &c. not the. child, unlefs he is confidered as the fign of taking them away; but the foldier, put for the whole Afyrian army, which carried off the riches and fpoil of thefe places, in the prefence, and by the order of the king of Affria; the firlt of thefe, namely Damajcus, the metropolis of Syria, with its riches, wealth, and army, were taken and carried away by Tilgath Pilnefer, king of Afyria, within the time here mentioned, 2 Kiigs xvi. 9. but the latter, Samaria the metropolis of the kingdom of J/rael, was not taken and fpoiled until the fixth year of Hezekiah, and ninth of Hofbea, 2 Kings xvii. 6. and xviii. 10. but beeaufe the prophecy began to be fulfilled, and was fulfilled in part, within the time mentioned, the whole is attributed to it; tho’ it fhould be obferved, that before this, after Pekab the fon of Rewialiah was flain, and Hofbea reigned in his ftead, the king of Afjria came up againft him, and Ho/bea became his fervant, and gave him prefents; which may be called the fpoil of Samaria, 2 Kings xvii. 3

¥. 5. The Lord fpake alfo unto me again, 8cc.J In the fame prophecy, or in another; the Targum is, * the word of the Lord added to fpeak with “* me again;” but rather Yebovab the Father, or the Spirit of the Lord is meant, fince the perfon fpeaking is diftinguifhed from Immanuel, y.8: Jaying, as follows, y¥. 6. Fora/much as this people refufeth the waters of Shiloah, that go foftly; &c.] The fame with Siloam, Fohn ix. 7. and fo it is called in the Septuagint verfion here; and the word here ufed fignifies Jent, as it is there interpreted. * Farchi fays, it-is a fountain, whofe name was Gibon and Shiloab; fee 1 Kings i. 33. Neb. iii.-15:* concerning which erom yet writes, ‘* Siloam is a fountain at the foot of ** mount Son, which does not fend forth: water *¢ continually,’ but on certain times- and days; *¢ and comes thro’ the hollow’ places of the earth, “¢ and caves of a hard rock, with a great noife; ** of which we efpecially can’t’ doubt, who dwell ‘“* inthis province.” This was a fmall current of water, which moved foftly’ and flowly,.and not with a rapid motion, as fome tivers do; to which the kingdom of the houfe of David is compared, becaufe of its eafy and gentle government’; as the Targum, which paraphrafes the words thus, ‘* be- ** caufe this people loathed the kingdom of the ‘* houfe of David which ruled them quietly, as “© the waters of Shiloah which flow foftly;” or becaufe of the weaknefs of it in the days of Abaz, it had not ftrength to oppofe'their enemies, as Kimebi fuggefts; now the ten tribes defpifed the houfe of David, and departed from it, and continued in their revolt, arid had that government in contempt, as well as the religion of it. ‘feru/alem, the temple, and the worfhip of God in it, may be meant by the waters of Shiloah; it being ufual to name places by the rivers that are near them. And rejoice in Rezin, and in Remaliah’s fon; in Pio of Syria; and in Pekah, the fon of Remaliah, king of Tfrael... Perhaps refpeét may’be had to after-times, to the’ times of the Meffiah, when the Fews would’ defpife his government, and reject him as king; tho’ he is the prince of peace, and his government’ the moft quiet and peaceable’ one, and he the Shiloab, the fent of God, and*declare they had-no other king ‘but Cezar.’ ia

y¥. 7. Now therefore the Lord bringeth up. upon them the waters of the river, ftrong and many, &c.]

Alluding to the river Euphrates, which ran by Ba-)

_bylon, which was a large river, full of water, and had a rapid torrent, and fo is oppofed to Shiloah and its waters; and thefe waters are explained as follows: even the king. of Afyria, and all his glory, his army, which was his glory, in which he gloried, and by which he got himfelf. honour and glory. and armies, to be fignified by fuch waters, for their multitude and ftrength; fee Rev. xvii. 1,15: and be fhall come up over all bis channels, and go over all his banks, that is, either of the land of Ephraim or Jfrael, and over-flow the borders thereof, run over all the whole land, and poflefs its fortified towns and cities. The Targum is, ‘* therefore be- «© hold the Lord -fhall bring, and caufe to afcend “ upon them, the army of the people, who are «* many,. as the waters of a, river, ftrong and “* mighty, the king of Afjria, and his army; and ‘ he fhall come up upon all his rivers, and fhall *¢ go upon all his banks;” or rather z¢s own * channels and banks, as it may be rendered; and fo denotes, that the king.of Afyria, and his army, fhould pafs the Euphrates, and.come out. of their own land, and fubdue the adjacent kingdoms and territories, and particularly the land of ¥udab, as fol- is, the king of Afyria, compared to a river of mighty waters; who fhould not only run over and poliefs.the land of J/rae/, or the ten tribes, but fhould enter into Fudea, and pafs thro’ it, as a chadftifement for not trufting in the Lord, but fending to Afyria-for help; who. inftead of helping, diftrefled them in the times.of Abaz, even Tilgathpilnezer king of Affyria, 2 Chron. xxviii. 20, 21: ‘be foall over-flow, and go overs; the whole land of Judea, as Sennacharib king of Affyria did in Hezekiah’s time: be fhall reach even to the neck; that is, to “Ferufalem: the whole land is compared to a body, of which Feru/alem was the head;. the A/yrian army comparable to the waters of a/great river, over-flowed the whole land; took all. the fenced: cities of.Fudab, and came)up even to Ferufalem, fo that the whole was in great danger of,.being drowned and deftroyed;) as aman is, when the waters are.come up to his neck; fee 2 ‘Kings xviii. 13, 17:. and the ftretching out of his wings, the wings of. the Afyrian army, Jhall fill. the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Judea, called Jmmanuel’s land, becaufe he was to be born. there,..and. converfe, and die there, and this is particularly mentioned,.to fhew, that tho’ this land fhould be overrun by the Afprians, yet not deftroyed, until Jmmanuel, the fon of the virgin, was born here... The Targum is, **.and. he fhall pafs thro’ the land of the “¢ houfe of Fudab as an over-flowing torrent, unto ‘* Ferufalem fhall he come; and, the people of his “* army fhall fill the breadth of thy land, O Jm-

1 lOW, OF of men, - dea: gird yourfelves; for-along and tedigus march, God oyer all, the true Jehovah, who is fanctified _

It is ufual for mighty kings, kingdoms, and for war; it may fignify the putting on of their whole armour; for, as Pau/anias * fays, the ancients ufed to call putting on of armour, girding: and ye foall be broken in pieces, as the Affyrian army was, which came up againit Feru/alem in Hezekiah’s time, 2 Kings xix. 35: gird yourfelves, and ye foall be broken in pieces; this is repeated for confirma. tion-fake, to denote the certainty of it, = y¥. 10. Take counjel together, &cc.| As Rezinki of Syria, and Remaliah’s fon, did againft udake ch. vii. 5: it foall come to nought, tor tho’ they came up againft it, they could not overcome it, 2 Kings xvi. 5: {peak the word, what they intended, refolvyed upon, and determined to do; this is the iffue of their counfels: and it fhall not fiand; fee the note on ch. vii. 7: for God is with us;: which is the interpretation of the name Jmmanuel 5 and which fhews that the reafon why the confultations and refolutions of the enemies of Judah could not take place, fo as to deftroy it, was becaufe Immanuel, the virgin’s fon, was to be born In it. k y. 11. For the Lord fpake thus to me with a firong band, &c.] In the. ftrength of prophecy, as the Targum explains it; and fo all the ‘fews interpreters underftand it of prophecy, as in Ezek. i, 3. and iii. 14: or, the Lord. /pake thus to me, when he took (me) by the hand*, as parents or matfters ta hold of the hands of children, whilft they are advifing and inftructing them, as expreffive of their great affection for them; and when they would retain them with them, or reftrain them from doing amifs; and inftrudied me, that I foould not walk in the way. of this people; or join with them, in defiring and feeking tor the help of the king of 4 ria, againt Rezin and Remaliah’s fon; or in being, willing to furrender up into their hands: /aying; as, follows, 53 ¥.12. Say ye not, a confederacy, &c.| With the king of Afpria, or any other; don’t cry it up as a right thing, and exprefs pleafure and fatisfaction in’ it, and encourage. others to come into it, and vote for it, and declare an approbation of it; or a re-, bellion, asthe Targum, that is, againitAbaz, and fo deliver up the kingdom of the houfe of David, into the hands of its enemies: #0 al] them, to whone this people foall fay, a confederacy; who either were for entering. into an alliance, with the 4fjrian mo-: narch, and fending for him to help; or were for: joining:.with their.enemies, to the fubverfion of the, prefent government. archi interprets this of Shebna, the Scribe, and his company; who, as he> fuggefts, confpired againft Hezekiah, and fecretly made,.an agreement with. Sennacherib king of Aj/- fyria but the former fenfe is beft: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid, \et not the fame fear pof-

Tae combining..together again{t Fudeh; nor be afraid of their two kings, as they were; fince there. was nothing to fear, from. them; it being impof— fible.that the kingdom of udab thould fail until - Shiloh came, or Jmmanuel was born of a virgin init;..nor,does it become the people of God, and efpecially, his prophets and minifters, to be afraid. of men;,,fince the fear of men. brings a fhare, y. 13,.Sanflify the Lord of Hops binky Se.) | by his, people, when they declare him to be fo; as ti e Targum paraphrafes. it, “¢ the Lord of Hofts, ‘< him fhall ye fay is holy;” for they can’t make hin fo, nor can he. receive any holinefs from them, nor does he need any; but they celebrate the perfection of his holinefs, and afcribe it to him; yea, they fanctify him, by afcribing their holinefs to him; by looking to him as.their fanctification, and by deriving and expecting every degree and meafure of holinefs from him, to compleat theirs; by exercifing faith upon him, and fhewing a regard to his commands and ordinances: azd let him be your fear, and \et him.be your dread, that is, the object of fear and dread; not of a fervile fear and dread, but of a holy reverence and godly fear;. fuch a fear as is the grace of the covenant, which flows from the goodnefs of God, and: has that for its object, and is influenced by it; fee Hof: iii. 5. where the fame Lord, Meffiah, David the king, is meant, as here. See 1. Pet. iii. 15.

¥..14. And be fall be for a fanéuary, &c.| Not the king of Afpria, as Aben Ezra, but the Lord of Hotts: the Targum rightly interprets it of the word of the Lord, the effential word; of the Meffiah, who is for a fanctuary, or afylum, a place of refuge for his people in all times of diftrefs, and who is their dwelling-place in all generations; he dwells in them, and they dtvell in him; and where they dwell fafely and, fecurely, peaceably and quietly, comfortably and pleafantly, and that always; he is a fanctuary to worfhip in, in whom they draw nigh to the Father, and offer up the facrifices of prayer and praife, and where the glory of God is feen by them, and they have communion with him; or for fontlification, as the Sepiuagint verfion;. this.Chrift is to his people, a Cor.d. 30.: but for a ftone of fumbling, and fora rock of offence, to both the houfes of djrael, which Farchi interprets of Pekah, the fon of Remaliahb, and-his company, and of Shebna.and his company; but ex Ezra much better of the kingdoms of J/rael and of Fudah, efpecially when the twelve tribes were under one'form of government ‘in Chrifts time. In the Talmud it is explained of the two houfes of the fathers of J rael, and thefe are they, the head of the captivity in Badylon, and.the prince in the land of J/rael, and the Nazarenes, as Ferom™ reports, apply the words to the two houfes or families’ of Hillel and Shammai, who were two heads of ichools in Feru/alem, a little before the times of -Chrift, and were of the fect of the Pharifees; and to whom indeed Chrift was a ftone of ftumbling, and a rock of offence, as he was to the Yews in common; who were offended and {tumbled at his birth and parentage, he defcending from poor parents; at his education and place of bringing up; at the mean appearance of himfelf and his followers; at the obfcurity of his kingdom, it not being of this.world, nor coming with obfervation; at the.company he kept, and the audience that attended on-him; at his doctrines and miracles; and at his death, and the manner of dt; fee Rom. x. 325 330 1 Pet. ii. 8. For a gin, \and for a fnare to the inhabitants of Ferufalem; even the principal inhabitants%of-it, fuch as the elders ‘of the people, priefts, Seribes and Pharifees, who fought. to entangle Chrift in his talk,.and to enfnare him by queftions they put unto ‘him; but

¥..15..4ud many among them, &c.| Not all, tho? the greater part; for Chrift was. fet for the falling and rifing of many in Jreel, Luke ii. 94: fhall fumble, and fall, and be broken, {tumble at Chrift, the {tumbling ftone;. fall by unbelief into other fins, and punifhment, and be broken in pieces. by this ftone, Atatt. xxi. 44: and be fuared,.and be taken, and fo die in their fins, and perith eternally, The allufion is to birds being taken in.a fhare or trap, or with bird-lime, and therein or thereby held and detained.; re

¥. 16. Bind up the teftimony, &c.] ‘Thefe are not the words of the prophet, as Kimchi thinks, but of the Lord to the prophet, and are part of. that inftruction given him, ¥.11. By che teftimony is meant the word of prophecy delivered to him; particularly that evangelical part of it refpecting Jimmamnel, who was to be born of a virgin, and would ‘be ‘for @ fanctuary to them that believe in him, and a ftone of ftumbling, and a.rock of offence, to unbelievers; fo the gofpel is called the teftimony of Chrift, it bearing witnefs of his perfon, office, and ¢race, 2 Tim, i. 8. and binding denotes care of it,-as fomething valuable, that it be not loft, but committed to the truft of faithful men, called: difciples. of Chrift in the next claufe, in allufion tothe binding up, of.money,..or any thing of value, in- bundles, to be laid. up. and preferved, Gea. xlii. 35. fo the Targum, “ OQ prophet; keep the teftimony:”- /2¢/ the law among my ti/ciples’s tae difciples of -Chrift, the faithful of that day, and of after-timeés, to whom this prophecy, and i4¢ docirine ‘in it, which the word Jaw fignifies, “even the doétrine ‘of «Chrift, fhould be tranfmitted! ar communicated, which is meant by /ealing' of it; not hiding it from them, but fignifying, that while it was a fealed'book, ah hidden ‘doétrine, and delivered in parables to-others, it fhould be: made known to them, and fealed and laid up by them among their treafure, and be fo efteemed of; as the gofpel, the dottrine of grace, is, by the true difciples and followers of Chrift; who. are fuch as are taught of God, ‘have‘learned. of the Father, who continue in the word ahd» doctrine of Chrift, love’his people, take'up the crofs and follow him, and bring forth fruit to the glory of his heavenly Father, Fobn vi..45. and viii. 31. and xiii. 95. and xv. 8. Luke xiv. 27.

¥.17. And I will wait upon the Lord, 8c.) Or for the Lord*, for the coming of Chrift; the Jnmanuel, who would be a fanctuary to fome, anda. ftone of ftumbling. to others, and whofe dottrine in the mean while would be bound up: and dealed; faith in, and expectation of the Meffiah’s‘céming, are often fignified by waiting for him, J/*xxv, 9. Hab. ii. 3: that hideth bis face from the houfe of Facob, to whom the promife of him was made, from

-whom he fhould defcend, and to whom he fhould be fent, and whom he would redeem. “This is not to be underftood of his deferting of his people, and withdrawing his gracious prefence from them, to fhew his difpleafure at them, and refentment of their condué, which is fometimes the fenfe of this phrafe; but as deferiptive of Chrift before his affumption of human nature, when he was Dews abfconditus, the hidden God, as fome render the words in J xlv. 15. until he was manifeft in the fiefh: > 2: mie 20 an © DRL and which is therefore called his appearing, 2 Tim i106: and I will look for him, the prophet here fpeaks in his own perfon, and in the perfon of the church, who in that, and in fucceeding ages, as well as before, were looking by faith for the coming of Chrift, and redemption by him, Luke ii. 38. tho’ fome underftand this of Chrift, expreffing his fatisfaction in the few difciples he had among the Fews, and determining to wait for tl:e accomplifhment of divine promifes hereafter, when he fhould have a larger number; the Lord for the prefent hiding his face from the Fewi/S nation, and giving them to a fpirit of judicial blindnefs; which fenfe well agrees with what goes before, and follows after.

) 9. 18. Bebold I, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, &c.| Thefe are the words of Chrift, as is clear from Hed. ii. 13. who upon the prophet’s declaring his refolution to look and wait for him, prefents himfelf and his children to him, as if he was actually come, or elfe continues his difcourfe from the preceding verfe; for thefe are not the words of the prophet, {peaking of himfelf and his natural children, Shear-ja/hub and Maker -/halal-hafbbaz; nor of his fpiritual children, his. difciples, called fometimes the fons of the prophets; but of Chrift, who has a feed, a fpiritual offspring, to whom he ftands in the relation of-a Father, J/, ix. 6.-and liii. 10, and who are given him of God, in the covenant of grace; for whofe fake he partook of flefh and blood, and died to gather them together, being fcattered abroad; and redeemed them, that they might receive the adoption of children, and who being regenerated, believe in him: thefe were from eternity given unto him, to be his feed and offspring, his fpoufe, his fheep, his portion and inheritance; in virtue of which they are brought unto him, and received by him in time in effectual vocation; which gift of them to Chrift is an inftance of the Father’s love to him, and of diftinguifhing grace tothem. Are for figns and wonders in I/rael; not the prophet and his natural children; tho’ it is. true, that he himfelf was for a fign and wonder upon Egypt and Ethiopia, ch. xx. 3. and his children Shear-jafoud and Maber-halal-hafb-baz, were figns in their very names, as well as actions, of the future deliverance of Judah from its enemies; but Chrift and his fpiritual children: Chrift, the Immanuel, the fon of the virgin, is for a fign given by the Lord himfelf, even of the fame deliverance, ch. vii, 14. and a fign of the love of God to his people, and of his care of them, and regard unto them; and a fign that fhould be fpoken againft, as he was in his perfon, office, doctrines, and miracles, by the unbelieving Jews, Luke ii. 34. aud for wonders, his name being wonderful; his perfon, as God-man, wonderful; his love to his people wonderful; his works and actions, doctrines and miracles, life and death, being wonderful, fee the note.on ch. ix. 6. and fo his children and people are for /igns and wonders, they are like Fojoua’s fellows, men wondered at, Zech. iii. 8. fee the note there; they are a wonder to themfelves, that fuch finful and unworthy creatures fhould partake of fo much grace; they are a wonder to angels, that they fhould be chofen, redeemed, and called; and they are a wonder to Chrift, who admires his own grace inthem; and they are a wonder to the men of the world, a fpectacle, a gazing ftock to them, and are reproached by thems and all this is and where he will dwell for ever, and fo will never, leave nor forfake his people.,