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from f 0e &i6rars of
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\
BIBLICAL CRITICISM
OS
THE FIRST FOURTEEN
HISTORICAL BOOKS
OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT;
ALSO
ON THE FIRST NINE
PROPHETICAL BOOKS.
BY
SAMUEL HORSLEY, L.L.D. F.R.S. F.A.S.
LATE LORD BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. W3Z
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, & BROWN, AND P, C. ft J. RIVINGTON.
1S20.
Printed by C. Stewart, Edinburgh.
TABLE OF KENNICOTT's MSS. OF THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND TWELFTH CENTURIES.
10* Century. |
nth Century. |
12th 1 Century; |
1 _'th Century continued ; |
IStO Century continued. |
I |
39 : |
4 |
294 |
6CA5 |
590 |
527 |
30 |
326 |
634 |
536 |
84 |
356 |
6S8 |
|
154 |
366 |
685 |
||
162 |
416 |
|||
180 |
418 |
|||
! |
185 |
461 |
||
188 |
512 |
|||
i |
191 |
528 |
||
193 |
530 |
|||
* |
196 |
531 |
||
201 |
534 |
|||
210 |
537 |
|||
216 |
580 |
|||
220 |
584 |
|||
224 |
591 |
|||
225 |
602 |
|||
226 |
609 |
|||
293 |
616 |
|||
2 ; |
3 |
42 |
The whole number of MSS. collated by Dr Ken- nicott for the various readings of the text of Isaiah was 203; namely, 72 throughout, and 131 in parti- cular passages.
VOL. IT.
CRITICAL NOTES
ON
ISAIAH.
CHAP. I,
All that the Prophet says in this chapter, either in his own person or Jehovah's, hath reference to a scene exhibited to his imagination. The scene seems not to represent the manners of the Jews in any one of the four reigns in which he prophesied. For of the four kings named in the title of the book, the first two and the last were godly princes, and in their reigns there was no heavy complaint against the people. But in the reign of Ahaz, idolatry was established, and the temple-service neglected. In his reign therefore there could be little of that hy- pocritical attachment to the ritual service, with
A 2
4 ISAIAH.
which the -people are reproached, verses 10 — 17; whereas this was the great crime of the Jewish people in our Saviour's days. Vitringa indeed ar- gues with great ability, that idolatry had taken root so deep among the Jewish people in the reign of Ahaz, that it is not to be supposed that Hezekiah's reformation was much more than a restoration of the external form and order of the true religion. The majority of the people in their hearts were still idolaters, and might justly be taxed with hypocrisy in the profession and exercise of the religion which was countenanced and protected by their king. But it seems to me that the language of the Prophet de- scribes not the flattery of courtiers, but that serious sort of hypocrisy, which, without any true principles of religion in the heart, is much in earnest in the rites which it performs, and values itself on the me- rit of that legal righteousness.
Verse 7. — " and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers \" rather, " and it is a perfect waste, like a country ravaged by strangers ; " i. e. by foreign armies. The \aw aKkorgw of the LXX is a good paraphrastic rendering of O^l?, and is no indication of a various reading. The layman's conjecture, that the first OHT should be D^tf is plausible.
ISAIAH.
— " burnt devoured" — rather, " are burning
are devouring." This is the language of a man
describing a scene lying before him.
Verse 9. This 9th verse must allude to some greater desolation of the country, than can be sup- posed to have been effected by Sennacherib's inva- sion.
Verse 12. — " at your hand to tread my courts ;" rather, " at your hand. Tread my courts no more." LXX, and Bishop Lowth. St Jerome divides the sentence in the same manner : but he understands the latter clause, (as indeed the LXX understood it), not as a prohibition to tread the courts, but as a prediction that the courts of the temple at Jerusa- lem should be no more trodden ; which he makes an argument, that the prophecy respects the last destruction of the temple by the Romans, rather than the former by the Babylonians. For after the former destruction the temple was rebuilt, and its courts trodden again for a long series of years. The words in the Hebrew have certainly more the form of a prediction, than a prohibition. But who shall say, that the temple may not be again rebuilt, and its courts again trodden, though vain oblations shall no more be offered ? The latter part of the chapter
o ISAIAH.
gives the Jews a hope of a restoration from the ruin threatened in this prophecy. Nevertheless, I agree with St Jerome, that the ruin threatened is that which took place after our Lord's ascension and the publication of the gospel, rather than the prelusive judgments executed by the Babylonians. The whole section, from the 10th to the 15th verse, seems to allude to the abolition of the Mosaic law, though the expressions are too general to be understood in that sense by the Jews of Isaiah's time. Indeed the whole of the vision, exhibited to the prophet, seems to have been a general view of national guilt, punish- ment, reformation, pardon, and restoration ; and the prophecy is a general prediction of guilt, and threat- ening of punishment, and, in some degree, received a completion in every great judgment that fell upon the people. At the same time, that the allusions to the particular guilt of the Jews, in their treatment of our Lord, though oblique, are now so evident, and the description of their punishment corresponds so much more exactly with their final dispersion, than with any previous calamity, that little room is left to doubt that these were the things principally in view of the inspiring Spirit.
Verse 17. — " seek judgment." The Jewish go-
ISAIAH. 7
vernment never was more guilty of a perversion of judgment than in the case of our Lord.
Verse 23. — " companions of thieves." *— a asso- ciated with thieves*" Judas was a thief; with him the princes of the Jews were associated.
Verse 24. — " I will ease me of mine adversaries;'* rather, " I will take satisfaction upon mine adversa- nes.
Verse 25. — " and purely purge away thy dross." For "D5, Archbishop Seeker, Dr Durell, and Bishop Lowth, agree to read "M ; " in the crucible ;" but the alteration is by no means necessary. See Park- hurst, IS, ix.
Verse 29. " For they shall be ashamed of the oaks," &c. This may allude to the idolatry of the reign of Ahaz.
The whole of this chapter should be distributed into parts, between Jehovah and the Prophet, in this manner. After the exordium, " Hear, O heavens," &c. Jehovah speaks to the end of the 3d verse. In the six following verses, the Prophet, in terms of concern, astonishment, and horror, describes the degeneracy of the people, and their rejection. In the 10th verse he calls upon them again to hearken to Jehovah, who speaks in his own person to the end
8 ISAIAH.
of the 20th. In the 21st, the Prophet, still contem- plating the scene, which lies before him, of the future degeneracy of his countrymen, renews his lamentation, which goes on to the end of the 23d. In the beginning of the 24th, Jehovah is introduced again, and speaks in his own person to the end of the chapter.
Chaf. ii, 3. — " many people" — rather, " many peoples" —
4 r* And he shall judge among the nations, And rebuke many people." Rather,
" And he shall govern* among the nations, And work conviction in many peoples."
See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth, — " plough-shares" — rather, " coulters." Verse 6. " Therefore thou hast," &c. " Surely^
[or verily] thou hast forsaken thy people ! the house
of Jacob !"
The 5th verse is an invitation, addressed by the
peoples resorting to the place of God's worship, to
the Jews to accompany them. To their amazement
* «* Verbum judicandi Hebraeis per synecdochen pro ' guber~ riare,' vel < regere,' accipitur." Calvin, ad locum.
ISAIAH. s
they find the Jews refuse to join in this worship, and are smarting under the heavy punishment of their apostaey, and in this first part of the 6th verse they express their astonishment. This circumstance, the devotion and acceptance of the peoples [the Gentiles], and the apostaey and rejection of the chosen people, the Jews, clearly proves the necessity of referring this prophecy to the times of Christian- ity, and confutes those commentators, who think to find its completion in the restoration of the temple after the Babylonish captivity.
Verse 6. — " house of Jacob, because they be re- plenished," &c. The sentence ends with the word Jacob. Thence the Prophet takes up the discourse, assigning the cause of that rejection, which struck the Gentile worshippers with so much astonishment. u Yes — they are replenished from the east." The Prophet's discourse is addressed to the Gentiles, be- ing an answer to their expressions of surprise, to the end of the 9th verse.
— " replenished from the east ;" i. e. " they are full of the eastern manners," as Queen Elizabeth's translators rendered it ; full of the corruptions that reigned chiefly in the eastern parts. I see no abso- lute necessity for the alterations proposed by Houbi-
10 ISAIAH.
gant and Bishop Lowth. If I were to make any al- teration of the text as it now stands, it should be, in conformity to the version of the LXX, to omit the ^ prefixed to the word E^Wy, and to prefix 5 to EDlpD. — " Yes they are filled, as of old, with astro- logers, like the Philistims."
Vitringa endeavours to expound the passage as it stands by a particular sense which he invents for the word K '0, but his exposition does not satisfy me.
Upon repeated consideration of this passage, I am persuaded it requires no emendation, nor any forced interpretation of any of the words. It describes a general taste among the Jews for the abominations of their heathen neighbours on all sides, east and west, and represents them as taking pride in the general prevalence of the manners of idolaters. For the " children of strangers" are those who had revolted from their God, and forsaken his worship, to worship the idols of the heathen with heathen rites.
" They are filled from the east ! they are even astrologers, like the Philistim ! They take pride and glory in an alien brood."
; — " take pride and glory" — So I paraphrase the word ip^Stt^. "pttf literally signifies to * smack the
3
ISAIAH. I]
hands together,' in an ecstasy of joy and approba- tion , and the literal rendering of this line would be, " And at children of aliens they clap their hands."
The Jews were much addicted to magic in the time of our Saviour.
Verse 8. — " full of idols." Bishop Lowth (with Yitringa) imagines that " the idols here spoken of must be such as were designed for a private and se- cret use." For as this seems to have been one of the first of Isaiah's prophecies, it must have been de- livered in the reign either of Uzziah or Jotham ; and in their time the public exercise of idolatrous wor- ship was not permitted. But the Prophet, in this passage, is describing that general corruption of the Jewish nation, which occasioned their final rejection, upon the publication of the gospel. And there is no reason to suppose, that the particulars of that de- scription consist in crimes actually subsisting at the time when the prophecy is delivered. They might take their beginning in a much later period, and yet, having taken root among the people, might be among the causes of the final punishment of the nation.
The description of the guilt, which drew down the judgment, is made up chiefly of those crimes which directly express a neglect of God's commands and
12 ISAIAH.
promises, and a reliance on other means of strength and support than the Divine favour.
Verse 9. " And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself.' ' The very same words occur in chap, v, 15, where the verbs are ne- cessarily passive. Bishop Lowth takes them as pas- sives here ; but I think, here, they are active. They describe the corruption as so general, that men of all ranks, high and low, prostrate and humble them- selves before idols.
— " forgive them not." The LXX render the verb in the first person : " I will not forgive them." If this verb was originally in the first person, God is the speaker from the middle of the 8th verse [" Yes, they are replenished," &c] to this place. And the Prophet's admonition, which begins in the next verse, is founded upon the accusation which God, in his own person, brings against the Jews in this speech.
Verses 10, 11. See Durell's and Bishop Lowth's emendations.
Verse 12. " For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be," &c. tWVh is properly the dative case, and the literal rendering of the Hebrew words is thus : " [Est] enim Jehovse exercituum dies adversus su- perbum et altum," &c. " For there is unto Jehovah
ISAIAH. 13
a day [*. e. Jehovah has appointed a day] against all pride and loftiness. "
Chap, hi, 2. — " and the prudent" — rather " the diviner,* Bishop Lowth ; " ariolum," Vulgate.
Verse 3. — M artificer." This word is ill changed into artist by Bishop Lowth. An artificer is one that is employed in common handicraft works ; a carpen- ter, a mason, a tailor, &c. An artist is a very supe- rior workman ; one that employs himself in the fine arts, painting, music, sculpture, &c.
— " and the eloquent orator -" rather, " the skil- ful in incantation." — " prudentem eloquii mystici," Vulgate ; and to the same purpose Theodotion and Symmachus.
Verse 6. "When" — rather, "Therefore," Bishop Lowth.
I think Bishop Lowth' s conjecture, that the word VWi has been lost out of the text between the words WJO and n*0, is very probable. But see Bishop Stock.
After rf^Cttf, read, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, TDK^ See LXX, and Vulgate.
Ct Therefore shall a man take his brother, the head of his father's house, by the garment, saying, Be thou," &c.
U ISAIAH.
Verse 7. et In that day shall he swear, saying,"— ■TC>kS Kin wo W\ It should seem, from St Je- rome's note upon this passage, that the word W was not found in his copies j and that for "totib, they had TDK*.
— " I will not be" — rather, with Queen Eliza* beth's translators, " I cannot be"—
Verse 10. — " for they shall eat" — Bishop Lowth, upon the authority of the Vulgate and one antient MS. reads <5W in the singular, <c he shall eat ;" i. e. the just shall eat. But there is no necessity to reject the plural verb, which has the suffrage of St Jerome and the LXX. If *HfiK be the true reading at the beginning of the former clause, the whole verse should be rendered thus :
" Say unto the just one, it is well : For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds."
They, isti. This is the thing which the just one is told " is well," that those sinners shall eat the fruit of their evil deeds. For TH¥, one good MS. of De Rossi's has TH^. But upon these three verses (9, 10, 1 1) see the notes of the layman : his emendations, founded on the LXX, deserve great attention.
Verse 12. <c As for my people children are their oppressors, and women rule over them."
ISAIAH. in
Aocog fjuov ot ?rga*rogg£ vficuv xoLkapuvrM v[/jOtg
Kai ot uTatTOWTsg xvgievovatv v\lw. LXX.
aTairovureg. Aq. dirccirovvrag. Theod. daw/ora?.
" Populum meum exactores sui spoliaverunt,
Et mulieres dominatae sunt eis." St Jerom. ct Vulg.
Hence it should seem that the reading of the LXX was thus :
tSSjjd ■yitftt icy
rt O my people, thy oppressors are gleaning thee, And thy usurious creditors lord it over thee."
The copies of St Jerome and the Vulgate gave the passage with less variation from the modern Maso- retic text :
0*SSj?D YIJMJ ■■Op
&c. 1
" My people, their oppressors glean them, And women," &c.
Unless the use of the noun ^JJB, for * a child,' can be supported by examples, the reading of the LXX seems to deserve the preference. It is to be remark- ed, that the principal variation of the reading of the LXX from the modern text is in WWi, instead of
* Or, •punaB*.
16 ISAIAH.
O^tiW ; and in this their reading has the concurrent testimony of Aquila and Theodotion.
— " destroy the way of their paths." — u efface the track of their paths." The track of their paths is the line of moral conduct prescribed by God's law, or of political conduct advised by his prophets; which line the wicked leaders here mentioned ef- faced and obliterated, by bad advice and bad ex- ample. 3^, properly signifies to swallow up j thence to cause in any way to disappear ; to destroy, so as to leave no vestige remaining. According to the different things to which it is in this sense ap- plied, it may be rendered by the English words, to devour, to swallow up, to annihilate, to rase, ex- punge, efface, obliterate. In Numb, iv, 20, it is rendered in our modern Bible, to cover, and in Queen Elizabeth's, to fold up. But that verse should be rendered thus : u But let them not go in to see, when the sanctuary is taken to pieces, lest they die." When the camp was to break up, the tabernacle was to be taken down, and the sacred utensils packed up by the priests, before the Kohathites approached. The taking of the sanctuary to pieces, and the pack- ing up of its parts and furniture, was an entire abo- lition of its figure and form ; a making of it to dis-
ISAIAH K
appear. Hence the word V^ signifies to take such an erection to piece ■>.
Verse 13. For Q»0*, the LXX and Bishop Lowth read 1DJJ.
" Jchovali appears to plead,
He rises up to enter into litigation with his people."
Verse 17. — " will smite with a scab;" rather, " will humble," the LXX, and Bishop Lowth. But there is no necessity for altering the reading of the Hebrew text. See Parkhurst's Lexicon, voce n3w .
Chap, iv, 2. — " the branch the fruit of the
earth." For a particular exposition of these phrases, as describing Christ by his divinity and his incarna- tion, see Vitringa.
Verse 5. For
read, with Bishop Lowth,
The reading of fiWVpD for HJOpD, is confirmed by many MS3. and editions. And HHTlpD 75 is the reading of Kennicott's MSS. 1. See De Kos-i.
This fourth chapter and the two preceding clearly form one entire discourse* The general subject is, - vol. ir. B
18 ISAIAH.
the first establishment of the Christian church, and the rejection of the Jewish people. The second opens with a view of the resort of all nations to the house of Jehovah, and the rejection of the house of Jacob. This is represented as the consequence of their own sins, and the effect of a scheme of Provi- dence for the utter abasement of the power of the irreligious faction, the humiliation of all spiritual pride and hypocrisy, and the eradication of idolatry. For under the notion of such a scheme Christianity is described, chap, ii, 11 — 21. The third chapter, with the 1st verse of chapter iv, describes the judg- ments to be executed upon the Jews by foreign ene- mies, with particular allusion to the first in order of time, the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The last verse of chapter ii, containing a general maxim, which the Prophet makes the moral, as it were, of his representation of God's scheme for the humilia- tion of his enemies, makes the transition easy from that discourse to the particular prediction of these judgments. The iive last verses of chap. iv. describe the first plantation of the Christian churches.
Chap, v, 1. — " my well beloved of my beloved
—my well beloved." In the version of the LXX the pronoun my is not once expressed. If upon that
ISAIAH. 19
authority the pronominal suffix in the original may be thrown away, this verse might be thus rendered :
**■ Now will I sing for the beloved a tender song concerning his vineyard. "
— u sing for the beloved" — u e. in the person of the beloved.
*iyW« " Jarchii animadversio est, literam ' pre- fixam liic significare posse substitutionem ; ut *I*W sit ^TH"1 nnn, loco dilecti mei, et instar legati vicem ejus occupantis. Elegans est expositio, quam non sperno ; imo amplexum quoque earn esse video Lira- num, Jarchio familiariter usum." Vitringa ad locum, vol. i, p. 112.
— u a tender sone;" — ^"lYl ^V — cc carmen ama- bile," Castalio ; — " a song of loves," Bishop Lowth; who thinks *HV1 an error of the transcribers for OIH, Houbigant would read TH"H, <c amoris ejus," which I think an elegant emendation. — " a tender song" conveys the idea.
Verse 2. " My well beloved" — The LXX again omit the pronoun. A^Trehcuv lyBvrj^rj rco ^ynTr^im* " The well beloved hath a vineyard," &c. It cer- tainly is not usual with the Prophets to use the familiar phrase of my beloved, in speaking either of God the Father, or of Christ. This second verse is
u 2
20 ISAIAH.
a narration, containing the general argument of the song. In the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th verses, the song proceeds in a mixed strain of tender complaint and threatening. In the 7th, the Prophet, resuming the discourse in his own person, explains the allegory ; and in the sequel of the chapter he specifies the principal crimes which drew down judgment on the Israelites, by the denunciation of six distinct woes. 1st, Woe to the avaritious, in verses 8, 9, 10. 2d, Woe to the voluptuary; 11, 12. 3d, Woe to the libertine, who makes a jest of the threatenings of future wrath ; 18, 19. 4$, Woe to the philosophical infidel, who pre- - tending to reason upon the nature of good and evil, justifies all manner of iniquity by confounding the distinctions of right and wrong; 20. 5th, Woe to the deist, who sets up the authority
of human reason against revelation ; 21. 6th, Woe to wicked magistrates, who neglect their public duty to pursue riotous plea- sure, and abuse their authority for private gain j 22, 23. Verse 6. — " I will also command the clouds," &c. St Jerome, with his usual sagacity, remarks, that this
ISAIAH. 21
menace was not accomplished in the Babylonian captivity; u inasmuch as Jeremiah and Ezekiel pro- phesied among their countrymen, after the city was taken ; Daniel also, and the three children, as history relates, either prophesied or performed wonderful signs in the captivity. And afterwards, Haggai and Zachary afforded comfort to the people in servitude by predictions of future things."
Verse 7. The transition from the song to the Pro- phet's comment is highly artificial and elegant. It is so contrived, that the conclusion of the song so necessarily introduces the comment, that the two seem one thing ; and the spirit of the poetry is not less in the exposition than in the song itself.
— " I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." Who is this that talks of overruling Nature, and controlling the Elements ? is the senti- ment that this conclusion naturally suggests. Truly, replies the Prophet, He who hath all Nature and the Elements under his control. <c For the vineyard of Jehovah," &c.
— " a cry," — " of the oppressed," says Bishop Lowth. But it may mean the cry of the rabble ; In which justice was overborne, and judgment pervert- ed. So St Jerome understood it, with particular al-
22 ISAIAH.
lusion to the oppression of our Lord, and the cry of the rabble against him. Certainly fipy* signifies any loud cry or vociferation, not the cry of distress only. Verse 8. — « that lay field to field." TnW* m» Wlp. Bishop Lowth would read Wipn, to answer to the verb following ; and he thinks he has with him the authority of the Vulgate. But it is by no means certain from the Latin of the Vulgate, that the Hebrew copies, from which that version was made, had "D^rpr^ It might seem a safer conclusion from the Greek of the LXX, that their copies had the participle ^npD to answer to the preceding participle V^, to which, not to the following verb, the word in this place might be expected to answer. Ovoci oi 6vvw7rrov7$s oixiuv vrgog oi%iccv, zai ky^ov vrgog dygov lyyiZpvrzg. LXX. And the version of the Vulgate might be formed upon the same reading. * Vae qui conjungitis domum ad domum, et agrum agro copu-
latis." — " qui conjungitis et [qui] copulatis."
Here the participle y*XO is resolved by the inter- preter into the pronoun and verb, * qui conjungitis \* whence it might seem probable that the verb ' co- pulatis,' with the pronoun understood, tackt to the former verb and pronoun by the conjunction copulative, which is not in the Hebrew, is a similar
ISAIAH.
resolution of the participle W*pD. In short, their version is just what it ought to have been had 'O'npD been the reading of their Hebrew text.
But after all, there is no necessity for any altera- tion in the text as it stands in our modern copies. The form of the expression is the very same which occurs again in verse 1 1 ;
•b"it> top npDD n?we ?fl
" Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning
they follow strong drink" — where the LXX, as
in the former woe, render both the participle in the first clause, and the verb in the second, by a parti- ciple. Ovat ol lyugofjumt to t°cui\ urn to vixsga, Sicjzoktsc, which entirely destroys the certainty of the conclu- sion that their copies, in the 8th verse, had 'O'npD, instead of "P^p?, The Vulgate, in the 11th veise, render the verb "©TV*, and the participle "HriNC in the next line, the one by a participle in dus, with a preposition, the other by a gerund. " Vae qui con- surgitis mane ad ebrietatem sectandam, et potandum usque ad vesperam." In short, these two passages, the 8th and 11th verses, are instances in which the turn of the expression in the original is neglected both by the Greek and the Latin interpreter, and shew what caution should be used in altering the
b 4?
24 ISAIAH.
text upon the authority of versions, which may easi- ly be imagined where it is not. The use of the se- cond person in the Vulgate seems to have betrayed Bishop Lowth into this unnecessary alteration.
— u that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth." The LXX, Aquila, Symmachus, St Jerome, and the Vulgate, all take this clause as a question : " Would you dwell yourselves alone in the land, or in the earth ?" i. e. you who are taking to yourselves all the room, would you wish to be the sole inhabitants of the earth, or of the land? This whole verse should be thus rendered, " Woe unto them that join house to house ;
They lay field to field till no room is left.
Would ye dwell yourselves alone in the midst of the earth ?''
Verse 13. — " their honourable men — their multi- tude"— ** their nobles — their plebeians" — Bishop Lowth.
Verse 14. — "« their glory, and their multitude" — " her nobility and her populace" — Bishop Lowth.
— " and their pomp" — " and her busy throng," Bishop Lowth ; " and her riotous throng."
Verse 17. " Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat "ones shall strangers [rather, strange ones] eat."
ISAIAH. 2f
" Mysticum esse, quod liic dicitur omnes fcrc vi-
dcrimt intcrpretes Ilecurre itaque ad })rincij)ia
nostra? fidei, eventu comprobata. Sint agni in hoc loco tenclli discipuli Chrisli Jesu, Antiochia? Chris- tiani dicti, electi ex Judaeis, mansueti, innocui, mo- ribus puri, persecutioni ct oppressioni potentium Judaeae rectorum obnoxii ; magnam partem, C^y, pauperes ; non multi sapientes, potentes,* divites se- cundum carnem, qui per spiritum moniti et erepti his calamitatibus, hoc ipso tempore, quo pingues et superbi experirentur severitatem judiciorum divino- rum, suos de more celebrarent caetus, et regnum Jesu Christi promoverent, et deplorarent Judaeorum obstinatam duritiem. Illi a propheta dicuntur agni et oves; et praecipue a Christo Jesu, certissimo hujus nostri oraculi interprete, in oratione apud Joannem, cap. x, qua existimem ad hanc pericopam alludi. Id enim maxime suadet sequens hemistichium, quo f advenae desolata pinguium comesturi " dicuntur. Sunt enim ' advenae* oves advenae sive peregrinae. In Hebraeo est Q'HJ forma participii, D^J. — quae oves advenae comesturae dicuntur main desolata pinguium, hoc est, ovium pinguium. Sensus est gentes addiicendas et adductas ad communionem ecclesiae gavisurus esse beneflciis, praerogativis, bo-
'26 ISAIAH.
iris, quibus Judaii carnales, divites, potentes, quales homines diserte appellantur ' oves pingues,' apud Ezechielem, cap. xxxiv, 16, — exciderent. Quod Christus Dominus his expressit verbis apud Joan- nem, ' Habeo et alias oves, quae non sunt ex hac caula, quas me quoque oportet adducere." Sunt illae quod ad ortum suum %ivqi koci Kagotxos, quae reprobatis et ejectis Judaeis locum illorum occuparent in regno ccelorum." Vitringa ad locum. Every thing is exact, yet easy and natural in this exposition of the text. The emendations proposed by Bochart, Cap- pellus, and Bishop Lowth, are by all means to be rejected. I think Houbigant's substitution of JVD^j; for rvoin deserves consideration.
— " after their manner;" — " after their own man- ner." The Christian church is released from an an- xious observance of the letter of the Mosaic law, and has authority to prescribe her own ceremonies.
Verse 23. — " of the righteous'' — The LXX, the Vulgate, St Jerome, the Syriac, and Arabic, all give the noun in the singular ; and a good MS. of De Rossi's has 1*Wflfc with the article prefixed; — " of the Just One."
Verse 24. — " because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised," &c. u e.
ISAIAH.
says St Jerome, " they have cast away that law which the Lord promises by Jeremiah, saying, Be- hold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will strike a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah," &c. And it is notorious that the Jews never openly renounced the Mosaic law ; and the crimes specified in this chapter as the cause of the threatened judgment, are all crimes against the evangelical law of everlasting righteousness, not mere infringements or violations of the Jewish ritual.
Verse 25. u Therefore," &c. rather, " Although the anger of Jehovah hath been kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand against them, and he smote them that the mountains trem- bled, and their carcases were as soil in the street -, for all this his anger is not turned away," &c. After all the former judgments executed upon them by the Assyrians and Babylonians, further and heavier punish- ment was to be inflicted for their subsequent rejection of his word, preached by Messias and the apostles.
Verse 26. " And he will lift up," &c, " Si tie Babyloniis esset sermo," says St Jerome, " juxttt consuetudinem prophetatem dixisset, ' vocabo eum qui ab Aquilone est,' eo quod juxta Judaic situm, Assyrii atque Chaldaci in septentiionali plaga sint ;
28 ISAIAH.
vel certe apertius Babylonios Assyriosque describe- ret. Nunc vero dicendo, ' Levabit signum in nati- onibus procul et sibilabit ad eum de finibus terrae* gentes longe positas significat, et quae in terrae fini- bus commorantur ; haud dubium quin Romanos, et omnes Italiae Galliarumque et Plispaniae populos, qui sub Vespasiano et Hadriano Romano imperio subjacebant.
— " to the nations from far, and will hiss unto therrr— their loins — their shoes — whose arrows — their bows — their horses — their wheels — their roaring — against them." In every one of these expressions the pronoun, in the original, and in the Latin of St Jerome, and of the Vulgate, is the singular mascu- line of the third person : also the verbs " shall come — shall slumber — sleep — shall roar — shall roar and lay hold — shall carry away," are all singular in the original, and in the versions of St Jerome and the Vulgate. Whence it should seem that either the plural noun EPM is used here for some one particular nation, and should be rendered " a nation." " And he will set up a standard for a distant nation, and hiss unto it." Or, if C3*P has a plural sense render- ing many nations, the singular pronoun respects some one person not named, who is also the subject
ISAIAH. 29
of the singular verb. " And he will set up a stand- ard for distant nations, and hiss unto him [_i. e. to the Roman emperor, the leader of those nations] from the extremity of the earth. And, behold, he shall come," £ e. the Roman emperor shall come, &c. And this, as I guess by his translation and Ills commentary, was St Jerome's notion of the passage.
Verse 30. — " they shall roar against them;" lite- rally, " he shall roar over him ;" i. e. lie, the person described under the image of the lion, shall roar over him, i. e. over the prey. The pronominal suf- fix in l^JJ rehearses 5HB. This is the only way in winch I can expound the passage.
— " if one look unto the land" — The mention of the roaring of the sea introduces a new image of distress, that of mariners in a coasting vessel (such as all the vessels of the antients were) over- taken with a storm, and looking for the nearest land, which the darkness of the storm conceals, so that darkness and danger alone may be said to be visible. The darkness, however, is mystical ; a dark- ness of religious light and comfort.
— " in the heavens thereof;" rather, " in its de- fluxions." See Parkhurst's Lexicon, rpy, and Vi- tringa upon the place. The heavens and the hum-
30 ISAIAH.
naries are so totally invisible, that it seems as ii the light were choaked up in its first emanations; — " and the light is confined in its defluctions."
Chap, vi, 2. Cf Above it stood the seraphim." St Jerome remarks> that this is the only passage in the canonical scriptures in which the word OWE? occurs, as denoting attendants of the Divine pre- sence.
— " the seraphim." Observe that the original has nothing answering to the. " Above it seraphim were standing."
" Above it (or above him) stood" — The word
"lEp does not necessarily express the posture of stand- ing upright upon the feet, but only the being pre- sent. See Parkhurst's Lexicon. From what is said afterwards, it should seem that the posture of the seraphim was that of hovering, on the expanded wings, over the throne of God. The passage might be rendered, " Over it (or him) seraphim were at- tending."
— " six wings." The cherubs in the temple had but two wings, and EzekieFs but four.
Verse 9. — " hear ye indeed and see ye in- deed"— rather, " hear a report and see a sight."
JJW, audiendum quid -7 1*H, videndum quid. ■
ISAIAH. 31
Verse 10. Ci Make the heart of this people fat," &c; rather, " The heart of this people is made fat, their ears blunted, and their eves lint." To this effect Symmachus, the LXX, and St Mat hew xiii. Nothing but the points make it necessary to take the verbs jZW"!, "D2n, JHPft, for imperatives m Hipliil, rather than indicatives in Hophal. But if the verbs were indicatives in Hophal, the two IWI and jflpn ought to be plurals, VD2H and lJ7t2fi-i. But the sentence ad- mits another grammatical exposition, which will bring it to the same, or even to a stronger sense. Let the verbs be taken as indicatives in Hiphil -y take away tlie Makkaph between & and DJ?H • take OJJ as the nominative of each of the Hiphil verbs, and ^, 5Wa and ^JJ, as accusatives after them re- spectively.
" This people hath made gross the heart,
And blunted their ears, and closed up their eyes."
The LXX and St Mathew (Symmachus's varieties I have not at present at hand) take the first verb JDU?n in Hophal, and the t\vo following in Hiphil ; but there is no necessity for this difference. They may be all in Hiphil. So I find Symmachus tak them as he is quoted by Parkhurst.
32 ISAIAH.
13 " And yet a tenth part shall remain in it,
But again it shall be [appointed] for destruction. Like the ilex and the oak, which At the casting of the leaf have their trunks standing, A holy seed shall be the trunk of this nation." Chap, vii, 2. — " Syria is confederate with E- phraim." Houbigant's emendation, «n?J for finJ, is unnecessary- See Vitringa upon the place.
onsa by DIN nm « Syria is confederate with
•t:v *■ T-; tt J
Ephraim," Publ . ; or, " Syria was supported by Ephraim," Lowth ; u Syria is arm in arm with E- phraim," Stock. But the verb nna is somewhat difficult of exposition. At first sight it appears to be the third person preterite masculine of the verb nni in Kal. But how to bring the sense of " con- federate with," or " supported by," or " arm in arm with," out of the verb ftnJ, or any sense that may suit this place, it is not easy to explain. But I take the word to be the feminine singular of the parti- ciple Benoni in Kal of the verb rm, regularly form- ed according to the rule of conjugation of the verbs Ain \ It is feminine to agree with OIK, which, taken as the proper name of a country, is feminine ; and the literal rendering would be, a Syria is repos- ing upon Ephraim $" and the sense is, that the Sy-
ISAIAH. 93
rian relied with confidence on the support of Ephraim as a powerful ally. Lowth's rendering, therefore, " Syria was supported by Ephraim," is very good. There is nothing in the original to convey the image which Bishop Stock introduces of two persons walking arm in arm. And this image is at variance indeed with the original, for it gives an idea of strict alliance indeed, but at the same time of entire equality between the allies ', whereas the idea of the original is that of a weaker relying on a stronger for support. And for the same reason, Bishop Lowth's is much to be preferred to the public version.
Verse 4. — " these smoking firebrands." Fire- brands smoke when they are upon the point of going out. Smoking firebrands, therefore, are an expres- sive image of the two kings of Ephraim and Syria upon the verge of their ruin.
— " with Syria." Read, " of Resin, and the son of Remaliah," omitting " of Syria," with the Syriac, and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. " Because of Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah," &c. I suspect that the words VT> Teh pi have crept in from the preceding verse, and should be expunged in this place ; and the rest of this verse should be thus arranged,
vol, ir. c
34 ISAIAH.
*« Inasmuch as Ephraim and Syria have devised evil against thee, saying," —
Verse 6. — " and let us make a breach therein for us ;" rather, " and let us cleave it asunder for our- selves;" or, " split it between us." The scheme was to divide the greater part of the dominions of the king of Judah between the two confederate kings, and leave a vassal- king in the country to take care of their interests.
Verses 8, 9. " For the head of Syria," &c. The text here hath certainly suffered a transposition. The true order seems to be this :
8 For Damascus is the head of Syria, And Rezin is the head of Damascus ;
9 And Samaria is the head of Ephraim,
And the son of Remaliah is the head of Samaria. And within sixty and five years Ephraim shall be broken that he be no more a people."
Houbigant thinks that a line is lost between the last line of the 8th verse and the first of the 9th, which lost line fixed the time of the approaching subversion of the kingdom of Syria by the Assyrians.
— " within sixty and five years" — This predic-
ISAIAH. SB
tion was delivered, perhaps in the first, certainly not later than in the second year of Aliaz ; for in his third year, the Syrians of Damascus were subdued, and Rezin, their king, was slain by Tiglath-pilezer, the Assyrian. Salmanassar's conquest, therefore; of the ten tribes was within twenty, or at the utmost within twenty-three, years of the delivery of this prediction. What then is this period of sixty -five years, which the prophecy seems to assign for the duration of Ephraim as a people ? Various solutions of this question have been attempted. The Hebrews, as St Jerome relates, counted these sixty-five years, not from the delivery of this prophecy of Isaiah's, but from the earlier prediction of Amos, who first of all, as these expositors conceived, foretold the over- throw of the kingdom of Israel ; assigning the twenty-fifth of Uzziah for the time of that prophecy of Amos. But Amos delivered his prophecies, as we learn from the title of his book, at the time when Uzziah reigned in Judah and Jeroboam in Israel. But Jeroboam king of Israel died in the fourteenth or fifteenth of Uzziah, namely, in the year of the Julian period 3922. This, therefore, is the latest time that can be assigned to Amos's prediction » and the interval between that prophecy and the
c 2
36 ISAIAH.
conquest of the ten tribes by Salmanassar in the year of the Julian period 3995, could not be less than seventy-three years. Add to this, that the as- sumption is false, that Amos's was the first predic- tion of the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel. The thing had been foretold, as Vitringa well observes, long before Amos, by the prophet Ahijah, in the reign of the first Jeroboam. See 1 Kings xiv, 15. For these, and other reasons, this interpretation of the Hebrews could not be admitted, were it reason- able to suppose that the phrase " within sixty-five years" could refer to a period taking its commence- ment from a past time, not mentioned by the speaker.
Archbishop Usher conceives, that it was not by Salmanassar's conquest that Ephraim was " so brok- en as to be no more a people." It appears from Ezra iv, 2, that the settlements mentioned in 2 Kings xvii, 31. were made by Ezerhaddon. Hence Arch- bishop Usher infers, that although Salmanazzar cap- tivated the greater part of the Israelites, a few were allowed to remain, and that among these some sha- dow of a polity subsisted, till the settlement of Ezer- haddon's colonies, when the deportation of the old inhabitants was completed by that prince. This,
ISAIAH. 37
the learned prelate thinks, was the complete excision of the kingdom of Israel ; and supposing that it took place about the twenty-second of Manasseh, the year of Manasseh's own captivity, or the year of the Julian period 4040, he conceives this to be the event which the Prophet refers to the sixty-fifth year from the time of his prediction. This is the best interpretation of these sixty-five years that has yet been given. It is not however without its diffi- culties, as Houbigant hath shewn ; which however are not so great as to justify the liberties which that learned critic would take with the sacred text.
Vitringa's conjecture deserves attention. He sup- poses the passage might be originally written thus, tW Ctom "> 0# T1JW1 - that is, in words at length, tm BDTO ?TWP VV TJP\ — « and as yet sixteen and five (i. e. twenty-one) years." From '* CX*, igno- rant and careless copyists might easily make Ov£'C\ From the beginning of Ahaz's reign to Salmanazzar's conquest of the ten tribes was twenty-one years. But that this prophecy was delivered in the first of Ahaz is highly improbable, as Houbigant has clear- ly shewn.
Verse 11. — " ask it cither in the depth or in the height above." p:yn and HD^n are verbs ; Hiphil
c 3
38 ISAIAH.
imperative. " Go deep to the grave [rather to Ha- des], or mount on high." Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 12. " But Ahaz said, I will not ask," &c. This is not an answer of pride or irony, but of con- sternation ; a consternation, however, little less cri- minal than pride, as bespeaking, if not a positive disbelief and contempt of God's promises made by the Prophet, yet the want of that reliance and trust in them, which would have laid the fears of a true believer quite asleep. Accordingly the answer of- fends, and draws menaces of God's wrath from the Prophet.
Verse 14. " Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign," &c. A sign of what? A pledge of the - truth of the prediction which promises the ill-success of the confederate kings in their expedition against Jerusalem ? No : of that favour the irreligious king of Judah had shewn himself unworthy. But God, wearied out with the disloyalty of David's degenerate sons, will at the due season of himself exhibit such a sign of his own power, his sovereignty, and his providential care of men, as shall strike idolaters and unbelievers like thee, O Ahaz! with dismay. That sign shall be the miraculous birth of that pro-
ISAIAH.
mised Seed, who, by the proofs of his own deity, shall overthrow the credit of these imaginary gods, in whom thon hast put thy trust.
— " a virgin shall conceive" — " Ergo Twhy non solum puella vel virgo, sed cum innunn virgo ab- scondita dicitur et secreta, qua? nunquam viroruni potuerit aspectibus, sed magna parentum diligentia custodita sit. Lingua quoque Punica, quae de He- braeorum fontibus manare dicitur, virgo, Alma ap- pellator. Et ut risum praebeamus Judaeis, nostro quoque sermone, Alma, sancta dicitur Et quan- tum cum mea pugno memoria, nunquam me arbitror HD^y in muliere nupta legisse, sed in ea qua? virgo est, ut non solum virgo sit, sed virgo junioris aetatis, et in annis adolescentiae. Potest enim fieri ut virgo sit vetula, ista autem virgo erat in annis puellaribus: vel certe virgo non puellula, et qua? adhuc virum nosse non posset, sed adhuc nubilis." Hieronym. ad locum.
" A certain virgin" — " A certain' ■ — this is the force of the prefixed K
Verse 15. " Butter and honey," &c. This text clearly describes the truth of the human nature in the child to be miraculously born. His infancy shall be nourished with the ordinary food of that tender
c 1
40 ISAIAH.
age, and he shall gradually grow in stature and dis- cretion.
Verse 16. " For before the child shall know
the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings."
" For before this child shall know To refuse the evil and choose the good, The land shall become desolate,
By whose two kings thou art distressed." Bish. Lowth, This is certainly the most exact translation of the passage as it stands, if Vp be the participle passive of the verb Vp. But the land which Ahaz abhorred, according to the common translation, must be Sa- maria, or Syria, or both. But these were two dis- tinct lands, under two distinct, though confederate, kings. The two kings, by whom Ahaz was dis- tressed, according to Bishop Lowth's translation, were the kings of these two distinct lands. But the words of the Prophet describe some one land which had two kings.
Father Houbigant removes this difficulty by chang- ing T\*07Q into OO /D. Then he renders the passage thus ; " Sed puer nondum sciet respuere malum et eligere bonum, cum terra haec de qua tu nunc auge- ris propter duos reges, libera dimittetur." This
ISAIAH. 41
sense the words so amended will well bear; and it must be confessed that three MSS., of no great anti- quity, (see De Rossi), and the version of the LXX, favour the emendation.
If this be the true sense, it is a promise to the king of Judah of the deliverance of his own land from the danger which threatened it from the kings of Samaria and Syria, before a certain child should begin to distinguish between good and evil. The Prophet says " before this child." This expression seems to refer to the child last mentioned, the Emanuel, the Son of the Virgin. But a prediction of deliverance from a present danger, before a child, not to be born for many centuries, should attain a certain age, would be a promise affording little com- fort. It would rather give room to apprehend that the danger would continue till the birth at least of that child ; and that till that period, however distant, the land of Judah would be harassed with incessant wars with the confederate kings of Samaria and Sy- ria. For the reasonable conclusion from the terms of the promise would be, that the danger was to last till the time set in the promise for the deliverance should come. According to the common translation.
n ISAIAH,
or to Bishop Lowth's translation, the same difficulty occurs about the child.
Expositors, therefore, have supposed that the child spoken of in this verse is a different child from that which was the subject of the last. Some tell us that Isaiah, when he uttered this 16th verse, pointed to his son Shear) ashub ; assuming, what they certainly cannot prove, that Shearjashub was at this time an infant in arms. But if the Prophet had pointed to any child, he would have said, not simply "V^, but nin "IJJJH. Father Houbigant, aware perhaps of this objection, makes no use of Shearjashub, but imagines that the child of this 16th verse, is a child not men- tioned before; namely, the Prophet's son, Maher- shalalhashbaz, not yet born, or begotten. But that the phrase " this child," introduced just after the mention of a particular child, should not rehearse that child, but signify another child not yet express- ly mentioned, and to be mentioned hereafter in a very distant part of the discourse, is a very unnatural supposition. I should sooner embrace the interpret- ation of those who understand ^V^9 not of any in- dividual infant, but generally of the whole infancy of Palestine at that time ; as if the Prophet had said,
ISAIAH. 4S
Before our infant children arrive at an age to distin- guish between good and evil, the land of Judea shall be delivered from its present dangers.
The learned Vitringa, who gives that translation of this 16th verse which Bishop Lowth has adopted, is clear in the opinion, that the " this child" of tin's verse cannot be expounded of Shearjashub, or of Mahershalalhashbaz, or of any other child than the Emanuel of the 14th verse ; and yet he understands this verse as a prediction of the overthrow of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel as a thing near at hand. To draw this signification of the proximity of the event, from what should seem to set it at so great a distance, the reference of it to the times of the Emanuel, he has recourse to this expedient. He says, that to the imagination of the Prophet, in ecstasy, the Emanuel was present as already born ; and therefore in his mouth the words, " Before this child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good," describe only the ordinary interval between the birth of a child and the opening of its mental faculties, reckoned, not from the future birth of the Emanuel, but from the time when the prophecy was uttered, with which the birth of the Emanuel to the Prophet, in the ecstatic vision, seemed coinci*
44, ISAIAtf.
dent. — " Id vult Jesaias, non esse plus lapsum in temporis, inde a quo haec locutus est verba, usque ad terrain, cujus duo reges Judaeos vexabant, spolia- tam ac desertam, quam elaboretur a tempore conci- piendi et nascitur Immanuelis, usque ad illud aetatis ejusdem tempus, quo ratio vires suas in ipso perfec- tius exereret." It might perhaps be an objection of little force against this interpretation, to observe, that the Hebrew adverb tD^DD, like the English " before," is descriptive simply of priority or pre- cedence of event, not of length of intervening time. For it were easy to reply, that the same force of ec- stasy which presented remote futurity as present to the Prophet's imagination, would necessarily influ- ence his language ; insomuch that his expressions were to be interpreted, not by the common rules of grammar, but with relation to his particular state of mind. But it should be recollected, that though the Prophet was in ecstasy, those, to whom the prophecy was delivered, were in their ordinary state of mind. They therefore would be little aware of the presence of the Emanuel as actually born, or as just now to be born, to the entranced imagination of the Pro- phet ; consequently the Prophet's words would not convey his own meaning to his hearers. Or if any
ISAIAH.
of them were quick-sighted enough to discern, that the force of ecstasy rendered the Emanuel present as already born to the Prophet's imagination, by what means could they discern, that the deliverance, which he referred to the times of the Emanuel's in- fancy, was not an event in reality equally remote, and present, or imminent, to the Prophet only in the ecstatic vision? This seems indeed the just and natural view of the whole prophecy, if Vitringa's hypothesis be admitted, that the Prophet, in the ec- static vision, contemplates the Emanuel as already born, and under that prepossession, as it were, refers the events of his own time to the life of the Emanuel. And this proves that his hypothesis is inadmissible, since it makes the amount of the supposed promise nothing more than this, that before the end of the period of the Emanuel's infancy, the kingdom of Judah would see the downfall of confederate ene- mies, by whom, however, it would be harassed till the season of the Emanuel's birth. And this would have been a prophecy nugatory in itself, and incon- sistent with the event.
But it is a further objection to this, in common with every interpretation yet mentioned, that it makes this 16th verse a promise of providential dc-
46 ISAIAH.
liverance, abruptly introduced in the midst of a comminatory discourse. The prediction of the birth of the Emanuel, addressed to Ahaz, an idolatrous prince, was certainly, with respect to him, a threat, (although it is not considered as such by Vitringa). The whole discourse, subsequent to the 16th verse to the end of the chapter, is threatening. It is cer- tainly strange, if a promise is introduced among these threats without any thing in the connexion of the sentences to mark the transition from threatening in the 15th verse to promise in the 16th, or back again from promise to threatening. The want of which, in the latter instance, was so strongly felt by Houbigant, that he makes a conjectural emendation of the text at the beginning of the 17th verse, to produce that mark of transition, which he was aware was necessary in the scheme of interpretation which he adopted.
It seems to me that all this confusion may be avoided, and all obscurity of the passage removed, if the word V? be taken for a noun substantive in apposition with the pronoun fintf. For the passage may be thus rendered,
" Surely before this child shall know
To refuse evil, and set his choice upon good,
ISAIAH. ^7
This land of which thou art the plague * [literally, the
thoni'] Shall be left destitute of both her kings."
— " before this child" — the child just mentioned, the Emanuel.
— " this land," Palestine, the country of the speaker and of him to whom he spake. Of this land Ahaz was the thorn, or plague, by his wicked in which brought that train of calamities on the Jewish nation, which ended in the Babylonish captivity. See 2 Kings xvi, and 2 Chron. xXviii. " Before this wonderful child, whose birth I now predict, shall attain to an age to distinguish between good and evil, this land of which thou art the plague and scourge, shall be left destitute of both her kings." That is, no king shall remain in either branch of the Jewish nation, but the monarchies both of Israel and Judah shall be demolished. Thus this 16th verse is a prediction, that both these monarchies should be brought to an end, before the Emanuel should have passed his infancy. Accordingly, the last of the two, at that time extending over the dominions of both, the kingdom of Judah was extinguished in the se- cond year of our Lord's age, by the death of Herod
Compare Ezek. xxviii, 24-,
48 ISAIAH.
the Great. For although it was ten years later be- fore Judea was reduced to the form of a province, Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch, was in the meanwhile the mere vassal of the emperor, who as- signed him, for the short time he suffered him to govern, but the half of his father's dominions.
The chief objections that may be made to this in- terpretation I take to be these two. 1st, That the word Vp, written defectively without the % occurs in no other place as a noun substantive, in the singular number ; though Q^Jp, for thorns, is frequent. Idly, That the better Hebrew phrase for " of which thou art the plague," would be rh yvp finK n^K. But these objections seem less considerable than the dif- ficulties which press the other interpretations.
The learned Dr Sturges, in his letter to the Lay- man (printed for Cadell, 1791), in defending Bishop Lowth's translation as preferable to the Layman's, says, " that ^S)D cannot properly be constructed with Styn, but may very properly with Yp." If this criticism be just, it makes equally against my trans- lation and the Layman's, and should be mentioned as a third grammatical objection. The objection, however, seems pretty strongly overruled by the un- ited authorities of the LXX, Theodotion, Symma-
ISAIAH. 49
chus, and Aquila. Every one of these interpreters evidently construes ^S)D with 2tyr\. See Bardht's Hexapla.
If it be said that, according to this interpretation, Ahaz receives no sign of the truth of the prediction contained in the 7th, 8th, and 9th verses, the answer is, that none was meant to be given him, after the offence which he gave by declining the Prophet's offer. The Prophet is sent to dispel the king's fears by assurances that the confederate kings of Samaria and Syria would be frustrated by God's special in- terference, in the hopes they had formed of the con- quest of Judah. The Prophet executes this com- mission ; and then, in the 10th and 11th verses, the Prophet, in the name of God, invites Ahaz to ask whatever sign might best please him of the certainty of the predictions delivered to him. Ahaz, not re- lieved from his apprehensions by the promise of God's protection, in terms which indicate something of superstitious fear of the Divine Power, mixed with incredulity, refuses the Prophet's offer, in verse 12th. The Prophet, taking fire at the secret mistrust of God, which the continuance of the king's fears, strongly marked in the language of his reply, be- trayed, attacks the miserable idolater in a strain of
VOL. II. I)
50 ISAIAH.
stern rebuke and threatening. Since he declined to receive a sign, a token of the certainty of the de* liverance promised, God himself, he tells him, would in due season exhibit such a sign of his own power and of his government of the world, and care of man, as the heart of man never could have conceiv- ed. That the downfall of the Jewish kingdom, in both its branches, would be completed upon the ex- hibition of that sign. After the general prediction of this final calamity, he goes into the detail of that train of miseries which were to lead to it, and were now beginning. Thus, it is true, the word sign is used in different senses in the 11th and 14th verses: in the 11th, for a pledge of the truth of a particular prediction; in the 14th, for a token of God's power and providence in the general. This play, if it may be so called, between different, but cognate senses of the same word, is one of the proper symptoms of animated speech, and never creates obscurity when feelings are excited in the hearer s or the reader's mind, to correspond in any degree with those of the speaker.
Verse 17. — " even the king of Assyria." Omit these words with Houbigant, Archbishop Seckei\ and Bishop Lowth.
ISAIAH. 51
Verse 19. — " bushes ;" perhaps u brilliant flowers." See Parkhurst, Su
Chap, viii, 1. — " Take thee a great roll" — I cannot find that the root n^J signifies * to polish.' And I much doubt the sense which Bishop Lovvth, from that supposed meaning of the root, gives the word p^J in this place, ' a mirror.' It is true, the word Wtttan, for which some MSS. have BM^ is rendered * the glasses,' chap, hi, 23. But from the other things with which it is there connected, it should seem that it rather signifies some transparent garments. So the LXX understood it; and this sense naturally connects with some of the most usual senses of the root, nW. See Mr Parkhurst's Lexicon. But the word p^J seems rather to be referred to the root ^, and to signify * a roll.'
— " with a man's pen" — If there be any truth in what is said by some of the Rabbin, (vide Huctius
Demonstrat. Evan. Prop, iv, cap. xiii, § 10), that the Jews before the captivity had a double character, one in which the sacred books were written, another for common use, " to write with a man's pen" may signify to write in the common character, that the writing might be legible to all.
— Ci concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz." — u and
n 2
52 ISAIAH.,
write in it with a man's pen, To a swift one, the
spoil ; one that hasteneth, the prey."
i
Verse 6. — " this people ;" u e. the people of the kingdom of Israel. " Quia populus decern tribuum magis voluit Resin et filio Remalise, i. e. Damasci et Samariae regibus esse subjectus quam stirpi David, quag meo coepit regnare judicio, faciam eura nequa- quam his regibus quos assumpsit, sed regi servire Assyrio." Hieron. ad locum.
— " the waters of Shiloah that go softly" — It is difficult to reconcile this " going softly" of the wa- ters of Shiloah with St Jerome's description of that stream. He says that it is a periodical spring, u which bubbles up at the foot of mount Sion, not perpetually, but at stated times ; — e non jugibus aquis sed in certis horis diebusque;' and runs with great noise through hollows under ground and the caverns of a rock of extraordinary hardness." Per- ' haps at its rise it may rush through the orifices of the rock at the foot of the hill with considerable noise and impetuosity, but issuing in no great quan- tity ; at some small distance from its source it may form a scanty, gentle, silent stream.
Verse 8. — <c he shall pass through Judah y" X2^ ther, " and he shall run on into Judea, flooding and
ISAIAH.
overflowing." The Assyrian is described under the image of a flood, first overwhelming the territory of the ten tribes, and thence proceeding in its irresist- ible course till it enters the land of Jndea. The progress of the flood from one place to another is expressed in the word ^n ; very imperfectly render- ed in English by the words " pass through."
— " shall fill the breadth" — And the extension of his wings (i. e. the length of his extended wings) [shall be] the full breadth of thy land, O Emanuel.'1
Verse 9. — " O ye people" — rather, " O ye peoples." Upon the mention of Emanuel, greater scenes open to the Prophet's view, and he breaks out in strains of triumph, for the final victory of the Emanuel over the confederated branches of the apostate faction, idolaters, atheists, proiane men, and evil spirits.
Verses 10, 11. — " for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me, with a strong hand" — I cannot but much incline to the transposition pro- posed by Houbigant,
;T> rvpra Sk uej; "O *^k mm nDK ro *o
&c.
D
5* ISAIAH.
" For with us is God, with a mighty hand, For thus saith Jehovah unto me" —
Rather, without any transposition, render the 11th
verse thus,
" For thus spake Jehovah unto me,
What time he took me by the hand, and turned me aside From walking in the way of this people, saying"—
Verse 12.' <c Say ye not a confederacy," &c. I see no difficulty in this passage, nor at all perceive tire necessity of the change proposed by Archbishop Seeker, and adopted by Bishop Lowth, of *i#p into U^p. God warns the Prophet, i. e. he warns the faith- ful in the person of the Prophet, not to be a party in the confederacies of the Jewish people, but to put his whole trust in God, In this warning, the more immediate object may be the ruinous alliance which Ahaz formed with the Assyrian. But, in a higher sense, the caution may respect the iniquitous con- federacy of the Jewish priests and rulers against our Lord, and the confederacy of Jews and heathens against his religion upon its first appearance. If I were to propose any change, it should rather be of It^H^n, in the beginning of the next verse, into VWpn. « Jehovah of hosts make him your confe- derate/5
. ISAIAH.
— " neither fear ye their fear.11 The fear of the people of Jiulea at the time when this prophecy was delivered, was a fear of the allied forces of llesin and Pekaiah. The fear of the Jews in the time of our Saviour, was " that all men would believe in him, and that the Romans would come and take away their place and nation." John xi, 48. And the fear of the heathens, upon the first promulgation of the gospel, was a fear of the vengeance of their imagin- ary gods.
Verse 13. " Sanctify''— See the note on the pre- ceding verse.
Verse 14. — " he shall be for a sanctuary" — #npD7 T\^T\\ read, with Vulgate and Bishop Lowth, gnjoS x=& JWI% « And he shall be to you for a sanctuary."
— " to both the houses of Israel ;" /*. e. to both the -branches of the Jewish nation.
Verse 16. " Bind up the testimony" — PHiyn, " the oracular warning." —-among my disciples ff rather, " for my disciples." — " pro illis qui docentera me audient." Houbigant. This command to the Pro- phet to bind up this prediction, and seal the com- mand, or doctrine, as a thing to be laid by, for fu- ture use, together with the Prophet's declaration
56 ISAIAH.
that immediately follows, that he will wait for Jeho- vah, &c. clearly shews that these oracular warnings and admonitions, which he is commanded to bind up and seal, relate to the events of distant times.
Verse 18. " Behold, I," &c. The application of this passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to prove the truth of the human nature in the Redeemer, is very extraordinary. It shews that from the 16th verse the Prophet personates the humanity of the Messiah.
Verse 19. — & for the living to the dead?" After W*H\ Houbigant would insert EW» OKj Bishop Lowth JFWtfl. The version of the LXX in some degree justifies the conjecture. The words, if not inserted, must be understood.
Verse 20. " To the law and to the testimony." To the revealed doctrine and the oracular warning. See verse 16.
— " if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
tm "D-D HDIO *h CDK
nw h p* lew
Bishop Lowth makes this the beginning of a new period, connecting it with what follows.
ISAIAH. 17
" If they will not speak according to this word [the word of the command and the testimony, a© the Bishop under- stands it], In which there is no obscurity, Every one of them shall pass through," &c.
But the word TiW9 though it denotes a black swarthy colour, never signifies the perfect darkness of the night, but the imperfect feeble light of the break of day. It is not used, that I can find, to de- note the last stage of the evening twilight, but the first of the dawn. It expresses nascent, not evanes- cent light. Therefore 1W pK is more properly " no light" than " no obscurity," and seems to be used here as a proverbial expression for writings in which the sense is supposed to be studiously concealed un- der harsh metaphors and dark senigmata. The words n*n 1312 may be understood to relate to this pro- verbial expression which follows them, full as natur- ally as to the word of God mentioned before under the appellations of the doctrine and the oracular warning. *> OK is a phrase of asseveration ; ' See if I do not,' or, ' See if they do not,' according to the person of the verb : or of interrogation, ! Nonne.' Sometimes, but less frequently, it signifies * If not* The whole verse may be thus rendered :
5* ISAIAH.
" To the doctrine and the testimony- See if they do not say, according to the proverb, that there is not a ray of light in it."
The first line is an admonition, in opposition to those who advise a consultation with wizards and diviners. " Rather consult the doctrine and predic- tions of your sacred books. But see," says God to the Prophet, <c when they are referred to these, if they do not complain of their utter obscurity." Or the sense of the passage may be, what our public translation seems to give : a If they [i. e. those whom you are advised to consult} do not speak ac- cording to this word [the word of the revealed doc- trine and the oracular warning], it is because there is no glimmering of light in them [no glimmering of the light of Divine knowledge]."
What follows is very difficult. The feminine pro- noun r© has no antecedent. Houbigant, for ft?, reads nWO • and for the participle WpJ5 he would read 'tt^E, observing that the sentence requires a noun in this place. The Vulgate, Symmachus, and the Chaldee, seem to have had in their copies some word derived from the root ^5. Bishop Lowth thinks it was the participle SWJ. But I agree with Houbigant, that the sentence wants a noun in this
ISAIAH 59
place, to be either the object or the nominative of the verb. I would (with much less alteration of the text than Houbigant proposes) read
:>j?-n vtfV om -Dpi or rather,
ajm i^p D!-D *OyX
According to the first emendation, ^p and 2jn are subjects of the verb "^JJ.
« And there shall come upon them stubbornness and famine."
According to the second emendation, which I great- ly prefer, these two words are objects of the verb
U I will bring upon them stubbornnes and famine."
Not a famine of meat and drink, but of religious knowledge and comfort. In this and all that follows to the word Hv in the 23d verse, according to the Hebrew, or the words c< her vexation" in the 1st verse of the following chapter, according to the English Bible, the prophecy respects the religious blindness and obstinacy of the Jews, in the days of our Lord's appearance in the flesh, and the judg- ments which fell upon them. I render the whole thus,
U I will bring upon them stubbornness and famine ;
60 ISAIAH.
And it shall be that he that is famished shall fret withm
himself, And blaspheme against his king and his God, And shall look upwards."
22 " And towards the land he shall earnestly look. But behold tribulation and darkness, Weariness, distress, and a solid mist. For weariness [is] not [incident] to him, who layeth the distress upon her."
— u he that is famished" — 3JTV* *0, quisquis pre- mitur fame. *>2 is often used for the pronoun "l&W. See Masclef. Gram. Heb. cap. xxv, num. vi, § vii.
— " his king and his God," Jesus Christ, the king of the Jews.
— " look upwards," look to heaven, for a sign from thence, which the unbelieving Jews demanded of our Lord.
" And towards the land he shall earnestly look." With amazement and dismay, and anxious for the event, this stubborn famished Jew shall look to the land, the land of Judea, contemplate the state of his country.
— " a solid mist j" literally, a thrusting mist^ a mist that strikes against you $ darkness that might be felt.
— " upon her" — upon the land.
ISAIAH. 61
From the beginning of the 19th verse to this place, it seems that God is the speaker. What follows, to the end of the 7th verse of the following chapter, the Prophet utters in his own person. Here there- fore the eighth chapter should end.
Chap, ix, 1. — " when at first he lightly afflicted
and afterwards did more grievously afflict" —
" Fuit superiore tempore aliquod levamentum terrae Zabulon et terrae Nepthalim, sed postremo tempore omnia gravissima erunt in via maris secus Jordanem in Galitea Gentium.,, Houbigant. The verb H^p, with the mention of some specific burthen, of ser- vice, affliction, or whatever else may be described under the image of a burthen, signifies to take off from that burthen, and make it lighter. But no in- stance can be found, in which that verb, used transi- tively, signifies to lay on a light affliction, to afflict in a small degree, or to lay on a light burthen of any sort. Again, the verb 1^5, with the mention of some specific burthen, may signify to aggravate its weights But the verb by itself never signifies to afflict griev- ously. Vitringa wras in the same opinion : " Voces /pn n^DSn in scriptura occurrere pro ' levius et gra- vius affligere' non putem." Vol. i, p. 233. Father Houbigant thinks ^pn is used impersonally in Ho-
62 ISAIAH.
phal, and, changing the Hiphil TOSH into the Ho- phal 13551, he says that verb is similarly used. The levamentum, in his view of the passage, was the shel- ter which the kingdom of Judah afforded to many individuals of the tribes of Zabulon and Napthali at the time of Tiglath-pileser's invasion of their terri- tory: the gravissima omnia, the calamities which that country suffered, when the rest of the ten tribes were finally captivated. But no other instance is to r be found in which the Hophal verbs ^pft and *D5n are used impersonally, the one to express alleviation, the other aggravation of a burthen of misery, with an accusative of the person relieved or afflicted. These verbs, therefore, unquestionably render the sense which Bishop Lowth, with Vitringa, affixes to them, — ' debased,' — c made glorious/ And the whole passage may be thus translated :
" As the former crisis debased
The land of Zabulon and the land of Napthali ; The latter, on the contrary, hath made glorious The coast of the sea, the banks of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles/' — <c the former crisis," Tiglath-pileser's invasion ; " the latter," our Lord's appearance in the flesh. Verse 3. " Thou hast multiplied the nation, and
o
ISAIAH. G3
not increased the joy ; they joy," &c. I see no ne- cessity for any alteration of the text. The Prophet's discourse refers to a shifting scene exhibited to his imagination, of a country thinly inhabited, unfruit- ful, wrapped in mists, suddenly illuminated by a bright sun, filled with new inhabitants, at first strug- gling with great difficulties, and shortly attaining the height of prosperity ; their enemies vanquished in battle, and the accoutrements and weapons of the slain burnt in heaps upon the field. This shifting scene is emblematical of the state of religious know- ledge before the gospel, of the improvements made by the Christian revelation, of the variable fortunes of the church from its first establishment to its final triumph over all its enemies ; of the troubles of its infancy, and the peace and prosperity of its later days. The Prophet's discourse is not a description of this scene composed by recollection after he was recovered from the trance, but short remarks upon the parts of it as they pass before him. " Propheta est in raptu (says the learned Vitringa upon another passage) variasque coram oculis pictas habet ima- gines, quarum altera succedit alteri, quasque ipse Ut vidit in ecstasi nobis pariter contemplandas exhibet." Hence his discourse changes as the scene shifts;
64 ISAIAH.
and when contrary images succeed, in this emblem- atical exhibition of futurity, his words, considered in themselves, will seem incoherent and contradictory. First, he sees a sudden light burst over the region of Galilee, and dispel the mists which for ages had enveloped it ; figurative of the light of the gospel which first appeared in that country, and shed its splendour over the world walking in the darkness of spiritual ignorance* He sees the nation (of the true church) multiplied (by the influx of the Gentile converts), but the joy (at first) not increased; the nation so multiplied struggling for some time under the greatest difficulties. But in an instant these scenes of sorrow pass away, and a picture succeeds of national prosperity and public joy, and of victory obtained, not by the prowess of man, but the sen* sible and special interposition of God, like Gideon's victory over the Midianites.
Verse 4. — " the yoke of his burden j" i. e. the yoke with which he was burthened. — " jugum quod ferebat." Houbigant.
Verse 5. This verse must remain in some obscurity till the sense of the word [N3 is more clearly ascer- tained. Bishop Lowth's " caliga caligati" is -certain-
ISAIAH. m
ly the best guess that has been yet made, but yet it is not quite satisfactory.
If the word '5 ue taken as a verb, the passage may be thus rendered,
" For destroyed is the greave of the greaved warrior, with its rattling noise, And the garment rolled in blood : And shall be for burning-fuel for the fire."
— " with its rattling noise." So Bishop Stock.
Verse 6. — " The mighty God ;" rather, "God, the mighty Man."
Verse 7. " Of the increase of his government" — literally, " [His] government is for increase ;" i. e. it shall perpetually increase. " Propagabit late im- perium suum." Houbigant.
— c< upon the throne." I think Houbigant' s con- jecture not improbable. He would read ND5 7y ly^ - " He shall ascend the throne." The verb p^rn, as Houbigant observes, wants a preceding verb to go- vern it.
Chap, ix, 8, — x, 4. A prophecy against the ten tribes.
8. " The Lord sent a word into Jacob ;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " Jehovah hath sent a word [i. c. an oracular word, a prophecy] against Jacob."
VOL. II. E
66 ISAIAH.
This oracular word I take to be the denunciations of judgment upon the disobedience of the Jewish race uttered by Moses, and preserved in the book of Deuteronomy. These judgments, at the time when Isaiah delivered this prophecy, were lighting upon Israel; they were then about to take effect upon that branch of the Jewish nation which consisted of the ten tribes.
Verse 9. " And all the people shall know" — Houbigant and Bishop Lpwth propose different emendations of the verb IJTW. I am persuaded no emendation is necessary. The verb JH1 is properly to know by sensation, to feel, perceive, experience. The final 1 in this place I take, not for the formative of the third person plural, but for the pronominal suffix rehearsing the noun ^% (see verse 13), which noun I take to be also the antecedent of the suffix in V?5. And I would render the passage thus, H And this people shall feel it, the whole of it, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, While they say, in pride and arrogance of heart,'' &c. The words " Ephraim and the inhabitant of Sama- ria" are expositive of '* this people." This people, the ten tribes, shall feel the full effect and comple- tion of these antient denuntiations of wrath, at the
ISAIAH. <>:
very time that they are the most swoln with notions of their own greatness and national strength.
Verse 11. — " set up the adversaries of Rezin against him ;" i. e. against Rezin. There is no ne- cessity for the change of *W into "HCJ, proposed by Houbigant, and adopted by Bishop Lowth. The Prophet, in this verse, foretells the overthrow of Rezin, the ally of the king of Israel ; and in the next, the calamities of the kingdom of Israel itself The mention of the Syrian, at the beginning of the next verse, among the devourers of Israel, has led expositors to imagine that it was against Israel that the Wj or "HJtf, of Rezin were to be set up ; and, accordingly, to refer the pronominal suffix in V>7JJ, not to fV\ which immediately precedes it, but to PJTI, in the 8th verse. But how were the princes of Rezin, if we adopt the proposed emendation, *HtP for "H^ how were they set up, or excited, as Bishop Lowth has it, against Israel ? In this man- ner, says Mr White : The Assyrian, after his con- quest of Rezin, came upon the Israelites " wTith a mixed army of his own national troops, and those of the vanquished Syrians." But of these vanquished Syrians, which Mr White has enlisted for Tiglath- pileser in his war against the kingdom of Israel, the
e 2
6$ ISAIAH.
sacred history gives a different account. They were carried away captives, and settled in Kir ; 2 Kings xvi, 9. But the name of Aram was not peculiar to Syria Damascena, which was Rezin's kingdom, but common to that country with Mesopotamia and As- syria. "The Syrians before" therefore, or, "the Syrians to the east," were Syrians distinct from Re- zin's subjects, and were his enemies.
■ — <c and join his enemies together ;" rather, U and protect his enemies j" or, ^ and set on his enemies." *^JJ, " against him," being understood, from the for- mer clause. Or, literally, M and he will anoint his enemies f* L e. anoint them for the battle, a figure taken from the antient custom of anointing the naked athletes.
Verse 12. " The Syrians" — See note on the pre- ceding verse.
Verse 13. — " neither do they seek the Lord of hosts ;" rather, " and the Jehovah of hosts they seek him not." In the preceding clause, the collective noun Dyn is joined with the singular verb %& • therefore I take the verb 1EFH in this clause, which has the same subject, to be singular, and the final 1 to be the pronominal suffix rehearsing fiVT> ntf. See verse 9„
ISAIAH. 69
Verse 17. — " for every one is a hypocrite." The word tyn seems rather to render ■ a libertine' than * a hypocrite.' Pollution is the radical idea of the word.
Verse 18. " For wickedness," &c. This passage seems to resemble some of Homer's similes, where the poet's imagination for a moment drops the prin- cipal object, to dwell upon the particulars of the picture which the image presents. I render the whole veVse thus,
u For impiety makes consumption like a fire, Which devoureth the brier and the bramble, When it is kindled in the thicket of the forest, And the surges of smoke lift themselves proudly aloft."
— " makes consumption," makes a clear riddance. Such is the precise meaning of the word *V3.
— " lift themselves proudly aloft." tSOm\ State- liness of motion seems contained in the idea of the word "PK5 which in the Syriac signifies a cock, from his strutting gait. ^
Verse 19. — "is the land darkened j" rather, " wasted in smoke." The verb ony seems to de- note the dissipation of a solid substance in smoke by the action of an intense fire. See Parkhurst's Lexicon, and Barker, Mr Barker thinks the Greek
70 ISAIAH.
words ccrpog and kr^co have been derived from this root.
Verse 20. — " the flesh of his own arm." For IJHJ, read, with Chaldee, Archbishop Seeker, and Bishop Lowth, IJHj — " the flesh of his neighbour." Or, if the common reading ^"tt be retained, render, " the flesh of his children." But 1JH- connects better with what follows. " For Ephraim and Manasseh were neighbours ; but neither the seed or progeny of the other, nor either of Judah, nor Judah of them," Chap, x, 1.
" Woe to the judges! judges of iniquity!
And the scribes draw up writings of oppression."
— " draw up writings"-*— So I would render *0r\5, for the Prophet alludes to writings in judicial pro- ceedings, formed by scribes who were the tools of the iniquity of the judge, to forward his purposes.
Verse 2. — " to turn aside the needy from judg- ment;" rather, " to pervert the cause of the needy." I take p*JB for the accusative after the verb rfittft. Compare 1 Sam. viii, 3; and see the LXX in this place.
— " the right"— WUQ. The word in this place seems to signify the thing itself which is the object of a right, the thing claimed. — u and to make
ISAIAH. 71
plunder of the right of the poor among my people."
Verse 3. — " and where will you leave your glory?" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " and where will you deposit your wealth ?"
4? * Without me must be a bowing down among the fettered, And they must fall among the slain." No emendation is required.
— " among"— nnn is not properly among, but may be so rendered when it is the preposition of the genus or species under which an individual may fall, or of the place or situation to which a thing may belong.
Verse 5. " O Assyrian ! "— Here a new prophecy begins, which extends, not to the end of the twelfth chapter, but to the end of this, or certainly to the 32d verse inclusive. The immediate subject is Sen- nacherib's invasion of Judea; but in speaking of the miraculous deliverance of the Jews from that cala- mity, the Prophet's views are sometimes carried for- ward to the greater and more general deliverance of the elect of God. And in the end he passes from this subject of Sennacherib into an explicit prophecy of the final redemption, which is contained in the eleventh and twelfth chapters. The transition is so artificial, that the two last verses of this chapter
E 4
12 ISAIAH,
may be considered either as the conclusion of this prophecy, or the beginning of the next.
The construction in this verse is embarrassed, and the sense obscured by an erroneous punctuation^ which should he thus corrected,
j mjfi ems
" What ho, Assyrian ! He is the rod and staff of mine anger ; In their hands is mine indignation."
u e. the execution of mine indignation is put inter their hands. So St Jerome and the Vulgate. " Virga furoris mei et baculus ipse est, in manu eorum in- dignatio mea." Bishop Lowth's omission of NVT greatly embarrasses the construction, and enervates the sense.
Verse 6. WU^\ The suffixed 1 rehearses not DJ? or *»% but *WK in the preceding verse. This whole verse should be thus rendered,
" Against a polluted nation I will send him,
Against a people [the object] of my wrath will I commis- sion him, That he may gather spoil, and carry off prey ; And then to make him a trampling-under-foot like the mire of the streets."
ISAIAH. 7:3
God opens his whole design ; which was to make the Assyrian the tool of judgment upon his own people, and when once he had served that purpose, to bring him to utter destruction for his own crimes. See verse 12.
Verse 13. — " and have robbed their treasures." Houbigant's emendation, *>nDtf for VIEW, is plau- sible.* What follows I would read thus,
who *o#v» TOio.Tmio The Vulgate suggests the emendation : " Et detraxi quasi potens in sublimi residentes." Compare chap. xxvi, 5.
" I have removed the boundaries of peoples ; And I have pillaged their hoarded treasures, And, as a mighty one, I have brought down those that are seated on high."
See, however, Mr Parkhurst's attempt to explain the passage, without correction, in his Lexicon, under the word W.
* It is more than plausible ; it k supported by 92 of Kennicott's MSS. Of which number 32 have ^rvDiw ; 1 has ^rVDKW ; 9 have WDiy ; 32 have >nDiW; and 18 have ^nou/: not to mention others in which the second iy is written in a rasurc. Probably the true reading has been >rvDW.
74 ISAIAH.
Verse 15. See Bishop Lowth's translation of this verse, and his excellent note upon it. Of the differ- ent passages which he quotes, the 8th verse of the thirty-first chapter of Isaiah particularly justifies his interpretation * of this passage.
Verse 16. Houbigant's proposed alteration of £W, at the end of this verse, into Vy, is not to be borne. He imagines that the pronoun suffixed to the words *W and "tW in the next verse, must rehearse some word rendering a forest. But were this criticism just, TP could not be the word, because VJJ signifies either a growing tree, or timber, and in the plural, growing trees, or pieces of timber ; but it is never used, either in the singular or plural, to denote a forest. But, in fact, the criticism is not just, as ap- pears from the 18th verse; in which the same pro- noun, evidently respecting the same thing or person, is suffixed to the noun *1JJ\ Consequently, if forest be- the noun rehearsed by the pronoun, "ttjp will be the forest' *s forest
Verse 18. — « and of his fruitful field. " With Houbigant, I would remove the full stop from the end of the last verse to the word ^"D in this.
* Which is indeed Vitringa's,
ISAIAH. ra
17 " And he shall consume and devour his bramble
And his brier, in one day,
18 And the pride of his forest and of his field. From the soul unto the flesh, shall be consumed."
The bramble and the brier are so much the same thing, that it could hardly be otherwise, than that both should be. consumed in one day. But the Pro- phet threatens, that one and the same day should be fatal to the bramble and brier, and to the pride or' the forest.
— >" and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth." DM DDD5 !Wl\ Which I render verbatim thus ; " (rvm) And there shall be (DDJ) an entire dis- sipation (DDE2) like a perfect melting." The army shall suddenly be gone and missing like a solid sub- stance lost by evaporation in the melting pot. See Parkhurst, under the word M.*
Verse 21. "A remnant shall return !" Here the Prophet, suddenly enflamed, as it were, by the word remnant, and their attachment of a remnant to Jehovah, rushes into distant times, to speak of the
* It is some confirmation of this interpretation that, for DDT33, 21 of Kennicott's MSS. have diddd ; and for DD2, 20 have DD"\2. Adopting these readings, the rendering should be " and there shall be an entire dissipation, like a thing perfectly melted."
76 ISAIAH.
remnant that should return to " God, the mighty man." See chap, ix, 6. That a deliverance from Assyrian oppressors cannot be the object of this and the two following verses, is evident from this con- sideration, that the kingdom of Judah was never captivated by the Assyrians. What happened in the reign of Manasseh was far short of a general cap- tivity, and was of very short duration. See St Je- rome on this place.
Verse 22. — " the consumption decreed shall over- flow with righteousness.' ' This, with the following verse, I would render thus ;
•« The accomplishment is decreed : justice * overfioweth J 23 Yes : it is accomplished ; and that which is decreed
Jehovah Lord of hosts is doing
In the midst of the land."
In the latter part of the 23d verse, with St Paul- Bishop Lowth, and several MSS., I omit 'X
But see chap, xxviii, 22, where the same expres- sion recurs; and '2 is not omitted by the LXX,
* — « Existimo vocem npnp in hoc loco omnino notare justi- tiam Dei punientem" Vitringa ad locum. But this interpretation is not necessary, if this passage be understood of the gospel ; espe- cially when it is considered, that even the judgments executed up- on the Jews were means conducive to the end of general mercy.
3
ISAIAH. 77
Nor is it necessary it should be omitted. Tor pltfl ^5 may signify here, what it certainly signifies in the other place, and the LXX understand by it here, u the whole habitable world."
Verse 24. In this verse the Prophet returns to Sennacherib, his immediate subject.
25 " For yet a very little while and indignation shall come to an end ; And my wrath (shall be turned) against their wickednesses."
That is, my indignation against you, my people, shall come to an end, and my wrath shall be turned against the crimes of thy heathen oppressors. I take the word cancan to express enormous wickedness in general ; and so the Vulgate understood it.
Verse 28. — <c and the yoke shall be destroyed be- cause of the anointing." I have no clear view of the meaning of this passage. For ptt? ^30, Bishop Lowth and the Layman, both read, with the LXX,
" Yea, the yoke shall perish from off your shoulders.*' But I am persuaded that the verb ^an never signi- fies ' to destroy,' or ' to be destroyed/ or ;to perish/ In this place, I am inclined to think, with Mr Park- hurst, that it is a noun, and it is to be taken in its primary sense of f a cord/ ty "?an, f the cord of the
7* ISAIAH.
yoke,' is the cord which binds the yoke to the neck.
H And it shall be in that day
His burden shall be removed from thy shoulder,
And his yoke from thy neck,
And the cord of the yoke, because of the anointing."
Verse 29. For uS, read, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, Teh.
33 << J3ehold, Jehovah the Lord of hosts
Rendeth the boughs with a hurricane ! And the tall stems shall be broken of£ 34? And the lofty shall be laid low.
And the thicket of the forest he shall clip all round with
the iron tool, And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty hand."
— " a hurricane." The noun fi^njJD may signify any vehement concussion. From the root HP cer- tainly comes the French orage, thence ouragan, thence hurrican.
— " the tall stems" — literally, " the high of up- right stature.'* This I take to be a periphrasis for the upright stem of a tree. The former verse de- scribes the havoc of storm among the branches of the trees; this describes the falling of the trees themselves. The participle P^JTU properly, I be- lieve, expresses the snapping of the huge body of
ISAIAH.
the tree close to the ground. Though the Assyrian army under Sennacherib is the immediate object of these two verses, they seem to contain a general threatening of God's vengeance on the potentates of the world, who harass and persecute the profes- sors of the true religion : and thus they make a most beautiful and artificial connection of this with the following prophecy. While the proud oaks of Leba- non are lopped of their brandies, and at last snapped in sunder, or torn up by the roots by the violence of the storm, amidst all this rage and devastation of the hurricane, a twig shall shoot from the stool of Jesse,
Chap, xi, 1. " And there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch."
— " a rod;" "Kan, a sprig. — " the stem;" JW, the stump of a tree cut down close by the ground. I know no proper word for this in the English lan- guage. The farmers in Surrey call it " the stool." — " a branch ;" *&*, a plant. This mention of the stump of Jesse shews that the royal house of Judah is considered as one of the trees that was to be thrown down by the hurricane described in the two last verses of the preceding chapter, and this proves ♦he general extent of that prophetic commination.
SO ISAIAH.
Verse 2. — " the Spirit of the Lord;" i. e. the gift of prophecy. See Vitringa.
Verse 3. " And shall make him of quick under- standing in the fear of the Lord ?* rather, " And shall make him quick-scented in the fear of Jehovah." See Vitringa. That is, he shall be endowed with a preternatural insight into the real dispositions of men, and with singular sagacity of discerning the genuine principle of religious fear of God, even when it lies dormant in the heart of the yet un- awakened sinner.
Verse 4. — f* and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth."
€t And with equity shall he work conviction in the meek of the earth."
Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. I think, with Bishop Lowth, that for •YWK, in the second line of this distich, it is probable the original word was T^n. (But see Bishop Stock's note.) For the sense of this distich, Bishop Lowth has explained it better in three lines, than Vitringa in as many folio pages. — " a zeal for justice and truth shall make him active and strong in executing the great work which he shall undertake."
ISAIAH. 31
Verse 7. " And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together.** Read, with the LXX, the Syriac, and Bishop Lowth,
jimS van* rxni
and see Bishop Lowth's translation.
Verse 9. — " for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." For mm nx njn, Houbi- gant would read Wl* HNTn njn ; — M of the know- ledge and fear of Jehovah." But the change is un- necessary. " Hebraea phrasis videri posset insolen- tior iis qui ignorant, nomina verbalia apud Hebraeos imitari modum constructions verborum, sive casum verbi sui regere." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 10. — " to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious."
_« to it— shall seek9'— ltrm; " of him shall the Gentiles inquire." The verb BTT1 signifies generally to seek or inquire ; but specifically, to inquire in a religious sense, to resort to the prophet, or to the oracle, for advice in difficulties. It is the specific word for this sort of consultation, like youcOai in the Greek language. It bears this peculiar sense in no less than 43 out of 155 passages in which it occurs in the Old Testament, and this text makes the 44th.
VOL. II. r
M ISAIAH.
This sense of the word is not at all conveyed in Bishop Lowth's English word " repair," and is to- tally lost in the Layman's word " hope." — " his rest" Vinto. The noun rinJD signifies either the condition, or the place, of rest. The sanctuary of the temple at Jerusalem is called the " house of rest" for the ark, and " the resting place" of Jeho- vah. The glorious state of the church, which shall take place when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be come in, is described in this verse, under the image of an oracular temple, to which all nations resort, filled, like the temple at Jerusalem, with the visible glory of the present Deity. Or perhaps Jerusalem
in the millenary period may be literally meant. " And it shall come to pass in that day,
The shoot- from-the- root of Jesse, which standeth for a
standard to the peoples, Of him shall the nations inquire ; And his resting place* [his abode] shall be glorious." The English word ' inquire' is used in the public translation in many passages of Ezekiel to render the verb UH*l in its specific sense of oracular inquiry. Verse 11. — " the Lord shall set his hand again the second time"— W JVW W* t^DV*. The verb
* Or, " his residence ;" and this is Bishop Stock's word.
ISAIAH. 8.0
rpi is simply to add, repeat, or do again, without any idea of extending, lifting, or any other specific ac- tion as the thing repeated. Some verb, therefore, that may signify to extend, or to lift up, is necessary after rpDV> -y for to repeat Ids hand, is no more He- brew than it is English. I would read either
vr» rvw *ywi vw t^Dv» or, iv rrw nrtpS *>j-ik rpv>
The resemblance of the omitted word to *\W\ ac- cording to the first conjecture, or to nw, according to the second, easily accounts for the omission. Of the two emendations I prefer the former, because the verb $tib is seldom used to render the extending or lifting of the hand, to strike an enemy, or per- form any act of strength. I find three instances, and only three of this use of the verb in the whole Bible; namely, 2 Sam. xviii, 28, and xx, 21, and Ps. x, 12. It is applied also twice to the lifting of a rod to strike, Isaiah x, 24, and 26. The LXX certainly had some verb in this line subjoined to r^DV>.
Verse 11. — " and from the islands of the sea;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " and from the western regions." Vide "W. u Ac ne solum orientales po- pulos significare videatur," says St Jerome, " jungit et reliqua, ■ et ab insulis maris.' Insulas autem ma-
f 2
84. ISAIAH*
ris occidentalem plagam significat quae oceani am- bitu clauditur." In this remark St Jerome antici- pates the confutation of Mr White's senseless criti- cism, that the Prophet mentions no return of the Jews, from England, Holland, and Germany, where they are now dispersed.
14, « But they shall fly westward on the shoulders of the Phi- listim : Altogether they shall spoil the children of the east : Edom and Moab shall be an extension of their power, And the sons of Ammon shall obey them."
Verse 15. — " shall utterly destroy" — For OHnfi, read, with the Chaldee, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, *?*$*; " shall dry up"—
— " the tongue of the Egyptian sea" — Vitringa thinks the phrase may denote the Buborstic branch of the Nile. His reasons are very plausible. See vol. i, p. 358, c. 2.
— " and shall smite it in the seven streams" — ra- ther, with Vitringa and Bishop Lowth, cc and he shall strike it into seven streams."
— "and make men go over dryshod." For T*Hfi% read, with Bishop Lowth and Houbigant, upon the authority of the Vulgate, the Chaldee, and the LXX,
ISAIAH. ss
WflR\ " and make it passable 0^33 for men in their shoes."
Chap. xii. " This hymn seems better calculated," says Bishop Lowth, u for the use of the Christian church than of the Jewish, in any circumstances, or at any time, that can be assigned." Certainly this hymn is not calculated for the use of the Jewish church in any past times. But I agree with Houbi- gant, that it is a hymn of thanksgiving of the future Jewish church become Christian, and flourishing in Palestine. — " dices in die ilia, haec Isaias ad gen- tem suam, quam capiti superiore alloquebatur, non autem ad omnes populos Christi fidem amplexuros." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 2. For HJfH 58 rnpjl, read IW mm. See the LXX, the Vulgate, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth.
Chap, xiii, 2. — " that they may go into the gates of the nobles." The verb nns) signifies to open, as a door or window7, and thence to set at liberty from any kind of restraint, or from subjection and servi- tude. Hence the participle Paoul of that verb may signify persons emancipated from any constraint or dominion. The word ^nnD here, I take for the plural of that participle in regimen before OWN. And
r 3
36 ISAIAH.
OCHJ W>3, the " emancipated of the princes," I take to be princes of Cyrus's army, emancipated from the sovereignty of the Babylonian, to whom they had been tributary. Emancipated not only by their own act, by throwing off their allegiance and rising in arms against him, but by the decrees of Providence, who suggested the enterprise, and had doomed it to success. Thus, QWl-l *>nnS) is the sub- ject of the verb WS\ and the antecedent of the pro- noun DJ17.
« Erect the banner on a lofty mountain :
Raise the voice to them, beckon [to them] with the hand,
And let them come, the emancipated of the chiefs, or the princes no longer vassals."
It is difficult to render the idea m English without a periphrasis.
Verse 3. — c< my sanctified ones." — " militibus a me conscriptis." Houbigant. — " mine enrolled warriors." Bishop Lowth. See Jer. li, 28 ; vi, 4 j xxii, 7 ; Joel iii, 9.
— " my mighty ones for mine anger." ^iv"? vvOJ. I take *T04 to be the Paoul of the verb 1PM* — " those that are rendered strong for mine anger." The phrase expresses that the persons intended by it were endued with strength and valour by God for
ISAIAH. 87
thc purposes of his wrath. The following phrase is of the like import : VMU Wnp ; « those who are made to triumph for my honour." If we might read with Houbigant, 'VnKsfy the parallelism would be more complete. Houbigant's translation comes nearer to the full sense of the original than any- other that I have seen, but not quite up to it: " Vocavi fortes irae mece servituros et pro gloria mea triumphaturos." I would render the passage thus,
" I have given command to my enrolled warriors :
I have also summoned those who are strengthened for my
wrath, %
Who are destined to triumph for mine honour." Thus far Jehovah speaks : in the next verse, the Prophet, to the beginning of the 9th.
Verse 4. — " of the kingdoms of nations" — read, " of kingdoms, of nations gathered together." Bishop Lowth. Or rather, " of kingdoms, of heathen ga- thered together."
— " of the battle ;" read HfinW*, « for the battle." Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. — " to destroy ;M rather, " to seize, and to take possession of."
Verse 8. " And they shall be afraid : pangs and sorrows," &c. The noun WW, which our English
f 4-
88 ISAIAH.
translators render by pangs, is the nominative to the verb ttiftti. The LXX render it by *%i«%us9 but it had been better rendered xqgvzeg* for it denotes the military heralds, who bring word of the unexpected irruption of an enemy's army, or of its rapid pro- gress, and near approach. The Prophet poetically amplifies the alarm of such an event, by describing the consternation of the messengers who bring the first news.
e< The heralds are terrified; pangs seize them, As a woman in travail they are pained ,•* One looks in astonishment upon another, Their visages have the livid hue of flame."
" Even such a man, so pale, so spiritless, So woe-begone, drew Priam's curtain in the dead Of night, and would have told him half his Troy Was burnt."
N.B. For pinN*, read, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, PWH>J
Verse 9. — " to lay the land desolate 5" rather, " to make the earth a desolation." From the begin- ning of .this 9th verse to the beginning of the 17th,
* In Bishop Lowth 's translation this line is omitted, by mistake as it should seem, for he has no note upon it.
ISAIAH. 89
the prophecy seems to speak of the judgments gene- rally to be executed in the latter ag<
Verse 10. " For the stars," <xc. ; rather, with Bishop Lowth, M Yea, the stars" —
" Yea, the stars of the heavens and their constellationi Shall not vibrate their light : The solar light shall be darkened* at its source ; The moon shall give no resplendence to its light."
Here Jehovah is the speaker to the middle of the 13th verse.
Verse 11. — " of the terrible," rather, "of tyrants." — " the prosperity of the proud, and I will bring down the pride of tyrants."
Verse 13. In this verse God's speech ends abrupt- ly at " place," and the Prophet goes on.
Verse 17. It seems to me that, in this 17th verse, the prophetic threatenings are again particularly turned against the Babylonians ; all that precedes, from the beginning of the 9th verse at least, is ge- neral. The prophecy opens with a general descrip- tion of judgment, under the image of Jehovah col- lecting an army to lead against his enemies. The Prophet threatens (verse 9) that " the earth will be
* Or, " restrained, confined."
90 ISAIAH.
made a desolation, and sinners destroyed out of it." Then Jehovah taking up the discourse, aggravates the menace by describing an entire derangement of the universe, insomuch that the heavens will be con- vulsed ; and the earth will be driven from its orbit, and wander irregularly through the regions of space like a flying fawn, or a flock without a shepherd. After this, to bring the prophecy gradually down to the more immediate object, the image of war, and its havoc, is resumed (verses 15, 16) ; and in the 17th verse, God, again taking up the discourse in his own person, declares that the Medes shall be employed to overthrow the Babylonian empire. Verse 21. — " satyrs shall dance there/' — " in
hoc loco alienum esset de hircis cogitare certis-
sime intelliguntur satyri, Gentilibus sic dicti—
Credebant autem veteres, daemones in nemoribus, sylvis, desertisque locis Solitos esse, noctu impri- mis, apparere forma et specie satyrorum, h. e. capite cornuto, caprinis pedibus, et cauda etiam porcina, quos daemones, lucorum et silvarum praesides, illi satyros, panes, iEgipanes, faunos et sylvanos appel- larunt, eosque de nocte inter se convenire, choreas salaces ducere, et sonos edere qualescunque, qui ho- mines terreant. Sententia mea est, traditionem
ISAIAH. j, I
de Satyris originem suam traxisse, exanimantibus quibusdam, vere animantibus luijiis specie!, Afyom- fyzotg, h. e. simiis caprinse speciei et satvrorum qua- les pinguntur simillimis." Vitringa in Is. vol. i, p. 414.
Chap, xiv, 1. " For the Lord'' — rather, u Sure- ly Jehovah" —
— " choose Israel" — rather, " set his choice upon Israel." The expression denotes a deliberate and steady predilection.
Verse 4. — " the golden city." — " auri tributum,', " the tribute of gold," Houbigant. This seems the most natural sense of the word MDniD, which occurs only in this place.
— " against the king of Babylon." In the whole sequel of this chapter, it seems to me that the mys- tical Babylon is intended, but not in exclusion of the literal.
Verse 6. — <c smote the peoples ruled the na- tions." The peoples, therefore, and the nations, were become the objects of God's favour, and their wrongs a cause of divine judgments at the time when the faithful utter this song of triumph;
— " is persecuted, and none hindereth. " The participle tpio is naturally active j and as such it is
92 ISAIAH.
properly rendered by the Vulgate, St Jerome, and Houbigant. — 6c persequentem crudeliter." Vulgate and Hieronymus. — " qua?, nemine cohibente, per- sequebatur." Houbigant. — " which, when it would persecute, met with no restraint.5' Vitringa says of this version, — " rect& se haberet si scriptum esset 5]1"1D pro ^H?^.-" They therefore who disregard the points, must adopt this exposition, upon the author- ity of Vitringa. Observe, that the three participles in this verse, M5p, ITH, and *p^E, are all in apposi- tion with the noun WV9 in the last.
Verses 7, 8. " They break forth into singing. Yea, the fir-trees rejoice," &c. Place the stop, with Hou- bigant, after OWDf
« The very fir-trees break forth in shouts of joy; The cedars of Libanus rejoice over thee."
Bishop Newcombe, in his preface to Ezekiel, has given a translation of this ode, in which he follows the same division of this passage 7 which Bishop Stock also follows.
Verse 1 1 . This 1 1 th verse is categorical, not in- terrogative. It is rightly rendered in the public translation.
Verse 12. — <c which didst weaken the nations?" C^u ^y U^n. — <c qui vulnerabas gentes." Vulgate
ISAIAH. o |
and Hieron. 6 a,roa7tKkav ngog KMrot. to, lOvtj. — " qui populos stemebas." Houbigant. — " which diddest cast lottes upon the nations." Queen Elizabeth's Bible. — " that didst subdue the nations." Bishop Lowth. Query... May not the verb U?'H have some astrological sense, denoting some malign stellar in- fluence ?
Verse 13, — M the mount of the congregation ;" rather, " the mount of the Divine presence." See Bishop Lowth's excellent note, or Vitringa on the place.
The schemes of impious ambition, ascribed in this verse to the Babylonian despot, suit exactly with the character of the Man of Sin as delineated by Daniel and St Paul, and seems to indicate that the prophe- cy extends to much later times than those of the Babylonian empire. The Babylonian monarchs were in some measure types of Antichrist, as they seem to have affected divine honours. See Judith iii, 8. Vi- tringa conceives that there is a manifest allusion to Antichrist in this passage.
Verse 14. — " clouds." The word in the original is ^y in the singular.
Verse 16. — " consider thee;" rather, " meditate upon thee." — " hcec secum reputabunt." Houbi- gant.
94 ISAIAH.
Verse 19. — " and as the raiment of those that are slain." I am of opinion, with Houbigant, that the word CD*?, whether it be supposed to render the noun raiment, or the participle clothed^ gives no sense at all in this passage. To be clothed with the slain, is a strange image to express the situation of one carcase covered with others. For V^h9 I would read UNO4? ; — " to the stench of the slain." By this alteration, and a transposition, I would reform the whole passage thus :
nyro n^5 ropo roSpn nnw
: own &*& dsid n:os
■vo \m Sk vnv> snn ijpbD
&c. inn aS
" But thou shalt be cast out unburied, as an abominable plant ; * As a carcase to be trodden under foot, to stink among the
slain.f Those that are pierced by the sword are deposited in the
stony sepulchre, But thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, Because," &c.
* — « stirps inutilis," Vulgate ; — <e stirps contempta," Houbi- gant : ' an unpromising shoot,' cut off by the gardener, and thrown away, when cut, as fit for no use. I cannot agree with Bishop Lowth, that the ayna *>*a signifies a tree on which a man had
ISAIAH. 91
N.B. The transposition of the words WW» "USD is justified by the LXX.
Verse 20. — V thy land — thy people;" the LXX have " my land — my people." The common read- ing is more in the spirit of verse 6.
— " shall never be renowned ;" rather, " shall not be named for ever \" i. e. the family shall not be perpetuated. See Vitringa on the place, vol. i, p. 439.
Verse 21. — " that they do not rise — cities;" ra- ther, " that lest they rise and possess the earth, and disturbers fill the face of the habitable globe.,, See this sense ably defended by Vitringa. D^JJ, gras- sa tores.
With this 21st verse the song of triumph clearly ends. Explicit cantilena ; " Propheta suam subjicit sententiam," says Vitringa.
been hanged. For it appears by his own authorities, that such a tree was always cut down indeed, but then it was buried, to put it out of sight, and would therefore be but a bad image of an expos- ed unburied carcase. May not arm -m be a periphrasis for a noisome weed? " Surculus abominabilis, venenata? noxiae arboris ; qui non conditur in terra, ut crescat, sed projicitur ut exarescat." Cocc. in Lex.
f Literally, « to the stinking of the slain.''
96 ISAIAH.
Verse 23. — " and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction ;" rather, with the LXX and Bishop Lowth, " and I will plunge it in the miry gulph of destruction."
Verse 26. " This is the purpose which is purpos- ed upon the whole earth," &c. That is, this is a branch of that general scheme of Providence ex- tending over the whole earth from the beginning to the end of time, disposing the fortunes and the fates of all the empires and kingdoms of the world ; and it is to be effected by that power which is exerted for the execution of the whole plan. Perhaps this passage may contain an indirect hint that the pro- phecy had a reference to more general and more distant things than the end of the Babylonian em- pire.
Verse 28. " In the year that king Ahaz died" — The Philistim were reduced and kept under by Uz- ziah. He destroyed the fortifications of their prin- cipal towns, and raised fortifications of his own in their territory ; 2 Chron. xxvi, 6. In the two suc- ceeding reigns they raised their heads again, and in the reign of Ahaz they got possession of many cities in the south of Judah; 2 Chron. xxviii, 18. But they were again reduced by Hezekiah, and recovered
3
ISAIAH. 97
themselves no more. Upon the death of Aliaz, the Prophet denounces their impending fate. He hids them no longer rejoice for their successes in the late reign, the reverse of their fortune being now at hand.
Verse 29. — " the rod of him that smote thee," of Uzziah.
— " the serpent's root," the stock of Jesse.
— " a cockatrice a fiery flying serpent," Heze-
kiah, the greatgrandson of Uzziah.
Verse 30. — " the firstborn of the poor shall feed." — " the poor shall feed on his first fruits." And to the same effect Bishop Lowth. But Vitringa ren- ders the words D^l *H"M by ■ primogeniti tenuium,' the firstborn of the poor ; and he expounds the phrase of the poorest of the poor, * qui inter pauperes et egenos primi censeri poterant.' Bishop Lowth's seems a more natural interpretation. The construc- tion, however, of the original (^33 in regimen of D^l) is in favour of Vitringa's rendering, with which the Vulgate and our public translation agree.
— " I will kill— he shall day." The verbs should both be in the first person, or both in the third. The first I think preferable.
Verse 31. — " none shall be alone in his appoint-
VOL. 71. G
98 ISAIAH.
ed times." — " there shall not be a straggler among his levies," Bishop Lowth. " Quod additur, c non est solivagus in conscriptis vel condictis ejus,' quis- que videt referendum esse ad densitatem agminum, celeritatem motus et promptitudinem militum qui has acies constituerent." Vitringa ad locum, vol. i, p. 457, c. 2.
Chap, xv, 1 . " Because in the night," &c. " Sure- ly Ar is destroyed in a night! Moab is undone. Surely Kir is destroyed in a night! Moab is un- done." See Queen Elizabeth's translators, and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 2. — « to Baith and Dibon." Read p»$1 fl*$ cl to Beth-Dibon, to the chapels," &c.
Verse 3. — <c on the tops of their houses," &c Read, according to Houbigant's elegant transposi- tion,
(t On his house-tops every one shall howl, He shall go down into his squares to weep."
The true sense of the passage is certainly that which arises from the terms thus transposed. Yet the trans- position may be unnecessary. Bishop Lowth pro- duces this distich as it stands, as an instance of pa-
ISAIAH. «
rallelism by alternate construction. See Prelim. Dis- sert, p. xxiv.
Should not the pronominal suffix to the nouns Vnu and VOm be masculine ?
Verse 4. — " therefore the armed soldiers," &c. May not the compound particle p ty denote notxcith- standing, or at the very time when? If this use of the phrase could be proved, the passage might be ren- dered thus,
" Although the warriors of Moab shout, [Or] At the very time that the warriors of Moab shout, His soul is ill-at-ease within him."
I cannot acquiesce either in Houbigant's or Bishop Lowth's translation.
Verse 5. In this 5th verse 1 cannot but think Bishop Lowth's alteration, n\ or ^h, for ^, is for the worse. Compare Jer. xlviii, 26. If the words i"PfcH£* n^Jj; were transposed, and inserted between the words p>*^ and tfrWft, the whole, I think, might be thus rendered :
ic My heart bellows for Moab like a heifer of three years old. Her nobility * are as far as Zoar ; The steep of Luhith they ascend weeping ; In the way to Horonaim they set up a cry of perdition."
* Sec notes on Hosea.
G 2
100 ISAIAH.
The Prophet represents the nobles as flying, and having in their flight reached Zoar, the very extre- mity of the country.
Vitringa thinks that it is a harsh image for sym- pathy, to say that " a man's heart bellows like a heifer." Surely it is not harsher than that employed by Jeremiah xlviii, 36.
Verse 7. See Houbigant ; but compare Vitringa, vol. i, p. 471.
Verse 9. — " for I will bring more upon Dimon." " More evils," says Bishop Lowth : but niDDU may be referred to the root fi3&, and signify " an entire sweeping away \" under which image the depopula- tion of a country is often represented. But Vitringa- says, " sensus est quern jam viderat CEcolampadius et postea Piscator, aquas Dimonis auctum iri rivulis sanguinis inter emptorum qui in eas influerent, et ita ad eas'accessuras esse accessiones, sive additamenta." Vol. i, p. 472, c. 1. The prophecy seems to threat- en that the inhabitants of the country should be so swept away, that the few who should be left should not be able to defend themselves against the wild beasts ; unless (which I rather think) Nebuchadnez- zar be intended by the lion, whose complete de- struction of the country is here predicted as a cala-
ISAIAH. 101
mity to fall upon the remnant of the nation which should escape the sword of Sennacherib.
Chap, xvi, 1. " Send ye the lamb," &c. 6t Send ye the lamb, O ruler of the land ! from the craggy rock of the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Sion." A manifest allusion to the yearly tribute of lambs which the kings of Moab had formerly paid to the kings of Israel. See 2 Kings iii, 4, 5. The Prophet advises the Moabites to submit to the king of Judah,* and seek his protection. And in the 3d,
* u Quaeris jam — quo jure propheta hoc officii a Moabitis exi- gat, cam ad id non viderentur esse obligati ? Fuerant enim tribu- tarii regni Epliraimitici, a quo defecerant, quod nihil videtur per- tinere ad reges Judae. — Responsio facilis. Moabitae subjecti a Davide proprie tributarii facti erant regno Judaeorum in successione domus Davidicae ; atque adeo cum decern tribus se avellerent a reg- no Judae, secundum juris et acqui leges, honorarium hoc debebant regibus Judae, Davide ortis, non vero Ephraimitis : quibus, at for- tioribus visis, cum se metu aut voluntate sua dediderint ; reges Judae id, iisdem aut similibus de causis, taciturn praetermisisse viden-
tur. Sed cum Moabitae postea deficerent ab ipso regno Ephrai-
mitico, et jam a tempore Achabi hoc jugum excussissent, contra rationes omnes manifesti et clari juris, Propheta illos monet de of- ficio, ad quod si redire hoc tempore, quo accisa: erant res
regni Ephraimitici, in animum inducerent, utile id ipsis esse posse ait." Vitringa ad locum, vol. i, p. 176, c. 1.
G 8
102 ISAIAH.
4th, and 5th verses, the Jews are exhorted to give their protection to the Moabites, in the assurance that all unjust oppressive power will sink under the superior force of that king of David's line, whose throne shall be established in mercy and truth. The Jews, either in Salmanasser s time, or in Nebuchad- nezzar's, were so little in a condition to protect themselves, much less their neighbours, against those invaders, that the first five verses of this chapter must certainly refer to times yet to come.
Verse 2. — " as a wandering bird, cast out of the nest ;" rather, " as a wandering bird, as a brood cast out." Ph&12 |p, literally, " a nest cast out," I take to be the young brood, just fledged, and ex- pelled from the nest in which they were hatched.
Verse 3/ " Take counsel, execute judgment." The Keri, WWi and W$9 the feminine singular, for IK'On and Wy9 the masculine plural, is confirmed by many MSS. See Kennicott. Houbigant rightly ob- serves, that the Prophet in this verse addresses the daughter of Sion, which is strongly marked by the feminine superlative singular.
Verse 4. " Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab." " Let the outcasts of Moab dwell with thee."
ISAIAH. 103
0 " We have heard of the stateliness of Moab ; exceeding proud is His pride, his arrogance ; and his fury exceed all propor- tion of his strength."
: 1V-D p kS_ p kS non sic 3 ut VH facultates ejus. See the Vulgate and Houbigant. See also Blaney on Jer. xlviii, 30.
Verses 7, 8. These two verses I would divide and punctuate thus,
rWflD SSvi pS 7
neap pa SSdk rr*pw i^Sn ovu iSjjd
&c. &c. Then, without any of the alterations proposed by Houbigant, or Bishop Lowth, the whole may be thus rendered :
7 " Therefore shall Moab howl ■
For Moab every one shall howl, For the fortifications of Kir-harescth.
8 Surely deeply-afflicted ye shall moan, For Heshbon is all-burnt-fields; The vine of Sibmah languisheth,
G 4<
104 ISAIAH.
Whose fruitful shoots overpowered the lords of the nations ;* They reached unto Jazer, they overrun the wilderness, Her branches were-luxuriantly-spread- abroad, they extend- ed-across the sea."
In this rendering, iT>nnV?tP is the subject of the verbs 1JHJ and ipn, as well as of WJ and Vtafc
— " fortifications." The word ^ttWK must be somewhat a-kin to HWK in Jer. 1, 15, on which see Blaney.
— " burnt fields.5* The word JW1# seems never applied to fields but as in a parched and withered state, either from excessive heat, or from actual fire. The idea of the Prophet seems to be, that the once fertile vale of Sibmah was become barren and bare like the country about Sodom and Gomorrah. See Deut. xxxii, 32.
— u overpowered," knocked down, with the in- toxicating juice their fruit afforded. See Bishop Lowth on this place.
* Or thus,
Whose rich wines overpowered the lords of the nations. They reached unto Jazer, they overran the wilderness, Her branches; they were- luxuriantly-spread-abroad, they extended-across the sea."
ISAIAH. lo,
u Therefore with weeping I will weep for Jazcr, O vine of Sibmah ! I will water thee with my tears, [Tliec] 0 Heshbon, and Elealeh !
For upon thy summer fruits and thy luxuriant vines the soldier is fallen."
Bishop Lowth's emendations, "HiPM for "Wl, and TW5 for TW?* are both unnecessary. See Park- hurst, nin. For TW\ c the shouter,' is a natural expression for a soldier, like (ootjv dyuOog, in Greek ; and Tf5P signifies (besides other things) * the redun- dant branches' of any kind of tree, such as ought to be cut short.
Verse 13. — "since that time;" rather, "with respect to that time."
Chap, xvii, 3. Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, for "W#, read nNJ!?, < the pride.5 But the change is un- necessary. The words should be rendered, " and the remnant of Syria shall be like the glory of the children of Israel."
Verse 9. Bishop Lowth's emendations of this verse are unnecessary. Render,
" In that day his strong cities shall be
Like the leavings of a stubble-field, and a bough, which
they leave For the children of Israel, and there shall be perfect-deso- lation."
See Parkhurst, U^n, x.
106 ISAIAH.
Verse 11. I render the whole verse thus,
" In the day of thy planting thou shalt cause it to flourish, And in the morning of thy grafting thou shalt make it bud : The produce is gone in the day of inundation, [nbni OV1
the day of the torrent], And the calamity is incurable."
I think, with Casaubon, that the threatenings against the Jews in this chapter, though the captivi- ty of the ten tribes might be the more immediate object, have a distant reference, however, to the final dispersion of the whole nation by the Romans, which seems particularly to be the subject of this 11th verse.
After the mention of this ruin of the Jewish na- tion, the Prophet goes on to declare, that, notwith- standing this visitation of God's people, the schemes of the heathen, who thought, in their destruction, to triumph over the true religion, would be disap- pointed ; and the 14th verse gives the Jews hope of recovery from the calamities threatened in the 11th.
ISAIAH. 107
CHAP. XVIII. This eighteenth chapter of Isaiah is one of the most ohscure passages of the antient Prophets. It lias been considered as such by the whole succession of interpreters, from St Jerome to Bishop Lowth. " The object of it," says the Bishop, " the end and design of it, the people to whom it is addressed, the history to which it belongs, the person who sends the messengers, and the nation to whom the mes- sengers are sent, are all obscure and doubtful." Much of this obscurity lies in the diction, (" propter inusitata verba," says Minister, " propter figuratas sententias,") in the highly figured cast of the lan- guage, and in the ambiguity of some of the principal words, arising from the great variety of senses often comprehended under the primary meaning of a single root. Few, I fear, will have the patience to follow me in the slow and laborious* method of investiga- tion, by which I endeavour to dispel this obscurity ; which however is the only method, by which obscur- ity of this sort is ever to be dispelled. Discarding all previous assumptions, concerning the design of the prophecy, the people to whom it is addressed, the history, or the times to which it belongs > I enter
108 ISAIAH.
into a critical examination of every word of which the meaning is at all doubtful : and I consider the meaning of every word as, in some degree, doubtful, which has been taken in different senses by different interpreters of note. I consider the etymology of the word ; I inquire in what senses it is actually used, by the sacred writers, in other passages ; and I compare with the original, and with one another, the translations of interpreters, in different languages, and of different ages.
And here I must take occasion to remark, that, among the antient translations, attention is principal- ly due to the Syriac, to the fragments that are come down to us of Aquila, and to the Septuagint. To the Syriac ; because it was the work of Christians in the very earliest age of Christianity: it gives us therefore the sense, which wTas received by the im- mediate successors of our Lord's Apostles. To what remains of Aquila s version, for the contrary reason: it was the work of an enemy ; and gave that sense of the Original (where the sense was at all uncertain) which was the least favourable to Christianity. To the Septuagint ; not only because it was a translation made before the Hebrew ceased altogether to be a living language ; but, being made by Jews long be^
ISAIAH. 109
fore the birth of Christ, the authors could be biassed by no prejudice against the particular claims of our Lord Jesus to the character of the Messiah of the Israelites. And whenever it gives a sense particular- ly favourable to his pretensions, and such a sense it gives in many passages, every such interpretation may be taken as an admission of the adversary. It is much to be lamented, that this translation is not come down to us in a more perfect state. Great in- deed would its authority be, had we reason to re- ceive it as the genuine unadulterated work of Ptole- my's translators. And yet, even in that perfect state, the authority, I should have allowed to it, would have been far short, I confess, of what some exposi- tors seem to ascribe to it. I should not have made it my text. I should have claimed for myself, and other men of learning of the present day, a full competence to judge of the sense of the original, in opposition to the sense of the Seventy-two. The fact however is, that this translation having been the most used, both in the synagogue and in the church, in the first ages of Christianity, has for that very reason been the most tampered with both by Jews and Christians. It has been corrupted, by the very means, that were used to preserve and improve it.
110 ISAIAH.
For I cannot but agree with St Jerome, though I know how much his judgment in this point has been decried, that Origen s additions and detractions, however guarded by his asterisks, his lemnisks, and his obelisks, were, in the nature of the thing, a source of inevitable corruption (for I give the name of cor- ruption to any alteration, though for the better, of an author's own words). And in the present state of this Greek version, it is impossible to distinguish, with certainty, what is pure Septuagint, what is Septuagint corrected by Origen, and still more cor- rupted by careless transcribers, or presumptuous emendators, of Origen's corrected text. Great at- tention still is due to it : but not more than is due to an imperfect vitiated copy of a venerable original. Which original was but itself a shadow of the He- brew Verity, the only prototype. It ought always to be consulted in difficulties, and much light is oc- casionally to be derived from it. But I say without hesitation, that, upon the whole, it represents the sense of the Hebrew text, with less exactness, than either the Vulgate or the common English trans- lation.
This eighteenth chapter of Isaiah is -one instance among many, in which expositors have perplexed
ISAIAH. Ill
themselves by gratuitous assumptions, concerning the general scope of the prophecy, before they at- tempt to settle the signification of the terms in which it is delivered ; and then they have sought for such interpretations of the language, as might suit the applications they had assumed. But it is a prepos- terous way of dealing with any writer, to interpret his words by his supposed meaning, instead of de- ducing his meaning from his words. It lias been assumed by most interpreters, 1st, that the princi- pal matter of this prophecy is a woe, or judgment ; 2r//z/, that the object of this woe is the land of Egypt itself, or some of the contiguous countries ; Sdly, that the time of the execution of the judgment was at hand, when the prophecy was delivered.
I set out with considering every one of these as- sumptions as doubtful ; and the conclusion, to which my investigations bring me, is, that every one of them is false. First, the prophecy indeed predicts some woeful judgment. But the principal matter of the prophecy is not judgment, but mercy ; a gracious promise of the final restoration of the Israelites. Secondly, the prophecy has no respect to Egypt, or any of the contiguous countries. What has been applied to Egypt is a description of some people, or
112 ISAIAH*
another, destined to be principal instruments in the hand of Providence, in the great work of the re- settlement of the Jews in the Holy Land ; a descrip- tion of that people, by characters by which they will be evidently known, when the time arrives. Third- ly, the time for the completion of the prophecy was very remote, when it was delivered, and is yet fu- ture ; being indeed the season of the Second Advent of our Lord.
It may be said perhaps, that in stating these con- clusions here, before I have discussed the difficulties and ambiguities of the language of the sacred text, I am myself doing the very thing I blame in others ; that I assume a certain general application, which I mean to confirm by critical reasoning on the holy Prophet's words : but it will be found, that my own conclusions are not assumed in any part of my in- quiry, any more than the assumptions of others, which I discard. I consider the words in them- selves; and I come to, the conclusions by a gram- matical examination of the words, independent of all assumed applications. My only reason for stat- ing my conclusions here is, that I think the disqui- sition, upon which I am entering, will be more per- spicuous, and the length and minuteness of it less
3
ISAIAH. Ill
tedious, if the general result, ill which it is to ter- minate, be previously known. Just as, in any ma- thematical investigation, the analytical process is more luminous and satisfactory in every step, if the theorem, to which it conducts, is distinctly enounced in the beginning.
Verse 1. u Woe to the land"— |W **1 In the 5th and 6th verses there is allusion to some severe judgment ; and from a notion, which may perhaps be found to be erroneous, that the country addressed in this verse is to be the object of that threatened judgment, many interpreters, among these the LXX, Vulgate, and Chaldee, render W by ' Wo to' — But the particle Ttl is not necessari- ly comminatory. Sometimes it is an exclamation of surprize ; and very often it is simply compellative of persons at a distance : and so it is taken here by Calvin, Castalio; in the Great Bible, the Bishop's Bible, the English Geneva Bible, and by Vitringa. — " shadowing with wings" — CM W* The word ^**¥, which 6ur translators, very judi- ciously in my opinion, have taken in the sense of ' shadowing,' must be confessed however to be of doubtful meaning.
vol. it. u
iU ISAIAH.
The root ^, or "¥, has two principal senses; c to quiver,' like the lips in fear (Hab. iii, ] 6), and * to shade,' or c shelter.' It is often applied parti* cularly to the ears, and predicates of the ears, that they sing, or tingle. This particular sense arises naturally out of the general sense of quivering ; the singing, or tingling of the ear, being a sound pro- duced within the ear itself, when the nerves, and other parts of the organ, are, by any external cause, thrown into a vehement vibratory motion. Hence some nouns derived from this root, are used for the names of such musical instruments as from the readi- ness with which their parts are thrown into quick vibrations, give a sound particularly shrill and sharp. Of these nouns ^^X is one. It occurs in four pass- ages only besides this; namely, 2 Sam. vi, 5; Psalm cl, 5 ; Job xl, 26 ; Deut. xxviii, 42. In the text in Job, indeed, it denotes some implement of a fisher- man. In Deuteronomy, f the locust ;' whether from the sound of its wings, or from the other sense of the root ^, is doubtful. But in both the other pass- ages, it is evident from tjie context, that it renders some musical instrument ; and it is by most inter- preters understood of cymbals. And so it is taken by St Jerome here. " \sc terree cymbalo alarum/'
ISAIAH. 115
is his rendering. That is, " Woe to the land the cymbal of wings." By the structure of this Latin sentence, the country intended, whatever it may be, is described under the image, or emblem, of a ■ cymbal of wings.' For terra1 is a dative in apposi- tion with cymbalo. But it is evident from St Je- rome's commentary, that he neither knew what sort of a thing * a cymbal of wings' might be, or what country was so described.
Symmachus seems to have understood the expres- sion of some adjunct of the particular country in- tended, described under the image, not of a cymbal, or of any particular musical instrument, but of sounding wings. For his rendering is, ovui yns 6 rix°s
St Jerome's notion of the cymbal has been caught up by three commentators of consummate taste and erudition, the great Bochart, Huetius, and Bishop Lowth. But understanding the O^M ^S> with Symmachus, as an adjunct of the land, not as an emblem of the land itself; they have added what was wanting of perspicuity to St Jerome's transla- tion ; or rather they have found a meaning for St Jerome, which he could not find for himself. Their rendering is, ' land of the winged cymbal.' Then
TI 2
116 ISAIAH.
assuming, (for they cannot prove it, and Bishop Lowth with his usual candour allows that the thing is doubtful), but assuming that Egypt is the country intended, they take c the winged cymbal' to be a poetical periphrasis for the Egyptian sistrum; which differed, as they think, from the common cymbal in certain appendages of its structure, which resembled * wings ;' or at least might be called CSJiJ, accord- ing to the large acceptation of that word in the He- brew language. For Huetius, I think, was the only one of the three, whose imagination found in the figure of the Egyptian sistrum with its lateral ap- pendages, an exact resemblance of a bird with ex- panded wings. Be that as it may, they agreed that the 6 winged cymbal* was the Egyptian sistrum : and they considered this as a characteristic of the land of Egypt, taken from the frequent use of the sistrum in the rites of her idolatrous worship. This interpretation nowhere makes a better figure than in the elegant paraphrase of Carpentius :
" Vae tibi quae reducem, sistris crepitantibus, Aphn Concelebras, crotalos et inania tympana pulsans, Amne superba sacra tellus" —
And if it were certain that Egypt is the country iipon which the Prophet calls, and that these words
ISAIAH. 117
are inapplicable to Egypt in any other sense, which they may admit ; then indeed it would follow, that this must be the true sense of them in this place. But so long as it is at least doubtful, whether Egypt be the country intended ; and so long as it is certain, that these words admit of other senses, in which they would be applicable to Egypt, if Egypt were the country intended ; it will be reasonable to sus- pend our judgment, and to seek an exposition of less refinement.
The second principal sense of the root ^ is, f to shade/ ' to overshade,' * to shelter ;' and as a noun, • shade,' ' a shadow,' c a shelter ;' and this is the sense in which it is most frequently used. It is true, the word in the reduplicate fcrm never occurs in this sense, except it be so used in this place. But in this place it is so taken by the Syriac interpreter, and by Aquila. \sll^i \}^> \^;\} «o. Syriac. ovcci yrtg oxiu ttti- ovyav. Aquila. And this rendering is followed bv most modern interpreters ; by Calvin, Diodati, the Spanish, and our English translators, Castalio, Ju- nius, Ostervald, and the very learned Vitringa ; ex- cept that instead of a noun substantive for the word s* -», which Aquila and the Syriac use, these mo- derns put either a participle, or something equiva-
118 ISAIAH.
lent to a participle. * Inumbrans alis.' Calvin. ' Sha- dowing with wings.' Eng. f Alis umbrosa tellus.' Castalio. ■ Terrae umbrosae oris/ Jun. and Trem. * Pais qui fait ombre avec de ailes.' Ostervald. ' Terra obumbrata alis.' Vitringa.
It is certainly an objection of no great weight against these renderings, that the word ^^ in the reduplicate form, is not to be found, in any other text in the sense of shade, shadowing, or over- shadowing. According to the principles of the He- brew language the reduplication of the letters of a root only gives intensity to the sense, whatever it may be : so that in whatever sense a word in the simple form is used, in the same it may be used in the reduplicate form, if the occasion requires an in- tension of the signification. 0*5)32 ^¥, — late ob- umbrans alis. But taking this as the literal render- ing, still the image is of doubtful meaning.
The mention of the rivers of Ethiopia, which im- mediately follows, has led almost all expositors to look to Egypt as the country addressed. If Egypt be intended, the allusion may be to the geographical features of that country. The wings of Egypt may be understood, as Vitringa, Grotius, and Junius un- derstand them, of the ridges of mountains running
ISAIAH. (If
from south to north on cither side of the Nile ; by their divergency, as they advance northward, some- what resembling a pair of pinions, and overshadow- ing the intermediate vale of Egypt. But it is by no means certain that Egypt is the country intended ; and whether Egypt be intended or not, the image may allude to nothing in the figure of the country, but to something in the national character or habits of the people. So they must have understood it (and among them are the LXX, Jonathan, and Coverdale), who take the wings for the sails of numerous vessels overshadowing the surface of the ocean. But the shadow of wings is a very usual image in the prophetic language, for protection af- forded by the stronger to the weak. God's protec- tion of his servants is described by their being sai'c under the shadow of his wings. And, in this pass- age the broad shadowing wings may be intended to characterize some great people who should be fam- ous for the protection they should give to those whom they received into their alliance ; and I can- not but think this the most simple and natural ex- position of the expression.
I shall therefore dismiss without ceremony those fanciful expositions, which would explain these wings
B *
i*0 ISAIAH.
of those of the swallow over the statue of Isis, or of the wings of the idol Kneph. But there is another exposition which demands more attention, as it has dropped from the pen of an able critic.* " Lands/' he premises, " have been sometimes geographically described by some fancied appearance in their out- lines. Thus we read of the Delta in Egypt, of the tongue of the Egyptian sea, &c. In the present in- stance, we have a description of a land appearing geographically in its outlines with extended wings; something like those of a fluttering bird. Let any one cast his eyes upon a globe, or upon a map of the world (and especially upon one well coloured), and let him see what land does so, and he will find one, and one only, on the whole face of the whole earth, that has that appearance. This land so ap- pearing is France, which has Spain on one side, and Germany on the other, in the form of their out- lines like two extended wings/' t
I confess, I cannot easily be persuaded, that the Prophet takes his images and allusions from things which neither he nor any one of his contemporaries.
* The late Isaac King, Esq. f Supplement, p. 24, 25.
ISAIAH. l*|
had ever seen. Had the critic in question consider- ed, whether a globe, or even a map of the world, in which the appearance of the different countries could have any resemblance of that, which they exhibit upon our modern globes and maps, had ever met the eye of mortal man, in the time of the prophet Isaiah ? And the notion of Germany and Spain as the wings of France could, according to his own principles, occur only to the imagination of one, who had seen the outlines of these countries, as they are laid down in our globes and maps according to their present boundaries. And even then a little good colouring, he seems to think, might be of great use, though not of absolute necessity to assist the imagination. The invention of geographical charts is generally ascribed by the Greeks to Anaximander the disciple of Thales, who was at least a century and a half later than the Prophet. In the time of Darius Hystaspes, Aristagoras the Milesian, the countryman of Anaximander, and half a century his junior, when he went to Sparta to persuade the Spartans to attack the Persian monarch, is said to have carried with him a plate of brass, on which was engraven the whole circuit of the dry land, the
122 ISAIAH.
whole sea, and all the rivers.* This is the earliest mention, which occurs to my recollection, in profane history of any thing like a general map of the world j and this was 200 years later than Isaiah. Chorogra- phic charts indeed, or plans of a small extent of country, such as might be formed by the common principles of land-surveying, might be much older. Certain passages in the book of Joshua incline me to believe, that an actual survey was taken of the land of Canaan in Joshua's time, and a plan of it laid down for the purpose of setting out the allotments of the different tribes. As for what was engraved or written on the pillars at JSa by the Egyptians settled there by Sesostris, it might be nothing more, for any thing that appears from the words of Apol- lonius Rhodius,f than a description in words of the tract of the fleet along the coasts, and the march of the troops by land ; the names of the places in order,
* Awixmioti V m o A£i<rrotyoi>vis, o M<Aijtov tv(>xvv6s, U tjjv St^t^ — l%av ftxhKiov 7rivxKXt h t» y>;s X7rxrn; vi^oacg hiTirpuro, xxi &x- t.ciFTx t£ ttxs-x xxi TTOTxpoi TTtfcmj. Herodot. Terpsich. c. 49. -j* Oi Jjj rot yf>X7TTvg Trxngwv ihv iigvovTxt Kv(&ix$, cU Iff irxrxt cdoi xxi irsif>XT lx<riv 'fypis ts T^xtyigfc re ar*g<| i7runtrope.*6tnv.
Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv, 279*
ISAIAH. LtJ
where the ships came to anchor, and the army en- camped ; something like the catalogue of the man- sions in the thirty-third chapter of the book of Numbers; and I should not have taken notice of this engraving, or writing, here, had it not been mentioned by the learned Montucla,* as a map of the entire conquests of Sesostris. But suppose, we carry back the invention of Anaximander to the age of Isaiah : suppose that the Prophet had seen Ari- stagoras's copperplate, or such another : What re- semblance to the accurate picture of the earth's sur- face exhibited in our modern maps and globes, could these delineations of it bear, which must have been made before the positions of the principal points, that is, not only of towns, but of the inland mountains, of promontories, capes, headlands, and bays, upon the coast, were accurately fixed by ob- servations of the latitude and longitude of each ? But of this method of pricking down the principal points by longitude and latitude, and of what was previously necessary before this method could be brought into practice, the method of finding differ- ences of longitude by eclipses of the sun and moon,
• Hist, des Math. torn, i, p. 106.
124 ISAIAH.
Hipparchus was the first inventor. Hipparchus flour- ished not before the middle of the second century before our Lord. And Marinus of Tyre, about the year of our Lord 70, seems to have been the first who applied Hipparchus's principle to the construc- tion of general maps : and strange things the maps of Marinus must have been by Ptolemy's account of them ; yet better perhaps than any Isaiah ever saw. Marinus had settled the latitudes of some places, and the longitudes of others; but in very few instances had settled both longitude and latitude of the same place. Ptolemy's own maps were, I be- lieve, the first that gave the surface of the habitable earth in any thing like its real shape, and still not without enormous deviations from the truth in many parts. Of a terrestrial globe, I believe, he was the first constructor. Harduin, I know, in his notes up- on Pliny, ascribes that invention to Anaximander ; but he is confuted (if so absurd a notion needed confutation, that a globe could be made before lati- tudes and longitudes were determined) by the very passage of Diogenes Laertius, which he cites in sup- port of his conjecture, by Pliny's own words, and by the words in which other writers mention Anaxi- mander's invention.
ISAIAH. 12-
Sball we suppose then that a terrestrial globe, or a general map, in which the countries of the world were laid down according to their present bound- aries, (this supposition is necessary ; for, if we alter the boundaries, the shape of the outline is changed, and upon the outline of the several countries the ap- pearance of Spain and Germany as the wings of France depends), shall we suppose that such a globe or map was exhibited to the Prophet in vision P that his mind was enlightened by the inspiring Spirit, to know what it w*as; and that his attention was particularly directed to France lying between Spain and Germany, like the body of a bird between its expanded wings ? There is nothing in the sacred text to warrant such a supposition. It must all be supplied by the reader's imagination. And it appears to me unwarrantable, to found an exposition of the text of an inspired writer upon any such supple- ment, unless the words taken by themselves with- out some such supplement were incapable of expo- sition; whereas in the present instance the words admit a most easy and simple interpretation, found- ed on the usual and frequent import of the like image in other passages of holy writ . I prefer there- fore taking the sense which the words themselves
126 ISAIAH.
offer, in preference to any that rests upon precarious assumptions, or as they seem to me, more precarious imaginations. To judge otherwise would be to fail in my apprehension in the respect that is due to an inspired Prophet.
— f beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.5' BWnroS *oy& This seems to have been generally taken for a precise determination of the geographical site of the country, which for this description of its situation chiefly, has been supposed to be Egypt. If Ethiopia, or Cush rather, in this text, be the Ethiopia of pro- fane geographers; or to speak more accurately, if it be that acquired territory of the Cushites in Africa, which stretching all along the coast from Ptolemais to Arsinoe (that is, from Derbeta to the streights of Bab al Mandeb), extended inland to the very banks of the Nile, and was washed in its breadth by the Astaboras and the Astapus, to which African terri- tory of the Cushites the name of Cush in scripture (commonly rendered Ethiopia by all interpreters be- fore Bochart) sometimes is applied, the rivers of Cush must be the Nile in its various branches, and its tributary streams. But how was Egypt beyond the rivers of Cush, so understood, with respect to Judea? From Meroe to the head of the Delta.,
ISAIAIL 127
Egypt was not more beyond, than on this side of the Nile, for the river divided the breadth of the the country. From the head of the Delta to the coast of the Mediterranean, the various branches of the river intersected the whole surface of the coun- try. The preposition ^ "OJJB is used with great lati- tude of meaning, either for that side, or this side of a river, for trans and ultra, or cis and citra. And Vitringa in this place renders it by citra. But for the very same reason that Egypt was not beyond the Nile with respect to Judea ; it was not on this side of it. It was on both sides from Meroe to the head of the Delta; and below the head of the Delta, the country was on all sides of the innumerable streams into which the river was divided. Bishop Lowth therefore rejects the use both of trans and citra, and conceives that the Hebrew preposition renders * bordering on,' without specifying one side or the other : and this is a sense which unquestionably it sometimes bears. But yet it is not usual, I think, to say of a broad plain intersected by canals, which was the case of Egypt in the part most known to foreigners, that it borders on them. Egypt there- fore is positively excluded by every possible inter- pretation of the preposition s "^yD; and Egypt
128 ISAIAH.
being out of the question, it is reasonable to under- stand the preposition in the sense of c beyond;' as it has been understood by all interpreters, except Vitringa, Houbigant, Bishop Lowth, Diodati, and Coverdale. Diodati hesitates between the two senses of 'on this side' and S beyond.' Bishop Lowth takes * bordering on.' The other three, \ on this side.' But ' beyond ' is to be preferred. For the contrary sense seems excluded by the distance of the country. The country is evidently distant, because the Pro- phet calls, or rather hollas, to it. But a country, not Egypt, and yet on this side of these rivers of Cush with respect to Judea, must have lain between Egypt and Judea ; consequently, at no such great distance from Judea. And these are the only cir- cumstances of its geographical situation which the prophecy discovers, that, with respect to Judea, it is far distant, and *f beyond the rivers of Cush."
" And so" (the critic already alluded to says) '* the land of France actually geographically is."
I admit, that in a certain sense it is ; but yet I think, the Prophet, in the reference which he sup- poses to a globe, or a general map of the world, could not have so described it. A person, taking his notions of the relative situations of countries,
ISAIAH. 129
rom their appearance on a map lying before him, would observe that no straight line drawn from any point in Judea to any point in France, would en> any one of these Cushean streams ; which are all lost, the rest in the main stream of the Nile, and the Nile itself in the ocean, before the line of direction of any one of them meets any such straight line. No one therefore contemplating a map of the world, would describe France as beyond these streams of Cush. But my notion of the Prophet's geographical language is, that it is the language of the Phenician voyagers of his time. And in those times, the most distant voyages being made along the coasts, the Phenician mariners would speak of every place which lay to the west of the mouths of the Nile, as beyond the Nile ; that is, in the poetical language of the Prophet beyond the rivers of Cush ; because, keeping always along the coast, they would pass within sight of the mouth of the Nile, before they reached that western place. According to this nau- tical phraseology of the voyagers of those times, the circumstance of being beyond the rivers of Cush was applicable indeed to France. But not particu- larly to France, more than to (Spain* Por ugal, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, in short ai y part of Eu-
VOL. IT.
im ISAIAH.
rope without the streights. Not more to any part of Europe, than to any part of Africa, without the streights. Not more to any part of Europe, or Africa, than to the whole eastern coast of North and South America. The particular situation of the country therefore is by no means ascertained by this circumstance.
But in truth it is much more undetermined, than as yet appears. Since the country intended in the prophecy is not Egypt ; the Cush of this text, for any thing that appears to the contrary from the text itself, may be the Asiatic Cush ; to which country the name is more frequently applied. Not indeed, that particular district of Arabia Deserta, to which, as the original seat of the sons of Cush, Bochart would restrict the name. That by itself cannot be the Cush of this place ; for that district had no rivers. The four which Bochart gives it, he is forced to borrow for it, as Vitringa has observed, from other countries ; and three of the four are mere torrents. But the name of Cush (vulgarly, as hath been observed, rendered Ethiopia) is applied in holy writ to a large tract of country compre- hending, besides the proper territory of the Cushites, the rest of Arabia Deserta, the whole peninsula of
ISAIAH. 131
Arabia Felix, and extending east, along the coast of the Persian golf, at least as far as the Tigris. The great Bochart would find it difficult to dispute this with me upon his own principles ; because he al- lows, that the Cushites as they grew more nume- rous, spread themselves from the territory he assigns to them, as originally their own, into other parts of Arabia, and eastward even into Car mania. Be that as it may, we read in scripture of a land of Cush, of which the boundary on one side was the river Gihon. " And the name of the second river is Gihon ; the same is that which compasseth the whole land of Cush." Gen. ii, 13. No one, I suppose, that has considered what has been written by Calvin, and after him by Huetius, Vitringa, and others, upon the subject of the site of Paradise, can entertain a doubt, that Gihon was one of the two branches, into which the streams of the Euphrates and the Tigris, uniting at Apamea, part again at Asia; and through which their waters were discharged into the Persian Gulph, before the natural course of those great rivers, in this lower part, was altered by the hand of man. Phison and Gihon, rivers of Eden, were these two diverging streams. Which of the two was the eastern, and which the western branch, is a matter
I 2
\2>ti ISAIAH.
of some doubt ; but it is of little importance to the present question. They ran at no great distance from each other : Gihon was unquestionably one of them ; and it was the boundary of the Asiatic land of Cush, These therefore, for aught that appears to the contrary, may be the rivers of Cush in this passage ; and the land beyond these rivers of Cush with respect to Judea will be some country on the coast, east of the Tigris. So that, unless we can determine, whether it be the African or the Asiatic land of Cush of which the Prophet speaks, we know not in which quarter to look for the land be- yond the rivers of Cush, whether far to the west, or far to the east of Palestine.
But though the geographical site of the country is left thus uncertain, for very uncertain it would be even if we could tell which Cush is meant \ yet the people of the country are marked, as will ap- pear, by characters, by which they will be distin- guished from all other people of the earth, when the time comes.
Verse 2. u That sendeth ambassadors by the sea."
• — " ambassadors" — u^Ttt. Vitringa, solicitous
to find Egypt in every characteristic of the country
ISAIAH. 133
mentioned by the Prophet, understands the word DVTO of epistolary dispatches, or pacquets. He ex- pounds the passage of that extraordinary pacquet, which the Egyptians sent annually to the Syrians with the joyful news that Adonis was found. The epistle was put into a sort of flask made of the bul- rush, which was committed to the waves to be float- ed to Byblus. And of this bulrush-flask he under- stands the ■ vessels of the bulrush/ of which the mention follows.
But I cannot find a single instance, in which the word CH^sr signifies ' parcels, bundles, or pacquets,' however consistent this sense might seem with the etymology of the word. Nor is this sense in any degree supported by the version of the LXX. It is true, they render the word O'H'V by the neuter Qfitpcc. But the neuter ofugftj instead of the masculine QfAqgoi, is invariably their word for c hostages.' The masculine oily^oi they never use, and the neuter opjjgci they never use in any other sense, or for pledges of any other sort, than persons pledged : they join in- deed with oprgu in this place, iviarokctg (Zi&jva$9 evi- vidently meaning not epistles inclosed in a bulrush, flask, but epistles written on the papyrus. And these words they give not as expositive of the former
13* ISAIAH.
word ofiajpu, but as rendering KW^SDi (or perhaps their reading might be KB-T^l without the prefix 2). And when NDJ5 or the bulrush, was the sub- stance on which men usually wrote ; KD<r*» /5, ac- cording to the wide signification of the word ^5 in the Hebrew language, would be no unnatural phrase for * epistles/ Though connected as it is here with the notion of floating on the surface of the waters, it seems far more probable that it signifies navigable vessels.
EJVW is used in another passage of Isaiah (ivii, 9) for confidential messengers ; and the singular *W is twice used for a person charged with a public mes- sage ; and in that sense it is taken here by all the antient interpreters ; by the LXX, the Syriac, the Chaldee, the Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. f Messengers ' in this place, in the English, might be better than ambassadors ; for the original word may be taken for persons employed between nation and nation, for the purposes either of negotiation or commerce. * Messengers' is the word in the Great Bible, and in the Bishop's Bible.
— " in vessels of bulrushes."
Navigable vessels are certainly meant ; and if it could be proved, that Egypt is the country spoken
ISAIAH. l$|
to, these vessels of bulrushes might be understood literally of the light skirls, made of that material, and used by the Egyptians upon the Nile. But if the country spoken to be distant from Egypt, ves- sels of bulrush are only used as an apt image, on ac- count of their levity for quick-sailing vessels of any material. The country, therefore, to which the Pro- phet calls, is characterised as one, which in the days of the completion of this prophecy, should be a great maritime and commercial power, forming re- mote alliances, making distant voyages . to all parts of the world with expedition and security, and in the habit of affording protection to their friends and allies. Where this country is to be found is not otherwise said, than that it will be remote from Ju- dea, and with respect to that country, beyond the Cushean streams. — " saying, Go, ye swift messengers' * — The word c saying' is not in the original; nor in the LXX, the Vulgate, the Chaldee, or the Syriac, nor in the Great Bible, nor in the Bishop's Bible. It has been inserted in our public translation, and many others of a late date, upon a supposition that the words which follow, c Go, ye swift messengers/ &c. are a command given by the people, called to
i 4>
136 ISAIAH.
in the first verse, to messengers sent by diem. But it should rather seem, that the command to the swift messengers is the Prophet's command, that is God's command by the Prophet ; and that the swift mes- sengers to whom the command is given, are the very people called upon in the first verse ; who by their skill in navigation, and their perpetual voyages to distant parts were qualified to be swift carriers of the message. First, the Prophet calls upon this people ; he summons them to attend to him ; then he declares for what immediate purpose they are summoned, viz. to be the carriers of a message.
The word ' saying' is not inserted by Yitringa, Houbigant, or Bishop Lowth. Houbigant under- stands the whole chapter of the Jews, Sennacherib, and Tirhaka ; and the swift messengers he takes to be messengers sent by Tirhaka to the Jews, to in- form them, that he was upon the march against their enemy Sennacherib.
Vitringa and Bishop Lowth understand the pro- phecy of Sennacherib. But the command given to the messengers, they take to be the command of God by his Prophet. But the people, summoned in the first verse, they take to be the very people to whom lese swift messengers are sent, described by
ISAIAH. J .7
other characteristics in the sequel of this second verse; and the < swift messengers' they understand of no particular people, nor of any certain persons, but of any the usual " conveyers of news whatso- ever," says Bishop Lowth, " travellers, merchants, and the like; the instruments and agents of common fame." c* Nuntii hie sunt obvii quique," says Vi- tringa. These learned interpreters were all misled by an error common to them all, and to them with many others ; that contiguity to the rivers of Cush is one principal circumstance in the Prophet's de- scription of the country, to the people of which he speaks; and nothing but the difficulty, in which every interpreter will find himself involved, who adopts this erroneous principle, could have induced writers of the piety, judgment, and good taste of Bishop Lowth and Vitringa, to take up the strange notion, that God's awful message is committed to any one, and every one, who might chance to be passing to and fro. " Ite nunc obvii qualescunque," says Vitringa, " quibus decretum hoc curia? ccelestis innotuerit, et denuntiate," &c.
The message certainly is God's. The command to messengers, to go swiftly upon the message, is God's command issued by his Prophet; but the
138 ISAIAH.
swift messengers charged with the message, are not the ' instruments and agents of common fame,' but the particular people summoned by the Prophet in the first verse to attend him, in order to be charged with the commission he now seems about to give them,
— " to a nation scattered and peeled,', or, " spread out and polished" (margin).
vrw\ 1TO ■>« ^. Kennicott's best MSS. have "ltyUDD DniDE^; a more regular orthography of the words, producing no alteration of the sense. — wge§ Uvog perewgoy, %ai Iwov. LXX. — " ad gentem convul- sam et dilaceratam." Vulg. — " to a nation that is! scattered abrode and robbed of that they had." Great Bible, and Bishop's Bible. — " ad gentem distractam et expilatam." Calvin. — " ad gentem distractam et depilatam." Jun. et Tremell. — " ad distractam direptamque gentem." Castalio. — " a la gente arrastrada y repelada." Span. — " alia gente di lunga statura e dipelata." Diodati. — " vers la nation de grand atirail sans poil." Ostervald. — " ad gentem protractam et depilatam." Vitringa. — " ad gentem quae raptatur et laceratur." Houbigant. — " the nation drawn out and made bare." Purver.
ISAIAH. 13D
— " to a nation stretched out in length, and smooth- ed." Bishop Lowth.
Different as these translations are, not one of them can be said to be erroneous. Since no one of them affixes a sense to either of the two participles, which is not in some degree justified, either by the etymo- logy of the word, or by the use of it in other places ; except indeed, that in the version of the LXX, it is difficult to discern any correspondence between their word %sw and the Hebrew B-fiD, which it should render. The verb "lttfB signifies \ to draw' in any manner \ that is to say, it renders the Latin trailer e, and every one of its compounds, attraltere, contrahere, extrahere, protrahere, distraliere, vi abrU pere, to drag forcibly away. Bie renders f to pluck the hair, to became bald by the falling of the hair, to make smooth by rubbing, to furbish, to fret or gall the skin.'
Vitringa and Bishop Lowth, resolute in the appli- cation of the description to Egypt, and supported in this by the authority of Bochart, find in the first of these participles an allusion to the shape of that country; and in the second an allusion either to one of the characteristic customs of the people, the practice of smoothing their bodies by the extirpation
HO ISAIAH.
of the hair in all parts, or else to the annual smooth- ing of the surface of the land, by the" overflowing of the Nile. But the participle "WCB, in the sense of * dragged away,5 may be applied to a people for- cibly torn from their country, and carried into cap^ tivity. And the participle «TOB, or BTIDD, < pluekt,* may be applied to a people plundered of their wealth, and stripped of their power. Or, as the word is sometimes used for the plucking of the hair of the beard in contumely, it may be applied figuratively to a depressed people, treated every where with in- sult and indignity. Thus both these participles may be more naturally applied to the Jews in their pre- sent condition, than to any other nation of any other time. The sense is perspicuously expressed in the Bishop's Bible ; — " scattered abrode and robbed of lhat they had." But the force of the original words is better preserved in the Spanish, than in any other translation ; and I question whether it can be ex- pressed, with equal brevity, in any other of the mo- dern languages of Europe ; — " gente arrastrada y repelada." Arrastrar is * to drag about by force."5 Andar un hombre arrastrado is a proverbial expres- sion in the Spanish language, applied to a man who roams about an outcast of society, every where
ISAIAH. 141
seeking relief, which he no where finds, from the extreme of necessity and poverty. Rcpclar is not only to pluck the hair, but to tear it up by the roots, pulling it against the grain of its growth.
I must observe, that the word tt"^, which occurs in twelve passages, and no more in the whole Bible, besides this and the seventh verse of this chapter, is not used in any one of them in a moral sense, answering to the English word * polite.' Nor can I find, that it bears that sense in any of the dialects.
— " to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto :"—
rwSm *t\ p mi oy ^ _« to a people ter- rible," &c. — " to wit, the Jews," says the annotator in the English Geneva Bible, " who, because of God's plagues, made all other nations afraid of the like; as God threatened." Deut. xxviii, 37. And the Jews are certainly the people meant ; though interpreters differ much, both in the rendering and h\ the application of the words. — Xaov xai %aXs^roi> rtg (or r/) avrov brvOiH* ; LXX. The text of the LXX seems to be in some disorder. I suspect the true reading of the entire passage to have been — Tsog ifoog jtersotoo* K,ai ^evov, xat \olov yjxXnrov. rig avrov Imumm ; " unto a nation of stately stature and strange
142 ISAIAH.
and a people hard [to encounter]. What people more so than this *" that is, what people more hard to en- counter than this ? — ft»s0 6v ova \ariv kvrgxetvu. Symm. — " ad populum terribilem, post quern non est alius." Vulg. — * ad populum formidabilem ab eo et dein- ceps." Calv. — ft ad populum eorum qui sunt ultra ipsum fbrmidabilissimum.,, Castalio. — " ad popu- lum formidabilem ex eo loco atque ulterius." Jun. et Tremell. — " to a fearfull people, and to a people that is further than thys." Coverdale. — ■" a fear- full people from their begynnyng hytherto." Great Bible, and Bishop's Bible. — " al pueblo lleno de temores des de su principio y despues." Span, — " al popolo spaventevole, che e piu oltre di quel- la." Diodati, Diodati conceives that the *n\J EDJJ, &c. is another people ; for so he explains himself in his notes : — " al popolo c. a que' piu salvatichi, c' habitano nell' Etiopia interiore, piu lontani del mare, piu neri, sparuti, horridi, e barbari." — " vers le peuple terrible depuis la ou il est, et par dela." Ostervald. — " populum formidabilem, a quo fuit et usque." Vitringa. — <c ad populum fractum ae- rumnis et fatiscentem." Houbigant, applying this character to the Jews of the Prophet's times. But JHti is never used as a participle passive, that is, as
ISAIAH. 140
applied to the person affected with fear, as Iloubi- gant understands it here. — " the people terrible not only where they are, but further." Purver. — " to a people terrible from the first and hitherto." Bishop Lowth.
Of these renderings some seem to give hardly any sense ; some, senses quite foreign to the context. The sense, which most naturally arises from the words, and best suits the context, is that which is given in the Great Bible, the Bishop's Bible, and the Spanish, and is adopted in our later English translations, and followed by Yitrlnga and Bishop Lowth. But even in these translations the word *HU is not well rendered by * fearful,' g lleno de te- more,' or ' formidabilem,' or ' terrible.' The word, if I mistake not, is applicable to whatever excites admiration, or awe, with, or without, £ny mixture of terror. There is no word in the English language which will render it universally. It must be render- ed differently in different places, according to its connection. Majestic, sublime, grand, awful, and sometimes terrible. In this place I would render it i awfully remarkable.' But with respect to the phrase, MK^m NVl JE, I agree with Vitringa, that it will best suit the context, if it be understood not of
3
14* ISAIAH.
place, but of time. But understanding the time de- scribed as present by the adverb ilK^n (hitherto), of the time present when the prophecy was uttered; he applies the character contained in these words, as rendered by himself and in our public translation, to the Egyptians ; of whom he observes with truth, that they had been formidable from the earliest times to the times of the Prophet. But the time present in prophetic vision, is not the time of the delivery, but that of the fulfilment of the prophecy. The people to whom the character is to be applied, must exist, and the character must notoriously belong to them at the time of the accomplishment of the pro- phecy. If therefore the prophecy is not yet accom- plished, which will appear to be the case, the appli- cation of this character to the people of Egypt must be erroneous.* For that people is gone, and has long since ceased to be of any consideration. But the people of the Jews have been from their very begin- ning, are at this day, and will be to the end of time, a people venerable in a religious sense, awfully re- markable, (in which sense, rather than in that of terrible, as I have observed, I would take *HU here), on account of the special providence visibly attend- ing them. And, with this correction of the word
ISAIAH. I«
c terrible,' I should not much object to Purver's rendering. The words, I think, may bear it. And the sense it gives, applies more aptly to the Jews than to any other people. They have been a people awfully remarkable, not only in the part of the world where they were settled, but since their dispersion particularly, to the utmost corners of the earth.
— <c a nation meted out and trodden down ;" or, " a nation that meteth out and treadeth down." Margin. In these renderings, as well as in Vitrin- ga's and Bishop Lowth's, the allusion seems to be to Egypt ; but in the original, and in the antient ver- sions, it is evidently to the Jews.
HD1DC1 ^p ip Mi — The interpretations of the words are so various, and the manner of application so dif- ferent, even among those who apply the words to the same people, that it will be proper to state the different renderings one by one ; and the order, I shall observe in stating them shall be, to begin with those, which seem to me the most extravagant.
The first therefore I shall mention, is that of Ostervald ; because I have not the least conception of his meaning : — " vers la nation allant a la file, et fbulee." The next shall be Diodati's : — " alia gente sparsa qua e la, e calpestata." This he applies
VOL, II. K
146 ISAIAH,
to the Nomad tribes of Ethiopians and Moors, not settled in walled towns, but scattered in villages. But how sparsa qua e la is to be brought out of the Hebrew, ip ip, he has not informed us. The third place is due to Junius and Tremellius : — " gentem omnibus delineantem et conculcantem." They un- derstand these to be the words of Tirhaka, describ- ing the haughty overbearing character of the Assy- rian empire. The next in order shall be Grotius : — -" gentem lineae lineae et conculcationis." " Id est," he says, (his rendering wants an id est indeed), " gentem quae paulatim protendit imperii sui termi- nos, et superbo pede victos proterit," applying the character to the Assyrians. Next hear Castalio : •. — " gentem alios atque alios limites habentem, at- tritamque." He understands the passage of the countries bordering on the Nilej of which the boundaries, he says, were perpetually changed by the inundations of the river. Next let Vitringa speak : ■ — " ad gentem canonis et canonis [or prae- cepti et praecepti] et conculcationis." He applies the passage to the Egyptians ; and imagines, that the Egyptians are characterised in it by two circum- stances ; the number of precise rules, to the observ- ance of which they were held in their idolatrous
ISArAH. 1*7
rites, and their practice of trampling in their seed with cattle. Bishop Lowth renders " a nation met- ed out by line and trodden down." This he applies to Egypt, expounding the ' meted out' of the fre- quent necessity in that country of having recourse to mensuration, in order to determine the bound- aries after the inundations of the Nile; and the ' trodden down,' of the trampling in of the seed.
I proceed now to those interpretations, which re- fer the passage to the Jews ; beginning with those, in which the rendering is the most questionable, though the application be right. Among those in- terpreters, who rightly applying the passage to the Jewish people, seem to mistake the sense in which it is applied to them, Houbigant must take the lead: — " ad gentem limitibus angustis conclusam, et pro- culcatam." He observes, that the limits of the kingdom of Judea had been often shortened, by the conquests of the Assyrians, Next in order comes the venerable Calvin : — " gentem undiqub concul- catam." He supports this rendering thus : " ^p ip id est, Undique; ac si quis duceret lineas, iisque inter se conjunctis, nullum locum vacuum relinque- ret: vel sulcos duceret in agro, quibus omnes glebas subigeret." Last in this class are the old transla- te 2
148 ISAIAH.
tions in our own language : — " a desperate and pylled folke." Coverdale ; badly rendering, not the Hebrew, but the Greek of the LXX. — " a nacyon troden downe by lytle and lytle." Great Bible, and Bishop's Bible. — " a nation by little and little even troden under foot." English Genevea. Would you know by what process of criticism ■ by little and little' is brought out of *>p Tp? Hear Vatablus: *c Metaphora, tracta ab architectis, qui ordinem unum post ordinem alterum collocare solent, i. e. cui paulatim conculcatio evenit."
In all these renderings the sense is far-fetched, drawn by a torture of criticism from the words.
The antient translations seem far preferable, aris* ing naturally out of the words of the original, with- out any previous assumptions, or any accommodation to assumptions, by violent efforts of the critical art.
— " ad gentem expectantem et conculcatam. " Vulg. — u Ifoog vftopzvov nou cv^WTturripivov" Aquik. — " Ifoog kvikniarov xai zara,'7re'x'arv)[jjsw. " LXX. — " gente harta de esperar y hollada." Span. All these versions are to the same effect ; but those of the Vulgate and the Spanish are incomparably the best.
The word 1p is unquestionably from the root ^p.
ISAIAH. H9
The verb nip signifies c to stretch, to stretch away.' Hence the noun ip sometimes signifies a measuring line, sometimes a strait rule, of the mason or car- penter, and thence figuratively a rule of conduct, or a precept. But the verb nip signifies also * to ex- pect, to look for with eager desire,' (a-rofce^ado*^), from the natural act of stretching the neck to look for a thing coming from a distance. The use of the verb in this sense is far more frequent than in the other ; and when used in this sense, the verb in some instances, though it must be confessed in a few, drops the final n. Why therefore may not ip ip render f expecting, expecting.' It is probable that the true reading of the Vulgate may be ad gentem expectantem, expectantem, et conculcatam ; for we find the word expectante thus doubled, in strict con- formity to the original, in the repetition of this de- scription of the people intended in the 7th verse ; and Lucas Brugensis testifies that sixteen MSS. re- peat expectantem in this place. Now, are not the Jews, I would ask, in their present state, a nation " expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot i" still without end expecting their Messiah, who came so many ages since, and everywhere tram- pled under foot, held in subjection, and general -
k 3
150 ISAIAH.
ly treated with contempt ? And is not this likely to be their character and condition till their conversion shall take place ? The faiknwrov of the LXX may signify \ not gratified in their hope/
The Syriac version appears at first, sight to be dif- ferent from these ; but I believe upon examination it will be found to be equivalent : •a-jo ;ty>? }*3^ for which the Latin translation gives 'c populum foe- dum et conculcatum ;" but in the Hebrew language "DIP as a verb, renders \ to be drunk ;' as a noun, both in the Hebrew and in the Chaldee dialect, f an inebriating drink ;' and the same sense is given to the Syriac noun i^» both by Schindler and the younger Buxtorf. The judgment of these learned lexicographers is confirmed by the actual use of the word in the Syriac version of Isaiah xxix, 9, where it is put to render the Hebrew "Dtp in the sense of intoxicating drink. Hence it seems reasonable to suppose that the verb t£±» may signify, in Syriac as in Hebrew, ' to be drunk/ and the participle aphel |TV> ? drunken.' Indeed Schindler makes ' fcedum esse* a secondary sense. I suspect that he is right ; and that the filthiness, unsightliness, or vileness ex- pressed by the word, is that sort of unseemliness which disgraces the figure and actions of a drunken
ISAIAH. 1*1
man. If I am right in this inference, the Syriac should be rendered " populimi temulentum el concul- c'atum ;" " a people drunk, and trodden under foot." The drunkenness is that drunkenness of intellect which makes them blind to the prophecies relating to the Messiah and to themselves, and keeps them to this hour in expectation of another Messiah, than him whom they crucified. — u they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For Jehovah hath poured upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes ; their prophets, their rulers, and their seers, hath he covered." Isaiah xxix, 9, 10. The Syriac, so ren- dered, gives a sense perfectly equivalent to that of the other antient versions, though under an image borrowed, as it should seem, from other parts of the prophetic writings. But I have a suspicion that this interpreter somehow or other connected or con- founded the word ip in this place with the root fiNp, or Kip, * to vomit,' and so brought it to the sense of 1 drunken.' Compare Syr. Is. xxviii, 10 and 13.
— " whose land the rivers have spoiled ;" or " de- spise," margin. To this effect the passage is render- ed by all interpreters, except Coverdale, the learned Julius Bate, and Bishop Lowth, Coverdale's inter-
K 4
152 ISAIAH,
pretation deserves to be mentioned only for its sin- gularity, for it is impossible to trace it to any prin- ciple ; — " whose londe is devyded from us with ryvers of water." Julius Bate and Bishop Lowth give the verb WO, by all others rendered « spoiled,' a sense directly opposite to that of spoiling. The former in his Critica Hebraea, under the word KO, says, " by the context [viz. in this place] it may be overflow, or inrich, or fatten, or," &c. ; and Bishop Lowth renders it by the word *, nourish/
It is certain the root KO occurs nowhere in the Bible but in this one passage j and it passed with all interpreters before Schultens, Coverdale alone ex- cepted, and some one perhaps, or more, of the un- known interpreters whom Coverdale followed, for an unusual form of the root JO, « to spoil.' But Schultens thought the change of "NO into WO would be an anomaly, to which nothing similar is to be found in the whole compass of the Hebrew language. He would refer the word therefore to the root MO, rather than to O. HO signifies ' to slight, to despise, to insult.' And he thinks that, to say of a river that it despises or insults a country, is a noble meta- phor for overflowing and destroying. And he at- tempts to confirm this exposition by the senses of
ISAIAH. 15S
the verb ND in the Arabic language. Upon the whole, therefore, Schultens agrees with others in the sense of the passage ; only he imagines that the verb HE* expresses, by a metaphor, what all interpreters before him thought it expressed literally.
Bishop Lowth, assenting as it should seem to Schultens' s objection to the usual exposition of this word, gives it the contrary sense of nourishing ; upon the suggestion, as he tells us, of a learned friend, who reminded him that the noun iva in Syriac, and Nro in Chaldee, signifies a breast, dug, or teat. This sense of nourishing, the learned Bishop says, would perfectly well suit with the Nile ; u for to the inundation of the Nile Egypt owed every thing; the fertility of the soil, and the very soil itself. Besides, the overflowing of the Nile came on by gentle degrees, covering, not laying waste the conn- try." All this is most unquestionably true. But the mention of it here only shews, that this conjec- tural interpretation of nourishing, an interpretation not transferred directly to the Hebrew verb from the actual sense of a corresponding word in any of the dialects, but derived indirectly, by critical the- ory, from the sense of a noun of the same letters in the Syriac; that this conjectural interpretation is
134 ISAIAH.
put upon the word upon the ground of assumptions, which the learned prelate himself considered as doubtful ; Is*, that the word ' rivers* in this passage is to be understood literally of some natural rivers ; 2dly, that Egypt is the country described in this se- cond verse. Whence indeed it would follow that the Nile in its various branches must be the rivers, and that this clause must be so interpreted as to de- scribe the effects of the inundation of the Nile upon the land of Egypt. But in the same degree that these assumptions are doubtful, the supposed dis- cordance of the received interpretation, and the supposed agreement of this new interpretation, with the subject matter of the prophecy, will be likewise doubtful. Deny these assumptions, and nothing will be found in the context, to which Julius Bates ap- peals, and on which Bishop Lowth in effect relies, in favour of this interpretation.
Schultens's objection to the common rendering appears to me, I confess, more subtle than solid. When he says that ^O for V© " would be an ano- maly of which the like is not to be found in the whole compass of the Hebrew language," I conceive he means that an instance is not to be found, among the verbs that double the second radical, of a change
ISAIAH. 155
of the radical so doubled into N. At the same time he seems to admit, in the very next sentence, that among the verbs which end in fi, the change of the final H into N is not uncommon. Now we very often find three verbs in the Hebrew differing in their form no otherwise than thus, that the one shall be a verb ain \ the second a verb doubling ain, and the third a verb lamed fi. Three such verbs have not only so near a resemblance in the letters, that, in the oblique forms, the reader will find it difficult to distinguish one from another, otherwise than by the differences of the Masoretic points, which, hold- ing the points to be of no authority, I consider as no distinctions ; but though each may have strictly its proper sense, yet in many instances, in the lati- tude of usage, they have often an intercommunity of signification. When this happens, it is because there is some general radical meaning common td them all, comprehending undef it the several spe- cific meanings of each, and producing something of an indiscrimination in the application of them, even in these secondary meanings.
Thus the old lexicographers give us three roots ?D, HO, and W^ ro, < to brand with infamy, to dis- grace ;' HD, « to despise, to slight ? H3, ■ to plunder,
156 ISAIAH.
to spoil/ It is evident that the difference in sense between Ttt and flD is not great, the latter express- ing an act of the same kind in a less degree, or to a smaller extent. But it is not so obvious, but it is very certain, that fiS is the real primary root ; for its sense J to rob, or plunder,' comprehends under it the senses of both the other. For * to disgrace a man/ * to brand him with infamy/ what is it but to rob him, to despoil him, of his good name and reputation ? And to slight or contemn a man, what is it but not to give him that respect which is his due ? which is the next thing to robbery. Hence it is not to be wondered if JD should sometimes give its own proper meaning to its subordinates A3 or HD# Accordingly we find ftD actually used in the sense of JO f to spoil/ 1 Sam. xiv, 36. This, I confess, is the only passage in which the word occurs in that sense. But one clear unquestionable instance is de- cisive, and I find the MSS. all agree in the reading* One indeed of Kennicott's MSS, but only one, omits the word altogether ; but no one of them gives it without the final ft. The instance is one of the strongest that can be. It occurs in a simple histori- cal narrative in prose. The verb is the first person plural of the future in Kal, in which the final ft in
ISAIAH. 157
the verbs quiescent lamed M, to the best oi' my re- collection, never is omitted. The verb is transitive. Its object is the detached pronoun masculine of the third person plural with a prefix, so that the final fi can be nothing but radical.
Hence, I think, we may conclude that the verb W?D in this place is not indeed for VD5 but for ttO (or rather W^ for so the verb HO, according to the rule of conjugation of the verbs quiescent lamed fi, should form the third personal plural preterite in Kal) in the sense of "W3 ; and that it renders literal- ly, not by a metaphor, as Schultens imagined, c have spoiled.1
Perhaps if we knew the laws of the Hebrew pro- sody as accurately as we know those of the Greek and Latin, we should see that the change of the * into N is by a poetic dialect on account of the verse. I must observe however, that VD is found in this place in one of Kennicott's MSS. mentioned by Bishop Lowth, and in three of De Rossi's. " Om- nes," says De Rossi, speaking of his three, " priori manu, forma* regulari." If this should be received as the true reading, which would be contrary to my judgment, Schulten's difficulty would disappear, and any solution of it would be unnecessary.
45S ISAIAH.
With respect to this particular passage I shall venture to conclude that the English translation gives the true rendering of the original words j that the original expresses the spoiling of inundation, not by a metaphor, but literally; and, with the greatest deference for the judgment of my late friend Bishop Lowth, that there is no room in this passage for conjectural interpretations.
Perhaps it may be said that, when I speak of the unanimous consent of all interpreters before Bates and Bishop Lowth, in the sense of this passage which I uphold (I speak of the literal meaning of the words) I ought to qualify the assertion with an exception with respect to the LXX, whose version, from the varieties of the MSS, may be thought in some degree doubtful. But upon the maturest con- sideration, I see no reason to think that their ver- sion of this clause differed from that of all other in- terpreters. Their text, as it is given from the Alex- andrian MS. in the London Polyglott, is indeed wholly unintelligible. It is equally so in the Roman edition, from the Vatican MS. A version so de- praved by the injuries of time, or other causes, as to be unintelligible is to be considered as neutral, or as conducing nothing to the choice of the critic
ISAIAH. 159
between two different meanings. But in Breiten- ger's edition the text is given thus : 06 foffwftei 0/ KOTctpot Tr,g yr,g Kavrig, the two words ov 'dir^aaav being marked indeed as insertions; the one of the editor from other MSS j the other, of the Hexaplar edition, as cited by early writers. In the margin of Froben's edition of St Jerome, printed at Basle, un- der the patronage of Leo X. in the year 1516, in a note which I guess to be of Erasmus, I find the passage given somewhat differently, thus : 6 hri^rrocaoLv fvv oi KOTUfjboi rrjg yqg Travrsg, where the pronoun 0 re- hearses iQvog. I have no doubt that one or other of these is the true text of the LXX ; and in either way it gives the very same sense, which, in agree- ment with almost all interpreters antient and mo- dern, is expressed in our English Bible " whose land the rivers have spoiled."
" Rivers," i. ef the armies of conquerors, which long since have spoiled the land of the Jews. And so the passage was understood by Jonathan j who, for the metaphor • rivers,' puts, what he understood to be denoted by it, 4 peoples.' The inundation of rivers is a frequent image in the prophetic style for the ravages of armies of foreign invaders. I must observe however, that the inundation of rivers sym-
160 ISAIAH.
bolizes the devastations of foreign armies only, not of intestine commotions ; the outrages of invaders, not of intestine commotion ; not the turbulence of the rabble of any nation rising in rebellion against their own government.
Thus it appears that the description of the people to whom the swift messengers are sent, agrees most accurately in every particular with the character and condition of the Jews in their present state of dispersion.
We have now heard messengers summoned; we have heard a command given to them to go swiftly with the message; we have heard the people de- scribed to whom the message was to be carried. It might be expected we should next hear the message given to the messengers in precise terms. Homer's Jupiter gives the lying spirit of the dream, the mes- sage, to be delivered to Agamemnon, in precise terms; in which terms it is afterwards delivered. This we admire in the epic poet ; because by the apparent sobriety and order of the narrative, he contrives to give palpable fiction the air of truth. Sacred truth is often delivered by the holy prophets in the loftiest strains of poetry and in the boldest imagery, but without fiction. It needs therefore no
ISAIAH. 161
such artificial colouring. This portion of Isaiah strikes me as affording a remarkable contrast in this particular between the style of sacred and profane poetry. In prophecy, the curtain (if the expression may be allowed) is often suddenly dropped upon the action that is going on before it is finished, and the subject is continued in a shifted scene, as it were, of vision. This I take to be a natural conse- quence of the manner in which futurity was repre- sented in emblematical pictures to the imagination of the prophet ; and the breaks and transitions are more or less sudden according to the natural turn of the writer's mind. For prophecy was a business in which the intellect of the man under the control of the inspiring spirit had an active share, and accord- ingly the composition owes much of its colouring (but nothing more) to the natural genius and taste of the writer. And hence it is that such a variety of style is found in the works of the different authors of the Old Testament, all equajly inspired. In Isaiah the transitions are remarkably sudden and bold ; and yet this suddenness and boldness of trans- ition is seldom, I think, if ever in him a cause of ob- scurity. In the present instance, the scene of mes- sengers sent upon a message is suddenly closed with vol. ir. L
162 ISAIAH,
this second verse, before the messengers set out, be^ fore even the message is given to them. But the new objects which are immediately brought in view evidently represent under the usual emblems of sa- cred prophecy other parts of the same entire action, and declare with the greatest perspicuity the pur- port, the season, and the effect of the message. An ensign or standard is lifted up on the mountains ; a trumpet is blown on the hills : the standard of the cross of Christ ; the trumpet of the gospel. The resort to the standard, the effect of the summons, in the end will be universal. A pruning of the vine shall take place after a long suspension of visible in- terpositions of Providence, just before the season of the gathering of the fruits. Fowls of prey and wild beasts shall take possession of Jehovah's dwelling place. But at that very season, when the affairs of the church seem ruined and desperate, a sudden reverse shall take place. The people to whom the message is sent, shall be conducted in pomp, as a present to Jehovah, to the place of his name, to Mount Zion.
Verse 3. — " See ye~ hear ye" — These impera- tives should be future indicatives. So the original
ISAIAH. 163
words are taken by the Vulgate, the Syriac, the Chaldee, by Calvin, Junius and Tremellius ; the English Geneva, and by Vitringa. The prophecy announces a display of God's power and providence which should be notorious to the whole world, and particularly, I think, alludes to a renewed preaching of the gospel with great power and effect in the lat- ter ages.
Verse 4. " For so the Lord," &c.
This verse seems to describe a long suspension of the visible interpositions of Providence in the affairs of this world and in favour of his people, under the image of that stillness and stagnation of the atmos- phere which takes place in the extreme heats of the latter end of summer.
— " I will consider in my dwelling place;" rather, with the margin, " I will regard my set dwelling place;" or, with Bishop Lowth, " I will regard my fixed habitation." It is very extraordinary that these verbs, ' I will take my rest, — I will consider,' are imperatives of the second person singular in the Syriac; but they have not that form in the original; nor so taken will they give any sense consistent with the context.
l 2
164. ISAIAH.
The sentiment is, that notwithstanding a long cessation of extraordinary manifestations of God's power, his providence is not asleep ; he is all the while regarding the conduct and the fortunes of his people; he is not forgetful of his promises to his chosen people, but, though often by a silent and secret operation, is at all times directing every thing to their ultimate prosperity, and to the universal establishment of the true religion.
— " like a clear heat upon herbs f* or, according to the margin and Bishop Lowth, " after rain," •VlK *hy. But the word "NK never signifies rain ; for the text cited by Kimchi (Job xxx vii, 11) as an in- stance of this sense is not at all to the purpose. The physiology of the book of Job lies much too deep for Kimchi's penetration. Nor does the word in the singular number ever signify ' herbs.' The sort of heat described in this passage never follows rain, but frequently precedes it. The particle TO denotes only close proximity: applied therefore to time, it may as well express the moment just before as the moment just after. The word *V^ in Job xxxvii, 3, certainly signifies lightning: it will bear the same sense in the ] 1th verse of the same chapter. It signifies lightning in Hab. iii, 4, and Hos. vi, 5.
ISAIAH. 165
And the sense of lightning will very well apply in this place ; for the heat which the prophet describes is of that sort which precedes a thunder-storm.
— " a cloud of dew." This still heat is often ac- companied with a moisture of the atmosphere, and always with a clouded sky.
— " in the heat of harvest." For orD, "in the heat/' several respectable MSS. of Kennicott's col- lation, and others of De Rossi's, have E3YO, « in the day of harvest f* and this sense is certainly express- ed in the versions of the Syriac, the LXX, and Vul- gate. But the received reading gives so clear and strong a sense, that I prefer it.
Verse 5. — " and take away and cut down." — " cut down," Wl The word occurs in this place only. Instead of a verb in Hiphil, from the root l«n, I would take it as a noun substantive, the name of some lopping instrument, with M prefixed, and the nominative case of the verb *PDn. This both simplifies the construction and, by introducing a noun corresponding with miDJD, produces a parallel- ism between this and the preceding hemistich, which otherwise is wanting. The word is so taken in the Great Bible : — " and he shall cut downe the in-
L 3
166 ISAIAH.
creace with sythes, and the braunches shall be taken awaye with hokes."
— " sprigs— branches," O^n-J^Dtti. These words express not simply sprigs and branches, but 6 useless shoots/ * luxuriant branches/ which bear no fruit, and weaken the plant ; and properly such shoots and branches of a vine. A vine, ifi the pro- phetic language, is an image of the church of God ; the branches of the vine are the members of the church ; and the useless shoots and unfruitful luxu- riant branches are the insincere nominal members of the church ; and the pruning of such shoots and branches of the vine is the excision of such false hy- pocritical professors, at least the separation of them from the church by God's judgments. This verse therefore, and the following, clearly predict a judg- ment to fall upon the church for its purification, and the utter destruction of hypocritical professors of the truth. It is remarkable, that the object of this mystical pruning is not named otherwise than as the species of the tree is implied in the names given to the branches. The reason of this may be, that the Israelites in particular having been often signified in prophecy under the image of the vine, so long as they in particular formed the whole of God's visible
ISAIAH. I(i7
church on earth : to have named the vine expressly might have given them occasion to appropriate this part of the prophecy to themselves ; whereas it is another vine that will be the object of this pruning, as is evident from the season fixed for this visitation. The season is fixed in the beginning of this verse, " For afore the harvest," &c. This pruning will im- mediately precede the harvest and the ingathering. The season of the harvest and of the gathering of the fruit is the prophetic image of that period, when our Lord will send forth his angels to gather his elect from the four winds of heaven ; of that period, when a renewed preaching of the gospel shall take place in all parts of the world, of which the conver- sion of the Jews will perhaps be the first effect. The purification of the Christian church by the awful visitations predicted in this passage seems to be the proper preparative for this renewal of the call to them that are near, the Jews ; and to them that are yet afar off, the Gentile tribes not yet converted.
Verse 6. " They shall be left together," &c. That is, the shoots and branches cut off as un- fruitful and useless shall be left,
— " summer upon them winter upon them."
l 4
168 ISAIAH.
The pronoun of the third person in the original is singular, ' it ;' and is very properly rendered by the singular pronoun by the Vulgate, the Syriac, Calvin, Junius and Tremellius, in the Great Bible, the Bishop's Bible, the English Geneva Bible; by Vi- tringa, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth. But the greater part of these interpreters expound this sin- gular pronoun as if in sense it were collective, which brings the passage to the same meaning as if it were plural. But the true antecedent of this singular pro- noun in the original is the word 'tfOtt, ' my. dwelling place/ in verse 4 ; which dwelling place may be un- derstood literally of Mount Sion. It was a prevail- ing opinion in the primitive ages that Antichrist's last exploit would be, to fix his seat of empire on that holy spot, where he would ultimately perish. To those to whom the prophetic style in the ori- ginal language is not familiar, but to those, I think, only, it will appear strange that a pronoun should refer to an antecedent at so great a distance.
Verse 7. " In that time shall the present be brought," &c.
" In that time" — Immediately after this purga- tion of the church, at the very time when the bird
ISAIAH. 169
of prey, with all the beasts of the earth, Antichrist with his rebel rout, shall have fixed his seat be- tween the seas, in the holy mountain, " a present shall be brought," &c. the nation, described in verse 2 as those to whom the swift messengers are sent, after their long infidelity, shall be brought as a present unto Jehovah. (Compare chap, lxvi, 20.) They shall be converted to the acknowledgement of the truth, and they shall be brought to the place of the name of Jehovah, to Mount Sion : they shall be settled in peace and prosperity in the land of their original inheritance.
This then is the sum of this prophecy, and the substance of the message sent to the people dragged about and pluckt. That in the latter ages, after a long suspension of the visible interpositions of Pro- vidence, God, who all the while regards that dwell- ing place, which he never will abandon, and is at all times directing the events of the world to the ac- complishment of his own purposes of wisdom and mercy, immediately before the final gathering of his elect from the four winds of heaven, will purify his church by such signal judgments as shall rouse the attention of the whole world, and in the end strike
170 ISAIAH.
all nations with religious awe. At this period the apostate faction will occupy the Holy Land. This faction will certainly be an instrument of .those judgments by which the church will be purified. That purification therefore is not at all inconsistent wTith the seeming prosperity of the affairs of the atheistical confederacy ; but after such duration as God shall see fit to allow to the plenitude of its power, the Jews converted to the faith of Christ will be unexpectedly restored to their antient pos- sessions.
The swift messengers will certainly have a con- siderable share as instruments in the hand of God in the restoration of the chosen people. Otherwise, to what purpose are they called upon (verse l) to receive their commission from the prophet ? It will perhaps be some part of their business to afford the Jews the assistance and protection of their fleets. This seems to be insinuated in the imagery of the 1st verse. But the principal part they will have to act will be that of the carriers of God's message to his people. This character seems to describe some Christian country, where the prophecies relating to the latter ages will meet with particular attention ; where the literal sense of those which promise the
ISAIAH. 171
restoration of the Jewish people will be strenuously upheld ; and where these will be so successfully ex- pounded as to be the principal means, by God's blessing, of removing the veil from the hearts of the Israelites.
Those who shall thus be the instruments of this blessed work, may well be described in the figured language of prophecy as the carriers of God's mess- age to his people. The situation of the country destined to so high an office is not otherwise de- scribed in the prophecy than by this circumstance, that it is " beyond the rivers of Cush." That is, far to the west of Judea, if these rivers of Cush are to be understood, as they have been generally under- stood, of the Nile and other Ethiopian rivers ; far to the east, if of the Tigris and Euphrates. The one or the other they must denote, but which, is uncer- tain. It will be natural to ask, of what importance is this circumstance in the character of the country, which, if it be any thing, is a geographical charac- ter, and yet leaves the particular situation so much undetermined, that we know not in what quarter of .the world to look for the country intended, whether in the East Indies, or in the western parts of Africa or Europe, or in America? I answer, that the full
172 ISAIAH.
importance of this circumstance will not appear till the completion of the prophecy shall discover it. But it had, as I conceive, a temporary importance at the time of the delivery of the prophecy, namely, that it excluded Egypt.
The Jews of Isaiah's time, by a perverse policy, were upon all occasions courting the alliance of the Egyptians, in opposition to God's express injunc- tions by his prophets to the contrary. Isaiah there- fore, as if he would discourage the hope of aid from Egypt at any time, tells them that the foreign alli- ance which God prepares for them in the latter times, is not that of Egypt, which he teaches them at all times to renounce and to despise, but that of a country far remote \ as every country must be that lies either west of the Nile or east of the Tigris.
I shall now sum up the result of these long dis- quisitions in a translation of the prophecy, illustrat- ed with short notes.
ISAIAH. ITS
1 Ho! Land spreading wide the shadow of (thy)
wings,1 which art beyond the rivers of Cush.2
2 Accustomed to send3 messengers by sea,
1 That is, affording aid and protection to friends and allies in remote countries.
2 The land of Cush in holy writ (commonly, but by mistake, rendered Ethiopia) is properly that district of Arabia where the sons of Cush first settled. But as this race multiplied exceeding- ly, and spread, not only into other parts of Arabia, but eastward, round the head of the Persian Gulph, to the confines of Susiana ; and westward, across the Arabian Gulph, into the region since called Abyssinia, which extended along the coast from Ptolemais to Arsinoe, and inland to the very sources of the Nile : the land of Cush is often taken more largely for a great tract of country, not only comprehending the whole of Arabia Felix, but having for its eastern boundary the branch of the Tigris, below the town of Asia, and for its western boundary the Nile. The rivers of Cush, in this place, may be either the Euphrates and the Tigris on the east, or the Nile, the Astaboras, and the Astapus, on the west. But which of these are meant, it must be left for time to shew.
3 u Accustomed to send" — The form of the expression in the original signifies, not a single act of sending once, but the habit of sending perpetually.
1*74 ISAIAH,
Even in bulrush-vessels,* upon the surface of the
waters ! Go, swift messengers,5 Unto a nation6 dragged away and plucked, Unto a people wonderful from their beginning
hitherto,
4 Sending by sea, in bulrush-vessels, is a figurative expression, descriptive of skill in navigation, and of the safety and expedition with which the inhabitants of the land called to are supposed to perform distant voyages.
5 " Go, swift messengers" — You who, by your skill in naviga- tion and your extensive commerce and alliances, are so well quali- fied to be carriers of a message to people in the remotest corners, Go with God's message.
6 " Unto a nation," &c. viz. to the dispersed Jews ; a nation dragged away from its proper seat, and plucked of its wealth and power ; a people wonderful, from the beginning to this very time, for the special providence which ever has attended them, and di- rected their fortunes ; a nation still lingering in expectation of the Messiah, who so long since came, and was rejected by them, and now is coming again in glory ; a nation universally trampled under foot ; whose lands, « rivers/ armies of foreign invaders, the Assy- rians, Babylonians, Syromacedonians, Romans, Saracens, and Turks, have over-run and depopulated.
ISAIAH. lis
A nation expecting, expecting, and trampled un- der foot, Whose land rivers have spoiled.
3 All the inhabitants of the world and dwellers up-
on earth
Shall see the lifting up, as it were, of a banner7 upon the mountains,
And shall hear the sounding as it were of a trum- pet.7
4 For thus saith Jehovah unto me :
I will sit still8 (but I will keep my eye upon my prepared habitation.)
7 ft A banner — a trumpet." The banner of the cross, to be lifted up more conspicuously than ever before ; the trumpet of the gospel, to be sounded more loudly than ever before in the latter ages.
8 This 4th verse represents a long cessation of visible interposi- tion* of Providence, under the image of God's sitting still j the stillness of that awful pause, under the image of that torpid state of the atmosphere in hot weather, when not a gleam of sunshine breaks for a moment through the sullen gloom ; not a breath stirs ; not a leaf wags ; not a blade of grass is shaken ; no ripling wave
176 ISAIAH.
As the parching heat just before lightning, As the dewy cloud in the heat of harvest.
3 For afore the harvest,9 when the bud is coming to perfection, And the blossom is become a juicy berry,
curls upon the sleeping surface of the waters ; the black ponderous cloud covering the whole sky seems to hang fixed and motionless as an arch of stone, Nature seems benumbed in all her operations. The vigilance nevertheless of God's silent providence is represent- ed under the image of his keeping his eye while he thus sits still upon his prepared habitation. The sudden eruption of judgment threatened in the next verse, after this total cessation, just before the final call to Jew and Gentile, answers to the storms of thunder and lightning which, in the suffocating heats of the latter end of summer, succeed that perfect stillness and stagnation of the atmo- sphere. And as the natural thunder at such seasons is the wel- come harbinger of refreshing and copious showers, so it appears the thunder of God's judgments will usher in the long desired sea- son of the consummation of mercy. So accurate is the allusion in all its parts.
9 The harvest is the constant image of that season when God shall gather his elect from the four winds of heaven, reap the field of the world, gather his wheat into his barns, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Images, which relate not to the
ISAIAH. ITT
He will cut oft* the useless shoots with pruning
hooks, And thebill shall takeaway the luxuriant branches.10
6 They shall be left together to the bird of prey of
the mountains, And to the beasts of the earth. And upon it11 shall the bird of prey summer, And all beasts of the earth upon it shall winter.
7 At that season a present shall be led To Jehovah of hosts,
A people dragged away and plucked \
translation of the just to heaven, and the burning of the wicked in hell, but to the placing of the faithful in a state of peace and se- curity on earth, and to the excision of the incorrigible of the irre- ligious faction.
10 God in the later ages will purify his church with sore but wholesome judgments. Compare John xv, 1, 2.
1 1 It was a prevailing opinion among the early fathers, that Antichrist is to possess himself of the Holy Land, and that there he is to perish.
13 Compare Isaiah Jxvi, 20, and Zeph. iii, 9, 10.
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178 ISAIAH.
Even of a people wonderful from their beginning hitherto,
A nation expecting, expecting, and trampled un- der foot,
Whose land rivers have spoiled,
Unto the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts7 Mount Sion.
1 must yet add a few words, to obviate a difficulty which may seem to press with some weight upon the interpretation I have now given of this chapter. How, it may be asked, is this prophecy in any sense which applies it to the final restoration of the Jews connected with what precedes and follows it in the context of the prophet ? The burthen of Damascus precedes, the burthen of Egypt follows. The sub- version of the kingdom of the Syrians of Damascus by the Assyrian ; the detail of the judgments which are to fall upon Egypt in various periods of her history from the time of the prophet downwards; With what coherence is the final restoration of the Jews brought in between .?
I answer, this prophecy is indeed a sort of epi- sode interrupting the regular order of the discourse, and yet not unnaturally introduced.
ISAIAH. 179
The burthen of Damascus opened at the begin- ning of the seventeenth chapter, naturally brings the prophet to speak of the subversion of the kingdom of Israel, in those days in alliance with the Syrians, and to be overthrown by the same enemy at the same time. The prediction of the subversion of the kingdom of Israel leads the prophet to warn the Jewish people in general of the judgments that await them, with manifest allusion in the 11th verse, as Casaubon has observed, to the final dispersion of the nation by the Romans. And the allusion to this final dispersion leads, as it almost always does, to a pre- diction of the final restoration. This is delivered generally in the 12th, 13th, and 14th verses of chap. xvii. The prophet by a sudden exclamation of sur- prize (ill rendered " Wo to"), gives notice that a new scene suddenly breaks upon him. He sees the armies of Antichrist rushing on in the full tide of conquest, and pouring like a deluge over the land of God's people (verse 12). He no sooner sees them, than he declares that " Cod shall rebuke them," that they shall flee with precipitation and in dismay, and " shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind, " (verse 13). Elated with th
M 2
180 ISAIAH.
glorious scene of the total rout of the apostate con- federacy, he addresses his countrymen in words of exultation and triumph : " This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us," (verse 14). Having thus in general terms predicted the final success and happiness of his nation, he pro- ceeds in the eighteenth chapter, to the description of visions more particularly declarative of the man- ner and of the time of their deliverance, which nevertheless leave much unexplained. In what people of the earth, of the eastern or the western world, the characters of the messenger-people may be found, when the time shall come for the accom- plishment of the prophecy is hitherto uncertain in that degree, that we are hardly at liberty in my judgment to conjecture. The messenger-people is certainly to be a Christian people ; for I think, it cannot be doubted that the messenger-people and the leaders of the present to Jehovah to Mount Sion are the same people ; and the act of leading a pre- sent to Jehovah to Mount Sion must be an act of worshippers of Jehovah, for it is an act of worship. They therefore who lead the present will be true worshippers, performing that service from religious motives 5 and as such they are most expressly de-
ISAIAH. It!
scribed by the prophet Zcphaniah, if I construe Ml words aright.
Zeph. iii, 10. I take *HnjJ to be tlie nominative of the veil) transitive |?W\ and rO and V^D to be accusatives after it, in apposition. And I render the lines thus :
My worshippers, beyond the rivers oi' dish, Shall conduct, as an offering to me, the daughter of my dii* persion [i.e. my dispersed nation].
I have an unfashionable partiality for the opinions of antiquity. I think there is ground in the pro- phecies for the notion of the early fathers, that Pa- lestine is the stage on which Antichrist in the height of his impiety will perish. I am much inclined too to assent to another opinion of the fathers, that a small band of the Jews will join Antichrist, and be active instruments of his persecutions ; and I admit that it is not unlikely that this small part of the Jews will be settled in Jerusalem under the protec- tion of Antichrist. But it is not to the settlement of this apostate band that the prophecy of this eigh- teenth chapter relates. For I must observe, that when the present offered consists of persons, the of-
M
182 ISAIAH.
fered, as well as the offerers, must be worshippers. For to be offered is to be made a worshipper ; or, in some instances, to be devoted to some particular service in which the general character of a worship- per is previously implied, both in the person who hath authority so to devote, and in the devoted ; as in the instances of Jephtha's daughter, and the child Samuel. The people therefore brought as a present to Jehovah to Mount Sion (if Mount Sion is to be taken literally, as, not from this passage by itself, but by the collation of this passage with many others, I think it is) will be brought thither in a converted state. The great body of the Jewish people will be converted previous to their restor- ation ; and being converted, will be assisted bv Christian nations of the uncircumcision in settling themselves in their antient seats. I am of opinion that some passages, in Zachariah in particular, make strongly for this notion of a previous settlement of worse than unconverted Jews. But I am not with- out hope, from the same passages, that the great body of the converted Jews returning will find those first settlers broken off from the Antichristian fac- tion in a state of deep contrition, and ready to re- ceive their brethren with open arms. So the whole
ISAIAH. 183
race shall be offered to Jehovah at Mount Sion, and not one of Israel shall be lost. And so far, but no farther, I can admit an inchoate restoration of the Jews antecedent to their conversion, and a settle- ment of a small body of them in the Holy Land by the Antichristian powers. But this, I repeat it, is not the great subject to which the prophecy re- lates, the general restoration of the Jewish people ; a business in which the atheistical faction will have no share*
CHAP. XIX.
Verse 3. — a I will destroy the counsel thereofl" JPDK " J will swallow up." The original word seems to express how all the schemes of man are ab- sorbed, as it were, and lost in the general scheme of God's overruling providence.
Verse 6. — " and they shall turn the rivers far away." For VTOfcTn, I would read WWW\ trans- posing the Jlj and I would punctuate the whole passage thus,
CWlfi EW >W11 5
;inrro;Ni Hv\ Snro Ttfi
Hn rvnru 6
184. ISAIAH.
5 And the waters of the sea shall be exhausted [or absorbed], And the river shall waste and become dry, and I will cause it
to stink.
6 The rivers are shrunk ;
And the embanked canals shall be dried up, &c.
Or perhaps the two first lines of this verse might be
thus rendered, taking WJ literally :
And waters from the sea shall be drank, For the river, &c.
The sense will be that by the river being dried up, men will be reduced to drink sea- water j and thus the LXX understood the passage.
Verse 7. " The paper reeds by the brooks" — " The meadow by the canal," Bishop Lowth. I think, with Houbigant, that rVHj; is to be taken here in its natural sense of nakedness*
6i Nakedness upon the river, upon the source of the river."
Nakedness is a very expressive image to describe the appearance of a river, when its bottom is expos- ed and bare, and its banks are divested of their ver- dant clothing by long unseasonable drought. This interpretation has the authority of the Vulgate on its side : " Nudabitur alveus rivi" —
— " the source of the river.5' This is the only passage in which the word ^3 is applied to a river or
ISAIAH. 185
stream of any kind. The Vulgate seems to have understood it as exactly equivalent to the Latin o$, which properly denotes not what in the English lan- guage is meant by the mouth of a river, the place where it empties itself into the sea, which in Latin is properly expressed by ostium, but the source from whence a river takes its rise. For thus the Vulgate renders the whole clause ; — " nudabitur alveus rivi a fonte suo."
— " shall wither, be driven away, and be no more." The general sense of this clause I take to be well expressed in the version of the LXX : — xect irav ro GKZigofjjSvov dicx, rou kotuujOv hr^^ircLi dv>u,o$fo%ov. The idea is, that all vegetation even close to the river's side shall be so perfectly withered, as to be scatter- ed in the shape of powder by the wind.
Verse (J. " Moreover they that work in fine flax," kc. Interpreters differ greatly in the sense of the words nvp*n£* OTC3, and none have given a satisfac- tory exposition. The word FipTtf is rendered by the LXX in Gen. xlix, 11, as if it peculiarly signified the tendrils of the vine ; and from its affinity in sound to the words "TO* and *W, it is not unreason- able to suppose that it may signify any thing pliant, and apt to twist and twine. Hence it may signify
186 ISAIAH,
the fibres under the bark of the plant from which flax is spun, and perhaps the threads made of those fibres. Taking this sense of the word nnpnt^, for OWW, I would read OWiK, and then the passage may be thus rendered \
The manufacturers in flax shall be confounded, They that weave the fibres into meshes.
Verse 10. " And they shall be broken," &c.
Three words occur in this verse of difficult expo- sition, which produce a great obscurity of the whole; viz. rm\% "DP, and WW. The last, «», I take, with Kimchi, to be equivalent to ■'OJJJ, in which sense it is used in the Chaldaic and Arabic dialects. *Ottf I take to be used for "OD, and to signify either the dams made to confine the water in artificial pools, or wicker pottles made for catching some par- ticular sorts of fish, which last is the sense that seems best connected with the context. Leaving then the word fiWitP as yet unexpounded, the verse will run thus -,
And mnnw shall be broken to pieces,
All the makers of fish-pottles shall be sorrowful in soul.
Now for the word WW: the root WP seems to contain in its primary meaning the two ideas of stability and arrangement. It signifies f to set firm/
ISAIAH. 187
and ■ in order.' Hence the nouns W and ring,* by their etymology may signify any substantial works of the carpenter or mason, or any other firm orderly arrangements. In Psalm xi, 3, the plural HlflBtfl signifies either the principal stones or the main tim- bers of a building. In the Chaldee dialect, the noun NrW signifies a square oblong beam, plank, or block. In Hebrew, the noun >W signifies the warp of wov- en cloth, as distinguished from the woof. In Chal- dee, KrnnC'E is the piece woven. In Syriac, the verb Vi^K is * he wove -> the noun HVW, the operation of weaving ; *OY>ntyc, the weaver's beam ; and Nrwc»D9 either the operation of weaving, or the shuttle.
In the text under consideration, we have not only to determine the sense of the plural noun E^nn^, but to expound the suffix H. Now this feminine suffix, as Houbigant observes, hath no antecedent. Some get over this difficulty by expounding the pro- noun of Egypt. But the last mention of Egypt is so far back as in the 3d verse, in a sentence which has no connection with this. It seems therefore a certain conclusion, that this feminine suffix singular, for which no antecedent can be found, must be a corruption ; and this corruption might easily take place by removing the final O in the masculine sui-
188 ISAIAH.
fix plural from the end of this word to the begin- ning of the next. For UWlB 'fivmp therefore, I would read WHO! orwntP, taking ©**5n as the participle Paoul in Kal, or Benoni in Pual. If this alteration, which in part is Houbigant's, be adopted, the person rehearsed by the masculine suffix plural can be no other than % the manufacturers of flax, who weave the fibres into meshes,' mentioned in the last verse, and the noun OWttJ? must denote some- thing which belongs to them. Hence we are led to seek the sense of this noun among the materials, the implements, or the effects of the weaver's trade ; and among these we must choose somewhat that may be a fit subject of the verb Wi. We must therefore reject the materials and the effect, the warp and the finished web. For the verbs "P, ("OT, W% express contusion, not tearing ; and hard things only are the proper subjects of these verbs in their literal meaning. The implements therefore remain \ the shuttles, or the beams or frames. I rather think the latter are intended in this place. Thus the true rendering of the whole verse will be to this effect :
And their frames shall be broken to pieces ;
All the makers of dams (or offish-pottles) shall be dispirited.
Vitringa thinks that, under the image of fisher-
ISAIAH. m
men and their subordinate artificers, the priests of the idolatrous religions of Egypt and their inferior ministers are described.
Verse 14. — " and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof."
IHCfpQ 7M — The suffix is masculine. But in the clause immediately preceding, and in the latter clause of the preceding verse, Egypt is rehearsed by the feminine suffix. It is true, that in different parts of this chapter Egypt is rehearsed by the masculine and feminine suffix indifferently. But it is hardly to be supposed that the same word should be rehearsed by pronouns of different genders in the very same sentence. [This may easily be supposed in the pro- phetic style.] I am persuaded that the masculine pronoun suffixed to TWyo rehearses Jehovah, and 1 render the whole passage thus ;
13
And the pillars of her tribes have caused Egypt to err. 14' Jehovah hath scattered in the midst of her a spirit of giddi- ness ;
And they have caused Egypt to err with respect to all his works,
As a drunkard staggereth in his vomit.
The rulers of the Egyptians misled the people by
5
190 ISAIAH.
erroneous politics. Ignorant of the designs of Pro- vidence, they formed false conjectures of the effect of their alliances, of the event of their wars and their treaties, and misinterpreted what Providence brought to pass at every step.
Verse 15. " Neither shall there be any work for Egypt," &c. ; literally, " And the work which he shall do, shall not be unto Egypt head or tail, bend- ing or boss." This is still a declaration of the dull- ness of the Egyptians to perceive the hand of God in their affairs, and foresee the impending judgment. In things brought about by God's providence, they will have no apprehension of any scheme or design, no discernment of the connection of one thing with another, and of consequence no forecast of calamity till it come upon them. All will seem to them chance and confusion. ftSD I take to be a well shaped turn or joint in any piece of elegant work- manship ; and pDJK a round knob or boss, or per- haps something like a vase, for ornament at the ex- tremity. Hence piMM FED M") #*H are a prover- bial expression for the whole and every part of a thing, (Is. ix, 14) ; and to have neither V$^ nor a#, HD5 nor |T»3K, is to be destitute of all regularity and
ISAIAH. 191
elegance of workmanship ; and applied figuratively to actions, to want design and coherence.
Verse 23. — " and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians." The plain sense of the original, however difficult it may be to connect it with the other parts of the prophecy, is this : " and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian. " W, after the verb "Hy, is in many instances the sign of the accu- sative following the verb ; but I cannot find a single text in which it is the preposition of the concomit- ant or adjunct of the subject of the verb, as it is supposed to be here.
Upon second thoughts, I am inclined to believe that the force of HN may vary according to its posi- tion in the sentence. That when it follows a verb transitive immediately, it is always the sign of the accusative ; but if another word intervene between the verb transitive and HK, then the object of the verb transitive may be understood, and riN may be the preposition of fellowship or concomitance. Thus, had the words in the clause in question stood in this order, THtm riK VDj? C3*ttD\ they would have ren. dered this sense only, " and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian.91 But O*HS0 being placed be- tween VDjn and HH, the words may bear the other
192 ISAIAH.
sense ; " and the Egyptians shall serve [Jehovah] with the Assyrians."
Verse 24. — " a blessing," u e. an object of be- nediction.
Verse 25. " Whom"— rather « Which"— i. e. which triple object of benediction, God shall bless in this form of words#
CHAP. XXI.
This prophecy of the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by Cyrus, contained in the first ten verses of this chapter, is certainly a masterpiece in the ecstatic style. It opens with a general declaration in the 1st verse of sudden danger from a distant land. In the 2d verse, the prophet signifies that he is speak- ing with reference to a grievous vision set before him. The particulars of the vision make the whole sequel of the song ; except that in the 3d and 4th verses the detail is interrupted with expressions of the horror and distress which the scene creates in the prophet's mind. The particulars of the vision are these. 1st, The prophet hears God himself de- claring the crimes of Babylon, national perfidy and violence, and calling the Medes and Persians to execute vengeance, (verse 2). Then he sees the
ISAIAH. 193
festivity of the royal banquet the night that the city was taken : he sees the enemy enter, and gives the alarm (verse 5). Then a watchman is ordered to tell what he sees. The watchman sees a man riding in a military car, drawn by a camel and an ass yoked together, driven by two postillions, one on each beast. (This car is evidently emblematic of the united armies of the Persians and Medes, under their respective leaders; the man in the car, Cyrus: verses 6, 7). Upon the watchman's discerning the near approach of the man in this car, he proclaims that Babylon is fallen. In the 10th verse the pro- phet signifies that he is himself the watchman of the foregoing verses ; that his prediction of the fate of Babylon came from God, and is delivered to the Jews for their comfort and edification.
St Jerome and Bishop Lowth imagine that the prophet in this effusion speaks in some parts in his own person, and in others personifies Babylon. But they disagree in the distribution of these parts ; the one making him speak in his own person, what the other supposes to be put into the mouth of Babylon personified ; and the contrary. It seems to me that the whole is delivered in the prophet's own person ; except that in the 2d verse he abruptly recites the
VOL. II. N
19* ISAIAH.
order which he hears given by the Almighty for the immediate execution of vengeance upon the perfidi- ous tyrannical nation, without any previous or sub- sequent intimation that God was the speaker : and yet in this he can hardly be said to speak in another person, but in the height of the prophetic ecstasy he omits a circumstance which the imagination of the hearer or reader wrould easily supply.
Verse 1 . — " whirlwinds in the south" — The al- lusion is to the hurricanes in the sandy deserts of Africa and Arabia, that sweep up the whole surface of the plain, and bury every thing they overtake.
The weary traveller, with wild surprise Sees the dry desert all around him rise, And, buried in the dusty whirlwind, dies.
In the original, a comma should be placed at 3W-, for the word *yW?, though it alludes to the devasta- tion of these whirlwinds, belongs to the next clause.
— " the desert," the champaign between Babylon and Persia,
— " terrible land," Media. The Medes had long been an object of terror to the Babylonians, inso- much that the security of the country against that powerful enemy had been the principal object of
ISAIAH. IM
the great works of Nitocris. See Herodotus, lib. i, c. 185.
Like hurricanes from the south, for devastation
It is coming from the desert, from the terrible country.
Verse 2. — <c the treacherous dealer spoileth."
This is a declaration of the crimes which brought the judgment upon Babylon. Or thus, in a different sense ; The treacherous dealer is repaid with treachery, the spoiler is spoiled.
The treachery here seems to denote only military stratagem, which was employed in the reduction of Babylon, but no other fraud.
But perhaps the public translation is to be pre- ferred.
Verse 4. — " the night of my pleasure" — f|^J HN •>pC*n. It may be supposed that the prophet in his vision made one of the company at the royal ban- quet, and, as a partaker of that festivity, he calls that evening the evening of his pleasure. But the word r|&*J, as a noun, properly denotes either the evening or the morning breeze : hence the dawn of day; bence the season of the morning sleep; which, for the refreshment it affords, is a season desired and liked by every man. Thus the words may be
N 2
196 ISAIAH.
expounded without reference to Belshazzar's feast. " The sweet season that I longed for of the morn- ing sleep, he (i.e. God) hath changed into horror by the scene of misery represented to my imagina- tion."
Verse 5, " Prepare the table," &c. This 5th verse describes the revelling in Babylon the night that the town was taken. The prophet in his trance is present upon the spot; he has the whole scene before him, the feast, and the sudden irruption of the enemy. The suddenness of the thing is wonder- fully expressed by the sudden turn of the discourse from the description of the royal banquet, to an alarm addressed by the prophet to the Babylonian chiefs. The idiom of the original may be imitated in the Latin language, but cannot be preserved in ours. ■ Ornare mensam ; ponere custodias ; edere ; potare ; surgite principes ; ungite scuta/ That these last words are an alarm to the Babylonians, not a call to the enemy, may be presumed, I think, from the mention of the shield only, the defensive wea- pon.
Verse 6. — -" Go, set a watchman" — It appears from the 10th verse that the prophet himself was the watchman \ therefore I cannot think that this
ISAIAH. 197
passage is rightly rendered as a command to the prophet to set a watchman.
Verse 7. — " a chariot with a couple of horsemen ;M literally, as I think, " one riding a pair of postilions." EftttPV is so often joined with chariots in the Old Testament, that I am apt to think that the military cars of the east, with which the Jews were acquaint- ed, in the earliest times were not of the form which was afterwards in use among the Greeks and the people of Asia Minor, (who certainly used cars driven by a charioteer seated on a box, or in the car). I imagine that these more antient cars were driven by men riding on the beasts that drew them -> and that 0»UH9 1EJ? is a phrase for such a car.* The passage may be rendered more literally in Latin than in English. % Videt [quendam] vectum binis equitibus \ vectum asino, vectum camelo.' The last clause affirms that the car was drawn by a pair of different beasts.t
* Whether such cars were ever actually in use or no, which, upon further consideration, seems very improbable, such evidently was the car of the prophetic vision.
f Some commentators have imagined that the cr^is "my al- ludes only to the order in which Cyrus's cavalry advanced to
v
198 ISAIAH.
Verse 8. — " a lion." " Leo, quod brevissimas habet palpebras, unde etiam dor miens vigilare vide- tur, symbolum est^vigilantis excubitoris ; soletque adpingi valvis templorum et palatiorum, quasi vigil et custos loci," inquit Horus Apollo. Tirinus apud Poole.
A comma should certainly be placed after the first *WK, which, with the preceding words after N^p\ makes a distinct clause, in which the verb substan- tive in the first person is understood. The passage, I think, might receive emendation by a transposi- tion of two words, which would stand better in the next clause than in this.
The passage at present stands thus ;
•OMt •una HBSD Sy rma mpn o»y> T»an nay
tnhhft ^ aw
By transposition I would arrange it thus ;
•»^K tm« iTHK mp»1
ow T>»n nDy ris$D Sy
march up the dry bed of the river. See Cyropaed. p. 524, Hutch- inson. But the 9th verse evidently describes one man somehow or other drawn by the pair.
ISAIAH. 199
Verse 9. " And behold," &c. In the preceding verse the prophet recited what the watchman said ; now lie proceeds in the description of what the watchman sees. In the middle of the verse " he answered," he recites again what the watchman says in consequence of what he had further seen : all along speaking of the watchman as a third per- son. In the 10th verse he discovers that he is him- self the watchman.
Verse 10. " O my thrashing." O nation of the Jews, thou object (not of my discipline, for the pro- phet certainly speaks in his own person), but of my unremitted pains and solicitude j the object upon which my labour in the prophetic ministry is be- stowed.
The translation of the whole is thus :
THE BURTHEN OF THE MARSH.
1 Like the sweeping-whirlwinds in the south,
For devastation from the desert it cometh, from the dreaded land !
2 A grievous vision is set before me !
' That perfidious dealeth perfidiously, and that spoiler spoileth :
200 ISAIAH.
' Come up, O Elam! lay siege, O Media! c I have put an end to all her vexations.'
3 For this my loins are filled with acute pain ; Pangs seize me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am convulsed by what I hear,
I am astounded by what I see !
4 My thoughts ' wander ! Fright2 distracts me !
The sweet season of my morning sleep he appoint- ed to me for horror.3
1 Literally, ' my heart :' but the heart, in the language of the sacred writers, signifies the whole inner man, the thoughts as well as the passions.
2 « Fright" — The word ntxbs is a feminine singular, as ap- pears by the form of the verb of which it is the subject.
5 The original seems to express the regular return of some dis- tracting visions at this season appointed by Nature for a respite from every care. In the following verse the prophet seems to fall into one of these dreadful trances. The terror carried to the ut- most height by the scene of the capture of the city, brings him to himself; and he awakes from the trance calling to the Babylonian chiefs, to apprise them of their danger.
ISAIAH. 501
5 The table deckt — the watch set — eat, drink* — Rise, princes ! gripe the oiled shield.5
6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Come, let him that standeth on the watch-tower report what he seeth.
7 And he seeth one-drawn-in-a-car (3^) with a
pair of riders, Drawn by an ass, drawn by a camel. And he hearkeneth out with great diligence.
8 And he crieth, ■ My Lord, I am a [very] lion -7
1 Standing on the watch continually all the day, c And fixed upon my station every night.*
■ ■■ ■■■' ■ ■ ' ■ — — ■ ■ —i i ■ i ■— ^ — — — ■ — — — — «^— —
* I have endeavoured to imitate -the soranambular phraseology «f the original.
5 Literally, ' anoint the shield.' I suppose these shields were of leather, not overlaid with metal like the shields of Homer's heroes ; and were oiled to preserve the toughness of the leather, which otherwise growing hard and brittle, would have been apt to split with the stroke of a dart, and to give a passage to the weapon. Compare 2 Sam. i, 21. Or they might be oiled, though covered with metal, to make the surface slippery, that the weapons of the enemy might slide upon them.
202 ISAIAR
9 And behold, hither cometh
The man drawn in a car with a pair of riders: And thereupon [the watchman] proclaimeth 6 ' Babylon is fallen, is fallen ! * And all the graven images of her gods are dashed in pieces against the ground/
10 O my thrashing, and the corn of my floor I What I have heard from Jehovah of hosts The God of Israel, I have reported unto you.
CHAP. XXII.
I agree with Houbigant that the prophecy con- tained in the first fourteen verses of this chapter re- lates to the siege and capture of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah. The infidelity and impenitence of the Jewish people mentioned in the 11th and 13th verses, and the utter ruin threatened in the 14th, suit not the times of Hezekiah, nor the event of Sennacherib's expedition. The measures of de-
6 Literally, e and he answereth, and saith.' But ]y», ' he an- swereth/ often signifies only that the speaker speaks in reference to a certain subject, or upon a certain occasion, expressed, or to be collected at least, from the preceding discourse.
ISAIAH.
fence described in the lJth, 10th, and 11th verses, are such precautions as would naturally be used at any time when a siege was apprehended, and cannot be understood to mark the times of Hezekiah in particular, notwithstanding what the sacred history records of his preparations for a siege.
Verse 3. — " they are bound by the archers — are bound." For TDK, in both places, read, with Hou- bigant and Bishop Lowth, lion. — " they are fled from the bow — are fled." Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. — " breaking down the walls, and of cry- ing to the mountain." Mr Parkhurst's translation of this passage deserves attention : — u of confused justling, or hurly-burly, and of shouting on the mountain." See his Lexicon, »"Hp, i. and ^p^p.
Verse 6. — " with chariots of men and horsemen. v For DIN, read, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, CD-IK.
And Elam takes up the quiver ; On chariots with riders [comes] the Syrian, The Cyraean uncovers the shield. Verse 8. " And he discovered the covering of Judah ;" rather, " And the veil of Judah shall be [or was] taken off." Sec Parklmrst, "P.
Verse 14. Notwithstanding the difficulty which
■r
204 ISAIAH.
Bishop Lowth finds in this passage, it seems to me very similar to \ Sam. ii, 27, and iii, 21 ; and I am persuaded no emendation is necessary. " Jehovah is revealed j" that is, the purpose of Jehovah is re- vealed.
Verse 16. — " as he that heweth, &c. a rock."
Literally, " hewings on high are his sepulchre, cut- tings in the rock his habitation." That is, his se- pulchre is hewn out on high, his habitation is cut out in the rock.
Verse 17. — " will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee." The expres- sions in the original are of very doubtful interpreta- tion.
Verse 18. " He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball." Castalio has rendered the original with more exactness, I think, than any other inter- preter : — " Convolutum tanquam pilam versando rotabit."
17, 18. Upon considering the separate senses of the roots *» or ^, BJJ or Wp, and *1», namely, *» or ^ < to cast forth, to project ;' B? or STBJJ, < to hurry away, to toss away ;' t\&, c to cause to spin like a ball in the air,' I suspect that the verses should be thus divided :
ISAIAH.
tw dSd^d i^dSdo nw run
■OTS Witt iDtti
;D^ nam y"W ^
17 Behold Jehovah is about to cast thee forth with a giant's force, And he will toss thee a spinning toss.
18 He will send thee spinning like a round ball Into a wide open country.
CHAP. XXIII.
That the first capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar is the particular subject of this prophecy, is evident from the general tenor of it, the calamity predicted being described as the first the Tyrian state had en- dured, and in particular from the 12th verse. The prophet however confines not himself to the fortunes of the single town of Tyre, but he touches upon the general blow given to commerce by the destruction of that universal mart, and upon the sufferings of the Tyrians in their distant colonies, under the ir- resistible arms of the Babylonian conqueror.
1 The burthen of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish !
206 ISAIAH.
For the spoiler is within your port.
Far as the land of Chittim the news is spread.
2 The inhabitants of the sea-port are still ;
The merchants of Sidon, who traversed the sea* crowded thee.1
3 Upon the mighty waters2 was the seed of the Nile, The harvest of the river was her revenue.
She was the factoress of nations.
4 Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath
spoken, Even the fortress of the sea,5 saying,
i — « thee," O sea-port.
2 — " the mighty waters ;" i. e. the wide ocean. The corn, the growth of the Delta, transported in Tyrian vessels to the ports of various distant countries, was thus scattered over the main ocean ; and the harvest of the banks of the river became the re- venue of Tyre.
5 Or, " Even the strength of the sea" — or, " The tutelar de- mon of the sea" — May not E3TT njm signify some idol wor- shipped by merchants as the power presiding over the sea, direct- ing the currents and the winds, as their tutelar divinity ? Hercules was worshipped by the Gauls under the title of Magusan.
ISAIAH. 207
I have travailed not, I have not brought forth, I have nourished no youths, [neither] brought up virgins.
5 When the tidings shall reach Egypt,
They shall be sorely grieved at the tidings of Tyre.
6 Pass ye over to Tarshish : howl, ye inhabitants of
the sea-port!
7 Is this your city rioting [in prosperity], Whose antiquity is of the earliest date ? Her own feet bear her far away to sojourn.
8 Who hath devised this against Tyre,
The mistress of crowns, whose merchants were
princes, Wliose traders were the honourable of the earth ?
9 Jehovah [God] of hosts hath devised it;
To stain the splendour of whatever was haughty* To bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
4 To mar the lustre of whatever was haughty.
208 ISAIAH.
10 Overflow thy land, like a stream, O daughter of
Tarshish, That hath no longer an embankment !
1 1 Jehovah hath stretched his hand over the sea, He hath shaken the kingdoms,
He hath issued a command against Canaan To destroy her fortresses.
12 And he hath said, Thou shalt no more repeat
thy riot, O thou deflowered virgin, daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Chittim : there also thou shalt
have no rest,
IS Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This people was not : The Assyrian founded it, He set up his beacons for ships. Down with her stately palaces : she is appointed to destruction.
14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! for your fortress5 is laid waste !
5 Rather, • your strength," or u your protector."
ISAIAH. 209
Here ends the first part of this prophecy. In the sequel the prophet in a cooler strain defines the duration of the Tyrian captivity, and foretells the restoration of the state, without extending his views to what was to take place in the distant times of Alexander the Great. There is no difficulty in the four remaining verses, and they cannot be better rendered than in Bishop Lowth's or the public translation.
Verse 1. — " the spoiler is within your port." WSD n-OD TW. Some of Kennicott's best MSS. and the Bible of Soncinum 1488, have 1W* The points favour this reading, "nttf. The words T"W ro3D taken by themselves, any one would render 'the spoiler is within.' But within what? The sentence has nothing to answer this question but the word N"QO. This word is frequently used as a noun substantive, to signify the entrance into any place ; the entrance of a house, a town, a temple, a country. But an entrance, with respect to the ships upon the ocean, must be the port to which they are bound, where they wish to enter. The prophet's imagination presents to him fleets of merchantmen bound to Tyre, (whether ships of other countries, or merchantmen of Tyre itself, homeward bound.
VOL, ii. o
210 ISAIAH.
makes little difference, though the former I take to be the better exposition of the phrase c ships of Tarshish :' it is Vitringa's and Bochart's) : he warns them not to enter, because they will find the enemy in possession of their harbour. It is some confirma- tion of this sense that, in Ezekiel's lamentation over Tyre (Ezek. xxvii, 3), d HK'DE is clearly the haven of Tyre, considered as the entrance of the sea from the continent.
Bishop Lowth renders this line thus. " For she is utterly destroyed both within and without." In Poole's Synopsis, I find the like interpretation ascribed to Forerius ; and there the reader may see by what process that critic would deduce this sense from the Hebrew words, which is adopted with great commendation by Vitringa. But I cannot . find a single instance in the sacred writings in which K13B, either by itself, or contrasted with n^D, or in any connection, renders c without/
— " Far as the land of Chittim the news is spread."
— " the land of Chittim.19 By the writer of the first book of Maccabees, Alexander the Great is called the king of Chittim. Ships of Chittim, in the book of Daniel, are Roman ships. Hence it should seem
ISAIAH. 21]
that Chittim is a name common to Greeks and Ro- mans. OrO, in Arabic, is 4 to hide.' CDVO pM therefore I take to be a general name for those parts @f our western world which were the least known to the Jews and other eastern nations ; the ' terra incognita occidentalis :' although Vitringa, with Bochart, takes OVO pK to be the peculiar name of Italy.
" Far as the land of Chittim"—
It may seem strange to suppose that the preposi- tion O should render c far as.' Noldius cites 2 Sam. vi, 2, as an instance in which D directly renders the preposition of the place whither. But he mistakes the true sense of the passage, in which B is clearly the preposition of the place whence. He cites to the same purpose Psalm lxviii, 30, where B has quite another meaning; and Cant, iv, 1, where the force of D will depend upon the sense given to the verb 877*. Upon the whole, I am not satisfied that the prefix B in any instance directly renders the prepo- sition of the place whither. But in describing great distances, the Hebrew and the European languages take contrary ways. The Hebrew language always measures backward from the farthest boundary to the place of the writer or speaker. The Greek and
o 2
212 ISAIAH.
Latin languages for the most part, and the English language always (some texts in the Bible excepted, in which the Hebrew idiom is retained), measure forward from the station of the writer or speaker to the farthest boundary. In either way, the thing ex- pressed is the whole space between the writer's sta- tion and the utmost limit mentioned. Hence it often happens, that although the prefixed 0 never directly renders the preposition of the place whither, yet its effect in describing distance can be no other- wise so perspicuously rendered in English as by as Jar as to, or some equivalent phrase. Thus, in Is. lix, 19, anjflDD and &P# miBD in effect render * to the utmost west/ and ' to the rising of the sun.' The thing intended is the whole surface of the habitable globe, measured first from the utmost west back to Judea, and again from the utmost east back to Judea. Again, in Is. xvii, 13, pmDD is c to a great distsnce ;' * and in the text, C3VO fWB de- scribes the whole space between the farthest shores of Chittim and the Tyrian shore. Inde usque a ter- ra Chittim fama pervulgata est.
Another difficulty in this line is to expound the pronoun Xh. I think it is used indefinitely for all
* And see this chapter, verse 7.
ISAIAH.
the inhabitants of the space'described, whoever they might be, and in whatever part of it. So we might say in English, ■ They have heard of the rapture with Spain ere this in the East Indies ;' ?'. e. they [who live] in the East Indies ere this have heard, kc.
Some, with the LXX, render the verb fi^ ' it h carried away captive.' r^rai diyjjbccXcuTog. Others take TfrjJ for a noun rendering ■ captivity ;* but I find no authority for this sense of the verb in Niphal, nor for any use of fi^-tf as a noun.
Verse 2. — " are still." The bustle and noise of traffic and business is heard no more in the streets of Tyre. All interpreters have taken the verb 101 as an imperative ; for which I see no reason but the authority of the points.
Verse 3. — " the factoress of nations." See Ile- rodot. lib. i, 1.
Verse 6. " Pass ye over to Tarshish" — The pro- phet addresses his hearers. He has described the consternation of the Egyptians. "Goon (he says) to Tartessus; see the state of things there.',
Verse 10. " Overflow thy land," &c. " A city," says Bishop Lowth, " taken by siege and destroyed, whose walls are demolished, whose policy is dissolv- ed, whose wealth is dissipated, whose people is Bcat-
O 3
214 ISAIAH.
tered over the wide country, is compared to a river whose banks are broken down, and its waters let loose and overflowing all the neighbouring plains, are wasted and lost." This interpretation (which is indeed Vitringa's) is certainly the most satisfactory that has ever been given of this obscure verse. But I cannot agree with Bishop Lowth (who in this too follows Vitringa) that the daughter of Tarshish sig- nifies Tyre. I believe no other instance can be found, in which the parent state is called the daughter of the colony. The daughter of Tarshish I take to be Tarshish itself, or its inhabitants; as the daughter of Sion and the daughter of Jerusalem, are Sion it- self and Jerusalem itself, or rather inhabitants de- scribed under the image of the children of the towns. Upon occasions of distress and danger the address is to the female sex, as the most obnoxious to alarm and injury. The prophet describes the distant colo- nies, Tartessus in particular, as suffering, together with Tyre, by the arms of Nebuchadnezzar. By the testimony of Megasthenes, it appears that the conquests of that monarch extended to the farthest coasts of Spain. Megasthenes, as cited by Strabo, says, that " Nebuchadnezzar, whose reputation among the Chaldeans surpassed that of Hercules,
ISAIAH. GT15
pushed his conquests as far as the Pillars." Strabo, lib. xv, p. 687. As he is cited by Kusebius, from Abydemus, he says, that " Nebuchadnezzar, more valiant than Hercules, led his armies as far as Lil>\ i and Iberia ; and having subdued these countries, settled a portion of the people on the right of the Euxine." Euseb. Praep. lib. ix, p. 267. 11. Stcph. Sir John Marsham indeed understands this Iberia to be the country of that name near the Caspian, and the Pillars to be the pillars which Alexander the Great erected in Sarmatia.* But the Iberia men- tioned in connexion with Libya could be no other Iberia than Spain ; and the Pillars mentioned in connection with Hercules could be no other than the Pillars of Hercules. And this is further evident from the general purport of the passage of Mega- sthenes, in which this mention of Nebuchadnezzar's conquests occurs ; which, as it appears from Strabo, was to prove that conquest had been pushed to a much greater extent westward than towards the east. Nebuchadnezzar's conquests are given as an instance of distant conquests westward; whereas the conquest of the Asiatic Iberia by a Babylonian had been ra-
* Vide Can. Chron. ad Soec. 18, tit. Nabo-col-assams Rex.
O 4
216 ISAIAH.
ther an instance of conquest toward the north. I hold it certain therefore that Nebuchadnezzar's conquests, by the testimony of Megasthenes, extend- ed to the western coasts of Spain, and that his con- quests there are alluded to by the prophet in this, and again in the 12th verse, but with another refer- ence there, to greater things and more remote.
Bishop Stock's conjecture, that the Tarshish of this verse is neither Tarsus in Cilicia, nor Tartessus in Spain, but a city on the Persian Gulph, of which, as the mother-city of the Sidonians, Tyre might properly be called the daughter, is very plausible.
Verse 11. "To destroy her fortresses." The for- tresses of Canaan ; not only the towns within the land of Canaan itself, but the distant colonies of the Canaanites.
Verse 12. — " there also thou shalt have no rest." — " Texit propheta velo paucorum verborum even- tus maximorum motuum et calamitatum bellicarum, quas Siculi, Sardi, Corcyrasi, Carthaginienses, et Hi- spani tandem, inter quos populos Tyrii profugi sedem figerent, cum tempore experirentur. Sicilia, et oc- ciduae maris Mediterranei insulae, quae se valde ostentarunt sub imperio Persico, varios jam subi- erant casus, laetos, tristes, quando tandem Carthagi-
ISAIAH. 217
iiienses se miscere cceperunt rebus Sicilian Ol. xcn, an. 3°. Inde inter utrumque populum funestissima bella ; et Sicilian tyrannides ; et causa Sicilian Romani mixti Carthaginiensibus, natumque est primum bel- lum Punicum, difficillimum et gravissimum ; quod excepit secundum, calamitate translata in Hispani- am ; et tertio denique excisa est Carthago, Tyrus altera-; quam oraculi antiqui adversus Canaanis pos- teros per Noachum editi, et horum vaticiniorum Je- saia? et Ezechielis de Tyro fulmina percusserunt, et tandem everterunt, ut filiae eadem sors esset, qua? matris. Imo ne nova quidem Carthago, Hispanien- sis, Carthaginis Africanae et Tyri soboles, banc cala- mitatem cvasit, a Scipione vi expugnata. Atqui ha* ipsissima? illae regiones sunt, ad quas fugerent Tyrii, de quibus vates, illos ne ibi quidem quiete acturos esse." Vitringa ad locum, vol. i, p. 703, c. 1.
Verse 1 3. " This people was not ;" i. e. this people, the subject of this discourse ; this Tyrian people.
— u An Assyrian founded it." That the Pheni- cians, the founders of Sidon and Tyre, were a co- lony from Idumea, is now so generally allowed by the learned, that the proof of it is unnecessary. See Gesner de Phcenieum extra Columnas Herculis Na- vigationibus, Project, i, § 2. Idumea was one of
218 ISAIAH.
the many regions enumerated by Strabo, as compos- ing the extent of that vast country which went un- der the general name of Assyria. It is probable therefore, that the first founders of the Phenician state, of which Sidon first, afterwards Tyre, was the metropolis, were an Assyrian race. It is remarkable, that Justin, speaking of the original of Tyre, says, " the Tynan nation was founded by Phenicians, who, leaving their own country on account of an earthquake, settled first upon the Assyrian Lake (Assyrium stagnum), in a little while upon the sea- shore.5' Justin, xviii, 3. By the Assyrian Lake, Gesner understands the Lake of Tiberias. But whence should this get the name of the Assyrian Lake, unless it was that the first that settled in the adjacent country were Assyrians ?
Servius indirectly mentions this Assyrian extrac- tion of the Tyrians. Upon these words of Virgil,
Series longissima rerum,
Per tot ducta viros prima aborigine gentis, (iEn. i, 64«5) he has this note : — " A Belo primo Assyriorum rege — usque ad Belum patrem Didonis." In which he evidently refers the origin of Dido's family to the Assyrian Bel us.
Again he mentions the Assyrian Belus as the first
ISAIAH. 811
owner of the golden cup in which Dido makes her
libation :
Hie regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit Implcvitquc mero patcram ; qunn Belus, ct omnes A Belo soliti. iEn. i, 732.
" Belus (says Servius) primus Assyriorum rex."
— " Down with her stately palaces. V Compare Psalm exxxvii, 7.
— "she is appointed to- destruction ; " literally, " [He] hath appointed her to destruction." That is, either Jehovah hath appointed her, or the Assy- rian hath appointed her. Babylonia was compre- hended under the general name of Assyria. Or per- haps it is to be said that a verb in Kal or Hiphii in the third person, without a nominative, is to be ren- dered by a verb passive, with the object of the verb active for its nominative ; and that in the Hebrew language, the passive of verbs that have no Niphai is properly expressed by the active verb without a nominative, having for its object what should be the subject of the passive verb.
In whatever way this last clause is expounded, the whole verse intimates darkly, because in the abrupt ecstatic style, that Tyre is to be destroyed by the same race to which she owed her origin.
220 ISAIAH.
Verse 15. — " for them that dwell before the Lord;" rather, " for them that sit before Jehovah." — " sit," u e. as disciples. See Vitringa on the passage.
CHAP. XXIV.
Those expositors, who apply this whole chapter to the Jews, are not agreed among themselves whether it relates to the times of Salman eser, of Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Ro- mans. Houbigant has clearly shewn that it is in- applicable to any thing earlier in the Jewish history than the final conquest and dispersion of the nation by Vespasian. But the terms of the prophecy are such as cannot be naturally expounded of any thing less than the general tribulation of the last ages, and the succeeding prosperity of the church in the end of the world.
" Post special em singularium gentium correptio- nem (says St Jerome) Judae, Babylonis, Philistim, Moab, Damasci, Israel, ^Egypti, Deserti Maris, Idumese et Arabia?, vallis visionis, et ad extremum
Tyri nunc quid totus orbis in consummatione
passurus sit, propheticus sermo describit, et nequa-
ISAIAH. »1
quam de singulis gentibus, scd de cunctis paritcr prophetatur."
" Solenne est Isaiir, ut quotics in vaticiniis suis offertur aliqua umbra corum quae in novissimis tem- poribus accident, statim ad ilia animum et verba convertat. Erat Tyrus viva totius orbis effigies, cum eo omnia regna confluerent. Cum ergo microcosmi hujus interitus esset a propheta descriptus, ad de- scribendam majoris mundi vastitatem assurgit. Sicut Christus ab eversione Hierosolymae ad mundi exci- dium et universale judicium sermonem ducit. M Sanctius apud Poole*
The first twelve verses of this chapter seem to de- scribe the extermination of the Jews by the Roman?. In the 13th, 14th, Uth, and former part of the 16th verse, the prophet describes the successful preaching of the gospel, and the consequent conversion of the Gentiles, by the first Hebrew converts scattered over the whole world ; for they seem to be meant by the after picking of the olive tree, and the gleaning grapes after the vintage. The remainder of the chapter from the 16th verse, describes the commo- tions in the latter ages of the world, the judgments to be executed upon the adversaries of the true reli- gion, and the final triumph of the church. In this
222 ISAIAH.
part the prophecy is very obscure, the accomplish- ment being yet distant.
Verse 1. — " the earth," rather " the land." Verse 4. — " The earth," rather " The land." — " the haughty people of the earth do languish." — " excelsa simul et ima terrae collabescunt." Hou- bigant. The plural verb V?^DK has led interpreters to expound the singular nominative as a collective. The Vulgate seems to have had the singular verb 77DK j and with the singular verb, the most obvious interpretation of this clause would be this : " To- gether with the earth the heaven is decayed. " O'HD, as we might say, c the upper region,' is often used for the heavens, or the skv. It seems to be so used below, verse 21.
Verse 5. " The earth," rather « The land." Verse 6. — " the earth," rather " the land." — " and they that dwell therein are desolate ;" rather, * because the inhabitants thereof are found guilty." Vitringa and Bishop Lowth. — " of the earth," rather " of the land." — " are burnt." If any emendation be necessary here, I should propose for Tin to read VTtt. $ee ps# cii, 4. The formative J of the verb might easily be
ISAIAH.
omitted, when the next preceding word ends with the same letter. But compare Job xxx, 30.
Verse 1* " The new wine nlourneth,, — <c The new wine is become vapid" —
Verse 8. — " the noise of them that rejoice ;" ra- ther, " the noise of the riotous."
Verse 9. — " strong drink" — rather, " the date- wine" —
Verse 10. " The city of desolation is broken down ;" rather, " The city is broken down ; it is a ruin." See Bishop Lowth.
Verse il. — "all joy is darkened." fi^ny. Bishop Lowth, with Archbishop Seeker, would read rrDy. But I find that the verb 2Tp in the Arabic language renders these senses : * abfuit, distitit, longius re- cessit; ablegabit, extorrem fecit, in exilium expulit, perigrinatus fuit, peregrinus evasit, subtraxit se :' and in the Samaritan, * expulit, exterminabit, exlue- redavit.' See Castell's Lexicon.
Verse 12. — " and the gate is smitten with de- struction ;M rather, with Bishop Lowth, " and with a great tumult the gate is battered down."
Verse 13. In the original, put a semicolon be- tween rwn and TTQ.
224. ISAIAH.
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land [that is, the
land of Judea], Amongst the peoples [there shall be] as the after-picking of
an olive tree, As the gleaning-grapes when the vintage is finished.
Verse 14, " They"— rather " These," this small remnant.
But these shall lift up their voice, they shall sing : Resound, O ye waters, with the exaltation of Jehovah.
Bishop Lowth.
I am much in doubt about the latter line. — " from the sea," may signify •' in the western quarters of the globe," or, generally " from the outmost shores," a cingente omnia oceano.
Verse 15. — " in the fires," tD^KD. This word deserves much consideration. Twenty-three of Ken- nicott's MSS. and among these some of the first au- thority, have O'H'iiO. Houbigant would read CDKD, or CEJP. Bishop Lowth and the Layman read
Verse 16. — "glory to the righteous ;" rather, " to the Just One."
— " but I said, My leanness, my leanness," &c. The prophet hearing songs of praise to the Just One, is naturally led to think of the general corruption of
ISAIAH. 224
human nature, and of the base treatment which the Just One met with from the Jews ; which two things he pathetically deplores in the sequel of this verse. By his leanness, he means the deficiency of his own righteousness, which was such that he had need to clothe himself with the merits of the Just One. The perfidious dealers are the unbelieving Jews of our Lord's time, who, by rejecting their Saviour, became apostates from their God.
Verse 17. " Fear, and the pit," &c. Fired with indignation at the scene of the treatment of the Just One, the prophet threatens the guilty world with instant vengeance.
Verse 21. — " shall punish the host of the high ones [that are] on high ;" literally, " shall visit up- on the host of the height in the height," or, " of the
upper region in the upper region." — " animadvert
■ Jova, et in sublimem exercitum in sublimi." Castalio.
— " visitabit Dominus super militiam cseli in excel- so." Vulg. — iTTU^U 6 GiOg S7TI 70V XOGfiOV 70V O'JOOLVOV
7w xuiu* LXX. The antithesis between this " host of the upper region in the upper region, and the kings of the earth upon the earth," clearly shews that heaven is meant by ovro, * the height, or upper region.' Whether this host of heaven be the visible vol. it. p
226 ISAIAH.
host (which shall be visited in the latter days, and thrown into much disorder, in the formation of the new heavens and new earth, out of the ruins of the present system), or the host of the rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual wickedness in high places, seems doubtful. St Jerome and the LXX certainly understood the words of the visible host. " In die ilia, hoc est in die judicii (says St Jerome), visitabit Dominus super militiam, sive super ornatum caeli, in excelsis, ut non solum terre- na sed et excelsa judicet. Quis sit autem ornatus caeli, sive militia, Moyse scribente discamus : cave ne suspiciens caelum, et videns solem, et lunam, Stel- las, et omnem ornatum caeli, decipiaris et adores eas visitabit autem Dominus, secundum idioma scriptu- rarum, quasi aegrotantem militiam et exercitum caeli et ferro et cauteriis indigentem." The kings of the earth, in the next clause, St Jerome expounds of evil spirits : — " rectores tenebrarum istarum et spi- ritualia nequitiae in caelestibus. De quibus principi- bus diversis provinces praesidentibus et in Daniele
scriptum est. Hos igitur principes qui suum non
servaverunt gradum, congregabit Dominus in die judicii quasi in uno fasce pariter colligatos et rnittet in lacum inferni." This seems very unnatural.
ISAIAH.
It may seem difficult to understand the " bundling up of the host of heaven together with the kings of the earth for the pit," and their common imprison- ment, mentioned in the 22d verse, of the visible host of heaven, unless it denote some restraint laid upon the physical powers of the heavenly bodies previous to the catastrophe of the present system. At the same time that the governments of the earth shall be broken up, and her potentates spoiled of their power and authority, the objects of idolatrous wor- ship shall be fettered in their physical energies and influences, and the present economy of Nature shall be abolished together with the corrupt polity of men. Wicked princes, the patrons and perpetrators of vio- lence and impiety, shall be bundled up with the rubbish of the worn system, and thrown aside as lumber, till the season shall come for a final visita- tion of both ; when the old materials of the universe shall be wrought anew ; and that which may seem good to Infinite Wisdom and Justice shall be the end of the wicked.
Upon the whole, however, I think * the host of the height* in this place may best be expounded of intelligent beings, the rulers of the darkness of this world. For it is very evident that the church is to
p 2
228 ISAIAH.
enjoy prosperity on earth, and Jehovah is to reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem, after the execution of the judgments here described. The physical con- vulsions therefore, mentioned in the 19th and 20th verses, are not such as are literally to put an end to the present system of the world. Perhaps they are mystical. The sun and moon of verse 23 are cer- tainly a mystical sun and moon ; and the height or heaven of this verse is a mystical heaven.
Verse 22. — <c as prisoners are gathered in the pit;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " as in a bundle for the pit."
— " shall they be visited."
" Videtur applaudere amicis meis, qui diabolo et daemonibus dant pcenitentiam (says Jerome), quod multa post tempora a Domino visitentur. Sed con- sidered, quod non dixerit aperte scriptura divina ; visitabimtur a Domino, vel, visitabuntur ab angelis, sed absolute visitabiintur. Ex qua ambiguitate ver- bi, et remedium potest intelligi et correptio : quod postquam justi praemia receperint, illi in pcenis per- petuis visitentur. Est tamen sciendum, quod judi- cium Dei humana non possit scire fragilitas, nee de pcenarum magnitudine atque mensura ferre senten- tiam, quae Domini arbitrio derelicta est." It should
isaiah. m
seem from this last sentence, that St Jerome, though he scrupled to approve, did not peremptorily con- demn the opinion of his friends, and thought the question of eternity of punishment somewhat doubt- ful.
CHAP. XXV.
This chapter contains the prophet's thanksgiving for the overthrow of the apostate faction, and the establishment of the righteous in everlasting peace.
Verse 2. — " of a city" — The prophet employs general images of conquest and extermination, and no particular city seems intended. See chap, xxiv, 10, notes.
— " of strangers" — of such as were strangers from the commonwealth of God's people.
3 Therefore the fierce people shall glorify thee, The city of the heathen j tyrants shall fear thee.
Verse 5. * Thou shalt bring down," &c. As the periods are now divided, the best translation of this verse, upon the whole, is certainly St Jerome's : " Sicut aestus in siti tumultum alienorum humiliabis, et quasi calore sub nube torrente propaginem for- tium marcescere facies." He refers the word ^3 to the root H^, and for nflP he seems to have read
p 3
236 ISAIAH.
fttyn. Thuslie certainly brings the passage to very good sense. Nevertheless, as the exposition of the word ^*3, and the emendation T)fyn for flty*1 are both uncertain ; and as the h at in the last verse was an image of the tyranny of the wicked, I should mo- ther propose an alteration of the stops, and a new division of the verses ; thus,
4
ts^vyf rvn *o
yuan cm pw 5
dj? Sx^ mn : rujp ew-ip -row
For the spirit * of tyrants
Is as a flood [against] the wall,f as the parching-heat in the desert. 5 The noisy-pride of strangers thou wilt bring low, Withered under the shelter of the cloud The offspring of tyrants shall be humbled.
— <c Withered" — I take Snn to be the participle Paoul agreeing with TET. That the verb 2TI is ap-
* Or, « the fury."
t Or, " as the winter flood." — " iraber brumalis," Vitringa. *vp for Tip, Vitringa, Capellus, and Bishop Lowth.
ISAIAH. 231
plied to vegetables, to denote their dried withered state ; see Judges xvi, 7, 8. The shoot of a tree withering under the sheltering shade. of the cloud, which is naturally friendly to its growth, is an apt image of the wicked brought to ruin ; not for want of the natural means of thrift and prosperity, but by the immediate act of God,
— " The offspring''— literally, " the shoot." I cannot agree with the learned Mr Parkhurst that the word "PC?, in Cant, ii, 12, evidently " denotes the harmonious singing of birds." Whence he seems to conclude that the word may signify any other harmonious singing, and may be understood here of a joyful noise, or triumphant singing.
— " shall be humbled." Bishop Lowth observes, upon another place, that the Hebrew poets delight in the mixture of the proper with the allegorical. The most moderate degree of this mixture is when that is predicated of the figure, which is incident only to the thing figured; or vice versa: and thus far the mixture of the proper and the figurative is common in all languages, and this line in the ori- ginal presents a remarkable instance. The verb ^V, in the sense of humbling, is properly, I think, ap- plied only to men, and the fortunes of men. Here
r 4
232 ISAIAH.
its subject is the young shoot of a tree, put as a figure for the progeny of men. But a shoot, or a branch, shall be humbled, in our language would be a very harsh expression, and hardly intelligible.
Verse 6. — " unto all people" — rather, " unto all peoples" —
— " a feast," a spiritual feast of the blessings of the Christian dispensation. See Bishop Lowth's ex- cellent note upon this verse, in which he shews, with the highest evidence, the necessary reference of this prophecy to the gospel.
Verse 7. — " the face of the covering cast over all people." Transpose 'OS) with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth. — a the covering cast over the face of all peoples." The * covering* and the * veil' are the mist of ignorance in which the heathen world was buried, till the appearance of our Saviour ; par- ticularly the ignorance of a future state, and of the means of obtaining eternal life.
Verse 9. — " and he will save us j" rather, M and he hath saved us."
" Absorpta morte in perpetuum, populus Dei, qui de manu mortis fuerit liberatus, dicet ad Dominum, * Ecce Deus noster quern increduli hominem tantum putabant.' " Hieron. ad locum.
ISAIAH. 23S
m Observo verba prophetae sic esse constructa,
ut nos ultra invitent ad speciatim cogitandum de persona Filii Dei, magni servatoris et salvatoris (est enim in hac voce major emphasis) qui cum olim populo posterorum Jacobi praestitisset salutem tem- poralem, in fine dierum appareret in carne ad populo electo impetrandam salutem spiritualem et aeternam." Vitringa ad locum, vol. ii, p. 49, c. 1.
Verse 10. — " and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill ;" perhaps " and Moab shall be trodden down under him,* as straw is trodden in the waters of Madmenah." Straw was trodden in water to pre- pare it for the making of bricks. — " llli aguntur (says Houbigant) qui mediis in aquis paleas fran- gunt, ac subigunt, ut conficiantur lateres." Perhaps Madmenah might be famous for brickworks.
If we follow the Keri, ^£3 for ^M (which is con- firmed by many of Kennicott's best Codd.), the common translation may stand; — " as straw is trod- den down in the dunghill." " Solet enim stramen injici sterquilinio, et pedibus calcari ut fimus flat'*
* Or rather, " in his own place;" that is, in his own country. So Vitringa.
234 ISAIAH.
Schindler apud Vitringam. But the former exposi- tion seems by far more elegant. But the common word for straw is pn, not pro. pro may be a thrashing floor, or the place where straw is shatter- ed ; and so the LXX understand it here, for they render it by akavu. fttD'TO may come from the root fttn, and signify a roller or corn-drag. And thus the passage will be brought to the sense expressed by the LXX, which seems the best of all : — " and Moab [i. e. the land of Moab] shall be trampled under him, as the thrashing floor is trampled by the corn-drag." See Mr Parkhurst's Lexicon, pn, n.
Verse 11. e< And he shall spread forth his hands*
&c. swim/* — " Ita Deus potenter extendet ma-
nus suas, ut hostes hac iliac percutiat, et tarn facile illos conficiet, quam natator aquam findit." Quidam apud Poole. — " Qui natant non irruunt to to im- petu, sed leviter sese expandunt, et brachia placide deducunt, aquas tamen proscindunt et superant. Ita Deus absque ullo negotio sine strepitu aut tumultu hostes perdit et profligat." Calvin apud Poole. Compare Zach. v, 3.
— " together with the spoils of their hands." OJJ TTp rvonK — « cum allisione manuum ejus." Vulg. — " with the sudden gripe of his hands." Bishop
ISAIAH. 2S5
Lowth. — u manuum suarum impressione." IIou- bigant. — " and witk the strength of his hands shall he bring down their pride." Queen Elizabeth's translators. I cannot see how allision or impression may connect with any known sense of the word 3*W. In the Chaldee dialect E^-n HWK signifies the thigh, as the most muscular part of the ^"\ or whole limb from the head of the thigh-bone down- wards. In Arabic, the word jWZTiN bears the same signification. Hence some have conjectured that O^T» rvonN may denote the arm above the elbow as the most muscular part of the 1\ or whole limb from the top of the shoulder to the ends of the fingers. In this case, the word HWK must be refer- red to the root fOI, and the K at the beginning of the word must be servile. If OJJ were ever used as the preposition of the instrument, the prophet might be supposed to pursue the image of the swimmer dashing the water on one side and the other with his arms ; and the passage might be rendered thus : — " And with his brawny arms he shall bring down their pride." But I find no unquestionable instance of this use of DJJ, though St Jerome, Houbigant, and Queen Elizabeth's translators, must all have supposed it to be so used here. The preposition DJJ
236 ISAIAH.
is properly the preposition of the adjunct. HWK W* therefore must be either something which was to be brought down together with the pride, or something appertaining to Moab at the time of the bringing down : some adjunct, in short, of Moab, or of Moab's pride : and the 1 suffixed to 'H'1 must rehearse Moab, not God, or the swimmer. The muscular part of Moab's arm cannot be mentioned here otherwise than as a general image of strength ; and in this sense Castalio understood it. His trans- lation is in these words : — " usque adeo illorum fastum manusque membrosas deprimet." Our Eng- lish translators seem to have understood the word rYOnN of the spoils, i. e. the gains or acquisitions of fraud and cunning. And Bishop Lowth might mean the same thing by u the sudden gripe of his hands," if by " his hands " he meant Moab's hands. The gripe of the hand may signify the thing griped in the hand.
One MS. of Dr Kennicott's, of considerable anti- quity, for rYO'lK, has AW, This various reading deserves great attention ; for with this alteration the passage may be rendered, — " And he shall bring down their pride with the thrift of their hands." See the word TtK in Parkhurst's Lexicon. See an-
ISAIAH. 237
other explanation of this text offered by Mr Park- hurst, 3^N, II# 5^
Verse 12. " And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down."
11 As the church is stiled the city of God ; so the society of infidels, or enemies to God's truth, is re- presented by the like similitude of a city, and typi- fied under the figures of Sodom, Babylon, and that Jerusalem which killed the prophets. See Rev. xi, 8." Lowth the father upon Is. xxvi, 5.
CHAP. XXVI.
Verse 1. As the final overthrow of the apostate faction is described in the last chapter under the image of the destruction of their city, so the final peace of the faithful is here described under the image of the strength and security of a fortified town.
Strong is our city,
Security is provided, walls and a bulwark.
njW>, « the means of security*'
— " is provided. " The verb *W hath no Niphal. It is here used in Hiphil, in the third person future singular, without a nominative. The nouns HjW\
238 ISAIAH.
JTOin, and ^H, are accusatives, after the Hiphil verb. See chap, xxiii, 13, notes.
Verse 2. — " the righteous nation," or, " the na- tion of the Just One."
Verse 3. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." TED ■WP*
The word *tt* is used to signify ' a thought, ima- gination, project, or purpose formed in the mind ;' in which use of it however, it is for the most part joined (though not always) with 3^?, or some other word that necessarily points to that particular sense. I doubt whether it be ever used to signify either the mind itself, or the settled habit or disposition of the mind : and most of all, I doubt whether it ever sig- nify the good habit or disposition of the regenerate mind ; in which sense they must understand it here who render the two words TED *&">, * whose mind is stayed on thee ;' or, with Bishop Lowth, * stayed in mind/ The word "ft^, applied to the thoughts or imaginations of the human mind, is, I think, always taken in a bad sense ; for those bad, or at the best foolish projects, which the perverse or inconsiderate mind forms for itself without regard of God.
Queen Elizabeth's translators understood the word "W here of a purpose in the mind of God ; for thus
ISAIAH. 230
they render the passage : " By an assured purpose wilt thou preserve perfect peace" — And this, I think, is the best sense the sentence will bear, if* W in this passage signifies any purpose. The participle *^\ in the sense of purposing, is once indeed ap- plied to God, Jer. xviii, 3 : but there it is applied to God purposing evil against the Israelites, and de- notes an incomplete purpose of punishment, it case the persons threatened should rema'n impenitent. But in Is. xlvi, 3, the verb *H**, in the nioi.th of God himself, signifies simply * I have purposed,' without implying any thing of evil or punishment in the purpose.
In this passage I should rather return to the ge- neral sense of the word. The verb *V is generally 4 to form, or fashion.' The noun "^"1 is any thing formed or fashioned. The verb is particularly ap- plied to the foiming or making of a people, a polity. See Parkhurst's Lexicon. The faithful are indivi- dually "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." — uvrov ya% iff(A& Koirjfbcc, xTioOivrz; iv Xgiflra* Irpov It* loyoig ccyuQotg. Ephes. ii. The com- munity of the faithful, the righteous nation, or na- tion of the Just One, is a city u whose maker and builder is God." This spiritual polity, first made
240 ISAIAH.
and fashioned by God, is continually supported by his Providence, till it will be brought at last to a state of perfect peace and security. This communi- ty, in respect of its divine original and support, is here most emphatically called TBD W j in Aquila's translation, fl-Xao^a htrriyy pivov. Thus expounded, these two words may either be added to the second verse as nominatives, making a further description of the righteous nation, or nation of the Just One : or, if the Masoretic division be retained, which closes the second verse with the word D^cK, they make the accusative under the verb *W| W, in either way, is the noun, and TED a participle in ap- position. The sense is very clear; but the construc- tion of the original cannot be preserved, but at the expence of perspicuity either in the Latin or the English languages.
2 Open ye the gates
And let the nation of the Just One enter, Which keepeth the truth, [God's] workmanship so constant- ly supported.
3 Thou shalt preserve [it] in perpetual peace, Because trust hath been placed in thee.
Or, Because he (that is, the Just One) hath trusted in thee.
ISAIAH. 241
Or thus, according to the Masorctic division ;
2 Open ye the gates
And let the nation of the Just One enter, Which kcepeth the truth.
3 Formed and supported [by thee] thou shalt preserve [it] In perpetual peace; because, &c.
Verses 7, 8, punctuate thus ;
cs2n p-iv S:j?d n^ ; ntn TBBtPp mK qK &c: Y**p 8
7 The path of the Just One is perfectly even : An even road thou wilt level for the Just One, Even the path of thy laws, O Jehovah.
8 We have expected thee, &c.
Verse 11. — "for their envy at the people." — " they shall see with confusion thy zeal for thy people." Bishop Lowth. Is not OJ? n*Up < the en- vious among the people?' — " zelantes populi," Vulgate. If this is not the sense of the expression, the true reading must be, " see, and be ashamed of their jealousy of people."
Verse 13. — " but by thee only will wc make mention of thy name." I think this might be ren- voi,. 11. q>
242 ISAIAH.
dered * [we are] thine only, we will celebrate thy
name."
Verse 14. — <? therefore," " inasmuch as."
Verse 15. — " thou hast removed it far unto all
the ends of the earth." " Thou hast extended far
all the borders of the land." Bishop Lowth after
Vitringa.
16 O Jehovah, in tribulation [men] miss thee,
They are distressed when thy chastisement comes hastily upon them.
— " are distressed" — pp¥, from the root pw, a word denoting the heaviest pressure of distress. Vn7, the infinitive mood, t^n (from the root UftH) with the prefix ^ ; " when thy chastisement hastens upon them," u e. comes hastily upon them.
Verse 1 8. — " we have not wrought any deliver- ance in the earth ;" literally, " the land is not made security." * The land* seems here opposed to ?W, 1 the world in general/ It is therefore the country of " the righteous nation," that land whose borders God had enlarged. The confession is, that their own efforts have been ineffectual for their deliver- ance ; their land is not become a place of security from their enemies j nor are the inhabitants of the wicked world, at enmity with the city of God. sub-
ISAIAH. 918
dued : but that salvation, which their own arm had not the power to work, God in the next verse work< for them.
The land is not made [a place of] security, Nor are the inhabitants of the world about to fall.
Verse 19. — " dew of herbs." — " dew of the
9
dawn," Bishop Lowth.
This verse is not to be understood as an explicit and immediate promise of the resurrection of the dead. Indeed this whole chapter seems rather to relate to a peaceful state of the church, delivered from all enemies from without, and from heresies within, in the latter ages of the world previous to the general judgment. In this verse, the change in the condition of the faithful from persecution to peace and security is described under the image of a resurrection. The land mentioned in the latter part of it, must be the same land which is enlarged in the 15th verse, and opposed to the world in the 18th. And the OWSH of this verse are the same with the *»n "Otth of the 18th.
Thy dead shall live ; my dead bodies shall arise ; Awake and sing thou that hast thy lodging in the dust ; For thy dew is as the dew of dawn ; And the land shall overthrow the tyrants.
Q2
244 ISAIAH.
Literally, " make them fall/' as in battle. With this verse the chapter should end, and a new chapter begin with " Come, my people ;" for these words introduce a repetition of the denunciations of judg- ment upon the wicked.
CHAP. XXVII.
Verse 1. — " the piercing serpent." — " the ri- gid serpent," Bishop Lowth ; perhaps " the long serpent," or " the streight serpent." — " Leviathan serpentis longi similitudo ducitur ex crocodilo, qui corpus suum, squamis rigidum sinuare non potest : leviathan autem, colubri tortuosi, ex hippopotamo \ utroque adumbrante serpentem, cujus fallacia et do* lis primus homo lapsus est. Turn enim Deus de eo serpente poenas ultimas sumet, cum terra non am- plius abscondet interfectos suos. Leviathan in libro Job non alius est quam generis humani hostisc et frustra quidam similitudinem istam, ex aquaticis ' animalibus ductam, accommodare volunt ad aliquem terras regem, Judaicae genti infensum." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 2. "In that day, sing ye unto her a vine- yard of red wine." Ten, for len, seems the better reading.
ISAIAH.
In that day the vineyard [shall be] lovely : Sing ye [thus] unto her.
Ill that day, when the judgments shall be accom- plished, which God denounces in the last two verses of the preceding chapter, and the sword shall be drawn against Leviathan ; in that day the vineyard, the church of God, purged at last of the weeds of sin and heresy, shall be lovely in the eyes of her Maker. The song that follows is wonderfully ob- scure. It is unquestionably responsive. But I can- not think that any part of it can contain a com- plaint against the vineyard, much less threatening : for the song is most explicitly referred by the pro- phet to the times when all hypocrisy and irreligion shall be abolished, and the church established in perpetual peace. I translate the whole song thus :
JEHOVAH.
3 I Jehovah am her keeper -> livery moment I water her , Lest aught be wanting in her, I keep her day and night.
VINEYARD.
4 I have no martial spirit.
Who will make me brier and bramble for the war;
246 ISAIAH,
JEHOVAH.
I will march forth in her cause, I will set her in a perfect flame.
5 Where is he that would take hold of my protec-
tion, That would make peace with me ? Peace he shall make with me.
6 Those that come Jacob shall cause to take root, Israel shall put forth blossoms and buds,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.
— " Lest aught be wanting in her" — To the same effect Houbigant ; — " ne quid in ea desidera- retur ;" though he mentions the reading of the Sy- riac as deserving attention,
— " in her cause" — fD, propter earn.
— " I will set her in a perfect flame j" namely, to consume her enemies. The image of the brier and bramble is pursued. The vineyard wishes she were brier and bramble to annoy the foe. Jehovah says he will go out to the battle for her, and make her blazing brambles to consume the enemy. Com- pare Obad. 18 -, and Zech. ii, 5; xii, 6.
— " Where is he"— For % I would read W. Or, without altering the reading, render
ISAIAH. M9
Would [any one] take hold of my protection? Would [any one] make peace with me?
— " Peace he shall make with me." Those that submit, and seek my peace, shall obtain it.
— * Those that come" — All such that come, Jacob shall receive and plant them in the holy soil. With this 6th verse the sorlg ends. The prophet meditating on the matter of the song, particularly the gracious promise in which it ends, reflects on the mercy that was constantly displayed amidst the severest judgments on the Jewish people : and he- closes the subject, continued from the beginning oi the twenty-fourth chapter, with promises of final mercy, interspersed with threats of previous punish- ment.
Verse 7. " Hath he indeed smitten him, accord- ing to the smiting of him that was smitten by him?' f. e. Hath God smitten Israel according to the smit. ing of him who was smitten by Israel ? Or, Hath he [God] slain him [Israel] according to the slaugh- ter of those who have been slain by him ["Israel] ?
The prophet asks, whether amidst all the seveiitj of God's judgments the sufferings of the Israelii have ever been equal to the atrocity of their guih The guilt particularly meant seems to be the mm
q *
e*
24* ISAIAH.
ther of our Lord and the persecutions of the first
Christians.
" Locus iste dupliciter intelligitur. Aut contra Hierusalem, ut dicat earn non a Deo esse percus- sam, ut ipsa percussit Christum et apostolos ejus: aut contra gentium multitudinem, quod, illis per- sequentibus et effundentibus sanguinem Christianam, apostoli et apostolici viri nihilominus salutis eorum curam habuerint, et reconciliaverint eos Deo." Hie- ron. in locum. The first of these two is certainly the better interpretation.
Verse 8. " In measure," &c. " Measure for measure, when she is cast out, thou wilt punish
her; He meditateth in his spirit a severe thing [or, severity] in the day of the eastern blast.
— " the eastern blast." Dwelling on the image of the vineyard, the prophet describes the punish- ment of the outcast dispersed Jews under the image of noxious winds.
Verse 9. " By this," &c. Yet with all this, the iniquity of Jacob shall be expiated, And this is the whole fruit, the removal of his sin. When he maketh all the stones of the altar as fine dust, The groves and the images, being broken to pieces, shall rise no more.
ISAIAH. Mi
— " this is the whole fruit*' — The end and pur- pose and the effect of all (iod's judgments will be the recovery of his people from their sin.
— " When he maketh," &c. At the same time that the temple of Jerusalem anil its altar are demo- lished, idolatry with that very event shall receive its mortal wound.
Verse 10. — " the branches thereof;" u e. of the vine; for that image is now resumed.
Verse 11. " When the boughs thereof are wither- ed, they shall be broken ofll" The unbelieving Jews deriving no spiritual nourishment from the holy doctrine committed to them, making no advan- tage of the means of grace, which for so many ages their nation had exclusively enjoyed, are the wither- ed branches of the viue to be broken off*. St Paul describes the rejection of the Jewish nation under the image of a breaking off of branches ; Rom. xi, 17, 19, 20.
But who are the women of the next clause ?
Verse 12. — " shall beat off;" — « shall make a gathering of his fruit," Bishop Lowth.
Verse 1:3. — " the great trumpet shall be blown." — u Tuba autcm magna potest intelhgi sermo evan- gelicus." Hieron. ad locum,
250 ISAIAH.
CHAP. XXVIII.
1 Wo to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraifn,
And the flower fading in the height of its beauty,*
Which [grows] at the head of the valley of the pampered ones,t
Stupified with wine.
— " the proud crown," Samaria. See Bish. Lowth.
— M the flower fading in the height of its beauty," the Israelitic monarchy.
— " the head of the valley," allusion to the situa- tion of the town of Samaria, the seat of the Israelitic kings. See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 2. For Wtik, we have the authority of many of the best MSS. to read fiVT» ; and without any other emendation, the verse as it stands might perhaps be rendered thus :
* — — xv6o$ e*Tgc-d» \x rrtg 3«|jj$ uvtcv, LXX. f Or thus, Wo to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the fading flower, the beauty of his splendid form. That is, of Ephraim's splendid form. in*»N£>n. I think the word mNsn literally expresses the brilliant appearance of natural" beauty set off with the richest ornaments of dress.
ISAIAH.
Behold might and strength [belong] to Jehovah, Like the hail-storm, the destructive solstitial tempest,* Like a flood of rapid waters overflowing ; Heavily-he-resteth upon the land with his hand. — " might and strength" — that is, irresistible strength. The power of God is as irresistible as the strongest physical force. Observe that pin occurs as a substantive in Haggai ii, 22, and VQK as a sub- stantive in Job xvii, 9 ; and in these texts they are substantives denoting the quality, not the person so qualified.
According to this interpretation, the word rwfi is the third person singular of the Hiphil preterite, from the root na\ Its subject is Win understood, re- hearsing wp.
4 And the flower fading in the height of its beauty,! Which [is growing] at the head of the valley of
the pampered ones,
Shall be as the early fruit, &c.
— " while it is yet in his hand." — <c Solebant
enim alias ficus saepe seponi ut arefierent, et sepositsr
majorem etiam maturitatem ac dulciorem acquirerent.
— Sed cupiditas novi fructus hie supponitur tanta
* See nt3p in notes upon Hosea.
f Or, And the fading flower, the beauty of his splendid form
1
2*g ISAIAH.
esse, ut ab usu ejus non temperet ille in cujus ve- nerit potestatem. Solent ssepe reges et principes urbes, a se bello expugnatas, servare ac reliquas fa- cere, saltern per aliquod tempus, in usum simm. Sed Assyrii regis Salmanassaris in Samariam a se expug- nandum is esset affectus, ut earn, instar fructus prsecocis carptam, simul ac in potestatem ejus veni- ret, deglutiret ; h. e. everteret et plane deleret, ut absumpta dispareret. Quod idem latum esset Hie- rosolymae jussu Nebuchadnezzaris plane perdenda?, et incendio absumendae cum ipso templo." Vitringa ad locum, vol. ii, p. 105, c. 1.
Verse 6. — u that turn the battle to the gate ;*• rather, with Bishop Lowth, " that repel the war to the gate [of the enemy]." — " retundere, retro- agere bellum ad portum, sc. hostium unde facta fue- rat invasio.,, Vitringa from Cocceius. — " Hie re-
spicitur ad Maccabaeos quorum [Judaeorum] vires
tantae fuere, ut post hunc [Antiochum Sidetem] nullum Macedonum regem tulerint, domesticisque imperils usi, Syriam magnis bellis infestaverint. " Justin, lib. xxxvi, c. 1. I cannot think however that this prophecy has any reference to the Macca- bees. The first four verses of this chapter threaten the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. The 5th 3
ISAIAH.
and Gth predict God's merciful protection of the kingdom of Judali for some time after the destruc- tion of the other; for the surviving kingdom of Ju- dali I take to he the " residue of his people," in the 5th verse. The sequel of the chapter denounces the subsequent overthrow of the kingdom of Judah it- self, because they also have erred through wine, &c. verse 7.
Verses 9, 10. " Whom shall lie teach there a
little." St Jerome and Bishop Lowth think that the scoffers mentioned below, verse 14, are here intro- duced as deriding God's manner of instructing them. But I conceive that the prophet speaks in his own person. First, he asks,
Whom can Ire teach knowledge,
And whom can he make to understand what is delivered?
That is, who can be found among this thoughtless,
intoxicated people, intoxicated with libertinism, and
leaning on their own understanding, who can be
found among them disposed to profit by the divine
instruction. The prophet answers his own question :
Such as are just weaned from the milk, kept back from the
breast : For precept must be upon precept.
il "Whosoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in nowise enter t herein. n
254 ISAIAH.
1 1 Verily by speakers of a strange language and
in a foreign tongue, He will speak unto this people. — u speakers of a strange language." ftSttf ^y?, * ridiculous of lip/ seems to be a periphrasis for such as spoke either a strange or a broken language.
12 Inasmuch as he hath said unto them,
■ This is the place of rest, let the weary enjoy it, f And this is tranquillity/ but they would not hear ;
13 Although the word of Jehovah was unto them, Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line ;
A little here, and a little there,
Therefore they have repeatedly fallen back- ward,
And shall be broken, and snared, and taken. Thus the passage may be rendered as it stands. The llth verse, as it lies in the context, seems only to signify that the senseless Jews had no more un- derstanding of the Divine word than if it had been uttered in a foreign language. St Paul however cites it (1 Cor. xiv, 21) as containing at least a pro- phetic allusion to the miraculous gift of tongues : and upon the authority of his quotation, it should
ISAIAH.
-o.>
seem that for 'Wi we should read WW; and that the words JJW IfOM tfSl, or rather jncttf "ON »Sif (for *OK is the reading of innumerable MSSL), should be removed from the end of the 12th verse, where they now stand, to the 11th, with the addition of W& OKJ. Thus,
mnK ptySsi nay «i:ySa «o
i mm okj jnotp *ok kSi
With this alteration, the whole passage will run thus ;
1 1 Verily by speakers of si strange language, and in a foreign
tongue, I will speak unto this people ; But they will not hear, saith Jehovah :
12 Although he said unto them,
1 This is the place of rest, leave the weary to enjoy it, aiut here is tranquillity ;'
13 Although the word of Jehovah was unto them Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line,
A little here and a little there: [although the word of the Lord was thus explicitly delivered, still they would not hear] ;
Therefore they have repeatedly, Ac.
— " leave the weary to enjoy it." I refer the im- perative vnjn to the root na\
256 ISAIAH.
Verse 15. — " the overflowing scourge;55 literally, " the scourge of overflowing;" u e. the plague of a flood.
Verse 16. — "make haste." — "be confounded." See Rom. ix, 32, and 1 Pet. ii, 6. t&W ; Arabice erubescere. Vide Pococke apud Vitringam ad hunc locum. On this passage see the Layman. From the version of the LXX, confirmed by the citations of St Paul and St Peter, the true reading seems to be
Verse 17. *c Judgment also," &c.
And I will appoint judgment for the rule.
And justice for the plummet;
And the hail, &c. — " and the hail" — or, " then shall the hail" — Verse 19. " From the time," &c. Rather thus,
As oft as it comes over, it shall overtake you ;
Verily every morning it shall come over,
By day and by night.
And so it will be, dispersion only will make what is delivered to be understood.
The prophet describes the successive calamities, particularly I think the repeated incursions of the Babylonians upon the surviving monarchy of Judah, after the captivity of the ten tribes, that should from time to time, at certain seasons marked by the pro-
ISAIAH. 257
phets, overtake the rebellious Jews, under the image of a flood or tide returning periodically, and making new havoc every time.
— " dispersion" — riyv, « violent removal.' The word is often used to signify the dispersion of the Jewish people. See Deut. xxviii, 25 ; 2 Chron. xxix, 8 ; and Jeremiah passim. It seems indeed the specific word for that judgment. In Deut. xxviii, 25, it is rendered by the LXX by the word foutTirotu.
— " what is delivered" — njnctP; literally, " what is heard.'' This is a general word for the whole matter of Divine revelation, consisting of doctrine, precept, prophetic warning, promises, and threaten- ings. Vide supra, v. 9. The prophet says that no- thing short of their final dispersion will bring the Jews to a due attention to the Divine word, and a right understanding of it.
I have sometimes thought that the words pi Wll, in the last line of this verse, should close the preced- ing line, and make part of the description of the havoc of the flood. For if a comma only be placed at n^3, and a full stop at p*\ thus,
?pn ram fhhs\ oro
i njPDtp pan np?
the whole might be thus rendered ^
VOL. II. R
258 ISAIAH.
As often as it comes over it shall overtake you ; Verily every morning it shall come over, By day, and by night, and there shall be emptiness.* Dispersion will make what is delivered to be understood.
Verse 20. " For*— rather, « Truly"— Verse 22. — " be made strong ;M rather, u be tightened," or " made fast."
25 Surely it ist for sowing that the husbandman
ploughs every day, That he opens and harrows his ground. When he hath laid smooth its surface, Scatters he not the fitches and casteth abroad
the cummin ? And soweth the wheat regularly, And the barley and the rye hath its appointed
limit ? t
26 For his God instructeth him in- the -rules -of
[his] art,
27 And teacheth him that the fitches are not to
be beaten out with the corn-drag, Nor is the wheel of his wain to be turned upon the cummin.
* That is, perfect devastation. Every thing shall be swept away, f Or, " Is it not"— See Noldius, rr, 2. not. 1063—1066. f See Bishop Stock.
ISAIAH.
But the fitches are to be beaten out with the
staff, And the cummin with the flail : the bread-corn
must be threshed. 28 But not for ever must the threshing instrument
thresh it, Nor the wheel of his wain break it to pieces, Nor must his riders beat it to powder.
CHAP. XXIX.
This chapter is closely connected with the last. The conclusion of the last chapter declares general- ly that the whole train of God's dealings with the Jews tends to a certain end, which must be brought about. This chapter declares what that catastrophe will be : the destruction of Jerusalem by the Ro- mans ; the conversion of the Gentiles ; the peace of the church ; and the final conversion of the Jews. The whole chapter has so little to do with Senna- cherib's invasion, that I am persuaded it is merely accidental if any expressions occur which seem to carry an allusion to that event.
Verse 1. — " where David dwelt." — " which Da- vid besieged," LXX, Vulgate, Houbigant, Bishop Lowth. See Ps. liii, 6.
r 2
260 ISAIAH.
— " let them kill sacrifices." — " let the feasts go round in their course," Bishop Lowth and Houbi- gant.
Verse 2. — " I will distress"— Wp^JTi. Read, with many MSS. *t\ym\ • " I will distress Ariel." Houbigant thinks that Ariel was the antient name of the town when David took it from the Jebusites. This conjecture gives great spirit to the menace in the latter part of this verse : — " it shall be unto me as Ariel;" as a city of heathens and aliens. By the rejection of our Lord the Jews became (for a time) aliens, and are treated as such.
Verse 3. " And I will camp against thee round about"— For *VH5, read, with the LXX, two MSS, Bishop Lowth, and Houbigant, TH5 ; " I will en- camp against thee like David." This verse clearly sets aside the application of this prophecy to Senna- cherib, for he never besieged Jerusalem. See Isaiah xxxvii, 33.
— " and will lay siege against thee with a mount;" rather, " and I will form a blockade around thee." See Parkhurst, 2¥i ; and St Luke xxi, 20.
Verse 5. — " of thy strangers"— St Jerome un- derstands this verse of the besieging army, and says that the small dust and chaff represent its numbers,
ISAIAH. *26l
not its weakness. But tor T"V, the LXX read T"i\ or OH1* 'thy proud ones,' or c the proud.' One of Kennicott's MSS. gives TH*. And with this emen- dation, the text might be understood of the Jews, and describe their weakness, of which small dust and chaff driven by the wind are natural and script- ural images. But without any alteration, the text may be understood of the Jews considered as apos- tates and aliens, or outcasts, at the time when these threatenings should take effect. a The multitude of thy outcast race, O Ariel, shall be like pounded dust," &c.
— " terrible ones" — E3W1JJ . the leaders of the lawless bands of Sicarii and Zelotae which infested Judea during the war and for some time before.
— " it shall be at an instant suddenly." — " id designat Titum, qui, iEgypto veniens cum legioni- bus duabus, coegit Caesareae copias Judaeosque im- paratos oppressit." Houbigant. But I rather think these words should form the beginning of the fol- lowing verse, and that this should end with the word " away" in the English, in the Hebrew witli
Verse 8. " Ha?c similitudo miririce pingit Roma-
9
262 ISAIAH.
nos pugnaciter obsidentes urbem, et pudore acceptae cladis factos ferociores." Houbigant.
— " his soul hath appetite ;" — " his soul is all impatience."
Verse 9. " Stay yourselves and wonder, cry ye out, and cry."
" They are struck with amazement and stand astonished, They stare with a look of stupid surprise."
Bishop Lowth,
— " they are drunken, but not with wine," &c. — " Tales erant Judaei, qui antequam Titus veniret, et urbe jam obsessa, sic se gerebant, ut homines ebrii aut mente capti, conspiratis factionum partibus5 sine certo duce ac sine consilio, sine sapientibus, sine prophetis, et aliis alios mutua casde interficien- tibus. Longe dissimiles fuerant Judaei, cum Senna- cherib eis minabatur." Houbigant.
Verse 10. — " and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered;" — " and hath closed your eyes, the prophets ; and your heads, the seers, hath he covered." This is not applicable to the times of Hezekiah, when Isaiah himself prophesied, and was in high credit with the king and the people.
Verse 13. — " and their fear towards me is taught
ISAIAH.
by the precept of men." For Vim, Bishop Lowth reads 1W>; and for HlD^, he reads OHD^. w And vain is their fear of me, Teaching the commandments of men."
The emendation is supposed to have the authority of the LXX, Mat. xv, 9, and Mark vii, 7. It is dis- approved however by Vitringa, who says, " est in- solens et incommoda constructio OHIH* VW, pro QnNT WW The passage, as it stands, gives the same sense, and is well rendered by Castalio ; " est- que ejus erga me religio humana? doctrinae disci- plina :" and by Houbigant ; " timorque eorum meus hue redit, ut praecepta hominum discant." — " Sed non tales fuerunt, Ezechia regnante Juda?i. Nam eos pius rex instituerat ad legem Dei observandam, non ad praecepta hominum Dei legi antcferenda." Houbigant.
14? Therefore behold I will make more wonderful This wonderful people ; And the wonder shall be, that I will destroy the wisdom ot
its wise men, And the understanding of its understanding men shall hide
itself.
To the same effect Houbigant. The accomplishment of man's redemption was a display of Divine V\ [if.
H *
264. ISAIAH.
dom, which put all human wisdom to the blush. But this prophecy has received a most literal accom- plishment in the extinction of all learning and ability among the Jews from the time of our Saviour. For though some few men of considerable parts have ap- peared among them, what ideots in letters, sacred and profane, are the rabbins whom they chiefly follow !
Verse 16. The beginning of this verse is very ob- scure, and the first word probably corrupt. Castalio, whom Bishop Lowth follows, has made the best of it : — " O vos perversos ! scilicet idem de figulo pu- tetur quod decreta, ut neget opus se ab auctore suo factum, aut figmentum appellet fictorem suum im- peritum."
Upon second thoughts, I am inclined to think there is no error in the first word. It makes a sen- tence by itself. " It is yours to invert the order of things." — " Invertere vestrum [est]. Invertitis
naturas rerum. Invertitis ipsas rerum essentias,
earumque inter se relationis ; vos Deo, Deum vobis supponentes." See Vitringa on the passage.
Verse 20. — "the terrible one;" " the persecutor."
— " all that watch for iniquity;" — M all that are active in iniquity," — " et excisi sunt omnes rig*"-
ISAIAH.
lands ad iniquitatem." — " qualcs illi fucrunt pii- marii sacerdotes, et scriba?, et scniorcs populi, quo- rum principes erant Annas et Caiphas, qui simul consultarunt, ut Jesum dolo prchenderent, et intcri- merent ; et qui dein nocte ipsa et summo mane (jr^ojiag yevope^g) fuerunt congregati ad ilium con- demnandum, et Pilato tradendum ad supplicium crucis 'y idque executi sunt." Vitringa ad locum, vol. ii, p. 155, c. 2.
Verse 21. A very exact description of the treat- ment our Lord received ^rom the Jews.
— " and turn aside the Just for a thing of nought;" — u and wronged the Just One by a groundless lie." Our Lord was condemned upon a false accusation, and upon false evidence.
23 Not as yet shall Jacob be ashamed,
Nor as yet shall his countenance wax pale.)
When in his sight his children, the work of my hands,
In the midst of him
Shall sanctify my Name,
And sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And make the God of Israel the object of their dread;
24 Then shall they who erred in spirit come to understanding, And the murmuring race shall learn the revealed-doctrine.
— " his children, the work of my hands j" not his
266 ISAIAH.
children after the flesh, but the adopted Israel, God's workmanship, the Gentile converts, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
— " in the midst of him ;" received promicuously with the believers of the Hebrew nation into the body of the church. The example of their piety shall at least touch the heart of the Jewish race. Then shall Jacob take shame to himself for his for- mer folly, and his countenance shall wax pale with horror of the guilt of his apostacy. And thus at last he shall be brought to a right understanding, and to faith in the gospel.
CHAP. XXX.
The preceding chapter contains general denun- ciations of wrath against the Jews, with a particular respect to the catastrophe brought about by the Roman arms, and ends with a prediction of the call of the Gentiles, and the final conversion of the Jew- ish nation. In this chapter the prophet warns them of the guilt they would incur in not putting an im- plicit faith in God's counsels under all their afflic- tion, and in particular the ruinous consequences that would follow from their alliance with the Egyp- tians in the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion ; and
ISAIAH. 2C7
it ends like all the predictions of judgment with a promise of their conversion and restoration to pro- sperity, and with denunciations of the final venge- ance to be executed on the enemies of the true reli- gion. In Hezekiah's time they were not guilty of the crimes with which this prophecy charges them. Upon the alarm of Sennacherib's incursion, Heze- kiah's first step was to buy him off; and when this failed, his resort was to Isaiah. It does not appear from the history that he sought the alliance of the Egyptians. Rabshakeh, it is true, reproaches him with that alliance ; but it seems to be merely a pre- tence, which the Assyrian invented, to pick a quar- rel with him : and so St Jerome thought. — " Con- si deremus ergo verba Ilabsacis ; ac primum quod dicit, * confidis super baculum arundinem confrac- tum istum, super ^Egyptum,' falsum est : nulla enim narrat historia quod Ezechias ad ^Egyptios miserit, et Pharaonis auxilium postulant.' * Hieron. ad Is. xxxvi, 6. Nothing therefore in this prophecy suits the times of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, whatever such interpreters as Mr White may imagine.
Verse 1. — " that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit." — " who ratify covenants, but not bv my spirit." Bishop Lowth, with the LXX. The
3
268 ISAIAH.
Bishop thinks that, as etfovfy in Greek, so H5DB in Hebrew may signify ' a covenant.' See his note. Nevertheless the public translation seems to be right. It is a common image in all languages to say of a man that relies upon particular means of security, that he wraps himself up, or covers himself; and the means on which he relies are called his covering. So * virtute mea me involve* And 2 Kings, xvii, 9,
xxsfth* nw hy p *h new bvch Smeri to "warm
<c The children of Israel covered themselves with practices, or wrapt themselves up in practices [^k»- <pie<roivro9 LXX] which were not right towards Jeho- vah their God." The version of the LXX in this place (on which Bishop Lowth relies) is a loose pa- raphrase, which exchanges the general image, for the particular instance alleged in the sequel.
Verse 5. For C^*on, read V9ft» without the Aleph. Eight MSS, Chaldee, and Vulgate.
Verse 7. — " therefore have I cried concerning this, their strength is to sit still." For rDtP on, read, in one word, nation. " Therefore have I call- ed her Rahab the Inactive." Doederlein and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 8. — " that it may be for the latter day for ever and ever ;" rather, " for a testimony for ever."
ISAIAH. 269
Bishop Low tli, with the Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate, and LXX, according to a MS. Pach, and an- other. This, if the prophet may be allowed to be his own expositor, clearly proves that this prophecy had no relation to his own times.
Verse 12. — <c and trust in oppression and per- verseness." For pw}?3, read, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, BTfjJ ; " and trust in a perverse and crooked word,"
Verse 17. — " and at the rebuke of five shall lie flee." Between Won and iwn insert, with Bishop Lowth, the word rDSI; " at the rebuke of five, ten thousand of you shall flee."
Verse 18. u For this reason [on account of your profane neglect of him] Jehovah will delay to shew you favour" —
— " and therefore will be exalted that he may have mercy upon you." For DW, read, with Hou- bigant and Bishop Lowth, OT ; " and for this reason he will be inactive [/. e. slow] to shew you mercy."
Verse 19. " For the people shall dwell" — Bishop Lowth, upon the authority of the LXX, reads C'vnp ay. This makes very good sense. But the passage is good sense as it stands, without any alter-
no ISAIAH.
ation. " Surely notwithstanding the delay of mercy occasioned by your sins, the people shall* dwell ia Sion ; in Jerusalem thou shalt weep no more."
Verse 24. — " clean provender." — " well - fer- mented maslin." Bishop Lowth. Certainly right.
Verse 25. — " when the towers fall." — " when the mighty fall." Bishop Lowth.
Verse 27. — " and the burden thereof is heavy ;" — <c and the rising flame is violent."
Verse 28. — " to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity ; and there shall he" — For ta^U nsjrf'?, read with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, C3*W *\Vn>.
— " to toss the nations with the van of perdition." Bishop Lowth, after Kimchi. But after all, Park- hurst's is probably the true interpretation : — " to stretch [the hand] over the nations with a stretch- ing of destruction."
Verse 29. — " as when one goeth with a pipe," &c. — " Nimirum traditio est ubi primitise ex lege solen- niter deferendae essent Hierosolymam, unius tractus qui erant incolae in primariam aliquam ejus regionis urbem convenisse, et ne polluerentur plateis per- noctasse -y primarium vero caetus virum, chori duc- torem, eos excitando his fere usum verbis, quae ad hsec nostra proxime accedunt : ' Surgite, ac eamus
ISAIAH. 271
Tsionem, ad Dominum Deum nostrum.' Processisse autem hoc ordine, ut ante chorum iret taurus, cor- nibus auratis, et oleae ramo coronatus : turn quoquc tibicen, tibia ludens. Procedcntcs autem, et Iliero- solymae appropinquantes, saepius repetiis e verba poetae sacri, * La?tus eram, cum dicerent, eamus do- mum Domini/ Inde vero a populo Hierosolymi tunc faustis acclamationibus, et a sacerdotibus ho- neste esse receptos, primitiasque, quas in vasis aut corbibus afferebant, solen niter Deo consecrasse, re- citata confessione secundum formulam a Mose pra?- scriptam." Vitringa ad locum, vol. ii, p. 191, c. 1. Verse 31. — " the Assyrian" — The Assyrian be- ing at this time the most powerful foe, and the ter- ror of God's people, stands as the type of the head of the irreligious faction. Such was the opinion of Vitringa, notwithstanding that he conceived that all the latter part of this chapter, from the 27th verse to the end, had its first and proximate completion in the judgment executed upon Sennacherib. After a diffuse exposition of the prophecy, as applied to that object, he proceeds thus : — u Et ha?c quidem prima et literalis est expositio hujus pericopae; sed qua} altiora et sublimiora involvit. Primo enim vatcs respici hie vult Assyrium ut typum et figuram om-
272 ISAIAH.
mum hostium et persecutorum populi Dei, qui, suis singuli temporibus, per totum tractum saeculorum mundi, a Deo, qualibuscunque suis judiciis prostrati, delerentur atque exscinderentur, usque quae c Omnis iniquitas os suum clauderet.' Deinde Ignem in terris a Deo accensum (intellige judicia omnia in quibus est manifestatio irae Dei ex coelo) vult spectari ut figuram ignis infernalis, quo aeternum cruciandi sunt impenitentis omnes ecclesiae persecutores, qui dici- tur qrotpcHrpsvog * paratus (phrasi ex hoc loco sumpta)
diabolo et angelis ejus.' Quicquid igitur Chal-
dasi, Syri, Romani,- quicquid Tartari, Choresmini,
Turci, oppugnantes ecclesiam, hue usque singulari- bus Dei judiciis et casibus experti sunt-* — quicquid etiam ad consummationem operis Dei hostes ejus in poster um experientur, se in hoc speculo conspicien- dum or^ert.,, Vitnnga, vol. ii, p. 195, c. 2.
CHAP. XXXI.
Verse 5. tc As birds flying passing over" — See
Bishop Lowth's learned note upon this passage.
Verse 6. " Turn ye unto him"-^- I think the verb 12WJ is an indicative, and not an imperative. The prophet foresees God's miraculous interposition for the deliverance and defence of Jerusalem, and
ISAIAH.
the conversion of the natural Israel, as connected and contemporaneous events. rt The children of Israel have returned unto him, from whom they have so deeply revolted. "
Verse 8. " Then shall the Assyrian fall" — Then, that is in the day of the general renunciation of idol- atry. The Assyrian therefore again stands as the representative of some powerful head of the irreligi- ous faction in the latter ages. Sennacherib cannot be meant otherwise than allusively. See an elegant, but perhaps unnecessary emendation of this verso proposed by the Layman.
CHAP. XXXII.
Lowth the father, introduces his notes upon this chapter with a general remark, that whoever attends to the 9th, 10th, and following verses, u will find that they relate to the calamities which the Assyrian invasion brought upon Judea." On the contrary, I think, with Bishop Lowth, that whoever attends to the 9th and 10th verses as they stand connected with the sequel, will see clearly that the threatened distress u belongs to other times than that of Senna- cherib's invasion. " The threatened calamities were to be of long duration. The distress of Sennacherib\
VOL. II. 8
27* ISAIAH.
invasion was very soon over. And the season, fixed in the 15th verse, for the termination of the long afflictions with which the thoughtless daughters of pleasure are threatened, is no other than the season of the general conversion of the world to the true religion, and the general effusion of the Holy Spirit. In short, this chapter has no immediate reference to Sennacherib. It is not to be wondered that so dull a man as Mr White should not be able to discern the scenes of distant futurity exhibited in the pro- phet's figurative strains. But it is amazing that the mere name of the Assyrian should have misled the far greater part of the ablest commentators from St Jerome to the present day. For though few are so short-sighted as Mr White, to discover nothing in these prophecies beyond the prophet's own times, yet by fixing upon Sennacherib as the immediate object, and by looking for the immediate and proper completion in the detail and the final issue of his incursion, they make the whole incoherent, perplex- ed, and obscure; which is exceedingly consistent and perspicuous in every part, when Sennacherib is set out of the question.
This chapter is closely connected with the former. The first eight verses describe the happy state of
ISAIAH.
mankind when tho Assyrian shall be overthrown; }. e. when irreligion, or false religion, will lose the support which for some time it will receive from the powers of the world. The seven verses following describe a period of wrath and tribulation, which shall precede that happy state ; and the last five verses of the chapter repeat the assurance of the final prosperity of the church.
Verse 1. " Behold, a king" — rather, " Behold, for righteousness kings shall reign, and for equity shall princes rule." The prophet promises that, after the overthrow of the Assyrian, of wicked arbitrary power, exercised by men at enmity with God and Truth, the government of the world will be well ad- ministered under him to whom the title of King (xur lloyjiv) belongs, and the power of subordinate princes will be exercised, not for the purposes of avarice and ambition, but for the advantage of the subject, and the general happiness of mankind.
For OHttf^, I would read, with Bishop Lowth and the antient versions, CHEPi. The Layman, by a king, in the singular, understands Christ ; by princes, in the plural, the apostles; in which I am much inclined to agree with him. See my notes upon the word l^D, in Hosea.
276 ISAIAH.
Verse 2. " And a man shall be" — * A man,' VPK Unusquisque, u e. regum et principum unusquisque, " And every one of them shall be" — or rather, with Bishop Lowth, " the man," i, e. the king men- tioned before, i. e, Christ.
Verse 3. " And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim." There is no authority for the sense of being dim here imposed upon the verb ftjW. Bishop Lowth therefore, for the negative $fr9 would read ^, which was Le Clerc's conjecture, conceiv- ing that the suffixed pronoun 1 rehearses that parti- cular king who is the subject of the 1st verse. " And him the eyes of those, that see, shall regard."
Bishop Lowth.
But I believe no emendation is necessary, and that Bishop Stock has hit upon the true meaning of the word in this place.
Verse 4. " The heart also of the rash" — rather, " of the well instructed." The noun "WO signifies a person well instructed in the subject he handles, accomplished in the art he exercises \ a person en- dowed with all necessary knowledge and ability. See Psalm xlv. And in the same sense I take the participle Niphal here.
— " shall be ready" — "Hon _ .« habilis reddetur
ISAIAH. J77
ad clare loqucndum \n HW TCW, <c quin loqucrentur nitide, diserte, castigate, elegauter, ct, qu;r vera vis est vocis, splendida uterentur oratione." Vitringa ad locum.
Verses 5 — 8. The vile person, the liberal, the churl, the bountiful, are mystic characters of the patrons of scepticism and atheism on the one hand, and the champions of the truth on the other. The sceptic and the atheist teach a foolish, sordid, mean doctrine, which perplexes the understanding, and, contracting the views of the human soul, lowers man in his own estimation of his rank in the crea- tion, debases his sentiments, and depresses his powers. The preachers of religion on the contrary, teach a noble, generous doctrine, which enlightens the understanding, and exalting the hopes of the soul ennobles its sentiments, and stimulates the ac» tivity of its best faculties.
Verse 5. " The vile person" — rather, " The fool." And so Bishop Lowth.
The foolish preacher of infidelity shall no longer have the praise of greatness of mind ; nor shall the atheistic churl, who envies the believer his hope u full of immortality," be held in esteem as a patriot struggling for the freedom of mankind held in thial-
s 3
<J7S ISAIAH.
dom by superstitious fears. They and their absurd impious doctrine shall appear to the world in the proper light, and they shall be held in general con- tempt and detestation.
Verse 6. — " to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord jM rather, " to practise pro- fligacy, and utter perverse arguments against Jeho- vah." These wretches indeed keep empty and un- satisfied the hungry, and deprive the thirsty of their drink, beguiling them of their immortal hopes, or at the best withdrawing from them the rich, savoury viands of God's word, to feed them with the coarse, lean, meagre fare of the natural religion.
Verse 7. — " he deviseth, &c- — right." — " he deviseth subtleties to ensnare the meek with speeches of deceits but in the word of the poor man there is judgment.5' The subtleties (JTO?, see Ps. x, 4) and speeches of deceit, are those refined theories and sophisticated arguments by which atheism and in- iidelity is supported j which being uttered to the world in an imposing strain, with high and confident pretensions to learning and philosophical penetra- tion, are too often so far successful as in some de- gree to perplex and disquiet the modest and unas- suming, who in diffidence of themselves pay too
ISAIAH. 878
much deference to the proud claims of others. The word of the poor man is that divine doctrine which is the rule of his faith and of his practice. In this word there is judgment, truth, and wisdom.
Verse 8. It is a happy conjecture of Bishop Lowth's, suggested by an acute remark of Arch- bishop Seeker's, that for NVTi in this verse, we ought to read }W\
Verse 9. " Vates compellat urbes et vicos JudffiK sub nomine mystico mulierum tranquillarum, tern- porum statusque sui securitati fidem tuum." Vitrin- ga ad locum.
Verses 11, 12. — " upon your loins. They shall ) anient for the teats." Read,
M Upon your loins, and upon your breasts." Bishop Lowth. And in the beginning of the 12th verse, for D^SD, read, with Bishop Lowth, the LXX, and Vulgate, tVDL
Verse 15. — " and the wilderness be a fruitful rield, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.' ' I have not seen this mashal any where so well ex- plained as in the marginal notes in Queen Elizabeth's Bible : — " The field which is now fruitful shall be but as a barren forest in comparison of that it shall
s 4
280 ISAIAH.
be then, as chap, xxix, 17, which shall be fulfilled in Christ's time. For then, they that were before as the barren wilderness, being regenerate, shall be fruitful ; and they that had some beginning of god- liness shall bring forth fruits in such abundance, that their former life shall seem but as a wilderness where no fruits were.3'
Verse 18. e>nM» nw»m. Is not the true reading CWM onWtpMn? "and secure in their own dwellings."
Verse 20. " Blessed are ye," &c. This last verse is excellently interpreted by Castalio: — " Felices qui evangelium toto publicatis orbe, ubicunque est humor , id est, ubi spes est fore ut crescat, et alatur, tanquam humore stirpes, idque facitis immitentes bovis asinique pedem : id est nullo Judaeorum aut exterorum discrimine. Adludit enim ad Mosis prasceptum, quo vetat arari bove et asino, hoc est, si praecepti vim penitius consideres, vetat Judaeis commercium esse cum reliquis nationibus tanquam cum dispari genere : quemadmodum Paul us prae- ceptum illud de non obturando bovis ore triturantis, refert ad rem diviniorem, videlicet ad eorum alimo. niam, qui docent evangelium. Igitur illud discrimen evangelio sublatum est: felicesque sunt evangelii
ISAIAH.
magistri, qui omnes, nullo, neque doccntium nequc docendorum, gcntis discriminc docent.,>
St Jerome seems to have taken the passage in the same sense, but he lias not explained it so clearly.
CHAP. XXXIII.
The prophet still dwells upon the general subject of the final overthrow of the irreligious faction and the prosperity of the church. But the images in which the prediction is conveyed in this chapter have a more direct allusion to Sennacherib than any yet used.
From the blessing pronounced upon the preachers of the gospel at the end of the preceding chapter, the discourse passes to threatenings against their ad- versaries.
Verse 1. " Woe to thee that spoilest," &c. This is applicable to Sennacherib ; but it is equally the character of all persecutors that their ill-usage of God's servants is unprovoked.
— " when thou shalt cease to spoil," &c. u When thou hast finished thy spoiling, thou shalt thyself be spoiled ; when thou hast carried thy treachery to the height, treachery shall be practised against thee."
2*2 ISAIAH.
The enemies of God are threatened with the plague of division and treachery amongst themselves. Or perhaps the arch-enemy is threatened with a spoil- ing of his power, and a defection of those who had long been attached to him, and, deceived them- selves, had been the tools of his deceit.
Verse 2. — " their arm" — For E3JHJ, read, with the Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, UJHf, « our strength."
Verse 3. u At the noise of thy tumult" — For }*MDn, the LXX and Syriac, whom Houbigant and Bishop Lowth follow, read TEN ; " At thy terrible voice'' — But the common reading seems as good.
— a the people ;" — " the peoples."
The 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th verses, and all to the end of the 9th, is spoken by the prophet to the people.
4» And your gathering of the spoil shall be like the caterpillar's gathering, And the seizing upon it like the leap of the locust.
This is addressed to the people of God. Vitringa confesses that the Hebrew words are not incapable of this interpretation.
Verse 6. At the end of this verse, for tWiK, read, with Symmachus, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, -HSttK.
iSAIAli.
And wisdom and knowledge shall be
The stability of thy times, the seeurity of salvation.
The fear of Jehovah that shall be thy treasure.
Verse 7. — " without" — For FttH, read, with the Syriac, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, Wp, "griev- ously." The alteration is unnecessary. — " with- out"— The image is, the leaders of an enemy with- out the walls summoning the town.
Verses 11 — 13, addressed by Jehovah to the ene- mies of his people, the besiegers.
Verse 14. u The sinners in Zion," &c. The sin- ners in Sion are the wicked, false professors of the true religion. This verse describes the consternation that shall seize such persons when they see the threat- ening^ of judgments upon the declared enemies of the church begin to take effect.
— <c hypocrites ;" rather, " the abandoned."
The following verses to the 19th inclusive, de- scribe the perfect security of the true servants of God, while his judgments are raging dreadfully against the apostate faction.
Verse 17. " Thine eyes," &c. Thine eyes shall see the King Messiah glorified in the prosperity of his church \ they shall see the promised land of im- mortality afar off; they shall have a cheering pro-
284, ISAIAH.
spect of that eternal rest, to which after a period of peace and happiness on earth in the latter ages the saints shall be finally translated.
Verse 20. — " a quiet habitation." Could Jerusa- lem in the time of Hezekiah be called " the quiet habitation, the tabernacle not to be shaken, whose stakes should not be removed for ever, of whose cords not any should be broken," when it was to be destroyed first by the Babylonians, and a second time by the Romans? To suppose that these pro- mises had their accomplishment in the deliverance of the city from Sennacherib, and the prosperity of the remainder of Hezekiah's reign, is to suppose that the prophets describe things comparatively small under the greatest images. And this being once granted, what assurance have we that the mag- nificent promises to the faithful will ever take effect in the extent of the terms in which they are con- veyed. The language of prophecy is indeed poeti- cal and figurative ; but the hyperbole is a figure which never can be admitted in the Divine pro- mises ; on the contrary, it is always to be presumed that more is meant than the highest figures can ex- press adequately.
ISAIAH.
21 But there Jehovah shall display his glory to us.
[There] is our place upon flowing rivers, and spaeious
valleys.* Thither shall come no vessel of war with oars, f Neither shall gallant ship pass by.
Verse 24. — "shall be forgiven their iniquity;" rather, " have borne their iniquity $" their sufferings are come to an end.
CHAP. XXXIV.
" This and the following chapter makes," says Bishop Lowth, * one distinct prophecy, consisting of two parts ; a denunciation of divine vengeance against the enemies of the people or church of God, and a description of the flourishing state of the church of God consequent upon the execution of those judgments." In the preceding prophecies the Assyrian has been the representative of some power- ful head of the irreligious faction in the latter days. In this prophecy Idumea and Bozra seem to be
• Or thus, [There is] our place upon rivers, [and] streams wide of channel.
\ Ships of war among the antients were of a long make, and moved by oars ; merchantmen were broader, and carried sail,
286 ISAIAH.
images of a promiscuous mass of people in the in- terests of infidelity and irreligion, which will remain to be extirpated after the overthrow of that Assy- rian.
Verse 2. — " he hath utterly destroyed them ;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " he hath devoted them." The original expresses that they are under the ex- treme malediction of the O^n. In the next clause, for " he hath delivered," " he hath appointed."
Verse 5. " For my sword" — rather, " my knife," the knife of sacrifice. " Deus enim hie non com- paret ut bellator, Idumaeos gladio persecuturus, sed ut eos, instar victimarum caedi destinatarum, jugula- furus et mactaturus." Vitringa ad locum.
— <c to judgment;" i.e. to execute judgment.
Verse 7. — " shall come down ;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " shall fall down."
Verse 11. — "the stones of emptiness ;" rather^ " the plummet of emptiness."
Verse 12. Houbigant's emendation of this verse seems preferable to Bishop Lowth's.
•unp r&foa o# pm
And there they shall no more mention the kingdom ; Her nobles and all her rulers are no more.
ISAIAH. 28T
Verse IS. For Witt* Twbft read, with Bishop Lowth and the antient versions, rtWttHP V?y\
Verse 15. — c< the great owl ;" — " the night ra- ven," Bishop Lowth: rather, "the darting serpent." — " serpens jaculus," Houbigant. outtmac*
Verse 16. For "Hp3, read i"HpE>, to agree with the feminine nominative.
Verse 17. — " for my mouth it" — Read, ^ •£ HVl mn\ « For the mouth of Jehovah itself hath commanded, and his Spirit itself hath gathered them."
CHAP. XXXV.
Upon this whole chapter, see Bishop Lowth in his notes, and also his twentieth prelection.
Verse 1. For BWV*, read Xflp.
Verse 4. — " to them that are of a fearful heart;" rather, " to the docile of heart," or * to the well instructed."
— " behold your God will come with vengeance," &c. j rather,
Behold your God ! To avenge he cometh ' God, who maketh retribution, He will come and save you !
288 ISAIAH.
Verse 7. — " in the habitation of dragons, where
each lay," &c.
In the habitation of dragons [shall be] a bed of grass Instead of reeds and bulrushes.
— " a bed" — V^ in the masculine is used for a place where cattle, oxen, and sheep, may lie down, Is. lxv, 10 5 Jer. 1, 6.
Verse 8. " And a highway shall be there, and a way"—
And a causey and a way shall be there,
And it shall be called the way of the Holy One.
The unclean shall not pass over it.
But he [that is> the Holy One] shall be with them, walking in the way,
And fools shall not go astray. These twelve chapters, following the twenty-third., seem to form one entire prophetic discourse, of which the general subject is the final triumph of the church over the apostate factions, and the previous judg- ments with which the Jews will be visited.
CHAP. XXXVI.
Verse 5, For VHttN, read, with many MSS., mtttf. See Bishop Lowth.
Verse 16. — " make an agreement with me by a present ;" rather, " do homage unto me."
1
ISAIAH. 289
CHAP. XXXVII.
Verse 4. — " the remnant that is left." Samaria being already captivated, he calls the two tribes of the kingdom of Judah the remnant.
Verse 18. For fWVtt\ read, witfrten MSS. and the parallel place, EDVtf. See Bishop Lowth.
Verse 25. — " all the rivers of the besieged places;" rather, M all the streams (that descend) from the rocks." See Houbigant.
Verse 26. — " to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps \u rather, u to lay waste fruitful hil- locks, fenced cities ;" to destroy the towns and ra- vage the adjacent cultivation. — u fruitful hillocks" OW O^, " des collines fleurissantes."
CHAP. XL.
Verse 1. — " her warfare is accomplished foi
she hath received of the Lord's hand double of all her sins." — " Signirkantur in primis hoc loco mi- litia? labores, sive mala per belium invecta, in quibus Judaei pcenas duplices Deo dederant pro peccatis suis. Quae poena: duplices, duae sunt captivitates, una sub Assyriis, altera sub Roman is. — Qui interpretes haec dicta putant de uno reditu ex captivitate Babvlonis.
VOL. ir. r
290 ISAIAH.
parum feliciter explicant, quomodo, Judauis Babylone reversis, completa esset eorum militia. Quot enim et quanta mala postea experti sunt, turn premente eos Antiocho, turn populo Romano eos sub jugum mittente ? Neque etiam dici potest Judaeorum, cum Babylone redierunt, expiatam fuisse iniquitatem; siquidem Deus de illis, per Romanos, alteras poenas erat sumpturus." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 2. " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness" — " Nimirum, Joannes Baptista. Neque hsec ad Babylone reditum aptari possunt. Nam pa- ratur via Domini, non Judaeorum. Neque etiam Ju- daei Babylone redeuntes per desertum tantum iter fecere." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 4. — " the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain ;" rather, I think, " the rough shall become smooth, and the hard rocks a cleft ;" u e. an open passage shall be cleared through the rocks. See Parkhurst in W\.
Verse 7. — " the people ;" rather, tt this people." Houbigant and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 10. — " his work j" rather, <c the recom- pense of his work." Bishop Lowth and Houbigant. Where observe, however, that by his reward and the recompense of his work, is meant the reward and
ISAIAH. 9.01
the recompense which he hath in readiness to be- stow upon liis servants. — " Quisque videt veiha in hunc esse accipienda sensum, Deum Jehovarn, in mundo constabiliturum regnum suum, et hostes suos vindicaturum, paratum in manibus habere mcrce- dem et operae pretium quod repensurus sit ministris suis omnibus," &c. Vitringa ad locum, vol. ii, p. 366, c. 2.
Verse 12. u Who hath measured," &c. — " Non deserit inceptam rem propheta ; imo describit, qua- il's sit ille, qui modo pastor nominatus est, et de quo urbibus Judae dicit, 'en Dcus vester;' ne Judaei comminiscantur hominem redemptorem, sed homi- nem Deum. Nam idem, qui modo ut homo descri- ptus est, nunc ut Deus exhibetur." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 21. "Have ye not known? have ye not heard ?" rather, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, in the future, u Will ye not know? will ye not hear?"
21 Will ye not know? will ye not hear of?
Hath he not been declared unto you from the beginning ? Have ye never considered the foundations of the earth ? p.
e. how the foundations were laid, or the act of laying
them.]
T* O
292 ISAIAH.
22 Him that sitteth, &a Him that extendeth, &c.
23 That bringeth, &c. That maketh, &c.
The words nilD^D, agr^ WOft jniil, are all accusa- tives after the verbs know, hear of, considered, &c. The style is vehement, which accounts for the anti- cipated introduction of the clause " Hath he not been declared," &c.
Verse 26. — " by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, supplying abundantly their strength, and confirming their force, not one of them is missing, or goeth astray." Or rather, " by reason of abundance of force and firmness of strength, not one of them is driven astray." The prophet speaks of the sufficiency of the physical forces with which the Creator has endowed the great bodies of the universe, to prevent all disorder and irregularity in its motions. And so I find Vi- tringa understood him. " Nullum eorum deficere plane id significat, Stellas in caelorum orbe sive for- nice fixas, aeque ac erraticas, locum, statumque et ordinem suum constanter tueri, &c. unde vero ipsis hie status, ordo, leges motus, veri vel apparentis, et prsecipue status stabilitas? Ait vates, D^IK Sift
ISAIAH. 293
n V£X\ Vox pN notat interiorcm cujusque rei vim, naturalium virium essentiam et vkootugw, ea- rumque affluentiam et sufficientiam. Vox PEN liic est accipienda ut nomen substantivum.,, Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 383, c. 2.
See my notes on Hosea.
Verse 31. — * they shall mount up with wings as eagles j" — u they shall tower on strong pinion like eagles." "^K seems to be used adverbially, not as a noun the object of t?JJ\
CHAP. XLI.
In this chapter, the miraculous propagation of the true religion is alleged as a proof, in the prediction and in the event, of the exclusive deity of the God of Israel, in opposition to the pretensions of the hea- then idols.
Verse 1. " Keep silence before me" — For wnnrr, read, with the LXX, UBWrtT, " Let the distant na- tions repair to me with new force of mind." Bishop Lowth ; and see the Bishop's excellent note. But when did the nations repair to God with new force of mind ? Never certainly till the gospel was preach- ed to them. This compellation therefore of the
T 3
294 ISAIAH.
Gentiles marks the season to which this prophecy relates.
— " the people." — f the peoples," Bishop Lowth.
Verse 2. " Who raised up the righteous man from the east" — rather, " Who raiseth up," who is about to do this.
— " the righteous man." Cyrus was a just prince; and I think in some passages of the prophecies, that respect the liberation of the Jews from the Babylo- nian captivity, we find allusion to the uprightness of , his government. But I cannot see how Cyrus merit- ed the great character of the righteous man, which in scripture signifies much more than a man of moral probity. It always denotes a man righteous in the religious sense of the word, a man attached to the service of the One true God, and justified in his sight. The character of Cyrus is, that though he was supported, and raised to the empire by the pro- vidence of God, yet he knew not God, Is. xlv, 4. And the acknowledgement that he makes of the God of heaven and earth, in his edict for the return of the captives (Ezra i, 3) is by no means such evi- dence of his faith in the sole Deity of Jehovah, as may invalidate this express testimony of his irreli- gion, and entitle him to the honourable appellation
ISAIAH. 295
of the righteous man.* Abraham was a righteous man. But what can we find in the history of Abra- ham, to answer to those exploits of universal con- quest, which the context ascribes to the righteous man, who is the subject of this prophecy ? It will hardly be said that the rescue of Lot, and the re- covery of the spoils from the five kings, w as an ac- tion in any degree equal to the magnificence of the images. Christ is perpetually described in the pro- phecies under the image of a conqueror, and the propagation of the gospel under the image of uni- versal conquest. The Roman people, in Christ's time, were the most considerable of the Gentiles, and lords in a great measure of the whole wTorld ; and Rome was at that time the seat and citadel of idolatry. With respect to the idolaters therefore of his own time, Christ was the righteous man raised up from the east. And it is reasonable to under*
* Vitringa, who strenuously contends for the application of this prophecy to Cyrus, confesses, that it is not probable that Cyrus in sucli sort acknowledged the God of Israel, as to have renounced the worship of the gods of his own country. Vitringa on Isaiah, vol. ii, p. 113, note A. Now, I contend that no acknowledgement of the true God short of this, could entitle him to the appellation of" the righteous man" in the language of a Jewish prophet.
X I
296 ISAIAH,
stand the quarters of the world with reference to the persons spoken to, the Gentiles ; not the Jews, to whom this part of the prophecy is not addressed. I have no doubt that Christ is the person meant un- der the character of the righteous man raised up from the east.
It is to be observed, however, that the LXX ren- dered the noun "p¥ by hixamw/iv, as if they conceiv- ed that righteousness, or the true religion, was per- sonified in this chapter ; and I think this notion de- serves great attention. It is adopted in the margin of our English Bible. Righteousness was through- out all the Divine dispensations raised up from the cast. Paradise was planted in the east of Eden. After the fall, the symbols of the Divine presence, the cherubim, were placed at the east of the garden. Abraham was called from the east. The chosen people of God were a people of the eastern quarter of the globe. Our Lord was the righteous man rais- ed up from the east.
— " called him — gave — made ;" rather, " calleth him — will give — will make."
— " he gave them as the dust," &c. I take ^"in to be the nominative of the verb \n\ and that EDHK understood, rehearsing D^^, and O^, is the ob-
ISAIAH. 891
ject of that verb. In the next clause, I take vwp to be the subject of the same verb p^ understood, and OHK again understood to be the object of the verb.
His sword shall make them like dust,
And his bow like the driven stubble.
Verse 3. " He pursued and passed" — Thcsr
verbs should be future.
— " pass safely even by the way that lie had not gone with his feet." Of the true religion personified it is literally true that, by the propagation of the gospel, it was carried through roads untrodden by it before, into regions which it had never visited. But if Christ be the person intended by the noun "P^, the promulgation of the gospel by instruments naturally unqualified for the business is proverbially described in these expressions. The first preachers of the gospel, not bred in the schools of human learning, travelled a road which they had never trodden before, when they engaged in controversy with the Jewish divines and the Greek philosophers, and made their apologies before kings and rulers; and Christ, in these his emissaries, opened an un- beaten road, and passed through it safely.
Verse 4. " Who hath wrought, and done it ? " 6
296 ISAIAH.
Rather,
Who worketh and bringeth to effect ?
The question is generally respecting the incessant universal operation of Providence, not any particu- lar event. "Who is it that always worketh, and al- ways bringeth his work to sure effect ?
Verse 7. I have not the least doubt that this verse is misplaced, and should be annexed to the 20th verse of the preceding chapter. See Houbi- gant.
Verse 9. — " from the chief men thereof ;" rather, " from the corners thereof." See Bishop Lowth's note.
Verse 10. — " be not dismayed ;" rather, " look not about thee in dismay." The word expresses the gesture and action of a person in danger looking anxiously around for help.
Verse 17. — " their tongue faileth for thirst;" ra- ther, " their tongue is rigid with thirst."
Verses 17 — 19. The images used in these verses are consecrated by the perpetual usage of the pro- phets to denote the spiritual blessings and graces of the gospel. Those who expound them of the mira- culous interposition of Providence in favour of the returning captives on their march homeward from
ISAIAH. 899
Babylon, should justify their interpretation by some clear authentic history of the fact. But in that event God worked secretly on the minds of the Per- sian monarchs, but performed no miracles that we read of in any wilderness.
Verse 20. " That they may see and know" — The quick propagation of the gospel in countries long famished with a drought of the water of Iife3 and the luxuriant growth of its fruits among the idolatrous nations, a soil which had long lain uncul- tivated, and in the stony hearts of persons sunk in ignorance and sensuality, and suddenly converted, was a proof of the immediate interposition of Provi- dence, not less striking than a total change would be in the face of nature ; the eruption of large rivers from the hard rock, or the instantaneous rise of the choicest trees in the parched sands of Arabia.
Verse 22. " Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen ;" rather, " Future contin- gences let them bring near, and declare unto us." — " Adducunt et indicent nobis qua? fortuito eveni- unt." Yitringa. — " qua? casualiter eventura sunt."
Vtrse 23. — " that we may be dismayed, and be- hold it together ," rather, " then the moment we behold we shall be dismayed."
300 ISAIAH.
Verse 2£. I would render this whole verse thus, I have raised up from an obscure corner, one who shall come
from the east ; He shall call upon my name, and he shall come on. Princes [shall be] as mortar, And as a potter shall he trample the clay. 26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, Or just before that we might say, It is true ? # Truly there was no one who declared, No one who spread the report, No one [so much as] heareth [attendeth to] your words. Verse 27. " The first shall say to Zion" —
" I first to Sion [give the word], Behold they are here ; And to Jerusalem I give the messenger of glad tidings."
Bishop Lowth. " Interpretes passim sententiam in duo membra divellunt, quando prius accipiunt ut ellipticum, hoc modo supplendum, ' Primus ego Tsioni [dico] ecce, ecce ilia/ Sed Lud. de Dieu observavit, senten- tiam accipi posse ut integram, cui nihil desit ; modo hie admittatur transpositio vocum, in hac lingua mire elegans, sed aliis linguis inimitabilis, in hunc
* Or, « that we might say, The Just One." See the Layman.
ISAIAH. 301
modum : c Primus dabo Zioni ct Hierosolymae laete annunciantem (praeconem nuncii boni dicentem) ecce, ecce ilia !' Observatio docta est, et nihil hie repugno." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 28. — " even among them" — For rf?ND\ read, with the LXX and Bishop Lowth, C>rV?NDT; U and among the idols."
CHAP. XLII.
Verse 1. — u mine elect, in whom my soul de- lighteth." I see not why the word nnx*l may not be taken as a noun. — <c my chosen one, the delight of my soul."
— " he shall bring forth judgment ;" rather, "he shall publish judgment." Bishop Lowth. I have not the least doubt that ttDVO here signifies the institu- tion of the gospel. See Bishop Lowth's excellent note on the various significations of this Hebrew word.
— " 'jus gentibus proferet :* hoc est, tradet genti- bus doctrinam religionis canonicam, rationalem, in principiis conscientiae fundatam ; secundum quam oinnis doctrina religionis alia, omnes hominum de religione sensus, omniaque Gentium dicta, judicia et actiones judicanda sunt ; quae est doctrina evangel ii
302 ISAIAH.
canon judicii Divini, regula et norma judicii Christi,
et omnium ministrorum ejus, qui regnum ejus
inter Gentes f undarent." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 2. The Layman's conjecture that, for p}?¥\ we should read p£W\ ' strive,' deserves attention.
Verse 3. — " quench : until he shall bring forth judg- ment"— rather, with St Matthew, " quench ; until he shall have published judgment, so as to establish it perfectly ," or u until he have published judgment firmly." In the word TON?, the prefix ^ signifies * until,' and is to be understood in connexion with the verb. *">£** is used adverbially.
The bruised reed and smouldering flax * I take to denote the nation of the Jews, ripe for destruction ; on whom our Lord executed not his vengeance till the gospel had been preached both to them and to the Gentiles, and the foundations of the church firmly laid.
Verse 4. This whole verse I render thus :
He shall not smite, neither shall he crush,
Until he have planted judgment in the land,
And the isles place their confidence in his doctrine.
* Or, " smoking wick ; " the wick of the lamp going out in smoke.
ISAIAH. 901
— M the land/' the land of Judca.
— " the isles," the Gentile world.
This verse is only an affirmation of the 3d, in clearer terms.
Verse 6. — " have called thee in righteousness jf' rather, with Bishop Lowth, <c for a righteous pur- pose,'' or <c for the purposes of righteousness."
— " and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles ;" rather, " and will ap- point thee to be a purification (or a purifier) of the people, a light of the nations." — " the people/* Israel.
Ve?\ses 5 — 9. In the 5th, Gth, and 7th verses, a?: Vitringa properly observes, God speaks to the Mes- siah 5 in the Sth and 9th, to mankind.
Verse 10. — " ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein. " Bishop Lowth's conjecture is very probable, that, for D^n ^TW, we should read tam pn\ or «>f) Ojn\ or n*>n p\ Soe the Bishop's note.
Verse 11. — "the wilderness," Arabia deserta. — <c the rock," Sela; Petra, the metropolis of the Nabathean Israelites, in Arabia Petrea. — " the mountains," the mountains of Paran, on the south of Sinai, in Arabia Petrea. See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
30* ISAIAH.
Verse 14. " I have a long time holden my peace 5 I have been still and refrained myself." Place a small stop at the first word W#nn j and for ctojJD, read, with the LXX, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, O^JPH. " I have holden my peace. Shall I for ever be silent ? Shall I contain myself? Like a wo- man in travail I will cry out. In the same moment I will draw in and send forth my wrath." ^tt, ex- spirabo ; ^WK, inspirabo.
— " I will destroy and devour.5* — u exspirabo si- mul acrem et aspirabo." Houbigant. And to the same effect Bishop Lowth. And before either of them, Vitringa : — " simul spiritum emittam, simul eundem resorbebo:" andin this interpretation he pro- fesses himself the follower only of Avenarius, Fore- rius, and Cocceius. — " CDUW exspirabo aerem, ex DUtt, anima, halitus, respiratio, ut apposite deinde veniat "NT* JjtfEWi, et aspirabo simul. Nam pingitur hie Deus, ut acuens iras in Judaeos, et quasi partu laborans, donee eos a se ejecerit ; quomodo mulier, quae contendit totis viribus ut ejiciat fcetum suurn, aspirans arte, atque illicp fortiter respirans, enitendo, et quodammodo permiscens simul aspirationem et respirationem." Houbigant ad locum.
Verse 15* This 15th verse is admirably well ex-
ISAIAH. Mi
pounded by Vitringa : — u Agitur hie manifesto de gentibus, earumque idololatria, et de poena a genti- bus qua idololatris sumenda. Sensus emblematis est, quicquid vigebat, virebat, florebat in religione idolo- latrica pagana consumptum iri ; idoleia, templa, fan a in celebrioribus regnis et rebus publicis destruenda comminuendaque esse ; et doctrinas atque instituti- ons, quarum symbola sunt aquae, perituras atque abolendas esse ; et scholas et gymnasia, superstitioni ac idololatriae faventia, eandemque promoventia, subversum iri. Oraculorum fontes exarituros, ut regnum Dei ubique per orbem terrarum commode fundari, et electi ex gentibus se illi regno aggregare possent."
Verse 16. "I will bring the blind," &c. — " Per- tinent verba ad populum N. T. a filio Dei, tanquam heroe sive pastore ei prceeunte, ducendum in deserto Romani imperii, sustentandum, illuminandum, us- que quo occupasset civitatem habitationis.
Per viam quam non noverant, et per semitas quas exploratas non habuerunt, intellige media omnia, eaque varii generis, consilio et providentia divina ordinata ad ecclesiam Christi Jesu in mundo stabili- endam, destruendam idololatriam, et obtinendam haereditatem mundi, a cogitatione et consilio carnal i
vol. ii. . u
306 ISAIAH.
valde remota, a nemine cogitata, quae in nullius
mortalis mentem venerant Caeci dicuntur non
absolute, sed comparate, quod hactenus non perspi- cerent rationes divinae providentiae, quibus utebatur
in ecclesia sua administranda. Consilium Dei et
Christi, in prima ecclesia ducenda et sustinenda in imperio Romano, fuit mirabile ; nee exitus ejus nisi eventu perfecte intelligi poterant." Vitringa ad lo- cum. The blind, in the 18th verse, are quite an- other set of people.
Verse 19. " Who is blind but my servant," &c. In the last verse, the deaf and the blind are unques- tionably those who are deaf to religious instruction, and blind to the evidence of its truth. But in this verse, I cannot conceive that the hardened Jews can be described under the appellations of f God's servant, his messenger, and the perfect one.' Im- penitent sinners and infidels are never distinguished by such honourable titles; and admitting that they might in a certain sense be bestowed upon the chos- en race even in their apostate state, yet considering that the appellation of c servant of God' is used in this very chapter as a character of the Messiah, I cannot easily believe that it is here applied to any one else. I conceive that the Messiah's patient en-
ISAIAH. 307
durance of reproach and injury in the days of his flesh, is here emphatically described under the images of blindness and deafness, and total insensi- bility. The same thing is described under similar images in Ps. xxxviii, 13, 14. And this meekness and patience of the Messiah is that righteousness of his which is mentioned in such high encomium in the 21st verse.
19 Who is blind, but my servant,
But deaf as the messenger whom I have sent ? Who is blind like the Perfect One, And deaf like the servant of Jehovah ?
20 Thou hast seen many things, but takest no notice ; The ears open, yet thou nearest not.
21 Jehovah taketh pleasure in his righteousness,
He will magnify the doctrine, and make it glorious.
For "ttJJ, in the last line of verse 19, I read, with Symmachus, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, and one MS. of Kennicott, CHn. In the 20th verse, for JJW\ I read, with the antient versions, many MSS. and Bishop Lowth, jWn.
Vitringa divides this whole chapter into three parts. The first, from verse 1 to verse 9, is para- cletic, demonstrating the Messiah as the light of the
world and the teacher of the Gentiles. Verse 1 de-
u 2
SOS ISAIAH.
scribes his attributes; verses 2 and 3, he thinks, describe his method of teaching ; verse 4, its suc- cess and effect ; verses 5 — 9 place the foundation of that success and effect in God's councils. The se- cond part, verses 10 — 17, is exhortatory, addressed to the Gentiles, exciting them to praise God for the favour conferred on them. The third part is elenctic, addressed to the Jews, regardless of the proffered mercy. The 19th, 20th, and 21st verses, he understood as a heavy charge of inattention, and negligence of the great salvation offered, against the Jewish nation. But for the reasons I have given, I understand those verses of the Messiah; the 19th and 20th describe his behaviour as a citizen in what personally concerned himself; the 21st declares God's delight in that * behaviour of the Messiah. This description and eulogium of this part of Mes- siah's character is introduced as a parenthesis in the elenctic discourse, but not improperly. For as it made a principal branch of the merit of the Mes- siah's conduct, so it was a great aggravation of the ill conduct of the Jews. The transition from the mention of the moral blindness and deafness of the Jews to that of the patient blindness and deafness of the Messiah, though in any other kind of writing it
ISAIAH. 309
might seem abrupt and unnatural, is perfectly in the ecstatic style of prophecy.
Verse 22. The emendation proposed by Houbi- gant and Lowth is not necessary, nan is the third person preterite Hophal, from the verb TVS, It is the singular number, because '2 is its nominative case.
Verses 24, 25. These verses unquestionably regard the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans. See Houbigant.
CHAP. XLIII.
Verse 1. Jacob the creation of God, and Israel his formation, is the spiritual Israel, the children of the promise, and heirs of salvation, " born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." To this Israel all the promises of protection and deliverance in this chapter are addressed. So they were understood by St Jerome. And this sense is so very clear, and the distinction between this Israel and Israel after the flesh is so strongly marked, that it is surprizing that any other interpretation should have been sought for, or ad- mitted by Christian expositors.
— * I have called thee by thy name." Arch-
u 3
310 ISAIAH.
bishop Seeker suspected that, for *pt£D Vltf^p, we should read n:&n ivunp ; ?( I have called thee by my name." But the common reading gives very good sense.
Verse 3. — " I gave Egypt," &c. These countries had been conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, and made a part of the Babylonian empire at the time that Cyrus became master of it. God therefore, in giv- ing him that empire, gave him these vast countries, its appendages. Observe, that whatever was done by God for the people of the JewTs, was ultimately for the advantage of the spiritual Israel, and wras done for its sake. This therefore, and other in- stances, of the interposition of Providence in behalf of the natural Israel, are alleged in this prophecy as pledges of the greater deliverance of God's true people.
Vitringa, with some probability, conjectures that this passage alludes to that triennial war of the Eygptians and Cusheans with the Assyrians, when Azotus was taken by Tartan, and captives from Egypt and Ethiopia carried away in great numbers into Assyria, young and old, naked and barefoot, &c. Is. xx. The providence of God at that time divert- ing the Assyrian conqueror from Judea, by present-
ISAIAH. 311
ing Egypt and Arabia to his ambition, made those countries the ransom of his people.
Verse 4. " Since" — rather " Inasmuch as" —
Verse 5. — " thy seed." — <c semen ecclesiae hie est semen spirituale, per regenerationem mysticam
producendum. Hue pertinet in emphasi vox N'Otf,
■ adducam.' Non dicit enim propheta 3^N, ¥ redu- cam :' qua voce frequentes utuntur prophetae ubi loquuntur de reditu ex exilio : sed N"ON, < venire faciam,' quis in emphasi referendum est ad gentes." Vitringa ad Is. vol. ii, p. 452, 1.
— " from the east from the west." — " Ex
Asia, quam late in orientem extenditur, et ex insulis maris, h, e. Asia Minore, Graecia, Peloponneso, Illy- rico, Italia, Hispania, Africa, quae Hierosolymitani caali climati sunt ad occidentem." Ibid.
Verse 6. — " north south." — " Designatur
conversio Scytharum, Celtarum, Germanorum, Go- thorum, sub quibus septentrionales gentes complec- tor ; turn quoque Arabum, ^gyptiorum, Libyum, ^thiopum, quae gentes Judece sunt ad austrum." Ibid. 2.
— " from far from the ends of the earth."
— " Testes sunt inde iEthiopes, sive Halessini ; hinc
u 4
ni ISAIAH.
Gothi et Vandali. Sed tu qui sapientiam divinam seduld scrutaris, ne neglige hie sensum mysticum. 1 Et in quinquo* et c ab extremis terrae* in emphasi dicuntur adolui, qui a communione Dei et ecclesise, propter vim ignorantiae, superstitionis, et idololatrise et vitiorum longissime essent remoti." Ibid. 2.
Verse 10. " Ye"— u e. " Ye Israelites"—
Verse 12, — " when there was no strange god among you ;" rather, " and among you there is no stranger." — " Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free." Col. iii, 11.
Verse 13. — " I will work, and who shall let it?" rather, " I work, and who shall undo it i " To the same effect Bishop Lowth.
Verse 14. — " I have sent to Babylon" — The prophecy respecting times much later than the re- storation of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, that deliverance is spoken of in the preterite, and is mentioned only as a pledge of the greater mercies, which are the proper and immediate subject of this discourse. See note on verse 3. To the same pur- pose the deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, a thing long past when the prophecy was uttered, is
Isaiah. ma
mentioned in the 16th and 17th verses. And this interpretation is justified by the prophet himself, verse 18.
— " the Chaldeans, whose ciy is in their ships." — " the Chaldeans exulting in their ships." Bishop Lowth. See the Bishop's learned note about the naval strength of the Babylonian empire under her antient kings, and how it was destroyed by the Per- sian monarchs.
Verse 17. — " the power." — " robustum quem- que," Vitringa. — " the warrior," Bishop Lowth.
Verse 18. " Remember ye not" — Jehovah hav- ing mentioned the deliverance from Babylon, and the deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, bids his people " remember not the former things." Evi- dently the deliverance from Babylon is among those former things, which deserved not to be remember- ed in comparison with the greater things which this prophecy unfolds. This clearly proves that the pro- phecy respects times long subsequent to the restora- tion of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. — c< Igitur hoc pra?cipio vobis; ut inter signa mea atque miracula, quibus Babylon urbs potentissima diruta est, et quibus, in mari rubro atque Jordanc, populo meo aperta est via y nequaquam memineritis
314 ISAIAH.
veterum, quum in evangelio multo sum majora fac- turus, quorum comparatione praeterita sileri debe- ant." Hieronym. ad locum. And to the same effect Vitringa : — " Priora hie loci sunt beneficia gratia?, quae beneficium temporis Messiae ante eesserant, aut ante cessura essent : ut sunt clades Sennacheribi, destructio imperii Chaldaeorum, liberatio ex exilio Babylonico, Seleucidarum ecclesiae persecutorum
interitis, et restitutio reipublicse per Maccabaeos.
Per antiqua — intelliges" hie loci redemptionem po- puli ex iEgypto, introductionem in. Cananaeam, et liberationem ejus ex varus adversis et servitutibus per judices." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 462, 2.
Verse 19. — " I will even make a way in the wil- derness." — " Nequaquam enim ultra in mari ru- bro, sed in deserto totius mundi aperiam viam. Nee unus fluvius, sine fons, erumpet de petra, sed multa flumina, quae non corpora, ut prius, sed animas siti- entis reficiant, et impleatur illud quod supra legi- mus, c bibetis aquas de fontibus salvatoris.' " Hie- ronym. ad locum. To understand this of the safe conduct of the returning captives by the hand of Providence through the Arabian desert, is most ridi- culous and absurd ; when this making of a way in the wilderness is mentioned as a far greater thing
ISAIAH. HI
than had yet been done; and yet the history records no miracles wrought in behalf of the liberated cap- tives journeying homeward through the Arabian de- sert, to be compared with the great works exhibited in their long journey through the wilderness from Egypt. I deny not, that in some prophecies, which immediately relate to the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, God is poetically represented as marching at the head of his people through a wilderness, as he did of old, when he first led them out of Egypt. But I believe all these pro- phecies, narrowly examined, will be found to allude at least to a greater deliverance, in which the imme- diate power of God should be more sensibly dis- played in the manner of bringing the thing to pass. In the return from the Babylonian captivity, the agreement of the event with the promise was indeed a demonstration of the power of God, ordering all the affairs of the world, and using the power and the free agency of its greatest princes, as the instru- ments of his own purpose. But the thing was ac- complished by natural and ordinary means.
It is possible that this passage may allude to a miraculous restoration of the Israelites to their former seats in the latter ages of the world, when
316 ISAIAH.
the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in, and Israel after the flesh shall turn again to the Lord* But if that was nowhere more clearly predicted than in this chapter, the children of Israel, in my judg- ment, would have little ground for their expecta- tion.
— f1 1 will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." — " Est utique character certus et in dubius temporis gratiae sensus sen- tential mysticae est, Deum facturum esse, ut inter gentes, hue usque fluctuantes inter diversissimas et falsas de religione opiniones, certus sit canon fidei et morum, secundum quem incedentes pervenire possent ad communionem Dei in communione ec- clesise, cujus %ura est Zion et Hierosolymaj turn quoque ad haereditatem mundi. Porro sua curatu- ram providentia, ut inter gentes doctrinae salutaris indigas, sitibundas, verae consolationis et donorum Spiritus Sancti exsortes, copiosa vigeret institutio apta animum reflcere et consolari, fovea, ut £/foraa- "Kiccg dytou wgt^aros." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 463, 2.
Verse 20. « The beast of the field," &c. — " Tunc quod nunquam factum est fiet : ut omnes bestiae et dracones, et struthiones, qui in solitudine gentium morabantur, et idololatrias sanguine, morumque feri-
5
ISAIAH. 517
tate bestiarum similes erant, glorificent me atque collaudent." Hieron. ad locum.
Verses 22 — 26. " But thou hast not called upon me," &c. * Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Tit. iii, 5.
— M thou hast made me to serve with thy sins" — Sin was the cause that made the Son of God assume the form of a servant.
Verse 27. " Thy first fathers"— Now he threat- ens the Jewish nation. " Thy first fathers," Israel after the flesh. " Thy teachers," the priests of the earthly tabernacle, the scribes and pharisees, and Jewish doctors.
CHAP. XLIV.
The first five verses of this chapter Vitringa joins to the preceding, and the 6th he makes the begin- ning of a new discourse.
Verse 1. "Yet now hear," &c. The discourse again turns to the spiritual Israel, the children of the promise.
Verse 4. u And they shall spring up as among the grass." Bishop Lowth would read *V*n O^D M£;
318 ISAIAH.
and Houbigant, Wrt O^BM. The alteration that would the least differ from the present text, and would very well agree with the antient versions, would be *ran p)W; " like grass beside a fountain:" and this would make a gradation of the imagery, from grass to willow trees, and from a fountain to canals. But after all, no emendation is necessary j only in rendering take OWjD before *wn pM; " And they shall spring up like osiers among the grass beside canals of water."
Verse 7. — " the antient people ;M rather, " the everlasting people." — " a quo posui populum aeter- num ; hoc est, ex quo vocavi Abrahamum, cui cujusque posteris dedi tabulas pacti seterni — Aben Ezra, ED^JJ Op, populus primus ; Kimchius, rWHDD O^ijJft, a creatione mundi. Sed, etiamsi phrasis hanc
significationem facile ferat longe rectius hie quis
cogitaret de Noa, ej usque posteris, in gentes et familias per orbem divisis, quibus Deus foedere geterno condixit inhabitationem hujus orbis, nullis deinceps aquis obruendi Q^JJ nvnvn, hoc est, ad ffwrshttuv tuv alomv, cujusmodi promissum non sanx- erat hominibus primi mundi. Et fateor cogitatio- nem mihi alte haesisse. Sed si phrasin ad ecclesiam transferas, aut ad semen Abrahami non carnale, sed
ISAIAH. 319
mysticum, interprctatio est nobilior." Yitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 481, 1.
— " unto them.?1 For ^, read, with Bishop Lowth, W7- M unto us."
Verse 8. — u from that time." From what time ? From the time of the appointment of the everlasting people. The context affords no other answer to the question. Now, from the time of the call of Abra- ham, his family were the depositaries of the promise and prediction of a redeemer : whereas Cyrus was not heard of in prophecy before the age of Isaiah. Hence it is evident that the event to the produc- tion, the prediction, and the first appointment of which, God here appeals as a proof of his sole God- head, is the general redemption of mankind by a descendant of Abraham. The deliverance of the Jews by Cyrus is mentioned afterwards only as an earnest of that greater mercy. Vitringa, who makes the deliverance by Cyrus the main subject of this prophecy, and the event particularly alluded to in this and the preceding chapter, expounds " that time," most harshly and unnaturally, of a time not mentioned before, the time in which Isaiah and the succeeding prophets prophesied.
Verse 9. — " and they are their own witnesses,
320 ISAIAH.
that they see not, nor know ;" rather, " and they are witnesses for them [or against them], that they see not, nor know." That is, they, the workmen, are witnesses against the idols that they make, that they are inanimate and senseless.
Verse 10. " Who hath formed"— The word •>», not standing at the beginning of the sentence, but following ,the words W^* \ythy is not interrogatory, but renders the pronoun ' quisquis/
Verse 11. -—"and the workmen they are of men" — u, and the workmen themselves shall colour," i. e. be reddened with shame. See Bishop Lowth. But see also Blaney on Jer. x, 14.
Verse 12. " The smith with the tongs both work- eth in the coals," &c. By comparing this with the first line of the following verse, I am inclined to think that the two first words here, ^rQ UHH, are opposed to the two first of that verse, Otfj; t£Hr\ And as those two describe the workman in wood, the carpenter, so these two describe the workman in metal, the smith. That the "ft'JJB here is opposed to the word 1p in the following verse, and is the name of the tool with which the smith begins his work, as ^p is the name of the tool with which the carpenter begins his work. And I suspect that a
ISAIAH. 321
»
verb, answering to fttM in the 13th verse, is lost out of the text here, which should express how the smith first employs that tool. The tool is certainly some cutting, cleaving instrument, not tongs.
Verse 13. — * with a line." TIED, " with a pen- cil." See Parkhurst's Lexicon, Wtf*
Verse 14. For riW< read, with the LXX, Vul- gate, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, nn^5 or ni^\ or m^.
— u which he strengtheneth for himself in the trees of the forest ;M literally, " and he getteth strength to himself in the trees of the forest." That is, he layeth in great store of timber. See Bishop Lowth. For fBIW, one MS. gives ?D*rvn, in Hiphil.
Verse 21. — " thou shalt not be forgotten of me;" rather, " forget me not." So the LXX, Vulgate, and Houbigant.
Verse 24. In the sequel of the chapter Jehovah confirms his promises to the church, by various in- stances of his omnipotence. Among these the exalt- ation of Cyrus, and the restoration of the Jewish people, of which he was the instrument, are men- tioned as seals of the greater deliverance. At the end of this 24th verse, for VWD, read vikd.
Verse 25. — u the tokens of liars;" rather, " the
VOL. II. x
322 ISAIAH.
signs of astrologers.5' — " O'HS homines vitam a gentes solitariam, se commercio publico subducen-
tes, et vacantes contemplationi rerum divinarum
p*»"D ninitf sunt stellaturse, ex quarum ortu, occasu; conjunctione vel disjunetione, auguria rerum futura- rum captabant." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 26. — " his servant," Messiah. The first seven verses of the forty-fifth chapter should be join- ed to this chapter, and the new chapter should be- gin with the 8th verse, " Drop down," &c.
CHAP. XLV.
Verse 1. — " I will loose the loins," &c. A mani- fest allusion to the circumstances of the surprise of Babylon j when the kings, the king himself, and his captains, were unaccoutred, engaged in revehy and riot, and the gates that opened to the river were left open.
— " and make the crooked places straight.'' — zui igi J^aX/o;. LXX. — " et gloriosos terrae humiliabo." Vulg. These different translations indicate very an- tient variations in the MSS. The LXX, for the noun OVTHffi, in their copies had D'HVfi, which Bishop Lowth adopts. The Vulgate, for the verb "lE^K, had WN ; and this gives far the best sense.
ISAIAH. 323
Verse 4. " For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect" — See note on chap, xliii, 3, and xliii, 14.
— " I have surnamed thee" — or, " I have esta- blished thee" —
Verse 6. — " that there is none besides me." The Layman renders " that nothing is without me."
Verse S. " Drop down," &c. Here a new chapter should begin ; for here the prophet leaves Cyrus, and returns to his main subject, the universal re- demption. The universality of the blessing is the thing particularly described in this verse, under the images of the dew and the rain, falling indiscrimi- nately on all parts of the earth, and the herbage sprouting spontaneously from its whole surface.
— " and let them bring forth salvation." The construction is difficult to be made out. Our Eng- lish translators seem to have thought that the nouns OW, CD^ntu*, and P**, are the common subjects of the verb Vl9\ and ye?1 its object. But I cannot find any other instance in which the verb fffl in Kal is used transitively. Queen Elizabeth's translators took yjft and Mpnv for the common subjects of that plu- ral verb, for they rendered thus : — " let the earth open, and let salvation and justice grow forth: let it
x 2
324 ISAIAH.
bring them forth together." And this I think better than our modern translation, although in the He- brew the pronoun seems wanting after the verb
And righteousness sprout forth at once.
— " I the Lord have created it." Queen Eliza- beth's Bible : — " I the Lord have created him" And so the Vulgate : — " creavi eum." Him must be expounded here of the same person as below, in Verse 13.
Verses 9 — 12. " Wo unto him," &c. The prophet anticipates the objections which the prejudices of the Jews would raise against the doctrine of univer- sal redemption, as an infringement of the privileges of their own nation, almost in the very words in which St Paul combated those objections when they were actually set up.
Verse 9. t-" [let] the potsherds [strive] with the potsherds of the earth." Bishop Lowth adopts an interpretation suggested by Mariana ; — " the pot- sherd with the moulder of the clay:" i. e. wo to the potsherd that contendeth with the moulder of the clay* Upon which Vitringa has this remark : — " Non repugnat analogia vocis ttTtn, etsi non putem ullibi extare phrasin MEHK UHn, < faber terrae,'
ISAIAH. 325
ut ' faber aeris, argenti, ligni y9 et pK ttHH, * f'aber lapidis,' sive c in lapide.' M Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 500, 1.
— " or thy work, he hath no hands." Read, with Houbigant,
iS caw pa iSj;s)Si
Or to him that worketh it, thou hast no hands.
Verse 10. — " [his] father — the woman ;" rather,
" a father a woman." The Jews considering
themselves exclusively as God's children, and envi- ous of the extension of his mercy to the Gentiles, are angry that God, having them for his children, should beget any more. The prophet therefore says, Wo to him who says to a father, to one who is al- ready a father, Why goest thou about to beget children ? and to a woman, already a mother, Why art thou again bringing forth ?
Vitringa, a Calvinist, has an excellent remark up- on the true interpretation of the doctrine of God's sovereignty, as stated in this passage : — " Nee ta« men haec sententia, ad Deum applicata, extendi debet extra limites suos contra scopum Dei et pro- phetae ; ac si potestas Dei in hominem tarn sit abso- luta atque infinita, ut nihil plane sit, quod ejus exer- citium circumscribat, ut cam Twissius et alii inter-
326 ISAIAH.
pretantur. Sane quidem extra Deum nihil est, quod potestatem ejus limitet. Sed potestas divina ab ipsa natura ejus limitatur. Sunt in Deo justitia, sequitas, bonitas, veracitas, fides, amor majestatis suae (virtu- tis ipsi naturales) quae exercitium divina? potestatis moderantur ; ut potestas divina absoluta sit in crea- turas intelligentes, in populum et ecclesiam suam, salva extern Dei morali erga homines. Nee aliter apostolus, ubi hanc sententiam et similitudinem ap- plicat ad consilium electionis et reprobationis, spec- tari vult." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 501, 1.
Verse 11. " Thus saith my sons." For TSSfm
wSkp nwutrt, I would read •tffrKtPnn inK tfcfrti
Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of his Israel, arid his Maker,
Will ye question me concerning my sons,
And give me directions concerning the work of my hands ?
Verse 13. u I have raised him up." Raised up whom ? We shall search the context in vain for an antecedent which this pronoun may rehearse. It can be expounded therefore of Him only, who in the most eminent sense was raised up by God, and he is described here by his work of gratuitous redemp- tion. In whatever sense some may fancy this verse applicable to Cyrus, it is more clearly and naturally
ISAIAH. 32?
applicable to Christ. Compare chap, xlviii, 14; and see the xvth of Vitringa's canons.
Verse 14. " The labour of Egypt, and merchan- dise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans," &c. I take these phrases, * labour of Egypt, merchandise of Ethiopia/ to be analogous to fiirj 'H^a^s/??, and to be descriptive of persons, by their qualities or occu- pations.
The labourer of Egypt, and the merchant of Ethiopia,
And the Sabeans of tall stature. See Blaney on Jer. xx, 5 ; and the Layman on thi* place.
— " Surely in thee is God," &c.
Surely in thee is God,
And none else than God himself.
Verse 15. " Verily," &c.
Verily thou art a God concealed [or concealing thyself], The God of Israel, the Saviour !
These words plainly allude to the concealment of the Divinity under the human form in the person of our Lord. They are not the prophet's ; they are part of the devout confession of the labourer of Egypt and the merchant of Ethiopia, &c. — u Quo- cunque se verterint, non valebunt laqueos veritatis cfFugere, Fac enim esse in Cvro Deum, et non 6
x
328 ISAIAH.
alium prseter eum qui sit in Cyro Deus, quomodo Cyri persona? dici conveniet, *■ Vere tu es Deus ab- sconditus, Deus Israel, Salvator.' Ergo Deus, in quo est Deus, Dominus noster Jesus Christus rectius intelligitur et verius, qui in evangelio loquitur, 6 Ego et Pater unum sumus.' Qui Deus appellator absconditus, propter assumpti corporis sacramentum, et ' Deus Israel, Salvator,' quod interpretatur Jesus." Hieronym. ad locum. And again, " Hebrsei stulta contentione nituntur asserere, usque ad eum locum ubi legitur, ' Tantum in te est Deus, et non est abs- que te Deus,' vel ad Hierusalem, vel ad Cyrum dici. Hoc autem quod sequitur, c Vere tu es Deus ab- sconditus, Deus Israel, Salvator,' subito ad omnipo- tentem Deum, apostropham fieri : cum etiam stultis perspicuum sit, unum contextual esse sermonis, nee posse sensum dividi, qui in ipso narrationis ordine, et ratione, conjunctus est." Hieronym. ad locum.
Verse 16. " They shall be ashamed, and also con- founded all of them/' After the verb 10*W, Bishop Lowth, upon the authority of the LXX, inserts TH¥, which greatly improves the elegance of this distich. They are ashamed, and even confounded all his adversaries.
The emendation however is not necessary to the sense.
ISAIAH. 325*
Verse 19. — " I said not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain : I the Lord," &c. This passage seems to contain an oblique hint at least, of a future accomplishment of the promises to the seed of Jacob in a literal sense. " Notwithstanding the scheme of general mercy, and the temporary rejection of the Israelites, my promises to them shall not ultimately faiL I Jehovah speak in righteousness, with vera- city, and declare upright things. I speak not in terms of equivocation like the oracles of the heathen gods."
Verse 21. — " a just God, and a Saviour." ^N JWW31 ymt « God, the Just One and the Saviour."
Verse 23. — " the word is gone out of my moutli in righteousness, and shall not return." — "justice is gone forth from my mouth : the word is spoken, and shall not be revoked." — "justice is gone forth," i. e. the just sentence; or rather, the merci- ful sentence of pardon. Upon the forensic sense of the word ilfHX, see my notes upon Hosea.
Verse 24. " Surely," &c. For IB* ^, I would read "lEN^. See Bishop Lowth. And without anv other emendation, I render the whole verse thus,
Surely to Jehovah it belongeth to speak truth, and Might is his gorgeous robe.
He shall come : and all that quarrel with him shall be ashamed.
330 ISAIAH.
— " He shall come/' k e. He, the great personage announced in the 8th and the 13th verses shall come ; or, he, Jehovah, shall come in the person of the Messiah.
CHAP. XLVL
Verse 1. The construction of this verse is not very perspicuous. I divide what follows the word Nebo into three clauses, by a comma fixed at !"l£rDS? and another at HIDIDj;. I suppose the verb W to be understood in each of the two last clauses, and the preposition 3 to be understood before CEDTtfUtt, which word I take to signify, not carriages, but beasts of burthen. (See Parkhurst's Lexicon, KCtt, v.) And I render the whole thus :
Bel boweth down ! Nebo croucheth !
Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle.
They are become the lading (mDlfttf) of your beasts of bur* then,
A load to the weary animal.*
* Upon further consideration of the passage, I rather think that the prefix b is not to be understood before tD^nxu;:. That eaa^riKVa is not beasts of burthen, but rather ' carriers,' and is to be understood of the false gods ; who, had their pretensions to divinity been founded, should have carried their votaries in the
ISAIAH. 331
Verse 2. — " they could not deliver the burthen;" rather, " they are unable to rescue the burthen ;" 2. e. the idols cannot rescue their votaries. — " si attendas ad contextual proxime sequentein, ubi Deus se populum Judaeum bajulasse dicit, eft tulkse instar oneris, et eripuisse ; necessario per WD hie intelligendus est populus Babylonicus incumbens idolis suis iisque fidens et innitens, quod onus tan- tum abest ut eripere et salvare potuerint idola Ba- bylonis, ut contra ipsa iverunt in captivitatem." Vi- tringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 516, 1.
Verse 4. — " I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver [you]." As no one of the verbs f made, bear, carry, deliver,' has the pro- noun suffixed to point out the Jewish people as the specific object, I think the sense is more general ihan the English translation by introducing the pronoun, renders, and might be more adequately rendered thus: — "[What] I have made, I will carry ; and [what] I take upon my shoulders [^3DN] I will carry off' safe."
same sense in which God * carried' his people. The two last lines
therefore may be thus rendered :
They who should have been your carriers arc become burthen?. A load to the weary animal.
332 ISAIAH.
Verse 10. — u and from antient times the things that are not yet done ;" rather, " and from the ear- liest times what had not been done." There is no- thing in the Hebrew to answer to the c yet* of our public translation. See Houbigant, note.
Verse 11. " Calling a ravenous bird," &c. Ad- mitting that Cyrus is the ravenous bird,* yet since the calling of this ravenous bird is mentioned among the former things of old, among the instances of predictions accomplished, which the transgressors are called upon to remember, it is evident that the elenctic part of this discourse concerns times subse- quent to the age of Cyrus ; and it is reasonable to suppose that the final extirpation of idolatry by the preaching of the gospel, is within the purview of this prophecy. See chap, xliii, 18, note.
— " En prophetiam luculentam de destructione idolorum Babylonicorum, auctoribus Persis et Me-
dis sed ne sic quidem hoc vaticinium perfecte
completum est. Altius eo conditur mysterium, quod veteres jam viderunt: futurum ut idololatria per
* Hv "hi ctvra crq/Aitov altos %£vcrov$ gTr^agatTfl; uotK^ou uvxriTetpivos* xxt vjv <}& T6VT0 In <rqpim tu Tii^rm fiarthu SiXftivzt. Xenoph. Cyrop lib. vii, p. 102, edit. Steph.
ISAIAH. 333
orbeni terrarum, cujus typum et imaginem gessit Babylonica, orta luce liberationis spirituals per Christum Jesum procuranda?, subverterctur, destru- eretur." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 516, 1.
Babylon mystically represents the metropolis or chief citadel of the apostate faction ; and for that reason the destruction of the Babylonian idols is an apt symbol of the general extirpation of idolatry.
Verse 13. — " and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." Bather,
And I will give salvation in Zion ;
To Israel, my glory. That is, " to Israel I will give my glory." See Queen Elizabeth's translators, and Bishop Lowth.
CHAP. XLVII.
Verse 1. — " for thou shalt no more be called" — more exactly, " thou shalt no more get men to call thee" — — " nee perficias ut te homines adhuc ap- pellent" — Houbigant.
Verse 2. — " uncover thy locks j" rather, " take off thy veil." So the LXX.
— " make bare the leg ;" rather, " disattire, [or perhaps, cut off] thy dangling hair." «tf, " pilus descendens in maxillas." Castell. This is the sei^e
334 ISAIAH,
given by R. Moses Haccohen and Aben Ezra. Vi- tringa, though he allows that this sense suits well enough with the context, is rather inclined to un- derstand the word ^tP here, of the lower part of the arm from the elbow to the wrist. — " strip up the arm." — " Solent orientales honestioris conditi- ons, etiam feminae, brachium usque ad juncturam manus arcta veste interiore tectum habere, quod secus se habuit in ancillis et servis moleste opere distentis," Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 3. — " I will not meet [thee as] a man." Expunge the words ' thee as/ which are inserted by the translators, without any thing to answer to them in the original, and you have the literal translation of the Hebrew words. — " I will not meet a man ;" i. e. I will not give a man the meeting ; I. e. I will not give audience to a man ; i. e. I will not suffer man to intercede with me ; which is Bishop Lowth's rendering. But the Bishop changes JJJSN into the Hiphil JW3K. Houbigant reads V^ in the third person, making C31K the nominative. — " Man shall not intercede." Either emendation seems unneces- sary.
Verse 7. — " so that thou didst not lay"— kS "V TOfcf, " usque non posuisti," — " so little didst thou lay"-
ISAIAH. 3S5
Verse 9. — " for the multitude for the great
abundance" — — " notwithstanding the — notwith- standing"— Bishop Lowth and Yitringa.
— " thy wisdom and thy knowledge ;" rather, " thy politics and thy knowledge."
Verse 11. — " which thou shalt not know;" ?. e. which thou shalt not foresee. The Babylonians are upbraided in this verse, and the two following, with the vanity and fallacy of their judicial astrology.
Verse 13. — " the astrologers." P>P# "fPUf li- terally, " combiners of the heavens." I would ren- der it, " casters of the configurations of the sky." — " Conjunctores cceli, qui nunquam cessant Stellas combinarc ; seu conjungere, ac conjunctiones astro- rum, oppositiones et constellationes observare. " Forer. apud Poole.
— " the monthly prognosticators stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." For Tpffl, read, with the LXX and Bishop Lowth, "C*K rID. — f* those who prognosticate each month what shall come upon thee, stand up and save thee."
— " prognosticate each month." CC'in^ ma) cither signify c month by month,' and then the al-
336 ISAIAH.
lusion is to almanacks annually published, setting forth the events of the new year in the order of the months ; or it may signify each of the * calends/ and then the allusion is to a custom of the sooth- sayers of giving audience to those who would con- sult them on the calends of every month. See 2 Kings iv, 23. But observe, the word V1T\ has no necessary reference to the phases of the moon.
Verse 14. " Behold they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them." I think the exact rendering is, <c Behold their burnings shall be as a stubble- fire."
— •" there shall not be a coal," &c. They shall burn away rapidly and entirely, like stubble, to a mere dead ash, without cinders, and without light.
Verse 15. — " thy merchants ;" rather, " thy im- postors. " - THHD. nno, c prasstigiator,' a juggler, from the Arabic sense of the word. See Houbigant.
— " shall wander every one to his quarter. " — " unusquisque dilabetur qua fuga dabitur." Hou- bigant.
Every one is gone in his own way : There is none to save thee.
ISAIAH.
CHAP. XLVIII.
The preceding chapter predicts in the most ex- plicit terms the fall of the Babylonian empire. But if we recollect that the Magian religion flourished under the Persian kings, and that the skill of the Magi in prognostication continued in high credit and esteem ; we must allow that in one considerable part, that which foretells that the Magicians and their arts should fall into universal contempt and neglect, the prophecy received no accomplishment in the fall of the literal Babvlon. And when it is considered that St John in the Apocalypse applies almost all the images of this prophecy to a mystical Babylon, it seems reasonable to think, it is hardly possible not to think, that Babylon is even in this prophecy of Isaiah the symbol of St John's Babylon, and that the judgments which shall overtake the latter are adumbrated in the other's fate. However, the fall of the Babylonian empire was unquestion- ably the event more immediately in the prophet's eye ; and in that, the prophecy of the forty-seventh chapter received its primary completion.
This forty-eighth chapter supposes the former prophecy accomplished, and is addressed to the vol, it. v
338 ISAIAH.
natural Israel, restored from captivity and quietly seated in their native land. This natural Israel are told, that they have seen the former things accom- plished, and are now advertised of new things. The former things are evidently the predictions of the Babylonian captivity, and their restoration from that servitude : the new things are the general redemp- tion, the judgments in store for the unbelieving Jews, and their final restoration to God's favour.
It may be objected that the redemption, which had been the subject of all prophecy from the very hour of the fall, and was emblematically represented to the Jews in all the furniture and ornament of the temple, and typified in their rites of worship, could with little propriety be called a new thing (as a sub- ject of prophecy) in the days of Isaiah. But the manner of the first promulgation of the gospel, our Saviour's mode of teaching, his reception among the Jews, his behaviour, the circumstances of his death, the success of the gospel, and its effect upon the Gentile world, are nowhere so distinctly described in detail as in the subsequent chapters of Isaiah. And although, though they are the principal subject of many of the preceding chapters, from the fortieth, yet it is probable that till the liberation from the
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Babylonian captivity had taken place, the Jews were not aware that these prophecies ol' Isaiah related to any thing beyond that event. Wlien that was ac- complished, the general redemption coming in view, as the ultimate object of those prophecies, might reasonably be called a new thing ; and the prophe- cies might be considered as then given, when the true sense of them became discernible. — " Nova dicuntur, non sane quod de his rebus in superioribus non vaticinatus esset ; quodque pariter Moses et prophetae de iis locuti non fuerint ; sed quod ea cla- ritate, in omni sua circumstantia, hue usque neque a Jesaia, neque ab aliis prophetis patefacta descripta- que fuerint." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 54G. Cleai indeed as the predictions in many of the preceding chapters are, to us at least who have seen the ac- complishment, what follow are far more explicit, and more circumstantial.
Verse 1. — " out of the waters of Judah." — " GQou,GLrix,QoTi%ov aquas vocans pro semine, ut ne- quaquam eos virtntum patriarcharum tilios ostende- ret esse sed carnium. Et recte aquas Juda appella- vitj quia sola tunc in terra Juda adliuc tribus per- manebat, et semen David iilo tempore servabattljr," Hieron. ad locum. Hnubigaai makes a great diffi-
l
340 ISAIAH.
cuity about this expression of the ' waters of Judah,J and proposes corrections. But it is well observed by Bishop Lowth that the figure is perfectly parallel to those others of *pjP pj> and hm&H nvp.
Verse 2. * For they call themselves," &c. I would render this verse thus :
That they take their name from the holy city, And stay themselves upon the God of Israel, Whose name is Jehovah Sabaoth.
I take this to be the matter of their hypocritical confession.
Verse 6. " Thou hast heard it, see all this," &c. For nm, I would read »W*J See Bishop Lowth.
Thou hast heard, see, It is accomplished.
Dost thou not openly acknowledge it ?
From this time I make thee hear new things, &c.
Verse 7. " They are created now," &c. This verse is very obscure, and the meaning that it seems to convey is repugnant to the general language of prophecy, which perpetually alludes to a plan of Providence, ordering all things from the beginning to the end, and arranged in the mind of God before the actual existence of the universe. The 1 in the word K '1 may be an error of the scribe repeating the final letter of the preceding word. Omitting
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this \ and removing N7 to the beginning of the verse, I would correct the whole thus :
on udSi mo imw nny nS
They are not now created, but of old and before the course of time :
And thou hast not heard of them, lest thou shouldst say^ Be- hold, I knew of them.
This is certainly very good sense.
8 But thou hast not heard, But thou hast not known, But before thine ear was not opened, Sec.
Verse 9. — " will I defer ;" rather* " I am defer- ring."
— " and for my praise I will refrain for thee ;" rather, " and for my own praise, I muzzle it for thee." This verse is an awful intimation to the Jews, living in security after their return from Ba- bylon, that anger is only deferred, and will at a dis- tant season be again let loose.
Verse 10, — " but not with silver;" rather, " not as silver." Bishop Lowth. The sense is, that not- withstanding the punishment they had undergone, their repentance and conversion was yet imperfect.
— " I have chosen thee." The L\X and Vulgate confirm the present reading.
342 ISAIAH.
Verse 14. — " the Lord hath loved him," &c. The pronoun him certainly refers to an unnamed person in the prophet's eye, whom the prophet sees as the darling of Jehovah, whose pleasure Jehovah will execute upon the Babylonians and Chaldeans. Compare chap, xlv, 1 3. In this latter part of the verse, the prophet abruptly and indirectly, and in the true ecstatic style, answers the question, c which among them hath declared these things ? ' None of them, says the prophet. But I see Him, who hath declared them. The Beloved of Jehovah, whose pleasure Jehovah will execute upon Babylon and the Chaldeans. I think no one, who compares this passage wTith Apoc. v, 2 — 5, will doubt that this is the true exposition. That this darling of Jehovah is the Messiah. And that Babylon and the Chaldeans, demolished literally long before the times in which the prophet is now engaged, are here, as in other places, types of another Babylon and other Chalde- ans, upon whom Jehovah, at the proper season, will execute Messiah's pleasure.
I suspect that something has been lost out of the text between the two words IJHfi and D'HtP>. Per- haps the true reading may have been "Hp *?W CH&'SS. — " and will help his arm against the
S
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ChtkteailS*" The great similitude of the word- "HJW1 and "V}P might easily give occasion to the omi- sion of the latter.
Verse 16. u Come ye near unto me," c\c. Bore tlie Messiah* in his incarnate state, takes up the dis- course. It is agreed by St Jerome, Forerius, (Kco- lampadius, Menochius, Sanctius, Calvin, Junius, Calovius, Piscator, Houbigant, Lowth the father, Bishop Lowth, and I believe by all expositors of any name, except Grotius, and that contemptible ape of Grotius, Samuel White, that Messiah is the speaker in the beginning of the next chapter. From the be- ginning of this chapter to this verse, God is the speaker, except in that short sentence in the latter part of the 14th verse, which the prophet throws in, in his own person. NowT if we examine the whole context, from the beginning of this chapter to the 12th of the next, we shall find no intimation of a change of the person speaking, but in this 16th verse; in which a change of the speaker is clear!) intimated. For he, who now speaks, declares that Jehovah hath sent him and his Spirit ; and heiag sent of Jehovah, he is a different person from Jeho- vah, who hitherto hath been the speaker. What Jehovah speaks, in any part of the twelve first ve?
r 1
344 ISAIAH.
of the next chapter, he is related by Messiah to have spoken. Messiah therefore is there the immediate speaker. And since, before or after this 16th verse, we find no intimation of a change of the speaker till the 12th verse of the next, where the discourse manifestly comes to a conclusion ; since in this verse a new speaker is evidently introduced; it follows, that Messiah, who confessedly is the speaker in the first twelve verses of the next chapter, begins to speak here ; and what he speaks in the next chapter is the continuation of the discourse here begun. I cannot think that this verse is rightly divided, or has been well understood. The general sentiment seems to be, that Messiah, who in former times had revealed himself but obscurely, comes now, in his ncarnate state, to speak familiarly, in plain, clear, unfigured language, to all mankind. I would divide the verse thus :
•ok op nrwi r\yi2 won nnos
&c. nnyi
And thus I would render it :
Draw near unto me, and hear ye this, not [heard] from the beginning ;
ISAIAH. i,
In mystery I spake, [although] from* the season of exist- ence I subsist ; But now the Lord Jehovah hath sent Me and his Spirit.
— " from the season of existence" — z. e. from the beginning, or rather, before the beginning of things.
In former times Messiah revealed himself in mvs-
•
tery; in the typical rites of sacrifice, in the shadows of the temple-service, and in prophecies conceived in figure and allegory : but in the days of his flesh he opened the doctrine of redemption in the plain- est terms. Observe, that from "lpD comes the noun nnDD, and thence the Greek word pv<rrr,giov. In an- other sense, Messiah in former times spake ">npDT i. e. in disguise. He appeared not publicly in his true form of the God-Man. He exhibited himself in that form only to particular persons, and in the sanctuary [literally, "^riDD, in the secret place of the Jewish temple]. However, I think the allusion is rather general to the types and figures, and enigma- tical prophecies, of the Jewish and the patriarchal religions, than to the appearance in the sanctuary pf the temple.
Notwithstanding the early promises of a redeemer, the great scheme of universal redemption, and the
* Or, i before.'
346 ISAIAH.
calling of the Gentiles to a share in the privileges of God's church, are always spoken of by the writers of the New Testament as a mystery not disclosed till our Lord's corning in the flesh, and with good reason. For among the Jews, their national preju- dices made the majority of the people blind to the meaning of their rites, and misled them in the inter- pretation of the prophecies. Among the Gentiles, however general the expectations might be of a hero from the east, neither the particular advantage he was to bring to mankind, nor the means, nor the manner of it, were at all understood.
It may seem an objection to this interpretation, that in chap, xlv, 19, God says by the prophet that he had not spoken in secret, the very reverse of what the Messiah, according to my exposition of the passage, is supposed to say here. But in the context of that former passage, God, by his prophet, has been arguing the case between himself and the idols of the heathen, shewing his own omnipotence, and their utter inactivity ; his own perfect fore- knowledge, their ignorance, which nothing more sensibly evinced than the event of true prophecy compared with the event of their oracles : prophecy foretelling things at the distance of many ages, in
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allegories indeed and figures, which were found however to correspond with the event when it took place, and to carry a definite appropriate meaning: the oracles not venturing to speak of things at hand but in terms of ambiguity, which were incapable of a definite meaning, and might apply indifferently to contrary events. In the former passage, (rod, con- trasting himself with the idols, says, with regard to his general promises of mercy and protection to the Israelites, that he had not spoken secretly; i. e. he had not spoken like the oracles in the disguise 6i fraudulent equivocation, and had not given his re- sponses out of holes and caverns, which might ren- der even the sound of the words but half articulate. In this passage, Messiah, comparing the enigmatical style and manner, the studied reserve as it were of the earlier revelations, with the clear and open man- ner of the gospel, justly says, that in former times he had spoken in mystery. To us now the prophe- cies of the universal redemption, and even of the manner of it by our Lord's humiliation and suffer- ings, seem in many parts at least sufficiently per- spicuous and explicit. But if we consider the man- ner in which they were delivered, in figurative lan- guage, many of them grafted upon other subjects,
348 ISAIAH.
introduced abruptly in the midst of other things, and the clearest of them often interrupted by sub- ordinate matter occasionally thrown in, we may easily conceive that the obscurity of them must have been very great, till they were expounded by the actual accomplishment. And this we may the more easily understand by the obscurity which yet remains upon those that relate to things yet to come. The conversion of the Jews, and the fall of Anti- christ, which though very perspicuous as to the ge- neral promise of final peace and prosperity to the church, are obscure enough with respect to the detail of the events which they seem to contain. Certainly therefore the Messiah may well be sup- posed to say, that before his coming in the flesh he had spoken in mystery. In comparison with the clear language of the gospels, the earlier revelations had been " a speaking darkly" in mystery. In com- parison with the pretended oracles of the heathen, the prophecies were " a speaking not darkly," not in the disguise of equivocation.
Verse 18. — -" thy peace as a river thy right- eousness." — " thy peace ;" 1B*?tP, national prosper- ity. — " thy righteousness ;" inp"l¥, prosperous state of religion and the church. As a river, *l»"W; as the
ISAIAH. 349
river Euphrates, a large, broad, swelling, full, per- petual stream.
Verses 18, 19. Compare St Mat. xxiii, 37.
Verse 20. " Go ye forth of Babylon," &c. The injunction that this order should be published to the ends of the world, implies, as is well observed by Lowth the father, that it is a matter of general con- cern. It is a mystical Babylon therefore that is here intended. Compare Apoc. xviii, 4.
Verse 21. " And they thirsted not," &c. Kimchi, says Bishop Lowth, has a surprising observation upon this passage. " If the prophecy (says he) re- lates to the return from the Babylonish captivity, as it seems to do, it is to be wondered how it comes to pass, that in the book of Ezra, in which he gives an account of their return, no mention is made that such miracles were wrought for them ; as, for in- stance, that God clave the rock for them in the de- sert." I must confess, I should concur with the learned rabbi in this wondernment, unreasonable as Bishop Lowth seems to think it, if I thought, as he thought, that this prophecy relates to the restora- tion of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. " How came he," says Bishop Lowth, " to keep his wonderment to himself so long? Why did not he
350 ISAIAH.
expect, that the historians should have related how, as they passed through the desert, cedars, pines, and olive-trees shot up at once on the side of the way to shade them, and that, instead of briers and brambles, the acacia and the myrtle sprung up under their feet, according to God's promises, chap, xli, 19, and Iv, 13? These, and a multitude of the like para- bolical or poetical images, were never intended to be understood literally." Certainly not. But they are images of God's power displayed miraculously, in effects out of the course of nature, and out of the reach of human power and human policy. They are images of such effects of God's power, or they have no meaning. And I cannot but think, that it would be matter of just wonderment, if such images were applied to an event for the compassing of which no miraculous means were employed. The great won- der is, that the Jewish critic, who could make this judicious remark, should not have seen the inevit- able consequence that this prophecy could have no immediate relation to the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity.
Vitringa, who, though he strenuously contends, but as I think on insufficient grounds, for the appli- cation of this prophecy to the deliverance from Ba-
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bylon as its first and more immediate object, main- tains however that the terms of it involve a higher and a mystic meaning, in which it is applicable only to the great deliverance wrought for mankind by Christ, and he remarks with great truth, that in this, and in other passages of the prophets, the circumstances of the two deliverances from the Egyptian bondage and the Babylonian captivity seem to be purposely blended together and confounded. In Isaiah, vol. ii, p. 557, 2. The remark is just, and worthy of its author. But I would add to it, that this confusion and mixture of the circumstances of these two trans- actions may be taken as an evident symptom of a mystical meaning, in every prophetic text in which it is found : for this reason, that every such texts applying in part to one thing, and in part to another, is in the whole applicable to neither. Being appli- cable therefore to no one thing in the literal mean- ing of the terms in which it is conveyed, its true application must be to that spiritual deliverance, of which the different things, to which its parts are li- terally applicable were in some sort types.
Though in this passage I cannot admit Vitringa's interpretation of the cleaving of the rock, and the supply of water in the desert, for I contend that
Sflt ISAIAH.
these must be images of miraculous effects of God's power; whereas the events to which he applies them, though effected unquestionably by God's pro- vidence, were effected in the ordinary way, not by miracle ; yet, upon the whole, I could easily adopt his double sense of the prophecy, were it not that the scene is evidently laid in times subsequent to the return from the Babylonian captivity. The time of the prophetic scene therefore excludes any direct application of the prophecy to that event. It is true it describes the spiritual deliverance, which is its real object, in allusions to the deliverance from Ba- bylon. And in prophecy, an allusion to a future event, as having taken place, and as an earnest of something beyond it, is indeed by implication a per- emptory prediction of it.
Verse 22, an awful intimation to the Jews, that no promises to a particular family will screen the
impenitent from punishment. i
CHAP. XLIX.
Verse 3. — " Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " Thou art my servant ; Israel, in whom I will be glorified." That is, thou art my servant;
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thou art Israel according to the true import of the name ; thou art he in whom I will be glorified. See Bishop Lowth's excellent note.
Verse 5. — " though Israel be not gathered" — The sense is <rood whether we read N7 0r V?. If we read N^, tlie sense is, that notwithstanding the in* credulity of the Jews, Messiah should be glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles. If we read 1 ', the sense is, that Israel shall indeed one time or other be gathered notwithstanding their stubborn incre- dulity in the days of our Lord's appearance in the flesh. According to the latter reading, which of the two seems preferable, the whole 5th verse after the introductory words tW* TPK nnyi is a parenthesis. See Bishop Lowth's translation.
Verse 6. — " the tribes — the preserved" — excel- lently rendered by Bishop Lowth, " the cions — the branches."
Verse 7. — " and his Holy One." For W9tfi read, according to Archbishop Seeker's conjecture, WVfr, " to his Holy One."
— " whom man despiseth j" rather, with Bishop Lowth, " whose person is despised."
— " kings shall see, and arise," &c. It is a very extraordinary remark of Mr White's, what would at
VOL. II. Z
35* ISAIAH.
least have been extraordinary had it dropped from any other pen, that " nothing of this kind ever hap- pened to our Saviour;" as if these images of homage paid to the Messiah by the potentates of the earth were not frequent in the prophetic scriptures. And how happened any thing of this kind to Isaiah, to whom Mr White applies these images? He was honoured, it seems, by Eliakim, and other princes of Hezekiah's court. Admirable critic !
— u Est autem illud, ' videre,' veritatem evan-
gelii, ej usque nexum, decentiam, rationalitatem ocu- lo spirituali contemplari ac perspicerej earn integra tide cum amore admittere ; salutem ea oblatam cum gratiarum actione amplecti; et doctrinae salutisque auctori cum reverentia et obsequio cultum exhibere, quern doctrinae puritas et praestantia et magnitude
salutis exposcunt : qui cultus significatur vocibus
' surgendi,* h. e. reverentias causa assurgendi, et ' se incurvandi.' — -Hie involvit omnem actum profun- dae reverentiae, honoris, obsequii, fiducise quern ver- bum evangelii erga Christum Jesum, et in Christo Jesu, Deum Patrem, et Spiritum ejus ; turn quoque erga veritatem evangelicam, religionem, et sacra ; et erga ecclesiam et doctores ejus, praescribit. Quae reverentia sic dispensanda est, ut cuj usque objecti
ISAIAH.
ratio postulat sic tamen ut pnrcipuum objectum
hujus cultus sit, mancatque, Christus Jesus qua doc- tor et mediator." Vrtringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 675, 2.
Verse 8. — Cl for a covenant of the people," &e. ; rather, " for a purification [or, a purifier] of the people, to restore the land, and give possession of the desolate heritages." The mention of people here (Dp) in the singular, clearly proves that the land to be restored is the land of Canaan ; and that the latter part of this and the whole following verse contain a promise of restoration to the natural Israel- ites. For the distinction between DJJ in the singular and na^oy in the plural, the one denoting the single people of the Jews, the other all the peoples of the earth promiscuously, is, I believe, without a single exception.
Nevertheless, considering that the style here is highly figured and poetical, and considering how immediately this verse is connected with the de- scription of the Messiah as the universal redeemer in the 6th and 7th, I am at last inclined to think that oy in the singular in this place may denote the Christian church, gathered out of Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately, under the image of a new peculiar people of God. The natural Israel was certainly a
356 ISAIAH.
type of the spiritual. The learned Vitringa ex- pounds this verse, not of a literal restoration of the Jews, but of the first plantation of the Christian church. His exposition is perspicuous and satisfac- tory.
— " to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." — " * ad erciscundam [haeredibus] haereditatem lo-
corum desolatorum.* Intellige gentes, longum
tempus alienatas a Dei communione, versatas in
crassa ignorantia Dei ac verse religionis quarum
haereditaria possessio promissa erat semini Abra- ' hami. Hae gentes, extra Cananaeam omnes, Deo et Sanctis spirituali oculo eas contemplantibus, obver- sabantur tanquam vastum mare ; sterile desertum ; incultus vel vastatus ager, civitates desolatae ; con- fusum quoddam et permistum chaos ; solum infrugi- ferum nullo cultu et cura subactum— — haeredia desolata, quae Messias, tanquam alter Josua, haeredi- bus veris, divisit, quippe cura providentiae suae et gratis effecit, ut per totum orbem cultarum mundi regionum extiterint ecclesiae." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p* 577, 578.
Verse 9. — " prisoners them that are in dark- ness." — " Refer hoc loco * vinctos' ad Judaeos
devinctos jugo collis ipsorum per Mosen imposito.
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Per ' lios qui in tenebris sunt,' gentes, intdligentiil omni vera, et solida consolatione destitutas." Vi- tringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 578, 2.
— " in the ways in all high places." — " Phra-
sis ' apud vias et in eminentibus locis pascere,' valet pascua habere non in desertis (quorum proprietas est non habere vias, nee frugiferos atque amcenos colles, in quibus greges pecudesque cum delectati- one pascunt) sed in cultis habitatisque locis, per vias publicas distinctis ; et in la?tis gramme collibus, iisque subjectis vallibus, ubi commodissima pastio
est. Qua?ris sensum spiritualem ? Docetur sub
hoc emblemate, ecclesias, Christo Jesu ut pastori summo, primo tempore gratiae non esse colligendas in locis obscuris, ignotis, longissime dissitis a culto orbe > verum in celeberrimis, cultissimis, atque emi- nentissimis locis Komani imperii, in quibus usus
liominum et commercia maxime vigerent. Anti-
ochiae, Alexandria?, Tyri, Ephesi, Thessalonicae, Co- rinthi, Roma?, aliisque eminentissimis locis Romani imperii.,, Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 579, 580.
Verses 10, 11. Compare Apoc. \ ii, 1G.
Verse 11. — " and my highways shall be exalted. ' — " and my causeys shall be raised high."
— " mountains — highways." "Mountains," great
z s
358 ISAIAH.
kingdoms, such as those of Egypt, Syria, Cappado* cia, Pontus, Asia, Macedonia, Epire, Illyricum, the Spains, the Gauls, and many others. All these mountains were levelled and reduced to a plain; these great kingdoms being either destroyed by the Romans, or in one way or another brought into sub- jection to them, which was the means of opening that free communication between the principal na- tions of the civilized world, which gave great facili- ty to the propagation of the gospel. See Vitringa, vol. ii, p. 583, 1.
— " highways." — " Significatur fore, ut doctrina
rldei quae doctrina est via qua incedunt quotquot
se aggregant ecclesiae, circa illud tempus praecipue quod haec prophetia in emphasi respicit [Constantini MagniJ clarius demonstretur ad conscientiam, ad- struatur, vindicetur, extollatur et omnium expona- tur oculis tanquam una, vera, probataque via salutis. 2. yt eadem via, sive doctrina ecclesiae muniatur protectione ac defensione publica, atque adeo liceat absque metu discriminis, absque in cursu ferarum, sub umbra, imperii civilis, eandem profited, plane ut propheta dixerat, cap. xxxv, 7, 8." Vitringa, ibid.
— " land of Sinim ;" i. e* of the Egyptians, so called from the frontier town Pelusium, the Hebrew
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name of which was pD. Su Vitringa, vol. ii, p. 584, 1.
Verse 12. — i( and these from the land of Sinim." Here I think the chapter should have been divided. These twelve verses should have been joined to the last chapter, and the next fourteen by themselves should have made the forty-ninth. The Messiah has been the speaker from the 16th verse of the last chapter. The subject hitherto has been the common salvation of Jews and Gentiles, with intimations of the incredulity of the Jews upon our Lord's appear- ance among them. In what follows from this place the Messiah is still the speaker ; but the discourse is immediately addressed to the primitive apostolic church, consisting of native Jews; and when the converted Gentiles are mentioned, they are men- tioned as an appendage of the original Jewish church, as adopted sons of Israel in some sort of subordina- tion to Jerusalem, the mother of us all.
Verse 14. — u Zion said" — Zion, the holy seed, the remnant of the true Israelites, which lay con- cealed in the mass of the natural Israel, from the time of the restoration from the Babylonian captivi- ty to the epoch of our Lord's appearance, and the promulgation of the gospel.
/ 4
360 ISAIAH.
Verse 17. " Thy children/' &c. ; rather, with
Bishop Lowth,
*< They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders,
And they that laid thee waste shall become thine offspring.5*
Or, which I should still prefer,
Thy builders are ready ; thy demolishers And destroyers shall depart from thee.
— " demolishers and destroyers.'* — " Falsi apo- stoli, falsi fratres ecclesiam primaevam vastantes." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 18. — " Fige scenam in primis annis Tra- jani — Loquitur de statu atque incremento incredibili ecclesiae sub Nerva, Trajano, Hadriano, Antoninis." Vitringa ad locum.
— " as a bride." Read, with LXX and Bishop Lowth, n^5 IWbb'; " as a bride her jewels."
Verse 20. " The children ears }** rather, with
Bishop Lowth,
" The sons, of whom thou wast bereaved, shall yet say in thine ears" —
— " give place to me J,s rather, M stand close for me."
Verse 21. — " I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro ? " ra- ther, " I was bereaved of my children, and barren, an outlaw [or exile], and an outcast ? "
ISAIAH. S61
Does not this 21st verse allude to a future unex- pected restoration of the ten tribes ?
Verse 22. — " to the people;" — M peoples," D^Dy in the plural. These Gentiles and peoples who are to bring the sons of Zion in their bosoms, and carry her daughters on their shoulders, are certainly dif- ferent persons from the sons and daughters of Zion, who are to be so borne. And yet they must bear good will to the sons and daughters of Zion, and therefore must be of the true religion : which is stiii more evident from this consideration, that it will be in obedience to the express command of God, upon his lifting up his hand, and raising his signal, that they will be thus zealous for the service of the sons and daughters of Zion. And again, these sons and daughters of Zion, in whose behalf God will thus interpose, by lifting up his hand to the nations, and raising his signal to the peoples, must also be of the true religion. Hence it is manifest that this pro- phecy cannot be expounded simply of the calling of the Gentiles, but it must be understood of the con- version and restoration of the Jews, and of the good offices that the converted Jews will receive from their brethren of the Gentiles.
If the singular D}7 may denote the one communi-
362 ISAIAH.
ty of the church, though gathered from various na- tions, as typified by the one nation of the natural Israel (see verse 8) ; so CTOJJ in the plural may de- note the various bodies and sects of the church's enemies, of which the idolatrous nations of the hea- then world, as distinguished from the Jews, wTere types : the sense then will be, that the providence of God will bring over the adversaries of the church of all sorts to be on her side ; that he will engage in defence of his church and of the true religion the learning and the talents of philosophers and orators, the policy of statesmen, the patronage of the great, the authority of kings. Or, without refining so much upon the force of the wordCEy, we may say, with Vitringa, that it describes the Gentile converts as what they were originally, and by birth. Vitrin- ga, who expounds the text of the protection given to the church by government after the extinction of the persecuting princes, Diocletian, Maximinian, &c. was aware of the objection, that the peoples wTere different from the sons and daughters of Zion whom they carried. " Dices gentes et populos, qui gestarent filios et filias Zioneas, utique censeri ab iis esse distinctos ac diversos?" He answers, " Re- spondeo esse omnino, secundum ilium respectum
ISAIAH. 363
quo hie occurrunt. Qua enim Zioneof cives gestant et forent, censentur origin it us, (sit las ita loqui) ad ecclesiam non pertinere, vel pertinuisse quippe ortu pagani." Vol. ii, p. 595, 2. To which we may add, that by virtue of the edicts of Constant ine and the succeeding Christian emperors, even the unconvert- ed subjects of the empire were compelled to contri- bute to the support of the church.
— " my hand to the Gentiles my standard to
the peoples." — " Peculiari sensu affirmo, per ma-
num Dei et signum ejus esse intelligenda edicta
imperatorum, et, post sublatum quoque Licinium, solius Constantini ; per qua? edicta populi obligati fuerunt ad subveniendum necessitatibus ecclesiae, et res illius promovendas." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 595, 2. Still I am inclined to think the true appli- cation of the prophecy is to the final restoration of the Jews.
Verses 24, 25. " Shall the prey shall be de- livered." The words I think will bear another reading :
24 Shall the booty be taken from the mighty ? Or shall the Just One set the captives free ?
25 Verily thus saith Jehovah,
Even the captives shall seize the mighty,
And the tyrant [himself] shall relinquish the booty.
36* ISAIAH.
CHAP. L.
Messiah is still the speaker. He declares that the judgments which were to fall upon the Jews were provoked by their crimes, principally by their rejec- tion and ill treatment of the Redeemer ; and with the severest rebukes and threatenings intermixes clear intimations that they are not finally cast off.
Verse 1. The Jews, in their present state of dis- persion, are addressed. They are told that they suffer for their apostacy ; but yet that their mother has received no regular bill of divorce, nor are they made over to any creditor to satisfy a debt. God therefore still retains the right of a husband over their mother, whom he has turned out of doors for her perverseness ; and the right of a father over the children, whom he has not sold, though they have offended. And inasmuch as he retains these rights, it is implied, that upon their submission he will take both the mother and the children home again.
It may seem an objection to this interpretation, that God says of the mother, that although he had not divorced her, yet she was put away ; and of the children, that they were sold, though he had not sold them. Vitringa's exposition certainly avoids
ISAIAH. 365
this difficulty : — " Emblema prophet®, ex meo sen- su hie desumptum est a marito, qui licet ipse para- tus esset indulgentia uti erga conjugem, officii et honestatis limites longe excedentem, a foro judiciali obligatur et cogitur ad uxorem suam diiuitten(lam ; ut adeo non tarn ipse, quam judicium forense, in causa esse censeatur dimissionis uxoris. Quod ob- servatum, ut satisfacit omni dubio hujus loci, sic perfecte respondet emblemati sequenti, quo Deus negat, se eos vendidisse creditoribus suis, cum vere ipsi a foro judiciali, tanquam debitores, propter de- bita sua venditi sint." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 603, 1. Nor according to this interpretation is the case of the Jewish nation hopeless. — " Licebat enim viro, conjugem suam, a se per libellum dimissam, si hac- tenus fidem suam alii marito non obstrinxisset, et resipisceret, rapto divortio do mum reducere, et con- suetudinem priorem instaurare.,, Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 604, 1.
— " have you sold yourselves ;" rather, " ye are ^old." Bishop Lowth.
Verses 2, 3. " Idem loquitur, qui mox dicturus
est, 6 corpus meutn dedi percutientibus' ut non
relinquatur dubitandi locus, totum hunc sermonem esse HcnniniftlM^ Houbigant ad locum.
366 ISAIAH.
Verses 4, 5. — " that I should know — >— opened
mine ear."
The construction is wonderfully obscure in the original, and the version of the LXX seems to indi- cate that they followed another reading. Houbigant proposes emendations, which make an easy con- struction and good sense. But I think the easiest emendation would be to affix the pronoun * to the word *0!1 (which, as the next word begins with \ may easily be admitted), and to alter the stops, thus :
jniyS njnS onych ptpS j?k iS t»jt> np» ipsa jm iS nnsj nw vm 5
^M &C.
4 The Lord Jehovah hath given unto me
A learned tongue, to know to be in season [i. e. to time my
instructions well]. My word shall enliven the weary : Each morn he [/. e. the weary] shall raise the ear to me
[arriget mihi aurem], To hearken, after the manner of disciples.
5 The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine own ear, &c.
ISAIAH. 367
Verse 6. " I gave my back," &c. See the excel- lent note of Houbigant upon this passage, in which he exposes the absurdity of Grotius's attempt to ap- ply these things to the prophet Isaiah.
Verse 9. — " they all shall wax old eat them
up." For D^ and X=hw\ the LXX read raS and &h**\ and for && perhaps ton. _« ye all shall wax old- — —eat you up."
Verse 10. — " that obeyed" — For pDVj Bishop Lowthj with the LXX^ reads yW\ which adds much to the spirit and elegance of the sentence. — " let him hearken to the voice" —
— " that walketh in darkness, and hath no light;" rather, " no sunshine."
— <c Id accipiendum ab una parte de afflictionibus et casibus tristibus atque injucundis, qui credentibus in Christum acciderent ; ab altera de tenebris mentis inde ortis ; //. e. de anxietate, sollicitudine, metu, tristitia quae gaudium illorum, non extinguerent qui- dem attamen imminuerent; et spem non tollerent quidem verum labefactarent ; et fiduciam, quam
mente conceperant maximam infirmarent. Vates
noster non scripsit hoc in loco ^ *VN pm verum
V? H4V pK\ Innuit se loqui de subjectis, quorum imminuta fuerit consolatio et attenuata spes, non
368 ISAIAH.
vere extincta— est enim STM, * splendor,5 plus quam *)&£, c lux/ Significatur electos hosce credentes eo esse statu, ut non perspiciant clare et serene, quae consequentia essent, quis exitus esset, eorum even- tuum qui ipsis accidebant. Ankni illorum erant psrto^iropim" Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 614, 1. — " Scena.hujus alloquii Agenda est in ipso tempore, quo Filius Dei in terris versatus est, proximus exi- tur ex mundo. Sed extenditur usque ad tempora Trajani et Hadriani." Ibid.
Verse 11* — " that compass yourselves about with sparks j" rather, " forming a ring round the flames." Instead of walking by the light of God's holy doc- trine, ye endeavour to raise a light of your own $ the light of false philosophy and human imagina- tions,
CHAP. LI.
In the beginning of this fifty-first chapter Messiah is still the speaker, and perhaps through the whole of it, but certainly to the end of the 16th verse. Vitringa puts the 9th, 10th, and 11th verses into the mouth of a chorus of the saints, praying in the two former for God's interposition in behalf of his church, and in the last prophetically promising
ISAIAH.
themselves that their prayer will be granted. In this I believe he is right. The five verses following (viz. 12 — 16) he assigns to God the Rathe*. But they seem to me not improper in the month of the Son. He speaks to the few pious Jews who received him as the Saviour, and he apprises them of the call of the Gentiles, and promises the final deliverance and prosperity of the church.
Verse 4. — "O my nation;" rather, " O mv countrymen. " — u Contributes mei." Houbigant. But Bishop Lowth, upon the authority of the Syriac and some MSS, changes ^BJJ and ^^ into P^PP and ED^2N^, that the address may be made not to the Jews, but to the Gentiles.
— " of the people." — " of the peoples." CWJJ.
Verse 6. — u shall die in like manner." From these words St Jerome draws an argument, that the heavens and the earth are not to be destroyed, but to undergo a change for the better. But the true rendering of p V22 is not ■ in like manner,' but ' like lice.' See Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 626, not. a.
Verses 12, 13. — " Fige scenam ejus quod hie ex- hibetur, cum in aliis persecutionibus quae in tentatae sunt populo Christi, primo illo tempore nascentis
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370 ISAIAH.
ecclesiae ; turn praecipue in Diocletianea." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 629, 1.
12. — " that thou shouldest be afraid," &c. Not- withstanding the examples of constancy in many martyrs and confessors, very great numbers not only of the laity, but of ecclesiastics of every order, shrunk from the terrors of persecution. — " Ad prima statim verba minantis inimici maximus fra- trum numerus fidem suam prodidit." Cyprian, de laps. serm. 5.
— " of a man that shall die." — " Nee tamen hie fantum cogitandum de mortalitate et fragilitate principum persecutorum, verum etiam de mortali- tate ipsius imperii. Roma paganaaliquandodesineret esse ; brevi exaresceret, et collum subderet Christo, et successio horum principum rescinderetur." Vi- tringa, ibid.
13. — " and forgettest." — K Oblivisci hie per- tinet ad idololatriam, et convicia Christo dicenda." Vitringa, p. 629, 2.
"and where is the fury of the oppressor?"
— " Ubi sunt modo magnifica ilia, et clara per gen- tes, Joviorum et Herculiorum nomina, quae primum a Dioclete et Maximiano insolenter assumpta, ac postmodum ad successores eorum translata vigue-
ISAIAH. 371
runt? Nempe delevit ca Dominus, et erasit de ter- ra." Lactant de Mort. Pers.
— " because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready" — For IVtt ptDTt, read, witli the LXX, Dr Jubb, and Bishop Lowth, ntfK -yp^DPi ; u of thine oppressor."
14« The prisoner shall soon be released;,
And he shall not die in the pit,
And his bread shall not be deficient. — " The prisoner" — The Hebrew word T\yi seems to describe a prisoner chained at full length to the floor. (See Parkhurst's Lexicon, fip¥, iv ; and Blaney on Jer. xlviii, 12). That a person in con- finement is meant appears from the context.
Verse 16. — "that I may plant while I plant f
rather, u to extend to lay and to say." In this
verse the transition is made from the subject of the deliverance of the primitive church from persecu- tion pursued from verse 7 to this place, to that ot the final conversion and restoration of the Jews. For the Jewish people is the Zion here meant. God tells the church, rescued from her enemies, and protected by the civil power, that " he hath put his word in her mouth ;" i. e. made her the depositary of the true religion, and employed her in the further
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372 ISAIAH.
propagation of the faith she has herself received, and " sheltered her under the shadow of his hand," defended her by his immediate special protection ; that she may be the instrument of effecting the greatest purposes of his providence ; " extend the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth;" espe- cially that great purpose of his mercy, of restoring the Jewish people to his favour. The church will be authorised to say to the natural Israel, in the proper season, Thou art Jehovah's people ; k e. to admit them into her own society, and acknowledge them for a member, (perhaps at last) a principal of the mystical body of Christ. This authority is evi- dently contained in the power of the keys, and of forgiving and retaining sins, expressly conferred by our Lord on the apostles, and through them trans- mitted to their successors, the rulers of the church in all succeeding ages. " To stretch out the hea- vens, and lay the foundations of the earth," may be an image generally signifying the execution of the greatest purposes of providence. Perhaps ? the heavens" may denote hierarchies, or religious esta- blishments; and " the earth" secular governments. And under the image of "extending the heavens, and setting the earth on its foundations," the Holy
TSAIAH.
Spirit may describe a new and improved face both of religion and civil government, as the ultimate ef- fect of Christianity in the latter ages. Certainly not religion only, but civil government also, has alread) received great improvement from Christianity. But the improvement will at last be inconceivably great- er, and universal. And whenever this phrase of u stretching out the heavens and laying the found- ations of the earth" is applied by the prophets to things clearly future, and yet clearly previous to the general judgment, I apprehend it denotes those great changes for the better, in ecclesiastical and civil politics, in religion and morals, which are to take place in the very last period of the church on earth ; not without allusion to that physical im- provement of the system of the material world, which seems in some places to be literally predicted. I cannot believe, with Vitringa, that any thing that has yet taken place answers to the full meaning of that astonishing image. It is true, that the prophets often confound the ends of things with their begin- nings. But if the first promulgation of the gospel be ever described under the image of a new-making of the whole external world, which with the ln'o-licst reverence for the authority of the learned and judi-
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374 ISAIAH.
cious Vitringa, I as yet believe not, it must be so described, not simply in itself, but with a view to its ultimate effect. The establishment of the Christian religion in the Roman empire by Constantine, was a further step indeed towards the ultimate effect ; but still falls far short of the grandeur of the image. Which being indeed of all images the greatest that
9
the human mind can apprehend, must be applicable to that which it represents, whatever it may be, only in its highest and most finished state.
Verse 19. — "by whom shall I comfort thee?" For IBnJK, read TCW\ Bishop Lowth. — " who shall comfort thee."
Verse 17. — " thou hast drunken," &c. — * Haec nondum habuere eventum suum. Calix soporis ille est quern Judaei nondum exhausere, quia nondum evigilant ex veterno illo, in quo jacent jam inde, ex quo id bibere cceperunt, cum eorum religio et res- publica interiere. Male haec a quibusdam de Baby- lonis captivitate intelliguntur. Nam Judaei calice, quern turn biberunt, adeo non in soporem versi sunt, ut brevi evigilarint, cognoverintque propter quam ipsorum culpam deseruisset eos Deus ipsorum, nee deinde prolapsi sunt ad idololatriam. Praeterea fal- SUm est Judaeos, in Babylone captives, neminem
ISAIAH.
habuisse ductorem, neminem qui eos consolaretui. Habebant captivi Ezechielein prophctam, habebanl Danielem. Habuere deinde Esdram et Nchemiaiu qui non modo eos ex captivitate reducerent, s(hI etiam ipsorum urbera a?dificarent, et rempublicam religionemque constituerent ; quibus auxiliis Judflri nunc destituuntur. Qui cum redibunt, transferet Deus calicem eum quern nunc exhauriunt, ad eos, a quibus sunt opprimendi. Neque vero Judaei a Ba- byloniis multum premebantur, cum Babylonium im- perium fuit a Persis Medisque deletum. Quippe erant in loco colonorum apud Chaldaos, non autem servorum ; nee eis dicebatur, • substerne te ut super dorsum tuum transeam, calcemque te ut lutum via- rum/ Sed omnia hasc mala impendebant Judaeis ab Antichristo opprimendis." Houbigant ad locum.
CHAP. LII.
Verse 1. — u the holy city." — " Monet nos epi- thctum c sancta' tangi hoc capite Jerusalem religio- ncm, non autem rempublicam. Idem docet id quod subjicitur, * non veniet in te incircumcisus aut im- mundus.' Nam si nihil aliud vaticinatur Isaias, quam urbis Jerusalem instaurationem a Nehemia et ab Esdra taciendam, false pradicit neminem incir-
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376 ISAIAH.
cumcisum vel immundum, in earn intraturum. Non modo enim patebat Jerusalem cunctis populis, per libera commercia populorum vieinorum, sed etiam
eonnubia miscuere Judaei cum populis vicinis.
Quod si dicas, hsec verba "P K3*, idem valere atque, yfoy *C>3 num rex Antiochus non venit adversus Jerusalem. Ergo tangitur ea Jerusalem quae cives liabitura erat sanctos, et urbe sancta dignos." Hou- bigant ad locum.
Verse 4, — " without cause ;" rather, " at the last," Houbigant and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. — " they that rule over them, make them to howl." For hfoty iStfD, read "W?w rh&D^ " they that domineer over them make their boast of it." Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, with consent of 120 MSS. for first alteration, and of 5 for the second.
— " in that day"-?— The day, which is yet to come, when Jesus Christ will reveal himself to the Jewish nation, in sensible and notable proofs of his presence, his power and majesty. — " Indurata enim gentis incredulitas, et praqjudiciorum obstina- tio, alio modo vinci posse non videtur," says Vitrin- ga (in Is. vol. ii, p. 659, 2.), who applies this parti-
ISAIAH. Sft
cular prophecy however (very unsuccessfully, in my judgment) to other things.
Verse 7. — " thy God reigneth." — " quft monk- dixerit, ' regnat Deus tuus,' si Juda?orum IJahylone reditum praenuntiabat. Ncque enim, populo Judaeo Babylone reverso, redintegrata fuit antiqua Theo- cratia." Houbigant ad locum.
This chapter should end with the 12th verse, and the three following verses should make the begin- ning of the fifty-third chapter; in which the imme- diate subject is the humiliation and sufferings of the Messiah, his accomplishment of the general redemp. tion, and his progress through suffering to glory.
Verse 14. I am much in doubt whether the change proposed by Houbigant and Bishop Lowth of "Pty into vty be necessary. In these three last verses of the fifty-second chapter Jehovah is the speaker. He speaks to the Jewish people, to whom the suffixed pronoun 1 may relate. Their sufferings are represented in the prophets by the expression of their being made " an astonishment and a by-word;" and the sense of this 14th verse, I think, may be, that the Messiah in the days of the ftYsh should be no less wonderfully despicable in the eyes of the un- believing world, than the Jewish people was in its
B7S ISAIAH.
state of abasement under God's judgments. In this sense I find the passage was expounded by Con- stantin FEmpereur, as he is quoted by Vitringa: — " Quemadmodum de te, popule Jacobidarum stu- puerunt multi, ob calamitates plures quas variis temporibus sustinuisti ; similiter non possunt non obstupescere, qui miseriam Messiae rite expendunt.'* Vitringa, vol. ii, p. 654, 2. Vitringa reprobates this interpretation : he satisfies himself with observing, that the changes of the person is frequent in the prophets.
Verse 15. — " sprinkle" — About the sense or the emendation of this difficult word tV\ see the learned notes of Houbigant and Bishop Lowth. Houbigant, without altering the words, interprets it according to the sense it bears in the Arabic lan» guage : — " he shall refresh," — " recreaturus est." Bishop Lowth seems to approve Dr Durell's conjec- ture, that for W, we should read VlflT>j and he Would render the passage, " So many nations shall look on him with admiration." But there is no rea- son to disturb the common reading, or to seek its sense in a foreign dialect.
— " Sensus hujus loci est clarus, planus, certus. Christum Jesum virtutem sanguinis a se fusi, instar
ISAIAH.
magni pontificis, applicatui um esse ad purificatio- nem conscientiarum Gentium multarum et magna-
rum Gcntes autem illas hujus beneficii ngttcu*
tum recepturas esse, fidemque suam professuras in
baptismo. Vox Ttl^ « spargere, aspergerc/ stylo
sacro, praecipue refertur ad actum pontificis, Bangui* nem victimsr pro se oblata? aspergentis super purifi- candum. Lev. iv, 6; Num. viii, 7." Vitringa in Is. p. 655-6.
— " kings shall shut their mouths." — " Sensus est ; reges, qui edictis suis, quae sunt os regum, san-
guinariis sa?vierint adversus ecclesiam postquam
pervenerint in interiorem notitiam mysterii evan- gelii, et gloriosa efTecta regni Christi in mundo, ex- empla judiciorum ejus, virtutisque Divinae gratia? operationes observarint ; edicta sua revocaturos, et compressuros esse -y majestatem Christi regis venera- bundos adoraturos." Vitringa, p. 656, 1 .
CHAR LIII.
The speaker in this fifty-third chapter personates the repenting Jews in the latter ages of the world coming over to the faith in the crucified Redeemer. The whole is their penitent confession ; it is adapted
SSO ISAIAH.
to the person of such penitents, and not equally well adapted to any other person.
Verse 1. " Who hath believed our report? "
— " our report." 1JHJJW may render either what we have told, or what we have been told, according as the person who speaks, is one who had given or received instruction or information. It must be tak- en in the latter sense here, if the speaker personates the repenting Jews. " How few (they say) of our nation in the days of the Messiah's appearance gave heed and credit to what they had been taught by the prophets of old, and how few were they who had eyes to see the arm of Jehovah revealed in the works of Jesus of Nazareth ?"
Verse 2. — " he shall grow up — hath — shall see — is." All these verbs should be preterites.
— " he shall grow up, for before him" — Bishop Lowth renders, " he ■groweth up in their sight;" as if for YtfsS he had read orvtiSiS. But in his notes, so far from producing any authority for the emend- ation, he gives not the least hint that he has depart- ed from the received reading. If I were to propose any, it should be a much easier alteration, of TOBP into Wto\ with the suffix of the first person plural instead of the third singular.
ISAIAH. 381
There grew up in our sight, as it were, a tender sucker ; He had no form, &c.
This circumstance might properly be acknowledged as an aggravation of the crime of the Jewish nation, that although the Messiah's birth and first appear- ance was conformable to the predictions of the an- tient prophecies, yet that very generation, who were witnesses to that conformity, overlooked the pro- phecies and rejected him. But I see no necessity for any alteration.
The pronoun 1 may rehearse c Jehovah* named iu the preceding verse. — " V031?, < coram ipso,' sc. Deo. Ca?teris ignotus, sed notus Deo, qui omnes circumstantias ortus ejus, tanquam persona? quam sustenturus erat convenientissimas, consilio suo cir- eumscripserat ; quique eum per pastores Bethlehem- itis et Sanctis, qui Hierosolymis erant manifestum fecit : etsi cum deinceps Jesus infans translatus sit in ^Egyptum, atque inde in Galil*eam, rumor dc ip- -o sparsus evanuerit." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. G63, 2.
— " he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him," &c.
He had no form nor figure that ive should respect him. Nor a countenance that we should admire him,
352 ISAIAli.
Nearly to the same effect Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
— " figure/' external grace and dignity of person. This I take to be the sense of *Hty which is here however to be understood mystically, not literally, — " Utique mihi persuadeo Messiae nostro, quod ad speciem corporis et compositionem membrorum, famam constitisse honestissimam, sed de ea hie non agitur." Vitringa.
Vitringa with his usual accuracy expounds the former part of this 2d verse of the birth and infancy of the Messiah ; and this latter part of it, of his first public appearance, " postquam, triginta annis major, se ut Messiam genti exspectatum proposuit gessit- que inter Judseos."
Verse 5. — " wounded." — "perfossus," Vitringa.
Verse 7. " He was oppressed, and he was afflict- ed."
" It was exacted, and he was made answerable" —
Bishop Lowth, Optime !
Verse 8. " He was taken from prison and from judgment." "NJJ properly denotes the constraint of power, just or unjust, lawful or unlawful ; and the verb Hp7 may be understood either in an active or
ISAIAH.
vin a passive sense. This difficult passage therefore admits of two interpretations :
After oppression and condemnation, he was accepted.
That is, after the oppressive and unjust judgment at Pilate's tribunal, he was accepted of God. Or, He hath received [a share] of government and judgment.
According to the first sense, the repentant Jews ac- knowledge the iniquity of the proceedings by which our Lord was taken off. According to the second, they more explicitly confess his exaltation to the right hand of power. Of these two interpretations, I greatly prefer the former.
I have great doubt whether the verb np1? niav bear the sense given to it here by the Vulgate, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth ; — " sublatus est," " he was taken off." It seems to be used in this sense, Jer. xv, 15.
— " and who shall declare his generation?" The word *VH has no sort of reference to birth or extrac- tion. — " notat vel multitudinem hominum eadem mundi aetate viventium, vel vitam singulorum, ut ad certum tempus durantem." Houbigant ad locum. It certainly signifies in this place, the condition, tenor, and course of life, from the beginning to the end ; and according as one or the other of the two
6
584 ISAIAH.
interpretations which the preceding words admit be adopted, this passage should be rendered, either thus,
And who considered the tenor of his life ?
or,
And who can explain his condition of life?
when he perished by an unrighteous sentence, and yet, as was demonstrated by his resurrection, his ascension, and the success of his doctrine, was ac- cepted of God ; who, among our thoughtless ances- tors, considered the innocence and sanctity of his life, which, while he was condemned by men, re- commended him to the favour of God ? Or, who can explain the mystery, how a person so high in dignity, so dear to God, could be reduced so low, and made subject to misery and death ? There is yet a third meaning which the words may bear, which is adopted by the Layman : — " and the men of his generation, who will be able to describe ?*' Mr Parkhurst gives an interpretation nearly to the same effect : — " and who can [bear to] reflect on the men of his generation I" See Parkhurst, rffltif, n. I am after all inclined to think that either this of Mr Parkhurst's, or the Layman's, is the true inter- pretation. According to either of these, the word
ISAIAH. 385
■m is taken in its usual sense. I doubt whether an instance be found in which it is used for the course, tenor, or condition of a man's life.
— u was he stricken." For Wf read TfiCP, with the LXX, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 9, &c. What follows I would punctuate and correct thus :
rnrab Ttpjj hki ntry con kS Sy
j^Snn i*on vsn mrro 10 i^dj crow o#n E3K
iffon w nini Y*>ro ■mjna pa#i hkt ma Sbjns n
&c. &c.
The only alteration is of stops. I render the whole thus :
9 And his grave was appointed with the wicked.
But with a rich man was his sepulchre ; *
Not that he had done violence,
Or that guile was found in his mouth,
* See Bishop Lowth. VOL. II. B B
386 ISAIAH.
10 But it was the pleasure of Jehovah: suffering overwhelmed him. Upon condition that his soul make a trespass-offering, f He shall see a seed, which shall prolong its days ; And the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. It In reward of the toil of his soul he shall see [a seed, which] shall be fed to the full with the knowledge of him : The Just One shall justify the slaves of mighty ones,:): And himself shall take the burthen of their iniquities.
Verse 12. — <c will I divide him." No alteration of the text is necessary.
Therefore I will assign him a portion with the mighty ones, And with the great he shall share the spoil.
CHAP. LIV.
Having described the repentance and conversion of the Jewish nation, the prophet proceeds in this chapter to its final prosperity, which he predicts in strains of the highest exultation. The converted race of Israel is represented under the image of the
f Upon condition that his soul make a trespass-offering, He shall see a seed, which shall prolong its days. That his soul should make the trespass-offering, expresses that it was with the full consent of his own mind, that he made the pain- ful atonement. See Vitringa upon the place.
| See Houbigant.
ISAIAH. 3S7
wife, turned out of doors for misbehaviour, forgiven and taken home again. The conversion of the Gen- tiles is indeed mentioned, but it is not the principal subject. For the converted Gentiles are represented as a new progeny of the long-forsaken wife, restored to her husband's love. The restored Hebrew church is addressed as the mother-church of Christendom, and the conversion of the Gentiles is mentioned only as a part of her felicity. This sense of the pro- phecy, as describing the prosperity and pre-eminence of the Hebrew church, is so very manifest, that no other exposition would ever have been invented, had not a just abhorrence of the doctrine of a mille- nium, in the form in which it was taught by some of the antient heretics, made St Jerome and other great men of antiquity studious to interpret every thing in the manner that might be the most contra- ry to it.
Verse 3. — " thou shalt break forth"— WW, — " sobolesces," Houbigant j and this interpretation is confirmed by the mention of seed which immedi- ately follows.
— " thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles." Here the person addressed is clearly distinguished from
B b 2
S'8$ ISAIAH.
the Gentiles ; which shewed that the Hebrew church, not the church of the Gentiles, is intended.
Verse 4. — " the shame of thy youth the re- proach of thy widowhood" — " The shame," her transgressions, described under the image of incon- tinence ; * the reproach," the punishment. The pardon shall be so complete that the memory both of the offence and the punishment shall be obliterat- ed.
Verse 9. " For this is as the waters of Noah unto me." For *>& *5, read, with Houbigant, Bishop Lowth, the Vulgate, and others, W5. * The same will I do now as in the days of Noah."
Verse 11. — a I will lay thy stones with fair co- lours ;,f rather, with Bishop Lowth, " I will lay thy stones in cement of vermilion." — " quippe mihi plane persuadeo, ipsum illud, quod hie T3 dicitur, a Jesaia respici ut materiam, in qua, loco calcis, cae- menti aut bituminis, lapides ponendi ac coagmen- tandi erant." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 694, 2.
Verse 12. — "thy windows of agates;" rather, " thy battlements of rubies." See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
— « all thy borders," the whole circuit of thy wall. See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
ISAIAH.
Under these images the prophet describes the beauty and glory of the church on earth which will take place in the latter ages, upon the conversion ol' the Jews, when the Hebrew church shall become, what it originally was, the metropolis, in a spiritual sense, of all Christendom.
Verses 13, 14. The full stop should be placed at die word Utt&fl in the 14th verse, and the whole should be thus rendered :
13 And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah,
And great shall be the prosperity of thy children ; 14- In righteousness shalt thou be established.
Verse 15, For D9K, read, with the LXX and Hou-
bigant, TIN.
15 Through me, strangers shall dwell with thee;
And whosoever dwelleth with thee shall come over to thy side.
For ^3\ read *&&*. See Houbigant and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 16. — "for his work ;" rather, "by his art," or " by his labour."
CHAP. LV. In the first three verses of this chapter Messiah seems to be the speaker ; in the 4th and 5th verses
BBS
390 ISAIAH.
Jehovah is the speaker ; in the 4th verse Jehovah speaks of the Messiah, in the 5th to him ; in the sequel the prophet speaks to the people in the name of Jehovah.
The Messiah's call, in the first three verses, is either general to all mankind, or particular to the Jewish nation. Water, wine, and milk, denote the doctrine of the Messiah, and the evangelical means of salvation. If the call be general, the no-bread, on which men expend their silver, and that which satisfieth not, on which they bestow their labour, are the expensive rites of the idolatrous religions, and the laborious researches of human philosophy. If the call is particular to the Jewish nation, the no- bread, and that which satisfieth not, are the worldly gains of merchandise and brokerage, upon which the Jews in their dispersion have been so remark- ably intent, which satisfy not the desires of the inner man, and afford no nourishment for the spiritual life. The Jews are addressed in the character of mer- chants intent on gain. A commodity is offered which may be purchased without price, and obtain- ed without labour, the means of salvation gratuitous- ly dispensed. See Houbigant's notes on the begin- ning of this chapter. His exposition must seem too
ISAIAH. 39 i
refined, unless the allusion to the promises in the Old Testament (the mercies of David) be thought to indicate that the call is more immediately to the Jews. But the mercies of David, here intended, be- ing the perpetuity and universality of the dominion of his descendant, the mention of them is not beside the purpose, if the call be generally understood. And it is remarkable, that, immediately after the mention of the stability of these mercies by the Messiah, Jehovah taking up the discourse declares the appointment of the Messiah to be a witness, a leader, and preceptor to the peoples ; as if this ap- pointment ensured the completion of the promises to David.
Verse 3. — " with you, even the sure mercies of David;" rather, " with you. The mercies of David- [i. e. the mercies in store for, or promised to the mystical David] are irrevocable."
Verse 4. — " a witness" — u e. a teacher and as- sertor of religious truth. Revelation is called a testimony, and its inspired teachers are called wit- nesses, because its doctrines were not delivered in a scientific way, and proved by argument, but as rules and maxims to be received upon the authority of the teacher.
BB4
392 ISAIAH.
— " and commander ;" rather, " and a preceptor."
— " to the people." — " peoples,5' in the plural twice.
Verse 7. — " let him return." Houbigant thinks this expression shews that the discourse is addressed particularly to the Jews. For of the Gentiles, who came to God in the first instance when they em- braced Christianity, it could not so properly be said that they returned to him. But yet I think the ex- pression applicable even to the Gentile world, with allusion to the original defection of mankind to idolatry.
Verses 12, 13. — " Haec non convenire in redi- tum Babylone Judaaorum, videbit quisquis perleget historian! sacram, imo quisquis hunc ipsum locum attente considerable Nam pollicetur Deus, quae miracula reditum Judaeorum comitabuntur, eorum miraculorum vestigia nunquam deletum iri; quae uccomodari non possunt, nisi ad ultimum reditum Judaeorum." Houbigant ad locum.
CHAP. LVI.
Verse 1. " Keep ye judgment" Judgment,
asr#D5 signifies here, as in many other places, the
ISAIAH. 894
entire rule of faith and practice as laid down in the gospel. See Vitringa on the place.
Verse 2. — " layeth hold on it j" rather, with Bishop Lowth, <c holdclh it fast." u It," viz. jus- tice, ^p"^, rehearsed in the original hy the feminine suffix. — <( holdeth fast." — " Metaphora de-
sumpta ah eo qui medium, sive instrumentum salu- tis, tabulam, aram aut fortiorem aliquem manu va- lide tenet, aut complectitur ; maxime si quis ilium
a medio salutis nitatur avellere : vel ab eo, qui
rem pretiosam et sibi carissimam, cujus, per vim alterius, eripiendae metus est, firma manu retinet,
eique tenaciter adhaeret. Est itaque firmo ac
constanti proposito animi persistere ac perseverare in instituto vita?, quod quis sano judicio elegit." Vitringa ad locum.
— " that keepeth the Sabbath." — « Per Sabba- turn, quod erat ordinatum specialiter Divino cultui, intelligitur omne illud quod pertinet ad divinum cultum in nova lege." Liranus apud Vitringam ad locum.
— u and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." This condition describes the observance of the laws of the second table.
Verses 3 — 7. — " son of the stranger eunuchs."
1
394. ISAIAH.
— " Scopus totius hujus pericopas eo tendit ut Deus clare doceret omnia privilegia foederis gratiae, sub ceconomia nova, absque ullo discrimine, gentis, sta- tus, conditionis, omnibus communia fore Quando-
quidem vero disparilitatis conditionis in ceconomia vetere (excepta sacerdotum et Levitarum praeroga- tiva) nulla exempla produci possent, praeterea eu- nuchorum et alienigenarum, haec ipsa exempla arri- puit Spiritus Sanctus ut hisce exemplis propositum thema illustraret." Vitringa, vol. ii, p. 734, 1. See the Layman's note upon Ejfcfl T>, in verse 5 ; also his note upon verse 6, about the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath.
— " for all people " rather, " for all the peoples.'" So Bishop Lowth.
Verse 8. — " yet will I gather," &c. ; or, " yet will I gather unto him those that are to be gather- ed." — " aggregabo ei aggregandos." For ViDpy?, Houbigant would read Wp*D: but the change seems not absolutely necessary. I believe the re- ceived reading and the public translation are right. With this 8th verse the chapter should end : in the 9th, the prophet passes to a new subject, which he pursues in the following chapter, namely, the re- proof of those crimes, which drew down the judg-
ISAIAH. J95
merits of God upon the Jewish nation. See Bishop Lowth.
It is some objection, however, to a division of the discourse at this place, that the suffixed pronoun 1 in the word W at the beginning of the 10th verse [" His watchmen"] has no antecedent but vlTHt^ in the 8th. The discourse therefore is continued. And Vitringa makes this an argument that the 10th, 1 1th, and 12th verses are to be understood of a corrupt hierarchy in the Christian church : — " observari velim vitia haec esse praepositorum ac doctorum illius populi, ad quern facienda erat aggregatio, et post- quam facta esset aggregatio." But might not the mention of gathering the outcasts, and of making repeated additions to the outcasts gathered, natural- ly bring in view the outcasting, which was itself (by the wonderful arrangements of Providence) the means of the first additions ? And might not the outcasting bring in view the crimes of the Jewish hierarchy, which were the immediate cause of those judgments ? My chief doubt is, whether the single nations of the Romans can properly be described under the image of all beasts of the field and forest.
Verse 10. — " sleeping — lying down." —"dream- ers, sluggards." Bishop Lowth.
396 ISAIAH.
Verse 11. — " from his quarter." — " from the highest to the lowest," Jerome and Bishop Lowth. See nap.
CHAP. LVII.
The first two verses of this chapter, joined to the last four of the preceding, should make a chapter by itself, containing a general accusation of the Jewish people, but more especially of their priests and rulers, as sunk in pleasure, and lost to all true sense of religion, till at last they carried their wic- kedness to the height by killing the Just One, and persecuting his saints. In the 3d verse of this chap- ter, the prophet more particularly addresses the Jews of his own times, describing their crimes, and threatening the nation with judgment, but not with- out a promise of final pardon.
Verse 2. Two specious emendations of this verse have been proposed ; the one by Dr Durell, which Bishop Lowth approves; the other by Houbigant. Dr Durell expunges the 1 final in TWj and divides the word OJVOSttflD into two, thus,
;in::: f?n on
ISAIAH. 3t7
he shall rest in his bed ;
Even the perfect man, he that walketh in a strait path.
iloubigant transposes the words;
He entereth into peace, walking in the strait path ; They shall rest upon their beds.
This seems to me the more simple and elegant cor- rection, if indeed any correction be requisite. The pronoun of the third person singular understood, re- hearsing profi, is the subject of the singular verb $PQ\ The pronoun of the third person plural, re- hearsing ion Witt, is the subject of the plural verb 1W ; and the participle 1 *H may be in apposition with the pronoun of the third person singidar, the subject, as has been said of the singular verb WO>\ This permutation of the natural order, referring the principal words in the latter part of such a stanza, as the two first verses of this chapter compose, to the principal words in the former, I take to be per- fectly in the style of Hebrew poetry. Houbigant's transposition however gives the exact sense of the passage, being indeed nothing else than a reduction of the words from the poetical to the natural order. The Layman inserts the first two verses and tin
398 ISAIAH.
first two words of the 3d verse of this chapter in the 10th verse of chapter fifty- third.
Verse 3. — " sons of the sorceress." For HJJ}^ Houbigant reads, with one of his MSS, fiJty ; " sons of the voluptuous woman."
Verse 4. — <c are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood ? " rather, " children of the apos- tate, a seed of the liar ? "
Verse 6. — " comfort in these"^- rather, " shall I bear these things with patience?" — " An ego haec patienter feram ?" Houbigant.
Verse 8. This verse, though it is passed by almost unnoticed by all expositors as if it gave them no trouble^ is to me as it stands inexplicable. The pronouns them and their have no antecedents to which they may be referred. The great variance of the antient versions, and the little resemblance which some of them bear to the Hebrew text as it now stands, is an argument that the passage has been long in a state of corruption. St Jerome had certainly in his copies after the verb **<yn some word signifying an adulterer, which word he under- stood to be the object of that verb. Suppose that word were ^*un. This, though a singular noun, ac- cording to the known licence of the Hebrew syntax,
ISAIAH. 399
may serve as an antecedent for the plural pronouns which follow. Still the two last words of the verse m:n "P are unintelligible. Our English translators make the best of them, taking T* for an adverb of place indefinite ; but I much doubt whether that ac- ceptation of the word can be justified by examples of a similar use of it. What if we transpose the two letters of this word, and prefix D, which might easily be omitted, being the last letter of the preceding word : the whole passage will then stand thus ;
8
■pX'D romn t\Mr\ *Sphi
dhd V? mam
:rom v-ib DDScto rant*
Verily at-my-side thou-hast-thrown-off-the-coverlit,
And hast taken up the adulterer into thy spacious bed ; [" into
the breadth of thy bed;" Vitringa.] And hast made assignations with them for thyself: Thou hast been fond of their bed ever since thou sawest it.
The Jews are taxed in this and the preceding verse with the double crime of resorting to places of idol- atrous worship, and of receiving idols, or the imple- ments of idol worship, into the precincts of God's own temple. This double impiety is represented .4
400 ISAIAH.
the lewdness of an adulterous woman, who, not con- tent to run after her paramours, brings them home, and admits them to her own bed at the very times that she is lying at her husband's side*
— " at my side." Not " clam me," as Houbigant renders it, but " juxta me;" "whilst thou art lying at my side." So St Jerome: — "juxta me disco operuisti." And in his comment : " Ad quam supra dixerat, ' super montem excelsum,' &c— et quasi
meretricem arguerat eandem nunc quasi uxorem
adulteram arguit, atque confutat, quod, dormiens
cum viro, clam adulterum susceperit Hoc autem
dicit, ut ostendit quod non solum in agris et domi- bus idola coluerint, sed in templo quoque posuerint simulacrum Baal, quod Ezechiel quoque, perfosso pariete, vidisse se dicit." See Ezekiel, chap. viii. See also 2 Kings xxi, 4, 5, 7; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 4, 5, 7, 15, 22; 2 Kings xxiii, 6, 11, 12,
Verse 9. "Thou wentest to the king with oil," &c.
Rather,
According to rule thou hast prepared thyself with ointment
for the king, Thou hast multiplied thy perfumes.
The prophet pursues the image of a loose woman, studiously preparing her person for pleasure, accord-
ISAIAH. 401
ing to the fashions of the times, softening the skin with ointments, and bedewing herself with rich per- fumes.
Verse 10. — " in the greatness of thy way ;" ra- ther, u in the variety of thy ways." iroKvobiouc. It seems to be a phrase for the various dissipations of riotous pleasure.
Verse 11. — " have not I held my peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not?" For O^ytn npra, Houbigant would read D*nj;c tflWfltt. — " Nonne ego idem sum, qui eum jam olim cohibeo quanquam non est in te timor meus?" He observes in his note upon the place, — " Syria? reges Deus toties com- pescuerat, quoties fuerat ab Israel invocatus, modo sibi soli servirent." But Bishop Lowth reads ED^B, upon the authority of 23 MSS. and 3 editions : — " is it not because I was silent, and winked?" Bishop Lowth thinks this emendation indisputable, and that the received reading Q^yci makes no good sense or construction. But perhaps it gives a better sense than the Bishop's emendation, or Houbigant's. " Ironica est oratio," says Vitringa ; and he pro- duces this exposition of the passage from Lud. de Die. — " Quum enim populus videri nollet verum Deum prorsus abnegasse et rejecisse; mentiebatur
VOL. II. c C
402 ISAIAH.
Deo, tanquam si et ejus aliquam rationem habere cuperet. Quorsum id facis ? inquit Deus, quern for- midas, quern times, quod mentiaris nee aperte lo- quaris ? Me certe non times, nam non es mei re- cordata ; nee me in animo tuo gestas, idque merito facere videris. Nam ego sileo, idque a longo tem- pore : permitto tibi vivere pro arbitrio tuo ; idque diu feci; adeoque me non times. Quid est ergo quod non aperte loquaris, et palam dicas te me de- inceps non morari." Vitringa ad locum.
The only objection that I perceive to this inter- pretation is this, that the verb SO rather signifies (as I conceive) to assert a lie, than to dissemble one's real sentiments. It rather therefore signifies the open profession of idolatry or atheism, than the hy- pocritical confession of the true God. The follow- ing verse however seems to confirm the interpreta- tion ; for in that verse, H thy righteousness," jHpV, is " thy hypocritical righteousness." God threatens to expose it to public scorn and shame. Bishop Lowth indeed gives a very different sense to this verse by changing "WpW into WfH* But his author- ity for this alteration seems insufficient.
Verse 1 3. — " thy companies." — " thy paramours,'' those whom thou hast wooed to thy love.
ISAIAH. 403
— " vanity." — " aura levissima," Vitringa ; — " a breath," Bishop Lowth.
— " he that putteth his trust in me shall possess," &c. ; he that putteth his trust in me, of whatever extraction, shall take the place of the apostate Jew, and succeed to the spiritual patrimony.
Verse 14. " And shall say" — " Then will I say"— Bishop Lowth.
— " of my people," the new adopted race whom I will acknowledge as my people.
Verse 15. — " with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit" — The pride of the Jewish people, relying on the merit of their legal righteous- ness, was a principal source of their incredulity when our Lord appeared among them.
Verse 16. " I will not contend for ever;" rather, " Yet not for ever will I contend," &c.
— " for the spirit should fail before me ;" rather*, with Bishop Lowth, " for the spirit from before me would be overwhelmed." — u the spirit from before me, is the human spirit which went forth from me." The whole emphasis of the passage lies in the words •OS^D and W£*y OT • and the general sense is, that the effect of God's endless wrath would be the de- struction of his own creation.
c C 2
404 ISAIAH.
Verse 17. " For the iniquity of his covetousness" — For TJW, read, with Bishop Lowth, ptifl See the LXX. " Because of his iniquity for a moment I was angry."
Verse 18, — "and will heal him 5" rather, with Houbigant, Ci but I will heal him."
Verse 19. Place the stops, with Houbigant, thus, Ofop OVW 919 KTO 19
&c. oyvrm vr\»sn\ 20
19 Creating the fruit of the lips, peace ;
Peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saitji
Jehovah.* Surely I will heal him ; but the wicked, &c,
CHAP. LVIII.
The former chapter describes the idolatries of the Jews in the times of Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon. In this the prophet describes the crimes of later times ; the avarice, extortion, and cruelty which characterised the Jews after the return from the Babylonian captivity, and in the extreme in the days of our Lord's appearance among them, covered with the mark of religious zeal, and a hypocritical atten-
* See my notes on Hosea.
ISAIAH. 405
tion to external rites and ceremonies. This reproof of their vices is closed with pathetic exhortations to repentance, and a promise of pardon.
Upon farther consideration of this part of the pro- phecy, since the sins, with which the people of God are charged in this chapter, though remarkably pre- valent among the Jews in the time of our Lord and the apostles, are such as are incident to the visible church in all ages; and some parts of the fifty-ninth chapter seem more particularly applicable to the times of licentiousness and infidelity that have taken place in Christendom since the reformation, than to any period in the Jewish history, and are likely to receive a further accomplishment in the enormities that may be expected to arise out of the atheism and democratic spirit of the present times, I am in- clined to think that what particularly regards the Jews ends, or is broken off at least, at the end of the preceding chapter. That the people of God whose transgressions the prophet is ordered to set forth in the 1st verse of this chapter, is the new people, styled the house of Jacob, because they suc- ceed spiritually to the patrimony ; and that the whole of this and the following chapter is addressed to the Christian church gathered out of the Gentile?.
CCS
106 ISAIAH.
But in the 20th verse of the following chapter the natural Israel comes in sight again, being the Jacob whose transgression the Redeemer is to turn away, after the fear of the Lord shall have been establish- ed in every quarter of the Gentile world in the west and in the east.
Verse 2, — " and delight to know my ways," &c.
And desire the knowledge of my ways : As a nation that doeth righteousness, And forsaketh not the law of their God, They demand of me the rules of righteousness, They desire that God would draw near. [Literally, they de- sire the drawing near of God.]
St Jerome has well explained the general sense of this verse in his comment, though he has expressed it but indifferently in his translation : — " Est alia temeritas Judaeorum, quasi fiducia bonas conscientise, judicium postulant justum, et imitantur sanctorum verba, dicentium ; ' Judica me, Domine, quando ego in innocentia mea ingressus sum.' " These hypo- crites affected to be disgusted with the wickedness of the world, and to be impatient for the promised reformation. The same sort of persons are describ- ed in Malachi as affecting to be scandalised at the impunity of the wicked, and even chiding the tardi*
ISA I AM.
ness of God's judgment ; as complaining that < every one that docth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them ;" and exclaiming " where is the God of judgment?" Mai. ii, 17. And the same affectation is very general among hypocrites of all ages.
Verse 3. — " you find pleasure." Read, with the Vulgate, ttBWl ; or with the LXX, Btttyfrft — " you enjoy your pleasure, or pleasures."
— "your labours;" rather "grievances." The grievances meant are usurious bargains, enforced in various ways, by exacting the payment of heavy in- terest in money, or labour instead of money. It deserves remark, that the Vulgate, with Symmachus and Theodotion, understood the word O^^y of the persons, the debtors : — " et omnes debitores vestros repetitis." And it seems probable that the LXX had set the example of this interpretation, for their version runs at present thus ; — xou Taurus rov; vvoyjioiovs vpcov vKovvGGirz. But vvroyjtoiov; ma}' be a corruption of Cko yotovg. The consent of these antient interpreters in this sense of the word carries with it much authority. But the form of the word makes some objection to this interpretation of it, and the epithet ^5 a much greater. For this epithet
CC4
408 ISAIAH.
is of great force, applied to the thing exacted ; of very little, applied to the persons, upon whom the exaction was made. For it is a great aggravation of a creditor's severity, to say that what he exacted, was the whole, the very last penny of an extravagant interest : whereas it is no dispraise of him at all to say, that his demands were made upon all his debt- ors. Houbigant, who takes the word E3&*JS2$ in the sense which these antient versions give it, seems to have felt this difficulty ; and he gets rid of it by ex- punging ?2 from the text, upon a supposition, which is plausible, that it was introduced by a corruption of the suffix M in D^n or D5W. For \tt fsn C»02fjj, he reads D^^yi Cftvsn. It is a great ob- jection to this conjecture, that the antient versions express both the suffix CO and the epithet *% — " omnes debitores vestros." Vulgate ; — Kuvrag rovg vTro-fcZigiovg vpuv, LXX. But perhaps, without any alteration, we may render,
You enjoy your pleasures, And exact the whole upon your debtors.
See Nehemiah, chap. v.
Verse 4. " To make your voice to be heard aloud." Vitringa's interpretation deserves attention: — "And to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye fast not at
ISAIAH. 409
this time, so as to cause your voice to be heard on high ;M i. e. in heaven. — " Non estis enim ita af- fecti, ut preces vestrae exaudiri mereantur."
Verse 6. — " the oppressed ;" rather " the broken."
— " the broken ;" in a mercantile sense, the bank- rupts. — " qui paupertate sunt fracti, quos afrlixit inopia," says St Jerome.
Verse 7. — " the poor that are cast out;" rather, " the poor that are reduced." CHYID, ' brought down,' from IT, See Barker in his Lexicon.
Verse 8. — " thine health j" rather, " thy pro- sperity," thy thriving.
— " and thy righteousness" — TJH1&. — H Per jus- titiam ecclesiae hie intellige jus ecclesiae paratum ex proctitis conditionibus foederis: quod jus, ubi adest, sternit paratque ecclesiaj viam ad obtinenda bona
foederis. Absit quicquam hie tribuamus mentis
ant justitiac hominis. Universum enim factum gra- tia? fundatum est in mera Dei gratis et justitia Mes-
sia? sed ex stipulatione, licet in gratia facta, nas-
citur jus; cujus effectum, salva Dei veritate, fallere nequit." Vitringa ad locum.
Verse 9. — " the putting forth of the finger." Houbigant conjectures that the word pJJ3 is lost out of the text after JPtf*.
410 ISAIAH.
If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke, Him that putteth forth the finger to iniquity, And speaketh vanity.
But, without any emendation, the passage is well rendered by Bishop Lowth :
The pointing of the finger, and the injurious speech.
Perhaps it might be better thus :
Him that pointeth the finger, and speaketh injurious speech,
— " protendere digitum c infami digito/ ut Persius loquitur, denotare viros probos, et eorum simplicitati illudere — loqni vanitatem fratrem otiosis ac teme- rariis dictis — objicere aliorum odio et invidiam" Vi- tringa ad locum.
Verse 10. " And if thou draw out thy soul -" ra~ ther, " And if thou impart of thine own subsistence, or sustenance."
Verse 11. — " make fat thy bones." — iC addet- que ossibus tuis alacritatem." The expression in the original is rather harsh than obscure, though Arch- bishop Seeker and Bishop Lowth think the verb re- quires emendation. Perhaps IHDXy, which is found in three MSS. (see Bishop Lowth), is to be preferred to THESy. With this alteration, without any change of the verb, the sense may be ' expediet [tibi] robur tnum ;' c shall give thee the free use of thy strength.'
ISAIAH. 411
yfa is properly to disengage, to free from restraint or incumbrance.
12 And of thee shall be built the antient ruins,
Thou shalt raise up foundations for many generations , And thou shalt be called a restorer of the broken wall, Of settlements of rest.
— " the antient ruins." — " ^dificare desolata a longo, stylo mystico nostri prophetae, est populos et gentes, alienatas a Dei cognitione et communi- one, imbuere notitia verse religionis ; vel corrupt;! religione usas ad veram perducere." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, 775, 2. I am mistaken if in this verse it is not intimated that the church of the Gentiles perfectly reformed shall be the instrument of the final conversion of the Jews.
— " of settlements ;" so I render rvov^ from the sense of the verb 2ro in the Chaldee dialect, ■ to dwell, settle.'
Verse 13. " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath," &c. See Neh. xiii, 15—22.
CHAP. LIX. This fifty-ninth chapter is closely connected with the preceding. That was closed with a promise of prosperity to the church, upon the condition of her
412 ISAIAH.
repentance and perfect reformation. This leads the prophet to vindicate the ways of God in suffering his church to be exposed to the scorn and oppres- sion of the adversaries of religion for so many ages previous to the season of the promised mercy. This is the subject of the first eight verses of this chapter, in which the prophet argues that God's apparent disregard of the complaints of his people, under the sufferings they were to endure, proceeded not from any want of power in him to give them redress, nor from any mutability in his purposes, but from the enormity of their own corruptions. The seven verses following the eighth, contain a pathetic confession in the person of the repenting rulers of the church. This introduces the promise of deliverance by the Messiah in person. He is to rescue his church from persecution, to spread the fear of the Lord from the west to the east, and at last to turn away transgres- sion from Jacob in the natural Israel. And the de- velopement and amplification of these promises, in a speech (or rather an ode) of congratulation, in which the prophet salutes Zion, make the whole sixtieth chapter.
Verse 2. — " his face." For EWs, read VOs, with
6
ISAIAH. 413
the LXX Alexandrine, Vulgate, Houbigant, and
Bishop Lowth.
4 No one calleth for justice,
And nothing is judged with truth.
— " they trust and bring forth"— For rnw
and Wl\ Houbigant would read, with the LXX and Vulgate, T&3 and Wtt, The latter correction is certainly necessary. But the word mDD, I think may be taken as a substantive ; or rather, as the in- finitive of the verb used for the noun substantive.
The genera] confidence is in vanity and idle speech, They have conceived mischief, and brought forth iniquity.
Vanity and idle speech may denote the sophisms of irreligious philosophy, and the quibbles of the scribes and Pharisees, and the later rabbis, in their exposi- tions of the Divine Law, or the worse quibbles of modern infidels.
Verse 5. — " and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper;" rather, u and that which is sitten upon is hatched a viper." ^ is properly to squeeze, or confine ; thence applied to eggs to * sit upon,' because eggs are sqeezed and confined by incuba- tion. Vitringa objects to this interpretation, that the viper is viviparous; but this objection is of little weight, since the allusion is not to the young of the
414 ISAIAH.
viper produced in the ordinary course of nature* but to young vipers preternaturally issuing from eggs of another species ; which eggs have been pre- viously mentioned as hatched, or at least produced from the body of the animal, in whichever sense the verb typ^ be taken.
Verses 5, 6. — M cockatrice eggs — spider's webs." — *6 Utrumque emblema eodem tendit, et clarissime ante oculos ponit, profana philosophemata, foetus cogitationum et meditationum animi, subtiliter et artificiose contexta ex varia cogitationum serie, sub- inde per modum longioris ratiocinationis ex hypo- thesibus assumptis deducta, et ad form am demon- strationis subtiliter composita, quae occultant pesti- lens quid, quod intus latet et incantos fallit.,> Vi- tringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 783, 2. An excellent descrip- tion of infidel argumentation. Read Collins, Boling- broke, Voltaire, Hume, Helvetius, Rousseau, Gib- bon, Priestley, Lindsay, Payne, and many others, and you will find an accomplishment, and yet per- haps not the whole accomplishment, of this text.
Verse 8. — " therein." For TO, read, writh the LXX, Vulgate, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, EJJO.
Verse 9. — " for brightness, but we walk in dark- ness j" rather, " in the midst of brightness we walk
ISAIAH. 415
in obscurity," For they had eyes, and yet they saw not; light came into the world, but they loved dark- ness rather than light.
— " we stumble," &c. Is not t\V& for 1)0*6 1
Like tlie owl, we stumble at noon-day ;
In the midst of rich viands,* we are like dead men.
— " like dead men," unable to use and enjoy the good things placed before us.
Verse 12. — "and our sins testify against lis;" rather, with Bishop Lowtb, " and our sins accuse
us."
Verse IS. This verse specifies the particulars of the sins generally acknowledged in the preceding. Houbigant's emendations seem quite unnecessary ; ^DJ is the infinitive of the verb JW, used as a noun, the inserted 1 being the formative of the infinitive. JJtffi and CTO are infinitives used also for nouns, though in these the formative 1 is omitted. A semi- colon or colon should be placed at the word J"HD5 and the verb TYl tacked to the following clause. And without any other emendation, than this trans- position of a stop, the whole verse may be thus ren- dered ;
* See Cocceius, voce ]nyv.
416 ISAIAH.
13 Apostacy and treachery towards Jehovah, A turning away from following our God, Deceiving speech and revolt :
Words of falsehood have been conceived and studied in the heart.
The " words of falsehood " I take to be the sophisms of philosophers and the quibbles of hypocrites on the side of scepticism, or for the support of super- stitious ceremonies in prejudice of true religion. Deceiving speech is the same thing.
Verse 15. « Yea, truth faileth ;" rather, " And truth is weeded out." *Hy, < to hoe."
— " maketh himself a prey." Here the verse should end.
Verse 17. — " for clothing." Expunge W^n, with Dr Jubb. See Bishop Lowth.
Verse 18. Read, with Bishop Lowth,
inn mpty tyn
He is Lord of retribution ;
The Lord of retribution will requite
Fury to his adversaries, &c
— " to the isles." This is a common denunciation of wrath against the unbelieving Jews and the im- penitent idolaters.
ISAIAH. 417
Verses 16 — 18. — " he saw — wondered — his arm — his righteousness — he put on — he put on — was clad — will requite*' — The unnamed subjects of all these propositions is the Messiah.
Verse 19. — " when the enemy shall come," &c. This passage is very difficult. None of the antient Versions, except perhaps Theodotion's, render "tt as a substantive, the subject of the verb N^, but an adjective agreeing with VO. Aquila, Symmachus, and the LXX, make HT1 the subject of the verb ND\ The Vulgate seems to predicate the coming of the unnamed subject of the preceding verses. They differ greatly in rendering the words tt HDDJ, or whatever were the words which in their copies closed the verse. The version of Symmachus and the LXX express a repetition of the verb KS\ We have a remaining vestige perhaps of this repeated verb in O, which otherwise is not at all expressed in the Greek of Symmachus or the LXX. Aquila's version expresses the pronoun, but as if he read it with the prefix ' instead of 3 • v?, not "O. All this considered, I am inclined to correct the passage thus:
rf? rvv: wh im
101 ma 'jo
VOL. II. D D
418 ISAIAH.
Surely he shall come as a river, straitened in its course ; The Spirit of Jehovah setteth up the standard for him. 20 Assuredly the Redeemer shall come —
— " he shall come as a river straitened in its course." The river straitened in its course, and ac- quiring force and velocity from its confinement, is an image of the suddenness and irresistible force of the Messiah's coming in the latter ages, when the reasons that have so long restrained the full display of his might shall no longer operate.
" The Spirit of Jehovah set up the standard for him" at the time of his first advent, in the preach- ing of John the Baptist, and in the miracles which accompanied the word after his ascension. And the standard will probably be set up again, in new mi- racles, at his second advent.
Verse 20. " And the Redeemer shall come to Zion," &c. St Paul read,
— the Redeemer shall come out of Zion,
And turn away apostacy from Jacob. And it is particularly to be remarked, that the Chal- dee paraphrase is agreeable to this reading.
K-YIAII. 4li
CHAP. LX.
In the form of an ode of congratulation, addressed to Sion, the prophet describes the finished prosperity of the church. A considerable correspondence may easily be discerned between some parts of the pro- phecy and the circumstances of the first promulga- tion of the gospel ; which was a light first rising on the Jews, and from them propagated to the Gentiles. But the images of the prophecy so far exceed any- thing that has yet taken place, that it is reasonable to think the accomplishment is reserved for the se- cond advent of our Lord. This even St Jerome is obliged to confess ; though from his great aversion to the reveries of the chiliasts of antiquity, he was very unwilling to admit any other restoration of the Jews than the conversion of them to Christianity. And to leave himself at liberty to oppose their hopes, while he refers the prophecy to the times of the second advent, he chooses to understand it as an al- legorical exhibition of the future state of the saints in heaven.
Verse 2. — " come to — kings to" — rather, " walk by — kings by."
— " thy rising;" rather, with Bishop Lowth, "tin
d d 2
420 ISAIAH.
sun-rising." — " im? nti est pro "V? mi 1»K tttf* Vitringa.
Ferse 4. — " shall be nursed at thy side." For fiJBNn, Houbigant and Bishop Lowth read, with the LXX and Chaldee, PtfWDH or HJKBW ; « shall be carried in arms." The reading is in some degree supported by two or three MSS. ; but the alteration of the text seems not necessary.
Verse 5. — " and shalt flow together ;" rather, " and shalt be overflowed;" u e. overcome with
joy-
— " thine heart shall fear and be enlarged ;" ra- ther, " thine heart shall beat and be enlarged." I imagine that "ins, when ^ is its subject, may de- note the accelerated beating of the heart from the sudden emotion of any other passion as well as fear. So in the Latin language : pavor and trepidare. — " exsultantiaque haurit corda pavor pulsans. " Geor. iii, 105. And — " trepidantia bello corda." lb. iv, 69 ; and — " trepidae inter se evenit." 73. — " Arbitror omnem ilium animi tumultum et a> stum, spe, metu, expectatione laudis studio, pudore subinde pectus vexante, a poeta per pavorem signi- ficari." Heyne upon the first passage. — " trepi- dantia bello corda, alacritate pugnandi, non timore.'1 Services.
ISAIAH. 421
— " the forces ;" rather, with Vitringa and Bishop Lowth, " the wealth."
Verse 7. — " with acceptance.'' Is not P^ ty, 1 sponte sua,* * of their own accord ?' See Bishop Lowth's note.
Verses 6, 7. Under the imagery of these two verses, the prophet describes, 1st, the conversion of all nations of the west and the east to the true reli- gion : 2r////, their attachment to the interests of reli- gion, which will be such that they will chearfully expend their wealth in its support ; in the mainten- ance of its churches, its schools, and its ministers : 3tio, — * hoc emblemate designari aio populos hocce
ad ecclesiam allaturos veras divitias, hoc est,
insignia dona divinae gratia? ; fidem puram, instar auri igne excoctam ; profundam humilitatem animi ;
illuminationem mentis zelum religionis ; sancti-
moniam ; ardens caritatis ac virtutis studium ; spem vivam ; fiduciale donum precum, instar suffitus Deo offerendarum ; eamque voluntatis lubentiam, ut se totos, instar sacrificiorum voluntariorum Deo ejus-
que gloriae consecrare parati sint Cameli, statura
proceri, et magna onera gestare sueti, sustinent em- blema excellentium qua dignitate qua facilitate ho- minum, qui donis hisce spiritualibus, quae recensui,
D d 3
122 ISAIAH.
et patientia laboris tolerantia egregie instructi es- sent, iisque ecclesiam ditarent ac veluti operirent, bonum fragrantemque fidei ac virtutum suarum odo- rem in earn illaturi ; et fortes ac validi fide, cum arietibus comparandi, et mansuetudine ovili pingues, verbi gratia, et albi velleris ex sanctimonia, ipsi se,
won expectato sacerdote alio, ultro ac lubenter
oblaturi, ad decus et ornamentum ecclesiae, in hos- tias spirituales, Deo gratas ac placentes igne spiritus ejus consumendus." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 808, 2.
Verse S. — " to tlieir windows ;" rather, " to their holes." The wooden boxes, with a narrow entrance to each, usually fixed against the sides of houses, for doves to make their nests in, are commonly call- ed pigeon-holes, and seem to be intended here.
— " Quinam illi sunt, &c. non videtur abs re in-
telligi Graecos, marisque accolas Asianos, et quic- quid ad occiduum clima est Christianas professions Jiominum sub imperio Othmanico gementium." Vi- tringa, vol. ii, p. 809, 1 .
Verse 9. <c Surely the isles shall wait for me $" ra- ther, <c Verily the isles are eagerly gathering to- gether unto me." See Gen. i, 9.
— " unto the name and to the Holy One j" ra-
..vUAli.
ther, " because of the name and because of the
Holy One" — Bishop Lowth.
Verse 10. — "and that their kings may be brought;'' rather, M and that their kings may come pompously attended." Yitringa and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 13. " The glory of Lebanon," &c. — cc In yEdem Dei dicitur inferri gloria Libani, hoc est ce- dri, turn quoque fraxinus, buxus, ta?da, pinus, et qua? alia? procerse ac durabiles et oleosa? arbores sunt; ubi viri, in majoribus regnis aut rebus publicis mundi, sapientia, doctrina, eloquio, dotibus aliis excellentes, ex unctione Spiritus Sancti illuminati ac servati a corruptione, dotes claritatem et eminen- tiam suam inferunt in domum Dei, hoc est, in ec- elesiam ; et quicquid in ipsis est ad earn ornandum certatim conferunt ; ut extra ecclesiam nihil in mundo emineat, omnis cminentia ei subjiciatur." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 812, 2.
Verse 15. — u I will make thee an eternal excel- lency," &c. Rather,
I will appoint thee to eternal exultation, [To] rejoicing for perpetual generations.
Verse 17. — " thine officers peace, and thine ex- actors righteousness." — u *PC^, exactores tuos. Hoec non licet interpretari de ecclesia* ministris, nisi
D D 4
Mb ISAIAH.
vis afferatur vocabulo B?*& Itaque non negandum hie praenuntiari Jerusalem res florentes olim futu- ras." Houbigant. But there is little weight in this criticism. — f* D^CMJ sunt in universum qui, jus habent aliquid a populo exigendi, sive ut magistra- te,, sive mandata sibi potestate averte hie rursus
oculos a statu civili, et reflecte ad ecclesiasticum ; et agnosces, sub hisce praefectis et exactoribus, epi- scopos, antistites, presbyteros ecclesiarum, quibus a Christo Jesu ej usque spiritu mandata est curatio in- spiciendi statum ecclesiae, et dispensatio officiorum3" &c. Vitringa ad locum,
CHAR LXI.
This chapter, with the first nine verses of the fol- lowing, contain another prophetic effusion, relating still to the same subject, universal redemption, the restoration of the Jews, and the full conversion of the Gentiles; but quite unconnected with the pre- ceding chapters, and entire in itself. In the first nine verses of this chapter Messiah is the speaker. In the two following the primitive Hebrew church returns thanks. In the first nine verses of the sixty- second chapter the Messiah speaks again ; and with the ninth verse this effusion ends.
ISAIAH. 425
Verse 1. Upon the authority of our Lord's quota- tion of this verse, as it is related by St Luke (iv, 1 8), the modern Hebrew text may be thus corrected : 1. Expunge the superfluous word tfW, 2. For EPtlps read P*#. 3. For OFrplfa, read PHyS. 4. For nip np3, read in one word mpnp3. 5. At the end of the 1st verse add this clause, RftMl DWT1 fifth. The first correction, beside the authority of the Evangelist, hath that of the LXX and of the Vul- gate ; the second and third that of the LXX ; the fourth that of the LXX and Vulgate.
The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me, for he hath anointed me ;
To publish glad tidings to the poor he hath sent me,
To bind up the wounded in heart,
To proclaim release to the captives,
And perfect opening of sight to the blind,
To set the broken at liberty.
Verse 3. " To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion." Some word seems to be wanting after the verb Dlttf. Houbigant and Bishop Lowth would insert pW. I should prefer PinDtf, ■ rejoicing;' or, instead of P^P\ to read TOCP. But perhaps the word CDVv^ niay have some sense requiring no ac- cusative after it. TON1? mc^>, " to make an ar- rangement for the mourners in Sion." The Lay*
426 ISAIAH.
man prefixes the first three verses of this chapter to the forty-ninth, but without a shadow of authority for the transposition.
Verse 7. This verse as it stands has been thought very obscure. Houbigant and Bishop Lowth follow the Sy riac. Remove the Soph Pasuk from "HOVin to !"^5, that the first four words of this verse may be united to the preceding, and render, And of their opulence ye shall make your boast, Instead of repeated shame and disgrace. They shall rejoice in their portion, Inasmuch as they shall inherit a double portion in their own
land, They shall have eternal joy. Verse 8. — " I hate robbery for burnt-offering ;" rather, " the spoil of iniquity."
— " and I will direct their work in truth ;" rather, " and I will ensure to them the reward of their work." To the same effect Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
yerse 9. — " among the people j" — " among the peoples," plural.
Verse 10. — " as a bridegroom decketh himself!," &c.
Like a bridegroom who is beautifully decked, And like a bride adorned with her jewels.
ISAIAH.
CHAP. LXII.
Verse 4. — " tliv land sluill be married." — u Sig- niflcat rfS possidere jure qualicunque, Bed sape ma- trimonii. Itaque Insus est inverto TpftH hoc versu et sequenti, quern Latina lingua non capit." Houbi- gant ad locum. ty^ properly predicates that kind of ownership which implies, besides simple property, care and protection on the part of the owner.
Verse 5. — " thy sons \n rather, with Bishop Lowth, a thy restorer."
Verse 10. Here a new effusion begins, which takes up the whole remaining part of the book. The general subject is still the same. The images are animated and sublime. The transitions sudden, but without confusion or disorder. The composition exquisitely artificial, and the style highly finished, though disfigured in many places by the errors of the transcribers.
The poem opens with a joyous proclamation of the Redeemer's approach to Sion, and an order to prepare the way for the Jews returning from their dispersion, a work in which the peoples are sum- moned to assist. This proclamation and these orders take up the remainder of this chapter. The parti-
428 ISAIAH.
culars of this great event seem studiously suppress* ed ; and the imagination of the prophet is carried forward, not into the midst, but to the end of things. In the sixty-third chapter a conqueror advances, coming from the field of battle in garments dyed with the blood of his slaughtered enemy. The pro- phet holds a conversation with the conqueror upon the subject of his exploits, which takes up the first six verses of the sixty-third chapter. Then follows a penitential confession and prayer in the person of the Jewish people in dispersion, which takes up the remainder of the sixty-third and the whole of the sixty-fourth chapter. In the two following chapters, God, answering this prayer, justifies his dealings with the Jewish people, promises their restoration, the establishment of the new7 economy, the final overthrow of the irreligious faction, in terms allud- ing to the future judgment.
CHAP. LXIII.
1 Who is this that approacheth all in scarlet, With garments stained from the vintage ? This that is glorious in his apparel, Bearing down all before him in the greatness of his strength ?
— " Bearing down all before him" — fijft>, ' pro-
ISAIAH. 429
sternens.' See Parkhurst's Lexicon, ttf^ iv. ; and Blaney's note on Jer. xlviii, 12*
No mention of Edom or Bozrah.
— tt I that speak in righteousness," HJHlfc 131D, read, with Bishop Lowth, npw WDTI. « I w]io publish righteousness."
Verse 3. — " I will tread trample shall be
sprinkled 1 will stain." All these futures should
be preterites. See Houbigant and Bishop Lowth. For inSwK, read, with Bishop Lowth, ViSk:k.
Verse 6. — " I will tread — and make — I will bring down." These futures again should be preterites.
Verse 8. " For he said children that will not
lie." — " ' Et dixit/ idem hie valet quod c et cogi-
tavit' Cogitatio est hoyoc animi ; vide Ps. xcv, 10.
Quid, itaque inquis ? Fuitne Deus adeo futuri
ignarus ut nesciverit Judicos liberatos sibi non pra>
stituros fidem ? Repono absurde dici Deum nesci-
visse subest igitur locutioni figura fictionis meta- phorical ab homine desumptse, qua humana? affecti- ones et accidentia d^uTO'7ru0ajg de Deo aflirmantur. Deus hie cogitasse dicitur qua? ex natura rei sequi debebant. Omnis enim cogitatio recta ad naturalia
rerum attributa et sequelas conformanda est Ergo
id cogitasse Deus dicitur quod naturam rei conseqiu
4S0 ISAIAH.
debuisset — ^Ut adeo hie loquendi modus directe tendat ad Judaeum populum validissime convince!)- dum summae pravitatis ac plane in exspectatae cor- ruptionis suae." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii,p. 859, 2. 860, 1. Verse 9. " In all their affliction he was afflicted.,, Our translators have followed the Keri ^, instead of the Cetib &\ Bishop Lowth, in the interpretation of the passage, follows the LXX. Houbigant, fol- lowing the Cetib (which I doubt not is the true reading), renders the beginning of this verse thus : —" In all their straits he was not strait [in good- ness]." i — " In omnibus angustiis ipsorum non fuit angusta bonitate." See his note in justification of this rendering. This play upon a word is certainly much in the prophetic style. I prefer this interpret- ation of Houbigant's to that of the LXX and Bishop Lowth, not only because it requires no alteration of the text, but because I much doubt whether the " angel of the presence'' ever signifies any other than Jehovah himself in the second Person of the Trinity. Perhaps however the words, according to the divi- sion of the LXX, might bear this rendering,
And he became their Saviour in all their distress. No delegate—but the Angel of his Presence saved them. In his love and in his mercy he it was that redeemed them.
1
ISAIAH. 43)
This seems the best rendering of all.
— " he it was," i. c. the person last mentioned, the Angei of the presence.
— u and he bare them ;" rather, " and he took them up upon his shoulders."
Verse 10. — " and lie fought against them ;" ra- ther, " he it was that fought against them." — " be it was," i. e. still the Angel of the presence.
Verse 11. I would render this 11th verse thus;
But [or, with Bishop Stock, " Still"] lie remembered the
days of old — Moses ! his people ! How he brought them up from the sea. The shepherd of his flock ! How he put his Holy Spirit within him. 12 Making his glorious arm, &c.
Verse 13. — "the deep;" rather, "the raging
waves."
— "in the wilderness;" rather, " in the open plain."
Verse 14. " Spiritus Domini, ut armentis, quae in vallem descenderunt ita cis fecit quietem." Houbi- gant.
— " so didst thou lead." — f* so," in the manner described from the beginning of the 11th verse. This is a general close of the recital of former mer-
432 ISAIAH.
cies. See the Layman's note on this passage from
Harmer.
16 Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer ! From everlasting is thy name.
Verse 18. For OJJ, read, with the LXX and Bishop Lowth, *tf1. " Let them but a short time inherit thy holy mountain, our enemies who have trodden down thy sanctuary."
May not the verb 1ETV» be used neuterally, that the passage, without any alteration, might be thus rendered ?
For a short time they held possession, thy holy people, Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Thus the short time here is opposed to the long in the following verse. — " Instituta enim compara- tione temporis* quo populus Judaeus ut liber populus totam Cananaeam sibi subjectam habuit (quippe ter- rain, duce Josua occupatam, fere usque ad Davidis tempora variis locis mixtim cum antiquis possessori- bus coluit, et in ea a vicinis gentibus saspius oppres- sus fuit, exilio Babylonico ex terra expellendus : rursus post exilium, dum pars solummodo exulum in terram rediit, pars ipsius terrae media a Samaritanis sive Cuthaeis, pars alia ab Idumaeis occupata est : cum vero Assamonaei gentem difficillimo opere tan-
ISAIAH. i I
tlem vindicassent in libertatem et haereditariam pos- sessionem patrum ; illis tamen inter se dissidentibus et de regno decertantibus, termini possessionis per Pompeium rursus accisi sunt, et Judaei permisceri cceperant Romanis, usque quo respublica tota rursus ab iis eversa est) instituta, inquam, hujus temporis comparatione cum diuturno hoc pncsenti exilio— rectc dicunt supplices, se terrain illani, sibi in haere- ditatem promissam, ad exiguum tantum possedisse." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, p. 873, 2.
19 " We have long been as those whom thou hast not ruled. Who have not been called by thy name."
Bishop Lowtli.
CHAP. LXIV.
Verse 4. — " seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared." — " Per ea quae nemo audivit, aut vidit, a Deo parata expectantibus ipsum, intellige sis magnam salutem sub Messia revelandam, cum mirabili illius dispensatione, et admirandis pha?no- menis, per saecula regni Messiae decursaris, et his tantum, qui spiritual] ingenio pnediti sunt, vere ef TrgwypaTiKcog percipiendis. GEconomia nova tota con- stat paradoxis. Quicquid in ea vides, quicquid aiulis. est mirabile, sapiential carnali adversum, ut ver. 9, VOL. IT. E i;
434 ISAIAH.
Apparitio Filii Dei in statu humilitatis ; administra- tio evangelii per ipsum facta, ejusque accidentia; vrotfypara ejus probrosissima, resurrectio et ascensio in coelos ; forma regni ab ipso instituta, spiritualis ; bona regni, spiritualia; ministri regni promovendi, nulla sapientia mundana instructi, nulla auctoritate eximii ; donatio Spiritus Sancti ; electio gentium ; et rejectio majoris et spectabilioris partis populi Ju- dasi; judicia tremenda in hunc populum, et Roma- num imperium ; et universa regni hujus administra- te, per multa ssecula decursura inter varias illius vicissitudines status et afflictiones, tandem termi- nanda in victoria, quam Dominus Jesus de omnibus hostibus suis reportaret, Judaeorumque et Gentium natione optatissima in fide ejusdem Domini et Christi ; quae clausa erant arcanis decretorum divi- norum. Hasc primo, oculus carnalis nunquam vide- rat ; auris corporalis nunquam audiverat. Nunquam enim ante hoc tempus extiterant. Secundo, nulla cogitatione, nulla ingenii astutia, absque revelatione prascognosci aut percipi poterant. Tertio, revelata etiam a prophetis, nee plane percepta, nee credita erant. Quarto, etiam postquam manifestatio regni Dei facta esset, a nemine intelligi, percipi, ac dig- nosci potuerunt, nisi ab hominibus gratia Spiritii-
ISAIAH.
Sancti illuminatis. Carnalia quotquot erant ingi ad banc mirahilcni dispensationem divjaae gratis
stupuerunt. Hie summus sensus est sentential." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, 878, 2.
— " * prater te qua' facturus est/ pro * quae fac- turus es/ per enallagen persona? ubique in hoc libro obviam." Vitringa, vol. ii, S79, 1.
Verse 5. This verse some have thought unintel- ligible as it stands, and unquestionably corrupt, (see Bishop Lowth), and various emendations have been proposed. But without the change of a single letter, I would place the word "W3V0 immediately after tw, and put a colon at p"^\ and another at TTO*; thus,
rooRp nnn p ijNPvn oViy aro Nunn
Thou wilt meet (t. r. tbou wilt be familiar with) him who re-
joiceth in thy ways, ' And worketh righteousness : they shall remember thee. Behold, thou hast been wroth, Because we tripped in them of old, and looked averse.
— " tripped," the literal sens.1 of the word N^n.
— " in them," viz. in thy paths.
— M and looked averse." )WJ\ " had our eyes
E E 2
436 ISAIAH.
turned away," from fiJW used neuterally, in HophaL Some MSS. give JTJJW*. I confess this use of the verb as a neutral is rare, and the insertion of 1 be- tween the formative of the person and the first radi- cal is irregular. The best account I can give of it is, that this verb MjJttf often takes the form of JW.
Verse 6. " But we are alt" — rather, " Therefore we are all" —
— " as an unclean thing;" rather, u as one un- clean," i. e. as a leper. — u Leprosi spirituales sunt
excommunicati a Deo et ecclesia sentis leprosos
figuram verissimam sustinere Judaeorum, in incredu- litate et errore capitali obstinatorum, succumbert- tium tristi Dei judicio, eciqne de causa exclusorum commercio Dei et Sanctorum, et hanc notam Divini judicii per orbem circumgerentium." Vitringa, voh ii, 882, 2.
— " as filthy rags;" properly, " a menstruous rag," which is therefore called a rag of testimonies, as at- testing and notifying the disease. Or perhaps the phrase may more especially denote the linen cloths, which after the wedding night afforded legal evi- dence of the bride's virginity. So St Jerome seems to have understood it.
SAIAH. L3T
CHAP. LXV.
Verse l. " I am sought of them that asked not foi me ;" rather, " I have given oracular advice to them that consulted me not." The Niphil of BHP1 signifies actively to give oracular answers, as the verb in Kal signifies to consult the oracle.
Verse 4. — " and lodge in the monuments %** ra- ther, " in the consecrated precincts.' ' p'HttiD, i. e.
— u in their vessels." For DH^S, read EtfWM, See Bishop Lowth.
Verses 3, 4. It may seem extraordinary that idol- atrous rites should be mentioned among the crimes of the Jewish nation which occasioned their rejec- tion, since they were not generally addicted to idol- atry at the time when our Lord appeared among tliem. — M Ilespondeo primo (says Vitringa) Jesaiam omnes transgressiones et rebelliones gentis Judaeae complexe sumptas respici velle, ut causam extremi illius et gravissimi judicii, quod Deus tandem, in die
salutis, in hunc populum executus est sed ecsta-
ticum et a spiritu validissime affectum, modo hoc, modo illud genus peccati ac superstitionis, quod ipso illo tempore ob oculos ponebatur, arripuisse, ut illius
E £ 3
438 ISAIAH.
fceditatem hac occasion e detegeret, et populum de-
fectorem ab eo abduceret. Quod autem speciem
illam criminum, quse versabatur circa superstition em atque idololatriam antiquam, saepius in medium pro- ferat, ratio est planissima ; quod conciones suas, et propheticas quoque, quantum pote voluerit accom- modare ad usum ecclesiae Judieas sui, et sequuturi,
temporis. Secundo, — Vates hie non tantum in-
cedit per plures peccati species, quse, per articulos temporum hanc gentem maxime polluerent, et com- plementum suum acciperent in delicto omnium gra- vissimo repulsi regni Dei ; verum ipsum quoque il- lud turpissimum fiagitium circa religionem commis- sum, in Messia rejecto, contempto, illuso, ejusque, ac ministrorum ipsius, sanguine effuso, quod riagi- tium gentem contaminatissimam et fcedissimam
reddidit coram Deo, proponit sub figura metaphorica ejusmodi superstitionum detestabilium, quge cultores maxime, secundum ritum legalem polluebant.,, Vi- tringa in Is. vol. ii, 891, 2 j 892, 1.
Verse 5. " Which say — -thou." — " Cum hie
ratio detur electarum Gentium, reprobata majore parte populi Judaei j spiritus postquam recensuisset
fcedissima crimina et turpem circa Syriaca tem-
pora apostasiam a Deo : mox introducit pessimum
ISAIAH. 4-39
♦•onus hypocritarum, qui circa tempus manifestandi regii Dei prae Be torrent cum fastu singularem sane- timouiam puritatoinquc legalem, co usque ut alios, eosque voriorcs Dei cultores, a communione sua sc pararent — et imaginaria justitia operum misci, puri- tatisque legal i fidentes, regnum Dei repellerent." Vitringa, vol. ii, 897, 1.
Verse 6. Expunge the full stop at the end of this verse ; and in the following verse, for D^rGiy and 02WOK, read, with the LXX, Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth, OPiVOiy and BXmM.
I will even requite, in their bosom, their iniquities, And the iniquities of their fathers together.
Verse 8. — " As the new wine/' &c.
As when a good grape is found in the unripened cluster, It is said, &c.
See Houbigant.
— u for my servant's sake, that I may not destroy
them all j" rather, u for the sake of my servant [the
Messiah] not to destroy the whole." Verse 9. " And" — rather " But" — Verse 11. — " for that troop — unto that number;"
rather, " for Gad unto Meni," proper names of
heathen deities : Gad, the Sun j Meni, the Moon j
according to Vitriuga.
E E l
HO ISAIAH.
Herodotus thus describes the table of the Sun, in Ethiopia, south of Egypt : — h h rgwttZp rov 'Hhiov Toirifo rig hey&roci shut. Asi^m lart h r&> Trgoccffruw, Iwi- irhMg xotuv \$Qw nuvrM ruv rBrgwrohw eg rov rag \hiv vvarug eirirrtfovovrag rtfawt ra Kgiu. rovg ev rihii exewrovg lovrug rcov ucrcov, rug he qpegotg humvuGdoii vrgoGiovrto rov fiovXopmis' (pawl he rovg eiriyju^iovg reevra, rqv yr,v cevrqv umfodovoti itcacrore. Thalia, 18. Vitringa seems to think a similar custom might prevail among other nations of the east.
—"furnish the drink-offering;" rather, " the mixed drink." — " Est autem in cunctis urbibus, et maxime in iEgypto et in Alexandria, idololatriae vetus consuetudo, ut ultimo die anni et mensis eo- rum qui extremus est, ponant mensam refertam varii generis epulis, et poculum mulso mixtum ; vel prae- teriti anni, vel futuri, fertilitatem auspicantes. Hoc autem faciebant et Israelite, omnium simulacrorum portenta venerantes." Hieron. ad locum.
For the import of the names "^ and ^D, see Park- hurst and Bates.
Verses 13 — 15. " Nihil tarn obvium est, quam ut haec intelligantur de ultima clade Judaeorum, cum undecies centena millia hominum, urbe Jerusalem clausa, fame perierunt, Christianis Judaeis, qui Pel-
ISAIAH. Hi
lam se receperant, nihil tale patientibus. Nam versu
15 notatur tempus cum servi Dei in genere, sive
omnes, alio nomine erunt appellandi ; quod tempus non aliud esse potest, quam in quo servi Dei nomi- nati sunt, non jam Jiukei sed Christiani." Houbi- jrant ad locum-
Verse 15. " And ye shall leave your name as a curse unto my chosen j" literally, " And ye shall leave alone your name to be a loathsome thing to my chosen." — " leave alone," r. e. lay aside, drop it. You yourselves shall become ashamed of your national name ; and the rest of mankind, the faithful especially, will hold it in abhorrence and disgust. This has actually been the case with the Jewish name ever since their dispersion, though the time will come when it will again become honour- able among the servants of God.
Verse 16. " That he," &c. ; rather, " He," with- out That ; for this is a sentence by itself.
— " the God of truth \9% i. e. in Jesus Christ, who is the God of AMEN: 1st, As he, in union with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is very God, in op- position to idols : 2(ity, By the truth of his doctrine, which he witnessed with his blood : 3dly, Because whatever in the law was typical, sbadowy, carnal,
U2 ISAIAH.
temporal, in him and in his gospel, is reality, sub- stance, spiritual, eternal : 4thly, Because in him and by him were verified all the promises of the prophets. See Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, 910, 2.
— " troubles;" rather, with Houbigant and Bishop Lowth, " provocations." But I think a full stop should be placed at the last jEK, for there the threat- enings end ; and with this line a new subject opens, the general mercy under the Christian dispensation.
Verily the former provocations are forgotten ; Verily they are hidden from my eyes. For behold, &c.
Verse 19. — " Quicunque haec, quae sequuntur us- que ad finem capitis, attente legent, facile videbunt ultima Christianas religionis tempora notari, quomo- do antea notata sunt ecclesise nascentis prima in- cunabula. Mos est prophetarum nectere earundem rerum prima tempora cum temporibus extremis." Houbigant acl locum.
Verse 20. — " an infant of days," a short-lived child.
— <c for the child shall die," &c.
" For he that dieth at an hundred years shall die a boy,
And the sinner that dieth at an hundred years shall be
deemed accursed."
Bishop Lowth.
ISAIAH.
Veru 22. — " shall enjoy;" — " shall wear out,'* Bishop Lowth.
Verse 23. — " nor bring forth for trouble."
" Nor generate a short- lived race."
Bishop Lowth. See Iii.n note
Verse 2.5. — " and dust." — " but dust." The curse shall remain upon the serpent.
CHAP. LXVI.
In the preceding chapter the Jews are taxed with the idolatrous practices to which they were addicted before the Babylonian captivity. In this their hypo- crisy in later times is the principal topic of accusa- tion. This is reproved in terms which seem to al- lude to the abrogation of the Mosaic ritual. And the promises which follow, of the call of the Gentiles and the final conversion of the Jews, are conveved in terms which clearly imply an appointment of a new priesthood.
Verse 1. — "Where is the house," &c. ; rather, 11 What is this house which ye are building tor me, and what place is this for my rest?" Nearly to the same effect Yitringa and the Layman.
Verse 2, — " and all those things have been."
444 ISAIAH.
Read, with the LXX, Houbigant, Bishop Lowth, and the Layman, rh* S iS IWj.
And all these things are mine.
Verse 3. — " is as if" — Expunge these terms of comparison in every part of this verse, which are not found in the original, and marr the sense. He that killeth an ox, murdereth a man, &c.
See Houbigant and Bishop Lowth.
Verse 5. — " ye that tremble at his word." Those few among the Jews who received our Lord.
i — <c Your brethren"— Your unbelieving country- men pretend that their persecution of you proceeds from a zeal for my honour, and they challenge you to obtain a display of my powers in your behalf, if you are indeed my servants. " Let him deliver him now if he would have him," was their language when our Saviour hung upon the cross.
Verse 8. — " Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ?" rather, with Bishop Lowth,
" Is a country brought forth in one day ? "
9 " Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith Jehovah ? Shall I, who beget, restrain the birth, saith thy God ? w
Bishop Lowth.
And to the same effect Vitringa,
Verse 11. — " with the abundance of her glory.55
ISAIAH. U5
Bishop Lowth would read, " with tlie stores of her plenty." If any emendation is necessary, I should propose *WDD, which has some support from MSS., and gives a good sense ; — " from the storehouses of her wealth." But the text may be right as it stands. — "with the bustle of her wealth." See Parkhurst.
Verse 16. The LXX seem to have had a different leading of this verse, viz.
ntpa 75 HK OTD1 For by the fire of Jehovah the earth shall suffer her sentence, And by his sword all flesh.
Verse 17. — " behind one tree in the midst, eat- ing swine's flesh."
" after the rites of Achad,
In the midst of those who eat swines flesh," &x.
Bishop Lowth. See the Bishop's learned note.
— " Hoc versu, Pharisacorum et sequacium, vana justitiae legalis opinione turgentium, hypocrisis per- stringitur ; innuiturque, eos eodem loco et pretio apud Deum esse, quo profani illi et impuri Israelita?, qui temporibus idololatricis, aetate prophetae, sese ad Fthnicorum more5? et ritus plane conformabant.,'
4-46
\ ISAIAH.
Ludovicus Cappellus. — " Perite et Sedkoytzug !
Pharisaei, summara religionis suse constituentes
in purificationibus et lustration ibus externis ; et hoc nomine sectam facientes ; intus pleni rapina, intem- perantia, et omni immunditie ; iidemque repulsa jus- titia Dei evangelio oblata, spem fundantes in justitia operum, erant fifo\vypu coram Deo ; eorumque haec superstitio, eodem loco apud Deum habebatur, quo Syro-Macedonum et Phcenicum, qui lustrationibus et februis in lucis, Heliopolitano aut Antiocheno,
vacabant. Herodiadae et Sadducasi luxui va-
cantes ac libidini carnis, et praestantissimam religio- nem, aspectu carnalem, sensu spiritualem per hypo- crisin convertentes, in usus mere carnales ; interim ipsi, perinde ac Pharisagi, disciplinam evangelii re- spuentes, et sanguinis Christi Jesu ac Sanctorum, sitientes, aeque polluti censebantur apud Deum, ac qui porcina carne, reptilibus et muribus vescuntur." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, 943, 1 & 2.
Verse 18. For HKD, read K2.
For because of their deeds and their devices, I come, To gather, &c.
But see Bishop Stock.
— " and see my glory." — " Gloria Jehovae, quid ex stylo prophetae nostri commodius significet, quam
ISAIAH. 447
gloriam Jehovae patefactam in glorioso ministerio.
foederis novi, declaratam verbo evangelii ? Evan-
gelium nobis conspiciendam exhibet omnem Dei perfectionem ; virtutem, sapientiam, bonitatem, gra- tiam, miserationes ; omnem ejus potentiam, etjusti- tiam ; omnem ejus omnisufficientiam, opes, divitias; quicquid in ipso amabile, quicquid venerandum est; et in universum omnem Dei excellentiam et gloriam il facie Christi Jesu." Vitringa in Is. vol. ii, 946, 2; 947, 1.
Verse 19. " And I will set a sign among them ;" rather, " And I will set a mark upon them."
M Hoc dicitur ad exemplar ejus signi, quod posu- erat Deus super Cain, turn ne eum homines interfi- cerent, turn etiam ut ab ejus societate removerentur. JucUei agnoscuntur id quod sunt, ubicunque in orbe degunt, et gloriam Dei, quanquam non sponte sua; praedicant apud gentes." Houbigant ad locum. But yet I think " the escaped, sent to the Gentiles," are the first preachers of Christianity.
— " and I will send;" rather, " but I will send/'
Verse 20. " And they" the Gentiles "shall bring your brethren" the Jews, not only into the church, but back to the Holy Land, which they shall literal- ly repossess. — " quippe hoc vult id quod dicitu
4*8 ISAIAH.
de equis, curribus, lecticis ac mulis. Quod quidem nihil significant, se nihil aliud praediceretur, quam Judseos in ecclesiam Christianam intraturos, cum introitus talis fit per fidem, non per itinera, vel iti- nerum commoditates.'* Houbigant ad locum.
— " upon swift beasts ;*' rather, " in panniers.** I rather think that covered carriages, for women of condition, are denoted by the word 0*0¥ ; and pan- niers, thrown across a camel's back, for the convey- ance of women of the inferior ranks, by rwWb. The word CM¥ certainly signifies a carriage drawn, not carried, by beasts ; Num. vii, 3. For the sense given to the other word fiTO*D, see Parkhurst, *0. SD*QV is well enough rendered by * litters* in the public translation : • pileatis,' Vitringa.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME,
BS1151.H818v.2
Biblical criticism on the first fourteen
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library
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,
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