10. — ye rulers of Sodom; — ye people of Gomorrah.] The incidental mention of these places in the preceding verse suggested to the Prophet this spirited address to the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. Bp. Lowth 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices &c.] Those hypocritical services which had no godliness, no sincerity, no true love of God in them, were not the services which God required, (ver. 12,) or took delight in. God would not accept of vain compliments, nor be bribed with pretended gifts, offered only to excuse from duty, to compound for sin, and to palliate unjust dealing. Dr. Waterland. 15. — I will hide mine eyes from you: — I will not hear:] What is the reason of all this? Because they were defective in the moral duties of religion; as it follows, "your hands are full of blood," &c. No instituted service, no positive part of religion whatsoever, was ever acceptable, when moral duties were neglected: nay, so far from this are they, that God rejects them with abhorrence and disdain. We see from this what was acceptable to God for itself and its own sake in the Jewish religion: and under the Gospel our Saviour prefers a moral duty before any gift, Matt. v. 23, 24. Abp. Tillotson. What God says here to the Jews for their over-multiplied fasts, and uncommanded sacrifices, He will say to all, who do any thing that agrees not with his laws, however specious and plausible, however good and acceptable it may seem to them. God "cannot in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 16. Wash you, make you clean:] This refers to the preceding verse, "your hands are full of blood," and alludes to the legal washings commanded on several occasions. Bp. Lowth. The pardon of sin upon repentance is expressed in Scripture by cleansing and purifying, to denote that the outward cleansing of the flesh was designed to put men in mind of the inward purification from sin and unrighteousness. Dr. Jenkin. 16, 17. — cease to do evil; Learn to do well:] The order in which these words are placed was evidently designed to teach us that the foundation of acting right is the avoiding of every thing wrong: several parts of Scripture lay down the same rule in almost the same terms, (see Amos v. 15, and places there quoted in the margin,) and many express or imply the same doctrine. Scarce any words are strong enough to express how much good bare cessation from doing evil would produce, and how great is the importance of the plain humble duty of an inoffensive life; in proportion as we root out hurtful inclinations, right ones will not fail to shoot up, and bring forth fruit, if in less quantity, yet such as will be accepted, but probably in plenty. Abp. Secker. 21. How is the faithful city become an harlot!] See the note on Exod. xxxiv. 16. 22. Thy silver is become dross.] Those good graces, which thou didst once profess to have, are now utterly corrupted and depraved; thine obedience, which was once sincere and pure, is now adulterated with abominable wickedness. Bp. Hall. — thy wine mixed with water:] An image used for the adulteration of wine, with more propriety than may Before CHRIST about 760. e Prov. 1. 23. Jer. 14. 12. Mic. 3. 4. multiply prayer. b Chap. 59. 3. 24. — Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries.] See the notes on Gen. vi. 6. 25. — take away all thy tin.] A very small quantity of tin makes silver extremely brittle, and it is difficult to separate these two metals; this gives peculiar force to the expression of the Prophet in this passage, as he had employed an allusion to silver at ver. 22. Parkhurst. 26. — I will restore thy judges as at the first, &c.] This relates, at least in its primary sense, to the restoration of the Jews after the seventy years of captivity. The promise contained in the latter part of this verse, taken in its full extent, relates to more flourishing times of the Church than the world has yet seen. W. Lowth. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks &c.] The sacrificing in groves and shady places was an ancient rite of idolatry. This kind of worship is expressly forbidden in the law, Deut. xii. 2, 3; xvi. 21: and yet prevailed so much in the times of idolatrous kings, that the practice was not quite laid aside under religious princes. See 1 Kings xv. 14; xxii. 43. W. Lowth. 30. — as a garden that hath no water.] To enter into the energy of this comparison, we must consider, that in the hotter parts of the Eastern countries, a constant supply of water is necessary for the cultivation and even to the existence of a garden. There are none therefore without such a certain supply, either from some neighbouring river, or reservoirs collected from springs, or filled with rain-water in the proper season. The im- mense works made by the ancient kings of Egypt for receiving the waters of the Nile, when it overflowed, for such uses, are well known: Solomon mentions his own works of the kind, Eccles. ii. 5, 6. All the gardens of Aleppo, according to Dr. Russell, are on the banks of the river that runs by that city, or on the sides of the rill that supplies their aqueduct; and Maundrell informs us, that at Damascus there is not a garden that has not a fine quick stream running through it. Harmer, Bp. Lowth. 31. — and the maker of it] The marginal reading, "and his work," expresses the sense better, namely, that the idolaters and their devices shall perish together, however supported by secular power, or recommended by worldly grandeur. W. Lowth. The same sense is conveyed by understanding the text in the following manner: And that mighty idol, whereto ye trust, shall be as tow; and the maker and worshipper of that idol shall be as a spark; and both of them shall burn together with unquenchable fire. Bp. Hall. Chap. II. The prophecy, contained in the second, third, and fourth chapters, makes one continued discourse. The first five verses of this chapter foretel the kingdom of Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their admission into the Church. From the sixth verse to the end is foretold the punishment of the unbelieving Jews for their idolatrous practices, their confidence in their own strength, and distrust of God's protection; and moreover the destruction of idolatry in consequence of the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. The whole of the third chapter, with the first verse of the fourth, is a prophecy of the calamities of the Babylonian invasion and captivity; with a particular amplification of the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Zion. Chap. IV. 2—6, promises to the remnant, which shall have escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour and protection of God. This prophecy was probably delivered in the time of Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah. Bp. Lowth. Ver. 1. The word that Isaiah—saw] That is, the vision. W. Lowth. 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days.] "The last days" signify in the Prophets, the times of the Messiah. This phrase by no means necessarily imports the speedy end of this material world; but only that, how long soever God shall suffer it to endure, He hath no subsequent dispensation in reserve; but hath fixed the Christian for that doctrine, and service, and trial, by which mankind are to express their obedience to Him, so long as there shall continue to be any state of discipline or obedience at all. W. Lowth, Dean Stanhope. —the mountain of the Lord's house &c.] From the situation of the Jewish temple on mount Moriah, a mountain is made to stand for the Christian Church: of the exaltation of which, and its wonderful prosperity and enlargement, this passage is a prophetic promise. Bp. Hurd, Jos. Mede. As we see the glorious characters here set forth in part brought to pass long ago, by the enlarging of the Messiah's dominion over the many and distant countries where his doctrine hath been received; so have we reason to embrace those gradual advances of his kingdom in men's hearts, as so many earnest and undoubted pledges of that absolute and unbounded conquest, which He shall make over ignorance and erour, when the season of exerting his grace more plentifully shall come, and effectually prepare, as well as proclaim, the nearer approaches of his kingdom of glory. Dean Stanhope. 3. — Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.] That is, Let us join ourselves to the Christian Church. The phrase alludes to the Jews going up in companies to Jerusalem at the three solemn feasts of the year. W. Lowth. 4. — nation shall not lift up sword against nation, &c.] Throughout the Prophets, the time of the Messiah is represented as a time of universal peace and godliness, in which the natures of men should be changed, and all malice and ill-nature rooted out. He Himself is called "the Prince of Peace," chap. ix. 6. The spiritual sense implies Christ's being the Great Peace-maker; who should reconcile both Jews and Gentiles to God, and to each other. But if we look upon this and the like prophecies, as foretelling the outward peacefulness of the kingdom or Church of Christ, they seem to relate to some future flourishing state of the Church, 6. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people—because &c.] This might more clearly be translated, "For this reason Thou hast forsaken thy people, because" &c. W. Lowth. —they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers &c.] Chaldea and Syria, situated to the east of Judea, were famous for pretenders to divination, &c. (see chap. xlvii. 13; Numb. xxiii. 7;) as were the Philistines, who lay to the west, 1 Sam. vi. 2. The Jews invited and encouraged these. W. Lowth. Now the consulting of wizards and diviners, as was practised by the nations of Canaan, paving any regard to those pretenders to Divine knowledge, or suffering such to live among them, is prohibited, Deut. xviii. 10—14; as also filling the land with horses, gold, and silver, (ver. 7,) is in direct contradiction to God's command in the law, Deut. xvii. 16, 17. Dr. Berriman, Bp. Lowth. God there forbids his people the use of horses and chariots, Deut. xx. 1. 4; He promises that He will be to them instead. This law, therefore, was to be a standing trial of prince and people, whether they had confidence in God their Deliverer. He had taken the defence of Israel upon Himself, and, whenever the people took it out of his hands, they were sure to be undone. There was no moral evil in having a country full of horses, but the kings of Israel were exalted to the throne on condition that they should renounce such assistance, and depend on God for success in the day of battle. Joshua, the Judges, and David, observed this law; and Solomon, for a time; but in his reign things quickly changed; and his successors followed his example. Bp. Sherlock. See the notes on Deut. xvii. 16; Josh. vi. 6; 1 Kings x. 24; 2 Kings xxiii. 29. 9. —forgive them not. That is, Thou wilt not forgive them. The imperative is here taken for the future. See the like instances, chap. vi. 10; xxiii. 16; Zech. xiii. 7. God's judgments are sometimes foretold as imprecations: many of those in the Psalms may be understood as so many predictions. W. Lowth. See notes at Ps. v. 10; Ps. cix. 10. Enter into the rock, &c.] The remainder of the chapter is a prediction of some general judgment, end- Before CHRIST about 760. Or, more than the east. Or, abound with the children, &c. The prophet forewarneth of the terrible day of the Lord. Before CHRIST about 760. b Chap. 5.15. thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 13. — upon all the cedars of Lebanon.] In many other places cedars of Libanus, and oaks of Bashan, are used, in the way of metaphor and allegory, for kings, princes, potentates; mountains and lofty hills, for kingdoms, states, cities; towers and fortresses, for defenders and protectors, whether by strength or counrel; ships of Tarshish, and works of art and invention employed in adorning them, for merchants, men enriched by commerce and abounding in all the luxuries and elegances of life, such as those of Tyre and Sidon. Bp. Lowth. For ships of Tarshish, see notes at 1 Kings x. 22; xxii. 48. 18. — the idols he shall utterly abolish.] The captivity of the Jews had that good effect, that they scarce ever afterwards relapsed into idolatry; this prophecy was fulfilled in the Gentiles also upon their conversion to Christianity. Christianity is the reverse and direct opposite to idolatry; and we may observe, that whenever the Prophets speak of an entire reformation in the state of the Church, they mention the utter extirpation of idolatry out of it, as if that were one of the last enemies of God and his truth, that was to be destroyed, (see chap. xxvii. 9; xxx. 22; xxxi. 7; xlv. 16;) and the accomplishment of the prophecy accordingly will universally take place in that day, that terrible day of Christ's second advent, when He shall come to judge the world. W. Lowth. Hoyon. Idolatry is the reverse and direct opposite of Christianity. To destroy this was the great end of Christ's coming into the world. But, except He were God, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, his religion would be so far from destroying idolatry, that it would be only a more refined and dangerous species of it. The Prophet, therefore, after describing the humbling effects it would have upon the hearts of all sincere converts, concludes all (that so he might acquit the worship of Christ from all charges of idolatry) with this positive assertion, that it would prove the most effectual means of putting an end to all false and idolatrous worship: "The idols he shall utterly abolish." The like conclusion we meet with in the first Epistle of St. John, where having affirmed that Jesus Christ is "the true God and eternal life," he immediately subjoins, and closes all with this advice, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," 1 John v. 21. Wogan. 19. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, &c.] The country of Judea being mountainous and rocky, is full of caverns; some natural, and some artificial and made for the sake of security. See Judges vi. 2; 1 Sam. xiii. 6; xxiv. 3; Jer. xli. 9. Strabo, Josephus, and modern travellers, give accounts of the caverns which are to be found in the neighbouring countries. Therefore, "to enter into the rock," &c. is to the Jews a very proper and familiar image to express terror and consternation. Bp. Lowth. 20. — to the moles and to the bats.] They shall carry their idols with them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places, to which they shall flee for refuge; and so shall give them up and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper habitation. Many travellers speak of bats of an enormous size as inhabiting the Great Pyramid. Bp. Lowth, Horner. "Casting the idols to the moles and bats" denotes the utmost detestation and abhorrence. Wogan. 22. Cease ye from man.] That is, from valuing man. Compare Prov. xxiii. 4. W. Lowth. This verse is a very apt and most proper conclusion to what is said before of the effect of Christ's coming, namely, that "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled." Happy indeed will be this effect of his first coming, if our pride be thereby humbled, and our lofty looks be brought down: happy, I mean, if it precede; but fruitless, miserable, and vain, if it follow, his second coming, when the day of grace shall be past, and judgment be begun. Let us conclude, therefore, as the Prophet Chap. III. ver. 1. — the whole stay of bread, &c.] Bread is commonly called the "staff of life." Levit. xxvi. 26; Ezek. xiv. 13. This judgment seems to relate to the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. See Jer. xxxvii. 21; Ezek. iv. 16. The following verses, 2, 3, are very clearly explained by the sacred historian's account of the captivity of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxiv. 14. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. — making a tinkling] Dr. Hunt well explains the word thus translated to mean, "skipping, bounding, dancing along;" and the same word used as a noun, (which occurs at ver. 18,) to signify those ornaments of the feet, chains or rings, which the Eastern ladies wore, and which make a tinkling sound as they moved nimbly in walking. Eugene Roger, and other travellers, speaking of Arabian women, mention them. Bp. Lowth. Rauwolf tells us, that the Arab women, whom he saw in going down the Euphrates, wore rings about their legs and hands, and sometimes a good many together, which in their stepping slipped up and down, and so made a great noise. Sir J. Chardin says, that in Persia and Arabia they wear rings about their ancles, which are full of little bells. Children and young girls take pleasure in giving them motion, and with this view walk quick. Harmer. 4. — I will give children to be their princes.] This also was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple, and the taking of Zedekiah, the last of them. Bp. Lowth. 5. — the people shall be oppressed, &c.] The character of a weak government, where faction gets the better of authority, and every one does what is right in his own eyes. Bp. Wilson. 7. — I will not be on healer:] The expression seems to apply to repairing what is destroyed in a kingdom or state. Parkhurst. — in my house is neither bread nor clothing: &c.] He alleges that he has not wherewithal to support the dignity of the station, by such liberality and hospitality as the custom required of persons of superior rank. See 1 Kings iv. 22, 23; Neh. v. 17, 18. The Eastern treasures anciently consisted very much in large quantities of clothing; and princes and great men now are obliged to have a large stock in readiness, for presents on all occasions. Bp. Lowth, Sir J. Chardin. 10, 11. Say ye to the righteous, &c. Thus do the Scriptures represent to us the different condition of good and bad men, which is often true in this world; and, however that happen, will most certainly and remarkably be made good in the next. Abp. Tillotson. 12. — they which lead thee] Thy weak governours, called metaphorically, (as before, ver. 4,) "children, and women." The margin reads, "they which call thee blessed;" which may mean, the false prophets, who soothe thee in thy sins, and foretel nothing but peace and prosperity. Compare chap. ix. 15, 16. W. Lowth. 15. — grind the faces] The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression; but is exceeded by the prophet Mirah, iii. 1—3. Bp. Lowth. 16. — wanton eyes,] The original gives, as the mar- The judgments which shall be for the pride of the women. Before CHRIST about 760. Or, stepping nicely. naked. Or, networks. Or, sweet balls. Or, spangled ornaments. of the soul. ing and || mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: 17. — the Lord will discover] It was the barbarous custom of the conquerors of those times, to strip their captives naked, and to make them travel in that condition, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and to the intolerable heat of the sun. This to the women was the height of cruelty and indignity, especially to such as are here described, who had indulged themselves in all manner of delicacies of living, and all the superfluities of ornamental dress. This is always mentioned as the hardest part of the lot of the captives. Compare chap. xx. 4; xlvii. 3; Jer. xiii. 22; Nahum iii. 5. The words, which describe the ornaments in the following inventory, as one may call it, of the wardrobe of a Hebrew lady, must, from its antiquity, and from the nature of the subject, be very obscure. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. 20. — tablets.] In the original, as the margin gives it, instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. 21. — nose jewels.] See Sir J. Chardin's note on Gen. xxiv. 22. His account is confirmed by other Oriental travellers. 24. — instead of sweet smell] Or "perfume." A principal part of the delicacy of the Asiatick ladies consists in the use of baths, and of the richest oils and perfumes: an attention to which is in some degree necessary in those hot countries. See Cant. iv. 10, 11; Esther ii. 12. Bp. Lowth. — instead of a girdle a rent;] "Instead of wellgirt raiment, rags." Bp. Lowth. — and burning] The old English translation reads, "sunburning," by way of explication, namely, They shall be exposed to the heat of the sun, in slavery or transportation into foreign parts. W. Lowth. "A sunburnt skin." Bp. Lowth. 26. — shall sit upon the ground.] This was a posture that denoted the deepest mourning and lamentation, chap. xlvii. 1; Job ii. 13; Lam. ii. 10. The passage seems to relate in its more immediate view, to the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar: however, Judea is thus represented on a medal coined by Vespasian, after the destruction by the Romans. They might have an eye to the customs of the Jewish nation. The Psalinist describes the Jews lamenting their fortune in the same pensive posture, Ps. cxxxvii. 1. Bp. Lowth, W. Lowth, Addison. Chap. IV. The division of the chapters has broken off the Prophet's discourse almost in the middle of the sentence. The meaning is, "The numbers slain in battle shall be so great, that seven women shall be left to one man." The Prophet has described the greatness of this distress, by images and adjuncts the most expressive and forcible. Bp. Lowth. Ver. 2. In that day] This phrase often denotes, not the same time which was last mentioned, but an extraordinary season, remarkable for some signal events of — the branch of the Lord] "The Messiah of Jehovah," says the Chaldee paraphrase. "The branch" is an appropriated title of the Messiah; and "the fruit of the earth" means the same great personage to spring from the land of Judah; or perhaps the blessings consequent upon the redemption procured by Him. Bp. Lowth. 3. — that is written among the living] The phrase alludes to the registers which were kept of the Jewish tribes and families. See Ezra ii. 59. 62. W. Lowth. See the note on Exod. xxii. 32. 4. — by the spirit of judgment, &c.] The phrase denotes the severe discrimination which God will make between the good and the bad, the pure silver and the dross, (see chap. i. 22. 25;) the better being purified, the worse consumed, in the furnace. See Ezek. xxii. 21; Mal. iii. 2, 3. W. Lowth. 5. — a cloud and smoke by day, &c.] This is a manifest allusion to the pillar of a cloud, and of fire, which attended the Jews in their passage out of Egypt; and to the glory that rested on the tabernacle, Exod. xl. 38. See Zech. ii. 5. Both passages mean, the visible presence of God shall protect the Church. Bp. Lowth. 6. And there shall be a tabernacle &c.] And whereas the Church shall be still subject to the scorching heats and tempestuous storms of persecution, God shall erect a safe tabernacle for her, to shade her from the heat, and shelter her from those violent tempests. Bp. Hall. Chap. V. This chapter stands single and alone, unconnected with the preceding or following. The subject of it is nearly the same with that of the first chapter. It is a general reproof of the Jews for their wickedness: but it exceeds that chapter in force, in severity, in variety, in elegance: and it adds a more express declaration of vengeance, by the Babylonian invasion. Bp. Lowth. Ver. 1. Now will I sing to my wellbeloved] The Prophet here speaking in the person of God the Father, directs this hymn, or parable poetically expressed, to his "wellbeloved," that is, Christ. See Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5; Col. i. 13. W. Lowth, Dr. Wells. Our Lord Christ in the evangelical style is called "the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased." The Church of those times is called here the vineyard of the Son, because, as the Father created all things by Him, so by Him He has always governed all things, and more especially his Church. To this agrees that saying of St. Paul, that "Christ accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness," and that of St. Peter, that "the Spirit of Christ spake by the prophets." Indeed, as the eternal Son of the Father, He presides over all things, "God blessed for ever," as St. Paul speaks, Rom. ix. 5; and has always had the peculiar care and conduct of the patriarchs and chosen people of God. Reading. — I saw—the Lord] The Lord, whom Isaiah saw, was the Jehovah, and Lord of hosts, ver. 3. 5; and St. John testifies, in the passage given in the margin, that it was Christ, and Christ's glory, that Isaiah saw; it follows, that, in St. John's account, Christ is Jehovah. Dr. Waterland. — sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.] The ideas are taken from Eastern royalty; the Prophet could not represent the ineffable presence of God by any other than sensible and earthly images. The particular scenery of it is taken from the temple. God is represented as seated on his throne above the ark in the most holy place, where the glory appeared above the cherubim, surrounded by his attendant ministers. See Jer. xvii. 12; Ezek. xliii. 7. Bp. Lowth. 2. — built a tower in the midst of it, &c.] To contain all the implements necessary to the culture of the vineyard, and making of the wine. To this image in the allegory, the situation, the manner of building, the use, and the whole service of the temple, exactly answered. Our Saviour in his parable, Matt. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1, has inserted the "tower," and the "winepress," or vat, as the word should perhaps be translated here, and as St. Mark has it. It means the large open place, or vessel, which by a conduit or spout, received the must from the winepress. In very hot countries it was very convenient to have this place under ground, or in a cave "hewed" out of the side of the rock for coolness, (see the margin,) that the heat might not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must. Bp. Lowth. — wild grapes.] Not merely unprofitable grapes, but noxious; as, in the explication, (ver. 7,) to judgment is opposed tyranny, and to righteousness oppression. Some of these were of a poisonous quality, as appears from 2 Kings iv. 39—41. Bp. Lowth. The Prophet may here mean the hoary nightshade, which is common in Egypt, Palestine, and the East; the Arabs call it "wolf's grapes;" it grows much in the vineyards, and is very pernicious to them; it likewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk. Hasselquist. 3. Here the style of the parable is altered from the God's judgments upon covetousness, lasciviousness, impiety, salem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 2. — he covered his feet.] By the "feet" the Hebrews mean all the lower parts of the body. Bp. Lowth. 3. — one cried unto another. The one singing responsively to the other. Bp. Lowth. After some such manner was the Divine anthem of Moses sung, Exod. xv. 1. 20, 21. So we read, Ezra iii. 11, at the building of the second temple did the priests and Levites sing together by course, in praising and giving thanks to the Lord: and this hath been the practice of the Christian church all along, and is still continued among us, as being the most easy and proper way for all sorts of people to join together in setting forth the praises of God, and the best means of keeping our minds intent upon the great work we are about, and to excite one another in the performance of it. Bp. Beveridge. — Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.] The Christian church hath always thought that the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is implied in this repetition; it is intimated in several other parts of the Old Testament, particularly in the form of blessing, which God commanded the priests to use, Numb. vi. 24—26. W. Lowth. See the notes on that passage. "They are not content," says Origen, "to say it once or twice, but take the perfect number of the Trinity, thereby to declare the manifold holiness of God; which is a repeated intercommunion of a threefold holiness; the holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only begotten Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And that the Seraphim did really celebrate all the three Persons of the Godhead upon this occasion, is no conjecture; but a point capable of the clearest demonstration. The Prophet tells us, ver. 1, he "saw the Lord sitting upon 3, 4. — judge, I pray you, &c.] The case was so plain, that God might refer it to themselves, although they were parties concerned. W. Louth. Let every sinner thoroughly examine his own state and condition, what his natural powers and faculties are, what they are originally capable of, what additional means and opportunities he has had put into his hands to employ and improve them; and then let him shew where the fault lay, and who is to be charged with the evil of sin, and with the consequences of it. Dr. John Clarke. 8. Woe unto them &c.] From hence to the twenty-fifth verse, sundry vices are enumerated, which, as they brought temporal judgments upon the Jews, so at the bar of Christ shall exclude from happiness, and consign all that are found guilty of them to the woes and punishments here denounced: namely, the covetous and unjust; the drunkard and voluptuary; all that wilfully neglect, or impiously despise, the knowledge of God, as well the slothful ignorant, as the proudly wise; all that perversely confound the distinctions of moral good and evil. Wogan. 10. — one bath, — an homer, — an ephah.] A "bath" and "an ephah" are the same measure, about seven gallons and a half; they contain but a tenth of an "homer," Ezek. xlv. 11. W. Louth. 11. — strong drink;] See the note on chap. xxiv. 9. 12. — the harp, and the viol, &c.] Musick universally attends Eastern feasts. Harmer. Wine, and musick, and delicate fare, are such things as God in his goodness hath given to the children of men for their comfort; and they may use them lawfully, and take comfort in them as their portion: but he that uses any of them intemperately, unseasonably, vainly, or wastefully, abuses both them and himself; therefore we often find in Scripture, both the things themselves condemned, and those that use them blamed. Bp. Sanderson. 13, 14. — their honourable men are famished, &c.] As verses 9, 10, have evidently reference to ver. 8, so have these verses to the two preceding. As the houses of the covetous are to be left uninhabited, and the fields to become desolate, so they that indulged in feasting and drinking are to perish with hunger and thirst. Bp. Louth. 13. — that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, &c.] That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world, but are active and industrious in drawing sin to themselves, or themselves to sin: "with cords of vanity," that is, with vain and deceitful arguments and pretences, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin: "with a cart rope," that is, with all their might, as beasts commonly do, that draw carts with ropes. Poole, Bp. Hall. The cause is here put for the effect: "iniquity" and "sin" for the punishment which they provoke. The meaning then is, "Woe unto them who foolishly draw upon themselves the reward of iniquity; nay, set their shoulders to pull it forward, as a beast of burden does a cart rope!" Rosenmüller, Bp. Stock. 14. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, &c.] Habakkuk uses the same image with great force, in a comparison of the ambitious and avaricious conqueror, Hab. ii. 5. But hell, or the grave, is here introduced to much greater advantage in person; and placed before our eyes in the form of a ravenous monster, opening wide his immeasurable jaws, and swallowing his prey altogether. Bp. Louth. 17. Then shall the lambs &c.] Their luxurious habitations shall become a pasture for flocks. Bp. Louth. and injustice. The executioners of God's judgments. Before CHRIST about 760. 20. Woe unto them that call evil good, &c.] The Prophet compares the difference of moral "good and evil" presented to the human understanding with that of "light and darkness" discerned by the eye, of "bitter and sweet" tasted by the palate; that is, as a plain and undeniable truth which forceth its evidence upon a rational mind: to transgress God's commandments, his laws and statutes, delivered by his prophets, and confirmed by a series of miracles, was a heinous crime; but to "call evil good, and good evil," was to advance a step farther in impiety, to lay the profane axe to the root of righteousness, to destroy all religion, natural as well as revealed, and to sink into mere atheism. Dr. Jortin. 22. — to mingle strong drink:] See notes on chap. i. 22; xxiv. 9. 24. — so their root shall be as rottenness, &c.] So they shall be utterly destroyed; and shall be as a tree, whose root is rotten, and whose blossom flies away like dust. Bp. Hall. 25. — the hills did tremble.] The Prophet refers perhaps to the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Amos i. 1; Zech. xiv. 5. Bp. Lowth. But the mountains and the earth itself are often said to tremble at God's judgments; (see Jer. iv. 21; Mic. i. 4; Nah. i. 5; Hab. iii 10; Ps. lxxvii. 18; cxiv. 7;) which expressions VOL. II. may allude to the thunder which accompanies them; to the trembling of mount Sinai when God came down upon it, Exod. xix. 18; or, to the last general judgment. See note on chap. ii. 10. He says, "did tremble;" but the representing of a thing future, as if already accomplished, is very common with the Prophets. W. Lowth. 26. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, &c.] The Prophets call distant countries in the popular language, as here, "the end of the earth;" the Babylonians may be primarily meant here, as chap. xxxix. 3; Jer. v. 15; and as the Medes, with respect to Babylon, are said (chap. xiii. 5,) "to come from a far country, from the end of heaven;" but the Prophet may also look farther, and the threat is probably to be extended to the desolation of Judea by the Romans; to whom the phrases used here will apply better than to the Chaldees. Vitrings. Though the Babylonians lived at no great distance from Judea, yet many that composed their army did: indeed all foreigners were looked upon as living a great way off by the Jews, because they maintained but little commerce with their neighbours. W. Lowth. — and will hiss unto them.] "The metaphor is taken from the practice of those who keep bees; who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, by a hiss or whistle;" say Cyril and Theodoret. At chap. vii. 18, the metaphor is more apparent by being carried farther; there the hostile armies are expressed by "the fly," and "the bee." Bp. Lowth. 27. — neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed.] The Eastern people, wearing long and loose garments, were unfit for action, or business of any kind, without girding their clothes about them: when their business was finished, they took off their girdles. A girdle therefore denotes strength and activity: to unloose the girdle, to deprive of strength, to render unfit for action: it was of course an essential part of a soldier's accoutrement. See 1 Kings xx. 11; Isa. xlv. 1. 5. Bp. Lowth. See the note on Job xii. 21. Q The executioners of God's judgments. Isaiah's vision of God's glory. their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 28. — their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint.] The shoring of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of Greek and Roman writers, especially those who treat of horse medicine: for this reason, the strength, firmness, and solidity of a horse's hoof was of much greater importance with them than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. Xenophon, in his treatise on horsemanship, gives particular directions for hardening a horse's hoofs. For want of the artificial defence, which we use, Anno (chap. vi. 12,) speaks of it as a thing as impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock, as to plough up the same rock with oxen. Bp. Lowth. 30. — they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: &c.] What speak I of the roaring of a lion? yea, these Chaldeans, which I will bring upon them, shall come roaring in like a mighty sea in a tempest, with such terror, that all shall be filled with confusion; the earth shall be darkened with sorrow; and the heavens shall yield no glimpse of comfort to the distressed. Bp. Hall. See notes on chap. xiii. 10. 13. From this chapter we perceive in what a special manner God blessed his people Israel; how they abused his gifts, and turned his grace into wantonness; and how He threatened to visit their sins with his judgments: the issue and execution of his threatenings we well know. The proper application of all this to ourselves is briefly hinted by St. Paul, "If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee," Rom. xi. 21. We, who succeed them in the spiritual vineyard, the Church of the true God, have no reason to flatter ourselves that our bad fruits shall be more indulged than theirs. But rather the judgments, which have befallen them, will make our disobedience the more inexcusable, if we commit the same sins, and are not afraid of the same punishments. Reading. Chap. VI. ver. 1. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw &c.] As this vision seems to contain a solemn designation of Isaiah to the prophetic office, it is by most interpreters thought to be the first in order of his prophecies. But Isaiah is said (chap. i. 1,) to have prophesied in the time of Uzziah, and the phrase, in the year when Uzziah died, probably means after the death of Uzziah; as the same phrase (chap. xiv. 28,) means after the death of Ahaz. This might be a new designation, to introduce more solemnly a general declaration of the whole course of God's dispensations, in regard to his people, and the fates of the nation; which are even sage. 9 He sheweth the obstinacy of the people unto their desolation. 13 A remnant shall be saved. IN the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and || his train filled the temple. a John 12. 41. and shall be eaten: &c.] The Hebrew may be translated thus, "But yet in it shall be" left "a tenth, after it is" (or although it is) "again eaten and devoured," &c.; implying, that, notwithstanding the repeated judgments God should bring upon the Jews, still a remnant should be preserved; and the nation, as a tree, sprout out and flourish again from the old stock. "The holy seed" is called here "a tenth," in allusion probably to the tithe under the law, set apart for, and consecrated to, God's service. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. — a teal tree.] Is the same with the linden or lime tree. Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. — so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.] So shall the remainder of the holy seed, which for the time seemed to lie dead, sprout forth into an abundant increase. Bp. Hall. This verse, though somewhat obscure, has been made clear by the accomplishment of the prophecy. When Nebuchadnezzar had carried away the greater and better part of the people into captivity, there was yet a tenth remaining in the land; the poorer sort left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen under Gedaliah, 2 Kings xxv. 12. 22; and the dispersed Jews gathered themselves together, and returned to him, Jer. xl. 12: yet even these, fleeing into Egypt after the death of Gedaliah, contrary to the warning of God given by the prophet Jeremiah, miserably perished there. Again, in the subsequent and more remarkable completion of the prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dissolution of the commonwealth by the Romans, when the Jews, after the loss of above a million of men, had increased from the scanty residue that was left of them, and had become very numerous again in their country, Hadrian, provoked by their rebellious behaviour, slew above half a million more of them, and a second time almost extirpated the nation. Yet after these signal and almost universal destructions of that nation, and after so many other repeated extermination and massacres of them in different times and on various occasions since, we yet see with astonishment, that the stock still remains, from which God, according to his promise frequently given by his prophets, will cause the people to shoot forth again, and to flourish. Bp. Lowth. See the notes on Deut. xxx. 1. Chap. VII. The king and royal family being in the the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. Ver. 1. — could not prevail against it.] Yet they slew many of the people, and carried away many captives out of Judea, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5. W. Lowth. 2. — Ephraim.] This being the chief of the ten tribes, is often put for the whole of them. Bp. Newton. — his heart was moved. The word translated "his" relates to the house of David. W. Lowth. 3. — Shear-jashub] This name, signifying as it is explained in the margin, may allude to the promise made, chap. vi. 13; it imports that God will never wholly cut off his people. W. Lowth. The captives taken by the king of Israel (see note on ver. 1,) were accordingly very speedily sent home: from policy indeed more than compassion, to make friends among the Jews. Bp. Chandler. — of the conduit of the upper pool! There were two pools which supplied Jerusalem with water: "the upper pool," mentioned here and chap. xxxvi. 2; and "the lower pool," chap. xxii. 9. W. Lowth. 4. — and the house was filled with smoke.] Or, a thick cloud; the sign of God's presence, which filled the temple on extraordinary occasions, 1 Kings xiii. 10. W. Lowth. 4. — for the two tails of these smoking firebrands.] Which are so far from being able to consume any thing else, that they are almost extinguished themselves. W. Lowth. Before CHRIST about 742. tristh on Ephraim. That is, the remnant shall return. b 2 Kings 16. 17. way. thy heart be tender. 5. — the King, the Lord of hosts.] The same Spirit, which displayed this glorious vision to Isaiah, has given the interpretation of it by the Evangelist St. John. St. John tells us, that Christ was that Jehovah, whom the entranced Prophet saw upon his throne; whose train filled the temple; whose praises were the theme of the seraphick song; whose glory fills the universe. According to the Evangelist, it was Christ's glory that Isaiah saw: and to Him, whose glory he saw, the Prophet gives the name of Jehovah, and the worshipping angels gave the name of Jehovah God of Sabbath. Bp. Horsley. 6. — having a live coal in his hand,—from off the altar.] Signifying the gift of utterance, represented by fiery tongues, (Acts ii. 3,) and the efficacy of God's word in the mouth of the Prophets, compared to fire, Jer. v. 14; xxvii. 29. The use of fire likewise is to cleanse and purify: see the following verse. W. Lowth. 8. — who will go for us?] God speaks here in the plural number, as in the passage from Genesis referred to in the margin; which is justly thought to imply a plurality of Divine persons. W. Lowth. See notes on Gen. i. 26. 9. And he said, Go, and tell this people, &c.] St. Paul (Acts xxviii. 25, 26,) saith expressly, that it was the and who will go for us? Then said I, † Here am I; send me. 10. Make the heart of this people fat, &c.] The Prophet speaks of the event, the fact as it would actually happen; not of God's purpose and act by his ministry. The Prophets are in other places said to perform the thing which they only foretell, Jer. i. 10; Ezek. xliii. 3. Bp. Lowth. Even a blessing foretold is said to come from the foreteller. Rosenmuller, Bp. Stock. All the expressions here used signify no more, than that God, for the former provocations and impenitency of this people, did leave them to their own hardness and blindness, so that they did not desire to understand, and make use of the means of their recovery. Thus God often punishes great and notorious offenders, by permitting them to fall into temptations; which, meeting with a vicious disposition, are likely to be too hard for them, considering how, by a long habit of wickedness, and wilful commission of sin, they have made themselves an easy prey to every temptation, and have driven the Spirit of God from them, and deprived themselves of those aids and restraints of his grace, which He ordinarily affords, not only to good men, but likewise to those who are not very bad. Abp. Tillotson. This prophecy might relate in some measure to the state of the Jews before the Babylonish captivity; but it did not receive its full completion till the days of our Saviour; and in this sense it is understood and applied by the writers of the New Testament, (John xii. 40; Acts xxviii. 27;) and by our Saviour Himself, Matt. xiii. 14, 15. Bp. Newton. 11. Then said I, Lord, how long?] Namely, How long shall this obstinacy, and the punishment it will bring upon this people, continue? W. Lowth. And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, &c.] And hath not the world seen all the particulars here set down exactly fulfilled? Have not the Jews laboured under a spiritual blindness and infatuation, in "hearing but not understanding," in "seeing but not perceiving" the Messiah, after the accomplishment of so many prophecies, after the performance of so many miracles? And in consequence of their refusing to "convert and be healed," have not "their cities been wasted without inhabitant?" &c. Have they not been "removed far away" into the most distant parts of the earth? and hath not their removal or banishment been of now 1700 years' duration? and do they not still continue deaf and blind, obstinate and Q 2 A remnant shall be saved. Ahaz, being troubled with fear, Before CHRIST about 758. Or, when it is returned, and hath been brevised. Or, stock, or, stem. men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. — that he may know to refuse] Rather, till He know. W. Lowth. — by them beyond the river.] By way of eminence, the Euphrates. See chap. xxvii. 12; Jer. ii. 18. W. Lowth. — the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.] The hairs of the head are those of the highest order in the state; those of the feet, or lower parts, are the common people; the beard, the king, the high priest, the very supreme in dignity and majesty. The Eastern people have always held the beard in the highest veneration, and have been extremely jeabuts of its honour: to pluck a man's beard is an instance of the greatest indignity that can be offered. See &c.] The remainder of the chapter is an elegant and expressive description of a country depopulated, and left to run wild; the vineyards and corn-fields, before well cultivated, now overrun with briers and thorns; much grass, so that the few cattle that are left have their full range and abundant pasture; so as to yield milk in plenty to the scanty family of the owner; the thinlyscattered people living, not on corn, wine, oil, the produce of cultivation, but on milk and honey, the gifts of nature; and the whole land given up to the wild beasts; so that the miserable inhabitants are forced to go out armed with bows and arrows, either to defend themselves against the wild beasts, or to supply themselves with necessary food by hunting. Bp. Lowth. — the mattock.] Hasselquist observes, that the inhabitants of Nazareth in Galilee "had no spades, but a kind of hoe or ground-ax." And Niebuhr says, that "instead of a spade the Arabs of Yemen make use of an iron mattock to cultivate their gardens and the lands in the mountains, which are too narrow to admit the plough." Parkhurst. Chap. VIII, ver. 1. — Take thee a great roll.] The Eastern people roll their papers, and do not fold them, because their paper is apt to fret. Sir J. Chardin. The Egyptian papyrus was formerly much used; the brittle nature of it made it proper to roll what they wrote; and the practice may have been continued even with materials, which might safely have been treated in another manner. Harmer. It is directed to be a great roll, probably that the writing of the prophecy might be in large characters, obvious to all; and so most interpreters have understood the term, "a man's pen," to imply such characters as are in ordinary use. Vitringa. — and write &c.] The Prophet is commanded to record the prophecy of the destruction of Damascus and Samaria by the Assyrians; the subject and sum of which is here expressed with great brevity in four words, (explained in the margin,) which are afterwards applied as the name of the Prophet's son, who was made a sign of the speedy completion of it. And, that it might be done with the greater solemnity, and to preclude all doubt of the real delivery of the prophecy before the event, he calls witnesses to attest the recording of it, ver. 2. Bp. Lowth. 3. — the prophetess.] The wife of Isaiah is styled a prophetess, and the Rabbies maintain that she had the gift of prophecy. Dr. Gray. 4. — the riches of Damascus &c.] The completion of 6.—the son of Tabœal.] Who this person was is no where said in Scripture; he may have been some potent and factious Jew, who had revolted from his master, the king of Judah, and stirred up this war against him. Dean Prideaux. Some have thought a Syrian, set up by Rezin, whose interest and authority was chief in this matter. Vitrigan. 6. — this people &c.] Though some refer this to Judah, it may be better understood of Israel. The gentle waters of Shiloah, or Shiloah, as in the text, a small fountain and brook just without Jerusalem, which supplied a pool within the city, for the use of the inhabitants, is an apt emblem of the state of the kingdom and house of David, much reduced in its apparent strength, yet supported by the blessing of God; and is finely contrasted with the waters of the Euphrates, great, rapid, and impetuous; the image of the vast and mighty empire, which God threatens to bring down upon all the apostates of both kingdoms; to overwhelm Israel, and to bring Judah into such imminent danger, as is represented [ver. 8,] by that of a man who can but just keep his head above water. The Chaldee renders "reaching to the neck," by "reaching to Jerusalem." Bp. Lowth. 8, 9. For the head of Syria is Damascus, &c.] The purport of this prophecy was to assure Ahaz and the house of David, that the kings of Syria and Israel should remain only the heads of their respective cities, they should not prevail against Jerusalem, and within sixty and five years Israel should be broken so as to be no more a people. This prophecy, respecting the utter ruin of the ten tribes, was completed, not in the first depotation by Shalmaneser, (2 Kings xvii. 6.) when the kingdom was abolished; but when the small remnant were overpowered by the numbers brought by Esar-haddon from Cuthah, &c. 2 Kings xvii. 24, compared with Ezra iv. 2; and Ephraim, who had been broken from being a kingdom before, was then broken from being a people. Abp. Usher, Bp. Newton. 9.—If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.] That is, Unless ye believe this prophecy of the destruction of Israel, ye Jews also, as well as the people of Israel, shall not remain established as a kingdom and people; ye also shall be visited with punishment at the same time. This clause is much illustrated by considering the captivity of Manasseh as happening at the same time with this predicted final ruin of Ephraim as a people. The near connexion of the two facts makes the prediction of the one naturally cohere with the prediction of the other. The views of the prophet might also extend to the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, according to that saying of our Saviour, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," Luke xiii. 3. Dr. Jubb. 12. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.] The words of Ahaz, though they have a shew of piety, (see Deut. vi. 16; Matt. iv. 7.) proceeded really from despair and unbelief, as appears from the Prophet's answer, ver. 13. W. Lowth. He refused to make trial of the indulgence proffered, not because he believed without it; but because he had no confidence in it, nor value for it. Dean Stanhope. Perhaps the solemn offer (ver. 11.) staggered the doubting king; and even the presumptuous incredulity of Ahaz shrunk back at the thought of requiring from God Himself that ex- Remaliah's son. || If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. 8. — of thy land, O Immanuel.] That is, even over that holy land, which is consecrated to thy name, O Thou Saviour of thy Church, God and Man. Bp. Hall. A nobler difference could not have been put between Israel and Judah, than at the time that final and speedy ruin is denounced against the one to give the other a solemn assurance of the birth of Immanuel. Dean Stankop. 9. Associate yourselves, O ye people.—give ear, all ye of far countries:] The Prophet insults over the confederacy of Israel and Syria against Judah: he addresses perhaps all the enemies of God's people, assuring them that their attempts shall be fruitless, on account of the defence of the promised Immanuel, to whom he alludes, by using his name to express the signification of it, (ver. 10,) "for God is with us:" the most distant times and countries may be fitly said to be concerned in the admonitions here given; the import of which is, that the kingdom of the Messiah will prosper, though all nations combine against it. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. Comfort shall be to them that fear God. ISAIAH. Great afflictions to idolaters. Before CHRIST about 741. strength of hand. a Chap. 28. 16. Luke 2. 34. Rom. 2. 33. 11. For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand.] The spirit of prophecy is expressed by the hand of the Lord being upon the Prophet; 2 Kings iii. 15; Ezek. iii. 14; viii. 1. W. Lowth. — that I should not walk in the way of this people, &c.] The Prophet is commanded to arm those that heard him against the prevalent fears of the confederacy of Syria and Israel, and exhorts them not to join in the popular cry in that matter, which was full of despondency and distrust of God. The twelfth verse should rather be rendered, "Say ye not, A confederacy, of or concerning all them of whom this people," &c. Vitrinus. 13.—Is it a small thing for you to weary men, &c.] It is a small thing for you to reject and condemn me, that am a man like yourselves; but will ye, with your hypocrisy and disobedience, provoke and abuse my God also, whose message I bear? Are ye not ashamed and afraid, under a pretence of piety, to refuse the gracious offer and command of God that sent me? Bp. Hall. 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; &c.] Upon occasion of the terrible fear of the house of David, and the perviveness of Ahaz, refusing to ask a sign, though invited, it pleased God to afford the greatest and most comfortable sign of his mercy to the house of David in particular, and to all mankind in general: a sign, (not indeed exactly in the sense of that which was offered and refused, ver. 11, an emblem, or proof of something to follow,) but, as the world is taken to signify in both Old and New Testaments, (Dean Stanhope,) a wonder, namely, the miraculous birth of Him, in whom all God's mercies were to be summed up. The ancient promise made on the fall of man is here repeated, the Messiah is promised to come in due time of the house of David; and it is here added, that He should be born of a pure virgin, and called "Immanuel," that is, "God with us," God and Man in one person; or a Divine being made flesh, and dwelling among mankind. The word translated "virgin" is so rendered by the Seventy, and admits of no other signification. Bp. Chaudler, Dr. Lightfoot. The whole passage, ver. 14—16, seems to consist of two distinct parts; the fourteenth and fifteenth verses appear to contain an express and literal prediction of the birth and character of Christ, "Butter and honey shall he eat," &c. signifying that his infancy should require the same tender care as that of the frail offspring of man. The sixteenth, to hold out a prophetic sign, the completion of which, so soon to take place, should give full assurance to Ahaz, and the house of David, that the preceding prophecy concerning the Messiah should in due time be punctually fulfilled. The Prophet plainly expresses himself in this order; Immanuel shall be born of a virgin, for the confederate kings shall be speedily destroyed. Dr. Postlethwaite. 14. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling &c.] God and his promises, which should be men's refuge and security, become the occasion of mischief and hurt to unbelievers. W. Lowth. It is the Lord of hosts who is meant here: but the prophecy is interpreted of Christ by the concurrent testimony of St. Peter and St. Paul: (see the margin.) Christ therefore is one with the Lord of hosts. Dean Stanhope, Bp. Wilson. — to both the hours of Israel.] This expression is sufficient to shew, that the Prophet enlarges his views beyond Rezin and Pekah's association, the immediate object of this prophecy; for then Judah and Israel were in different interests, but this verse speaks of them as involved in the same sin and punishment. W. Lowth. 15. Butter and honey shall he eat, &c.] He shall have Ahaz's judgment prophesied to come by the Assyrians. Before CHRIST about 742. that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16. For before the child shall know &c.] Some suppose the Prophet here to point to Shear-jashub, whom he is directed, ver. 3, to take with him; some think "the child" refers to Maher-shalal-hash-baz, (chap. viii. 3;) others to any child of that age. To express the shortness of the time, in which destruction should come upon the two kings, is Isaiah's object here; and, as he has in the preceding verses been mentioning Emmanuel, and has Him in a manner before his eyes, he may be understood to say, "In so short a time as it shall take Him to reach years of distinguishing, shall the kings be overthrown." Vit-rings. 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.] The Prophets sometimes declare concerning their prophetic discourses and actions, that they were dark and as yet unintelligible, and should be more clearly understood about the latter times, in which they were to find their completion; chap. xxix. 11; Dan. xii. 4. and it shall not stand: for God is with us. 18. — the Lord shall hiss for the fly &c.] See note from Bp. Lowth, chap. v. 26. Armies are often compared to flies, bees, and other insects, (Deut. i. 44; Judges vi. 5; Ps. xxviii. 12; Joel ii. 25;) both for their number, and the destruction they make. The Prophet joins here Egypt and Assyria, the two great oppressors of God's people. W. Lowth. Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, Pharaoh-necho, and Nebuchadnezzar, one after another, desolated Judea. Bp. Lowth. As the conquest of Egypt by Sennacherib, foretold ch. xx, took place before his siege of Jerusalem, a great many Egyptians might be his auxiliaries. Abp. Usher. 18. Behold, I and the children &c.] See the Introduction. Isaiah speaks here in the person of Christ as well as his own, as appears from the passage referred to in the margin. Dr. Wells. 19. And they shall come, and shall rest &c.] The Prophet pursues the same metaphor, and represents the foreign army as so many flies that lie in shoals in lower grounds, and as hers whose custom is to get into rocks; see Deut. xxxii. 13; Ps. lxxxi. 16; implying that no place should be free from the enemy. W. Lowth. 19. — that peep, and that mutter: &c.] To "peep" signifies to cry as young birds; (Dr. Johnson;) see chap. x. 14; to chirp, or whisper. Those who pretended to familiar spirits spoke inwardly and imperfectly, as if their voice proceeded out of the caverns of the earth. W. Lowth. See note on chap. xlv. 19. — for the living to the dead! That is, Should they seek for the living to the dead? By this may be meant idols; (see Ps. cxv. 5—8;) opposed (1 Thess. i. 9.) to the living God; or allusion may be made to the heathen practice of deifying their heroes, enquiring after oracles, &c.; see chap. lxv. 4. W. Lowth. 20. — shall share with a razor that is hired.] The Assyrian is called a "hired razor," because God often rewards those whom He makes instruments of his namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. 20. To the law and to the testimony:] If we would really do good, such as God Himself will accept of, we must not look to our roving fancies, nor to our carnal reason, but to the precepts of God Himself. This is the rule to square our actions by: this the test, whatever is suggested to us, from without or from within, to try the spirits whether they be of God or not; if any thing exalt itself against the obedience of this rule, it is no sweet impulse of the Holy Spirit of God, but a strong delusion of the lying spirit of Satan. Bps. Beveridge and Sanderson. 23. — a thousand silverlings.] Or shekels, as the word is translated in Jer. xxxii. 9, and elsewhere. 25. — on all hills that shall be digged &c.] The sense will run better if we translate here, "All the hills that are (or used to be) digged with a mattock, that the fear of briers and thorns may not come thither;" (that is, to clear them from briers and thorns;)—"shall be for the sending forth of oxen," &c. Ground untilled na- Before CHRIST about 742. midst of the land. A prophecy against Israel and Judah. Before CHRIST about 742. sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle. # CHAP. VIII. Chap. IX. ver. 1. Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, &c.] Yet, though this calamity shall be exceeding great, it shall not be utterly so extreme and disconsolate, as that former which the land of Israel shall endure, when Tighath-pileser shall have miserably afflicted it, 2 Kings xv. 29; and when it shall have been conquered and wasted by Shalmaneser. Bp. Hall. — The Prince of Peace.] This name does in an eminent manner belong to Christ, inasmuch as He is the sole Mediator between God and man: the end of his coming was not to procure for his followers a visible earthly peace; but peace with Heaven, the peace of God. Wogan. The peace and tranquillity of Christ's government is however set forth by the Prophets in very pompous and magnificent descriptions, as here follows, "of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end;" and as this is partly fulfilled in the inward joy and consolation, which is dispensed at present by the secret influences of the Holy Ghost, and in the conversion of many nations, that had persecuted and opposed it, this may be sufficient to confirm our hopes that it shall hereafter be more perfectly accomplished, and nothing left to disturb the peace and quietness of his reign. Dr. Berriman. Although Christ be indeed "exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour," though He have "all power in heaven and in earth," already vested in the human nature united to his own Divine person, and be at present "Lord of all," and of his Church in a more peculiar manner; yet is not that power so visibly and fully exerted as it shall one day be; nor all those glorious effects as yet accomplished, which the Prophets foretell, when describing the victorious and peaceful, the unlimited and everlasting, dominion of the Messiah. He actually reigns in the hearts of men even now, and by his grace subdues the enemies of our souls; but this empire is not so absolute as it shall be, when every enemy shall have been utterly destroyed. What period is fixed for the perfect and ultimate accomplishment of these things, as it does not seem possible for us to determine, so neither is it material too curiously to enquire. Dean Stanhope. 2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.] There is a comfortable assurance of delivery in this miserable captivity: for behold, the Messiah shall certainly come, and by his doctrine and Spirit shall enlighten those that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, beginning his blessed Gospel in those utmost skirts of Galilee. Bp. Hall. The event is true and evident: as these lands had the first share in the calamity, from Assyrian invasion, 2 Kings xv. 29; so had they a prerogative in enjoying the presence of the Messiah. Jos. Mede. The prophet is particular in naming Zebulum, to which tribe Nazareth belonged; and Naphtali, in which was Capernaum, situate on the sea of Tiberias; both which places were beyond Jordan. Bp. Kidder. 3. Thou hast multiplied the nation.] Namely, the true Israel, which God shall enlarge by adding daily to the Church such as believe the Gospel. Dr. Wells. — and not increased the joy. The marginal reading, "Thou hast increased the joy to him, or to it," seems most agreeable to the context: if we keep the reading of the text, it may be translated by way of interrogation, "Wilt thou not increase the joy?" Then follows the answer, "the joy before thee," &c. This various reading originates in the Hebrew, where the particle signifying not is very like, and often mistaken for the word signifying to him. W. Lowth. — joy in harvest,—when they divide the spoil.] These expressions signify great rejoicing; see chap. xvi. 10; 1 Sam. xxx. 16. It is said to be before God, which denotes a religious joy, Deut. xii. 12. W. Lowth. 4. — the staff of his shoulder.] A staff laid across the shoulder, upon the ends of which slaves carried burdens. Parkhurst. 5. — but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.] The word "this" is not in the original. The sense seems to be, that all instruments of warfare should be destroyed and become fuel for fire, as in Ps. xlvi. 9; where the image is employed to express complete victory and a perfect establishment of peace. See also Ezek. xxxix. 8—10. Bp. Lowth. harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 6. For unto us a child is born, &c.] The verse may be thus paraphrased: It is not for God's people to rest in the temporal deliverance from their captivity, but to erect their thoughts unto higher hopes, even the happy assurances of salvation by the true Messiah, who is to come into the world: For unto us that Child is born, and unto us that Son of God is given, who shall take upon his shoulder the perpetual government of his Church. Bp. Hall. — the government shall be upon his shoulder.] That is, the ensign of government; the sceptre, the sword, the key, or the like, borne upon, or hung from, the shoulder. See chap. xxii. 22. Bp. Lowth. — his name shall be called. That is, He shall be; for all this could not be the proper name of any one; the Messiah will be all this: it does not infer that He shall be commonly known by such title. Bp. Kidder. 'Tis the prophetic method, by the imposition as it were of a name, to declare the quality. Jos. Mede. Thus (chap. i. 26,) it was prophesied that Jerusalem should be "called the city of righteousness." Why? because, as was promised in the words foregoing, "God would restore her judges as at the first," &c.; her manners should answer that title. See too, Luke i. 32. 35; it might be proved by a multitude of instances. W. Lowth, Dean Stanhope. — Wonderful.] In his birth; in his preservation from Herod and his other enemies; in the favour of God; in his mighty works; in his resurrection, his ascension, and the sending down of his Spirit upon his Apostles, enabling them also to work miracles, as He had done. Reading. — Counsellor.] As knowing the mind of the Lord. Bp. Chandler. Not unlikely called so, saith Dr. Knight, from his being one of that great council when God said, "Let us make man in our image." Bp. Wilson. See St. Chrysostom's observations at Gen. i. 26. — The mighty God.] The same title which is given to the One Supreme God of Israel, chap. x. 21. Dr. Waterland. This is the doctrine which the Evangelists, Apostles, and ministers of Christ constantly taught of Him, that He was God from all eternity. Reading. — The everlasting Father.] Or, "Father of eternity," or "of that which is everlasting," a title very applicable to the Messiah, whether we consider Him as "the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," Heb. v. 9, or as the Founder of the new age, or world to come, the Head and Introducer of a dispensation which is to last for ever: agreeably to this 7. — upon the throne of David.] The Messiah is said to sit upon the throne of David, because all the promises 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob.] Here begins, and ends with chap. x. 4, a distinct prophecy, addressed exclusively to the kingdom of Israel; divided into four parts, each the particular punishment of some grievous offence: after each is repeated a general denunciation of a further reserve of Divine wrath, used before by the Prophet, on a like occasion, (see the margin,) and making, as we call it, the burden of the song. Bp. Lowth. 10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: &c. The Eastern bricks are only clay well moistened with water, mixed with straw, and dried in the sun. Sir J. Chardin. These bricks are properly opposed to hewn stone, so greatly superior in beauty and durableness: the sycomores, timber of little worth, are with equal propriety opposed to the cedars; "with which," as Dr. Shaw remarks on this passage, "they can stand in no competition at all for beauty and ornament." We meet with the same opposition of cedars to sycomores, 1 Kings x. 27. By this figurative speech, the people of Israel hoast that they easily shall be able to repair their present losses, (sustained perhaps by the first Assyrian invasion by Tiglath-pileser,) and to bring their affairs to a more flourishing state than ever. Bp. Lowth. 11. — adversaries of Rezin against him.] When the king of Assyria had subdued the Syrians, he made them join him in invading Israel. W. Lowth. 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them.] See note on chap. i. 5. 14. — head and tail, branch and rush.] Both the noblest and basest of the people: the strongest, and the weakest, and most contemptible, of that nation. Bp. Hall. 15. — and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.] He is the most vile and despicable of all the people. Bp. Hall. Before CHRIST about 738. whole mouth. f Chap. 5. 25. &10. 4. Or, they that call them blessed. that are called blessed of them. swallowed up. and impenitence. The woe of tyrants. Before CHRIST about 738. 18. — it shall devour the briars and thorns, &c.] Briers and thorns are often put generally for the wicked, as useless and unprofitable, proper objects of God's wrath, to be burnt up. See chap. xxxiii. 12; and the note on chap. xxvii. 4. Bp. Lowth, W. Lowth. 20. — they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: This, and what goes before, signify that they should plunder and devour those of their own country and blood: compare chap. xlix. 26; Deut. xxviii. 53; Ver. 1. — of Jesse.] By mentioning Jesse, who was not a king but a private person, Isaiah seems to hint at the obscure and weak condition in which Christ should appear; his birth too was fixed to be, not at Zion, which was the place and seat of government in Judah, but at Bethlehem, a town where the family of David lived while they were private persons. Dean Allis. The peaceable kingdom of the Branch out of the root of Jesse. Before CHRIST about 713. 4. Without me they shall bow down under &c.] That is, Without my aid they shall be taken captive even by the captives, and subdued by the vanquished. Bp. Lowth. See the note on chap. ix. 11; others render simply, "among the prisoners, &c." 5. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.] Come hither then, O thou Assyrian, come and execute my just judgment upon my people; for thou art the rod of mine anger; and the weapons, which are in thy hand, whereby thou fightest against Judah, are wielded by mine indignation. Bp. Hall. Concerning the change in this verse from the second to the third person, see Bp. Lowth's note on Deut. xxxii. 5. 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish? &c.] Have not I been equally successful against all these places? "Calno" lay upon the Euphrates; as did "Carchemish," 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. "Hamath" upon the confines of the Jewish territory towards Syria, Amos vi. 14; where it is spelt Hemath. W. Lowth. That Hamath and Arpad were cities of Syria, should appear from Jer. xlix. 23. Vitringa. Hamath was the capital of a part of Syria, bearing the Before CHRIST about 718. a Chap. 5. 25. &9. 12. 12. — when the Lord hath performed his whole work] When the wicked, whom God makes instrumental in carrying on his designs, have served the purposes of Divine Providence, they are justly punished, for their pride and ambition, their cruelty and tyranny to their neighbours; the wickedness of those acts being altogether their own; and the good ends served being beside the intention of the agents, ver. 7, and ascribable only to God. W. Lowth, Bp. Newton. See notes on ver. 7, of this chapter, and on chap. xviii. 6. 14. — opened the mouth, or peeped.] See note on chap. viii. 19. 15. Shall the ox boast itself &c.] Is not the Assyrian as my axe, to hew down Judah, my saw to divide it, my rod to scourge it, my staff to beat it? and shall this axe, this saw, this rod, this staff magnify itself against the hand that uneth and wieldeth it? as if the instrument could do ought without or against the arm that moves it. Bp. Hall. — as if it were no wood.] Rather render, (as the margin does in part,) "against that which is not wood;" or, to keep still closer to the expression of the original, "against the no-wood." The Hebrews have a peculiar 16. — under his glory he shall kindle a burning] This expression denotes the stroke by which Sennacherib's army was to be destroyed. W. Lowth. See note at 20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that &c.] That is, A day shall come when, &c. Bp. Wilson. See note on chap. iv. 2. — shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;] As Ahaz did upon the king of Assyria, (2 Kings xvi. 7, compared with 2 Chron. xxviii. 20,) who afterward proved the worst enemy the Jews had. W. Lowth. To purchase his powerful ally's forbearance, as he had before bought his assistance, Ahaz was forced to strip himself and his people of all the wealth he could possibly raise. Bp. Lowth. 23. — the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, &c.] Such a consumption, determined in the counsels of God, with the preservation of a small remnant, will apply to several periods of the history of the people of God: to the subversion of the kingdom of Israel, with the destruction of a great number of Judah; (see note on chap. viii. 6;) to the Babylonish captivity; to the oppression of Antiochus Epiphanes: but the prophecy Before CHRIST about 713. the soul and even to the flesh. number. d Rom. 9. 27. amongst. c Chap. 28. 27. f Chap. 28. 27. Israel is comforted with promise of deliverance. Before CHRIST about 713. Or, but he shall lift up his staff for thee. Exod. 14. h Judges 7. 25. ch. 9. 4. remove. 24, 26. — after the manner of Egypt.] As Sennacherib invested Jerusalem upon his return from his Egyptian expedition, and imitated Pharaoh and the Egyptians in threatening the people of God, so does God promise here to act over again the part He had formerly taken, and to overthrow Sennacherib in as signal a manner as He had done Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. So both the attack and the deliverance are to be "in the way," or, "after the manner, of Egypt." Bp. Lowth. The twenty-sixth verse may be thus paraphrased: The Assyrian is my rod to thee; but I will have a scourge for him, that shall plague him: as the Midianites were destroyed by Gideon at the rock of Oreb; (see Judges vii. 25;) and as I plagued the Egyptians, whom I overthrew and destroyed at the Red sea. Bp. Hall. 27. — because of the anointing.] For the sake of God's chosen people, who are called "his anointed," Ps. cv. 15, and especially for the sake of Christ, or the Anointed emphatically so called, who was to descend from the tribe of Judah. Dr. Wells, W. Lowth. See note on chap. xlv. 1. 28. He is come to Aiath, &c.] Here follows a description of the march of Sennacherib's army, and of the terrour and confusion spreading through the several places in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, from Ai northward to Nob westward of it; expressed with great brevity, but finely diversified. Bp. Lowth. 32. As yet shall he remain at Nob] Hence probably Ver. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.] That is, from God's inexhaustible bounty, which is the fountain of all blessings in Jesus Christ: see Ps. xxxvi. 9; Jer. ii. 13. Bp. Wilson, W. Lowth. On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the Jews fetched water in a golden pitcher from the fountain of Siloah; brought it through the watergate into the temple, and poured it, mixed with wine, on the sacrifice as it lay upon the altar, with great rejoicing. This custom is not ordained in the law of Moses; and seems to have been taken up in allusion to this passage of Isaiah. Our Saviour applied the ceremony, and the intention of it, to Himself, and to the effusion of the Holy Ghost, promised, and to be given, by Him, John vii. 37. 39. Bp. Lowth. Chap. XIII. This chapter and the next (striking off a few of the last verses of it, which belong to a different subject) contain one entire prophecy, foretelling the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians; delivered probably in the reign of Ahaz, about 200 years before the completion of it. The captivity itself of the Jews at Babylon (which the Prophet does not expressly foretell, but supposes, in the spirit of prophecy, as what was actually effected) did not fully take place till about 130 years after the delivery of this prophecy; and the Medes, who are expressly mentioned, Ver. 1. The burden of Babylon.] A prophecy threatening ruin or some severe punishment. Bp. Wilson. The word in the original is of more general import and signification: it sometimes signifies a prophecy of good as well as evil. Bps. Newton and Chandler. 2. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.] That is, as man He shall be endued with the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, without measure, and at all times. Dr. Wells. The characters here given to the Spirit which was to rest on the Messiah, are the same which we find in the Old Testament applied to the Prophets. Dean Allix. He being the Great Prophet, foretold Deut. xviii. 15, is described as more plentifully endued with these gifts than any other ever was, chap. xiii. 1; lxi. 1; Ps. xiv. 7; John iii. 34; Acts x. 3a. W. Lowth. 2, 3. Lift ye up a banner &c.] The prophecy opens with the command of God to gather the forces which He had destined to his service against Babylon: upon which the Prophet immediately hears the tumultuous noise of the different nations crowding together to the standard; he sees them advancing prepared to execute the Divine wrath, ver. 4, 5; and proceeds to describe the dreadful consequences of this visitation, and the consternation which will seize those that are objects of it. Bp. Lowth. 2.—into the gates of the nobles.] To enlist under their several commanders. W. Lowth. 3. — of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.] In things pertaining unto holiness, He shall lay hold of all opportunities of promoting true piety, and advancing God's honour: this exactly answers Christ's character of Himself, John iv. 34. W. Lowth. — he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.] He shall not judge after the appearance, but shall judge righteous judgment; as our Saviour speaks, John vii. 24. W. Lowth. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones.] This signifies those whom God had set apart for his purpose. So He calls Cyrus his anointed, chap. xlv. 1, and Nebuchadnezzar his servant, Jer. xxv. 9. W. Lowth. 4. — reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.] To afford protection to the poor and humble, is the constant character of Christ's kingdom; (chap xviii. 19; lxi. 1; Ps. lxxii. 2. 12;) to them the blessings of the Gospel are peculiarly promised, Matt. v. 3; James ii. 5. W. Lowth. — he shall smile the earth with the rod of his mouth.] The "earth" here signifies the ungodly, called by St. John, chap. vii. 7; xvii. 9, the "world;" who make the greatest part of it, and have the greatest share in it: the "rod of his mouth" signifies the "word of God," containing threats and judgments against sinners, which is said to be "sharper than any twoedged sword," Heb. iv. 12; and as such is described, Rev. i. 16, as proceeding "out of the mouth of Christ." St. Paul, in the passage given in the margin, applies this particularly to the destruction of Antichrist. See also Rev. xix. 21. W. Lowth. 5. — righteousness shall be the girdle &c.] The meaning is, that a zeal for justice and truth shall make Him active and strong in executing the great work which He shall undertake. Bp. Lowth. See note on chap. v. 27. 6—8. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, &c.] The expressions here used are plainly designed to shew, in a figurative way, that there should be as great a the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 11. — the Lord shall set his hand again the second time &c.] These words imply, that this shall be as great a deliverance as that out of Egypt: compare Ps. lxviii. 22; Mic. vii. 15. W. Lowth. — from Pathros, &c.] Pathros is a country in Egypt, Jer. xliv. 1; Ezek. xxix. 14. Elam, Persia; Shinar, Babylon, Gen. xi. 2. W. Lowth. Respecting Cush, see notes on chap. xviii. 1; Numb. xii. 1. Hamath, note on chap. x. 9. Elam, note on chap. xxi. 2. — islands of the sea.] By this expression, are to be understood, in the Scripture style, not only islanders properly so called, but all who dwelt on the sea-coast, primarily, perhaps, those on the shores of the Mediterranean; all distant nations, which may best appear from chap. xlix. 1; Jer. xxxi. 10; all to the west of Canaan. These last were the isles of the Gentiles, to be peopled by the posterity of Japhet, Gen. x. 5; under this title of islands they are mentioned in all passages, where the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles is prophesied of, with a view, no doubt, to the flourishing depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 13. — the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off.] The Hebrew might be rendered, the "enmity" of Judah; and what follows, "Judah shall not vex Ephraim," seems to require that it should. Abp. Secker. 14. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines &c.] The people mentioned in this verse were all of them borderers upon the territory of the Jews, and took all occasions of shewing their spite and ill-will against them: on which account, in the prophetick dialect they are often used in a general sense for the enemies of God's truth and people. Compare chap. xxv. 10; xxxiv. 5, 6; Joel iii. 19; Amos ix. 12. W. Lowth. It is the style and genius of the prophetical books, to set whole countries, and kingdoms, and societies of men, to signify, not those places, and persons, and powers only, but others also, who should be in after-ages like them, in the same sins and circumstances. Dean Stanhope. 15. — the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; the word "tongue," when applied to the sea, signifies a bay, and is so translated, Josh. xv. 2, and xviii. 19. W. Lowth. Most interpreters apply the expression here to that bay of the Red sea, over which the Israelites passed. Vitringa. Perhaps "the tongue of the Egyptian sea" may mean that part of the land of Egypt which was enclosed among the mouths of the Nile; the Nile being understood to be the Egyptian sea. This has at times been described under the semblance of a pear, and an heart, and also a tongue; all these objects having some analogy in their shape. Bryant. — with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, &c.] This plainly alludes to the passage of the Red sea, and refers to the particular circumstance mentioned Exod. xiv. 21. Bp. Lowth. Whether we understand the river here of the Nile, famous for its seven mouths, or the Euphrates, (see note on chap. vii. 20,) and suppose allusion made to Cyrus draining that river when he took Babylon, chap. xliv. 27; Jer. i. 38; Before CHRIST about 713. children of the east. and Moab shall be the laying on of their hand. children of Ammon their obedience. shoes. A thanksgiving of the faithful. God mustereth the armies of his wrath. Before CHRIST about 713. e Exod. 14. 29. for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. # CHAP. XII. A joyful thanksgiving of the faithful for the mercies of God. AND in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. a Exod. 12. 2. Ps. 113. 14. — strangers shall be joined with them, &c.] It is probable that many strangers might become proselytes to the Jewish religion during the captivity. W. Lowth. History indeed bears testimony to a partial completion of even the most literal sense of this prophecy, as the Jews brought back with them from Babylon some thousands of slaves; and afterwards, for a time, under the prosperous government of the Asmonean princes, held their neighbours and ancient enemies in subjection: but we must look farther to the spiritual completion: this and similar descriptions do import the conversion of whole nations and all nations to the true religion; and consequently could not be completed in the proselyting only of a few particular persons, but must intend a general reduction of all people to the same obedience. See notes on chap. xlv. 14; xlix. 23. Vitringu, Dr. Berriman. in the sides of the north.] This is mount Zion, or rather mount Moriah on the north side of it, on which the temple was built. It might better be rendered "mount of the convention;" so called, not because the people assembled there to perform their religious ceremonies, but because God there manifested Himself, as He had before appointed to meet the people in the tabernacle, Exod. xxix. 43. This perhaps only literally explains what was figuratively expressed in the former part of the verse: "heaven" and the "stars of God" standing, according to the Eastern manner, for the sanctuary and God's ministers. Vitrinya. 16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee.] Certain persons are introduced here, who light upon the corpse of the king of Babylon, cast out, and lying naked on the bare ground, covered with wounds, and so disfigured, that it is some time before they know him. They accost him with the severest taunts, and bitterly reproach him with his ambition and cruelty, which have deservedly brought on him this ignominious treatment, so different from that which those of his rank usually meet with, and so full of disgrace to his posterity. Bp. Lowth. 4. — shalt take up this proverb] The word thus translated signifies not only a proverbial speech, but an acute and excellent saying, drawn up with art, and adorned with rhetorical figures. W. Lowth. See Bp. Lowth's note on Job xxvii. 1; and Abp. Newcome's on Numb. xxiii. 7. — and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! &c.] A chorus of Jews is here introduced, expressing their surprise and astonishment at the sudden downfall of Babylon, and the great reverse of fortune that had befallen the tyrant, who, like his predecessors, had oppressed his own, and harassed the neighbouring kingdoms. These oppressed kingdoms, or their rulers, are represented under the image of the fir trees and cedars of Libanus, frequently used to express any thing in the political or religious world that is superimmunity great and majestic: the whole earth shouteth for joy; the cedars of Libanus utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant, and boast their security now he is no more. Bp. Lowth. 8. — their faces shall be as flames.] Black and ghastly, like smoke and flames. See Joel ii. 6; Nahum ii. 10. Bp. Wilson, W. Lowth. 9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee &c.] See notes on Gen. xxxvii. 35; and Job xxvi. 5, 6. The scene is here changed, and a new set of persons is introduced: the regions of the dead are laid open, and hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the departed monarchs; they rise from their thrones to meet the king of Babylon at his coming, and insult him on his being reduced to the same estate of impotence and dissolution with themselves. This is one of the boldest figures that ever was attempted in poetry, and is executed with astonishing brevity and perspicuity, and with that peculiar force, which in a great subject naturally results from both. This image of the state of the dead is taken from the Eastern custom of burying, those at least of higher rank, in large sepulchral vaults hewn in the rock. Maundrell mentions remains of sepulchres of this kind at Jerusalem, said to be the sepulchres of the kings of Judah. Travellers tell us of similar monuments in Persia; mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as sepulchres of the kings of Persia. We must form to ourselves an idea of an immense subterraneous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all round the sides of which there are cells to receive the dead bodies; here the deceased monarchs lie, in a distinguished sort of state, each on his couch with his arms beside him, and his sword at his head; see Ezek. xxxii. 27; on which place Chardin remarks, that this is the custom in Mingrelia. These illustrious shades rise at once from their couches, as from their thrones, and advance to the entrance of the cavern, to meet the king of Babylon, and to receive him with insults on his fall. Bp. Lowth. 10. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light:] When the Hebrew poets represent the destruction and overthrow of kingdoms, the stars are obscure, the moon withdraws her light, the sun shines no more; the earth quakes, the heavens tremble; and all things seem tending to their original chaos. See Joel ii. 10; iii. 15, 16; Amos viii. 9; Matt. xxiv. 29. Bp. Lowth. All these high expressions are the peculiar and even natural language of the Eastern nations; no more, even at this day, would be understood to be meant by them, than that Babylon should be utterly destroyed, the government ruined, and the people severely treated. Bp. Wilson. 11. And I will punish the world] The Prophet suddenly transfers the speech from himself to God, and sets forth, under a variety of the most striking images, the dreadful destruction of the inhabitants of Babylon which will follow, ver. 11—16; and the everlasting desolation, to which that great city is doomed, ver. 17—22. See chap. xxi. 10, and notes there. "The world" here signifies the Babylonish empire, as it does the Roman empire, or Judea, in Luke ii. 1; Acts xi. 28. Bp. Lowth. 12. I will make a man more precious than fine gold:] Such shall be the destruction of men fit to bear arms: see the like calamity described, chap. iv. 1. Or the words may import, that the Medes should spare no man's life, though he could purchase it with gold; see ver. 17. W. Lowth. VOL. II. — of Ophir.] See notes on 1 Kings ix. 28. 13. — I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove &c.? The figurative language of the Prophets is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politick. The heavens and the things therein signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; the earth with the things thereon, the inferior people. Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, are put for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract and overthrow them. Sir I. Newton. 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,] Princes and rulers are figuratively expressed by the host of heaven; and the king of Babylon, who outshone others, is here represented by the morning star: see notes on chap. xiii. 13. The expression likewise alludes to the fall of Satan, prince of the apostate angels, Luke x. 18. W. Lowth. The Jews now resume the speech: they address the king of Babylon, as the morning star fallen from heaven, as the first in splendour and dignity in the political world fallen from his high state: they introduce him as uttering the most extravagant vaunts of his R 2 Israel's insulation over Babylon. God's purpose against Assyria. Before CHRIST about 712. 17. — which shall not regard silver:] That is, shall not be induced by large offers of ransom to spare. It is remarkable that Xenophon makes Cyrus open a speech to his army with praising them for a similar disregard of riches: "Ye Medes, and others who now hear me, I well know that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with a view of acquiring wealth." Bp. Lowth. 18. Their bows also] The Persians were celebrated for their archery, chap. xxii. 6; Jer. xlix. 35. (See note on chap. xxi. 2.) Profane writers mention the magnitude of their bows. Probably their neighbours and allies, the Medes too dealt much in the same sort of arms. Bp. Lowth. The Medes is a general name for both nations, and so used and applied by Greek historians, as well as sacred writers. Bp. Newton. 18. — every one in his own house.] That is, in his sepulchre. So the grave is called the "long home," as our translation well expresses it, Eccles. xii. 5. W. Lowth. 19. — Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency.] After Nineveh was destroyed, Babylon became the queen of the East. Semiramus is said by some, and Belus, who is probably the same as Nimrod, (see note on Gen. x. 9.) by others, to have R The utter desolation of Babylon. Ochim. Or. ostriches. daughters of the owl. Or. palaces. 19. — like an abominable branch.] Fit for nothing but to rot on the ground. W. Lowth. Or, we may understand him compared to the tree on which a malefactor had been hanged. The Jews held this an object of abomination, and covered it with earth, together with the malefactor. Bp. Lowth. — the raiment of those that are slain.] The touching of such clothes did contract uncleanness by the law, Numb. xix. 16. W. Lowth. 20—22. It shall never be inhabited, &c.] Babylon never recovered its ancient splendour after it was taken by Cyrus, but, upon the removal of the seat of empire from thence by the Persians, by degrees decayed till it was at last reduced to an utter solitude. Berosus in Josephus says, that Cyrus ordered the outer walls to be pulled down; the Persian kings ever regarded Babylon with a jealous eye; Darius Hystaspes, upon a revolt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates; Xerxes destroyed the temples; the building of Seleucia on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighbourhood, as well as by the immediate loss of inhabitants taken away by Seleucus to people his new city; a king of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great number, and destroyed the most beautiful parts of the city. In more modern times, St. Jerome (who lived in the fourth century) mentions Babylon as nothing more than a chase for wild beasts to feed and breed there for the king of Persia's hunting, exactly agreeing with ver. 21; and later travellers, who have endeavoured to find the remains of Babylon, give but very unsatisfactory accounts, some taking what ruins they saw to be those of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, or the tower of Babel; others supposing them the remains of some more modern building. The place thereabouts is represented as overrun with houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. # CHAP. XIV. 20. — neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.] This is a proper representation of complete and entire desolation: for it is common in the East for shepherds to make use of remaining ruins to shelter their flocks in: and it implies a great degree of solitude, when it is said, that the place where great cities stood should be turned into pasturage, chap. xvii. 2; xxvii. 10; but it is predicted that the ruins of Babylon shall be fit for wild creatures only to resort to! Horner, W. Lowth. It is uncertain what creatures are meant by some Hebrew words in the following verses; particularly what the word signifies which our English renders satyrs. It originally means goats; in which shape evil spirits were supposed to appear; on which account our interpreters sometimes render it devils: see note at Lev. xvii. 7; 2 Chron. xi. 15; but here and chap. xxxiv. 14, it is rendered satyrs. Desolate and forlorn places were supposed to be inhabited by evil spirits. Compare Baruch iv. 35; Rev. xviii. 2. W. Lowth. Chap. XIV. ver. 1. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel.] However He may seem to desert them. Judah, whose deliverance from captivity was the immediate consequence of the revolution foretold in the last chapter, is sometimes called Israel; see Ezek. xiii. 16; Mal. i. 1; ii. 11: but the name of Jacob and of Israel, used apparently with design in this place, each of which names includes the twelve tribes, and the other circumstances mentioned in this and the next verse, which did not in any complete sense accompany the return from the captivity of Babylon, seem to intimate that this whole prophecy extends its views beyond that event. Bp. Lowth. And, generally, whenever the Prophets speak of the blessings to follow upon the return from the captivity, it is to be understood, that the beginnings of their promises are to take place in that temporary restoration of the Jewish state; but that their full and final completion is to be looked for only in the days of the Messiah. This is the key to open the meaning of all oracles on this subject; this the true light to guide us to the interpretation of the prophetic word. Vitriga. The deliverance of Judah from captivity, which is here set forth, without being much enlarged upon, or greatly amplified, introduces, with the greatest ease and the utmost propriety, the triumphant song on the overthrow of the Babylonian monarchy, ver. 4—28. Bp. Lowth. This passage (ver. 4—28,) contains a greater assemblage of sublime ideas, of bold and daring figures, than is perhaps any where else to be met with. Dr. Blair. God's merciful restoration of Israel. CHAP. XIV. Their triumphant insulation over Babel. Before CHRIST about 712. the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 21. — that they do not rise.] The Persian monarchs took care to prevent Babylon's recovering its former greatness: the Jews were first brought to Babylon to people and strengthen it; and the weakening and dispeopling of it might be one reason for their being sent back. Bp. Lowth, Dean Prideaux. 22. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, &c.] To complete the whole, God is here introduced, declaring the fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, and the total desolation of the city; the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; confirming the irreversible decree by the awful sanction of his oath. Bp. Lowth. — nephew.] The same Hebrew word is translated, Gen. xxi. 23, "son's son," and so it should be here. It may mean, Evil-merodach, (Nebuchadnezzar the great king of Babylon's son,) and Belshazzar. See Jer. xxvii. 6, 7. Dean Prideaux, W. Lowth. 23. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water.] Cyrus took the city of Babylon, by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the midst of it, and entering the place at night by the channel. It was two furlongs wide; but he had made it fordable by means of the lake, (see note on chap. xiii. 19,) and trenches which he had prepared. The river being thus turned, by the breaking down of dams and banks, and no care taken afterwards to repair the breach, all the country was overflowed and drowned, and ultimately a whole province lost. Alexander, who intended to have made Babylon the seat of his empire, set about remedying the mischief; but difficulties arising, he soon after dying, and the work being never more thought of, that country has remained bog and marsh ever since. Bp. Lowth, Dean Prideaux. 25. — I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot:] The Assyrians —a fiery flying serpent.] See notes on chap. xxx. 6; Numb. xxi. 6. Ver. 1.—Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because &c.] We should rather translate, "Because in the night Ar is destroyed, Moab is undone!" Bp. Lowth. 27. For the Lord of hosts &c.] I believe it may with truth be affirmed, that there is no poem of its kind, extant in any language, in which the subject is so well laid out, and so happily conducted, with such a richness of invention, with such variety of images, persons, and distinct actions, with such rapidity and ease of transition, in so small a compass, as in this ode of Isaiah. For beauty of disposition, strength of colouring, greatness of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands among all the monuments of antiquity unrivalled. Bp. Lowth. 28. This verse our translators refer to the former part of the chapter: many commentators suppose it to belong to the burden against Philistia that follows. Editor. 29.—whole Palestina.] All the tribes or clans of the Philistines, who had five lords or heads over them. See Josh. xiii. 3; 1 Sam. vi. 4. 16. W. Lowth. —the rod of him that smote thee is broken.] Or rather, The rod that smote thee is broken. It would be most natural and obvious to suppose Ahaz meant here, whose death seems to have given rise to the rejoicing of the Philistines. But as we learn from 2 Chron. xxviii. 18, that during his reign the Philistines rather gained ground upon the Jews, than were smitten by them, we may conclude that Uzziah, who had warred successfully against the Philistines, is meant by the "rod that smote them," and "the serpent," from whom should spring the "fiery flying serpent." This last must mean Hezekiah, who was great grandson to Uzziah, and is thus described as a more terrible enemy than he had been. See 2 Kings xviii. 8. Vitrigna, Bp. Lowth. Hezekiah not only regained all the cities of Judah which the Philistines had seized during the time when Pekah and Rezin distressed the land, but also dispossessed them of almost all their own country. Dean Prideaux. 30.—the firstborn of the poor shall feed, &c.] That is, the poorest. This speaks of the plenty and security that should ensue under the government of Hezekiah. Dr. Wells. 31.—there shall come from the north a smoke.] Smoke and fire are emblems of God's wrath, and of great calamities. See Gen. xv. 17; Ps. xviii. 8. W. Lowth. Chap. XVI. ver. 1. Send ye the lamb &c.] The Moabites were subdued by David, and became his tributaries, 2. He is gone to Bajith, and to Dibon.] "He" is used for the people of Moab. "Bajith" and "Dibon" are in the Chaldee and Syriack versions made into the name of one place; Beth-Dibon: Beth may signify the house or temple of an idol. Bp. Lowth, W. Lowth. —on all their heads shall be baldness, &c.] Tokens of great mourning; see chap. xxii. 12; Jer. vii. 29; Ezra ix. 3. W. Lowth. The lamentable state of Moab. She is exhorted to obedience, Before CHRIST about 726. descending into weeping; or, coming down with weeping. Or, to the borders thereof, even to Zoar, as an heifer. 34. breaking. desolations. Or, valley of the Arabians. 3.—on the tops of their houses.] See the note on Deut. xxii. 8. All Pagans sacrifice on high places and terraces. Sir J. Chardin. In the temple of Belus, the uppermost story of all was the most sacred, and where the chiefest devotions were performed. Dean Prideaux. 5.—his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar; Rather, "his fugitives shall cry unto Zoar as an heifer," &c. The particle as is frequently understood; see chap. xxi. 8. W. Lowth. —on heifer of three years old.] The meaning seems to be, that the cry of Moab should be continued on from city to city, till the whole country resounded as with the lowing of a young cow, that runs from place to place in search of her calf, that has been taken from her. An image singularly expressive. Dr. Blayney. 3.—make thy shadow as the night &c.] The Prophet speaks by way of advice to the Moabites, to shew kindness to their brethren the Jews, as in reason and justice they ought, in the time of their distress: adding however, that there should be no great occasion for their help, as God Himself would preserve them. W. Lowth, Dr. Wells. 4.—for the extortioner is at an end, &c.] This applies perhaps to the Israelites, who in Ahaz's time invaded Judah, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6. With those former times of distress is contrasted the security and flourishing state of the kingdom under Hezekiah, who should govern with an equal mixture of justice and mercy, and therein prefigure the Messiah. Bp. Lowth, W. Lowth. Before CHRIST about 728. additions. Or, Petra. Or, a west forsaken. bringer. trooders down. 6.—the waters of Nimrim] This place was famous for good pasture, and meadows well-watered. See Numb. xxxii. 3. 36. W. Lowth. —for the hay is withered away.] Rather, "the herbage," for in those countries they make no hay; and, if they did, it appears from inspection that hay could hardly be the meaning of the original word, either here or in Prov. xxvii. 25. Parkhurst 7.—carry away to the brook of the willows.] That is, to Babylon: see Ps. cxxxvii. 2. Dean Prideaux, Bp. Lowth. Or, we may read, as the margin gives it, "to the valley of the Arabians;" whither the Assyrians might carry the booty thee took, it being the direct way from Moab to Assyria. W. Lowth. 9.—waters of Dimon shall be full of blood:] St. Jerome tells us, that Dimon is the same with Dibon, ver. 2. Vitringa. —for I will bring more &c.] I will bring more and more calamities; and they that fly to escape the present evil shall fall into worse; as if a man that fled from 6. — but his lies shall not be so.] That is, the predictions of such as take upon them to foretel things shall not have events agreeable to their pride and wrath. Dr. Wells. 8. — they are come even unto Jazer, &c.] The plants of the celebrated "vine of Sibmah" are described as propagated over all the neighbouring country: Jazer was in the north border of Moab; the wilderness of Moab lay to the east of that country. (Numb. xxi. 23,) and by "the sea" no other can well be understood but the Dead sea, which was south-west. Dr. Bloyney. Perhaps the meaning of the words, "are gone over the sea," is, that these vines were not only in great request in the country of Moab, but had scions of them sent beyond sea, into foreign countries. Bp. Lowth. Some interpreters suppose, that by the "vine of Sibmah" is meant the state of Moab, and its principal men by the "principal plants;" but these may better be taken literally. The vines and the pastures (chap. xv. 6,) formed the chief excellence of the country; and the Prophet accordingly foretels the destruction of those things, the loss of which would most affect the people. Vitringa. 9. — I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer &c.] That is, with a general lamentation, such as shall be heard from the uttermost skirts of the land. Bp. Hall. — for the shouting &c.] The word in the original signifies loud shouting, either as of men treading grapes, (ver. 10, and Jer. xxv. 30,) or of soldiers encouraging one another to battle or plunder, Jer. li. 14. And in this latter view the learned Vitringa understands the word in this place: "for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the shout (that is, of plundering and destroying enemies) is fallen." Compare Jer. xlviii. 32. Parkhurst. See the marginal translation. Or the sense may be, according to the translation in the text, The joy and acclamations, that were wont to be at the gathering of thy summer fruits, and for thy plentiful harvest, are now at an end, and shall be heard no more. Bp. Hall. 11. — shall sound like an harp] Shall in their yearning, through the vehemence of my passion, make a loud noise. Bp. Hall. 12. — when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, &c.] Finding no relief in the petty idols of his high places, he shall come to his chief sanctuary, to implore the aid of Chernosh, his god. Bp. Hall. Compare Numb. xxiii. 1. 13. 27. W. Lowth. 13. — since that time.] Rather, a good while ago: so the same particle is rendered, chap. xlviii. 3. 5. This judgment, saith the Prophet, was denounced against Moab in former time; particularly by Amos, chap. ii. 1, &c. It is now confirmed, and the particular time specified when it shall be accomplished, ver. 14. W. Lowth. 14. — three years, as the years of an hireling.] See Deut. xv. 18. W. Lowth. Chap. XVII. ver. 1. — Damascus is taken away from being a city.] This prophecy was probably delivered soon after those of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; and was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser's taking Damascus, and carrying the people captives to Kir, 2 Kings xvi. 9. Bp. Lowth. 2. — they shall be for flocks, &c.] See note on chap. vii. 25. A remnant shall forsake idolatry. The woe of Israel's enemies. lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim.] The burden of Damascus naturally brings the Prophet to speak of the subversion of the kingdom of Israel, in those days in alliance with the Syrians, chap. vii. 1, 2, and to be overthrown by the same enemy, at the same time, chap. viii. 4. Bp. Horsley. This chapter treats indeed more largely of the Israelites than of the Syrians; and with regard to them was the prophecy more fully completed, by the conquest of the kingdom, and captivity of the people, effected a few years later by Shalmaneser. Bp. Lowth. 5. — the valley of Rephaim.] The valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem, celebrated for its plentiful harvests, is here used poetically for any fruitful country. Bp. Lowth. 6. — as the shaking of an olive tree.] The former verse was an illustration of Israel's entire destruction from the ridding of fields in the corn harvest: compare Jer. li. 33; Hos. vi. 11. Here the metaphor is taken from the gathering of the summer fruits, and the remnant compared to the few berries left on an olive tree that has been beaten by its owner, to be shaken off by the poor. See Deut. xxiv. 20. W. Lowth, Harmer. Agreeably to the promise here made of a remnant, we find that some of the ancient inhabitants of the ten tribes were left after Shalmaneser's captivity, and even after that of Esar-haddon; and some turned to serve the true God, as predicted ver. 7, 8. See 2 Chron. xxx. 10, 11; xxxv. 18. W. Lowth. 10, 11. — therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, &c.] The pleasant plants, and shoots from a foreign soil, are allegorical expressions for strange and idolatrous worship; vicious and abominable practices connected with it; reliance on human aid, and on alliances entered into with the neighbouring countries, especially Egypt; to all which the Israelites were greatly addicted, and in their expectations from which they should be grievously disappointed. Bp. Lowth. 11. — in the morning shalt thou make] When the Hebrews would signify doing a thing speedily, with care and diligence, they often thus express it. See chap. l. 4; and Ps. xlvi. 5. W. Lowth. — shall be a heap] "Shall be removed," namely, by the Assyrians, Parkhurst. See the margin. 12—14. These verses seem to relate to the formidable invasion of the Assyrians upon Judea, and their sudden overthrow; ver. 14, fifty representing the condition of Sennacherib's army, which caused great consternation over night, but were all destroyed before the next morning, 2 Kings xix. 35. W. Lowth. 13. — chaff of the mountains. The Jews used to thresh their corn upon hills, and places exposed to the wind. See chap. xli. 15; 2 Chron. iii. 1. W. Lowth. Chap. XVIII. This is one of the most obscure prophecies of Isaiah: the end and design of it, the people to whom it is addressed, the person who sends the messengers, and the nation to whom the messengers are sent, are all doubtful. Bp. Lowth. It has been considered as such by the whole succession of interpreters. Ver. 1. Woe to the land] The Hebrew particle here used does not necessarily imply a threat, is sometimes an exclamation of surprise, and often simply compellative of persons at a distance. It may be rendered, "Ho! land," or, "Ho to the land," &c. Bp. Horsley, Vitringa, Bp. Lowth. — — land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.] The mention of the rivers of Ethiopia has led almost all expositors to look to Egypt as the country addressed. Some have understood by the wings of Egypt, ridges of mountains running from south to north, on either side of the Nile, somewhat resembling a pair of pinions; others take the wings for the sails of numerous vessels, overshadowing the surface of the ocean; others, and Bp. Lowth among them, giving a different sense to the doubtful word rendered by our translators "shadowing," translate, "land of the winged cymbal," which they suppose a poetical periphrasis for the Egyptian sistrum, frequently used in their idolatrous rites. Our translators appear to me very judiciously to have taken the word in the sense of "shadowing." The shadow of wings is an usual image in the prophetic language for protection afforded by the stronger to the weak; and in this passage may be intended to characterize some great people, who should be famous for the aid and protection they should afford their friends and allies. The land of Cush (properly that district of Arabia, where the sons of Cush first settled) is in Holy Writ taken largely for a great tract of country, comprehending much more than the proper territory of the Cushites, extending east at least as far as the Tigris, and having for its western boundary the Nile; so that according as we understand the Prophet to speak of the African or the Asiatic Cush, the land beyond its rivers is to be looked for far to the west or far to the east of Palestine. Which of these is meant, it must be left for time to shew. Bp. Horsley. — saying, Go, ye swift messengers,] The word "saying" is not in the original, or old versions. It should seem that the command is God's, issued by his prophet; and that the messengers, to whom the command is given, are the very people summoned in the first verse to attend. Bp. Horsley. — to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto;] The time present in prophetic vision is not the time of the delivery, but that of the fulfilment, of the prophecy. Now the people of Egypt has long ceased to be of any consideration: but the people of the Jews has been from their very beginning, are at this day, and will be to the end of time, a people venerable in a religious sense, awfully "remarkable" (so the word might be rendered rather than "terrible") on account of the special Providence visibly attending them: and all the other particulars of the description here given of the people, to whom messengers are sent, agree accurately with the character and conduct of the Jews in their present state of dispersion. Bp. Horsley. — whose land the rivers have spoiled!] That is, armies of conquerors, which long since have spoiled the land of the Jews. The inundation of rivers is a frequent image for the ravages of armies of foreign invaders. We have in ver. 1, 2, seen messengers summoned, a command given to them to go swiftly with the message, the people described to whom it was to be carried: it might be expected we should next have the message given to the messengers in precise terms. The scene is suddenly closed with ver. 2, before the messengers set out, before even the message is given: but the new objects which are immediately brought in view, evidently represent, under the usual emblems of sacred prophecy, other parts of the same entire action; and declare the purport, the season, and the effect of the message. Ver. 3, 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. Bp. Horsley. sour grape is ripening in the flower.] Rather, "and the blossom is become a swelling grape." Bp. Lowth. The harvest and gathering of the fruits is the constant image of that season, when God shall gather his elect from the four winds of heaven. This is to be immediately preceded by a pruning of the useless shoots and unfruitful luxurious branches: see John xx. 1, 2, God, in the latter ages, will purify his church by such signal judgments as shall strike all nations with religious awe. Bp. Horsley. See note on chap. xxvii. 4, 5. The interpretation of this confessedly obscure and very difficult chapter has been given above according to the hypothesis of Bp. Horsley. The explanation of Bp. Lowth supposes, that the prophecy was delivered before Sennacherib's return from his Egyptian expedition; and that it was designed to give to the Jews, and perhaps likewise to the Egyptians, an intimation of God's counsels, in regard to the destruction of their great and powerful enemy. He accordingly explains the "people" and "nation" spoken of in ver. 2, to be the Egyptians: by "the standard" and "the trumpet" in ver. 3, he understands the meteors, the thunder, the lightning, &c., which accompanied the destruction of Sennacherib's army, as described chap. xxix. 6; xxx. 30, 31; x. 16, 17: and he states the subject of the fourth and following verses of the chapter to be, that God would comfort and support his own people, though threatened with immediate destruction by the Assyrians; that Sennacherib's great designs and mighty efforts should be frustrated; that the chief part of his army should be made a prey for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, ver. 5, 6; and that Egypt, being delivered from his oppression, and avenged of the wrongs which she had suffered, should return thanks to God for the wonderful deliverance, both of herself and of the Jews, from this most powerful adversary. This interpretation of Bp. Lowth corresponds in its outline with that proposed by Vitrings. Edit. Chap. XIX. ver. 1. The burden of Egypt.] This THE burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. — the idols of Egypt shall be moved] When God executes his judgments upon a heathen nation, He is said to punish the idols of that people: see chap. xxi. 9; Exod. xii. 12; Jer. li. 44. W. Lowth. The same thing is foretold as to be performed by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xlii. 11, &c.; Ezek. xxx. 13. The phrase used here of the Lord's "ruling upon a swift cloud" implies, that the conquest should be swift and sudden. Bp. Newton. This prophecy of the utter overthrow of heathen superstition is applicable also to the Gospel times, and signifies that after great desolation and confusion the Egyptians should learn to know the Lord: see ver. 21. Dr. Berriman. 2. — vessels of bulrushes] It is well known that the Egyptians commonly used on the Nile a light sort of ships, or boats, made of the reed papyrus. Bp. Lowth. See notes on Exod. ii. 3; and Job ix. 26. If Egypt is the country spoken to, "vessels of bulrushes" might be understood of those light skiffs; but if the country spoken to be distant from Egypt, those vessels may only be used as an apt image of quick-sailing vessels of any material. Bp. Horsley. 4. — I will consider in my dwelling place] Rather read, with the margin, "I will regard my set dwelling." The sentiment is, that, notwithstanding a long suspension of extraordinary manifestations of God's power, which is here described under the image of that stillness and stagnation of the atmosphere which takes place in extreme heats, his providence is not asleep; He is all the while keeping his eye fixed upon his prepared habitation, regarding the conduct and the fortunes of his people, and at all times directing every thing, though often by a silent and secret operation, to their ultimate prosperity, and to the universal establishment of the true religion. Bp. Horsley. — like a clear heat upon herbs,] The marginal reading, "after rain," seems to make better sense. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. 5. — afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the An access thereby to the church. The confusion of Egypt. bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. 4. — a cruel lord:] Nebuchadnezzar; and afterwards the whole succession of Persian kings, who in general grievously oppressed the country; especially Cambyses and Ochus, who are branded in history as cruel tyrants, and monsters of men. Bps. Lowth and Newton. 5. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wasted and dried up.] By "the sea" here is to be understood the Nile; and the second part of the verse to be taken as no more than the Prophet's interpretation of the first. Jeremiah speaks thus of the — fought against Ashdod.] When Sennacherib's army came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, (2 Kings xviii. 13,) he might send a detachment against this city, belonging probably at that time to Hezekiah's dominions, 2 Kings xviii. 8. Ashdod or Azotus was a strong place, and afterwards held out twenty-nine years against Psammitichus king of Egypt. W. Louth, Bp. Louth. — As whirlwinds in the south] See Job xxxvii. 9; Zech. ix. 14. The most vehement storms to which Judea was subject came from the great desert country to the south of it. Bp. Lowth. 2. — loose the sackcloth from off thy loins.] As it was a principal part of the prophetic office to denounce God's judgment, so the Prophets commonly wore sackcloth, the habit of mourning, as suitable to their employment: (see Rev. xi. 3;) of this kind was the hairy garment by which Elias and John Baptist are described, 2 Kings i. 8; Matt. iii. 4. See also Zech. xiii. 4. W. Louth. — naked and barefoot.] Those are said to be naked in the Scripture phrase, who go without their upper garment, or have put off the habit proper to their station or quality. See John xxi. 7; 1 Sam. xix. 24; and note on Job xxii. 6. Going barefoot was a sign of mourning, 2 Sam. xv. 30. Dr. Waterland, W. Louth. Isaiah is described here walking in this manner as a sign of the distress that awaited the Egyptians; the Prophets foreshamed things by actions as well as words, Ezek. xxiv. 18; Hos. i. 2, 3; iii. 1, 2; this mode of expressing important circumstances by actions being customary and familiar among all Eastern nations. The conduct of the Prophets on these occasions, considered with reflection on the importance of their ministry, and with allowance for difference of manners, will appear to have been not only very striking and impressive, but strictly agreeable to the design and decorum of the prophetic character. W. Louth, Dr. Gray. See the note on Gen. xxxii. 25. 3. — three years for a sign and wonder] Perhaps, at intervals during that time. Some think we should understand three days, a year being sometimes placed in prophetic language for a day: others apply the three years, not to Isaiah's walking, but to the calamity foreshewn thereby to be to last three years; or to happen within three years. Others consider the account as narrative of a transaction in vision, or as a parable related by Isaiah. Dr. Gray. 6. — the inhabitant of this isle] The margin gives "country;" and so is the word sometimes to be taken. W. Louth. See note on chap. xi. 11; Gen. x. 5. Chap. XXI. ver. 1. — desert of the sea.] Babylon, which was seated in a plain, and surrounded by water. The propriety of the expression consists in this, not only that any large collection of waters in the Oriental style is called a sea, but also that the places about Babylon are said from the beginning to have been overflowed with waters, and to have been called the sea. Compare Jer. ii. 13. Bp. Newton. It was a great barren morassy desert originally: such it became after the taking of the city by Cyrus: (see note on chap. xiv. 23;) and such it continues to this day. Bp. Louth. The ten first verses of this chapter contain a prediction of the taking of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. It opens with the Prophet's seeing at a distance the dreadful storm that is gathering and ready to burst upon it: the event is intimated in general terms; God's orders The fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Before CHRIST about 714. pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 7. The paper reeds] The papyrus is the peculiar produce of the Nile, the streams drawn from it, and the lakes of Egypt: beside the principal article made from it, paper, and the boats on the Nile, (see note on chap. xviii. 2,) Pliny tells us, that the Egyptians applied it to various purposes, using the root for wood, and making of the bark, sails, ropes, clothes, &c. Vitringa. — by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks.] What is here translated "brooks," is in Exod. vii. 19, (where there is a particular representation of the waters of Egypt, as here,) rendered "rivers;" both may signify the canals drawn from the Nile by Egyptian princes. Dr. Shaw tells us, that the soil near the banks of the Nile itself is very considerably deeper than at the extremity to which the inundations reach; from whence it should seem, that the land originally lay with a considerable descent to the river. To say then that things sown or cultivated near the mouths of the canals (which must have been in the lowest places, and sufficiently watered, when the higher grounds produced nothing, for want of moisture) should wither, is to describe the utmost failure of water. Harmer. 8. The fishers also shall mourn, &c.] There was great plenty of fish in Egypt: see Numb. xi. 5; (and the note on Exod. vii. 21;) the lakes abounding even more than the Nile; as Egmont, Pococke, and other travelers, tell us. Bp. Lowth. As the exhaustion and misery about to take place in Egypt has been already figured out under the emblem of the drying up of the Nile, the grand source of all its wealth; so the grief of the persons who would be the first and greatest sufferers by that calamity, the fishers, &c., is put to express the general despondency of all orders. Vitringa. 9. — they that weave networks.] "Networks," or rather, "white works," as in the margin, may mean wicker-work, white from the peeling of the twigs made use of. Fish may be caught by wicker-work, as well as by nets: and something of that kind appears in the Pranestine Mosaick Pavement, which Dr. Shaw has given us. Harmer, Parkhurst. 13. — Zoan—Noph] Zoan, or Tanis, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt; see Numb. xiii. 22; Ps. lxxviii. 43. Noph is better known by the name of Memphis. W. Lowth. In verses 11—17 are recounted the immediate causes of the above-mentioned evils; the folly of the rulers, who valued themselves on their wisdom; and the cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general: Egypt would not have become a prey to so many foreign enemies, but through the excessive weakness of the Egyptians, both in counsel and in action; they had not the courage even to defend themselves, but trusted chiefly to their mercenaries, who, instead of defending, were often the first to betray them. Bp. Newton. 14. The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit &c.] The Lord in his justice hath given them up to a spirit of giddiness and perverseness: justly punishing their pride with the seduction of their leaders, who have caused Egypt to go wrong in all their enterprises. Bp. Hall. The calling of Egypt to the church. The covenant of Egypt, &c. Before CHRIST about 714. 17. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, &c.] The threatening hand of God will be held out and shaken over Egypt, from the side of Judea, through which the Assyrians will march to invade it. Bp. Lowth. 18. In that day; That is, After that time. Bp. Newton. See the notes on chap. iv. 2; x. 20. — shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan.] It is a way of speaking in Scripture to use a common definite number for an indefinite. See Amos i. 3. 6. 9; (and the note on Job v. 19.) "Shall speak the language of Canaan" signifies, that they shall worship God with the true Israelites. W. Lowth. The whole passage to the end of the chapter contains a general intimation of the future propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander; and, in consequence of this propagation of the early reception of the Gospel in the same countries, when it should be published to the world. Bp. Lowth. Many Jews, after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem, fled into Egypt; and carried along with them Jeremiah, who there uttered most of his prophecies concerning the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. From thence some knowledge of God, and some notices of the prophecies, might easily be derived to the Egyptians. Alexander transplanted many of the Jews into his new city Alexandria: the first Ptolemy carried more; and his successors gave great encouragement to settlers: nor were the Jews less favoured by many of the Syrian kings. Bp. Newton. — one shall be called, The city of destruction.] The margin reads, "The city of the sun," and many suppose the city Heliopolis to be meant here, and that the other name is substituted for it (as being expressed in the Hebrew by a word which bears near affinity to the true name) by way of reproach, and implying withal, that the idol there worshipped should be utterly destroyed. Upon much the same principle Beth-el, which signifies the house of God, is called, when become the seat of idolatry, Beth-aven, that is, the house of vanity, Hos. iv. 15; x. 5. W. Lowth. 19. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord &c.] The altar, sacrifice, oblation, and vows, mentioned here and at ver. 21, are taken for the worship and service of God in general; it being common in the prophetick style to speak of future times in the language and according to the ideas of the present; of the spiritual worship God intended, by the known terms of the worship then used. W. Lowth, Bp. Chandler. The pillar in the border for a witness, alludes to that erected by Jacob at Beth-el, (Gen. xxviii. 18.) and to the altar built on the border of Jordan, Josh. xxii. 10. W. Lowth. 20. — because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour.] The conquest of Persia by Alexander might well be considered as a deliverance to Egypt: upon his coming the people all cheerfully submitted to him, out of hatred to the Persians, (see note on ver. 4.) so that he became master of the country without opposition. Bps. Lowth and Newton. The words may also be fitly applied to the tyranny which the devil exercises over the pagan world, who are led captive by him at his will, from whence they can be redeemed only by the great Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. W. Lowth. 23—25. — a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, &c.] It is predicted here that Egypt and Assyria, which used to be at great enmity with each other, shall be united in the same worship by the intermediation of Israel. The kingdom of Syria, which was established by Selenius after the time of Alexander the Great, comprehending nearly the same countries with the ancient empire of Assyria, and in other respects resembling it, may be considered as the representative of Assyria in later times; (see note on Ashur, Numb. xxiv. 24.) now by means of the many Jews and proselytes who were resident in Syria and Egypt, the three countries, Israel, Egypt, and Syria, were in some measure united in the same worship; see Bp. Newton's note on ver. 18. It was more fully accomplished when these countries became Christian: and we piously hope and believe, that it will still receive its more perfect completion in the latter days, when Mahometism shall be rooted out, and Christianity again flourish in those countries, when "the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel be saved," Rom. xi. 25, 26. Vitringa, Bp. Newton. The captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia. Before CHRIST about 714. — Watchman.] The Prophets are often compared to watchmen; as foreseeing evils at a distance, and warning the people: compare chap. lii. 8; lxii. 6; Ezek. in. 17. W. Lowth. This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was uttered, and from the brevity of the expression, is extremely obscure. The Edomites, as well as the Jews, were subdued by the Babylonians. They enquire of the Prophet how long their subjection is to last: he seems to intimate that the Jews should be delivered from their captivity; not so the Edomites: (Bp. Lowth.) that a morning should arise to the one after their night of calamity, and not to the other; see note on chap. xxvii. 7. We may suppose this night of the Idumeans to have begun the same year that, according to Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar executed the Divine judgments against the Ammonites, Moshees, &c.; the fifth after the destruction of Jerusalem. Vitringa. ling.] A common year. Dr. Wells. This description of it seems to be used to distinguish from a prophetic year, (see Numb. xiv. 34; Ezek. iv. 6;) or from some remarkable time in general; as we read of the "acceptable year of the Lord," chap. lxi. 2, the "year of recompences," chap. xxxiv. 8. W. Lowth. Chap. XXII. This prophecy foretels the invasion by the Assyrians under Sennacherib, or by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar: the prophet may have had both in view. The third verse seems to relate to the flight of Zelekiah, 2 Kings xxv. 4, 5, from the Chaldeans; ver. 6, and ver. 9-11, rather to the siege by Sennacherib. Bp. Lowth, Vitringa. See notes on those verses. Ver. 1. — valley of vision.] Jerusalem, according to Josephus, was built on two opposite hills, Sion and Acris, separated by a valley; and it is thus called, as being the seat of Divine revelation. Bp. Lowth. — that thou art wholly gone up] The people's running all to the top of their houses gives a lively image of a sudden general alarm. Bp. Lowth. See the notes on chap. xv. 3; and Deut. xxii. 8. 2. — the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, &c.] The words may be rather rendered passively, "The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed." Bp. Lowth. — Elam:] By this, taking the word with some latitude, we may rightly understand Persia. Vitringa. We do not find this last term (which signifies horsemen) in the early books of Scripture. Cyrus taught his people the art of managing horses: Ezekiel is the first who mentions them by the name of Persians; before that period, it is probable that the names Cush and Elam included most of Persia. Bochart. If however by Elam we understand here the province strictly so called, it is true that this also, though subject to Babylon, rose up against it. Bp. Newton. — all the sinking thereof have I made to cease.] That is, the sighing caused by it: namely, of those who have been oppressed by the Babylonian tyranny. Compare chap. xiv. 3. Bp. Lowth, W. Lowth. 4. — the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear] The night, when I thought to have some respite, and he at ease; see Job vii. 13, 14. Or, some understand the words of that festival night when Babylon was surprised, (Dan. v.) the following verse favours this sense. W. Lowth. 5—9. Prepare the table, &c.] The Prophet describes the carelessness of the Babylonians, and in the midst of their feasting the sudden alarm of war. The event is then declared in a very singular manner: God orders the Prophet to set a watchman to look out, and to report what he sees; and though the passage, which relates what he sees, is extremely obscure, (owing to the ambiguity of a word which occurs three times, and may signify a chariot or the rider in it; or a rider on a horse or other animal; or a company of chariots or riders; it is pretty clear, that Darius and Cyrus, the Medes and the Persians, are intended to be distinguished by the two riders, or two sorts of cattle. Bp. Lowth.