mites likewise, taking advantage of the distress of Ahaz, ravaged Judea, and carried away many captives. The Philistines recovered what they had before lost; and took many places in Judea, and maintained themselves there. Idolatry was established by the command of the king in Jerusalem, and throughout Judea; and the service of the temple was either intermitted, or converted into an idolatrous worship.

Hezekiah, his son, at his accession to the throne, immediately set about the restoration of the legal worship of God, both in Jerusalem and through Judea. He cleansed and repaired the temple, and held a solemn passover. He improved the city, repaired the fortification, erected magazines of all sorts, and built a new aqueduct. In the fourth year of his reign Shalmaneser king of Assyria invaded the kingdom of Israel, took Samaria, and carried away the Israelites into captivity; and replaced them by different people sent from his own country: and this was the final destruction of that kingdom, in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah was not deterred by this alarming example from refusing to pay the tribute to the king of Assyria, which had been imposed on Ahaz: this brought on the invasion of Senacherib in the fourteenth year of his reign; an account of which is inserted among the prophecies of Isaiah. After a great and miraculous deliverance from so powerful an enemy, Hezekiah continued his reign in peace: he prospered in all his works, and left his kingdom in a flourishing state to his son Manasseh; a son in every respect unworthy of such a father.

CHAP. I.

1. The vision of Isaiah-] It seems doubtful, whether this title belong to the whole book, or only to the prophecy contained in this chapter. The former part of the title seems properly to belong to this particular prophecy: the latter part, which enumerates the kings of Judah, under whom Isaiah exercised his prophetical office, seems to extend it to the whole collection of prophecies delivered in the course of his ministry. Vitringa (to whom the world is greatly indebted for his learned labours on this prophet; and to whom we should have owed much more, if he had not so totally devoted himself to Masoretic authority) has, I think, very judiciously resolved this doubt. He supposes, that the former part of the title was originally prefixed to this single prophecy; and that, when the collection of all Isaiah's prophecies was made, the enumeration of the kings of Judah was added, to make it at the same time a proper title to the whole book. As such it is plainly taken in Chron. xxxii. 32. where the book of Isaiah is cited by this title: "The vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amots."

The prophecy contained in this first chapter stands single and unconnected, making an entire piece of itself. It contains a severe remonstrance against the corruptions prevailing among the Jews of that time; powerful exhortations to repentance; grievous threatenings to the impenitent; and gracious promises of better times, when the nation shall have been reformed by the just judgments of God. The expression upon the whole is clear; the connexion of the several parts easy; and in regard to the images, sentiments, and style, it gives a beautiful example of the prophet's elegant manner of writing; though perhaps it may not be equal in these respects to many of the following prophecies.

2. Hear, O ye Heavens;-] God is introduced as entering upon a solemn and public action, or pleading, before the whole world, against his disobedient people. The prophet, as herald, or officer to proclaim the summons to the court, calls upon all created beings, celestial and terres trial, to attend, and bear witness to the truth of his plea, and the justice of his cause. The same scene is more fully displayed in the noble exordium of Psal. 1. where God summons all mankind, from east to west, to be present to hear his appeal; and the solemnity is held on Sion, where he is attended with the same terrible pomp that accompanied him on Mount Sinai:

"A consuming fire goes before him,

And round him rages a violent tempest:

He calleth the heavens from above,

And the earth, that he may contend in judgment with his people."

Psal. 1. 3, 4.

By the same bold figure, Micah calls upon the mountains, that is, the whole country of Judea, to attend to him: chap. vi. 1, 2.

Hear, O ye mountains, the controversy of JEHOVAH;
And ye, O ye strong foundations of the earth:
For JEHOVAH hath a controversy with his people,
And he will plead his cause against Israel."

With the like invocation, Moses introduces his sublime song; the design of which was the same as that of this prophecy, "to testify, as a witness, against the Israelites," for their disobedience: Deut. xxxi. 21.

"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak;

And let the earth hear the words of my mouth."

Deut. xxxii. 1.

This in the simple yet strong oratorical style of Moses is, "I call heaven and earth to witness against thee this day: life and death have I set before thee; the blessing and the curse: choose now life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed." Deut. xxx. 19. The poetical style, by an apostrophe, sets the personification in a much stronger light.

Ibid. that speaketh.] I render it in the present time, pointing it 77. There seems to be an impropriety in demanding attention to a speech already delivered.

Ibid. I have nourished-] The LXX have eyevvnoa, I have begotten. Instead of, they read ; a word little differing from the other, and perhaps more proper: which the Chaldee likewise seems to favour; "vocavi eos filios." See Exod. iv. 22. Jer. xxxi. 9.

3. The ox knoweth-] An amplification of the gross insensibility of the disobedient Jews, by comparing them with the most heavy and stupid of all animals, yet not so insensible as they. Bochart has well illus"He sets trated the comparison, and shewn the peculiar force of it. them lower than the beasts, and even than the stupidest of all beasts; for there is scarce any more so than the ox and the ass. Yet these acknowledge their master; they know the manger of their lord; by whom they are fed, not for their own, but for his good: neither are they looked upon as children, but as beasts of burden; neither are they advanced to honours, but oppressed with great and daily labours. While the Israelites, chosen by the mere favour of God, adopted as sons, promoted to the highest dignity, yet acknowledged not their Lord and their God; but despised his commandments, though in the highest degree equitable and just." Hieroz. i. col. 409.

Jeremiah's comparison to the same purpose is equally elegant; but has not so much spirit and severity as this of Isaiah:

"Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her season;

And the turtle, and the swallow, and the crane, observe the time of their coming: But my people doth not know the judgment of Jehovah."

Jer. viii. 7.

Hosea has given a very elegant turn to the same image, in the way of metaphor or allegory:

"I drew them with human cords, with the bands of love :

And I was to them, as be that lifteth up the yoke upon their cheek;
And I laid down their fodder before them."

Hos. xi. 4.

Salomo ben Melech thus explains the middle part of the verse, which is somewhat obscure: "I was to them at their desire, as they that have compassion on a heifer, lest she be over-worked in ploughing; and that

lift up the yoke from off her neck, and rest it upon her cheek, that she may not still draw, but rest from her labour an hour or two in the day.”

Ibid. But Israel-] The LXX, Syriac, Aquila, Theodotion, and Vulgate, read, adding the conjunction; which, being rendered as adversative, sets the opposition in a stronger light.

Ibid. Me.] The same ancient versions agree in adding this word; which very properly answers, and indeed is almost necessarily required to answer, the words possessor and lord preceding. Iopanλ de ME our εyvw. LXX. 'Israel autem 'ME non cognovit.” Vulg. Iopanλ de MOY our εyv. Aq. Theod. The testimony of so scrupulous an interpreter as Aquila is of great weight in this case. And both his and Theodotion's rendering is such, as shews plainly, that they did not add the word MOY to help out the sense; for it only embarrasses it. It also clearly determines, what was the original reading in the old copies, from which they translated. It could not be T, which most obviously answers to the version of LXX and Vulg. for it does not accord with that of Aquila and Theodotion. The version of these latter interpreters, however injudicious, clearly ascertains both the phrase, and the order of the words, of

אותי The word .לא ידע וישראל אותי the original Hebrew: it was

and the order of the words must have ;עמי אותי לא ידעו .22 .chap. iv

has been lost out of the text. The very same phrase is used by Jeremiah,

beeu as above represented; for they have joined with ', as in regimine: they could not have taken it in this sense, Israel MEUS non cognovit, had either this phrase, or the order of the words, been different. I have endeavoured to set this matter in a clear light, as it is the first example of a whole word lost out of the text; of which the reader will find many other plain examples in the course of these notes.

The LXX, Syr. Vulg. read "Dy," and my people:" and so likewise sixteen MSS.

4. degenerate] Five MSS. (one of them ancient) read O'NNUD without the first; in Hophal, corrupted, not corruptors: see the same word, in the same form, and in the same sense. Prov. xxv. 26.

Ibid. —are estranged] Thirty-two MSS. (five ancient) and two editions, read: which reading determines the word to be from the root to alienate, not from to separate; so Kimchi understands it. See also Annotat. in Noldium, 68.

66

Ibid. they have turned their backs upon him.] So Kimchi explains it: they have turned unto him the back, and not the face:" see Jer. ii. 27. vii. 24. I have been forced to render this line paraphrastically; as the verbal translation "they are estranged backward” would have been unintelligible.

5. On what part-] The Vulgate renders by, super quo, (see Job xxxviii. 6. 2 Chron. xxxii, 10.) upon what part: and so Abendana, on Sal. b. Melech: "There are some who explain it thus: Upon what limb shall you be smitten, if you add defection? for already for your sins have you been smitten upon all of them; so that there is not to be found in you a whole limb, on which you can be smitten." Which agrees with what follows: "From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness therein:" and the sentiment and image is exactly the same with that of Ovid, Pont. ii. 7. 42.

"Vix habet in nobis jam nova plaga locum."

Or that still more expressive line of Euripides; the great force and effect of which Longinus ascribes to its close and compressed structure, analogous to the sense which it expresses;, ;

I'ɛμœ nanami In1 ́n2 ovner' 159' own ride.

I'm full of miseries: there's no room for more.

Herc. Fur. 1245. Long. sect. 40. "On what part will ye strike again; will ye add correction?" This is addressed to the instruments of God's vengeance; those that inflicted the punishment, who or whatsoever they were. "Ad verbum certæ personæ intelligendæ sunt, quibus ista actio [quæ per verbum exprimitur] competit:" as Glassius says in a similar case, Phil. Sacr. i. 3. 22. See ch. viii. 4.

As from YT, T, knowledge, from,, y, counsel; from, , sleep, &c. so from D, is regularly derived, correction. 6. It hath not been pressed—] The art of medicine in the East consists chiefly in external applications: accordingly the prophet's images in this place are all taken from surgery. Sir John Chardin, in his note on Prov. iii. 8. "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones;" observes, that, "the comparison is taken from the plasters, ointments, oils, frictions, which are made use of in the East upon the belly and stomach in most maladies. Being ignorant in the villages of the art of making decoctions and potions, and of the proper doses of such things, they generally make use of external medicines." Harmer's Observations on Scripture, vol. ii. p. 488. And in surgery their matería medica is extremely simple; oil making the principal part of it. "In India," says Tavernier, "they have a certain preparation of oil and melted grease, which they commonly use for the healing of wounds.” Voyage Ind. So the good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of the distressed Jew: wine, cleansing and somewhat astringent, proper for a fresh wound; oil, mollifying and healing. Luke x. 34.

Of the three verbs in this sentence, one is in the singular number in the text, another is singular in two MSS. (one of them ancient) an; and Syr. and Vulg. render all of them in the singular number.

79. Your country is desolate-] The description of the ruined and desolate state of the country in these verses, does not suit with any part of the prosperous times of Uzziah and Jotham. It very well agrees with the time of Ahaz, when Judea was ravaged by the joint invasion of the Israelites and Syrians, and by the incursions of the Philistines and Edomites. The date of this prophecy is therefore generally fixed to the time of Ahaz. But on the other hand it may be considered, whether those instances of idolatry, which are urged in the 29th verse (the worshipping in groves and gardens), having been at all times too commonly practised, can be supposed to be the only ones which the prophet would insist upon in the time of Ahaz; who spread the grossest idolatry through the whole country, and introduced it even into the temple; and, to complete his abominations, made his son pass through the fire to Moloch. It is said, 2 Kings xv. 37. that in Jotham's time "the Lord began to send against Judah Retsin and Pekab" if we may suppose any invasion from that quarter to have been actually made at the latter end of Jotham's reign, should choose to refer this prophecy to that time.