CHAP. X. 4. Without me— -] That is, without my aid, they shall be taken captive, even by the captives, and shall be subdued by the vanquished. "Thein is a pronoun, as in Hos. xiii. 4." Kimchi on the place. 5. Ho to the Assyrian-] Here begins a new and distinct prophecy; continued to the end of the twelfth chapter: and it appears from ver. 9 -11. of this chapter, that this prophecy was delivered after the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser; which was in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah: and as the former part of it foretels the invasion of Senacherib, and the destruction of his army, which makes the whole subject of this chapter, it must have been delivered before the fourteenth of the same reign. Ibid. The staff in whose hand] The word in this place seems to embarrass the sentence. I omit it on the authority of the Alexandrine copy of LXX; and five MSS. (two ancient), for X, read MD. Archbishop Secker was not satisfied with the present reading: he proposes another method of clearing up the sense; by reading instead of : "And he is a staff in the day of mine indignation." 12. JEHOVAH] For, fourteen MSS. and three editions read ¡TIT. Ibid. —the effect—] "", f. 3, vid. xiii. 19. sed confer Prov. i. 31. xvi. 31." SECKER. The Chaldee renders the word, by Ty, opera ; which seems to be the true sense: and I have followed it. 13.-strongly-] Twelve MSS. agree with the Keri in reading 11), without the N And S. b. Melec and Kimchi thus explain it: "Them, who dwelled in a great and strong place, I have brought down to the ground." 15.—its master] I have here given the meaning, without attempting to keep to the expression of the original: 5, "the no-wood;" that which is not wood like itself, but of a quite different and superior nature. The Hebrews have a peculiar way of joining the negative particle to a noun, to signify in a strong manner a total negation of the thing expressed by the noun. "How hast thou given help n x, to the no-strength? And saved the arm ty 5, of the no-power? How hast thou given counsel x, to the no-wisdom?" Job xxvi. 2, 3. Amos vi. 13. That is, to the man totally deprived of strength, power, and wisdom. "Ye that rejoice 77 x, in no-thing." That is, in your fancied strength, which is none at all, a mere nonentity. "For I am God, wx x, and no-man ; Hosea xi. 9. Isa. xxxi. 8. The Holy One in the midst of thee, yet do not frequent cities." "And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword wx xb, of no-man; And a sword of x, no-mortal, shall devour him." "Wherefore do ye weigh out your silver on ba, for the no-bread." Isa. lv. 2. So here means him, who is far from being an inert piece of wood; but is an animated and active being; not an instrument, but an agent. ** 16. JEHOVAH] For "8, fifty-two MSS. and six editions, read ¡TT. Ibid. And under his glory] That is, all that he could boast of as great and strong in his army: (Sal. b. Melec in loc.) expressed afterward, ver. 18. by the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field. 17, 18. And he shall burn and consume his thorn-] The briers and thorns are the common people; the glory of his forest are the nobles, and those of the highest rank and importance. See note on chap. ix. 17. and compare Ezek. xx. 47. The fire of God's wrath shall destroy them both great and small, it shall consume them from the soul to the flesh; a proverbial expression; soul and body, as we shall say; it consume them entirely and altogether. And the few that escape shall be looked upon as having escaped from the most imminent danger; as a firebrand plucked out of the fire:" Amos iv. 11. wç dia πvpog, 1 Cor. iii. 15. as a man, when a house is a burning, is forced to make his escape by running through the midst of the fire. I follow here the reading of the LXX; DDI UNDɔ, wc ò pɛvywv añо φλογος καιομένης. Symmachus also renders the latter word by φεύγων. 22, 23. For though thy people, O Israel—] I have endeavoured to keep to the letter of the text, as nearly as I can, in this obscure passage. But it is remarkable, that neither the LXX, nor St. Paul, Rom. ix. 28. who, except in a few words of no great importance, follows them nearly in this place, nor any of the ancient versions, take any notice of the word overflowing; which seems to give an idea not easy reconcileable with those with which it is here joined. I. S. Moerlius (Schol. Philolog. ad Selecta S. Cod. loca) conjectures, that the two last letters of this word are by mistake transposed, and that the true reading is DDV, judging with strict justice. The LXX might think this sufficiently expressed by ev dikaioovvy. A MS., with St. Paul and LXX Alex. omits in the 22d verse: sixty-nine MSS. and six editions, omit in the 23d verse: and so St. Paul, Rom. ix. 28. The learned Dr. Bagot, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, in some observations on this place, which he has been so kind as to communicate to me, and which will appear in their proper light when he himself shall give them to the public, renders the word 5 by accomplishment, and makes it refer to the predictions of Moses; the blessing and the curse, which he laid before the people; both conditional, and depending on their future conduct. They had by their disobedience incurred those judgments which were now to be fully executed upon them. His translation is: "The accomplishment determined overflows with justice; for it is accomplished, and that which is determined the Lord God of hosts doeth in the midst of the land." 24 and 26. —in the way of Egypt] I think there is a designed ambiguity in these words. Senacherib, soon after his return from his Egyptian expedition, which, I imagine, took him up three years, invested Jerusalem. He is represented by the prophet as lifting up his rod in his march from Egypt, and threatening the people of God, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians had done when they pursued them to the Red Sea. But God in his turn will lift up his rod over the sea, as he did at that time, in the way, or after the manner of Egypt: and as Senacherib has imitated the Egyptians in his threats, and came full of rage against them from the same quarter; so God will act over again the same part that he had taken formerly in Egypt, and overthrow their enemies in as signal a manner. כדרך orאדרך,It was all to be, both the attack and the deliverance as a MS. has it in each place, in the way, or after the manner, of Egypt. 25. mine indignation] Indignatio mea, Vulg. opуч, LXX, μou ǹкаTа σOν, MS. Pachom. μov ǹ opyn kara σov, MS. 1. D. II. So that "y, or y, as a MS. has it, seems to be the true reading. 26. And like his rod which he lifted up over the sea] The Jewish interpreters suppose here an ellipsis of, the particle of similitude, before MOD, to be supplied from the line above: so that here are two similitudes; one comparing the destruction of the Assyrians to the slaughter of the Midianites at the rock of Oreb; the other to that of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Salomo b. Melec. 27.-from off your shoulders] I follow here the LXX, who, for DW, read JWD, αño тwv wμwv vμwv; not being able to make any good sense out of the present reading. I will add here the marginal conjectures of Archbishop Secker, who appears, like all others, to have been at a loss for a probable interpretation of the text as it now stands. "ò. leg. ; forte legend. . vid. cap. v. 1. Zech. iv. 14. Et possunt intelligi Judæi uncti Dei, Psal. cv. 15. vel Assyrii DVD, hic ver. 16. ut dicat propheta depulsum iri jugum ab his impositum : sed hoc durius. Vel potest legi ." SECker. 28-32. He is come to Aiath-] A description of the march of Senacherib's army approaching Jerusalem in order to invest it, and of the terror and confusion spreading and increasing through the several places as he advanced; expressed with great brevity, but finely diversified. The places here mentioned are in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; from Ai northward, to Nob westward of it; from which last place he might probably have a prospect of mount Sion. Anathoth was within three Roman miles of Jerusalem; according to Eusebins, Jerom, and Josephus: Onomast, Loc. Hebr. et Antiq. Jud. x. 7. 3. Nob probably still nearer. And it should seem from this passage of Isaiah, that Senacherib's army was destroyed near the latter of these places. In coming out of Egypt, he might perhaps join the rest of his army at Ashdod, after the taking of that place, which happened about that time, (see chap. xx.) and march from thence near the coast by Lachish and Libnah, which lay in his way, from south to north, and both which he invested, till he came to the north-west of Jerusalem; crossing over to the north of it, perhaps by Joppa and Lydda, or still more north through the plain of Esdraelon. 29. They have passed the strait-] The strait here mentioned is that of Michmas; a very narrow passage between two sharp hills or rocks, (see 1 Sam. xiv. 4, 5.) where a great army might have been opposed with advantage by a very inferior force. The author of the book of Judith might perhaps mean this pass, at least among others: "Charging them to keep the passages of the hill country; for by them there was an entrance into Judea, and it was easy to stop them that would come up; because the passage was strait, for two men at the most." Judith iv. 7. The enemies having passed the strait without opposition, shews that all thoughts of making a stand in the open country were given up, and that their only resource was in the strength of the city. Ibid. —their lodging-] The sense seems necessarily to require that we read, instead of 15. These two words are in other places mistaken one for the other. Thus Isa. xliv. 7. for, read 195, with the Chaldee and in the same manner with Psal. Ixiv. 6. with Syr. and Psal. lxxx. 7. on the authority of LXX, and Syr. beside the necessity of the sense. 30. Hearken unto her, O Laish; answer her, O Anathoth!] I follow in this the Syriac version. The prophet plainly alludes to the name of the place; and with a peculiar propriety, if it had its name from its remarkable echo."y, responsiones: eadem ratio nominis, quæ in a ny, locus echûs; nam hodienum ejus rudera ostenduntur in valle, scil. in medio montium, ut referunt Robertus in Itiner. p. 70. et Monconnysius, p. 301." Simonis Onomasticon Vet. Test. CHAP. XI. THE prophet had described the destruction of the Assyrian army under the image of a mighty forest, consisting of flourishing trees, growing thick together, and of a great height; of Lebanon itself crowned with lofty cedars; but cut down, and laid level with the ground, by the axe, wielded by the hand of some powerful and illustrious agent: in opposition to this image, he represents the great person who makes the subject of this chapter, as a slender twig, shooting out from the trunk of an old tree, cut down, lopped to the very root, and decayed; which tender plant, so weak in appearance, should nevertheless become fruitful and prosper. This contrast shews plainly the connexion between this and the preceding chapter; which is moreover expressed by the connecting particle: and we have here a remarkable instance of that method so common with the prophets, and particularly with Isaiah, of taking occasion, from the mention of some great temporal deliverance, to launch out into the display of the spiritual deliverance of God's people by the Messiah: for that this prophecy relates to the Messiah, we have the express authority of St. Paul, Rom. xv. 12. “ Conjungit Parasciam hanc, quæ respicit dies futuros Messiæ, cum fiducia, quæ fuit in diebus Ezekiæ." Kimchi in ver. 1. Thus, in the latter part of Isaiah's prophecies, the subject of the great Redemption, and of the glories of Messiah's kingdom, arises out of the restoration of Judah by the deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, and is all along connected and intermixed with it. 4. By the blast of his mouth] For , by the rod, Houbigant reads naw, by the blast of his mouth, from, to blow. The conjecture is ingenious and probable; and seems to be confirmed by the LXX, and Chaldee, who render it by the word of his mouth, which answers much better to the correction than to the present reading. Add to this, that the blast of his mouth is perfectly parallel to the breath of his lips in the next line. 5. —the cincture-] All the ancient versions, except that of Symmachus, have two different words for girdle in the two hemistichs. It is not probable that Isaiah would have repeated, when a synonymous word so obvious as occurred. The tautology seems to have arisen from the mistake of some transcriber. The meaning of this verse is, that a zeal for justice and truth shall make him active and strong in executing the great work which he shall undertake. See note on chap. v. 27. 6-8. Then shall the wolf—] The idea of the renewal of the golden age as it is called, is much the same in the oriental writers, with that of the Greeks and Romans: the wild beasts grow tame; serpents and poisonous herbs become harmless; all is peace and harmony, plenty and happiness: "Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni Occidet." I have laid before the reader these common passages from the most elegant of the ancient poets, that he may see how greatly the prophet on the same subject has the advantage upon the comparison; how much the former fall short of that beauty and elegance, and variety of imagery, with which Isaiah has set forth the very same ideas. The wolf and the leopard not only forbear to destroy the lamb and the kid, but even take their abode, and lie down together with them. The calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, not only come together, but are led quietly in the same band, and that by a little child. The heifer and the she-bear not only feed together, but even lodge their young ones, for whom they used to be most jealously fearful, in the same place. All the serpent kind is so perfectly harmless, that the sucking infant, and the newly weaned child, puts his hand on the basilisk's den, and plays upon the hole of the aspic. The lion not only abstains from preying on the weaker animals, but becomes tame and domestic, and feeds on straw like the ox. These are all beautiful circumstances, not one of which has been touched upon by the ancient poets. The Arabian and Persian poets elegantly apply the same ideas, to shew the effects of justice impartially administered, and firmly supported, by a great and good king: "Rerum dominus Mahmud, rex potens; Ad cujus aquam potum veniunt simul agnus et lupus." "Justitia, a qua mansuetus fit lupus fame astrictus, Ferdasi. Ibn Onein. Jones, Poes. Asiat. Comment. p. 380. The application is extremely ingenious and beautiful; but the exquisite imagery of Isaiah is not equalled. 7. Together-] Here a word is omitted in the text, together ; which ought to be repeated in the second hemistich, being quite necessary to the sense. It is accordingly twice expressed by the LXX, and Syr. 10. The root of Jesse, which standeth-] St. John hath taken this expression from Isaiah, Rev. v. 5. and xxii. 16. where Christ hath twice applied it to himself. Seven MSS. have, the present participle. "Radix Isæi dicitur jam stare, et aliquantum stetisse, in signum populorum." Vitringa. Which rightly explains either of the two readings. 11. JEHOVAH] For TN, thirty-three MSS. and two editions read יהוה 11-16. And it shall come to pass in that day—] This part of the chapter contains a prophecy, which certainly remains yet to be accomplished. See Lowth on the place. |