CHAP. LXII. 5. For as a young man—so—] The particles of comparison are not at present in the Hebrew text; but the LXX, Syr. and Chald. seem to have read in their copies prefixed to the verb, by, which seems to have been omitted by mistake of a transcriber, occasioned by the repetition of the same two letters. And before the verb in the second line a MS. adds, so: which the LXX, Syr. and Chald. seem also to have had in their copies. In the third line of this verse the same MS. has in like manner w), and two MSS. and the Babylonish Talinud adding the: and in the fourth line, the Babylonish Talmud likewise adds, so, before the verb. Sir John Chardin, in his note on this place, tells us, "that it is the custom in the east for youths, that were never married, always to marry virgins; and widowers, however young, to marry widows." Harmer, Observ. ii. p. 482. Ibid. —thy restorer—]; see note on chap. xlix. 17. 6. O ye that proclaim--] The faithful, and in particular the priests and Levites, are exhorted by the prophet to beseech God with unremitted importunity (compare Luke xviii. 1, &c.) to hasten the redemption of Sion. The image in this place is taken from the temple service; in which there was appointed a constant watch, day and night, by the Levites: and among them this service seems to have belonged particularly to the singers; see 1 Chron. ix. 33. Now the watches in the east, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time of the watchmen, to mark the time, and that very frequently, and in order to shew that they themselves are constantly attentive to their duty. Hence the watchmen are said by the prophet, chap. lii. 8. to lift up their voice; and here they are commanded, not to keep silence; and the greatest reproach to them is, that they are dumb dogs; they cannot bark; dreamers, sluggards, loving to slumber: chap. lvi. 10. The watchmen in the camp of the caravans go their rounds, crying, one after another, God is one, He is merciful :' and often add, Take heed to yourselves.'" Tavernier, Voyage de Perse, l. i. chap. x. The hundred and thirty-fourth Psalm gives us an example of the temple watch. The whole Psalm is nothing more than the alternate cry of two different divisions of the watch. The first watch addresses the second, reminding them of their duty; the second answers by a solemn blessing: the address and the answer seem both to be a set form, which each division proclaimed, or sung aloud, at stated intervals, to notify the time of the night: First Chorus. 6 "Come on now, bless ye JEHOVAH, all ye servants of JEHOVAH; Ye that stand in the house of JEHOVAH in the nights; Lift up your hands towards the sanctuary, And bless ye JEHOVAH." Second Chorus. " "JEHOVAH bless thee out of Sion; 'He that made heaven and earth." Qui statis in loco custodia domus sanctuarii JEHOVæ, et laudatis per noctes;" says the Chaldee paraphrase on the second line. And this explains what is here particularly meant by proclaiming, or making remem. brance of, the name of JEHOVAH: the form which the watch made use of on these occasions, was always a short sentence, expressing some pious sentiment, of which JEHOVAH was the subject; and it is remarkable, that the custom in the east in this respect also still continues the very same; as it appears by the example above given from Tavernier. And this observation leads to the explanation of an obscure passage in the prophet Malachi, ii. 12. "JEHOVAH will cut off the man that doeth this; The watchman and the answerer, from the tabernacles of Jacob; , the master and the scholar, says our translation after Vulg.; the son and the grandson, says Syr. and Chald. as little to the purpose: Arias Montanus has given it, vigilantem et respondentem, the watchman and the answerer; that is, the Levite: and him that presenteth an offering to JEHOVAH; that is, the priest. 9. But they that reap the harvest shall eat it, and praise JEHOVAH-] This and the following line have reference to the law of Moses: "Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil;—but thou must eat them before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose-." Deut. xii. 17, 18. "And when ye shall come into the land, and .shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years it shall be as uncircumcised unto you; it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit thereof." Lev. xix. 23-25. This clearly explains the force of the expressions, “ shall praise JEHOVAH," and " shall drink it in my sacred courts." Five MSS. (one ancient) have ", fully expressed and so likewise is found in nineteen MSS. three of them ancient. 10. for the people] Before the word, the people, two MSS. insert, JEHOVAH: one MS. adds the same word after it; and eight MSS. (three ancient), instead of yn have, and so likewise one edition. But though it makes a good sense either way, I believe it to be an interpolation, as the ancient versions do not favour it. The LXX indeed ready, my people. 11.-Lo! thy Saviour-] So all the ancient versions render the word ישער Ibid. Lo! his reward—] See note on chap. xl. 10. CHAP. LXIII. THE very remarkable passage, with which this chapter begins, seems to me to be in a manner detached from the rest, and to stand singly by itself; having no immediate connexion with what goes before, or with what follows; otherwise than as it may pursue the general design, and stand in its proper place in the order of prophecy. It is by many learned interpreters supposed, that Judas Maccabeus and his victories make the subject of it. What claim Judas can have to so great an honour, will, I think, be very difficult to make out; or how the attributes of the great person introduced can possibly suit him. Could Judas call himself the announcer of righteousness, mighty to save? Could he talk of the day of vengeance being in his heart, and the year of his redeemed being come? or that his own arm wrought salvation for him? Besides, what were the great exploits of Judas in regard to the Idumeans? he overcame them in battle, and slew twenty thousand of them. And John Hyrcanus, his brother Simon's son and successor, who is called in to help out the accomplishment of the prophecy, gave them another defeat sometime afterward, and compelled them by force to become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and to submit to circumcision: after which they were incorporated with the Jews, and became one people with them. Are these events adequate to the prophet's lofty prediction? Was it so great an action to win a battle with considerable slaughter of the enemy; or to force a whole nation by dint of the sword into Judaism? or was the conversion of the Idumeans, however effected, and their admission into the church of God, equivalent to a most grievous judgment and destruction threatened in the severest terms? But here is another very material circumstance to be considered, which, I presume, entirely excludes Judas Maccabeus, and even the Idumeans properly so called. For the Idumea of the prophet's time was quite a different country from that which Judas conquered. For during the Babylonish captivity the Nabatheans had driven the Edomites out of their country; who upon that took possession of the southern parts of Judea, and settled themselves there; that is, in the country of the whole tribe of Simeon, and in half of that of Judah. See Prideaux, ad an. 740, and 165. And the metropolis of the Edomites, and of the country thence called Idumea, which Judas took, was Hebron, 1 Macc. v. 65. not Botsra. I conclude, therefore, that this prophecy has not the least relation to Judas Maccabeus. It may be asked, to whom, and to what event does it relate? I can only answer, that I know of no event in history to which from its importance and circumstances it can be applied; unless perhaps to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity; which in the gospel is called the coming of Christ, and the days of vengeance; Matt. xvi. 28. Luke xxi. 22. But, though this prophecy must have its accomplishment, there is no necessity of supposing that it has been already accomplished. There are prophecies, which intimate a great slaughter of the enemies of God and his people, which remain to be fulfilled: these in Ezekiel, chap. xxxviii. and in the Revelation of St. John, chap. xx. are called Gog and Magog. This prophecy of Isaiah may possibly refer to the same or the like event. We need not be at a loss to determine the person who is here introduced as stained with treading the wine-press, if we consider how St. John in the Revelation has applied this image of the prophet. Rev. xix. 13. 15, 16. Compare chap. xxxiv. 1. I who announce righteousness, and—] A MS. has 77, with the demonstrative article added, with greater force and emphasis; The announcer of righteousness. A MS. has , without prefixed; and so LXX and Vulg. And thirty-eight MSS. (seven ancient) add the conjunction to 7; which the LXX, Syr. and Vulg. confirm. 2. Wherefore is thine apparel red-1 For 55, twenty-nine MSS. (nine ancient), and one edition, have in the plural; so LXX instead of the first in the singular, as in and Syr. And all the ancient versions read it with 5. But the true reading is probably ver. 3. 3. And I have stained-] For, a verb of very irregular formation, compounded, as they say, of the two forms of the preterit and future, a MS. has, the regular future with a pleonastic pronoun added to it, according to the Hebrew idiom, “And all my raiment, I have stained it." The necessity of the verb's being in the past time seems to have given occasion to the alteration made in the end of the word. The conversive at the beginning of the sentence affects the verb, though not joined to it; of which there are many examples: ומקרני רמים עניתני "And thou wilt hear me (or hear thou me), from among the horns of the unicorns." Psal. xxii. 22. 5. And mine indignation—] For♫), nineteen MSS. (three ancient), and four editions, have ), and my righteousness: from chap. lix. 16. which, I suppose, the transcriber retained in his memory. 6. And I crushed them] For WN), “ and I made them drunken," twenty-seven MSS. (three ancient), and the old edition of 1488, have' 0728), “ and I crushed them:" and so Syr. and Chald. The LXX have omitted this whole line. 7. The remaining part of this chapter, with the whole chapter following, contains a penitential confession and supplication of the Israelites in their present state of dispersion, in which they have so long marvellously subsisted, and still continue to subsist, as a people; cast out of their country; without any proper form of civil polity, or religious worship; their temple destroyed, their city desolated and lost to them; and their whole nation scattered over the face of the earth; apparently deserted and cast off by the God of their fathers, as no longer his peculiar people. They begin with acknowledging God's great mercies and favours to their nation; and the ungrateful returns made to them on their part; that by their disobedience they had forfeited the protection of God, and had caused him to become their adversary. And now the prophet represents them, induced by the memory of the great things that God had done for them, as addressing their humble supplication for the renewal of his mercies: they beseech him to regard them in consideration of his former loving-kindness; they acknowledge him for their Father and Creator; they confess their wickedness and hardness of heart; they entreat his forgiveness; and deplore their present miserable condition under which they have so long suffered. It seems designed as a formulary of humiliation for the Israelites, in order to their conversion. The whole passage is in the elegiac form,' pathetic and elegant; but it has suffered much in our present copy by the mistakes of transcribers. Ibid.-the praise of JEHOVAH] For , plural, twenty-nine MSS. (three ancient), and two editions, have bn, in the singular number: and so the Vulgate renders it; and one of the Greek versions, in the margin of Cod. Marchal. and in the text of MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 11. την αινεσιν κυριου. 8, 9. And he became their saviour in all their distress-] I have followed the translation of the LXX in the latter part of the 8th ́and the former part of the 9th verse; which agrees with the present text, a little differently divided, as to the members of the sentence. They read, out of all, instead of, in all, which makes no difference in the sense; and y they understand as 73. Και εγενετο αυτοις εις σωτηρίαν εκ πάσης θλι ψεως αυτων ου πρεσβυς, ουδε αγγελος-An angel of his presence means an angel of superior order, in immediate attendance upon God. So the angel of the Lord says to Zacharias, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." Luke i. 19. The presence of JEHOVAH, Exod. xxxiii. 14, 15. and the angel, Exod. xxiii. 20, 21. is JEHOVAH himself: here an angel of his presence is opposed to JEHOVAH himself; as an angel is in the following passages of the same book of Exodus. After their idolatrous worshipping of the golden calf, “when God had said to Moses, I will send an angel before thee—I will not go up in the midst of thee— the people mourned." Exod. xxxiii. 2-4. God afterward comforts Moses, by saying, "My presence" (that is, I Myself in person, and not by an angel)" will go with thee," ver. 14. аνтоç πрожорενσоμДι σov, as the LXX render it. The MSS. and editions are much divided between the two readings of the text and margin in the common copies, and . All the ancient versions express the chetib Ibid. And he took them up, and he bare them] See the note on chap. xlvi. 3. 10. And he fought against them] Twenty-six MSS. (ten ancient), and the first edition, with another, add the conjunction 1, NUTI. 11. How he brought them up from the sea with the shepherd of his flock; how-] For X, how interrogative, twice, the Syriac version reads 'N, how without interrogation; as that particle is used in the Syriac language, and sometimes in the Hebrew. See Ruth iii. 18. Eccles. ii. 16. Ibid. Moses his servant] For My, his people, two MSS. (one of them ancient), and the old edition of 1488, and Syr. read 17y, his servant. These two words have been mistaken one for the other in other places; Psal. Ixxviii. 71. and lxxx. 5. for My and Ty, the LXX_read 1730 .עבדך and Ibid. the shepherd of his flock] That is, Moses. The MSS. and editions vary in this word: some have it in the singular number; so LXX, Syr. Chald. Others, plural. 14. The spirit of JEHOVAH conducted them] For Л, caused him to rest, the LXX have woŋynoɛv avrovs, conducted them, they read NIN: Syr. Chald. Vulg. read, conducted him. Two MSS. have the word without the in the middle. 15.—and thy mighty power] For , plural, thirty-two MSS. (seven ancient), and seven editions, have, singular. Ibid. -are they restrained from us] For, from (or in regard to) me, LXX and Syr. read, from us. 16. O deliver us for the sake of thy name] The present text reads, as our translation has rendered it, "Our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting." But instead of by, from everlasting, an ancient MS. has w, for the sake of, which gives a much better sense. To shew the im |