^RV OF PRINCf^ 
 
 V" hi'?** 
 
 T.; 
 
WITH 
 
 THE PUBLISHEKy 
 
 COMPLIMENTS. 
 
 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
HOW TO READ ISAIAH 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 
 
 (CH. I. -XXXIX.) 
 
 ARRANGED IN ORDER OF TIME AND SUBJECT, 
 
 WITH EXPLANATIONS AND GLOSSARY 
 
 (part II. OF "how to read the trophets.") 
 
 KY THE 
 
 REV. BUCHANAN ^B LAKE, B.D., 
 
 CI.YDEKANK. 
 
 SECON D EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 1 892. 
 
PkINTFU liV TlTRNBUI.L AND Si'EAKS 
 
 T. S: T. CLARK, ?:D1NBURGH, 
 
 London ; Simpkin, Mak-^hai.i,, Hamilton, Kent and Co., Limited. 
 
 <Jew Vouk ; Charles Scribner'.'; Sons. 
 
 Toronto ; The Presbyterian News Co. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 
 
 DIVISION I. 
 The Text of Scripture. 
 
 Part 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 
 Y. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The Historical Conditions of Isaiah's Ministry : its 
 
 Duration ....... 
 
 The Call, Consecration, and Commission of Isaiah 
 The Earlier Preaching of Isaiah .... 
 
 The Reign of King Ahaz, with an account of his 
 
 Policy and Idolatry ..... 
 Prophecies condemnatory of the Policy of Ahaz . 
 Messages to adjoining Peoples : the Philistines, &c. 
 The Reign of Hezekiah : his Reforms : his Sickness, &c 
 A Series of Prophecies concerning the Certain Doom of 
 
 Assyria ........ 
 
 The Prophetic Denunciation of an Alliance with Egypt 
 
 The Prophet urges Repentance on his own People 
 
 The Prophet's Message to Tyre and Sidon . 
 
 A series of Prophecies concerning Babylon . 
 
 Songs of Triumph. The Divine indication. The 
 
 Messianic King ....... 
 
 Prophecies dealing with a Divine Interposition 
 
 Page 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 26 
 30 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 54 
 60 
 68 
 77 
 79 
 
 86 
 93 
 
8 INIKODUCTOKV KKMARKS. 
 
 spoke, and of what he said. The chapter and verse divisions, 
 which so often give a mechanical appearance to Scripture, have 
 been omitted, and thus an effort has been made to set forth the 
 Text in the natural form of delivery. The aim is to allow the 
 prophet to speak directly to us now, as he once spoke to his 
 own people. By getting into closer touch with the living 
 prophet, the reader is brought into closer fellowship with the 
 living God, who spoke to and through him. In this way the 
 devotional reading of Scripture will be aided : and this is really 
 our great aim. And just as the power to bring sweetest music 
 out of an instrument depends not only upon the instrument, but 
 also upon the performer, so the power to use Scripture aright, 
 even with all present day aids, depends on the reader being 
 divinely influenced by that same Holy Spirit by whom in the 
 olden time men from God were moved to speak. The more we 
 are in touch with the inspiring Spirit, the more will we under- 
 stand the inspired Word. A firm persuasion, on our part, that 
 the principles of truth and righteousness, once borne witness 
 to by Isaiah, and enshrined in his prophecies, are eternal in 
 character and universal in application, will bid us learn to 
 apply them to our own life, as we read how in the former time 
 they were so applied by him. In regard to the Text, it is a 
 matter of deep regret that the Revised Version could not have 
 been used throughout. Some of the changes made in it have 
 not helped the meaning, while not unfrequently the translation 
 that most aptly brings it out is found in the margin. In some 
 places the Hebrew Text is very uncertain, and emendations are 
 numerous. Hence we could not content ourselves with the 
 Authorised Version ; and the placing of certain passages in 
 poetic form rendered changes absolutely necessary. To get 
 some clear teaching from every passage must be our first con- 
 cern, that so we may know " what the Lord saith." 
 
 The Book of the Prophecies of Isaiah, as now extant, 
 contains prophecies by several prophets, even as the Book of 
 Psalms contains Psalms by many psalmists, and the Book of 
 
INTRODUCTORV REMARKS. 9 
 
 the Law additions by many writers. But, in all three cases, 
 the collection rightly and naturally receives the name of the 
 first and most important contributor, Moses, David, Isaiah. 
 A master-mind and true originator in each case receives de- 
 servedly the credit for the whole. The grand personality of 
 Isaiah, as a formative master-mind, with a distinctive pro- 
 phetic programme, and clear views about Jehovah in His 
 character, and relation, both to Judah, and the nations, requires 
 full appreciation. The messages or declarations of the Divine 
 Purpose, as originally delivered, must be studied in the order 
 and circumstances of their delivery. The facts must here 
 speak for themselves : and to let this be done the more easily, 
 portions from the historical books have been inserted in their 
 appropriate places. Whether we have the prophecies in the 
 exact form in which Isaiah, in his old age, edited them, can 
 never be determined. Certainly they are not arranged in the 
 order of delivery. Probably there are additions by some of his 
 prophetic successors, and editorial re-arrangements. It must 
 be borne in mind that a prophecy was essentially and primarily 
 a spoken message : that it was only written down from memory 
 or dictation at a later period ; while, also, as such writing was 
 on skins or parchments of great value, shorter prophecies might 
 be put in to fill up spaces at the end of longer ones. In this 
 way prophecies not at all connected in subject-matter might 
 stand together, and not be separated in an uncritical age. 
 Modern Assyrian and Egyptian Inscriptions have helped here 
 greatly, by affording the information necessary for a correct 
 chronological order. It has also to be remembered that 
 ancient editors had a far greater measure of liberty in dealing 
 with an author's writings than we now permit. They worked 
 in materials lying to hand, according as their own view of the 
 subject-matter suggested. Thus, even in the earher chapters 
 of Isaiah, there are portions that from style and point of view 
 seem to have had a different authorship : passages like the 
 triumph-song over Babylon, and those dealing with some 
 
lO INTRODUCTORY RKMARKS. 
 
 signal divine interposition (xxiv.-x.wii.) are of a later date than 
 Isaiah. And manifestly we have a new book beginning with 
 the fortieth chapter, with new authors, new circumstances, and 
 new hopes. But, as this completes the prophetic programme of 
 Isaiah, in narrating the release of the Remnant, it has come 
 down alongside his genuine writings. We have all been 
 trained to interpret Scripture by the traditional views of the 
 Rabbis, largely followed uncritically as these were by early 
 Christian Divines. The exclusive national ideas of the 
 Rabbis, and the eager Messianic Exegesis of their followers 
 have not unfrequently cast the literal meaning into the back- 
 ground. This literal meaning, in all its fulness, must be 
 brought again into the foreground. What has to be done, 
 first of all, is to read Isaiah in the light of his own times, 
 and though this is not easy, it is obligatory on all. When 
 this has been done, we may then advance under the guidance 
 of New Testament Revelation, and find in the prophetic hopes 
 a better day than the prophets could understand, even that 
 day that Abraham desired to see, and rejoiced, a day of 
 salvation " concerning which the prophets sought and searched 
 diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come 
 unto you." 
 
 A^ote. — The names of persons and places, printed in black type in 
 the text, are referred to in the Glossary in the order in which they 
 occur. 
 
DIVISION I. 
 
 THE TEXT OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The Historical Conditions of Isaiah's Ministry. 
 Its Duration (742-701 b.c). 
 
 The Kings concerned. 
 
 The Vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw 
 concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of XJzziah, 
 Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
 
 (Isa. ch. i. I.) 
 
 The Reign of Uzziah (Si 0-7 42 b.c). 
 
 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen 
 years old, and made him king in the room of his father 
 Amaziah. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after 
 that the king slept with his fathers. Sixteen years old was 
 Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two 
 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah 
 of Jerusalem, And he did that which was right in the sight 
 of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did. 
 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had under- 
 standing in the visions of God : and as long as he sought 
 the Lord, God made him to prosper. 
 
12 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 And he went forth, and warred against the Philistines, 
 and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, 
 and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and 
 among the Philistines. And God helped him against the 
 Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur- 
 Baal, and the Mehunims. The Ammonites also gave gifts 
 to Uzziah. And his name spread abroad even to the 
 entering in of Egypt ; for he became exceeding strong. 
 Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner 
 gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, 
 and fortified them. Also he built towers in the wilderness, 
 and hewed out many cisterns ; for he had much cattle, 
 both in the lowland and on the table land, husbandmen, 
 and vine dressers in the hills, and in the fruitful fields : for 
 he loved agriculture. 
 
 Moreover, Uzziah had an host of fighting men that went 
 out to war in troops, according to the number of their 
 reckoning, as made by Jeiel the scribe, and Maaseiah the 
 officer under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's 
 captains. The whole number of the heads of fathers' 
 houses of the mighty men of valour, were two thousand and 
 six hundred. And under them was an army three hundred 
 and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with 
 mighty power to help the king against the enemy. And 
 Uzziah prepared for them, throughout all the host, shields, 
 and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and 
 slings for stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines of 
 war designed by ingenious men, to be on the towers, and 
 on the outworks, to shoot arrows and large stones with. 
 
 (2 Chron. xxvi. 1-14.) 
 
THE HISTORICAL CONDITIONS OF ISAIAH'S MINISTRY. 1 3 
 
 TJzziah's Sin and Fall (758 b.c). Jotham Regent (758- 
 
 742 B.C.). 
 
 And his name spread far and wide : for he was mar- 
 vellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was 
 strong, his heart was lifted up, and brought about his de- 
 struction. For he transgressed against the Lord his God, 
 and went into the temple of the Lord, to burn incense 
 upon the altar of incense : but Azariah, the priest, went in 
 after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that 
 were valiant men : and they withstood Uzziah, the king, 
 and said unto him : " It is not for thee, Uzziah, to burn in- 
 cense unto the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, 
 that are consecrated, to burn incense ! Go out of the Holy 
 Place : for thou hast trespassed. This shall not bring 
 honour to thee from the Lord God ! " 
 
 Then Uzziah was wroth, and held a censer in his hand 
 to burn incense. But while he was wroth with the priests, 
 the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests 
 of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. Then Azariah the 
 High Priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and 
 behold ! he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust 
 him out thence. Yea, he himself hasted also to go out, 
 because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king 
 was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a lazar- 
 house, being a leper : for he was cut off from the House of 
 the Lord. And Jotham his son was Regent, ruling the 
 people of the land. 
 
 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did 
 Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. So Uzziah 
 slept with his fathers : and they buried him with his fathers 
 in the field of burial, which belonged to the kings : for they 
 
14 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 said " He is a leper." And Jotham his son reigned in his 
 stead. (2 Chron. xxvi. 15-23.) 
 
 Jotham's Reign (742-736 n.c). 
 
 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became regent, 
 and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's 
 name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. And he 
 did that, which was right in the sight of the Lord, according 
 to all that his father Uzziah did : (howbeit he entered not 
 into the Temple of the Lord). But the people still acted 
 corruptly.* He built the high gate of the House of the 
 Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. Moreover, 
 he built towns on the hills of Judah, and in the forests he 
 built castles and towers. 
 
 He fought also with the kings of the Ammonites, and 
 defeated them : and the children of Ammon gave him the 
 same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand 
 measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much 
 did the children of Ammon pay unto him both the second 
 year and the third. 
 
 So Jotham became strong, because he ordered his ways 
 before the Lord, his God. 
 
 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and 
 his ways, lo ! they are written in the Book of the Kings 
 of Israel and Judah. He was five-and-twenty years old 
 when he became regent, and he reigned sixteen years in 
 Jerusalem. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they 
 buried him in the City of David. Ahaz, his son, reigned 
 in his stead. (2 Chron. xxvii. 1-9.) 
 
 * The High places were not removed: tlie people sacrificed, and 
 burned incense still on the High places. (2 Kings xv. 35). 
 
CALL, CONSECRATION, AND COMMISSION OF ISAIAH. 1 5 
 
 PART II. 
 
 The Call, Consecration and Commission of 
 Isaiah (742 b.c). 
 
 The Prophetic Vision. 
 
 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting 
 upon a throne, high, and lifted up, and His train filled the 
 heavenly temple. Around it stood the Seraphim. Each 
 one had six wings. With two he covered his face : and 
 with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And 
 one cried unto the other, saying : — 
 
 " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts ! " 
 " The whole earth is full of His glory ! " 
 
 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of them 
 that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 
 
 Then said I : "Woe is me ! for I am undone! I am a 
 man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 
 of unclean lips ! Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord 
 of Hosts ! " 
 
 Then flew one of the Seraphim unto me, having a hot 
 stone in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from 
 off the altar-hearth, and he laid it upon my mouth, and 
 said : 
 
 " Lo ! this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is 
 taken away, and thy sin is purged." 
 
 Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying : " Whom 
 shall I send, and who will go for Us?" 
 
 Then said I : " Here am I ! Send me." 
 
 And He said : " Go, and say to this people, ' Ye shall 
 surely hear, but not understand ! Ye shall certainly see, 
 
1 6 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 but not perceive ! Make the heart of this people fat, make 
 their ears heavy, and close up their eyes : lest they see 
 with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand 
 with their heart, and be turned back to Me, and be healed.' " 
 
 Then I said : " Ah Lord ! For how long ?" 
 
 And He answered, 
 
 *' Until the cities be wasted, and without inhabitant ! 
 
 Until the houses be without man, the land utterly desolate ! 
 Till the Lord shall have removed men — far away ! 
 Till there be great desolation, in the midst of the land ! 
 
 But in it shall be a tenth — again it shall be eaten. 
 Like the terebinth, and like the oak — 
 When cut down, their stock remaineth in them : 
 So the holy seed shall be the stock thereof." 
 
 (Isa. ch. vi. i-13). 
 
 PART in. 
 The Earlier Preaching of Isaiah, in Jotham's Reign, 
 
 AND the first YEAR OF AhAZ (742-736 B.C.). 
 
 An Address to his Nation. 
 
 The Word, that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning 
 Judah, and Jerusalem. 
 
 The Text from Prophecy. 
 
 And it shall come to pass, in the latter days — 
 
 The mountain of the Lord's House shall be established, at 
 
 the head of the mountains 
 It shall be exalted above the hills : all nations flow unto it. 
 Many peoples shall go and say, Come ye ! Let us go up 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. 1 7 
 
 To the mountain of the Lord — to the House of the God of 
 
 Jacob ! 
 He will teach us His ways : in His paths we will walk. 
 For out of Zion goeth teaching : the Word of the Lord 
 
 from Jerusalem. 
 He shall judge among the nations : many peoples He shall 
 
 chide. 
 To plow-shares shall they beat their swords : to pruning 
 
 hooks their spears. 
 Nation 'gainst nation lifts not sword : and war they learn 
 
 no more ! 
 
 The Exhortation. 
 
 O house of Jacob ! Come ye, and let us walk in the 
 light of the Lord ! For Thou hast forsaken Thy people, 
 the House of Jacob ! They are replenished from the East, 
 and are sorcerers like the Philistines, and they delight them- 
 selves in the children of foreigners. Their land also is 
 full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their 
 treasures : their land is also full of horses, neither is there 
 any end to their chariots. Their land also is full of idols ! 
 They worship the work of their own hand — that which their 
 own fingers have made ! The common man boweth down 
 before them, and the great man prostrateth himself. There- 
 fore forgive them — thou shalt not ! Oh ! enter into the 
 rock, and bury thyself in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and 
 for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall 
 be brought low, and the pride of man shall be bowed down, 
 and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day ! 
 
 For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one 
 that is proud and haughty, and upon every one that is lifted 
 up, and he shall be brought low. That day shall be upon all 
 
1 8 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the cedars of Lebanon, that are higli and lifted up, and upon 
 all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and 
 upon all the hills that are lifted up : and upon every high 
 tower, and upon every fortified wall : and upon all the 
 Tarshish-ships, and upon all places of amusement. Then 
 the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughti- 
 ness of men shall be made low : and the Lord alone shall 
 be exalted in that day ! (Ch. ii. 1-17.) 
 
 Fate of Idolatry, 
 
 The idols also He shall utterly destroy : and they shall go 
 into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, 
 for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty, when 
 He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man 
 shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they 
 made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the 
 bats, as they go into the caves of the rocks, and on to the 
 clefts of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord, and for 
 the glory of His Majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly 
 the earth ! (Ch. ii. 18-21.) 
 
 The Vanity of Trust in Man; 
 
 Oh ! cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ! 
 Wherein is he to be counted upon ? For, behold ! the 
 Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, 
 and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of 
 bread, and the whole stay of water : the mighty man, and 
 the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, 
 and the elder : the captain of fifty, and the honoured man, 
 and the counsellor, and the clever artizan, and the eloquent 
 orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and 
 babes shall rule over them ! And the people shall be op- 
 pressed every one by another, and every one by his neighbour. 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. 1 9 
 
 The child shall behave himself proudly against the aged, 
 and the base against the honourable. A man shall lay hold 
 upon his brother, of the house of his father, saying, " Thou 
 hast clothing ! be thou our protector, and let this wreck be 
 under thy care." Then shall he solemnly declare, " I will 
 not be a binder up : for in my house is neither bread nor 
 clothing. Make me not a protector of the people." 
 
 (Ch. ii. 22 ; iii. 1-7.) 
 
 A Lamentation. 
 
 Jerusalem is ruined ! Judah is fallen ! Their tongue and 
 their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His 
 glory. The appearance of their countenance doth witness 
 against them : they openly show their sin, even as Sodom 
 did : they hide it not. Alas ! for their souls ! They do evil 
 unto themselves. Say of the just, that it is well with them ; 
 for they shall enjoy the fruit of their doings. Alas ! for 
 the wicked ! It is ill with them ; for they have the fruit of 
 their own hands. O my people ! Children are their op- 
 pressors ! Women rule over them ! O my people ! Thy 
 leaders lead thee wrong, and they destroy the way thy feet 
 should take ! 
 
 The Lord standeth up to plead ! He standeth to judge 
 His Tribes ! The Lord entereth into controversy with 
 the elders of His people, and the princes thereof. For 
 thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, "Ye have eaten up 
 the vineyard ! The spoil of the poor is in your houses ! 
 What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind 
 the faces of the poor?" (Ch. iii. 8-15.) 
 
 Complaint against Luxury in Dress. 
 This also the Lord hath said. 
 Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with 
 
20 HOW TO READ ISAIAH, 
 
 stretched-out necks, and with wanton eyes, tripping and 
 mincing as they go, and tinkhng with their anklets : there- 
 fore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head 
 of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will put them to 
 shame. In that day the Lord will take away the splendour 
 of their anklets, and their networks, and their forehead 
 ornaments : the earrings, and the bracelets, and the rufifles : 
 the tiaras, and the stepping-chains, and the girdles, and the 
 smelling bottles, and the amulets : the finger-rings, and the 
 nose-rings : the festival-robes, and the mantles and the 
 shawls, and the satchels : and the hand-mirrors, and the fine 
 linen, and the turbans, and the veils. And it shall come 
 to pass that instead of a sweet fragrance, there shall be a 
 mouldy smell, and instead of a girdle, a rope : and instead 
 of well-dressed hair, baldness : and instead of a mantle, a 
 covering of sackcloth : and instead of beauty, branding. 
 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty men in 
 the war. Yea, her gates shall lament and mourn : and 
 desolate shall she sit upon the ground. And in that day shall 
 seven women take hold of one man, saying " We will eat 
 our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us be 
 called by thy name, that so our reproach may be taken 
 away." (Ch. iii. i6-iv. i.) 
 
 Seven Woes upon Seven Sins. 
 
 The first woe : Land-Covetousness. — Woe unto them that 
 join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no 
 more room, and ye are made to dwell alone in the midst of 
 the land ! 
 
 In mine ears the Lord of Hosts saith : 
 
 " Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great 
 and fair ones, without inhabitant. Yea, ten acres of vine- 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. 2 1 
 
 yard shall yield only one bath, and the seed of a homer 
 shall yield only an ephah. Then shall lambs feed on their 
 pasture, and on the waste places of those, who were well fed, 
 shall goats feed." 
 
 The second woe : The Drink Sin. — Woe unto them that 
 rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong 
 drink, that continue late in the night, till wine inflame them ! 
 And the harp, and the viol, and the tabret, and the flute, 
 and wine are in their feasts : but they regard not the working 
 of the Lord, nor see the work of His hands. Therefore, 
 my people go into captivity, because they have no sense. 
 Their honoured men are famished, and their common 
 people are dried up with thirst ! The grave hath enlarged 
 herself, and opened her mouth without measure. Their 
 glory, and their pomp, and their rejoicing descend unto her ! 
 The common man shall be brought down, and the great 
 man also shall be humbled, and the eyes of the proud shall 
 be humbled ! But the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted 
 in justice, and God, the Holy One, shall be honoured in 
 righteousness. 
 
 The third woe : Indifference. — Woe unto them that are 
 drawing punishment upon themselves with cords of un- 
 righteousness, and sin as with a cart rope, — who are saying: 
 " Let Him make speed, and let Him hasten His working 
 that we may see it ! Let the counsel of the Holy One of 
 Israel draw nigh, and come that we may know what it is! " 
 
 The fourth woe : Moral Perversity. — Woe unto them 
 that call evil good, and good evil ! That put darkness for 
 light, and light for darkness ! That put bitter for sweet, 
 and sweet for bitter ! 
 
 The fifth woe : Conceit. — Woe unto them that are wise 
 in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight ! 
 
22 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 The sixth woe : Corruption. — Woe unto them that are 
 mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix strong 
 drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and condemn the 
 righteous ! 
 
 The seventh woe : Oppression. — Woe unto them that 
 pass wrong laws, and place oppressive measures on the 
 statute book — for the purpose of doing the needy out of 
 justice, and of depriving the poor of my people of his right 
 — making widows their prey, and the fatherless their 
 plunder ! (Ch. v. 8-12, 20-23 ; x. i, 2.) 
 
 A Series of Six Judgments. 
 
 First judgment : Blighted Crops. — As the fire devoureth 
 the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their roots 
 shall be rotten, and their blossoms shall disappear as dust, 
 because they have cast away the teaching of the Lord of 
 Hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel. 
 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His 
 people ! He hath stretched forth His hand against them, 
 and hath smitten them. And the hills did tremble, and 
 their bodies were torn in the country ! For all this His 
 anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out 
 still ! (Ch. V. 24, 25.) 
 
 Second judgment : Punishment of the Ten Tribes. — The 
 Lord hath sent His word against Jacob, and it has fallen 
 upon Israel. And all the people shall know it, even 
 Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who are saying in 
 the pride and obstinacy of their hearts : — " The bricks are 
 fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones ! The 
 sycamores are cut down, but we will use cedars instead ! " 
 Therefore the Lord hath raised up the princes of Rezin 
 against them, and hath gathered their enemies together : 
 even the Syrians before them, and the Philistines behind 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. 23 
 
 them, and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For 
 all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is 
 stretched out still! (Ch. ix. 8-12.) 
 
 Third judgment : National Disturbance. — The people 
 turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they 
 seek the Lord of Hosts ! Therefore the Lord will cut off 
 from Israel the head and the tail, branch and rush in one 
 day, even the elder, and the honoured, who is the head, 
 and the false prophet, who is the tail. For the leaders of 
 this people lead them wrong ; and those who are led are 
 destroyed. The Lord shall have no joy in their young 
 men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and 
 widows. For every one is a hypocrite, and an evil-doer, 
 and every mouth speaketh folly ! For all this His anger is 
 not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still ! 
 
 (Ch. ix. 13-17.) 
 Fourth judgment : Internecine Strife. — See, wickedness is 
 burning like a fire ! It is devouring the briers and thorns, 
 and is setting fire to the thickets in the forest ! It is rising 
 like the rising up of smoke ! Through the wrath of the 
 Lord of Hosts the land is darkened : and the people are as 
 fuel for the fire ; no man spareth his brother. One seizeth 
 his neighbour on the right, and is hungry ; another eateth 
 on the left hand, and is not satisfied. They eat every man 
 the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh devours Ephraim ; 
 and Ephraim, Manasseh. They are together against Judah ! 
 For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is 
 stretched out still ! (Ch. ix. 1S-21.) 
 
 Fifth judgment : Defeat and Disaster. — Oh, what will ye 
 do in the day of judgment? And in the desolation that is 
 coming upon you from afar ? To whom will ye flee for 
 help ? And where will ye entrust your glory ? Ye shall 
 
24 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 only bow down among the prisoners, and fall among the 
 slain. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His 
 hand is stretched out still ! (Ch. x. 3, 4.) 
 
 Sixth judgment : A Foreign Invasion. — He is lifting 
 up a signal to a distant nation, and is summoning those 
 who are at the end of the world. And see ! they are 
 coming with speed quickly ! None of them shall be weary, 
 nor stumble : none of them shall slumber, nor sleep ! The 
 girdle of their loins shall not be loosed, and the latchet of 
 their shoes shall not be untied. Their arrows are sharp, 
 and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs are counted 
 as flint, and their chariots like a whirlwind. Their roar 
 shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions. 
 Verily, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry 
 it away safe, and none shall deliver it. In that day they 
 shall roar over them like the roaring of the sea. And if 
 one look unto the land, behold, darkness and sorrow, and 
 the light of the heavens is darkened. (Ch. v. 26-30.) 
 
 A Promise of Better Days. 
 
 In that day shall the planting of the Lord be beautiful 
 and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be good and 
 comely for them that are escaped of Israel. Then it shall 
 come to pass, that whosoever is left in Zion, and remaineth 
 in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is 
 counted among those that live in Jerusalem : for the Lord 
 shall have washed away the uncleanness of the daughters 
 of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from 
 the midst thereof, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit 
 of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling- 
 place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and 
 smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night. 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. 2$ 
 
 For over the whole, the Shekinah glory shall be a canopy. 
 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the day- 
 time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a 
 covert from the storm and rain. (Ch. iv. 2-6.) 
 
 The Lord's Vineyard. 
 
 Now will I sing for my well-beloved, a song of my be- 
 loved concerning His vineyard. 
 " My well-beloved hath a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 
 
 He hath fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, 
 
 He planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower 
 
 In the midst of it ; He also made a wine-press therein. 
 
 Then He looked that it should bring forth grapes, 
 
 But it brought forth wild grapes." 
 
 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of 
 Judah ! judge I pray you betwixt Me and My vineyard. 
 What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I 
 have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it 
 should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 
 And now, go to. I will tell you what I will do unto My 
 vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall 
 be eaten up. I will break down the wall thereof, and it 
 shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste. It shall 
 not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briers 
 and thorns. I will also command the clouds, that they rain 
 not one drop of rain upon it. For ; — 
 
 The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel, 
 and the men of Judah the plant that He has chosen. He 
 looked for right, but behold might ! for justice, but behold 
 oppression ! (Ch. v. 1-7.) 
 
26 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 The Reign of King Ahaz, with an Account of His 
 Policy and Idolatry (736-722 b.c). 
 
 The Achievements of Ahaz. 
 
 Ahaz was twenty years old, when he began to reign, and 
 he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem : but he did not do that 
 which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David, his 
 father : for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and 
 made also molten images of Baal. Moreover he burnt 
 incense in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, and caused 
 his children to pass through the fire, after the abominations 
 of the nations, whom the Lord had cast out before the 
 Children of Israel. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense on 
 the High places, and on the heights, and under every green 
 tree. Wherefore the Lord, his God, delivered him into the 
 hand of the king of Syria, and he smote them, and carried 
 away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them 
 to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the 
 king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter ; (for 
 Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and 
 twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men ;) 
 because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 
 Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's 
 son, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah that 
 was next to the king. (2 Chron. xxviii. 1-7.) 
 
 Negotiations with Assyria (732 b.c). 
 
 At that time Rezin, king of Syria, recovered Eloth to 
 Syria, and drave the people of Judah from Eloth : and the 
 Syrians came to Eloth, and dwelt there unto this day. So 
 
REIGN OF KING AHAZ : HIS POLICY AND IDOLATRY. 27 
 
 Ahaz sent ambassadors to Tilgath-Pileser, king of Assyria 
 saying, " I am thy servant, and thy son ! Come up, and 
 save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the 
 hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me." Then 
 Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the House 
 of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and 
 sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 
 
 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him : for the 
 king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and 
 carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. 
 
 Now Ahaz had gone to Damascus to do homage to 
 Tilgath-Pileser, king of Assyria. And he saw an altar that 
 was in Damascus. King Ahaz then sent to Urijah the 
 priest the fashion and the pattern of the altar according to 
 all the workmanship thereof. And Urijah, the priest, built 
 an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from 
 Damascus. Then when the king was come back from 
 Damascus, the king saw the altar : and the king approached 
 the altar, and offered thereon; yea, he burnt his burnt- 
 offering, and his meal-offering, and poured his drink-offering, 
 and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings upon this 
 altar. And he took the brazen altar, which was before the 
 Lord from the forefront of the House, from between the altar 
 and the House of the Lord, and put it on the north side of the 
 altar. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying*: 
 " Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and 
 the evening meal-offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice and 
 his meal-offering, with the burnt-offering of all the people of 
 the land, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings ; 
 and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the sacrifice : and the 
 brazen altar shall be for me to enquire by." 
 
 Thus did Urijah, the priest, according to all that king 
 
28 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Ahaz commanded. And king Ahaz cut off the borders of 
 the bases and removed the laver from off them, and took 
 down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, 
 and put it upon a pavement of stone. And the covered 
 way for the Sabbath, that they had built in the House, 
 and the king's entrance without, he turned from the 
 House of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 
 
 (2 Kings xvi. 10-18.) 
 
 The Conctuest of Samaria (722 b.c). 
 
 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began the 
 siege of Samaria. Hoshea, the son of Elah, was reigning in 
 Samaria over Israel; and he reigned nine 5'ears. But he 
 did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as 
 the kings of Israel had done that were before him. Against 
 him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea 
 became his vassal, and brought him tribute. But the king 
 of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea : for he had sent 
 ambassadors to So, king of Egypt, and brought not his tribute 
 to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. There- 
 fore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in 
 prison. Then the king of Assyria came up through all 
 the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three 
 years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria 
 took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria. 
 
 (2 Kings xvii. 1-6.) 
 
 Ahaz in alliance with Assyria, but in distress. 
 
 About that time did king Ahaz send unto the king of 
 Assyria for help. For again the Edomites had come and 
 smitten Judah, and carried away captives. The Philistines 
 also had invaded the towns of the Lowland, and of the South 
 of Judah, and had taken Beth-Shemesh, and Aijalon, and 
 
REIGN OF KING AHAZ : HIS POLICY AND IDOLATRY. 29 
 
 Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnath 
 with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof, 
 and they occupied these places. For the Lord brought 
 Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Judah : for he did wanton- 
 ness in Judah, and transgressed sore against the Lord. 
 And Tilgath-Pileser, king of Assyria, came unto him. He 
 distressed him, but strengthened him not. For Ahaz took 
 away a portion out of the House of the Lord, and out of 
 the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto 
 the king of Assyria. But he helped him not. Yet in the 
 time of his distress did this same king trespass yet more 
 and more against the Lord. For he sacrificed unto the 
 gods of Damascus who smote him ; and he said : " Because 
 the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I 
 sacrifice unto them, that they may help me." But they 
 were the ruin of him, and of all Judah. For Ahaz gathered 
 together the vessels of the House of God, and cut in pieces 
 the vessels of the House of God, and shut up the doors of 
 the House of the Lord, and he made him altars in every 
 corner of Jerusalem. And in every separate town of Judah 
 he made High places to burn incense unto other gods, and 
 provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers. Now the 
 rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold 
 they are written in the Book of the kings of Judah and 
 Israel. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried 
 him in the city of Jerusalem ; but they brought him not 
 into the sepulchres of the kings of Judah. And Hezekiah 
 his son reigned in his stead. (2 Chron. xxviii. 16-27.) 
 
30 HOW TO READ ISAIAH, 
 
 PART V. 
 
 Prophecies Condemnatory of the Policy of 
 
 AhAZ (734 B.C.). 
 
 Isaiah and Ahaz. The Syro-Ephraimitish Alliance. 
 
 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of 
 Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin 
 the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remahah, 
 king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to wage war 
 against it, hut could not prevail against it. And it was 
 told the House of David, saying, " Syria is confederate 
 with Ephraim." Then his heart was moved, and the heart 
 of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the 
 wind. 
 
 The first message to Ahaz. 
 
 Then the Lord said unto Isaiah : " Go forth now to 
 meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-Jashub thy son, at the end of 
 the conduit of the Upper Pool in the highway of the 
 Fuller's Field : and say unto him — ' Take heed and be 
 quiet. Fear not, neither be faint-hearted on account of the 
 two ends of these smoking torches — the fierce anger of 
 Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remahah. Syria, 
 Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel 
 against thee, saying, " Let us go up against Judah, and 
 trouble it. Let us make a breach in it, and set up a new 
 king in the midst of it, even Ben-Tabeal." ' Thus saith the 
 Lord God : ' It shall not stand, neither shall it come to 
 pass. The chief town of Syria is Damascus, and the king 
 of Damascus is Rezin ; and the capital of Ephraim is 
 Samaria, and the king of Samaria is the son of Remaliah — 
 
PROPHECIES CONDEMNATORY OF POLICY OF AHAZ. 31 
 
 but within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be 
 broken, that it be not a people. If ye will not hold fast 
 to Jehovah, assuredly ye shall not be held fast by Him.' " 
 
 (Ch. vii, 1-9.) 
 A second message to Ahaz. 
 
 The Immanuel Prophecy. — The Lord spake again unto 
 Ahaz, saying : " Ask from the Lord thy God a sign. Ask it 
 either in the depth beneath or in the height above." But 
 Ahaz said, " I will not ask a sign, neither will I test the 
 Lord." Then said the prophet : " Hear ye now, O House 
 of David ! It is a small thing for you to weary men, but 
 will you weary my God also ? Therefore the Lord shall give 
 you a sign Himself. See ! A young damsel has conceived, 
 and will bear a son, and his name shall be Immanuel. Be- 
 fore he is able to discern between the evil and the good, to 
 refuse the one, and to choose the other, he shall eat butter, 
 and honey : for before the child shall know to refuse the 
 evil, and choose the good, the land, whose two kings thou 
 fearest, shall be forsaken. And the Lord shall bring upon 
 thee, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come 
 since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the 
 king of Assyria. It shall come to pass in that day that the 
 Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost part of the 
 rivers of Egypt, and for the bee, that is in the land of Assyria : 
 and they shall come, and shall settle all of them in the 
 desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all 
 the thorn trees, and upon all the shrubs. In that same day 
 shall the Lord shave with a hired razor, even with those, who 
 are beyond the River (Euphrates), i.e. the king of Assyria, 
 both head and foot, and the beard also shall be cut off. 
 Then it shall come to pass that a man shall keep a young 
 cow, and two sheep : and it shall come to pass that because 
 
32 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 of the quantity of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter 
 — butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the 
 land. Then every piece of land where there used to be a 
 thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver, shall be 
 for briers and thorns. Men shall go there with arrows and 
 bows, for all the land shall be covered with briers and 
 thorns. And upon all the hillsides, that used to be culti- 
 vated, shall no one come for fear of briers and thorns ; but 
 they shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the 
 treading of sheep. (Ch. vii. 10-25.) 
 
 A third message to Ahaz. 
 
 Destruction of Epliraim. — Further, the Lord said unto 
 me, 
 
 "Take thee a large roll, and write on it with an ordi- 
 nary pen these words, 'Concerning Maher- Shalal-Hash- 
 Baz.' " I then took with me trustworthy witnesses to write 
 this, viz., Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of 
 Jeberechiah. (I had gone unto the prophetess, and she had 
 conceived, and borne a son.) Then the Lord said unto me, 
 *' Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz : for before the 
 boy shall know how to say, ' My father, and my mother,' 
 the riches of Damascus and the booty of Samaria shall be 
 carried away before the king of Assyria." (Ch. viii. 1-4.) 
 
 A fourth message to Ahaz. 
 
 An alliance with Syria and Samaria condemned. — ^ Again 
 the Lord spake unto me, saying : 
 
 "Forasmuch as this people refused the waters of Shiloah 
 that flow softly, and put their trust in Rezin and Remaliah's 
 son : now, therefore, the Lord bringeth up upon them the 
 waters of the River, strong, and many, even the king of 
 Assyria, and all his might. He shall come up over all his 
 
PROPHECIES CONDEMNATORY OF POLICY OF AHAZ. ^^ 
 
 channels, and go over all his banks, and pass through 
 Judah : he shall overflow, and go over : he shall reach even 
 unto the neck. Then the stretching out of his wings shall 
 cover the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel!" (Ch. viii. 5-8.) 
 
 The True Trust. 
 
 Form alliances, O ye people, but ye shall be broken to 
 pieces ! Listen to me, all ye of far lands, gird yourselves, 
 and ye shall be broken in pieces : gird yourselves and ye 
 shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, yet it 
 shall come to nought ! Issue your command, but it shall 
 not stand ! " God is with us ! " Thus the Lord spake to 
 me with a strong Hand, thus He has instructed me that I 
 should not walk in the way this people goes, saying to me, 
 " Call not that an alliance, which the people shall call an 
 alliance. Fear ye not what they fear, nor be afraid. Re- 
 gard the Lord of Hosts Himself as the Holy One. Make 
 Him the object of your fear, and your awe. Then He shall 
 be a sanctuary unto you : but a stone of stumbling, and a 
 rock of falling to both the Houses of Israel — a gin and a 
 snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem — this also, for many 
 among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be 
 snared, and be taken !" (Ch. viii. 9-15.) 
 
 The Prophet's Eetirement. 
 
 Bind up the Testimony: seal the Instruction among those 
 who are my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, Who 
 is hiding His Face from the House of Jacob : yea, I will 
 look for Him. Behold ! I and the children, whom the Lord 
 hath given me are for signs and omens unto Israel, from 
 the Lord of Hosts, who dwelleth in Mount Zion. When 
 they shall say unto you, " Consult those that have familiar 
 spirits and wizards that peep and that mutter : should not 
 
 c 
 
34 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the people consult their God? For the living should they 
 consult the dead ? * To the Instruction, and to the Testi- 
 mony.' If they say not this, then no morning shall ever 
 dawn upon them : but they shall pass through the land 
 hardly bestead, and hungry. And it shall come to pass that 
 when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and 
 curse their king, and their God, and look upward. For 
 they shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble, and 
 darkness, with dimness of anguish, and banishment into 
 darkness." (Ch. viii. 16-22.) 
 
 A Brighter Day Dawning. 
 
 But the gloom shall be no more as it was in her trouble. 
 In the former time He has afflicted the land of Zebulon, and 
 the land of Naphtali : but in the latter time He will glori- 
 ously advance the country by the way of the Sea, beyond 
 Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 
 
 For the people, that walked in darkness, shall see a great 
 light : they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, 
 upon them shall the light shine. Thou hast multiplied the 
 nation. Thou hast increased their joy. They joy before 
 Thee according as they joy in harvest, as men rejoice when 
 they divide the spoil. The yoke that burdened them, the 
 stick of their shoulder, and the rod of their driver. Thou 
 hast broken in pieces as in the day of vengeance on Midian! 
 All the weapons of the warrior in the battle, and all the blood- 
 stained garments are now for burning and fuel of fire. For 
 unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given ! The 
 government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall 
 be "the Wonderful Counsellor," " The Hero God," "The 
 Everlasting Father," "The Prince of Peace." Of the increase 
 of his government and of peace there shall be no end. 
 
MESSAGES TO ADJOINING PEOPLES. 35 
 
 He shall sit upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom 
 to order it, and to establish it with justice and righteousness, 
 from henceforth even for ever. The Zeal of the Lord of 
 Hosts will perform this. (Ch. ix. 1-7.) 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 Messages to adjoining peoples — the Philistines, 
 MoAB, Edom, Arabia, and Samaria. 
 
 In the year that king Ahaz died was this oracle (722 B.C.). 
 
 1. Isaiah to the Philistines. 
 
 Rejoice not thou, thou whole district of the Philistines ! 
 For though the rod of him that smote thee is broken : yet 
 out of the serpent's root shall come forth a viper, and its seed 
 shall be a fiery flying serpent. The first-born of the poor, 
 however, shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety ; 
 but I shall destroy thy root with famine and I will slay thy 
 remnant. Howl, O gate ! Cry, O city ! Thou art wholly 
 destroyed, O Philistia ! For there is coming from the north 
 a smoke, and a thoroughly disciplined army. What shall 
 be the answer to the messengers of the nation ? This, that 
 the Lord hath founded Zion, and that the poor of His 
 people shall find refuge in it. (Ch. xiv. 2S-32 ) 
 
 2. The Prophetic message to Moab. 
 
 The oracle concerning Moab. — In a night Ar of Moab 
 is laid waste ! It is brought to silence ! In a night Kir 
 of Moab is laid waste ! It is brought to silence ! 
 
 Moab is gone up to his temple, even to Dibon, to the high 
 places to weep. He mourns on Nebo, and on Medeba. On 
 
36 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 every head is baldness, and every beard is cut off. In their 
 streets they gird themselves with sackcloth. On the tops of 
 their houses, and in their streets every one mourns, weeping 
 abundantly. Heshbon crieth out, and Elealeh. Their voice 
 is heard even unto Jahaz. The armed men of Moab cry 
 out ! Their soul trembleth within them. My heart crieth out 
 for Moab ! Her fugitives are at Zoar, at Eglath Shelishyah. 
 They ascend the slope of Luhith with weeping. In the 
 way to Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction. The 
 waters of Nimrim are desolate ! The hay is withered away t 
 The grass faileth ! There is no green thing ! Therefore 
 the abundance which they have secured and laid up, they 
 carry away with them over the " brook of the willows," The 
 cry is gone round about the borders of Moab. The howl- 
 ing has reached unto the two Eglaths ! The howHng there- 
 of has come to Beer-Elim ! For the streams of Dimon are 
 full of blood ! For I am bringing upon Dimon further 
 sorrow, even a lion upon those of Moab that escape, and 
 upon the remnant of the country ! (Ch. xv. 1-9.) 
 
 Message concerning the conduct of Moab. 
 
 " Send ye the tribute of lambs from the ruler of your 
 land, even from Sela, through the wilderness, unto the 
 Mount of the daughter of Zion." 
 
 An Embassy from Moab. 
 
 It shall come to pass that like wandering birds, like a 
 scared nest, the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of 
 the Arnon, saying : — 
 
 " Take counsel : execute justice. Make thy shade as the 
 night in the midst of the noon-day. Hide the outcasts. 
 Betray not him that fleeth to thee. Let mine outcasts, 
 even Moab's, dwell with thee. Be thou a covert to them. 
 
MESSAGES TO ADJOINING PEOPLES. 37 
 
 from the face of the spoiler ! For now the extortioner is at 
 an end, the spoiler ceaseth ; the oppressors are consumed 
 out of the land. In mercy the throne is established. He 
 that sitteth upon it of the House of David judgeth in truth ; 
 he seeks justice, and furthers righteousness." 
 
 The Answer to the Embassy. 
 
 "We have heard of the pride of Moab, of his over- 
 confidence, of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger. 
 But his boastings amount to nothing ! Therefore shall 
 Moab howl for Moab : every one shall howl. For the 
 grape-cakes of Kir-Haresheth shall ye mourn, for they are 
 utterly stricken. The fields of Heshbon languish, and the 
 vine of Sibmah ! The rulers of the nations have broken 
 down the best plants thereof, which have come even unto 
 Jazer : they twined through the desert : her branches were 
 stretched out, they have gone over to the sea. Therefore I 
 will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. 
 I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh ! 
 The shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest has 
 ceased ! Gladness and joy are taken away from the fertile 
 field. And in the vineyards there is no singing, neither 
 shouting. The treaders tread out no wine in the presses. 
 I have made their shouting to cease. Wherefore my bowels 
 sound as a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir. 
 Heresh. And it shall come to pass when Moab appears 
 weary on his high place, when he enters into his sanctuary 
 to pray, that he shall not prevail. 
 
 The Prophet's Final Word. 
 
 This is the Word which the Lord hath already spoken 
 concerning Moab : but the Lord hath now declared, saying, 
 " Within three years, reckoned as the years of an hireling, 
 
38 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the glory of Moab shall be despised, with all the multitude 
 of the great, and the remnant shall be very small and 
 feeble. (Ch. xvi. 1-14.) 
 
 3. The Message concerning Edom. 
 
 An oracle of silence (Dumah). — One is calling to me out 
 of Mount Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watch- 
 man, what of the night ? " 
 
 The watchman replies : " The morning cometh, and also 
 the night. If ye will enquire, enquire. Return and come 
 again." (Ch. xxi. 11-12.) 
 
 4. The Message concerning Arabia. 
 
 Ye lodge in the evening in the thickets, O ye travelling 
 companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the district of 
 Tema brought water to him that was thirsty ; they provided 
 bread for those that had escaped : even for those who had 
 fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, and from the 
 bent bow, and from the horrors of war. 
 
 This is the word which the Lord hath spoken unto me : — 
 "Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, all the 
 glory of Kedar shall fail : and the remnant of the number of 
 archers, the men of might of the Children of Kedar, shall 
 be diminished : for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it." 
 
 (Ch. xxi. 13-17.) 
 
 5. The Message concerning Damascus and Ephraim. 
 The captivity of Israel declared. — Behold Damascus is 
 
 taken away from being a city ! It is being made a heap of 
 ruins ! The towns of Aroer are forsaken : they are for 
 flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them 
 afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim : the 
 kingdom from Damascus ; and the rest of Syria shall be as 
 
MESSAGES TO ADJOINING PEOPLES. 39 
 
 the glory of the Children of Israel, saith the Lord of Hosts : 
 for then it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall 
 be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 
 And it shall be as when the reaper gathereth the standing 
 corn, and his hand reapeth the ears, yea, it shall be as he 
 that gathereth ears in the Valley of Rephaim. Yet a glean- 
 ing shall be left in it, as at the beating of the olives, two 
 or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or 
 five in its outmost fruitful branches (saith the Lord of 
 Hosts), In that day man shall look to his Maker, and his 
 eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. He 
 shall not look to the altars and to the work of his own 
 hands, neither shall he respect that which his fingers have 
 made, either the Astartes, or the Sungods. In that day 
 shall his strong cities be like the forsaken places of the 
 Hivites, and the Amorites, which they abandoned before 
 the Children of Israel ; and there shall be desolation. For 
 thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not 
 been mindful of the Rock of thy strength. Thou hast 
 planted Adonis-groves, and didst set them with strange 
 slips. In the day that thou didst plant, thou didst make a 
 hedge around it, and in the morning thou didst cause thy 
 seed to blossom. But the harvest shall be a heap in the 
 day of grief, and desperate sorrow ! (Ch. xvii. i-ii.). 
 
4© HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART VII. 
 
 The Reign of Hezekiah : his Reforms : his Sickness: 
 AND the Assyrian Invasions (722-693 b.c). 
 
 Hezekiah's Reformation and the Military Events of 
 his Reign. 
 
 Twenty and five years old was Hezekiah when he began 
 to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. 
 His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. 
 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, 
 according to all that David his father did. He removed the 
 High places, and brake the images, and cut down the 
 Asherahs, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses 
 had made (for unto those days the children of Israel did 
 burn incense to it), and he called it a piece of brass. He put 
 his trust in the Lord God of Israel : so that after him was 
 none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were 
 before him. For he clave to the Lord. He departed not 
 from following Him, but kept His commandments, which 
 the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him, 
 and he prospered whithersoever he went forth. 
 
 He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him 
 not. He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the 
 borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen, even unto 
 the fortified town. 
 
 And it came to pass in the reign of Hoshea, king of 
 Israel, that the king of Assyria came up against Samaria, 
 and besieged it. At the end of a siege of three years they 
 took it, even in the first year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth 
 year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 
 
 (2 Kings xviii. i-io.) 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 4I 
 
 The Purification of the Temple (722 b.c). 
 
 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened 
 the doors of the House of the Lord, and repaired them. 
 And he brought in the priests, and the Levites, and gathered 
 them together in a broad place on the east side, and said 
 unto them : " Hear me, ye Levites ! Sanctify now yourselves, 
 and sanctify the House of the Lord God of your fathers, and 
 carry forth all pollution from the Holy Place. For our fathers 
 have trespassed, and done that which is evil in the eyes of the 
 Lord our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned 
 away their faces from the House of the Lord : they have 
 turned their backs upon Him. They have also shut up the 
 doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not 
 burned incense, nor offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place 
 unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord 
 was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered 
 them to trouble, to be an astonishment and a hissing, as ye 
 see with your eyes. For lo ! our fathers have fallen by the 
 sword, and our sons, and our daughters, and our wives are 
 in captivity because of this. Now it is in mine heart to make 
 a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath 
 may turn away from us. My sons ! be not now negligent ! 
 For the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to 
 serve Him, and that ye should minister unto Him, and 
 burn incense." 
 
 Then the Levites arose and gathered their brethren, and 
 sanctified themselves, and came according to the command- 
 ment of the king, by the words of the Lord to cleanse the 
 House of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner 
 part of the House of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought 
 out every unclean thing that they found in the temple of 
 the Lord into the court of the House of the Lord. Then 
 
42 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the Levites took it, and carried it out across the brook 
 Kidron. (2 Chron. xxix. 3-12, 15, 16.) 
 
 The Celebration of the Passover. 
 
 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote 
 letters also to P>phraim and Alanasseh, that they should 
 come to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the 
 Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 
 
 So the messengers passed from town to town through the 
 country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even as far as Zebulon ; 
 but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Many 
 however, of Asher, and Manasseh, and Zebulon humbled 
 themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the 
 hand of the Lord gave them one heart to do the command- 
 ment of the king and the princes, by the Word of the Lord. 
 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the 
 Feast of unleavened bread in the second month — a very 
 great congregation. And the Children of Israel that were 
 present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of unleavened bread 
 seven days with great gladness. And the whole congregation 
 took counsel to keep other seven days, and they kept other 
 seven days with gladness. So there was great joy in 
 Jerusalem. For since the time of Solomon, the son of 
 David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem. 
 Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the 
 people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came 
 up to His Holy Habitation, even unto Heaven. 
 
 (2 Chron. xxx. 1-14; 26, 27.) 
 
 Destruction of Idols and Regulation of Worship. 
 
 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present 
 went out to the towns of Judah, and brake in pieces the 
 pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 45 
 
 High places, and all the altars in Judah, and Benjamin, in 
 Ephraim also, and in Manasseh, until they had destroyed 
 them all. Then all the Children of Israel returned every 
 man to his possession into their own towns. 
 
 Hezekiah also appointed the courses of the priests, and 
 the Levites after their courses. Moreover, he commanded 
 the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion due 
 unto the priests and the Levites, that they might devote 
 themselves to the service of the Lord. Then Hezekiah 
 commanded them to prepare chambers in the House of the 
 Lord : and they prepared them. And thus did Hezekiah 
 throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and 
 right and true before the Lord his God ; and in every work 
 that he began in the service of the House of God, and in 
 the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did 
 it with all his heart, and he prospered. 
 
 (2 Chron. xxxi. i, 2, 4, ii, 20.) 
 
 Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery (710 b.c). 
 
 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. 
 
 And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, 
 and said unto him: "Thus saith the Lord: — Set thine 
 house in order : for thou shalt die, and not live." 
 
 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and 
 prayed unto the Lord, and said : " Remember, O Lord, I 
 beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth, and 
 with a perfect heart : and have done that which is good in 
 Thy sight." 
 
 And Hezekiah wept sore. 
 
 Then came the Word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying : 
 
 "Go, and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus saith the Lord, the 
 God of David thy father — I have heard thy prayer : I have 
 
44 HOW TO READ ISAIAH, 
 
 seen thy tears. Behold ! I will add unto thy days fifteen 
 years : and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand 
 of the king of Assyria : and I will defend this city.' And 
 ;his shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord that the Lord 
 will do this thing that He hath spoken. Behold ! I will 
 cause the shadow on the steps, which has gone down on the 
 steps of Ahaz with the sun to return backward ten steps." 
 
 So the sun returned ten steps by the steps which it had 
 gone down. 
 
 For Isaiah had said, " Let them take a lump of figs, and 
 lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover." 
 Hezekiah also had said, " What is the sign that I shall go 
 up to the House of the Lord ? " 
 
 (Ch. xxxviii. 1-8; 21, 22.) 
 
 The Royal Patient's Psalm of Thanksgiving. 
 
 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had 
 been sick, and was recovered of his sickness : — I said, 
 
 In the noontide of my days, I am going to the gates of the 
 
 grave ! 
 I am being deprived of the remainder of my days. 
 I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living. 
 I shall behold man no more, when I shall dwell with those 
 
 in Sheol. 
 My tent is taken up — it is removed from me as a shepherd's 
 
 tent! 
 He has rolled up like a weaver my life : he cuts it ofi" from 
 
 the loom ! 
 From day even to night — Thou wilt make an end of me ! 
 I lay thinking till morning — As a lion, so He breaketh my 
 
 bones ! 
 From day even to night — Thou wilt make an end of me ! 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 45 
 
 Like a swallow or crane, so I chattered : I did mourn as a 
 
 dove. 
 My eyes fail looking up. Lord, I am oppressed ! Be Thou 
 
 my surety. 
 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and 
 
 done it Himself. 
 I shall go solemnly all my years, because of the bitterness 
 
 of my soul. 
 O Lord ! by these things men live : in such things wholly is 
 
 my spirit's life. 
 So Thou wilt recover me, and make me to live. 
 Behold for my peace, I had great bitterness ! 
 But Thou in love deliveredst my soul from the pit of 
 
 corruption. 
 For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. 
 For the Grave cannot praise Thee ! Death cannot celebrate 
 
 Thee ! 
 They that go down into the pit — they cannot hope for Thy 
 
 faithfulness. 
 The living, the living ! He can praise Thee, as I do this 
 
 day. 
 The father to the children maketh known Thy faithfulness. 
 The Lord is ready to save me. Therefore my stringed 
 
 instruments will I strike 
 All the days of my life, in the House of the Lord. 
 
 (Ch. xxxviii. 9-20.) 
 
 The Invasion of Judah in 710 B.C. A truce. 
 
 Now about the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah did 
 Sargon, the king of Assyria, come up against the fortified 
 towns of Judah, and take them. And Hezekiah, king of 
 Judah, sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, " I 
 
46 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 have done wrong ! Return from me. That which Thou 
 puttest on me, I will bear." 
 
 Then the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king 
 of Judah, three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents 
 of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was 
 found in the House of the Lord, and in the treasures of the 
 king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold 
 from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the 
 pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and 
 gave it to the king of Assyria. (2 Kings xviii. 13-16.) 
 
 The Great Invasion by Sennacherib (701 b.c). 
 
 After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib, king 
 of Assyria, came, and entered into Judah, and encamped 
 against the fortified towns, and planned to break them up. 
 Then when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and 
 that his face was set against Jerusalem, he took counsel 
 with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters 
 of the fountains which were without the city. And they 
 helped him. So there was gathered much people together, 
 and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that 
 flowed through the midst of the land, saying, ' AA'hy should 
 the king of Assyria come, and find much water?' He also 
 summoned up courage, and built up all the wall that was 
 broken, and raised up the towers, and he repaired the other 
 wall, and Millo, in the city of David, and made weapons and 
 shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the 
 people, and gathered them together to him in the broad 
 place at the gate of the city, and spake encouragingly to 
 them, saying : " Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid 
 nor dismayed at the king of Assyria, nor at all the multitude 
 that is with him. For there be more with us than with him ! 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 47 
 
 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our 
 God to help us, and to fight our battles." 
 
 And the people leaned upon the words of Hezekiah, the 
 king of Judah. 
 
 After this did Sennacherib send his officers to Jerusalem : 
 he himself, and all his army with him were at Lachish. 
 
 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish 
 to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army. And 
 lie stood by the conduit of the Upper Pool in the highway 
 of the Fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim 
 the son of Hilkiah, who was over the king's house, and 
 Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary. 
 
 The Assyrian boast. 
 
 And the Rabshakeh said unto them 
 
 " Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the 
 king of Assyria, ' What confidence is this wherein thou 
 trustest ? I say thy counsel and strength for war are but 
 vain things ! Now, on whom dost thou trust, that thou art 
 rebelling against me? Lo ! Thou trustest on the staff of 
 the broken reed, even Egypt : and if a man lean on it, it 
 will go into his hand and pierce it. So is the Pharaoh, king 
 of Egypt, .to all that trust in him. But if thou say to me 
 " We trust in the Lord our God," then is this not He 
 whose High places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken 
 away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, " Ye shall worship 
 before this altar only ? " ' Now, see, give a wager, I pray you, 
 to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two 
 thousand horses, if you are able to put riders upon them ! 
 How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the 
 least of my master's servants, and put trust in Egypt for 
 chariots and horsemen ? And am I now come up without 
 
48 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the Lord's consent against this land to destroy it? The 
 Lord hath said unto me, ' Go up against this land, and 
 destroy it.'" 
 
 Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah unto the Rab- 
 shakeh : "Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian 
 language, for we understand it : and speak not to us in the 
 Jews' language, in the hearing of the people on the wall." 
 
 But the Rabshakeh said, *' Hath my master sent me to 
 thy master, and to thee, to speak these words ? Hath he 
 not sent me also to the men that sit on the wall — that they 
 may eat their own dung, and drink their own water with 
 you ? " 
 
 Then the Rabshakeh stood, and cried in a loud voice in 
 the Jews' language, and said : 
 
 " Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria ! 
 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you : for he 
 shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make 
 you trust in the Lord, saying, ' The Lord will surely deliver 
 us ! this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king 
 of Assyria.' Hearken not to Hezekiah ! For thus saith the 
 king of Assyria, ' Make an agreement with me by tribute, 
 and come out to me. Let each one of you eat of his own 
 vine, and of his own fig tree, and drink water out of his 
 own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like 
 your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread 
 and grapes.' Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, 
 'The Lord will deliver us.' Hath any of the gods of the 
 nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of 
 Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and Arpad? 
 Where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? Have those of Samaria 
 delivered her out of my hand ? Who are they of all the 
 gods of these countries that have delivered their land out of 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 49 
 
 my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my 
 hand?" 
 
 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word ; 
 for the king's order was, saying, " Answer him not." 
 
 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was in charge 
 of the king's house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the 
 son of Asaph, the secretary, to Hezekiah, with their clothes 
 rent, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. And it 
 came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard them, that he rent 
 his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went 
 into the House of the Lord. He sent also Eliakim, who 
 was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the 
 elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the 
 prophet, the son of Amoz : and they said unto him ; — 
 
 " Thus saith Hezekiah : ' This day is a day of trouble, 
 and of rebuke, and of blaspheming. The children indeed 
 are come to the birth, but there is not strength to bring 
 forth ! It may be the Lord, thy God, will hear the words of 
 the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, hath 
 sent to reproach the Living God, and will reprove the words, 
 which the Lord thy God hath heard. Wherefore lift up 
 prayer for the remnant that is left.'" 
 
 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 
 
 (Ch. xxxvi., xxxvii. 1-5.) 
 
 The word of the Lord to Hezekiah. 
 
 And Isaiah said unto them : 
 
 " Thus shall ye say unto your master : ' Thus saith the 
 Lord — Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, 
 wherewith the officers of the king of Assyria have blas- 
 phemed Me. Behold ! I will send a spirit into him, and 
 
 D 
 
50 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 he will hear a report, and return to his own land ; and I 
 will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." 
 
 The second message of Sennacherib to Hezekiah. 
 
 Now the Rabshakeh had returned and found the king of 
 Assyria warring against Libnah ; for he had heard that he 
 was departed from Lachish. And he heard it said con- 
 cerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia : " Behold! he is come 
 forth to make war with thee." And when he heard it, he 
 sent ambassadors to Hezekiah, saying: — "Thus shall ye 
 speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying ! ' Let not thy 
 God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, " Jerusalem 
 shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." 
 Behold ! thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have 
 done to all countries by destroying them utterly. And 
 shalt thou be delivered ? Have the gods of the nations 
 delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, viz., Gozan 
 and Haran, and Rezeph, and the Children of Eden which 
 were in Telassar. Where is the king of Hamath? And 
 the king of Arpad ? And the king of the city of Sepharvaim, 
 of Hena, of Ivah?'" (Ch. xxxvii. 6-13.) 
 
 Hezekiah's Prayer. 
 
 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the 
 ambassadors, and read it. Then Hezekiah went up unto 
 the House of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 
 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying : — 
 
 " O Lord of Hosts ! God of Israel ! Thou that dwellest 
 between the Cherubim ! Thou art the God, Thou the Only 
 One, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made 
 heaven and earth ! Incline Thine ear, O Lord ! and hear. 
 Open Thine eyes, O Lord ! and see. Oh ! hear all the 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 51 
 
 words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach Thee, the 
 Living God. Of a truth, O Lord ! the kings of Assyria have 
 laid waste all the nations, and their countries, and have cast 
 their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work 
 of men's hands, wood and stone — therefore they have de- 
 stroyed them. Now, I beseech Thee, O Lord our God, 
 save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth 
 may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou the Only 
 One." 
 
 Jehovah's final message to Assyria. 
 
 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, say- 
 ing : — " Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou 
 hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 
 this is the Word, which the Lord hath spoken concerning 
 him — 
 
 " ' The virgin, the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, 
 and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem hath 
 contempt for thee.' Whom hast thou reproached and blas- 
 phemed ? And against Whom hast thou exalted thy voice, 
 and lifted up thine eyes on high ? Even against the Holy 
 One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the 
 Lord, and hast said, ' By the multitude of my chariots am I 
 come up to the height of the mountains, to the slopes of 
 Lebanon. Now I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and 
 the choice fir-trees thereof, yea, I will enter into his highest 
 height, the forest of his fruitful field. I have digged wells, 
 and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet have I dried 
 up the rivers of Upper and Lower Egypt.' 
 
 " Hast thou not heard that long ago I have planned it, and 
 formed it in ancient times ? Now, have I brought it to pass 
 that thou shouldst be to lay waste fortified cities, and make 
 
52 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 them ruined heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of 
 small power, they were dismayed and confounded, they were 
 as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass 
 on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be fully 
 grown. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy 
 coming in, and thy rage against Me. Because thy rage 
 against Me, and thy careless ease is come up into Mine ears, 
 therefore will I put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in 
 thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way, by which 
 thou camest. 
 
 " Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of 
 Assyria, 'He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow 
 there, nor come before it with shields, nor raise up a mound 
 against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he 
 return, and he shall not come into this city,' saith the Lord ; 
 ' for I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake, and 
 for My servant David's sake.' 
 
 " And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year 
 such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which 
 springeth of the same : but in the third year ye shall sow and 
 reap — plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. For the 
 remnant that is escaped of the House of Jacob shall again 
 take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of 
 Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and those who escape out 
 of Mount Zion. The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall do this." 
 
 The fulfilled Word (701 r.c). 
 
 And the Angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the 
 camp of the Assyrians, an hundred and fourscore and five 
 thousand. When they arose in the morning, behold ! they 
 were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 
 departed, and went, and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 53 
 
 The Death of Sennacherib (68 1 b.c). 
 
 Now it came to pass as he was worshipping in the temple 
 of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his 
 sons smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the 
 land of Armenia. Then Esar-Haddon, his son, reigned in 
 his stead. (Ch. xxxvii. 14-38.) 
 
 The Renown of Hezekiah. 
 
 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, 
 and from the hand of every enemy, and guided them on 
 every side. And many brought gifts unto the Lord, to 
 Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah, king of Judah. 
 So he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time 
 henceforth. (2 Chron. xxxii. 22.) 
 
 A Psalm of Victory. 
 
 God is our refuge and stronghold : a help near in trouble ! 
 Therefore we'll not fear, though the earth do shake — 
 Though the mountains be moved, in the midst of the seas ! 
 Though the waves thereof roar, and be troubled ; 
 Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof! 
 There is a river — its streams make glad the City of God, 
 The Holy Place of the Tabernacles of the Most High. 
 God is in her midst ! She shall not be moved ! 
 God hath helped her, even at the morning dawn ! 
 The nations raged ! The kingdoms were moved ! 
 He uttered His voice ! The earth melted ! 
 The Lord of Hosts is with us : the God of Jacob our 
 
 Refuge sure. 
 Come behold the works of the Lord — what desolations in 
 
 the earth He makes ! 
 
54 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 He maketh wars to cease, unto the end of the earth ! 
 He breaketh the bow : He cutteth the spear in sunder ! 
 He burneth the chariots in the fire. 
 Be still and know that I am God, high among the nations, 
 
 high in the earth. 
 The Lord of Hosts is with us : the God of Jacob — our 
 
 Refuge sure. (Psalm xlvi.) 
 
 PART VHI. 
 
 A SERIES OF Prophecies concerning the certain doom 
 OF Assyria. 
 
 Isaiah to Assyria (720-710 b.c). 
 
 The Divine Supremacy. — O Assyrian ! thou art the rod 
 of Mine anger, and the staff in thine hand is that of Mine 
 indignation. I will send him against a profane nation, and 
 against a people, with whom I am displeased, will I give him 
 a command, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to 
 tread them down like the mire of the streets. He indeed 
 purposeth not so, neither does his heart think so. For it is 
 in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. He 
 is saying : " Are not ray generals all kings ? Is not Calno as 
 Carchemish ? Is not Hamath as Arpad ? Is not Samaria 
 as Damascus ? As my hand hath found the kingdoms that 
 worship idols, and whose graven images did excel those of 
 Jerusalem, and of Samaria, shall I not do unto Jerusalem 
 and her idols as I have done unto Samaria, and her idols ? " 
 
 Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath 
 performed all His work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem^ 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 55 
 
 I will punish the fruit of the boastful heart of the king of 
 Assyria, and the glory of his proud looks. For he is saying, 
 *' By the strength of my hand have I done this, and by my 
 wisdom, for I am wise. I have removed the boundaries of 
 the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and have put 
 down kings as their superior. Yea, my hand hath found out 
 the riches of the people, as one findeth a nest : and as one 
 gathereth the eggs that are left in it, have I gathered all the 
 earth. There was none that moved its wing, or opened its 
 mouth, or chirped against me." (Chap. x. 5-14.) 
 
 The Destruction of Pride. 
 
 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth there- 
 with? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth 
 it ? As if a rod should shake those that lift it up, or as if 
 a staff should lift up what is not wood ! Therefore shall the 
 Lord, the Lord of Hosts, send leanness among his fat ones, 
 and instead of his glory He shall kindle a burning, like the 
 burning of a fire. And the Light of Israel shall be a fire, 
 and his Holy One a flame, and it shall burn and devour 
 his thorns and his briers in one day, and shall consume the 
 glory of the forest, and of the fruitful field, both soul and 
 body, and they shall be as when a sick man pineth away. 
 Then the rest of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that 
 a child may count them. 
 
 But in that day it shall come to pass that the remnant of 
 Israel, and such as are escaped of the House of Jacob, shall 
 no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall 
 stay in truth upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. For 
 though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, the 
 remnant of them shall return : the consumption that is 
 decreed shall overflow with righteousness. A consumption 
 
56 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 indeed, a determined one, shall the Lord of Hosts make in 
 the midst of all the land. Therefore thus saith the Lord 
 God of Hosts : " O My people that dwellest in Zion ! Be 
 not afraid of the Assyrian, though he shall smite thee with 
 his rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, even as Egypt 
 did. For yet a very little while, and the indignation against 
 thee shall cease, and Mine anger shall be for his destruction. 
 And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up against him a scourge, 
 as in the slaughter of Midian, at the rock of Oreb. As His 
 rod was lifted up upon the Red Sea in the case of Egypt, so 
 shall He lift it up against him : and it shall come to pass in 
 that day that his burden will be taken away from off thy 
 shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck." 
 
 Sargon's Invasion (710 B.C.) described. 
 
 The Destroyer is come up from the North ! He is come 
 to Aiath ! 
 
 He is passed to Migron ! At Michmash he hath pitched 
 his camp ! 
 
 They are gone over the Pass ! " Let our quarters be at 
 Geba ! " 
 
 Ramah is afraid : Gibeah of Saul is in flight. 
 
 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of GaUim ! Hearken, O 
 Laish ! 
 
 O Anathoth, answer her ! Madmenah hurries away. 
 
 The inhabitants of Gebim prepare for flight. 
 
 This very day he remains at Nob. 
 
 He shakes his hand against the mountain of the daughter 
 of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem ! 
 
 The Issue. 
 
 Behold ! The Lord, the Lord of Hosts lops the bough 
 with fearful force. 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 57 
 
 The high ones are hewn down — the haughty ones are 
 humbled. 
 
 He cuts down the thickets of the forest with the iron, and 
 Lebanon falls by the Mighty One. (Ch. x. 15-34.)* 
 
 The Prophet's Surprise and Grief at the People's Joy 
 
 (710 B.C.). 
 
 A message concerning the Valley of Vision, i.e., Jerusalem. 
 
 What's the matter now ? Why have you all gone up to 
 the house-tops ? Thou art full of stir, a tumultuous city, a 
 joyous city ! Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor 
 killed in battle. All thy rulers are fled together : they are 
 made prisoners without the archers : all that are found of 
 thee are seized while they are fleeing far away ! 
 
 Then said I, " Look away from me ! I will weep bitterly ; 
 labour not to comfort me — because the daughter of my 
 people is spoiled. For this is a day of trouble, and of 
 treading down, and of perplexity from the Lord God of 
 Hosts in the Valley of Vision — breaking down the walls, 
 and of crying to the mountains." 
 
 Elam bears the quiver with troops of men, and horsemen : 
 Kir uncovers the shield. And it has come to pass that thy 
 choicest valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen set 
 themselves in array at the gate. He has uncovered the 
 covering of Judah ! 
 
 Thou didst look in that day to the armour in the Forest 
 House, and didst see the breaches also in the City of David 
 that they are many. Ye gathered together the waters of 
 the Lower Pool. Ye have numbered also the houses of 
 Jerusalem, and houses have ye broken down to fortify the 
 wall. And ye made also a ditch between the two walls for 
 
 * See page 91 for Ch. xi. 
 
58 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the water of the old pool. But ye have not looked unto the 
 Doer of this, neither have had respect unto Him that 
 decreed it long ago ! 
 
 In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and 
 to mourning, and to cutting of the hair, and to girding with 
 sackcloth : but, behold ! joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, 
 and killing of sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine — men 
 saying, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
 
 And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts 
 Himself, " Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you 
 till ye die," saith the Lord God of Hosts. (Ch. xxii. 1-14.) 
 
 The Divine Purpose. 
 
 The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying : " Surely as I 
 have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have 
 purposed, so shall it stand. I will break the Assyrian in My 
 land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot. Then 
 shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden from 
 off their shoulders. This is the Purpose that is purposed 
 concerning the whole earth ! This is the Hand that is 
 stretched out upon all the nations ! For the Lord of Hosts 
 hath purposed, and who shall disannul it ? And His Hand 
 is stretched out, and who shall turn it back ? (Ch. xiv. 24-27.) 
 
 The Overthrow of Assyria. 
 
 Ah ! Thou crowd of many peoples ! Thou who makest a 
 noise, like the noise of the seas ! Oh ! the rushing of nations, 
 a rushing like to the rushing of mighty waters ! The nations 
 are rushing like the rushing of many waters ! But God re- 
 bukes them, and they shall flee far off", and shall be chased 
 as the chaff" of the mountains before the wind, and like the 
 whirling dust before the whirlwind. 
 
 " Lo ! behold ! in the evening — panic ! In the early 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 59 
 
 morn — nothing ! " This is the portion of them that spoil 
 us, and the lot of them that rob us. (Ch. xvii. 12-14.) 
 
 Ass3n:ia no cause of Terror to Egypt. 
 
 Ah ! thou land of the buzzing of insects ! Thou country 
 beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ! That sendeth ambassadors 
 over the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters 1 
 Go, swift messengers, to the nation tall and polished, to a 
 people terrible from their origin up till now — a nation that 
 meteth out, and treadeth down, whose land the rivers flow 
 through, and say : " O all ye inhabitants of the world, and 
 dwellers on the earth ! When one lifteth up an ensign on 
 the mountains, see ye ! When one bloweth a trumpet, hear 
 ye ! For thus hath the Lord said unto me : ' I will take 
 My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling-place. I will 
 remain still, like clear heat in sunshine, and like a cloud of 
 moisture in the heat of harvest. For before the harvest, 
 when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripen- 
 ing grape, He both cutteth off the sprigs with pruning 
 hooks, and taketh away and cutteth down the branches. 
 They shall be left together to the wild birds of the moun- 
 tains, and to the wild beasts of the earth. The birds of 
 prey shall summer upon them, and all the wild beasts of 
 the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall homage 
 be paid unto the Lord of Hosts, by a people tall and 
 polished, a people terrible from their origin till now — a 
 nation who meteth out, and treadeth down, whose land the 
 rivers pass through — even at Mount Zion, the place where 
 the Name of the Lord of Hosts is.' " (Ch. xviii. 1-7.) 
 
6o HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART IX. 
 
 The Prophetic Denunciation of an Alliance 
 WITH Egypt. 
 
 The Deposition of Shebna, or Royal Treasurer, declared. 
 
 Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts : " Go, get thee unto 
 this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is over the State : and 
 say, ' What doest thou here ? Whom hast thou here, that 
 thou hast hewed thee out a sei)ulchre here, as he that heweth 
 him out a sepulchre on high, and that cutteth out a place 
 for himself in the rock. Behold ! the Lord will hurl thee 
 away violently, O thou strong man ! He will lay sure hold 
 on thee ! He will assuredly turn and toss thee, like a ball 
 into a wide country ! There shalt thou die, and there shall 
 go the chariots of thy glory, O thou shame of thy Lord's 
 house ! For I am driving thee from thy station ! Yea, 
 from thy rank He shall pull thee down.' " (Ch. xxii. 15-19.) 
 
 Shebna's Successor Announced. 
 
 And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call My 
 servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him 
 with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I 
 will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be 
 a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house 
 of Judah. The key of the house of David will I lay upon 
 his shoulders so that he shall open, and none shall shut, 
 and he shall shut, and none shall open. I will also fasten 
 him as a tent peg in a sure place, and he shall be a throne 
 of glory to his father's house. And they shall hang upon 
 him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the 
 issue, all the small vessels, from the vessels of cups even to 
 
DENUNCIATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. 6 1 
 
 all the vessels of flagons. " In that day," saith the Lord of 
 Hosts, " shall the peg that is fastened in the sure place be 
 removed, and be cut down, and fall : and the burden that 
 was upon it shall be cut off." For the Lord hath spoken 
 it. (Ch. xxii. 20-25.) 
 
 Isaiah to Egypt (710-705 e.g.). 
 
 Overthrow of Ethiopia declared. — In the year that the 
 Tartan came against Ashdod, when Sargon the king of 
 Assyria sent him, and he fought against it, and took it : at 
 that same time the Lord spake by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, 
 saying : " Go, and loose thy mantle from off thy loins, and 
 put thy sandal from off thy foot." And he did so, and 
 went about without mantle or sandal. Then the Lord 
 said : " Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked about with- 
 out mantle, and barefoot for three years, — it shall be a sign 
 and omen upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia : for so shall the 
 king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, young 
 and old, stripped and barefoot, even with uncovered but- 
 tocks — the shame of Egypt. Then shall they (of Jerusalem) 
 be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia on which they depended, 
 and of Egypt, in which they gloried. And the inhabitant 
 of the sea-coast shall say in that day : ' Behold ! such is the 
 power on which we depended, and whither we were going 
 for help, to be delivered from the king of Assyria ! How 
 shall we escape?'" (Ch. xx. 1-6.) 
 
 An Alliance with Egypt condemned. 
 
 "Woe to the rebeUious children," saith the Lord, "that 
 take counsel, but not of Me, and that cover themselves with 
 a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to 
 sin ! That set out to go down to Egypt, and have not asked 
 at My Mouth — to strengthen themselves in the strength of 
 
62 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the Pharaoh, and to trust in the shade of Egypt ! There- 
 fore shall the strength of the Pharaoh be your shame, and 
 the trust in the shade of Egypt your confusion." 
 
 " They shall be wholly ashamed of a people that cannot 
 profit them, nor be an help, nor profit, but a shame, and 
 also a reproach." 
 
 (For their rulers were at Zoan, and their ambassadors had 
 come to Hanes.) 
 
 A Message concerning the Beasts going to the South. 
 
 To the land of trouble and anguish — with its lions, vipers 
 
 and serpents ! 
 They carry their riches upon young asses — their treasures 
 
 upon camels' backs. 
 To a people that cannot profit — (Egypt helps in vain, and 
 
 to no purpose)— 
 Therefore of her have I said — " The braggart — that sitteth 
 
 still." 
 
 The Prophet told to write his Testimony down. 
 
 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on 
 a roll that it may be known for the time to come for ever 
 and ever : " This is a rebellious people, lying children, 
 children that will not hear the teaching of the Lord. They 
 say to the seers, ' See not ! ' and to the prophets, ' Prophesy 
 not unto us right. Speak unto us smooth things ! Pro- 
 phesy deceitful things ! Get you out of the way : turn 
 aside out of the path ! Cause the Holy One of Israel to 
 cease from before us ! ' " 
 
 " Wherefore," thus saith the Holy One of Israel : " Be- 
 cause ye despise this Word, and trust in oppression, and 
 perverseness, and depend thereon : therefore this iniquity of 
 yours shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, a bulging out 
 
DENUNCIATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. 63 
 
 in a high wall, the breaking of which cometh suddenly in a 
 moment. He shall break it as the breaking of the potter's 
 vessel, that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare : so that 
 there shall not be found in the breaking of it a piece to 
 carry fire frorn the hearth, or to take water in out of the well." 
 
 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel : 
 
 "In returning to Me, and in rest shall ye be saved. 
 
 "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." 
 
 And ye would not. For ye said : 
 
 " No ! but we will flee upon the horses (of Egypt)." 
 
 "Therefore, ye shall flee." 
 
 And ye said, " We will ride upon the swift." 
 
 " Therefore, shall they that pursue you be swift. 
 
 " One thousand of you shall flee at the rebuke of one : at 
 the rebuke of five shall ye flee. 
 
 " Till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, 
 as an ensign on a hill." (Ch. xxx. 6-17.) 
 
 God's Argument with His People. 
 
 And yet the Lord will wait that He may be gracious unto 
 you. He will be exalted that He may have mercy upon 
 you ! For the Lord is a God of wisdom. Blessed are all 
 they that wait for Him ! 
 
 Oh ! thou people that dwellest in Zion, in Jerusalem, thou 
 shalt weep no more ! He will be very gracious unto thee at 
 the voice of thy cry. When He shall hear it, He will answer 
 thee. And the Lord shall give thee adversity as bread, and 
 affliction as water. And thy Teacher shall not be removed 
 into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Teacher, 
 and thine ears shall hear a Voice behind thee, saying, " This 
 is the way, walk ye in it," when ye turn to the right hand, and 
 when ye turn to the left. Then shalt thou defile also the 
 
64 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament 
 of thy molten images of gold — thou shalt cast them away as 
 an unclean cloth — thou shalt say unto it, " Get thee hence."' 
 Then shall He give the rain to thy seed, that thou shalt sow 
 the ground with ; and bread of the increase of the ground, 
 and it shall be rich and plenteous. In that day shall thy 
 cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise, and the 
 young asses, that plough the ground, shall eat savoury pro- 
 vender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel, and 
 with the fan. Then there shall be upon every high mountain, 
 and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of water in the 
 day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover, 
 the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and 
 the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven 
 days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His 
 people, and healeth the wound of their stroke. 
 
 (Ch. XXX. 17-26. 
 
 The Day of Divine Vengeance against Judah's Enemies. 
 
 Behold ! The Name of the Lord comes from afar ! 
 
 With anger aflame, and thick smoke ! 
 
 His lips — they're full of wrath : His tongue is a devouring fire; 
 
 His breath is an overflowing stream— it reaches to the middle 
 
 of the neck. 
 It sifts the nations, with the sieve of destruction. 
 A bridle causing them to err shall be on the people's jaws. 
 
 Deliverance promised. 
 
 Ye shall have a song as in the night when a festival is kept : 
 and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a musical 
 instrument to come into the Mountain of the Lord, to the 
 Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause the Voice 
 
DENUNCIATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. 65 
 
 of His glory to be heard, and shall show the coming down 
 of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the 
 flame of a devouring fire, with a crashing, and tempest, and 
 hailstones. And through the Voice of the Lord shall the 
 Assyrian be beaten down. He shall smite him with a rod : 
 and every blow of the staff of doom which the Lord shall 
 lay upon him shall be with tabrets and harps (on your part) — 
 in battles of the shaking of His Hand will He fight with him. 
 For the funeral pyre is already ordained ; for Moloch it is 
 prepared. It hath been made deep and large : the pile 
 thereof is fire and much wood — the breath of the Lord, like 
 a stream of brimstone, shall kindle upon it. 
 
 (Ch. XXX. 27-33.) 
 
 The Folly of Trust in Egypt. 
 
 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help ! that depend 
 upon horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, 
 and in horsemen, because they are very strong ; but do not 
 look unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord ! 
 Yet He also is wise ! He bringeth calamity, and callcth not 
 back His Words ! He will arise against the house of evil- 
 doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 
 Consider this. "The Egyptians are men, and not God! 
 Their horses are flesh, and not spirit ! AVhen the Lord shall 
 stretch out His Hand, both he that helpeth shall fall and he 
 that is helped shall fall — yea, they all shall fail together ! " 
 For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me : — 
 I. " Like as when the lion and the young lion growleth 
 over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called forth 
 against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase 
 himself for the noise of them. So shall the Lord of Hosts 
 come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the Hill 
 thereof." 
 
 E 
 
66 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 2. " Like as mother birds flying above their nest, 
 So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem. 
 Defending it, He will also deliver it. 
 Passing over it, He will preserve it ! 
 
 " O Children of Israel, turn ye unto Him, from whom ye 
 have deeply revolted. 
 
 " Then shall every man cast away his idols of silver, and 
 his idols of gold, which his own hands have sinfully made 
 for him. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not 
 the sword of man : and the sword shall devour him, not the 
 sword of man. He shall flee from the sword, and his young 
 men shall pay tribute. His stronghold shall be passed in 
 fear : his princes shall be dismayed at their own standard ! " 
 Thus saith the Lord whose fire is in Zion, and whose hearth 
 is in Jerusalem. (Ch. xxxi. 1-9.) 
 
 An Oracle concerning Egypt. 
 
 Behold ! The Lord rides upon a swift cloud ! He comes 
 
 into Egypt ! 
 The idols of Egypt are moved before Him ! The heart of 
 
 Egypt melts within her ! 
 I will set Egypt against Egypt : they shall fight against one 
 
 another. 
 Neighbour against neighbour : city against city : kingdom 
 
 against kingdom. 
 The courage of Egypt shall fail within her : will destroy 
 
 her counsel : 
 They will consult the idols, and the diviners — 
 Those that have familiar spirits, and wizards. 
 Yea, I will give Egypt over into the hand of a cruel 
 
 master. 
 And a fierce king shall rule over them. 
 Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts. (Ch. xix. 1-4.) 
 
DENUNCIATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. 67 
 
 A Vision of Destruction. 
 
 The waters fail from the sea ! The Nile is wasted, and 
 
 dried up ! 
 The rivers are stagnant : the Nile canals are empty and 
 
 dried up ! 
 The reeds and papyrus-plants wither away ! 
 The meadows by the Nile — on the bank of the Nile, 
 Every plot by the Nile — wither, disappear, and are no more ! 
 The fishers mourn ! All that fish in the Nile lament ! 
 They that spread their nets on its waters languish ! 
 The workers in fine flax, the cotton weavers are con- 
 founded ! 
 The pillars of the land are broken ! The labourers are 
 
 afflicted ! 
 The princes of Zoan are at their wit's end ! The wise 
 
 counsellors of Pharaoh — foolish is their counsel ! 
 How can ye say unto Pharaoh, " I am the son of the wise, 
 
 the son of ancient kings " ? 
 Where are thy wise men ? Let them declare and tell to thee 
 What the Lord of Hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 
 Fools are the princes of Zoan ! Deceived — the princes of 
 
 Noph! 
 They have misled her, who are the stay of the tribes of 
 
 Egypt. 
 The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in her midst: 
 And they have misled Egypt in all her doings. 
 Even as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 
 There shall not be anything for Egypt to do — 
 Neither for the head nor tail, neither for palm branch or 
 
 rush. 
 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women : 
 
68 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 She shall be afraid, because of the shaking of the Hand — 
 The Hand, which the Lord of Hosts shaketh over her. 
 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt. 
 The very mention of it shall make men afraid. 
 Because of the Purpose of the Lord of Hosts 
 AVhich He hath purposed against Egypt. 
 
 (Ch. xix. 5-17.) 
 
 The Hope of Egypt's Conversion. 
 
 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the 
 language of Canaan, and swear by the Lord of Hosts. One 
 of them shall be called "Ir Ha-Heres."* In that day 
 shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land, 
 and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall 
 be for a sign, and for a witness unto the Lord of Hosts in 
 the land of Egypt. For they shall cry unto the Lord because 
 of the oppressors, and He shall send them a deliverer, and 
 a mighty one, and he shall deliver them. Then the Lord 
 shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the 
 Lord in that day, and shall worship with sacrifice and meal- 
 offerings : yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and per- 
 form it. The Lord is the smiter of Egypt, but He shall 
 smite and heal it. Then they shall return to the Lord and 
 He shall be inquired of by them, and shall heal them. In 
 that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria. 
 The Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into 
 Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship along with the 
 Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, 
 and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth : and 
 these the Lord shall bless, saying : " Blessed be Egypt My 
 people, and Assyria the work of My Hands, and Israel Mine 
 inheritance." (Ch. xix. 18-25.) 
 
 * City of destruction, or city of the sun. 
 
THE PROPHET URGES REPENTANCE ON HIS PEOPLE. 69 
 
 PART X. 
 
 The Prophet urges Repentance on his own People. 
 
 Warning drawn from the Siege of Samaria (722 b.c). 
 
 Ah ! the crown of pride ! Ah ! the drunkards of Ephraim ! 
 
 Their glorious beauty — alas ! 'tis a fading flower ! 
 
 On the top of the fat valleys ; they're overcome with wine ! 
 
 Behold! The Lord hath a mighty, and a strong one— a 
 tempest of hail ! 
 
 A destroying storm — a flood of mighty waters, over- 
 flowing. 
 
 He is casting her down to the earth with His Hand. 
 
 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be 
 trodden under feet, and the glorious beauty, which is situated 
 on the head of the fertile valley, shall be a fading flower, as 
 the early fruit before its season : which he that looketh 
 upon and seeth, while it is yet in his hand, eateth up. 
 In that day, the Lord of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory, 
 and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people. 
 He shall also be for a spirit of justice to him, that sitteth in 
 judgment, and for strength to them, that turn the battle to 
 the gate. 
 
 The State of Jerusalem. 
 
 But these also have erred through wine, and through 
 strong drink are out of the way ! The priest and the 
 prophet have erred through strong drink : they are swal- 
 lowed up of wine : they are out of the way through strong 
 drink. They err in vision : they stumble in judging ! All 
 their tables are covered with vomit and filthiness : there is 
 no place clean. 
 
70 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 " Whom will he teach knowledge ? " say they, " and whom 
 shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are 
 weaned from the milk, and drawn away from the breast ! 
 For it is precept upon precept, line upon line : here a little, 
 and there a little." 
 
 " Yes, with stammering lips, and a foreign tongue, will 
 He speak to this people. For to them he said, ' This is 
 the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest : and 
 this is the refreshing,' but they would not hear. Yes, 
 indeed, the Word of the Lord shall be unto them precept 
 upon precept : line upon line, line upon line : here a little, 
 and there a little (as they say), that they may go, and 
 fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be 
 taken." 
 
 Oh ! hear the Word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that 
 rule this people in Jerusalem ! 
 
 Because ye have said, " We have made a covenant with 
 death, and with the grave we are in agreement : when the 
 overflowing scourge shall pass along, it shall not come unto 
 us — we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood 
 have we hid ourselves." 
 
 Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, " Behold ! I 
 will lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a 
 precious corner-stone, a sure foundation. He that trusteth 
 on it shall not be confounded. Justice also will I make the 
 line, and righteousness the plummet. The hail shall sweep 
 away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the 
 hiding-place. Your covenant with death shall be dis- 
 annulled, and your agreement with the grave shall not 
 stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass along, then 
 ye shall be trodden down by it. As often as it goeth forth 
 it shall take you : for morning by morning shall it pass 
 
THE PROPHET URGES REPENTANCE ON HIS PEOPLE. 7 1 
 
 along, both by day and by night : and it shall be a vexation 
 
 to you only to learn the news. The bed shall be too short 
 
 for a man to stretch himself upon it ! The covering shall 
 
 be too narrow for him to wrap himself in it ! For the Lord 
 
 shall rise up as in Mount Perazim ; He shall be wroth as 
 
 in the Valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His 
 
 strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act. 
 
 (Ch. xxviii. 1-2 1.) 
 The Lesson of Providence. 
 
 Now, therefore, be ye not mockers, lest your bands be 
 made strong. For I have heard from the Lord God of 
 Hosts of a consumption, that is determined upon the whole 
 land. Give ye ear, and hear my voice : hearken, and hear 
 my speech. Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ? 
 Doth he open and break the clods of the ground ? When 
 he hath made smooth the surface thereof, doth he not casi 
 abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the 
 wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and 
 the rye in its border ? Doth not his God instruct him in 
 discretion ? Doth He not teach him ? For the fitches are 
 not threshed with a threshing instrument. A cart wheel is 
 not turned about upon the cummin : but the fitches are 
 beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod. 
 Is bread corn bruised ? No : he is not for ever threshing 
 it, nor driving over it his cart-wheel and his horses ; he 
 doth not bruise it. This also cometh from the Lord of 
 Hosts, who is Wonderful in counsel, and Excellent in work- 
 ing ! (Ch. xxviii. 22-29.) 
 
 The coming Judgment against Jerusalem, with her 
 Deliverance announced. 
 
 Oh ! Ariel ! Ariel ! Thou city where David encamped ! 
 Add ye a year to this year ! Let the feasts be kept in their 
 
72 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 course ! Then will I distress Ariel, and there shall be heavi- 
 ness and sorrow : but she shall be unto Me as Ariel.* I am 
 going to encamp against thee, and to lay siege to thee with 
 a mound, and to raise up fortifications against thee. And 
 thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak from the 
 ground, and thy speech shall be uttered feebly from the 
 dust, and thy voice shall be from the ground as of one that 
 hath a familiar spirit, and thy speech shall be a whisper out 
 of the dust. But the multitude of thy foes shall be like 
 small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be 
 like the rapidly passing chaff, that disappeareth suddenly. 
 For thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder, 
 and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and 
 tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. Then the multi- 
 tude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that 
 fight against her, and her citadel — all that distress her shall 
 be as a dream of a night vision. It shall then be as when 
 an hungry man dreameth, and lo ! he eateth : but he awaketh, 
 and his soul is empty ! Or as when a thirsty man dreameth, 
 and lo ! he drinketh : but he awaketh, and behold ! he is 
 faint, and his soul thirsteth ! 
 
 So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight 
 against Mount Zion. (Ch. xxix. 1-8.) 
 
 An Exhortation to True Worship. 
 
 Ye are amazed, and wonder ! Ye shut your eyes, and are 
 blind ! Ye are drunken, but not with wine ! Ye stagger, but 
 not with strong drink ! For the Lord hath poured out upon 
 you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes, O ye 
 prophets, and your heads, O ye seers, hath He covered. 
 And the vision of you all is become as the words of a book 
 
 * The hearth or lion of God. 
 
THE PROPHET URGES REPENTANCE ON HIS PEOPLE. 73 
 
 that is sealed, which men hand over to one that is learned, 
 saying, " Read this, I pray you." 
 
 And he saith, " I cannot, for it is sealed." 
 
 Then the book is given to him that is not learned, saying, 
 *' Read this, I pray you." 
 
 And he saith, " I am not learned." 
 
 Wherefore the Lord saith : " Forasmuch as this people 
 draw near unto Me with their mouth, and with their lips do 
 honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and 
 their fear for Me is taught by the teaching of men : — There- 
 fore, behold ! I will proceed to do a marvellous work among 
 this people, a marvellous work, and a wonderful thing ! 
 The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the under- 
 standing of their prudent men shall be hid. 
 
 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from 
 the Lord ! Who do their works in the dark, and say, 
 " Who seeth us ? Who knoweth us ? " O, you turn things 
 upside down ! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay ? 
 Shall the work say of him that made it, " He made me not " ? 
 Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, " He 
 had no understanding"? (Ch. xxix. 9-16.) 
 
 A Bright Future. 
 
 A very little while, is it not ? and Lebanon shall be turned 
 into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded 
 as a desert ! And in that day shall the deaf hear the words 
 that are written, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of 
 obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall have 
 increase of joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall 
 rejoice in the Holy one of Israel, For the terrible one 
 shall be brought to nought, and the scorner consumed, and 
 all that watch for iniquity cut off — those that make men 
 
74 HOW TO RliAD ISAIAH 
 
 offenders by their words, and lay a snare for him that re- 
 proveth in the gate, and turn justice aside by things of nought. 
 Thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning 
 the House of Jacob : — " Jacob shall not again be ashamed, 
 neither shall his face again wax pale : for when his children 
 shall see the work of Mine Hands in his midst, they shall 
 sanctify My Name, yea they shall sanctify the Holy One 
 of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that 
 erred in si)irit shall get understanding, and they that mur- 
 mured shall receive instruction." (Ch. xxix. 17-24.) 
 
 The Prophet's Indictment of Jerusalem : three charges. 
 
 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth ! For the Lord 
 hath spoken. 
 
 1. "I have nourished and brought up children, and they 
 have rebelled against Me ! The ox knoweth his owner, and 
 the ass his master's crib ; Israel doth not know — My people 
 doth not consider ! " 
 
 Ah, sinful nation ! A people laden with iniquity ! A seed 
 of evil-doers ! Children that deal corruptly ! They have 
 forsaken the Lord : they have provoked the Holy One of 
 Israel unto anger : they have turned away backward ! 
 
 2. " Why should ye be stricken any more ? Ye will revolt 
 more and more ! The whole head is sick, and the whole 
 heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head 
 there is no sound place in it. Wounds and bruises and 
 festering sores ! They have not been pressed out, neither 
 bound up, neither mollified with ointment ! Your country is 
 desolate ! Your cities are burned with fire ! Your land, 
 strangers devour it in your presence ! Yea, it is desolate, as 
 the overthrowing of strangers ! And the daughter of Zion 
 is left as a booth in a vineyard ! As a hut in a garden 
 
THE PROPHET URGES REPENTANCE ON HIS PEOPLE. 75 
 
 of cucumbers ! As a besieged city ! " Except the Lord of 
 Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should 
 have been as Sodom — we should have been like unto 
 Gomorrah ! 
 
 Hear the Word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom ! Give 
 ear unto the Teaching of our God, ye people of Gomorrah ! 
 
 3. " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices 
 unto Me ? " saith the Lord. " I am full of the burnt-offerings 
 of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the 
 blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye 
 come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your 
 hand — this treading of My courts ? Bring no more oblations 
 of vanity — an incense of abomination it is unto Me ! The 
 new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies — I cannot 
 away with iniquity and the solemn meeting ! Your new 
 moons, and your appointed feasts My soul hateth ; they are 
 a trouble unto Me. I am weary to bear them. And when ye 
 spread forth your hands I will hide Mine Eyes from you : 
 yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear — your 
 hands are full of blood-guiltiness. Wash you ; make you 
 clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before Mine 
 Eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice. 
 Put the oppressor right. Pronounce in favour of the 
 fatherless : plead the cause of the widow." 
 
 The Conclusion. 
 
 " Come now, and let our reasoning cease," saith the Lord : 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 
 snow. 
 Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 
 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the 
 
 land. 
 
76 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 If ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword." 
 The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Ch. i. 2-20.) 
 
 A Lament over the State of Jerusalem. 
 
 How has the faithful city become an harlot ! She that was 
 
 full of justice ! 
 Righteousness lodged within her: but now murderers ! 
 Thy silver is become dross — thy wine is mixed with water! 
 Thy princes are become rebels — even companions of thieves! 
 Every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards ! 
 They right not the fatherless — the widow's cause they take 
 
 it not up.. 
 Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty 
 
 One of Israel ; 
 Ah ! I will rid Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of 
 
 Mine enemies ! 
 And I will turn My Hand upon thee, and purely purge away 
 
 thy dross. 
 And take away all thine alloy. 
 I will restore thy judges as at the first, thy counsellors as at 
 
 the beginning. 
 Afterward thou shalt be called — The righteous City ! The 
 
 faithful City! 
 Zion shall be redeemed with justice — her converts with 
 
 righteousness. 
 Together shall be the destruction of transgressors and sinners. 
 And they that forsake the Lord — they shall be consumed ! 
 For ye shall be ashamed of the terebinths, which ye desired : 
 And confounded on account of the gardens which ye have 
 
 chosen. 
 For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth — as a garden 
 
 that hath no water. 
 
THE PROPHET URGES REPENTANXE ON HIS PEOPLE. 77 
 
 And the strong one shall be as tow, his work as a spark — 
 They shall both burn together, no one quenching them. 
 
 (Ch. i. 21-31.) 
 Warning Words to Careless Women. 
 
 Rise up, ye women that are at ease ! Hear my voice, ye 
 careless daughters ! Give ear unto my speech ! In not 
 much more than a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless 
 women ! For the vintage shall fail — the summer gathering 
 shall not come ! 
 
 Tremble, ye women that are at ease ! Be troubled, ye 
 careless ones ! Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sack- 
 cloth upon your loins ! They shall smite upon their breasts 
 for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land 
 of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea, upon all 
 the houses of joy in the joyous city : for the palace shall be 
 forsaken : the populous city shall be desolate : Ophel and 
 the watch-tower shall be for dens for ever, the joy of wild 
 asses, the pasture of flocks — until the Spirit be poured upon 
 us from on high. Then the wilderness shall be a fruitful- 
 field, and the fruitful-field shall be counted for a forest. Then 
 justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness 
 remain in the fruitful-field : and the result of righteousness 
 shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and 
 confidence for ever. Then my people shall dwell in a peace- 
 ful habitation, in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places ! 
 But oh, the downfall, the downfall of the forest ! The 
 city is being cast down into a low place ! Blessed then shall 
 ye be that sow beside all waters, that loose the foot of the 
 ox and the ass. (Ch. xxxii. 9-20.) 
 
■jS HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART XI. 
 
 The Prophet's Message to Tyre and Sidon. 
 Isaiah to Tyre: the Metropolis of Commerce (709 b.c). 
 
 The divine message concerning Tyre. 
 
 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish ! for it is laid waste, so that 
 there is not a house, and no entrance any more ! From the 
 island of Kittim this is made known to them. Be still, ye 
 inhabitants of the coast-land ! Thou whom the merchants 
 of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished ! On great 
 waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile was her 
 revenue : yea, she was the mart of the nations. Be thou 
 ashamed, O Sidon ! For the sea hath spoken, even the 
 stronghold of the sea, saying, " I have not travailed nor 
 brou<^ht forth children : neither have I nourished up young 
 men, nor brought up virgins." 
 
 When the report cometh to Egypt — they shall be sorely 
 pained at the report concerning Tyre. Pass ye over to 
 Tarshish ! Howl, ye inhabitants of the coast ! Is this 
 your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her 
 own feet carried her afar off to sojourn. 
 
 " Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that giveth 
 crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the 
 honourable of the earth ? " 
 
 "The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride 
 of all glory — to bring into contempt all the honourable of 
 the earth." 
 
 Overflow thy land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish ! 
 There is now no girdle. He hath stretched out His Hand 
 over the sea : He hath shaken kingdoms. The Lord hath 
 
A SERIES OK PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. 79 
 
 given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy 
 the strongholds thereof. And He has said : " Thou shalt 
 no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, thou daughter of 
 Sidon ! Arise : pass over to Kittim : there also shalt thou 
 have no rest ! Behold ! The land of the Chaldaeans ! 
 This people is not ! The Assyrian hath made it a wilder- 
 ness ! They set up their siege-towers — they raised up their 
 palaces : but he hath brought it to ruin ! Howl, ye ships of 
 Tarshish ! Your stronghold too shall be laid waste. And 
 it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten 
 seventy years — the duration of one king : after the end of 
 seventy years, shall Tyre do as in the song of the harlot. 
 
 " Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that has 
 been forgotten ! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, 
 that thou may'st be remembered ! " 
 
 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years 
 that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, 
 and shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world 
 upon the face of the earth : and her profits and her hire 
 shall be consecrated to the Lord. It shall not be treasured 
 or laid up. Her profits shall be for them that dwell before 
 the Lord, that they may eat sufficiently, and have splendid 
 clothing. (Ch. xxiii. 1-18.) 
 
 PART xn. 
 
 A Series of Prophecies concerning Babylon. 
 
 Isaiah to Babylon (710-702.). Three Prophecies. 
 
 The first message concerning Babylon, the Desert of 
 the Sea. — As whirlwinds in the south sweep along ! As it 
 
So HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Cometh from the desert, from a terrible land ! A grievous 
 vision is declared unto me ! " The treacherous dealer 
 dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth ! Go up, O 
 Elam ! Besiege, O Media ! All the sighing thereof have 
 I made to cease." 
 
 Therefore my loins are filled with pain ! Pangs have 
 taken hold upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth ! 
 I was bowed down as I heard this : I was dismayed when I 
 saw it. My heart palpitated : fearfulness affrighted me ! 
 The night of my pleasure hath He turned into fear unto me. 
 
 " Prepare the table." 
 
 " Watch in the watch-tower." 
 
 " Eat, drink." 
 
 " Arise ye princes, prepare the shield." 
 
 Thus hath the Lord said unto me : " Go, set a watchman : 
 let him declare what he seeth." 
 
 And he saw an army, a troop of horsemen, a troop of 
 asses, and a troop of camels : and he hearkened diligently, 
 with great attention. Then he cried out like a lion : " My 
 Lord ! I am standing continually upon the watch-tower in 
 the daytime, and I am set in my post every night. Now 
 behold ! here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs." 
 
 Then he answered, and said : 
 
 " Babylon is fallen ! Babylon is fallen ! 
 
 " All the graven images of her gods are broken unto the 
 ground." 
 
 " Oh my threshing floor, and my threshed corn ! That 
 which I have heard of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, 
 have I declared unto you." (Ch. xxi. i-io.) 
 
 The Emhassy from Babylon (710 b.c). 
 
 At this time Merodach Baladan, king of Babylon, sent 
 letters, and a present to Hezekiah : for he had heard that 
 he had been sick, and was recovered. 
 
A SERIES OF PROPHECIES CONCERNING DABYLON. 8 1 
 
 Now Hezekiah was pleased with them, and he showed the 
 ambassadors the house of his precious things, the silver, and 
 the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all 
 the house of his armour, and all that was found in his 
 treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his 
 dominion that Hezekiah showed them not. 
 
 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah, and 
 said unto him, " What said these men ? And whence 
 came they unto thee ? " 
 
 And Hezekiah said : "They are come from a far country 
 unto me, even from Babylon." 
 
 Then said Isaiah : " What have they seen in thine 
 house ? " 
 
 And Hezekiah answered : " All that is in mine house 
 have they seen : there is nothing among my treasures that 
 I have not showed them." 
 
 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah : " Hear the Word of the 
 Lord of Hosts — ' Behold ! The days come that all that is 
 in thine house, and what thy fathers have laid up in store 
 until this day shall be carried to Babylon : nothing shall 
 be left,' saith the Lord. Of thy sons that shall issue 
 from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, 
 and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of 
 Babylon." 
 
 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah : " Good is the Word of 
 the Lord, which thou hast spoken ; " and he added : 
 " There shall be peace and stability in my days." 
 
 (Ch. xxxix. 1-8.) 
 
 A second message concerning Babylon. 
 
 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz 
 did see. 
 
 F 
 
82 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 " Lift ye up a banner upon a high mountain ! Raise the 
 voice unto them ! 
 
 " Wave the hand to them that they may go into the gates 
 of princes ! " 
 
 I have summoned my chosen ones : I have also called 
 my mighty ones, my proudly rejoicing ones to execute my 
 anger. There is a noise of a multitude upon the mountains, 
 like as of a great nation ! There is a tumultuous noise of 
 kingdoms of nations gathered together ! The Lord of 
 Hosts mustereth the host for the batde ! They are coming 
 from a far-off country, from the end of heaven, even the 
 Lord and the weapons of His indignation to destroy the 
 whole earth. 
 
 Howl ye ! For the day of the Lord is at hand ! It cometh 
 as destruction from the Almighty 1 Then shall all hands 
 be feeble, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall 
 be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them ! 
 They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth ! They 
 shall be terrified one at another ! Their faces shall be as 
 flames ! Behold ! The day of the Lord is coming ! A day 
 cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth 
 desolate, and sin shall be destroyed out of it. The stars of 
 heaven, and the Orions thereof, shall not give their light. 
 The sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall 
 not cause her light to shine. Then I will punish the world 
 for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity : and I will 
 cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low 
 the haughtiness of the tyrants. I will make men more 
 scarce than fine gold — even than the pure gold of Ophir. 
 Then will I shake the heavens, and the earth shall be re- 
 moved out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, 
 and in the day of His fierce anger. And it shall be as 
 
A SERIES OF PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. 83 
 
 happens to the chased roe, and to the untended sheep, they 
 shall turn every man to his own people, and flee every one 
 unto his own land. Every one that is caught shall be thrust 
 through, and every one that is overtaken shall fall by the 
 sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before 
 their eyes : their houses shall be plundered : and their 
 wives shall be dishonoured. 
 
 Behold ! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who 
 shall not regard silver, nor take delight in gold. Their 
 bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they 
 shall have no pity on babes : their eye shall not spare 
 the children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the 
 beauty of the excellency of the Chaldees, shall be as Sodom 
 and Gomorrah when God overthrew them ! It shall never 
 be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to 
 generation. The Arabian shall not pitch his tent there, 
 neither shall shepherds make their folds there : but wild 
 beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be 
 full of hyenas : ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats 
 shall dance there ; wolves shall howl in their desolate 
 houses, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Yea, her 
 time is nearly come, and her days shall not be prolonged. 
 
 (Ch. xiii. 1-22.) 
 
 The Deliverance of Israel. 
 
 The Lord shall have mercy on Jacob, and shall once 
 more choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. 
 Then strangers shall join themselves to them, and they 
 shall cleave to the House of Jacob. And the peoples shall 
 take them, and bring them to their own place, and the 
 House of Israel shall have them in the land of the Lord for 
 servants and handmaids. They shall take captive those 
 
84 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 whose captives they were, and they shall rule over those 
 who oppressed them. Then it shall come to pass, in the 
 day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and 
 from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou 
 wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this song against 
 the king of Babylon, and say : — 
 
 Triumph over Babylon's Fall. 
 
 How hath the oppressor ceased ! How hath the exactress 
 
 ceased ! 
 The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked — the sceptre 
 
 of the ruler. 
 That which smote the peoples in wrath, and that without 
 
 ceasing : 
 That which ruled the nations in anger, and persecuted 
 
 them unhindered ! 
 
 The whole earth is at rest, and quiet. They break forth 
 
 into singing ; 
 Even the fir-trees rejoice at thee — the cedars of Lebanon are 
 
 saying — 
 " Since thou art laid low, no feller is come up against us." 
 
 Sheol from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming. 
 It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the 
 
 earth : 
 It raiseth up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 
 
 All of them shall answer, and say unto thee : 
 
 "Art thou also become weak like one of us.? Art thou 
 
 become like unto us ? 
 Is thy pomp brought down to the dust ? Where the noise 
 
 of thy viols ? " 
 
A SERIES OF PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. 85 
 
 Ah ! the worm is spread under thee, and the worms — they 
 
 cover thee ! 
 How art thou fallen from Heaven, Lucifer, Son of the 
 
 morning ! 
 How art thou cut down to the ground — thou that did'st 
 
 throw nations down ! 
 Thou saidst in thine heart, " I will ascend into heaven ! 
 I will raise my throne above the stars of God ! 
 I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the sides of 
 
 the North ! 
 I will get above the height of the clouds — I will be like the 
 
 Most High ! " 
 Ah ! thou art brought down to Sheol — down to the sides of 
 
 the grave ! 
 They that see thee look narrowly upon thee — they consider 
 
 thee, saying : 
 " Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook 
 
 the kingdoms ? 
 That made the world a wilderness, that destroyed the cities 
 
 thereof? 
 Is this he who sent not his prisoners to their home ? " 
 All the kings of the nations, every one of them lie in glory, 
 
 in their own house ; 
 But thou ! Thou art cast out of thy grave, like an abominable 
 
 branch ! 
 Covered with the slain; thrust through with the sword, a 
 
 carcase trodden under foot ! 
 Thou art of those that go down to the stones of the pit, 
 
 thou shalt not be joined with them in burial. 
 For thou hast destroyed thy land ; thou hast slain thy 
 
 people. 
 The seed of evil-doers — it shall never be named for ever. 
 
86 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Prepare the slaughter-house for his children — for the guilt 
 
 of their fathers. 
 They shall not rise nor possess the earth, nor fill the earth 
 
 with cities. 
 For I am up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts. 
 I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. 
 Both son and grandson, saith the Lord of Hosts. 
 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of 
 
 water. 
 With the besom of destruction will I sweep it, saith the 
 
 Lord of Hosts. (Ch. xiv. 1-23.) 
 
 PART XHL 
 
 Songs of Triumph — The Divine Vindication — The 
 Messianic King. 
 
 Assyria's conduct rebuked. 
 
 Ah ! thou that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled ! 
 
 That dealest treacherously to those who were not treacherous 
 
 to thee ! 
 When thou shalt cease spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled ! 
 When thou ceasest treachery, treachery shall be for thee ! 
 
 O Lord ! Be gracious unto us ! We have waited for Thee. 
 Be Thou our arm every morning, in trouble our salvation. 
 At the noise of a tumult, the peoples fled : 
 At the lifting up of Thyself, the nations were scattered. 
 
 Your spoil is gathered — like the gathering of the caterpillar : 
 As the running to and fro of locusts, he runs upon it ! 
 The Lord is exalted ! He dwelleth on high ! 
 He hath filled Zion with justice, and righteousness. 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 87 
 
 A Store of salvation is the stability of thy times — 
 Wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is his 
 treasure ! 
 
 Behold ! their valiant ones — they are crying without ! 
 The ambassadors of peace — they are weeping bitterly ! 
 The highways are deserted ! The travellers cease ! 
 The treaty is broken ! Cities are despised ! He regardeth 
 
 no one ! 
 The land mourns and fades ! Lebanon is ashamed, and 
 
 withers away ! 
 Sharon is a desert ! Bashan and Carmel cast their leaves ! 
 
 " Now will I arise : " saith the Lord ! 
 
 " Now will I be exalted : now will I lift up Myself ! 
 
 Ye shall conceive chaff — ye shall bring forth stubble. 
 
 Your own breath, like fire, shall devour you. 
 
 The peoples shall be as the burnings of lime : 
 
 As thorns cut off shall they be burned in the fire." 
 
 ' ' Hear ye that are far off, what I have done ! 
 
 And ye that are near, acknowledge My might ! " 
 
 The sinners in Zion are afraid ! The hypocrites are seized 
 
 with fear ! 
 " Who can dwell with the devouring fire? Who of us with 
 
 everlasting burnings ? " 
 
 *' He that walketh aright, that speaketh uprightly : 
 
 He that despiseth the gain of oppression — that refuseth 
 
 bribes ! 
 That will not hear of bloodshed — that looketh not on evil ! 
 
 He shall dwell on high ! Munitions of rocks shall be his 
 
 defence ! 
 Bread shall be given him : his waters shall be sure. 
 
88 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Thine eyes shall see the king in beauty — the land stretching 
 
 wide." 
 Thine heart thinks over its alarm — " Where is the scribe ? 
 Where the weigher of tribute ? Where the counter of the 
 
 towers ? " 
 The strange people thou shalt not see — people of an unknown 
 
 tongue, 
 Of a stammering tongue not understood ! 
 
 Look upon Zion — the city of our feasts ! Thine eyes shall 
 
 see Jerusalem 
 A peaceful habitation — an abiding tabernacle ; 
 Her stakes shall never be removed, nor her cords broken. 
 The Lord shall there be our glory ! In the place of broad 
 
 rivers and streams 
 No oared galley shall go — no gallant ship shall pass. 
 The Lord is our judge ! The Lord is our Law-Giver ! 
 The Lord is our King ! He will save us ! 
 Thy tacklings are loosed ! Their mast they could not stay, 
 
 nor spread the sail. 
 The prey of a great spoil is divided — the lame seize the prey! 
 
 The inhabitant of the land no more sayeth — " I am sick." 
 Those who dwell therein have their iniquity forgiven. 
 
 (Ch. xxxiii. 1-24.) 
 
 The terrible Day of the Lord. Against Edom. 
 
 Come near, ye nations, hear ! And hearken, ye peoples ! 
 Let the land hear, and its fulness ! The world and all that 
 
 it contains ! 
 For the wrath of the Lord is on the nations : His fury on 
 
 all their hosts ! 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 69 
 
 He is utterly destroying them : He is delivering to the 
 
 slaughter. 
 Their slain are being cast out, and their dead bodies — 
 The smell of them is going up : the mountains melt with 
 
 their blood. 
 All the host of heaven is dissolved — the heavens are rolled 
 
 together as a scroll. 
 All their host are falling down — as a falling vine leaf — a 
 
 falling fig ! 
 For My sword is bathing itself in the heavens ! 
 Behold ! It comes down upon Edom — upon the people 
 
 under curse for judgment. 
 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood — it is moistened 
 
 with fat. 
 With the blood of lambs and goats — with the fat of the 
 
 kidneys of rams. 
 For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah — a great slaughter 
 
 in Edom's land. 
 Wild oxen shall be struck down with them, bullocks and 
 
 bulls ! 
 Their land shall be soaked with blood — their dust moist 
 
 with fat ! 
 For 'tis the day of the Lord's vengeance — the year of Re- 
 compense in Zion's Cause ! 
 Its streams are turned into pitch; its dust becomes brim- 
 stone ; 
 Its land becomes burning pitch ! Burning night and day ! 
 Its smoke shall go up for ever : for ever it shall lie waste. 
 None shall pass through it, for ever and ever ! 
 The cormorant and the hedge-hog shall possess it : owls 
 
 and ravens shall dwell in it. 
 He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the 
 
 plummet of emptiness. 
 
9© HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 To call the kingdom, nobles there shall be none : all her 
 
 princes shall be nothing. 
 Thorns shall come up in her palaces : nettles and brambles 
 
 in her fortresses. 
 It shall be an habitation of dragons — a court for owls ! 
 The wild cats and hyenas shall meet there : the wild goat 
 
 shall cry to his fellow. 
 The screech owl also shall rest there — it shall find for itself 
 
 a place of rest. 
 There shall the arrowsnake nest, lay and hatch, and gather 
 
 in its shadow. 
 There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with 
 
 her mate. 
 Seek ye the scroll of the Lord, and read — " None faileth, 
 
 none wants her mate, 
 For My Mouth — it hath commanded : My Spirit — it hath 
 
 gathered them." 
 He hath cast their lot : His Hand hath divided it unto them 
 
 by line. 
 They shall possess it for ever : from generation to genera- 
 tion shall they dwell therein. (Ch. xxxiv. 1-17.) 
 
 A Song of Hopeful Anticipation for God's People. 
 
 The wilderness and the parched land — they shall be glad. 
 
 The desert shall rejoice : it shall blossom, as the rose : 
 
 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and 
 
 singing ! 
 The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, Carmel and 
 
 Sharon's excellency. 
 These shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our 
 
 God. 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 9 1 
 
 Strengthen ye the feeble hands — confirm the feeble knees. 
 Say to them that are of fearful heart : " Be strong ! Fear 
 
 not! 
 Lo ! Your God is coming with vengeance — your God with 
 
 recompence. 
 He is coming ! He will save you ! " 
 
 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened : deaf ears shall 
 
 be unstopped. 
 Then shall the lame leap as an hart : the tongue of the 
 
 dumb shall sing : — 
 *' In the wilderness waters are breaking out — streams in the 
 
 desert ! 
 The mirage has become a pool — the thirsty land springs 
 
 of water ! 
 The place where jackals lay is grass, with reeds and rushes." 
 An highway shall be there — a way called, "The Way of 
 
 Holiness." 
 The unclean ! They shall not pass over it ! 
 God shall be for those who walk in the way — the simple 
 
 shall not err therein. 
 No lion shall be there ; no ravenous beast shall go thereon. 
 
 But the released shall walk there ; thence the ransomed of 
 
 the Lord shall return. 
 They shall come to Zion with songs — with everlasting joy 
 
 upon their heads. 
 They shall obtain joy and gladness : sorrow and sighing 
 
 shall flee away. (Ch. xxxv. i-io.) 
 
 The Coming King. His Character (720 b.c). 
 
 There shall come forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse ; 
 
 A Branch shall grow out of his roots ; 
 
92 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, 
 
 The spirit of wisdom, and understanding, the spirit of 
 
 counsel, and might. 
 The spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord : 
 And shall make him delight in the fear of the Lord. 
 He shall not judge after the seeing of his eyes. 
 Neither reprove after the hearing of his ear, 
 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, 
 And decide with equity for the meek of the earth. 
 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, 
 With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 
 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins. 
 Faithfulness the girdle of his reins. (Ch. xi. 1-5.) 
 
 The Felicity of the New Kingdom. 
 
 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb — the leopard shall lie 
 
 down with the kid, 
 The calf, the lion's cub, and the falling together — a little 
 
 child shall lead them. 
 The cow, and the bear shall feed — their young ones lying 
 
 down together, 
 The lion shall eat straw, like the ox. 
 The suckling shall play on the viper's hole — the child shall 
 
 put his hand on the adder's den. 
 In all My Holy Mountain — they shall not hurt nor destroy. 
 As the waters cover the sea, the land shall be full of the 
 
 knowledge of the Lord. (Ch. xi. 6-9.) 
 
 The Glory of David's House in a Eeunited Israel. 
 
 And in that day it shall come to pass that the root of 
 Jesse shall stand for an ensign to the peoples : to it shall the 
 nations seek, and his resting-place shall be glorious. Yea,. 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 93 
 
 it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall for 
 the second time set His Hand to restore the remnant of 
 His people^even those that are left from Assyria, and from 
 Egypt (both from Pathros and from Cush), and from Elam 
 and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of 
 the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, 
 and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather to- 
 gether the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the 
 earth. 
 
 " The envy of Ephraim shall depart : Judah's adversaries 
 
 shall be cut off, 
 Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim." 
 
 And they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines 
 towards the west : they shall spoil those of the east 
 together : they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, 
 and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the 
 Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea : 
 and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over 
 the River, and He shall smite it into seven streams, and 
 make men go over dry-shod. Then there shall be an 
 highway for the remnant of His people which shall be 
 left from Assyria, like as there was for Israel in the day 
 that he came up out of the land of Egypt. 
 
 (Ch. xi. 10-16.) 
 The coming King again described. 
 
 Behold ! A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes 
 shall rule in justice ; and a great man shall be as an hiding- 
 place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as 
 rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great Rock 
 in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those that see shall not 
 be closed, and the ears of those that hear shall hearken : 
 
94 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the heart also of the rash shall perceive distinctly, and the 
 tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. 
 The foolish person shall be no more called noble, nor the 
 churlish person said to be bountiful : for the foolish person 
 speaketh folly, and his heart planneth iniquity, practising 
 hypocrisy, and uttering error against the Lord, making empty 
 the soul of the hungry, and causing the drink of the thirsty 
 to fail. The purposes also of the churl are evil. He 
 deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying 
 words, even when the needy speaketh right ; but the noble- 
 hearted deviseth noble things, and in noble things shall 
 he continue. (Ch. xxxii. i-8.) 
 
 The Song of the Restored People. 
 
 And in that day thou shalt say : — 
 I will praise Thee, O Lord ! Thou wast angry with me ! 
 But Thine anger is turned away. Thou comfortedst me ! 
 Lo ! God is my salvation : I will trust and not fear. 
 Jah the Lord is my strength and song. He is become my 
 
 salvation. 
 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of 
 
 salvation. 
 
 And in that day shall ye say : — 
 Give thanks to the Lord. Call upon His Name ! 
 Declare His doings among the people : tell that His Name 
 
 is exalted ! 
 Sing unto the Lord : for He hath done excellent things — 
 This make known in all the earth. 
 Cry aloud and shout, thou that inhabitest Zion ! 
 For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee! 
 
 (Ch. xii. 1-6.) 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 95 
 
 PART XIV. 
 
 Prophecies dealing with a great Divine 
 Interposition. 
 
 A dark Outlook on approaching Judgment. 
 
 Behold ! The Lord maketh the land empty ! He maketh it 
 waste ! 
 
 He turneth it upside down ! He scattereth abroad its in- 
 habitants ! 
 
 And it shall be — as with the people, so with the priest : 
 
 As with the servant, so with his master : as with the maid, 
 so with her mistress : 
 
 As with the buyer, so with the seller : as with the lender, so 
 with the borrower : 
 
 As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to 
 him. 
 
 The land shall be utterly emptied ! It shall be utterly 
 spoiled ! 
 
 For the Lord hath spoken — even this word. 
 
 The land shall mourn, it shall fade away ! The world shall 
 languish and fade ! 
 
 The rulers of the people of the land do languish ! 
 
 The land is defiled by the people thereof! They have trans- 
 gressed the laws ! 
 
 They have changed the ordinances — broken the everlasting 
 covenant ! 
 
 Therefore hath the curse devoured the land — its people are 
 desolate ! 
 
()6 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Therefore the inhabitants of the land are burned — few men 
 
 are left ! 
 The wine-fruit mourneth ! The vine fadeth ! The merry- 
 hearted sigh ! 
 The mirth of timbrels ceaseth ! The noise of joy endeth ! 
 
 The joy of the harp ceaseth ! 
 They shall not drink wine with a song ! Strong drink shall 
 
 be bitter to those who drink it. 
 Broken down is the city — a chaos ! Every house is shut up 
 
 — no man cometh in ! 
 In the country — a crying for wine ; all joy is darkened, the 
 
 land's mirth is gone ! 
 In the city there is left desolation ! The gate is smitten with 
 
 destruction ! (Ch. xxiv. 1-12.) 
 
 The Promise for the Remnant. 
 
 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the 
 people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and 
 as the grape gleanings, when the vintage is done. These 
 shall lift up their voice, they shall shout : for the majesty of 
 the Lord they shall cry aloud from the sea — " O glorify ye 
 the Lord in the rising of the sun, — the name of the Lord 
 God of Israel in the coasts of the sea." 
 
 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, 
 even " Glory to the Righteous." 
 
 But I said : 
 For me is wasting away, wasting away ! Woe is me ! 
 Oppressors are dealing in treachery : oppressors deal very 
 
 treacherously ! 
 Fear, the pit, the snare are on thee, O inhabitant of the 
 
 land. 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 97 
 
 He who fleeth from the report of the fear, falleth into the 
 
 pit; 
 He that cometh up from the pit is taken in the snare ! 
 The windows of heaven are open ! Earth's foundations do 
 
 shake ! 
 The earth is all broken down — it is clean dissolved. 
 The earth is moved exceedingly ! It staggers 
 Like a drunken man ! As a hammock it swings to and fro ! 
 Its evil lies heavy on it : it falls : it rises again no more ! 
 
 The Divine Vindication. 
 
 But it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall 
 judge the host of the high ones in high places, even the 
 kings of the world on the earth, and they shall be gathered 
 together as prisoners are gathered in the dungeon, and shut 
 up in the prison : and after many days shall they be pun- 
 ished. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun 
 shall be ashamed : for the Lord of Hosts shall reign in 
 Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and in the presence of His 
 Elders in glory. (Ch. xxiv. 13-23.) 
 
 A Hymn of sublime confidence in Jehovah. 
 
 O Lord, my God 1 I will exalt Thee : I will praise Thy 
 
 Name ! 
 Thou hast done wonderfully ! Thy counsels of old are 
 
 faithfulness and truth ! 
 Thou hast made of a city — a heap : of a defenced city — a 
 
 ruin ! 
 A palace of strangers — to be no city ; it shall never be built. 
 The strong shall glorify Thee : the city of terrible nations 
 
 shall fear Thee ! 
 Thou hast been a strength to the poor — a strength to the 
 
 needy in distress. 
 
 v^ 
 
 n1^ 
 
98 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 A refuge from storm ! A shade from heat ! The blast of 
 
 the terrible ones was like a storm against the wall. 
 Thou hast brought down the noise of strangers, as heat on 
 
 a parched place. 
 As heat with the shadow of a cloud — the branch of the 
 
 terrible is laid low. 
 In this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all His 
 
 people a feast of fat things, 
 A feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow — 
 
 wines on the lees well refined. 
 In this Mountain He shall destroy the covering of the people, 
 And the web which is woven over all the nations. 
 He shall swallow up death for ever : the Lord God shall 
 
 wipe tears from every face. 
 His people's reproach — He shall remove it from off all the 
 land! 
 The Lord hath spoken. 
 
 In that day shall it be said : 
 
 Lo ! This is our God ! We have waited for Him : 
 
 He will save us ! This is the Lord ! 
 
 We have waited for Him ! We will be glad : 
 
 We will rejoice in His salvation. (Ch. xxv. 1-9.) 
 
 The Doom of Moab. 
 
 For in this Mountain shall the Hand of the Lord rest, and 
 Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is 
 trodden down in the water of the dunghill : and he shall 
 spread forth his hands in the midst of it, as he that swimmeth 
 spreadeth forth his hands to swim, but he shall lay low his 
 pride together with the skill of his hands. And the fortress 
 of the high fort of his walls shall He lay low, and bring to 
 the ground, even to the dust. (Ch. xxv. 10-12.) 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 99 
 
 Judah's Song of Triumph. 
 
 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah : — 
 Ours is a strong city ! For walls and outworks is salvation 
 
 appointed ! 
 Open ye the gates ! Let a righteous nation that keepeth 
 
 faith, enter in ! 
 A purpose firmly fixed Thou dost keep — Peace, 
 Perfect peace to those whose trust is in Thee ! 
 In the Lord, trust for ever ! Jah the Lord is an abiding 
 
 Rock! 
 The high ones. He bringeth them down : 
 The lofty city. He layeth it low, He layeth it low with the 
 
 ground : 
 He bringeth it even to the dust, it is trodden down 
 By the foot of the poor, under the steps of the weak. 
 The way of the just — 'tis a right way. Thou directest his 
 
 path aright. 
 Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, we have waited 
 
 for Thee. 
 The desire of our soul is to Thy Name : and for Thy 
 
 remembrance ! 
 With my soul have I desired Thee by night : my spirit seeks 
 
 Thee in the morning, 
 For when Thy judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants 
 
 of the world will learn righteousness. 
 Let favour be shewed to the wicked — he learneth not 
 
 righteousness. 
 In a land of uprightness he deals unjustly — he beholds not 
 
 the majesty of the Lord. 
 O Lord, Thy Hand has been lifted up — they do not see it. 
 They shall see, and be ashamed. Thy zeal for the people — 
 
 Yea, Thy fire shall devour Thine enemies? 
 
lOO HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Lord ! Thou wilt ordain peace for us ! Thou hast wrought 
 
 all our works for us ! 
 O Lord our God ! Other lords beside Thee have had 
 
 dominion over us. 
 Only through Thy help can we praise Thy Name. 
 The dead do not live ! The deceased — they rise not 
 
 again ! 
 Thou hast visited, and destroyed them : Thou hast made 
 
 all their memory to perish. 
 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord ! Thou hast 
 
 increased the nation ! 
 Thou art glorified ! Thou hast enlarged all the bounds of 
 
 the land ! 
 
 Lord ! in trouble they looked to Thee : they prayed when 
 
 Thy chastening was on them. 
 Like as a woman with child, drawing near the time of her 
 
 delivery ; 
 She is in pain — she crieth out in her pangs : so have we 
 
 been before Thee, O Lord. 
 We have been with child : we have been in pain : we brought 
 
 forth as it were wind. 
 We wrought no deliverance in the land ; neither have men 
 
 been born. 
 
 Thy dead shall Hve! My dead bodies shall arise ! 
 Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust ! 
 Thy dew is a dew of lights ! The earth shall cast forth 
 the dead ! (Ch. xxvi. 119.) 
 
 An Exhortation to Prayer and Trust. 
 
 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut 
 thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a little mo- 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. lOI 
 
 ment, until the indignation have passed by. For behold ! 
 the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants 
 of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose 
 her bloodshed, and no more cover her slain. In that day 
 the Lord with His sore, and great and strong sword shall 
 punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked 
 serpent, and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 
 
 The Song of the Lord's Vineyard. 
 
 In that day sing ye unto her of the vineyard of red wine: — 
 I the Lord do keep it : I water it every moment. 
 Lest any hurt it, I do keep it night and day. 
 Fury have I none ! Were briers and thorns set against Me ! 
 In battle would I go against them : I would burn them all 
 
 up. 
 Or else take hold of My Strength, and make peace with Me ! 
 He shall cause those that come of Jacob to take root : 
 Israel shall blossom, and bud : they shall cover the earth 
 
 with fruit. 
 Hath He smitten him, as He smote those that smote him ? 
 Was he slain, as those that slew him, were slain ? 
 In measure, by sending her away, Thou contendest with 
 
 her. 
 He hath scared her with His rough blast in the day of His 
 
 east wind. 
 In this way Jacob's iniquity is purged. 
 This shall be the fruit of taking away his sin. 
 When he maketh all his altar stones like broken chalk 
 
 stones ; 
 When all the Asherim, and sun-images shall rise no more. 
 The defenced city shall be desolate — the home forsaken, 
 
 and desert-like, 
 
I02 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 There shall calves feed, and lie : they shall eat the trees 
 
 thereof. 
 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken 
 
 off, 
 The women shall come, and set them on fire. 
 For it is not a people of understanding. 
 Their Maker pities them not : their Creator favours them 
 
 not. (Ch. xxvi. 20, 21 ; xxvii. i-ii.) 
 
 A Promise of Restoration. 
 
 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord 
 shall beat out His corn from the channel of the River 
 (Euphrates) unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be 
 gathered one by one, O ye Children of Israel : and it shall 
 come to pass in that day that a great trumpet shall be 
 blown, and they shall come, even those that were ready 
 to yjerish in the land of Assj^ia, and the outcasts in the 
 land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the Holy 
 mountain in Jerusalem. (Ch. xxvii. 12, 13.) 
 
DIVISION 11. 
 
 THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH READ IN THEIR HIS- 
 TORICAL SETTING, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 (Pp. 11-14.) 
 
 The Historical Conditions of the Prophet's Ministry, 
 
 AND ITS Duration. 
 
 The opening verse of the book of the prophecies of Isaiah, 
 as it lies before us, gives us the information we seek about 
 the time during which the prophet lived and flourished. 
 His ministry began just as King Uzziah was closing his reign. 
 This sovereign had had a long, and for many years an 
 illustrious career : but his prosperity had passed under a 
 cloud, and he ended his days in darkness. During the latter 
 years of his reign the powers of government had been 
 entrusted to his son Jotham, as regent. Now in the year 
 that Uzziah died, and Jotham became king — at a time when 
 the earthly throne of Jerusalem was losing one and receiving 
 another occupant— Isaiah received his vision of the heavenly 
 Throne filled with its perpetual occupant, and surrounded 
 by its transcendent glory. With this vision of the King, the 
 Lord of Hosts enthroned in glory, Isaiah received his call 
 to office. The exact year of this important event is not 
 absolutely determined : it lies between 742 and 740. The 
 sad close of Uzziah's reign, and the absence of any out- 
 standing quality in the character of Jotham, that might give 
 
I04 HOW TO REAIJ ISAIAH. 
 
 the promise of good things, would certainly very deeply 
 impress the people and the prophet alike with the imperfec- 
 tions of even a Davidic king. During the half century of 
 Uzziah's reign Jerusalem had enjoyed a large measure of 
 prosperity — indications of which the prophet gives in his 
 earliest prophecies (p. 17) — but a prosperity which brought 
 the people into perilous relations with the idolatrous tribes 
 of the East. Both on the part of the king and the nation, 
 there followed that overweening confidence in human 
 resources, success so often brings about : and their hearts 
 were lifted up in rebellion against God. The claims and 
 prerogatives of Jehovah were forgotten and dishonoured : 
 the worship of Jehovah was largely departed from ; and 
 leprosy seized the king, while indifferentism dulled the 
 people's religious sensibilities. In such circumstances Isaiah 
 spent his youth : to lift up his voice on behalf of Jehovah, 
 and to protest against all indifferentism was he called forth. 
 And this just as Jotham assumes full kingly authority — a 
 man whose life was marked by no great sin, nor by any 
 signal act of devotion to Jehovah. " He entered not into 
 the Temple of the Lord." The people continued unre- 
 strained and unrebuked ; still they did corruptly. The king 
 performed no act of reparation to Jehovah. He simply 
 abstained from Uzziah's great sin. Jotham's reign was, how- 
 ever, one of external prosperit}'. But with his death a crisis 
 is brought about in the history of the people of Judah by 
 the accession of an openly idolatrous king like unto Ahab, 
 even Ahaz. Great activity characterised Isaiah during this 
 sad reign, when the divine honour was so much called in 
 question. Ahaz reigned about fourteen years, and during 
 that time the prophet passed through varied experiences. 
 Although he played at first a most conspicuous part in 
 
HISTORICAL CONDITIONS OF THE PROPHETS MINISTRY. I05 
 
 fully and faithfully declaring the mind and will of 
 Jehovah to the king, and condemning his foreign alliances 
 and sinful fear, yet in the later years the prophet, re- 
 jected by the court, must have been largely living in retire- 
 ment, labouring among his disciples, and waiting for the 
 morning. This came with its brightening dawn in the death- 
 year of Ahaz, when a king of noble promise, a friend and 
 pupil of the prophet's own, a true Davidic king, ascended the 
 throne of his father. This year of Hezekiah's succession, 
 consequently, is marked by another glorious manifestation 
 of prophetic activity. The night's weeping was now over, 
 and the joy of the morning encouraged the prophet to 
 appear once more before the public, to utter messages 
 concerning all the immediate neighbours of Jerusalem, and 
 very especially concerning that great Northern Empire, 
 which, like a mighty wave, was now sweeping everything — 
 every human resistance — before it. The great question was 
 at that time being asked, " What then shall one answer the 
 messengers of the nation ? " Ambassadors from all parts 
 would doubtless come with many inquiries to Jerusalem 
 concerning the future. To the prophet these would be 
 referred : and his answer in God's great Name was one of 
 hope and confidence : " The Lord hath founded Zion and 
 in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge." But 
 surrounded as Hezekiah was by courtiers trained in the time- 
 serving school of Ahaz — men wholly incapable of seeing 
 what the prophet saw, or of acting as the prophet enjoined — 
 he found himself entangled in endless complications, and 
 notably in the matter of an alliance with Egypt. Isaiah 
 pointed out to Hezekiah that his duty was to regard Jehovah 
 as his salvation and all his desire, urging that even from a 
 worldly point of view the safety of Jerusalem lay in a policy 
 
lo6 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 of absoKite neutrality. The great issues of the world's 
 secular history were then being fought out by three great 
 World-Povvers — Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. Jerusalem 
 had been chosen by Jehovah as His throne, and entrusted 
 with the highest of trusts — even the preservation of a pure 
 religion and a Messianic Hope. She would only drag her 
 sacred trust into the mire if she allied with any of these 
 powers : and bring upon herself the dire vengeance of the 
 power she slighted. Geographically, too, she was so situated 
 as to remain safe in her limited territory and mountain 
 citadel; she could calmly see the wave of war pass by without 
 its even touching her, if she were willing. But foolishly, nay 
 wickedly, — for it was in distinct disobedience to the divine 
 command declared by Isaiah, — she came down into the arena 
 of a human diplomacy, and lost her supreme trust in God. 
 This grieved Isaiah much : but he was divinely sustained, 
 for he was commanded to proclaim that Assyria would 
 not overthrow Jerusalem. However near this power 
 should come — even at the very gates it would be over- 
 thrown. And this great and signal victory Isaiah saw with 
 his own eyes. Once already Sargon had devastated 
 the provinces in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign ; 
 and yet once again a mighty host under a yet mightier 
 monarch, Sennacherib, with yet greater parade and boast, 
 gather some ten years later for the capture of Jehovah's 
 city. It was in vain. Jehovah was still a wall of fire 
 around His people, and in some measure still the glory in 
 their midst. Soon after Hezekiah dies : and in the strange, 
 but only too common alternation of events, a wicked king 
 succeeds a righteous one. Isaiah's hopes seem suddenly 
 dashed to the ground : but even out of the very ashes, 
 Phcenix-like, he rises. And God uses him in his old age to 
 
THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE. 107 
 
 sing SO beautifully about the coming day of deliverance. But 
 such a man was a marked man. Hence, when Manasseh 
 caused Jerusalem to swim with the blood of the saints 
 (2 Kings xxi. i6), it is only too sadly possible that the 
 prophet met a martyr's death. His work, however, was 
 done, and well done. For fifty years he had served his 
 generation faithfully. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 (Pp. 15-16.) 
 The Man and his Message (770-690 b.c). 
 The Call, Consecration, and Commission of the Prophet. 
 Within ten years of the foundation of Rome, Isaiah the 
 son of Amoz was called to deliver his message concerning 
 Jerusalem and Judah. Nothing is told us about the lineage 
 or birth-place of the prophet. In this case, as so often, the 
 man becomes subordinate to his Message : and our concern 
 is a great deal more with the work done than with the 
 worker. But, undoubtedly, the kingly demeanour of the 
 prophet, and his acknowledged influence in the royal court, 
 especially in connection with the instruction of Hezekiah, 
 point to his being of the royal family, as tradition indeed 
 affirms. Jerusalem, the sphere of his life-long ministry, 
 was probably his birth-place, as it was also the place of his 
 martyrdom. While his contemporary in the prophet's 
 office, Micah, laboured in the provinces for the most part, 
 Isaiah brought his heroic faith, his earnest purpose, his 
 eloquent words, and his divinely-given insight into the 
 future, to bear upon the very heart of his nation. Impressed 
 with the events attending the closing years of Uzziah, and 
 saddened by his death, this young man of noble birth and 
 
roS HOW TO ki:ai) isaiah. 
 
 bright promise, enters the Temple Courts. There he 
 receives that Vision of God that becomes to him a Call, and 
 a Consecration to his new life's duty. We have in his own 
 words a deeply interesting account of this starting-point in 
 his ministry — an account which, undoubtedly, written later 
 than his earliest prophecies (and therefore thus placed in 
 our Bible), coloured also perhaps by some reflections occa- 
 sioned by the unwillingness of the people to hear his first 
 message, must yet come first if we would read his prophecies 
 aright. 
 
 That day when he entered the Temple Courts was his 
 spiritual birthday. That day certain fundamental religious 
 truths were revealed to him, and appreciated by him in 
 such a way that they influenced him to his latest hour, and 
 directed all his utterances. Prominent among those is that 
 of Jehovah's supremacy as King on His Throne. The 
 thought of a divine Sovereignty — of a throne in the Heavens 
 never empty — now deeply touched Isaiah. The glory of this 
 King in His heavenly temple, Isaiah saw, and saw never to 
 forget. The rule of this King over all nations, even over 
 boastful Assyria, the prophet henceforward and always 
 firmly proclaimed. This was one of his secrets. His King 
 was Eternal, All-glorious, and All-powerful. But, again, the 
 absolutely perfect character of the divine Holiness is now 
 also recognised by Isaiah. To the prophet the divine 
 supremacy was not one of power merely, it was also one 
 of holiness, and this foundation idea he could firmly place 
 in contrast to the ideas on which heathen empires were 
 founded. In the light of this truth his own personal de- 
 merit appears in the strongest measure : his sense of utter 
 unfitness for the service of One so holy : the necessity of 
 a divine interposition for the purging away of human sin 
 
THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE. IO9 
 
 becomes manifest. Then comes upon him the deep sense 
 that this act of grace has taken place in his own personal 
 experience there and then : and that he is now definitely 
 called upon to enter upon this service. The whole thing 
 seems to be done before his very eyes. He sees God : he 
 sees the angel : he sees the hot stone from the altar hearth : 
 and he knows himself a called man. The seeing of God is 
 immediately followed by the hearing of the Voice divine : 
 an ope7ied eye is accompanied by an unstopped ear. Actu- 
 ally, then, Isaiah, by solemn purpose, consecrates himself to 
 a work to which God now called him. The strength neces- 
 sary for such an act of consecration comes through the con- 
 sciousness of the divine call: he gives himself resolutely to 
 his new service, because God had called him to it. He 
 places himself at the divine disposal, because he knew of 
 the divine acceptance. And then comes the divine Com- 
 mission — a Commission which is never given save to one 
 who unreservedly places himself, body, soul, and spirit, at 
 the divine disposal — to think, speak, and act as God shall 
 supremely direct. The character of the Commission de- 
 serves attention. There is in it a remarkable combination 
 of hopelessness, and hopefulness. For while the people are 
 to hear the message, they — i.e., the great majority of them — 
 are to become hardened in the process : the rehgious sense, 
 which refuses to listen to the prophet, is to become dulled 
 in consequence. And as the prophet sees such a work go- 
 ing on — as he shall see judgment still further spreading 
 desolation in the land — he is alarmed at the results of his 
 mission. His preaching was to be so largely a harbinger of 
 a day of punishment. But not entirely : and of this hope- 
 ful aspect of his work, his name itself was to be continually 
 a standing memorial. Just as later on, the names of his 
 
no HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 sons were to embody and express the great truths that he 
 proclaimed to Ahaz, so now his own name was fitted to 
 remind him arid his people that Jehovah was his salvation. 
 This the word Isaiah means, for it is compounded of two 
 Hebrew words, meaning the salvation of Jehovah. Without 
 this thought becoming emphasised, there would have been 
 an element lacking in his commission. But it is here : and 
 nothing became dearer to the prophet — nothing more char- 
 acteristic of his preaching than the salvation of the remnant. 
 The leaves may fall, and the tree even be cut down to the 
 ground, but it would flourish yet again. So the covenant- 
 people might pass through a season of prolonged chastise- 
 ment, they might reach the lowest ebb of fortune, and yet 
 out of their midst would return with purified hearts, and 
 purged lives, the remnant — God's elect ones, who would 
 serve Him in newness of life. And thus this solemn season 
 with its revelations ended. Thus was Isaiah launched upon 
 his glorious life-career. Thus did he become the pro- 
 claimer of the Sovereignty, Holiness, and Covenant faith- 
 fulness of Jehovah God — three great themes which he kept 
 well and continuously before king and people. Against 
 earthly might he stands in Jehovah's strength, and against 
 unworthy confidences his trust is in the salvation of the 
 Lord. 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. Ill 
 
 PART III. 
 
 (Pp. 16-25.) 
 
 The Earlier Preaching of Isaiah in the Reign of 
 
 JOTHAM, and the FIRST YEAR OF AhAZ CONCERNING 
 the STATE OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM (742-736 B.C.). 
 
 And now Isaiah begins his ministry. His first message 
 is one that bases itself on the promise of the latter-day glory 
 — but as he shows, a promise that can only find its realisa- 
 tion in conditions of holiness — conditions which were all 
 absent in Jerusalem and Judah then. The passages that 
 are gathered together in this section are continuous, and 
 together form one homogeneous whole. Probably we have 
 in these passages the heads and main points of a number 
 of prophetic announcements, delivered not on one day or 
 successive days, but during several years. And these have 
 been summarised for us by the prophet himself, or one of 
 his disciples, and written down in what was the first book or 
 collection of Isaiah's prophecies. The value of this col- 
 lection lies in this, that it shows us the prophet's attitude to 
 Jerusalem on his first appearance, and his appreciation of 
 the circumstances of his time. 
 
 His ministry opens with a great text. Micah preaches 
 from the same text. From this we may legitimately gather 
 that both these contemporary prophets quote from an older 
 prophet. As popular preachers eager to reach the popular 
 conscience, they lay hold on some well-known sentence, 
 which, like this now before us, contained the great hope of 
 the Jewish nation. The covenant given to David, well 
 "ordered in all things and sure," gave them the hope of a 
 glorious city, which should be the religious centre of the 
 
I I 2 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 world, and the supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations. 
 That such a state of things should come, all believed : but 
 the practical question was. How could this be brought 
 about ? Isaiah, like Jeremiah after him, had to protest 
 against trust in lying words — against any false assurance 
 that the conditions of the covenant were already present, or 
 any premature attempt to anticipate the promise. 
 
 The text is quoted. Then comes the exhortation to the 
 House of Judah to enter into the divine fellowship, — an ex- 
 hortation implying, what is immediately stated, that Judah 
 had fallen out of this fellowship by compromise with idolatry. 
 The prosperity of Uzziah's reign had not been an unmixed 
 gain. Commercial intercourse with the heathen had broken 
 down the lines of religious separation. The prophet boldly 
 proclaims the old faith of Jerusalem, even the supremacy 
 of Jehovah, and the nothingness of idols. He tells men of 
 the day of Jehovah, a day in which the glory of Jehovah 
 shall be seen in a work of vindication of righteousness, 
 which should have a universal sweep. Everything wherein 
 man had been putting his trust, — everything which had 
 thereby been detracting from the honour due to Jehovah, — 
 must be seen in its insignificance. The folly of all trust in 
 man, or in any human resource, is declared : the utter help- 
 lessness of all mortal help is shown. Before, then, the latter- 
 day glory shall come, many things must happen. 
 
 This leads the prophet to enter upon a long and de- 
 tailed indictment of the people. 
 
 And here we have first of all a general statement of the 
 evil condition of things — a sadly eloquent message addressed 
 to ruler and subject alike. This is Jehovah's controversy 
 with His people — His complaint, that they have turned their 
 backs ui)on Him, and broken all His laws. But to bring 
 
THE EARLIER PREACHING OF ISAIAH. II3 
 
 guilt home to every rank and condition, to both sexes 
 alike, to every conscience, the prophet details eight sins in 
 order. Upon seven of these he pronounces solemn woes 
 — on the eighth, which comes first, he dwells at length. 
 These eight sins are — luxury in dress, land covetousness, 
 the drink sin with abandonment to amusement, indifference, 
 moral perversity with its ignoring of the distinctions of right 
 and wrong, conceit, corruption with drunkenness, oppression 
 with unjust legislation. The prophet sees all these sins 
 rampant in Jerusalem : and he declares their removal to be 
 necessary before this city could be a centre of religion for 
 the world. Very graphically he describes God's anger rest- 
 ing upon His people, as he sees the divine Hand stretched 
 out over the land in six successive judgments — that Hand 
 still stretched out, for so great was Judah's unwillingness to 
 give up her sin that in spite of judgment upon judgment, 
 she had still continued in her evil ways. It is instructive to 
 mark these successive judgments — all of which are sent in 
 warning — all for remedial ends. First came a plague upon 
 their crops and fruits, upon root and blossom — the result 
 being famine and exposed carcases. Secondly, the Syrians 
 and Philistines attacked the land : hostile armies plundered 
 the country. Ephraim was the first to know the terrible 
 nature of such invasions : but this buffer being removed, 
 the whole brunt of attack soon fell upon Judah. Thirdly, 
 the leaders of the land were cut off: they were indeed 
 misleaders of the people, and the Lord could have no 
 delight in them. Fourthly came internecine strife, when 
 was seen deadly enmity between Ephraim and Judah, lead- 
 ing to most sad results. While fifthly, a terrible visitation 
 from the North is declared, by which the prophet plainly 
 foretells the Assyrian invasions. And then the prophet 
 
 H 
 
1X4 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 announces, sixthly, a final and great judgment, and as it fills 
 his mind, he is impressed with its terrible features, which 
 he portrays, seeking if by any means he may wean his loved 
 people from sin, and so ward off this awful blow. 
 
 Were this only done — were there only a great national 
 repentance, a better day might dawn speedily. He hopes 
 and prays for this. For the prophet is assured in his heart 
 of hearts that after the severe judgments that must come, 
 there will be a day of glory for the remnant. The spirit of 
 burning must do its work, and then a ransomed people — 
 a people chosen as heirs of life, shall be hoHness unto the 
 Lord. All that had been expressed by the Shekinah cloud, 
 and pillar of fire in the wilderness wanderings shall be 
 experienced again in its fulness. Jehovah, Judah's only 
 Salvation, now honoured and obeyed, shall be the glory of 
 His people. They will have in Him a divine and adequate 
 protection from every foe. 
 
 And now, finally, he sings his song of God's vineyard. 
 Under this beautiful figure — a figure used by our Lord 
 Himself for a similar purpose — the prophet tells of privileges 
 conferred in grace upon Judah, the vine-plant in which God 
 had taken delight. The covenant embodies this foundation 
 idea of a divine interest in a chosen people : but it lays that 
 people in return under special obligation to give loving 
 service. In this, Jerusalem had grievously failed. God 
 came seeking fruit, and found none, nay. He found wild 
 fruit. He looked for justice, but saw injustice : for right, 
 but saw might, to translate the prophet's forcible play upon 
 words here. 
 
 In this way the prophet works out the theme with which 
 he had begun. Only in this way does he believe and 
 teach that the promise of the covenant will be realized. 
 
THE HISTORY OF KING AHAZ. 115 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 (Pp. 26-29.) 
 
 The History of King Ahaz, his Idolatries, and his 
 forbidden intercourse with assyria. 
 
 With the accession of Ahaz a dark day, with an ecHpse of 
 all shining, casts its deepening shadows over the land, and 
 Isaiah is roused to an increasing activity in his proclama- 
 tion of his supreme policy of trust in Jehovah alone. For 
 about fourteen years Ahaz reigned (736-722 B.C.). The 
 name of this king was really Jehoahaz : but as his conduct 
 was so much out of harmony with words which mean " one 
 whom Jehovah holds fast," the first part of the name was 
 dropt. Thus this king stands before us as one who had 
 forsaken Jehovah, and who held fast in his own perverse- 
 ness to his own way. His conduct was like that of 
 Ahab, the king of Israel, who introduced foreign idolatries 
 into Samaria. And even as Elijah was sent by God to face 
 this king, so was Isaiah now especially qualified to confront 
 Ahaz. 
 
 Many and divers forms of false worship were now patron- 
 ised by Judah's king : he brought in the abomination of 
 the heathen nations around, such as the cruel rites of 
 Moloch in which children passed through the fire in that 
 valley, fitly called the valley of the children of groaning, 
 which was afterwards made a place of refuse for the city, 
 and with its perpetually burning fires a type of the severest 
 form of condemnation (Matt. v. 22). The High places 
 were now used for false worship, and under every green 
 tree incense was burned. This course of wickedness was 
 soon visited with punishment. Syria and Samaria were at 
 
Il6 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 this time in league, and Judah found some of her bravest 
 sons carried away into captivity — these powers treating 
 Jerusalem as they were so soon themselves to be treated 
 by Assyria. The seaport of Elath at the head of the 
 Gulph of Akabah, whence ships had traded with the 
 remotest places during Uzziah's reign, fell into Pekah's 
 hands : and thus her commerce, which, however, had only 
 been an entanglement to Judah, was greatly curbed. 
 
 In such circumstances Ahaz adopted a supremely worldly 
 diplomacy. He entered into negotiations with the powerful 
 king of Assyria, who was only too eager to secure a footing 
 in the affairs of Palestine. A most humiliating message is 
 sent to Nineveh, as Ahaz piteously invokes Tiglath Pileser's 
 help against the combined armies of Samaria and Syria. 
 In this measure Ahaz turned his back upon Jehovah, and 
 desecrated the Temple to purchase aid. Thus he breaks 
 with the best traditions of David's House. But worse things 
 soon followed. The pattern of a heathen altar is sent to 
 Jerusalem, and a time-serving priest condescends to erect 
 such an altar in the House of Jehovah. In this case the 
 civil power intrudes into the most sacred matters, ordering 
 the daily sacrifices to be offered on this high altar instead 
 of on the brazen altar made after " the pattern showed in 
 the mount." Well would it have been for Ahaz had another 
 priest more like unto him, who rebuked Uzziah, been at the 
 altar now : well would it have been for the king had he been 
 stayed now by some signal judgment, and prevented from 
 bringing further disgrace on Jerusalem, and greater dis- 
 honour on Jehovah's name. But he is allowed to go on 
 in his evil way. The foolish compliance of ecclesiastical 
 authority is the doom of the civil power. 
 
 Soon a very important event happened — an event whicli 
 
THE HISTORY OF KING AHAZ. II7 
 
 was surely coming when the sin of Jeroboam the son of 
 Nebat, who made Israel to sin, became a fixed and irrepar- 
 able habit of Ephraim's life. The Ten Tribes now cease to 
 be a kingdom. In vain had Amos the prophet warned them : 
 in vain had Hosea pled with them. They hearkened not ; 
 their day of grace quickly passed away. The king of 
 Assyria had found his way into Samaria in response to 
 the foolish request of Ahaz : and once there, he came again. 
 When Tiglath died, his successor, Shalmaneser, came to 
 conquer first Syria, and then Samaria — two successive events 
 which in distinctest language we shall find the prophet 
 Isaiah foretelling to Ahaz, as he pointed out to him the utter 
 groundlessness of his fear of these two smoking torches — 
 these two played-out powers. The capture of Damascus 
 took place in 732 B.C., and the capture of Samaria ten years 
 later, in 722 b.c. And thus warning loud enough was given 
 to Jerusalem as to the issue of idolatry. Thus, too, all in- 
 tervening obstacles between Judah and Assyria were swept 
 away, and Jerusalem lay open to the vengeance of Assyria, 
 should she, in any moment of caprice, give offence to the 
 proud king of Nineveh. The warning has a special im- 
 portance. For it should clearly have proved to Judah that 
 any negotiations with Egypt — for this was the sin of Hoshea 
 the last king of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes — would most 
 certainly bring down the vengeance of Assyria. At this 
 time Egypt was the great rival power of Nineveh, disputing 
 with her the lordship of the known world. The Pharaoh 
 who now reigned was called Shabak, a name which occurs 
 in shorter form in our Bible as So, king of Egypt. In the 
 year 720 b.c. disorder ensued in that country in conse- 
 quence of a victory gained by Assyria over this king, at 
 Raphia. This vengeance fell now on Egypt for the part 
 
Il8 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 of sympathy she had shown towards the various tributary 
 powers of Palestine, who were rebelling against Shalmaneser. 
 On this occasion Ahax saw clearly what Assyria could do, 
 and would only be too ready to repeat in similar circum- 
 stances. So that in this way the loud and repeated warning 
 against any negotiations with Egypt received ocular support, 
 and should have impressed itself upon the rulers and coun- 
 sellors of Jerusalem. That it did not do so we shall see 
 later on. During the reign of Ahaz, however, the policy of 
 an alliance with Assyria remained. Ahaz continued in the 
 relation of a tributary power to Nineveh, and on his best 
 behaviour towards Assyria. Judah's fair name was thus 
 lost, her religious rites tampered with, and her trust in 
 Jehovah abandoned. 
 
 The way of transgressors, however, is hard ; and no gain 
 came to Ahaz from his diplomacy. The sacred Chronicler 
 shows us a man at his wits' end, tossed about from one 
 imaginary deity to another, never finding rest. The gods of 
 Syria smote him : and the god of Assyria was only biding 
 his time. He had forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living 
 water. 
 
 It is most probable that during the last years of his reign 
 his son Hezekiah was co-regent : upon this prince the hopes 
 of the prophet and people were now resting. 
 
 The end of this king came without regret : and he did 
 not receive honourable burial in the royal burying-place. 
 In view of the reforming spirit which Isaiah was fostering, 
 and Hezekiah had already patronized, we cannot doubt 
 that Ahaz died " unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." He 
 had proved himself false to all the best traditions of David's 
 House. 
 
THE PROPHECIES ADDRESSED TO AHAZ. II9 
 
 PART V. 
 (Pp. 30-35.) 
 
 The Prophecies addressed to Ahaz, condemnatory 
 OF his Negotiations and Alliance with 
 Assyria (734 B.C.). 
 
 In our last part the historical circumstances of the reign 
 of Ahaz were stated ; now the prophetic announcements of 
 the great prophet concerning this king come before us. 
 The value and importance of the services of Isaiah will 
 be clearly recognised and duly appreciated only when they 
 are considered in distinct connection with the events of 
 his time. For God's prophets have always been primarily 
 charged to declare the mind and will of God concerning the 
 actual facts of the history, in which their lot was cast : while 
 their commission to foretell the programme of coming days 
 lay in this, that they were men who, seeing God, viewed all 
 history from the divine standpoint, and in the light of 
 eternal principles. However much more was involved in 
 their commission, this at least was. Their definite declara- 
 tions of the divine will arose out of particular facts then 
 present, and their forecastings of brighter days followed 
 their grasping of a divine purpose of grace working itself 
 out in successive generations. 
 
 Soon after Ahaz ascended the throne he found himself 
 confronted with a Syro-Ephraimite war. The two kings, 
 Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, Remaliah's son, king of 
 Israel, joined their forces against Judab. The reason of 
 this war is not stated : but from the desire of those kings 
 to dethrone Ahaz, and place on the throne in Jerusalem 
 another, even Ben-Tabeel, it may be inferred that Ahaz 
 refused to join these two powers in a general rising against 
 
I20 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 Assyria. Obviously, Ahaz was well advised in not taking 
 a step of such decided opposition to Nineveh : for had he 
 done so, the legions of that empire would only have spread 
 desolation in Judah twenty or thirty years earlier than they 
 did. To a certain extent, the policy commended by Isaiah 
 was adopted : Ahaz did not take up his stand against 
 Assyria. The prophet, of course, wanted more. For he 
 urged an absolute and complete neutrality, in which Ahaz 
 would have nothing at all to do with this power. So far as 
 Ahaz acted on the prophet's advice, he was successful : for 
 this confederacy against Jerusalem proved a failure. 
 
 To Isaiah, however, the state of panic into which Jeru- 
 salem had fallen was saddening ; and he is sent by God to 
 meet the king in the most public manner, and rebuke this 
 fear. The prophet takes with him his son, who bore such 
 a significant name. The prophecy in connection with 
 which this son was named is not extant, unless we find it in 
 the closing words of ch. vi. (p. i6). That such a one was 
 delivered is a natural assumption, and in harmony with 
 Isaiah's procedure. For he utters first his prophecy, and 
 then to give perpetual testimony to his firm belief in that 
 prophecy, he names his son : and the son thus named 
 becomes to Judah a sign and a wonder from the Lord of 
 Hosts, a standing testimony to the nation, and an abiding 
 memorial to the prophet. The prophecy of the salvation, 
 or return of the remnant, now visibly represented in Shear- 
 Jashub, told of Isaiah's calm confidence in the future of 
 God's chosen people, and in the safety and security of 
 Jerusalem. This chosen remnant would be the ten good 
 men, who would for the time ward off the blow of complete 
 destruction. (Gen. xviii. 32.) It is with this son that Isaiah 
 now confronts the king : and the burden of his message is 
 
THE PROPHECIES ADDRESSED TO AHAZ. 121 
 
 to teach trust in God, and to show the vanity of the con- 
 federacy, which he so much fears. For he assures Ahaz 
 that within a few brief years, both these confederate powers 
 will be crushed. They, therefore, can have no power to 
 inflict damage — they are played-out powers, burning-out 
 torches. Of this last flash in the pan the prophet speaks 
 only with contempt : and their end was even nearer than 
 the prophet said. Syria had not more than four years to 
 run her course now : Samaria only fourteen. 
 
 There is a wonderfully suggestive declaration made by 
 the prophet in the words as in the A.V., " If ye will not 
 believe, surely ye shall not be established." There is a very 
 powerful combination of related and similarly sounding 
 words — very frequent in Isaiah — in the verse before us : the 
 verb of the one clause leading up to the verbal form of 
 the second. And the close connection between a human 
 holding fast to God, and the divine holding fast of man is 
 thus emphasized. He, who holds fast to God, will be held 
 fast by Him. And to Ahaz thus the prophet speaks : " If 
 you, O king, hold fast to God and to His word as now 
 declared by me. His prophet, then most assuredly you will 
 be held fast by Him." The principle of true permanence 
 is here shown to be a holding of divine truth. " He who 
 confides in God will abide : " or to quote another, " He 
 who has faith will have staith — i.e., standing." The secular 
 principle of diplomacy and conduct, which Ahaz adopted, 
 ignores God. The true principle of all activity, which 
 Isaiah enjoins, recognises dependence on God, and con- 
 formity to His will, as all-essential in life and conduct. 
 
 The second prophetic message to Ahaz gathers around 
 the beautiful word Immanuel, which for Christians has now 
 sublimest associations as the name so fitly expressive of the 
 
122 HOW TO RKAD ISAIAH. 
 
 true Incarnate One, — God thus becoming One with Man in 
 the highest and completest sense. But the word in its 
 earliest use expressed only the thought of God being on the 
 side of His people ; and this Isaiah now emphasizes in the 
 presence of the unbelieving king. In confirmation of this 
 prophecy it is believed by some that Isaiah named one of 
 his own sons Immanuel, as he had already called one Shear- 
 Jashub, and was soon to call a third Maher-shalal Hash- 
 Baz.* After having repeatedly assured the king that he 
 could rely on the divine help, and having as often received 
 the king's refusal to accept this assurance, he then says, 
 I will in God's name give you a sign. I will name my next 
 son Immanuel, and he shall be to you a living monument 
 of my firm and unalterable faith that God is with us. And 
 before this son shall reach the years of discretion the armies 
 of Assyria shall have destroyed both Ephraim and Syria. 
 Now both these events happened very speedily, as we have 
 seen. But when all this shall happen, a terrible danger, in 
 comparison with which the present danger will not deserve 
 to be mentioned, shall menace David's royal House. In 
 graphic words the prophet then goes on to delineate the 
 awful desolation that is coming, when by the foolish policy 
 of ignoring Jehovah and entering into diplomatic relations 
 with worldly powers, Jerusalem was to be involved in the 
 struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Had another course 
 been adopted, Judah might have looked calmly on, an inter- 
 ested but untouched spectator. For the Church of Christ, 
 
 * The prophet certainly points to some mother, some married woman 
 who should shortly have a son : but critics differ greatly as to who this 
 person was. The word does not necessarily mean a virgin. This 
 Immanuel was to be a sign to unbelieving Ahaz, and in the Messianic 
 reference the essential point to emphasize is that Jesus was a divinely- 
 given Sign to an unbelieving generation. 
 
THE PROPHECIES ADDRESSED TO AHAZ. 1 23 
 
 represented by Jerusalem, need only be concerned about the 
 triumph of principle, and may remain perfectly indifferent 
 as to what Empire may be at any time the paramount power. 
 Neither from Egypt nor from Assyria could she get what 
 she wanted. This could come only from Jehovah. 
 
 In his third message to Ahaz the certainty of the over- 
 throw of Samaria and Syria is confirmed in another very 
 striking sign, even the naming of another son. Four words, 
 or rather two sentences, form now the burden of this 
 message : and they are embodied in the name of a boy. 
 Mahershalal ; — this first sentence means that quickly 
 shall trophies be taken — the prophet thus seeing the army 
 of Samaria in full and disgraceful flight : while Hash-Baz, 
 the second, tells us about booty being taken, as the 
 Assyrian forces shall enter Damascus in 732 B.C. and 
 help themselves to its wealth. 
 
 Thus on three separate occasions — these at least, perhaps 
 oftener — Isaiah had urged upon Ahaz the duty of warding off 
 the present attacks without any undue concern or anxiety. 
 But on his refusal thus to view the prospects of his neigh- 
 bours, and on his deliberate determination to call in the aid 
 of Assyria to crush them, Isaiah comes with a fourth message 
 to this unbelieving king. Already an alliance with Assyria 
 had been formed ; and this was a formal rejection of Jehovah 
 whose invisible, but ever-present protection of Jerusalem is 
 symbolised by the waters of the pool of Siloam, " the river 
 that makes glad the city of God." Ahaz had now made his 
 irrevocable choice, and sealed his destiny. Many of his 
 counsellors had favoured a general or triple alliance against 
 Assyria, putting thus their confidence in Rezin and Rema- 
 liah's son : they likewise, though in a different way, turned 
 their back upon God. Hence to king and people the 
 
124 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 prophet comes to declare a great Assyrian invasion, which 
 shall overthrow all alliances ; and against which there could 
 be only one barrier, one already deliberately rejected, even 
 the accepted Arm of Jehovah, as commended by Isaiah's 
 policy. Every confederacy, the prophet declares, will be vain 
 against those who accept God's protection ; in no confeder- 
 acy, save in one with Jehovah, should Jerusalem trust. So 
 that if even yet Ahaz could turn round, and rely upon 
 the covenant relationship of Jehovah, he might laugh at 
 the power of Assyria, calmly saying, " God is with us." 
 
 This, however, Ahaz stubbornly refuses to do, and the 
 prophet, silenced at court, turns homewards, placing his 
 testimony in writing, rolling it up, and handing it over to his 
 disciples. He has now to wait on God till these calamities 
 be past ; until a new king ascend the throne, and a new 
 course of policy commend itself to the people, who shall 
 have by that time seen the folly of trusting in " man's son, 
 in whom there is no stay." This temporary retirement of 
 the prophet from the court would not be for more than ten 
 years, if for so long : and it was brightened up by a sanguine 
 hope, which finds expression in his own glowing words. 
 During his absence from court, the king and his courtiers, 
 following Saul's example after Samuel's death, seek unto 
 witches and wizards, eager now to discover that divine 
 guidance they so much needed, but in the wrong quarter, 
 seeing that by them the commissioned Voice of God had been 
 silenced. It was a time of confusion and perplexity, a 
 time of distress to king and people ; a time of weary looking 
 for something better. But it ends as Hezekiah becomes 
 king. Around this coming prince the prophet's hopes 
 increasingly gathered ; and the more he knew of his private 
 character, as it was daily unfolding itself before the prophet- 
 teacher, the more distinct would his hope become. The 
 
KINGDOMS AFFECTED BY THE ASSYRIAN INVASION. 1 25 
 
 coming day of brightness is then foretold in language far 
 grander than could ever find its realization under an earthly 
 king, — in language, therefore, fitly descriptive of a Messianic 
 period. The great king that is soon to reign has on his 
 escutcheon four names, telling men of his perfection as 
 Judah's ruler, for he is to be wonderful in counsel, mighty 
 in power (a hero of God), abiding in protection, as the 
 father of his people, and a guarantee of peace. Such language 
 speaks of an ideal king, even a divine ruler, and only in a 
 very poor degree found its fulfilment in Hezekiah or any 
 Jewish king. But beyond a doubt, however far short the 
 actual fact fell of the hope and the prophecy, great was the 
 joy of the people, great was Isaiah's joy, when Hezekiah 
 became king. His spirit rose high as the horizon became 
 once again clear. The disappointments of a later day — the 
 utter inability of any merely human king to secure perfect 
 peace and righteousness, would convince the prophet that 
 the vision he had had was of One yet to come. And in the 
 light of the actual history of Him who has come, we now 
 know of what time and of Whom the Spirit of God, that was 
 in Isaiah, did testify. We now know what " the Zeal of the 
 Lord " has performed. 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 (Pp. 35-39.) 
 
 Messages to the Kingdoms affected by the Wave 
 
 OF THE Great Assyrian Invasion (722 b.c). 
 
 The date of the death of Ahaz was, as we have seen, an 
 important era for our prophet. He then came out of re- 
 tirement to exercise for a time great influence in the councils 
 of the young king. It is worthy of note that the death-year 
 
126 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 o Uzziah and the death-year of Ahaz were each occasions 
 of a special activity on the part of the prophet : and although 
 it is not definitely stated, it is yet very probable that a series 
 of prophecies should be assigned to the death-year of Heze- 
 kiah : but of this in its place. Here our concern is with a 
 group of prophecies concerning the immediate neighbours 
 of Jerusalem. The prophet is a watchman set upon his 
 high tower, and has his answer to give not only concerning 
 the issues of the great World-Empires, but also concerning 
 the fate of those more petty states lying on the several sides 
 of Judah, each of which had had in other days its own 
 part to i)lay in the affairs of Palestine. 
 
 On the south and west of Judah lay the towns of the 
 Philistines. Concerning these the prophet speaks first. This 
 whole territory lay right on the high road between Assyria 
 and Egypt — along the coast : and of necessity the advancing 
 hosts of these rival powers must pass along this way, carry- 
 ing in their train all the consequences of the movements of 
 large armies. The Philistines were hereditary enemies of 
 Judah, being the descendants of those who were driven out 
 of the central and northern portion of Canaan : and they 
 were continually a thorn in the side of God's people. 
 During the period of the Judges and of King Saul there 
 was a chronic condition of war between Israel and the 
 Philistines. They had been severely punished by David, 
 but their power to inflict harm was never removed. Even 
 during the last years of Ahaz, Isaiah had himself heard of 
 their invading Judah. In these circumstances they would 
 stand in awe only of the great empire with which Ahaz had 
 formed an alliance : and about this time Philistia was re- 
 joicing because the rod that smote her had been broken. 
 This rod would be not so much either the power of Ahaz 
 
KINGDOMS AFFECTED BY THE ASSYRIAN INVASION. I27 
 
 or the power of Shalmaneser separately, but the joint co- 
 operation of those two powers. The breaking up of this 
 alhance would be the occasion of this boasting on the part 
 of the Philistines. The death of Ahaz ended the alliance, 
 for when Hezekiah came to the throne, there was a prince 
 reigning over Judah to whom an alliance with Assyria was 
 abhorrent. He listened to Isaiah, and would have nothing 
 to do with such an alliance. It is vvorthy of notice that 
 both Shalmaneser and Ahaz died within a short time of one 
 another about 722 b.c. : so that when Hezekiah became 
 king, a new sovereign, Sargon, was ruling in Nineveh. 
 Now, although the boastful rejoicing of Philistia was vain 
 enough, even in view of the fact that so powerful a prince 
 as Sargon was reigning in Shalmaneser's room, the prophet 
 is commissioned to declare that it has no ground whatso- 
 ever, in view of the further fact that in the person of Heze- 
 kiah there is a resuscitation of the power and glory of 
 David's House. They are warned that a day of terrible 
 disaster is in store for them. The serpent which they 
 foolishly imagined dead, could never die : the divine ven- 
 geance against Philistia could never cease. Both from 
 Jerusalem and from Nineveh, punishment will yet come 
 against the PhiHstines. Under the protecting shield of a 
 king divinely-favoured, the people of Jerusalem would 
 dwell in safety : but that security would only mean the 
 certain doom of Philistia, when the hosts of Nineveh with 
 their rigorous military discipline, and the smoke of burning' 
 villages, marking their onward march, should come down 
 upon the south. For Philistia there would be no refuge ; for 
 God's people that would be abundantly found in Jerusalem. 
 From the south and west the prophet now turns his eye 
 to the east and speaks to Moab. His words tell of certain 
 
128 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 destruction about to come upon this people within the brief 
 period of three years : but as to the historical accomplish- 
 ment of these words in this exact time, we have no account. 
 Sargon in his extensive military invasions doubtless caused 
 great sufTering to the land of Moab, and Sennacherib secured 
 Moab's submission some years later. 
 
 The burden against Moab has three parts or oracles. 
 The first oracle, which is regarded as older than Isaiah's 
 time, is a cry of lamentation over the suddenness of the 
 ruin of Moab : and with singular power of detail, the 
 prophet, fully familiar with the country, sees mourning 
 passing from town to town, and from hill to hill. All is as 
 if he saw the whole thing before his eyes. A very terrible 
 humiliation had already been inflicted on Moab in the reign 
 of Jehoram, king of Israel (2 Kings iii. 4, 25). During 
 Ahab's reign, Moab had been compelled to pay a very 
 heavy annual tribute, even an 100,000 lambs, and an 
 100,000 rams. Refusal to pay led to war from time to 
 time, war resulting, however, invariably in the defeat of the 
 Moabites. In such circumstances, the prophet urges upon 
 Moab the wisdom of paying this tribute without trouble, or 
 demur. When Hezekiah came to the throne, most favour- 
 able reports of his character spread : and immediately an 
 embassy is sent from Moab, with complimentary messages 
 to give honour to the new king. But the real purpose of 
 this visit of the daughters of Moab across the boundary of 
 the Arnon,was to secure more favourable terms from Heze- 
 kiah. The insinuation is made that Moab had been badly 
 used in the past days by Israel, and Moab puts in a plea of 
 self-extenuation. This the prophet repels, urging the rejec- 
 tion of all overtures from Moab, and the dismissal of the 
 embassy. The pride and boasting of Moab were no new 
 thing. " His boastings are nought." Destruction must 
 
KINGDOMS AFFECTED BY THE ASSYRIAN INVASION. 1 29 
 
 come, if there be not prompt and absolute submission. 
 Even prayer to the gods will be futile. What a picture we 
 have of vain prayer, as INIoab is described as wearying 
 himself in his sanctuary, at the altar of Chemosh, his god, 
 and not prevailing ! On the other hand, " the effectual 
 fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 
 
 Adjoining Moab on the south, and continually in close 
 and friendly relationship therewith, was the country of 
 Edom, or Idumea. Like Moab, Edom had once formed 
 part of David's dominions, but in the days of disruption 
 and weakness, both had rebelled. What about Edom now ? 
 \Vhen Moab was so soon to fall — when the Assyrian was 
 spreading devastation all around — what was to be Edom's 
 fate ? The prophet hears the appeal addressed to him as 
 God's watchman, and with anxious repetition. The words, 
 "Watchman, what of the night ? " How much of the night 
 has passed? contain the cry of perplexity, and a demand for 
 light and guidance. But the answer is an oracle of silence. 
 Not yet is Edom to be told what is God's will concerning 
 her future. She is assured that there will be alternations of 
 light and darkness for her, as for all in the time of their 
 probation. Meanwhile, patience is to have its perfect work; 
 and after a little while she may inquire again. A later 
 prophecy shows the work of divine judgment on this land. 
 
 And now come the messages to the Arabian tribes. 
 Distant Kedar and the caravans of travelling Bedawin 
 peoples come in for their warning. Stretching away to 
 the south of Edom and Palestine lay Arabia with its 
 nomadic races. These were the carriers of the world's 
 commerce in the days before railways were introduced. 
 When Joseph was sold into Egypt, he was taken thither by 
 these Ishmaelite bands as they connected distant Meso- 
 
130 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 potamia with Egypt, bringing the goods of the one to 
 supply the wants of the other. It was so still. As country 
 after country was feeling the consequences of the advance 
 of Nineveh, these merchantmen would be the first to hear 
 the news with alarm, and in many cases to give timely 
 assistance. But these weakly-defended caravans would 
 not stand long before the armies of Sargon. Only a brief 
 space of one year is left to Kedar, and her mighty men. 
 Against her the Lord of the whole earth had spoken. The 
 day spoken of by Isaiah in his early prophecies had nearly 
 come. The glory of His majesty was being made mani- 
 fest as He was rising, and shaking terribly the earth. 
 
 And lastly, we think of Israel and Syria — the two 
 powers which had between them controlled till now the 
 territory from the northern boundary of Judah to the 
 entering in of Hamath. It was a bitter day for the Twelve 
 Tribes when Ephraim departed from Judah : it was likewise 
 a disastrous day for Ephraim when she departed from 
 Jehovah. To Judah there was this gain, that this new 
 kingdom became interposed between her and Syria's idola- 
 try, but this loss, that it was a distinct weakening of the 
 force, divinely placed in the world for the preservation of 
 pure religion. From the time of Ephraim's departure from 
 God, the necessity of her continuance under divine safe- 
 guarding ceased : and when Hosea's last appeal was re- 
 jected, her doom was only a matter of days. Her alliance 
 with Syria, the enemy of Assyria, brought this doom nearer, 
 while her negotiation with Egypt brought it down at once 
 upon her. Damascus was taken (732 B.C.), and soon after 
 Samaria goes into captivity (722 B.C.). Right down from 
 the North comes the irresistible wave of Assyrian invasion. 
 The glory of Israel has gone : " it has been made thin." 
 This furnishes the prophet with a fit occasion to address 
 
KINGDOMS AFFECTED BY THE ASSYRIAN INVASION. I31 
 
 a few faithful words to Jerusalem, urging what Hezekiah 
 speedily brought about, a reform of an extensive character 
 in the removal of altars, Asherim, and sun-images. For 
 her idolatry Israel had just suffered a vengeance like unto 
 • that which the whole of Israel had inflicted upon the 
 Hivites, Perizzites, and other heathen inhabitants of the 
 land, and for a similar reason — a God-denying idolatry. 
 The Ten Tribes had now been carried away, even as the 
 Canaanites had been driven away from before God's 
 people on their glorious entry into the land of promise. 
 Judah is, therefore, earnestly warned against following in 
 the idolatrous ways of Israel : and she is assured that if 
 she forgets the God of her salvation, the labour of her 
 hands shall all be vain. There will be for her, too, as there 
 has been for Ephraim, a day of grief and desperate sorrow, 
 where there would be no harvest. Alas, that this warning 
 was not fully taken ! " Yet Judah turned not unto God 
 with her whole heart, but feignedly : so that backsliding 
 Israel," having had less opportunity of repentance than 
 Judah, " proved herself more just than her treacherous 
 sister." This is the prophet Jeremiah's comment on the 
 state of things in 620 B.C. — one century later. (Jer. iii. 
 6-1 1.) 
 
 Thus, in his outlook over the peoples, the prophet delivers 
 five important messages to what are the smaller kingdoms. 
 While the greater issues were being involved and worked 
 out in the struggle for supremacy between Assyria, Egypt, 
 and Babylon, Isaiah clearly saw that the smaller peoples 
 too were under the control of God. To the prophet, 
 Jehovah is no tribal God, but the God of the whole world. 
 To this God all destinies, great or small, are open and 
 naked. In His Hand are all our times. To all He speaks 
 a warning word. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
132 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART VI I. 
 
 (Pp. 40- 54-) 
 
 The Reign of King Hezekiah, with an account of his 
 Religious Reforms, his Sickness, and Recovery :. 
 and the two Assyrian Invasions (722-693 b.c). 
 
 In English history there is a striking parallel to the events 
 of this period in Jewish history. Edward VI., under the 
 guardianship of Cranmer, had established a pure form of 
 religious worship in England. On his death, Queen Mary 
 upset everything, and for their allegiance to the Protestant 
 P'aith, drove into retirement those who had escaped the 
 fires of Smithfield. With EUzabeth a new era dawned, 
 and the religious life of the country displayed itself in great 
 enthusiasm, resulting in the overthrow of the Armada. The 
 reign of Ahaz was like unto that of Mary : with the accession 
 of Hezekiah begins a reign like unto that of Elizabeth, 
 having in its course the magnificent defeat of Sennacherib's 
 hosts by the Arm of the Lord. God's banished people took 
 new heart of courage, and the hidden prophet once more 
 appears as the guiding spirit of a new era. 
 
 A great reform characterised the early days of the new 
 reign. A complete iconoclasm or idol-breaking is carried 
 through. The brazen serpent made by Moses, and associ- 
 ated with a great scene of healing, had been raised to an 
 undue place of reverence. This is declared to be Nehushtan, 
 or a mere piece of brass. Then the temple, in which the 
 heathenish altar of Ahaz had been erected, was thoroughly 
 purified and repaired. The usual services of Jehovah, 
 which had suffered neglect, were renewed : the feasts were 
 restored, and the sacrifices duly offered. The honour and 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 133 
 
 <ylory of God were called to remembrance. Isaiah and Heze- 
 kiah worked hand to hand, as at a later time in a similar, 
 though much more radical reform, Jeremiah and Josiah 
 did. This happened in the first year of King Hezekiah. 
 The purification of the temple, and the consecration of 
 the priests were immediately followed by the celebration 
 of the Passover in such a manner as to fill Jerusalem with 
 joy, and to remind all of the glorious days at the beginning 
 of Solomon's reign — the best days of David's House. 
 
 It is interesting to note here that many belonging to 
 the Ten Tribes joined in these Passover celebrations— an 
 approach being thereby made to those days foretold by 
 the prophet Amos (ix. ii) when God would raise "up the 
 tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches 
 thereof, and raise up his ruins, and build it as in the days of 
 old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all 
 the heathen, which had been called by His Name." The 
 separation of the Tribes had been occasioned by idolatrous 
 conduct on Solomon's part during his last years; their 
 reunion, a result greatly to be desired in the interests of pure 
 religion, could only be brought about by a strenuous en- 
 deavour to obey the law of Jehovah. To this work Hezekiah 
 devotes his best energy, and with singular success. 
 
 The reform of Josiah has been spoken of as more radical 
 than that of Hezekiah, and for this reason. In Hezekiah's 
 reign the altars on the High places were removed, but in 
 the latter reign these High places themselves were com- 
 pletely desecrated. "The High places that were before 
 Jerusalem did king Josiah defile" (2 Kings xxiii. 13). 
 
 The chronology of this period is difficult to determine. 
 It is manifest that the captivity of the Ten Tribes took place 
 after the accession of Hezekiah, and the date of this im- 
 
134 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 poitant event is fixed beyond question as 722 B.C. Pro- 
 bably, therefore, Hezekiah saw this event accomplished in 
 the very beginning of his reign : and was thereby all the 
 more stimulated in his endeavours to put his house in order. 
 If this is so, the dates given in the historical passages are 
 perplexing: and if fuller authorities were forthcoming, 
 might be emended. These facts are clearly corroborated — 
 that the siege of Samaria, begun by Shalmaneser in 725 B.C., 
 lasted for three years (as both sacred and profane history 
 assure us), and that the reign of Hezekiah had begun 
 before Samaria ceased to be a kingdom. 
 
 The next important episode in the life of Hezekiah, is 
 the time of his sickness. This date is determined by the 
 information we have of the embassy sent by Merodach, 
 king of Babylon, to congratulate the king on his recovery — 
 an embassy concerning which much interest was excited in 
 two quarters. It raised the ire of Sargon, king of Nineveh, 
 for the object of the Babylonian embassy could not but be 
 known to this fully-informed ruler : and, as we shall see 
 later, it caused deep grief to the prophet, for it revealed 
 the fact that the lately healed king was only too willing to 
 negotiate an alliance with Babylon against Assyria — a policy 
 as much to be condemned, when favoured by a reforming 
 king, as that of an alliance with Assyria was condemned, 
 when adopted by an idolatrous king. ^V' ith God there is 
 no respect of persons : evil is always evil in His sight. The 
 first great invasion of Judah by Sargon, which was only 
 prevented from reaching to the citadel of Jerusalem, by a 
 humiliating peace — an invasion so graphically portrayed by 
 the prophet in chap. x. ver. 28, is dated in the year 710 B.C., 
 or some twelve years after Hezekiah became king. This 
 is spoken of with approximate accuracy as the fourteenth 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. I35 
 
 year of his reign : but by an error, probably of a copyist, 
 the name Shahnaneser is written, instead of that of Sargon, 
 It may be surmised that the original text simply read thus, 
 "About the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, the king of 
 Assyria came up," etc. : a scribe noting by way of interro- 
 gation the king's name on the margin. As often happened 
 in similar cases, this note found its way in course of tran- 
 scription into the text itself.* 
 
 We thus obtain this result, that Hezekiah's severe illness 
 and recovery occurred in 710 B.C. : and as his life w^as pro- 
 longed for fifteen years, his death-year would be about 693 B.C. 
 The duration of his reign would thus be probably nearly 
 twenty-nine years. The sickness of Hezekiah was at one 
 time a serious matter, and seemed to betoken the termina- 
 tion of his reign. But the divine warning was regarded, at 
 least to some extent : and the king got better. As a 
 memorial of this recovery, there is preserved a beautiful 
 psalm composed by the royal patient himself. The good- 
 ness of the Lord, and the divine forgiveness are now 
 thought of, and among the living, who have been brought 
 back from the very gates of death, the king praises God, 
 reminding us of another restored one in Ps. cxvi. 
 
 No sooner, however, is this sickness gone, than a great 
 temptation comes upon the king, leading to a great sin. 
 There was at this time a powerful king ruling in Babylon, 
 and indications of a great future for this ruler, though at 
 present a tributary of Assyria, were being given. Sargon 
 was manifestly jealous. Hence the wiser course for Heze- 
 kiah to have followed would have been to avoid giving 
 
 * The lovers of the Bible need in no way be concerned by such 
 difficulties as to names and dates, which a complete knowledge would 
 clear up : but such difficulties are very real things, and have to be ac- 
 knowledged as occurring in the best copies of the record of Revelation. 
 
136 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 offence to"Assyria. The temptation, however, was great, to 
 lean upon the arm of flesh, and to rejoice in any power that 
 seemed capable of restraining the power of Sargon. Under 
 this temptation Hezekiah fell. And immediately the 
 Assyrian armies invaded Judah — an invasion which Isaiah 
 must have seen, for he describes its sad progress. So near 
 did Sargon's hosts come, even to Nob, that he is said to have 
 shaken his hand contemptuously at the daughter of Zion. 
 Hezekiah postponed the crisis by sending an embassy to 
 the Assyrian king, and acknowledging his offence in the 
 matter of the reception of the Babylonian embassy. A 
 heavy penalty had to be paid, however, before peace could 
 be secured — so heavy, that to raise it the king had to de- 
 spoil the Temple doors, and empty the Temple exchequer. 
 This most humiliating transaction was a severe punishment 
 indeed. But as we shall find Isaiah complaining in his 
 burden of the valley of vision, the divine purpose was not 
 served : for while God called the people to mourn over 
 their sins, they had taken to rejoicing at the departure of 
 their terrible enemy. 
 
 This departure of Sargon was simply a temporary thing. 
 There could be no permanent halt in the onward move- 
 ment southwards towards the great crisis of Assyria's fate. 
 About five years after this Sargon died, and Sennacherib 
 ascended the throne of Nineveh. Babylon was again 
 tributary, but Egypt was unsubdued. Hence, in 701 B.C., 
 Sennacherib advances to the conquest of the land of the 
 Pharaohs. Now, most unfortunately for Jerusalem, the 
 Egyptian party in the councils of Hezekiah, led by Shebna, 
 had gained too much influence: and Judah incurred Sen- 
 nacherib's anger by reason of negotiating so largely with 
 Egypt. The Assyrian army was divided into two great parts 
 
THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. 137 
 
 — one portion being detailed for the siege of Jerusalem, and 
 the other for the invasion of Egypt. We follow the fortune 
 of each army in turn, as it is sent to carry out the boastful 
 plans of Sennacherib. 
 
 Jerusalem prepares herself for a regular siege. The Rab- 
 shakeh, or second in command — a staff officer, perhaps 
 commander of a division of the Assyrian forces — is sent to 
 demand instant capitulation : it was thought by Sennacherib 
 sheer presumption for Hezekiah to think of resistance, and 
 he imagined that he had simply to put in his demand. But 
 the boastful king was ignoring God, and entirely misunder- 
 standing and misinterpreting the religious reforms of Heze- 
 kiah. He knew not the assurances that Isaiah was continu- 
 ally giving to Hezekiah, that Jehovah was using Assyria as 
 an instrument only, to which He could put bounds at His 
 pleasure. Never before in his experience had Sennacherib 
 heard of a God, who could resist his progress : he believed 
 in the almighty power of Asshur. Isaiah, however, knew 
 that Jehovah was the Supreme : and the protection of this 
 only true and living God was now assured to Hezekiah. 
 A bound was, therefore, put to the progress of Assyria — a 
 bound which was an anticipation of the day of Assyria's 
 fall. In a way most mysterious to man, not fully explained 
 by the Egyptian traditions, but revealing the direct inter- 
 position of Jehovah, the army that lay before Jerusalem 
 was decimated. At eventide there was terror in the ranks, 
 and before the morning they ceased to be. "This is the 
 portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob 
 us." The tents were struck, and Jerusalem was delivered. 
 So much for the fate of one division of the army. 
 
 The other portion had meanwhile marched onwards to 
 the border of Egypt, and on the field of El-Tekeh had been 
 
13S HOW TO Ri:.\I) ISAIAH. 
 
 successful in a pitched fight with Tirhakah, the king of the 
 land, who had come thus for to meet him. Had Jerusalem 
 only fallen, the other division of the army might now have 
 come up, and made the conquest of Egypt complete. This 
 part of the programme, however, had miscarried : and Senna- 
 cherib was unable to pursue his advantage. The escutcheon 
 of Assyria had received a stain : Asshur's proud progress, its 
 first great check. From this campaign Sennacherib re- 
 turned in dejection : and during the remainder of his reign 
 had not much success in any other great undertaking. 
 He held his own, doubtless : but this was not enough for 
 the pride of Asshur. Here, only success could pay : there 
 was not for him the tenure and joy, which righteousness 
 always secures. His last days were unhappy, and in the 
 very temple of his gods he ended his life, killed by his own 
 children. The sacred history would seem to imply that 
 this disastrous end came at once : but here twenty years 
 of Assyrian rule count for nothing. "The mills of God 
 grind slowly : but they grind to powder." Sennacherib died 
 in 681 B.C., some twelve years after Hezekiah. 
 
 The death of this great king of Judah occurred a few 
 years after the great deliverance : and his closing years 
 must have been filled with grateful remembrances of what 
 Jehovah his Salvation had done for him. In this day 
 Jehovah alone was exalted, and all the idols were utterly 
 abolished. Hezekiah shared in this glory, and happy must 
 have been the evening of his days. The prophet — how 
 he, too, must have rejoiced in the happy turn events had 
 taken. For God had fulfilled the word which he had been 
 commissioned to declare. " For His own sake, and for 
 His servant David's sake," He had defended this city. 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 139 
 
 PART VIII. 
 
 (Pp. 54-59.) 
 
 A Series of Prophecies concerning the Certain 
 Doom of Assyria, delivered in the Reign of 
 
 HeZEKIAH (722-705 B.C.). 
 
 During the reign of Ahaz, Isaiah had condemned the 
 alliance with Assyria. The main reason was this. Such an 
 alliance with a heathen power was a distinct departure 
 from trust in Jehovah, as Judah's God and Protector. 
 But another reason now clearly appears in the pro- 
 phecies of Hezekiah's reign — viz., that while Jehovah was 
 going to effect a signal deliverance for His people. He was 
 going to inflict an equally signal mark of His wrath upon 
 Assyria. This part of the divine purpose the prophet now 
 declares to ears willing to hear him. 
 
 Very special instruction is here given as to the way, in 
 which the believing heart should view human history, and 
 think of the great World-Powers engaged in its tragedy. 
 These World-Powers embody and represent some founda- 
 tion principle — each its own varying form. But though 
 different, these principles are all expressions of Self as 
 opposed to God. At that time Assyria asserted herself as an 
 independent Force in human history. Self-aggrandisement 
 was the one aim and purpose. To spread the glory of 
 Asshur, this was why great armies were moved. To make 
 his nominees princes and kings, even as in modern days 
 . Napoleon did, this was the goal of all effort of each Assyrian 
 king. There was no thought of advancing civilisation, or 
 of spreading truth, purity, and righteousness. Every nation 
 that resisted was depopulated and carried into captivity : 
 
MO HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 and thus most effectually was Asshur's power spread by the 
 importation of a new population, that owed everything to 
 the conqueror's favour. This fact explains the carrying 
 away into captivity of the Ten Tribes, and then of Judah : it 
 was the method of conquest at that time in vogue. King- 
 dom after kingdom had fallen before Assyria ; what could 
 prevent Jerusalem from falling likewise? To Nineveh's 
 self-confidence there seemed no limit. 
 
 But the divinely-taught prophet saw things differently. 
 The power of Assyria was only a rod in Jehovah's hand ; a 
 rod that could not move itself, and that must cease moving, 
 when God so decreed. The prophet, therefore, exclaims, 
 " O Assyrian ! thou art only the rod of the divine anger : 
 thou art sent by God only to fulfil a divine charge. If 
 Jerusalem does suffer, it will only be by way of needful 
 chastisement : the glory will all belong to God ; and when 
 the work has been accomplished, punishment will fall on the 
 pride of Nineveh." Judah, God's chosen people, against 
 which Assyria now boasts so loudly, and which, in a season 
 of infatuation, had leant on Assyria — Judah will yet by God's 
 decree inflict a deadly wound on that boastful power, — such 
 a wound as had been inflicted on Egypt in the day of the 
 Exodus, or in the day of Oreb on Midian. With this 
 supreme confidence in Jehovah, and with this way of con- 
 struing history, Isaiah could boldly come into the royal 
 presence, and say : " O my people, be not afraid of the 
 Assyrian ! " With true prophetic insight Isaiah was en- 
 dued with power and courage : and could view even the 
 greatest kings of the earth, and their movements and com- 
 binations, as things to be laughed at, and held in derision 
 (Psalm ii.). Only for a little while shall the wicked vaunt 
 himself against the righteous. These " little whiles " are 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 141 
 
 seasons of testing to faith in every age. The "little while" 
 of Assyria's boastful, and apparently unchecked, progress, 
 was such a time to Jerusalem. The news of her con- 
 quest of Babylon caused alarm to Hezekiah and his people. 
 Isaiah himself, apparently with regret, but under a deep 
 sense of duty, feels himself bound to tell out all the 
 truth about the success of Sargon in his siege of Babylon 
 (p. 79-80) — a siege that lasted twelve years (722-710 b.c). 
 So long as the hands of Sargon were thus tied up by 
 his refractory vassal, Jerusalem was safe enough : but 
 the moment the siege ended, Hezekiah felt the weight of 
 Sargon's wrath for his sympathetic treatment of the 
 envoys of Babylon. Judah is invaded. And this angry 
 invasion of Judah is fully described by Isaiah. If we 
 are allowed to adopt a suggested emendation in verse 27 
 here, we shall then have, in place of a very difficult, 
 an almost unintelligible, passage, a clear heading for the 
 account of the invasion of Sargon. Behold ! the prophet 
 seems to cry out, the great destroyer is on his march 
 from the North ! See his progress from town to town — 
 Aiath to Migron, Michmash to Geba, Gallim to Anathoth, 
 Madmenah to Nod — there 's consternation on every hand, 
 and Jerusalem herself is terribly alarmed. But just at this 
 stage a peace is made : and the army of Sargon is retired. 
 
 Reference is most probably made to this peace in the 
 burden of the valley of vision. This expression — valley of 
 vision — is applied to Jerusalem, where Jehovah was pleased 
 to give visions concerning His will to His servants. The 
 prophet sees the whole city turned out in festive array for a 
 time of rejoicing : and he expresses his disappointment, a 
 thing he would not have done in connection with the great 
 rejoicings so appropriate on the occasion of the deliverance 
 
142 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 from Sennacherib. On this occasion there was no reason 
 for congratulation : it was a day of disgrace, discomfiture, 
 and despair. Judah did not call upon Jehovah as she 
 should have done. When there was a distinct call to na- 
 tional repentance, the prophet found, on the contrary, only 
 joy and gladness because of the departure of Sargon. The 
 indifference to the real state of the case is very serious in 
 the eyes of the prophet : it is an unpardonable sin. How 
 often have God's servants to deplore the foolish rejoicing 
 of men over disgraceful compromises. 
 
 Hence he rebukes the almost universal panic among the 
 nations : he condemns Judah's unworthy fear. In glowing 
 words, only too brief, he foretells the complete and sudden 
 overthrow of the hosts of Assyria. What is to happen ten 
 years after, the prophet sees as an already accomplished 
 fact. For the prophetic confidence in a divine must-be, 
 leads to the description of it as an actuality. Faith sees 
 not the difficulties that reason emphasises : but laughs at 
 impossibilities, saying : "It shall be done." In this spirit 
 Isaiah delivers his message to Hezekiah : in this spirit he 
 seeks again, and yet again to allay fear, and to bring his 
 royal master, and loved people, into a worthy attitude to- 
 wards the rapidly ripening purpose of God. 
 
 Isaiah has no doubt whatever as to the manner in which 
 Judah should meet Assyria. He would have her thoroughly 
 purge herself from all false confidences, from all sin, and 
 completely rely upon the almighty power of Jehovah. He 
 is assured that the Assyrian shall be entirely broken, even 
 in the land of Judah, as afterwards it came to pass : and the 
 joy over a temporary and very partial deliverance he cannot 
 understand. The prophet sees the divine purpose against 
 Assyria : he sees it in its glorious fulness : he is persuaded 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE DOOM OF ASSYRIA. 1 43 
 
 that Jehovah's hand is stretched out against Nineveh, and 
 nothing on earth can turn it back. 
 
 About this time Egypt had sent ambassadors to Hezekiah 
 seeking his assistance against Assyria. Egypt was alarmed, 
 as was Judah, at the report of Sennacherib's victories, and 
 urges a strong aUiance. Hence Isaiah speaks not only to 
 Hezekiah, but also to the messengers who had come from 
 Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia and Egypt. They are bidden 
 to return homewards with a message of calm confidence, 
 and an assurance for their master that Assyria will not be 
 able to hurt him just yet. The prophet speaks in compli- 
 mentary terms of the Egyptian forces, as he recalls their 
 former pre-eminence in war and civilisation. But he thinks 
 not of any human powers : his thoughts occupy themselves 
 v/ith the government of the universe by Jehovah alone. In 
 contrast to the perplexity and restless movement of men, 
 he pictures the calm certainty and restful waiting of 
 Jehovah. There is no haste in the divine purpose : it 
 shall yet be opportunely accomplished. Egypt shall soon 
 recognise this divine supremacy, and in the moment of glad 
 deliverance shall send gifts to the Lord of Hosts, who 
 dwelleth in Mount Zion. And as we have seen, thus it 
 fell out. When suddenly the Assyrian army was paralysed 
 at the gates of Jerusalem, the conquering hosts at El-Tekeh 
 were withdrawn — Egypt breathed freely. Among the many 
 who brought gifts to Hezekiah, not the least grateful would 
 be Egypt's king, and not the least in value would be the 
 gift brought by his people.* 
 
 * The opening verses of ch. xi. (see page 91) may very well embody 
 the words addressed to Hezekiah at this time. Isaiah's ideal of a true 
 king is there described. 
 
144 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 PART IX. 
 
 (Pp. 60-68.) 
 
 The Prophetic Condemnation of an Alliance with 
 Egypt. 
 
 In tlie councils of Hezekiah there was a strong party 
 favourable to an alliance between Judah and Egypt. At 
 the head of the party stood Shebna. He occupied a post 
 corresponding to that of our prime minister, and was Trea- 
 surer, or chief adviser of the king. His tenure of office 
 bode no good to Jerusalem : his pro-Egyptian policy, like 
 the pro-Assyrian policy of Ahaz, was utterly displeasing to 
 Jehovah, and alien to the best traditions of David's 
 House. Against this policy Isaiah is specially commis- 
 sioned to raise his voice. In the discharge of this 
 mission he singles out Shebna, a stranger apparently, as 
 his Syrian name shows, who had by ambition raised 
 himself to high office, and was devoid of religious prin- 
 ciple. He had been securing honour for himself, estab- 
 lishing his family in the land, as he thought, and as the 
 custom was, hewing out for himself a sepulchre. But from 
 that high office he would soon be disgracefully ousted, 
 when king and people would alike come to see the un- 
 worthy character of an Egyptian alliance. And it is worthy 
 of remark that this prophecy was speedily fulfilled. For 
 when the Rabshakeh is met by Hezekiah's messengers, 
 Shebna does not occupy the first place. Not only, how- 
 ever, does the prophet foretell the deposition of Shebna, 
 he designates his successor. This new premier was to be 
 EUakim : and his administration was to receive the blessing 
 of Jehovah. Great hopes gathered round him : he was to 
 be the people's protector, and a glory to his father's house. 
 
CONDEMNATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. I45 
 
 But of him, alas ! as of every human leader, however great, 
 these hopes could not be fully realised : and the word goes 
 forth that even this nail that was once fastened in a sure 
 place shall give way. Thus the language here used about 
 Eliakini finds its perfect fulfilment only in Him, whose 
 supreme prerogative it is so to open that no man can shut, 
 even Jesus Christ. 
 
 Isaiah showed his firm conviction of the truth of his 
 prophecies concerning the nations in a very striking manner. 
 AVe have seen how he embodied in the names of his children 
 the message he had received of the Lord concerning Syria 
 and Damascus. Now we see him for the space of three 
 years walking up and down among his people without his 
 prophetic mantle — so to teach them, in symbolic manner, 
 that soon Assyria would deprive Egypt of all her glory. 
 During these years Isaiah would very powerfully help in 
 changing public opinion, and by this method convince men 
 of the folly of trusting in Egypt. The occasion of this 
 singular and impressive procedure on the part of the pro- 
 phet was the siege of Ashdod, a strong Philistine town, by 
 the forces of Assyria under the Tartan, another term in- 
 dicative of high military office, and not of a name. This 
 was just prior to the invasion of Judah in 710 B.C. by Sargon 
 himself: so that the three years of Isaiah's public demon- 
 stration of his disapproval of the Egyptian alliance would 
 be from 714 to 711 B.C. The great success of the Assyrian 
 forces against Ashdod, which put an end to the temporary 
 boasting of Philistia, gave Isaiah clearest confirmation of 
 his prophetic hope that very* speedily Egypt would fall 
 under the rule of Nineveh. And had Isaiah's advice been 
 taken, Judah might have escaped intact. Her great folly, 
 therefore, was an alliance with a power already doomed, and 
 
 K 
 
146 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the punishment of which was only postponed by the Judcean 
 alliance, which caused the suffering originally purposed 
 against Egypt to be inflicted on Jerusalem. 
 
 In Isaiah's time Ethiopia and Egypt had been united 
 under a powerful sovereign, as the Inscriptions tell us : but 
 there had been a number of kingdoms whereby the power 
 of the country had been weakened. So that while Assyria 
 had been steadily increasing, Egypt had been going back. 
 About the time of Ahaz the tide turned, and Egypt speedily 
 gathered up her strength to face her northern rival. In 
 720 D.c, at Raphia, Shabaka was defeated by an Assyrian 
 force, and thus checked. But under Tirhakah her fortune 
 again recovered, and this king sought the co-operation of 
 Hezekiah. 
 
 It was a singular and almost unaccountable infatuation, 
 in the eyes of Isaiah, that led Jerusalem into negotiations 
 with Egypt. It was rebellion against Jehovah : nay, it was 
 folly : soon it was going to be their shame and reproach. 
 At this very time the ambassadors of Tirhakah, the Pharaoh 
 of the land, were on their way : already Hezekiah was re- 
 turning the compUment, and sending presents to this king. 
 The prophet sees the caravans carrying gifts to the south : 
 and he denounces the whole transaction. For the help of 
 Egypt shall be in vain. Rahab may boast of what she will 
 do : but the prophet assures Hezekiah that in the time of 
 need she will not fulfil her promises, and will only sit still. 
 Such words were met by unbelief, and positive refusal : 
 hence the prophet does now what he did in similar circum- 
 stances, in the reign of Ahaz : he goes and writes his mes- 
 sage down, that it may be on record for ever. In this 
 procedure we learn something about the meaning of the 
 written prophecies. Above all things the prophets would 
 
CONDEMNATION OF AN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT, 1 47 
 
 desire that their declarations of the will of God should be 
 written on the fleshly tablets of the heart, and thus em- 
 bodied in living epistles ; but when unbelief refused these 
 messages, they would be compelled to write them down. 
 
 A vision of the future prosperity of Zion follows — one 
 very much of an apocalyptic kind, and in line with those 
 of Joel and other prophets. But all the bright hopes of 
 Isaiah are conditional on the coming destruction of the 
 Assyrian empire by the utterance of God's mighty voice. 
 The annihilation of the Assyrian power is graphically set 
 forth as one great funeral obsequy, such as were well known 
 among Eastern nations. The divine command prepares the 
 Tophet or pyre : and in its flames all the glory of Assyria 
 shall consume away. What had been prepared by human 
 wisdom for the idolatrous worship of Moloch, shall now 
 by divine decree be used for Assyria's destruction : her 
 king shall be the great victim. 
 
 The folly, nay wickedness, of an alliance with Egypt is 
 emphasised from the point of view of refusing the divine 
 protection. Wisdom and strength are not alone to be found 
 in Egypt : they are only truly to be found in Jehovah, who 
 also is wise. The failure to bear in mind the transient 
 character of all human aid is a continual temptation. 
 Beautiful illustrations are now given to show forth the divine 
 protection. The vanity of trust in human shepherds, which 
 is a distinct forgetting that the mighty lion-like power of 
 God is holding Jerusalem in safety, is forcibly, even strangely, 
 shown. God will not move from His purpose and His 
 covenant by reason of any of the temporary expedients of 
 men. Jerusalem would rest securely in His firm hold. 
 And then the divine love is shadowed forth by the love of 
 parent birds as they fly around the tree in which are the 
 
148 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 nests of their little helpless ones. In God the prophet sees 
 not only the mighty power for protection possessed by a 
 lion, but also the loving and watchful solicitude of a parent 
 — the tenderness of a mother. What a revelation of the 
 divine character does this prophecy give ! No wonder that 
 the prophet bursts out into an earnest invitation to Judah 
 to come back to her allegiance to such a God : an allegiance 
 that would secure not only one great defeat of Assyria such 
 as Hezekiah saw, but a complete and perpetual overthrow 
 of that mighty Empire. This event did ultimately come 
 about : but not as soon as it might have been accomplished, 
 had Jerusalem fully trusted in Jehovah, and turned away 
 from all her false confidences. 
 
 We have a very sublime prophetic description here of the 
 judgment coming upon Egypt — Isaiah's last words to that 
 country. The prophet, unmoved by negotiations between 
 Egypt and Judah, holds to his distinct announcement of the 
 overthrow of Egypt. This event was postponed, indeed, by 
 the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem, and its consequences 
 for the army of Sennacherib : but only for the time. The 
 successor of this king — viz., Esar-Haddon, secured tribute 
 from Manasseh, Hezekiah's unworthy son, and conquered 
 Egypt in 672 b.c. Yet another campaign had to be fought 
 before Assyria should secure the complete submission of the 
 land of the Pharaohs. This was conducted by Asur-Bani- 
 Pal, who finally crushed Tirhakah, and destroyed Thebes, 
 the No of Nahum in 662 B.C. This was Assyria's last ex- 
 l)loit : her power had reached its climax, and her fall was 
 near. In these events, however, Isaiah's prophecy found 
 its fulfilment. For after this, Egypt, in a new capital, 
 that of Sais, began to be independent once more under 
 Psammctichus, who perhaps is the cruel lord here referred 
 
THE prophet's COMPLAINT CONCERNING JERUSALEM. 1 49 
 
 to. It may, however, be thought that this cruel lord was 
 the king of Assyria, under whom Egypt suffered so much. 
 
 Most graphically does the prophet tell us all about the 
 perplexity and confusion of Egypt — a condition of things 
 that prevailed during the closing years of Tirhakah's reign. 
 The source of the country's greatness was the river Nile, 
 but upon this river and all its canals God's judgment was to 
 come. In this way the cessation of Egyptian prosperity is 
 shown. History has much to tell about the way in which 
 the comparative drying up of the Nile has been caused, 
 whereby her tides have been decreased at the expense of 
 the fertility of the land. Sacred history foretells this as 
 part of a divine purpose. 
 
 But, amid the darkness that is to enshroud the future of 
 this country, the prophet has a vision of light. He is con- 
 vinced, that even in that land there could be some public 
 recognition of Jehovah, the God of the whole earth. He 
 sees a method of dealing with the question, that divides the 
 world among the rival powers. Why could the three great 
 powers not agree to a threefold division of the countries 
 between them ? Ah, why not ? Human ambition answers. 
 Men will not acknowledge Jehovah : and in a reign of peace 
 put an end to their own personal or national aggrandisement. 
 And thus the prophetic hope of Egypt's conversion was 
 never realised. 
 
 PART X. 
 
 (Pp. 68-77.) 
 
 The Prophet's Complaint concerning Jerusalem, 
 AND solemn Indictment of the Nation. 
 
 The state of Jerusalem at this time led the prophet to 
 denounce the outstanding sins of the people in strong 
 
ISO HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 language. The divine vengeance had already fallen upon 
 the crown of pride of Ephraim, and the drunken infatua- 
 tion of the Ten Tribes had led to their captivity. Surely 
 Judah might have learnt wisdom from this warning ! They 
 who were the residue or remnant of the chosen people, 
 might surely have displayed their supreme confidence in 
 God ! But no ! The prophet beholds the prevalence of 
 these same sins in Jerusalem, which had brought ruin on 
 Ephraim. He finds his warning words despised. He is 
 mocked at as one who is simply repeating the old common- 
 places, precept upon precept, line upon line. Hence, while 
 deeply moved with grief at all he sees around him, and at 
 the reception he receives from his own people, he is under 
 obligation to declare the divine wrath against them. He 
 speaks first to those who were scorning his message, and 
 treating himself so contumeliously : this he does in a most 
 eloquent passage, in words that display the great power of 
 Isaiah as a prophet. In burning words he shows how the 
 Word of God will stand, while all the covenants of a false 
 expediency and a time-serving generation will utterly perish. 
 The true prophetic standpoint is seen in such words as 
 these, which declare that judgment will be the line, and 
 righteousness the plummet, in the divine building up of 
 things : while everything that is unjust and unrighteous 
 will be swept away. The divine purpose is compared to 
 a well-laid foundation-stone — a stone upon which a divine 
 and beautiful superstructure will be raised, even though the 
 would-be builders of this, or any successive generation, refuse 
 to build thereon. Those truly subservient to the divine 
 purpose can wait God's time : for those who rest in Him 
 shall not be restless. The rejection of the divine message 
 in human ignorance, is, after all, a ripple on the surface of 
 
THE prophet's COxMPLAINT CONCERNING JERUSALEM. 151 
 
 the ocean : that message is ever finding its own fulfilment. 
 " Rest " then " in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." 
 
 This lesson of calm waiting on God is beautifully en- 
 forced by a parable drawn from agricultural experience. 
 The prophet calls the attention of impatient men to the 
 method God follows every year in the course of Nature. A 
 time of preparation of the soil precedes the sowing : and a 
 time of waiting always precedes the harvest. While again, 
 when the harvest is ingathered, different methods are 
 adopted by the farmer for his different crops. Shall not He 
 who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom, who 
 thus instructs the farmer in his various methods, and calm 
 waiting, instruct also us men in the wider concerns of the 
 world's spiritual history? Shall there not be a spiritual 
 preparation, and an infinite variety of methods and instru- 
 ments used by God, before He shall be divinely satisfied ? 
 
 The prophet weeps over Jerusalem. And even as Christ 
 wept on the Mount of Olives, and foretold a day of siege, 
 so now does Isaiah. History repeats itself. He weeps over 
 the sins that render such a divine visitation necessary : but 
 his faith in a covenant-God enables him to foresee, and to 
 declare the discomfiture of all her foes. Once before, as 
 Jebus, she had been besieged and captured, when she 
 became Ariel, a city or hearth of God. Once again shall 
 she be in terrible straits : but this time God will remem- 
 ber His own city, and for His servant David's sake, He 
 will defend her. In a moment, and in some most surpris- 
 ing manner, the foes of Jerusalem shall be utterly 
 destroyed. Thus it happened to Assyria ; for surely 
 Sennacherib would hardly beUeve the news that came: 
 he would be as one dreaming. So great had been his 
 confidence that Jerusalem would easily fall into his hands ! 
 
152 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 He had failed to remember that God was still on the side 
 of His people, and this did make all the difference. God 
 is not always " on the side of the big battalions." 
 
 In Jerusalem there was a professed service of Jehovah. 
 They had the Temple, with its rites : the law of Moses, with 
 its teachers. And yet there was very much formality ; much 
 false service ; much drawing near to God without the heart ; 
 much making void of the divine law by human traditions 
 The prophet has solemnly to arraign his nation, and to declare 
 that God is not mocked — that the divine Eye is always 
 open, and the divine Ear never deaf. The interests of 
 right and purity, both in moral and religious life, may for a 
 time appear to suffer at the hands of men, but being dear to 
 God, they shall receive a glorious vindication. They that 
 err in spirit shall yet come to a true understanding of the 
 divine method ; while they that murmur against the divine 
 judgment shall yet learn the secret of the Lord, that 
 which He teaches those who fear Him. 
 
 And in connection with the prophet's charge against 
 Jerusalem, and his disappointment at her unwillingness to 
 repent, we take in the great indictment of the Jewish nation 
 — that brilliant prophecy that now stands in our Authorised 
 Version as a most fit and appropriate introduction to the 
 whole collection of the prophecies of Isaiah. It bears, how- 
 ever, internal evidence of having been written at a time when 
 traces of desolation, resulting from invasion, were to be seen 
 on every side ; when indeed the terrible foe had not as yet 
 approached the citadel, but had given warning of what he 
 might do. The country had been ravaged, but Zion was 
 still secure. It is also manifest that the prophet's tone is 
 now one of disappointed hope. The process of hardening is 
 now far advanced, and the prophet speaks to many unwilling 
 
THE PROPHETS MESSAGE TO TYRE. 1 53 
 
 ears. His earlier prophecies are more hopeful ; he was then 
 more sanguine about the success of his work. But here 
 there is an outburst of indignation at the ingratitude and 
 rebellion of Jerusalem. In the indictment three grave 
 charges are pressed home — even filial ingratitude, the neglect 
 of the discipline of divine providence, and formality with 
 insincerity in religious worship. And truly, on Jerusalem's 
 part, the city of privilege, such sins were scarlet, and red like 
 crimson. Naturally enough the prophet laments over such 
 a state of things : but he has an offer of forgiveness for 
 a repentant people. Still he has the vision of a purified 
 city ; and in such a city, once again to be named the City 
 of Righteousness, he looks forward to seeing God's law 
 honoured. 
 
 PART XL 
 
 (Pp. 77-79-) 
 
 The Prophet's Message to Tyre, the Metropolis of 
 THE World's Commerce (709 e.g.). 
 
 It is not possible to date with any accuracy this prophecy. 
 All that can be said about the matter is that it must have 
 been delivered subsequent to the fall of Babylon in 7 10 e.g. 
 for it is clearly to this event that reference is made by 
 these words in the section. " This people is no more : the 
 Assyrian hath appointed it for the beasts of the wilder- 
 ness." And it must have been uttered before the fall 
 of Sennacherib's hosts at the gates of Jerusalem. 
 
 A special importance attaches to this prophecy, as show- 
 ing Isaiah's universality of teaching, and his intensely human 
 interest in all the movements of men. Not alone does he 
 speak to the great kingdoms based on military prowess, but 
 
154 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 also to this great Phoenician Empire, founded on commercial 
 supremacy. Very gradually, but steadily, had Tyre and 
 Sidon built up a most extensive trade, especially in the 
 precious metals : they tapped all the known mines of the 
 world along the Mediterranean Sea, and became the great 
 emporium or place of exchange for the merchandise of the 
 African and the Asiatic empires. What Alexandria was 
 in the first century of Christianity, and Great Britain is now, 
 Tyre was then. Her situation on the sea — almost on an 
 island, with her barrier of mountains behind, marked out her 
 destiny as a sea-faring people. However strange a contrast 
 she may have presented to the agricultural people to which 
 he belonged, the prophet felt himself specially entrusted 
 with a divine message to such a nation : and thus manifested 
 his calling as the messenger of Jehovah, the God of the 
 whole earth. 
 
 But his message is one of approaching doom, — a doom 
 largely brought upon Tyre by the consequences of an all- 
 absorbing commerce. Here trade had become the one 
 goal : money the measure of all things. To this all the 
 higher and spiritual energies of the people had been prosti- 
 tuted. Hence in most striking language, but language 
 common enough in Scripture, the prophet compares Tyre 
 to a harlot, and her industry to whoredom. The prophetic 
 ideal involves a living relationship between man and God, 
 symbolised in human measure by marriage : hence any de- 
 parture from Jehovah, any deviation from supreme devotion 
 to Him, is the infidelity of adultery. Judah and Jerusalem 
 were guilty of this in their alliances with heathen powers, and 
 in the idolatries that flowed therefrom. To Isaiah's pure eye 
 Tyre is guilty of this same sin, inasmuch as she has for- 
 saken God, and made commercial success her god. Hence 
 
THE prophet's MESSAGE TO TYRE. 1 55 
 
 a woe is pronounced on all her merchantmen, or ships of 
 Tarshish as they are graphically called, from specially trading 
 thither. But great indeed is the surprise and consternation 
 such an event as the overthrow of Tyre and Sidon will pro- 
 duce, not only in these places, but wherever the report of 
 their fall shall come. The extent of Tyre's relations was 
 very great. The prophet Ezekiel (ch. xxvii.) gives a very full 
 description of the greatness of her glory. Her king and 
 people were guilty of an overweening confidence in their own 
 defence: and hence the exclamation, "Who hath purposed 
 this against Tyre, the city that confers crowns, and whose 
 merchants are princes, and whose traffickers are the honour" 
 able of the earth ? " 
 
 Strange indeed must the word of Isaiah have sounded 
 — as with calm confidence in Jehovah he foretold the de- 
 struction of Assyria's brute force, Egypt's diplomacy, and 
 now Tyre's commercial supremacy. But all this strange- 
 ness disappears when Isaiah's standpoint is understood, 
 and his unwavering belief in the ultimate success of 
 righteousness is perceived. To him spiritual power, even 
 that of God, was, after all, the paramount power. 
 
 In this message there is also a revelation of the divine 
 method in dealing with men and nations. For here the 
 divine purpose is to show how stained is all human pride, 
 and how contemptible are those whose honour comes from 
 men only. What God brings about is a gradual uncovering 
 of things, a discovering of their true character, and therefore 
 the manifestation of the utter unsoundness and instability 
 of anything not based on the divine will. The insecurity of 
 all false confidences will be revealed as prop after prop is 
 removed. The sea was to be no sure girdle or means of 
 protection to Tyre. Tyre cannot understand this. But 
 
156 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 the prophet meets the unbelieving surprise of the city by 
 pointing to the victories already accomplished by the 
 Assyrian power : and he finds corroboration for the accom- 
 plishment of his message of woe against the ships of Tarshish 
 in the destruction of the hosts of Babylon. For the third 
 time then, even with increase of earnestness, the prophet 
 cries out, " Howl, ye ships of Tarshish ! " 
 
 The large place occupied by Tyre in the world's map is 
 soon to be empty. A period of forgetting is mentioned, 
 even the threescore and ten years of a human life : but in 
 this we are not to look for any exact historical reckoning. It 
 was not Isaiah's wont to narrow down his great spiritual 
 messages to the standards of a human calculation. It is 
 revealed to him that Tyre shall be forgotten for a long time ; 
 and so it fell out in the drama of history. Nebuchadnezzar 
 (in 585-572 B.C.), after a long and exhaustive siege of thirteen 
 years, obtained the capitulation of the city : while, after a 
 brief season of renewed activity, she again fell, and this time 
 to rise no more, under the attack of Alexander the Great in 
 332 B.C. Something like these alternations the prophet 
 sees. The time of forgetting is to be succeeded by a time 
 of revived industry, when once again, but not with all her 
 old charms, Tyre entered into the commerce of the nations. 
 This renewal of success is regarded as of grace — a divine 
 visitation. And surely rightly. But the message closes with 
 a vision of what ought to be in such a time of gracious re- 
 newal. In former days the wealth of Tyre had been all set 
 apart to the service of Melkarth, the goddess of the city — to 
 her it had been holiness. But why might not Tyre acknow- 
 ledge Jehovah, and consecrate to His service her wealth? 
 The prophet sees that this ought to be : and in the form of a 
 prophecy he inculcates his great hope. That this, however. 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. 157 
 
 was never realised, is clear. But we are here taught, that it 
 is perfectly possible to engage in commerce in harmony 
 with our service of God, provided only we consecrate 
 our possessions to Him, and remember His claims to 
 the first-fruits of our substance, Who has given us all. 
 All the labours of our hand, all the energies of our mind, 
 all the material success of our lives, may be laid on God's 
 altar, a consecrated offering. 
 
 PART XII. 
 
 (Pp. 79-S6.) 
 A Series of Prophecies concerning Babylon. 
 
 Under the title, ' wilderness of the sea,' Babylon is described. 
 The language points to a most extensive tract of country 
 watered by a mighty river, the river Euphrates. Mesopo- 
 tamia, which literally means the country in the midst of 
 seas, is the name of the great district watered by the famous 
 rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Standing on the Euphrates, 
 Babylon had a long and chequered history. Even before 
 Nineveh had made her influence felt in the world's affairs, 
 Babylon had been a flourishing city. About the year 880 
 B.C. Nineveh's power begins to be felt, and in 821 b.c, when 
 Uzziah had not yet ascended the throne, Babylon became a 
 vassal of Nineveh ; and remained in the state of vassalage, 
 during the reigns of several weak kings, for about one century. 
 With the accession of Merodach-Baladan in 726 b.c, things 
 begin to change, and Babylon manifests a distinct deter- 
 mination to become an independent power. Sargon was 
 now king in Nineveh, and the revolt of Merodach brought 
 down his vengeance very speedily on Babylon. A terrible 
 
158 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 siege followed. Its duration of ten years showed with what 
 pluck and energy the people of Babylon fought for their 
 independence, and their emancipation from Assyrian control. 
 But all was in vain. The fortunes of Assyria were still in 
 the ascendant, and Babylon fell. The whole world was 
 concerned in this crisis. It was a death-struggle between 
 two rival powers, and all held their breath. Isaiah shows 
 with what deep interest Hezekiah and all Jerusalem watched 
 the progress of this siege : and when the news of the capitu- 
 lation of Babylon came, we see what alarm and consterna- 
 tion were experienced. The hope of Judah, at this time, was 
 that Babylon would overcome Assyria, or at least greatly 
 weaken her. Not thus, however, was the divine purpose 
 of protecting Jerusalem to evolve itself. The apparent 
 linking of the hope of God's people with the success of 
 Babylon was a mistake. It led to disappointment. In every 
 age the issues of the world have to be fought out, while the 
 Church remains neutral to all temporary questions, con- 
 cerned only in the interests of truth and righteousness. Elam 
 and Media were then in alliance with Nineveh as against 
 Babylon ; the latter power had not yet felt its own power. 
 The cradle of a coming empire was still an insignificant 
 kingdom. Jerusalem had miscalculated the course of events; 
 and the cry, " Babylon is fallen ! " caused grief. Other feelings 
 were to be awakened in future days by a message like this : 
 for then the leviathan power of Babylon would have been 
 recognised as Judah's greatest and bitterest enemy. But 
 not yet was this so. Hence it was only natural that when 
 King Merodach sent an embassy in the year 710 b.c, to con- 
 gratulate King Hezekiah on his recovery from severe sick- 
 ness, and to negotiate an alliance, a favourable audience was 
 given. The j^rophet, however, viewed things differently. 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNINb BABYLON. 159 
 
 For while, doubtless, rejoicing in Nineveh being held in 
 check by Babylon, he could not favour any negotiations 
 with this power. Already he had condemned two great 
 alliances that had been favoured by the leaders of his nation 
 — the Assyrian and the Egyptian alliances : now, in pursu- 
 ance of his consistent clearly defined policy, he condemns 
 the conduct of King Hezekiah in the matter of this pro- 
 posed Babylonian alliance. So far we can follow the course 
 of prophecy clearly: and can understand how in 710 b.c. 
 Isaiah found fault with the action of Hezekiah. But im- 
 mediately after these words of condemnation, the prophet 
 enters upon a remarkable declaration of a day when Babylon 
 shall carry Jerusalem into captivity. Here there is a divine 
 forecasting of history : for as is here foretold, so it fell out. 
 The only difficulty that suggests itself is on the question of 
 time. We have seen that Hezekiah's sickness and the re- 
 ception of the ambassadors can be dated : but the placing 
 of the prophecy about the Babylonian captivity so late in 
 the Authorised Version may indicate that it was uttered in 
 Isaiah's later years, among his last words. If so, it has been 
 tacked on (most appropriately indeed) to an event that 
 happened much earlier : and this by an editor probably. 
 The alliance with Babylon, however, being so strongly 
 condemned by the prophet, and the folly of showing the 
 treasures of Jerusalem to these foreigners being so manifest 
 these circumstances may very well have afforded the prophet 
 then and there, at this early date, an opportunity for warning 
 Hezekiah that he was playing into the hands of a power 
 that would one day be the ruin of Jerusalem. Not many 
 signs to human eye existed that Babylon would yet over- 
 throw Assyria : though a divinely-opened eye like that of 
 Isaiah, and a mind influenced by the Holy Spirit as his 
 
l6o HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 was, could not fail to see in the successful resistance offered 
 to Sargon that a day of greatness was in store for Babylon. 
 That day he declares : one of its terrible consequences he 
 foresees. 
 
 And this brings us to what must have been one of the 
 latest of Isaiah's prophecies, or, as many think, a prophecy 
 delivered by a later prophet in the exile. This is the burden 
 or oracle concerning the coming overthrow of Babylon, 
 which occupies the xiii. and xiv. chapters of the book. In 
 the remarkable deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib, 
 the prophet saw a type of the complete overthrow of all the 
 enemies of God's people. He sees a day of the Lord 
 coming, in which the heathen powers shall be punished for 
 their proud boasting against the Lord and His Anointed. 
 Specially among these enemies the prophet singles out 
 Babylon for retribution : and his attitude is now not one 
 of sympathy with this nation as once Isaiah's was, but of 
 enmity. This circumstance of changed attitude, of itself 
 shows how much later this prophecy must be than the first 
 in this section, on which we have commented. The drama 
 of history has advanced many stages, and a new power is 
 seen rising on the political horizon. Babylon's time of 
 triumph had come and is soon to go. Nineveh had ceased 
 to be. Great movements were in progress among the wild 
 Scythian tribes of the North. Media was beginning to 
 consolidate her power. 
 
 The very fact of our prophet speaking of Media and not 
 of Persia may show the early date of the prophecy : for 
 about the time Isaiah lived Deiokes was establishing his 
 authority in Ecbatana. C\ rus, however, was really a branch 
 of the Median power, and his first generals were all Medians 
 who had revolted from Astyages, the last Median king 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. l6r 
 
 (559 B-c). Hence the Persian Empire may here be called 
 
 Median. 
 In this power our prophet sees the rod destined to punish 
 
 Babylon : and he is assured of Judah's perfect deliverance. 
 
 It must have been the deepest grief to him to ponder upon 
 those words of Isaiah's about the treasures of Jerusalem 
 being carried away to Babylon. His firm trust in Jehovah 
 and His covenant ; his hope for the remnant who would 
 ])erpetuate Jehovah's Name and glory in purer conditions, 
 prepared him for receiving the divine assurance that Babylon 
 would also be overthrown. In clear words the cessation of 
 captivity, and restoration, are foretold. Then is sung the 
 song of triumph over this most glorious event, already 
 realised as an accomplished fact in the prophet's sanguine 
 faith. 
 
 How far away, however, was this from Isaiah's time ! 
 Nearly a century and a half had yet to run its course 
 (7o°"539 B.C.), for it was not till this latter year that the 
 great Cyrus, himself of Media, conquered Babylon, and 
 founded on its ruins another World-Empire, even that of 
 Persia. Long ere this Isaiah's life-work had closed : other 
 prophets and other kings had appeared to carry out his 
 programme : and with their eyes they saw what he had 
 foreseen by faith, the actual accomplishment of his great 
 prophetic principle grasped by faith the divine overthrow 
 of every heathen power. Babylon then fell to rise no more. 
 From Babylon was cut off name and remnant : it became, 
 and remains to this day, a possession for the porcupine and 
 l)Ools of water. Thus completely was it swept with the 
 besom of destruction in fulfilment of the Word of the Lord 
 of Hosts, spoken by the prophet. In 606 b.c. the city of 
 Nineveh was rased to the ground : in 539 b.c. Babylon 
 
 L 
 
1 62 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 shared a similar fate. Assyrians conquer the Syrians : 
 Medians overthrow the Assyrians : while finally the Baby- 
 lonian power gives way to the Persians, who had succeeded 
 to that of Media. Thus the heathen powers perish before 
 the Lord, and the fulness of the times was brought nearer 
 for the revelation of the divine kingdom. 
 
 PART XIII. 
 
 (Pp. 86-94.) 
 
 Songs of Triumph, the Vindication of Jehovah and 
 THE Messianic King. 
 
 In this section we have several very striking prophecies, 
 which we think may be appropriately called Songs of triumph. 
 They all manifestly concern themselves with a great national 
 victory, such as the overthrow and checkmate of Senna- 
 cherib. In these last years of his life, in the death-year of 
 Hezekiah or thereabouts, some great outburst of joyful 
 prophetic activity must have occurred. This had been the 
 supreme moment of Isaiah's life. His words had been so 
 wonderfully fulfilled : man's extremity had once again proved 
 God's opportunity. In some measure divine retribution 
 had overtaken Assyria, but in fuller measure it was yet to 
 fall ; hence the Woe here pronounced. The course of 
 Assyria was that of a treacherous dealer — no confidence 
 whatever could be reposed in this people. They were born 
 to spoil, and the moment they ceased spoiling they would 
 be spoiled in turn. "They that take the sword shall perish 
 with the sword." The prophet bitterly complains that 
 Sennacherib was not satisfied with the gifts of Hezekiah, 
 but had broken the covenant. And yet this treachery 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 1 63 
 
 brought upon him its certain result. For the Lord ariseth 
 to judgment, and a swift work He makes in the earth, 
 Jehovah is the strength of his people. Against the citadel 
 every human force strikes in vain. The purposes and plans of 
 men are only chaff and stubble to be blown away, or burned 
 by the fire, when they stand in the way of Almighty God. 
 
 This sense of the divine fire burning up the dross is 
 accompanied immediately with a sense of the purifying 
 efficacy of this same fire. The enemies of Jehovah shall be 
 consumed, as with the breath of His mouth, but what of 
 His professing friends? Judgment doubtless must begin 
 at the House of God. If Jehovah, who is All-Holy, is to 
 dwell in Jerusalem; if the fire of His holiness is to burn on 
 her hearth, to make this city as a true Ariel, — then surely 
 must the people be holy too. The earthly Jerusalem, which 
 has been so signally delivered from outward enemies, should 
 now be emancipated from the more insidious inward 
 enemies, that prey upon the nation's very life. Hence the 
 eternal obligations of morality are declared to be a people's 
 strongest defence, and best guarantee of permanence, 
 Would Jerusalem dwell secure in the high citadel with 
 strong fortification, beyond the reach of famine : would she 
 see her king in glorious beauty, and have her territory far 
 spreading as in the days of David and Solomon, then, both 
 individually and nationally, she should be supremely devoted 
 to a true, honest, and pure life. That this could be 
 brought about by a vision of God, as an All-Holy One, 
 even a consuming fire, the prophet was convinced. This 
 had been so in Isaiah's experience. That it was not brought 
 about, was only owing to the blindness of men, and their 
 unwillingness to see God. Hence, what was a declaration 
 of the state of a reformed Jerusalem, becomes a prophecy 
 
164 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 of the new Jerusalem, that shall come down from heaven, 
 and into which there shall in nowise enter anything that 
 " is unclean, or that worketh abomination, or that maketh 
 a lie." There truly shall we see the All-Glorious King : 
 there shall we become subjects of a universal kingdom. 
 Till then our human bests will be but approximations to 
 the divinely perfect. 
 
 The deliverance of Jerusalem is described. Her moments 
 of crisis are shown. The prophet tells us how men mused 
 on the time of terror, through which they had so lately 
 passed. The city had been surrounded. The towers were 
 in danger. The ambassadors were arranging terms. The 
 treasurers were even already counting out the money to 
 buy off the cruel enemy. But God intervened. Then 
 Jerusalem again became a quiet habitation — no cord was 
 broken, no stake removed. Once more the ceremonies of 
 the temple worship proceed. No human arm wrought this: 
 no army — no navy accomplished this. The Lord alone, 
 His people's all and in all, effected the deliverance. "God is 
 in the midst of her : the heathen raged, the kingdoms were 
 moved : He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord 
 of Hosts is with us : the God of Jacob is our refuge. God 
 is our refuge and strength : a very present help in trouble." 
 
 These words occur in a psalm most probably composed 
 at this time, and therefore inserted in the Text. 
 
 Two ideas are always closely associated in Scripture — the 
 overthrow of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous. 
 About the latter the prophet has been speaking : about the 
 former he gives his next utterance. The divine supremacy 
 is to him an unquestioned fact. But what a sight do the 
 kingdoms of the world present with all their wars of 
 ambition and self-aggrandisement ! What desolation, and 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 1 65 
 
 what mourning everywhere ! And wherefore ? Only be- 
 cause men have defied the Most High, and broken His law. 
 Their plan has not been His : and as He carries out His, 
 theirs is turned upside down. Confusion shall then seize 
 upon kings and princes : even the sun and moon shall be 
 confounded. In powerful prophetic language the accom- 
 paniments of the day of the Lord are thus set forth : the 
 whole passage reminds us of the words of the prophet Joel, 
 quoted at Pentecost by the Apostle Peter. It was " to be 
 the day of the Lord's vengeance : the year of recompence 
 in the controversy of Zion." 
 
 More particularly Edom, the hereditary enemy of Jeru- 
 salem, is singled out, and the vindication of Jehovah's Name 
 is seen in the complete overthrow of this hostile people. 
 The mind of God concerning Edom is now fully declared. 
 
 And just as there are green and beautiful spots in the 
 wildernesses of earth, so amid the hours of human weariness 
 are there moments of joyful confidence in a living God, who 
 will yet right the wrong, and vindicate His own Name. 
 There is a law of alternation in human experience — an 
 alternation of hope and fear, joy and sorrow. Oasis-like, 
 scattered through words of doom pronounced upon heathen 
 nations, are to be found Isaiah's expressions of entire rest- 
 fulness in God, and his glowing descriptions of a true 
 Messianic kingdom. Though the first of these here given, 
 may have been composed on the occasion of Hezekiah's 
 accession, yet, by placing it in close connection with those 
 that follow, we can trace the development of the idea of a 
 Messianic king. 
 
 We have already considered several prophetic pieces, 
 which are closely associated with the deliverance already 
 wrought for Jerusalem. The others now before us show 
 
l66 HOW TO RKAD ISAIAH. 
 
 how the prophet under divine guidance, had been led to 
 the forecasting of an ideal king, ruling over an ideal 
 kingdom — a true, even a divine king of men, with a perfect 
 kingdom, with foundations of righteousness, and bulwarks 
 of holiness and salvation. The disappointments of hope 
 attending the life and reign of Hezekiah would only have 
 intensified Isaiah's longing for a perfect king, in whose case 
 the Four Names, expressive of a fourfold perfection of 
 character, might be fully realised. And this became to his 
 followers a Messianic Hope, in close connection with which 
 was developed the plan of Salvation. We are not concerned 
 with how much, or how little of this plan Isaiah or his suc- 
 cessors understood : we are only concerned with the his- 
 torical outcome. Our salvation depends on Him who has 
 come, not on the views of prophets about Him who was to 
 come. The meaning of the Spirit is always fuller than any 
 apprehension of it at any time by any prophet, and grander 
 than any expression of it. 
 
 The prophet boldly declared, with glowing faith, and 
 in darkest days, that there would come forth from the 
 withered, shrivelled up, disappointing stock of Jesse — i.e., 
 David's House, a branch that would bear worthy fruit 
 indeed. The language here used can find no full realisation 
 in mere man. The king with the Four Names is described ; 
 these Four Names are here commented upon with an ideal 
 fulness of detail : and the blessings to be enjoyed under the 
 rule of such a prince are set forth as about to be shared, not 
 by man only, but by universal Nature. Not only would 
 Ephraim and Judah once more dwell in amity around this 
 Branch out of the stump of Jesse : but it would be an 
 Ensign for all nations to rally round. The Ten Tribes, 
 who had departed from Judah's sceptre, and had suffered so 
 
SONGS OF TRIUMPH. 167 
 
 severely in Assyria, are to be restored. The latter glory of 
 David's House is to surpass its former glory. Jerusalem is 
 to be a redeemed and purified city, with a king reigning 
 there in righteousness, with princes ruling in justice. There 
 would then be seen a moral and spiritual condition, which 
 would be a true restoration — all old things passing away, 
 and all things becoming new. This would indeed be a new 
 Jerusalem like that which shall descend from heaven — that 
 holy city prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
 Who would not dwell there ? And thus the prophet's eye 
 sees with rejoicing a great procession of restored ones 
 wending their way to the City of David : and as they move 
 along he sees wilderness and solitary place alike sharing 
 their gladness. Such an event would assuredly cause the 
 desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. What a vision 
 is this of a reunited people, and of a renovated earth, that 
 the prophet sees ! No weak hands ; no feeble knees ! 
 No blind eyes ; no deaf ears ! Nothing to hurt in all God's 
 Holy Mountain — the earth filled with the knowledge of 
 God ! Oh, how the human spirit longs for such a day. 
 But just such a day, the world's true golden age, have all 
 God's prophets promised to our race, ever since prophecy 
 began. Just such a day has Christ, the true Messiah 
 guaranteed to us by His work. He is the true King, the 
 " great man that has proved Himself an hiding-place from 
 the wind, and a covert from the storm." Such a day St 
 John saw in the visions of Patmos. And this day foretold 
 by prophets, sung of by psalmists, and seen by evangelists, 
 draweth ever nigh, when there shall be a " new heaven, and 
 a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." As the 
 prophet here so fully shows, that will be a true restoration 
 of all things, even as Malachi foretold. Not in any merely 
 
1 68 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 verbal or literary sense, but in truth, and with transcendent 
 spiritual fulness that day will come: and then Isaiah, among 
 the sowers, and those who are privileged to reap, shall 
 rejoice together. 
 
 In the glowing song of the restored people, there is a 
 retrospect of the past, as the psalmist remembers the great 
 deliverances already wrought for Judah. His praise is of 
 God who had so manifestly become his Salvation : and 
 he IS not content with expressing his own confidence in 
 Jehovah : he does much more, for he calls upon all the 
 people to make known the greatness and the glory of the 
 Holy One of Israel — of that One who dwelleth in Zion. 
 
 PART XIV. 
 
 (Pp. 95-I02-) 
 
 A LATER Prophecy concerning a great Divine 
 
 Interposition (Ch. xxiv.-xxvii.). 
 
 The death-years of Uzziah and Ahaz had been signally 
 connected with special manifestations of the prophetic spirit 
 on Isaiah's part, and it has been suggested that the death- 
 year of Hezekiah might furnish another such occasion. But 
 the prophet was now an old man : his work for God, and 
 his generation was about done. It is not known how long 
 he lived after the accession of the idolatrous Manasseh. 
 Hence, apart from other considerations, it would be rather 
 too much to expect that the whole cycle of restoration- 
 prophecy (ch. xl.-lxvi.) was composed about this time by 
 him. But evidence of an internal kind, gathered from the 
 literary style, historical standpoint, and references of these 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 169 
 
 chapters lead to the conclusion that they are written by 
 other hands, and at a later period. In the same way, 
 ch. xxiv.-xxvii., which form by themselves a complete 
 prophecy, and are before us in this part, have a literary style 
 of their own, and many things about them that have 
 compelled critics to assign them to a very much later date 
 than that of Isaiah. 
 
 It must be clearly understood that such a decision is not 
 adopted by believing men on the ground of any difficulty 
 they may have about the prophetic power of foretelling the 
 future : for of this power, divinely given to the prophets, 
 and abundantly conferred on Isaiah, we have ample evidence. 
 But a careful study of the point of view, and historical 
 condition of things in which these chapters must have been 
 given, preclude our accepting them as Isaiah's. They 
 speak to a people in captivity : they call to their re- 
 membrance the ruins of the beautiful house in which their 
 fathers worshipped God : and they proclaim comfort, inas- 
 much as this captivity was soon to end. No gain is derived 
 by a belief that would place Isaiah in a position higher than 
 his own, which is already of the highest, or encourage hero- 
 worship. For, after all, it is the message, not the name or 
 person of the individual messenger, with which Inspiration, 
 and inspired truth concern themselves. The naming of 
 books in the Old Testament was in former days largely a 
 matter of uncritical tradition, depending on the imperfect 
 materials for information lying to hand. It should, therefore, 
 be continually borne in mind, that it does not matter much 
 who is named as the messenger, but very much more what 
 the message is. We should think not so much of the 
 channel by which, or the person by whom, but much more 
 of the Source, from whom the Word came. It may be a 
 
170 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 matter of regret, that we do not know who wrote the cycle 
 of restoration-prophecy, or that any doubt should exist as to 
 the authorship of any sections of prophecy : but, after all, 
 this is only a matter of sentiment. That the second portion 
 is more brilliant than the first, is open to question. This 
 view may have arisen from the distinctive Messianic inter- 
 pretation given to it, at the expense of its first and primary 
 historic application to the events of the Return from Exile. 
 The brilliancy and power of Isaiah stand beyond a doubt, 
 even though he never wrote this second part. But it is 
 easy to see how the belief in the Isaianic authorship of 
 these chapters grew up. They are so thoroughly Isaianic 
 in spirit : they so fully carry out, and complete the pro- 
 gramme of the teaching of that great prophet. He who 
 had foretold the deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria, 
 would he not also foretell the deliverance of Jerusalem from 
 Babylon ? A promise of restoration, and a new Jerusalem 
 with a purified remnant, was a germinal idea of Isaiah. 
 But it never was the method of God to place His servants 
 in conditions as yet far from being realised, and foretell 
 deliverance from a danger not yet near. Considerations 
 like these show us, however, the manner in which the 
 tradition of the Isaianic authorship of the second portion 
 was formed, and also the improbability of that tradition, 
 plausible though it may appear. 
 
 Looking now at the three chapters before us (xxiv.-xxvii.) 
 the grandeur of the faith inculcated by Isaiah, and the 
 wide outlook upon the nations taught by this prophet to 
 his disciples, is clearly seen. Thus, whether late or early, 
 they must have been written by one truly in touch with 
 this master mind. Not any one particular nation now, but 
 all nations, must hear Jehovah. Not upon one mighty 
 
A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 17I 
 
 empire, but upon every kingdom, does the sword fall : that 
 sword of vengeance is satiated with blood. The scene is 
 awful in the extreme. But just in this way does God in 
 every age work His sovereign will. He plants " His foot- 
 step on the sea, and rides upon the storm." Thebes, 
 Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon — all to be ruined ! The habita- 
 tions of kings and mighty emperors are now the possession 
 of pelicans and porcupines. Every age has its own empire 
 — its own hero : how seldom is God alone honoured ! 
 And see the wrecks of human glory all along the shore of 
 time. We have mentioned four mighty wrecks : to them 
 may be added Persia, Macedonia, Antioch, Rome — these 
 with their Cyrus, their Alexander, their Seleucidae, their 
 Caesars — all gone ! To day Germany, Great Britain, the 
 United States, and so on, remain. Will they learn wisdom, 
 and shape their counsels according to that righteousness 
 that alone exalteth a nation, or shall they too perish in the 
 awful avalanche that destroys the nations who obey not 
 God? 
 
 The prophet has seen the wonderful works of God, as 
 great cities had been made heaps, even strongly fortified 
 towns a ruin. God had proved Himself His people's 
 stronghold. Perhaps some very recent intervention on 
 their behalf is before his mind. He bursts out into a 
 hymn of sublime confidence in Jehovah, and calls upon all 
 to trust in God only. But he is manifestly distressed at 
 the prevailing unbelief Men are so blind and wilful : 
 they see not God's Hand, the prophet complains, even 
 though it is so manifestly stretched out. There is need 
 for prayer, and patience, and hope : for no great results 
 have yet been accomplished by Zion : they have wrought 
 no deliverance in the earth. But there is to be a resurrec- 
 
172 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 tion of a nation so dead, even as Ezekiel saw in his vision 
 in the valley of dry bones. This is the prophetic hope. 
 Ther« shall be, he clearly foretells, a gathering of the people 
 from all the regions into which they have been carried 
 captive. The Lord shall come out of His place, and 
 punish Egypt and Babylon : He will show Himself the 
 keeper and protector of His own chosen vineyard. But 
 a people who would enjoy such protection must be a 
 purified people : idolatry in every shape and form must 
 cease out of the land. Then would come in fullest 
 glory the day of the Lord's deliverance. The people, 
 restored and purified, would then celebrate once more the 
 Feast of Tabernacles with great joy — a joy even greater 
 than that which characterised its first establishment at the 
 Exodus. The festive procession would again carry forth 
 the water from the Pool of Siloam in golden basins to the 
 courts of the Temple, amid the shouts of a people deeply 
 conscious of deliverance once more achieved. The 
 inhabitant of Zion would make his boast alone in Jehovah, 
 the source of every victory, and the God of Salvation. 
 
DIVISION III. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The Religious Conceptions of Isaiah. 
 
 A PROPHECY contains the application of the religious prin- 
 ciples, held by a prophet, to the conditions of the time in which 
 he lived. These principles are presented in the clothing of 
 the practical application ; they were the possession of the 
 prophet, perhaps more or less systematised by himself, but 
 certainly not stated in any abstract or theological manner by 
 themselves. Their value to him was in this, that they were 
 living principles, capable of application, and easily under- 
 stood. Now Isaiah was the man he was, because of his 
 clear apprehension of certain outstanding conceptions of 
 God, and Providence, and because of his forcible expression 
 of them. But it is not easy to state them in a form that 
 would be clearly his, and not partly ours ; for interpreting 
 his statements in the light of fuller revelation, we are apt to 
 see more in them than he actually purposed to express. 
 
 An attempt is here made to gather together in brief 
 space the leading religious conceptions of Isaiah. 
 
 And first of all, as to God. Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, 
 is the term under which the prophet speaks of God. The 
 first term tells of a God in relation to a people : the second 
 speaks of a universal divine supremacy. It was as a supreme 
 King on a heavenly throne, ruling over all, that Isaiah first 
 thought of God. But this King had not merely the natural 
 
174 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 attributes of power and wisdom — His glory not only filled 
 the earth ; but He had moral attributes. He was supreme 
 holiness and grace. His majesty filled the heavens. He 
 was far above and beyond man in His divine perfections, 
 hut yet a God who could come into touch with a purified 
 people, and speak to them. Essentially a God of righteous- 
 ness, viewed in its ethical fulness, He was a God ever 
 making for righteousness by the workings of His providence. 
 Nor did He concern Himself with one people alone, or 
 exclusively. He was no tribal deity only, as Chemosh in 
 Moab was : no national appropriation, as Asshur was to 
 Nineveh. This God speaks to all nations, and is supremely 
 interested in them ; because He purposes the vindication of 
 righteousness, the establishment of a righteous kingdom. 
 The divine relationship to His people is not conceived in 
 any arbitrary or indiscriminate way. Jerusalem, with her 
 covenant, her sacrifices, and her temple, was apt to regard 
 the divine relationship as a fixed thing, whatever might be 
 the conditions of life and conduct. Not so taught Isaiah. 
 He valued much these outward guarantees of spiritual 
 realities : but he valued much more the spiritual realities 
 themselves. 
 
 Hence God is conceived as having a Purpose. And this 
 purpose the Zeal of Jehovah performs. Faith in this purpose 
 marks Isaiah. To him Jerusalem and her temple may be 
 the centre of religion, provided Jerusalem be a pure people. 
 But in full view of a partial repentance, or a repentance by 
 only a part of the people, the prophet grasps the idea of a 
 chosen people, a remnant, who should be saved as the 
 result of the spirit of burning, and the spirit of justice. The 
 divine Purpose then is not so much to have a people, as to 
 have a people conformed to the divine image. As the author 
 
THE RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF ISAIAH. 1 75 
 
 of salvation, God works only on the lines of righteousness, 
 and for those who love and practise righteousness. 
 
 Repentance was taught as that which must always come 
 before Forgiveness. Repentance meant much to Isaiah : it 
 meant the beginning of a life according to God. Already 
 spiritual and personal qualifications, rather than outward 
 and national privileges, were being emphasised. A doctrine 
 of a Church was evolving itself: not all being Israel who 
 are of Israel : a church, a visible body indeed, but distinct 
 from the political whole, in which it exists. Isaiah had not 
 advanced, however, as far as Jeremiah on this point : for by 
 the time of Jeremiah, much of what Isaiah depended on 
 was being broken up. The doctrine of the Remnant — of 
 a purged few, leads the way. The worth of individuality 
 begins to appear. Faith and character, rather than birth 
 and location, are being seen to be the conditions of 
 membership in a true Jerusalem. Some of the notes of 
 the Church are also declared. It is a tenth, a divine vine- 
 yard, a witnessing body, a remnant. 
 
 The prophet's religious conception here was wrought out 
 in an experience through which he himself had passed. He 
 himself had as a man, before receiving his commission as a 
 ])rophet, experienced the crisis of all that is involved in the 
 Vision of God. He had himself come into personal relation- 
 ship with a living God, and this by the way of a divine 
 revelation and a genuine repentance. He had got beyond 
 all local, national, and ceremonial rites into the fellowship 
 of the Heavenlies. Thus the doctrine of Sacrifice as held 
 by the prophet, becomes clear. To him it was an aid only, 
 where true faith already existed : in itself it was void of 
 value. The individual man, by seeing God and abandon- 
 ing sin, must be touched by God : this is repentance, and 
 
176 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 forgiveness. A doctrine of Grace comes in here : for the 
 prophet beheved that God would, and did touch man, for- 
 giving him all his iniquity. Salvation here is wholly of God. 
 God Himself makes the Atonement by bringing His divine 
 sufficiency to meet human need. Human merit is excluded 
 in the confession of undoneness, and God Himself inter- 
 venes. This was the necessity of the position to Isaiah. 
 How it has been fully met the New Testament shows. 
 
 The principle of Immanuel as speaking of a God with man, 
 not yet fully grasped in the sense of the Incarnation, involves 
 a doctrine of Conscience : just as the principle of the rem- 
 nant carries with it the doctrine of human responsibility, 
 and the worth of individuality. The individual for himself, 
 and without any human intermediary, may see and hear 
 God : he ought to obey the heavenly vision, and can be 
 made able so to do. The voice divine may become a voice 
 within, an individual guide to action, saying, "This is the 
 way." God, who thus is supremely far off by His Holiness, 
 may become very near by His Grace: "if we abide faithful, 
 He abideth faithful : He cannot deny Himself" 
 
 A righteous life is inculcated, and in the doctrine of 
 Immanuel, shown to be possible. God with man, and 
 man with God — this holy alliance will overcome sin in the 
 members, and tread down temptation under foot. The 
 whole life-struggle of Isaiah gathered round the necessity of 
 human life being in alliance with God. He dealt mainly 
 with the State : but what he saw to be true here was felt 
 soon to be true in every relation. The whole course of 
 providence with its judgments is one of chastisement to 
 bring about righteousness, to emphasise its necessity. But 
 this involves the doctrine of punishment. A divine vindi- 
 cation, or a vindication of righteousness, is a complete 
 
THE RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF ISAIAH. 177 
 
 thing ; it is both recompence and vengeance — recompence 
 to the pure worshipper of Jehovah, vengeance against the 
 impure worshippers of false gods. That this divine vindi- 
 cation might come speedily, and on Mount Zion in Jeru- 
 salem, was Isaiah's hope : that it must come finally, was 
 his certain assurance — somewhere, and at some time. But 
 Isaiah saw hope after hope disappointed : his hopes were 
 often cast down to the dust ; and yet his beHef in a 
 coming day of the Lord wavered not. His last words were 
 as full of this day as his earliest prophecies : but they 
 are more and more disentangling themselves from local 
 circumstances. So that, as his expectation of a speedy day 
 of the Lord coming was disappointed, or only partially 
 fulfilled, his faith in the ultimate triumph of righteousness 
 became purer and stronger. And in this faith lies the germ 
 of a doctrine of Immortality, with a Future life of glory : 
 in eternity only can there be victory over every human 
 limitation, over despair, and death itself. Our prophet sings 
 and taught his followers to sing about restoration, about a 
 resurrection of hope, nay, even about a resurrection of the 
 dead bodies of God's people. And though these latter 
 words may refer only to national restoration, as in Ezekiel's 
 vision, there is involved in them a hope of final resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 Every partial vindication of the divine righteousness is 
 a pledge of its perfect vindication ; every day of the Lord 
 against Assyria or Edom is a pledge of the last great day of 
 the Lord against every enemy of truth and righteousness : 
 when all idols shall be destroyed, and every idol worshipper 
 shall hide himself ashamed, and God alone shall be exalted 
 in that day. 
 
 M 
 
PART II. 
 
 A Chronological Table (745-539 b.c). 
 
 745. Tilgath-Pileser or Pul, king of Assyria. 
 
 742-740. Death of Uzziah, and consecration of Isaiah. 
 
 738. Tribute paid by Menahem, king of Israel, to Assyria. 
 
 736. Ahaz ascends the throne of Jerusalem. 
 
 734. Campaign against Philistia. Defeat of Pekah. Tribute of 
 
 Ahaz to Assyria. 
 732. Capture of Damascus, and death of Rezin. 
 
 731. Merodach-Baladan does homage to Assyria. 
 
 728. Death of Pekah. Appointment of Iloshea as last king of 
 
 Israel. 
 727-722. Reign of Shalmaneser IV., King of Assyria. 
 724-722. Siege and capture of Samaria begun by Shalmaneser, finished 
 
 by Sargon. 
 722. Ilezekiah succeeds Ahaz. 
 
 722-705. Reign of Sargon, in Nineveh. 
 720. Battle of Raphia, in which Shabak (So), king of Egypt, 
 
 was defeated. 
 717. Capture of Carchemish by Sargon. 
 
 715. Foreign peoples brought into Samaria. 
 
 711. Ashdod taken after a siege of three years. Hezekiah's re- 
 
 ception of embassy from Babylon. 
 710. Fall of Babylon. Invasion of Judah by Assyria. 
 
 707. Sargon builds Dur-Sarrukin, and palaces in Nineveh. 
 
 705. Death of Sargon. Accession of Sennacherib. 
 
 701. Campaign against Judah and Egypt. Siege of Jerusalem. 
 
 Defeat of Egypt at El-Tekeh. 
 693. Death of Hezekiah. Manasseh ascends the throne. 
 
 681. Death of Sennacherib. Esar-Haddon succeeds. 
 
 676. Manasseh pays tribute to Assyria. 
 
 672. Esar-Maddon conquers Egypt. 
 
 662. Destruction of Thebes. Noph — i.e., Memphis, had fallen 
 
 earlier (680?). 
 610. Defeat of Jerusalem at Megiddo by Egypt. 
 
 607. Fall of Nineveh. 
 
 606. Defeat of Egypt at Carchemish. 
 
 588. Jerusalem carried into captivity. 
 
 585-572. Overthrow of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 559. Rise of Persia, and fall of Media (710-559). 
 
 539. Destruction of Babylon. 
 
PART III. 
 
 Glossary of Names and Notes. 
 
 {Arranged as they occur in the text. ) 
 (P. II.) 
 
 Isaiah, the son of Amos : born about 765 : begins his ministry 742 
 or 740 : dies early in Manasseh's reign, say 693, aged seventy-two, 
 probably by martyrdom. Lineage unknown, but of noble, perhaps 
 royal, parentage. 
 
 Judah and Jerusalem, the sphere of Isaiah's ministry. Isaiah con- 
 fined himself to the capital, while his contemporary, Micah, laboured 
 in the provinces. Both prophets dwelt on the latter-day glory. Hosea 
 was the last prophet sent M'ith a divine message to Ephraim, or the 
 kingdom of the Ten Tribes. 
 
 Uzziah, called also Azariah, reigned in Jerusalem, 810 to 758 — i.e., 
 fifty-two years. During this period great prosperity was enjoyed : but 
 in 758 an act of guilty interference with the Temple worship brought 
 condign punishment. He lived in a separate house till his death in 742. 
 Jotham became regent in 758, when his father was laid aside : 
 assumed full power in 742, and died in 736. Not specially dis- 
 tinguished. He was regent for sixteen years, and king for six. 
 
 Ahaz reigned from 736 to 722. He formed an alliance with Assyria, 
 and introduced idolatrous customs into Judah. His full name was 
 Jehoahaz, but his prefix is significantly discarded by the sacred historian, 
 as this king would not make Jehovah his help. He reigned about 
 sixteen years. His son Hezekiah was co-regent from 726 to 722. 
 
 Hezekiah reigned from 722 to 693 — i.e., twenty-nine years. A pupil 
 of Isaiah, who entertained highest hopes on his accession. His alliance 
 with Egypt, and reception of the Babylonian embassy grieved the 
 prophet. But his zeal for a pure worship was praiseworthy. 
 
 Eloth, or Elath, a seaport on the Gulph of Akabah, important in 
 connection with the Red Sea trade, and especially with the gold mines 
 of Ophir. 
 
 Zechariah, a prophet in Uzziah's reign, who has left no prophetic 
 writings, unless bound up with those of the later prophet of this name. 
 The Philistines, formerly inhabiting the centre of Palestine, but 
 driven towards the coast by the Children of Israel. They were a power- 
 ful tribe, and a continual source of trouble to Judah : and in Gath, 
 Ashdod, Ashkelon had strongly fortified towns. Philistia lay right on 
 
l8o HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 (Pp. 12-28.) 
 
 the highway between the rival powers of Assyria and Egypt, then 
 
 contending for supremacy. It is west and south-west of Judah. 
 
 Gur-Baal, a town on the southern Ijorder of Judah, occupied by 
 
 rabians. 
 
 Mehmiiin, an Arabian tribe, probably on south of Judah = Maon. 
 
 Ammon, an idolatrous tribe north-east from Judah, north of Moab. 
 
 The Lowland, or Shephelah, a geographical term for the low country 
 west of Jerusalem, as Negeb is for the south country. 
 
 Opbel, a strongly fortified hill on the south-eastern side of Jerusalem, 
 with a tower. 
 
 City of David, the part of Jerusalem which had the Royal Residence 
 and the sepulchres of the kings : built on Mount Zion, and distinct from 
 Mount Moriah, on which the Temple stood. 
 
 House of Jacob, used as a designation of Judah, while Ephraim is 
 described as Israel. The distinction of Israel and Judah should be 
 observed in studying the prophets before the Exile. 
 
 Lebanon, a magnificent range of mountains in the north of Palestine. 
 
 Bashan, a country known for its mountains ; and very fertile ; beyond 
 the Jordan. (Deut. xxxii. 14; Ps. Ixviii. 15.) 
 
 Tarshish ships — i.e., merchant vessels generally. The class is 
 named from a particular. Ships engaged in trade with Tarshish or 
 Tartessus, on the south coast of Spain, were the most important ; hence 
 even those trading on the Red Sea were named as above. 
 
 Samaria. The country and capital town of the kingdom of the Ten 
 Tribes, or Northern kingdom. Estal)lished as a seat of a dynasty in 
 972 by Jerolioam, who revolted from Judah, and made Israel to sin. 
 Carried into captivity in 722, after lasting as an independent kingdom 
 250 years. 
 
 Rezin, last king of Syria, with his capital in Damascus. This king- 
 dom was overthrown by Assyria in 732. Syria is also Aram, whence 
 Aramaic as the term for the lingtta franca of the country of Palestine. 
 
 Manasseh and Ephraim, the two leading tribes of the Ten, that re- 
 volted from Judah. Internecine strife among the Tribes had been the 
 bane of their history. 
 
 Valley of the Sons of Hinnom — in N. T. = Gehenna. This beautiful 
 valley below Jerusalem had been desecrated by the cruel rites of the 
 worship of Moloch. A heated brazen arm received children, who then 
 fell into a burning caldron. Hinnom in Hebrew means groaning. 
 
 King of Syrian Rezin. 
 
 Tilgath-Pileser, or I'ul, a great military leader who raised the Empire 
 of Assyria to the rank of a first-rate power, and made it felt in all 
 directions. lie reigned from 745 to 727, being the contemporary of 
 Jotham and Ahaz. 
 
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND NOTES. l8l 
 
 (Pp. 28-37.) 
 
 Kir, a province of Assyria — viz., Georgia, onthenorth-east of Armenia. 
 Urijah, a priest in Jerusalem guilty of obsequious obedience to 
 Ahaz. 
 
 Hoshea, Israel's last king, 729 to 722. He rebelled against Assyria, 
 and entered into negotiations with So, or Shabak, king of Egypt, 
 Assyria's rival : hence was punished by captivity. 
 
 Shalmaneser succeeded Tilgath-Pileser, and reigned five years, 727 
 to 722. He began the siege of Samaria, which Sargon (722-705) 
 his great successor, completed. 
 
 So, or, fully, Shabak, was a powerful Egyptian king. His negotia- 
 tion with Hoshea brought down upon himself the anger of Assyria. 
 At Raphia, in 720, Sargon defeated him. He was succeeded by Shaba- 
 taka, who was followed by Tirhakah, a distinguished sovereign, who 
 eagerly sought an alliance with Hezekiah. In 662, during this king's 
 reign, Thebes fell before Assyria, and Egypt was much crippled as 
 Isaiah foretold she would be. See also Nahum's prophecy (iii. 8). 
 
 The South, or Negeb, a geographical term for the south country of 
 Judah : distinct from the Shephelah (see above). 
 
 Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the last king but one of Samaria, de- 
 throned by Assyria in 729. He was indeed a smoking torch. 
 
 Shear-Jashub, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, and Immanuel, the names 
 of three young men, two of whom certainly were Isaiah's sons, the 
 third probably : and each name was significant of a specific prophecy 
 delivered by Isaiah to Ahaz. Shear = Remnant. Jashub = Will return. 
 
 The Fuller's field, a well-known place on the north of Jerusalem, 
 near the Highway to Samaria, and the Upper or Hezekiah's Pool. 
 
 Ben Tabeal, an unknown person, whom it was proposed by Syria 
 and Samaria to place on the throne of Jerusalem. Not a Jew. 
 
 The Fly, used for the Egyptian people. Insects were common in 
 Egypt. 
 
 The Bee, here used for the Assyrian people. As above, poetic terms. 
 
 Shiloah, a spring and pool south-east of Jerusalem, the waters of 
 which trickled slowly but surely. Here it stands as a symbol for the 
 source of Jerusalem's strength, even Jehovah : as the Euphrates is used 
 for Assyria. The Pool of Siloam is the Lower Pool. 
 
 Zebulon and Naphtall — i.e., upper and lower Galilee tribes, dwell- 
 ing on the sea coast, which had once suffered terribly from the Assyrian 
 invasions. (Gen. xlix. 13.) See Matt. iv. 14. 
 
 The Way of the Sea — i.e., the region round the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 Midian, signally defeated by Gideon. .See Judges vi.-viii. 
 
 Moab. This country lay due east from Judah, beyond the Dead Sea, 
 and had played an important part in her time. From time to time she 
 had been subdued by Samaria and Judah, but, in her pride, she continu- 
 
l82 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 (Pp. 37-40.) 
 
 ally revolted. Reference i.s here made to the tribute of sheep and 
 lamb.s which Jehoram, king of Israel, had imposed on Mesha, the king 
 of Moab. (2 Kings iii. 4 ; xiv. 7.) The prophet here combines several 
 prophetic oracles, and works them up as a prelude to the final message 
 he is instructed to deliver. A most complete and graphic knowledge 
 of Moab is shown. Sela was a strong town. Others are mentioned 
 with their peculiaritie.'; of situation, or cultivation. There appear to 
 have been three places called Eglath, of which Eglaim is the dual, and 
 means the two Eglaths : while Eglath-Shelishyah means Eglath the 
 third. Bajith — house or temple. Arnon is a boundary stream : the 
 water of Dimon, Dimon = Dibon, changed to allow of the paranom- 
 asia : Dimon in Hebrew suggesting the word for blood. Chemosh was 
 the tutelary deity of Moab. She is counselled to submit to Judah : but 
 this counsel being rejected, her destruction is foretold. The vine of 
 Sibmah was famous : its culture was widely extended, even to Jazer in 
 the north, and the desert in the east. So Engedi. See Song of Sol. i. 14. 
 
 Dumah, used by Isaiah as corresponding to the Hebrew for silence, 
 but here the name for Edom, shortened from Idumsea. This is the 
 territory of the children of Esau round Mount Seir, and lies due south 
 from Moab. Edom's doom is not now pronounced : but the destruc- 
 tion of her people, and Bozrah, her chief town, is afterwards set forth 
 (see page 89). It is referred to in Isaiah Ixiii. also. 
 
 Arabia, lying south of Judah, the land of Steppes, inhabited by 
 numerous nomadic tribes, as Dedan, Tenia, Kedar. Such tribes 
 suffered from the wave of Assyrian invasion. The Hebrew word for 
 evetiing is similar to the name of the country here. 
 
 Aroer. There were several towns of the name, one in South Pales- 
 tine, and two in the district east of the Jordan. It is to this district 
 that reference is here made. One Aroer is in the tribe of Gad ; the 
 other in that of Reuben. These Tribes respectively occupied the lands 
 of the Amorites and Ammonites. 
 
 Valley of Rephaim, a fertile plain on south of Jerusalem. 
 
 Astartes, or Asherim, or Ashterotli. Astarte was a Phrenician 
 goddess, whose worship was introduced into Samaria by Ahab chiefly. 
 Being worshipped in groves, Asherah was thus rendered in A. V. 
 Asherim is masculine-plural, and Ashteroth the feminine-plural of 
 Asherah. Adonis is the Greek form of this deity. 
 
 Hivites and Amorites. This reading is found in the LXX., and 
 makes the text more clear and graphic. These tribes disappeared 
 before Israel. So should Syria and Samaria disappear before Assyria. 
 
 A piece of brass — i.e., Nehushtan. The brazen serpent made by 
 Moses had in itself no efficacy : it was only brass, and should never 
 have been worshipped, as it appears to have been. 
 
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND NOTES. 1 83 
 
 (Pp 42-30.) 
 
 The Kidron, a stream north-east of Jerusalem : its valley is also 
 known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It flows into the Dead Sea. 
 
 The Steps or Dial of Ahaz, a pyramid composed of steps, introduced 
 by Ahaz in connection with astrology. The remarkable phenomenon 
 of the sun's shadow appearing to go up ten steps may have been caused 
 by refraction in a certain state of the atmosphere. Its unusual character 
 made it a sign to weak faith. 
 
 Lachlsh, a Philistine town south-west from Jerusalem, where the 
 Assyrian armies encamped on their march against Egypt, 
 
 Sennacherib reigned over Assyria from 705 to 681, and was therefore 
 the contemporary of Hezekiah. In 701 he conquered Egypt at El-Tekeh, 
 but fled from before Jerusalem. Two kings reigned after him in 
 Nineveh, Esar-Haddon, and Asur-Bani-Pal : and 607 saw the fall of 
 the Assyrian Empire before the Median Power. 
 
 Millo, a rampart, strongly fortified, on the west of Mount Zion. 
 
 Rabshakeh or Rah-Sak, the chief cup-bearer, or general staff-ofiicer 
 in the Assyrian service, entrusted with diplomatic business. It is the 
 title of an office, and not the name of a person. The Tartan was a 
 supreme military officer, or commander-in-chief, while the Rab Saris 
 was the Chief of the Eunuchs, and a confidential officer. Rab = Chief. 
 
 EliaMm, became Treasurer or Chief Officer of State under King 
 Hezekiah, in succession to Shebna, whose removal from office Isaiah 
 announced. 
 
 Shebna, a foreigner and an upstart. His pro-Egyptian policy marked 
 him out for severe condemnation at the hands of the prophet. He had 
 purchased a burial-place prematurely, thinking that his tenure of office 
 was sure. Here he appears already in a secondary position. 
 
 Hamath, at the north border of the Holy Land, a large town on the 
 Orontes, depopulated by the Assyrian in 720. Full of Hittite Inscrip- 
 tions. 
 
 Arpad = Aradus, a town on the coast, now a heap of ruins, near 
 Hamath. 
 
 Sepharvaim, or Sipar, a town to the north of Babylon ; built on 
 both sides of the Euphrates, and hence in dual form here. Conquered 
 by Sargon. Sixteen miles from Bagdad. 
 
 Libnah, a town near Lachish. 
 
 Gozan, a river, or a district in Mesopotamia. 
 
 Haran, a province in Assyria. Perhaps part of Media. 
 
 Rezeph, a town beyond the Euphrates, reduced by Assyria. Several 
 places so called. 
 
 Eden, a district along the banks of the Euphrates. In Mesopotamia. 
 
 Telassar, or Tel-Ashur, a town in Media. 
 
 Henah and Ivah, Assyrian towns to which Israel was carried captive, 
 near Carchemish. 
 
184 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 (Pp. 52-62.) 
 
 My hook. Assyrian .sculptures show how the custom prevailed in 
 
 Assyria of taking prisoners away with a hook in the nose. 
 
 Nisroch, not identified. Perhaps a modification of Ashur, the god of 
 Nineveh : the sr having been taken from a descriptive title, and the 
 oc/i being an augmentative. Asarach is the form in the LXX. 
 
 Esar-Haddon, King in Nineveh, reigned 681 to 668, successor of 
 Sennacherib. 
 
 Calno, a strong town = Ctesiphon or Zerghish, south of Babylon, on 
 Tigris. 
 
 CaxchemlBb, a place of military importance on the Euphrates, and 
 the capital of the ancient Hittite kingdom. Taken in 717 by Sargon. 
 A decisive battle was fought here between Egypt and Babylon in 606. 
 Remover of Boundaries, a title assumed by the Assyrian kings. 
 They claimed to be king of kings, and lord paramount or superior. 
 They certainly robbed the nations, like bird-nests. 
 
 The Light of Israel, a name of Jehovah, who was represented by the 
 Shekinah glory. 
 
 Rock of Oreb, the place of Gideon's signal victory over Midian. 
 (Judges viii. ) This victory became in prophecy a type of other and 
 greater deliverances. 
 
 Aiath, &c. Here is given a graphic account of an invasion of Judah 
 from the north : and town after town is mentioned in due order. That 
 this refers to an actual invasion of Sargon in 710 seems probable. 
 The later invasion of Sennacherib was from the west by way of Lachish. 
 Although no definite statement is on record as to this invasion, yet the 
 Inscriptions tell us that "Judah and other lands were at the time of the 
 invasion of Philistia speaking treason." The emended reading, "The 
 destroyer is come up from the north," removes an ambiguous clause 
 from the text, and affords a good introduction to what follows. The 
 geographical peculiarities are here marked ; and the actions attributed 
 to each place correspond strikingly to their names. In this passage, and 
 in that concerning Moab, this play on words, so characteristic of Isaiah, 
 is abundantly seen. 
 
 The Valley of Vision, a name for Jerusalem as the homo of prophetic 
 vision. 
 
 ElaJn, a province near Babylon. In Sargon's time, in alliance with 
 Assyria, Kir and Elam fight against Assyria's enemies. 
 
 The Forest House, a house of cedars, a royal armoury (i Kings 
 
 vii. 2 ; X. 17). 
 
 Lower Pool. The pool of Siloam, in south-east of city. 
 
 Ethiopia, addressed here as a land full of insects, of which there are 
 
 so many in Eastern lands. It corresponds to Cush, or the southern 
 
 division of Egypt, A powerful Ethiopian king, Piankhi-Mer Anion, had 
 
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND NOTES. 1 85 
 
 (Pp. 62-71.) 
 
 united Egypt and Ethiopia under one sceptre about 726 : and was 
 succeeded by a line of brave monarchs, who sustained the fame of the 
 Pharaohs. The prophet's message is complimentary. Herodotus 
 describes the Ethiopians as the tallest and finest of men. The Ho ! 
 does not express woe, but interest, and calls for attention. 
 Tartan, a supreme military general of Assyria. 
 
 Ashdod, a strong fortress of the Philistines, was besieged for about 
 three years by Sargon's generals ; and had to be reduced before Assyria 
 could advance against Egypt. The story of the siege is fully given on 
 the Inscriptions on the wall of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. 
 
 Zoan, a chief town of Lower Egypt, on a branch of the Nile delta — 
 also called Tanis. Hanes, another important town of Lower Egypt. 
 
 The Beasts of the South — i.e., an embassy with caravans carrying 
 gifts, going south, even to Egypt. 
 
 The Braggart — i.e. , Rahab, the poetic name for Egypt. Theinability 
 of Egypt to fulfil her promises is here set forth. 
 
 A Funeral Pyre — i.e., Tophet, such as was erected in the valley of 
 Hinnom for Moloch, worshipped as the king of Heaven. 
 
 A Cruel Lord, probably the Assyrian king : or Psammetichus 
 {660 to 610), a powerful king of Egypt. 
 
 Noph= Memphis, ancient capital of Lower Egypt: capital of 
 Shepherd Kings. Thebes, farther south, its great rival, once a royal 
 residence and a place of importance. 
 
 The Nile was the source of Egypt's wealth : anything affecting the 
 former would reduce the latter. 
 
 It Ha-Heres, the city of destruction, or of the sun — perhaps Heliopolis. 
 But the meaning is obscure. The LXX. read the city of righteousness, 
 and on account of this Onias obtained permission, in 160 B.C., to build 
 a Jewish temple in Egypt, which stood till 72 a.d.: this, however, was 
 not for converted Egypt, but for Jews residing there. The City of the 
 Sun-worship might well be termed the City of Destruction by a wor- 
 shipper of Jehovah (Jer. xliii. 13). Heliopolis, or On, was near 
 Memphis. 
 
 Pillar, or Ma99eba, not yet condemned as idolatrous : old indication 
 of a sacred place. 
 
 Ephraim's capital was on a hill, the side of which was covered with 
 vines, and beneath were fat, or fertile, valleys. 
 
 Mount Perazim, where a victory was obtained by David over the 
 Philistines. (2 Sam. v. 20.) 
 
 Valley of Giheon, w'here Joshua obtained a signal triumph over the 
 five kings. (Josh. x. 10.) 
 
 Ariel— ?>., Jerusalem : thus poetically described as the Hearth or the 
 
l86 HOW TO READ ISAIAH. 
 
 (Pp. 75-9I-) 
 
 Lion of God — it being both the place where the fire of His holiness 
 burned, and the place where His strength was revealed. 
 
 Sodom and Gomorrlia, signal instances of the divine wrath against 
 sin, referred to here by way of warning. Two cities of the Plain. 
 
 T3a"e, on a narrow coast land, and adjoining isle. Centre of great 
 maritime enterprise. Besieged by Shalmaneser in 724. Captured by 
 Nebuchadnezzar in 572. Unally overthrown by Alexander the Great, 
 332. 
 
 Tarshish^Tartessus, on south coast of Spain : an important trading 
 town. 
 
 Kittim, the isle of Cyprus in the Levant. 
 
 The Desert of tlie Sea, or district of rivers, as Mesopotamia, which 
 means between the seas, is really the country between the great rivers 
 Euphrates and Tigris. Babylon is thus described. Its revolt against 
 Assyria quelled 710, but it fell in 539, and by 60 was indeed a desert. 
 
 Media and Elam are here enemies of Babylon, and allies of Assyria, 
 The Medes became an independent power about 710. When Isaiah 
 was prophesying they established themselves in Ecbatana, and this 
 must have been known in Jerusalem. That there was a future before 
 the Medes the prophet saw. The Median Empire lasted from 710 to 
 559, when Cyrus founded the Persian Power : but his first generals 
 were Medes. In the text we have Sargon's address to Media and 
 Elam. 
 
 Merodach-Baladan, a powerful king of Babylon, who rebelled against 
 Assyria, and stood a siege for ten years, thus forecasting Babylon's in- 
 dependence. He was dethroned by Sargon, but again established 
 himself on that king's death in 705. Nineveh fell before Babylon in 
 609 to 607, and Nebuchadnezzar had a brilliant reign. 
 
 Merodach is a title of one of the gods of Babylon. The Medes were 
 being stirred up about this time against Babylon. 
 
 The Mount of Congregation, a mythical dwelling-place of the gods, 
 the Olympus of Assyria, on the hills of Aralu, at the supposed entrance 
 to the lower world, Sheol or Hades. 
 
 Bozrah, the capital of Edom, and the scene of Jehovah's vengeance 
 upon his enemies. 
 
 Isles of the Sea, or coastlands of the countries washed by the sea. 
 
 Carmel, a well-known mountain, etymologically a fruitful place, on 
 the coast of Palestine, north of Ciiesarea. 
 
 Sharon, a beautiful and fertile plain, extending from Joppa to 
 Cii:sarea. 
 
 The River— /.f., the Euphrates. 
 
 The Stock of Jesse = David's house and family, out of which a true 
 king would yet arise. 
 
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND NOTES, 187 
 
 (1^- 93-) 
 
 Egypt or Matzor. There are two Egypts, hence the dual form 
 Mitzraim. Pathros or Thebaid, with Thebes for its capital, is Upper 
 Egypt : while the northern part, including the Delta, with Memphis for 
 its capital, is Lower Egypt (see p. 51.) Cush or Ethiopia = Nubia, was 
 at one time united with Egypt. 
 
 Shinar, a province of Babylon or South Babylonia. 
 
 The Tongue of Egypt. As the Red Sea was smitten in the day of 
 Exodus : so again any sea or stream of Egypt that stands in the way of 
 the people of God shall be smitten. 
 
 No. I.— INDEX OF CHAPTERS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. I ... II 
 
 XX. 
 
 61 
 
 I. 2-31 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 XXI. i-io 
 
 79 
 
 II. . 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 11-17 
 
 38 
 
 III. . 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 XXII. 1-14 
 
 57 
 
 IV. . 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 15-25 
 
 60 
 
 V. 1-7 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 XXIII. 1-18 
 
 78 
 
 8-25 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 95 
 
 VI. . 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 XXV. 
 
 97 
 
 VII. . 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 99 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 100 
 
 IX. . 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 69 
 
 X. 1-4 
 
 
 
 22, 24 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 71 
 
 5-34 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 XXX. 
 
 63 
 
 XI. . 
 
 
 
 91 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 65 
 
 XII. . 
 
 
 
 94 
 
 XXXII. i-S 
 
 93 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 9-20 
 
 77 
 
 XIV. 1-23 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 87 
 
 24-27 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 
 XV. . 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 90 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 47 
 
 XVII. i-ii 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 48 
 
 12-14 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 XXXVIII. 1-8 
 
 43 
 
 ^VIII. . 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 9-20 
 
 45 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 81 
 
No. II.— INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Ahaz, reign, &c., 26, 115, 119. 
 
 Alliances, condemned, 32, 62, 135. 
 
 Arabia, 38, 131. 
 
 Argument, Divine, 63. 
 
 Ashdod. siege of, 61, 145. 
 
 Assyria, 26, 54, 124. 
 
 Astarte, 39, 182, 
 
 Atonement, 176. 
 
 Babylon, 79, 84, 154. 
 
 Beasts of the South, 62. 
 
 Better days coming, 24, 34, 73, 
 
 91. 
 Boast of Assyria, 47. 
 Captivity of Israel, 28, 130. 
 Carelessness condemned, 21, 76. 
 Church, idea of, 175. 
 
 „ duty of, 106. 
 Commerce, 77, 155. 
 Commission of Isaiah, 16, 107. 
 Complaint against luxury, 19, 71. 
 Conceptions, Isaiah's, no, 171. 
 Confidence in God, 94. 
 Conquest of Samaria, 28. 
 Conversion, Egypt's, 68. 
 Conscience, 176. 
 Cush, 59, 184. 
 Damascus, 38. 
 Dark outlook, 95. 
 Day of the Lord, 17, 88, 94, 177. 
 Deliverance, 83, 167. 
 Desolation, 16, 67, 85. 
 Dial of Ahaz, 44, 183. 
 Dress, 17. 
 Drink sin, 21, 69. 
 Edom, 38, 89. 
 Egypt, 61, 144. 
 Eliakim, 47, 144. 
 Eloth, II, 179. 
 El-Tekeh, battle of, 137, 
 Ephraim, 38. 
 
 Epochs in Isaiah's life, 125. 
 Ethiopia, 59. 
 
 Fire, Divine, 163. 
 Forgiveness, 75, 175. 
 Four-named King, 34, 166. 
 Future life, 177. 
 Gehenna, 26, 115, 180. 
 God, vision of, 15, 40, 109. 
 
 ,, idea of, 173. 
 Government, 34. 
 Hanes, 64. 
 
 Heathen influences, 115. 
 Hezekiah, 40, 132. 
 Historical conditions, 103. 
 Holiness of God, 109. 
 Hopeful anticipations, 90. 
 Idolatry, 18. 
 Immanuel, 31, 122. 
 Immortality, 174. 
 Incarnation, 122. 
 Indictment of Jerusalem, 74, 152. 
 Isaiah, 15, 107. 
 
 Jerusalem, 19, 69, 74, 137, 150. 
 Jotham, 12, 104. 
 Josiah's reform, 133. 
 Judah invaded, 136. 
 Judgments, six, 22, 113. 
 King, the coming, 34, 91, 93. 
 Kittim, 78, 186. 
 Land Covetousness, 21. 
 Latter-day glory, 16, 112. 
 Leprosy, Uzziah's, 13. 
 Luxury, 19. 
 
 Mahershalal Hashbaz, 32, 123. 
 Manasseh, 166. 
 Media, 83, 157. 
 Memphis, 67, 185. 
 Mercy, 75. 
 
 Merodach-Baladan, 80, 134. 
 Messianic days, 93. 
 Micah's work, in. 
 ^loab, 35, 95, 129. 
 Mountain of the Lord, 16. 
 Nile, A woe on the, 67. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 189 
 
 Overthrow of Assyria, 52, 58. 
 
 ,, Ethiopia, 61. 
 
 Occasional pieces, 93. 
 Passover kept, 42. 
 Philistines, li, 35, 127. 
 Prayer, 37, 97. 
 Prophecy, 64, 166. 
 Prosperity, 104. 
 Providence, 68, 71. 
 Psalms, 44, 53, 94, loi. 
 Purpose of God, 174. 
 Rabshakeh's boast, 47. 
 Raphia, battle of, 146. 
 Recompence, 174. 
 Remnant, Doctrine of, 16,91, 120, 
 
 172. 
 Restoration, 90. 
 Resurrection, 177. 
 Retirement of prophet, 33, 124. 
 Righteousness, 176. 
 Sacrifice, 175. 
 Salvation, 175. 
 Samaria, 28, 68. 
 Sargon, 44, 136. 
 Sennacherib, 46, 13S, 183. 
 Shalmaneser, 134. 
 
 Shearjashub, 30, 181. 
 
 Shebna, 47, 60, 183. 
 
 Shiloah, 32, 181. 
 
 Songs of triumph, 84, 86. 
 
 Syria, 32, 130. 
 
 Tarshish, 18, 168. 
 
 Temple purified, 41. 
 
 Tenth, the, 16, 175. 
 
 Tilgath-Pileser, 27, 117, 180. 
 
 Tirhakah, 146. 
 
 Tophet, 147. 
 
 Tribal deities, 131, 174. 
 
 Trust in man condemned, 1 8, 33, 
 
 67. 
 Tyre, 77,. 153- 
 
 Universality of Isaiah's views, 154. 
 Uzziah, 12. 
 Valley of Vision, 57. 
 Vengeance, divine, 66. 
 Vineyard, God's, 25, loi. 
 Vision of God, 15 ,109. 
 Woes, seven, 20. 
 Women, 76. 
 Worship, true, 72. 
 World-powers, 106, 139, 165. 
 Wrath of God, 22, 113. 
 
In Croivn %vo, price £,s. 
 
 HOW TO READ THE PROPHETS: 
 
 Being the Prophecies arranged Chronologically in their 
 Historical Setting. 
 
 WITH EXPLANATIONS, MAPS, AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 Part I., containing Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Zechariah (ix.-xiv.), 
 
 MiCAH, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, 
 
 and Joel. 
 
 By Rev. BUCHANAN BLAKE, B.D., 
 
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 reading, especially of the smaller prophecies of the Old Testa- 
 ment. To make these prophecies intelligible to the plainest 
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PROFESSOR DELITZSCH ON 'ISAIAH. " 
 {COPYRIGHT BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR.) 
 
 Just published, in Two Vols. %vo, price i\s. 
 
 COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHECIES 
 OF ISAIAH. 
 
 A NEW EDITION ENTIRELY REWRITTEN. 
 
 By Professor FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D., Leipzig. 
 
 With an Introduction by Prof. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Oxford. 
 
 Note. — By special arrangement with the late Prof. Delitzsch, Messrs 
 Clark have the sole right of publishing an English Translation of 
 this Fourth {and last) Edition of his " Isaiah." It is dedicated to 
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 Author states that this Fourth Edition contains the fruit of his 
 continued labour, and that a thorough revisal of the whole work 
 has been made since the publication of the Third Edition many 
 years ago. 
 
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 translation of Delitzsch's ' Isaiah.' . . . Prefixed to it is an interesting 
 critical sketch by Prof. Driver, which will be a useful guide to students 
 nut only of this but of the other works of the accomplished author." 
 
 "Delitzsch's last gift to the Christian Church. . . . In our opinion, 
 those who would enter into the meaning of that Spirit as He spake long 
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 significance to-day, cannot find a better guide ; one more marked by 
 learning, reverence, and insight, than Franz Delitzsch." — Professor W. 
 T. Davison, in The Expository Times. 
 
 "Commentaries in Europe are not often republished after their 
 authors' deaths, whatever is of permanent value in them being appro- 
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 the task of expounding the Prophets possessing so many gifts and 
 employing them so well." — Guardian. 
 
 " Delitzsch had throughout his career uniformly striven to maintain 
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 contrary, acknowledges, reluctantly and jiartially, but still clearly, the 
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 Edinburgh : T. & T. CLARK, 38. George Street. 
 
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 'RIEHM'S MESSIANIC PROPHECY.' 
 
 Just jnihlishcd, in post 8vo, price 7s. 6d., 
 
 MESSIANIC PROPHECY: 
 
 Bv Dr. EDWARD RIEHM, 
 
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 SECOND EDITION. 
 TRANSL.\TEn FROM THE GERMAN BY LEWIS A. MUIRHEAD, B.D. 
 
 cllitk :in Entroburtion bg 
 Professor A. B. DAVIDSON, D.D., 
 
 NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. 
 
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 By CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., 
 
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