YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

ISAIAH

TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED

BY
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER.

AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE AUTHOR'S CRITICAL
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH

VOLUME I.

NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND ST.
1865.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISM,
BY JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District of New Jiiriby.

PKEFACE.

This abridgment of the author's larger work upon
Isaiah* has been prepared in deference rather to the
wishes of others than to his own judgment. Lie has al
ways desired and hitherto intended to defer reprinting it
in any form, until he should have had the opportunity
of thoroughly reviewing the whole subject, with the
valuable aid to be derived from later expositions, criti
cisms, and discussions. But as this laborious process,
which might possibly result in the re- writing of the whole
work, is precluded for the present and perhaps forevet
by engrossing occupations of another kind, he no' longer^
feels himself at liberty to disregard the double call which
has long been made upon him, for ~a new impression of
the commentary, and for such a reduction of its size as
may render it accessible and useful to a larger class of
readers. As these demands, although distinct in them
selves, have been made to coincide by the unexpected
sale of the first edition which is now exhausted, he is
willing to believe that both may, to some extent, be satis-
*The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah. New York, 1846. 8vo. Tho. Later
Prophecies of Isaiah. New York, 1847. 8vo.

iv PREFACE.
fied by the abridgment here presented to the public. He
is only solicitous that it should not be misconceived as an
intended or professed advance upon his former publica
tion, but indulgently received as an attempt to place it
within the reach of those who, for any reason, have been
hitherto, unable to make use of it. To this course he haa
been the more easily reconciled, because his views have
undergone no material change, and because he has the sat
isfaction of knowing that his book has proved acceptable,
at least as a version and a verbal explanation, even to
some who do not fully concur in his exegetical conclu
sions. If the work in its new form should meet with even
a small share of the favour and success which have at
tended the kindred publication on the Psalms,* the au
thors expectations will be far exceeded.
To those who are familiar with the larger work, a
slight comparison will show that it has not been re
written but merely contracted, and that for the most part
by simple omission. The rule of abridgment which has
been adopted, although not perhaps applied with perfect
uniformity, has been to retain only what was necessary
to convey the author's view ofthe essential meaning, and
to exclude what belonged merely to the history of the in
terpretation or the discussion of conflicting opinions. Of
the meagerness and awkwardness too frequently resulting
from this process, none can be more fully aware than
the author and abridger ; but the hope is entertained that
by a large proportion even of those readers who become
* The Psalms Translated and Explained by J. A. Alexander. New York,
1850 8 vols. l2mo.

PREFACE. y
acquainted with the work for the first time under its pres«
ent disadvantages of form, these literary blemishes will
be reckoned but a small price to be paid for wider circu
lation and a further contribution, however humble' in
degree and kind, to the just appreciation and correct
interpretation of a difficult but eminently interesting
and important part of Scripture.
Pmhcktoh, New Jersey, April 15, 1851.

Ideological Seminary,

INTRODUCTION.

The gift of prophecy included that of foresight and predic
tion, but it included more. The prophet was inspired to reveal
the will of God, to act as an organ of communication between
God and man. The subject ofthe revelations thus conveyed
was not and could not be restricted to the future. It embraced
the past and present, and extended to those absolute and univer
sal truths which have no relation to time. This is what we
should naturally expect in a divine revelation, and it is what we
actually find it to contain. That the prophets of the old dis
pensation were not mere foretellers of things future, is apparent
from their history as well as from their writings. It has been
well said, that Daniel proved himself a prophet by telling Neb
uchadnezzar what he had dreamed, as much as by interpreting
the dream itself ; that it was only by prophetic inspiration that
Elijah knew what Gehazi had been doing ; and that the woman
of Samaria very properly called Christ a prophet, because he
told her all things that ever she did. In all these cases, and
in multitudes of others, the essential idea is that of inspiration,
its frequent reference to things still future being accidental,
that is to say, not included in the uniform and necessary im;
port of the terms.
The restriction of these terms in modern parlance to the
prediction of events still future has arisen from the fact that a
large proportion of the revelations made in Scripture, and
precisely those which are the most surprising and impressive,
1

2 INTRODUCTION'.
are of this description. The frequency of such revelations, and
the prominence given to them, not in this modern usage merely,
but in the word of God itself, admit of easy explanation. It is
partly owing to the fact that revelations of the future would
be naturally sought with more avidity, and treated with more
deference, than any" other by mankind in general. It is fur
ther owing to the fact that of all the kinds of revelation, this
is the one which affords the most direct and convincing proof of
the prophet's inspiration. The knowledge of the present or the
past or of general truths might be imparted by special inspira
tion, but it might also be acquired in other ways ; and this
possibility of course makes the evidence of inspiration thus
afforded more complete and irresistible than any other: Hence
the function of foretelling what was future, although but a part
of the prophetic office, was peculiarly conspicuous and promi
nent in public view, and apt to be more intimately associated
with the office itself in the memory of man. But there
is still another reason, more important than either of these,
afforded by the fact, that the old dispensation, with all its pecu
liar institutions, was prospective in its character, a preparation
for better things to come. It is not surprising, therefore, that
a part of this economy so marked and prominent, should have
exhibited a special leaning towards futurity.
This naturally leads us from the theoretical idea of a prophet
as a person speaking by divine authority and inspiration, to the
practical consideration of the end or purpose aimed at in the
whole prophetic institution. This was not merely the relief
of private doubts, much less, the gratification of private cu
riosity. The gift of prophecy was closely connected with the
general design of the old economy. The foundation of the
system was the Law, as recorded in the five books of Moses.
In that, as an epitome, the rest of the Old Testament is con
tained, at least as to its seminal principles. The single book
ot Deuteronomy exhibits specimens of almost every style em-

INTRODUCTION. 3
ployed by the sacred writers elsewhere. Still more remark
ably is this true of the whole Pentateuch, in reference not
merely to its manner but its matter, as comprising virtually
all that is developed and applied in the revelations of the later
books. To make this development and application was the
business of the prophets. The necessity for such an institu
tion was no after-thought. The law itself provides for it. The
promise of a prophet like unto Moses, in the eighteenth chap
ter of Deuteronomy, comprehends the promise of a constant
succession of inspired men, so far as this should be required by
the circumstances of the people, which succession was to termi
nate in Christ.
This promise was abundantly fulfilled. In every emergency
requiring such an interposition, we find prophets present and
active, and in some important periods of the history of Israel
they existed in great numbers. These, though not all inspired
writers, were all inspired men, raised up and directed by a
special divine influence, to signify and sometimes to execute the
will of God, in the administration of the theocracy. Joshua is
expressly represented as enjoying such ^an influence, and is
reckoned in the Jewish tradition as a prophet. The Judges
who succeeded him were all raised up in special emergencies,
and were directed and controlled by a special divine influence
or inspiration. Samuel was one of the most eminent prophets.
After the institution of the monarchy we read constantly of
prophets distinct from the civil rulers. After the schism be
tween Judah and Ephraim, there continued to be prophets,
even in the kingdom of the ten tribes. They were peculiarly
necessary there indeed, because the people of that kingdom
were cut off from the sanctuary and its services, as bonds of
union with Jehovah. The prophetic ministry -continued through
the Babylonish exile, and ceased some years after the restora
tion, in the person of Malachi, whom the Jews unanimously
represent as the last of their prophets.

4 INTRODUCTION.
"With respect to the nature of the inspiration under which
these prophets spoke and acted, there can be no doubt that the
Bible itself represents it as plenary, or fully adequate to the
attainment of its end. (2 Tim. 3 : 16. 2 Pet. 1 : 21.) Where
this end was external action, it was sufficiently secured by the
gift of courage, strength, or practical wisdom. Where the in
struction of God's people was the object, whether in reference
to the past, the present, or the future ; whether in word, in
writing, or in both ; whether for temporary ends, or with a view
to perpetual preservation ; the prophets are clearly represented
as infallible, that is, incapable of erring or deceiving, with respect
to the matter of their revelation. How far this object was se
cured by direct suggestion, by negative control, or by an eleva
ting influence upon the native powers, is a question of no prac
tical importance to those who hold the essential doctrine that
the inspiration was in all cases such as to render those who wero
inspired infallible. Between this supposition and the opposite
extreme, -which denies inspiration altogether, or resolves it into
mere excitement of the imagination and the sensibilities, like
the afflatus of a poet or an orator, there seems to be no definite
and safe position. Either the prophets were not inspired at
all in any proper sense, or they were so inspired as to be in
fallible. As to the mode in which the required impression was made,
it seems both vain and needless to attempt any definite descrip
tion of it. The ultimate -effect would be the same in any case,
if not upon the prophet, upon those who heard or read his pro
phecies. So far as anything can be inferred from incidental or
explicit statements of the Scripture, the most usual method of
communication would appear to have been that of immediate
vision, that is, the presentation of the thing to be revealed as if it
were an object of sight. Thus Micaiah saw Israel scattered on
tho hills like sheep without a shepherd (1 Kings 22 : 17), and
Isaiah saw Jehovah sitting on a bfty throne (Isai. 6:1). That

INTRODUCTION. S
this was the most usual mode of presentation, is probable not
only frOm. occasional expressions such as those just quoted, but
from the fact, that a very large proportion of the prophetic rev
elations are precisely such as might be painted and subjected
to the sense of sight. The same conclusion is confirmed by the
use of the words seer and vision as essentially equivalent to
prophet and prophecy. There is no need, however, of supposing
that this method of communication, even if it were the common
one, was used invariably. Some things in the prophecies re
quire us to suppose that they, were made known to the prophet
just as he made them known to others, to wit, by the simple
suggestion of appropriate words. But this whole question is
rather one of curiosity than use.
It has been disputed wkether the prophets of the old dispen
sation had any training for their work, at all analogous to
what we call a professional education. Some have supposed the
sons ofthe prop hets} frequently mentioned in the books of Kings,
to have been young men in a course of preparation for the pro
phetic ministry. To this it has been objected, that their minis
try depended on tho gift of inspiration, for which no human
training could compensate or prepare them. But although they
could not act as prophets without inspiration, they might be
prepared for those parts of the work which depended upon cul
ture, such as a correct mode of expression, just as -men may
now be trained by education for the work of the ministry,
although convinced that its success depends entirely on the
divine blessing. It is not to be forgotten that the inspiration
under which the prophets acted left them in full possession of
their faculties, native and acquired, and with all their peculi
arities of thought and feeling unimpaired. The whole subject
of prophetic education is, however, one of surmise and con
jecture, rather than of definite knowledge or of practical utility.
To the government the prophets do not seem to have sus
tained any definite or fixed relation, as component parts of a

6 INTRODUCTION.
political system. The extent and manner of their influence, in
this respect, depended on the character of the rulers, the state
of affairs, and the nature of the messages which they were com
missioned to deliver. As a class, the prophets influenced the
government, not by official formal action, but as special messen
gers from God, by whom he was represented in particular
emergencies, and whose authority could neither be disputed nor
resisted by any magistrate without abjuring the fundamental
principles of the theocracy. Even the. apostate kings of
Israel acknowledged the divine legation of the prophets of
Jehovah, With respect to the promulgation and preservation of the
prophecies, there have been various opinions and many fanciful
conjectures. Some suppose the prophets to have been a kind
)f demagogues or popular orators, whose speeches, if not pre
viously prepared, were afterwards recorded by themselves or
others. Another supposition is that the prophets were inspired
writers, and that their prophecies were published only as writ
ten compositions. A distinction as to this "point has by some
been drawn between the earlier and the later prophets. Prom
the death of Moses to the accession of Uzziah, a period of
nearly seven hundred years, a large proportion of the prophets
are supposed to have performed tbeir functions orally and with
out leaving anything on record ; whereas after that period
they were led to act not only for the present but the future.
We have no cause to doubt, however, that we now have in pos
session all that was " written aforetime for our learning." And
in the case of any prophecy, the question whether it was orally
delivered before it was written is comparatively unimportant,
as our only concern with it is in its written form. The idea
that the prophecies' now extant are mere summaries of long
discourses is ingenious and plausible in certain .cases, but ad
mits of no historical or certain demonstration.
A question of more moment is that with respect to the way

INTRODUCTION. 7
in which the writings were preserved, whether by private cir
culation as detached compositions, or by solemn enrolment and
deposit in the sanctuary. The modern critics who dispute the
integrity and genuineness of many passages' lean to the former
supposition ; but the latter is unquestionably favoured by the
whole drift of Scripture and tho current of ancient usage, sacred
and profane, with respect to writings which were looked upon
as sacred. It may well be doubted whether among the ancient
Hebrews there was any extensive circulation of books at all,
and it seems to me to be as hard to disprove as to prove the
position, that the only literature of the nation was THE
BOOK or SCRIPTURE (issri), which from the time of
Moses was kept open, and in which the writings of- the prophets
may have been recorded as they were produced. At all events,
it seems unreasonable and at variance with the tenor of Scrip
ture to suppose, that writings, held to be inspired were left to
circulate at random and to share the fate of other compositions,
without any effort to attest their genuineness or to secure their
preservation. The uniform tradition of the Jews is, that the sacred books
were finally collected and arranged by Ezra under the guidance
of divine inspiration, and that among them a prominent place,
and for the most part the first place, has been always held, by
a book bearing the name of Isaiah.
The name Isaiah is a compound word denoting the Salva
tion of Jehovah, to which some imagine that the Prophet him
self alludes in ch. 8:18. The abbreviated form (frs^) is
never applied in Scripture to the Prophet, though the rabbins
employ it in titles and inscriptions. Both forms of the name
are applied in the Old Testament to other persons, in all which
eases the English Version employs a different orthography, viz.
Jeshaiah or Jesaiah. In the New Testament our Version writes-
the name Esaias, after the example of the Vulgate, varying
slightly from the Greek 'Hoatag, used both in tho Septuagint

8 INTRODUCTION.
and the New Testament. To the name of the Prophet we find
several times added that of his father Amoz. Of his domes
tic circumstances we know merely, that his wife and two of his
sons are mentioned by himself (ch. 7:3; 8 : 3, 4) to whioh
some add a third, as we shall see below.
The only historical account of this Prophet is contained in
the book which bears his name, and in the parallel passages of
Second Kings, which exhibit unequivocal signs of being from
the hand of the same writer. The first sentence of Isaiah's
own book, assigns as the period of his ministry the four suc
cessive reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, one of
the most eventful periods in the history of Judah. The two
first reigns here mentioned were exceedingly prosperous, al
though a change for the worse appears ter have commenced
before the death of Jotham, and continued through the reign
of Ahaz, bringing the state to^the very verge of ruin, from
which it was not restored to a prosperous condition until long
after the accession of Hezekiah. During this period the king
dom of the ten tribes, which had flourished greatly under Jero
boam II, for many years contemporary with Uzziah, passed
through the hands of a succession of usurpers, and was at length
overthrown by the Assyrians, in the sixth year of Hezekiah's
reign over Judah.
Amongthe neighbouring powers, with whom Israel was more
or less engaged in conflict during these four reigns, the most
important were Damascene Syria, Moab, Edom, and the Philis
tines, who although resident within the allotted bounds of
Judah, still endeavoured to maintain their position as .an inde
pendent and a hostile nation. But the foreign powers which
chiefly influenced the condition of south-western Asia during
this period, were the two great empires of Assyria in the east,
and Egypt in the south-west. By a rapid succession of im
portant conquests, the former had suddenly acquired a magni
tude and strength which it had not p?ssessed for ages, if at all

INTRODUCTION. S
Egypt had been subdued, at least in part, by Ethiopia ; but
this very event, by combining the forces of two great nations,
had given unexampled strength to the Ethiopian dynasty in
Upper Egypt. The mutual jealousy and emulation between
this state and Assyria, naturally tended to make Palestine,
which lay between them, a theatre of war, at least at intervals,
for many years. It also led the kings of Israel and Judah to
take part in the contentions of these two great powers, and to
secure themselves by uniting, sometimes with Egypt against
Assyria, sometimes with Assyria against Egypt. It was this
inconstant policy that hastened the destruction of the kingdom
of the ten tribes, and exposed that of Judah to imminent
peril. Against this policy the prophets, and especially Isaiah,
were commissioned to remonstrate, no only as unworthy in itself,
but as implying a distrust of God's protection, and indifference
to the fundamental law ofthe theocracy. The Babylonian mon
archy began to gather strength before the end of this period,
but was less conspicuous, because not yet permanently inde
pendent of Assyria.
The two most remarkable conjunctures in the history of
Judah during Isaiah's ministry are the invasion of the com
bined force of Syria and Israel in the reign of Ahaz, followed
by the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes, and the
Assyrian invasion in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, ending
in the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's army and his
own ignominious flight. The historical interest of this im
portant period is further heightened by the fact, that two of
the most noted eras in chronology fall within it, to wit, the era
of Nabonassar, and that computed from the building ofjitomo.
The length of Isaiah's public ministry is doubtful. The
aggregate duration of the four reigns mentioned in the title is
above one hunded and twelve years ; but it is not said that he
prophesied throughout the whole reign either of Uzziah or
He'zekiah. Some it is true, have inferred that his ministry was

10 INTRODUCTION.
co-extensive with the whole reign of Uzziah, because he is said
to have written the history of that prince (2 Chron. 26 : 22),
which he surely might have done without being strictly his
contemporary, just as he may have written that of Hezekiah to
a certain date (2 Chron. 32 : 32), and yet have died before him.
Neither of these incidental statements can be understood as
throwing any light upon the question of chronology. Most
writers, both among the Jews and Christians, understood the
first verse of the sixth chapter as determining the year of king
Uzziah's death to be the first of Isaiah's public ministry. Some
of the Jewish writers, who adopt this supposition, at the same
time understand Uzziah's death to mean his civil death, occa
sioned by the leprosy with which he was smitten in the twenty-
fifth year of his reign, for his sacrilegious invasion of the house
of God, so that he dwelt in a separate house until his death.
There seems to be no sufficient ground for this explanation of
the language, or for the alleged coincidence of the event with
the twenty-fifth year of Uzziah's reign, any more than for the
notion of the oriental Christians, that Uzziah was deprived of
the prophetic office for his sin in not withstanding Uzziah, and
after twenty-eight years of silence was restored in the year of
that king's death, a fanciful interpretation of the facts recorded
in chap. vi. The modern writers are agreed in understanding
the expression literally, and in connecting the last year of Uz
ziah's life with the first year of Isaiah's ministry. It is by no
means certain, as we shall see below, that the sixth chapter is
descriptive of Isaiah's inauguration into office, still less that it
was written before any of the others. But it cannot be denied'
that the chronological hypothesis just stated is strongly recom
mended by the fact of its removing all objections to the truth
of the inscriptian (chap. 1:1) founded on the extreme longevity
which it would otherwise ascribe to the prophet, by enabling us
at once to deduct half a century. If we reckon from the last '
year of Uzziah to the fourteenth of Hezekiah, the last in which

INTRODUCTION. 11
we find any certain historical traces of Isaiah, we obtain as the
minimum of his prophetic ministry a period of forty-seven years,
and this, supposing that he entered on it even at the age of
thirty, would leave him at his death less than eighty years old
And even if it be assumed that he survived Hezekiah, and con
tinued some years under his successor, the length of his life will
after all be far less than that of Jehoiada, the high-priest, who
died in the reign of Joash at the age of 130 years. (2 Chron.
24 : 15.)
The Jews have a positive tradition that he did die in the
reign of Manasseh, and as victim of the bloody persecutions by
which that king is said to have filled Jerusalem with innocent
blood from one end to the other. (2 Kings 21 : 16.) This tra
dition is received as true by several of the Fathers, who suppose
it to be clearly alluded to in Heb. 11 : 37.
From the references, which have been already quoted, to the
historical writings of Isaiah, some have inferred that he was an
official historiographer, in which capacity the older prophets
seem to have acted, as appears from the canonical insertion of
such books as those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings,
among the Prophets. We have no reason to suppose, however,
that Isaiah held any secular office of the kind, distinct from
his prophetic ministry. Nor is it clear in what sense the cita
tion of Isaiah by the Chronicles as an historical authority should
be understood. The reference may be simply to the historical
portions of his book, or to the corresponding passages of Second
Kings, of which, in strict discharge of his official functions, he
may well have been the author. That the books referred to
were more copious histories or annals, of which only summaries
or fragments are now extant, is a supposition which, however
credible or even plausible it may be in itself, is not susceptible
of demonstration.
This book not only forms a part of the Old Testament Canon
&s far as we can trace it back, but has held its place there with-

12 INTRODUCTION.

out any change of form, size, or contents, of which the least
external evidence can be adduced. The allusions to this Pro
phet, and the imitations of him, in the later books of the Old
Testament, are not confined to any one part of the book or any
single class of passages. The apocryphal writers who make
mention of it, use no expressions which imply that it was not
already long complete in its present form and size. The same
thing seems to be implied in the numerous citations of this
book in the New Testament. Without going here into minute
details, a correct idea of the general fact may be conveyed by
simply stating, that of the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah, as divi
ded in our modern Bibles, forty-seven are commonly supposed
to be directly quoted or distinctly alluded to, and some of them
repeatedly. The same thing may be illustrated clearly on a
smaller scale by stating, that in the twenty-one cases where
Isaiah is expressly named in the New Testament, the quota
tions are drawn from the first, sixth, eighth, tenth, eleventh,
twenty-ninth, forty-second, sixty-first, and sixty-fifth chapters
of the book before us. These facts, together with the absence
of all countervailing evidence, show clearly that the Book of
the Prophet Isaiah (Luke 4 : 17) known and quoted by our
Lord and his apostles was, as a whole, identical with that which
we have under the same name. We find accordingly a long
unbroken series of interpreters, Jewish and Christian, through
a course of ages, not only acquiescing in this general statement,
but regarding all the passages and parts, of which the book con
sists, as clearly and unquestionably genuine.
Isaiah himself, even leaving out of view the large part of his
book which a capricious criticism has called in question, may
be said to express everywhere his own belief that he was
writing under an extraordinary influence, not merely human but
divine. This is at least the prima facie view which any unso
phisticated reader would derive from a simple perusal of his
undlSputed writings. However mistaken he might think the

INTRODUCTION. la
prophet, in asserting or assuming his own inspiration, such a
reader could scarcely hesitate to grant that he believed it and
expected it to be believed by others. In one of the oldest and
best of the Jewish Apocrypha (Sirach 24 : 25), Isaiah is called
the great and faithful prophet who foresaw what was to happen
till the end of time. Josephus and Philo incidentally bear
witness to his universal recognition by their countrymen as one
inspired of God.
We have seen already that our Lord and his Apostles cite
the whole book of Isaiah with more frequency than any other
part of the Old Testament. It now becomes a question of his
torical interest at least, in what capacity and character Isaiah
is thus quoted, and with what authority he seems to be invested
in the New Testament. The simple fact that he is there so
often quoted, when connected with another undisputed fact, to
wit, that his writings, even at that early date, held a conspicuous
place among the Sacred Scriptures (Uga yg&ftfiarct, ygacpal ayiai)
of the Jews, would of itself create a strong presumption that
our Lord and his apostles recognized his inspiration and divine
authority. We are not left, however, to infer this incidentally;
for it is proved directly by the frequent combination of the
title Prophet with the name Isaiah (Matt. 3:3; 4 : 14 ; 8 :
17; 12 : 17. Luke 3:4; 4 : 17. John 1 : 23. Acts 8 :
28-30 ; 28 : 25) ; by the repeated statement that he pro
phesied or spoke by inspiration (Mark 7 : 6. Rom. 9 : 29) ;
by the express declaration that some of his predictions were
fulfilled in the history of Christ and his contemporaries (Matt.
3 : 3; 4 : 14; 8 : 17. Acts 28 : 25); and by the still more
remarkable statement that Isaiah saw Christ and spoke of his
glory (John 12 : 41). These expressions place it beyond all
possibility of doubt that the New Testament describes Isaiah
as a Prophet in the strictest and the highest sense inspired of
God. With respect to the prophetic parts of Scripture, and to the

14 INTRODUCTION.
writings of Isaiah in particular, a few exegetical maxims may
be stated. These, for the most part, will be negative in form,
as being intended to preclude certain fallacies and practical
errors, which have greatly hindered the correct interpretation
of the book before us. The generic formulas here used will be
abundantly exemplified hereafter by specific instances arising
in the course ofthe interpretation.
1. All prophecies are not predictions, i. e. all the writings
of the Prophets, and of this one in particular, are not to be
regarded as descriptive of future events. The contrary error,
which has arisen chiefly from the modern and restricted usage
of the word prophet and its cognate terms, has generated some
of the most crude extravagancies of prophetic exegesis. It has
been shown already, by an historical and philological induction,
that the scriptural idea ofprophecy^isfar more extensive, that
the prophets were inspired to reveal the truth and will of God,
in™Teference jto^ thenastand^jrejent, _ jaojggs^ than the, future;
In Isaiah, for example, we find many statements of a general
nature, and particularly exhibitions of the general principles
which govern the divine administration, especially in reference
to the chosen people and their enemies or persecutors.
2. All predictions, or prophecies in the restricted sense, are
not specific and exclusive, i. e. limited to one occasion or
emergency, but many are descriptive of a sequence of events
which has been often realized. . The vagueness and indefinite-
ness which might seem to attach to such predictions, and by
making their fulfilment more uncertain to detract from their
impressiveness and value, are precluded by the fact that, while
the whole prediction frequently admits of this extensive appli
cation, it includes .allusions to particular events, which can
hardly be mistaken. Thus in some parts of Isaiah, there are -
prophetic pictures of the sieges of Jerusalem, which cannot be
exclusively applied to anyone event of that kind, but the terms
and images of which are borrowed partly from one and partly

INTRODUCTION. 15
from another through a course of ages. This kind of prophecy,
so far from being vague and unimpressive, is the clearest proof
of real inspiration, because more than any other beyond the
reach of ordinary human foresight. Thus the threatening
against Babylon, contained in the thirteenth and fourteenth
chapters of Isaiah, if explained as a specific and exclusive
prophecy of the Medo-Persian conquest, seems to represent the
downfall of the city as more sudden and complete than it ap
pears in history, and on the other hand affords a pretext,
though a very insufficient one, for the assertion that it may
have been composed so near the time of the events foretold as
to bring them within the reach of uninspired but sagacious
foresight. No such hypothesis, however, will account for the
extraordinary truth of the prediction when regarded as a pano
rama of the fall of Babylon, and not in its first inception merely,
but through all its stages till its consummation.
3. All the predictions of Isaiah, whether general or specific,
are not to be literally understood. The ground of this position
is the fact, universally admitted, that the prophecies abound in
metaphorical expressions. To assert that this figurative char
acter is limited to words and clauses, or at most to single sen
tences, is wholly arbitrary, and at variance with the acknowl
edged use of parables, both in the Old and New Testament, in
which important doctrines and events are presented under a
tropical costume, throughout a passage sometimes of consider
able length. These facts are sufficient to sustain the negative
position, that the prophecies are not invariably clothed in literal
expressions, or in other words are not to be always literally
understood. 4. The prophecies of this book' are not to be always under
stood in a figurative or spiritual sense. The contrary assump
tion has engendered a vast motley multitude of mystical and
anagogical interpretations, sometimes superadded to the ob
vious sense, and sometimes substituted for it, but in either case

16 . INTRODUCTION.
obscuring the true import and defeating the design of the pre
diction. The same application of the laws of common sense
and of general analogy, which shows that some predictions
must be metaphorical, shows that others must be literal. To
assert, without express authority, that prophecy must always
and exclusively be one or the other, is as foolish as it would be to
assert the same thing of the whole conversation of an individual
throughout his lifetime, or of human speech in general. No
valid reason can be given for applying this exclusive canon of
interpretation to the prophecies, which would not justify its
application to the Iliad, the iEneid, the Divina Commedia, or
the Paradise Lost, an application fruitful only in absurdities.
Isaiah's prophecies are therefore not to be expounded on the
general principle, that either a literal or a figurative sense must
be assumed wherever it is possible. We have already seen the
fallacies resulting from the assumption, that whatever is possible
is probable or certain. To set aside the obvious and strict sense,
wherever it may be done without absurdity, is forbidden by the
very nature of the difference between literal and figurative lan
guage. That which is regular and normal must at times assert
its rights or it becomes anomalous. On the other hand, to
claim precedence for the strict and proper sense in every case,
is inconsistent with the fact that symbols, emblems, images, and
tropes, are characteristic of prophetic language. In a word
the question between literal and tropical interpretation is not
to be determined by the application of invariable formulas.
The same remark may be applied to the vexed question with
respect to types and double senses. The old extreme of con
stantly assuming these wherever it is possible, and the later
extreme of denying their existence, may be both considered as
exploded errors.
The question, under which of these descriptions any prophecy
must be arranged, i. e the question whether it is strictly a pre
diction, and if so, whether it is general or particular, literal or

INTRODUCTION. . 17
figurative, can only be determined by a thorough independent
scrutiny of each case by itself, in reference to form and sub
stance, text and context, without regard to arbitrary and ex
elusive theories, but with a due regard to the analogy of Scrip
ture in general, and of other prophecies in particular, especially
of such as belong to the same writer, or at least to the same
period, and apparently relate to the same subject. This is far
from being so attractive or so easy as the sweeping application
of a comprehensive canon to all cases, like and unlike ; but it
seems to be the only process likely to afford a satisfactory
result, and one main purpose of the following exposition is to
prove its efficacy by a laborious and fair experiment.
In executing this design, it is essential that regard should be
paid to the exterior form as well as to the substance of a pas
sage, that rhetorical embellishments should be distinguished
from didactic propositions, that prosaic and poetical peculiari
ties should be distinctly and correctly estimated at their real
value. This discriminating process necessarily involves a scru
pulous avoidance of two opposite extremes, which have, at dif
ferent periods, and in some cases simultaneously, done much to
pervert and hinder the interpretation of the book before us.
The first extreme, particularly prevalent in earlier times, is that
of understanding the most highly wrought descriptions, the
most vivid imagery, the boldest personifications, as mere prose.
This is especially exemplified in the irrational and tasteless
manner of expounding apologues and parables by many of the
older writers, who insist on giving a specific sense to circum
stances which are significant only as parts of one harmonious
whole. The other extreme, is that of turning elevated prose
diversified by bursts of poetry, into a regular poem or series of
poems, technically so considered, and subjecting them as such
to all the tests and rules of classical poetry, and even to the
canons of its versification. The golden mean between these
hurtful and irrational extremes appears to lie in the assiduous

18 INTRODUCTION.
observance of the true poetical ingredients of Isaiah's style;
both in themselves and in their various combinations, with a
rigid abstinence from all scholastic and pedantic theories of
Hebrew poetry, and* all peculiar forms and methods which have
sprung from them or tend to their promotion.
No attempt has here been made to give a new translation of
the book, complete in itself, and suited for continuous perusal.
The translation is part and parcel of the commentary, closely
incorporated with it, and in some degree inseparable from it.
After the study of a passage with the aid here furnished, it
may no doubt be again read with advantage in this version, for
the sake of which it has been not only printed in a different
type, but generally placed at the beginning of the paragraph.
This explanation seems to be required, as the whole form and'
manner of the version have been modified by this design. If
meant for separate continuous perusal, it must of course have
been so constructed as to be easily intelligible by itself; whereas
a version introduced as a text or basis of immediate exposi
tion, admitted of a closer approximation to the idiomatic form
of the original, with all its occasional obscurity and harshness,
than would probably have been endured by readers of refined
taste in an independent version.
The arrangement of the Prophecies is assumed to be chron
ological. The apparent exceptions will be pointed out as we
proceed. The usual division into chapters (although no older
than the thirteenth century) is here retained, as universally
familiar and in general convenient, but in no case suffered to
determine any question of interpretation.

CHAPTER I.
The design of this chapter is to show the connection between
the sins and sufferings of God's people, and the necessity of fur
ther judgments, as means of purification and deliverance.
The popular corruption is first exhibited as the effect of alien
ation from God, and as the cause of national calamities, vs. 2-9.
It is then exhibited as coexisting with punctilious exactness in
religious duties, and as rendering them worthless, vs. 10-20.
It is finally exhibited in twofold contrast, first with a former
state of things, and then with one still future, to be brought
about by the destruction of the wicked, and especially of wicked
rulers, vs. 21-31.
The first part of the chapter describes the sin and then the
suffering of the people. The former is characterized as filial
ingratitude, stupid inconsideration, habitual transgression, con
tempt of God, and alienation from him, vs. 2-4. The suffering
is first represented by the figure of disease and wounds, and
then in literal terms as the effect of an invasion, by which the
nation was left desolate,-and only saved by God's regard for his
elect from the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, vs. 5-9.
The second part is connected with the first by the double
aliision to Sodom and Gomorrah, with which one closes and the
other opens. In this part the Prophet shows 'the utter ineffi-
cacy of religious rites to counteract the natural effect of their
iniquities, and then exhorts them to the use of the true remedy

20 CHAPTER I.
Under the former head, addressing them as similar in character
to Sodom and Gomorrah, he describes their sacrifices as abund
ant and exact, but not acceptable ; their attendance at the temple
as punctual, and yet insulting ; their bloodless offerings as ab
horrent, and their holy days as wearisome and hateful on account
of their iniquities ; their very prayers as useless, because their
hands were stained with blood, vs. 10-15. As a necessary
means of restoration to God's favor, he exhorts them to forsake
their evil courses and to exercise benevolence and justice, as
suring them that God was willing to forgive them and restore
the advantages which they had forfeited by sin, but at the same
time resolved to punish the impenitent transgressor, vs. 1 6—20.
The transition from the second to the third part is abrupt,
and introduced by a pathetic exclamation. In this part the
Prophet compares Israel as it is with what it has been and with
what it shall be. In the former comparison, he employs two
metaphors, each followed by a literal explanation of its meaning ;
that of a faithful wife become a harlot, and that of adulterated
wine and silver, both expressive of a moral deterioration, with
special reference to magistrates and rulers, vs. 21-23. In
the other comparison, the coming judgments are presented
in the twofold aspect of purification and deliverance to the
church, and of destruction to its wicked members. The Pro
phet sees the leading men of Israel destroyed, first as oppres
sors, te make room for righteous rulers and thus save the state,
then as idolaters consumed by that in which they trusted for
protection, vs. 24-31.
It is probable, that this prophecy belongs to the class already
mentioned (in the Introduction) as exhibiting a sequence of
events, or providential scheme, which might be realized in more
than one emergency ; not so much a prediction as a prophetic
lesson with respect to the effects which certain causes must in
fallibly produce. Such a discourse would be peculiarly appro
priate as an introduction to the prophecies which follow ; and

CHAPTER I. 21
its seeming inconsistencies are all accounted for, by simply, sup
posing that it was written for this purpose about the time of
Sennacherib's invasion in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's
reign, and that in it the Prophet takes a general survey of the
changes which the church had undergone since the beginning
of his public ministry.
1. This is a general title of the whole book or one of its larger
divisions, (ch. i.-xxxix. or i.-xii.) defining its character, author
subject, and date. The Vision (supernatural perception, inspj
ration, revelation, prophecy, here put collectively for Prophe-
;ies) of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw (perceived,- received
by inspiration) concerning Judah (the kingdom ofthe two tribes
which adhered to the theocracy after the revolt of Jeroboam)
and Jerusalem (its capital, the chosen seat of the true religion),
in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The prophecies relating to the ten tribes and to foreign powers
owe their place in this collection to their bearing, more or less
direct, upon the interests of Judah. With respect to the names
Isaiah and Amoz, and the chronology of this verse, see the Intro
duction. 2. The Prophet first describes the moral state of Judah, vs.
2-4, and then the miseries arising from it, vs. 5-9. To the
former he invites attention by summoning the universe to hear
the Lord's complaint against his people, who are first charged
with filial ingratitude. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
as witnesses and judges, and as being less insensible yourselves
than men, for Jehovah speaks, not man. Sons Ihave reared and
brought up, literally made great and made high, and they, with
emphasis on the pronoun which is otherwise superfluous, even
they have revolted from me, or rebelled against me, not merely in
a general sense by sinning, but in a special sense by violating
that peculiar covenant which bound God to his people. It is

22 CHAPTER I.
in reference to this bond and to the conjugal relation which the
Scriptures represent God as sustaining to his church or people,
that its constituent members are here called his children.
The English Bible and many other versions read Jehovah has
spoken, which seems to refer to a previous revelation, or to indi
cate a mere repetition of his words, whereas he is himself intro
duced as speaking. The preterite may be here used to express
the present for the purpose of suggesting that he did not thus
speak for the first time. Compare Heb. 1:1.
3. Having tacitly compared the insensible Jews with the in
animate, creation, he now explicitly compares them with the
brutes, selecting for that purpose, two which were especially
familiar as domesticated animals, subjected to man's power and
dependent on him for subsistence, and at the same time as pro
verbially stupid, inferiority to which must therefore be peculi
arly disgraceful. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass Mb
master's crib or feeding place. Israel, the chosen people, as a
whole, without regard to those who had seceded from it, doth
not know, my people doth not consider, pay attention or take no
tice. Like the ox and the ass, Israel had a master, upon whom
he was dependent, and to whom he owed obedience ; but, unlike
ihem, he did not recognize and would not serve his rightful
sovereign and the author of his mercies.
4. As the foregoing verses render prominent the false position
of Israel with respect to God, considered first as a father and
then as a master (comp. Mai. 1 : 6), so this brings into view their
moral state in general, resulting from that alienation, and still
represented as inseparable from it. The Prophet speaks again
in his own person, and expresses wonder, pity, and indignation
at the state to which his people had reduced themselves. Ah,
sinful nation, literally nation sinning, i. e. habitually, which is
the force here of the active participle, people heavy with iniquity.

CHAPTER L 23
weighed down by guilt as an oppressive burden, a seed of evil
doers, i. e. the offspring of wicked parents, sons corrupting them
selves, i. e. doing worse than their fathers, in which sense the
same verb isused, Judges. 2 : 19. The evil-doers are of course
not the Patriarchs or Fathers of the nation, but the intervening
wicked generations. As the first clause tells us what they
were, so the second tells us what they did, by what acts they
had merited the character just given. They have forsaken
Jehovah, a phrase descriptive of iniquity in general, but pecu
liarly expressive of the breach of covenant obligations. They
have treated with contempt ihe Holy One of Israel, a title almost
peculiar to Isaiah, and expressing a twofold aggravation of
their sin ; first that he was infinitely excellent ; and then, that
he was theirs, their own peculiar God. They are alienated back
again. The verb denotes estrangement from God, the adverb
retrocession or backsliding into a former state.
5. To the description of their moral state, beginning and
ending with apostasy from God, the Prophet now adds a de
scription of the consequences, vs. 5-9. This he introduces by
an expostulation on their mad perseverance in transgression,
notwithstanding the extremities to which it had reduced them.
Whereupon, i. e. on what part of the body, can ye be stricken,
smitten, punished, any more, that ye add revolt, departure or
apostasy from God, i. e. revolt more and more? Already the
whole head is sick and ihe whole heart faint. — The same sense is
attained, but in a less striking form, by reading why, to what
purpose, will ye be smitten any more ? why continue to revolt I If
their object was to make themselves miserable, it was already
accomplished. — Calvin, followed by the English version and
others, gives a different turn to the interrogation : Why should
ye be smitten any more ? of what use is it ? ye will revolt more
and more. But the reason thus assigned for their ceasing to be
smitten is wholly different from that given in the last clauso

24 CHAPTER I.
and amplified in the following verse, viz. that they were already
faint and covered with wounds. The head and heart are men
tioned as well-known and important parts of the body, tc
which the church or nation had been likened.
6. The idea suggested at the beginning of v. 5, that there
was no more room for further strokes, is now carried out with
great particularity. From the sole of the foot and (i. e. oven)
to the head (a common scriptural expression for the body in its
whole extent) there is not in it (the people, or in him, i.e.
Judah, considered as a body) a sound place ; (it is) wound and
bruise (vibex, the tumor produced by stripes) and fresh stroke.
The wounds are then described as not only grievous. but neg
lected. They have not been pressed, and they have not been
bound or bandaged, and it has not been mollified with ointment,
all familiar processes of ancient surgery.
7. Thus far the sufferings of the people have been repre
sented by strong figures, giving no intimation of their actual
form, or of the outward causes which produced them. But now
the Prophet brings distinctly into view foreign invasion as the
instrument of vengeance, and describes the country as already
desolated by it. The absence of verbs in the first clause gives
great rapidity and life to the description. Your land (inclu
ding town and country, which are afterwards distinctly men
tioned) a waste ! Your towns (including cities and villages of
every size) burnt with fire ! Your ground (including its pro
duce), i. e. as to your ground, before you (in your presence, but
beyond your reach) strangers (are) devouring it, and a waste (it
is a waste) like the overthrow of strangers, i. e. as foreign foes
are wont to waste a country, in which they Lave no interest,
and for which they have no pity.
8. The extent of the desolation is expressed by Comparing

CHAPTER I 25
the church or nation to a watch-shed in a field or vineyard, far
from other habitations, and forsaken after the ingathering.
And the daughter of Zion, i. e. the people of Zion or Jerusalem,
considered as the capital of Judah, and therefore representing
the whole nation, is left, not forsaken, but left over or behind
as a survivor, like a booth, a temporary covert of leaves and
branches, in a vineyard, like a lodge in a melon-field, like a watched
ciiy, i. e. watched by friends and foes, besieged and garrisoned,
and therefore insulated, cut off from all communication with
the country. That Jerusalem is not called the daughter of
Zion from its local situation on that mountain, is clear from the
analogous phrases daughter of Tyre, daughter of Babylon, where
no such explanation is admissible.
9. The idea of a desolation almost total is expressed in
other words, and with an intimation that the narrow escape was
owing to God's favor for the remnant according to the election
of grace, who still existed in the Jewish church. Except Je
hovah of Hosts had left unto us (or caused to remain over, to sur
vive, for us) a very small remnant, we should have been like Sodom,
we should have resembled Gomorrah, i. e. we should have been
totally and justly destroyed. That the verse has reference to
quality as well as quantity, is evident from Rom. 9 : 29, where
Paul makes use of it, not as an illustration, but as an argument
to show that mere connection with the church could not save
men from the wrath of God. The citation would have been
irrslevant if this phrase denoted merely a small number of
survivors, and not a minority of true -believers in the midst of
the -prevailing unbelief. Jehovah of Hosts means the Sovereign
Ruler of " heaven and earth and all the hosts of them," i. e. all
their inhabitants (Gen. 2:1).
10. Having assigned the corruption of the people as the
cause of their calamities, the Prophet now guards against the

2G CHAPTER I.
error of supposing that the sin thus visited was that of neglect
ing the external duties of religion, which were in fact punctil.
iously performed, but unavailing because joined with the prac
tice of iniquity, vs. 10-15. This part of the chapter is con-
nected with what goes before by repeating the allusion to
Sodom and Gomorrah. Having just said that God's sparing
mercy had alone prevented their resembling Sodom and Go
morrah in condition, he now reminds them that they do re
semble Sodom and Gomorrah in iniquity. The reference is
not to particular vices, but to general character, as Jerusalem,
when reproached for her iniquities, ' is spiritually called Sodom'
(Rev. 11:8). The comparison is here made by the form of ad
dress. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye judges (or rulers) of Sodom,
give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Word
and law both denote the revelation of God's will as a rule of
faith and duty. The particular exhibition of it meant, is that
which follows, and to which this verse invites attention like that
frequent exhortation of our Saviour, He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear.
11. Resuming the form of interrogation and expostulation,
he teaches them that God had no need of sacrifices on his own
account, and that even those sacrifices which he had required
might become offensive to him. For what (for what purpose, to
what end, of what use) is the multitude of your sacrifices to me ?
(i. e. offered to me, or of what use to me) saith Jehovah. I am
full (i. e. sated, I have had enough, I desire no more) of burnt-
offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts (fattened for the altar),
and the blood cf bullocks and lambs and he-goats I desire not (or
delight not in). Male animals are mentioned, as the only ones
admitted in the burnt-offering ; the fat and blood, as the parts
in which the sacrifice essentially consisted, the one being always
burnt upon the altar, and' the other sprinkled or poured out
around it.

CHAPTER I. 27
12. .What had just been said of the offerings themselves, is
now said of attendance at the temple to present them. When
you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hana
to tread my courts, not merely to frequent them, but to trample
oa them, as a gesture of contempt ? The courts here meant
are- the enclosures around Solomon's temple, for the priests(
worshippers, and victims. The interrogative form implies ne
gation. Such • appearance, such attendance, God had not re
quired, although it was their duty to frequent his courts. The
word tread appears to be applied to the worshippers themselves
in a twofold sense, which cannot be expressed by any single
word in English. They were bound to tread his courts, but not
to trample them.
13. What he said before of animal sacrifices and of attend
ance at the temple to present them, is now extended to blood
less offerings, such as incense and the meal-offering, as well as
to the observance of sacred times, and followed by a brief in
timation of the sense in which they were all unacceptable to .
God, viz. when combined with the practice of iniquity. The
interrogative form is here exchanged for that of direct prohi
bition. Ye shall not add (i. e. continue) to bring a vain offer
ing (that is, a useless one, because hypocritical and impious).
Incense is an abomination to me : (so are) new moon and sabbath,
the calling of the convocation (at those times, or at the annua]
feasts, which are then distinctly mentioned with the weekly and
monthly ones) : I cannot bear iniquity and holy day (abstinence
from labor, religious observance), meaning of course, I cannot
bear them together. This last clause is a key to the preceding
verses. It was not religious observance in itself, but its com
bination with iniquity, that God abhorred.
14. The very rights ordained by God himself, and once ac
ceptable to him, had, through the sin of those who used them,

28 CHAPTER I.
become irksome and disgusting. Your new moons (an emphatio
repetition, as if he had said, Yes, your new moons) and your
convocations (sabbaths and yearly feasts) my soul hateth (not a
mere periphrasis for I hale, but an emphatio phrase denoting
eordial hatred, they have become a burden on me (implying that
they were not so at first). Iam weary of bearing (or have wearied
myself bearing them). The common version of the. second
clause (they are a trouble unto me) is too vague. The noun
should have its specific sense of burden, load, and the preposi
tion its proper local sense of on.
15. Not only ceremonial observances but even prayer was
rendered useless by the sins of those who offered it. And in
your spreading (when you spread) your hands (or stretch them
out towards heaven as a gesture of entreaty) I will hide mine
eyes from you (avert my face, refuse to see or hear, not only in
ordinary but) also when ye multiply prayer (by fervent impor
tunity in time of danger) I am not hearing (or about to hear,
the participle bringing the act nearer to the present than the
future would do). Your hands are full of blood (literally bloods,
the form commonly used when the reference is to bloodshed or
the guilt of murder). Thus the Prophet comes back to the
point from which he set out, the iniquity of Israel as the cause
of his calamities, but with this difference, that at first he viewed
sin in its higher aspect, as committed against God, whereas in
this place its injurious effects on men are rendered prominent.
It is a strange opinion mentioned by Fabricius that the blood
here meant is the blood of the victims hypocritically offered.
16. Having shown the in sufficiency of ceremonial rites and
even of more spiritual duties to avert or cure the evils whioh
the people had brought upon themselves by their iniquities, he
exhorts them to abandon these and urges reformation. Wash
you (the word translated wash you is appropriated to ablution

CHAPTER I. 29
of the body, as distinguished from all other washings), purify
' yourselves (in a moral or figurative sense, as appears from what
follows). Remove the evil of your doings from before mine eyes
(out of my sight, which could only be done by putting an end to
them, an idea literally expre'ssed in the last clause), cease to do evil.
17. The negative exhortation is now followed by a positive
one. Ceasing to do evil was not enough, or rather was not pos-
sible, without beginning to do good. Learn to do good, imply
ing that they never yet had known what it was. This general
expression is explained by several specifications, showinghow
they were to do good. Seek judgment, i. e. justice ; not in the
abstract, but in act ; not for yourselves, but for others ; be not
content with abstinence from wrong, but seek opportunities of
doing justice, especially to those who cannot right themselves.
Redress wrong, judge the fatherless, i. e. act as a judge for his
benefit, or more specifically, do him justice ; befriend the widow,
take her part, espouse her cause. Orphans and widows are
continually spoken of in Scripture as special objects of divine
compassion, and as representing the whole class of helpless in
nocents. 1 8. Having shown that the cause of their ill success in seek
ing God was in themselves, and pointed out the only means by
which the evil could be remedied, he now invites them to de
termine by experiment on which side the fault of their destruc
tion lay, promising pardon and deliverance to the penitent and
threatening total ruin to the disobedient, vs. 18-20. — This
verse contains an invitation to discuss the question whether
God was willing or unwilling to show mercy, implying that rea
son as well as justice was on his side, and asserting his power
and his willingness to pardon the most aggravated sins. Come
now (a common formula of exhortation) and let us reason (argue
or discuss the case) together (the form of the verb denoting a

80 CHAPTER L
^reciprocal action), saith Jehovah. Though your sins be as scar
let they shall be while as snow, though they be red as crimson they
shall be as wool, i. e. clean white wool. Guilt being regarded
as a stain, its removal denotes restoration to purity. The im
plied conclusion of the reasoning is that God's willingness to
pardon threw the "blame of their destruction on themselves. —
The words translated crimson and scarlet are commonly com
bined to denote one color, and are here separated only as poeti
cal equivalents.
19. The unconditional promise is now qualified and yet en
larged. If obedient, they should not only escape punishment
but be highly favored. If ye consent to my terms, and hear my
commands, implying obedience, the good of the land, its choicest
products, ye shall eat, instead of seeing them devoured by
strangers. 20. This is the converse of the nineteenth verse, a threat cor
responding to the promise. And if ye. refuse to comply with my
conditions; and rebel, continue to resist my authority, by the
sword of the enemy shall ye be eaten. This is no human menace
but a sure prediction, for the mouth of Jehovah speaks, not man's.
21. Here the Prophet seems to pause for a reply, and on re
ceiving no response to the promises and invitations of the fore
going context, bursts forth into a sudden exclamation at the
change which Israel has undergone, which he then describes
both in figurative and literal expressions, vs. 21-23. In the
verse before us he contrasts her 'former state, as the chaste
bride of Jehovah, with her present pollution, the ancient homo
of justice with the present haunt of cruelty and violence. How
has she become an harlot (faithless to her covenant with Jehovah),
the faithful city (including the ideas of a city and a state, irbs et
civitas, the body politic, the church of which Jerusalem was the

CHAPTER I. . 31
cantre and metropolis), full of justice (i, e. once full), righteous
ness lodged (i. e. habitually, had its home, resided) in it, and
now murderers, as the worst class of violent wrong-doers, whose
name suggests though it does not properly include all others.
The particle at the beginning of the verse is properly interrog
ative, but like the English how is also used to express surprise.
' How has she become V i. e. how could she possibly become ?
how strange that she should become !
22. The change, which had just been represented under the
figure of adultery, is now expressed by that of adulteration, first
of silver, then of wine. Thy silver (addressing the unfaithful
church or city) is become dross (alloy, base metal), thy wine weak
ened (literally cut, mutilated) with water. The essential idea
seems to be that of impairing strength. The Septuagint applies
this text in a literal sense to dishonest arts in the sale of wines
and the exchange of money. But this interpretation, besides
its unworthiness and incongruity, is set aside by the Prophet's
own explanation of his figures, in the next verse.
23. The same idea is now expressed in literal terms, and
with special application to magistrates and rulers. They who
were bound officially to suppress disorder and protect the help
less, were themselves greedy of gain, rebellious against God,
and tyrannical towards man. Thy rulers are rebels and fellows^
of thieves (not merely like them or belonging to the same class,
i ..ii.ii. ' »  "'' ----- J -^-T.T-l--, !-..--. ... .-. r--.../.Kz?,air-S?<^-M,,v..~,._-. .,-.., - - ...„LV^.
but accomplices, partakers of their sin), every one of them loving
a bribe (the participle denoting present and habitual action)
and pursuing rewards. The fatherless (as being unable to re-
ward them, or as an object of cupidity to others) they judge not,
and the cause of the widow cometh not unto them, or before them ; _
they will not hear it ; they will not act as judges for their ben
efit. They are not simply unjust judges, they are no judges at
all, they will not act as such, except when they can profit by it

32 CHAPTER I-.
24. To this description of the general corruption the Prophet
now adds a promise of purgation, which is at the same time a
threatening of sorer judgments, as the appointed means by which
the church was to be restored to her original condition, vs.
24-31. — In this verse the destruction of God's enemies is rep
resented as a necessary satisfaction to his justice. Therefore,
because the very fountains of justice have thus become corrupt,
saith the Lord, tbe word properly so rendered, Jehovah of Hosts,
the eternal Sovereign, the mighty one of Israel, the almighty God
who is the God of Israel, Ah, an interjection expressing both
displeasure and concern, I will comfort myself, ease or relieve
myself, of my adversaries, literally, from them, i. e. by ridding
myself of them, and I will avenge myself of mine enemies, no)
foreign foes, of whom there is no mention in the context, but
the enemies of God among the Jews themselves.
25. The mingled promise and threatening is repeated under
one of the figures used in v. 22. The adulterated silver must
be purified by the separation of its impure particles. And 1
will turn *my hand upon thee, i. e. take thee in hand, address
myself to thy case, and will purge out thy dross like purity itself,
i. e. most purely, thoroughly, and will take away all thine alloy,
tin, lead, or other base metal found in combination with -the
precious ores. Although to turn the hand has elsewhere an un
favourable sense (Ps. 81 : 14. Amos 1 : 8), it does not of itself
express it, but simply means to take in hand, address one's self
to any thing, make it the object of attention.
26. Here again the figurative promise is succeeded by a literal
one of restoration to a former state of purity, to be effected not
by the conversion of the wicked rulers but by filling their pla
ces with better men. And I will restore, bring back, cause to
return, thy judges, rulers, as at first, in the earliest and best
days of the commonwealth, and thy counsellors, ministers of state,

CHAPTER L 33
as in the beginning, after which it shall be called to thee, a Hebrew
idiom for thou shalt be called, i. e: deservedly, with truth, City
of Righteousness, a Faithful State. There is here a twofold al
lusion to v. 21. She who from being a faithful wife had be
come an adulteress or harlot, should again be what she was ; and
justice which once dwelt in her should return to its old home.
27. Thus far the promise to God's faithful people and the
threatening to his enemies among them had been intermingled,
or so expressed as to involve each other. Thus the promise of
purification to the silver involved a threatening of -destruction
to the dross. But now the two elements of the prediction are
exhibited distinctly, and first the promise" to the church. Zion,
the chosen people, as a whole, here considered as consisting of
believers only, shall be redeemed, delivered from destruction, in
judgment, i.e. in the exercise of justice upon God's part, and
her converts, those of her who return to God by true repentance,
in righteousness, here used as an equivalent to justice. The
verse means that the very same eventb, oy which the divine
justice was to manifest itself in the destruction of the wicked,
should be the occasion and the means of deliverance to Zion
or the true people of God.
28. The other element is now brought out, viz. the destruc
tion of the wicked, which was to be simultaneous and coinci
dent with the deliverance promised to God's people in the verse
preceding. And the breaking, crushing, utter ruin, of apostates,
revolters, deserters from Jehovah, and sinners, is or shall be
together, i. e. at the same time with Zion's redemption, and the
forsakers of Jehovah, an equivalent expression to apostates in the
first clause, shall cease, come to an end, be totally destroyed.
The terms of this verse are appropriate to -all kinds of sin, but
seem to be peculiarly descriptive of idolatry, as defection or
desertion from the true God to idols, andJiaff^Sfe^tbesKav
2*

34 CHAPTERL
for the remainder of the chapter, in which that class of trans
gressors are made prominent. The same judgments which
destroyed the wicked should redeem the righteous, or in other
words, that the purification of the church could be effected only
by the excision of her wicked members.
29. From the final destruction of idolaters the Prophet now
reverts to their present security and confidence in idols, which
he tells them shall be put to shame and disappointment. For
they shall be ashamed of the oaks or terebinths which ye have de
sired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens which ye have
chosen as places of idolatrous worship. As these are terms con
stantly employed to express the frustration of religious trust,
and as groves and gardens are continually spoken of as chosen
scenes of idol-worship (see, for example, ch. 65 : 3. 66 : 17..
Ezek. 6 : 13. Hos. 4 : 13), there can be little doubt that both
this verse and the one preceding have particular allusion to
idolatry. 30. The mention of trees and gardens,. as places of idolatrous
worship, suggests a beautif;;l comparison, under which the de
struction of the idolaters is again set forth. They who choose
trees and gardens, in preference to God's appointed place of
worship, shall themselves be like trees and gardens, but in the
most alarming sense. For, in answer to- the tacit question why
they should be ashamed and confounded for their oaks and
gardens, ye yourselves shall be like an oak or terebinth, fading,
decaying, in its leaf or as to its leaf, and like a garden which has
no water, a lively emblem, to an oriental reader, of entire deso
lation. — ^Some writers understand the Prophet to allude to the
terebinth when dead, on the ground that it never sheds its
loaves when living ; but according to Robinson and Smith (Bib.
Res. vol. iii. p. 15), the terebinth or " buim is not an ever-

CHAPTER IL 35
green, as is often represented ; its small, feathered, lancet-shaped
leaves fall in the autumn and are renewed in the spring."
31. This verse contains a closing threat of sudden, total, in
stantaneous destruction to the Jewish idolaters, to be occa
sioned by the very -things which they preferred to God, and in
which they confided. And the strong, the mighty man, alluding
no doubt to the unjust rulers of the previous context, shall be
come tow, an exceedingly inflammable substance, and his work,
his idols, often spoken of in Scripture as the work of men's
hands, shall become a spark, the means and occasion of destruc
tion to their worshippers, and they shall burn both of them to
gether, and there shall shall be no one. quenching or to quench
them. The frequent mention of idols as the work of men's
hands, arid the prominence given to idolatry in the immediately
preceding context, seem to justify us in understanding the
whole verse as a prediction that the very gods, in whom the
strong men of Jerusalem now trusted, should involve their wor
shippers and makers with themselves in total, instantaneous,
irrecoverable ruin.

CHAPTERS II, III, TV.
These chapters constitute the second prophecy, the two
grand themes of which are the reign of the Messiah and inter
vening judgments on the Jews for their iniquities. The first
and greatest of these subjects occupies the smallest space, but
stands both at the opening and the close of the whole prophecy,
Considered in relation to its subject, it may therefore be conve
niently divided into three unequal parts. In the first, the

86 CHAPTER IL
Prophet foretells the future exaltation of the church and the
accession of the gentiles, ch. 2 : 1-4. In the second, he sets
forth the actual condition of the church and its inevitable con
sequences, ch. 2 : 5 — 4 : 1. In the third, he reverts to its pure,
safe, and gloriouS condition under the Messiah, ch. 4 : 2-6.
The division of the chapters is peculiarly unfortunate, the last
verse of the second and the first of the fourth being both dis
severed from their proper context. As the state of things
which this chapter describes could scarcely have existed in the
prosperous reigns of Uzziah and Jotham or in the pious reign
of Hezekiah, it is referred with much probability to the reign
of Ahaz, when Judah was dependent oh a foreign power and
corrupted by its intercourse with heathenism. The particular
grounds of this conclusion will appear in the course of the inter
pretation.

CHAPTER II.
This chapter contains an introductory prediction of the reign •
of the Messiah, and the first part of a threatening against
Judah. After a title similar to that in ch. 1 : 1, the Prophet sees the
church, at some distant period, exalted and conspicuous, and the
nations resorting to it for instruction in the true religion, as a
consequence of which he sees war cease and universal peace
prevail, vs. 2-4.
These verses are found, with very little variation, in the
fourth chapter of Micah (vs. 1-3), to explain which some sup
pose, that a motto or quotation has been accidentally transfer
red from the margin to the text of Isaiah ; others, that both
Prophets quote from Joel ; others, that both quote from an
older writer now unknown ; others, that Micah quotes from
Isaiah ; others, that Isaiah quotes from Micah. This diversity

CHAPTER IL 31
of judgment may at least suffice to show how vain conjecture
is in such a case The close connection of the passage with
the context, as it stands in Micah, somewhat favors the conclu
sion that Isaiah took the text or theme of his prediction from
the younger though contemporary Prophet. The verbal vari
ations may be best explained, however, by supposing that they
both adopted a traditional prediction current among the people
in their day, or that both received the words directly from the
Holy Spirit. So long as we have reason to regard both places
as authentic and inspired, it matters little what is the literary
history of either.
At the close of this prediction, whether borrowed or original,
the Prophet suddenly reverts to the condition of the church in
his own times, so different from- that which had been just fore
told, and begins a description of the present guilt and future
punishment of Judah, which extends not only through this
chapter but the next, including the first verse of the fourth.
The part contained in the remainder of this chapter may be
subdivided into two unequal portions, one containing a descrip
tion of the sin, the other a prediction of the punishment.
The first begins with an exhortation to the Jews themselves
to walk in that light which the gentiles were so eagerly to seek
hereafter, v. 5. The Prophet then explains this exhortation by
describing three great evils which the foreign alliances of Ju
dah had engendered, namely, superstitious practices and occult
arts ; unbelieving dependence upon foreign wealth and power ;
and idolatry itself, vs. 6-8.
The rest of the chapter has respect to the punishment of
these great sins. This is first described generally as humilia
tion, such as they deserved who humbled themselves to idols,
and such as tended to the exclusive exaltation of Jehovah,
both by contrast and by the display of his natural and moral
attributes, vs. 9-11. This general threatening is then ampli
fied in a detailed enumeration of exalted objects which should

38 CHAPTER II.
be brought low, ending again with a prediction of Jehovah's
exaltation in the same words as before, so as to form a kind of
choral or strophical arrangement, vs 12-17. The destruction
or rather the rejection of idols, as contemptible and useless, is
then explicitly foretold, as an accompanying circumstance of
men's flight from the avenging presence of Jehovah, vs. 18-21.
Here again the strophical arrangement reappears in the pre
cisely similar conclusions of the nineteenth and twenty-first
verses, so that the twenty-second is as clearly unconnected
with this chapter in form, as it is closely connected with the
next in sense.
1. This is the title of the second prophecy, ch. 2-4. The.
word, revelation or divine communication, which Isaiah the son
of Amoz saw, perceived, received by inspiration, concerning Ju
dah and Jerusalem, Word is here a synonyme of vision in ch.
1 : 1. For the technical use of word and vision in the sense of
prophecy, see 1 Sam. 3:1. Jer. 18 : 18.
2. The prophecy begins with an abrupt prediction of the ex
altation of the church, the confluence of nations to it, and a
general pacification as the consequence, vs. 2-4. In this verse
the Prophet sees the church permanently placed in a conspic
uous position, so as to be a source of attraction to surrounding
nations. . To express this idea, he makes use of terms which
are strictly applicable only to the local habitation of the church
under the old economy. Instead of saying, in modern phrase
ology, that the church, as a society, shall become conspicuous
and attract all nations, he represents the mountain upon which
the temple stood as being raised and fixed above the other
mountains, so as to be visible in all directions. And it shall be
(happen, come to pass, a prefatory formula of constant use in
prophecy) in the end (or latter part) of the days (i. e. hereafter)
the mountain of Jehovah's house (i. e. mount Zion, in the widest

CHAPTER IL 39
sense, including mount' Moriah where the temple stood) shall
be established (permanently fixed) in. the head of the mountains
(i. e. above them), and exalted from (away from and by implication
more than or higher than) the hills (a poetical equivalent to moun
tains), and the nations shall flow unto it. It was not to be es
tablished on the. top of the mountains, but either at the head or
simply high among the mountains, which idea is expressed by
other words in the parallel clause, and by the same words in 1
Kings 21 : 10, 12. The verb in the last clause is always used
to signify a confluence of nations.
3. This. confluence of nations is described more fully, and its
motive stated in their own words, namely, a desire to be in
structed in the true religion, of which Jerusalem or Zion, under
the old dispensation, was the sole depository. And many nations
shall go (set out, put themselves in motion) and shall say (to
one another), Go ye (as a formula of exhortation, where the
English idiom requires come), and we will, ascend (or let us as
cend, for which the Hebrew has no other form) to the mountain
of Jehovah (where his house is, where he dwells), to the house of
the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways (the ways in
which he requires us to walk), and we will go in. his paths (a
synonymous expression). For out- of Zion shall go forth law
(the true religion, as a rule of duty), and the word of Jehovah
(the true religion as a revelation) from Jerusalem. These last
words may be either the words of the gentiles, telling why they
looked to Zion as a source of saving knowledge, or the words
of the Prophet, telling why the truth must be thus diffused,
namely, because it had been given to the church for this very
purpose. The common version many people conveys to a mod
ern ear the wrong sense many persons, and was only used for
want of such a plural form as peoples, which, though employed
by Lowth and others, has never become current, and was cer
tainly not so when the Bible was translated, as appears from

40 CHAPTER IL
the circumlocution used instead of it in Gen. 25 : 23. The plu
ral form is here essential to the meaning. Go is not here
used as the opposite of come, but as denoting active motion.
The word ascend is not used in reference to an alleged Jewish
notion that the Holy Land was physically higher than all other
countries, nor simply to the natural site of Jerusalem, nor even
to its moral elevation as the seat of the true religion, but to the
new elevation and conspicuous position just ascribed to it.
The subjunctive construction that he may teach is rather para-
phrastdcal and exegetical than simply expressive of the sense
of the original, which implies hope as well as purpose.
4. He who appeared in the preceding verses as the lawgiver
and teacher of the nations, is now represented as an arbiter or
umpire, ending their disputes by a pacific intervention, as a ne
cessary consequence of which war ceases, the very knowledge of
the art is lost, and its implements applied to other uses. This
prediction was not fulfilled in the general peace under Au
gustus, which was only temporary ; nor is it now fulfilled.
The event is suspended on a previous condition, viz. the conflu
ence of .the nations to the church, which has not yet taken
place ; a strong inducement to diffuse the gospel, which, in the
meantime, is peaceful in its spirit, tendency, and actual effect,
wherever and so far as it exerts its influence without obstruc
tion. And he shall judge (or arbitrate) between the nations, and
decide for (or respecting) many peoples. And they shall beat their
swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more. The whole idea meant to be expressed is
the conversion of martial weapons into implements of husban
dry. Hook, in old English, is a crooked knife, such as a sickle,
which is not however here meant, but a knife for pruning vines.
Not learning war is something more than not continuing to
practise it, and signifies their ceasing to know how to practise it

CHAPTER II. 41
To judge is here not to rule which is too vague, nor to punish \
which is too specific, but to arbitrate or act as umpir>e, as appears I
from the Effect described, and also from the use of the preposi- I
tion, meaning not merely among, with reference to the sphere |
of jurisdiction, but between, with reference to contending parties s
5. From this distant prospect of the calling of the gentiles,
the Prophet now reverts to his own times and countrymen, and
• calls upon them not to be behind the nations in the use of their
distinguishing advantages. If even the heathen were one day
to be enlightened, surely they who were already in possession of
the light ought to make use of it. O house of Jacob (family of
Israel the church or chosen people) come ye (literally go ye, as
in v. 3) and we will go ( or let us walk, including himself in the
exhortation) in the light of Jehovah (in the path of truth and
duty upon which the light of revelation shines). The light
is mentioned as a common designation of the Scriptures and
of Christ himself. (Prov. 6 : 23. Ps. 119 : 105. Isai. 51:4.
Acts 26 : 23. . 2 Cor. 4 : 4.)
* 6. The exhortation in v. 5 implied that the Jews were not
actually walking in God's light, but were alienated from him, a
fact which is now explicitly asserted and the reason of it given,
viz. illicit intercourse with foreign nations, as evinced by the
adoption of their superstitious practices, reliance on their mar
tial and pecuniary aid, and last but worst of all, the worship
of their idols. In this verse, the first of these effects is ascribed
to intercourse with those eastern countries, which are always
represented by the ancients as the cradle of the occult arts
and sciences. As if he had said, I thus exhort, 0 Lord, thy
chosen people, because thou hast forsaken thy people, because they
are replenished from the East and (full of) soothsayers like the Phil-
istines, and with the children of strangers they abound. From tht
east denotes not mere influence or imitation, but an actual in-

42 CHAPTER IL
flux of diviners from that quarter. The Philistines aie here
mentioned rather by way of comparison than as an actual .source
of the corruption. That the Jews were familiar with their su
perstitions may be learned from 1 Sam. 6:2. 2 Kings 1 : 2. —
The last verb does not mean they please themselves, but tliei
abound. By children of strangers we are not to understand the
fruits, i. e. doctrines and practices of strangers. It rather
means strangers themselves, not strange gods or their children,
i. e. worshippers, but foreigners considered as descendants of a
strange stock, and therefore as aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel.
7. The second proof of undue intercourse with heathen na
tions, which the Prophet mentions, is the influx of foreign
\oney and of foreign troops, with which he represents the land
hi. filled. And his land (referring to the singular noun people
in v. 6) is filled with silverand gold, and there is no end to his
treasures ; and his land is filled with horses, and there is no end
to his chariots. — The common interpretation makes this verse
descriptive of domestic wealth and luxury. But these would
hardly have been placed between the superstitions and the
idols, with which Judah had been flooded from abroad. Be
sides, this interpretation fails to account for gold and silver
being here combined with horses and chariots. Some suppose
the latter to be mentioned only as articles of luxury ; but as
such they are never mentioned elsewhere, not even in the case
of Absalom and Naaman, both of whom were military chiefs as
well as nobles. Even the chariots of the peaceful Solomon
were probably designed for martial show. The horses and
chariots of the Old Testament are horses and chariots of war.
The common riding animals were mules and asses, the latter of
which, as contrasted with the horse, are emblematic of peace
(Zech. 9:9. Matt. 2i : 7). But on the supposition that tho
verse has reference to undue dependence upon foreign powers

CHAPTER IL 48
the money and the armies of the latter would be naturally
named together. Thus understood, this verse affords no proof
that the prophecy belongs fo the prosperous reign of Uzziah or
Jotham, since it merely represents the land as flooded with
foreign gold and foreign troops, a description rather applicable
to the reign of Ahaz. The form of expression, too, suggests the
idea of a receut acquisition, as the strict sense of the verb is
not it is full, nor even it is filled, but it was or has been filled.
8. The third and greatest evil flowing from this intercourse
with foreign nations was idolatry itself, which was usually intro
duced under the cloak of mere political alliances (see e. g.
2 Kings 16:10). Here as elsewhere the terms used to describe it
are contemptuous in a high degree. And his land is filled with
idols (properly nonentities, 'gods which yet are no gods,' Jer.
2:11; ' for we know that an idol is nothing in the world,'
1 Cor. 8 : 4), to the work of their hands they bow down, to that
which their fingers have made, one of the great absurdities
¦charged by the Prophets on idolaters, " as if that could be a
god to them which was not only a creature but their own crea
ture" (Matthew Henry). "
9. Here the Prophet passes from the sin to its punishment,
or rather simultaneously alludes to both, the verbs in the first
clause being naturally applicable as well to voluntary humilia
tion in sin as to compulsory humiliation in punishment, while
the verb in the last clause would suggest of course to a Jewish
reader the twofold idea of pardoning and lifting up. They who
bowed themselves to idols should be bowed down by the mighty
hand of God, instead of being raised up from their wilful self-
abasement by the pardon of their sins. The relatiye futures
denote not only succession in time but the relation of cause
and effect. And so ( by this means, for this reason) the mean
man (not in the modern but the old sense of inferior, low in

44 CHAPTER IL
rank) is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and it
not thou ( 0 Lord) forgive them. This prayer, for such it is,
may be understood as expressing, not so much the Prophet's
own desire, as the certainty of the event, arising from the right
eousness of God.
10. Instead of simply predicting that their sinful course
should be interrupted by a terrible manifestation of God's pres
ence, the Prophet views him as already come or near at hand,
and addressing the people as an individual, or singling out one
of their number, exhorts him to take refuge under ground or
in the rocks, an advice peculiarly significant in Palestine, a
country full of -caves, often used, if not originally made, for this
very purpose (1 Sam. 13 : 6. 14 : 11. Judg. 6 : 2). Go intc
the rock and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah
and from the glory of his majesty. The nouns in the last clause
differ, according to their derivation, very much as sublimity and
beauty do in English, and express in combination the idea of
sublime beauty or beautiful sublimity. The tone of this ad
dress is not sarcastic but terrific. By the terror of Jehovah seems
to be'intended not the feeling of fear which he inspires but some
terrible manifestation of his presence. The preposition, there-
* fore, should not be taken in the vague sense of for, on account
of, but in its proper .local sense of from, before, or from before.
11. As the Prophet, in the preceding verse, views the terror
of Jehovah as approaching, so here he views it as already past,
and describes the effect which it has wrought. The eyes ofthe
loftiness of man (i. e. his haughty looks) are cast down, and the
height (or pride) of men is brought low, and Jehovah alone is ex
alted in that day, not only in fact, but in the estimation of his
creatures, as the passive form here used may intimate.
12. The general threatening of humiliation is now applied

CHAPTER IL 48
specifically to a variety of lofty objects in which the people
might be supposed to delight and trust, vs. 12-16. This enu
meration is connected with what goes before, by an explanation
of the phrase used at the close of the eleventh verse. I say
that day, for there is a day to Jehovah of Hosts (i. e. an appoint
ed time for the manifestation of his power) upon (or against)
every thing high and lofty, and upon every thing exalted, and it
comes (or shall come) down. There is a day to Jehovah, i. e. he
has a day, has it appointed, has it in reserve. The version every
one, restricts the phrase too much to persons, which is only a
part of the idea conveyed by the expression every thing.
13. To convey the idea of lofty and imposing objects, the
Prophet makes use, not of symbols but of specimens selected
from among the things of this class most familiar to his read
ers, beginning with the two noblest species of forest-trees. And
on all the cedars vf Lebanon (or the White Mountain, the chain
dividing Palestine from Syria), and on all the oaks of Bashan
(now called El Bethenyeh, a mountainous district, east of Jor
dan, famous of old for its pastures and oak-forests). Cedars
and oaks are supposed by some to be here named, as emblems
of great men in general, or of the great men of Syria and
Israel distinctively ; but this is not in keeping with the subse
quent context, in which some things are mentioned, which can
not be understood as emblems," but only as samples of their
several classes. On the trees and places mentioned in thif
verse, see Robinson's Palestine, vol. iii. p. 440, and Appendix
p. 158.
14. The mention of Lebanon and Bashan in v. 13 now leads
to that of mountains in general, as lofty objects in themselves,
and therefore helping to complete the general conception of
high things, which the Prophet threatens with humiliation.
And upon all the high mountains and upon all the e7^t2ced .Ms

46 CHAPTER II.
This must be explained as an additional specification of the
general statement in v. 12, that every high thing should be hum
bled. 15. To trees and hills he now adds walls and towers, as a
third class of objects- with which the ideas of loftiness and
strength are commonly associated. And upon every high tower
and upon every fenced wall, literally, cut off, i. e. rendered inac
cessible by being fortified.
16. The Prophet now concludes his catalogue of lofty and
conspicuous objects by adding, first, as a specific item, maritime
vessels of the largest class, and then a general expression, sum
ming up the whole in one descriptive phrase, as things attractive
and imposing to the-eye. And upon all ships of Tarshish (such as
were built to navigate the whole length ofthe Mediterranean sea)
and upon all images (i. e. visible objects) of desire, or rather
admiration and delight. It is a very old opinion that Tarshish
means the sea, and ships of Tarshish sea-faring vessels, as dis
tinguished from mere coast or river craft. From the earliest
times, however, it has also been explained as the name of a
place, either Tarsus in Cilicia or Cilicia itself, or Carthage, or a
port in Ethiopia, or Africa in general, or a port in India, or,
which is now the common opinion, Tartessus, a Phenician set
tlement in the south-west of Spain, between the mouths of the
Baetis or Guadalquivir^ sometimes put for the extreme west
(Ps. 72 : 10). As the principal maritime trade, with which the
Hebrews were acquainted, was to this region, ships of Tarshish
would suggest the idea of the largest class of vessels, justly in
cluded in this catalogue of lofty and imposing objects. To
suppose a direct allusion either to commercial wealth or naval
strength, is inconsistent with the context, although these ideas
would of course be suggested by association. Most writers' un
derstand the last clause, like the first, as -a specific addition to

CHAPTER IL 47
the foregoing catalogue, denoting some particular object or class
of objects, such as pictures, statues, lofty images or obelisks, pal
aces, tapestry, and ships. But this indefinite diversity of ex
planation, as well as the general form of the expression, makes
it probable that this clause, notwithstanding the parallelism,
was intended as a general expression for such -lofty and impo
sing objects as had just been enumerated, — ' cedars, oaks, moun
tains, hills, towers, walls, ships, and in short, all attractive and
majestic objects.'
17. This verse, by repeating the terms of v. 11, brings us
back from details to the general proposition which they were
designed to illustrate and enforce, and at the same time has
the effect of a strophical arrangement, in which the same burden
or chorus recurs at stated intervals. And (thus, by this means,
or in this way) shall the loftiness of man be cast down, and ihe
pride of men be brought low, and Jehovah alone be exalted in lhat
day. Or retaining the form of the first two verbs, which are
not passive but neuter, and exchanging the future for the pres
ent, the sentence may be thus translated. So sinks the lofti
ness of mail and bows the pride of men, and Jehovah alone is ex
alted in that day.
18. To the humiliation of all lofty things the Prophet now
adds the entire disappearance of their idols. And the idols (as
for the idols) the whole shall pass away. The brevity of this
verse, consisting of a single clause, has been commonly regarded
as highly emphatic and, as some think, sarcastic.
19. This verse differs from the tenth only by substituting a
direct prediction for a warning or exhortation, and by adding
the design of God's terrible appearance. And they (the idola
ters, or men indefinitely) shall enter into the caves cf the rocks
and -¦-¦'o the holes of the earth, from before the terror cf Jehovah

48 CHAPTER IL
and the glory of his majesty in his arising (i. e. when he arises)
to terrify the earth. The first word rendered earth is the same
that was translated dust in v. 10, but even there it signifies the
solid surface rather than the crumbling particles which we call
dust, The most exact translation would perhaps be ground.
God is said to arise when he addresses himself to any thing, es
pecially after a season of apparent inaction.
20. This is an amplification of v. 18, explaining how the idols
were to disappear, viz. by being thrown away in haste, terror,
shame, and desperate contempt, by those who had worshipped
them and trusted in them, as a means of facilitating their es
cape from the avenging presence of Jehovah. In that day shall
man cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold (here named as
the most splendid and expensive, in order to make the act of
throwing them away strH"niore significant) which they have made
(an indefinite construction, equivalent in meaning to which have
been made) for him to worship, to ihe moles and to the bats (a pro-
' verbial expression for contemptuous rejection.) The idols made
for them to worship they shall cast to the moles and bats, not
to idolaters still blinder than themselves, but to literal moles
and bats, or the spots which they frequent, i. e. dark and filthy
places. Moles and bats are put together on account of their
defect of sight.
21. Continuing the sentence, he declares the end for which
they should throw away their idols, namely, to save themselves,
casting them off as worthless incumbrances in order the more
quickly to take refuge in the rocks. To go into the clefts ofthe
rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs (or crags) from before the
terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty in his arising
to terrify the earth, or as Lowth more poetically renders it *o
strike the earth with terror.— The final recurrence of the s*u">-
refrain which closed the eleventh and seventeenth verses, marks

CHAPTER III. 49
the conclusion of the choral or strophical arrangement at this
verse, the next beginning a new context.
22. Having predicted that the people would soon lose their
confidence in idols, he now shows the folly of transferring that
confidence to human patrons, by a general statement of man's
weakness and mortality, explained and amplified in the fol
lowing chapter. Cease ye from man (i. e. cease $o trust him
or depend upon him) whose breath is in his nostrils (i. e. whose
life is transient and precarious, with obvious allusion to Gen.
2 : 7) for wherein is he to be accounted of (or at what rate is he to
De valued) ? The interrogation forcibly implies that man's
protection cannot be relied upon. — In the Septuagint this
verse is wholly wanting, and some suppose the translators to
have left it out, as being an unwelcome truth to kings and
princes ; but such a motive must have led to much more exten
sive expurgation of unpalatable scriptures. It is found in the
other ancient versions and its genuineness has not been dispu
ted. — To cease from is to let alone ; in what specific sense must
be determined by the context (compare 2 Chron. 35 ' 21 with
Prov. 23 : 4).

CHAPTER III.
This chapter continues the threatenings against Judah on
account of the prevailing iniquities, with special reference to fe
male pride' and luxury.
The Prophet first explains his exhortation at the close of the
last chapter, by showing that God was about to take away the
leading men of Judah and to let it fall into a state of anarchy,
vs. 1-7. He then shows that this was the effect of sin, particu
larly that of wicked rulers, vs. 8-15. He then exposes in de-
3

50 CHAPTER IIL
tail the pride and luxury of the Jewish women, and threatens
them not only with the loss of that in which they now delighted.
but with widowhood, captivity, and degradation, v. 16 — 4: 1.
The first part opens with a general prediction of the loss of
what they trusted in, beginning with the necessary means of
subsistence, v. 1. We have then an enumeration ofthe public
men who were about to be removed, including civil, military, and
religious functionaries, with the practitioners of certain aits, vs.
2, 3. As the effect of this removal, the government falls into
incompetent hands, v. 4. This is followed by insubordination
and confusion, v. 5. At length, no one is willing to accept pub
lic office, the people are wretched, and the commonwealth a ruin,
vs. 6, 7.
This ruin is declared to be the consequence of sin, and the
people represented as their own destroyers, vs. 8, 9. God's
judgments, it is true, are not indiscriminate. The innocent
shall not perish with the guilty, but the guilty must, suffer, vs.
10, 11. Incompetent and faithless rulers must especially be
punished, who instead of being the guardians are spoilers of
the vineyard, instead of protectors the oppressors of the poor,
vs. 12-15.
As a principal cause of these prevailing evils, the Prophet
now denounces .female luxury and threatens it with condign
punishment, privation and disgrace, vs. 16, 17. This general
denunciation is then amplified at great length, in a detailed
enumeration of the ornaments which were about to be taken
from them and succeeded by the badges of captivity and mourn
ing, vs. 18-24. The agency to be employed in this retribution
is a disastrous war, by which tlie men are to be swept off and
the country left desolate, vs. 25, 26. The extent of this ca
lamity is represented by a lively exhibition of the dispropor
tion between the male survivors and the other sex, suggesting
at the same time the forlorn condition of the widows of the
slain, chap. 4:1.

CHAPTER IIL 51
1. This verse assigns as a reason for the exhortation in the
one preceding, that God was about to take away from the
people every ground of reliance, natural and moral. Cease
ye from man, i. e. cease to trust in any human protection, for
behold (implying a proximate futurity) the Lord (God considered
as a sovereign) Jehovah of Hosts (as self-existent and eternal,
and at the same time as the God of revelation and the God of
his people) is taking away (or about to take away) from Jeru
salem and from Judah (not only from the capital but from tho
whole kingdom) the stay and the staff (i. e. all kinds of support,
and first of all) the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of
water (the natural and necessary means of subsistence). The
terms are applicable either to a general famine produced by
natural causes, or to a scarcity arising from invasion or blocks
ade, such as actually took place when Judah was overrun by
Nebuchadnezzar) 2 Kings 25 : 4. Jer. 52 : 6. 38: 9. Lam. 4 : 4).—
Instead of the whole stay, prose usage would require evei y stay.
But the other construction is sustained by the analogy of the
whole head and the whole heart, ch. 1 : 5, and by the impossibil
ity of expressing this idea otherwise without circumlocution. —
The old version stay and staff is an approximation to the form
of the original, in which a masculine and feminine form of the
same noun are combined, by an idiom common in Arabic and
not unknown in Hebrew, to denote universality, or rather all
kinds of the object named.
2. Next to the necessary means of subsistence, the Prophet
enumerates the great men of the commonwealth, vs. 2, 3. The
first clause has reference to military strength, the second to civil
and religious dignities. In the second clause there is an in
verse parallelism, the first and fourth terms denoting civil offi
cers, the second and third religious ones. The omission of the
article before the nouns, though not uncommon in poetry, adds
much to the rapidity and life of the description. Hero and

52 CHAPTER IIL
warrior, judge and prophet, and divine and elder. That the first
is not a generic term including all that follow (the great men,
viz. the warriors, etc.) is clear from the parallelism, the terms
being arranged in pairs as often elsewhere, (ch. 11:2. 19:3,
6-9. 22 : 12, 13. 42 : 19). The idea here expressed is not sim
ply that of personal strength and prowess but the higher one
of military eminence or heroism. — The literal version of the
next phrase, man of war, has acquired a different sense in mod
ern English. It may here denote either a warrior of high rank,
as synonymous with mighty man, or one of ordinary rank, as
distinguished from it. Judge may either be taken in its re
stricted modern sense or in the wider one of magistrate or
ruler. The people are threatened with the loss of all their
stays, good or bad, true or false. The last word in the verse is
not to be taken in its primary and proper sense of old man,
much less in the factitious one of sage, or wise man, since all
the foregoing terms are titles denoting rank and office, but in
its secondary sense of elder or hereditary chief, and as such a
magistrate under the patriarchal system. It is here equivalent
or parallel to judge, -the one term denoting the functions of the
office, the other the right by which it was held.
3. To persons of official rank and influence, the Prophet
adds, in order to complete his catalogue, practitioners of those
arts upon which the people set most value. As the prophet and
diviner stand together in v. 2, so mechanical and magical arts are
put together here. The first clause simply finishes the list of
public functionaries which had been begun in the preceding
verse. The-chief of fifty, and the favourite, and ihe counsellor, and
the skiiful artificer, and the expert enchanter. — The first title is
derived from the decimal arrangement of the people in the wil
derness for judicial purposes (Exod. 18 : 25, 26), but is after
wards used only as a military title. The next phrase literally
signifies lifted up in countenance, which is commonly'understood

CHAPTER IIL 53
as a description of an eminent or honourable person. But aathe
same words are employed to signify respect of persons or judi
cial partiality, the phrase may here denote one highly favoured
by a sovereign, a royal favourite (2 Kings 5 : 1. Lev. 19 : 15,
Deut. 10 : 17. Job 13 : 10. Mai. 2 : 9), or respected, reverenced
by the people (Lam. 4 : 16. Deut. 28 : 50). — The counsellor here
meant is not a private or professional adviser, but a public
counsellor or minister of state. The last word in the verse is
taken strictly, as denoting a ' whisper' or the. act of whispering,
by some ; but in its secondary sense of incantation, with allu
sion to the mutterings and whisperings which formed a part of
magical ceremonies, by most modern writers.
4. The natural consequence of the removal of the leading men
must be the rise of incompetent successors, persons without
capacity, experience, or principle, a change which is here as
cribed to God's retributive justice. And I will give children to
be their rulers, and childish things shall govern them. Some ap
ply this, in a strict sense, to .the weak and wicked reign of
Ahaz ; others in a wider sense to the series of weak kings af
ter Isaiah. But there is no need of restricting it to kings at
all. The most probable opinion is that the incompetent rulers
are called boys or children not in respect to age but char-.
acter. k
5. As the preceding verse describes bad government, so this
describes anarchy, the suspension of all government, and a con-
sequent disorder in the relations of society, betraying itself in
mutual violence, and in the disregard of natural and artificial
claims to deference. And the people shall act tyrannically, man
against man, and man -against his fellow. They shall be inso
lent, the youth to ihe old man, and the mean man to the noble.
On contempt of old age, as a sign of barbarism, see Lam. 4 : 16,
Deut. 28 : SO.

54 CHAPTER IIL
6. Having predicted the removal of those qualified to governj
the rise of incompetent successors, and a consequent insubordi
nation and confusion, the Prophet now describes this last as
having reached such a height that no one is willing to hold
office, or, as Matthew Henry says, " the government goes a beg
ging." This verse, notwithstanding its length, seems to contain
only the protasis or conditional clause of the sentence, in which
the commonwealth is represented as a ruin, and the task of
managing it pressed upon one living in retirement, on the ground
that he still possesses. decent raiment, a lively picture both of
general anarchy and general wretchedness. When a man shall
take hold of his brother (i. e. one man of another) in his father's
house (at home in a private station, saying) thou hast raiment, a
ruler shalt thou be lo us, and this ruin (shall be) under thy hand
(i. e. under thy power, control, and management). It is equal
ly consistent with the syntax and the usage of the words to
understand the man as addressing his brother, in the proper
sense, or in that of a near kinsman, of or belonging to the
house of his (the speaker's) father, i. e. one of the same fa
mily. But the offer would then seem to be simply that of head
ship or chieftainship over a family or house, whereas a wider
meaning is required by the connection. Some explain the
phrase as meaning thou art rich, because clothing forms a
large part of oriental wealth. But others understand the
words more probably as meaning ' thou hast still a garment,'
whereas we have none, implying general distress as well as
anarchy. 7. This verse contains the refusal of the invitation given in
the oim preceding. In that day he shall. lift up (his voice in re
ply) saying I will not be a healer, and in my house there is no
bread, and there is no clothing ; ye shall not make me a ruler of
people. In that day may either mean at once, without delibera
tion, or continue the narrative without special emphasis. Some

CHAPTER III. 55
supply hand after lift up, as a gesture of swearing, or the name
of God as in the third commandment, ard understand the
phrase to mean that he shall swear. But the great majority of
writers supply voice, some in the specific sense of answering, or
in the simple sense of uttering, but others with more probability
in that of speaking with a loud voice, or distinctly and with
emphasis, he shall protest,or openly declare. The whole connex
ion seems to show that this is a profession of great poverty,
which, if true, shows more clearly the condition of the people,
and if false, tho general aversion to office. The last clause
does not simply mean do not make me, but you must not, or you
shall not make me a ruler.
8. The Prophet here explains his use of the word ruin in
reference to the commonwealth of Israel, by declaring that it had
in fact destroyed itself by. the offence which its iniquities had
given to the holiness of God, here compared to the sensitiveness
of the human eye. Do not wonder at its being called a ruin,
for Jerusalem totters and Judah falls (or Jerusalem is tottering,
and Judah falling), because their tongue and their doings
(words and deeds- being put for the whole conduct) are against
Jehovah (strictly to or towards, but in this connection necessa
rily implying opposition and hostility), to resist (i. e. so as to
resist, implying both the purpose and effect) his holy eyes (and
thereby to offend them). Jerusalem and Judah, though pecu
liarly the Lord's, were nevertheless to fall and be destroyed for
their iniquities.
9. As they make no secret of their depravity, and as sin and
suffering are inseparably connected, they must bear the blame
of their own destruction. The expression of their countenances
testifies against them, and their sin, like Sodom, they hide it not.
Woe unto their soul, for they have done evil to themselves. The
context seems to show that the Prophet has reference to gen-

56 CHAPTER IIL
eral character and not to a specific sin, while the parallel ex
pressions in this verse make it almost certain that the phrase
relates to the expression of the countenance. The sense is not
that their looks betray them, but that they make no effort at
concealment, as appears from the reference to Sodom. The ex
pression of the same idea first in a positive and then' in a nega
tive form is not uncommon in Scripture, and is a natural if not
an English idiom. Madame d'Arblay, in her memoirs of Dr.
Burney, speaks of Omiah, the Tahitian brought home by Capt.
Cook, as " uttering first affirmatively and then negatively all
the little sentences that he attempted to pronounce."
10. The righteous are encouraged by the assurance that tho
judgments of God shall not be indiscriminate. Say ye ofthe
righteous that it shall be well, for the fruits of their doings they
shall eat. The object of address seems to be not the prophets
or ministers of God, but the people at large or men indefi
nitely. The concise and elliptical first clause may be variously
construed. 'Say, it is right (or righteous) that (they should
eat) good, that they should eat the fruit of their doings.' ' Say,
it is right, (or God is righteous), for it is good that they should
eat,' etc. ' Say (what is) right,' i. e. pronounce just judgment.
11. This is the converse of the- foregoing proposition, a
threatening corresponding to the promise. Woe unto the wicked,
(it shall be) ill (with him), for the thing done by his hand shall
be done to him.
12. The Prophet now recurs to the evil of unworthy and
implacable rulers, and expresses, by an exclamation, wonder and
concern at the result. My people! their oppressors are childish
and women rule over them. My people ! thy leaders are seducers
and the way of thy paths (the way where thy path lies) the$
swallow up (cause t<5 disappear, destroy).

CHAPTER IIL 67
13. Though human governments might be overthrown, God
still remained a sovereign and a judge, and is here represented
as appearing, coming forward, or assuming his position, not only
as a judge but as an advocate, or rather an accuser, in both
which characters he acts at once, implying that he who brings
this charge against his people has at the same time power to
condemn. Jehovah standeth up to plead, and is standing to
judge the nations. The first verb properly denotes a reflexive
act, viz. that of placing or presenting himself. Nations here
as often elsewhere means the tribes of Israel. See Gen. 49: 10.
Deut. 32 : 8. 33 : 3, 19. 1 Kings 22 : 28. Mich. 1 : 2.
14. This verse describes the parties more distinctly and be
gins the accusation. Jehovah will enter into judgment (engage
in litigation, both as a party and a judge) with the elders of his
people (the heads of houses, families and tribes) and the chiefs
thereof (the hereditary chiefs of Israel, here and elsewhere
treated as responsible representatives of the people). And ye
(even ye) have consumed the vineyard (of Jehovah, his church or
chosen people), the spoil of the poor (that which is taken from
him by violence) is in your houses. Some regard the last clause
as the language of the Prophet, giving a reason why God would
enter into judgment with them ; but it is commonly regarded
as the commencement of the judge's own address, which is con
tinued through the following verse.
15. The Lord's address to the elders of Israel is continued
in a tone of indignant expostulation. What mean ye (literally
what is to you, equivalent in English to what have you, i. e. what
right, what reason, what motive, what advantage) that ye crush
my people (a common figure for severe oppression, Job 5 : 4.
Prov. 22 : 22) and grind the faces of the poor (upon the ground,
by trampling on their bodies, another strong figure for con
temptuous and oppressive vi(ienco), saith the Lord Jehovah of

58 CHAPTER IIL
Hosts (which is added to remind the accused of the sovereign
authority, omniscience, and omnipotence of Him bywhom the
charge is brought against them). The first verb does not mean
merely to weaken, bruise, or break, but to break in pieces, tc
break utterly, to crush. By' the faces of the poor some under
stand their persons or the poor themselves, and by grinding
them, reducing, attenuating, by exaction and oppression.
Others refer the phrase to literal injuries of the face by blows
or wounds. But the simplest and most natural interpretation
is that which applies it to the act of grinding the face upon the
ground by trampling on the body, thus giving both the noun
and verb their proper meaning, and making the parallelism
more exact. The phrase at the beginning of the verse, what
mean ye ? merely serves to introduce the question.
16, 17. The Prophet here resumes the thread which had
been dropped or broken at the close ofv. 12, and recurs to the
undue predominance of female influence, but particularly to the
prevalent excess of female luxury, not only as sinful in itself,
but as a chief cause of the violence and social disorder previ
ously mentioned, and therefore to be punished by disease, wid
owhood, and shameful exposure. These two verses, like the
sixth and seventh, form one continued sentence. And Jehovah
said (in addition to what goes before, as if beginning a new sec
tion of the prophecy), because the daughters of Zion (the women
of Jerusalem, with special reference to those connected with the
leading men) are lofty (in their mien and carriage) and walk
with outstretched neck (literally stretched of neck, so as to seem
taller), and gazing (ogling, leering, looking wantonly) wilh their
eyes, and with a tripping walk they walk, and with their feet they
malce a tinkling (i. e. with the metallic rings or bands worn
around the ankles), therefore the Lord will make bald the crown
ofthe daughters of Zion, and theimakedness Jehovah will uncover
(i. e. he will reduce them to a state the very opposite of their

CHAPTER III. 59
present pride and finery). They are described as stretching
out the neck, not by bending forwards, nor by tossing the head
backwards, but by holding it high, so that the phrase corres
ponds to lofty in the clause preceding. The baldness mention
ed in the last clause is variously explained as an allusion to the
shaving of the heads of prisoners or captives, or as a sign of
mourning, or as the effect of disease, and particularly of the dis
ease which bears a name (Lev. 13:2) derived from the verb
here used. Neither of these ideas is expressed, though all may
be implied, in the terms of the original.
18. Although the prediction in v. 17 implies the loss of all
ornaments whatever, we have now a minute specification of the
things to be taken away. This specification had a double use ;
it made the judgment threatened more explicit and significant
to those whom it concerned, while to others it gave some idea
of the length to which extravagance in dress was carried.
There is no need of supposing that all these articles were ever
worn at once, or that the passage was designed to be descriptive
of a complete dress. It is rather an enumeration of detached
particulars which might or might not be combined in any indi
vidual case. As in other cases where a variety of detached
particulars are enumerated simply by their names, it is now
very difficult to identify some of them. This is the less to be
regretted, as the main design of the enumeration was to show
the prevalent extravagance in dress, an effect not wholly depen
dent on an exact interpretation of the several items. The inter
est of the passage, in its details, is not exegetical but archaeo
logical. Nothing more will be here attempted than to give
what is now most commonly regarded as the true meaning of
the terms, with a few of the more important variations in the
doubtful cases. In that day (the time appointed for the judg
ments just denounced) the Lord will take away (literally, cause
to depart, from the daughters of Zion) the bravery (in the old

60 * CHAPTER IIL
English sense of finery) ofthe ankle bands (the noun from whiih
the last verb in v. 16 is derived) and the cauls (or caps of net
work) and the crescents (or little moons, metallic ornaments of -
that shape).
19. The pendants^ (literally, drops, i. e. ear-rings) and the
bracelets (for the arm, or -collars for the neck) and the veils (the
word here used denoting the peculiar oriental veil, composed of
two pieces hooked together below the eyes, one of which pieces
is thrown back over the head, while the other hides the face).
20. The caps (or other ornamental head-dresses) and the ankle
chains (connecting the ankle bands, so as to regulate the length
of the step) and the girdles, and the houses (i. e. places or recep
tacles) of breath (meaning probably the perfume boxes or smell
ing-bottles worn by the oriental women at their girdles), and the
amulets (the same word used above in v. 3, in the sense of in
cantations, but which seems to have also signified the antidote).
The first word of this verse is now commonly explained to
mean turbans, but as these are distinctly mentioned afterwards,
this term may denote an ornamental cap, or perhaps a diadem
or circlet of gold or silver. The next word is explained to
mean bracelets by the Septuagint. but by the English Version
more correctly, though perhaps too vaguely, ornaments of the
leg. For girdles, smelling bottles and amulets, the English Ver
sion has head-bands, tablets (but in the margin, houses ofthe soul),
and ear-rings, perhaps on account of the superstitious use which
was sometimes made of these (Gen. 35 : 4).
21. The rings, strictly signet-rings, but here put for finger-
rings or rings in general, and the nose jewels, a common and very
ancient ornament in eastern countries, so that the version, jew
els of the face, is unnecessary, as well as inconsistent with the
derivation from a word meaning to perforate.

CHAPTER IIL 01
22. The holiday-dresses and the mantles and the robes and tht
purses. The first word is almost universally explained to
mean clothes that are taken off and laid aside, i. e. the best
suit, holiday or gala dresses, although this general expression
seems misplaced in an enumeration of minute details. The
common version, changeable suits of appargl, though ambigu
ous, seems intended to express the same idea. The next two
words, according to their etymology, denote wide and flowing
upper garments. The common version of the last word, crisp\
ing-pins, supposes it to relate to the dressing of the hair. The
word is now commonly explained, from the Arabic analogy, to
signify bags or purses.
23. The mirrors and the tunics (inner garments ma,de of linen),
ana the turban's (the common oriental head-dress) and the veils.
The first word is explained by the Septuagint to mean
thin transparent dresses; but most writers understand it to
denote the small metallic mirrors carried about by oriental
women. 24. The threatening is still continued, but with a change of
form, the things to be taken away being now contrasted with
those which should succeed them. And it shali be or happen.
that instead of perfume (aromatic odour or the spices which
afford it) there shall be stench, and instead of a girdle a
rope, and instead of braided work baldness (or loss of hair
by disease or shaving, as a sign of captivity or mourning), and
instead of a full robe a girdling of sackcloth, burning instead
of beauty. The inversion of the terms in this last clause,
and its brevity, add greatly to the strength of the expression.
The burning mentioned is supposed by some to be that of
the skin from long exposure ; most interpreters understand
by it a brand, here mentioned either as a stigma of captivity,
or as a self-inflicted sign of mourning. Sackcloth is^nentioned

62 CHAPTER III.
as the coarsest kind of cloth, and also as that usually worn by
mourners. ¦ 25. The Prophet now assigns as a reason for the grief pre
dicted in v. 24, a general slaughter of the male population, the
effect of which is again described in v. 26, and its extent in
chap. 4 : 1, which belongs more directly to this chapter than the
next. In the verse before us, he first addresses Zion or Jeru-
salem directly, but again, as it were, turns away, and in the
next verse speaks of her in the third person. Thy men by the
sword shall fall and thy strength in war.
26. The effect of this slaughter on the community is here
described, first by representing the places of chief • concourse as
vocal with distress, and then by personifying the state or na
tion as a desolate widow seated on the ground, a sign both of
mourning and of degradation. And her gates (those of Zion or
Jerusalem) shall lament and mourn (and), being emptied (or ex
hausted) she shall sit upon the ground. The gates are said to
mourn, by a rhetorical substitution of the place of action for
the agent, or because a place filled with cries seems itself to
utter them. She is described not as lying but as sitting on the
ground. So on one of Vespasian's coins a woman is represented
in a sitting posture, leaning against a palm-tree, with the legend
Judaea Capta.
Ch. 4:1. The paucity of males 'in the community, result
ing from this general slaughter, is now expressed by a lively
figure, representing seven women as earnestly soliciting one
man in marriage, and that on the most disadvantageous terms,
renouncing the support to which they were by law entitled.
And in that day (then, after the judgment just predicted), seven
women (i. e. several, this number being often used indefinitely)
ihall lay*hold of one man (earnestly accost him), saying,we will

CHAPTER IV. 03
tat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let thy name be
called upon us (an idiomatic phrase meaning let us be called by thy
name, let us be recognized as thine), take thou away our reproach.
the ' reproach of widowhood' (Isai. 54 : 4) or celibacy, or rather
that of childlessness which they imply, and which was regarded
with particular aversion by the Jews before the time of Christ.
The Prophet simply meant to set forth by a lively figure the dis
proportion between the sexes introduced by a destructive war.

CHAPTER IV.

Besides the first verse, which has been explained already,
this chapter contains a prophecy of Christ and of the future
condition of the Church. The Prophet here recurs to the
theme with which the prophecy opened (ch. 2 : 1-4), but with
this distinction, that instead of dwelling on the influence ex
erted by the church upon the world, he here exhibits its inter
nal condition under the reign of the Messiah. He first presents
to view the person by whose agency the church is to be brought
into a glorious and happy state, and who is here described as
a partaker both of the divine and human nature, v. 2. He
then describes the character of those who are predestined to
share in the promised exaltation, v. 3. He then shows the
necessity, implied in these promises, of previous purgation from
the defilement described in the foregoing chapters, v. 4. When
this purgation is leffected, God will manifest his presence glori
ously throughout his church, v. 5. To these promises of purity
and honour he now adds one of protection, and security, with
which the prophecy concludes, v. 6.
It is commonly agreed that this prediction has been only

64 CHAPTER IV.
partially fulfilled, and that its complete fulfilment is to be
expected, not in the literal Mount Zion or Jerusalem, but in
those various assemblies or societies of true believers, which
now possess in common the privileges once exclusively enjoyed
by the Holy City and the chosen race of which it was the centre
and metropolis.
2. In that day (after this destruction) shall the Branch (or
Offspring) of Jehovah be for honour and for glory, and the Fruit
of ihe Earth for sublimity and beauty , to the escaped of Israel,
literally, the escape or deliverance of Israel, the abstract being
used for the collective concrete, meaning those who should sur
vive these judgments. At this point the. Prophet passes from
the tone of threatening to that of promise. Having foretold a
general destruction, he now intimates that some should escape
it, and be rendered glorious and happy by tho presence and
favour of the Son of God, who is at the same time the Son of
Man. The usage of the word Branch in application to an in
dividual will be clear from the following examples. " Behold
the days come, 'saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a
righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper" (Jer.
23 : 5). "-In those days and at that time will I cause the
branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment" (Jer. 33 : 15). "Behold I will bring
forth my servant the Branch" (Zech. 3:8). "Behold tho
man whose name is the branch" (Zech. 6:12). The Branch
is here represented as a man, a king, a righteous judge, a
servant of God. Hence it is reasonable to conclude that the
same person, whom Jeremiah calls the branch (or son) of David,
is called by Isaiah in the verse before us the branch (or son) of
Jehovah. The parallel terms correspond exactly to the two
parts of Paul's description (Rom. 1 : 3, 4), and to the two titles
applied in the New Testament to Christ's two natures, Son oi
God and Son of Man.

CHAPTER IV. 66
3. And it shall be, happen, come to pass, that the left in Zion
and the spared in Jerusalem, singular forms with a collective ap
plication, shall be called holy, literally, holy shall be said to him,
i. c. this name shall be used in addressing him, or rather may
be used with truth, implying that the persons so called should
be what they seemed to be, every one written, enrolled, ordained,
to life in Jerusalem. Having foretold the happiness and honour
which the Son of God should one day confer upon his people,
the Prophet now explains to whom the promise was intended to
apply. In the preceding verse they were described by their
condition as survivors of God's desolating judgments. In this
they are described by their moral character, and by their eter
nal destination to this character and that which follows it.
4. The construction is continued from the verse preceding.
All this shall come to pass, if (provided that, on this condition,
which idea may be here expressed by when) the Lord shall have
washed away (the Hebrew word denoting specially the washing
of the body, and suggesting the idea of the legal ablutions) the
filth (a very strong term transferred from physical to moral de
filement) ofthe daughters of Zion (the women before mentioned),
and the blood (literally bloods, i. e. blood-shed or blood-guiltiness)
of Jerusalem (i. e. of the people in general), by a spirit of judg
ment and spirit of burning, i. e. by the judgment and burning
of the Holy Spirit, with a twofold allusion to the purifying
and destroying energy of fire, or rather to its purifying by
destroying, purging the whole by the destruction of a part,
and thereby manifesting the divine justice as an active principle.
This verse contains a previous condition of the promise in v.
3, which could not be fulfilled until the church was purged from
the pollution brought upon it by the sins of those luxurious
women and of the people generally, a work which could be ef
fected only by the convincing and avenging influences of the
Holy Spirit. The word spirit cannot be regarded as pleonastio

CO CHAPTER IV.
or simply emphatic without affording license to a like inter.
pretation in all other cases. It has been variously explained here
as meaning breath, word, and power or influence. But since this is
the term used in the New Testament to designate that* person
of the Godhead, whom the Scriptures uniformly represent as
the executor of the divine purposes, and since this sense is
perfectly appropriate here, the safest and most satisfacto
ry interpretation is that which understands by it a personal
spirit. 5. And Jehovah will create (implying the exercise of almighty
power and the production of a new effect) over the whole extent (lit
erally, plane or space) of Mount Zion (in its widest and most
spiritual sense, as appears from what follows), and over her as
semblies, a cloud by day and smoke (i. e. a cloud of smoke), and
the brightness of a flaming fire by night ; for over all the glory
(previously promised, there shall be) a covering (or shelter).
The church is not only to be purified by God's judgments,
but glorified by his manifested presence, and in that state of
glory kept secure by his protection. The presence of God is
here denoted by the ancient symbol of a fiery cloud, and is prom
ised to the church in its whole extent and to its several as
semblies, as distinguished from the one indivisible congregation,
and its one exclusive place of meeting, under the old economy.
The two appearances described in this verse are those presented
by a fire at different times, a smoke by day and a flame by
night. Some regard this as the statement of a general fact,
' over every thing glorious there is protection,' i. e. men are ao
customed to protect what they value highly ; but the great ma
jority of writers understand it as a prophecy or promise.
6. And there shall be a shelter (properly a booth or covert of
leaves and branches, to serve) for a shadow by day (as a protec
tion) from heat^ and for a covert and for a hiding-place from storm

CHAPTER V. 07
and pom rain. The promise of refuge and protection is repeat
ed or continued under the figure of a shelter from heat and
rain, natural emblems for distress and danger.

CHAPTER V.

This chapter contains a description of the prevalent iniqui-
tiesiof Judah, and of the judgments which, in consequence of
these, had been or were to be inflicted on the people. The
form of the prophecy is peculiar, consisting of a parable and a
commentary on it.
"The PropTiet first delivers his whole message in a parabolic
form, vs. 1-7. He then explains and amplifies it at great length,
vs. 8-30.
The parable sets forth the peculiar privileges, obligations,
guilt, and doom of Israel, under the figure of a highly favoured
vineyard which, instead of good fruit, brings forth only wild
grapes, and is therefore given up to desolation, vs. 1-6. The
application is expressly made by the Prophet himself, v. 7.
In the remainder of the chapter, he enumerates the sins
which were included in the general expressions of v. 7, and de
scribes their punishment. In doing this, he first gives a cata
logue of sins with their appropriate punishments annexed, vs.
8-24. He then describes the means used to inflict them, and
the final issue, vs. 25-30.
In its general design and subject, this prophecy resembles
those which go before it ; but it differs remarkably from both
in holding up to view exclusively the dark side of the picture,
the guilt and doom of the ungodly Jews, without the cheering
contrast of purgation and deliverance to be experienced from
the same events by the true Israel, the Church of God.

68 CHAPTER V
This chapter, like the first, is applicable not to one e-ynt ex
elusively, but to a sequence of events which was repeatel. more
than once, although its terms were never fully realizea until
the closing period of the Jewish history, after the true Mfessiah
was rejected, when one ray of hope was quenched after anjther,
until all grew dark for ever in the skies of Israel.
1. The parable is given in vs. 1-6, and applied in v. 7. It is
introduced in such a manner as to secure a favourable hearing
from those whose conduct it condemns, and in some measuinTto "
conceal its drift until the application. The Prophet prorloses
to sing a song, i. e. to utter a rhythmical and figurative narra
tive, relating to a friend of his, his friend's own song indleed
about his vineyard. In the last clause he describes the si tua-
tion of the vineyard, its favourable exposure and productive
soil. I will sing, if you please (or let me sing, I pray you),W"
my friend (i. e. concerning him), my friend's song of his vineycird
(i. e: concerning it). My friend had a vineyard in a hill ofgrhat
fertility (literally, in a horn, a son of fatness, according to tfce
oriental idiom which applies the terms of human kindred to
relations of every kind). The common version, now will Isinig,
seems to take now as an adverb of time, whereas it is a particile
of entreaty, used to soften the expression of a purpose, and ifco
give a tone of mildness and courtesy to the address. Simg
and song are used, as with us, in reference to poetry, withoiit
implying actual musical performance. The Prophet must He
understood as speaking of a human friend, until he explainlg
himself. Horn is here used, as in various other languages/.
for the sharp peak of a mountain, or, as in Arabic, for k
detached hill. The preposition does not properly mean
on but in, implying that the vineyard only occupied ;a
part, and that this was not the summit, but the^treeiivity-
exposed to the sun, which is the best situation/for a vine
yard.

CHAPTER V. 69
2. Not only was the vineyard favourably situated, but assidu
ously tilled, protected from intrusion, and provided with every
thing that seemed to be needed to secure an abundant vintage.
And he digged it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and
planted it with Sorek, mentioned elsewhere (Jer. 2:21) as the
choicest kind of vine, which either gave or owed its name to the
valley of Sorek (Judg. 16:4), and built a tower in the midst of
it, partly for protection from men and beasts, and partly for the
pleasure and convenience of the owner, and also a wine-vat, to
receive the juice from the wine-press immediately above, he
hewed in it, i. e. in a rock (or hewed may be simply used for ex
cavated in the ground, a common situation in hot countries for
the lacus, reservoir, or wine-vat), and he wailed for it, i. e. he
allowed it time, to make, (produce, bear, bring forth.) grapes, and
it produced wild grapes.
3. Having described the advantageous situation, soil, and
culture of the vineyard, and its failure to produce good fruit,
he submits the case to the decision of his hearers. And now,
not merely in a temporal but a logical sense, ' this being the
case,' oh inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, the singular
form adding greatly to the individuality and life of the expres
sion, judge 1 pray you, pray decide or act as arbiters, between
me and my vineyard. The people are here called upon to judge
between a stranger and his vineyard, simply as such, unaware
that they are thereby passing judgment on themselves. The
meaning and design of the appeal are perfectly illustrated by
that which Christ makes (Matt. 21 : 40) in a parable analogous
to this and founded on it. There as here the audience are
called upon to judge in a case which they regard as foreign to
their own, if not fictitious, and it is only after their decision
that they are made to see its bearing on themselves. So too in
Nathan's parable to David (2 Sam. 1,2: 1), it was not till "David's
anger was greatly kindled against the man," i.%e. the stranger of

70 CHAPTER V.
whom he understood the Prophet to be speaking, that " Nathan
said to David, Thou art the man." A disregard of these
analogies impairs both the moral force and the poetical unity
and beauty of the apologue. The same thing may be said of
the attempt to put a specific figurative sense on each part of
the parable, the wall, the tower, the hedge, etc., which is not
more reasonable here than it would be in explaining Esop's
fables. The parable, as a whole, corresponds to its subject as
a whole, but all the particulars included in the one are not
separately intended to denote particulars included in the other.
A lion may be a striking emblem of a hero, but it does not
follow that the mane, claws, etc. of the beast must all be sig
nificant of something in the man. Nay, they cannot even be
supposed to be so, without sensibly detracting from the force
and beauty of the image as a whole. ,
4. This verse shows that the parable is not yet complete, and
that its application would be premature. Having called upon
the Jews to act as umpires, he now submits a specific question
for their arbitration. What to do more (i. e. what more is there
to be done) to my vineyard and I have not (or in the English
idiom, that I have not) done in ii (not only to or for but in it,
with reference to the place as well as the object ofthe action)?
Why did I wait for it to bear grapes and it bore wild grapes ?
Some supply was instead of is in the first clause, what was
there to do more, i. e. what more was there to be done, or was I
bound to do? But this, though grammatically unexceptionable,
does not agree so well with the connection between this verse
and the next, as a question and answer. Still less exact is the
English Version, what more could have been done? The question
whether God had done all that he could do for the Jews, when
the Scriptures were still incomplete and Christ had not yet
come, however easy of solution, is a question here irrelevant,
because it has relation not to something in the text but to

CHAPTER V. 71
something supplied by. the interpreter, and that not only with
out necessity but in violation of the context ; for the next
verse is not an answer to the question what God could have
done but what he shall or will do.
5. He now proceeds to answer his own question, in a tone of
pungent irony, almost amounting to a sarcasm. The reply
which might naturally have been looked for was a statement of
some new care, some neglected precaution, some untried mode
of culture ; but instead of this he threatens to destroy the
vineyard, as, the only expedient remaining. The rhetorical
effect of this sudden turn in the discourse is heightened by the
very form of the last clause, in which the simple future, as the
natural expression of a purpose, is exchanged for the infinitive,
denoting the bare action without specification of person, time,
or number. And now (since you cannot tell) I will let you
know if you please (or let me tell you) what I am doing to my
vineyard (i. e. according to the idiomatic use of the participle,
what I am about to do, suggesting the idea of a proximate futu
rity), remove its hedge and it shall become a pasture (literally, a
consuming, but with special reference to cattle), break down its
wall, and it shall become a trampling-place (i. e. it shall be over
run and trampled down). Remove and break are not impera
tives but infinitives, equivalent in meaning to I will remove and
break, but more concise and rapid in expression.
6. To the threatening of exposure he now adds that of deso
lation arising from neglect of culture, while the last clause con
tains a beautiful though almost imperceptible transition from
the apologue to the reality. By adding to the other threats,
which any human vine-dresser might have reasonably uttered,
one which only God could execute, the parable at one stroke is
brought to a conclusion, and the mind prepared for the ensuing
application. And I place it (render it) a desolation. It shall

72 CHAPTER V.
not be pruned, and it shall not be dressed, and there shah come up
thorns and briers. And I will lay my commands upon the clouds
from raining rain upon it, i. e. that they rain no rain upon it.
The addition of the noun rain is emphatic and equivalent tc
any ram at all. The English Version lay waste is perhaps toe
strong for the original expression, which rather signifies the
letting it run to waste by mere exposure and neglect. To com
mand from or away from is to deter from any act by a command,
in other words to forbid or to command not to do, the thing in
question. In this sense only can the preposition from be said
to have a negative meaning.
7. The startling menace at the close of the sixth verse would
naturally prompt the question, Who is this that assumes power
over clouds and rain, and what is the vineyard which he thus
denounces ? To this taci£ "question we have here the answer.
As if he had said, do not wonder that the owner of the vine
yard should thus speak,/or the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts is
the House of Israel, the church, considered as a whole, and the
man of Judah is the plant of his pleasures, or his favourite plant.
And he waited for judgment, practical justice, as in ch. 1:17,
and behold bloodshed, for righteousness and behold a cry, either
outcry and disturbance, or more specifically the cry of the op
pressed, which last is more agreeable to usage, and at the same
time more poetical and graphic.
8. Here begins a detailed specification of the sins included
in the general expressions of v. 7. We have first two woes
pronounced against as many sins, each followed by a threaten
ing of appropriate. punishment, and a general threatening which
»pplies to both, vs. 8-17. The first sin thus denounced is that
ttf ambitious and avaricious grasping after property in opposition
not merely to the peculiar institutions of the law, but to the
fundamental principles of morals, connected as it always is with

CHAPTER V. 13
a neglect of charitable duties and a willingness to sacrifice the
good of others. The verse before us may be understood, how
ever, as descriptive rather of the tendency and aim of this am
bitious grasping, than of its actual effects. Woe to the joiners of
house with house, or those making house touch house, field to field
they bring together, literally, cause them to approach, even lo
a failure (or defect) of place, i. e. until there is no room left, and
ye, by a sudden apostrophe addressing those of whom he had
been speaking, are made (or left) to dwell by yourselves in the
midst of the land, owning all from the centre to the circumfer
ence, or simply within its bounds, within it.
9. The inordinate desire of lands and houses shall be pun
ished by the loss of them, vs. 9, 10. And first, he threatens
that the valuable houses which they coveted, and gained by
fraud or violence, shall one day be left empty, an event imply
ing the death, captivity, or degradation of their owners. In
my ears Jehovah of Hosts is saying, as if his voice were still ring
ing in the Prophet's ears, of a truth (literally, if not, being part
of an old formula of swearing, ' may it be so and so if etc. ;
so that the negative form conveys the strongest affirmation,
surely, certainly) many houses shall become a desolation, great and
good (houses), for want of an inhabitant.
10. As the sin related both to lands and houses, so both are
mentioned in denouncing punishment. The desolation of the
houses was in fact to arise from the unproductiveness of the
lands. Ruinous failure of crops and a near approach to abso
lute sterility are threatened as a condign punishment of those
who added field to field and house to house. The meaning of
this verse depends, not on the absolute value of the measures
mentioned, but on their proportions. The last clause threatens
that the seed sown, instead of being multiplied, should be re
duced nine tenths ; and a similar idea is no doubt expressed
4

74 CHAPTER V.
by the analogous terms of the preceding clause. For ten acres
of vineyard shall make (produce) one bath, a liquid measure
here put for a very small quantity of wine to be yielded by so
large a quantity of land, and the seed 'of a homer, i. e. seed to
the amount of a homer, or in our idiom, a homer of seed, sho.ll
produce an ephah, a dry measure equal to the liquid bath, and
constituting one tenth of a homer, as we learn from Ezek.
45:11-14. 11. The second woe is uttered against drunkenness and
heartless dissipation, with its usual accompaniment of inatten
tion to God's providential dealings, and is connected with cap
tivity, hunger, thirst, and general mortality, as its appropriate
punishment, vs. 11-14. The description of the sin is con
tained in vs. 11, 12, and first that of drunkenness, considered
not as an occasional excess, but as a daily business, diligently
prosecuted with a devotion such as would ensure success in any
laudable or lawful occupation. Woe to those rising early in the
morning to pursue strong drink (literally, strong drink they pur
sue), delaying in tlie twilight (until) wine inflames them. The
idea of continuing till night is rather implied than expressed.
The allusion is not so much to the disgracefulness of drinking
in the morning as to.their spending day and night in drinking,
rising early and sitting up late. Strong drink differs from wine
only by including all intoxicating liquors, and is here used
simply as a parallel expression.
12. This verse completes the picture begun in v. 11, by add
ing riotous mirth to drunkenness. To express this idea, music
is joined with wine as the source of their social enjoyment ; but
the last clause shows that it is not mere gaiety, nor even the
excess of it" that is here intended to be prominently set forth,
but the folly and wickedness of merriment at certain times
and under certain circumstances, especially amidst impending

CHAPTER V. 75
judgments. The general idea of music is expressed by nam
ing several instruments belonging to the three great classes,
stringed, wind, and pulsatile. The precise form and use of
each cannot be ascertained, and is of no importance to the
meaning of the sentence. And the harp and the viol, the tabrct
(tambourine or small drum) andr- the pipe (or flute), and wine
(compose) their feasts; and the work of Jehovah they will
not look at (or regard), and the operation of his hands they have
not seen, and do not see. The work of Jehovah here meant
is not that of creation but his dealings with the people in
the way of judgment. Compare ch. 10: 12. 22: 11. 28: 21.
Hab. 1:5.3:2. Ps. 64 : 9, and especially Ps. 28 : 5, from which
the expressions there used seem to be taken.
13. Here again the sin is directly followed by its condign
punishment, drunkenness and disregard of providential warn
ings, by captivity, hunger, thirst, and general mortality, vs. 13,
14. But instead of the language of direct prediction (as in vs.
9, 10) the Prophetfhere employs that of description. Therefore
(for the reasons given in the two preceding verses) my people has
gone into exile (or captivity) for want of knowledge (a wilful ig
norance of God's providential work and operation), and their
glory (literally his, referring to the singular noun people) are
men of hunger (i. e. famished), and their multitude dry (parched)
with thirst.
14. As the effect of the preceding judgments, the Prophet
now describes a general mortality, under the figure of the grave,
as a ravenous monster, gaping to devour the thoughtless revel
lers. Here, as in v. 13, he seems to be speaking of events
'already past. Therefore (because famiue and captivity have
thus prevailed) the. grave has enlarged herself and opened her
month without measure, and down goes her pomp and her noise
and her crowd and he that rejoices in her. The sense of the term

76 CHAPTER V.
grave here corresponds almost exactly to the poetical use of
grave in English, as denoting one great receptacle, to which
the grave of individuals may be conceived as inlets. It is thus
that we speak of a voice from the grave, without^ referring to
the burial-place of any individual. The idea of a place of tor
ment, which is included in their present meaning, is derived
from the peculiar use of cfSrjg in the book of Revelation, and
belongs to the Hebrew word only by implication and in certain
connections. 15. To the description of the punishment the Prophet now
adds that of its design and ultimate effect, to wit, the humilia
tion of man and the exaltation of God, vs. 15, 16. The former
is here foretold in terms almost identical with those of ch. 2 : 9.
And man is brought low and man is cast down and the eyes of the
lofty (or haughty) are cast down. " Let a man be ever so high,
death will bring him low; ever so mean, death will bring him
lower." (Matthew Henry.)
16. The same events which humble man exalt God, not by
contrast, but by the positive exhibition of his attributes. And
Jehovah of Hosts is exalted in judgment (in the exercise of jus
tice), and the Mighty, the Holy One, is sanctified) shown to be a
Holy God) in righteousness. In judgment and in righteousness
are used precisely in the same sense, ch. 1 : 27.
17. Having paused, as it were, to show the ultimate effect of
these judgments, he now completes the description of the judg
ments themselves, by predicting the conversion of the lands
possessed by the ungodly Jews, into a vast pasture-ground,
occupied only by the flocks of wandering shepherds from the
neighbouring deserts. And lambs shall feed as (in) their pasture,
and the wastes of the fat ones shall sojourners (temporary occu
pants) devour.

CHAPTER V. 11
18. The series of floes is now resumed and continued with'
out any interruption, vs. 18-23. Even the description of tho
punishment, instead of being added directly to that of the sin,
as in vs. 9 aud 13, is postponed until the catalogue of sins is
closed, and then subjoined in a general form, v. 24. This
verse contains the third woe, having reference to presumptuous
sinners who defy God's judgments. They are here represented
not as drawn away by sin (James 1 : 14), but as laboriously
drawing it to them by soliciting temptation, drawing it out by
obstinate persistency in evil and contempt of divine threatenings.
Woe to the drawers of iniquity (those drawing, those who draw
it) with cords of vanity, and sin (a parallel expression to iniquity)
as (or as with) a cart-rope, i. e. a strong rope, implying difficulty
and exertion. Vanity may be taken in the sense of falsehood
or sophistical reasoning by which men persuade themselves to
sin. The true interpretation of the verse supposes the act
described to be that of laboriously drawing sin to one's self
perhaps with the accessory idea of drawing it out by persever
ance. 19., The degree of their presumption and depravity is now
evinced by a citation of their language with respect to God's
threatened judgments, an ironical expression of impatience to
behold them, and an implied refusal to believe without experi
ence. The sentence is continued from the verse preceding, and
further describes the sinners there denounced, as the ones say
ing (those who say), let him speed, let him hasten his work (his
providential work, as in v. 12), that we may see, and let the counsel
(providential plan or purpose) ofthe Holy One of Israel (which,
in the mouth of these blasphemers, seems to be a taunting
irony) draw nigh and come, and we will know (i. e. according to-
thc Hebrew idiom and the parallel expression) that we may
know what it is, cr that it is a real purpose, and that he is able

78 CHAPTER V.
to accomplish it. (Compare Jer. 17: 15. Amos 5: 18. 6: 13.
Isai. 30 : 10, 1 1. 28 : 15. 2 Peter 3 : 4.)
20. The fourth woe is against those who subvert moral dis
tinctions and confound good and evil, an idea expressed first in
literal terms and then by two obvious and intelligible figures.
Woe unto the (persons) saying (those who say) to evil good and
to good evil (who address them by these titles or call them so),
putting darkness far light and light for darkness, putting bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter. These are here combined, not merely
as natural opposites, but also as common figures for truth and
falsehood, right and wrong. See ch. 2:5. Prov. 2:13. Ec.
2: 13. James 3: 11.
21. Here, as in the foregoing verse, one sin follows another
without any intervening , description of punishment. This
arrangement may imply a very intimate connection between the
sins thus brought into juxtaposition. As presumptuous sin,
such as vs. 18, 19 describe, implies a perversion of the moral
sense, such as v. 20 describes, so the latter may be said to pre
suppose an undue reliance upon human reason, which is else
where contrasted with the fear of God (Prov. 3 : 7), and is
indeed incompatible with it. Woe unto the wise in their eyes
(i. e. their own eyes, which cannot be otherwise expressed in
Hebrew) and before their own faces (in their own sight or es
timation) prudent, intelligent, a synonyme of wise. The sin
reproved, as Calvin well observes, is not mere frivolous self-
conceit, but that delusive estimate of human wisdom which
may coexist with modesty of manners and a high degree of
real intellectual merit, but which must be abjured, not only
on account of its effects, but also as involving the worst form
of pride.
22. The sixth woe, like the second, is directed against drunk-

CHAPTER V. 19
ards, but with special reference to drunken judges, vs. 22, 23.
The tone of this verse is sarcastic, from its using terms which
commonly express not only strength but courage and heroic
spirit, in application to exploits of drunkenness. There may
indeed be a particular allusion to a species of fool-hardiness and
brutal ambition not uncommon in our own times, leading men
to show the vigour of their frames by mad excess, and to seek
eminence in this way no less eagerly than superior spirits seek
true glory. Of such it may indeed be said, their god is their
belly and they glory in their shame. Woe to the mighty men or
heroes (who are heroes only) to drink wine, and men of strength
to mingle strong drink, i. e. according to the usual interpretation,
to mix wine with spices, thereby making it more stimulating
and exciting, a practice spoken of by Pliny and other ancient
writers. Some understand the Prophet as referring to the
mixture of wine with water. In either case the mixing is here
mentioned only as a customary act in the offering or drinking
of liquors, just as making tea might be mentioned as a common
act of modern hospitality, whatever part of the preparatory
process the phrase may properly denote.
23. The absence of the interjection shows that this is a con
tinuation of the woe begun in the preceding verse, and thus
explains the. Prophet's recurrence to a sin which he had de
nounced already (vs. 11, 12) as productive of general inconsid-
eration, but which he now describes as leading to injustice, and
therefore as a vice peculiarly disgraceful in a magistrate. The
effect here ascribed to drunkenness is not merely that of inca
pacitating judges for the discharge of their official functions
but that of tempting them to make a trade of justice, with a
view to the indulgence of this appetite. Justifying (i. e. ac
quitting, clearing, a forensic term) the guilty (not simply the
wicked in a general sense, but the wrong-doer in- a judicial
sense) for the sake (literally as the result) of a bribe, and the

80 CHAPTER V.
righteousness cf the righteous (i. e. the right of the innccent or
injured party, or his character as such) they will take from him
(i. e. they do and will do so still).
24. To the series of sins enumerated in the six preceding
verses there is now added a general description of their punish
ment. In the first clause, the Prophet represents the divine
visitation, with its sudden, rapid, irresistible effect, by the fa
miliar figure of chaff and dry grass sinking in the flames. In
the second clause he passes from simile to metaphor, and speaks
of the people as a tree whose root is rotten and its growth
above ground pulverized. In the third, he drops both figures,
and in literal expressions summarily stages tho cause of their
destruction. Therefore (because of the abounding of these sins)
as a tongue of fire (i. e. a flame, so called from its shape and
motion, Acts 2:3. 1 Kings 18:38) devours chaff (or stubble),
and as ignited grass falls away, their roots shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom as fine dust shall go up (i. e. be taken up and
scattered by the wind). For they have, rejected the law of Jehovah
of Hosts, and the word (the revealed will) of the Holy One of Is-
rael they have treated with contempt.
25. Having declared in the foregoing verse what should be,
he recalls to mind what has already been. As if "he had said,
God will visit you for these things ; nay, he has done so already,
but without reclaiming you or satisfying his own justice, for
which purpose further strokes are still required. The previous
inflictions here referred to are described as a stroke from Jeho
vah's outstretched hand, so violent as to shake the mountains,
and so destructive as to fill the streets with corpses. Therefore
(referring to the last clause of v. 24) the anger of Jehovah has
burned against his people (literally in them, i. e. in the very midst
of them as a consuming fire) and he stretched forth his hand
against them (literally him, reierring to the singular noun people)

CHAPTER V. 81
and smote them, and the mountains trembled, and their carcass (put
collectively for corpses) was like sweeping (refuse, filth) in the
midst ofthe streets. In all this (i. e. even after all this, or not
withstanding all this) his anger has not turned back (abandoned
its object, or regarded it as already gained), and still his hand is
stretched out (to inflict new judgments). It is not necessary to
suppose, although it is most probable, that what is here de
scribed had actually taken place before the Prophet wrote. In
this, as in some other cases, he may be supposed to take his
stand between a nearer and a more remote futurity, the former
being then of course described as past. — The trembling of
the mountains is referred by some to the earthquake men
tioned Amos 1:1. Zech. 14:5. It is most probable, however, •
that these, strong expressions were intended simply to convey
the idea of violent commotion and a general mortality. There
is no need of referring what is said exclusively to evils suf
fered in the days of Joash and Amaziah or in those of Ahaz,
since the Prophet evidently means to say that all preceding
judgments had been insufficient and that more were still re
quired. 26.- The former stroke having been insufficient, a more effec
tual one is now impending, in predicting which the Prophet
does not confine himself to figurative language, but presents the
approaching judgment in its proper form, as the invasion and
ultimate subjection of the country by a formidable enemy, vs.
26-30. In this verse he describes the approach of these inva
ders as invited by Jehovah, to express which idea he employs
two figures not uncommon in prophecy, that of a signal-pole or
flag, and that of a hiss or whistle, in obedience to which the
last clause represents the enemy as rapidly advancing. And he
raises a signal to the nations from afar, and hisses (or whistles)
for him from the ends of the earth ; and behold in haste, swift, he
shall come. The essential idea is that the previous lighter judg-
4*

82 CHAPTER V.
ments should be folkwed by another more severe and effica
cious, by invasion and su'bjection. The terms are most emphat
ically applicable to the Romans. — The hissing or whistling,
probably alludes to the ancient mode of swarming bees, described
at length by Cyril. In the last clause a substantive meaning
haste, and an adjective meaning light, are both used adverbially
in the sense of swiftly.
27. The enemy whose approach was just foretold, is now
described as not only prompt and rapid, but complete in his
equipments, firm and vigorous, ever wakeful, impeded neither
by the accidents of the way nor by defective preparation. There
is no one faint (or exhausted) and there is no one stumbling (or
faltering) among them (literally in him). lie (the enemy, con
sidered as an individual) sleeps not, and he slumbers not, and the
girdle of his loins is not opened (or loosed), and the latchet (string
or band) of his shoes (or sandals) is not broken. It is most prob
able that this last clause relates to accidental interruptions of
the march.
28. The description is continued, but with special reference
to their weapons and their means of conveyance. For the
former, bows and arrows are here put ; and for the latter,
horses and chariots (see ch. 2 : 7). Whose arrows are sharpened
and all his bows bent (literally trod upon) ; tlie hoofs of his horses
like flint (or adamant) are reckoned, and his wheels like a whirl
wind, in rapidity and violence of motion. From what is said
of the bows immediately afterwards, the prominent idea would
seem to be not that the arrows were sharp, but that they were
already sharpened, implying present readiness for use. — The
bows being trod upon has reference to the ancient mode of
stringing, or rather of shooting, the bow being large and made
of metal or hard wood. Arrian says expressly, in describing
the use of the bow by the Indian infantry, " placing it on the

CHAPTER VL 83
ground, and stepping on it with the left foot, so they shoot,
drawing the string back to a great distance."
29. By a sudden transition, the enemy are here represented
as lions, roaring, growling, seizing their prey, and carrying it
off without resistance ; a lively picture, especially to an oriental
reader, of the boldness, fierceness, quickness, and success of the
attack here threatened. He has a roar like the lioness, and he
shall roar like the young lions, and shall growl, and seize the prey,
and secure it, none delivering (i. e. and none can rescue it).
30. The roaring of the lion suggests the roaring of the sea,
and thus a beautiful transition is effected from the one figure to
the other, in describing the catastrophe of all these judgments.
Israel is threatened by a raging sea, and looking landward sees
it growing dark there, until, after a brief fluctuation, the dark
ness becomes total. And he (the enemy) shall roar against him
(Israel) in that day like the roaring of a sea. And he shall look
to the land, and behold darkness ! Anguish and light ! It is
dark in the clouds thereof (i. e. of the land, the skies above it). —
• The Prophet speaks of the vast multitude that was coming up,
as a sea. On that side there was no safety. It was natural to
speak of the other direction as the land or shore, and to say
that the people would look there for safety. But, says he,
there would be no safety there ; all would be darkness."

CHAPTER VI.

This ckapter contains a vision and a prophecy of awful
Import. At an early period of his ministry, the Prophet sees
the Lord enthroned in the temple and adored by the Seraphim,

84 CHAPTER VI.
at whose voice the house is shaken, and the Prophet, smitten
with a sense of his own corruption and unworthiness to speak
for God or praise him, is relieved by the application of Are
from the altar to his lips, and an assurance of forgiveness, after
which, in answer to the voice of God inquiring for a messenger,
he offers himself and is accepted, but with an assurance that his
labours will tend only to aggravate the guilt and condemnation
of the people, who are threatened with judicial^ blindness, and,
as its necessary consequence, removal^roa|6lP'je desolated coun
try ; and the prophecy closea-wTth aipid, b and a threatening
both in one, to witpthat the rem^keful. hich survives the
threatened judgments shall experienceltive jetition ofthe stroke,
but that a remnant after all shall ccts no oa^^. exist and to
experience God's mercy. \ F 'He ^
The chapter naturally falls into two parts, 'the* ision, vs. 1-8,
and the message or prediction, vs. 9-13. The precise relation
between these two parts has been a subject of dispute. The
question is, whether the vision is an introduction to the message,
or the message an appendage to tire, vision. Those who take
the former view suppose that in order to prepare the Prophet
for a discouraging and painful revelation, he was favoured with
a new view of the divine majesty and of his own unworthiness,
relieved by an assurance of forgiveness, and encouraged by a
special designation to the self-denying work which was before
him. Those who assume the other ground proceed upon the
supposition, that the chapter contains an account ofthe Prophet's
original induction into office, and that the message at the close
was added to prepare him for its disappointments, or perhaps
to try his faith.
But the chapter contains nothing which would not have been
appropriate at any period of that ministry, and some of its
expressions seem to favour, if they do not require, the hypothe
sis of previous experience in the office. The idea of so solemn
an inauguration is affecting and impressive, but seems hardly

CHAPTER VI. 85
sufficient to outweigh the presumption arising from the order
of the prophecies in favour of the other supposition, which
requires no facts to be assumed without authority, and although
less striking, is at least as safe.
1. In the year lhat king Uzziah died (B. C. 758), I saw the
Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and his skirts (the
train of his royal robe) filling the palace, or, taking the last word
in its more specific sense, the temple, so called as being tho
palace of thC< great King. " No man hath seen God at any
time" (John 1 : 18), and God himself hath said, " There shall
no man see me and live" (Ex. 33 ,: 20). Yet we read not only
that " the pure in heart shall see God" (Matt. 5 : 8), but that
Jacob said, " I have seen God face to face" (Gen. 32 : 30). It
is therefore plain that the phrase to " see God" is employed in
different senses, and that although his essence is and must be
invisible, he may be seen in the manifestation of his glory or in
human form. It has been a general opinion in all ages of the
church, that in every such manifestation it was God the Son
who thus revealed himself. In John 12: 41, it is said to have
been Christ's glory that Isaiah saw and spoke of, while Paul
cites vs. 9 and 10 (Acts 28 : 25, 26) as the language of the
Holy Ghost. It seems needless to inquire whether the Prophet
saw this sight with his bodily eyes, or in a dream, or in an
ecstasy, since the effect upon his own mind must have been the
same in either case. The scene of the vision is evidently taken
from the temple at Jerusalem, but not confined to its exact
dimensions and arrangements. It has been disputed whether
what is here recorded took place before or after the death of
Uzziah. Those who regard this as the first of Isaiah's pro
phecies are forced to assume that it belongs to the reign of
Uzziah. It is also urged in favour of this opinion, that the
time after his death would have been described as the first year
of Jotham. The design, however, may have been to fix, not th«

86 CHAPTER VL
reign in which he saw the vision, but the nearest remarkable
event. Besides, the first year of Jotham would have been
ambiguous, because his reign is reckoned from two different
epochs, the natural death of his father, and his civil death, when
smitten with the leprosy, after which he resided in a separate
house, and the government was administered by Jotham as
prince-regent, who was therefore virtually king before he was
such formally, and is accordingly described in the very same
context as having reigned sixteen and twenty years (2 Kings
15 : 30, 33).
2. He sees the Lord not only enthroned but attended by his
ministers. Seraphim, burning spirits, standing above it, the
throne, or above him that sat upon it. Six wings, six wings, to
one, i. e. to each. With two he covers his face, as a sign of
reverence towards God, and with two he covers his feet, for the
same purpose, or to conceal himself from mortal view, and with
two he flies, to execute God's will. The Hebrew word seraphim
means angels of fire, the name being descriptive either of their
essence, or of their ardent love, or of God's wrath which they exe
cute. The word occurs elsewhere only as the name of the fiery
serpents of the wilderness (Num. 21 : 6,8 : Deut. 8 : 15), described
by Isaiah (14 : 29. 30: 6) as flying serpents. The transfer of
the name to beings so dissimilar rests on their possession of
two common attributes. Both are described as winged and
both as burning. — Standing does not imply necessarily that they
rested on the earth or any other solid surface, but that they
were stationary, even in the air. This will remove all objection
to the version above him, which may also be explained as de
scribing the relative position of persons in a standing and sitting
posture. There is no need therefore of the rendering above it,
which is given in our Bible. The covering of the feet may,
according to oriental usage, be regarded as a reverential act.
equivalent in import to the hiding of the face.

CHA-PTER VL 87
3. He now describes the seraphim as praising God in an
alternate or responsive doxology. And this cried to this, i. e.
one to another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy (is) Jehovah of Hosts,
the fulness of the whole earth, that which fills the whole earth, is
his glory ! — It was commonly agreed among the Fathers, that
only two seraphim are mentioned here. It cannot be proved,
however, from the words this to this, which are elsewhere used in
reference to a greater number. (See Ex. 14 : 20.) The allu
sion to the trinity in this is the more probable because different
parts of the chapter are referred in the New Testament to the
three persons of the Godhead. Holy is here understood by
most interpreters as simply denoting moral purity, which is
certainly the prominent idea. Most probably, however, it
denotes the whole divine perfection, that which separates or
distinguishes between God and his creatures. " I am God and
not man, the Holy One irt the midst of thee." Hos. 11:9.
4. Then stirred, or shook, the bases of the thresholds at the voice
that cried, or at the voice of the one crying, and the house is filled
with smoke. The effect of this doxology, and of the whole
supernatural appearance, is described. The door may be
particularly spoken of, because the Prophet was looking through
it from the court without into the interior. The participle
crying may agree with voice directly oi with seraph understood.
By smoke some understand a cloud or vapour showing the
presence of Jehovah. Most interpreters, however, understand
it in its proper sense of smoke, as the natural attendant of the
fire which blazed about the throne of God, or of that which
burned upon the altar, as in Lev. 16 : 13 the mercy-seat is said
to be covered with a " cloud of incense." In 'either case it was
intended to produce a solemn awe in the beholder.
5. And I said, when I saw and heard these things, then I
said, Woe is me, woe to me, or alas for me, a phrase expressing

88 CHAPTER VI.
lamentation and alarm, for I am undone, or destroyed,^ a man
impure of lips, as to the lips, am I, and in the midst cf a people
impure of lips, of impure lips, / am dwelling, and am therefore
undone, for the King, Jehovah of Hosts, my eyes have seen. The
allusion is not merely to the ancient and prevalent belief that
no one could see God and live (Gen. 32: 30. Ex. 4: 10, 11.
33:20. Judg. 6:22-24. 13:22), but to the aggravation of
the danger arising from the moral contrast between God
and the beholder. The Prophet describes himself as filled
with awe, not only by the presence of Jehovah, but also by
a deep impression of his own sinfulness, especially considered
as unfitting him to praise God, or to be his messenger, and
therefore represented as residing in the organs of speech.
The lips are mentioned as the seat of his depravity, because its
particular effect, then present to his mind, was incapacity to
speak for God or in his praise. That it does not refer to
official unfaithfulness in his prophetic office, is apparent from
the application of the same words to the people. The preterite
form of the verb implies that the deed was already done and the
effect already certain.
6. And there flew (or then flew) to me one of the seraphim, and
in his hand a live coal (or a hot stone) ; with tongs he took (it) from
off (or from upon) the altar. All that is necessary to the un
derstanding of the vision is, thai the scene presented was a
temple and included an altar. The precise position of the altar
or of the Prophet is not only unimportant, but forms no part of
the picture as here set before us. He now proceeds to describe
the way in which he was relieved from this distress by a synv
bolical assurance of forgiveness. The word translated tongs
is elsewhere used to signify the snuffers of the golden candle
stick, aud tongs are not named among the furniture of the
altar ; but such an implement seems to be indispensable, and

CHAPTER VL 89
the Hebrew word may be applied to any thing in the nature of
a forceps. 7. And he caused it lo touch (i. e. laid it on) my mouth, and
said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is gone, and
thy sin shall be atoned for (or forgiven). The mention of the
altar and the assurance of forgiveness, or rather of atonement,
makes it natural to take the amplication of fire as a symbol of
expiation by sacrifice. The fire is applied to the lips for a two
fold reason : first, to show that the particular impediment of
which the Prophet had complained was done away ; and secondly,
to show that the gift of inspiration is included, though it does
not constitute the sole or chief meaning of the symbol. The
gift of prophecy could scarcely be described as having taken
away sin, although it might naturally accompany the work of
expiation. The preterite and future forms are here combined,
perhaps to intimate, first, that the pardon was already granted,
and then that it should still continue. This, at least, seems
better than arbitrarily to confound the two as presents.
8. And 1 heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall 1
send, and who will go for us 1 And I said, Here am I (literally,
behold me, or, lo I am), send me. The form of expression in the
first clause may imply that the speaker was now invisible, per
haps concealed by the smoke which filled the house. Th'«
assurance of forgiveness produces its usual effect of readiness
to do God's will. A beautiful commentary upon this effect of
pardoned sin is afforded . in David's penitential prayer, Psalm
51:12-15. 9. The Prophet now receives his commission, together with a
solemn declaration that his labours will be fruitless. This pre
diction is clothed in the form of an exhortation or command
addressed to the people themselves, for the purpose of bringing

90 CHAPTER VL
it more palpably before them, and of aggravating their insanity
and wickedness in ruining themselves after such a warning.
And he said, Go and say to this people, Hear indeed, or hear on,
but understand not, and see indeed, or continue to see, but know
not. Not only is their insensibility described in the strongest
terms, implying extreme folly as well as extreme guilt, but, as
if to provoke them to an opposite course, they are exhorted,
with a sort of solemn irony, to do the xery .thing which would
inevitably ruin them, but with an explicit intimation of that
issue in the verse ensuing. This form of speech is by no means
foreign from the dialect of common life. It is as if one man
should say to another in whose good resolutions and engage
ments he had no faith, ' Go now and do the very opposite of all
that you have said.' A similar expression is employed by
Christ himself when he says to the Jews (Matt. 23 : 32), Fill
ye up then the measure of your fathers. The Septuagint version
renders the imperatives as futures, and this version is twice
quoted in the New Testament (Matt. 13 : 14. Acts 28 : 26), as
giving correctly the essential meaning of the sentence as a
propheey, though stripped of its peculiar form as an ironical
command. The idea of hearing and seeing without perceiving
may have been proverbial among the Jews, as it was among the
Greeks. 10. As the foregoing verse contains a prediction of the
people's insensibility, but under the form of a command or ex
hortation to themselves, so this predicts the same event, as the
result of Isaiah's labours, under the form of a command to him.
Make fat, gross, callous, the heart of this people, i. e. their affec
tions or their minds in general, and its ears make heavy, dull or
hard of hearing, and its eyes smear, close or blind, lest it see with
its eyes, and with ils ears hear, and its heart understand, perceive
or feel, and it turn, i. e repent and be converted, and be
healed, or literally, and one heal il, the indefinite construction

CHAPTER VI. 91
being equivalent in meaning to a passive. The thing predicted
is judicial blindness, as the natural result and righteous retri
bution of the national depravity. This end would be promoted
by the very preaching of the truth, and therefore a command
to preach was in effect a command to blind and harden them.
The act required ofthe Prophet is here "joined with its ultimate
effect, while the intervening circumstances, namely, the people's
sin and the withholding of God's grace, are passed by in silence.
But although not expressed, they are implied in this com
mand. The essential idea is their insensibility, considered as
the fruit of their own depravity, as the execution of God's
righteous judgment, and as the only visible result of Isaiah's
labours. In giving Isaiah his commission, it was natural to
make the last of these ideas prominent, and hence the form of
exhortation or command in which the prophecy is here presented.
Make them insensible, not by an immediate act of power, nor
by any direct influence whatever, but by doing your duty, which
their wickedness and God's righteous judgments will allow to
have no other effect. In other cases, where his personal agency
no longer needed to be set forth or alluded to, the verse is
quoted, not as a command, but as a description of the people, or
as a declaration of God's agency in making them insensible.
Thus in Matt. 13 : 15, and in Acts 28 : 26, the Septuagint ver
sion is retained, in which the people's own guilt is the prominent
idea : ' for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears aVe
dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest' etc. In
John 1 2 : 40, on the other hand, the sentence takes a new form, in
order to bring out distinctly the idea of judicial blindness : ' he
hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest,' etc.
Both these ideas are in fact included in the meaning of the
passage, though its form is different, in order to suit the occa
sion upon which it was originally uttered.
11. And I said, How long, Lord? And he said, Until that

92 CHAPTER VL
cities are desolate for want of an inhabitant, and houses for want
of "men, and the land shall be desolated, a waste, or utterly deso
late. The spiritual death of the people should be followed by
external desolation. The common explanation is no doubt the
true one, that the Prophet asks how long the blindness of tho
people shall continue, and is told until it ruins them and drives
them from their country. As the foregoing description is re
peatedly applied in the New Testament to the Jews who were
contemporary with our Saviour, the threatening must be equally
extensive, and equivalent to saying that the land should be
completely wasted, not at one time but repeatedly.
12. This verse continues the answer to the Prophet's ques
tion in the verse preceding. And (until) Jehovah shall have
put far off (removed to a distance) the men (or people of the
country) and great (much or abundant) shall be that which is
left (of unoccupied forsaken ground) in the midst of the land.
This is little more than a repetition, in other words, of the de
claration in the verse preceding. The terms of this verse may
be applied to all the successive desolations of the country, not
excepting that most extreme and remarkable of all which exists
at the present moment.
* 13. The chapter closes with a repetition and extension ofthe
threatening, but in such a form as to involve a promise of the
highest import. While it is threatened that the stroke shall be
repeated on the remnant that survives its first infliction, it is
promised that there shall be such a remnant after every repeti
tion to the last. And yet (even after the entire desolation
which had first been mentioned) in it (the desolated land)
(there shall remain) a tenth or tithe (here put indefinitely for a
small proportion) and (even this tenth) shall return and be fin
a consuming (i. e. shall again be consumed, but still not ut
terly, for) like the terebinth and like the oak (the two most

CHAPTER VIL 93
common forest-trees of Palestine) which in falling (in their
fallen state, when felled) have substance (or vitality) in them (so)
a holy seed (shall be or is) the substance (vital principle) of it
(the tenth or remnant which appeared to be destroyed). How
ever frequently the people may seem to be destroyed, there
shall still be a surviving remnant, and however frequently
that very remnant may appear to perish, there shall still be a
remnant of the remnant left, and this indestructible residuum
shall be the holy seed, the true church (Rom. 11:5). This
prediction was fulfilled, not once for all, but again and again ;
not only in the vine-dressers and husbandmen left by Nebuchad
nezzar and afterwards destroyed in Egypt ; not only in the
remnant that survived the destruction of the city by the Ro
mans, and increased until again destroyed by Adrian ; but in
the present existence of the Jews as a peculiar people, notwith
standing the temptations to amalgamate with others, notwith
standing persecutions and apparent extirpations ; a fact which
can only be explained by the prediction that "all Israel shall
be saved" (Rom. 1 1 : 26). As in many former instances,
throughout the history of the chosen people, under both dis
pensations, " even so, at this present time also, there is a rem
nant according to the election of grace.' '

CHAPTER VII.
Here begins a series of connected prophecies (ch. vii-xii)
belonging to the reign of Ahaz, and relating in general to the
same great subjects, the deliverance of Judah from Syria and
Israel, its subsequent subjection to Assyria and other foreign
powers, the final destruction of its enemies, the advent of Mes
siah, and the nature of his kingdom. This series admits of

94 CHAPTER VIL
different divisions, but it is commonly agreed that one distinct
portion is contained in the seventh chapter.
The chapter begins with a brief historical statement of the
invasion of Judah by Rezin and Pekah, and of the fear that
it excited, to relieve which Isaiah is commissioned to meet
Ahaz in a public place, and to assure him that there is nothing
more to fear from the invading powers, that their evil design
cannot be accomplished, that one of them is soon to perish, and
that in the.mean time both are to remain without enlargement,
vs.. 1-9.
Seeing the king to be incredulous, the Prophet invites him to
assure himself by choosing any sign or pj^l^ olP^he event,
which he refuses to do, undejjhe Dvetext of confidence in God,
but is charged with u»3rn'gpRy the Prophet, who nevertheless
renews the promise fto a.^verance in a symbolical J5»rm, and in
connection with a Jfoiucl ecy of the miraculous conception and
nativity of Chris£fori»* as a pledge of the event, and as a
measure of tiw_ tine in which it is to take place, vs. 10-16.
To this assurance o$ immediate deliverance, he adds a
threatening ol ulterior /avils. to arise from the Assyrian protec
tion which tht king pfeme a«d to that of God, to wit, the loss
of independence, the st iive domination of foreign powers,
the harassing and prec« y occupation of the land by strangers,
the removal of its pei%^, the neglect of tillage, and the trans
formation of its choicest vineyards, fields, and gardens, into
wastes or pastures, vs. 1 7-25.
1. Rezin, the king of Damascene Syria or Aram, from whom
Uriah had taken Elath, a port on the Red Sea, and restored it
to Judah (2 Kings 14 : 22), appears to have formed an alliance
with Pekah, the murderer and successor of Pekahiah king of
Israel (2 Kings 15 : 25), during the reign of Jotham (ib. v. 37),
but to have deferred the actual invasion of Judah until that
king's death and the accession of his feeble son, in the first year

CHAPTER VIL 95
of whose reign it probably took place, with most encouraging
Buccess, as the army of Ahaz was entirely destroyed and two hun
dred thousand persons taken captive, who were afterwards sent
back at the instance of the Prophet Oded (2 Chron. 28 : 5-15).
But notwithstanding this success, they were unable to effect their
main design, the conquest of Jerusalem, whether repelled by
the natural strength and artificial defences of the place itself,
or interrupted in the siege by the actual or dreaded inva
sion of their own dominions by the king of Assyria (2 Kings
16 : 7-9). It seems to be at a point of time between their first
successes and their final retreat, that the Prophet's narrative
begins. And it was (happened, came to pass) in the days of
Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah,.king of Judah (that), Rezin
king of Aram (or Syria) and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of
Israel, came up to (or against) Jerusalem, lo war against it ;
and he was not able to war against it (i. e. with success). The
invaders are said to have come up to Jerusalem, not merely as a
military phrase, but with allusion, more or less distinct, to all
the senses in which the holy city was above all others.
2. And it was told .the house of David (the court, the royal
family, of Judah) saying, Syria resteth (or is resting) upon
Ephraim ; and his heart (i. e. the king's, as the chief and
representative of the house of David) and the heart of his people
shook, like the shaking of the trees of a wood before a wind. This
is commonly applied to the effect produced by the first news of
the coalition between Rezin and Pekah or the junction of their
forces. It is equally natural, and more consistent with the
history, to understand the words as having reference to a later
date, i. e. either the time of the advance upon Jerusalem, or that
of the retreat of the invaders, laden with the spoil of Judah, and
with two hundred thousand captives. In the one case, Syria,
i. e. the Syrian army, may be said to rest upon (the army of)
Ephraim, in the modern military sense, with reference to theii

96 CHAPTER VII.
relative position on the field of battle ; in the other, Syria may
be described as literally resting or reposing in the territory of
Ephraim, on its homeward march, and as thereby filling Ahaz
with the apprehension of a fresh attack. Although neither of
these explanations may seem altogether natural, they are really
as much so as any of the others which have been proposed, and
in a case where we have at best a choice of difficulties, those
may claim the preference as tending to harmonize the prophecy
•with history as given both in Kings and Chronicles. We read
in 2 Kings 16: 7-9, that Ahaz applied to Tiglathpileser, king
of Assyria, to help him against Syria and Israel, which he did.
At what precise period of the war this alliance was formed, it is
not easy to determine ; but there seems to be no doubt that
Ahaz, at the time here mentioned, was relying upon some
human aid in preference to God.
3. From this alarm Isaiah is sent to free the king. And
Jehovah said to Isaiah son of Amoz, Go out to meet Ahaz, thou and
Shearjashub thy son, to the end of the conduit of the upper pool, to
the highway of the fuller' s field. The mention of these now ob
scure localities, although it detracts nothing from the general
clearness of the passage, is an incidental proof of authenticity,
which no later writer would or could have forged. The upper
pool, which has been placed by different writers upon almost
every side of Jerusalem, is identified by Robinson and Smith
with a large tank at the head of the Valley of Hinnom, about
seven hundred yards west-north-west from the Jaffa gate. It
is full in the rainy season, and its waters are then conducted by
a small rude aqueduct to the vicinity, of the gate just mentioned.
and so to the Pool of Hezekiah within the walls. This aque
duct is probably the conduit mentioned in the text, and the end
of this conduit the point where it enters the city, as appears
from the fact, that when Rabshakeh afterwards conferred with
the ministers of Hezekiah at this same spot, he was heard by

CHAPTER VII. 97
the people on the city wall (ch. 36 : 2, 12). From the same
passage it may be inferred that this was a frequented spot,
which some suppose to be the reason that Isaiah was directed
to it, while others understand the direction as implying that
Ahaz was about to fortify the city, or rather to cut off a supply
of water from the jnvaders, as Hezekiah afterwards did when
besieged by Sennacherib (2 Chr. 32 : 4) ; an example often '
followed afterwards, particularly in the sieges of Jerusalem by
Pompey, Titus, and Godfrey of Bouillon. The Prophet is
therefore commanded to go out, not merely from his house, but
from the city, to meet Ahaz, which does not imply that the king
was seeking him, or coming to him, but merely specifies the ob
ject which he was to seek himself. The Fuller's Field was of
course without the city, and the highway or causeway mentioned
may have led either to it or along it, so as to divide it'from the
aqueduct. The command to take his son with him might be
regarded merely as an incidental circumstance, but for the fact
that the name Shearjashub is significant, and as we may suppose
it to have been already known, and the people were familiar
with the practice of conveying instruction in this form, the very*
sight of the child would perhaps suggest a prophe*cy, or recall
one previously uttered, or at least prepare the mind for one to.
come; and accordingly we find in ch. 10: 21 this very phrase
employed, not as a name, but in its proper sense, a remnant shall
return. 4. The assurance, by which Ahaz is encouraged, is that the
danger is over, that the fire is nearly quenched, that the
enemies, who lately seemed like flaming firebrands of war, are
now mere smoking ends of firebrands ; he is therefore exhorted
to be quiet and confide in the divine protection. And thou
shalt say to him, Be cautious and be quiet (or take care to bo
quiet) fear not, nor let thy heart be soft, before (or on account
of) these two smoking tails of firebrands, in the heat of the anger
5

98 CHAPTER VII.
of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. The comparison
of Rezin and Pekah to the tails or ends of firebrands, instead
of firebrands themselves, is not a mere expression of contempt,
but a distinct allusion to the evil which they had already done,
and which should never be repeated. If the emphasis were
only in the use of the word tails, the tail of any thing else
would have been equally appropriate. The" smoking remnant
of a firebrand implies a previous flame, if not a conflagration.
This confirms the conclusion before drawn, that Judah had
already been ravaged, and that the narratives in Kings and
Chronicles are perfectly consistent and relate to the same
subject. 5. Because Syria has devised (meditated, purposed) evil against
thee, also Ephraim and Remaliah' s son, saying. This verse and
the next may be regarded as a link or connecting clause between
the exhortation in v, 4 and the promise in v. 7. ' Fear not
because Syria and Israel thus threaten, for on that very account
the Lord declares etc' Here again Syria appears as the prime
agent and controlling power, although Ephraim is added in the
second clause. The suppression of Pekah's proper name in this
clause, and of Rezin's altogether in the first, has given rise to
various far-fetched explanations, though it seems in fact to
show, that the use of names in the whole passage is rathei
euphonic or rhythmical than significant.
6. The invaders themselves are now introduced as consult
ing or addressing one another, not at the present moment,
but at the time when their plan was first concerted. We will
go up, or let us go up, into Judah, or against it, although this is
rather implied than expressed, and vex (i. e. harass or distress)
it, and make a breach in it (thereby subduing it) to ourselves, and
let us make a king in the midst of it, to wit, the son of Tabeal or
Tabeel, as the name is written, Ezra 4 : 7. The reference to

CHAPTER VIL 99
Jerusalem is required by the history, according to which they
did succeed in their attack upon the kingdom, but were foiled
in their main design of conquering the royal city. The entrance
into Judah was proposed' only as a means to this end, and it is
tho failure of this end that is predicted in the next verse. The
creation of tributary kings by conquerors is mentioned else
where in the sacred history (e. g. 2 Kings 23:34. 24:17).
This familiar reference en passant to the names of persons now
forgotten, as if familiar to contemporary readers, is a strong
incidental proof of authenticity.
7. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, it shall not stand (or it shall
not arise) and it shall not be (or come to pass). The general
sense is clear, viz. that their design should be defeated. The
accumulation of divine names is, as usual, emphatic, and seems
here intended to afford a pledge of the event, derived from the
supremacy and power of the Being who predicts it.
8, 9. The plans of the enemy cannot be accomplished, be
cause God has decreed that while the kingdoms of Syria and
Israel continue to exist, they shall remain without enlargement,
or at least without the addition of Jerusalem or Judah to their
territories. It shall not stand or come to pass, because the head
(or capital) of Aram is Damascus (and shall be so still), and the
head (chief or sovereign) of Damascus is Rezin (and shall be so
still ; and as for the other power there is as little cause of fear)
for in yet sixty and five years (in sixty-five years more) shall
Ephraim be broken from a people (i. e. from being a people, so as
not to be a people ; and even in the mean time, it shall not be
enlarged by the addition of Judah) for the head (or capital) of
Ephraim is Samaria, and the head (chief or sovereign) of Sama
ria is Remaliah' s son. If you will not believe (it is) because you
are not to be established. Here again Syria is the prominent
object, and Ephraim subjoined, as if by an afterthought. The

100 CHAPTER VIL
order of ideas is, that Syria shall remain as it is, and as for
Ephraim it is soon to be destroyed, but while it does last, it
•shall remain as it is likewise ; Pekah shall never reigu in any
other capital, nor Samaria be the capital of any' other king
dom. To this natural expression of the thought corresponds
the rhythmical arrangement of the sentences, the first clause
of the eighth verse answering exactly to the first clause of the
ninth, while the two last clauses, though dissimilar, complete
the mcpv'-e. For the head of Syria is Damascus —
And the head of Damascus Rezin—
And in sixty-five years more etc.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria —
And the head of Samaria Remaliah's son —
If ye will not believe etc.
Whether this be poetry or not, its ' structure is as regular as
that of any other period of equal length in the writings of
Isaiah. As to the substance of these verses, the similar clauses
have already been explained, as a prediction that the two in
vading powers should remain without enlargement. The first
of the uneven clauses, i. e. the last of v. 8, adds to this predic
tion, that Ephraim, or the kingdom of the ten tribes, shall
cease to exist within a prescribed period, which period is so de
fined as to include the three successive strokes by which that
power was annihilated : first, the invasion of Tiglath-pileser,
two or three years after the date of this prediction (2 Kings
15 : 29. 16 . 9) ; then, the conquest of Samaria, and the depor
tation of the ten tribes, by Shalmaneser, about the sixth year
of Hezekiah (2 Kings 17:6) ; and finally, the introduction of
another race by Esar-haddon in the reign of Manasseh (2 Kings
17 : 24. 2 Chron. 33 : 11. Ezra 4:2). Within sixty-five years
all these events were to occur, and Ephraim, in all these senses,
was to cease to be a people. It seems then that the language
of this clause has been carefully selected, so as to include the

CHAPTER VIL 101
three events which might be represented as destructive of
Ephraim, while in form it balances the last clause of the next
verse, and is therefore essential to the rhythmical completeness
of the passage.
10. And he (i. e. God,-by the mouth of Isaiah) added to speak
unto Ahaz, saying. This, according to usage, may either mean
that he spoke again, on a different occasion, or that he spoke
further, on the same occasion, which last is the meaning here.
1 1. Ask for thee (i. e. for thy own satisfaction) a sign from
Jehovah thy God (literally from with him,'\. e. from his presence
and his power) ; ask deep or high above (make deep thy re
quest or make it high), i. e. ask it either above or below. A sign
is not necessarily a miracle, nor necessarily a prophecy, but a
sensible pledge of the truth of something else, whether present,
past, or future ; sometimes consisting in a miracle (Ex. 4 : 8,
Judg. 6 : 37. Isai. 38 : 7, 8), but sometimes in a mere prediction
(Ex. 3 : 12. 1 Sam. 2 : 34. 2 Kings 19 : 29), and sometimes
only in a symbol, especially a symbolical name or action (Isai.
8 : 18. 20 : 3. Ezek. 4 : 3). The sign here offered is a proof of
Isaiah's divine legation, which Ahaz seemed to doubt.' The
offer is a general one, including all the kinds of signs which
have been mentioned, though the only one which would have
answered the purpose of accrediting the Prophet was a present
miracle, as in the case of Moses (Ex. 4 : 30). The phrase thy
God is emphatic and intended to remind Ahaz of his official
relation to Jehovah, and as it were to afford him a last opportu-r
nity of profiting by the connection.
12. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not tempt Jeho
vah. Some regard this as a contemptuous irony, implying a
belief that God would not be able to perform his promise or a
disbelief in the existence of a personal God. We have no reason

102 CHAPTER VIL
to doubt, however, that Ahaz believed in the existence of Jeho
vah, at least as one among many gods, as a local and national if
not a supreme deity. It is better, therefore, to understand the
Words as a hypocritical excuse for not obeying the command,
with obvious allusion to the prohibition in D;eut. 6 : 16, which is
of course inapplicable to the case of one who is required to choose
by God himself. His refusal probablyarose,notfrom speculative
doubts or politic considerations, but from the state of his affections,
his aversion to the service of Jehovah and his predilection for
that of other gods, perhaps combined with a belief that in this
case human aid would be sufficient and a divine interposition
superfluous ; to which may be added a specific expectation of
assistance from Assyria,' for which he had perhaps already sued
(2 Kings 16 : 7-9). To tempt God is not to try him in the way
of trusting him, nor simply to call in question his power, knowl
edge, or veracity, but to put him practically to the test. The
character of Ahaz is illustrated by a comparison of this refusal
with the thankful acceptance of such signs by others, and es
pecially by his own son Hezekiah, to whom, as Jerome observes,
signs both in heaven' and on earth were granted.
13. At first Ahaz seemed to doubt only the authority and
divine legation of the Prophet ; but his refusal to accept the
offered attestation was an insult to God himself, and is there
fore indignantly rebuked by the Prophet. And he said, hear, 1
pray you, oh house of David ! is it tpo little for you (is it not
enough for you) to weary men (i. e. to try men's patience), that
you (must) weary (or try the patience of) my God 1 The mean
ing is not merely that it is worse to weary God than man, or
that it was not man but God whom they were wearying ; but
that Laving first, wearied man, i. e. the Prophet by disputing his
commission, they were now wearying G»d, by refusing the
offered attestation. The plura. form of the address implies

CHAPTER VII. 103
that members of his family and court were, in the Prophet's
view, already implicated in his unbelief.
14. The king having refused to ask a sign, the Prophet
gives him one, by renewing the promise of deliverance (vs. 8, 9)
and connecting it with the birth of a child, whose significant
name is made a symbol of the divine interposition, and his
progress a measure of the subsequent events. Instead of say
ing that God would be present to deliver them, he says the
child shall be called Immanuel (God with us) ; instead of men
tioning a term of years, he says, before the child is able to
distinguish good from evil ; instead of saying that until that
time the land shall lie waste, he represents the child as eating
curds and honey, spontaneous products, here put in opposition
to the fruits of cultivation. At the same time, the form of
expression is descriptive. Instead of saying simply that the
child shall experience all this, he represents its birth and in
fancy as actually passing in his sight ; he sees the child brought
forth and named Immanuel ; he sees the child eating curds and
honey till a certain age. Therefore (because you have refused
to choose) the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold ! the
virgin pregnant and bringing forth a son, and she calls his name
Immanuel (God with us) ; curds and honey shall he eat (because
the land lies waste) until he shall knmo (how) to reject the evil
and to choose the good (but no longer) ; for before tlie child shall
know (how) to reject the evil and to choose the good, the land, of
whose two. kings thou art afraid (i. e. Syria and Israel), shall be
forsaken (i. e. desolate), which of course implies the previous
deliverance of Judah. All interpreters appear to be agreed
that these three verses contain a threatening of destruction- to
the enemies of Judah, if not a direct promise of deliverance,
and that this event is connected, in some way, with the birth
of a child, as the sign or pledge of its certain occurrence. But
what child is meant, or who is the Immanuel here predicted ?

104 CHAPTER VIL
The various answers to this question may be all reduced t«
three fundamental hypotheses, each of which admits of several
minor variations.
I. The first hypothesis is that the only birth and infancy
referred to in these verses are the birth and infancy of a child
born (or supposed to be born), in the ordinary course of nature,
and in the days of Isaiah himself. The unessential variations,
of which this hypothesis is susceptible, have reference chiefly to
the question what particular child is intended. An objection
to all the variations of this first hypothesis is, that although
they may afford a sign, in one of the senses of that term, to
wit, that of an emblem or symbol, they do not afford such a
sign as the context would lead us to expect. Ahaz had been
offered the privilege of choosing any sign whatever, in heaven
or on earth. Had he actually chosen one, it would no doubt
have been something out of the ordinary course of nature, as
in the case of Gideon (Judges 6 : 37-40) and Hezekiah (Isai.
38 : 7, 8). On his refusal to choose, a sign is given him unasked,
and although it does not necessarily follow that it was precisely
such as he would have selected — since the object was no longer
simply to remove his doubts, but to verify the promise- and to
mark the event when it occurred as something which had been
predicted — yet it seems very. improbable that after such an
offer, the sign bestowed would be merely a thing of every-day
occurrence, or at most the application of a symbolical name.
This presumption is strengthened by the solemnity with which
the Prophet speaks of the predicted birth, not as a usual and
natural event, but as something which excites his own astonish
ment, as he beholds it in prophetic vision. This may prove
nothing by itself, but is significant when taken in connection
with the other reasons. The same thing may be said of the
address to Immanuel, in ch. 8 : 8, and the allusion to the name
in v. 11, which, although they may admit of explanation in
consistency with this hypothesis, agree much better with the

CHAFTBK VII. 105
supposition that the prophecy relates to something more than
a natural and ordinary birth. A still stronger reason for tho
same conclusion is afforded by the parallel passage in ch. 9 : 5,
6, occurring in the same connected series of prophecies. There,
as here, the birth of a child is given as a pledge of safety and
deliverance, but with the important addition of a full descrip
tion, which, as we shall see below, is wholly inapplicable to any
ordinary human child, however high in rank or full of promise.
If led by these remarkable coincidences to examine more at
tentively the terms of the prophecy itself, we find the mother
of the promised child described, not as a woman or as any
particular woman merely, but by a term which in the six places
where it occurs elsewhere, is twice applied to young unmarried
females certainly (Gen. 24 : 43. Ex. 2 : 8), and twice most
probably (Ps. 68 : 25, Sol. S. 1 : 3), while in the two remaining
cases (Sol. S. 1 : 8, Prov. 30 : 19) this application is at least as
probable as any other. It would therefore naturally suggest
the idea of a virgin, or at least of an unmarried woman. A
virgin or unmarried woman is designated here as distinctly as
she could be by a single word; Its use in this connection, es
pecially when added to the other reasons previously mentioned,
makes it, to say the least, extremely probable that the event
foretold is something more than a birth in the ordinary course
of nature. So too, the name Immanuel, although it might be
used to signify God's providential presence merely (Ps 46 : 8, 1 1.
89 : 25. Josh. 1 : 5. Jer. 1 : 8. Isai. 43 : 2), has a latitude and preg
nancy of meaning which can scarcely be fortuitous, and which,
combined with all the rest, makes the conclusion almost un
avoidable, that it was here intended to express a personal as
well as a providential presence. If to this we add the early
promise of salvation through the seed of the woman (Gen. 3 :
15)j rendered more definite by later revelations, and that re
markable expression of Isaiah's contemporary prophet Mieab
(5 : 2), until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth,
5*

106 CHAPTER VIL
immediately following the promise of a ruler, to be born in
Bethlehem, but whose goings faith have been from old, from ever
lasting—the balance Of probabilities, as furnished by the Old
Testament exclusively, preponderates decidedly in favour of
the supposition, that Isaiah's words had reference to a miracu
lous conception and nativity. When we read, therefore, in the
gospel of Matthew, that Jesus Christ was actually born of a
virgin, and that all the circumstances of his birth came to pass
that this very prophecy might be fulfilled, it has less the ap
pearance of an unexpected application, than of a conclusion
rendered necessary by a series of antecedent facts and reasons,
the last link in a long chain of intimations more or less ex
plicit. The question, however, still arises, how the birth of
Christ, if here predicted, is to be connected with tire promise
made to A-haz, as a sign of the event, or as a measure of the
time of its fulfilment ?
II. The second hypothesis removes this difficulty by suppos
ing that the prophecy relates to two distinct births and two
different children. Of this general theory there are two
important modifications. 1. The first supposes one child to be
mentioned in v. 14, and another in v. 16. Nothing but extreme
exegetical necessity could justify the reference of vs. 15, 16, to
any person not referred to in v. 14. 2.. This difficulty is
avoided in the second modification of the general hypothesis
that the passage (as a whole) refers to two distinct births and
to different children, by assuming that both are mentioned in
the fourteenth verse itself. This is the supposition of a double
sense, though some refuse to recognize it by that name. The
essence of the theory is this, that while v. 14, in its obvious and
primary sense, relates to the birth of a child in the ordinary
course of nature, its terms are so selected as to be descriptive,
in a higher sense, of the miraculous nativity of Christ, The
minor variations of this general hypothesis have reference
ohiefly to the particular child intended by the prophecy in its

CHAPTER VIL 107
lower sense, whether a son of Isaiah himself, or any.child born
within a certain time. The objections to it are its complexity.
and what seems to be the arbitrary nature of the assumption
upon which it rests. It seems to be a feeling common to learned
and unlearned readers, that although a double sense is not
impossible, and must in certain cases be assumed, it is unrea
sonable to assume it, when any other explanation is admissible.
The improbability in this case is increased by. the want of
similarity between the two events, supposed to be predicted in
the very same words, the one miraculous, the other not only
natural but common and of every-day occurrence. That two
such occurrences should be described in the same words, simply
because they were both signs or pledges of a promise, though
not impossible, can only be made probable by strong corrobora
ting proofs, especially if any simpler mode of exposition be at
all admissible. Another objection, which lies equally against
this hypothesis and the one first mentioned is, that in its
primary and lower sense it does not afford such a sign as the
context and the parallel passages would lead us to expect, unless
we suppose that the higher secondary sense was fully under
stood at the time ofthe prediction, and in that case, though the
birth of the Messiah from a virgin would be doubtless a suffi
cient sign, it would, for that very reason, seem to make the
lower one superfluous. None of these reasons seem however to
be decisive against the supposition of a double sense, as com
monly understood, unless there be some other way in which its
complexity and arbitrary character may be avoided, and at the
same time the connection between the birth of the Messiah and
the deliverance of Judah satisfactorily explained.
III. The third general hypothesis proposes to effect this by
applying all three verses directly and exclusively to the Messiah,
as the only child whose birth is there predicted, and his
growth made the measure ofthe subsequent events. The minor
variations of this general hypothesis relate to the time when

108 CHAPTER VIL
these events were to occur, and to the sense in which the growth
of the Messiah is adopted as the measure of them. The
simplest form in which this theory has been applied, is that
exhibited by those who suppose the prediction to relate to the
real time of Christ's appearance, and the thing foretold to be
the desolation which should take place before the Saviour
reached a certain age. To this it is an obvious objection that
it makes the event predicted too remote to answer the condi
tions of the context, or the purpose of the prophecy itself.
In expounding this difficult and interesting passage, it has
been considered more important to present a tolerably full
view of the different opinions, arranged according to the princi
ples on which they rest, than- to assert the exclusive truth of
any one interpretation as to all its parts. In summing up the
whole, however, it may be. confidently stated, that the first
hypothesis is false ; that the first modifications of the second
and third are untenable ; and that the choice lies between the
.supposition of a double sense and that of a reference to Christ
exclusively, but in connection with the promise of immediate
deliverance to Ahaz. The two particular interpretations which
appear to me most plausible and least beset with difficulties are
these. Either the Prophet, while he foretells the birth of
Christ, foretells that of another child, during whose infancy the
promised deliverance shall be experienced ; or else he makes
the infancy of Christ himself, whether foreseen as still remote
or not, the sign and measure of that same deliverance. While
some diversity of judgment ought to be expected and allowed,
in relation to this secondary question, there is no ground,
grammatical, historical, or logical, for doubt as to the main
point, that the church in all ages has been right in regarding
this passage as a signal and explicit prediction of the miraculous
conception and nativity of Jesus Christ.
15. This verse and the next have already been translated in

CHAPTER VIL 109
connection with the fourteenth, upon which connection theii
interpretation must depend. It will here be necessary only to
explain one or two points more distinctly. Bulter (or curds)
and honey shall he eat, until he knows (how) to reject the evil and
to choose the good. The simple sense of the prediction is that
the desolation of Judah, caused by the invasion of Rezin and
Pekah, should be only temporary. This idea is symbolically
expressed by making the new-born child subsist during his in
fancy on curds and honey, instead of the ordinary food of an
agricultural population. This is clearly the meaning of the
same expression in v. 22, as we shall see below. The essential
idea is that the desolation should not last until a child then
born could reach maturity, and probably not longer than his
first few years.
16. The desolation shall be temporary, for before the child
shall know (how) to.reject the evil and lo choose the good, the land,
of whose two kings thou art afraid (or by whose two kings thou art
distressed), shall be forsaken, i. e. left by its inhabitants and
given up to desolation, in which sense the same verb is used
elsewhere by Isaiah (ch. 17 : 2. 27 : 10. 62 : 12. Comp. 6-: 12).
The land here meant is Syria and Israel, spoken of as one
because confederate against Judah. The wasting of these
kingdoms and the deportation of their people by Tiglath-pileser
(2 Kings 15:29. 16:9) is here predicted, which of course
implies the previous deliverance of Judah and the brief dura
tion of its own calamity, so that this verse assigns a reason for
the representation in the one preceding. The true connection
of these verses has been well explained to be this, that Judah
shall lie waste for a short time, and bnly for a short time, for
before that short time is expired, its invaders shall themselves
be invaded and destroyed. A child is born — hi learns to dis
tinguish good and evil — but before the chil* is able to distin
guish good and evil, something happens. If these three clauses,

110 CHAPTER VIL
thus succeeding one another, do not speak of the same child, it
is impossible for language to be so employed as to identify the
subject without actually saying that it is the same.
17. Again addressing Ahaz, he assures him that although he
shall escape the present danger, God will inflict worse evils on
himself and his successors, by means of those very allies whose
assistance he is now seeking. Jehovah will bring upon thee (not
merely as an individual, but as a king) and on thy people, and
on tliy father's house (or family, the royal line of Judah) days
which have not come since the departure of Ephraim from Judah, to
wit, the king of Assyria. All versions and interpreters under
stand the verse as declaring the days threatened to be worse
than any which had come upon Judah since the revolt of the
ten tribes, here called Ephraim, from the largest and" most
powerful tribe, that to which Jeroboam belonged, and within
which the chief towns of the kingdom were situated. This
declaration seems at first sight inconsistent with the fact,
demonstrable from sacred history, that the injuries sustained
by Judah, during the interval here specified, from other foreign
powers, as for example from the Egyptians in the reign of
Rehoboam (2 Chron. 12 : 2-9), from the Philistines and Ara
bians in the reign of Jehoram (2 Chron. 21 : 16, 17), from the
Syrians in the reign of Joash (2 Chron. 24 : 23, 24), not to
mention the less successful attacks of the Ethiopians in the
reign of Asa (2 Chron. 14 : 8-15), and of Moab and Ammon in
the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20 : 1-30), or the frequent
incursions of the ten tribes, must have greatly overbalanced the
invasion of Sennacherib, by far the most alarming visitation of
Judah by the armies of Assyria. But let it be observed that the
days here threatened were to be worse, not simply with respect
to individual suffering or temporary difficulties of the state
itself, but to the loss of its independence, its transition to a
servile state, from which it was never permanently freed, the

CHAPTER VIL 111
domination of Assyria being soon succeeded by that of Egypt,
and this by that of Babylon, Persia,- Syria, and Rome, the last
ending only in the downfall of the state, and that general dis
persion of the people which continues to this day. The revolt
of Hezekiah and even longer intervals of liberty in later times,
are mere interruptions of the customary and prevailing bondage.
Of this critical change it surely might be said, even though it
were to cost not a single drop of blood, nor the personal freedom
of a single captive, that the Lord was about to bring upon Judah
days which had not been witnessed from the time of Ephraim's
apostasy, or according to another construction of the text, at
any time whatever ; since none of the evils suffered, from Solo
mon to Ahaz, had destroyed the independence of Judah, not
even the Egyptian domination in the reign of Rehoboam, which
only lasted long enough to teach the Jews the difference
between God's service and the service ofthe kingdoms of the coun
tries (2 Chron. 12: 8). This view of the matter is abundantly
sufficient to reconcile the prophecy with history, whether
Assyria be understood to mean the kingdom properly so called,
or to include the empires which succeeded it ; and whether the
threatening be referred exclusively to Ahaz and his times, or
to him and his successors jointly, which appears to be the true
sense of thy people and thy father's house, as distinguished from
himself and his own house ; but even on the other supposition,
as the change of times, i. e. the transition from an independent
to a servile state, took place before the death of Ahaz, tho
expressions used are perfectly consistent with the facts. It is
implied, of course, in this interpretation, that Sennacherib's in
vasion was not the beginning of the days here threatened,
which is rather to be sought in the alliance between Ahaz and
Tiglath-pileser, who came unto him, and distressed him, and
strengthened him not (2 Chron. 28 : 19, 20), but exacted repeated
contributions from him as a vassal; which degrading and
oppressive intercourse continued' till his death, as appears from

112 ' CHAPTER VIL
the statement (2 Kings 18 : 7) that Hezekiah rebelled against the
king of Assyria, and served him not, clearly implying that he did
at first, as he offered to do afterwards, on Sennacherib's approach,
with confession of his fault, a renewal of his tribute, and a
repetition of his father's sacrilege (2 Kings 18:13-16). That
during the whole term of this foreign ascendency, Judah was
infested by Assyrian intruders, and by frequent visitations for
the purpose of extorting their unwilling tribute, till at last the
revolt of Hezekiah, no longer able to endure the burden, led to
a formal occupation ofthe country, is not only probable in itself,
but seems to be implied in the subsequent context (vs. 18-20).
18. The evil times just threatened are here more explicitly
' described as arising from the presence and oppression of for
eigners, especially Assyrians and Egyptians, whose number and
vexatious impositions are expressed by comparing them to
swarms of noxious and annoying insects, pouring into the
country by divine command. And it shall be (or come to pass)
in that day (in the days just threatened) that Jehovah will hiss
(or whistle) to (or for) the fly which (is) in the end (or edge) of
the ¦ rivers of Egypt, and to (or for) the bee which is in Assyria.
The fly is peculiarly appropriate to Egypt, where the marshy
grounds produceit in abundance, and there may be a reference
to the plague of flies in Exodus. The end of the streams of
Egypt evidently means something belonging to Egypt, viz. the
arms of the Delta or the remotest streams, implying that the
flies should come from the very extremities, or from the whole
land. By rendering it brink or border, as the common version
does in Josh. 3: 8. Ex. 16:35, an equally good sense is ob
tained, viz. that' the flies shall come from the banks of the
streams, where they are most abundant. The hiss or whistle,
denoting God's control over these enemies of Judah, has the
same sense as in ch. 5 : 26. Assyria and Egypt are here named
as the two great rival powers who disturbed the peace of West

CHAPTER VIL 113
em Asia, and to whom the land of Israel was both a place and
subject of contention. The reference is not exclusively to ac
tual invasion, but to the annoying and oppressive occupation of
the country by civil and military agents of these foreign
powers. It was not merely attacked but infested, by the flies
and bees of Egypt and Assyria.
19. Carrying out the figures of the preceding verse, the
Prophet, instead of simply saying that the land shall be infested
by foreigners, represents it as completely filled with bees and
flies, who ar.j described as settling upon all the places com
monly frequented by such insects. And they come and rest (or
settle) all of them in the desolate (or precipitous) valleys, and in
the clefts of rocks, and in all thorn-hedges, and in all pastures.
The words seem naturally to express the general notion of a
country ot errun, infested, filled with foreigners , and enemies,
not only by military occupation but in other ways.
20. Had the Prophet, as Hendewerk suggests, represented
the invaders as locusts, he would probably have gone on to de
scribe them as devouring- the land ; but having chosen bees and
flies as the emblem, he proceeds to express the idea- of their
spoliations by a different figure, that of a body closely shorn
or shaven by a razor under the control of God and in his ser
vice. In that day (the same day mentioned in v. 19) will the
Lord shave, with a razor hired in the parts beyond the river
(Euphrates), (that is to say) with the king of Assyria, the head
and the hair ofthe feet (i. e. of both extremities, or of the whole
body), and also the beard will it (the razor) lake away. As Ahaz
had profaned and robbed God's house to hire a foreign razor,
with which Israel and Syria might be shaven, so God would
make use of that self same razor to shave Judah, i. e. to remove
its population, or its wealth, or both. The separate mention

114 CHAPTER VIL
of the beard may have reference to the oriental fondness for it
and associations of .dishonour with the loss of it.
21, 22. In consequence of these spoliations, the condition of
the country will be wholly changed. The population left shall
not be agricultural but pastoral. Instead of living on the fruits
of the soil, they shall subsist upon spontaneous products, such
as milk and honey, which shall be abundant only because the
people will be few and the uncultivated grounds extensive.
And it shall be in that day (thai) a man shall save (or keep) alive
a young cow and two sheep ; and it shall be (thai) from the abun
dance ofthe making (yielding or production) of milk, he shall eat
butter (or curds or cheese or cream) ; for butter and honey shall every
one eat that is left in the midst of (or within) the land. The word
translated save alive is used to denote the preservation of one's
life in danger (Ps. 30 : 4) ; so that unless we depart from it3
proper meaning here, it must denote not merely the keeping or
raising of the cow and sheep, but their being. saved from a
greater number, and preserved with difficulty, not for want of
pasture, which was more than ever plentiful, but from the
presence of invaders and enemies. Thus understood, the word
throws light upon the state of the country, as described in the
context. The abundance is of course to be relatively under
stood, with respect to the small number of persons to be fed,
and is therefore an additional and necessary stroke in the
prophetic picture — few cattle left, and yet those few sufficient
to afford milk in abundance to the few inhabitants. This
abundance is expressed still more strongly by describing them
as eating not the milk itself, but that which is produced from
it, and which of course must bear a small proportion to the
whole; and as this is the essential idea meant to be conveyed
it matters little whether it be understood to mean butter, cheese,
cream, or curds, though the last seems to agree best with what
we know of oriental usages. It is here mentioned neither as a

CHAPTER VIL 115
delicacy nor as plain and ordinary food, but as a kind of diet
independent of the cultivation of the earth, and therefore im
plying a neglect of tillage and a pastoral mode of life, as well
as an unusual extent of pasturage, which may have reference,
not only to the milk but to the honey. Boswell, in the journal
of his tour with Dr. Johnson to the Hebrides, observes of the
inhabitants of one of the poor islands, that " they lived all the
spring without meal, upon milk and curds and whey alone."
This verse, then, is descriptive of abundance only as connected
with a paucity of people and a general neglect of tillage. It
was designed indeed to be directly expressive neither of abun
dance nor of poverty, but of a change in the condition of the
country and of the remaining people, which is further described
in the ensuing context.
23. Having described the desolation of the country indirectly,
by saying what the food of the inhabitants should be, the
Prophet now describes Jit more directly, by predicting the
growth of thorns and briers, even in spots which had been
sedulously cultivated, for example the most valuable vineyards.
And it shall be (or come to pass) in that day (that) every place,
where there shall be a thousand vines at (or for) a thousand silver-
lings (pieces or shekels of silver), shall be for (or become) thorns
and briers, or shall be (given up) to the thorn and to the brier.
Most writers seem to confine the threatening to the thorns and
briers, and to regard the thousand silverlings as a part of the
description of a valuable vineyard, though they differ on the
question whether this was the price for which the vineyard
might be sold, or its annual rent, as in Sol. Song 8:11, where,
however, it is said to be the price of the fruit, and the number
of vines is not mentioned. Henderson computes that it was
nearly one-half more than the price at which the vineyards of
Mount Lebanon were sold in 1811, according to Burckhardt,
namely a piastre for each vine.

116 CHAPTER VIL
24. So complete shall be the desolation of these once favoured
spots that men shall pass through them armed as they would
through a wilderness. With arrows and wilh bow shall one (or
shall a m'an) go thither, because thorns and briers shall the whole
land be. The essential idea, as the last clause shows, is that of
general desolation ; there is no need, therefore, of supposing
that the bows and arrows have exclusive reference to protection,
as it would be natural to carry weapons into such a region both
for protection and the chase. It is no objection to the mention
of the latter, that the people had just been represented as sub
sisting upon milk and honey, since these two methods of subsist
ence often coexist, as belonging to the same state of society,
and both imply a general neglect of tillage. The exact sense
of the last clause is not that the land shall become thorns and
briers (English version), as in v. 24, but that it shall actually be
thorns and briers.
25. Not only, the fields, not only the vineyards, shall be
overrun with thorns and briers, but the very hills, now labori-.
ously cultivated with the hand, shall be given up to like desola
tion. And all the hills (i. e. even all the hills) which are digged
with the hoe (because inaccessible to the plough) — thou shalt not
go (even) there, for fear of briers and thorns, and (being thus
uncultivated) they shall be for a sending-place of cattle and a
trampling-place of sheep (i. e. a place where cattle may be sent
to pasture, and which may be trodden down by sheep). The
reference is probably to the hills of Judea, anciently "cultivated
to the very top, by means of terraces that still exist, for an
aecount of which by eye-witnesses, see Keith's Land of Israel,
chapter xn., and Robinson's Palestine, vol. II. p. 187. Thus
understood, the verse merely strengthens the foregoing de
scription, by declaring that even the most carefully cultivated
portions of the land should not escape the threatened desola
tion. This verse continues and completes the description of

CHAPTER VIII. 117
the general desolation, as manifested first by the people's living
upon milk and honey, then by the growth of thorns and briers
in the choicest vineyards and the terraced hills, and by the
conversion of these carefully tilled spots into dangerous soli
tudes, hunting-grounds, and pastures.

CHAPTER" VIII.
The prediction of the overthrow of Syria and Israel is now
renewed in the form of a symbolical name, to be inscribed on a
tablet and attested by two witnesses, and afterwards applied to
the Prophet's new-born son, whose progress as an infant is
made the measure of the event, vs. 1-4. It is then foretold
that the judgment denounced upon Syria and Israel should
extend to Judah, as a punishment for distrust of God and
reliance upon human aid, in consequence of which the kingdom
should be imminently threatened with destruction, yet delivered
for the sake of Immanuel, by whom the strength and wisdom
of all enemies should be alike defeated, vs. 5-10. The Messiah
himself is then introduced as speaking, warning the Prophet and
the true believers neither to share in the apprehensions nor to
fear the reproaches of the people, but to let Jehovah be an ob
ject of exclusive fear and reverence to them, as he would be an
occasion of destruction to the unbelievers, from whom the true
sense of this revelation was to be concealed, and restricted to
his followers, who, together with the Prophet and the Son of
God himself, should be for signs and wonders to the multitude,
while waiting for the manifestation of his presence, and refusing
to consult any other oracle except the word of God, an authority
despised by none but those doomed to the darkness of despair,
which is described as settling, down upon them, with a sudden
intimation, at the close, of a change for the better, especially in

118 CHAPTER VIIL
reference to that part of the country which had been most
afflicted and despised, vs. 11-23.
The Hebrew and English text differ here in the division of
the chapters. A better arrangement than either would have
been to continue the eighth without interruption to the close
of what is now the sixth (or seventh) verse of the ninth chapter,
where a new division of the prophecy begins.
1. The prediction of the overthrow of Syria and Israel, con
tained in ch. 7 : 8, 9, is here repeated, and as before in a
symbolical form. In order to excite immediate attention, and
at the same time to verify the prophecy, Isaiah is required to
inscribe an enigmatical name on a large tablet in a legible
character, with a view to present exhibition and to subsequent
preservation. The name itself includes a prophecy of speedy
spoliation. And Jehovah said to me, take thee (or for thyself) a
great tablet (i. e. great in proportion to the length of the inscrip
tion), and write upon it with a man's pen (or stylus, i. e. in an
ordinary and familiar hand), To Maher-shalal-hash-baz (i. e.
Haste-spoil-quick-prey). The name may also be read as a sen
tence — Hasten spoil I Prey hastens. These four words are not
merely the heading or title of the writing, but the writing
itself. Both the kind of writing and the size of the tablet
(admitting larger characters), have reference to its being legi
ble, so that he may run that readeth it (Hab. 2 : 2).
2. In order to preclude all suspicion of its haying been
uttered after the event, the prophecy is not only recorded, but
attested by two witnesses. And I (Jehovah) will take to wit
ness for me credible witnesses, to wit, Uriah the priest, and Zecha-
riah, son cf Jeberechiah. Uriah is probably the same who con
nived at the king's profanation of the temple (2 Kings
16 : 10-16. The word credible does not relate to their true
character or standing in. the sight of God, but to their credit

CHAPTER VIIL 119
with the people, especially perhaps with the king, in which
view, as well as on account of his official rank, Uriah was a very
suitable witness. The same consideration makes it not im
probable that the Zechariah mentioned here was the father-in-
law of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:2. 2 Chr. 29 : 1), perhaps the same
that is mentioned as a Levite of the family of Asaph (2 Chr.
29:13). 3. The significant name, before inscribed upon the tablet, is
now applied to the Prophet's new-born son, that the cbild, as
well as the inscription, might remind all who saw them of the
prophecy. The execution of the previous command is here, as
in many other cases, tacitly included in the record of the com
mand itself. (Vide supra, ch. 7:4.) And I approached unto
the Prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son, and Jehovah said
to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. This name, like
Immanuel, may be understood as simply descriptive or symboli
cal, but its actual imposition is inferred by most interpreters
from verse 18, where the Prophet speaks of himself and his
children as signs and wonders in Israel, with reference, as they
suppose, to the names Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
The Prophetess is probably so called because she was a pro
phet's wife, as queen usually means a royal consort, not a queen
suo jure. A remarkable series of prophetic names, imposed
upon three children, is recorded in the first chapter of Hosea.
4. It is not merely by its name that the child is connected
with the prophecy. The date of the event is determined by a
reference to the infant's growth, as in the case of Immanuel.
For before the child shall know (how) to cry my. father and my
mother, one (or they indefinitely) shall take away the wealth of
Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the king of Assyria,
i. e. into, his presence, to deliver it to him or simply in' his
presence., that is by his command and under his direction. The

120 . CHAPTER VIII.
time fixed is that of the child's capacity not to recognize its
parents, or to talk, but to utter the simple labial sounds by
which in Hebrew as in many other languages father and mothei
are expressed. The time denoted was intended to be somewhat
indefinite, equivalent perhaps to our familiar phrase a year or
two, within which time we have reason to believe that the event
occurred. There is_no reason to. doubt that Samaria was
plundered by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15 : 29) although not de
stroyed, which idea is in fact not conveyed by the terms of the
description. The carrying away of its wealth does not neces
sarily imply any thing more than such a spoiling of the capital
as might be expected in the course of a brief but successful
invasion. 5. And Jehovah added to speak to me again (or further) saying.
Here, as in ch. 7 : 10, an interval of time may be assumed.
6. The Assyrian invasion is now represented as a punish
ment of Judah for distrusting the divine protection and seek
ing that of the Assyrians themselves. The immediate relief
thus secured was to be followed by a worse calamity produced
by those in whom they now confided. .Because this people
(Judah, so called in token of divine displeasure) hath forsaken
(or rejected with contempt) the waters of Shiloah (or Siloain,
the only perennial fountain of Jerusalem, here used as a symbol
of the divine protection) that go softly (or flow gently, unac
companied by noise or danger), and (because there is) joy with
respect to Rezin and the son ofRema'liah (i. e. because the Jews
are exulting in the retreat of their invaders, caused by the
approach of the Assyrians), therefore, etc. the apodosis of the
sentence being given in the next verse,
7. Therefore (because the people had thus ceased to trust in
the divine protection, and rejoiced in the success of their ap-

CHAPTER VIIL . 121
plication to Assyria), behold (as if the event were actually pres
ent), Jehovah (is) bringing up upon them the waters of the river
(i. e. the Euphrates, as an emblem of the Assyrian power), its
strong and many waters (here contrasted with the gently flow
ing waters of Siloam), to wit, the king of Assyria and all his
glory (with particular reference to military strength and dis
play), and it (the river) shall come up over all its channels and
go over all its banks, which may either mean that it shall tran
scend its usual limits, or that after submerging Israel, it shall
overflow into Judah also. In favour of this last interpretation
is the language of the next verse, and the fact that otherwise
the punishment of Ephraim or the ten tribes is not expressly
mentioned. The figure of an overflowing river is peculiarly
appropriate, not only as affording a striking antithesis to the
fountain mentioned in the sixth verse, but because it is often
used absolutely to denote the Euphrates, the great river of the
Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The beauty of the meta
phor is rendered still more striking by the frequent allusions,
both in ancient and modern writers, to the actual inundations
of this river. Here, as in ch. 7:17, 18, the figures are ex
plained in literal expressions by the Prophet himself.
8. And it (the river) shall pass over (from Syria, and Israel).
into Judah, overflow and pass through (so as nearly to submerge
it), lo the neck shall it reach (but not above the head), and the
spreadings of its wings shall be the filling of thy. land, O Im-
mamueli The English version disturbs the metaphor by using
the personal pronoun he so as to refer this verse directly to the
king, and not to the river which represented him. The ex
pression the neck was intended to denote nothing more than
the imminency of the danger by figures borrowed from a case
of drowning, the head alone being left above the water. Most
writers suppose the figure of a stream to be exchanged in the
last clause for that of a bird, or for the description of an armjj
6

122 CHAPTER VIIL
but others understand wings to be used here, as often else
where, in the sense of sides or lateral extremities, and applied
to the river itself.
9. He now turns to the enemies of Judah and assures them
of the failure of their hostile plans. The prediction, as in ch.
6 : 9, is clothed in the form of an ironical command or exhorta
tion. Be wicked (i. e. indulge your malice, do your worst) and
be broken (disappointed and confounded), and (that not only
Syria and Israel, but) give ear all remote parts of the earth (who
ever may attack the chosen people), gird yourselves (i. c. arm
and equip yourselves for action) and be broken, gird yourselves
and. be broken (the repetition implying the certainty of the
event). The failure or disappointment threatened is of course
that of their ultimate design to overthrow the kingdom of
Judah, and does not exclude the possibility of partial and tem
porary successes.
10. Not only their strength but their sagacity should be
confounded. Devise a plan, and it shall be defeated (nullified or
brought to nought), speak a word (whether a proposition or an
order), and it shall not stand (or be carried into execution), for
(Immanuel) God (is) with us. Even as a name Immanuel contains
a proposition, and here this proposition is distinctly announced,
but' with a designed allusion to the person whom the name
describes. As if he had said, ' the assurance of your safety is
the great truth expressed by the name of your deliverer? to wit,
that God is with us.' The mere retention of the Hebrew word
could not convey its sense in this connection to the English
reader. 11. The triumphant apostrophe in v. 10 is now justified by
an appeal to the divine authority. I have reason to address
our enemies in this tone, for thus said Jehovah to me in strength

CHAPTER VIIL 123
tf hand (i. e. when his hand was strong upon me, when I was
under the influence of inspiration), and instructed me away from
walking in the way of this people (i. e. warned me not to follow
•the example ofthe unbelieving Jews). When one is spoken of
in Scripture as inspired, it is said not only that the spirit was
upon him (Ezek. 11:5), but also that the hand of Jehovah was
upon him (Ezek. 1 : 3. 3 f 22. 33 : 2-2. 37 : 1), and in one case at
least that it was strong upon him (Ezek. 3 : 14). Hence
strength cf hand may have the sense of inspiration, and the
whole phrase here employed be equivalent in meaning to the
New Testament expressions iv nvei(iaxi (Rev. 1 : 10), iv
ixoT&net (Acts 11:5), ^»" Svva/iei. xal nvevfxan dytco (1 Thess.
1 : 5).
12. The words of God himself are now recorded. Saying, ye
shall not call conspiracy (or treason) every thing which this people
calleth conspiracy (or treason), and its fear ye shall not fear nor be
afraid. The correct view of the passage seems to be this. The
unbelieving fears of the people led them to seek foreign aid.
From this they were dissuaded by the Prophet and his followers,
who regarded it as a violation of their duty to Jehovah. This
opposition, like the conduct of Jeremiah during the Babylonian
siege, was regarded by the king and his adherents as a treason
able combination to betray them to their enemies. But God
himself commands the Prophet and the true believers not to be
affected by this false reproach, not to regard the cry of treason
or conspiracy, nor share in the real or pretended terrors of the
unbelievers. 13. Jehovah of Hosts, him shall ye sanctify (i. e. regard and
treat as a Holy God, and as the Holy One of Israel), and he
shall be your fear, and he your dread, i. e. the object of these
feelings. If they felt as they ought towards God, as supreme
and almighty, and as their own peculiar God, with whom they

124 CHAPTER VIIL
were united in a national covenant, they could not so distrust
him as to be alarmed at the approach of any earthly danger.
The collocation of the words makes the sentence more emphatic.
Him shall ye fear is substantially equivalent to Him alone shall
ye fear. Thus explained, the passage is at once a condemnation
of the terror inspired by the approach of the two kings, and of
the application, which it had occasioned, to Assyria for aid
against them.
14. And he (Jehovah) shall be for (or become) a holy thing
(an object to be sanctified) and for a stone of stumbling and for a
rock of offence (i. e. a stone to strike against and stumble over) to
the two houses of Israel (Ephraim and Judah), for a gin (or trap)
and far a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. God was the only
proper object to be dreaded, feared, and sanctified, i. e. regarded
as a holy being in the widest and the most emphatic sense.
Thus explained, the Hebrew word corresponds almost exactly
to the Greek ib uywv, the term applied to Christ by the angel
who announced his birth (Luke 1 : 35). In 1 Peter 2: 7, where
this very passage is applied to Christ, ^ ti/j^ seems to bo
employed as an equivalent to the word as here used. To
others he is a stone of stumbling, but to you who believe he is
¦5 ti/jtJ; something precious, something honoured, something
loolied upon as holy. The same application of the words is
made by Paul in Rom. 9 : 33. These quotations seem to show
that the Prophet's words have an extensive import, and are not
to be restricted either to his own times or the time of Christ
The doctrine of the text is, that even the most glorious exhibi
tions of God's holiness, i. e. of his infinite perfection, may
occasion the destruction of the unbeliever. Tho most signal
illustration of this general truth was that afforded in the advent
of the Saviour. It was frequently exemplified, however, in the
interval, and one of these exemplifications was afforded by the
conduct of the unbelieving Jews in the reign of Ahaz, to whom

CHAPTER VIIL 125
the only power that could save them was converted by their
own unbelief into a stone of stumbling and a roci of offence.
The same idea is then expressed by another simple and familiar
figure, that of a snare or trap. Both figures naturally suggest
the idea of inadvertence and unforeseen ruin. The sense is not
that Jehovah would be sanctified by Judah, and become a
stumbling-block to Israel ; but that to some in either house or
family these opposite events would happen. The inhabitants
of Jerusalem are distinctly mentioned as the most conspicuous
and influential members of the nation, just as Jerusalem itself
is sometimes mentioned in connection with Judah, which really
included it.
15. This verse completes the threatening by an explicit
declaration that Jehovah would not only be a stumbling-block
and snare to the houses of Israel, but that many should actually
fall and be ensnared and broken. And many shall stumble over
them (the stone and snare) or among ihem (the children of
Israel) and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, in my disciples
These are not the words of the Prophet speaking in his owl
person, but a command addressed to him by God, -of as some
suppose by the Messiah. It is commonly agreed, that the
Prophet is commanded to tie up a roll or volume, and to seal
it, thereby closing it. By law and testimony here we may cithei
understand the prophetic inscription in v. 1, or the whole pre
ceding context, considered as included in the general sense of
revelation, as God's testimony to the truth and as a law oi
declaration of his will. The disciples, or those taught of God,
probably mean the better portion of the people, those truly
enlightenedbecau.se taught of God (ch. 54: 13), to whom the
knowledge of this revelation, or at least of its true meaning, was
to be restricted. The act described is not that of literally bind-

126 CHAPTER VIIL
ing and sealing up a material record, but that of spiritually
closing and depositing the revelation of God's will in the hearts
of those who were able and willing to receive it, with allusion
at the same time to its concealment from all others.
17. And I (the Messiah) will wait for Jehovah that hidelh his
face from the house of Jacob, and will expect him. Most writers
make these the words of the Prophet ; but since he is addressed
in the verse preceding, without any intimation of a change of
speaker here, and since the next verse is quoted in Heb. 2:13
as the words of the Messiah, it seems better to assume, that
throughout this, passage the Messiah is the speaker. The phrase
to wait upon has changed its meaning since the date of the Eng
lish version, the prominent idea being now that of service and
attendance, not as of old that of expectation, which is the
meaning of the Hebrew verb. God's hiding his face from the
house of Jacob implies not only outward troubles but the
withholding of divine illumination, indirectly threatened in the
verse preceding. The house of Jacob is the whole race of
Israel, perhaps with special reference to Judah. The thing to
be expected is the fulness of time when the Messiah, no longer
revealed merely to a few, should openly appear. For a time the
import of God's promises shall be concealed from the majority,
and during that interval Messiah shall wait patiently until the
set time has arrived.
18. Behold, I and the children which Jehovah hath given me
(axe) for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of Hosts,
the ( One) dwelling in Mount Zion. Of the whole verse there
are two distinct interpretations. 1. According to some Isaiah
is the speaker, and the children meant are his two sons Shear
jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, to which some add Immanuel
As all these names, and that of the Prophet himself, are sig
nificant, it is supposed that for this icason he and his children

CHAPTER VIIL 121
arc said to be signs and wonders, personified prophecies to Israel,
from Jehovah, who had caused the names to be imposed. 2.
According to many writers, these are the words of the Messiah,
and the children are his spiritual seed (Isai. 53 : 10), whom the
Father had given him (John 6 : 37, 39. 10 : 29. 17 : 6, 7, 9, 1 1,
12). The great argument in favour of this last interpretation
is the application of the verse to Christ by Paul (Heb. 2 : 13),
not as an illustration but an argument, a proof, that Christ par
took of the same nature with the persons called his children and
his brethren. It is true that many who regard Isaiah as the speaker
suppose him to have been a type of Christ in this transaction.
But a double sense ought not to be assumed where a single one
is perfectly consistent with the context, and sufficient to explain
all apparent contradictions, as in this case, where admitting that
the Messiah is the speaker, we have no ellipsis to supply, and
,ao occasion to resort to the hypothesis either of a type or an
accommodation. It is not necessary, however, to restrict the
*,erms, to the period of the advent, and to our Saviour's per
sonal followers. Even before he came in the flesh, he and his
disciples, i. e. all who looked for his appearing, were signs and
wonders, objects of contemptuous astonishment, and at the
same time pledges of the promise.
19. And when they (indefinitely any one, or definitely the un
believers) shall say to you (the disciples and children of Messiah,
who is still speaking), seek unto (i. e. consult as aft oracle) the
spirits (or the spirit-masters, those who have subject or familiar
spirits at command) and to the wizards (wise or knowing ones),
the chirpers and the mutterers (alluding to the way in which the
heathen necromancers invoked their spirits, or uttered their
responses) should not a people seek to (or consult) its God, for the
living (i. e. in behalf of the living should it resort) to the dead <
The last clause is the reply of the believing Jews to those who
tempted them. ' When you, my disciples, are invited by su-

128 CHAPTER VIII.
perstitious sinners to consult pretended wizards, consider (or
reply) that as the heathen seek responses from their gods, so
you ought to consult Jehovah, and not be guilty of the folly
of consulting senseless idols or dead men for the instruction
of the living.'
20. Instead of resorting to these unprofitable and forbidden
sources, the disciples of Jehovah are instructed to resort to the
law and to the testimony (i. e. to divine revelation, considered
as a system of belief and as a rule of duty) if they speak (i. e.
if any speak) not according to this word (another name for the
revealed will of God), it is he to whom there is no dawn, or
morning (i. e. no relief from the dark night of calamity). The
first clause is elliptical. None can speak inconsistently with
God's word — or, none can refuse to utter this word, viz. to the
law and to the testimony — but one whom God has abandoned.
" If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." (2 Cor.
4 ; 3.) As night is a common figure for calamity, the dawn will
naturally signify its termination, the return of better times.
(See ch. 58 : 8. 47 : 1 1. Job 1 1.: 17.) They may be said to have
no dawn, for whom there is nothing better in reserve.
21. And they (the people) shall pass through it (the land)
hardly bestead (i. e. distressed) and hungry ; and it shall be (or
come to pass) that when they are hungry they shall fret them
selves, and cmrse their king and their God, and shall look upward.
His king is Jehovah considered as the king of Israel. The
last clause is really in close connection with the first of the next
verse, and both together must be understood as indicating utter
perplexity and absolute despair of help from God or man, from
heaven or earth, from above or below.
22. And to the earth he shall look, and behold distress and dark
less, dimness of anguish, and into darkness (he shall be) driven

CHAPTER VIII 129
— or, the dimness of anguish and of darkness is dispelled. Heaven
and earth are here opposed to one another, as sea and land are
in ch. 5 : 30. Distress and darkness are here identified, as dis
tress and light are there contrasted.
23. This darkness is to be dispelled ; for (there shall) not
(be) darkness (forever) to her who is now distressed (literally, to
whom there is distress). The present calamity, or that just
predicted, is not to be perpetual. The future state of things
shall exhibit a strange contrast with the former. As the former
time degraded the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, so
ihe latter glorifies the way of the sea, the bank of the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. The same region is described in both
clauses, namely, the northern extremity of the land of Israel.
This is designated, first, by the tribes which occupied it, then,
by its relative position with respect to Jordan and the sea of
Tiberias. This part of the country, from being the most de
graded and afflicted, should receive peculiar honour. Its de
basement and distress both arose from its remote and frontier
situation, proximity to the heatben, intercourse and mixture
with them, and constant exposure to the first attacks of enemies,
who usually entered Canaan from the north. To the former
of these reasons may be traced the expressions of contempt for
Galilee recorded in the books of the New Testament (John
1:46. 7:52. Matt. 26:69. Acts 1:11. 2:7). How this
disgrace was to be exchanged for honour, is explained in the
next verse. The sea mentioned in the last clause is not the
Mediterranean but the sea of Galilee, as appears from Matt.
4: 15, 16. The region spoken of was that along ihe Jordan
(on one or both sides) near the sea of Galilee.
6*

130 CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER IX.
The change for the better, which was promised at the close
of the eighth chapter, is described in the ninth as consisting in
the rise of a great light upon the darkness, in the increase of
the nation and their joy, excited by deliverance from bondage
and the universal prevalence of peace, arising from the advent
of a divine successor to David, who should restore, establish,
and enlarge his kingdom without any limitation, vs. 1-6.
From the times of the Messiah, the Prophet suddenly reverts
to his own, and again predicts the punishment of Ephraim by
repeated strokes. The people had been warned both by mes
sages from God and by experience, but had continued to in
dulge their proud self-confidence, in consequence of which God
allowed the Assyrians, after overthrowing Rezin, to attack
them also, while at the same time they were harassed by per
petual assaults from their hostile neigbbours, vs. 7-1 1.
Still they did not repent and return to God, who therefore
cut off suddenly many of all classes, but especially the rulers
of the nation and the false prophets, the flattering seducers of
the wretched people, from whom he must now withhold even
the ordinary proofs of his compassion, vs. 12-16.
All this was the natural effect of sin, like a fire in a thicket,
which at last consumes the forest, and involves the land in
smolfTanbT flame"' Yet amidst these strokes of the divine dis
pleasure, '," tttf" were still indulging mutual animosities and
jealousies, insomuch that Israel was like a famished man devour
ing his own flesh. Manasseh thus devoured Ephraim and
Ephraim Manasseh, while tho two together tried to devour
Judah, vs. 17-20.

CHAPTER IX. 131
It has been observed already that the division of the chap
ters is in this part of the book peculiarly unfortunate ; the
first part of the ninth (vs. 1-6) containing the conclusion of
the eighth, and the first part of the tenth (vs. 1-4) the con
clusion of the ninth.
The numbers of the verses in this chapter differ in the He.
brew and English Bibles ; what is the last verse of the eighth
in the former is the first of the ninth in the latter. The ref
erences in the commentary are all to the divisions of the He
brew text.
1. The people (just described, i. e. the people of Galilee),
those walking in ihe dark (expressive both of spiritual blindness
and extreme distress), have seen a great light (the change
being presented to the Prophet's view as already past) : the
dwellers in the land of the shadow of death (i. e. of intense dark
ness), light has beamed upon them. These words, in a general
sen"«, may be descriptive of any great and sudden change in
tho condition of the people, especially of one from ignorance
an'l misery to illumination and enjoyment. They are still
me-re appropriate to Christ as the light of the world (John
8:12), a light to the nations (Isai. 42 : 6. 49 : 6), and the sun of
righteousness (Mai. 4 : 2), which rose upon the world when he
manifested forth his glory by his teachings and his miracles in
Galilee (John 2 : 11). It was in this benighted and degraded
region that he first appeared as a messenger from God ; and in
lhat appearance we are expressly taught that this prediction
was felfilled (Matt. 4: 12-17).
2. The Prophet now, by a sudden apostrophe, addresses God
himself, who, by bestowing on the Galileans this great light,
would not only honour them, but afford occasion of great joy
to all the true Israel, including those who should be gathered
from the gentiles. Thou hast enlarged the' nation (i. e. Israel in

132 CHAPTER IX
general), thou hast increased its joy (literally, to it thou hast in
creased the joy) ; they rejoice before thee like the joy in harvest,
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. The increase of the
nation means the increase of the people in their own land, not
a mere growth of population, but an increase of the true Israel
by the calling of the gentiles. To the promise here given J.
is probably allusion in the language of the angel w'fio announced
the birth of Jesus to the shepherds (Luk6 2:10): Behold,*
bring you good tidings of great joy, which, shall be to all the
people, i. e. to the whole nation, all the Israjel of God.
3. This verse assigns the reason or occasjion of the promised
joy. They shall rejoice before thee, thaU^pv because) the yoke
of his burden (his burdensome yolfa-j, .an£np\e rod of his shoulder
(or back) and the staff of the oim^ ^r 3$ £>,im (his task-master,
slave-driver) thou hast broke^i^' g$ § ^ (as in the day) of
Midian, as Gideon routed Midlg % ^^ ^Ldenly, totally, and
by special aid from heaven. fce jn conseqn*vwas fulfilled in
the glorious deliverance of tl overtbi-o" s (*ne first converts
to Christianity), and of all who with them made up the true
Israel, from the heavy burden of the covenant of works, the
galling yoke of the Mosaic law, the service of the devil, and the
bondage of corruption. Outward deliverance is only promised,
so far as it accompanied the spiritual change or was included
in it. The day of any one in Hebrew often means the day in
which something memorable happens to him, or is done by him
(vide supra, ch. 2: 12) and in Arabic is absolutely used for a
day of battle. The rout of the Midianites, recorded in the
seventh chapter of Judges, is here referred to, because it was a
wonderful display of divine power, without the use of any ade
quate human means — and also, because it took place in the same
part ofthe country which this prophecy refers to. Jezreel, where
the battle was fought (Judg. 6 : 33), was in the territory of
Manasseh, to which tribe Gideon himself belonged (Judg

CHAPTER IX. 133
6:15); but he was aided by the neighbouring tribes of Asher ;
Zebulon, and Naphtali (Judg. 6 : 35).
4. The destruction of the oppressing power shall be followed
by profound and universal peace. To express this idea, the
1 vt describes the equipments of the soldier as consumed
n'ltn tire. For all the armour of the armed man (or the man-at-
arms, jEju^-mlngles) in the tumult (of battle), and ihe garment
' rolled in blood, shall be far burning (and for) food (or fuel) of
, ilre. In other words, the usual accompaniments of battle shall
be utterly-destroyed, and by implication, war itself shall cease.
It is not the weapons of the enemy alone, but all weapons of
war, that are to be consumed ; not merely because they have
been used for a bad purpose, but because they are hereafter to
be useless. It is not so much a prophecy of conquest as of
- peace ; a peace however which is not to be expected till the
enemies of God are overcome ; and therefore the prediction
may be said to include both events, the final overthrow of all
opposing powers and the subsequent prevalence of universal
peace. This last is uniformly spoken of in Scripture as charac
teristic of Messiah's reign, both internal and external, in society
at large and in the hearts of his people. With respect to the
latter, the prediction has. been verified with more or less dis
tinctness, in every case of true conversion. With respect to the
former, its fulfilment is inchoate, but will one day be complete,
when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and He
who is the Prince of Peace shall have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth. An allusion to
this promise and its final consummation may be found in the
words of the heavenly host who celebrated the Saviour's birth
(Luke 2: 14), Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will to men. Fire is mentioned simply as a powerful con
suming agent, to express the abolition of the implements of
war, and, as a necessary consequence, of war itself.

134 CHAPTER IX.
5. This verse gives a further reason for the joy of the peo.
pie, by bringing into view the person who was to effect the
great deliverance. For a child is born to us (or for us, i. e. for
our benefit), a son is given to us (i. e. by Jehovah, an ex-
pression frequently applied in the New Testament to Christ's
incarnation), and the government is upon his shoulder (as a ^"^gft
or a robe of office), and his name is called Wonderful (lit^i^iy
Wonder), Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince, of
Peace. When it is said that his name should be so c*l d, it ;
does not mean that he should actually bear these names in
real life, but merely that he should deserve them, and ithat they
would be descriptive of his character. These words are strik
ingly appropriate to Jesus Christ, as the promised child, em
phatically born for us and given to us, as the Son of God and the
Son of Man, as being wonderful in his person, works and suffer
ings ; a counsellor, prophet, authoritative teacher of the truth, a
wise administrator of the church, and confidential adviser of tho
individual believer — a real man, and yet the Mighty God ; eter
nal in his own existence, and the giver of eternal life to others;
the great peace-maker between God and man, between Jew and
gentile, the umpire between nations, the abolisher of war, and
the giver of internal peace to all who being justified by faith
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5 : 1).
6. The reign of this king shall be progressive and perpetual,
because founded in justice and secured by the distinguishing
favour of Jehovah. To the increase ofthe government (or power)
and to the peace (or prosperity of this reign) there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it anc.
to confirm it, injustice and in righteousness, from henceforth and
forever, the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this. A striking
parallel is furnished by the prophecy in Micah 5 : 2-4. There, as
here, a king is promised who should be the son of David, and
should reign over all tho earth in peace and righteousness

CHAPTER IX. 13S
forever. It is there expressed, and here implied, that this king
should re-unite the divided house of Israel, although this is but
a small part of the increase promised, which includes the calling
of the gentiles also. Peace here denotes not only peace as
opposed to war, intestine strife, or turbulence, but welfare and
prosperity in general as opposed to want and sorrow. The
reign here predicted was to be not only peaceful but in every
respect prosperous. And this prosperity, like the reign of
which it is predicted, is to have no limit either temporal or
local. It is to be both universal and eternal. There is nothing
to preclude the very widest explanation of the terms employed.
The endless increase of power and prosperity on the throne of
David means of course that the Prince, whose reign was to be
thus powerful and prosperous, would be a descendant of David.
This is indeed a repetition and explanation of a promise given
to David (2 Sam. 7 : 1 1-16. 1 Kings 8 : 25) and repeatedly
referred- to by him (2 Sam. 23 : 1-5. Ps. 2, 45, 72, 89, 132).
Hencer the Messiah is not only called the Branch or Son of
David (2 Sam. 7 : 12, 13. Jer. 23 : 5. 33 : 15), but David him
self (Jer. 30 : 9. Ezek. 34 : 23, 24. 37 : 24. Hos. 3 : 5). The two
reigns are identified, not merely on account of an external
resemblance or a typical relation, but because the one was really
a restoration or continuation of the other. Both kings were heads
ofthe same body, the one a temporal head, the other spiritual, the
one temporary, the other eternal. The Jewish nation, as a spirit
ual body, is really continued in the Christian church. The sub
ject of the prophecy is the reign of the Messiah ; the effect predict
ed, its stability and increase ; the means to be employed, judg.
ment and justice ; the efficient cause, the zeal of Jehovah.
The justice spoken of is that of the Messiah and his subjects.
All the acts of his administration will be righteous, and the
effect of this upon his people .will be righteousness on their part,
and this prevalence of righteousness will naturally generate the
increase and stability here promised, The word translated zeal

136 CHAPTER IX.
expresses the complex idea of strong affection comprehending
or attended by a jealous preference of one above another. It is
used in the Old Testament to signify not only God's intense
love for his people but his jealousy in thtir behalf, that is to say,
his disposition to protect and favour them at the expense of
others. Sometimes, moreover, it includes the idea of' a joalouB
care of his own honour, or a readiness to take offence at any
thing opposed to it, and a determination to avenge it when
insulted. The expressions are derived from the dialect of
human passion, but describe something absolutely right on God's
part for the very reasons which demonstrate its absurdity and
wickedness on man's. These two ideas of God's jealous par
tiality for his own people, and his jealous sensibility respecting
his own honour, are promiscuously blended in the usage of the
word, and are perhaps both included in the case before us.
Both for his own sake and his people's, he would bring these
events to pass. Or rather the two motives are identical, that
is to say, the one includes the other- The welfare of the church
is only to be sought so far as it promotes God's glory, and a
zeal which makes the glory of the church an object to be aimed
at for its own sake, cannot be a zeal for God, or is. at best a zeal
for God but not according to knowledge. The mention of God's
jealousy or zeal as the procuring cause of this result affords a
sure foundation for the hopes of all believers. His zeal is not
a passion but a principle of powerful and certain operation.
The astonishing effect produced by feeble means in the promo
tion, preservation, and extension of Christ's kingdom, can only
be explained upon the principle that the zeal of the Lord of
Hosts effected it. The expressions of the verse before us were
applied to Christ, before his birth, by Gabriel, when he said to
Mary (Luke 1 : 32-34), He shall be great, and shall be called the
Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the
throne of his father David, and he shall reign over ihe house of
Jacob forever, and of his king lorn there shall be no end.

CHAPTER IX 137
7. Having repeatedly interchanged the three great subjects
of this prophecy, the deliverance of Judah from the power of
Syria and Israel, its subsequent punishment by means of the
Assyrians, and the reign of the Messiah, for whose sake the
kingdom was to be preserved, the Prophet passes here abruptly
f^Qjn tb_e last to the first, and again predicts the punishment of
Ephraim. He reverts to this event, which had already been
repeatedly foretold, for the purpose of declaring that the blows
would be repeated as often and as long as might be needed for
the absolute fulfilment of God's threatenings. He begins by
showing that Israel had already been sufficiently forewarned.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it came down into Israel.
The two names of the patriarch are here used as equivalents,
denoting his descendants, and especially the larger part, the
kingdom of the ten tribes, to which the national name Israel
is wont to be distinctively applied.
8. The word which God had sent had reaehed the people ;
they had heard and understood it, but continued to indulge
their pride and self-security. And they know (the divine threat
ening), the people, all of them (literally all of it, the noun being
singular but used collectively), Ephraim and the inhabitants of
Samaria (a limitation of the general terms preceding, so as to
prevent their application to Judah). in pride and in greatness of
heart (an equivalent expression), saying (the words recorded in
the next verse).
9. The very words of'the self-confident Ephraimites are now
recorded. Instead of being warned and instructed by what
they had already suffered, they presumptuously look for greater
prosperity than ever. Bricks are fallen, and hewn stone will we
build ; sycamores are felled, and cedars will we substitute. The
oriental bricks are unburnt, so that most of their brick struc
tures are as little durable as mud walls The sycamore is

138 * CHAPTER IX
durable, but too light tnd spongy to be used in solid building
The latter is accordingly contrasted with the cedar, and the
former with hewn stone, the two most highly valued building
materials. This verse is a metaphorical description of a change
from worse to better, by a substitution of the precious for tho
vile. Bricks and sycamores are proverbial expressions for
that which is inferior, and cedars and hewn stone for that which
is superior. An illustrative parallel is found in ch. 60 : 17,
where the same general idea is expressed by the exchange
of stones for iron, iron for silver, wood for brass, brass for
gold, of course without allusion to a literal exchange or mu
tual substitution.
10. Here begins a second stage in the progress of God's
judgments. He had sent a warning prophecy before (v. 7), and
they had been taught its meaning by experience (v. 8), but
without effect upon their proud self-confidence. And (now)
Jehovah raises up above him (i. e. Ephraim) the (victorious)
enemies of Rezin (his late ally), and (besides these) he will insti
gate his own (accustomed) enemies (to wit, those mentioned in
the next verse). They who were to conquer Israel are called
the enemies of Rezin, to remind the Israelites of their alliance
with him, and to intimate that they who had so lately con
quered Syria were soon to conquer Israel.
11. This verse contains a more particular description of
Ephraim's own enemies who were to be stirred up against him,
with a declaration that this was not to be the end of the inflic
tion. Aram (or Syria in the widest sense) before, and Philisiia
(or the Philistines) behind, and they devour Israel with open
mouth (i. e. ravenously). For all' this (or notwithstanding all
this) his wrath does not turn back (from the pursuit or the
attack), and still his hand is stretched out. On the meaning of
this last clause, see above, ch. 5 : 25. The Syrians and Philis-

CHAPTER IX. ¦*" 139
tines are supposed by some to be referred to, as forming part
of the Assyrian army. The reference may however be to sepa-
rate attacks from these two powers. Before and behind may
simply mean on opposite sides, or more specifically to the east
and west, which are often thus described in Hebrew.
12. These continued and repeated strokes are still without
effect in bringing the people to repentance. And the people
has not turned to him that smote ihem, and Jehovah of Hosts they
have not sought. Sin is described in Scripture as departure
from God. Repentance, therefore, is returning to him. To seek
God, in the idiom of Scripture, is to pray to him (Isai. 55 : 6),
to consult him (Isai. 8 : 19), to resort to him for help (Isai.
31 : 1), to hold communion with him (Amos 5 : 4, 5). Hence it
is sometimes descriptive of a godly life in general (Psalm 14:2).
So here it includes repentance, conversion, and new obedi
ence. This verse does not assign the reason of the fact, re
corded in the one preceding, but continues the description.
God went on punishing, and the people went on sinning.
13. The next stroke mentioned is a sudden destruction
among all ranks of the people, the extremes being designated
by two figures drawn from the animal and vegetable world.
And Jehovah has cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and
rush, in one day. The allusion here is to a branch of the palm-
tree or the tree itself This tree, though now rare in the Holy
Land, abounded there of old, especially in the southern part,
where .several places were named after it (Deut. 34 : 3.
2 Chron. 20 : 2). Hence it appears on Roman coins as the
symbol of Judea. It is highly esteemed in the east, both for
beauty and utility. Its branches grow near the top of its lofty
trunk and bend towards the ground, as its leaves do also, with
a gentle curvature, resembling that of a hand partly closed,
from which peculiarity the Hebrew name and the Latin palma

140 * CHAPTER IX
seem to be derived. Palm and rush denote that which is
superior and inferior, including every class in the community.
14. To the descriptive figures of the preceding verse, the
Prophet now adds a specific application of the first. Jehovah
had cut off from Israel, not only in a general sense the upper
and lower classes of society, but in a more restricted sense the
wicked rulers, who were the corrupt head of the body politic,
and the false prophets who, as their abject adherents, and on
account of their hypocrisy and false pretensions to divine
authority, must be regarded as its tail, because contemptible
and odious, even in comparison with other wicked men, who
laid no claim to a religious character. The elder and the favour
ite (or honourable person), he (is) the head, and the prophet teaching
falsehood, he (is) the tail. The teaching of falsehood means teach
ing in the name of God what he has not revealed. The false
prophets are called the tail, because the false prophets were
morally the basest of the people, and because they were the
servile adherents and supporters of the wicked rulers. With'
respect both to the head which they followed, and the body of
which they were the vilest part, they might be justly called the
tail. 15. This verse gives a reason, not why all classes were to be
destroyed, but why the rulers and false prophets had been spe
cially mentioned. It arises, therefore, naturally out of the
fourteenth, and thus incidentally proves it to be genuine. The
truth expressed and implied is, that the leaders of the people
had destroyed them and should perish with them. The' leaders
of this people have been seducers, and those led by them (are) swal-
lowed up (or ruined).
16. Therefore (because the people are thus incorrigibly im
penitent) the Lord will not rejoice over their young men (literally

CHAPTER IX 141
chosen ones, i. e. for military service, the word being used in the
general sense of youths, but seldom without reference to war),
and on their orphans and their widows (elsewhere represented as
peculiarly the objects of God's care) he will not have mercy (ex
pressing in the strongest form the extent and severity of the
threatened judgments) ; for every one of them (literally of it, re
ferring to the singular noun people) is profane (or impious) and
an evil doer, and every mouth (is) speaking folly (in the strong
Hebrew sense of wickedness). For all this his wrath is not
turned back, and still is his hand outstretched.
17. This verse assigns a reason why God's hand is still
stretched out for the destruction of his people, by describing
that destruction as the natural effect of their own wickedness,
here likened to a fire beginning near the ground among the
thorns and briers, then extending to the undergrowth or brush
wood of the forest, which, as it consumes away, ascends in a
volume of smoke. For wickedness burneth as ihe fire, thorns and
briers it consumes, then kindles in the thickets of the forest, and
they roll themselves upwards, a column (literally, an ascent) of
smoke. Thorns and briers are often used as emblems of the
wicked (Mic. 7 : 4. Nah. 1:10. 2 Sam. 23 : 6), and their burn
ing as a figure for the punishment of sinners (Isai. 33 : 12. Ps.
1 18 : 12. 2 Sam. 23 : 7), especially by means of foreign enemies
(Isai. 10:17. 32:13).
18. The figure of a general conflagration is continued in this
verse, and then exchanged for a literal description of the miser
ies produced by civil war. In the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts,
the land is darkened (with the smoke, or healed by the flame)
and the people is like food (or fuel) of fire ; one another (literally,
man his brother) they do not spare.
19. The horrors of civil war are now presented under the

142 CHAPTER IX
fearful image of insatiable hunger, leading men to devour theit
own flesh. And he tears on the right hand and is hungry (still),
and devours on the left and (still) they are not satisfied ; each the
flesh of his (own) a/rm, they aevour. The words right and left
simply denote that the devouring should be mutual and extend
in all directions. The special mention of the arm may imply
that the mutual destroyers ought to have been mutual pro
tectors. 20. The application of the figures in v. 19 is now made plain
by the Prophet himself, who has been drawing no imaginary
scene. It is Israel, the chosen race, that feeds on its own flesh.
They devour each the flesh of his own arm — Manasseh (devours)
Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh — and together they (are)
against Judah. For all this his wrath is not turned back and
still his hand (is) stretched out. The tribes here specified are
chosen for two reasons : first, because Judah and Joseph were
the most important branches of the stock of Israel, as well be
fore as after the disruption ; and secondly, because the tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh were more nearly related to each other
than to any of the rest, and therefore their hostility afforded
the most striking illustration of the mutual rancour which the
Prophet had described as prevalent. Together implies unity of
time, place, and action. Not only is it common for intestine
wars to give occasion and give place to foreign ones, but this
clause really continues the description and adds greatly to its
force, by suggesting the idea that the mutual enmity of these
two kindred tribes could only be exceeded by their common
hatred to their common relative, the tribe of Judah. The allu
sions of the verse are not to one exclusive period, but to a pro
tracted series of events. The intestine- strifes of Ephraim and
Manasseh, although not recorded in detail, may be inferred
from various incidental statements. Of their ancient rivalry we
have examples in the history of Gidecu (Judges 8 : 1-3) and

CHAPTER X 143
Jephtha (Judges 12 : -6) ; and as to later times, it has been ob
served that of all who succeeded Jeroboam the Second on the
throne of Israel, Pekahiah alone appears to have attained it with
out treachery or bloodshed. That Manasseh and Ephraim were
both against Judah, may refer either to their constant enmity
or to particular attacks. No sooner did one party gain the
upper hand in the kingdom of the ten tribes, than it seems to
have addressed itself to the favourite work of harassing or con
quering Judab, as in the case of Pekah, who invaded it almost
as soon as he had waded to the throne through the blood of
Pekahiah. The repetition in the last clause intimates that
even these extreme evils should be followed by still worse ;
that these were but the beginning of sorrows ; that the end was
not yet.

CHAPTER X.

The Prophet first completes his description of the prevalent
iniquity, with special reference to injustice and oppression, as
a punishment of which he threatens death and deportation
by the hands of the Assyrians, vs. 1-4. He then turns to the
Assyrians themselves, God's chosen instruments, whom he
had commissioned against Israel, to punish and degrade it,
but whose own views were directed to universal conquest, to
illustrate which the Assyrian himself is introduced as boasting
of his tributary princes and his rapid conquests, which had met
with no resistance from the people or their gods, and threaten.
ing Judah with a like fate, unaware of the destruction which
awaits himself, imputing his success to his own strength and
wisdom, and glorying, though a mere created instrument, over
his maker and his mover, vs. 5-15. His approaching doom is

144 CHAPTER X.
then described under the figure of a forest suddenly and al.
most totally consumed by fire, vs. 16-19. This succession of
events is to have the effect of curing the propensity to trust in
man rather than God, at least among the elect remnant who
survive ; for though the ancient promises of great increase
shall certainly be verified, only a remnant shall escape God's
righteous judgments, vs. 20-23. To these the Prophet now
addresses words of strong encouragement, with a renewed pre
diction of a judgment on Assyria similar to that on Midian at
Oreb and on Egypt at the Red Sea, which is then described, in
the most vivid manner, by an exhibition of the enemy's ap
proach, from post to post, until he stands before Jerusalem,
and then, with a resumption of the metaphor before used, his
destruction is' described as the prostration of a forest — trees
and thickets — by a mighty axe, vs. 24-34.
1. In these four verses, as in the different divisions of the
ninth chapter, there is an accusation followed by a threatening
of punishment. The sin denounced in the first two verses is
that of oppression and injustice. The punishment threatened
is desolation by a foreign foe, and its effect, captivity and
death. Woe unto them that decree decrees of injustice, and that
write oppression which they have prescribed. The metaphor of
writing is -used elsewhere to describe the decrees and providen
tial purposes of God (Isai. 65 : 6. Job 13 : 26). Here the
terms may include both legislative and judicial functions, which
are not-so nicely distinguished in ancient as in modern theories
of government. The divine displeasure is expressed against
all abuse of power.
2. As the firBt verse describes the sinners and their sin, so
the second sets forth its effect upon the people. ' To turn aside
(or exclude) from judgment ihe weak, and to take away (by vio
lence) theright qfthepoor (or afflicted) of my people, that widnos

CHAPTER X. 145
may be (or so that widows are) their spoil, and the fatherless they
plunder. The infinitive indicates the tendency and actual effect
of their conduct. The phrase here used is to turn one aside
from the judgment, and seems intended to express not so much
the idea of judging wrongfully as that of refusing to judge at
all. The same charge is brought against the rulers of Judah
in ch. 1 : 23. The expression of my people intimates, not only
that the sufferers were Israelites, but that they sustained a pe
culiar relation to Jehovah, who is frequently described in
Scripture as the protector of the helpless, and especially of
widows and orphans (Ps. 68 : 5).
3. The wicked rulers are themselves addressed, and warned
of an approaching crisis, when they must be deprived of all
that they now glory in. And (though you are now powerful and
rich) what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the ruin
(which) shall come from far (though all may appear safe at
home) ? To whom will ye flee for help, and where will ye leave
your glory (for safe-keeping) ? The questions imply negation
as if he had said, you can do nothing to protect yourselves
there is no place of concealment for your glory. According to
the usage of the Old Testament, the day of visitation is a time
when God manifests his presence specially, whether in mercy
or in wrath, but most frequently the latter. The word trans
lated ruin originally signifies a noise or tumult, and is there
fore peculiarly appropriate to the ruin caused by foreign inva
sions, such as those of the Assyrians and Babylonians, which
appear to be alluded to. By glory we are to understand what
ever they now beasted of and trusted in.
4. It (your glory) does not bow beneath the prisoners, and (yet)
they shall fall beneath the slain— i. e. if they do not bow under
the captives they shall fall under the slain — or, such of them as
do not bow, etc, Beneath may either be strictly understood as
1

146 CHAPTER X
meaning under their feet, or simply among them. The most
natural interpretation of this difficult and much disputed verse
is that which explains it as a solemn declaration that their
glory and especially their noble chiefs must either go into cap
tivity or fall in battle. The concluding formula (for all this
his wrath is not turned back and still his hand is stretched out)
again suggests the fearful thought that all these accumulated
judgments would be insufficient to arrest the progress of the
sinner or appease the wrath of God.
5. The Assyrian is now distinctly brought into view, as the
instrument which God would use 1 .T^hing his people. But
instead of simply executing this \ mp+a Assyrians would seek
their own ends and exceed their comiu,.$ion, and for this they
must themselves be punished. r' The PropLet begins therefore
with a woe against them. Woe unto Asshur (the Assyrian or
Assyria itself), the rod of mu anger,- and- t\V staff in their (the
Assyrians') hand is my ivdwnalion, i. e its instrument.
Jc h th
6. Upon (or against^jira impious.^ (i. e. Israel, including
Ephraim and Judlj.gj ill I sA^ jtg (the Assyrian), and
against the people offl^prath (i. r^„„v<B/people that provokes it
and deserves it and is>p expert nee it) I will commission him
(or give him his orders), to take spoil and to seize prey (literally
to spoil spoil and to prey prey), and to place (or render) it (the
people) a trampling (a thing to be trodden under foot, a com
mon figure for extreme degradation) like the mire of streets. See
the same comparison in ch. 5 : 25 and Ps. 18 : 42.
7. The Assyrian is now described as an unconscious instru
ment in God's hand, and as entertaining- in his own mind no
thing but ambitious plans of universal conquest. And he (As-
*£ t?ia personified, or the king of Assyria) not so will think (will
not imagine for what purpose he was raised up, or will not in.

CHAPTER X 147
tend to execute my will), and his heart not so will think (or pur
pose) ; for (on the contrary) to destroy (is) in his heart ; and to cut
off nations not a few, i. e. very many nations.
8. This verse introduces the proof and illustration of his
selfishness and pride. For he will say (or giving it a descrip
tive form, he says) are not my princes altogether kings, or at the
same lime kings, mere princes with respect to me, but kings, as to
all the world besides ? By exalting his tributary princes or the
nobles of his court, he magnifies himself the more. The orien
tal monarchs, both in ancient and modern times, have affected
the title of Great King (Isai. 36 : 4. Hos. 8 : 10) and King of
kings (Ezek. 26 : 7. Dan. 2 : 37).
9. Having boasted of his princes, he now boasts of his achieve
ments. Is not Calno like Carcliemish ? Have they not been
equally subdued by me ? Or (is) not Hamath like Arpad 1 Or
(is) not Samaria, like Damascus ? Similar boastings were uttered
by Rabshakeh (ch. 36 : 19, 20. 37 : 12, 13). These conquests
were the more remarkable because so speedily achieved, and be
cause the Assyrians had before confined themselves within their
own limits. All the towns named were further north than Je
rusalem, and probably commanded the navigation of the two
great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Carcliemish was a fortified
town on an island in the Euphrates, at the mouth of the Cha-
boras, called by the Greeks Kigxfpiov, and in Latin Cercusium.
It had its own king (Isai. 37 : 13) and its own gods (Isai.
36 : 19), and was taken by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15 : 29).
Calno was the Ctesiphon ofthe Greeks, on the east bank of the
Tigris, opposite Seleucia. Hamath was a city of Syria, on the
Orontes, the mouth of which river, according to Keith (Land of
Israel, ch. 2. § 3), is the entering into Hamath, sometimes men
tioned as the northern boundary of Canaan in its widest extent
(Num. 34 : 8. Josh. 13: 5). It was also by the Greeks Epiphar

148 CHAPTER X.
nia. Abulfeda, the Arabian historian, reigned there about the
beginning of the fourteenth century. It is now one of the
largest towns in Asiatic Turkey, having about 100,000 inhabi
tants. Arpad, another town of Syria, near Hamath, with which
it is several times named. It is mentioned last in Jer. 49 : 23,
and is probably no longer in existence.
10. As my hand hath found (i. e. reached and seized) the idol-
kingdoms (worshippers of idols) — and their images (i. e. whose
images were more) than (those of) Jerusalem and Samaria — the
apodosis of the sentence follows in the next verse.
11. Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and to her idols, so
do to Jerusalem and Iter gods ? The interrogative particle,
which properly belongs to the second verb, is placed at the be
ginning of the sentence, in order to give prominence to its in
terrogative form, which involves an affirmation.
12. To the boastful speech of the Assyrian succeeds a pre
diction of his fate. Although he had been suffered to proceed
so far, and would be suffered to proceed still further in the work
of subjugation, till he reached the very verge of Zion and the
portals of Jerusalem, God had determined that the work should
go no further, but be there cut short by the infliction of a
signal vengeance on the selfishness and pride of the invader.
And it shall be (i. e. the end of all this glorying shall be) that
the Lord will cut his work short at Mount Zion and at Jerusa
lem. (Yes, even there) will I visit (i. e. manifest my presence
for the purpose of inflicting punishment) on the fruit (or out
ward exhibition) of the greatness of heart (i. e. arrogance and
pride) of the king of Assyria, and on the bstentation (or display)
of his loftiness of eyes (or looks, a common scriptural expression
for great haughtiness). His work may mean the Assyrian's
work of conquest, or the Lord's own work of punishment, in

CHAPTER X. 149
reference either to Assyria or Israel. Either of these senses
may be preferred without effect upon the meaning of the sen
tence. By the destruction of Sennacherib's army, God may be
said to have cut short the work of that invader, or to have cut
short his own work by accomplishing his purpose of destructiou,
or to have cut short his own work of punishing his people, by
relieving them from danger.
13. The Assyrian is again introduced as speaking, and as
arrogating -to himself the two most necessary qualities of a
successful ruler, energy and wisdom, military prowess and
political sagacity. The last clause gives the proofs of the asser
tion in the first, and mentions three things which the boaster
had disposed of at his pleasure, political arrangements, money,
and men. For he saith (in heart and life, if not in words),
by the strength of my (own) hand I have done (all this), and by
my (own) wisdom, for I am wise (as well as strong), and (in the
exercise of these two attributes) i" remove the bounds of the na
tions, and rob their hoards, and bring down, like a mighty man
(as I am), the inhabitants. By removing the bounds is to be
understood destroying the distinctions between nations by in
corporation in a single empire.
14. The rapidity and ease of the Assyrian conquests are ex
pressed by a natural and beautiful comparison. In seizing on
the riches of the nations, the conqueror had encountered no
more difficulty than if he had been merely taking eggs from a
forsaken nest, without even the impotent resistance which the
bird, if present, might have offered, by its cries and by the
flapping of its wings. My hand has found (i. e. reached and
Beized) the strength (or more specifically, the pecuniary strength
the wealth)" of the nations, and like the gathering of (or as one
gathers) eggs forsaken, so have I gathered all the earth (i. e. all
its inhabitants and their possessions), and there was none thai

150 CHAPTER X
moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped. The word peeped
used in the English versionis not only obsolete but liable to be
confounded with another of the same form.
15. Yet in all this the Assyrian was but an instrument in
God's hands, and his proud self-confidence is therefore as ab
surd as if an axe or a saw or a rod or a staff should exalt itself
above the person wielding it. Shall the axe glorify itself above
the (person) hewing with it ? Or shall the saw magnify itself above
the (person) handling it ? (This is indeed) like a rod's wielding
those who wield it, like a staff's lifting (that which is) no wood
(but a man). The idea is not merely that of boastful opposi
tion but of preposterous inversion of the true relation between
agent and instrument, between mind and matter. The last
clause of this verse has not only been very variously explained
by modern writers, but given great difficulty to the old trans
lators, as appears from the inconsistent and unmeaning ver
sions of it.
16. Therefore (on account of this impious self-confidence) the
Lord, the Lord of Hosts, will send upon his fat ones leanness, and
under his glory shall burn a burning like the burning of fire. The
accumulation of divine names calls attention to the source of the
threatened evil, and reminds the Assyrian that Jehovah is tho
only rightful Sovereign and the God of battles. The sending
of leanness upon them seems to be a figure for the reduction
of their strength, with or without allusion to the health of in
dividuals. Some suppose an exclusive reference to the slaugh
ter of Sennacherib's army, others a more general one to the
decline of the Assyrian power. Both are probably included,
the first as one of the most striking indications of the last.
By glory we are to "understand magnificence and greatness in
the general, civil and military, moral and material. The last

CHAITER X. • 151
clause is a lively figure for the suddenness, completeness, and
rapidity of the destruction.
17. And the Light of Israel shall be for afire (i. e. shall become
one, or shall act as one), and his Holy One for aflame, and it
shall burn and devour his (the Assyrian's) thorns and briers in
one day (i. e. in a very short time). The Light of Israel is no
doubt intended as an epithet of God himself, so called because
he enlightened Israel by his Word and Spirit, and cheered
them by the light of his countenance. There may be an allu
sion to the pillar of the cloud, and some think to the angel of
God's presence who was in it. The thorns and the briers are
explained by most interpreters as a figure for the whole body,
either in allusion to their pointed weapons or to the malice and
vexation of the Jews, or to their combustible nature and fitness
for the fire. Here, as in the foregoing verse, fire is mention
ed as a rapid and powerful consuming agent, without express
allusion to the manner or the means of the destruction threat
ened. 18. And the glory (i. e. beauty) of his (the Assyrian's) forest
and his fruitful field, from soul to body (i. e. totally), will he (the
Lord) consume, and it shall be like the wasting away of a sick
man. The Prophet meant to represent the greatness of Assy
ria under figures borrowed from the vegetable world, and for
that purpose uses terms descriptive of the most impressive as
pects under which a fruitful land presents itself, forests and
harvest-fields, the two together making a complete picture, with
out the necessity of giving to each part a distinctive import. The
forest and the fruitful field, here applied to Assyria, are applied by
Sennacherib himself to Israel (ch. 37 : 24). As the terms soul
and flesh are strictly inapplicable to the trees and fields, we must
either suppose that the Prophet here discards his metaphor,
and goes on to speak of the Assyrians as men, or that the

152 • CHAPTER X
phrase is a proverbial one, meaning body and soul, i. o. alto
gether, and is here applied without regard to the primary im
port of the terms, or their agreement with the foregoing figures.
The various ways in which the last clause is explained may
serve to show how difficult and doubtful it has seemed to all
interpreters, ancient and modern.
19. And the rest (or remnant) ofthe treesofhis forest shall be
few, and a child shall write them, i. e. make a list' or catalogue,
and by implication number them.
20. And it shall be (or come to pass) in that day (that is,
after these events have taken place), that the remnant cf Israel,
and the escaped ofthe house of Jacob, shall no longer add (i. e. con
tinue) to lean upon their smiter (him that smote them), but shall
lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. There is
here an allusion to the circumstances which gave rise to this
whole prophecy. Ahaz, renouncing his dependence upon God,
had sought the aid of Assyria, which secured his deliverance
from present danger, but subjected the kingdom to worse evils
from the very power to which they had resorted. But even
these oppressions were to have an end in the destruction of the
hostile power ; and when this should take place, Judah, now
instructed by experience, would no longer trust in tyrants but
sincerely in Jehovah. The reference is not to a sudden and
immediate effect, but to a gradual result of the divine dispensa
tions, so that what is here predicted, though it began to be ful
filled from the time of that catastrophe, did not receive its final
consummation before Christ's appearance. On this supposi
tion, we are better able to explain the remnant of Israel, as
meaning not merely those left in Judah after the carrying away
of the ten tribes — nor the Jews themselves who should outlive
the Assyrian oppressions, and to whom the same phrase is ap
plied 2 Kings 19 : 4, 31. 21 : 14— nor merely the Jews who

CHAPTER X. 163
should return from the Babylonish exile, and to whom it is ap
plied Hagg. 1 : 12. Zech. 8 : 6 — nor merely the spiritual Israel,
the remnant according to the election of grace, Rom. .11 : 5 — -but
all these at once, or rather in succession, should be taught the
lesson of exclusive reliance upon God, by his judgments on
his enemies. The verb stay used in the English Version is
equivocal, like peep in v. 14. because now employed chiefly in
another sense. The idea expressed by the Hebrew word is
simply that of leaning for support. The phrase in truth means
that they should trust God in sincerity, as opposed to a mere
hypocritical profession, and with constancy, as opposed to capri
cious vacillation.
21. A remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob, to God Al
mighty. There is an obvious allusion in these words to the
name of the Prophet's son Shear-jashvb, mentioned in ch. 7 : 3.
As the people were probably familiar with this name, its intro
duction here would be the more significant. The remnant of
Jacob~mea.T\s those who should survive God's judgments threat
ened in this prophecy, not merely the Assyrian invasion or
the Babylonish exile, but -the whole aeries of remarkable events;
by which the history of the chosen people would be marked,
including the destruction and dispersion of the nation by the
Romans. The return here spoken of is one that was to take
place at various times and in various circumstances. Under
the old dispensation, the prophecy was verified in the conver
sion of idolatrous Jews to the worship of Jehovah, or of wicked
Jews to a godly life, by means of their afflictions ; under the
new, in the admission of believing Jews to the Christian
church, and prospectively in the general conversion of Israel
to God, which is yet to be expected.
22. The Prophet now explains the use of the word remnant,
and shows that the threatening which it involves is not incon
7*

154 CHAPTER X
sistent with the ancient promises. For though thy people, oh
Israel (or Jacob), sha.ll be like the sand of the sea (in multitude),
(only) a remnant of them shall return. A consumption is decreed,
overflowing (with) righteousness. The first clause relates to a
certain event, but one still future (though thy people shall be or
is to be). There seems, as Calvin says, to be allusion to the
promises given to the Patriarchs (e: g. Gen:~l-3 : 16. 22 : 17),
and repeated by the Prophets (e. g. Hos. 1 : 10 ), tbe-fulfilment
of which might have seemed to be precluded by the threateniejg
in v. 21 ; to prevent which false conclusion, Isaiah here repeats
the threatening with the promise, ' though thy people shall in
deed be numerous, yet' etc. The name Israel may be under
stood as that of the nation ; but there is more force in the Ian
guage if we suppose an apostrophe to Israel or Jacob as the
common ancestor, thus keeping up a distinct allusio/n to "the
ancient promises. Thy people will then mean thy f posterity,
not the ten tribes exclusively, nor Judah exclusively, but the
whole race without distinction. The return predicted is not
merely that from the Babylonish exile, but a return to God
by true repentance and conversion as the only means of sal
vation. That a remnant only should escape, implies of course
a general destruction, which is positively foretold in the last
clause. 23. This verse contains a further explanation. For a con
sumption, even (the one) determined, (is) the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts,
making (or about to make) in the midst cf all the earth. This
verse and the one before it are quoted by Paul (Rom. 9 : 27, 28)
to show that the Jews, as such, were not the heirs of the prom
ise, which was intended for the remnant according to the
election of grace.
24. The logical connection of this verse is not with that im
mediately preceding, but with v. 19. Having there declared

CHAPTER X. 15C
the fate impending over the Assyrian, the Prophet, as it were,
turned aside to describe the effect of their destruction on the
remnant of Israel, and now, having done so, he resumes the
thread of his discourse, as if there had been no interruption.
Therefore (since this is soon to be the fate of the Assyrians) he
not afraid, oh my people inhabiting Zion, of Asshur (or the As
syrian). He shall smile thee (it is true) with the rod, and shall
lift up his staff upon (or over) thee in the way of Egypt. As
Zion was the seat of the true religion, and the people of God
are often said to inhabit Zion, not in a local but a spiritual
sense, most interpreters understand the object of address to be
Israel in general, while some restrict it to the pious and be
lieving Jews, the remnant of Israel, who were now to be con
soled and reassured amidst the judgments which were coming
on the nation. The last words, in the way of Egypt, are am
biguous, and admit of two distinct interpretations. Some early
writers, quoted by Calvin, make the phrase to mean, on the way
to (or from) Egypt, in allusion to the fact, that Sennacherib
attacked Judea in the course of an expedition against Egypt.
The weight of exegetical authority preponderates in favour of
a figurative exposition, making iif, the way synonymous with
in the manner, after the example, as in Amos 4:10. The sense
will- then be this : ' Assyria shall oppress thee as Egypt did
before.' 25. This verse assigns a reason for the exhortation not to
fear in v. 24. For yet a very little, and wrath is at an end, and
my anger (shall go forth or tend) to iheir destruction, i. e. the
destruction of the enemy. The first clause may have reference
to that destruction also, or to the restoration of God's people
to his favour.
26. The suddenness and completeness of the ruin threatened
are expressed by a comparison with two remarkable events in

156 CHAPTER X
sacred history, the slaughter of the Midianites by Gideon, and
the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. And Jehovah of
Hosts shall raise up against him (the Assyrian) a scourge (or in
strument of vengeance), like ihe smiting of Midian at the rock
Oreb, and his rod (Jehovah's) shall again be over the sea, and he
shall lift it up (again) as he did in Egypt (literally, in the way
of Egypt, as in v. 24). The rock Oreb is particularly men
tioned because one of the Midianitish princes, who had escaped
from the field of battle, was there slain by Gideon ; and so
Sennacherib, although he should survive the slaughter of his
host, was to be slain at home (ch. 37 : 38). In the last clause
there is a beautiful allusion to v. 24. As the Assyrians lifted
up the rod over Israel in the manner of Egypt, so God would
lift up the rod over them in the manner of Egypt. As they
were like the Egyptians in their sin, so should they now be
like them in their punishment. The construction of the last
clause in the English Bible — and (as) his rod was, upon the sea,
(so) shall he lift it up etc. — puts an arbitrary meaning on tho
particles. According to the first construction given, his rod
(shall bo again) upon the sea is a poetical expression for ' his
power shall again be miraculously displayed '
27. And it shall be (happen or come to pass) in that. day
(when this prediction is fulfilled) that his burden (the burden
imposed by him. the heavy load of Assyrian oppression, per
haps with special reference to the tribute imposed upon Heze
kiah) shall depart (be removed) from thy shoulder, and his yoke
(a poetical equivalent to burden) from thy neck (oh Israel !) ana
ihe yoke (itself) shall be destroyed (or broken off) because of (liter
ally, from the face of) oil (or fatness or anointing). The only
difficulty lies in the concluding words, which have been vari
ously understood. Some suppose an allusion to the softening
of the yoke with oil, or to its preservation by it. But in thia
interpretation, the explanatory faot is arbitrarily assumed

CHAPTER X Ui
Others take the word in the sense of fat or fatness, and suppose
an allusion to the rejection of the yoke by a fat bullock, Deut.
32 : 15. Hos. 4 : 16. 10 : 11, or to the bursting of the yoke
by the increasing fatness of the bullock's neck, or to the wear
ing away of the yoke by the neck, instead of the neck by the
yoke. The general meaning of the verse is plain, as a predic
tion of deliverance from Assyrian bondage.
28. From the time of the Assyrian's overthrow the Prophet
now reverts to that of his invasion, which he describes in the
most vivid manner by rapidly enumerating the main points of
his march from the frontier of Judah to the gates of Jerusalem.
Some regard the description as ideal and intended to express,
in a poetical manner, the quarter from which the invasion
was to come and its general direction, by specifying cer
tain places as the points through which it was to pas3. The
same position is maintained in Robinson's Researches (vol. 2.
p. 149), on the ground that the road here traced could never
have been commonly used, because impracticable from the
nature of the ground. If passable al. all, however, it may well
have been adopted in a case of bold invasion, where surprise
was a main object. The difficulties of the route in question
must be slight compared with those by which Hannibal and
Napoleon crossed the Alps. It is therefore not impossible nor
even improbable, that Isaiah intended to delineate the actual
course taken by Sennacherib. At the same time this is not a
necessary supposition, since we may conceive the Prophet
standing in vision on the walls of Jerusalem, and looking
towards the quarter from which the invasion was to come,
enumerating certain intervening points, without intending to
predict that he would really pass through them. In this case,
the more difficult the route described, the better suited would it
be to express the idea that the enemy would come in spite of
all opposing obstacles The places here enumerated seem to

168 CHAPTER X
have belonged chiefly or wholly to the tribes of Benjamin and
Judah. Some of them are still in existence, and the site of
several has been recently determined by the personal observa
tions and inquiries of Robinson and Smith. The catalogue
begins at the frontier of the kingdom of Judah, and at the first
place conquered by the Israelites on taking possession of the
land. The language is precisely that of an eye-witness describ
ing at the moment what he actually sees. He is come to Aiath
— he. is passed lo Migron — to Michmash he intrusts his baggage.
Although the form Aiath nowhere else occurs, it is commonly
supposed to be the same with Ai, the ancient royal city of the
Canaanites, destroyed by Joshua (Josh. 8:1), and afterwards
rebuilt (Ezra 2 : 28,^Jfeh. 7 : T32). The ancient Ai was situ
ated on a height-to the north-east of Jerusalem. According
to Dr. Robinson, its site is probably still marked by certain ruins,
south of Deir Diwan, an hour from Bethel. The present form,
he passes, represents the thing as actually taking place ; the
preterite, he has passed, implies that he has scarcely reached a
place before he leaves it, and is -therefore more expressive of
his rapid movements. The precise situation of Migron is now
unknown, as it is mentioned only here and in 1 Sam. 14:2,
from which text it would seem to have been near to Gibeah.
Michmash is still in existence under the almost unchanged
name of Mukhmas, to the north-east of Jeba, on the slope of
a steep valley. The place is now desolate, but exhibits signs
of former strength, foundations of hewn stone and prostrate
columns. 29. They have passed the pass, a narrow passage between
Michmash and Geba (1 Sam. 13 : 3, 5 etc.), a spot no doubt
easily maintained against an enemy. Their passing it implies
that they met with no resistance, or had overcome it, and that
there was now little or nothing to impede their march. In
Geba they have taken up their lodging (literally, lodged a lodg

CHAPTER X. . 159
ing). Geba appears from 1 Kings 15 : 22 to have been on or
near the line between Benjamin and Judah. There is a small
village now called Jeba, half in ruins, with large hewn stones
and the remains of a square tower, on the opposite side of the
valley from the ancient Michmash. This place Robinson and
Smith supposed at first to be Geba, but afterwards concluded
that it must be Gibeah of Saul, and that the site of Geba must
be further down, where they heard of ruins, but had not time
lo explore (vol. 2. pp. 114, 115). Thus far he has described
what the Assyrians themselves do — they cross the line at Ajath
— pass through Migron — leave their baggage at Michmash —
lodge at Geba. Now he describes what the places themselves
do ; Ramah trembles — Gibeah of Saul flees. Ramah was a city
of Benjamin, near- Gibeah, but further from Jerusalem. It is
still in existence as Er-ram. It is about half a mile nearly due
west of Jeba, but hidden from it by intervening heights (Rob
inson, vol. 2. pp. 108 — 114). It is two hours north of Jerusa
lem, on the eastern side of the road to Nablus. The identity
of this place with the ancient Ramah was long lost sight of, but
has been clearly ascertained by Smith and Robinson. Ramah
trembles (or is afraid) at the enemy's approach, a strong and
beautiful personification, or the place may be simply put for its
inhabitants. The trembling and flight of these towns is natu
rally represented as occurring while the enemy was resting at
Geba. It may imply, either that Ramah was not in the direct
line of the march but within sight and hearing of it, or on the
contrary, that it was the next place to be reached, and trem
bling in apprehension of it. A still stronger metaphor is used
as to the next place. Gibeah of Saul, so called because it was
his birth-place and residence, and to distinguish it from others
of the same name, is fled. There is here a rapid but marked
climax. While Ramah trembles, Gibeah flees.
30. To terror and flight he now adds an audible expression

160 CHAPTER XL
of distress, representing one place as crying, another as listen
ing, and according to some writers, a third as responding. At
the same time he exchanges the language of description for that
of direct personal address. Cry aloud, daughter Gallim (or
daughter of Gallim), hearken Laishah, (ah) poor Anatholh ! The
site of Gallim is no longer known, but it was no doubt some
where in the neighbourhood of Gibeah. The personification is
made more distinct by the use of the word daughter, whether
employed simply for that purpose and applied to the towia
itself, or, as in many other cases, to the population, as an indi-\
vidual. * i

31. Madmenah wanders (or removes from her place), the iri
habitants of Gebim flee (or cause to flee i.e. carry off their goods).
These places are no longer in existence, nor are they mentioned
elsewhere. In this verse, for the first time, the inhabitants are
expressly mentioned and distinguished from the plaee itself.
32. This verse conducts him to the last stage of his progress,
to a point so near the Holy City that he may defy it thence.
Yet to-day in Nob (he is) to! stand (and there) will shake his hand
(a gesture of menace and defiance) against the mountain of the
house (or daughter) of Zion (i. e. Mount Zion itself), the hill of
Jerusalem. Nob «ras a sacerdotal city of Benjamin near Ana-
thoth (Neh. -11 : 32), and according to some, within sight of
Jerusalem Robinson and Smith explored the ridge of Olivet for
traces of this town, but without success. The Nob here men
tioned is no doubt the same that Saul destroyed, although there
was another in the plain towards Lydda.
33. To the triumphant march and proud defiance now suc
ceeds abruptly the tremendous downfall of the enemy himself,
in describing which the Prophet resumes the figure dropped at
v. 19, and represents the catastrophe as the sudden and violent

CHAPTER X. 161
prostration of a forest. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts (is)
lopping (or about to lop) the branch (of this great tree) with ter
ror (or tremendous violence), and the (trees) h'gh of stature (shall
he) felled, and the lofty ones brought low. Lofty of stature is not
to be applied to men directly, as descriptive either of their pride
or their appearance, but to trees, as representing the Assyrians
in general or their chief men in particular.
34. And he (Jehovah) shall cut down (or away) the thickets cf
the forest (the Assyrian army) with iron, (i. e. with an instru
ment of iron, as an axe), and this Lebanon (this wooded moun
tain, this enormous forest, still referring to the host of the As
syrians) with (or by) a mighty one. It is clear that the iron of
this verse and the fire of v. 17 denote one and the same thing,
both implying that the forest was to perish, not by slow decay,
but by sudden violence, which shows the absurdity of giving a
specific sense to all the particulars in such a picture. Thus
the thickets are probably mentioned only to complete the picture
of a forest totally destroyed. The general figure of a forest is
made more specific by referring to Lebanon, a mountain cele
brated for its woods.

CHAPTER XI.

This chapter is occupied with promises of restoration and
deliverance, external safety and internal peace, to God's own
people, as contrasted with the ruin previously threatened to their
enemies. Borrowing his imagery from the fall of the Assyrian
forest, just before predicted, the Prophet represents a shoot as
springing from the prostrate trunk of Jesse, or rather from his
roots, and invested by the Spirit of Jehovah with all the neces-

162 CHAPTER XL
sary attributes of a righteous judge and ruler, va. 1-4. The
pacific effect of the Messiah's reign is then described tythe
beautiful figure of wild and domestic animals dwelling and feed
ing together, and of children unhurt by the most venomous
reptiles ; to which is added an express prediction that all mutual
injuries, shall cease in consequence of the universal prevalence
of the knowledge of Jehovah, vs. 5-9. To these figures bor
rowed from the animal creation, the Prophet now adds others
from the history of Israel, but intended to express the same
idea. The Messiah is here represented as a signal set up to
the nations, gathering the outcasts of his people from all quar
ters, and uniting them again into one undivided body, free from
all sectional and party animosities, vs. 10-13. Under figures
of the same kind, the triumph of the church is then represented
as a conquest over the old enemies of Israel, especially those
nearest to the Holy Land ; while the interposition of God's
power to effect this and the preceding promises is vividly de
scribed as a division of the Red Sea and Euphrates, and a de
liverance from Egypt and Assyria, vs. 14-16. The evidently
figurative character of some parts of this chapter seems to fur
nish a sufficient key to the interpretation of those parts which
in themselves would be more doubtful.
1. The figure of the preceding verse is continued but applied
to a new subject, the downfall of the house of David and the
Jewish state, which is contrasted with the downfall of Assyria.
The Assyrian forest was to fall forever, but that of Judah was
to sprout again. And there shall come forth a twig (or shoot)
from the stock (or stump) of Jesse, and a branch from his roots
shall grow. The only application of this passage that can be
sustained is that to Jesus Christ, who sprang from the family
of Jesse when reduced to its lowest estate, and to whom alone
the subsequent description is literally applicable. The fact of
Christ s descent from David is not only repeatedly affirmed, but

CHAPTER XL 163
constantly presupposed in the New Testament, as a fact too
notorious to be called in question or to call for proof. Jesse
is supposed by some to be named instead of David, because
Jesse resided at Bethlehem where Christ was to be born, and
because the family is here considered as reduced to the same
obscure condition in which Jesse lived, as contrasted with that
to which David was exalted, and which the mention of the latter
would naturally have recalled to mind.
2. The person, whose origin and descent are metaphorically
described in the preceding verse, is here described by his per
sonal qualities, as one endowed with the highest intellectual
and moral gifts by the direct influences of the Holy Spirit.
And upon him shall rest ihe Spirit of Jehovah, a Spirit of wisdom
and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. The genitives do not
denote qualities but effects of the Spirit. The Spirit of Jeho
vah is not here described as being himself wise etc. but as the
author of wisdom in others. This is evident from the last clause,
where the fear of Jehovah cannot be an attribute of his Spirit,
but must be a fruit of his influence. The qualities enumerated
are not to be confounded as mere synonymes, nor on the other
hand distinguished with metaphysical precision. None of these
terms is entirely exclusive of the others. Wisdom, understand
ing, the knowledge of God, the fear of God, are all familiar
scriptural descriptions of religion or piety in general. Wisdom
and understanding are often joined as equivalent expressions.
The latter, according to its etymology, strictly denotes the
power of discernment or discrimination. Both are applied to
theoretical and practical wisdom, and especially to moral and
religious subjects. Counsel and strength are the ability to plan
and the ability to execute, neither of which can avail without
the other. The knowledge of God does not in itself mean the
love of him, although it may infer it as a necessary consequence

164 CH A.PTER XL
The correct knowledge of him certainly produces godly fear 01
holy reverence, and the two are probably put here for religion
in the general. The only person in whom the terms of this
prediction have been verified is Jesus Christ, whose wisdom
displayed itself in early life and is expressly ascribed to. a spo-
cial divine influence ; who proved himself a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart ; whoso ministry was not only
characterized by fortitude and boldness, but attested by mira
cles and mighty deeds ; whose knowledge of divine things far
surpassed that of all other men ; and who was himself a living ¦
model of all piety.
3. The Messiah is now described as taking pleasure in true
piety and recognizing its existence by an infallible sagacity or
power of discerning good and evil, which would render him su
perior to the illusions of the senses and to every external in
fluence. This faculty is figuratively described as an exquisite
olfactory perception, such as enables its possessor to distinguish
between different odours. And his sense of smelling (i. e. his
power of perception, with a seeming reference to the pleasure it
affords him, shall be exercised) in (or upon) the fear of Jehovah
(as an attribute of others), aitd (being thus infallible) not by the
sight (or according to the sight) of his eyes shall he judge, and not
by the hearing of his ears shall he decide. He shall take de
light in goodness, and be able to distinguish ' it without fail
from its counterfeits. The sight of the eyes and the hearing
of the ears are put for the testimony of those senses by which
men are chiefly governed in their judgments. He should not
judge of character at all by the senses, but by an infallible
sagacity or power of discerning good and evil. His consolation
shall be in the fear of ihe Lord i. e. afforded by religion. He
shall not judge according to the sight cf his eyes i. e. shall not
despair even under the most discouraging appearances. He
shaf.l not reason according to the hearing of his ears i. e. he shall

CHAPTER XL 165
draw no conclusions from the rumours that nay reach him, but
believe the declarations of the Prophets.
4. The Messiah, as a righteous judge, is now exhibited in
contrast with the unjust magistrates of Judah, as described in
ch. 1 : 23. 10 : 2. 5 : 23. And he shall judge in righteousness the
weak (or poor) and do justice with equity (or impartiality) to the
meek of the earth, and shall smite the earth wilh the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked. By
the earth to be smitten, some understand the inhabitants of the
earth. But the expression seems at least to include the smiting
of the earth itself, which is elsewhere represented as the object
of God's wrath, and is here described as cursed on man's ac
count. By a breath of his lips, we are to understand a mere word,
or a mere breath, as something even less than a word, and yet
sufficient to effect his purpose. Paul, in 2 Thess. 2 : 8, applies
these words, with-littlg change, to the destruction of Antichrist
at the coming of Christ. It does not follow, however, that this
is a specific and exclusive prophecy of that event, but only that
it comprehends it, as it evidently does. If one of the Messiah's
works is to destroy his enemies, it cannot be fulfilled without
the destruction of the last and greatest of those enemies to
whom the Scriptures make allusion. If the promise in the first
clause is of general import, the threatening in the last must be
coextensive with it.
5. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, ana
faithfulness the girdle of his reins, i. e. he shall be clothed or
invested with these attributes, and" they shall adhere closely to
him. The metaphor of putting on or clothing one's self with
moral attributes is not unfrequent in the Scriptures. The gir
dle is mentioned as an essential part of oriental dress, and that
which keeps the others in their proper place, and qualifies the
wearer for exertion.

166 CHAPTER XL
6. Hero, as in ch. 2:4 and 9 : 5, 6, universal peace is repre
sented as a consequence of the Messiah's reign, but under a new
and striking figure. And the wolf shall dwell wilh the lamb, and
the leopard shall lie down wilh the kid, and the calf and young
lion and falling together, and a little child shall lead them. The
third Hebrew noun includes the leopard and the panther, and
perhaps the tiger. Calf denotes probably any fatted beast, and
may here be mentioned because beasts of prey select such as
their victims. The "wolf is introduced as the natural enemy
of the lamb, and the leopard, as some allege, sustains the saroe.
relation to the kid. Dwell does not mean to dwell in gene-J
ral, but to sojourn as a stranger or a guest, and implies thaft
the lamb should, as it were, receive the wolf into its honie.
The verb translated lie down is especially appropriated to
express the lying down of sheep and other animals. Hero
it may denote that the leopard, accustomed j to crouch while
waiting for its prey, shall now lie down peaceably beside it;
or there may be an allusion to the restlessness and fleetness
of the wild beast, now to be succeeded by the quiet habits of
the ruminating species. Most Christian writers, ancient and
modern, explain the prophecy as wholly metaphorical, and de
scriptive of the peace to be enjoyed by God's people under the
new dispensation. Some apply the passage to the external
peace between the church and the world, but it is commonly
regarded as descriptive of the change wrought by Christianity
in wicked men themselves. To give a specific meaning to each
figure in the landscape, making the lamb, the calf, and the fat
ted beast, denote successive stages in the Christian's progress,
the lion open enemies, the leopard more disguised ones, the
wolf treacherous and malignant ones, the little child the minis
try, not only mars the beauty but obscures the real meaning of
the prophecy.
7. And tlie cow and the bear shall feed — together shall theit

CHAPTER XI. 167
young lie down — and the lion like the ox shall eat draw. The
lion's eating straw implies not only cohabitation with domestic
cattle, but a change of his carnivorous habits. It denotes a
total change of habit, and indeed of nature, and is therefore a
fit emblem for the revolution which the gospel, in proportion
to its influence, effects in the condition of society, with some
allusion possibly, as before suggested, to the ultimate deliver
ance of the inferior creation from that bondage of corruption,
to which, for man's sake, it is now subjected.
8. To express the idea still more strongly, venomous serpents
are represented as innoxious, not to other beasts, but to the hu
man species, and to the most helpless and unthinking of that
species. And the sucking child shall play on (or over) the hole
of the asp, and on the den of the basilisk (or cerastes) shall the
weaned child stretch (or place) its hand. The precise discrimina
tion of the species of serpents here referred to, is of no impor
tance to the exegesis. All that is necessary to a correct under
standing of the verse is that both words denote extremely
venomous and deadly reptiles. The weaned child means of
course a child just weaned. This verse is a mere continuation
of the metaphor begun in v. 7, and expresses, by an additional
figure, the change to be effected in society by the prevalence of
true religion, destroying noxious influences and rendering it
possible to live in safety.
9. The strong figures of the foregoing context are now re
solved into literal expressions. They (indefinitely, men in
general) shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, be
cause the land is full of the knowledge of Jehovah (literally, of
knowing him) like the waters covering the sea. This is not so
much a direct continuation of the previous description as a sum
mary explanation of it. My holy mountain means Zion, or
Moriah, or the city built upon them, not considered simply as

168 CHAPTER XL
a capital city, but as the seat of the true religion, and at that
time the local habitation of the church. What was true of the
church there is true of the church everywhere. The first clause
clearly shows that the foregoing description is to be figuratively
understood. That the wolf and the lamb should Jie down to
gether, means in other words, that none .s^fiTdnurt ot destroy
in the Messiah's kingdom. The reason-is given in the last clause.
The point of comparison in the last clause is not the megre ex
tent of surface, nor the depth but the fulness of the land tio the
extent of its capacity. This passage is descriptive of the reign
of the Messiah, not at any one period, but as a whole. A his
torian, in giving a general description of the reign of David,
would not use language applicable only to its beginning'. The
prophecy is therefore one of gradual fulfilment. So/far as the
cause operates, the effect follows, and when the cause shall ope
rate without restraint, the effect will be complete and universal.
The use of the future in the first clause and the preterite in the
second may imply, that the prevalence of the knowledge of Je
hovah must precede that of universal peace. It is not till tho
land has been filled with that knowledge, that men will cease to
injure and.destroy.
10. Having described the Messiah's reign and its effects, he
now brings his person into view again. And in that day shall
tlie root of Jesse which (is) standing (or set up) be for a signal to
ihe nations ; unto him shall the gentiles seek, and his rest (or resi
dence) shall be glorious. The family of Jesse now under ground
shall reappear and become a signal, raised to mark a place of
rendezvous, for which purpose lofty trees are said to have been
sometimes used. A signal of the nations then is one displayed
to gather them. The reference is to Christ's manifestation
to the gentiles through the preaching of the gospel. To seek
to is not merely to inquire about, through curiosity, or to
seek one's favour in the general, or to pay religious honours,

CHAPTER XI. 169
but more specifically to consult as an oracle or depository of
religious trutb. By his rest we are to understand his place
of rest, his residence. The church, Christ's home, shall bo
glorious from his presence and the accession of the gentiles.
1 \. And it shall be (or Come to pass) in that day (the days
of the Messiah) the Lord shall add his hand (or add to apply his
hand) a second time, not second in reference to the overthrow
of Pekah and Rezin, or the return from Babylon, but to the
deliverance from Egypt. The remnant of his people, not the
survivors of the original captives, but those living at the time
of the deliverance, or still more strictly, the remnant accord
ing to the election of grace. The countries mentioned are
put for all in which the Jews should be scattered. There is no
importance to be attached to the order in which they are enu
merated, nor is the precise extent of each material. Assyria
and Egypt are named first and together, as the two great
foreign powers, with which the Jews were best acquainted.
Pathros is Thebais or Upper Egypt, as appears not only
from Scriptural usage, but also from the Egyptian etymology
of the name, as denoting the region of the south. Cush. is
not merely Ethiopia proper, buff Ethiopia, perhaps including
part of Arabia, from which it appears to have been settled.
Shinar is properly the plain in which Babylon was built, thence
put for Babylonia. Elam is Elymais, a province of Persia,
contiguous to Media, sometimes put for the whole country.
Hamath is a city of Syria on the Orontes (see above, ch. 10 : 9).
Islands of the sea, not merely islands in the strict sense, but the
shores of the Mediterranean, whether insular or continental,
and substantially equivalent to Europe, meaning the part of it
then known, and here put last, as being the most important. This
prophecy does not relate to the Gentiles or the Christian church,
but to the Jews. The dispersions spoken of are not merely
such as had already taken place at the date of the prediction
8

170 CHAPTER XL
but others then still future, including not only the Balylonisb.
exile but the present dispersion. The prophecy was not ful
filled in the return of the refugees after Sennacherib's discom
fiture, nor in the return from Babylon, and but partially in the
preaching of the gospel to the Jews. The complete fulfilment
is to be expected when all Israel shall be saved. The predic
tion must be figuratively understood, because the nations men
tioned in this verse have long ceased to exist. The event pre
figured is, according to some, the return of. the Jews to Pales
tine; but according to others, their admission to Christ's king
dom on repentance and reception of the Christian faith.
12. And he (Jehovah) shall set up a signal to the nations, and
shall gather the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah shall
he bring together from the four wings cf the earth. To the nations,
i. e. in their sight. The nations thus addressed are not the
Jews but the Gentiles, and, as most interpreters suppose, those
Gentiles among whom the Jews were scattered, and who are
summoned by the signal here displayed to set the captives free,
or to assist them in returning. The verse then contains two
successive predictions ; first, that the gentiles shall be called,
and then that the Jews shall Be restored, which agrees exactly
with Paul's account of the connection between these events.
Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the
gentiles be come in (Rom. 1 1 : 25, 26). On this hypothesis,
the signal is displayed to the gentiles, not that they may send
or bring the Jews back, but that they may come themselves,
and then the gathering of Israel and Judah is added, as a
distinct if not a subsequent event. Israel and Judah are put
together to denote the race in general. If this verse be un
derstood as "predicting the agency of the Gentiles in restoring
the Jews, it may be said to have been partially fulfilled in the
return from Babylon under the auspices of Cyrus, and again in
all efforts made by gentile Christians to convert the Jews ; but

CHAPTER XL , 171
its full accomplishment is still prospective, and God may even
now be lifting up a signal to the gentiles for this very purpose.
13. And the envy cf Ephraim shall depart (or cease), and the
enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
and Judah shall not vex (oppress or harass) Ephraim. Jacob.
in his prophetic statement of the fortunes of his sons, dis
regards the rights of primogeniture and gives the pre-eminence
to Judah and Joseph (Gen. 49 : 8-12. 22-26), and in the
family of the latter to the younger son Ephraim (Gen 48 : 19).
Hence from the time of the exodus, these two were regarded
as the leading tribes of Israel. Judah was much more numer
ous than Ephraim (Num. 1 : 27, 33), took precedence during
the journey in the wilderness (Num. 2 : 3. 10 : 14), and re
ceived the largest portion in the promised land. But Joshua
was an Ephraimite (Num. 13 : 8), and Shiloh, where the taber
nacle long stood (Jos. 18 : 1. 1 Sam. 4 : 3), was probably within
the limits of the same tribe. The ambitious jealousy of the
Ephraimites towards other tribes appears in their conduct to
Gideon and Jephthah (Judges 8 : 1. 12 : 1). Their special
jealousy of Judah showed itself in their temporary refusal to
submit to David after the death of Saul, in their adherence
to Absalom against his father, and in the readiness with which
they joined in the revolt of Jeroboam, who was himself of the
tribe of Ephraim (1 Kings 11 : 26). This schism was, there
fore, not a sudden or fortuitous occurrence, but the natural re
sult of causes which had long been working. The mutual re
lation of the two kingdoms is expressed in the recorded fact,
that there was war between Rehoboam and, Jeroboam, and between
Asa and Baasha. all their days (1 Kings 14 : 30. 15 : 16).
Exceptions to the general rule, as in the case of Ahab and
Jehoshaphat, were rare, and a departure from the principles
and ordinary feelings of the parties. The ten tribes, which
assumed the name of Israel after the division, and perhaps be-

172 CHAPTER XL
fore it, regarded the smaller and less warlike state with a con
tempt which is well expressed by Jehoash in his parable of the
cedar and the thistle (2 Kings 14:9), unless the feeling there
displayed be rather personal than national. On the other
hand, Judah justly regarded Israel as guilty, not only of politi
cal revolt, but of religious apostasy (Ps. 78 : 9-11), and the
jealousy of Ephraim towards Judah would of course be in
creased by the fact that Jehovah had forsaken the tabernacle
of Shiloh (Ps. 78 : 60), refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and
chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the
Mount Zion which he loved (ib. vs. 67, 68). This view of the
matter will serve to explain why it is that when the Prophet
would foretell a state of harmony and peace, he does so by de
claring that the hereditary and proverbial enmity of Judah and
Israel should cease. It also explains why he lays so much
more stress upon the envy of Ephraim than upon the enmity
of Judah, viz. because the latter was only an indulgence of un
hallowed feeling, to which, in the other case, were superadded
open rebellion and apostasy from God. Hence the first three
members of the verse before us speak of Ephraim's enmity to
Judah, and only the fourth of Ju.dah's enmity to Ephraim ; as
if it had occurred to the Prophet, that although it was Ephraim
whose disposition needed chiefly to be changed, yet Judah also
had a change to undergo, which is therefore intimated in the
last clause, as a kind of after-thought. The envy of Ephraim
against Judah shall depart ; the enemies of Judah (in the
kingdom of the ten tribes) shall be cut off; Ephraim shall no
more envy Judah ; yes, and Judah in its turn shall cease to
vex Ephraim. That this prophecy was not fulfilled in the re
turn from exile, is sufficiently notorious. That it had not been
fulfilled when Christ came, is plain from the continued enmity
between the Jews, Samaritans, and Galileans. The only ful
filment it has ever had is in the abolition of all national and
sectional distinctions in the Christian church (Gal. 3 : 27, 29,

CHAPTER XL Ll3
5 . 6), to which converted Jews as well as others must submit.
Its full accomplishment is yet to come, in the re-union of the
tribes of Israel under Christ their common head (Hos. 1 : 11).
14. Instead of assailing or annoying one another, they aro
represented as making common cause against a common enemy.
And they (Ephraim and Judah, undivided Israel) shall fly (like
a bird of prey) upon the shoulder of ihe Philistines towards the
sea (or westward) ; together they shall spoil the sons ofthe east (the
Arabians and perhaps the Syrians) ; Edomand Moab the. stretch
ing out of their hand (i. e. the object of that action) and the chil
dren of Ammon their obedience (i. e. their subjects). All the
names are those of neighbouring nations with whom the He
brews were accustomed to wage war. Edom, Moab, and Am
mon, may be specially named for an additional reason, viz. that
they were nearly related to Israel, and yet among his most in
veterate enemies. The Jews explain this as a literal prediction
having respect to the countries formerly possessed by the races
here enumerated. Most Christian writers understand it spirit
ually of the conquests to be achieved by the true religion, and
suppose the nations here named to be simply put for enemies
in general, or for the heathen world ; this method of descrip
tion being rendered more emphatic by the historical associa
tions which the names awaken, ^o fly upon means here to fly
at, or to pounce upon, the figure being that of an eagle or other
bird of prey.
15. To the destruction of the enemies of Israel is added a
prediction 'that all obstacles, even the most formidable, to the
restoration of God's people, shall be overcome or taken away
by his almighty power. This idea is naturally expressed by
the dividing of the Red Sea and Euphrates, because Egypt
and Assyria are the two great powers from which Israel had
Buffered and was yet to be delivered. And Jehovah wiU destroy

174 CHAPTER XL
(by drying up) the tongue (or bay) ofthe sea of Egypt (i. e. the
Red Sea), and he will wave his hand (as a gesture of menace or
a symbol of miraculous power) over the river (Euphrates), in
the violence cf his wind (or breath), and smite it (the Euphrates)
into seven streams, and make (his people) tread (it) in shoes (i. e.
dry-shod). Tongue, which is applied in other languages to pro-
1 jecting points of land, is here descriptive of a bay or indenta
tion in a shore. The sea of Egypt is not the Nile, as some
suppose, although the name sea has been certainly applied to it
from the earliest times, but the Red Sea, called the Sea of
Egypt for the same reason that it is called the Arabian Gulf.
The tongue of this sea is the narrow gulf or bay in which it
terminates to the north-west near Suez, called by the old
writers the Sinus Heroopolitanus, to distinguish it from the
Sinus Elaniticus, the north-east extremity. Through the for
mer the Israelites passed when they left Egypt, and it is now
predicted that it shall be utterly destroyed, i. e. dried up. At
the same time the Euphrates is to -be smitten into seven
streams, and so made fordable, as Cyrus is said to have reduced
the Gyndes by diverting its water into many artificial channels.
The terms are probably strong figures drawn from the early
history and experience of Israel.
16. And there shall be a highway far the remnant of my people,
which shall be left, from Assyria, as there was far Israel, in the
day of his coming up from the land of Egypt. This verse admits
of two interpretations. According to one, it is a comparison
of the former deliverance from Egypt with the future one from
Assyria and the neighbouring countries, where most Jewish
exiles were to be found. According to the other, it is a repe
tition of the preceding promise, that previous deliverances,
particularly those from Egypt and Assyria, should be repeated
in the future history of the church. The fulfilment has been
sought -by different interpreters, in the return from Babylon,

CHAPTER XII. 175
in the general progress of the gospel, and in the future restora
tion of the Jews. The first of these can at most be regarded
only as a partial or inchoate fulfilment, and against the last
lies the obvious objection, that the context contains promises
and threatenings which are obviously figurative, although so
expressed as to contain, allusion to remarkable events in the
experience of Israel. Such is the dividing or drying up of the
tongue of the Red Sea, which must either be figuratively un
derstood, or supposed to refer to a future miracle, which last
hypothesis is certainly not necessary, and therefore can be fully
justified by nothing but the actual event.

CHAPTER XII.
Taking occasion from the reference to Egypt and the exodus
in the close of the preceding chapter, the Prophet now puts
into the mouth of Israel a song analogous to that of Moses,
from which some of the expressions are directly borrowed.
The structure of this Psalm is very regular, consisting of two
parts, in each of' which the Prophet first tells the people what
they will say, or have a right to say, when the foregoing prom
ises are verified, and then addresses them again in his own
person and in the usual language of prediction. In the first
stanza, they are made to acknowledge the divine compassion
and to express their confidence in God as the source of all
their strength, and therefore the rightful object of their praise,
vs. 1-3. In the second stanza, they exhort one another to
make known what God has done for them, not only at home
but among all nations, and are exhorted by the Prophet to re
joice in the manifested presence of Jehovah, vs. 4—6.

176 CHAPTERXIL
1; And thou (Israel, the people of God) shalt say in thai
day (when the foregoing promise is accomplished) I will praise
thee (strictly, acknowledge thee as worthy, and as a benefactor)
far thou wast angry with me, but thine anger is turned away
and thou comfortest me. — The apparent incongruity of thanking
God because he was angry, is removed by considering that tho
subject of the thanksgiving is the whole complex idea ex
pressed in the remainder of the verse, of which God's being
angry is only one element. It was not simply because God
was angry that the people praise him, but because he was angry
and his anger ceased. The same idea is expressed by the
English Version in -another form, by intimating early in the
sentence the relation of its parts, whereas it is characteristic
of the Hebrew style to state things absolutely first, and qualify
them afterwards. The same mode of expression is used by
Paul in Greek, when he says (Romans 6 : 17), God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have from the heart
obeyed etc. Thou comfortest me, not by words only but by
deeds. 2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and not be
afraid ; for my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, and he is be
come my salvation.- The first verb may be rendered in the
present (I trust), as describing an actual state of mind ; but
the future form, while it sufficiently implies this, at the "same
time expresses a fixed determination, I will trust, be confident,
secure. The next words contain a negative expression of the
same idea. My strength and my song, i. e. the source of my
protection and the subject of my praise.
3. And ye shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvo-
. tion. This is a natural and common figure for obtaining and
enjoying divine favour.

CHAPTER XII. 177
4. And ye shall say (to one another) in that day, praise (or
give thanks to) Jehovah, call upon his name (proclaim it), make
known among the nations his exploits (or achievements), remind
(them) lhat his name is exalted. Name is here used in the preg
nant sense of that whereby God makes himself known, in
cluding explicit revelation and the exhibition of 'his attributes
in all.5. Praise Jehovah (by singing, and: perhaps with instruments)
because he has done elevation (or sublimity,!, e. a sublime deed).
Known is this (or be this) in all the earth, means properly to play
upon stringed instruments, then to sing with an accompaniment,
then to sing in general, then to praise by singing or by music
generally. In this last sense it may govern the noun directly.
The English Version, excellent things, is too indefinite. The
English Version supplies is, and makes the last clause an appeal
to the whole world for the truth of the thing celebrated. Most
of the recent versions make it an imperative expression, exhort
ing to a general diffusion of the truth.
6. Cry out and shout (or sing), oA inhabitant of Zion (the
people or the church personified as a woman), for great in the
midst of thee (residing in thee by a special manifestation of his
presence) is the Holy One of Israel (that Holy Being who has
bound himself to Israel, in a peculiar and extraordinary man
ner, as their covenant God). 8*

178 * CHAPTER XIIL

CHAPTERS XIII, XIV.
Here begins a series of prophecies (chap, xiii-xxiii)
against certain foreign powers, from the enmity of which Israel
had been more or less a sufferer. The first in the series is a
memorable prophecy of the fall of the Babylonian empire and
the destruction of Babylon itself (chap, xm, xiv). The
Medes are expressly named as the instruments of its subjection,
and the prophecy contains several other remarkable coincidences
with history both sacred and profane. Hence it was justly regard
ed by the older writers, both Jews and Christians, as an extraor
dinary instance of prophetic foresight. The great majority of
Christian writers understand these chapters as a specific pro
phecy of the downfall of the Babylonian empire occasioned by
the conquests of the Medes and Persians. To this event there
are repeated unequivocal .allusions. There are some points,
however, in which the coincidence of prophecy and history, on
this hypothesis, is not so clear. This is especially the case with
respect to the total destruction and annihilation of the city
itself, which was brought about by a gradual process through a
course of ages. The true solution of this difficulty is that the
prediction is generic, not specific ; that it is not a detailed ac
count of one event exclusively, but a prophetic picture of the
fall of Babylon considered as a whole, some of the traits being
taken from the first and some from the last stage of the fatal
process, while others are indefinite or common to all. The same
idea may be otherwise expressed by saying, that the king of
Babylon, whose fall is here predicted, is neither Nebuchadnezzar
nor Belshazzar, but the kings of Babylon collectively, or rather
an ideal king of Babylon, in whom the character and fate of
the whole empire are concentrated. Some of the terms applied
to him may therefore be literally true of one king, some of

CHAPTER XIIL 179
another, some individually of none, although descriptive of the
whole. This hypothesis, while it removes all discrepancies, still
retains the wonderful coincidences of the prophecy with history,
and makes them more remarkable by scattering them through
so vast a field. It is universally admitted that the thirteenth
chapter, and the greater part if not the whole of the fourteenth,
constitute a single prophecy. The division of the chapters is,
however, not a wrong one. Both parts relate to the destruc
tion of Babylon, setting out from God's decree and winding up
with the threatening of total desolation. Ch. xiv is therefore
not a mere continuation of ch. xiii, but a repetition of the
same matter in another form. The difference of form is chiefly
this, that while ch. xm is more historical in its arrangement,
ch. xiv is dramatic or at least poetical. Another point of
difference is that in ch. xm the downfall of Babylon is repre
sented rather as an act of divine vengeance, in ch. xiv as a
means of deliverance to Israel, the denunciations of divine wrath
being there clothed in the form of a triumphant song to be sung
by Israel when Babylon is fallen. The downfall of Babylon, as
a great antitheocratic power, an opponent and persecutor of the
ancient church, affords a type or emblem of the destiny of all
opposing powers under the New Testament ; and in consequence
of this analogy, the Apocalyptic prophecies apply the name
Babylon to the Antichristian power. But these Apocalyptio
prophecies are new ones, not interpretations of the one l«-
fore us.

CHAPTER XIII.
After a title, the prophecy opens with a summons to the
chosen instruments of God's righteous judgments upon Baby

180 CHAPTER XIII.
Ion, who are described as mustered by the Lord himself, and
then appearing; to the terror and amazement of the Babylo
nians, who are unable to resist their doom, vs. 1-9. The great
catastrophe is then described in a series of beautiful figures, as
an extinction of the heavenly bodies, and a general commotion
in the frame of nature, explained by the prophet himself to
mean a fearful visitation of Jehovah, making men more rare
than gold, dispersing the strangers resident at Babylon, and
subjecting the inhabitants to the worst inflictions at the hands
of the Medes, who are expressly mentioned as the instruments
of the divine vengeance, and described as indifferent to gain
and relentless in their cruelty, vs. 1-18. From this beginning
of the process of destruction, we are then hurried on to its final
consummation, the completeness of which is expressed by a com
parison with the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and by a
prediction that the site of Babylon shall not be frequented even
by the wandering Arab, or by shepherds and their flocks, but
only by solitary animals whose presence is itself a sign of utter
desolation, vs. 19-22.
1. The Burden of Babylon (or threatening prophecy respect
ing it), which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw (received by revelation).
There are two interpretations of the word translated burden,
both very ancient. The one makes it simply mean a declaration,
or more specifically a divine declaration, a prophecy, oracle, or
vision. The other explanation gives the word the sense of a
minatory prophecy. Because in other connections it always
means a burden, it is best" to retain the common explanation.
This word occurs in the titles of all the distinct prophecies of
this second part.
2. The attack of the Medes and Persians upon Babylon is
now foretold, not in the proper form of a prediction, nor even in
that of a description, which is often substituted for it, but in that

CHAPTER XIIL 181
•of an order from Jehovah to his ministers to summon the in
vaders, first by an elevated signal, and then as they draw nearer
by gestures- and -the voice. Upon a bare hill (i. e. one with a
clear summit, not concealed by trees) set up a signal, raise the
voice (shout or cry aloud) to them (the Medes and Persians),
and let them enter the gates of the (Babylonian) nobles. Some
suppose the angels to be here addressed ; others, the captive
Jews ; but it is best to understand the words indefinitely as
addressed to those whose proper work it was to do the thing
commanded. Jehovah being here represented as a military
leader, the order is of course to be conceived as given to his
heralds or other officers. They are not commanded to display
a banner as a sign of victory, but to erect a signal for the pur
pose of collecting troops. The nobles are those of Babylon.
3. The enemies thus summoned are described as chosen,
designated instruments of the divine vengeance, and as already
exulting in the Certainty of their success. I (myself) have given
command (or a commission) to my consecrated (chosen and ap
pointed instruments). Yes (literally, also), I have called (forth)
my mighty ones (or heroes) for (the execution of) my wrath, my
proud exulters. Consecrated is here used in its primary and
proper sense of separating, setting apart, or consecrating to a
special use or service. To call out is here explained by some
as denoting specially a call to military service. It may, how
ever, have the general sense of summoning or calling upon by
name. The last words of the verse, may be understood as a
description of the confidence with which they anticipated vic
tory ; but most interpreters suppose an allusion to the natural
character of the Persians as described by Croesus in Herodotus,
by Herodotus himself and others. ,
4. The Prophet, in his own person, now describes the ene'
mies of Babylon who had just been summoned', as actually on

182 CHAPTER XIIL
their way. He hears a confused noise, which he soon finds to
be that of confederated nations forming the army of Jehovah
against Babylon. The voice (or sound) of a midtitude in the
mountains! the likeness of much people! the sound of a tumuli of
kingdoms of nations gathered (or gathering themselves) .' Jehovah
of Hosts mustering (i. e. inspecting and numbering) a host of bat
tle (i. e. a military host) ! The absence of verbs adds greatly to
the vividness of the description. The sentence really consists
of a series of exclamations, describing the impressions made
successively upon the senses of an eye and ear-witness. By
the mountains some suppose Media to be meant, to which
others add Armenia and the other hilly countries from which
Cyrus drew his forces. This supposes the movement here de
scribed to be that of the levy or conscription. But it seems
more natural to understand it, as most writers do, of the actual
advance of the invaders. The mountains then will be those
dividing Babylonia from Media or Persia. The expression
likeness of much people some refer to the indistinct view of a
great multitude approaching from a distance. The refer
ence to sound before and afterwards, makes the reference of
this clause to the sense of sight improbable. It is commonly
agreed that there is here a direct reference to the mixture of
nations in the army of Cyrus. Besides the Persians and the
Medes, Xenophon speaks of the Armenians, and Jeremiah adds
the names of other nations (Jer. 50 : 9. 51 : 27). Most inter
preters suppose the event here predicted to be subsequent in
date to the overthrow of Croesus, while some refer it to the first
attack of Cyrus upon Babylonia, recorded in the third book of
the Cyropedia. But these distinctions seem to rest upon a
false view of the passage as a description of particular marches,
battles, etc., rather than a generic picture of the whole series
of events which ended in the downfall of Babylon. For a just
view of the principles on which such prophecies should be ex
plained, with particular reference to that before us, see Stuart*

CHAPTER XIII. 183
on the Apocalypse, vol 2, p. 143. The title Jehovah of Hosts,
may here seem to be used unequivocally, in the* sense of God of
Battles, on acoount of the obvious allusion to the word host fol
lowing. But as this explanation of the -title is not justified by
Rcriptural usager(see above, ch. 1 : 9), it is better to understand
the words as meaning that the Lord of the Hosts of Heaven is
now mustering a hos.t on earth. He who controls the hosts of
heaven is now engaged in mustering a host of war, i. e. an army.
The substitution of the present for the participle in the English
Version (mustereth) and most others, greatly impairs the force
and uniformity of the expression by converting a lively ex
clamation into a dispassionate assertion.
5. Coming from a distant land (literally, a land of distance),
from the (visible or apparent) end of the heavens — Jehovah and
the instruments (or weapons) of his wrath — to lay waste (or de
stroy) the whole land (of Babylonia). The end of heaven is a
strong but natural hyperbole. The best explanation is that the
Prophet refers to the horizon or bounding line of vision. He is
not deliberately stating from what region they set out, but from
what point he sees them actually coming, viz. from the remotest
point in sight. This view of the expression, not as a geo
graphical description, but as a vivid representation of appear
ances, removes the necessity of explaining how Media or Persia
' could be called a distant land or the extremity of heaven. The
host which Jehovah was before said to be mustering is now
represented as consisting of himself and the weapons of hw
wrath. This intimation of his presence, his co-operation, and
even his incorporation, with the invading host, adds greatly to
the force of the threatening. The Hebrew word translated
implements includes instruments and vessels. It has here the ac
tive sense of weapons, while in Rom. 9 : 22, Paul employs a
corresponding Greek phrase in the passive sense of vessela

184 CHAPTER XIIL
Weapons of wrath are the weapons which execute it, vessels of
wrath the vessels which contain it.
6. Howl (ye Babylonians, with distress and fear), for the day
of Jehovah (his appointed time of judgment) is near. Like
might (i. e. a mighty stroke or desolation) from the Almighty it
shall come. A destruction as complete and overwhelming as if
it were an act of reckless violence. This day is said to be near,
not absolutely with respect to the date of the prediction, but rel
atively, either with respect to the perceptions of the Prophet,
or with respect to what had gone before. For ages Babylon
might be secure ; but after the premonitory signs just mentioned
should be seen, there would be no delay. The words of the
verse are supposed to be uttered in the midst of the tumult and
alarm of the invasion.
7. Therefore (because of this sudden and irresistible attack)
all hands shall sink (fall down, be slackened or relaxed), and
every heart of man shall melt. Both the clauses, in their strict
sense, are descriptive of bodily effects, and both indicative of
mental states. Each of the figures is repeatedly used elsewhere.
(See Jos. 7 : 5. Ps. 22 : 14. Jer. 50 : 43. Job 4 : 3.)
8. And they (the Babylonians) shall be confounded, pangs and
throes shall seize (them), like ihe travailing (woman) jthey shall
writhe, each at his neighbour, they shall wonder, faces of flames
(shall be) their faces. The expression wonder at each other occurs
once in historical prose (Gen. 43 : 33). It seems here to denote
not simply consternation and dismay, but stupefaction at each
other's aspect and condition, q. d. each man at his friend shall
stand aghast. The last clause is a continued description of the
terror and distress of the Chaldeans. In the expression faces
of flame, the point of comparison according to some is redness, ,
here referred to as a natural symptom of confusion and shame.

CHAPTER XIIL 185
But as this seems inappropriate in the case before us, othess
understand the aspect indicated to be one of paleness, as pro
duced by fear. Others understand the glow or flush produced
by anguish and despair to be intended.
9. All this must happen and at a set time, for behold the day
of Jehovah cometh, terrible, and wrath and heat of anger, to
place (or make) the land a waste, and its sinners he (or it, the
day) will destroy from it (or out of it). The moral causes of the
ruin threatened are significantly intimated by the Prophet's
calling the people of the earth or land its sinners.
10. The day of Jehovah is now described as one of preter
natural and awful darkness, in which the very sources of light
shall be obscured. This natural and striking figure for sudden
and disastrous change is of frequent occurrence in Scripture
(see Isai. 24 : 23. 34 : 4. Ezek. 32 : 7, 8. Joel 2 : 10. 3 : 15.
Amos 8 : 9. Matth. 24 : 29). Well may it be called a day of
wrath and terror, for the stars of the heavens and their signs (or
constellations) shall not shed their light, ihe sun is darkened in
his going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine.
Some understand the image here presented to be that of a
terrific storm, veiling the heavens, and concealing its lumi
naries. But grand as this conception is, it falls short of the
Prophet's vivid description, which is not that of transient ob
scuration but. of sudden and total extinction. The abrupt
change from the future to the preterite and back again, has
been retained in the translation, although most modern versions
render all the verbs as present. From simply foretelling the
extinction of the stars, the Prophet suddenly describes that of
the sun as if he saw it, and then adds that of the moon as a
necessary consequence.
11. The Prophet according to his custom (see above, ch

186 CHAPTER XIIL
1 : 22. 5 : 7. 1 1 : 9), now resolves his figures into literal expres
"ions, showing that the natural convulsions just predicted are
to be understood as metaphorical descriptions of the divine
judgments. And I will visit upon the world (its) wickedness (i. e.
manifest my presence for the purpose of punishing it), and
upon the wicked their iniquity, and I will cause to cease the arro
gance of presumptuous sinners, and the pride- of tyrants (or op
pressors) I will humble. World is here applied to the Baby
lonian empire, as embracing most of the known world.
12. To the general description in the foregoing verse he now
adds a more specific threatening of extensive slaughter, and a
consequent diminution of the population, expressed by a strong
comparison, i" will make men more scarce (or rare) than pure
gold, and a human being than the ore of Ophir. The disputed
question as to the locality of Ophir, although not without his
torical and archaeological importance, can have no effect upon
the meaning of this passage. Whether the place meant be
Ceylon, or some part of continental India, or of Arabia, or of
Africa, it is here named simply as an Eldorado, as a place
where gold abounded, either as a native product or an article
of commerce, from which it was brought, and with which it was
associated in the mind of every Hebrew reader.
13. The figurative form of speech is here resumed, and what
was before expressed by the obscuration of the heavenly bodies
is now denoted by a general commotion of the frame of nature.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall
shake (or be shaken) out of its place in the wrath of Jehovah of
Hosts and in the day ofthe heat (or fierceness) of his anger. There
fore may either mean because of the wickedness mentioned in
v. 11, or for the purpose of producing the effect described'
in v. 12.

CHAPTER XIII. 18?
14. And it shall be (or come to pass, that) like a roe (or ante
lope) chased (or driven by the hunters) and like sheep wilh none
to gather them (literally, like sheep and there is no one gathering),
each to his people, they shall turn, and each to his country, they
shall flee. The points, of comparison to antelopes are their
timidity and fleetness. The figure of scattered sheep, without
a gatherer or shepherd, is a common one in Scripture.
15. The flight of the strangers from Babylon is not without
reason, for every one found (there) shall be stabbed (or thrust
through), and every one joined (or joining himself to the Baby
lonians) shall fall by the sword. All interpreters agree that a
general massacre is here described, although they differ as to
the precise sense and connection of the clauses.
16. The horrors of the conquest shall extend not only to
the men, but to their wives and children. And their children
shall be dashed lo pieces before their eyes, their houses shall be plun
dered and their wives ravished. The same thing is threatened
against Babylon in Ps. 137 : 9, in retaliation for the barbarities
practised in Jerusalem (2 Chr. 36: 17. Lam. 5 : 11). The
horror of the threatening is enhanced by the addition of before
their eyes. (Compare ch. 1 : 7 and Deut. 28 : 31, 32.)
17. The Prophet now, for the first time, names the chosen
instruments of Babylon's destruction. Behold I (am) stirring
up against them Madai (Media or the Medes), who will not re
gard silver, and (as for) gold, they will not take pleasure in it (or
desire it). Here, as in Jer. 51 : 11, 28, the Medes alone are
mentioned, as the more numerous and hitherto more powerful
nation, to which the Persians had long been subject, and
were still auxiliary. Or the name may be understood as com
prehending both, which has been clearly shown to be the usage
of the classical historians. Indeed, all the names of the great

188 -CHAPTER XIII.
oriental powers are used, with more or less latitude and license,
by the ancient writers, sacred and profane. As the Medes did
not become an independent monarchy till after the date of this
prediction, it affords a striking instance of prophetic foresight.
At the date of this prediction they formed a part of the As
syrian empire, but revolted at the time of the Assyrian inva
sion of Syria and Israel. Their first king Dejoces was elected
about 700 years before the birth of Christ. His son Phraortes
conquered Persia, and the united Medes and Persians, with
the aid of the Babylonians, subdued Assyria under the conduct
of Cyaxares I. The conquest of Babylon was effected in the
reign of Cyaxares II by the Median army, with an auxiliary
force of thirty thousand Persians, under the command of Cyrus,
the king's nephew. The thirst of blood would supersede the
thirst o$ gold in the conquerors of Babylon, so that no one
would be able to secure his life by ransom.
18. And bows shall dash boys in pieces, and the fruit of (he
womb they shall not pity, on children their eye shall not have
mercy. The strong term dash in pieces is employed instead of
• one more strictly appropriate, with evident allusion to its use
in v. 16. The cruelty of the Medes seems to have been pro
verbial in the ancient world.
19. From the very height of greatness and renown, BabyloD
shall be reduced not only to subjection but to annihilation.
And Babylon, the beauty (or glory) of kingdoms, the ornament,
the pride, ofthe Chaldees, shall be like God's overthrowing Sodom
and Gomorrah, i. e. shall be totally destroyed in execution of
a special divine judgment. The beauty of kingdoms is by most
writers understood comparatively as denoting the most beauti
ful of kingdoms, either in the proper sense or in that of royal
cities (see 1 Sam. 27 : 5). But some understand the words
more strictly as denoting the ornament of an empire whioh in

CHAPTER XIIL 189
eluded various tributary kingdoms. This agrees well with the
next clause,which describes the city as the ornament and pride
of the Chaldees. The origin of this name, and of the people
whom it designates, is doubtful and disputed. But whether
the Chaldees were of Semitic origin or not, and whether they
were the indigenous inhabitants of Babylonia or a foreign race
imported from Armenia and the neighbouring countries, it is
plain that the word here denotes the nation of which Babylon
was the capital. The exact sense of the last clause is that
already given, like God's overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah.
This is a common formula in Scripture for complete destruc
tion, viewed as a special punishment of sin. (See above, ch.
1 : 7, 9.) It is certain that the destruction of Babylon was
gradual, successively promoted by the conquests of Cyrus,
Darius Hystaspes, Alexander the Great, Antigonus, Demet
rius, the Parthians, and the founding of the cities of Seleucia
and Ctesiphon. From this apparent disagreement of the
prophecy with history, some seem disposed to infer that it
relates not to the literal but spiritual Babylon. The true con
clusion is that the prophecy does not relate to any one invasion
or attack exclusively, but to the whole process of subjection and
decay, so completely carried out through a course of ages, that
the very site of ancient Babylon is now disputed. This hy
pothesis accounts for many traits in the description which
appear inconsistent only in consequence of being all applied to
one point of time and one catastrophe exclusively.
20. Il shall not be inhabited forever (i. e. it shall never again
or no more be inhabited) and it shall not be dwelt in from gene
ration to generation (literally, to generation and generation),
neither shall the Arab pitch tent there, neither shall shepherds
cause (their flocks) to lie there. The conversion of a populous
and fertile district into a vast pasture-ground, however rich
and well frequented, implies extensive ruin, but not such ruin

190 CHAPTER XIII
as is here denounced. Babylon was not even to be visited by
shepherds, nor to serve as the encamping ground of wandering
Arabs. The completeness of the threatened desolation will be
seen by comparing these expressions with ch. 5:5, 17. 7 : 21.
17:2, where it is predicted that the place in question should be
for flocks to lie down with none to make them afraid. So fully
has this prophecy been verified that the Bedouins, according to
the latest travellers, are even s'uperstitiously afraid of passing
a single night upon the site of Babylon. The simplest version
of the first clause would be, she shall not dwell forever, she shall
not abide etc. And this construction is actually given by some.
But the great majority of writers follow the Septuagint and
Vulgate in ascribing to the active verbs a passive or intransi
tive sense.
21. Having excluded • men and the domesticated animals
from Babylon, the Prophet now tells how it shall be occupied,
viz. by creatures which are only found in deserts, and the pres
ence of which therefore is a sign of desolation. In the first
clause these solitary creatures are referred to in the general ;
the other clause specifies two kinds out of the many which are
elsewhere spoken of as dwelling in the wilderness. But there
(instead of flocks) shall lie down desert creatures, and their houses,
(those of the Babylonians) shall be filled wilh howls or yells, and
there shall dwell the daughters of the ostrich, and shaggy beasts
(or wild goats) shall gambol there. The contrast is heightened
by the obvious allusion to v. .20. As if he had said, flocks shall
not lie down there, but wild beasts shall ; man shall not dwell
there, but the ostrich shall. The meaning evidently is that
the populous and splendid city should become the home of
animals found only in the wildest solitudes. To express this
idea, other species might have been selected with the same
effect. The endless discussions therefore as to the identity of
those here named, however laudable as tending to promote

CHAPTER XIIL 191
txact lexicography and natural history, have little or no bear
ing on the interpretation of the passage. Nothing more will
be here attempted than to settle one or two points of compara
tive importance. Many interpreters regard the whole verse as
an enumeration of particular animals. This' has arisen 'from
the assumption of a perfect parallelism in the clauses. It is
altogether natural, however, to suppose that the writer would
first make use of general expressions and afterwards descend to
particulars. The daughter ofthe ostrich is an oriental idiom for
ostriches in general, or for the female ostrich in particular.
The old translation owls seems to be now universally aban
doned. The most interesting point in the interpretation of this
verse has reference to the word translated satyrs in the English
Version ; its original and proper sense is hairy, and its usual
specific sense he-goats. In two places (Lev. 17 : 7. 2 Chron. 11 :
15), it is used to denote objects of idolatrous worship, probably
images of goats, which according to Herodotus were worshipped
in Egypt. In Chronicles especially this supposition is the
natural one, because the word is joined with calves. Both there
and in Leviticus, the Septuagint renders it /uaiaioig vain things,
i. e. false gods, idols. It is elsewhere explained to mean
demons, and the same interpretation is given in the case before
us by several of the ancient versions. From this traditional
interpretation of the word here and in ch. 34 : 14, appears to
have arisen, at an early period, a popular belief among the Jews,
that demons or evil spirits were accustomed to haunt desert places
in the shape of goats or other animals. And this belief is said
to be actually cherished by the natives near the site of Babylon
at the present day. To some, the combination of the two mean
ings, goals and demons, seems to have suggested the Pans. Fauns,
and Satyrs of the classical mythology, imaginary beings repre
sented as a mixture of the human form with that of goats, and
supposed to frequent forests and other lonely places. Others
explain the passage as relating to actual appearances of Satan

192 CHAPTER XIIL
under such disguises. Others understand the language as a
mere concession or allusion to the popular belief, equivalent tc
saying, the solitude of Babylon shall be as awful as if occupied
by Fauns and Satyrs, there, if anywhere, such beings may be
looked for. But the great majority of modern writers adhere
to the original meaning of the Hebrew word, wild goats. And
even on the supposition of a reference to evil spirits, there is
no need of assuming any concession or accommodation to the
current superstitions. If the word denotes demons, this text is
a proof, not of a popular belief, but Of a fact, of a real apparition
of such spirits under certain forms. The Jewish tradition war
rants the application of the Hebrew term to demons, but not to
the fauns or satyrs of the Greek and Roman fabulists. The
popular belief of the Jews and other orientals may be traced to
the traditional interpretation of this passage, and this to the
Septuagint version. The mention of demons in a list of beasts
and birds is at variance not only with the parallelism, but with
the natural and ordinary usages of language. Such a combina
tion and arrangement as the one supposed — ostriches, demons,
wolves, jackals — would of itself be a reason for suspecting that
the second term must really denote some kind of animal, even
if no such usage existed. But the usage of the Hebrew word,
as the name of an animal, is perfectly well defined and certain.
Even in Lev. 17 : 7 and 2 Chron. 11 : 15, this, as we have seen,
is the only natural interpretation. The result appears to be
that if the question is determined by tradition and authority,
it denotes demons; if by the context and the usage of the word,
it signifies wild goats, or more generically hairy, shaggy ani
mals. According to the principles of modern exegesis, the latter
is clearly entitled to the preference ; but even if the former be
adopted, the language of the text should be regarded as the
prediction of a real fact, which, though it should not be assumed
without necessity, is altogether possible, and therefore, if alleged
in Scripture, altogether credible.

CHAPTER XIII. 193
22. And wolves shall howl in his (the king of Babylon's) pal
aces, and jackals in the temples of pleasure. And near to come is her
(Babylon's) lime, and her days shall not be prolonged. The latest
writers seem to be agreed that these are different appellations
of the jackal, but in order to retain the original variety of ex
pression, substitute another animal in one qf the clauses, such
as wolves, wild-cats, eta. Whatever be the species here intended,
the essential idea is the same as in the foregoing verse, viz. that
Babylon should one day be inhabited exclusively by animals.
peculiar to the wilderness, implying that it should become a
wilderness itself. The contrast is heightened here by the par
ticular mention of palaces and abodes of pleasure, as about to
be converted into dens and haunts of solitary animals. This
fine poetical conception is adopted by Milton in his sublime
description of the flood : And in their palaces,
Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped
" And stabled.
The meaning of the word translated palaces, in every other
case where it occurs, is widows, in which sense some rabbinical
and other writers understand it here. It is possible that the
two forms were designedly confounded by the writer, in order
to suggest both ideas, that of palaces and that of widowhood or
desolation. This explanation is adopted in the English Ver
sion, which has palaces in the margin, but in the text desolate
houses. The last clause of the verse may be strictly understood,
but in application to the Jewish captives in the Babylonian
exile, for whose consolation the prophecy was partly intended.
Or we may understand it as denoting proximity in reference to
the events which had been passing in the Prophet's view. He
sees the signals erected, he hears a noise in the mountains, and
regarding these as actually present, he exclaims, her time is near

194 CHAPTER XIV.
to come! It may, however, mean, as similar expressions do in
other cases, that when the appointed time should come, the
event would certainly take place, there could be no postpone
ment or delay.

CHAPTER XIV.

The destruction of Babylon .is again foretold, and more ex
plicitly connected with the deliverance of Israel from bondage.
After a general assurance of God's favour, to his people, and of
an exchange of conditions between them and their oppressors,
they are represented as joining in a song of triumph over their
fallen enemy. In this Song, which is universally admitted to
possess the highest literary merit, they describe the earth as
again reposing from its agitation and affliction, and then breaking
forth into a shout of exultation, in which the very trees of the
forest join, vs. 1-8. By a still bolder figure, the unseen world
is represented as perturbed at the approach of the fallen tyrant,
who is met, as he enters, by the kings already there, amazed to
find him sunk as low as themselves and from a still greater
height of actual elevation and of impious pretensions, which
are strongly contrasted with his present condition, as deprived
not only of regal honours but of decent burial, vs. 9-20. The
threatening is then extended to the whole race, and the proph
ecy closes as before with a prediction of the total desolation of
Babylon, vs. 21-r23.
Vs. 24-27 are regarded by the latest writers as a distinct
prophe'cy, unconnected with what goes before, and misplaced in
the arrangement of the book. The reasons for believing that
it is rather an appendix or conclusion, added by the Prophet
himself, will be stated in the exposition.

CHAPTER XIV. 195
Vs. 28-32 are regarded by a still greater number of writers
as a distinct prophecy against Philistia, The traditional ar
rangement of the text, however, creates a strong presumption
that this passage stands in some close connection with what
goes before. The true state »of the case may be, that the
Prophet, having reverted from the downfall of Babylon to that
of Assyria, now closes with a warning apostrophe to the Philis
tines who had also suffered from the latter power, and were dis
posed to exult unduly in its overthrow. If the later applica
tion of the name Philistia (Palestine), to the whole land of
Canaan could be justified by Scriptural usage, these verses
might be understood as a warning to the Jews themselves not
to exult too much in their escape from Assyrian oppression,
since they were yet to be subjected to the heavier yoke of Baby
lonian bondage. Either of these suppositions is more reason
able than that this passage is an independent prophecy sub
joined to the foregoing one by caprice or accident. .
1. This verse declares God's purpose in destroying the Baby-
Ionian power. For Jehovah will pity (or have mercy upon) Jacob,
and will again (or still) choose Israel and cause them to rest on
their (own) land, and the stranger shall be joined to them, and
they (the strangers) shall be attached lo the house of Jacob. Jacob
and Israel are here used for the whole race. The plural pro
noun them does not refer to Jacob and Israel as the names of
different persons, but to each of them as a collective. By God's
still choosing Israel we are to understand his continuing to treat
them as his chosen people. Or we may render it again, in
which case the idea will be, that having for a time or in appear
ance cast them off and given them up to other lords, he would
now take them to himself again. This is not a mere promise
of temporal deliverance and increase to Israel as a nation, but
an assurance that the preservation of the chosen poople was a
necessary means for the fulfilment of God's purposes of mercy

196 CHAPTER XIV.
to mankind in general. The literal fulfilment of the last
clause in its primary sense is clear from such statements as the
one in Esther 8 : 17.
2. And nations shall take them and bring them lo their place,
and the house of Israel shall take possession of them on Jehovah's
land for male and female servants, and (thus) they (the Israelites)
shall be the captors of their captors, and rule over their oppressors.
The first clause is rendered somewhat obscure by the reference
of the pronoun them to different subjects, first the Jews and
then the gentiles. Most interpreters are agreed that it relates
to the part taken by the gentiles in the restoration of the
Jews. To a -Hebrew reader the word would convey the idea,
not of bare possession merely, but of permanent possession,
rendered perpetual by hereditary succession. The word is
used in this sense, and with special reference to slaves or ser
vants, in Lev. 25 : 46. The simple meaning of this promise
seems to be that the church or chosen people and the other na
tions should change places, the oppressed becoming the oppres
sor, and the slave the master. This of course admits both an
external and internal fulfilment. In a lower sense and on a
smaller scale it was accomplished in the restoration of the Jews
from exile ; but its full accomplishment is yet to come.
3. And it shall be (or come to pass) in the day of Jehovah's
causing thee to rest from thy toil (or suffering), and from thy com
motion (or disquietude), ard from the hard service which was
wrought by thee (or imposed upon thee). In this Terse and tie*
following context, the Prophet, in order to reduce the general
promise of the foregoing verse to a more graphic and impress
ive form, recurs to the downfall of Babylon, as the beginning
of the series of deliverances which he had predicted, and de
scribes the effect upon those most concerned, by putting into
the mouth of Israel a song of triumph over their oppressor.

CHAPTER XIV. 197
This is universally admitted to be one of the finest specimens
of Hebrew and indeed of ancient composition.
4. Then thou shalt raise this song over the king of Babylon and
say, How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden (city) ceased ! The
meaning of the first clause is of course that Israel would have
occasion to express such feelings. The king here introduced is
an ideal personage, whose downfall represents that of the Baby
lonian monarchy.
5. This verse contains the answer to "the question in the one
before it. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, ihe rod of
the rulers. The rod and staff are common figures for dominion,
and their being broken for its destruction.
6. Smiling nations in anger by a stroke without cessation,
ruling nations in wrath by a rule without restraint, literally,
which he (or one indefinitely) did not restrain. The participles
may agree grammatically either with the rod or with the king
who wields it. The English Version applies the last clause
only to the punishment. But the great majority both of the
oldest and the latest writers make the whole descriptive of the
Babylonian tyranny.
7. At rest, quiet, is the whole earth. They burst forth into sing
ing (or a shout of joy). There is no inconsistency between the
clauses, as the first is not descriptive of silence, but of tran
quillity and rest. The land had rest is a phrase employed in
the book of Judges (e. g. ch. 5 : 31) to describe the condition
of the country after a great national deliverance. The verb
to burst is peculiarly descriptive of an ebullition of joy long
suppressed or suddenly succeeding grief.
8. Not only the earth and its inhabitants take part in this

198 CHAPTER XIV.
triumphant song or shout, but the trees of the forest. Also (or
even) the cypresses rejoice with respect lo thee, the cedars of Leb
anon (saying) now that thou art fallen (literally lain down), the
feller (or woodman, literally the cutter) shall not come up against
us. Now that we are safe from thee, we fear no other enemy.
As to the meaning of the figures in this verse, there are vari
ous opinions ; but the only one that seems consistent with a
pure taste, is that which supposes this to be merely a part of
one great picture, representing universal nature as rejoicing.
Both here and elsewhere in the sacred books, inanimate nature
is personified, and speaks herself instead of being merely
spoken of. Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant
Intonsi monies ; ipsae jam carmiua rupea,
Ipsa sonant arbusta.
9. The bold personification is now extended from the earth
and itsforests to the invisible or lower world, the inhabitants
of which are represented as aroused at the approach of the
new victim and as coming forth to meet him. Hell from beneath
is moved (or in commotion) for thee (i. e. on account of thee) to
meet thee (at) thy coming ; it rouses for thee the giants (the gigan
tic shades or spectres), all the chief ones (literally he-goats) ofthe
earth ; it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
The word translated Hell -has already been explained (see
above, ch. 5 : 14) as meaning first a grave or individual sepul
chre, and then the grave as a general receptacle, indiscrimi
nately occupied by all the dead without respect to character, as*
when we say, the rich and the poor, the evil and the good, lie
together in the grave, not in a single tomb, which would be
false, h\it-unde.r ground and in a common state of death and
burial. The English word Hell, though now appropriated to
the condition or the place of future torments, corresponds, in
etymology and early usage, to the Hebrew word in question

CHAPTER XIV. 199
The passagu comprehends two elements and only two, religious
verities or certain facts, and poetical embellishments. It may
not be easy to distinguish clearly between these ; but it is only
between these that we are able or have any occasion to dis
tinguish. The admission of a third in the shape of supersti
tious fables, is as false in rhetoric as in theology. The shades
or spectres of the dead might naturally be conceived as actually
larger than the living man, since that which is shadowy and
indistinct is conimonly exaggerated by the fancy. Or there
may be an allusion to the Canaanitish giants who were exter
minated by divine command, and might well be chosen to rep
resent the whole class of departed sinners. Or in this par
ticular case, we may suppose the kings and great .ones of the
earth to be distinguished from the vulgar dead as giants or
gigantic forms.
10. All of them shall answer and say to thee: thou also a/rt
made weak as we, to us art likened ! This is a natural expres
sion of surprise that one so far superior to themselves should
now be a partaker of their weakness and disgrace. The in
terrogative form given to the last clause by all the English
versions is entirely arbitrary, and much less expressive than
the simple assertion or exclamation preferred by the oldest and
latest writers.
11. Down to the grave is brought thy pride (or pomp), the
music of thy harps ; under thee is spread the worm ; thy covering is_
' vermin. The word harp is evidently put for musical instru
ments or music in general, and this for mirth and revelry.
(See above, ch. 5 : 12.) Some suppose an allusion to the prac
tice of embalming ; but the words seem naturally only to suggest
the common end of all mankind, even the greatest not ex
cepted. The imagery di the clause is vividly exhibited in

200 CHAPTER XIV.
Gill's homely paraphrase — ' nothing but worms over him and
worms under him, worms his bed and worms his bed-clothes.'
12. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morn
ing — -felled to the ground, thou that didst lord it over the nations.
In the two other places where the word translated Lucifer occurs,
it is an imperative signifying howl. This sense is also put
upon it here by the Peshito, but all the other ancient versions and
all the leading Rabbins make the word a noun denoting bright
one, or more specifically, bright star, or according to the ancients
more specifically still, the morning star or harbinger of day
light, called in Greek eojotpdgog and in Latin lucifer. The same
derivation and interpretation is adopted by the latest writers.
Some of the Fathers, regarding Luke 10 : 18 as an explana
tion of this verse, apply it to the fall of Satan, from which has
arisen the popular perversion of the beautiful name Lucifer to
signify the Devil. In the last clause the figure of a fallen star
is exchanged for that of a prostrate tree. The last clause is a
description of the Babylonian tyranny.
13. His fall is aggravated by the impious extravagance of
his pretensions. And (yet) thou hadst said in thy heart (or to
thyself), the heavens will I mount (or scale), above the stars of
God will I raise my throne, and I will sit in the mount of meet
ing (or assembly), in the sides ofthe north. He is here described
as aiming at equality with God himself. There are two distinct
interpretations ofthe last clause, one held by the early writers, tho
other by the moderns. According to the first, it relates to the
mountain where God agreed to meet the people, to commune
with them, and to make himself known to them (Ex. 25 : 22.
29 : 42, 43). According to this view of the passage, it de
scribes the king of Babylon as insulting God by threatening
to erect his throne upon those consecrated hills, or even affect
ing to be God, like Antichrist, of whom Paul says, with obvious

CHAPTER XIV. 201
allusion to this passage, that he opioseth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he,
as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he
is God (2 Thess. 2 : 4). Whether the weight of argument
preponderates in favour of the old interpretation or against
it, that of authority is now altogether on the side of the new
one. This .makes the Babylonian speak the language of a
heathen, and with reference to the old and wide-spread oriental
notion of a very high mountain in the extreme' north, where
the gods were believed to reside, as in the Greek Olympus.
This is the Meru of the Hindoo mythology, and the Elborz
or Elborj of the old Zend books. The meaning of the clause,
as thus explained, is, ' I will take my seat among or above the
gods upon their holy mountain.' This interpretation is sup
posed to be obscurely hinted in the Septuagint version. As
the mythological allusion is in this case put into the mouth of
a heathen, there is not the same objection to it as in other cases,
where it peems to be recognized and sanctioned by the writer.
The general meaning of the verse is of course the same on
either hypothesis. The expression stars of God does not merely
describe them as his creatures, but as being near him, in the
upper world or heaven.
14. I will mount above the cloud-heiglits ; I will make myself
like the Most High. This is commonly regarded as a simple
expression of unbounded arrogance ; but there may be an allu
sion to the oriental custom of calling their kings gods, or to the '
fact that Syrian and Phenioian kings did actually so describe
themselves (Ezek. 28 : 2. 6. 9. 2 Mace. 9:12). According to
some writers, the singular noun cloud is here used to designate
the cloud of the divine presence in the tabernacle and temple.
This would agree well with the old interpretation ofv. 13 ; but
according to the other, chad is a collective, meaning clouds in
general. 9*

202 CHAPTER XIV.
15. But insteal of being exalted to heaven, thou sha't only
be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit. Against the strict
application of the last clause to the grave is the subsequent
description of the royal body as unburied. But the imagery is
unquestionably borrowed from the grave. Some understand hy
sides the horizontal excavations in the oriental sepulchres or
catacombs. But according to its probable etymology the Hebrew
word does not mean sides in the ordinary sense, but rather hinder
parts and then remote parts or extremities, as it is explained by
the Targum here and in v. 13. The specific reference may be
either to extreme height, extreme distance, or extreme depth,
according to the context. Here the last sense is required by
the mention of the pit, and the word is accordingly translated
in the Vulgate profundim.
16. Those seeing thee shall gaze (or stare) at thee, they shall
look at thee attentively, (and say) is this the man that made the earth
shake, that made kingdoms tremble ? The scene in the other world
is closed, and the Prophet, or triumphant Israel, is now describ
ing what shall take plaoe above ground. The gazing mentioned
in the first clause is not'merely the effect of curiosity but of
incredulous surprise.
17. Made a (fruitful or habitable) world like the desert, destroyed
its cities, and its captives did not set free homewards. These are
still the words of the astonished spectators as they behold the
body of the slain king. The construction of the last clause is
somewhat difficult; but the general meaning evidently is that
he did not release his prisoners.
18. All kings of nations, all of them, lie in state (or glory),
each in his house. There is here a special reference to the
peculiar oriental feeling with respect to burial. The Egyp
tians paid far more attention to the dwellings of the dead

CHAPTER XIV. 203
than of the living. Some of the greatest national works
have been intended for this purpose, such as the pyramids,
the , temple of Belus, and the cemetery at Persepolis. Tho
environs of Jerusalem are full of ancient sepulchres. The
want of burial is spoken of in Scripture as disgraceful even to
a private person (1 Kings 13:22), much more to a sovereign
(2 Chr. 21 : 20). The ancient oriental practice of burying
above ground and in solid structures, often reared by those
who were to occupy them (see below, ch. 22 : 16) will account
for the use of house here in the sense of sepulchre, without sup
posing any reference to the burial of kings within their palaces.
To lie in slate may seem inappropriate to burial, but is in fact
happily descriptive of the oriental method of sepulture.
19. With the customary burial of kings he now contrasts the
treatment of the Babylonian's body. And thou art cast out from
thy grave, like a despised branch, the raiment of the slain, pierced
with the sword, going down to the stones of the pit, (even) like a
trampled carcass (as thou art). That the terms of the prediction
were literally fulfilled in the last king of Babylon, is highly
probable, from the hatred with which this impious king (as
Xenophon calls him) was regarded by the people. Such a sup
position is not precluded by the same historian's statement that
Cyrus gave a general permission to bury the dead ; for his si
lence in relation to the king rather favours the conclusion that
he was made an exception, either by the people or the conqueror.
There is no need however of seeking historical details in this
passage, which is rather a prediction of the downfall of the em
pire than of the fate of any individual monarch.
20. Thou shalt not be joined with them (the other kings of the
nations) in burial, because thy land thou hast destroyed, thy people
thou hast slain. Let the seed of evil-doers be named no more forever.
The only natural interpretation of these words is that which

204 CHAPTER XIV.
applies them to the Babylonian tyranny as generally exercised.
The charge here brought against the king implies that his
power was given him for a very different purpose. The older
writers read the last clause as a simple prediction. Thus the
English version is, the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.
But the later writers seem to make it more emphatic by.giving
the future the force of an imperative or optative. Some
of the older writers understand the clause to mean that the
names of the wicked shall not be perpetuated by transmission
in the line of their descendants. Others explain the verb as
meaning to be called, i. e. proclaimed or celebrated. It is now
pretty generally understood to mean, or to express a wish, that
the posterity of such should not be spoken of at all, implying
both extinction and oblivion.
21. That the downfall of the Babylonian power shall be per
petual, is now expressed by a command to slaughter the chil
dren of the king. Prepare for his sons a slaughter, for the iniquity
of their fathers. Let them not arise and possess the earth, and fill
the face ofthe world with cities. The dramatic form of the pre
diction is repeatedly shifted, so that the words of the trium
phant Jews, of the Dead, of the Prophet, and of God himself,
succeed each other as it were insensibly, and without any at
tempt to make the points of the transition prominent. The
command in the first clause is not addressed specifically to the
Medes and Persians, but more indefinitely to the executioners
of God's decree against Babylon. The Hebrew construction is,
they shall not arise (or let them not arise), and the negative
may either be confined to the first two verbs or extended to the
third. The last, however, is more natural on account of the ex
act resemblance in the form of the two members. The best
sense, on the whole, is afforded by the old interpretation which
understands the clause to mean, lest they overspread and colo
nize the earth.

CHAPTER XIV. 205
22. This verse contains an intimation that the destruction
just predicted is to be the work not of man merely but of God.
and is to comprehend not only the royal family but the whole
population. And I (myself) will rise, up against them (or upon
them), saith Jehovah of Hosts, and will cut off from Babylon (lit
erally, as to Babylon) name and remnant and progeny and off
spring. The last four nouns are put together to express
posterity in the most general and universal manner. The
threatening is applied to the king of Babylon, not as a collect
ive appellation merely, but as an ideal person representing the
whole line of kings. The agreement of the prophecy with his
tory is argued from the facts, that none of the ancient royal
family of Babylon ever regained a throne, and that no Babylo
nian empire ever rose after the destruction of the first, Alexan
der the Great's project of restoring it having been defeated by
his death.
23. And I will render it (literally, place it for) a possession (or
inheritance) ofthe porcupine, and pools of water, and will sweep it
with the broom (or besom) of destruction. The porcupine is here
mentioned only as a solitary animal frequenting marshy grounds.
The construction is not, I will make the pools of water a pos
session, etc. by drying them up — nor, I will make it a posses
sion for pools of water — but, I will make it a possession for the
porcupine and (will convert it into) pools of water. The expo
sure of the level plains of Babylonia to continual inundation
without great preventive care, and the actual promotion of its
desolation by this very cause, are facts distinctly stated by
the ancient writers. Some suppose this evil to have had its
origin in the diversion of the waters of the Euphrates by
Cyrus. 24. From the distant view of the destruction of Babylon, the
Prophet suddenly reverts to that of the Assyrian host, either

206 CHAPTER XIV.
for the purpose of making one of these events accredit the pre
diction of the other, or for the purpose of assuring true be
lievers, that while God had decreed the deliverance of his peo
ple from remoter dangers, he would also protect them from
those near at hand. Jehovah of Hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely
(literally, if not) as I have planned (or imagi'ned) it has come to
pass, and as I have devised, it shall stand (or be established).
On the elliptical formula of swearing, see above, ch. 5 : 9.
The true force of the preterite and future forms, as here em
ployed, is that according to God's purpose, it has come to pass
and will come to pass hereafter. This view of the matter makes
the mention of Assyria in this connection altogether natural,
as if he had said, of the truth of these predictions against
Babylon a proof has been afforded in the execution of the
threatenings against Assyria. Another method of expounding
the verse is to apply both verbs to the same events, but in
a somewhat different sense. As I intended it has come
to pass, and as I purposed it shall continue. The Assyrian
power is already broken and shall never be restored. This
interpretation of the preterite does not necessarily imply that
the prophecy was actually uttered, after the destruction of Sen
nacherib's army. Such would indeed be the natural inference
from this verse alone, but for reasons which will be explained
below, it is more probable that the Prophet merely takes his
stand in vision at a point of time between the two events of
which he speaks, so that both verbs are really prophetic, the
one of a remote the other of a proximate futurity. We have
here a signal instance of prophetic foresight exercised at least
two centuries before the event.
25. He now declares what the purpose is, which- is so cer
tainly to be accomplished, namely, God's determination to break
Assyria (or the Assyrian) in my land, and on my mountains I
will trample him ; and his yoke shall depart from tiff them, and his

CHAPTER XIV. 207
burden from off his back (or shoulder) shall depc rt. My mmntains
some have understood to be Mount Zion, others more generally
the mountains of Jerusalem ; but it seems to be rather a de
scription of the whole land of Israel, or at least of Judah, as
a mountainous region. (See Ezek. 38 : 21. 39 : 2, 4.)
26. The Prophet now explains his previous conjunction of
events so remote as the Assyrian overthrow and the fall of
Babylon, by declaring both to be partial executions of one gene
ral decree against all hostile and opposing powers. This is the
purpose that is purposed upon all the earth, and this the hand that
is stretched out over all ihe nations. The outstretched hand is a
gesture of threatening.
27. As the preceding verse declares the extent of God's
avenging purpose, so this affirms the certainty of its execution,
as a necessary consequence of his almighty power. For Jehovah
of Hosts hath purposed (this), and who shall annul (his purpose) 1
And his hand (is) the (one) stretched out, and who shall turn it
back 1 The meaning of the last clause is not simply that his
hand is stretched out, but that the hand stretched out is his.
28. In the year of the death of king Ahaz, was this burden, or
threatening prophecy, against Philistia. This is a title forming
part of the text as far as we can trace it back. There is an
erroneous division of the text in some editions of the English
Bible, by prefixing the paragraph' mark to v. 29, so as to apply
the date here given to what goes before, whereas dates are al
ways placed at the beginning.
29. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee (or all Philistia), be-
Muse the rod that smote thee is broken, for out of the root of the ser
pent shall come forth a basilisk, and its root a flying fiery serpent
The name Philistia is applied in Hebrew to the southwestern

208 CHAPTER XIV.
part of Canaan on the Mediterranean coast, nominally belong
ing to the tribe of Judah, but for ages occupied by the Philis
tines, a race of Egyptian origin who came to Canaan from
Caphtor, i. e. according to the ancients Cappadocia, but accord
ing to the moderns either Cyprus or Crete, most probably the
latter. The name is now traced to an Ethiopic root meaning
to wander, and probably denotes wanderers or emigrants. Hence
it is commonly rendered in the Septuagint &i.i.6q>vkoi. The
Philistines are spoken of above in ch. 9 : 1 1. 1 1 : 14, and through
out the historical books of the Old Testament, as the hereditary
enemies of Israel. They were subdued by.David (2 Sam. 5 :
17-25. 21 : 15), and still paid tribute in the reign of Jehosha-
phat (2 Chron. 17: 11), but rebelled against Jehoram (2 Chr.
21 : 16, 17), were again subdued by Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:6), and
again shook off the yoke in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chr. 28 : 18).
The Greek modification of the Hebrew name is applied by Jose
phus and other ancient writers to the whole land of Israel, from
which comes our Palestine, employed in the same manner. The
expression all (or the whole) of thee, may have reference to Philistia
as a union of several principalities. All interpreters agree that
the Philistines are here spoken of as having recently escaped
from the ascendency of some superior power, but at the same
time threatened with a more complete subjection. The first of
these ideas is expressed by the figure of a broken rod or staff,
for the meaning of which see above, ad v. 5. The other is
expressed by the very different figure of an ordinary serpent
producing or succeeded by other varieties more venomous and
deadly. Whatever be the particular species intended, the es
sential idea is the same, and has never been disputed. Some
indeed suppose a gradation or climax in the third term also, the
fiery flying serpent being assumed to be more deadly than the
basilisk, as this is more so than the ordinary serpent. But most
writers regard the other two names as correlative or parallel,
The transition in the last clause from the figure of an animal

CHAPTER XIV 209
to that of a plant may serve the double purpose of reminding
us that what we read is figurative, and of showing how unsafe
it is to tamper with the text on the ground of mere rhetorical
punctilios. As to the application of the figures, there are dif
ferent opinions, but their essential meaning is obvious enough.
30. And ihe first-born of ihe poor shall feed, and the needy in se
curity Vie down, and 1 will kill thy root with famine, and thy rem
nant it shall slay. The future condition of the Jews is here
contrasted with that of the Philistines. The figures in the first
clause' are borrowed from a flock, in the second from a tree, but
with obvious allusion to a human subject. The first-born of the
poor is a superlative expression for the poorest and most wretched.
An allusion to the next generation leaves the promise too remote
and the expression first-born unexplained. The figurative part'of
the last clause is borrowed from a tree, here divided into two parts,
the root and the rest or remainder. What is first mentioned as
an instrument in God's hand, reappears in the last member of
the sentence as an agent.
31. Howl, oh gate ! cry, oh city ! dissolved, oh Philistia, is the
whole of thee ; for out of the north a smoke comes, and there is no
straggler in his forces. The Philistines are not only forbidden
to rejoice, but exhorted toJament. The object of address is a
single city representing all the rest. Gate is not here put for
the judges or nobles who were wont to sit there, nor is it even
mentioned as the chief place of concourse, but rather with allu
sion to the defences of the city, as a parallel expression to city
itself. According to some writers, the smoke here meant is
that of conflagrations kindled by the enemy. Some of ^he older
writers understood it simply as an emblem for wrath or trouble.
Lowth cites Virgil's fumantes pulvere campos, and supposes an
allusion to the clouds of dust raised by an army on the march.
Others refer it to the practice of literally carrying fire in front

210 CHAPTER XIV.
of caravans to mark the course. It may be doubted, notwith
standing the allusion in the last clause, whether it was intended
to refer to an army at all. If not, we may suppose with Calvin
that smoke is mentioned merely as a sign of distant and ap
proaching fire, a natural and common metaphor for any power
ful destroying agent. The diversity of judgments as to the
particular enemy here meant, and the slightness of the grounds
on which they severally rest, may suffice to show that the pro
phecy is really generic, not specific, and includes all the agen
cies and means by which the Philistines were punished for their
constant and inveterate enmity to the chosen people, as well as
for idolatry and other crimes.
32. And what shall one answer (what answer shall be given
to) the ambassadors of a nation ? That Jehovah has founded
Zion, and in it the afflicted of his people shall seek refuge. The
meaning of the last clause is too clear to be disputed, viz. that
God is the protector of his people. This is evidently stated
as the result and sum of the whole prophecy, and as such is
sufficiently intelligible. It is also given, however, as an an
swer to ambassadors or messengers, and this has given rise to
a great diversity of explanations, which seems to show that the
expression is indefinite, as the very absence of the article im
plies, and that the whole sense meant to be conveyed is this,
that such may be the answer given to the inquiries made from
any quarter. Of all the specific applications, the most prob
able is that which supposes an allusion to Rabshakeh's argu
ment with Hezekiah against trusting in Jehovah. But this
seems precluded by the want of any natural connection with
Philistia, which is the subject of the previous context.

CHAPTER XV. 211

CHAPTERS XV, XVI.
These chapters contain a prediction of the downfall of Moab.
Some writers regard the last two verses of ch. xvi as an
addition made by Isaiah to an earlier prediction of his own, or
an addition made to a prophecy of Isaiah by a later prophet.
The simplest view of the passage is that which regards the
whole as a continuous composition, and supposes the Prophet
at the close to fix the date of the prediction which he had just
uttered. The particular event referred to in these chapters
has been variously explained to be the invasion of Moab by
Jeroboam II. king of Israel, by Tirhaka king of Ethiopia, by
Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, by his successors Shalmaneser,
Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, by Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon etc. The safest conclusion seems to be, that the pre
diction is generic and intended to describe the destruction of
Moab, without exclusive reference to any one of the events by
which it was occasioned or promoted, but with special allusions
possibly to all of them. Compare the introduction to ch.
xm — xiv.

CHAPTER XV.

Tins chapter is occupied with a description of the general
grief, occasioned by the conquest of the chief towns and the
desolation of the country at large. Its chief peculiarities of
form are the numerous names of places introduced, and the

212 CHAPTER XV.
strong personification by which they are represented as griev
ing for the public calamity. The chapter closes with an inti
mation of still greater evils.
1. (This is) the burden of Moab, that in a night Ar-Moab is
laid waste, is destroyed ; that in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste,
is destroyed. The English Version understands the first verse
as assigning a reason for the second. Because in a night etc.
he ascends etc. But so long a sentence is at variance, not only
with the general usage of the language, but with the style of
this particular prophecy. Ar originally meant a city, and Ar-
Moab the city of Moab, i. e. the capital city, perhaps as the
only real city of the Moabites. It was on the south side of
the Arnon (Num. 22 : 36). The Greeks called it Areopolis or
City of Mars, according to their favourite practice of corrupting
foreign names so as to give them the appearance of significant
Greek words. Ptolemy calls it Rhabmathmom, a corruption of
the Hebrew Rabbath-Moab i. e. chief city of Moab. Jerome
says that the place was destroyed in one night by an earth
quake when he was a boy. The Arabs call it Mab and Er-
rabba. It is now in ruins. In connection with the capital
city, the Prophet names the principal or only fortress in the
land of Moab. Kir originally means a wall, then a walled
town or fortress. The place here meant is a few miles south*
east of Ar, on a rocky hill, strongly fortified by nature, and
provided with a castle. The Chaldee Paraphrase of this verse
calls it Kerakka de Moab, the fortress of Moab, which name it
has retained among the orientals, who extend it to the whole
of ancient Moab.
2. The destruction of the chief cities causes general grief.
They (indefinitely) go up to the hcv.se (i. e. the temple), and
Dibon (to) the high places for (the purpose of) weeping. On
Nebo and on Medeba, Moab howls — on all his heads baldness —

CHAPTER XV. 213
every beard cut off. The ane\ ent heathen built their temples
upon heights~(ch. 65 : 7). Solomon built one to the Moabitish
god Chemosh on the mountain before Jerusalem (1 Kings 1 1 : 7).
Dibon, a town north of the Arnon, rebuilt by the tribe of Gad,
and thence called Dibon-gad (Num. 33 : 45), although it had
formerly belonged to Moab, and would seem from this passage
to have been recovered by them. The same place is called
Dimon in v. 9, in order to assimilate it to the Hebrew word for
blood. The modern name is Diban. There is no preposition
before it here in Hebrew. Hence it may be either the object
or the subject of the verb. The first construction is preferred
by the older writers ; those of modern date are almost unani
mous in favour of the other, which makes Dibon itself go up to
the high places. The objection to the first is that Dibon was
situated in a plain ; to which it .may be answered that the phrase
go up has reference in many cases not to geographical position
but to sacredness and dignity.
3. In its streets they are girded with sackcloth ; on its roofs
and in its squares (or broad places) all (literally, all of it) howls,
coming down wilh weeping (from the house-tops or the temples).
In the Hebrew of this verse there is a singular alternation of
masculine and feminine forms, all relating to Moab, sometimes
considered as a country and sometimes as a nation. The last
clause is explained by most modern writers, to mean melting
into tears, as the eye is elsewhere said to run down tears or
water (Jer. 9:18. Lam. 3 : 48). But as the eye is not here
mentioned, and the preposition is inserted, making a marked
difference between this and the alleged expressions, it is better
to adhere to the old construction which supposes an antithesis
between this clause and the ascent to the temples or the house
tops. Sackcloth is mentioned as the usual mourning dress and
a badge of deep humiliation.

214 CHAPTER XV.
4. And Heshbon cries and Elealeh— even is Jahaz is their
voice heard — therefore the warriors of Moab cry— his soul is dis
tressed to him (or in him). Heshbon, a royal city of the Aiuo-
rites, assigned to Reuben and to Gad at different times, or to
both jointly, famous for its_fish-pools, a celebrated town in the
days of Eusebius, the ruins of which are still in existence
under the slightly altered name of Hesban. Elealeh, often
mentioned with it, was also assigned to the tribe of Reuben.
Eusebius describes these towns as near together in the high
lands of Gilead, opposite to Jericho. Robinson and Smith,
while at the latter place, conversed with an Arab chief, who
pointed out to them the Wady Hesban, near which far up in
the mountain is the ruined place of the same name, the ancient
Heshbon. Half an hour north-east of this lies another ruin
called El Al, the ancient Elealeh. (Palestine II. 278.)
5. My heart for Moab cries out — her fugitives (are fled) as far
as Zoar — an heifer of three years old — -for he that goes, up Luhilh
with weeping goes up by it— for in the way of Horonaim a cry
of destruction they lift up. Every part of this obscure verse
has given rise to some diversity of exposition. Zoar, one of
the cities of the plain, preserved by Lot's intercession, is now
ascertained to have been situated on the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea, at the foot of the mountains near its southern ex
tremity. (Robinson's Palestine II. 480, 648.) It is here
mentioned as an extreme southern point, but not without allu
sion to Lot's escape from the destruction of Sodom. — The next
phrase is famous as the subject of discordant explanations.
These may however be reduced to two classes, those which re
gard the words as proper names, and those which regard them
as appellatives. All the ancient versions, and the great ma
jority of modern writers, regard the words in question as ap
pellatives, and all agree in rendering the first of the two heifer.
The other is explained to mean three years old, or retaining the

CHAPTER XV. 215
form ofthe original more closely, a heifer of the third (year).
By a heifer three years old, we may understand one that has
never yet been tamed or broken, according to Pliny's maxim,
domitura bourn in trimatu, postea sera, antea praematura. Now
as personal afflictions are sometimes likened to the taming of
animals (Jer. 31 : 18. Hos. 10 : 11), and as communities and
governments are often represented by the figure of a heifer
(Jer. 46 : 20. 50 : 11. Hos. 4 : 16), the expressions thus inter
preted would not be inappropriate to the state of Moab, hith
erto flourishing and uncontrolled, but now three years old and
subjected to the yoke. Some of the older interpreters suppose
this statement of the age to have reference to the voice of the
animal, which is said to be deepest at that age. There is still a
doubt, however, with respect to the application of the simile,
as last explained. Some refer it to the Prophet himself.
Others to the fugitives of Moab, who escape to Zoar, crying
like a heifer three years old. Luhith is mentioned only here
and in Jeremiah 48 : 5. Eusebius describes it as a village still
called Ao'vetd, between Areopolis and Zoar. Horonaim is
mentioned only here and in Jer. 48 : 3, 5, 34. The name
originally means two caverns, and is near akin to Beth-horon,
It is not improbable that Luhith and Horonaim were on op
posite faces of the same hill, so that the fugitives on their way
to Zoar, after going up the ascent of Luhith, are seen going
down the descent of Horonaim. A cry of breaking is explained
by some of the rabbinical interpreters as meaning the explosive
sound produced by clapping the hands or smiting the thigh.
Others understand it to mean a cry of contrition,!, e. a penitent
and humble cry. Gill suggests that it may mean a broken cry,
i. e. one interrupted by sighs and sobs. It is possible however.
that it may be mentioned as the very word uttered.
6. For the waters of Nimrim (are and) shall be desolations,
for withered is the grass, gone is the herbage, verdure there is none

216 CHAPTER XV.
The description is continued, the desolation of the country
being added to the capture of the cities and the flight of the
inhabitants. The waters, meant may be streams which met
there, or the springs and running streams of that locality.
The translation of the first verb as a future and the others as
preterites seems to make the desolation of the waters not the
cause but the effect of the decay of vegetation. It is better,
therefore, to adopt the present or descriptive form throughout
the verse, as all the latest writers do.
7. Therefore (because the country can no longer be inhabited)
the remainder of what (each) one has made (i. e. acquired), and
their hoard (or store), over the brook of the willows they carry
them away. Not one of the ancient versions has given a cohe
rent or intelligible rendering of this obscure sentence. It is '
now commonly agreed that the brook mentioned is the Wady
el Ahsa of Burckhardt (the Wady el Ahsy of Robinson and
Smith), running into the Dead Sea near its southern extremity,
and forming the boundary between Kerek and Gebal, correspond
ing to the ancient Moab and Edom. . On the whole, the most prob
able meaning of the verse is that the Moabites shall carry what
they can save of their possessions into the ancient land_of Edom.
8. The lamentation is not confined to any one -part of the
country. For the cry goes round the border of Moab (i. e. entire
ly surrounds it) ,- even to Eglaim (is) its howling (heard), and to
Beer Elim its howling. The meaning is not that the land is
externally surrounded by lamentation, but that lamentation
fills it.
9. The expressions grow still stronger. Not only is the land
full of tumult and disorder, fear and flight ; it is also stained
with carnage and threatened with new evils. For the waters' of
Dimon are full of blood ; far 1 will bring upon Dimon addition

CHAPTER XVL 217
(i. e. additional evils), on the escaped (literally, the escape) cf
Moab a lion ; and on the remnant of the land (those left in it, or
remaining of its population). By the waters of Dimon or Di
bon, most writers understand the Arnon, near the north bank
of which the town was built, as the river Kishon is called the
waters of Megiddo (Judg. 5 : 1.9).

CHAPTER XVI.
This chapter opens with an exhortation to the Moabites to
seek protection from their enemies by renewing their allegiance
to the house of David, accompanied by an intimation that this
prospect of deliverance would not in fact be realized, vs. 1-6.
Froin this transient gleam of hope, the prophecy reverts to a
description of the general desolation and distress, in form almost
identical with that in the foregoing chapter, vs. 7-12. The
prophecy then closes with a specification of the time at which it
was to be fulfilled, vs. 13, 14.
The needless division of the prophecy at this point seems to
have some connection with an old opinion that the lamb men
tioned in v. 1 is Christ. A similar cause appears to have af
fected the division of the second, third, and fourth chapters.
1. In their extremity, the Moabites exhort one another to
return to their allegiance to the family of David, by whom they
were subdued and rendered tributary (2 Sam. 8 :' 2). When
the kingdom was divided, they continued in subjection to the
ten tribes till the death of Ahab, paying yearly, or perhaps at
the accession of every new king, a tribute of a hundred thou
sand lambs and as many rams with the wool (2 Kings 3 4, 5).
10

218 CHAPTER XVL
After the kingdom of the ten tribes was destroyed, their alle
giance could be paid only to Judah, who had indeed been all
along entitled to it. Send ye ihe lamb (i. e. the customary trib
ute) to the ruler of the land (your rightful sovereign), from S:la
(or Petra) to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of
Zion. The verse then really continues the description of the
foregoing chapter. Jerome understands the verse as a prayer
or a prediction, that God would send forth Christ, the lamb, thi
ruler of the land (or earth). Sela, which properly denotes a
rock, is now commonly agreed to be here used as the name of the
city Petra, the ancient capital of Idumea^so called because sur
rounded by- impassable rocks, and to a great extent hewn in the
rock itself. It is described by Strabo, Diodorus, and Josephus,
as a place of extensive trade. The Greek form niiqa is sup
posed to have given name to Arabia Petraea in the old geogra
phy. If so, the explanation of that name as meaning stony, and
as descriptive of the soil of the whole country, must be incor
rect. Petra was conquered by Trajan, and rebuilt by Hadrian,
on whose coins its name is still extant. It was afterwards a
bishop's see, but had ceased to be inhabited before the time of
the crusades. It was then entirely lost sight of, until Burck-
hardt in 1812 verified a conjecture of Seetzen's, that the site
of Petra was to be sought in the valley called the Wada Musa,
one or two days' journey southeast of the Dead Sea. It was
afterwards explored by Irby and Mangles, and has since been
often visited and described. See in particular Robinson's Pal
estine II. 573-580. Jerome explains, the whole verse as a pre
diction of Christ's descent from Ruth the Moabitess, the lamb,
the ruler ofthe land, sent forth from the rock ofthe wilderness !
2. This verse assigns the ground or reason of the exhortation
in the one before it. And it shall be (or come to pass, that)
like a bird wandering, (like) a nest cast out, shall be the daughters
of Moab, the fords of Arnon. The construction cast out from, the

CHAPTER XVI. 219
nest is inconsistent with the form of the original. .Nest, may be
understood as a poetical term for its contents. There are three
interpretations of the phrase daughters of Moab. The first
gives the words the geographical sense of villages or dependent
towns. (See above ch. 3 : 16. 4 : 4.) The second explanation
makes it mean the people generally, here called daughters, as
the whole population is elsewhere called daughter. The third
gives the words their strict sense as denoting the female inhab
itants of Moab, whose flight and sufferings are a sufficient in
dex to the state of things. In the absence of any conclusive
reason for dissenting from this strict and proper sense of the
expressions, it is entitled to the preference. The Arnon is
mentioned as the principal stream of Moab.
3. Most of the older writers from Jerome downwards, un
derstand this verse as a continuation of the advice to the Mo
abites, in which they are urged to act with prudence as well as
justice, to take counsel (i. e provide for their own safety) as well
as execute judgment (i. e. act right towards others). In other
words, they are exhorted to prepare for the day of their own
calamity, by exercising mercy towards the Jews in theirs. But
the explanation of the verse as the words of the Moabites ad
dressed to the Jews, is favoured by the foregoing context, -which
relates throughout to the sufferings of Moab, whereas on the
other supposition, the prophet suddenly exhorts the sufferers to
harbour the fugitives of that very nation, with whom they had
themselves been exhorted to seek refuge. This interpretation
also relieves us from the necessity of determining historically
what particular affliction of the Israelites or Jews is here re
ferred to, a. question which has occasioned much perplexity, and
which can be solved only by conjecture, As noonday heat is a
common oriental figure to denote distress (Isai. 4 : 6. 25 : 4.
32 : 2), so a shadow is a relief from itf. Possibly, however, the
allusion here is to the light of noonday, and the, shadow dark

220 CHAPTER XVL
as night denotes concealment. If so, the clause is equivalent
in meaning to the one which follows.
4. Lei my outcasts, Moab, sojourn with thee, be thou a covert
(refuge or hiding-place) to them from the face (or presence) ofthe
spoiler (or oppressor) ,- for the extortioner is at an end, oppression
has ceased, consumed are the tramplers out of the land. Here, as
in the preceding verse, the sense depends upon the object of
address. If it be Moab, as the older writers held, the outcasts
referred to are the outcasts' of Israel. If the address be to
Israel, the outcasts are those of Moab. The latter interpreta
tion seems to be irreconcilable with the form of expression.
Most interpreters, ancient and modern, give the verbs in this
last clause a future sense. As if\he had said, ' Give the fugi
tives a shelter ; they will not need it long, for the extortioner
will soon cease,' etc. This gives an appropriate sense, whether
the words be addressed to Israel or Moab.
5. This verse contains a promise, that if the Jews afforded
shelter to the fugitives of Moab, their own government should
be strengthened by this exercise of mercy, and their national
prosperity promoted by the appearance of a king in the family
of David, who should possess the highest qualifications of a
moral kind for the regal office. And a throne shall be established
in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tent of David,
judging and seeking justice and prompt in equity.
6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very proud, his
haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, the falsehood of his pre
tensions. Those writers who suppose Moab to be addressed in
the preceding verses, understand this as a reason for believing
that he will not follow the advice just given. As if he had
said: 'it is vain to recommend this merciful and just course,
for we have heard eto.' But the modern writers who regard

CHAPTER XVL 221
what immediately precedes as the language addressed by the
Moabitish fugitives to Judah, explain this as a reason for re
jecting their petition.
7. Therefore (because thus rejected) Moab shall howl far Moab ;
all of it shall howl ; for the grapes (or raisin-cakes) of Kir-hareseth
shall ye sigh (or moan), only (i. e. altogether) smitten. The idea
may be that the nation of Moab mourns for the land of Moab,
but the simplest supposition is that Moab for Moab means Moab
for itself.
8. For the fields of Heshbon are withered — the vine of Sibmah —
the lords of the nations broke down its choice plants — unto Jazer
they reached — they strayed into (or through) the desert — its branches
— they were stretched out — they reached to (or over) the sea. Sib
mah is mentioned Num. 32 : 38. Josh. 13 : 19, and in the former
place joined with Nebo, which occurs above, ch. 15 : 2. It had
been taken by the Amorites, but was probably again recovered.
Eusebius speaks of it as a town of Gilead, and Jerome describes
it as not more than half a mile from Heshbon. According to
the English Version, it would seem to be the lords of the na
tions who came to Jazer, wandered through the wilderness, etc.
All this, however, is really predicated of the vines, the luxuriant
growth of which is the subject of the following clauses. It may
either mean that the vines covered the shore and overhung the
water, or that the luxuriant vineyards of Moab really extended
beyond the northern point of the Dead Sea. In the parallel
passage, Jer. 48 : 32, we read of the sea of Jazer, which may
have been a lake in its vicinity, or even a reservoir, such as
Seetzen found there. The same traveller found an abundant
growth of vines in the region here descVibed, while at Szalt (the
ancient Ramoth) Burckhardt and Buckingham both speak, not
only of the multitude of grapes, but of an active trade in raisins

222 CHAPTER XVL
9. Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer (far) the
vine of Sibmah. I will wet thee (with) my tears, Heshbon and
(thee) Elealeh ! For upon thy fruit and upon thy harvest a cry
has fallen. Some suppose these to be the words of a Moabite
bewailing the general calamity. There is no objection, how
ever, to the supposition, that the Prophet here expresses his own
sympathy with the distress of Moab, as an indirect method of
describing its intensity. The emphasis does not lie merely in
the Prophet's feeling for a foreign nation, but in his feeling for
a guilty race, on whom he was inspired to denounce the" wrath
of God.
10. And taken away is joy and gladness from the fruitful fie'd,
and in the vineyards shall no (more) be sung, no (more) be shouted.
wine in the presses shall thelreademot tread ; the cry have I stilled
(or caused to cease). The English Version, on the other hand,
by using the expression no wine, seems to imply that the tread
ing of the grapes would not be followed hy its usual result,
whereas the meaning is that the grapes would not be trodden
at all. The same version needlessly puts treaders in the plural.
The idiomatic combination of the verb and its participle or de
rivative noun, is not uncommon in Hebrew. The ancient mode
of treading grapes is still preserved in some of the monuments
of Egypt.
1 1. Therefore my bowels for Moab like the harp shall sound, and
my inwards for Kirhares. The viscera are evidently mentioned
as the seat of the affections. Modern usage would require heart
and bosom. The distinction which philologists have made be
tween the ancient usage of bowels to denote the upper viscera
and its modern restriction to the lower viscera sufficiently ac
counts for the different associations excited by the same or
equivalent expressions, then and now. The comparison is either
with the sad notes of a harp, or with the striking of its strings

CHAPTER XVI. 223
which may, be used to represent the beating of the heart Or the
commotion ofthe nerves. Sound is not an adequate translation of
the Hebrew word which conveys the idea of tumultuous agitation,
12. From the impending ruin Moab attempts in vain to save
himself by supplication to his gods. They are powerless and
he is desperate. And il shall be (or come to pass), when Moab
has appeared (before his gods), when he has wearied himself
(with vain oblations) on the high place, then (literally and) he
shall enter into his sanctuary to pray, and shall not be able~(to
obtain an answer). Another construction, equally grammati
cal, though not so natural, is, ' when he has appeared etc. and
enters into his sanctuary to pray, he shall not be able.' The
weariness here spoken of is understood by some as referring to
the complicated and laborious ritual of the heathen worship ; by
others, simply to the multitude of offerings; by others, still
more simply, to the multitude of prayers put up in vain. The
last clause may either represent the worshipper as passing from
the open high place to the shrine or temple where his god re
sided, in continuation of the same religious service, or it may
represent him as abandoning the ordinary altars, and resorting
to some noted temple, or to the shrine of some chief idol, such
as Chemosh ( 1 Kings 11:7). It does not mean that he should
not be able to reach or to enter the sanctuary on account of his
exhaustion, but that he should not be able to obtain what he
desired, or indeed to effect anything whatever by his prayers.]
13. This is the word which Jehovah spake concerning Moab cf
old. The reference is not to what follows but to what precedes.
It may be of old applied either to a remote or a recent period,
and is frequently used by Isaiah elsewhere, in reference to ear
lier predictions.
14. And now Jehovah speaks (or has spoken) saying, in three

224 CHAPTER XVIL
years, like the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dis
graced, with all the great throng, and ihe remnant (shall be) small
and few, not much. By the years of an hireling most writers
understand years computed strictly and exactly, with or without
allusion to the eager expectation with which hirelings await
their time, and their joy at its arrival, or to the hardships of the
time of servitude. The glory of Moab is neither its wealth, its
army, its people, nor its nobility exclusively, but all in which
the nation gloried. As the date of this prediction is not given,
the time of its fulfilment is of course uncertain. Some suppose
it to have been executed by Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia (2 Kings
19 : 9) ; others by Shalmaneser ; others by Sennacherib ; others
by Esarhaddon ; others by Nebuchadnezzar. These last of
course suppose that the verses are of later date than the time
of Isaiah. That the final downfall of Moab was to be effected
by the Babylonians, seems clear from the repetition of Isaiah's
threatenings by Jeremiah (ch. 48). The only safe conclusion
is that these two verses were added by divine command in the
days of Nebuchadnezzar, or that if written by Isaiah they were
verified in some of the Assyrian expeditions which were frequent
at that period, although the conquest of Moab is not explicitly
recorded in the history.

CHAPTER XVIL
Tins chapter is chiefly occupied with a prophecy of desola
tion to the kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim, vs. 1-11. It
closes with a more general threatening against the enemies of
Judah, vs. 12-14. The most satisfactory view of the whole
passage is that it was meant to be a prophetic picture of the

CHAPTER XVIL 226
doom which awaited the enemies of Judah, and that while
many of its expressions admit of a general application, some
traits in the description are derived from particular invasions
and attacks. Thus Syria and Ephraim are expressly men
tioned in the fir^t part, while the terms of the last three verses
are more appropriate to the slaughter of the Assyrian host ;
but as this is not explicitly referred to, there is no need of re
garding it as the exclusive subject even of that passage. The
eighteenth chapter may then be treated as a part of the same
context. In the first part of ch. 17, the Prophet represents
the kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim as sharing the same fate,
both being brought to desolation, vs. 1-3. He then describes
the desolation of Ephraim especially, by the figures of a har
vest and a gathering of olives, in which little is left to be after
wards gleaned, vs. 4-6. As the effect of these judgments, he
describes the people as renouncing their idols and returning to
Jehovah, vs. 7,8. He then resumes his description of the
threatened desolation, and ascribes it to the general oblivion
of God, and cultivation of strange doctrines and practices,
vs. 9— 11. In the close of the chapter, the Prophet first de
scribes a gathering of nations, and then their dispersion by
divine rebuke, which he declares to be the doom of all who
attack or oppress God's people, vs. 12-14.
1. The Burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is removed
fiom (ieing) a city, and is a heap, a ruin. For the meaning of
burden, see above, on ch. 13 : 1. The title is equivalent to
saying, ' I have a threatening to announce against Damascus.'
The idiomatic phrase removed from a city means removed from
(the state or condition of) a city, or, from (being) a city. Com
pare ch. 7 : 8, and 1 Sam 15 : 26 Some regard this and the
- next two verses as a description of the past, and infer that the
prophecy is subsequent in date to the conquest of Damascus
and Syria. But as the form of expression leaves this undeter
10»

226 CHAPTER XVIL
mined, it is better to regard the whole as a prediction
Damascus is still the most flourishing city in Western Asia.
It is also one of the most ancient. It is here mentioned as
the capital of a kingdom, called Syria of Damascus to distin
guish it from other Syrian principalities, and founded in the
reign of David by Rezon (1 Kings 11 : 23, 24). It was com
monly at war with Israel, particularly during the reign of
Benhadad and Hazael, so that a three years' peace is recorded
as a long one (1 Kings 22 : 1). Under Rezin, its last king,
Syria joined with Ephraim against Judah, during which con
federacy, i. e. in the first years of the reign of Ahaz, this
prophecy was probably uttered. Damascus appears to have
experienced more vicissitudes than any other aneient city ex
cept Jerusalem. After the desolation here predicted it was
again rebuilt, and again destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, not
withstanding which it reappears in the New Testament as a
flourishing city and a seat of government. In the verse before
us, the reference may be chiefly to its downfall as a roya
residence. 2. Forsaken (are) the cities of Aroer ; for flocks shall they be,
and they shall lie -down, and there shall be no making (them)
afraid. There are three Aroers distinctly mentioned in the
Bible ; one in' the territory of Judah (1 Sam. 30 : 28), one at
the southern extremity of the land of Israel east of Jordan
(Jos. 12 : 2. 13 : 16), and a third further north near to Rabbah
(Jos 13 : 25. Num. 32 : 34). It is now commonly agreed that
the place meant is the northern Aroer east of Jordan, and
that its cities are the towns around it and perhaps dependent
on it. An analogous expression is the cities cf Heshbon (Jos.
13 : 17). At all times, it is probable, the boundaries between
these adjacent states were fluctuating and uncertain. This ac
counts for the fact that the same place is spoken of at different
times as belonging to Israel, to Moab, to Ammon, and to Syriai

CHAPTER XVIL 227
Forsaken probably means emptied of their people and left deso
late. There is then a specific reference to deportation and
exile. 3. Then shall cease defence from Ephraim and royalty from
Damascus and the rest of Syria. Like the glory of the children
of Israel shall they be, saith Jehovah of Hosts. ^The defence
may be either Damascus (as a protection of the ten tribes) or
Samaria (Mic. 1 : 5). The rest of Syria may either mean the
whole of Syria besides Damascus, or the remnant left by the
Assyrian invaders. The latter agrees best with the terms of
the comparison. What was left of Syria should resemble
what was left of the glory of Israel. The glory of Israel in
cludes all that constitutes the greatness of a people. (See-
above, ch. 5 : 14)
4. And it shall be (or come to pass) in that day, the glory of
Jacob shall be brought low (or made weak), and the fatness of his
flesh shall be made lean. This is an explanation of the com
parison in the verse preceding. The remnant of Ephraim was
to be like the glory of Israel'; but how was that ? This verse
contains the answer. Glory, as before, includes all that con
stitutes the strength of a people, and is here contrasted with
a state of weakness. The same idea is expressed in the last
clause by the figure of emaciation.
5. And it shall be like the gathering of (or as one gathers) the
harvest, the standing corn, and his arm reaps the ears. And it
shall be like one collecting ears in the valley of Rephaim. The
first verb is not to be rendered he shall be (i. e. Israel, or the
king of Assyria), but to be construed impersonally, it shall be
or come to pass. The valley of Rephaim or the Giants extends
from Jerusalem to the south-west in the direction of Beth
lehem. It is here mentioned as a spot near to Jerusalem and

228 CHAPTER XVIL
well known to the people, for the purpose of giving a specific
character to the general description or allusion of the first
clause. There is no proof that it was remarkable either for
fertility or barrenness. Some of the commentators represent
it as now waste ; but Robinson speaks of it, en passant, as " the
cultivated valley or plain of Rephaim." (Palestine I. 323.)
6. And gleanings shall be left therein like the beating (or shak
ing) of an olive tree, two (or) three berries in the top of a high
bough, four (or) five in the branches of the fruit-tree, saith Jehovah
God of Israel. There is here an allusion to the custom of
beating the unripe olives from the tree for the purpose of
making oil. Those described as left may either be the few left
to ripen for eating, or the few overlooked by the gatherer or
beyond his reach. The common version (gleaning grapes) is
too restricted, and presents the incongruity of grapes upon an
olive-tree. The transition from the figure of a harvest to that
of an olive-gathering may be intended simply to vary and mul
tiply the images, or, as some suppose, to complete the illustra
tion which would otherwise have been defective, because the
reaper is followed by the gleaner who completes the ingather
ing at once, whereas the olive-gatherer leaves some of course.
Two, three, four, and five, are used, as in other languages,*for
an indefinite small number or a few. This verse is regarded
by most interpreters as describing the extent to which the
threatened judgment would bo carried. The gleanings, then,
are not the pious remnant, but the ignoble refuse who survived
the deportation of the ten tribes by the Assyrians.
7. In that day man shall turn lo his Maker, and his eyes to
the Holy One of Israel shall look. Maker is here used in a
pregnant sense to describe God, not merely as the natural
creator of mankind, but as the maker of Israel, the author of
their privileges, and their covenant God. " (Compare Deut

CHAPTER XVIL 229
32 . 6.) The same idea is expressed by the parallel phrase.
Holy One of Israel, for the import of which see above, ch 1:4.
It is matter .of history, that after the Assyrian conquest and
the general deportation of the people, many accepted Heze
kiah's invitation and returned to the worship of Jehovah at
Jerusalem (2 Chron. 30 : 11) ; and this reformation is alluded
to as still continued in the times of Josiah (2 Chron. 34 : 9).
At the same time the words may be intended to suggest that a
similar effect might be expected to result from similar causes
in later times.
8. And he shall not turn (or look) to the altars, the work of his
own hands, and that which his own fingers have made shall he not
regard, and the groves (or images of Ashtoreth) and the pillars (or
images) ofthe sun. The positive declaration of the preceding
verse is negatively expressed in this, with a particular mention
of the objects which had usurped the place of God. Idol-altars
are described as the work of men's hands, because erected by
their sole authority, whereas the altar at Jerusalem was, in the
highest sense, the work of God himself. The old translation
groves, i. e. such as were used for idol-worship, has been shown
to be in some places inadmissible, as when the grove is said to
have stood upon an altar, or under a tree, or to have been
brought out of a temple (1 Kings 14:23. 2 Chron. 34 : 4). The
modern writers, therefore, understand it as denoting the god
dess of fortune or happiness, otherwise called Ashtoreth, the
Phenician Venus, extensively worshipped in conjunction with
Baal. 9. In that day shall his fortified cities le like what is hft in the
thicket and the lofty branch (namely the cities), which they leave
(as they retire) from before the children of Israel, and (the land)
shall be a waste. It is universally agreed that the desolation
of the ten tribes is here described by a comparison, but as tc

230 CHAPTER-XVIL
the precise form and meaning of the sentence there is great
diversity of judgment. Some suppose the strongest towns to
be here represented as no better defended than an open forest.
Others on the contrary understand the strong towns alone to
be left, the others- being utterly destroyed. These are the prin
cipal interpretations of the whole verse, or at least of the com
parison which it contains. The first supposes the forsaken
cities of Ephraim to be here compared with those which the
Canaanites forsook when they fled before the Israelites under
Joshua, or with the forests which the Israelites left unoccu
pied after the conquest of the country. The other interpreta
tion supposes no historical allusion, but a comparison of the ap
proaching desolation with the neglected branches of a tree or
forest that is felled, or a resumption of the figure of the olive-
tree in v. 6. This last is strongly recommended by its great
simplicity by its superseding all gratuitous assumptions beyond
what is expressed.
10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and
the Rtick of thy strength hast not remembered, therefore thou wilt
plant plants of pleasantness (or pleasant plantations) and wilh
a strange slip set it. The planting here described is the sin pi
the people, not their punishment. Those who think a literal
planting to be meant, understand strange to signify exotic,
foreign, and by implication valuable, costly ; but upon the
supposition that a moral or spiritual planting is intended, it
has its frequent emphatic sense of alien from God, i. e. wicked,
or more specifically idolatrous. The foreign growth introduced
is understood by some to be idolatry, by others foreign alliance ;
but these two things, as we have seen before, were inseparably .
blended in the history and policy of Israel. (See above, ch
2 : 6-8.)
11. In the day cf thy planting thou wilt hedge it in, and in the

CHAPTER XVIL 231
morning thou wilt make thy seed to. blossom, (but) away flies the
crop in a day of grief and desperate sorrow. In the morning is an
idiomatic phrase for early, which some refer to the rapidity of
growth, and others to the assiduity of the cultivator, neither of
which senses is exclusive of the other.
12. Hark! the noise of many nations!' .Like the noise of the
sea they make a noise. And the rush of peoples ! Like the rush
of mighty waters they are rushifig. The diversity of judgments,
as to the connection of these verses (12-14) with the context,
has been already stated in the introduction. On the Whole, the
safest ground to assume is that already stated in the introduc
tion, viz. that the two chapters form a single prophecy or pro
phetic picture of the doom- awaiting all the enemies of Judah,
with particular allusion to particular enemies in certain parts.
To the poetical images of this verse a beautiful parallel is
found in Ovid's Metambrphoses : Qualia fluctus
Aequorei faciunt, si quia procul andiat ipsos,
Tale sonat populus.
13. Nations, like the rush of many waters, rush ; and he re
bukes it, and it flees from afar, and is chased like the chaff of hills
before a wind, and like a rolling thing before a whirlwind. While
there seems to be an obvious allusion to the flight of Senna
cherib and the remnant of his host (ch. 37 : 36, 37), the terms
are so selected as to admit of a wider application to all Jeho
vah's enemies, and thus prepare the way for the general declara
tion in the following verse.
14. At evening-tide, and behold terror; before morning he is not.
This is (or be) ihe portion of our plunderers, and the lot of our
spoilers. The Prophet is the speaker, and he uses the plural
pronouns only to identify himself with the people.

232 CHAPTER XVIIL

CHAPTER XVIII.
The two great powers of western Asia, in the days cf Isaiah,
were Assyria and Egypt or Ethiopia, the last two being wholly
or partially united under Tirhakah, whose name and exploits
are recorded in Egyptian monuments still extant, and who is
expressly said in Scripture (2 Kings 19 : 9) to have come out
against Sennacherib. With one or the other of these great
contending powers, Judah was commonly confederate, and of
course at war with the other. Hezekiah is explicitly reproached
by Rabshakeh (Is. 36 : 9) with relying upon Egypt, i. e. the
Ethiopico-Egyptian empire. These historical facts, together
with the mention of Cush in v. 1, and the appropriateness of the
figures in vs. 4, 5, to the destruction of Sennacherib's army,
give great probability to the hypothesis now commonly adopted,
that the Prophet here announces that event to Ethiopia, as
about to be effected by a direct interposition of Jehovah, and
without human aid. On this supposition, although not without
its difficulties, the chapter before us is much clearer in itself
and in its connection with the one before it, than if %e assume
with some interpreters, both Jews and Christians, that it relates
to the restoration of the Jews, or to the overthrow of the Egyp
tians or Ethiopians themselves as the enemies of Israel. At
the same time, some of the expressions here employed admit of
so many interpretations, that it is best to "give the whole as wide
an application as the language will admit, on the ground before
suggested, that it constitutes a part of a generic prophecy or
picture of God's dealings with the foes of his people, including
illustrations drawn from particular events, such as the downfall
of Syria and Israel, and the slaughter of Sennacherib's army.
The Prophet first invites the attention of the Ethiopians and

CHAPTER XVIIL 233
of the whole world to a great catastrophe as near at hand, vs.
1-3. He then describes the catastrophe itself, by the beautiful
figure of a vine or vineyard suffered to blossom and bear fruit,
aud then, when almost ready to be gathered, suddenly destroyed,
vs. 4-6. In consequence of this event, the same people, who
had been invoked in the beginning of the chapter, are described
as bringing presents to Jehovah at Jerusalem, v. 7.
1. Ho! land of rustling wings, which art beyond the 'ivtrs of
Cush (or Ethiopia) ! Instead of rustling some read shadowy
wings. But as the Hebrew word in every.other case has reference
to sound, some suppose an allusion to the noise made by locusts,
some to the rushing sound of rivers, others to the clash of arms
or other noises made by armies on the march, here called wings
by a common figure. The rivers-vf Cush are supposed by some
to be the- Nile and its branches; by others, the Astaboras, As-
tapus, and Astasobas, mentioned by Strabo as the rivers of
Meroe. 2. Sending by sea ambassadors, and in vessels of papyrus on the
face ofthe waters. Go ye light (or swift) messengers, to a nation
drawn and shorn, lo a people terrible since il existed and onwards,
a nation of double strength, and trampling, whose land the streams
divide. Nearly every word and phrase of this difficult verse
has been the subject of discordant explanations. The word sea
is variously explained to mean the Red Sea, the Mediterranean,
and the Nile (Is. 19 : 5. Nah. 3 : 8). The use of vessels made
of the papyrus plant upon the Nile, is expressly mentioned by
Theophrastus, Pliny, Lucan, and Plutarch. The second clause
of the verse is regarded by some writers as the language of the
people who had just been addressed, as if he had said, 'sending
ambassadors (and saying to them) go etc' More probably, how
ever,, the Prophet is still speaking in the name of God. Th6
following epithets are applied by some to the Jews, and sup-

234 CHAPTER XVIIL
posed to be descriptive of their degraded and oppressed condi
tion, by others as descriptive of their warlike qualities. Shorn
or shaven, is applied by some to the Egyptian and Ethiopian
practice of shaving the head and beard, while others understand
it as a figure for robbery and spoliation. By rivers, in the last
clause, some suppose nations to be meant, or the Assyrians in
particular ; but most writers understand it literally as a de
scription of the country.
3. All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth
shall see as it were the raising of a standard on the mountains, and
shall hear as il were the blowing of a trumpet. Another construc
tion, more generally adopted, makes the verbs imperative. So
the English Version : see ye when he lifteth up an ensign on the
mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye. There seems,
however, to be no sufficient reason for departing from the strict
translation of the verbs as future. In either case, the verse
invites the attention of the world to some great event.
4. For thus said (or saith) Jehovah to me, I will rest (remain
quiet), and will look oh (as a mere spectator) in my dwelling
place, like a serene heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew (or dewy
cloud), in the heal of harvest (i.e. the heat preceding harvest, or
the heat by which the crop is ripened). This verse assigns a
reason for the preceding invitation to attend. The obvious
meaning of the figure is, that God would let the enemy proceed
in the execution of his purposes until they were nearly accom
plished. 5. For before the harvest, as the bloom isfinished, and the flower
becomes a ripening grape, he cuts down the branches with the prun
ing knives, and the tendrils he removes, he cuts away. The obvious
meaning of the figures is, that although God would suffer the
designs of the enemy to approach completion, he would never-

CHAPTER XVIIL 238
theless interfere at the last moment and destroy both him and
them. As if he had said, let all the world await the great ca
tastrophe— -for I will let the enemy almost attain his end — but
let them still attend— for before it is attained, I will destroy
him. The verbs in the last clause may either be referred di
rectly to Jehovah as their subject, or construed indefinitely, one
Bhall cut them down.
6. They shall be left together to the wild bird of the mountains
and to the wild beasts of the earth (or land), and the wild bird shall
summer thereon, and every wild beast ofthe earth (or land) thereon
shall winter. It is commonly supposed that there is here a
transition from the figure of a vineyard to that of a dead body,
the branches cut off and thrown away being suddenly transform
ed into carcasses devoured by beasts and birds. For a like
combination, see above, ch. 14 : 19. But this interpretation,
though perhaps the most natural, is not absolutely necessary.
As the act of devouring is not expressly mentioned, the refer
ence may be, not to the carnivorous habits of the animals, but
to their wild and solitary life. In that case the sense would be
that the amputated branches, and the desolated vineyard itself,
shall furnish lairs and nests for beasts and birds which com
monly frequent the wildest solitudes, implying abandonment
and utter desolation. The only reason for preferring this in
terpretation is that it precludes the necessity of assuming a
mixed metaphor, or an abrupt exchange of one for another, both
which, however, are too common in Isaiah to excite surprise.
On either supposition, the general meaning of the verse is ob
vious. The form of the last clause is idiomatic, the birds being
said to spend the summer and the beasts the winter, not with
reference to any real difference in their habits, but for the pur
pose of expressing the idea, that beasts and birds shall occupy
the spot throughout the year. According to the common ex
planation of the verse as referring to dead bodies, it is a hyper

236 CHAPTER XIX.
bolical description of their multitude, as furnishing repast for
a whole year to the beasts and birds of prey.
7. At that time shall be brought a gift to Jehovah of Hosts, a
people drawn out and shorn, and from a people terrible since it has
been and onward (or still more terrible and still further off), a
nation of double power and trampling, whose land streams divide, to
the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts, Mount Zion. Here, as
in v. 2, the sense of some particular expressions is so doubtful,
that it seems better to retain, as far as possible, the form of the
original, with all its ambiguity, than to attempt an explanatory
paraphrase. All are agreed that we have here the prediction
of an act of homage to Jehovah, occasioned by the great event
described in the preceding verses. The Jews, who understand
the second verse as a description of the sufferings endured by
Israel, explain this as a prophecy of their return from exile and
dispersion, aided and as it were presented as an offering to Je
hovah by the heathen, (see below, ch. 66 : 20.) The older
Christian writers- understand it as predicting the conversion of
the Egyptians or Ethiopians to the true religion. The most
natural construction of the words would seem to be that the gift
to Jehovah should consist of one people offered by another.
The place of God's name is not merely the place called by his
name, but the place where his name, i. e. the manifestation of
his attributes resides.

CHAPTER XIX.

This chapter admits of a well-defined division into two parts,
one of which contains threatenings (vs. 1-1.7), and the other
promises (vs. 18-25). The first part may again, be subdivided.

CHAPTER XIX 237
In vs. 1-4, the Egyptians are threatened with a penal visitation
from Jehovah, with the downfall of their idols, with intestine
commotions, with the disappointment of their superstitious
hopes, and with subjection to hard masters. In vs. 5-10 they
are threatened with physical calamities, the drying up of their
streams, the decay of vegetation, the loss of their fisheries, and
the destruction of. their manufactures. In vs. 11-17, the wis
dom of their wise men is converted into folly, the courage of
their brave men into cowardice, industry universally suspended,
and the people filled with dread of the anger of Jehovah. The
second part may be also subdivided. In vs. 18-21, the Egyp
tians are described as acknowledging the true God in conse
quence of what they had suffered at his hand, and the deliver
ance which he had granted them. In vs. 22-25, the same cause
is described as leading to an intimate union between Egypt,
Assyria, and Israel, in the service of Jehovah, and the enjoy
ment of his favor. The Prophet wishing to announce to the
Jews the decline and fall of that great heathen power, in which
they were so constantly disposed to trust (30 : 1. 31 : 1), de
scribes the event under figures borrowed from the actual con
dition of Egypt. As a writer, who should now predict the
downfall of the British empire, in a poetical and figurative style,
would naturally speak of its fleets as sunk or scattered, its
colonies dismembered, its factories destroyed, its railways aban
doned, its universities abolished, so the Prophet vividly portrays
the fall of Egypt by describing the waters of the Nile as failing,
its meadows withering, its fisheries ceasing, and the peculiar
manufactures of the country expiring, the proverbial wisdom
of the nation changed to folly, its courage to cowardice, its
strength to weakness. Whether particular parts of the descrip
tion were intended to have a more specific application, is a ques
tion not affecting the truth of the hypothesis, that the first part
is a metaphorical description of the downfall of the great Egyp
tian monarchy. So too in the second part, the introduction of

238 CHAPTER XIX
the true religion, and its effect as well on the internal state as
on the international relations of the different countries, is ex
pressed by figures drawn from the civil and religious institu
tions of the old economy.
1. The Burden of Egypt. Behold ! Jehovah riding on a light
cloud, and he comes to (or into) Egypt, and the idols of Egypt
move at his presence, and the heart of Egypt melts within him.
This verse describes God as the author of the judgments after
wards detailed. His visible appearance on a cloud, and the
personification of the idols, prepare the mind for a poetical
description. The act of riding on a light cloud implies that he
comes from heaven, and that he comes swiftly. On the con
temptuous import of the word translated idols, see above, ch.
2:8; on the meaning of burden, ch. 13 : 1.
2. And I will excite Egypt against Egypt, and they shall
fight, a man with his brother, and a man with his fellow, city wilh
city, kingdom with kingdom. The first verb is by. some rendered
arm, by others join or engage in conflict ; but the sense of stir
ring up or rousing is preferred both by the oldest and the latest
writers. The version usually given, Egyptians against Egyp
tians, though substantially correct, is neither so expressive nor
so true to the original as Egypt against Egypt, which involves
an allusion to the internal divisions of the kingdom, or rather
the existence of contemporary kingdoms, more explicitly re
ferred to in the other clause. Some understand this verse as
referring specifically £p the civil wars of Egypt in the days of
Sethos or Psammetichus. But while the coincidence with his
tory adds greatly to the propriety and force of the description,
there is no sufficient reason for departing from its obvious im
port, as a description of internal strife and anarchy in general.
The expressions bear a strong resemblance to those used in the
description of the state of Judah, ch. 3 : 5. Some regard these

CHAPTER XIX 239
as tho words to be uttered by Jehovah when he enters Egypt.
It may, however, be a simple continuation of the prophecy, with
a sudden change from the third to the first person, of which
there are many other examples.
3. And the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied out (or exhausted)
in the midst thereof, and the counsel (or sagacity) thereof I will
swallow up (annihilate or render useless), and they will seek to
ihe idols, and to the mullerers, and to the familiar spirits, and to
the 'wizards. By spirit, in the first clause, we are not to under
stand courage but intellect. As to the ancient mode of incan
tation, see above, ch. 8 : 19.
4. And I will shut up Egypt in the hands of a hard master,
and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of
Hosts. Master, literally masters, a pluralis majestaticus, else
where applied to individual men (Gen. 42 : 30, 33. 2 Kings
2 : 3, 5, 16). The king here mentioned is identified, according
to various hypotheses, with Sethos, Psammetichus, Sennacherib,
Sargon, Nebuchadnezzar, Cambyses, Ochus, and Charlemagne !
The very multiplicity of these explanations shows how fanciful
they are, and naturally leads us to conclude that the Prophet is
describing in a general way the political vicissitudes of Egypt,
one of which would be subjection to an arbitrary power, whether
foreign or domestic, or to both at different periods of its history.
5. And the waters shall be diied up from the sea, and the river
shall fail and be dried up. Three distinct verbs are here used
in the sense of drying up, for which our language does not fur
nish equivalents. As the Nile has in all ages been called a
sea by the Egyptians, most interpreters suppose it to be here
referred to, in both clauses, According to the exegetical
hypothesis laid down in the introduction to the chapter,
this is a prediction of Egypt's national decline and fall,

240 CHAPTER XIX.
slothed in figures drawn from the characteristic features
of its actual condition. As the desolation of our own wes
tern territory might be poetically represented as the drying
up of the Mississippi and its branches, so a like event in
the history of Egypt would be still more naturally described
as a desiccation of the Nile, because that river is still more
essential to the prosperity of- the country which it waters. In
favour of this figurative exposition is the difficulty of applying
the description to particular historical events, and also the whole
tenor of the context, as will be more clearly seen hereafter.
6. And the rivers shall stink (or become putrid), the streams
of Egypt are emptied and dried up, reed and rush sicken (pine or
wither). The streams meant are the natural and artificial
branches of the Nile. The reed and rush are mentioned as a
common growth in marshy situations.
7. The meadows by the river, by the mouth of the river, and all
the sown ground of the river, shall wither, being driven away, and
it is not (or shall be no more). The first word in Hebrew
means bare or open places, i. e. meadows, as distinguished from
woodland. The English and some other versions treat it as
the name of the papyrus, but without authority. The word
translated river is the one already mentioned as the common
name in Scripture for the Nile, nor is there any need of
departing from this sense in the case before us. Calvin ex
plains mouth to mean source or fountain, which is wholly arbi
trary. Others regard it as synonymous with lip, used else
where (Gen. 41 : 3. Exod. 2 : 3) to denote the brink or margin
of the Nile. Some of the older writers give the word its
geographical sense, as denoting the place where the waters of
a stream are discharged into another or the sea. The place cf
seed or sowing, i. e. cultivated ground, is here distinguished from
the meadows or uncultivated pastures.

HAPTER XIX. 241
8. And the fishermen shall mourn, and they shall lament, all
ihe throwers ' of a hook into the river and the spreaders of
a net upon the suiface of the water languish. Having described
the effect of the drought on vegetation, he now describes its
effect upon those classes of the people who were otherwise de
pendent on the river for subsistence. The multitude of fishes
in the Nile, and of people engaged in catching them, is at
tested both by ancient and modern writers. The use of fish in
ancient Egypt was promoted by the popular superstitions with
respect to other animals. The net is said to be not now used
in the fisheries of Egypt. It is remarkable, however, that the
implement itself appears on some of the old monuments.
This verse is not to be applied to an actual distress among the
fishermen at any one time, but to be viewed as a characteristic
trait in the prophetic picture. When he speaks of a wine
growing country, the Prophet renders vineyards and vine
dressers prominent objects. So here, when he speaks of a '
country abounding in fisheries and fishermen, he describes their
condition as an index or symbol of the state of the country. In
like manner, a general distress in our southern states might be de
scribed as a distress among the sugar, cotton, or tobacco planters.
9. And ashamed (disappointed or confounded) are the workers
of combed (or hatchelled) flax, and the weavers of white (stuffs).
The older writers supposed the class of persons here described
to be the manufacturers of nets for fishing. The moderns
understand the verse as having reference to the working of
flax and manufacture of linen.
1 0. And her pillars (or foundations) are broken down, all
labourers for hire are grieved at heart. The simplest exposition
of the verse is that which regards this as a general description
of distress, extending to the two great classes of society, the
pillars or chief men and the labourers or commonalty.
Ii

242 CHAPTER XIX.
1 1. Only foolish (i. e. entirely foolish) are the princes of Zoant
the sages of the counsellors of Pharaoh, (their) counsel is become
brutish (or irrational). How can ye say lo Pharach, I am the
son of wise (fathers), Iam the son of kings of old? The refer
ence is not merely to perplexity in actual distress, but also to
an unwise policy as one of the causes of the distress itself.
Zoan, the Tanis of the Greeks, was one of the most ancient
cities of Lower Egypt (Num. 13 : 22) and a royal residence
The name is of Egyptian origin and signifies a low situation
Pharaoh was a common title of the Egyptian kings. It is
originally an Egyptian noun with the article prefixed. The, states
men and courtiers of ancient Egypt belonged to the sacerdotal
caste, from which many of the kings were also taken. The
wisdom of Egypt seems to have been proverbial in the ancient
world (1 Kings 4 : 30. Acts 7 : 22). The last clause is ad
dressed to the counsellors themselves. The interrogation im
plies the absurdity of their pretensions.
12. Where (are) they? Where (are) thy wise men? Pray
let them tell thee, and (if that is too much) let them (at least)
knoio, what Jehovah of Hosts hath purposed against (or concern-
•ig) Egypt. It was a proof of their false pretensions that so
»ar from being able to avert the evil, they could not even fore
see it. The repetition of the interrogative wliere is highly
emphatic. 13. Infatuated are the chiefs of Zoan, deceived are the chiefs of
j.i'oph, and they have misled Egypt, the corner (or corner-stone) of
her tribes. Noph is the Memphis of the Greek geographers,
called Moph, Hos. 9:6. It was one of the chief cities of
ancient Egypt, the royal seat of Psammetichus. After Alex
andria was built it declined. Arabian writers in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries speak of its extensive and magnificent
ruins, which have now almost wholly disappeared.

CHAPTER XIX 243
14. Jehovah hath mingled in the midst of her a spirit of confu
sion, and they have misled Egypt in all its work, like the mislead
ing of a drunkard in his vomit. This verse describes the folly
liefore mentioned as the effect not of natural causes or of acci
dent but of a judicial infliction. Spirit here means a super
natural influence. By work we are to understand affairs and
interests. The last verb in Hebrew is used elsewhere in
reference to the unsteady motions of a drunken man (Job
12 : 25. Isai. 28 : 7).
15. And there shall not be to Egypt a work which head and
tail, branch and rush, may. do. Work here means anything done
or to be done, including private business and public affairs.
The figures of head and tail, branch and rush, are used, as in
ch. 9 : 1 4, to denote all classes of sooiety, or rather the ex
tremes between which the others are included.
16. In that day shall Egypt be like a woman, and shall few
and tremble from before ihe shaking of the hand of Jehovah of
Hosts, which he (is) shaking over it. The comparison in the
first clause is a common one for terror and the loss of courage.
The reference is not to the slaughter of Sennacherib's army,
but more generally to the indications of divine displeasure.
17. And the land of Judah shall be for a terror (or become a
terror) unto Egypt ; every person to whom one mentions it (or every
one who recalls it to his own mind) shall fear before the purpose
cf Jehovah of Hosts which he is purposing against it. This verse
relates to the new feelings which would be entertained by the
Egyptians towards the God of the Jews and the true religion.
Judah, in a political and military sense, might still appear
contemptible ; but in another aspect, and for other reasons, it
would be an object of respect and even fear to the Egyptians.

244 CHAPTER XIX.
18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt
speaking the lip (i. e. language) of Canaan, a§d swearing to Je
hovah of Hosts. The city of destruction shall be said to one (i. e.
shall one be called). In thai day, according to prophetic usage,
is a somewhat indefinite expression, and may either mean during
or after the distresses just described. Canaan is here put for
the land of Canaan (as in Ex. 15 : 15), and. the language. of Ca
naan for the Hebrew language, not because it was the language
of the old Canaanites, but because it was spoken in the land
which they once occupied. Some of the later writers understand
what is here said strictly as denoting an actual prevalence of
the Hebrew language, while others take it as a strong expression
for such intimate union, social, commercial, and political, as
would seem to imply a community of language. The older
writers very generally apply the terms to religious union and
communion. The simplest interpretation ofthe phrase is, that
in itself it denotes intimate intercourse and union generally, but
that the idea of religious unity is here suggested by the context
and especially by the following clause. Many interpreters
appear to regard the phrases swearing 'by and swearing to as
, perfectly synonymous. The former act does certainly imply
the recognition of the deity by whom one swears, especially if
oaths be regarded (as they are in Scripture) as solemn acts of
religious worship. But the phrase swearing to conveys the
additional idea of doing homage and acknowledging a sovereign
by swearing fealty or allegiance to him. This is the only mean
ing that the words can bear in 2 Chr. 15 : 14, and in Isai. 45 :
23 the two phrases seem to be very clearly distinguished. The
act of thus professing the true faith and submitting to the true
God is ascribed in the verse before us to five towns, or cities.
What appears to be meant is that five sixths, i. e. a very large
proportion, shall profess the true religion, while the remaining
sixth persists in unbelief. Il shall be said to one, i. e. one shall
be addressed as follows, or called by the following name. For

CHAPTER XIX. 245
one town which shall perish in its unbelief five shall profess the
true faith and swear fealty to Jehovah.
19. In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst
of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at (or near) its border to Jeho
vah. It has been disputed whether we are here to understand
an altar for' sacrifice or an altar to serve as a memorial (Josh.
22 : 26, 27). It has also been disputed whether the prohibition
of altars and consecrated pillars (Lev. 26: 1. Deut. 12:5, 16:
22) was applicable only to the Jews or to Palestine, leaving
foreign Jews or proselytes at liberty to rear these sacred struc
tures as the Patriarchs did of old (Gen. 28 : 18. 35 : 14). The
necessity of answering these questions is removed by a just view
of the passage, as predicting the prevalence of the true religion
and the practice of its rites, in language borrowed from tho
Mosaic or rather from the patriarchal institutions. As we might
now speak of a missionary pitching his tent at Hebron or at
Shechem, without intending to describe the precise form of his
habitation, so. the Prophet represents the converts to the true
faith as erecting an altar and a pillar to the Lord in Egypt, as
Abraham and Jacob did of old in Canaan. A still more exact '
illustration is afforded by the frequent use among ourselves of
the word altar to denote the practice of devotion, especially in
families. There is a double propriety and beauty in the use of
the word pillar, because while it instantly recalls to mind the
patriarchal practice, it is at the same time finely descriptive of
the obelisk, an object so characteristic of Egypt that it may be
regarded as its emblem. Both the obelisk and the patriarchal
pillar, being never in the human form, are to be carefully dis
tinguished from statues or images, although the latter word is
sometimes used to represent the Hebrew one in the English
Version. (See 2 Kings 3 : 2. 10 : 26. Mic. 5:13.)
20.. Aid it shall be for a sign and for a testimony to Jehovah of

246 CHAPTER XIX
Hosts ih the land of Egypt, that they shall cry to Jehovah from
the presence cf oppressors, and he will send them a deliverer and a
mighty one and save them. This shall be a sign and a witness to
(i. e. with respect to, in behalf of) Jehovah in the land of Egypt,
viz. that when they cry, he will afford a providential testimony
in behalf of his own being, presence, and supremacy, by saving
those who cry to him. If, as we have seen reason to believe,
the chapter is a prophecy, not of a single event but of a great
progressive change to be wrought in the condition of Egypt by
the introduction of the true religion, the promise of the verse
before us must be that when they cried God would send them
a deliverer, a promise verified not once but often, not only by
Ptolemy or Alexander, but by others, and in the highest sense
by Christ himself. In the language of this verse there is an
obvious allusion to the frequent statement in the book of Judges,
that the people cried to God and he raised them up deliverers
who saved them from their oppressors (Judg. 2 : 16. 3 : 9 etc.).
21. And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and Egypt (or the
Egyptians) shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall serve (with)
sacrifice and offering, and shall vow a vow to Jehovah and perform
it. This is not the prediction of a new event, but a repetition
in another form of the preceding promise. What is first de
scribed as the knowledge of the true God, is afterwards repre
sented as his service, the expressions being borrowed from the
ancient ritual. If the last clause be literally understood, we
must either regard it as an unfounded expectation of the Pro
phet which was never fulfilled, or suppose that it relates to an
express violation of the law of Moses, or assume that the ancient
rites and forms are hereafter to be re-established. On the other
hand, the figurative explanation is in perfect agreement with
the usage of both testaments and with the tenor of the prophecy
itself. Bloody and unbloody sacrifice is here combined with
vows in order to express the totality of ritual services as a fig-

CHAPTER XIX. 247
ure for those of a more spiritual nature. The express mention
of the Egyptians themselves as worshipping Jehovah shews
that they are also meant in the preceding verse.
22. And Jehovah shall smite Egypt (or the Egyptians), smiting
and healing, and they shall return unto Jehovah, and he shall be
entreated of them and shall heal them. Here again the second
clause contains no advance upon the first, and the whole verse
no advance upon the foregoing context, but an iteration of the
same idea in another form. This verse may indeed be regarded
as a recapitulation of the whole preceding prophecy, consisting
as it does of an extended threatening (vs. 1-17) followed by an
ample promise (vs. 18-21). As if he had said, thus will God
smite Egypt and then heal it. That great heathen power, with
respect to wliich the Jews so often sinned both by undue confi
dence and undue dread, was to be broken and reduced ; but in
exchange for this political decline, and partly as a consequence ^f
it, the Egyptians should experience benefits far greater than they
ever before knew. Thus would Jehovah smite and heal, or smite
but so as afterwards to heal, which seems to be the force of the
reduplicated verb. The meaning is not simply that the stroke
should be followed by healing, nor is it simply that the stroke
should itself possess a healing virtue ; but both ideas seem to
be included. Returning to Jehovah is a common figure for
repentance and conversion, even in reference to the heathen.
(See Psalm 22 : 27.)
23. In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assy
ria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria,
and Egypt (or the Egyptians) shall serve with Assyria. No
translation will convey the precise form of the original, in which
the ancestral names are put not only for their descendants but
for the countries which they occupied. No one, it is probable,
has ever yet maintained that a road was literally opened between

248 CHAPTER XIX.
Egypt and Assyria, or that Isaiah expected it. All classes of
interpreters agree that the opening of the highway is a figure
for easy, free, and intimate communication. This unanimous
admission of a metaphor in this place not only shows that the '
same mode of interpretation is admissible in the other parts of
the same prophecy, but makes it highly probable that what is
said of altar and sacrifices is to be likewise so understood.
24. In that day shall Israel be a third with respect to Egypt
and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. The meaning
obviously is that Israel should be one of three or a party to a
triple union. The idea meant to be conveyed, is not merely
that of equality in magnitude or power, but also that of intimate
conjunction, as in the preceding verse. Blessing is here used
in a comprehensive sense, as denoting at the same time a source
of blessing, a means of blessing, and an object to be blessed.
25. Which Jehovah of Hosts has blessed (or with which Jehovah
of Hosts has blessed il) saying, Blessed be my people Egypt, and
the work of my hands Assyria, and my heritage (or peculiar
people) Israel. The perfect union of the three great powers in
the service of God and the enjoyment of his favour is now ex
pressed by a solemn benediction on the three, in which language
commonly applied to Israel exclusively is extended to Egypt
and Assyria. The force of the expressions would be much en
hanced by the habitual associations of a Jewish reader. It
arises very much from the surprise excited by the unexpected
termination of the clauses. Instead of Blessed be my people
Israel, the formula is Blessed be my people Egypt. That the
work of my hands does not merely mean my creature, or a crea
ture perfectly at my disposal, but my creature in a special and
a spiritual sense, the same in which God is said to be the maker
or founder of Israel (Deut. 32 : 6. Isai. 43 : 6, 7), is evident
from this consideration, that the clause would otherwise say

CHAPTER XIX. 245
nothing peculiar or distinctive of Assyria, as those before and
after it do of Egypt and Israel In order to express once more
and in the most emphatic manner the admission of Egypt and
Assyria to the privileges- of the chosen people, he selects three
titles commonly bestowed upon the latter exclusively, to wit.
God's people, the work of his hands, and his inheritance, and these
three he distributes to the three united powers without discrim
ination or invidious distinction. As to the application of the
prophecy there are three distinct opinions. One is, that the
Prophet here anticipates a state of peace and international com
munion between Egypt, Israel, and Assyria in his own times,
which may or may not have been actually realized. Another
is, that he predicts what actually did take place under the reign
of Alexander and the two great powers that succeeded him,
viz. the Graeco-Syrian and Egyptian monarchies, by which the
true religion was protected and diffused and the way prepared
for the preaching of the gospel. A third is, that Egypt and
Assyria are here named as the two great heathen powers known
to the Jews, whose country lay between them and was often the
scene if not the subject of their contests, so that for ages they
were commonly in league with the one against the other. To
describe these two great belligerent powers as at peace with
Israel and one another, was not only to foretell a most surprising
revolution in the state of the world, but to intimate at least a
future change in the relation of the Jews and the Gentiles.
When he goes still further and describes these representatives
of heathenism as received into the covenant and sharing with
the church of God its most distinctive titles, we have one of the
clearest and most striking predictions of the calling of the Gen
tiles that the word of God contains. One advantage of this ex
position is that, while it' thus extends and elevates the scope of
the prediction, it retains unaltered whatever there may be of
more specific prophecy or of coincidence with history. If Alex
ander is referred to, and the spread of Judaism under him and
11*

250 CHAPTER XX.
his successors, and the general pacification of the world and
progress of refinement, these are so many masterly strokes
added to the great prophetic picture ; but they cannot be ex
tracted from it and made to constitute a picture by themselves.

CHAPTER XX.

About the time of the Assyrian attack on Ashdod, th6
Prophet is directed to walk naked and barefoot as a sign of the
defeat and captivity of the Egyptians and Ethiopians who were
ut war with Assyria. The first verse fixes the date of this
symbolical transaction ; the second contains the divine com
mand and the record of its execution ; the third and fourth ex
plain the meaning of the symbol ; the fifth and sixth predict its
effect, or rather that of the event which it prefigured. The
questions which have been raised, as to the date of the composi
tion and the fulfilment of the prophecy, will be most conveni
ently considered in the course of the detailed interpretation.
1. In the year of Tartan's coming to Ashdod, in Sargon king
of Assyria's sending him (i. e. when Sargon king of Assyria
sent him), and he fought with Ashdod (i. e. besieged it) and took
it. Ashdod was one of the five cities of the Philistines (Josh.
11 : 22. 15 : 46. 1 Sam. 5 : 1), considered on account of its
strong fortifications (from which its name is supposed to be
derived) the key of Egypt, and therefore frequently attacked in
the wars between Egypt and Assyria. According to Herodo
tus, Psammetichus besieged it twenty-nine years. This, if not
an exaggeration, is the longest siege in history, and probably
took place after what is here recorded, to recover Ashdod from
Assyria. Its site is marked by a village still called Esdud

CHAPTER XX. 261
(Robinson's Palestine II. 368). The name of Sargon nowhere
else occurs. Tartan appears again as a general under Sen
nacherib (2 Kings 18 : 17). From this some infer that Sargon
and Sennacherib are one and the same person. Others identify
Sargon with Esarhaddon, or with Shalmaneser. All these sup
positions are less probable than the obvious one, that Sargon
was a king of Assyria mentioned only here, because his reign
was very short, and this was the only occurrence that brought
him into contact with the Jews. That he was not the imme
diate successor of Sennacherib, is clear from ch. 37 : 38, and
from the fact which seems to be implied in 2 Chr. 32 : 21, that
Tartan perished in the great catastrophe. The most plausible
hypothesis, and that now commonly adopted, is that he reigned
three or four years between Shalmaneser and Sennacherib. It
is disputed whether in the year of Tartan's coming means before
or after that occurrence. The truth is, it means neither, but
leaves that question undetermined, or at most to be determined
by the context.
2. At that time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah the son of
Amoz, saying, Go, and thou shalt open (i. e. loose) the sackcloth
from upon thy loins, and thy shoe thou shalt pull off from upon thy
foot. And he did so, going naked and barefoot. The word naked
is used to express partial denudation in all languages. As
biblical examples, may be cited 1 Sam. 19 : 24. 2 Sam. 6 : 20.
Amos 2:16. John 21:7. In the case before us, we may either
suppose that the sackcloth was an upper garment which he
threw entirely off, or an inner garment which he opened by un-
girding it, or a girdle itself which he loosened and perhaps re
moved. Sackcloth was a common mourning dress, and some
suppose that Isaiah was now wearing it iu token of his grief
for the exile of the ten tribes. Others understand it as an
official or ascetic dress worn by the Prophets (Zech. 13:4), as
for instance by Elijah (2 Kings 1 : 8) and by John the Baptist

252 CHAPTER XX.
(Matt. 3 : 4). Others again suppose that it is mentioned as a
cheap coarse dress worn by the Prophet in common with the
humbler class of people. By tlie hand denotes ministerial
agency or intervention, and is often used in reference "to com
munications made to the people through the prophets. (Ex.
4:13. 1 Sam. 16 : 20. Jer. 37 : 2.) So in this case, the divine
communication was really addressed to the people, though the
words immediately ensuing are addressed to the Prophet him
self. It is not necessary to suppose that the phrase has exclu
sive reference to the symbolical action. What was said Jo the
Prophet was obviously said through him to the people.
3. And Jehovah said, As my servant Isaiah hath gone naked
and barefoot three years a sign and symbol concerning Egypt and
concerning Ethiopia. Here begins the divine explanation of
the symbolical act before commanded. The design of this
transaction was to draw attention by exciting surprise. In the
prophecies belonging to the reign of Hezekiah, Egypt and
Ethiopia are frequently combined, either because they were in
close alliance, or because an Ethiopian dynasty then reigned
in Upper Egypt. The Prophet probably exposed himself but
once in the way described, after which he continued to be a
sign and wonder for three years, i." e. till the fulfilment of the
prophecy. The three years have been variously understood,
as the duration of the siege of Ashdod, as the duration of the
exile threatened in the next verse, and as the interval which
should elapse between the prophecy and its fulfilment. Of
these three hypotheses the second is the least probable, while
the first and third may be combined.
4. So shall the king of Assyria lead the captivity (i. e. ihe cap-
lives) of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked
and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, the nakedness (or dis
grace) of Egypt. This verse completes the comparison begun

CHAPTER XX. 258
in that before it. It is also clear from a comparison of thf
type and antitype, that the nakedness of v. 2 was a partia
one, since captives were not commonly reduced to a state of
absolute nudity. This is confirmed by the addition of the
word barefoot in both eases, which would be superfluous if
naked had its strictest sense. Connected as Egypt and Ethio
pia were in fact and in the foregoing context, either name in
cludes the other. The King of Assyria here meant is either
Sennacherib or Sargon himself. Some suppose this prediction
to have been fulfilled in the conquest of No-Ammon (i. e,
Diospolis or Thebes) mentioned in Nah. 3 : 8 as a recent event
How long beforehand the prediction was uttered, is a question
of small moment and one which cannot be decided. There is
no ground, however, for the supposition that the interval was
so short as to convert the prophecy into a mere conjecture or
an act of sagacious forecast.
5. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their ex
pectation and of Egypt their boast. This is the effect to be pro
duced by the catastrophe just threatened. The full sense of
the first verb is that they shall be confounded, filled with con
sternation, at the fate of those in whom they trusted for de
liverance. The meaning of the verse is, that they who had re
lied on Egypt and its ally Ethiopia for aid against Assyria,
whether Jews or Philistines or both, should be confounded at
beholding Egypt and Ethiopia themselves subdued.
6. And the inhabitant of this isle (or coast) shall say in that
day, Behold, thus (or such) is our expectation, whither we fled for
help, to be delivered from the presence of the king of Assyria. And
how shall we (ourselves) escape ? The disappointment described
in the foregoing verse is now expressed by those who felt it.
The argument is one a fortiori. If the protectors were sub
dued, what must become of the protected ? The pronoun in

254 CHAPTER XXL
the last clause is emphatic, as it usually is when not essential to
the sense. The Hebrew word for island has no exact equivalent
in English. Three distinct shades or gradations of meaning
seem to be clearly marked in usage. The first is that of land as
opposed to water ; the second that of coast as opposed to inland ;
the third that of island as opposed to mainland. The last,
although commonly expressed in most translations, is perhaps
the least frequent of the three. The word here denotes the
south-eastern shove of the Mediterranean, called this coast, in
order to distinguish it from that coast, viz. Ethiopia and Egypt,
which had just before been mentioned. As to the extent of
country meant to be included, nothing of course can be deter
mined from the word itself, which is designedly indefinite. Thus
or such is our expectation, i. e. this is the end of it, you see what has
become of it, you see the fate of that to which we looked for help ;
how then can we ourselves be delivered or escape ? See a similar
expression 2 Kings 10:4.

CHAPTER XXI.
As three of the verses of this chapter begin with the word
burden (vs. 1, 11, 13), it is now commonly supposed to consist
of three distinct prophecies. Taking the language in its obvi
ous meaning and excluding all gratuitous assumptions, we
shall bo constrained to look upon the first of these divisions (vs.
1-10) as one ofthe most striking instances of strict agreement
between prophecy and history. As to the remainder of the
chapter, while .it cannot be denied that the connection of the
parts, and the meaning of each in itself, are exceedingly ob
scure, it may be doubted whether there is sufficient ground for

CHAPTER XXL 253
their entire separation as distinct and independent prophecies.
The extreme brevity, especially of the second part (vs. 11, 12),
makes this very dubious, and the doubt is strengthened by the
recurrence of the figure of a watchman in v. 11. In the case
before us, as in ch. 14 : 28, it is safer to assume the unity of
the composition than rashly to dismember it. However diffi
cult it may be to determine the connection of these parts, they
may safely be regarded as composing one obscure but continu
ous prediction. This is the less improbable because they can
all be brought into connection, if not unity, by simply supposing
that the tribes or races, to which vs. 11-17 relate, were sharers
with the Jews in the Babylonian tyranny, and therefore inter
ested in its downfall. This hypothesis, it is true, is not sus
ceptible of demonstration ; but it is strongly recommended by
the very fact that it explains the juxtaposition of these proph
ecies, or rather entitles them to be considered one. The first
part of the prophecy opens with an emphatic intimation of its
alarming character, vs. 1-4. We have then a graphic represen
tation of the march of the Medes and Persians upon Babylon,
vs. 5-9. This is followed by a hint of the effect which this event
would have upon the people of Jehovah, v. 10. The remainder
of the chapter represents the neighboring nations as involved
in the same sufferings with the "Jews, but without any consola
tory promise of deliverance, vs. 11-17.
1. The burden of the desert of the sea. Like whirlwinds in the
south, as to rushing (or driving), from the wilderness it comes,- from
a terrible land. Most interpreters are agreed that the phrase
desert ofthe sea is an enigmatical description of Babylonia as a
great plain (Gen. 11:1. Isai. 23 : 13), watered by a great river
which, like the Nile (ch. 19 : 5), is sometimes called a sea (ch.
27 : 1). This designation was the more apprppriate because
the plain of Babylon, according to Herodotus, was often over
flowed before Semiramis took measures to prevent it, and

256 CHAPTER XXL
an ancient writer says expressly that it then had the appearand
of a sea. The threatened danger is compared to tho approach of
a tempest from the south, i. e. from the great Arabian desert, in
which quarter the most violent winds are elsewhere represented
as prevailing.
2. A hard vision — it is revealed to me — the deceiver deceiving
and the spoiler spoiling — go up, oh Elam — besiege, oh Media — all
sighing (or all its sighing) I have made to cease. The first phrase
means a vision of severe and awful judgments. If the next
clause be applied to Cyrus, one ofthe terms may describe the
stratagems of war, as the other does its violence. This is
the more natural as Babylon was actually taken by stratagem.
Go up, i. e. against Babylon, either in reference to its lofty de
fences (ch. 26 : 5), or according to a more general military
usage of the phrase. (See above, ch. 7 :. 1.) The Medes and
Persians were united under Cyrus, but the latter are here
named first, as some think, because they were now in the as
cendant. 3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain ; pangs have seized
me like the pangs of a travailing (woman) ; I writhe (or am
convulsed) from hearing ; 1 am shocked (or agitated) from seeing.
Some regard these as the words of a captive Jew, or of a
Babylonian ; but there is no objection to explaining them as
expressive of the Prophet's own emotions, a very common
method of enhancing the description even of deserved and
righteous judgments.
4. My heart wanders (reels, or is bewildered) ; horror appals
me; the twilight (night or evening) of my pleasure (or desire) he
has put for (or converted into) fear (or trembling) for me. There
are two interpretations of the last clause. One supposes it to
mean that the night desired as a time of rest is changed into a

CHAPTER XXI. 257
time of terror ; the other, that a night of festivity is changed
into a time of terror. That the court was revelling when Cyrus
took the city, is stated in the general by Herodotus and Xeno-
phon, and in full detail by Daniel. That the two first, how
ever, did not derive their information from the Prophet, may
be inferred from their not mentioning the writing on the wall,
which would have seemed incredible to neither of them.
5. Set the table, spread the cloth, eat, drink, arise ye chiefs, anoint
the shield ! The Hebrew verbs are not imperatives but infini
tives, here used in the first clause for the historical tense in
order to give brevity, rapidity, and life to the description. For
the same purpose the English imperative may be employed, as
the simplest form of the verb and unencumbered with the per
sonal pronouns. The sense, however, is that while the table
is set etc. the alarm is given. The anointing of the shield is
supposed by some to be a means of preserving it or of repelling
missiles from its surface, by others simply a means of cleansing
and perhaps adorning it. Both agree that it is here poetically
used to express the idea .of arming or preparing for battle.
There are two interpretations of the last clause. One makes it
an address by Jehovah or the Prophet to the Medes and Per
sians, as in the last clause of v. 2 ; the other a sudden alarm
to the Babylonians at their feast. Both explanations, but
especially the last, seem to present a further allusion to the
surprise of the king and court by Cyrus.
6. For thus saith the Lord to me : Go set (or cause lo stand)
the watchman (or sentinel) ; that which he sees let him tell. In
stead of simply predicting or describing the approach of the
enemy, the Prophet introduces an ideal watchman, as announ
cing what he actually sees.
7. And should he see cavalry — a pair (or pairs of horsemen)-'

258 CHAPTER XXL
ass-ridcrs — camel-riders — then shall he hearken with hearkening a
great hearkening (i. e. listen attentively). This construction of
the sentence supposes the divine instructions to be still con
tinued. This verse contains the order and the ninth its execu
tion, while the eighth, as a preface to the latter, is exactly in
its proper place. It is a slight but obvious coincidence of
prophecy and history that Xenophon represents the Persians
advancing two by two.
8. And he cries — a lion — on the watch-tower, Lord, Iam stand
ing always by day, and on my ward (or place cf observation) 1
am stationed all the nights (i. e. all night, or every night, or both).
That the setting of the watch is an ideal process, seems to be
intimated by the word Lord, one of the divine names (not my
lord or sir), and also by the unremitted vigilance to which he
here lays claim. According to the usual interpretation, these
are the words of the delegated watchman, announcing that he
is at his post and will remain there and announce whatever he
may see. The word lion forms no part of the sentinel's report,
but is rather a description of the way in which he makes it.
The true sense of the words is given in a paraphrase in Rev.
10 : 3, he cried wilh a loud voice as when a lion roareth. As to
the syntax, we may either supply as before a lion, of which ellipsis
there are some examples, or still more simply read the lion cries,
thus converting the simile into a metaphor. The first con
struction agrees best however with the masoretic accents.
9. And behold, this comes (or this is what is coming), mounted
men, pairs of horsemen. And he answers (i. e. speaks again) and
says, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon, and all the images of her gods he
has broken (or crushed) to the earth. The last verb is indefinitely
construed, but obviously refers to the enemy as the instrument
of Babylon's destruction, rather than to God as the efficient
cause. The description given in v. 7 is abbreviated here, be

CHAPTER XXL 259
cause so much was to be added. Still the correspondence is
sufficiently exact. The structure of the passage is highly dra
matic. In the sixth verse, the prophet is commanded to set a
watch. In the seventh, the sentinel is ordered to look out for
an army of men, mounted on horses, camels, and asses. In the
eighth, he reports himself as being at his post. In the ninth,
he sees the very army which had been described approaching.
Answer is used, both in Greek and Hebrew, for the resumption
of discourse by the same speaker, especially after an interval.
It is here equivalent to spoke again. During the interval im
plied, the city is supposed to have been taken, so" that when
the watchman speaks again, it is to say that Babylon is fallen.
The omission of all the intermediate details, for the purpose of
bringing the extremes together, is a masterly stroke of poetical
description, which would never have occurred to an inferior
writer. The allusion to idols in the last clause is not intended
merely to remind us that the conquest was a triumph of the
true God over false ones, but to bring into view the well-known
aversion of the Persians to all images. Herodotus says they
not only thought it unlawful to use images, but imputed folly
to those who did it. Here is another incidental but remarkable
coincidence of prophecy even with profane history.
10. Oh my threshing and the son of my threshing-floor ! What
I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have told
you. This part of the prophecy closes with an apostrophe,
showing at once by whose power and for whose sake the down
fall of Babylon was to be brought about. Threshing here means
that which is threshed, and is synonymous with the following
phrase, son of the threshing-floor, i. e. (according to the oriental
idiom which uses son to signify almost any relation) threshed
grain. The comparison of severe oppression or affliction to
threshing is a common one, and though the terms here used
are scarcely intelligible when literally rendered into English

260 CHAPTER XXI.
it is clear that they mean, oh my oppressed and afflicted people^
and must therefore be addressed not to the Babylonians but
the Jews, to whom the fall- of Babylon would bring deliverance,
and for whose consolation this prediction was originally uttered.
The last clause assures them that their own God had sent this
message to them.
1 1. The burden of Dumah. To me (one is) calling from Seir,
Watchman, what cf the night ? Watchman, what of ihe night 1
It has been already stated that most interpreters regard this
and the next verse as an ind pendent prophecy, but that the
use of the word burden is an insufficient reason, while the ex
treme brevity of the passage, and the recurrence of the figure
of a sentinel or watchman, seem to indicate that it is a contin
uation of what goes before, although a new subject is here intro
duced. Of Dumah there are two interpretations. Some un
derstand it as the name of an Arabian tribe descended from
Ishmael (Gen. 25 : 14. 1 Chr. 1 : 30), or of a place belonging to
that tribe, perhaps the same now called Dumah Eljandil on the
confines of Arabia and Syria. In that case, Seir, which lay
between Judah and the desert of Arabia, is mentioned merely
to denote the quarter whence the sound proceeded. But as
Seir was itself the residence of the Edomites or children of
Esau, others explain Dumah as a variation of the name Edom,
intended at the same time to suggest the idea of silence, solitude,
and desolation. In favour of the first interpretation is the men
tion of Arabia and of certain Arabian tribes in the following
verses. But even Edom might be said to form part of Arabia.
The greater importance of Edom and the frequency with which
it is mentioned in the prophets, especially as an object of divine
displeasure, also recommend this exegetical hypothesis. The
Edomites were long subject to Israel, and might therefore
naturally take part in its sufferings from Babylonian tyranny.
The English Version seems to mean, what have you to say

CHAPTER XXI. 261
of the night? Interpreters are commonly agreed, however,
that the question is, what part of the night is it, equivalent
to our question, what o'clock 1 This may have been a cus
tomary method of interrogating watchmen. Night is a common
metaphor to represent calamity, as daybreak does relief from it.
Some regard this as a taunting inquiry addressed to Judah by
his heathen neighbours. It is much more natural, however, to
explain it as an expression of anxiety arising from a personal
concern in the result
12. The watchman says, Morning comes and also night ; if ye
will inquire, inquire; return, come. Most writers understand
this as relating to different subjects, morning comes (to one)
and night (to another) ; which would seem to mean that while
the Jewish night was about to be dispelled, that of Edom or Ara
bia should still continue. But connected as the words are with
thp foregoing prophecy, it is far more natural to understand
them as referring to the Babylonian conquest of Judea and the
neighbouring countries. The last clause intimates that the
event was still uncertain. If you wish to know you must inquire
again ; you are come too soon ; the time of your deliverance is
not at hand ; return or come again. On any hypothesis, how
ever, these two verses still remain enigmatical and doubtful
in their meaning.
13. Tlie burden of Arabia. In ihe forest in Arabia shall ye
lodge, oh ye caravans of Dedanim. The Prophet here passes
from Edom to Arabia, or from one Arabian tribe or district to
another. The answer in v. 12 is here explained. The country
was to' be in such a state that the caravans which usually trav
elled undisturbed would be obliged to leave the public road'and
pass the night among the bushes or thickets. Forests properly
so called do not exist in the Arabian desert. The Dedanim are
mentioned elsewhere in connection with Edom and Teman (Jer,

262 CHAPTER XXL
49 : 8. Ez. 25 : 13), to whom they were probably contiguous.
Their precise situation is the less important as they are not the
subjects of the prophecy, but spoken of as strangers passing
through, the interruption of whose journey is mentioned as a
proof of the condition of the country.
14. To meet the thirsty they bring water, the inhabitants of the
land of Tema ; with his bread they prevent (i. e. meet or antici
pate) the fugitive. The men of Tema, another Arabian tribe,
also engaged in trade (Jer. 25 : 23. Job 6 : 19), are described
as bringing food and drink, not to the Dedanim mentioned in
v. 13, but to the people of the wasted country. His bread is
rendered in the English Version as a collective (their bread),
referring to the men of Tema ; but the pronoun relates rather
to the fugitive himself, and the whole phrase means his portion
of food, the food necessary for him, his daily bread.
15. Because (or when) from the presence of swords they fled,
from the presence of a drawn sword and from the presence of a
bended bow, and from tlie presence of a weight of war. This verse
describes them as not only plundered but pursued by a blood
thirsty enemy.
16. For thus saith the Lord to me, In yet a year (or in a year
longer) like the years of a hireling (i. e. strictly computed) shall
fail (or cease) all the glory of Kedar. This verse seems to fix a
time for the fulfilment of the foregoing prophecy. Here, as in
chap. 17:3, glory comprehends all that constitutes the dignity
or strength of a people. On the meaning of the phrase, years
of a hireling, see above, ch. 16: 14. Kedar was the second son
of Ishmael (Gen. 25 : 13). The name is here put either for an
Arab tribe or for Arabia in general (Isai. 42 : 11. 60 : 7. Ez 27:
21). The Rabbins call the Arabic the language of Kedar. The
chronological specification in this verse makes it necessary either

CHAPTER X^II. 263
to assume a later writer than Isaiah, as some do in ch. 16:14;
or a terminus a quo posterior to his time, as if he had said, within
a year after something else before predicted ; or an abrupt
recurrence from the days of Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus to those
of Hezekiah. The last would be wholly in accordance with the
usage of the prophets ; but the best solution seems to be afford
ed by the second hypothesis. The sense will then be that the
Arabians who suffered with the Jews, so far from sharing their
deliverance, should within a year after that event be entirely
destroyed. At the same time, due allowance should be made
for diversity of judgment in a case so doubtful. -
1 7. And the remnant of the number of bows (or archers), the mighty
men (or heroes) ofthe children of Kedar, shall be few (or become few),
for Jehovah God of Israel hath spoken it. We read elsewhere of
the archery of Ishmael (Gen. 21 : 20) and Kedar (Ps. 120 : 4).
The last clause intimates "that God, as the God of Israel, has a
quarrel with Kedar, and at the same time that his power and
omniscience will secure the fulfilment of the threatening. It
is not impossible that future discoveries may yet throw light
upon these brief and obscure prophecies.

CHAPTER XXII.
This chapter naturally falls into two parts. The first de
scribes the conduct of the people of Jerusalem during a siege,
vs. 1-14. The second predicts the removal of Shebna from his
po3t as treasurer or steward of the royal household, vs. 15-25.
The whole may be described as a prophecy against the people
of Jerusalem in general, and against Shebna in particular, con
sidered as their leader and example.

264 CHAPTER XXII.
It has been disputed whether the description in the first pari
of this chapter was intended to apply to the siege of Jerusalem
by Sennacherib, or by Esarhaddon in the reign of Manasseh,
or by Nebuchadnezzar, or by Titus. If the whole must be ap
plied to one specific point of time, it is probably the taking of
Jerusalem by the king of Assyria in the days of Manasseh.
(2 Chron. 33 : 11), when the latter was himself carried captive
with his chief men, and Shebna possibly among the rest. The
choice seems to lie between this hypothesis and that of a generic
prediction, a prophetic picture of the conduct of the Jews in a
certain conjuncture of affairs which happened more than once,
particular strokes of the description being drawn from different
memorable sieges, and especially from those of Sennacherib and
Nebuchadnezzar. 1. The- burden of the Valley of Vision. What (is) to thee (what
hast thou ? or what aileth thee ?) that thou art wholly (literally
the whole of thee) gone up on ihe house-lops ? By the valley of
vision we are to understand Jerusalem, as being surrounded
by hills with valleys between them. There is allusion to
Jerusalem as the seat of revelation, the abode of the prophets,
and the place where God's presence was manifested. The
oriental roofs are flat and used for various purposes. The
ascent here mentioned is probably used as a lively description
?.f an oriental city in commotion, without any intention to in
timate as yet the cause or the occasion, just as we might say
Shat the streets of our own cities were full of people, whether
the concourse were occasioned by grief, joy, fear, or any other
cause. Some suppose the Prophet to inquire as a stranger what
is the matter ; but he seems rather to express disapprobation
of the stir which he describes.
2. Full of stirs, a noisy town, a joyous city, thy slain are not
tlain with the sword nor dead in battle. The first clause is com

CHAPTER XXII. 265
monly explained by the older writers as descriptive of the
commotion and alarm occasioned by the enemy's approach.
The latest writers are agreed in making it descriptive of the
opposite condition of joyous excitement, frivolous gayety, and
reckless indifference, described in v. 13. The expression thy
slain are not slain with the sword cannot mean that none were
slain, but necessarily implies mortality of another kind. The
allusion is supposed by some to be to pestilence, by others to
. famine, such as prevailed in the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchad
nezzar and also by the Romans. As neither is specified, the words
may be more generally understood as describing all Ifinds of
mortality incident to sieges, excepting that of actual warfare.
3. All thy chiefs fled together — from the bow — they were bound
— all that were found of thee were bound together — from afar they
fled. This verse describes the people as flying from the enemy,
and being nevertheless taken. We may either read, they are
bound (i. e. made prisoners) by the bow (i. e. the archers, as light-
armed troops), or without the bow (i. e. not in battle, as the slain
were not slain with the sword) ; or it may mean without resist
ance, without drawing a bow. Some understand it to mean,
they are restrained (by fear) from (using) the bow. All that were
found of thee may be in antithesis to thy chiefs, as if he had said,
not only thy chiefs but all the rest. Some understand this as
describing the voluntary confinement of the people in Jerusa
lem during a siege ; others apply it to their vain endeavours to
escape from its privations and dangers. It is best to give the
verse its largest meaning as descriptive of the hardships and
concomitant evils, not of one siege merely but of sieges in
general. 4. Therefore I said (or say), Look away from me; let me be
hitter in weeping (or weep bitterly) ; try not to comfort me for the
desolation ofthe daughter of my people. These are not the words
12

$66 CHAPTER XXIL

6i

o'f Jerusalem in answer to the question in v. 1, but those of the
trophet expressing his sympathy with the sufferings which he
foresees and foretells, as in ch. 16 : 11. The daughter of my
feople means the people itself, poetically represented as a woman,
nd affectionately spoken of as a daughter.
Ql 5. For there is a day of confusion and trampling and perplex
ity to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts in the valley of vision — breaking
the wall and. crying to ihe mountain. He has a day i. e. he has '
rt appointed, or has it in reserve. (See above, ch. 2 : 12.)
Trampling does not refer to the treading down of the fields and
gardens, but of men in battle, or at least in a general commo
tion and confusion. To the mountain are not the words of the
cry, but its direction. The mountain is not Jerusalem or Zion
as the residence of God, but the mountains round about Jeru
salem (Ps. 125 : 1.) The meaning is not that the people are
neard crying on their way to the mountain, but rather that
their cries are reverberated from it. The whole verse is a vivid
poetical description of the confusion of a siege.
6. And Elam bare a quiver, with chariots, men (i. e. infantry),
%orsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. Elam was a province of
Tersia, often put for the whole country. Its people were cele
brated archers. The simplest and most natural construction
¦ seems to be that which supposes three kinds of troops to be
nere enumerated ; cavalry, infantry, and men in chariots. Kir
is now agreed to be identical with Kigog} the name of a river
rising in the Caucasus and emptying into the Caspian sea, from
which Georgia (Girgistan) is supposed to derive its name. Kir
was subject to Assyria in the time of Isaiah," as appears from
the fact thas it was one of the regions to which the exiles of the
ten tribes were transported. It may here be put for Media, as
Elam is for Persia. The uncovering of the shield has reference
to the leathern cases used to protect the shield or keep it bright

CHAPTER XXII. 267
The removal of these denotes preparation for battle. The an
cient versions and some modern writers translate the clause,
ihe shield leaves the wall bare by being taken down from the
place where it hung, or the enemy deprives the wall of its shiela
i. e. its defenders. Some even suppose an allusion to the tesiudc
or covered way of shields, under which the Roman soldiers used
to advance to the walls of a besieged town. The verbs are in
the past tense, which proves nothing however as to the date of
the events described.
7. And it came to pass (that) the choice of thy valleys (thy
choicest valleys) were full of chariots, and the horsemen drew up
(or took up a position) towards the gate. The Prophet sees
something which he did not see before. He had seen the
chariots and horsemen coming ; but now he sees the valleys
around full of them. The future form adopted by some ver
sions is entirely unauthorized. Whatever be the real date of
the events described, the Prophet evidently meant to speak of
them as past or present, and we have neither right nor reason
to depart from his chosen form of expression. The address is
to Jerusalem. The valleys are mentioned as the only places
where the cavalry or chariots could be useful or could act at
all. As the only level approach to Jerusalem is on the north,
that quarter may be specially intended, and the gate may be a
gate on that side of the city.
8. And he removed the covering of Judah, and thou, didst look in
that day to the armour of the house- of the forest. The first verb,
which some connect with the' enemy and othert with Jehovah
understood, is really indefinite and may be resolved into an
English passive, the covering was removed. This expression
has been variously explained. The analogous expression of
taking away the veil from the heart (2 Cor. 3 : 15, 16), and
the immediate mention of the measures used for the defence

268 CHAPTER XXII.
of the city, are perhaps decisive in favour of explaining the
words to mean that the Jews' own eyes were opened. It is
oest to understand here an abrupt apostrophe to Judah, a figure
of perpetual occurrence in Isaiah. House of the forest is the
designation of a house built by Solomon, and elsewhere called
the house of the forest of Lebanon, because erected on that
mountain, as some writers think, but according to the common
opinion, because built of cedar-wood from Lebanon. This house
is commonly supposed to have been either intended for an
arsenal by Solomon himself, or converted into one by some of
his successors, and to be spoken of in Neh. 3 : 19. Looking to
this arsenal implies dependence on its stores as the best means
of defence against the enemy, unless we understand the words
to signify inspection, which agrees well with what follows, but is
not sufficiently sustained by the usage of the verb and preposi
tion. In that day seems to mean at length, i. e. when made
aware of their danger.
9. And the breaches of the city of David ye saw, that they were
many, and ye gathered the waters of the lower pool. The breaches
meant are not those made by the enemy in the siege here de
scribed, but those caused by previous neglect and decay. The
city of David may be either taken as a poetical name for Jeru
salem at large, or in its strict sense as denoting the upper town
upon Mount Zion, which was surrounded by a wall of its own,
and called the city of David because he took it from the Jebu-
sites and afterwards resided there. Ye saw may either mean,
ye saw them for the first time, at length became aware of them,
or, ye looked at them, examined them, with a view to their re
pair. The last is more probably implied than expressed. The
last clause describes a measure of defence peculiarly important
at Jerusalem where there are very few perennial springs. This
precaution (as well as the one previously hinted at) was actually
taken by Hezekiah in the prospect of Sennacherib's approach

CHAPTER XXII. 269
(2 Chr. 32 : '4), and has perhaps been repeated in every siege
of any length which Jerusalem has sin.ce expeiienced. The
lower pool is probably the tank or reservoir still in existence in
the valley of Hinnom opposite the western side of Mount Zion.
This name, which occurs only here, has reference to the upper
pool higtfer up in the same valley near the Jaffa gate. (See
above, ch. 7 : 3. Compare Robinson's Palestine, I. 483-487.)
10. And the houses of Jerusalem ye numbered, and ye pulled down
the houses to repair (rebuild or fortify) the wall. The numbering
0,f the houses probably has reference, not to the levying of men
or of a tax, but to the measure mentioned in the last clause, for
the purpose of determining what houses could be spared, and
perhaps of estimating the expense. The houses are destroyed,
not merely to make room for new erections, but to furnish
materials. Anci©nt Jerusalem, like that of our day, was built
of stone. 1 1. And a reservoir ye made between the two walls (or the double
wall) for the waters of the old pool, and ye did not look to the maker
of it, and the former of it ye did not see. The reference is prob
ably to a wall built out from that of the city and returning to
it, so as to enclose the tank or reservoir here mentioned. As
this was a temporary measure, perhaps often repeated, there is
no need of tracing it in other parts of history or in the present
condition of Jerusalem. It is altogether probable, however,
that the old pool here mentioned is the same with' the upper pool
-of ch. 7 : 3. Some have identified it with the lower pool of the
ninth verse, but this would hardly have been introduced so soon
by another name. The last clause shows that the fault, with
which the people of Jerusalem were chargeable, was not that
of guarding themselves against attack, but that of relying upon
human defences, without regard to God. The verbs look and
see are evidently used in allusion to the last clause of v. 8 and

270 CHAPTER XXII.
the first of v. 9. They looked to the arsenal but not to God.
This seems to put the clause before us in antithesis to the whole
foregoing context from v. 8. Maker aud fanner, are not distinc
tive terms referring to God's purpose or decree on one hand,
and the execution of it on the other, but poetical equivalents
both denoting the efficient cause. +,
1 2. And the Lord Jehovah of Hosts called in that day to weeping
and to mourning and to baldness and to girding sackcloth. The
meaning is not that he called or summoned grief to come, but
that he called on men to mourn, not only by his providence,
but by his word through the prophets. By baldness we may
either understand the tearing of the hair, or the shaving of the
head, or both, as customary signs of grief. The last phrase,
rendered in the English Bible girding with sackcloth, does not
mean girding up the other garments with a sackcloth girdle, but
girding the body with a sackcloth dress, or girding on i. e. wear
ing sackcloth. The providential call to mourning here referred
to must be the siege before described.
1 3. And behold mirth and jollity, slaying of oxen and killing of
sheep, eating of flesh and drinking of wine ; eat and drink, for to
morrow we die. This verse presents the contrast of their actual
behaviour with that to which God called them by his providence.
The common version, let us adt and drink, is perfectly correct as
to sense, but needlessly departs from the peculiar and expres
sive form of the original. I 'have substituted eat and drink, not
as imperatives, but as the simplest forms of the English verbs.
(See above, ch. 21 : 5) To eat and to drink might be considered
more exact, but would not exhibit the compression and brevilo-
quence ofthe original. It has been disputed whether these last
words are expressive of contemptuous incredulity or of a desper
ate determination to spend the residue of life in pleasure. It
is by no means clear, that these -two feelings are exclusive of

CHAPTER XXII. 2||
each other, since the same man might express his disbelief o$
the threatening, and his resolution, if it should prove true, t\q
die in the enjoyment of his favourite indulgences. At all even);^
there can be no need of restricting the full import of the Ian*
guage, as adapted to express both states of mind, in different
persons,<fif not in the same. [^
-.¦if
14; And Jehovah of Hosts revealed himself in my ears (i. e. mad$
a revelation to me, saying) ff this iniquity shall be forgiven you
(i. e. it certainly shall not be forgiven you) until you die. Th§
conditional form of expression, so far from expressing doubt oiff
contingency, adds to the following declaration the solemnity pg
an oath. What Is said is also sworn, so that by two immutable
things in which it is impossible for God to lie, the truth of th,q
threatening may be confirmed. On the elliptical formula pjj
swearing, see above ch. 5 : 9. This iniquity of course means the,
presumptuous contempt of God's messages and providentjaj
warnings, with which the people had been charged in the pre*
ceding verse. This offence is here treated as the sin against
the Holy Ghost is in the New Testament, and is indeed very
much of the same nature. The word translated shall be for
given strictly means shall be atoned far or expiated. Until yqs^
die is equivalent to ever, the impossibility of expiation afterwards
being assumed. This use of until is common in all language^;
' As long as you live you shall not be forgiven' is equivalent. fp;
saying ' you shall never be forgiven.' ,$j :'d
15. Thus said the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, Go, go in to this trect^
wrer (or steward, or chamberlain), to Shebna who (is) over tk$
house. From the people in general the threatening now passgs
to an individual, perhaps because he was particularly guilty pg
the crime alleged, and by his influence the' means of leading
others astray likewise. Some of the ancient versions give,Jg
house here the sense of temple or the house of God, and infej

272 CHAPTER XXIL
that Shebna, if not High Priest or a Priest at all, was at leaBl
the treasurer of the temple. But the phrase here used is no
where else employed in reference to the temple, whereas it re
peatedly occurs as the description of an officer of state or of the
royal household, a major-domo, chamberlain, or steward. As
the modern distinction between state and household officers is
not an ancient or an oriental one, it is not unlikely that the
functionary thus described, like the medieval makes du palais,
was in fact prime minister. This would account for the influence
tacitly ascribed to Shebna in this chapter, as well, as for his
being made the subject of a prophecy. The phrase this treasurer
may either be expressive of disapprobation or contempt, or sim
ply designate the man as well known to the Prophet and his
readers. These familiar allusions to things and persons now
forgotten, while they add to the obscurity of the passage, furnish
an incidental proof of its antiquity and genuineness. Go in,
i. e. into Shebna's house, or into the sepulchre which he was pre
paring, and in which some suppose him to have been accosted
by the Prophet.
16. What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, thai thou
hast hewn thee here a sepulchre ? Hewing on high his sepulchre,
graving in the rock a habitation for himself! The negation implied
in the interrogation is not that he had none to protect and aid
him, or that none of his kindred should be buried there because
they should be banished with him, but rather that he had none
buried there before him ; it was not his birth-place or the home
of his fathers. What interest, what part or lot, what personal
or hereditary claim, hast thou in Judah ? Here then refers not
to the sepulchre, but to Jerusalem. The foreign form of the
name Shebna, which occurs only in the history of Hezekiah, and
for which no satisfactory Hebrew etymology has been proposed,
seems to confirm this explanation of the first clause as repre
senting him to be a foreigner, perhaps a heathen Another

CHAPTER XXII. 273
confirmation is afforded by the otherwise unimportant circum
stance, that the name of Shebua's father is nowhere added tc
his own, as in the case of Eliakim and Joah (v. 20. ch. 36 : 3).
These seem to be sufficient reasons for concluding that the
Prophet is difected to upbraid him, not with seeking to be
buried in the royal sepulchres although of mean extraction, but
with making provision for himself and his posterity in a land
to which he was an alien, and from which he was so soon to be
expelled. The Prophet, after putting to him the prescribed
question, was to express his own contemptuous surprise at what
he saw, or to let his eyes pass from the man to the sepulchre
which he was hewing. It is not necessarily implied however in
this explanation that the conversation was to take place at the
sepulchre. The labour and expense bestowed on ancient sepul-
" chres (of far later date however than Isaiah's time), is still at
tested by the tombs remaining at Jerusalem, Petra, and Perse-
polis, where some are excavated near the tops of lofty rooks in
order to be less accessible, to which practice there may be allu
sion in the verse before us, and also in the words of 2 Chr.
32 : 33, as explained by most interpreters, viz. that Hezekiah was
buried in the highest of the tombs of the sons of David. (See
Robinson's Palestine, I. 516-539. II. 525.) The word habitation
is supposed by some to have allusion to the oriental practice of
making tombs in shape (and frequently in size) like houses, by
others more, poetically to the idea of the grave, as a long home
(Ecc. 12:5). In this case, as in many others, the ideal and
material allusion may have both been present to the writer's
mind. What (is) to thee and who is to thee are the usual unavoid
able periphrases for what and whom hast thou, the verb to have
being wholly wanting in this family ef languages.
17. Behold, Jehovah is casting thee a cast, oh man! and cover
ing thee a covering. The idea is that he is certainly about tc
cast and cover thee, or to do it completely and with violence.
12*

274 CHAPTER XXII.
18. Rolling he will roll thee in a roll, like a bull (thrcnon) inti
a, spacious ground — there shalt thou die — and there the chariots of
thy glory — shame of thy master's house. The ejection of Shebna
from the country is compared to the rolling of a ball into an
open space where there is nothing to obstruct its progress. The
ideas suggested are those of violence, rapidity, and distance.
All the interpreters appear to apply this directly to Shebna, and
are thence led to raise the question, what land is meant ! It
seems to me that the phrase in question has relation not to
Shebna as a man but to the ball with which he is compared, and
that land should be taken in the sense of ground. There are
several different constructions of the last clause^ of Which this
is one : thither shalt thou die (i. e. thither shalt thou go to die)
and thither shall thy splendid chariots (convey thee). The allusion
will then be simply to Shebna's return to his own country
(whether Syria, Phenicia, Mesopotamia, or Assyria), and not to
captivity in war or to suffering in exile, of which there is no
intimation in the text. All that the Prophet clearly threatens
Shebna with, is the loss of rank and influence in Judah and a
return to his own country. An analogous incident in modern
history (so far as these circumstances are concerned) is Neck-
er's retreat from France to Switzerland at the beginning of tho
French Revolution.
19. And it shall came to pass in that day that I will call for my
servant, for Eliakim ihe son of Ililkiah, i. e. will personally des
ignate him- Eliakim appears again in ch. 36 : 3, and there as
here in connection with Shebna. The epithet my servant seems
to be intended to describe him as a faithful follower of Jehovah,
and as such to contrast him with Shebna, who may have been
a heathen. The employment of such a man by such a king as
Hezekiah is explained by some upon the supposition that he
had been promoted by Ahaz and then suffered to remain by his

CHAPTER XXII. 2.7^5
successor. It is just as easy to suppose however that he had
raised himself by his abilities for public business.
r ,ui
20. And I ;eill thrust thee from thy post, and from thy station
shall he pull thee down. The verb in the last clause is indefi
nite and really equivalent to a passive (tKou shalt be pulled
down). 2L And I will clothe him with thy dress, and with thy girdle
will I strengthen him, and thy power will I give into his handt amd
he shall be for a father (or become a father) to the dweller in Jeru
salem and to the house of Judah. We may either suppose a ref
erence to an official dress, or a metaphor analogous to that of
filling another's shoes in colloquial English. Father is not .a
mere oriental synonyme of ruler, but an emphatic designation
of a wise and benevolent ruler. It seems therefore to imply
that Shebna's administration was of an opposite character.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem and the family of Judah com
prehended the whole nation.
- 22. And I 'will put the key of 'the house of 'David on his shoulder j
\e shall open and there shall be no one shutting, he shall shut and
there shall be no one opening. In other words, he shall have
unlimited control over the royal house and household, which
according to oriental usages implies a high, political authority.
Some suppose a reference to the actual bearing of the key by
the royal steward or chamberlain, and explain its being carried
on the shoulder by the fact that large wooden locks and keys
of corresponding size are still used in some countries, the lat
ter being sometimes curved like a sickle so as to be hiing
around the neck. Against this explanation it may be objected,
that the phrase house of David seems to imply a metaphorcal
rather than a literal palace, and that the word translated '30
shoulder includes the upper part of the back, as the plaqe for

276 CHAPTER XXIL
bearing burdens. (See above, ch. 9 : 4 . 10 : 27.) The best
interpreters appear to be agreed that the government or ad
ministration is here represented by .the figure of a burden, not,
merely in the general as in ch. 9 : 6, but the specific burden of
a- key, chosen in^rder to express the idea of control over the
royal house, which was the title of the office in question. The
application of the same terms to Peter (Matt. 16 : 19) and to
Christ himself (Rev. 3 : 7) does not prove that they here refer
to either, or that Eliakim was a type of Christ, but merely
that the same words admit of different applications.
23. And I will fasten Mm a nail in a sure place, and he shall
be for a throne of glory to his father' s house. The figure in the
first clause naturally conveys the idea of security and perma
nence. The reference is not to the stakes or centre post of a
tent, but to the large pegs, pins or nails often built into the
walls of oriental houses for the purpose of suspending clothes
or vessels. The last clause is obscure. The most natural in
terpretation of the words, and that most commonly adopted, is
that the figure of a nail is here exchanged for that of a seat,
this being common to the two, that they alike suggest the idea
of support though in different ways. Those whom Eliakim
was the means of promoting might be said, with a change of
figure but without a change of meaning, both to sit and hang
upon him. He was to be not only a seat but a seat of honour,
which is nearer to the meaning of the Hebrew phrase than
throne cf glory.
24. And they shall hang upon him all the honour of his father' s
house — the offspring and the issue — all vessels of small quantity —
from vessels of cups even to all vessels of flagons. Here the figure
of a nail is resumed. The dependents of Eliakim are repre
sented as suspended on him as their sole support. The words
translated offspring and issue, are expressions borrowed from

CHAPTER XXIL 277
the vegetable world. It is commonly assumed by interpreters
that the two words are in antithesis, denoting either different
sexes (sons and daughters), or different generations (sons and
grandsons), or different ranks, which last is the us*Ual explanation.
The next phrase is designed to show that even the least are
not to be excepted. The two expressions in the last clause
may be taken either as equivalent, or as contrasting the gold
and silver vessels of the altar (Ex, 24 : 6) with common
earthen utensils (Jer. 48 : 12. Lam. 4 : 2).
25. In that day, 'saith Jehovah of Hosts, shall the nail fastened
in a sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall, and the bur
den which was on it shall be cut off, for Jehovah speaks. ¦ The
most natural and obvious application of these words is to
Eliakim, who had, just been represented as a nail in a sure
place. But as this would predict his fall, without the slightest
intimation of the reason, and in seeming contradiction to the
previous context, most interpreters reject this exposition as
untenable. Most writers seem to be agreed, that the twenty-
fifth verse relates to Shebna, and that the Prophet, after liken
ing Eliakim to a nail fastened in a sure place, tacitly applies
the same comparison to Shebna, and declares that the nail
which now seems to be securely fastened shall soon yield to
make way for the other. Those who refer the verse to Eliakim
suppose his fall to have been occasioned by his nepotism or ex
cessive patronage of his relations, a conjectural inference from
v. 24. The partial fulfilment of this prophecy is commonly
supposed to be recorded in ch. 36 : 3, where Eliakim actually
fills the place here promised to him, and Shebna appears in
the inferior character of a scribe or secretary. Some indeed
suppose two persons of the name of Shebna, which is not only
arbitrary in itself, but rendered more improbable by this con
sideration, that Shebna is probably a foreign name, and cer
tainly occurs only in these and the parallel places, whereas

278 CHAPTER XXIII.
Hilkiah is of frequent occurrence, and yet is admitted upon all
hands to denote the same person. It seems improbable no
doubt that Shebna, after such a threatening, should be trans
ferred to another office. But the threatening may not have
been public, and the transfer may have been merely the begin
ning of his degradation. But even supposing that the Shebna
of ch. 36 • 3 is a different person, and that the execution of
this judgment is nowhere explicitly recorded, there is no need
of concluding that it was revoked or that it was meant to be
conditional, much less that it was falsified by the event. It is
a common usage of the Scriptures, and of this book in par
ticular, to record a divine command and not its execution, leav
ing the latter to be inferred from the former as a matter of
course. Of this we have had repeated examples, such as
ch. 7 : 4 and 8:1. Nay in this very case, we are merely told
what Isaiah was commanded to say to Shebna, without being
told that he obeyed the order. If the execution of this order
may be taken for granted, so may the fulfilment of the proph
ecy. If it had failed, it would not have been recorded or
preserved among the prophecies.

CHAPTER XXIII.
This prophecy consists of two parts. The first predicts the
fall of Tyre, vs. 1-14. The second promises its restoration
and conversion, vs. 15-18. The fall of Tyre is predicted, not
directly, but in the form of apostrophes, addressed to her own
people or her colonies, vs. 1-7. The destruction is referred to
God as its author, and to the Chaldees as his instruments.
vs. 8-14. The prediction in the latter part includes three
events. Tyre shall be forsaken and forgotten for seventy

CHAPTER XXIIL 279
years, v. 15. She shall then be restored to ner former activity
and wealth, vs. 16, 17. Thenceforth her gains shall be de
voted to the Lord, v. 18.
Tyre, one of the chief cities of Phenicia, was situated partly
on a rocky island near the coast, and partly in a wide and fer
tile plain upon the coast itself. It was long a current opinion
that the insular Tyre had no existence before the time of
Nebuchadnezzar ; but Hengstenberg has made it probable that
from the beginning the chief part of the city was situated on
the island, or rather a peninsula connected with the mainland
by a narrow isthmus. Tyre is remarkable in history for two
things ; its maritime, trade, and the many sieges it has under
gone. The first of these on record was by Shalmaneser king
of Assyria, who according to Menander, a historian now lost
but quoted by Josephus, blockaded Tyre for five years, so as to
cut off the supply of water from the mainland, but without being
able to reduce the city. The next was by Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, who besieged it thirteen years ; with what result, is
not expressly mentioned either in profane or sacred history.
A third siege was by Alexander the Great, who after seven
months and with the utmost difficulty finally reduced it. It
was afterwards besieged by the Syrian king Antigonus, and
more than once during the Crusades, both by Franks and Sar
acens. After this period it entirely decayed, and has now dis
appeared, its site being marked by th.e insulated rock, by the
causeway between it and the mainland still existing as a bar
of sand, and by columns and other architectural remains mostly
lying under water.
It has been much disputed which of these events is the sub
ject of the prophecy before us. Some see the fulfilment in the
days of Isaiah himself, and refer the prediction to the siege by
Shalmaneser. Others give it a wider scope, and seem to make
the siege by Alexander its main subject. But the great body
of the older writers refer it to an intermediate eveni, the siege

280 CHAPTER XXIIL
by Nebuchadnezzar. Most probably the prophecy before us is
generic not specific, a panoramic picture of the downfall of
Tyre, from the beginning to the end of the. destroying process,
with particular allusions to particular sieges, as for instance to
that of the Chaldees in v. 1 3, and perhaps to fnat of Alexander
in v. 6.
1. The burden of Tyre. Howl, ships of Tarshish, for it is laid
waste — no house, no entrance — -from the land of Chittim it is re
vealed to them. The command or exhortation to howl implies
that those to whom it is addressed have peculiar cause for
grief. By ships of Tarshish we are not to understand merchant-
ships in general, but strictly those which carried on the trade
between Phenicia and its Spanish colony Tartessus. Il is laid
waste may be indefinitely taken to mean desolation has been
wrought, or something has been desolated, without saying what.
The expressions no house, no entrance, may refer particularly to
the mariners returning from their long voyage and finding their
homes destroyed. Chittim is the island of Cyprus, in which
there was a city Citium, which Cicero expressly mentions as
a Phenician settlement. It is revealed (i. e. the event announced
in the preceding clause) to them (the Tyrian mariners on their
way home from Tarshish). The meaning seems to be, that the
news of the fall of Tyre has reached the Phenician settlements
in Cyprus, and through vthem the Tyrian mariners that touch
there. 2. Be silent oh inhabitants ofthe isle (or coast), the merchants of
Sidon crossing the sea filled thee. .This may either be addressed
to the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean which had long
been frequented by the Pheuician traders, or to Phenicia itself,
which foreign commerce had enriched. The last explanation
is commonly preferred ; but the first is recommended by the
fact that it assigns a reason for the mention of the foreign trade

281 CHAPTER X-XIIL
of Sidon, as accounting for the interest which other nations arc
supposed to feel in the fall of Tyre. On either supposition;
Sidon, the other great city of Phenicia, is put for the whole
country. 3. And in great waters (was) the seed of the Nile ; the harvest
of the river (was) her revenue ; and she was a mart of nations. The
Hebrew and Egyptian names of the Nile are here combined.
The first, according to its etymology, means black, and corres
ponds to Mei.ug and Melo, Greek and Latin names of the same
river, all derived from the colour of the water or the mud which
it deposits. Of the whole verse there are three interpretations.
The first supposes an allusion to the fact that the grain of
Egypt was exported in Phenician vessels on the great waters
i. e. over the sea. The objection that Phenicia is described by
Ezekiel as trading not with Egypt hut with Palestine in grain,
though entitled to some weight, is not conclusive. A stronger
objection may be drawn from the apparent incongruity of
naming this one branch of commerce as a proof that Tyre was
a mart of nations. A second interpretation understands what is
said of Egypt figuratively, or as a comparison ; as if he had
said that the* wealth which Egypt derived from the Nilej-Pheni-
cia derived from the great waters' i. e. by her maritime trade.
The third differs from this only by supposing a distinct allusion
to the insular situation of Tyre, which,* though planted on a
rock and girt by mighty waters, reaped as rich a harvest as the
fertile land of Egypt. This last interpretation is much more
poetical than either of the others, and at least in that respect
entitled to the preference.
4. Be ashamed (or confounded) Zidon, for the sea saith, the
strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, and I have not
borne, and I have not reared young men (or) brought up virgins.
One of the great cities of Phenicia is here called upon to be

282 CHAPTER XXIIL
confounded at the desolation of the other ; cr Zidon may be
put for the whole country, as in the preceding verse. The
Prophet hears a voice from the sea, which he then describes
more exactly as coming from the stronghold or fortress of the
sea, i. e. insular Tyre as viewed from the mainland. The rest
of the verse is intended to express the idea that the city thus
personified was childless, was as if she had never borne chil
dren. The whole metaphor- is clearly intended to express the
idea of depopulation.
5. When the report (comes) to Egypt, they are pained at the re
port of Tyre. There are three distinct interpretations of this
verse. The first refers the pronoun to the Sidonians or Phe-
nicians generally, and understands the verse to mean that they
would be as much grieved to hear of the fall of Tyre as if they
should hear of that of Egypt. The second makes the verb in
definite, or understands it of the nations generally, who are then
said to be as much astounded at the fall of Tyre as they once
were at the judgments of Jehovah upon Egypt. The third,
which is the one now commonly adopted, makes Egypt itself or
the Egyptians the subject of the verb. This last supposes the
Egyptians to lament for the loss of their great mart and com
mercial ally. The idea expressed by the second construction
is a much more elevated one. Either of these interpretations
appears preferable to the first, which yields an unnatural and
inappropriate sense.
6. Pass over to Tarshish ; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle (or
coast). The mother country is exhorted to take refuge in her
distant colonies.
7. Is this your joyous city (literally, is this to you a joyous one ?)
from the days of old is lier antiquity ; her feet shall carry her afar
off to sojourn. Most writers understand the last clause as an-

CHAPTER XXIIL 283
plying, either to the flight of the Tyrians to their colonies, or
to their being carried into exile.
8. Who hath purposed this against Tyre the crowning (city),
whose mmhanis (are) princes, her traffickers ihe honoured of the
earth ? Most writers seem to be agreed that the word here
translated crowning denotes the crowner or crown-giver, in allu
sion to the fact that crowned heads were among the tributaries
of Phenicia, according to the testimony of the Greek historians.
The question in this verse implies that no ordinary power could
have done it.
9. Jehovah of Hosts hath purposed it, lo profane the elevation of
all beauty, lo degrade all the honoured of the earth. This is the
answer to the question in v. 8. Not only in poetry, but in ani
mated prose, the writers of all languages ask questions to be
answered by themselves. The word translated profane means.
strictly to desecrate that which is reckoned holy, but is here
used to express the making common of that which was distin
guished by magnificence or beauty.
10. Pass through thy land like the river (Nile). Daughter of
Tarshish, there is no girdle (any) longer. It is commonly agreed
that the phrase means, as the Nile passes, i. e. quickly or without
restraint. The daughter of Tarshish is Tarshish itself. There
is no more girdle, may be taken in opposite senses, as denoting
the failure of strength and general dissolution, or the absence
of restraint and freedom from oppression.
11. His hand he stretched out over the sea; he made kingdoms
tremble ; Jehovah commanded, respecting Canaan to destroy her
strongholds. The subject of the verbs in the first clause is the
game as in the last.
12. And he, said, Thou shalt not add longer (or continue) U

284 CHAPT ER XXIIL
triumph, oppressed (or violated) virgin daughter of Zidon; te
Chittim arise, pass over; there also there shall be no rest to thee.
The address is not to Chittim, nor to Tyre as a daughter of
the older city, but to Zidon itself. Zidon is here put for
Phenicia in general. This exhortation corresponds exactly to
the one in v. 6, Tarshish and Chittim being both Phenician
colonies. The last clause implies, either that the colonists
would not receive them, or that the enemy would still pursue
them, probably the latter.
13. Behold the land of the Chaldees; this people was not ; As
syria founded it for dwellers in the wilderness ; they have set up his
towers ; they have roused up her palaces ; he has put it for (or ren
dered it) a ruin. This difficult verse has been very variously
understood. Some apply it exclusively to the destruction of
Tyre by the Assyrians ; but this can only be effected by an
arbitrary change of text. The great majority, both of the older
and the later writers, leave the text unaltered, and suppose that
the Prophet here brings the Chaldees into view as the instru
ments of Tyre's destruction. The second clause will then be
a parenthesis, containing an allusion to a historical fact not ex
pressly mentioned elsewhere, but agreeing well with other facts
of history, to wit, that the Chaldees were not the aborignal in
habitants of Babylonia, but were brought thither from the
mountains of Armenia or Kurdistan by the Assyrians in the
days of their supremacy. This accounts for the fact that
Xenophon speaks of the Chaldees as northern mountaineers,
while in the sacred history we find them in possession of tho
great plain of Shinar. The former statement has respect, no
doubt, to that portion of the people who were left behind in
their original territory. This .incidental statement, it may also
be observed, is in strict accordance with the Assyrian policy of
peopling their own provinces with conquered nations. But
vhy should this fact in the history of the Chaldees be referred

CHAPTER XXIIL 285
to here ? Because the recent origin and present insignificance
of the chosen instruments made the conquest more humiliating
to the Tyrians. When Isaiah wrote, Assyria was the ruling
power of the world ; whatever changes were expected, were ex
pected from that quarter. But here the conquest of Phenicia
is ascribed to a people then but little known, if known at all.
It was perfectly natural therefore to say negatively, that it was
not to be effected by Assyria, as well as positively, that it was
to be effected by Chaldea. In like manner, if the fall of the
Roman state had been foretold during the period of the Persian
wars, how naturally might the Prophet have said that it should
fall, not before the Carthaginians, but before the Goths.
14. Howl, ships of Tarshish, for destroyed is your stronghold.
The first part of the prophecy here closes very much as it •
began.' The description of Tyre is the same as in v. 4, except
that it was there called the fortress of the sea, and here the
fortress of the Tyrian ships.
15. And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be for
gotten seventy years, as the days cf the king ; from the end of sev
enty years shall be (or happen) to Tyre like the harlot's song. The
remainder of the chapter predicts the restoration of Tyre, not
to its former dignity, but to its wealth and commercial activity,
the fruits of which should thenceforth be consecrated to Jeho
vah. There is no difference of opinion with respect to the
meaning of the words or the grammatical construction of the
sentence, but' the utmost diversity of judgment in relation to
the general sense and application of the whole, and especially
of the words, seventy years as the days of one king. That Tyre
was a flourishing city in the time of Alexander the Great,"is
matter of history. When it again became so, is not. But since
the fact is certain and the prophecy explicit, the most rational
conclusion is that they chronologically coincide, or in other

288 CHAPTER XX IL
words, that Tyre did begin to recover from the effeets of the
Babylonian conquest about seventy years after the catastrophe
itself. This of course supposes that the words are to be defi
nitely understood. If, on the other hand, they are indefinite,
there can be still less difficulty in supposing their fulfilment.
In either case, -the words seventy days etc. remain so enigmati
cal, and all the explanations of them so unsatisfactory, that
some may be tempted to refer them to the future, and to look
for their fulfilment hereafter. When Zechariah wrote, the
Babylonian conquest predicted by Isaiah and Ezekiel had al
ready taken place. The change for the better, predicted by
Isaiah alone, was then already visible. The prophecies of both
respecting the total destruction of the city are renewed by
Zechariah and referred to a period -still future, with partic
ular reference, as some suppose, to the time of Alexander
but it may be with a scope still more extensive. The last
clause foretells the restoration of Tyre in a very peculiar and
significant form. Instead of a queen reinstated on the throne,
she now appears as a forgotten harlot, suing once more for ad
miration and- reward. Although this metaphor, as we shall see
below, does not necessarily imply moral turpitude, it does ne
cessarily impart a contemptuous tone to the prediction. The
best explanation of this change of tone is that the restoration
here predicted was to be a restoration to commercial prosperity
and wealth, but not to regal dignity or national importance.
The song of a harlot (or the harlot) is now commonly agreed to
mean a particular song well known to the contemporaries of the
Prophet. It shall be to her like this song can only mean that
what the song presents as an ideal situation should be realized
-a the experience of Tyre. The Hebrew words will scarcely
bear the meaning put upon them in the text of the English
Version. 16. Take a harp, go about tlie city, oh forgotten harlot, play

CHAPTER XXIII. 287
well, sing much, that thou mayest be remembered. These are now
commonly explained as the words of the song itself, describing
the only way in which the harlot could recover her lost place in
the memory of men, viz. by soliciting their notice and their
favour. The application of the song to Tyre implies not only
that she had lost her former position in the sight of the nations,
but that exertion would be needed' to recover it. Play well,
sing much, literally, make good playing, multiply song.
17. And it shall be (or come to pass), from (or at) the end of
seventy years, Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her
hire (or gain), and shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of
the earth upon the face ofthe ground. As God is said to visit men
both in wrath and mercy, and as the figure here employed is at
first sight a revolting one, some ofthe older writers understand
this verse as describing the continued wickedness of Tyre re
quiring further judgments. The figure indeed is now commonly
agreed to denote nothing more than commercial intercourse
without necessarily implying guilt. In ancient times, when
international commerce was a strange thing and nearly monop
olized by a single nation, and especially among the Jews, whose
law discouraged it for wise but temporary purposes, there were
probably ideas attached to such promiscuous intercourse entirely
different from our own. Certain it is that the Scriptures more
than once compare the mutual solicitations of commercial enter
prise to illicit love. That the comparison does not necessarily
involve the idea of unlawftd/or dishonest trade, is sufficiently
apparent from the following verse.
1 8. And her gain and her hire shall be holiness (or holy i. e.
consecrated) to Jehovah ; it shall not be stored and it shall not be
hoarded ; far her gain shall be for those who sit (or dwell) before
Jehovah, lo eat to satiety, and for substantial clothing. By those
who dwell before Jehovah we are probably to understand his

288 CHAPTER XXIV.
worshippers in general and his official servants in particular.
There may be an allusion to the chambers around the temple
which were occupied by priests and Levites when in actual
service. The general sense of the prediction evidently is, that
the commercial gains of Tyre should redound to the advantage
of the servants of Jehovah.

CHAPTER XXIV.
Here begins a series of prophecies (ch. xxiv-xxxv), having
reference chiefly to Judah. It is not divided into parts by any
titles or express intimations of a change of subject. The style
is also homogeneous and uniform. The attempts which have
been made to subdivide this portion of the book are for the most
part arbitrary. The conventional division into chapters may
be retained as a matter of convenience. The first four chapters
(xxiv-xxvn) are now universally regarded as forming one
continuous composition. What is said of ch. xxiv is therefore
in some degree applicable to the whole. This chapter contains
a description of a country filled with confusion and distress by
a visitation from Jehovah in consequence of its, iniquities, vs.
1-12. It then speaks of a remnant scattered among the nations
and glorifying God in distant lands, vs. 13-16. The Prophet
then resumes his description of the judgments coming on the
same land or another, winding up with a prophecy of Jehovah's
exaltation in Jerusalem, vs. 16-23. The endless diversity of
judgment with regard to this chapter, both among the older
ind later writers, shows that the prediction is generic. In this
case, as in many others, the exclusive restriction of the proph
ecy to one event is wholly arbitrary. What the- Prophet has
left indefinite we have no right to make specific. Particular

CHAPTER XXIV. 289
allusions there may be ; but this, as we have seen in other
cases, does not limit the application of the whole.
1. Behold, Jehovah (is) pouring out the land and emptying it,
and he will turn down its face, and he will scatter its inhabitants.
The figure is that of a bottle or other vessel drained of its con
tents by being turned upside down. The allusion in this last
elause may be both to flight and deportation. Isaiah here
speaks of the Babylonian conquest as still distant, but at the
same time as infallibly certain.
2. And it shall be, as the people so the priest, as the servant so
his master, as the buyer so the seller, as the borrower so the lender, as
tlie debtor so the creditor. That is, all ranks and classes shall fare
alike. 2r. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for Je
hovah speaks (or hath spoken) this word. The last clause de
notes the certainty of the event because predicted by Jehovah.
4. The earth mourneth, fadeth ; the world languisheth, fadeth ;
the highest of the people of the earth languish. Earth and world
are not to be taken in their widest sense, but as poetical de
scriptions of the country.
5. And the land has been profaned under its inhabitants, be
cause Ihey have transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken
the everlasting covenant. Almost all writers seem to apply the
passage to the Jews, and to understand it as referring their
calamities to their transgressions. The land is said to be pro
faned as being a holy land or consecrated to Jehovah. Most
interpreters suppose a special reference to pollution by blood or
the guilt of murder. The reference in this verse is to the di
vine law generally. The three terms used are substantially
13

290 CHAPTER XXIV.
synonymous, law, statute, covenant, being continually inter
changed. The simple meaning of the verse is that they dis
obeyed the will of God.
6. Therefore a curse devoured the earth, and those dwelling in
it were reckoned guilty (and so treated). Therefore the inhabi
tants ofthe earth burned, and there are few men left.
7. The new wine mourneth ; the vine languisheth; all the merry-
hearted do sigh.
8. Still is the mirth of drums ; ceased is the noise of revellers ;
still is ihe mirth of the harp. Music is here mentioned as a com
mon token and accompaniment of mirth.
9. With the song they shall not drink wine ; bitter shall strong
drink be to them that drink it. The last clause means of course
that they should lose the appetite for such enjoyments.
10. Broken down is the city of confusion (emptiness or desola
tion), shut up is every house from entering (i. e. so that it is not or
cannot be entered). The city meant is Jerusalem. The last
clause might be understood to refer to the closing of the houses
by the inhabitants against the enemy, or to their being left un
occupied ; but the first clause, seems to show that it rather re
lates to the obstruction of the entrance by the ruins.
11. A cry for wine in the streets — darkened is all joy — departed
is the gladness ofthe earth. The cry meant is that of the perish
ing inhabitants for necessary refreshment, perhaps with special
reference to the sick and wounded or to children.
12. (What is) left in the city is desolation, and into ruins is the
gate beaten down. The first clause is in opposition to the last

CHAPTER XXIV. 291
of v. . 1 1. Joy is gone and desolation is left behind. The gate
is here named as the most important part of the city ; but it
does not directly mean the city itself.
1 3. For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the na
tions, like the beating of an olive-tree, like gleanings ichen the
gathering is done. The Prophet is stating more distinctly the
extent of the desolation which he had before described. In
the midst ofthe nations is explained as actual dispersion among
foreign nations.
14. They shall raise their voice, they shall sing (or shout), for
the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. The pronoun
at the beginning is emphatic. They, the few dispersed sur
vivors of these judgments.
15. Therefore in the fires glorify Jehovah, in the islands ofthe
sea the name of Jehovah God of Israel. This seems to be an
address to the persons who had already been described as
praising God, exhorting them to do so still. The word trans
lated fires is now commonly agreed to be a local designation
The weight of exegetical authority preponderates in favour of
the meaning in the east (as the region of sunrise or of dawning
light) in opposition to the sea or west.
16. From the wing (skirt or edge) ofthe earth we have heard
songs, praise lo the righteous, and I said, woe to me, woe to me, aids
for me ! The deceivers deceive, with deceit the deceivers deceive.
We hear promises and praise to the righteous, but our experi
ence is that of misery.
17. Fear and pit and snare upon thee, oh inhabitant of the
land ! This may be either a warning (are upon thee) cr tho
expression of a wish (be upon thee). It is a probable though

292 CHAPTER XXIV.
not a necessary supposition, that the terms here used are bor
rowed from the ancient art of hunting.
18. And it shall be (that) the (one) flying from the voice of the
¦fear shall fall into the pit, and the (one) coming up from the midst
rf the pit shall be taken in the snare ; for windows from on high
.ire opened, and the foundations ofthe earth are shaken. The first
clause carries out the figures of the foregoing verse ; the second
introduces those of a deluge and an earthquake. The allusion
to the flood is acknowledged by almost all writers, and is ren
dered certain by the resemblance of the language to that used
in Gen. 7: 11.
19. Broken, broken is the earth; shattered, shattered is the
earth ; shaken, shaken is the earth.
20. The earth reels, reels like a drunken man, and is shaken
like a hammock. And heavy upon her is her guilt, and she shall
fall and rise no more. The ideas earth and land, both which
are expressed by the Hebrew word, run into one another and
are interchanged in a manner not to be expressed in a transla
tion. The old translation of the second clause (removed like a
cottage) is now commonly abandoned. The Hebrew word de
notes properly a temporary lodging-plaoe. In ch. 1 : 8 it was
applied to a watch-shed in a melon-field. Here it seems to
signify something more moveable and something suspended in
the air. The latest writers are accordingly agreed in retail
ing the interpretation which makes it mean a cloth or mat sus
pended between trees or boughs of trees for the use of noctur
nal watchers. Such are described by Niebuhr as common in
Arabia, and are known throughout the east by a name essen
tially identical with those used in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Ara
jic versions of this sentence.

CHAPTER XXIV. 293
21. And ii shall be in that day (lhat) Jehovah shall visit (foi
the purpose of inflicting punishmeut) upon the host cf the, high
place in the high place and upon the kings of the earth upon the
earth. Interpreters have commonly assumed that the host ofthe
high place is the same with the host of heaven, and must there
fore mean either stars or angels or both. It may be doubted how
ever whether there is any reference to the host of heaven at all.
High is a relative expression, and although applied to heaven
in v. 18, is applied to earth or to human society in v. 4. The
former sense may seem to be here required by the antithesis ;
but it is not clear that any antithesis was intended, which is
the less probable because earth is not the customary opposite
of heaven. The sense may simply be that God will judge the
high or lofty host viz. the kings of the land upon the land. But
even if there be an antithesis, and even if the host of heaven
in the usual sense of the expression be alluded to, the analogy
of this whole context would seem to indicate that this is merely
i strong figure for different ranks or degrees of dignity on earth.
22. And they shall be gathered with a gathering as prisoners
in a pit, and shall be shut up in a dungeon, and after many days
they shall be visited. The sense of the first clause evidently is
that they shall be imprisoned. The persons meant are the
principalities and powers of the verse preceding. There are
two interpretations of the verb visited. According to one it
means they shall be punished, or at least brought forth to judg
ment. The other is, they shall be visited in mercy.
23. And the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, for
Jehovah of Hosts is king in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and
before his elders there is glory. Before the splendour of Jeho
vah's reign all lesser principalities and powers* shall fade away.-
The elders are the rulers of Israel as the church. The simpie
meaning of the verse appears to be that Jehovah's reign over

294 CHAPTER XXV.
his people shall be more august than that of any created sov
ereign. This is true of the church in various periods of his
tory, but more especially in those when the presence and
power of God are peculiarly manifested. The affinity between
this verse and the last of the preceding chapter seems to show
that their juxtaposition is by no means fortuitous.

CHAPTER XXV.
This chapter consists of three distinguishable parts. The
first is a thanksgiving to God for the destruction of Babylon
and the deliverance of the Jews, vs. 1-5. The second is a
promise of favour to the gentiles and the people of God, when
united on Mount Zion, vs. .6-9. The third is a threatening
of disgraceful ruin to Moab, vs. 10-12.
1. Jehovah, my God (art) thou ; I will exalt thee ; I will praise
hy name ; for thou hast done a wonder, counsels from afar off,
truth, certainty. The song of praise opens in the usual lyric
style. (See Ex. 15:2, 11. Ps. 118:28. 145: 1.) The whole
phrase may either mean, I will acknowledge thy goodness tow
ards me, or I will confess thee to be what thy name imports, I
will acknowledge thy acts to be consistent with the previous
revelations of thine attributes. What wonder is especially re
ferred to, the next verse explains. The last clause admits of
Beveral different constructions. Many of the older writers
make it an independent proposition. Thus the English Version :
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Others simplify
the same construction still more by making all the nouns in the
last clause objects of the verb in the first : thou hast brought to
pass a wonder, ancient counsels, faithfulness, truth. From afar

CHAPTER XXV. 295
off seems to imply, not only that the plans were formed of old,
but that they were long ago revealed Even long before the
event they are certain.
2, 3. For thou hast turned (it) from a city to a heap, a, fortified
town to a ruin, a palace of strangers from (being) a city ; for
ever it shall not be built. Therefore a, powerful people shall
honour thee, a city of terrible nations shall fear thee. The
destruction of Babylon, and the fulfilment of prophecy there
by, shall lead even the boldest and wildest of the heathen
to acknowledge Jehovah as the true God. It is Usual to
apply the terms of this verse specifically to the Medes and
Persians as the conquerors of Babylon. There seems to
be no need of applying the verse to a cordial voluntary re
cognition of Jehovah. It may just as well denote a compul
sory extorted homage, fear being taken in its proper sense. The
verse will then be an apt description of the effect produced by
Jehovah's overthrow of Babylon on the Babylonians themselves.
There is something unusual in the expression city of nations".
It must either be explained as implying a plurality ci subject
nations, or the word translated nations must be taken in its
secondary sense of gentiles, heathen, as applied to individuals or
to one community.
4. For thou hast been a strength (or stronghold) to the weak, a
strength (or stronghold) to the poor in his distress, a refuge front.
the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast ofthe terrible (or
of the tyrants) was like a storm against a wall. The nations
shall reverence Jehovah, not merely as the destroyer of Baby
lon, but as the deliverer of his people, for whose sake that catas
trophe was brought about. Weak and poor, are epithets often
applied to Israel considered as a sufferer. The two figures of
extreme heat and a storm of rain are combined to express the
idea of persecution or affliction. The last phrase in the Hebrew

296 CHAPTER XXV.
naturally signifies precisely what the English Version has ex
pressed, to wit, a storm against a wall, denoting the direction
and the object of the violence, but not its issue. As a storm
of rain beats upon a wall, so the Babylonian persecution beat
upon the captive Jews.
5. As the heat in a drought (or in a dry place), the noise cf
strangers will thou bring down ; (as) heat by the shadow of a cloud,
(so) shall the song of the tyrants be brought, low. The sufferings
of Israel under oppression shall be mitigated and relieved as
easily and quietly as the intense heat of the sun by an inter
vening cloud. The noise mentioned in the first clause is prob
ably the tumult of battle and conquest, and the song in the last
clause the triumphal song of the victorious enemy. The mean
ing branch is more agreeable to usage, but not so appropriate in
this connection.
6. And Jehovah of Hosts will make, for all nations, m this
mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the' lees, of fat
things full of marrow, of wines on tlie lees well refined. Jerusalem,
hitherto- despised and oppressed, shall yet be a source of attrac
tion, nourishment, and exhilaration, to mankind. This verse
resumes the thread of the discourse, which was interrupted at
the end of the last chapter, for the purpose of inserting the
triumphal song (vs. 1-5). Having there said that Jehovah and
his elders should appear in glory on Mount Zion, he now shows
what is there to be bestowed upon the nations. This verse
contains a general statement of the relation which Jerusalem
or Zion should sustain to the whole world, as a source of moral
influence. There is nothing tb indicate the time when the
promise should be fulfilled, nor indeed to restrict it to one time
.exclusively. As the ancient seat of the true religion, and as
the cradle of the church which has since overspread the nations,
it has always more or less fulfilled the office here ascribed to it,

CHAPTER XXV. 297
7. And he will, swallow up (i. e. destroy) in this mountain the
face of the veil, the veil upon all peoples, and the web, the (one) woven
over all the nations. The influence to go forth from this centre
shall dispel the darkness, both of ignorance and sorrow, whic.h
now broods over the world. The subject of the verb' is Jeho
vah. By the face of the veil some understand the veil itself.
Others suppose a metathesis for the veil of the face. Others;
with more probability, infer from the analogous expression in
Job 41 : 13, that the veil or covering is here described as being
the surface or upper side of the object covered. Most interpre
ters suppose an allusion to the practice of veiling the face as a
sign of mourning, which agrees well with the next verse and is
no doubt included, but the words seem also to express the idea
of a veil upon the understanding. (See above, ch. 22 : 8.)
8. He has swallowed up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah
wipes away tears from off all faces, and the reproach of his people
he will take away from off all the earth, for Jehovah hath spoken (it).
The people of God, who seemed to be extinct, shall be restored
to life, their grief exchanged for joy, and their disgrace for
honour in the presence of the world, a result for which he
pledges both his power and foreknowledge. The true sense
seems to be that all misery and suffering, comprehended under
the generic name of death, should be completely done away. It
is then a description of the ultimate effects of the influence be
fore described as flowing from Mount Zion or the church of God.
In its highest sense this may never be realized by any individ
ual till after death. Paul says accordingly (I Cor. 15:54),
that when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, aud
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought
to pass the Saying that is written, xaTe-no&r/ 6 ithnxiog el; nxog.
As this is not an explanation of the text before us. nor even a
citation of it in the way of argument, but merely a sublime de
scription, all that it was necessary to express was the final per-
13*

298 CHAPTER XXV.
petual, triumphant abolition of death. The phrase slg rtxot
therefore, although not a strict translation, is no departure from
its essential meaning. In its primary import, the clause is a
promise to God's people, corresponding to the foregoing promise
to the nations. While on the one hand he would lift the veil
from the latter, and admit them to a feast upon Zion, on the
other he would abolish death and wipe tears from the faces of
his people. The restriction of these last expressions to the
pains of death, or to the sorrow of bereavement, detracts from
the exquisite beauty of the passage, which the poet Burns, it
is said, could not read without weeping.
9. And one shall say (or they shall say) in that day, Lo, this is
our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is
Jehovah ; we have wailed for him ; let us rejoice and be glad in his
salvation. When these gracious promises shall be fulfilled,
those who have trusted in them sljall no longer be ashamed of
their strong confidence, because it will be justified by the event,
and they will have nothing left but to rejoice in the fulfilment
of their hopes. This is our God, this is Jehovah ; as if they
had said, this is the God of whom we have spoken, and for
trusting in whom we have so often been derided. We have
waited long, but he is come at last, to vindicate his truth and
our reliance on him.
10. For the. hand of Jehovah shall rest upon this mountain, and
Moab shall be trodden down under him (or in his place) as straw is
trodden in. the water of the dunghill. While Israel shall thus
enjoy the permanent protection of Jehovah,. his inveterate ene
mies shall experience ignominious destruction. God's hand is
the symbol of his power. Its resting on an object is the con
tinued exercise of that power, whether for good or evil. This
is determined by the nature ofthe object^ as this mountain can
not well mean anything but what is meant in vs. 6, 7, to wiV

CHAPTER XXV. 299
Mount Zion or the church of God, and the promise of the fore'
going context must of course be continued here. Moab and
Edom were the two hereditary and inveterate enemies of Israel,
their hatred being rendered more annoying and conspicuous
by their affinity and neighbouring situation. Hence they are
repeatedly mentioned, separately or together, as the represen
tatives of obstinate and malignant enemies in general. As the
name British, in our own revolutionary war, became equivalent
to hostile, without losing its specific sense, so might the Prophets
threaten Moab with God's vengeance, without meaning to ex
clude from the denunciation other like-minded enemies. This
wide interpretation, both- of Moab and Edom, is confirmed by
the fact that one of them is often mentioned where both would
seem to be equally included. The figure in the last clause is
strongly expressive both of degradation and destruction. Moab
is likened not only to str-aw, but to straw left to rot for the
dunghill. . The idea of subjection and ruin is expressed by the
. figure of treading down or trampling under foot. The Hebrew
word is commonly translated thresh; but as the oriental thresh
ing was performed for the most part by the feet of cattle, this
sense and- that of treading down are really coincident. Under
him may either mean under Jehovah or under himself, that is, in
bis own place, in the country of Moab, or wherever he is found.
1 1. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of it, as the
swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and he shall humble
his pride, together with the spoils (or devices) of his hands. From
this ignominious doom Moab shall try in vain to save himself;
his pride shall be, humbled, and his struggles only serve to pre
cipitate his ruin" Having compared the fall of Moab to the
treading down of straw in a filthy pool, the Prophet carries out
his figure here, but with a change so slight and at the same time.
so natural as almost to escape observation, while it greatly adds
to the life of the description. The down-trodden straw now

300 CHAPTER XXVL
becomes a living person, and struggles in the filthy pool to save
himself from drowning, but in vain.
12. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls ht hath cast
down, humbled, brought to the ground, to the very dust (or even to
the dust). The specific fulfilment of this prophecy cannot be-
distinctly traced in history. It was certainly verified, however, •
in the downfall of the Moabitish nation, whenever it took place.

CHAPTER XXVI.
This chapter contains a song of praise and thanksgiving to
be sung by Israel after his deliverance, vs. 1-1 9. To this is
added a postscript, intimating that the time for such rejoicing
was not yet at hand, vs. 20, 21.
The song opens with an acknowledgment of God's protection
and an exhortation to confide therein, vs. 1-4. This is founded
on the exhibition of his righteousness and power in the destruc
tion of his foes and the oppressors of his people, vs. 5-11. The
church abjures the service of all other sovereigns, and vows
perpetual devotion to him by whom it has been delivered and
restored, vs. 12-15. Her utter incapacity to save herself is
then contrasted with God's power to restore his people to new
life, with a joyful anticipation of which the song concludes, vs.
16-19. The additional sentences contain a beautiful and ten
der intimation of the trials, which must be endured before these
glorious events take place, with a solemn assurance that Jeho
vah is about to visit both his people and their enemies with
ehastisement, vs. 20, 21. •
1. In that day shall this song be sung m the land of Judah i

CHAPTER XXVL 301
We have a strong city ; salvation will he plaze (as) walls and
breastwork. The condition and feelings. of the people after their
return from exile are expressed by putting an ideal song into
their mouths. Though the first clause does not necessarily
mean that this should actually be sung, but merely that it
might be sung, that it would be appropriate to the times and
to the feelings of the people, it is not at all improbable that it
was actually used for this purpose, which could more readily
be done as it is written in the form and manner of the Psalms,
to which -it exhibits many points of resemblance. The day
meant is the day of deliverance which had just been promised.
2. Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter, keeping
truth (or faith). The supposition of responsive choirs gives
a needless complexity to the structure of the passage. The
speakers are the same as in the first verse, and the words are
addressed to those who kept the doors.
3. The mind stayed (on thee) thou wilt preserve in peace (in) peace
(i. e. in perfect peace), because in thee (it is) confident (literally con
fided). This is a general truth deduced from the experience of
those who are supposed to be the speakers. The elliptical con
struction in the English Bible (him whose mind is stayed on thee)
is not very natural.
4. Trust ye in Jehovah forever (literally, even to eternity), for in
Jah Jehovah is a rock of ages (or an everlasting rock). To the
general truth stated inv. 3, a general exhortation is now added,
not addressed by one chorus to another, but by the same ideal
speakers to all who hear them or are willing to receive the
admonition. This is one of the few places in which the name
Jehovah is retained by the common English Version. On
the origin and usage of the name Jah, see above, ch. 12 : 2.
The occurrence of the combination here confirms its genuine

302 CHAPTER XXVL
ness there. The figurative name rock, as applied to God, in
eludes the two ideas of a hiding place and a. foundation, or the
one complex idea of a permanent asylum.
5. For he hath brought down the inhabitants of the high place,
the exalted city; he will lay it low,, lie will lay it low, to the very
ground ; he will bring it to the very dust. He has proved him
self able to protect his people, and consequently worthy to be
trusted by them, in his signal overthrow of that great power
by which they were oppressed. The alternation of the tenses
here is somewhat remarkable. The English Version treats
them all as presents, which is often allowable where the forms
are intermingled. But in this case, a reason can be given for
the use of the two tenses, even if strictly understood. The
Prophet looks at the events from two distinct points of obser
vation, his own and that of the ideal speakers. With respect
to the latter, the fall of Babylon was past ; with respect to the
former it was still future. He might therefore naturally say,
even in the same sentence, he has brought it low and he shall
bring it to the dust.
6. The foot shall trample on it, the feet ofthe afflicted, the steps of
the weak. The ruins of the fallen city shall be trodden under
foot, not only by its conquerors, but by those whom it op
pressed. Steps is here a poetical equivalent to feet.
7. The vidy for tlie righteous is straight (or level) ; thou most up
right wilt level (or rectify) the ptbth of the righteous. A man's
way is a common scriptural figure for his course of life. A
straight or level Way is a prosperous life. It is here declared
that the course of the righteous is a prosperous one, because
God makes it so. The primary idea of the word here trans
lated level, is to render even ; it is therefore . applied both to-
balances and paths; but the two applications are not to-be1

CHAPTER XXVI. 303
confounded ; paths may be made even, but they cann ot be
weighed. 8'. Also in the way of thy judgments, oh Jehovah, we have waited
for thee; to thy name and thy remembrance (was our) soul's desire.
For this^ manifestation of thy righteousness and goodness we
have long been waiting in the way of thy judgments^ i. e. to see
thee come forth as a judge, for the vindication of thy people
and the destruction of their enemies. Name and remembrance
or memorial denote the manifestation of God's attributes in his
works. 9. ( With) my soul have I desired thee in the night ; yea (with)
my spirit within me will I seek thee early : for when thy judgments
(come) to the' earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
The desire here expressed is not a general desire for the
knowledge and favour of God, but a special desire that he
would manifest his righteousness by appearing as a judge.
This explanation is required by the connection with what goes
before and with what follows in' this very verse. The night is
mentioned for the purpose of expressing the idea, that he feels
this wish at all times, by night and by day. The question whether
these are the words of the Prophet, or of each of the people,
or of a choir or chorus representing them, proceeds upon the
supposition of an artificial structure and a strict adherence to
rhetorical propriety, Which have no real existence in the writ
ings of the Prophet. The sentiments, which it was his pur
pose and his duty to express, are sometimes uttered in his own
person, sometimes in that of another, and these different forms
of speech are interchanged, without regard to the figments of
an artificial rhetoric. By judgments, here as in the foregoing
context, we can only understand judicial providences. The
doctrine of the verse is:, that a view of God's severity is neces
sary to convince men of his justice.

804 CHAPTER XXVL
10, Let ihe wicked be favoured, he does "not ham righteousness i
in the land of right he will do wrong, and will not see the exaltation
of Jehovah. The reasoning of the preceding verse is here con
tinued. ' As it was there said that God's judgments were neces
sary to teach men righteousness, so it is here said that continued
prosperity is insufficient for that purpose. The wicked man
will go on to do wickedly, even in the very place where right
conduct is peculiarly incumbent. . Though the verse is in the
form of a general proposition, and as such admits of various ap
plications, there is obvious reference to the Babylonians, who
were not only emboldened by impunity to do wrong in the gene
ral, but to do it even in the land of right or rectitude, the holy
land, Jehovah's land, where such transgressions were peculiarly
offensive. 1 1. Jehovah, thy hand is high, they will not see ; (yes) they will
see (and be ashamed)- thy zeal for thy people ; yea, the fire of thine
enemies shall devour them. The seeming contradiction instantly
explains itself, as being a kind of after-thought. They will not
see, (but yes) they will see. Fire denotes the wrath of God, as a
sudden, rapid, irresistible, and utterly destroying agent.
12. Jehovah, thou wilt give us peace, for even all our works thou
hast wrought far us. This is an expression of strong confidence
and hope, founded on what has already been experienced. God
certainly would favour them in future, for he had done so al
ready. Peace is, as often elsewhere, to be taken in the wide
sense of prosperity or welfare. It is commonly agreed among
interpreters, that our works here means not the works done by us
but ihe works done for us, i. e. what we have experienced. The
version of the" last clause in the text of the English Bible (thou
hast wrought all our works in us) is connected.with an old in
terpretation of the verse, as directly teaching the doctrine oi
human dependence and efficacious grace. This translation, hew-

CHAPTER XXVI. 308
ever, is equally at variance with the usage of the Hebrew prep
osition and with the connection here. The context, both be
fore and after, has respect, not to spiritual exercises, but to
providential dispensations.
13. Jehovah, our God, (other) lords beside thee have ruled us ;
(but henceforth) thee, thy name, only will we celebrate. The usual
construction of the last clause is through thee i. e. through thy
favour, by thy help, we are enabled now to praise thy name. But
some regard the pronoun as in apposition with thy name, and
the whole clause as describing only the object of their worship,
not the means by which they were enabled to render it. As
to the lords who are mentioned in the first clause, there are two
opinions. One is, that they are the Chaldees or Babylonians,
under whom the Jews had been in bondage. This is now the
current explanation. The "other is, that they are the false gods
or idols, whom the Jews had served before the. exile. Against
the former and in favour of the latter supposition it may be
suggested, first, that the Babylonian bondage did not hinder
the Jews from mentioning Jehovah's name or praising him ;
secondly, that tho whole verse looks like a confession of their
own fault and a promise of amendment, rather than a reminis
cence of their sufferings ; and thirdly, that there seems to be
an obvious comparison between the-worship of Jehovah, as our
God, with some other worship and some other deity. At the
same time let it be observed, that the ideas of religious and
political allegiance and apostasy, or of heathen rulers and of
idol gods, were not so carefully distinguished by the ancient
Jews as by ourselves, and it is therefore not impossible that
both the kinds of servitude referred to may be here included,
yet in such a manner that the spiritual one must be considered
as the prominent idea, and the only one, if either must be fixed
upon to the exclusion of the other. An additional argument,
in favour of the reference of this verse to spiritual rulers, is ita

806 CHAPTER XXVL
exact correspondence with the singular fact in Jewish history
that since the Babylonish exile they had never been1 suspected
of idolatry. , That such a circumstance should be adverted to
in this commemorative poem, is so natural that its omission
would be almost unaccountable.
14. Dead, they Shall not live: ghosts, they shall not rise:
therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all meinory
to perish with respect to them. Those whom we lately served are
now no more ; thou hast destroyed them and consigned them to
oblivion, for the very purpose of securing our freedom and de
votion to thy Service. It seems best to refer this verse to the
Strange lords of the foregoing verse, i. e. the idols themselves!;
but with some allusion, as in that case, to the idolatrous op
pressors of the Jews. The sense is correctly given in the
English Version : they are dectd% they shall not live ; they are de
ceased,- they shall not rise. An attempt, however, has been made
above to imitate more closely the concise and compact form of
the original. For the meaning of ghosts see above, ch. 14 : 9.
It is here a pbetical equivalent to dead, and may be variously
rendered, shades, shadows, spirits, or the like. The common
version (deceased) leaves too entirely out of view the figurative
character of the'expression. . Therefore may be used to intro
duce, not only the cause, but the design of an action. Though
the words cannot mean, tbou hast destroyed them1 because they
are dead and powerless, they may naturally mean, thou hast
destroyed them that they might be dead and powerless. The
same two meanings are attached to the English rihrase for this
reason, which niay either denote cause or purpose. The mean
ing of the verge, as connected with: the one before it, is that
the strange lords who had ruled them should not only cease to
do so, but, so far as they were concerned, should cease to exist
or be remembered.

CHAPTER XXVI. 307
15. Thou hast added to the nation, oh Jehovah, thiu hast added
to the nation ; thou hast glorified thyself; thou hast put far off all
the ends of the land. By this deliverance of thy people from
the service both of idols and idolaters, thou hast added a great
number to the remnant who were left in the Holy Land, so
that larger territories will be needed for their occupation ; and in
doing all this, thou hast made an exhibition of thy power, jus
tice, truth, and goodness. Thus understood, the whole verse
is a grateful acknowledgment of what God had done for his
suffering people. The enlargement of the boundaries may
either be explained as a poetical* description of the actual in
crease and expected growth of the nation (ch. 49 : 19), or liter
ally understood as referring to the fact, that after the return
from exile the Jews were no longer restricted to their own
proper territory, but extended themselves more or less over the
whole country. The translation of the verb as a reflexive,
rather than a simple passive, greatly adds to the strength of
the expression.
16. Jehovah, in distress they visited thee ; they uttered a whis
per ; thy chastisement was on them. It was not merely after
their deliverance that they turned from idols unto God. Their
deliverance itself was owing to their humble prayers. Visit is
here used in the unusual but natural sense of seeking God in
supplication. The translation they uttered a whisper is not
only admissible but beautifully expressive of submissive hum
ble prayer, like that of Hannah when she spake in her heart and
only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard, although, as she
said herself, she poured out her soul before God, which is the exact
sense of the word in this place. A like expression is applied
¦ to prayer in the title of Psalm 102. It. is implied, thoagh iiot
expressed, that their prayer was humble and submissive because
they felt that what they suffered was a chastisement from God

308 CHAPTER XXVL
17. As when a pregnant (woman) draws near to the birth, she
writhes, she cries oul in her pangs ; so have we been, from thy pres
ence, oh Jehovah ! Before we thus cast ourselves upon thy
mercy in submissive prayer, we tried to deliver ourselves, but
only to the aggravation of our sufferings. The comparison here
used is not intended simply to denote extreme pain, as it is in
many other cases, but as the next verse clearly shows, the pain
arising from ineffectual efforts to relieve themselves. The
great majority of writers apply this verse to the condition of
the exiles-. The translation from thy presence is to be preferred ;
but whether with the accessory idea of removal, alienation, or
with that of infliction, is a question riot determined by the
phrase itself, but either left uncertain or to be decided by the
context. 1 8. We were in travail, we were in pain, as it were we brought
forth wind. Deliverances we could not make the land, nor would
the inhabitants ofthe world fall. The figure introduced in the
• preceding verse is here carried out and applied. The second
clause admits of several different constructions. The simplest
supplies a preposition before land, in ox for the land. The
one now commonly adopted is, we could not make the land safety,
i. e. could not make it safe or save it. The future form of the
verb has respect to the period described. As the people then
might have said, we shall not save the land, so the same expres
sion is here put into their mouths retrospectively. The best
equivalent in English is the potential or subjunctive form, we
could not. The foregoing context, as we have seen, relates to
the period of captivity itself. Those who suppose the exile
itself to be the time in question, understand by world the
Babylonian empire as in ch. 13 : 11.
19. Thy dead shall live, my corpses shall arise ; (awake and
ting ye that dwell in the dust !) for the dew of herbs is thy dewx

CHAPTER XXVI. 309
and (on) the earth, (on) the dead, thou wilt cause it to fall. This
Verse is in the strongest contrast with the one before it. To .
the ineffectual efforts of the people to save themselves, he now
opposes their actual deliverance by God. -They shall rise be
cause they are thy dead, i. e. thy dead people. Some supply a
preposition (with my dead body), which construction is adopted
in the English Version, but is now commonly abandoned as in
congruous and wholly arbitrary. Neither the Prophet, nor the
house of. Israel, in whose name he is speaking, could refer to
their own body as distinct from the bodies of Jehovah's dead
ones. Awake etc. is a joyful apostrophe to the dead, after
which the address to Jehovah is resumed. The reference to
the dew is intended to illustrate the vivifying power of God.
The obvious meaning of the words is an expression of strong
confidence and hope, or rather of prophetic foresight, that God
will raise the dead, that his life-giving influence will be exerted.
The question now arises, what resurrection is referred to 1 All
the answers to this question may be readily reduced to three.
The first is, that the prophet means the general resurrection
of the dead, or according to an old rabbinical tradition, the
exclusive resurrection of the righteous, at the last day. The
second is, that he refers to a resurrection of the Jews already
dead, not as an actual or possible event, but as a passionate ex
pression of desire that the depopulated land might be replen
ished with inhabitants. The third is, that he represents the
restoration of the exiles and of the theocracy under the figure
of a resurrection, as Paul says the restoration of Israel to God's
favour will be life from -the dead. The figurative exposition
seems decidedly entitled to the preference. This national
address to God could not be more suitably wound up, or in a
manner more in keeping with the usage of the prophecies,
than by a strong expression of belief, that God would raise his
people from the dust of degradation and oppression, where
they had long seemed dead though only sleeping.

310 CHAPTER XXVL
20. Go, my poeple, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors
after thee, hide thyself for a little moment, till the wrath be past.
Having wound up the expectations of the people to a full be
lief of future restoration from their state of civil and religious
death, the Prophet by an exquisite transition intimates, that
this event is not yet immediately at hand, that this relief from
the effects of God's displeasure with his people must be pre
ceded by the experience of the displeasure itself, that it is still
a time of indignation, and that till this is elapsed the promise
cannot be fulfilled. This painful postponement of the promised
resurrection could not be more tenderly or beautifully intimated
than in this fine apostrophe. The English Version (as it were)
is incorrect. The period of suffering is described as very small
"vn comparison with what had gone before and what should fol
low it, as St. Paul says (Rom. 8:18) that the sufferings cf this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us.
21. For behold, Jehovah (is) coming out of his place, to visit the
iniquity of tlie inhabitant of the earth upon him, and the earth shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. This is a
reason both for expecting ultimate deliverance and for patiently
awaiting it. The reason is that God has a work of chastisement
to finish, first upon his own people, and then upon their ene
mies. During the former process, let the faithful hide them
selves until the wrath be past. When the other begins, let
them lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh
This large interpretation of the verse is altogether natural and
more satisfactory than those which restrict it either to the
judgments upon Israel or to those upon Babylon. On the lat
ter the eye of the Prophet chiefly rests, especially at last, so
that the closing words may be applied almost exclusively to
the retribution which awaited the Chaldean for the slaughter
of God's people. The blood, which the earth had long since

CHAPTER XXVIL 311
drunk in, should as it were be vomited up, and the bodies of
the murdered, which had long been buried, should be now dis
closed to view.

CHAPTER XXVII.
This chapter is an amplification of the last verse of the one
preceding, and contains a fuller statement both of Israel's chas
tisements and of Jehovah's judgments on his enemies. The
destruction of the latter is foretold as the slaughter of a huge
sea-monster, and contrasted with God's care of his own people
even when afflicting them, vs. 1-5. Hereafter Israel shall
flourish, and even in the mean time his sufferings are far less
than thpse of his oppressors, vs- 6, 7. The former is visited
in moderation, for a time, and with the happiest effect, vs. 8, 9.
The latter is finally and totally destroyed, vs. 10, 11. This
shall be followed by the restoration of the scattered Jews, vs.
12, 13.
1 . In that day shall Jehovah visit, with his sword, the hard, ihe
great, the strong (sword), upon Leviathan the swift (or flying)
serpent, and upon Leviathan the coiled (or crooked) serpent, and
shall slay the dragon which (is) in the sea. The leviathan and
dragon of this verse are probably descriptive of a great op
pressive power, with particular allusion to the Babylonian em
pire. Assuming this to be the general meaning of the verse,
that of its mere details becomes either easy or comparatively
unimportant. The word leviathan, which from its etymology
appears to mean contorted, coiled, is sometimes used to denote
particular species (e. g. the crocodile), and sometimes as a gen
eric term for huge aquatic animals, or the larger kinds of set-

312 CHAPTER XXVII.
pents, in which sense the corresponding term serpent is alsc
used. They both appear to be employed in this case to express
the indefinite idea of a formidable monster, which is in fact the
sense now commonly attached to the word dragon. The second
epithet means tortuous, either with respect to the motion of the
serpent, or to its appearance when at rest. . The only explana
tion of the other epithet which is fully justified by Hebrew
usage is that oi fugitive or fleeing, which may either be a poetical
equivalent to fleet, or descriptive of the monster as a. flying ser
pent. For the meaning of the phrase to visit upon, see above,
ch. 13 : 11. The sword is a common emblem for the instru
ments of the divine vengeance.
2. On the explanation of this verse depends that of a large
part of the chapter. The two points upon which all turns, are
the meaning of the Hebrew word translated sing, and the ref
erence of the pronoun her. The only supposition which will
meet the difficulties of the case, is the one adopted by most of
the old writers, to wit, that the pronoun refers to Jerusalem
or the daughter of Zion, i. e. to the church or people of God
considered as his spouse (ch. 1 : 21). This reference to a sub
ject not expressly mentioned might be looked upon as arbitrary,
but for the fact that the assumption of it is attended with fewer
difficulties than the construction which it supersedes. As to
the other word, tradition and authority are almost unanimous
in giving it the sense of sing and regarding what follows as a
song. To this exposition there are several objections. In the
first place, no one has been able to determine with precision
where the song concludes, some choosing one place for its ter
mination, some another. This would of course prove nothing
in a clear case, but in a case like this it raises a presumption
that a song, of which the end cannot be found, has no be
ginning. But in the next place, it is easy to see why the
end cannot be easily defined, to wit, because there is nothing in

CHAPTER XXVII. 313
the next three, four, or five verses to distinguish them as being
any more a song than what precedes and follows, whether with
respect to imagery, rhythm, or diction. In the third place,
the presumption thus created and confirmed is corroborated
further by the obvious incongruity of making the song, which
the people are supposed to sing, begin with I Jehovah keep it etc.
Out of fifty-six cases in which the Hebrew word occurs, there are
'only three in which the sense of singing is conceivable, and of
these three one (Ps. 88 : 1 ) is the enigmatical title of a Psalm ;
another (Ex. 32 : 18) is so dubious that the one sense is almost
as appropriate as the other, and the third is that "before us.
On such grounds the assumption ¦ of the meaning sing could
hardly be justified, even if it were far more appropriate to the
context than the Common one. But in the last place, while
the supposition of a song, as we have seen, embarrasses the ex
position, the usual meaning of the verb is perfectly appropriate.
This meaning is to afflict, and especially to afflict in an humbling
and degrading manner. This may seem to be utterly at vari
ance with the context as -it is commonly explained ; but the
common explanation rests on the supposititious meaning of the
verb, and cannot therefore be alleged in favour of that mean
ing. On the usual hypothesis, the verse exhorts the people to
sing to the vineyard or the church ; on the one now proposed,
it challenges her enemies to do their worst, declaring that God
still protects her. This explanation of the verse agrees well
with the distinct allusions to the punishment of Israel in vs.
4, 7, 8, 9, which would be comparatively .out of place in a song-
of triumph or gratulation. Against this explanation of the
verse lies the undivided weight of tradition and authority, so
far as I can trace the exposition of the passage. So unanimous
a judgment might be looked upon as perfectly decisive of the
question but for two considerations ; first, that the proposed
interpretation removes a variety of difficulties, not by forsaking
usage but by returning to it ; and secondly, that none of the
14

314 CHAPTER XXVIL
interpreters consulted seem to have adverted to the facts al
ready stated, with respect to the usage of the Hebrew word.
As the result of this investigation, we may now translate the
verse as follows. In that day, as a vineyard of wine, afflict her,
or, in lhat day afflict for her the vineyard of wine.- It is then a
defiance or * permission of the enemies of the church to afflict
her, with an intimation that in carrying out this idea, the ex
pressions will be borrowed from the figure of a vineyard, as in
ch. 5 : 1-6.
3. I Jehovah- (am) keeping her ; every moment I will water
Vr ; lest any hurt her, night and day will I keep her. That is,
, pite of the afflictions which befall her I will still preserve
her from destruction. The antecedent of the pronouns is the
same as in v. 2, viz. the church or nation considered as a vine
yard. To visit upon has here its common meaning of inflicting
evil upon, but without any special reference to crime or punish-
..ont. As the expression is a relative one, it must here be
understood according to -the context, as denoting fatal or at
least excessive injury.
4. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns
against me'in battle ? I would go through them, I would burn them
together. Of all the senses put upon this difficult verse, there
are only two which can be looked upon as natural or probable.
The first may be paraphrased as follows ; it is not because I am
cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict my people, but because
she is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briers, on account of
which I must pass through her and consume her (i e. burn
them out of her). The other is this : I am no longer angry
with my people ; oh that their enemies (as thorns and briers)
would array themselves against me, that I might rush upon
them and consume them. This last is preferred by most of the

CHAPTER XXVIL 315
later writers. The objection that no longer has to be supplied
is of little weight.
5. Or let him lay hold of my strength and make peace with me ,
peace let him make with me. The verbs are properly indefinite
(let one take hold etc.) but referring to the enemy described in
the preceding verse as thorns and briers. The word translated
strength commonly denotes a strong place or fortress, and is
here understood by most interpreters to signify a refuge or
asylum, with allusion to the practice of laying hold upon the
altar. The alternative presented to the enemy is that of de
struction or submission. If the thorns and briers of v. 4 be
referred to the internal condition of the church, this may be
understood as having reference to the church itself, which is
then called upon to make its peace with God as the only means
of escaping further punishment.
6. (In) coming (days) shall Jacob take root, Israel shall bua
and blossom, and they shall fill the face of the earth with fruit.
The construction of the first clause in the English Bible (them
that come of Jacob shall he cause to take root) is forbidden by the
collocation of the words, and by the usage of the. verb, which
always means to lake root.
7: Like the smiting of his smiter did he smite him, or like the
slaying of his slain was he slain ? Having declared in the pre
ceding verse that Israel should hereafter flourish, he now adds
that even in the meantime he should suffer vastly less than his
oppressors. Negation, as in many other cases, is expressed by
interrogation. Did the Lord smite Israel as he smote hb
smiters, or slay him as his murderers were slain ?
8. In measure, by sending her away, thou dost contend with her
He removes her by his hard wind in the day of the east wind. The

316 CHAPTER XXVIL
negation implied in the preceding verse is here expressed
more distinctly. The Prophet now proceeds to show that Israel
was not dealt with like his enemies, by first describing what the
former suffered, then what the latter. Israel was punished
moderately, and for a time, by being removed out of his place,
as if by a transient storm or blast of wind. The east wind is
mentioned as the most tempestuous in Palestine. The day of
the east wind is supposed by some to denote the season of the
year when it prevails ; but it is rather used to intimate the
iemporary nature of the chastisement, as if he had said, one
day when the east wind chanced to blow.
9. Therefore (because his chastisement was temporary and
remedial in design) by this (affliction) shall Jacob's iniquity be
expiated (i. e. purged away), and this is all (its) fruit (or in
tended effect), to take away his sin, (as will appear) in his placing
all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like limestones dashed in
pieces, (so that) groves and solar images (or images of Ashtoreth
and Baal) shall arise no more. The contrast between Israel
and Babylon is still continued. Having said that the affliction
of the former was but moderate and temporary, he now adds
that it was meant to produce a most beneficent effect, to wit,
the purgation of the people from the foul stain of idolatry.
The sense required by the connection is, not that the breaking
of the altars, as a spontaneous act, atoned for Israel's previous
idolatry, but that the exile cured them of that vice, and thereby
led to the breaking of the altars.
10. For a fenced (or fortified) city shall be desolate, a dwelling
broken up and forsaken like the wilderness. There shall the calf
feed, and there shall it lie and consume her branches. Here be
gins the other part of the comparison. While Israel is chas
tised in measure and with the happiest effect, his oppressors
are given up to final desolation. This explanation of the

CHAPTER XXVII. 317
verse, as referring to Babylon, is strongly recommended by the
fact, that the comparison otherwise remains unfinished, only
one side of it having been presented? Apart from this con
sideration, there are certainly strong reasons for supposing the
city meant to be Jerusalem itself. One of these reasons is, that
the figure of a vineyard seems to be still present to the writer's
mind, at the close of this verse and throughout the text, al
though the terms used admit of a natural application to the
figure of a tree. Another reason is, that the desolation here
described is not so total as that threatened against Babylon in
ch. 13 : 19-22, where instead of saying it shall be a pasture, it
is said expressly that it shall not even be frequented by flocks
or herds. But these two places may .have reference to different
degrees of desolation. In favour of the reference to Babylon
may be alleged the natural consecution of the twelfth verse
upon that hypothesis. On the whole, the question may be
looked upon as doubtful, but as not materially affecting the
interpretation of the chapter, since either of the- two events
supposed to be foretold would be appropriate in this connec
tion. ,
11. In the withering of its boughs (or when its boughs are with
ered) they shall be broken off, women coming and burning them ;
because it is not a people of understanding, therefore its creator shall
not pity it, and its maker shall not have mercy on it. The de
struction of Babylon is still described, but under the figure of
a tree, whose branches are withered and cast into the fire.
Women are mentioned, not in allusion to the weakness of the
instruments by which Babylon was to be destroyed, but be
cause the gathering of firewood in the east is the work of
women and children. According to the usage of the Scrip
tures, not wise here means foolish in the strongest sense, and
God's not pitying and having mercy is equivalent to his being
very wroth and taking vengeance.

318 CHAPTER XXVIL
12. And it shall be in that day, that Jehovah shall beat off (ox
wather in his fruit), from the channel ofthe river to the stream of
Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one (or one to another), oh
ye children of Israel. To the downfall of Babylon he now adds,
as in ch. 11:1, its most important consequence, the resto
ration of the Jews. The idea meant to be conveyed is that
of a careful and complete ingathering. Stream of Egypt is
now commonly agreed to signify the Wady Elarish, anciently
called Rhinocorura, which name is given to it here by the Sep
tuagint. The river is as usual the Euphrates. The simple
meaning of the whole expression is, from Assyria to Egypt, both
which are expressly mentioned in the next verse. The precise
sense of the Hebrew phrase in the latter part of the verse is
not well expressed by the English one by one, which seems to
represent the process as a gradual one. It rather denotes one
to one, i. e. in our idiom, one to another, all together, or without
exception. From what has been already said it will be seen,
that the boundaries named are not intended to define the ter
ritory which should be occupied by those returning, but the
regions whence they should return, which explanation is con
firmed moreover by the explicit terms of the next verse. v
13. And it shall be (or come to pass) in that day, (that) a great
trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come that were lost (or wan
dering) in the land of Assyria, and those cast out (or exiled) in the
land of Egypt, and shall bow down to Jehovah, in the holy moun-
ain, in Jerusalem. The same event is here described as in the
verse preceding, but with a change of figure. What is there
represented as a gathering of olives by beating the tree, is now
represented as a gathering of men by the blast of a trumpet,
which here takes the place of a signal-pole or flag in ch. 11:12.
This variety of forms, in which the same idea is expressed.
clearly shows the whole description to be figurative. Assyria

CHAPTER XXVIL 319
and Egypt may be either put for foreign countries generally,
or with particular allusion to the actual emigration and disper-
sjon of the Jews in these two regions. Assyria may here be
used as a. comprehensive term, in order to include both the
Assyrian and Babylonian deportations. For although the ten •
tribes never were restored, individual members of them found
their way back with the Jews from Babylon. On the whole,
however, it is probable that Egypt and Assyria are here named,
just as Babylonia and the islands of the sea might have been
named instead of them, and just as all these names and others
are connected elsewhere, to denote the various lands where
Jews were scattered. The emigration of the people, especially
after Nebuchadnezzar's conquests,- was of course not confined
to their actual deportation by the enemy, nor was the restora
tion merely that of such as had been thus carried captive, but
of all who, in consequence of that catastrophe or any other,
had been transferred to foreign parts by exile, flight, or volun
tary expatriation. The application of this verse to a future
restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor dis
proved. If such a restoration can be otherwise shown to be a
subject of prophecy, this passage may be naturally "understood
at least as comprehending it. But in itself considered, it ap
pears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to
events long past, or which has not found in those events an
adequate fulfilment.

820 CHAPTER XXVIIL

CHAPTER XXVIII.
Samaria, the crown of Ephraim, shall be cast down by a
sudden and impetuous invasion, as a just judgment upon sensual
and impious Israel, vs. 1-4. To the remnant of Israel, Jeho
vah will himself be a crown and a protection, a source of wis
dom and of strength, vs. 5, 6. Yet even these imitate the
example of apostate Israel, and in their self-indulgence cast
off the authority of God and refuse the instructions of his
prophet, to their own undoing, vs. 7-13. But their impious
contempt of God and self-reliance shall but hasten their de
struction. All who do not build upon the sure foundation laid
in Zion, must inevitably perish as the enemies of Israel were
destroyed of old, vs. 14-22. The delay of judgment no more
proves that it will never come, than the patience of the hus
bandman, and his preparatory labours, prove that he expects
no harvest ; and the difference of God's dealings with different
men is no more inconsistent with bis general purposes of wrath
or mercy, than- the husbandman's treatment of the different'
grains is inconsistent with his general purpose of securing and
enjoying them, vs. 23-29.
1. Woe to the high crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and
the fading flower, his ornament cf beauty, which (is) on the head of
the fat valley ofthe wine-smitten. Here, as in ch. 9 : 9, 2 1 . 11:13,
we are to understand by Ephraim the kingdom of the ten
tribes, by the drunkards of Ephraim its vicious population, and
by the lofty crown the city of Samaria, so called as the chief
town and the royal residence, but also with allusion to its local
situation on an insulated hill overlooking a rich plain or valley,
'< It would be difficult to find, in all Palestine, a situation of

CHAPTER XXVIIL 32]
equal strength, fertility, and beauty combined." (Robinson's
Palestine, III. 146.) Most interpreters assume a further allu
sion to the practice of wearing wreaths or garlands at feasts.
The reference to literal intoxication appears plain from a com
parison of Amos 4 : 1, 6 : 1, 6. Drunkenness is mentioned,
not as the only prevalent iniquity, but as a crying ope. and one
contributing to many others. The moral and spiritual con
sequences of this vice must be taken into view ; but the ex
clusive reference of the words to spiritual drunkenness,
whether delusion or stupidity or both, seems entirely untenable.
This verse contains three examples of the Hebrew idiom,
which, instead of an adjective, uses one substantive to qualify
another ; crown of elevation for lofty crown, beauty of glory for
glorious beauty, and valley of fatnesses for fat valley. The lat
ter member of the first clause is by some construed thus, and
the flower whose glorious beauty fades ; by others, for example the
English Version, (Ephraim) whose glorious beauty is a fading
flower. The analogy of v. 4 seems to show, however, that this
member of the sentence is in apposition with the one before it,
which construction is moreover the most obvious and simple.
The English Version also mars the beauty of the first clause,
by making drunkards of Ephraim not a genitive but a dative.
The fading flower implies that the glory of Samaria was tran
sient, with particular allusion to its approaching overthrow by
Shalmaneser. Wine-smitten or wine-stricken is a strong de
scription of the intellectual and moral effects of drunken
ness. Gill's lively paraphrase is, "smitten, beaten, knocked
down with it a's with a hammer, and laid prostrate on the
ground, where they lie fixed to it, not able to get up."
2. Behold, there is to the Lord (i. e. the Lord has) a strong and
mighty one, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm
of mighty rushing waters, he has brought (it) to the ground wilh
the hand. The meaning to the earth or to the ground is clear
14*

322 CHAPTER XXVIII. /
from ch. 63 : 6, and other cases. The crown of Ephraim is
described as torn from his head and thrown upon the ground
by the hand of a victorious enemy. To this explanation no
objection can be drawn from the previous mention of the hail
and rain ; for these are mere comparisons, descriptive of the
violence with which the enemy should make his attack. It is
as if he had said, a strong and mighty enemy, rushing upon you
like a hail-storm or a driving rain, shall cast your crown upon
the earth with his hand.
3. With the feet shall be trodden the lofty crown of the drunk
ards of Ephraim. It is cast down by the hand and trampled
under foot.
4. And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the
head of the fat valley, shall be like a first-ripe fig, which he that
sees it sees, and while it is yet in his hand swallows it. This com
parison expresses the avidity with which the enemy would seize
upon Samaria, and perhaps the completeness of its desolation.
The fruit referred to is the early fig of Palestine which ripens
in June, while the regular season of ingathering is from August
to November, so that the former is regarded as a rarity and
eaten with the greater relish. The figure is not here intended
to express either ease or rapidity of conquest, for the siege of
Samaria lasted three years (2 Kings 17 : 5). The immediate
eating of the fruit is only mentioned as a sign of eagerness or
greediness. The last clause, though singularly worded, evi
dently means that as soon as one sees it and lays hold of it he
swallows it without delay, or as Gill expresses it in homespun
English, " as soon as he has got it into his hand, he can't keep
it there to look at. or forbear eating it, but greedily devours it
and swallows it down at once."
5. In that day shall Jehovah of Host.s be for (or become) a crown

CHAPTER XXVIIL 323
of beauty and a diadem cf glory to the remnant of his people. The
true sense appears to be that after Samaria, the pride of the
apostate tribes, had fallen, they who still remained as mem
bers of the church or chosen people should glory and delight in
the presence of Jehovah as their choicest privilege and highest
honour. The expressions are borrowed from the first verse but
presented in a new combination.
6.. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,
and for strength to them lhat turn the battle to the gate. This,
which is the common English Version, coincides with that of
the latest and best writers. In judgment, i. e. for the purpose
of judging. The last words of the verse are applied by all the
later writers to those who drive the war back to the enemy's
own gates, or as it were carry it into his own country. The
two great requisites of civil government are here described as
coming from Jehovah. The Spirit of this verse is not a mere
influence, but God himself.
7. And (yet) these also (or even these) through wine have erred,
and through strong drink have gone astray. Priest and Prophet
have erred through strong drink, have been swallowed up of wine,
have been led astray by strong drink, have erred in vision, have
wavered in judgment. Having predicted in the foregoing verse,
that when Ephraim fell Judah should continue to enjoy the
protection of Jehovah, the Prophet now describes even this
favoured remnant as addicted to the same sins which had has
tened the destruction of the ten tribes, viz. sensual indulgence
and the spiritual evils which it generates. The meaning then
is that the Jews, although distinguished from the ten tribes by
God's sparing mercy, should nevertheless imitate them in their
Bins. There is great probability in the suggestion, that the
prophecy refers to the national deterioration in the reign of
Manasseh. The Priest and Prophet are named as the leaders

824 CHAPTER XXVIII.
of the people, and as those who were peculiarly bound to set a
better example. The reference to judgment in the last clause
maybe explained, either on the ground that the Priest and
Prophet represent the rulers of the people in general, or be
cause the Priests themselves exercised judicial functions in cer
tain prescribed cases (Deut. 17:9. 19 : 17). The use of strong
drinks was expressly forbidden to the priests in the discharge
of their official functions (Lev. 10 : 9. Ezek. 44 : 21).
8. For all tables are full of vomit, of filth, without a place (i. e.
a clean place). The only natural interpretation is that which
supposes tables to denote the places where men eat and drink,
and the other terms the natural though revolting consequences .
of excess. Whether the intoxication thus described is wholly
spiritual, depends of course upon the meaning given to the
preceding verse. The sense ' of the last clause is correctly
though diffusely given in the English Version (so that there is
no place clean).
9. Whom will he teach knowledge ? And whom will he make to
understand doctrine ? Those weaned from the milk and removed from
the breasts. The older Christian writers understand this as
descriptive of the persons whom Jehovah, or the Prophet acting
in his name, would choose as proper subjects of instruction,
«z. simple and "childlike disciples, who as new-born babes desire
the sincere milk ofthe word (1 Pet. 2 : 2). But the children here
described are weanlings not sucklings, and on this hypothesis
the weaning, which is so particularly mentioned, would have no
significancy. Besides, this explanation of the words would not
suit the context, either before or after. It is therefore com
monly agreed, that the last clause must be taken in a contemp
tuous or unfavourable sense, as denoting children not in malice
merely but in understanding (1 Cor.' 14: 20). The verse has
been explained by some, as the language not of the Prophet

CHAPTER XXVIIL 325
but of the wicked men before described, expressing their indig
nation and contempt at the Prophet's undertaking to instruct
them as if they were mere children. Whom does he undertake
to teach ? and whom would he make to understand his doc
trine 1 Children weaned from the milk and removed from the
breast ? This interpretation has in substance been adopted by
all later writers, as affording a good sense and one admirably
suited both to the foregoing and the following context. It seems
to be liable to only two objections; first, that it gratuitously
gives the passage a dramatic form by supposing a new speaker
to be introduced without any intimation in the text ; and then,
that it arbitrarily continues the interrogation through the sen
tence. The last objection may be obviated by adopting the
construction, which supposes them to ask not whom he would
but whom he ought to teach, and then to answer, little children
just weaned from the breast, not men of mature age and equal
to himself. The other objection, being, wholly negative, must
yield of course to the positive arguments in favour of an expo
sition which is otherwise coherent, satisfactory, and suited to
the context.
1 0. For (it is) rule upon rule, rule upon rule, line upon line, line
upon line, a little here, a little there. The interpretation of this
verse varies of course with that of the one before it As all the
latest writers make v. 9 the language of the Jews themselves,
complaining of the Prophet's perpetual reproofs and teachings,
they are equally agreed in making v. 10 a direct continuation
of the same complaint. The construction in the English Ver
sion (precept upon precept) is good, except that the word precept
is too long to represent the chosen monosyllables of the ori
ginal. Here a little, there a little, is expressive of minuteness
and perpetual repetition.
11. For with stammering lips and wilh another tongue will hi

326 CHAPTER XXVIIL
speak unto this people. As the words translated stammering lips
may denote either foreign or scoffing speech (the former being
usually described in the Old Testament as stammering), some
suppose a double allusion here, to wit, that as they had mocked
at the divine instructions by their stammering speech, so he
would speak to them in turn by the stammering lips of foreign
ers in another language than their own. This, though by no
means an obvious construction in itself, is preferred by the
latest writers and countenanced by several analogous expres-.
sions in the subsequent context.
12. Who said to them, this is rest, give rest to the weary, and this
is quiet, but they would not hear. The judgments threatened in
the foregoing verse were the more evidently just because he
who, threatened them had warned the people and pointed out
to tr?e4lthe only way to happiness. The sense is not, that the
true ^ Jf to rest is to give rest to the weary ; the latter expres
sion is a kind of parenthesis, as if he had said, this is the true
rest, let the weary enjoy it. By this we are therefore to under
stand, not compassion and kindness to the suffering, but obe
dience to the will of God in general. This is the true rest which
I alone can give, and the way to which I have clearly marked
out. To give rest to ihe weary means simply- to reduce to prac
tice the lesson which God had taught them. This is the way
to peace, let those who wish it walk therein. In the last clause,
would is not a mere auxiliary, but an independent and emphatio
verb, they were not willing.
13. And the word cf Jehovah was to them rule upon rule, line
upon line, a little here, a little there, that they might go, and fall
backwards, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. The law
was given that sin might abound. The only effect of the minute
instructions, whiph they found so irksome, was to aggravate
their guilt and condemnation. The terms of the first clause

CHAPTER XXVIII 327
are repeated from v, 10, and have of course the same meaning
in both places.
1 4. Therefore (because your advantages have only made you
more rebellious) hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men (lite
rally men- of scorn, i. e. despisers '•of the truth), the rulers of this
people which is in Jerusalem (or ye rulers of this people who are
in Jerusalem). This people, here as elsewhere, may be an ex
pression of displeasure and contempt. Jerusalem is mentioned
as the seat of government and source of influence. The whole
verse invites attention to the solemn warning which follows.
15. Because ye have said (in thought or deed if not in word),
we have made a covenant with death, and with hell (the grave, or
the unseen world) have formed a league ; the overflowing scourge,
when it passes through, shall not come upon us, for we have made
falsehood our refuge, and in fraud we have hid ourselves. The
meaning evidently is, that if their actions were translated
into words, this would be their import. The mixed metaphor
of an overflowing scourge combines two natural and common
figures for severe calamity. The falsehood mentioned in the last
clause is unfaithfulness to God, i. e. wickedness in general, per
haps with an allusion to the falsity or treacherous nature of the
hopes built upon it. The translation under falsehood, which is
given in the English Bible and in some other versions, is nei
ther justified by usage nor required by the connection.
1 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I lay in Zion
a stone, a stone of proof, a corner stone of value of a firm founda
tion ; the believer will not be in haste. To the words of the scoffers
arc now opposed the words of God himself. Because you say
thus and thus, therefore the Lord says in reply what follows.
You trust for safety in your own delusions ; on the contrary I
lay a sure foundation, and no other can be laid. This founda-

328 CHAPTER XXVIIL
tion is tha Messiah, to whom it is repeatedly and explicitly
applied in the New Testament (Rom. 9 : 33. 10:11. 1 Peter 2:
6). The phrase literally rendered stone of proof admits of twe
interpretations. Some understand by it a stone which was to be
the test or standard of comparison for others ; but the common
explanation is more natural, which makes it mean a stone that
has itself been proved or tried and found sufficient. Will not
be in haste, i. e. will not be impatient, but will trust the promise,
even though its execution be delayed. The force of the figures
-in this verse is much enhanced by the statements 'of modern
travellers in relation to the immense stones still remaining at
the foundation of ancient walls. (See particularly Robinson's
Palestine, I. 343, 351, 422.)
17. And Iwill place judgment for a line and justice for a plum
met, and hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and the
hiding-place waters shall overflow. The meaning of the first clause
is, that God would deal with them in strict justice ; he would
make justice the rule of his proceedings, as the builder regu-
.lates his work by the line and plummet. The English Version
seems to make judgment or justice not the measure but the
thing to be measured. Hail and rain are here used, as in v. 2
above, to denote the divine visitations. The refuge and the
hiding-place are those of which the scornful men had boasted
in v. 15. To their confident assurance of safety God opposes,
first, the only sure foundation which himself had laid, and then
the utter destruction which was coming on their own chosen
objects of reliance.
18. And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your
league with hell shall not stand, and the overflowing scourge — for
it shall pass through, and ye shalt be for it to trample on. In the
last clause, the' construction seems to be interrupted. Sup
posing it to be complete, it may be explained as in the Eng-

CHAPTER XXVIIL 329
lish Version, which makes both the words in question particles
of time meaning when and then. There can be no doubt that
the idea of a human invader was before the Prophet's mind ;
but the mere rhetorical incongruity is not at all at variance with
the Prophet's manner. The attempt to reconcile the language
with the artificial rules of composition is in this case rendered
hopeless by the combination of expressions which cannot bo
strictly applied to the same subject. An army might trample
but it could not literally overflow ; a stream might overflow
but it could not literally trample down. The time perhaps is
coming when, even as a matter of taste, the strength and vivid
ness- of such mixed metaphors will be considered as outweigh
ing their inaccuracy in relation to an arbitrary standard of
correctness or propriety.
19. As soon (or as often) as it passes through, it shall take you
(or carry you away) ; for in the morning, in the morning (i. e.
every morning), it shall pass through, in the day and in the night,
and only vexation (or distress) shall be the understanding of the
thing heard. The meaning may be that the threatened visita
tion shall come soon and be frequently repeated. There are
three interpretations of the last clause, one of which supposes
it to mean, that the mere report of the approaching scourge
should fill them with distress ; another, that the effect of the
report should be unmixed distress ; a third, that nothing but a
painful experience would enable them to understand the lesson
which the Prophet was commissioned to teach them. The last
words may of course denote either rumour or revelation. The
latter seems to be the meaning in v. 9, where the noun stands
connected with the same verb as here. Whether this verb ever.
means simply to perceive or hear, may be considered doubtful ;
if not, the preference is due to the third interpretation above
given, viz. that nothing but distress or suffering could make
them understand or even attend to the message from Jehovah.

•330 CHAPTER XXVIIL
20. For the bed is too short to stretch one's self, and the covering
too narrow to wrap one's self. This is probably a proverbial de
scription of a perplexed and •comfortless condition. The con
nection with the foregoing verse is this : you cannot fully under
stand the lessons which I teach you now until your bed becomes
too short, etc.
21. For like Mount Perazim shall Jehovah rise up, like the
valley in Gibeon shall he rage, to do his work, his strange work,
and to perform his task, his strange task. Into such a condition
as that just described they shall be brought, for some of the
most fearful scenes of ancient history are yet to be repeated.
Interpreters are not agreed as to the precise events referred to
in the first clause. The common opinion is, that it alludes to
the slaughter of the Philistines described in 2 Sam. 5 : 18-25
and 1 Chron. 14 : 9-16, in the latter of which places Gibeon is
substituted for Geba. The valley meant will then be the val
ley of Rephaim. That these were foreigners and heathen, only
adds to the force of the threatening, by making it to mean that
as God had dealt with these in former times, he was now about
to deal with the unbelieving and unfaithful sons of Israel. It
is indeed not only implied but expressed, that he intended to
depart from his usual mode of treating them, in which sense
the judgments here denounced arc called a strange work, i. e.
foreign from the ordinary course of divine providence. The
idea that punishment is God's strange work because at variance
with his goodness, is not only less appropriate in this connec
tion, but inconsistent with the tenor of Scripture, which de
scribes his vindicatory justice as an essential attribute of his
nature. 22. And now scoff not lest your bands be strong ; for a consump
tion and decree (or even a decreed consumption) I have heard from
the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, against (or upon) the whole earth.

CHAPTER XXVIIL 331
Banas, i. e. bonds or chains, is a common figure for afflictions
and especially for penal sufferings. To strengthen these bands
is to aggravate the suffering. The last clause represents the
threatened judgments as inevitable, because determined and re
vealed by God himself. The form of expression is partly bor
rowed from ch. 10 : 23.
23. Give ear and hear my voice ; hearken and hear my speech.
This formula invites attention to what follows as a new view of
the subject. The remainder of the chapter contains an extended
illustration drawn from the processes of agriculture. Inter
preters, although agreed as to the import of the figures, are
divided with respect to their design and application. Some re
gard the passage as intended to illustrate, in a general way,
the wisdom of the divine dispensations. Others refer it more
specifically to the delay of judgment on the sinner, and conceive
the doctrine of the passage to be this, that although God is not
always punishing, any more than the husbandman is always
ploughing or always threshing, he will punish at last. . A third
interpretation makes the prominent idea to be this, that al
though God chastises his own people, his ultimate design is not
to destroy but to purify and save them. The preference is on
the whole due to the second, which supposes the Prophet to ex
plain by this comparison the long forbearance of Jehovah, and
to show that this forbearance was no reason for believing that
his threatenings would never be fulfilled. As the husbandman
ploughs and harrows, sows and plants, before he reaps and
threshes, and in threshing employs different modes and differ
ent implements, according to the nature of the grain, so God
allows the actual infliction of his wrath to be preceded by what
seems to be a period of inaction but is really one of preparation,
and conforms the strokes themselves to the capacity and guilt
of the transgressor.

332 CHAPTER XXVIII.
24. Does the ploughman plough every day to sow ? Does hi
open and level his ground ? The common version, all day, though
it seems to be a literal translation, does not convey the sense
of the original expression, which is used both here and else
where to mean all the time or always. He may plough a whole
day together when he is at it, but he does not plough every
day in the year ; he has other work to do besides ploughing.
(Gill.) The interrogation may be confined to the first clause,
and the second construed as an exhortation : (no) let him open
.and level his ground. But as there is a difficulty then in ex
plaining what is meant by opening the ground, as distinct from
ope'ning the furrows with the plough, most interpreters suppose
the interrogation to extend through the verse, and make the
second clause a repetition of the first, with an additional refer
ence to harrowing. As if he had said, is the ploughman always
ploughing ; is he always ploughing and harrowing 1
25. Does he not, when he has levelled the surface of it, cast abroad
dill, and- scatter cummin, and set wheat in rows, an/l barley (in the
place) marked out, and spelt in his border ? That is to say, he
attends to all these processes of husbandry successively, with
due regard to time and place, and to the various crops to be
produced. The words do not denote an indiscriminate sowing,
but a careful planting, which is said to be still practised in tho
oriental culture of wheat, and is thought by many to have
been one of the causes of the wonderful fertility of Palestine
in ancient times.
26. So teaches him aright his Ged instructs him. This is the
form of the Hebrew sentence, in which his God is the gram
matical subject of both the verbs between which it stands. The
English idiom requires the noun to be prefixed, as in the com
mon version. Tie verse refers even agricultural skill to divine
instruction.

CHAPTER XXVII.. 333
27. For not with the sledge must dill be threshed, or the carl-wheel
turned upon cummin ; for with the stick must dill be beaten, and
cummin with the rod. Having drawn an illustration from the
husbandman's regard to times and seasons, he now derives
another from his different modes of threshing out the different
kinds of grain. The semina infirmiora are not to be separated
by the use of the ponderous sledge or wagon, both of which are
common in the east, but by that of the flail or switch, as better
suited to their nature. The minute description of the oriental
threshing-machines belongs more properly to books of archae
ology, especially as nothing more is necessary here to the cor
rect understanding of the verse than a just view of the contrast
intended between heavy and light threshing.
28. Bread-corn must be crushed, for he will not be ahodys thresh
ing it ; so he drives the wheel of his cart (upon it), but with his
horsemen (or horses) he does not crush it. The sense of this verse
is obscured by an apparent inconsistency between the opening
and the closing words. The translation above given supposes
a climax beginning in v. 27 and completed here. Dill and
cummin must be threshed out with the flail ; wheat and barley
may be more severely dealt with ; they will bear the wheel, but
not the hoofs of horses. The first words and the last are then
in strict agreement ; bread-corn must be bruised, but not with
horses' hoofs. This is merely suggested as an additional attempt
to elucidate a passage in detail, the general sense of which is
clear enough.
29. Even this (or this also) from Jehovah of Hosts comes forth ;
he is wonderful in counsel, great in wisdom. The literal transla
tion of the last clause is, he makes counsel wonderful, he makes
wisdom great. As to the meaning of the whole verse, some
suppose that the preceding illustration is here applied to the
divine dispensations ; others, that this is the conclusion of the

834 CHAPTER XXIX
illustration itself. On the latter hypothesis, the meaning of tho
verse is, that the husbandman's treatment of the crop, no less
than his preparation of the soil, is a dictate of experience under
divine teaching. In the other case, the sense is that the same
mode of proceeding, which had just been described as that of a
wise husbandman, is also practised by the Most High in the
execution of his purposes. Against this, and in favour of the
other explanation, it may be suggested, first, that coming forth
from God is a phrase not so naturally suited to express his own
way of acting as the influence which he exerts on others ; sec
ondly, that this verse seems to correspond, in form and sense,
to v. 27, and to bear the same relation to the different modes
of threshing that v. 27 does to the preparation of the ground
and the sowing of the seed. Having there said of the latter,
that the husbandman is taught of God, he now says of the former,
that it also comes forth from the same celestial source. Ac
cording to the view which has now been taken of v. 29, the
general application of the parable to God's dispensations is not
formally expressed, but left to the reflection of the reader.

CHAPTER XXIX.
This chapter consists of two parts, parallel to one another,
i. e. each containing the same series of promises and threaten
ings, but in different forms. The prophetic substance or mate
rial of both is that Zion should be threatened and assailed yet
not destroyed, but on the contrary strengthened and enlarged.
These ideas are expressed in the second part much more fully
and explicitly than in the first, which must therefore be inter
preted according to what follows. In the first part, the threat
ening is that Zion shall be assailed by enemies and brought

CHAPTER XXIX 335
very low, vs. 1-4, The promise is that the assailants shall be
scattered like dust and chaff, vanish like a dream, and te wholly
disappointed in their hostile purpose, vs. 5-8. In the second
part, the Prophet brings distinctly into view, as causes of the
threatened judgments, the spiritual intoxication and stupor of
the people, their blindness to revealed truth, their hypocritical
formality, and their presumptuous contempt of God, vs. 9-16.
The judgment itself is described as a confounding of their fan
cied wisdom, v. 14. - The added promise is that of an entire
revolution, including the destruction of the wicked, and espe
cially of wicked rulers, the restoration of spiritual sight, joy to
the meek and poor in spirit, and the final recovery of Israel
from a state of alienation and disgrace to the service of Jehovah
and to the saving knowledge of the truth, vs. 17-24. The only
key to the consistent exposition of the chapter as a whole, is
furnished by the hypothesis already stated, that the two parts
are parallel, not merely successive, and that the second must
explain the first. That the second part describes not physical
but spiritual evils, is admitted on all hands, and indeed asserted
by the Prophet himself. This description is . directly and re
peatedly applied in the New Testament to the Jews contempo
rary with our Saviour. It does not follow from this, that it is
a specific and exclusive prophecy respecting them ; but it does
follow that it must be so interpreted as to include them, which
can only be effected by regarding this last part of the chapter
as descriptive of the, Jews, not at one time merely, but through
out the period of the old dispensation, an assumption fully con
firmed by history. The judgment threatened will then be the
loss of their peculiar privileges and an exchange of state with
others who had been less favoured, involving an extension of
the church beyond its ancient bounds, the destruction of the old
abuses, and the final restoration of the Jews themselves. If
this be the meaning of the second part, it seems to determine
that of the first as a figurative expression of the truth, that the

336 / CHAPTER XXIX.
church should suffer but not perish, the imagery used for this
purpose being borrowed from the actual sieges of Jerusalem.
Thus understood, the chapter is prophetic of two great events,
the seeming destruction of the ancient church, and its repro
duction in a new and far more glorious form, so as not only to
include the gentiles in its bounds, but also the converted rem
nant of God's ancient people.
1. Woe to Ariel (or alas for Ariel), Ariel, ihe city David en
camped ! Add year to year ; let the feasts revolve. All interpre
ters agree that Ariel is here a name for Zion or Jerusalem,
although they greatly differ in the explanation of the name
itself. There are two explanations between which interpreters
are chiefly divided. One of these makes it mean lion of God,
i. e. a lionlike champion or hero (2 Sam. 23 : 20. Isai. 33 : 7),
here applied to Jerusalem as a city of heroes which should never
be subdued. The other hypothesis explains it, from an Arabic
analogy, to mean the hearth or fire-place of God, in which sense
it seems to be applied to the altar by Ezekiel (43 : 15, 16), and
the extension of the name to the whole city is the more natural
because Isaiah himself says of Jehovah, that his fire is in Zion
and his furnace in Jerusalem (ch. 31:9). The city David en
camped is an elliptical expression not unlike the Hebrew one,
in which the relative must be supplied. Here again there
seems to be a twofold allusion to David's siege and conquest of
Zion (2 Sam, 5 : 7), and to his afterwards encamping i. e. dwell
ing there (2 Sam. 5 : 9). Most interpreters explain the words
add year to year, as simply meaning, let the years roll on with
the accustomed routine of ceremonial services. The last phrase
let the feasts revohe, corresponds exactly to the one preceding,
add year to year.
2. And I will distress Ariel, and there shall be sadness ana
sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel. Let the years revolve and

CHAPTER XXIX... 337
the usual routine continue, but the time is coming when it shall
be interrupted. The words translated sadness and sorrow are
collateral derivatives from one root. The last clause may be
either a continuation of the threatening or an added promise.
If the former, the meaning probably is, it shall be indeed a fur
nace or am altar, i. e. when the fire of affliction or divine wrath
shall be kindled on it. If the latter, it shall still be a city of
heroes, and as such withstand its enemies. Or, combining both
the senses of the enigmatical name, it shall burn like a furnace,
but resist like a lion.
3. And I will camp against thee round about (literally, as a
ring or circle), and* push against thee (or press upon thee with) a
post (or body of troops), and raise against thee ramparts (or en
trenchments). The siege of Ariel is now represented as the
work of God himself, which, although it admits of explanation
as referring merely to his providential oversight and control,
seems here to be significant, as intimating that the siege de
scribed is not a literal one.
4. And thou shalt be brought down, out of the ground shalt thou
speak, and thy speech shall be low out cf the dust, and thy voice
shall be like (the voice of) a spirit, out ofthe ground, and out of the
dust shall thy speech mutter. The simple meaning naturally sug
gested by the words is, ihat the person here addressed, to wit,
the city or its population, should be weakened and humbled.
The last verb properly denotes any feeble inarticulate sound,
and is applied in ch. 10 : 14 and 38 : 14 .to the chirping or twit
tering of birds.
5. Then shall be like fine dust the multitude of thy strangers, and
like passing chaff the multitude of the terrible ones, and it shad be
in a moment suddenly. It is now very commonly agreed,- that
this verse describes the sudden and complete dispersion of their
15

338 .CHAPTER XXIX.
enemies. The absence of but at the' beginning, or some other
indication that the writer is about to pass from threats to prom
ises, although it renders the connection more obscure, increases
the effect of the description. The terms of this \-erse readily
suggest the sudden fall of the Assyrian host, nor is there any
reason for denying that the Prophet had a view to it in choos
ing his expressions. But that this is an explicit and specific
prophecy of that event is much less probable, as well because
the terms are in themselves appropriate to any case of sudden
and complete dispersion, as because the context contains lan
guage wholly inappropriate to the slaughter of Sennacherib's
army. These considerations, although negative and inconclu
sive in themselves, tend strongly to confirm the supposition
founded on the last part of the chapter, that the first contains
a strong metaphorical description of the evils which Jerusalem
should suffer at the hands of enemies, but without exclusive
reference to any one siege, or to sieges in the literal sense at
all. That the evils which the last part of the chapter brings
to light are of a spiritual nature, and not confined to any single
period, is a fact which seems to warrant the conclusion, or at
least to raise a strong presumption, that the Ariel of this pas
sage is Zion or Jerusalem, considered only as the local habita
tion of the church.
6. From with (i. e. from the presence of) Jehovah of hosts shall
it be visited with thunder and earthquake and great noise, tempest
and storm and flame of devouring fire. Some refer this to the
singular phenomena which are said to have preceded and ac
companied the taking of Jerusalem by Titus. This applica
tion may be admitted, in the same sense and on the same
ground with the allusion to Sennacherib's host in the fore
going verse. But that the prophecy is not a prophecy of either
catastrophe, may be inferred from the fact that neither is de
scribed in the context. Indeed, the direct application of this

CHAPTER XXIX. 339
verse to the fall of Jerusalem is wholly inadmissible, since the
preceding verse describes the assailants as dispersed, and this
appears to continue the description.
7. Then shall be as a dream, a vision of the night, the multitude
of all the nations fighting against Ariel, even all that fight against
her and her munition and distress her. The modern writers
generally understand both this verse and the next as meaning
that the enemy himself should be wholly disappointed and his
vain hopes vanish as a dream. But the true sense appears to
be that these two verses are distinct though similar, the enemy
being first compared to a dream and then to a dreamer.. He
who threatens your destruction shall vanish like a dream. He
who threatens your destruction shall awake as from a dream,
and find himself cheated of his expectations. These seem to
be the two comparisons intended, both of which are perfectly
appropriate, and one of which might readily suggest the other
8. And il shall be as when the hungry dreams, and lo he eats,
and he awakes, and his soul . is empty ; and as when the thirsty
dreams, and lo he drinks, and he awakes, and lo he is faint and
his soul craving : so shall be the multitude of all the nations that
fight against Mount Zion. In this verse soul is twice used in
the not uncommon sense of appetite, first described as empty
(i. e. unsatisfied) and then as craving. A striking and affecting
parallel from real life has been quoted from Mungo Park's jour
nals. " No sooner had I shut my eyes than fancy would con
vey me to the streams and rivers of my native land. There,
as I wandered along the verdant bank, I surveyed the clear
stream with transport, and hastened to swallow the delightful
draught ; but alas ! disappointment awakened me, and I found
myself a lonely captive, perishing of thirst amid the wilds of
Africa."

340 CHAPTER XXIX.
9. Waver and wonder ! be merry and blind ! They are drunk^
but not wilh wine; they reel, but not with strong drink. Here
begins the description of the moral and spiritual evils which
were the occasion of the judgments previously threatened. In
the first clause, the Prophet describes the condition of the peo
ple by exhorting them ironically to continue in it ; in the
second, he seems to turn away from them and address the
spectators.' The terms of the first Clause are very obscure.
The second imperative may be understood as indicating the
effect or consequence of that before" it : refuse to believe, but
you will only be the more astonished; continue to enjoy your
selves, but it will only be the means of blinding you The'
express description of the drunkenness as spiritual shows that
where no such explanation is added (as in ch. 28 : 1, 7), the
terms are to be literally understood. By spiritual drunken
ness we are probably to understand unsteadiness of conduct
and a want of spiritual discernment.
10. For Jehovah hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep
sleep and hath shut your eyes ; the prophets and your heads (or
even your heads) the seers hath he covered. On the agency here
ascribed to God, see the exposition of ch. 6 : 9, 10. The two
ideas expressed in the parallel clauses are those of bandaging
the eyes and covering the head so as to obstruct the sight. In
the latter case the Prophet makes a special application of the
figure to the chiefs or religious leaders of the people,' as if he
had said, he hath shut your eyes, and covered your heads, viz
the prophets.
11. And ihe vision of all (or of the whole) is (or has become) to
you like the words of the sealed writing, which they give to one
knowing writing, saying Pray read this, and he says, I cannot,
for it is sealed. The vision of all may either mean of all the
prophets, or collectively all vision, or the vision of all things,

CHAPTER XXIX. 34l
i. e. prophecy on all subjects. The English word book does
not exactly represent the Hebrew word, which originally sig
nifies writing in general or anything written, and is here used
as we might use document or the still more general term paper.
In the phrase one knowing writing, the last word seems to
mean writing in general, and the whole phrase one who under
stands it or knows how to read it. The application of the
simile becomes clear in the next verse.
12. And the writing is given to one who knows not writing,
saying, Pray read this, and he says, I know not writing. The
common version, T am not learned, is too comprehensive and
indefinite. A man might read a letter without being, learned,
at least in the modern sense, although the word was once the
opposite of illiterate or wholly ignorant. In this case it is
necessary to the full effect of the comparison, that the phrase
should be distinctly understood to mean, I cannot read. The
comparison itself represents the people as alike incapable of
understanding the divine communications, or rather as profess
ing incapacity to understand them, some upon the general
ground of ignorance, and others on the ground of their ob
scurity. 13. And the Lord said, Because this people draws near with its
mouth, and with its lips they honour me, and its heart it puts (or
.keeps) far from me, and iheir fearing me is (or has become) a pre
cept cf men, (a thing) taught. The conclusion follows in the next
verse. The singular and plural pronouns are promiscuously
used in this verse with respect to Israel considered as a nation
and an. individual. At the end of the verse the English Ver
sion has, taught by ihe precept of men ; but a simpler construction
is the one given above. The last clause might be simply un
derstood to mean, that they served God merely in obedience
to human "authority. It would then of course imply no censure

842 CHAPTER XXIX.
on the persons thus commanding, but only on the motives of
those by whom they were obeyed. In our Saviour's applica
tion of the passage to the hypocrites of his day (Matthew
15 : 7-9), he explains their teachings as human corruptions of
the truth, by which the commandment of God was made of
none effect. The expressions of the Prophet may have been
so chosen as to be applicable either to the reign of Hezekiah,
when the worship of Jehovah was enforced by human author
ity, or to the time of Christ, when the rulers of the people had
corrupted and made void the law by their additions. The ap
parent reference, in this description, to the Jews not at ono
time only but throughout their history, tends to confirm the
supposition, that the subject of the prophecy is not any one
specific juncture, and that the first part of the chapter is not a
prediction of any one siege of Jerusalem exclusively.
14. Therefore, behold, I will add (or continue) lo treat this peo
ple strangely, very strangely, and with strangeness, and the wis
dom of its wise ones shall be lost (or perish), and the prudence of
its prudent ones shall hide itself, i. e. for shame, or simply disap
pear. This is the conclusion of the sentence which begins with
the preceding verse. Because they draw near etc. therefore I
will add etc. The nature of the judgment here denounced
seems to show that the corruption of the people was closely
connected with undue reliance upon human wisdom. (Com
pare ch. 5 : 21.)
15. Woe unto those (or alas for those) going deep from Jehovah
to hide counsel (i. e. laying their plans deep in the hope of hid
ing them from God), and their works (are) in the dark, and they
say, Who sees us and who knows us ? This is a further descrip
tion of the people or their leaders, as not only wise in their
own conceit, but as impiously hoping to deceive God or elude
his notice. The absurdity of such an expectation fs exposed

CHAPTER XXIX. 343
in the following verse. In the last clause of this, the interrog
ative form implies negation.
16r Your perversion ! Is the potter to be reckoned as the clay
that the thing made should say of its maker, he made, me not, ana
the thing formed say of its farmer, he does not understand ? The
attempt to hide anything from God implies that he has not a
perfect knowledge of his creatures, which is practically to re
duce the'maker and the thing made to a level. With this in
version or perversion of the natural relation between God and
man, the Prophet charges them in one word. Most of the
recent writers are agreed in construing the first word as an
exclamation, oh your perverseness ! i. e. how perverse you are 1
in which sense it had long before been paraphrased by Luther.
Both the derivation of the word, however, and the context
here seem to demand the sense perversion rather than perverse
ness. The verse seems intended not so much to rebuke their
perverse disposition, as to show that by their conduct they
subverted the distinction between creature and creator, or
placed them in a preposterous relation to each other. Thus
understood, the word may be thus paraphrased : (this is) your
(own) perversion (of the truth, or of the true relation between
God and man).
17. Is ii not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall turn (or
be turned) lo the fruitful field, and the fruitful field be reckoned to
the forest (i. e. reckoned as belonging to it, or as being itself a
forest) ? The negative interrogation is one of the strongest
forms of affirmation. The metaphors of this verse evidently
signify a great revolution, a mutual change of condition , the
first becoming last and the last first. If, as we have seen
sufficient reason to believe, the previous context has respect to
the Jews under the old dispensation, nothing can be more ap
propriate or natural than to understand the verse before as

344 CHAPTER XXIX.
foretelling the excision of the unbelieving Jews and the ad
mission of the Gentiles to the church.
18. And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book
(or writing), and out of pbscurity and darkness shall the eyes of the
blind see. This is a further description of the change just pre
dicted under other figures. As the forest was to be transform
ed into a fruitful field, so the blind should be made to see and
the deaf to hear. There is an obvious allusion to the figure of
the sealed book or writing in vs. 13, 14. The Jews could only
plead obscurity or ignorance as an excuse for not understanding
the revealed will of God. The Gentiles, in their utter destitu
tion, might be rather likened to the blind who cannot read, how
ever clea- the light or plain the writing, and the deaf who cannot
even hear what is read by others. But the time was coming
when they, who would not break the seal or learn the lettejs of
the written wtfrd, should be abandoned to their chosen state of
ignorance, while on the other hand, the blind and deaf, whose
case before seemed hopeless, should begin to see and hear the
revelation once entirely inaccessible. The perfect adaptation
of this figurative language to express the new relation of the
Jews and Gentiles after the end of the old economy affords a
new proof that the prophecy relates to that event.
19. And the humble shall add joy (i. e. shall rejoice more and
more) in Jehovah, and the poor among men in the Holy One cf
Israel shall rejoice. As the preceding verse describes the happy
effect of the promised change upon the intellectual views of
those who should experience it, so this describes its influence in
the promotion of their happiness. Not only should the igno
rant be taught of God, but the wretched should be rendered
happy in the enjoyment of his favour.
20. For the violent is at an end, and the scoffer ceaseth, and all

CHAPTER XXIX 345
the watchers for injustice are cut off. A main cause of the happi
ness foretold will be the weakening or destruction of all evil
influences, here reduced to the three great classes of violent
wrong-doing, impious contempt of truth and goodness, and ma
lignant treachery or fraud, which watches for the opportunity
of doing evil, with as constant vigilance as ought to be employed
in watching for occasions of redressing wrong and doing justice.
This is a change which, to some extent, has always attended the
diffusion of the true religion.
21. Making a man a sinner for a word, and for him disputing
in the gate they laid a snare, and turned aside the righteous through
. deceit. An amplification of the last phrase in the foregoing
verse. Some understand the first clause to mean, seducing
people, into sin by their words. It is much more common to ex
plain the whole phrase to mean unjustly condemning a man in
his cause, which agrees well with the obvious allusion to foren
sic process in the remainder of the verse. The English and
many other early versions explain the clause to mean accusing
or condemning men for a mere error of the tongue or lips. The
general sense is plain, viz. that they embrace all opportunities
and use all arts to wrong the guiltless. . Most of the modern
writers take the word translated disputing, in the sense of
arguing, pleading in the gate, i. e. the court, often held in the
gates of oriental cities. The other explanation supposes the
gate to be mentioned only as a place of public concourse. By
the turning aside of the righteous (i. e. of the party who is in
the rigl^t) we are here to understand the depriving him of that
which is his due. For the meaning and usage of the figure, fee
the commentary on ch. 10:2. The last words have been va
riously understood to mean through falsehood (with particular
reference to false testimony), or by means of a judgment which
is null and void, or for nothing i. e. without just cause In
either case the phrase describes the perversion or abuse of jus-
15*

346 CHAPTER XXIX
tice by dishonest means, and thus agrees with the expressions
used in the foregoing clauses.
22. Therefore thus saith Jehovah to ihe house of Jacob, lu who
redeemed Abraham, Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, and not now
shall his face turn pale. The Hebrew phrase not now does not •
imply that it shall be so hereafter/bm^m the contrary that it
shall be so no more. The phrase redeemeau Abrmfyim may be
naturally understood, either as signifying deliverance Jfrom
danger and the divine protection generally, or in a higher sense
as signifying Abraham's conversion and salvation. Shame and
fear are here combined as strong and painful emotions from
which Jacob should be henceforth free. Some understand by
Jacob here the patriarch himself, poetically represented as
beholding and sympathizing with the fortunes of his own de
scendants. Most interpreters suppose the name to be employed
like Israel in direct application to the race itself.
23. For in his seeing (i. e. when he sees) his children, ihe work
of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and
sanctify (or yes they shall sanctify) the Holy One of Jacob, and the
God of Israel they shall fear. The verse thus translated accord
ing to its simplest and most obvious sense has much perplexed
interpreters. The difficulties chiefly urged are, first, that Jacob
should be said to see his children in the midst of himself; sec
ondly, that his thus seeing them should be the occasion of their
glorifying God. What follows is suggested as a possible solution
of this exegetical enigma. We have seen reason, wholly inde
pendent of this verse, to believe that the immediately preceding
context has respect to the excision of the Jews and the vocation
of the Gentiles. Now the latter are described in the New Tes
tament as Abraham^ (and consequently Jacob's) spiritual pro
geny, as such distinguished from his natural descendants. May
not these adventitious or adopted children of the patriarch,

CHAPTER XXIX. Ui
constituted such by the electing grace of God, be here intended
by the phrase, the work of my hands ? If so, the whole may thus
be paraphrased : when he (the patriarch, supposed to be again
alive and gazing at his offspring) shall behold his children (not
by nature but) created such by me, in the midst of him (i. e. in
the midst, or in the place, of his natural descendants), they (i. e.
he and his descendants jointly) shall unite in glorifying God as
the author of this great revolution. This explanation of the
verse is the more natural, because such would no doubt be the
actual feelings of the patriarch and his descendants, if he should
really be raised from the dead, and permitted to behold what
God has wrought, with respect both to his natural and spiritual
offspring. To the passage thus explained a striking parallel is
found in ch. 49 : 18-21, where the same situation and emotions
here ascribed J,o the patriarch are predicated of the church per
sonified, to whom the Prophet says, ' Lift up thine eyes round
about and behold, all these gather themselves together, they
come to thee. The children which thou shalt have after thou
hast lost the others shall say etc. Then shalt thou say in thine
heart, who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my chil
dren, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro?
And who hath brought up these ? Behold, I alone was left ;
these, where were they V For the use of the word sanctify in
reference to God as its object, see the note on ch. 8:13. The
Holy One cf Jacob is of course identical in meaning with the
Holy One of Israel, which last phrase is explained in the note
on ch. 1 : 4. The emphatic mention of the Holy One of Jacob
and the God of Israel, as the object to be sanctified, implies a
relation still existing between all believers and their spiritual
ancestry, as well as a relation of identity between the Jewish
and the Christian Church.
24. Then shall the erring in spirit know wisdom, and the mur
murers (or rebels) shall receive instruction. These words would

348 CHAPTER XXIX.
be perfectly appropriate as a general description of the reclaim
ing and converting influence to be exerted upon men in general
But under this more vague and comprehensive sense, the con.
text, and especially the verse immediately preceding, seems to
show that there is one more specific and significant included.
If the foregoing verse predicts the reception of the Gentiles into
the family of Israel, and if this reception, as we learn from the
New Testament, was connected with the disinheriting of most
of the natural descendants, who are nevertheless to be' restored
hereafter, then the promise of this final restoration is a stroke
still wanting to Complete the fine prophetic picture now before
us. That finishing stroke is given in this closing verse, which
adds to the promise that the Gentiles shall become the heirs of
Israel, another that the heirs of Israel according to the flesh
shall themselves be restored to their long lost heritage, not by
excluding their successors in their turn, but by peaceful and
brotherly participation with them. This application of the last
part of the chapter to the calling of the Gentiles and the resto
ration of the Jews has been founded, as the reader will observe,
not on on any forced accommodation of particular expressions,
but on various detached points, all combining to confirm this
exegetical hypothesis, as the only one which furnishes a key to
the consistent exposition of the chapter, as a concatenated pro
phecy without abrupt transitions or a mixture of incongruous
materials.

CHAPTER XXX. 349

CHAPTER XXX.

This chapter contains an exposure of the sin and folly ol
ancient Israel in seeking foreign aid against their enemies,
to the neglect of God, their rightful sovereign and pro
tector. The costume of the prophecy is borrowed from the
circumstances and events of Isaiah's own times. Thus Egypt
is mentioned in the first part of the chapter as the chosen ally
of the people, and Assyria in the last part as the dreaded enemy.
There is no need however of restricting what is said to that
period exclusively. The presumption, as in all such cases, is
that the description was designed to be more general, although
it may contain allusions to particular emergencies. Reliance
upon human aid, involving a distrust of the divine, promises,
was a crying sin of the ancient church, not at one time only,
but throughout her history. To denounce such sins, and
threaten them with condign punishment, was no small part of
the prophetic office. The chronological hypotheses assumed by
different writers with respect to this chapter are erroneous only
because too specific and exclusive. . It was clearly intended tc
reprove the sin of seeking foreign aid without divine permis
sion ; but there is nothing in the terms of the reproof confining
it to any single case of the offence. The chapter may be di
vided into three parts. 'In the first, the Prophet shows the sin
and folly of relying upon Egypt, no doubt for protection against
Assyria, as these were the two great powers between whioh
Israel was continually oscillating, almost constantly at war with
one and in alliance with the other, vs. 1-7. In the last part,
he describes the Assyrian power as broken by an immediate
divine interposition, precluding the necessity of any human aid,
vs. 27-33. In the larger intervening part, he shows the con
nection of this distrust of God and reliance on the creature with

350 CHAPTER XXX
the general character and spiritual state of the people, as un
willing to receive instruction, as dishonest and oppressive,
making severe judgments necessary as a prelude to the glo
rious change which God would eventually bring to pass, vs.
8-26. 1. Woe to the disobedient children, saith Jehovah, (so disobedient
as) to form (or execute) a plan and not from me, and lo weave a
web, but not (of) my Spirit, for the sake of adding sin to sin.
Here, as in ch. 1 : 2, Israel's filial relation to Jehovah is par
ticularly mentioned as an aggravation of his ingratitude and
disobedience. The infinitives express the respect in which, or
the result with which, they had rebelled against Jehovah. The
relative construction of the English Version docs not materially
change the sense. The simple meaning seems to be that of
multiplying or accumulating guilt.
2. Those walking to go down to Egypt, and my mouth they have
not consulted (literally asked), to take, refuge in the strength of
Pharaoh, and lo trust in the shadow of Egypt. Motion towards
Egypt is commonly spoken of in Scripture as downward. To
ask the mouth, or at the mouth, of the Lord is a phrase used else
where in the sense of seeking a divine decision or response.
3, 4. And the strength of Egypt shall be to you for shame and
the trust in the shadow of Egypt for confusion. For his chiefs are
in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes. As to the site
and political importance of Zoan or Tains, see the note on ch.
19: 11.
5. All are ashamed of a people who cannot profit them, (a people)
not for help and not for profit, but for shame, and also for disgrace.
The Hebrew construction is, they are not a profit or a help, for
(on the contrary) they are a disgrace and a reproach.

CHAPTER XXX. 861
6. The burden cf the beasts of the south, in a land of suffering
and distress, whence (are) the adder and the fiery flying serpent ;
they are carrying (or about to carry) on the shoulder of young asses
their wealth, and on the hump of camels their treasures, to a people
(or for the sake of a people) who cannot profit. The Prophet sees
the ambassadors of Israel carrying costly presents through the
waste howling wilderness, for the purpose of securing the
Egyptian alliance. Some apply the description to the emigra
tion of the Jews into Egypt in the days of Jeremiah. This
may be alluded to, but cannot be the exclusive subject of. the
passage. The most natural construction of the first clause is
to take it as an exclamation (oh the bwden of the beasts ! what a
burden to the beasts!) or as an absolute nominative (as to the
burden of the beasts). The beasts meant are the asses and the
camels of the following clause, called beasts of the south because
travelling in that direction. The land meant is the interjacent
desert described by Moses in similar terms (Deut. 1 : 19. 8 : 15).
Land of suffering denotes a land of danger and privation, such
as the great Arabian desert is to travellers. The lions and
vipers of this verse belong to the poetical description of the
desert. 7. And Egypt (or the Egyptians) — in vain and to no purpose
shall they help. Therefore I cry concerning this, their strength is
to sit still. Most of the modern writers understand the last
clause as contrasting the pretensions of Egypt with its actual
performances, the opposite ideas being those of arrogance or
insolence and quiescence or in action. The general meaning
may be considered as determined by the other clause.
8. And now go, write it with them on a tablet and inscribe it in
a book, and let it be for a future day, forever, lo eternity. This,
like the similar precaution in ch. 8 : 1, was intended to verify
the fact of the prediction after the event. Most interpreters

362 CHAPTER XXX
suppose two distinct inscriptions to be here required, one on a
solid tablet for public exhibition, and the other on parchment
or the like for preservation. But it is more natural to under
stand the words .as equivalents. , "
9. For a people of rebellion (a rebellious people) is it, lying
(or denying) children, children (who) are not willing to learn the
law of Jehovah. The English Version makes this verse state
the substance of the inscription, that this is a rebellious peo
ple etc
10. Who say to the seers, Ye shall not see, and to the viewers, ye
shall not view for us right things ; speak unto us smooth things,
view deceits. There is great difficulty in translating this verse
literally, as the two Hebrew verbs, meaning to see, have no
equivalents in English, which of themselves suggest the idea
of prophetic revelation. The common version (see not, prophesy
not), although it conveys the true sense substantially, leaves out
of view the near relation 6i the two verbs to each other in the
original. In the translation above given, view is introduced
merely as a synonyme of see, both being here used to express
supernatural or prophetic vision. With this use of the verbal
noun (seer) we are all familiar through the English Bible.
This is of course not given as the actual language of the people,
but as the tendency and spirit of their acts. Smooth things or
words is a common figurative term for flatteries. Luther's ex
pressive version is, preach soft to us.
1 1. Depart from the way, swerve from the path, cause to cease
from before us the Holy One of Israel. The request is not
that they would go out of the people's way, so as no lon-
.ger to prevent their going on in sin, but that they would
get out of their own way, i. e. wander from it or forsake it.
Cause to cease from before us, i. e. remove from our sight. It was

CHAPTER XXX 353
a common opinion with the older writers, that this clause al
ludes to Isaiah's frequent repetition of the name Holy One of
Israel, and contains a request that they might hear it no more.
But the modern interpreters appear to be agreed that the allu
sion is not to the name but the person.
12. Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because of your
rejecting (or despising) this word, and (because) ye have trusted yn
oppression and perverseness,. and have relied thereon. The word
here mentioned is no doubt the law ofv. 9, both being common
epithets of revelation generally, and of particular divine com
munications. (See the note on ch. 2:3.)
- 1 3. Therefore shall this iniquity be lo you like a breach falling
(or ready to fall) swelling out in a high wall, whose, breaking may
come suddenly, at (any) instant. The image is that of a wall
which is rent or cracked and bulges oat. This interpreta
tion conveys the idea of a gradual yet sudden catastrophe,
which is admirably suited to the context. It is also true
that the idea of a downfall springing from internal causes
is more appropriate in this connection than that of mere ex
ternal violence however overwhelming.
14. And it (the wall) is broken like the breaking of a potter's
vessel, broken unsparingly (or without mercy), so that there- is not
found in its fracture (or among its fragments) a sherd to take up
fire from a hearth, and to skim (or dip up) water from a pool.
A plotter's vessel, literally, vessel of the potters. Sherd is an old
English word, now' seldom used, meaning a broken piece of
pottery or earthenware, and found more frequently in the
compound form of potsherd.
1 5. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel,
in returning (or conversion) and rest shall ye be saved, in remain-

354 CHAPTER XXX
ing quiet and in confidence shall be your strength ; and ye woula
not (or were not willing). This overwhelming* judgment would
be strictly just because they had been fully admonished of the
way of safety. For the spiritual usage of the verb returning,
see the note on ch. 1 : 27.
16. And ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore,
shall ye flee ; and upon the swift will we ride ; therefore shall your
pursuers be swift. The hope here ascribed to the people is not
simply that of going swiftly, but of escaping from the dangers
threatened. 17. One thousand' from before the rebuke(pr menace) of one, from
before the rebuke of five shaU-f/e flee, until ye are left like a mast (or
pole) on the lop of the mountoAn,~oMd like the signal on the hill.
The allusion may be simply to the similar appearance of a lofty
and solitary tree, or the common idea may be that of a flag-staff,
which might be found in either situation.
18. And /therefore will Jehovah wait to have mercy upon you,
and therefore will he rise up (or be exalted) to pity you, far a God
of judgment is Jehovah ; blessed are all that v)ait for him. The
apparent incongruity of this promise with the threatening
which immediately precedes, has led to various constructions
of the first clause. The simplest and most probable conclu
sion seems to be that therefore refers, as in many other cases,
to a remoter antecedent than the words immediately be
fore it. As if the Prophet paused at this point and review
ing his denunciations said, Since this is so, since you must
perish if now dealt with strictly, God will allow you space for
repentance, he will wait to be gracious, he will exalt himself by
showing mercy. Another difficulty of the same kind has arisen
from the next clause, where the justice of God seems to be given
as a reason for showing mercy. That the clause does not relate

CHAPTER XXX 356
to righteousness or justice in the strict sense, appears plain from
the added benediction of those who trust Jehovah. One point
is universally admitted, namely, that somewhere in this verse
is the transition from the tone of threatening to that of promise.
The question where it shall be fixed, though interesting, does
not affect the general connection or the import of the passage
as a whole.
19. For the people in Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem ; thou shall
weep no more ; he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy
cry ; as he hears it he will answer thee. The position of the first
verb in this English sentence leaves it doubtful whether it is
to be construed with what follows or what goes before. Pre
cisely the same ambiguity exists in the original, which may
either mean that the people who are now in Zion shall dwell in
Jerusalem, or that the people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem.
This last is the most natural construction. It is adopted in
the English version, but with a needless variation of the parti
cle, in Zion at Jerusalem. In the translation above given the
Hebrew order is restored.
20. And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and water of
oppression, and no more shall thy teachers hide themselves, and thine
eyes shall see thy teachers. God would afflict them outwardly,
but would not deprive them of their spiritual privileges ; or,
there should be a famine of bread, but not of the word of the
Lord (Amos 8:11). The word teachers is_ probably a designa
tion or description of the prophets, with particular reference,
as some suppose, to their reappearance after a period of severe
persecution or oppression. (See Ezek. 33 : 22.)
21. And thine ears shall hear a word from behind thee, saying,
This is the way, walk, ye in it, when ye turn to the right and when
ye turn to the left. Word is an idiomatic expression used where

356 CHAPTER XXX.
we should say one speaking. The direction of the voice from
behind is commonly explained by saying, that the image is bor
rowed from the practice of shepherds going behind their flocks,
or nurses behind children, to observe their motions. A much
more natural solution is that their guides were to be before
them, but that when they declined from the right way their backs
would be turned to them, and consequently the warning voice
would be heard behind them. The meaning of the call is, this
is the way which you have left, come back to it. As if he had
said, this warning will be necessary, for you will certainly de
part at times from the path of safety. This idea may, however,
be considered as included or implied in the usual translation
when. 22. And ye shall defile (i. e. treat as unclean) the covering cf
thy idols of silver and ihe case of thy image of gold ; thou shalt
scatter them (or abhor them) as an abominable thing. Away ! shalt
thou say to it. The remarkable alternation of the singular and
plural, both in the nouns and verbs of this sentence, is retained
in the translation. The gold and silver, both in Hebrew and
English, may qualify either the image or the covering. The
latter is more probable, because the- covering would scarcely
have been mentioned, if it had not been commonly of greater
value than the body of the idoj. The words translated idol and
image strictly denote graven and molten images respectively, but
are constantly employed as poetical equivalents.
23. And he shall give the rain of thy seed (i. e. the rain neces
sary to its growth), with which thou shalt sow the ground, and
bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich ; thy
cattle shall feed that day in an en.arged pasture. This is a prom
ise of increased prosperity aftei a season of privation, and was
often verified.

CHAPTER XXX. 357
24. And the oxen znd the asses working the ground shall eat
salted provender whvh has been winnowed (literally, which one
winnows) with the sieve and fan. The meaning is that the do
mesticated animals shall fare as well as men in other times.
The word ear, used in the English Version, is an obsolete de
rivative of the Latin aro to plough. The word translated
provender is commonly supposed to denote here a mixture
of different kinds of grain, and the one joined with it a sea
soning of salt or acid herbs, peculiarly grateful to the stom
achs of cattle.
25. And there shall be, on every high mountain, and on every
elevated hill, channels, streams of water, in the day of great slaugh
ter, in the falling of towers (or when towers fall). The meatf-
ing seems to be, that water shall flow where it never flowed
before, a common figure in the Prophets for a great change, and
especially a change for the better. The same sense is no doubt
to be attached to the previous descriptions of abundance and
fertility. There are no sufficient data in the text itself for any
specific and exclusive application. All that can certainly be
gathered from the words is, that a period of war and carnage
should be followed by one of abundance and prosperity.
26. And the light ofthe moon shall be as the light ofthe sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in
the day of Jehovah's binding up the breach of his people, and the
stroke of his wound he will heal. Instead of the usual words for
sun and moon, we have here two poetical expressions, one de
noting heat and the other white. The Prophet's language is
designed, not merely to express great joy, but to describe a
change in the face of nature, as an emblem of some great revo
lution in the state of society. (Compare ch. 13 : 10, 13.) It is
therefore another item added to the catalogue of previous sim
iles or comparisons, al. denoting the same thing, yet showing

358 CHAPTER XXX.
by their very diversity that they denote it only in a tropical or
figurative manner.
27. Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from afar, burning his
anger and heavy the ascent (of smoke) .- his lips are full of wrath
and his tongue as a devouring fire. By the name of Jehovah we
are not simply to understand Jehovah himself, but Jehovah as
revealed in word or act, and therefore glorious.
28. And his breath (or spirit), like an overflowing stream, shall
divide as far as the neck, to sift the nations in the sieve cf falsehood
and a misleading bridle on the jaws of the people. There are here
three metaphors employed to express the same general idea,
those of a flood, a sieve, and a bridle. The whole verse is a
threatening against Jehovah's enemies. The verb translated
divide is here explained by the English Version in the sense
of reaching to the midst ; but most interpreters adopt the ex
planation that the water rising to the neck divides the body
into two unequal parts. The metaphor itself, as in ch. 8 : 8,
denotes extreme danger. The phrase sieve of falsehood, is am
biguous. It may either mean wickedness in general, i. e.
the instrument by which the wicked and especially the false
arc to be punished ; or the sieve of ruin, pointing out the
issue of the process, as the other version does the object
upon which it acts. Gill's paraphrase is, " they were to be
sifted, not with a good and profitable sieve, which retains
the corn and shakes out the chaff, or so as to have some taken
out and spared, but with a sieve that lets all through, and so
be brought to nothing." The last clause may be understood
in the sense of leading astray or in the wrong direction.
29. The song (or singing) shall be to you (i. e. your song shall
be) like the night of the consecration cf a feast, and joy of heart
(i. e. your joy shall be) like (that of) one marching with the pipe

CHAPTER XXX 359
(or flute) to go into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel,
The night may be particularly mentioned in the first clause,
either because all the Mosaic festivals began in the evening, or
with special allusion to the Passover, which is described in the
law (Ex. 12 : 42) as a night lo be much observed unto the Lord, as
that night ofthe Lord, to be observed of all the children cf Israel in
their generations. This verse gives an interesting glimpse of
ancient usage as to the visitation of the temple at the greater
yearly festivals. The Rock of Israel is not Mount Zion or
Moriah, but Jehovah himself, to whose presence they resorted,
as appears from 2 Samuel 23 : 3.
30, 31. And Jehovah shall cause to be heard the majesty cf his
voice, and the descent of his arm shall he cause to be seen, with in
dignation of anger and a flame of devouring fire, scattering and
rain and hailstones (literally stone of hail). For at the voice cf
Jehovah shall Assyria (orJhe Assyrian) be broken, with the rod
shall he smite. The word translated broken is commonly applied,
in a figurative sense, to the breaking of the spirit or the courage
by alarm. Here some translate it beaten down, as in the Eng
lish Version. There are two constructions of the last clause,
one continuing Assyria as the subject of the verb, the other re
ferring it to Jehovah. The past form given to the verb in the
English Version (smote) seems entirely- unauthorized by usage
or the context. Even if Assyria be tho subject of the clause,
it is clear that the Prophet speaks of her oppression as being,
in whole or in part, still future to his own perceptions. The
express mention of Assyria in this verse, though it does not
prove it to have been from the beginning the specific subject of
the prophecy, does show that it was a conspicuous object in
Isaiah's view, as an example both of danger and deliverance,
and that at this point he concentrates his prophetic vision on
this object as a signal illustration of the general truths which
he has been announcing.

360 CHAPTER XXX
32. And every passage cf the rod of doom, which Jehovah wiU
lay (or cause to rest) upon him, shall be with tabrets and harps, and
with fights of shaking it is fought therein. There is the same
diversity of judgment here as in the foregoing verse, with re
spect to the question whether the rod mentioned in the first
clause is the rod which the Assyrian wielded, or the rod which
smote himself. On the former supposition, the sense would
seem to be, that in every place through which the rod of tho
oppressor had before passed there should now be heard the
sound of joyful music. The reference to Jehovah's judgments '
on Assyria is recommended by the reasons above given for ap
plying the ' last words of v. 3 1 to the same catastrophe. As
suming therefore that the clause before us was likewise intended
to be so applied, the sense would seem to be that -every pas
sage of Jehovah's rod (i. e. every stroke which passes from it
to the object) will be hailed, by those whom the Assyrian had
oppressed, with joy and exultation. The common version,
grounded staff, is almost unintelligible.
33. For arranged since yesterday is Tophet ; even it for the king
is prepared ; he has deepened, he has widened (it) ; its pile fire and
wood-in plenty ; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone,
kindles it. It is universally agreed that the destruction of the
Assyrian king is here described as a burning of his body at a
stake or on a funeral-pile. But whether the king mentioned
be an individual king or an ideal representative of all, and
whether this be a mere figurative representation of his temporal
destruction or a premonition of his doom hereafter, are disputed
questions. Tophet is well known to have been the name of a
place in the valley of Hinnom where children were sacrificed to
Moloch, and on that account afterwards defiled by the deposit
of the filth of the city, to consume which constant fires were
maintained. Hence, by a natural association, Tophet, as well
as the more general name, Valley of Hinnom, was applied by

CHAPTER XXXL 361
the later Jews to the place of future torment. The question '
whether it is here used to describe the place of future torments
or as a mere poetical description of the temporal destruction of
the king of Assyria, is the less important, as the language must
in either case be figurative, and can feach us nothing therefore
as to the real circumstances either of the first or second death.
Considering however the appalling grandeur of the images pre
sented, and our Saviour's use of similar expressions to describe
the place of everlasting punishment, and also ihe certainty de-
ducible from other scriptures, that a wicked king destroyed in
the act of fighting against God must be punished in the other
world as well as this, we need 'not hesitate to understand the
passage as at least including a denunciation of eternal misery,
although the general idea which the figures were intended to
express is that of sudden terrible destruction.

CHAPTER XXXI.
Reliance upon Egypt is> distrust of God, who will avenge
himself by destroying both the helper and the helped, vs. 1-3.
His determination and ability to save those who confide in his
protection are expressed by two comparisons, vs. . 4-5. The
people are therefore invited to return to him, from every false
dependence, human or idolatrous, as they will be constrained
to do with shame, when they shall witness the destruction of
their enemies by the resistless fire of his wrath, vs. 6-9.
This chapter seems to be a direct continuation, or at most a
repetition, of the threatenings and reproofs which had just been
uttered. 16

862 CHAPTER XXXL
1. Woe to those going down to Egypt for help, and on horses
they lean (or rely), and trust in cavalry, because it is numerous,and
in horsemen, because they are very strong, and they look not to the
Holy One of Israel, and Jehovah they seek not. The abundance
of horses in Egypt is attested, not only in other parts of Scrip
ture, but by profane writers. Homer describes Thebes as having
a hundred gates, out of each of which two hundred warriors
went forth with chariots and horses. Diodorus speaks of the
whole country between Thebes and Memphis as filled with royal
stabies. The horses of Solomon are expressly said to have been
brought out of Egypt. This kind of military force was more
highly valued, in comparison with infantry, by the ancients than
the moderns, and especially by those who, like the Hebrews, -
were 'almost entirely deprived of it themselves. Hence their
reliance upon foreign aid is frequently identified with confidence
in horses, and contrasted with simple trust in God (Psalm 20 :
7). To seek Jehovah is not merely to consult him, but to seek
his aid, resort to him, implying the strongest confidence. For
the meaning of the phrase look to, see the note on ch. 17 : 8.
2. And (yet) he too is wise, and brings evil, and his words he
removes not, and he rises up against the house of evil-doers, and
against the help of the workers of iniquity. The word yet is re
quired by our idiom in this connection. Too implies a compari
son with the Egyptians, upon whose wisdom, as well as strength,
the Jews may have relied, or with the Jews themselves, who
no doubt reckoned it a masterpiece of wisdom to secure such
powerful assistance. The comparison may be explained as
comprehending both. God was as wise as the Egyptians, and
ought therefore to have been consulted ; he was as wise as the
Jews, and could therefore thwart their boasted policy. There
is in this sentence an obvious irony. The house of evil-doers is
their family or race (ch. 1 : 4), here applied to the unbelieving
Jews. The Egyptians are called their help, and both are throat-

CHAPTER XXXI. 363
ened with destruction. To rise up is to show one's self, address
one's self to action, and implies a state of previous forbearance
or neglect.
3. And Egypt (is) man and not God, and their horses flesh and
not spirit, and Jehovah shall stretch out his hand, and the helper
shall stumble and the helped fall, and together all of them shall cease
(or be destroyed). This verse repeats the contrast between
human and divine aid, and the threatening that the unbelievers
and their foreign helpers should be involved in the same de
struction. The antithesis of flesh and spirit, like that of God
and man, is not metaphysical but rhetorical, and is intended
simply to express extreme dissimilitude or inequality. Reliance
upon Egypt is again sarcastically represented as reliance upon
horses, and as such opposed to confidence in God. As Egypt
here means the Egyptians, it is afterwards referred to as a
plural. Stumble and fall are here poetical equivalents.
4. For thus saith Jehovah unto me, As a lion growls, and a young
lion, over his prey, against whom a multitude of shepherds is called
forth, at their voice he is not frightened, and at their noise he is not
humbled, so will Jehovah of Hosts come down, to fight upon Mount
Zion and upon her hill. This is still another form of the
same contrast. The comparison is a favourite one with Hom
er, and occurs in the eighteenth book of the Iliad, in terms
almost identical. Growl is to be preferred to roar, be
cause the Hebrew word more properly denotes a sup
pressed or feeble sound. Most interpreters have for Mount
Zion. Others regard this as a threatening that God will take
part with the Assyrians against Jerusalem, the promise of de
liverance beginning with the next verse. By supposing the
particle to mean concerning, we can explain its use both in a
hostile and a favourable sense. The for at the beginning of this
verse introduces the ground or reason of the declaration that

364 CHAPTER XXXL
the seeking of foreign aid was both unlawful and unnecessary.
The hill is by some supposed to be Moriah, as an appendage of
Mount Zion ; but it may just as well be simply parallel tc
mountain, the mountain of Zion and the hill thereof.
5. As birds flying (over or around their nests), so will Jehovah
cover over (or protect) Jerusalem, cover and rescue, pass over and
save. The verb here is theone used to denote the passing over
sf the houses in Egypt by the destroying angel to which there
may be an allusion here.
6. Since you need no protection but Jehovah's, therefore,
return unto him from whom (or with respect to whom) the children
of Israel have deeply revolted (literally, have deepened revolt). The
last words may also be read, from whom they (i. e. men indefi
nitely) have deeply revolted, oh ye children of Israel. Deep may
be here used to convey the specific idea of debasement, or the
more general one of distance, or still more generally, as a mere
intensive, like our common phrases deeply grieved or deeply
injured. The analogy of ch. 29 : 15, however, would suggest
the idea of deep contrivance or design, which is equally appro
priate. 7. This acknowledgment you will be constrained to make
sooner or later. For in that day (of miraculous deliverance)
they shall reject (cast aWay with contempt), a man (i. e. each) his
idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have
made for you, or, which your own hands have made for you as sin,
i. e. as an occasion and a means of sin. In like manner tho
golden calves are called the sin of Israel (Deut. 9:21. Am. 8 :
14). For the true construction of his silver and his gold, see
the note on ch. 2 : 20. Trust in idols and reliance upon human
helpers are here, and often elsewhere, put together, as identical

CHAPTER XXXL 365
in principle, and closely connected in the experience of ancient
Israel. (See the notes on ch. 2 . 8, 22 )
8. This future abandonment of all false confidences is de
scribed as springing from the demonstration of Jehovah's wil
lingness and power to save. And Assyria shall fall by no man's
sword, and no mortal's sword shall devour him, and (yet) he shall
flee from before the sword, and his young men (or chosen war
riors) shall become tributary (literally, tribute). No man's sword,
but that of God. The objection that the prophecy, as thus
explained, was not fulfilled, proceeds upon the false assump
tion that it refers exclusively to the overthrow of Sennacherib's
host, whereas it describes the decline and fall of the Assyrian
power after that catastrophe.
9. And his rock (i. e. his strength) from- fear shah pass awgy,
and his chiefs shall be afraid cf a standard (or signal, as denoting
the presence of the enemy), saith Jehovah, lo whom there is afire
in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem. The true explanation of
the last clause seems to be that which supposes an allusion both
to the sacred fire on the altar and to the consuming fire of God's
presence, whose altar flames in Zion and whose wrath shall
thence flame to destroy his enemies. Compare the explanation
of the mystical name Ariel in the note on ch. 29 : 1.

366 CHAPTER XXXIL

CHAPTER XXXII.
This chapter consists of two distinguishable parts. The first
continues the promise of the foregoing context, vs. 1-8. The
second predicts iptervening judgments both to Israel and his
enemies, vs. 9-20.
The first blessing promised in the former partis that of mer
ciful and righteous government, vs. 1, 2. The next is that of
spiritual illumination, vs. 3, 4. As the consequence of this,
moral distinctions shall no longer be confounded, men shall be
estimated at their real value ; a general prediction, which is
here applied to two specific cases, vs. 5-8.
The threatenings of the second part are specially addressed
to the women of Judah, v. 9. They include the desolation of
the country and the downfall of Jerusalem, vs. 10-14. The
evils are to last until a total change is wrought by an effusion
of the Holy Spirit, vs. 15-18. But fearful changes are to in
tervene, for which believers must prepare themselves by dili
gence in present duty, vs. 19, 20.
1. Behold, for righteousness shall reign a king, and rulers for
justice shall rule. The usual translation is injustice and in right
eousness, as descriptive epithets of the reign foretold. But the
preposition here used may have been intended to suggest, that
he would reign not only justly, but for the very purpose of doing
justice. It is a question among interpreters whether the king
here predicted is Hezekiah or the Messiah. The truth appears*
to be that the promise is' a general one, as if he had said, the
day is coming when power shall be exercised and government
administered, not as at present (in the reign of Ahaz), but with
a view to the faithful execution of the laws. Of such an im-

CHAPTER XXXII. 367
provement Hezekiah's reign was at least a beginning and a
foretaste. 2. And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind and a
covert from the rain (or storm), as channels of water in a dry plac.
(or in drought), as the shadow of a heavy rock in a weary lana.
The meaning is, that there shall be a man upon the throne, or
at the head of the government, who, instead of oppressing,, will
protect the helpless. This may either be indefinitely under
stood, or applied, in an individual and emphatic sense, to the
Messiah. The figures for protection and relief are the same
used above in ch. 4:6 and 25 : 4. The phrases heavy rock and
weary land are idiomatic, but require no explanation.
3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of
them that hear shall hearken. Some understand here seers or
prophets, and their hearers ; but most interpreters apply both
words to the people generally, as those who had eyes but saw
not, and had ears but heard not. Compare the threatening in
ch. 6:9, and the promise in oh. 29 : 18.
4. And the heart (or mind) of the rash (heedless or reckless)
shall understand to knew (or understand knowledge), and the tongue
of. stammerers shall hasten to speak clear things (i. e. shall speak
readily and plainly). The bodily defects here mentioned de
note others of an intellectual and spiritual nature, neglect and
ignorance of spiritual matters. The minds of men shall begin
to be directed to religious truth, and delivered from ignorance
and error in relation to it.
5. When men's eyes are thus opened, they will no longer
eonfourid the essential distinctions of moral character, because
they will no longer be deceived by mere appearances. Things
will then be called by their right names. The fool (in the

868 CHA-PTER XXXIL
emphatic Scriptural sense, the wicked man) will no longer be
called noble (men will no longer attach ideas of dignity and
greatness to the name or person of presumptuous sinners), and
the churl (or niggard) will no more be spoken of (or to) as liberal.
The last clause, like the other, contains a specific illustration
of the general truth that men shall be estimated at their real
value. 6. The Prophet now defines his own expressions, or describes
the characters which they denote. The fool (is one who) will
speak folly (in the strongest and worst sense), and his heart will
do iniquity, to do wickedness and to speak error unto (or against)
Jehovah (while at the same time he is merciless and cruel
towards his fellow-men), to starve (or leave empty) the soul ofthe
hungry, and ihe drink of the thirsty he will suffer to fail. The
futures in this verse express the idea of habitual action ; he
does and will do so. The infinitives convey the same idea in
a different form, by making prominent the design and effect of
their unlawful course. The common version, work and practise
needlessly- departs from the form of the original, in which the
same verb is repeated.
7. Such is the fool : as for the churl, although his making
money be not sinful in itself, his arms or instruments, the means
which he employs, are evil. He that hastens to be rich can
scarcely avoid the practice of dishonest arts and of unkind-
ness to the poor. He deviseth plots to destroy the oppressed (or
afflicted) with words of falsehood, and (i. e. even) in the poor
(man's) speaking right (i. e. even when the poor man's claim is
just, or in a more general sense, when the poor man pleads his
cause). 8. As the wicked man's true character is betrayed by his
habitual acts, so the noble or generous man (and according to

CHAPTER XXXII. 369
the Scriptures none is such but the truly good man) reveals
his dispositions by his conduct. He devises noble (or generous)
things* and in noble (or generous things) he perseveres (literally,
on them he stands).
9. Here, a"s in many other cases, the Prophet reverts to the
prospect of approaching danger, which was to arouse the care
less Jews from their security. As in ch. 3 : 16, he addresses
himself to the women of Jerusalem, because to them an inva
sion would be peculiarly disastrous, and also perhaps because
their luxurious habits contributed, more or less directly, to
existing evils. Careless women, arise, hear my voice ; confiding
daughters, give-ear unto my speech. Women and daughters are
equivalent expressions. Careless and confiding (or secure)
i. e. indifferent because not apprehensive of the coming danger.
10. Having called their attention in v. 9, he now proceeds
with the prediction which concerned them. In a year and
more (literally, days above a year), ye shall -tremble, ye confiding
ones, for the vintage fails, the gathering shall not come. The
English Version makes the time denoted to be that of the
duration of the threatened evil.
" 11. lie now speaks as if the event had already taken place,
and calls upon them to express their sorrow and alarm by the
usual signs of mourning. Tremble ye careless (women), quake
ye confiding\ones), strip you and make you bare, and gird (sack
cloth) on your loins.
12. Mourning for the breasts (or beating on the breasts as a
sign of mourning), for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
The same act is described in Nah. 2 : 8, but by a different
verb. 16*

370 CHAPTER XXXIL
1 3. Upon the land of my people thorn (an d) thistle shall come up,
for (they shall even come up) upon all (thy) houses of pleasure,
oh joyous city! or, upon all houses of pleasure (in) the joyous city.
14. For the palace is forsaken, the 'crowd ofthe city (or the
crjwded city) left, hill and watch-tower (are) for caves (or dens)
J lat ever, a joy (or favourite resort) cf wild asses, a pasture cf
flocks. The use of the word palace, and that in the singular
number, clearly shows that the destruction of Jerusalem itself
is here predicted. The Hebrew word in this verse originally
meaning a hill is applied as a proper name (Ophel) to the
southern extremity of Mount Moriah, overhanging the spot
where the valleys of Jehoshaphat and Hinnom meet. " The
top of the ridge is flat, descending rapidly towards the south,
sometimes by offsets of rock ; the ground is tilled and planted
with olive and other- fruit-trees." (Robinson's Palestine,
I. p. 394.)
15. The desolation having been described in v. 14 as of in
definite duration, this verse states more explicitly how long it
is to- last. Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is
reckoned to the forest. The general meaning evidently is, until by
a special divine influence a total revolution shall take place in
the character, and as a necessary consequence in the condition,
of the people. The attempt to restrict it to the return from exile,
or the day of Pentecost, or some great effusion of the Spirit on the
Jews still future, perverts the passage by making that its whole
meaning which at most is but a part. For the meaning of the
figures, see the exposition of ch. 29 : 17. In this connection,
they would seem to denote nothing more than total change,
whereas in the other case the idea of an interchange appears
to be made prominent.

CHAPTER XXXII. 371
16. And justice shall abide in the wilderness, and righteousness
in the fruitful field shall dwell. This may either mean, that
what is now a wilderness, and what is now a fruitful field, shall
alike be the abode of righteousness i. e. of righteous men ; or
that both in the cultivation of the desert, and in the desola
tion of the field, the righteousness of God shall be displayed.
In favour of the former is the use of the word dwell, which
implies a permanent condition, rather than a transient or oc
casional manifestation. It also agrees better with the relation
of this verse to that before it, as a part of the same sentence.
If this be the meaning of the sixteenth verse, it seems to fol
low clearly, that the" whole of the last clause of the fifteenth
is a promise, since the same inhabitation of righteousness is
here foretold in reference to the forest and the fruitful field.
It is possible indeed that these may be put for the whole land,
as being the two parts into which he Ijad just before divided it.
17. As the foregoing verse describes the effect of the effusion
of the Spirit to be universal righteousness, so this describes
the natural and necessary consequence of righteousness itself.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of right
eousness rest and assurance (or security) forever.
18- And my people shall abide in a home of peace, in sure dwel
lings, and in quiet resting-places. There is something tran
quillizing in the very sound of this delightful promise, which
as usual is limited to God's own people, implying either that
all should have become such, or that those who had not should
be still perturbed and restless.
19. And it shall hail in the downfall of the forest (i. e. so as to
overthrow it), and the city shall be low in a low plate (or hum
ble with humiliation) i. e. utterly brought down. If this be
read as a direct continuation of the promise in v. 18, it must

372 CHAPTER XXXIL
be explained as a description of the downfall of some hostile
power, and accordingly it has been referred by most inter
preters to Nineveh. Others, thinking it more natural to as
sume one subject here and in v. 13, regard this as another in
stance of prophetic recurrence from remoter promises to nearer
threats ; as if he had said, before these things can come to
pass, the city must be brought low. This cdnstruction is en
tirely in keeping with the Prophet's manner, as exemplified
already in this very chapter. (See the note on v. 9 above.)
However natural and probable certain applications of the pas
sage may appear, the only sense which can with certainty be
put upon it, is that some existing power must be humbled,
either as a means or as a consequence of the moral revolution
which had been predicted.
20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the
foot of the ox and the ass. The allusion in this verse is sup
posed by some to be to pasturage, by others to tillage. There
is still more diversity of judgment with respect to the applica
tion of the metaphor. Taking the whole connection into view,
the meaning of this last verse seems to be, that as great revolu
tions are to be expected, arising wholly or in part from moral
causes, they jilone are safe, for the present and the future, who
with patient assiduity perform what is required and provide,
by the discharge of actual duty, for contingencies which can
neither be escaped nor provided for in any other manner.

CHAPTER XXXIII. 3.S

CHAPTER XXXIII.
Tins chapter contains a general. threatening of retribution
to the enemies of God's people, with particular reference ta
Sennacherib or the Assyrian power. The spoiler shall himself
be spoiled in due time, through the divine interposition, and
for the exaltation of Jehovah, vs. 1-6. The state of desola
tion and alarm is followed by sudden deliverance, vs. 7-13.
The same vicissitudes are again described, but in another form,
vs. 14-19. The peace and security of Zion are set forth
under the figures of a stationary tent, and of a spot surrounded
by broad rivers, yet impassable to hostile vessels, vs. 20-22.
By a beautiful transition, the enemy is described as such a
vessel, but dismantled and abandoned to its enemies, v. 23.
The chapter closes with a general promise of deliverance from
suffering, as a consequence of pardoned sin, v. 24.
1. Woe to thee spoiling and thou wast not spoiled, deceiving and
they did not deceive thee ! When thou shalt cease lo spoil thou
shalt be spoiled, and when thou art done deceiving they shall de
ceive thee. The two ideas meant to be expressed are those of
violence and treachery, as the crying sins of arbitrary powers.
In themselves the words are applicable to any oppressive and
deceitful enemy, and may be naturally so explained at the be-'
ginning of the prophecy. This verse describes the enemy as
acting without provocation, and also as having never yet ex
perienced reverses. ' v
2. Jehovah, favour us ; for thee we wait ; be their arm in the
mornings, also our salvation in time cf trouble. Isaiah here inter
poses his own feelings, and offers his own prayer that God

374 CHAPTER XXXIIL
would be the strength of the nation, and then, with an imme
diate change of form, presents the prayer of the people. Arm
is a common Hebrew metaphor for strength or support. As
to the mornings is an indefinite expression, understood by some
to mean early or quickly, by others every morning, with allu
sion to the daily attacks of the enemy, or to the daily morning
sacrifice. 3. At a noise of tumult (or tumultuous noise) the peoples flee ;
it thy rising the nations are scattered. The rising meant is the
act of rising from a state of seeming inaction, or as when one
rouses himself to strike. These words are commonly applied
to the divine interposition in the case of Sennacherib's attack
upon Jerusalem.
4. And your spoil shall be gathered (like) the gathering of the
devourer ; like the running cf locusts running on it. By another
apostrophe, the Prophet here addresses the enemy collectively.
The word translated devourer is a descriptive name of the
locust. (See the verb in Deut. 28 : 38.) As locusts gather,
i. e. greedily and thoroughly, not leaving a tree or a field
till they have stripped it. The construction of the last
clause is : Hke the running of locusts (shall one be) running on
it (i. e. on the spoil). The verb denotes specifically the act of
running eagerly or with a view to satisfy the appetite. It is
sometimes used to denote desire itself.
5. Exalted is Jehovah because dwelling on high (or inhabiting
a high place) ; he fills (or has filled) Zion with judgment and
righteousness. The first word, being a passive participle, seems
to denote not merely a condition but a change. High place de
notes a lofty and commanding position.
6. And he shall be the security cf- thy times, strength cf salva
tions, wisdom and knowledge , the fear of Jehovah, that is his treas

CHAPTER XXXIIL 375
ure. The simplest construction is the one which supplies the
subject from the foregoing verse, he ( i. e. J ehovah, or it i. e
his righteousness) shall be etc. The object of address is sup
posed by some to be Hezekiah, by others the Messiah, but is
most probably the people or tho believer as an individual. His
treasure may refer to the same, or mean the treasure of Jehovah,
that which he bestows.
7. Behold, iheir valiant ones cry without ; the ambassadors of
peace weep bitterly. They fearful cry aloud. Some here, as in
ch. 29 : 1, give Ariel the sense oi altar, but the latest investi
gations, although still unsatisfactory, tend strongly to confirm
the version given in the English Bibie. The messengers men
tioned in the other 'clause are probably the three men sent by
Hezekiah to Rabshakeh (2 Kings 18 : 18), or perhaps the bearers
of the tribute, weeping on account of Sennacherib's refusal to
fulfil his promise. Some suppose them to be called valiant, be
cause they ventured into the enemy's camp ; others because
they were probably military chiefs. Their weeping is agreed
by all interpreters to be in strict accordance with the ancient
usage, as described for example by Homer.
8. The highways are wasted, the wayfarer ceaseth ; he breaks
the covenant, despises cities, values no man. These are the words
of the Prophet himself. The scene presented is that of the ac
tual condition of Judea during the Assyrian invasion. (Com
pare Judges 5:6.) The verbs of the last clause agree with
Sennacherib or the Assyrian. The meaning is that he despised'
the defences of the conquered country, as unable to resist him.
The last words may either mean that he has no regard to any
man's interest or wishes, or that he does not value human life
9. The land mourneth, languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, iz
pines away ; Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmd

876 CHAPTER XXXIIL
cast (their leaves). The most fertile and flourishing parts of
the country are described "as desolate. That the language ia
figurative, may be inferred from the fact that none of the places
mentioned were in Judah.
10. Now will I arise, saith Jehovah, now will I be lifted up,
now will I exalt myself The emphasis is upon the adverb now,
which is twice repeated to imply that the time for the divine
interposition is arrived, and that there shall be no more delay.
11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your
breath (as) fire shall devour you. The first clause contains a com
mon scriptural figure for failure and frustration. (See ch.
26 : 18.) Chaff and stubble are named as worthless and per
ishable substances.
12. And nations shall be lime-kilns (or burnings of lime) ; thorns
cut jip, in ihe fire they shall burn. By nations we are to under
stand all nations that incur the wrath of God. The same word
burnings is applied to the aromatic fumigations used at ancient
burials (Jer. 34 : 5), to which there may be some allusion here.
The ideas expressed are those of quickness and intensity. The
thorns are perhaps described as cut up, to suggest that they are
dry and therefore more combustible.
13. Hear, ye far, what I have done, and know, ye near, my
might. "By far and near we may understand all without excep
tion. This is an apostrophe, expressing the magnitude of "the
event predicted in the foregoing context.
14. Afraid in Zion are the sinners. Not at or near Zion,
meaning the Assyrians, but in Zion i. e. in Jerusalem, referring
to the impious Jews themselves. Trembling has seized the im
pious, a parallel expression to sinners. What follows might be

CHAPTER XXXIII. 377
understood as the language of the Prophet himself, giving a rea
son for the terror of the wicked. It is more probably, however,
the language of the wicked Jews themselves. Some refer it tc
the past, and understand the verse to mean that they are now in
terror who once said thus and thus. But it is more probably
the present language of the wicked Jews, when actually seized
with terror. Not those who once said, but who now say etc.
The interpretation commonly adopted supposes the words to be
expressive of the feelings excited by the slaughter of Sen
nacherib's host. If this be a specimen of God's vindicatory jus
tice, what may we expect? Who of us can dwell with (this)
devouring fire ? Who of us can dwell with (these) perpetual burn
ings ? Many make the language still more emphatic, by sup
posing that the Prophet argues from the less to the greater.
If these are God's temporal judgments, what must his eternal
wrath be ? If the momentary strokes of his hand are thus re
sistless, who of us can dwell with the devouring fire, who of us
can dwell with everlasting burnings ? The last words may then
be taken in their strongest and most unrestricted sense.
15. This verse contains a description of the righteous man,
not' unlike that in the fifteenth 'and twenty-fourth Psalms.
. Walking righteousnesses i. e. leading a righteous life. Walk is
a common Scriptural expression for the course of conduct. The
plural form of the other word may either be used to mark it as
an abstract term, or -as an emphatic expression for fulness or
completeness of rectitude. In order to retain the figure of
walking, the preposition in may be supplied before the noun ;
but in the Hebrew it seems to be governed directly by the verb,
or to qualify it as an adverb. And speaking right things, or
(taking the plural merely as an abstract) rectitude or righteous
ness. The idea is not merely that of speaking truth as opposed
to falsehood, but that of rectitude in speech as distinguished
from rectitude of action. Rejecting or despising (or combining

378 CHAPTER XXXIIL
both ideas, rejecting with contempt) the gain of oppressions or ex-
'tortions. Shaking his hands from taking hold ofthe bribe, an ex
pressive gesture of indignant refusal. Stopping 'his ears from
hearing bloods, i. e. plans of murder. Shutting his eyes from look
ing at evil i. e. from conniving at it, or even beholding it as an
indifferent spectator. According to the natural connection of
the passage, this verse would seem to contain the answer to the
question in v. 14, and is so understood by those who make* the
question mean, who can stand before this terrible Jehovah ?
But on the supposition of an allusion to eternal punishment,
the answer is absurd, for it implies that the righteous man can '
Dr will endure it. This may either be regarded as a proof that
there is no such allusion to eternal punishment in v. 14, or as
a proof that this is not an answer to the question there recorded.
Some separate this verse from the preceding context by a larger
space than usual, making this the beginning, as it were, of a
new paragraph. To this construction there is the less objec
tion, as the sentence is evidently incomplete in this verse, the
conclusion being added in the next.
16. He (the character described in v. 15) high places shall
inhabit. This does not denote exalted station in society, but
safety from enemies, in being above their reach, as appears from
the other clause. Fastnesses (or strongholds) of rocks (shall be)
his lofty place, i. e. his refuge or his place of safety, as in ch. 25 :
12. To the idea of security is added that of sustenance, without
which the first would be of no avail. His bread is given, includ
ing the ideas of allotment or appointment and of actual supply.
His water sure, or, retaining the strict sense of the participle,
secured. At the same time there is evident allusion to the mora]
usage of the word as signifying faithful, true, the opposite of
that which fails, deceives, or disappoints the expectation, in
which sense the same word with a negative is applied by Jere
miah (15 : 18) to waters that fail.

CHAPTER XXXIIL 379
17. A king in his beauty shall thine eyes behold. Most writers
suppose Hezekiah to be here referred to, either exclusively or
as a type of Christ. To see the king in his beauty means in his
royal state; with tacit reference to his previous state of mourn
ing and dejection (ch. 37 : 1). They (i. e. thine eyes) shall behola
a land of distances or distant places. The most natural explana
tion of this phrase would be a distant land,, in which sense it is
used by Jeremiah (8 : 19) and a part of it by Zechariah (10:9),
and by both in reference to exile or captivity. The verse before
us, taken by itself, might be understood as a threatening that
the Jews should see the king of Babylon in his royal state and
in a distant land. Interpreters seem to be agreed, however,
that in this connection it can be taken only as a promise.
18. Thy heart, shall meditate terror. This does not mean, it
shall conceive or experience present terror, but reflect on that
which is already past. What follows may be understood as the
triumphant exclamation of the people when they found them
selves so suddenly delivered from their enemies. Where is he
that counted ? where is he that weighed ? where is he that counted
the towers? The counting and weighing may be either that
of tribute or of military wages. The towers are the fortifi
cations of Jerusalem. By counting them some understand
surveying them, either with a view to garrisoning or dismant
ling ; others the-act of reconnoitring them from without, which
some ascribe particularly to Rabshakeh or Sennacherib himself.
The general meaning of the verse is plain, as an expression of
surprise and joy, that the oppressor or besieger had now van
ished. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 1 : 20, has a sentence so
much like this, in the threefold repetition of the question where,
and in the use of the word scribe, that it cannot be regarded as
a mere fortuitous coincidence. It is probable, that the struc
ture of the one passage suggested the other. The expression
it is written, in the preceding verse of the epistle, introduces

380 CHAPTER XXXIIL
a quotation from ch. 29 : 14, but does not necessarily extend tc
Che next verse, which may therefore be regarded as a mere
imitation, as to. form and diction, ofthe one before us.
19. The fierce (or determined) people thou shalt not see. Thon
shalt see no' more the Assyrians, whose disappearance was- im
plied in the questions of the foregoing verse. The essential
idea seems to be that of firmness and decision, perhaps with the
accessory idea of aggressive boldness. A people deep of lip from
hearing i. e. hard for thee to understand. Deep denotes ob
scure or unintelligible. The preposition before hearing, though
not directly negative, is virtually so, as it denotes away from,
which is really equivalent to so as not to hear or be heard. (See
the note on ch. 5 : 6.) Barbarous tongue (or of a barbarous
tongue), without meaning (literally, there is no meaning). The
verb in its other forms, means to mock or scoff, an idea closely
connected, in the Hebrew usage, with that of foreign language,
either because the latter seems ridiculous to those who do not
understand it, or because unmeaning jargon is often used in
mockery, 20. Behold Zion the city of our festivals. Instead of the pres
ence of foreign enemies, see Jerusalem once more the scene of
stated solemnities. The address is to the people as an indi
vidual.. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet home, a tent (that)
shall not be .removed (or taken down). The whole of this de
scription is drawn from the usages of nomadic life. Its. stakes
shall not be pulled up forever, and all its cords shall not be broken,
or in our idiom, none of its cords shall be broken. The peculiar '
beauty of the imagery lies in ascribing permanence to a tent,
which from its very nature must be moveable. This may cither
imply a previous state of agitation and instability, or that the
church, though weak in herself, should be strengthened and
established by the power of God.

CHAPTER XXXIIL 381
21. But there shall Jehovah be mighty for us (or in our behalf).
The connection of the verses is that Zion shall never be weak
ened or removed, but on the contrary Jehovah etc. A place cf
rivers, streams, broad (onf both hands (or sides), i. e. completely
surrounding .her. Most interpreters connect these words di
rectly with Jehovah. The most obvious explanation seems to
be that this clause is an amplification of the adverb there. Je
hovah will be mighty for us there. What place is meant?" A
place of rivers and streams broad on both sides, i. e. spreading
in every direction. The situation described is one which has
all the advantages of mighty streams without their dangers.
There shall not go in it an oared vessel (literally, a ship of oar),
and a gallant ship shall not pass through it. The parallel ex
pressions both refer, no doubt, to ships of war, which in ancient
times were, propelled by oars.
22. For Jehovah our Judge, Jehovah our Lawgiver, Jehovah
our King, he will save us. This is a repetition of the same idea,
but without the figures of the preceding verse.
23. Thy ropes are cast loose ; they do not hold upright their
mast ; they do not spread the sail ; then is shared plunder cf booty
in plenty ; the lame spoil the spoil. There is, at the beginning
of this verse, a sudden apostrophe to the enemy considered as
a ship. This figure would be naturally suggested by those of
v. 21. It was there said that no vessel should approach the
holy city. But now the Prophet seems to remember that one
had done so, the proud ship of Assyria. But what was its fate ? '
He sees it dismantled and abandoned to its enemies. The
eagerness of the pillage is expressed by making the lame join
in it.
24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick (or have been
titk). This may either mean that none shall be sick, or that

382 CHAPTER XXXIV.
those who have been so shall be recovered. Tlie people dwelling
in il (is) forgiven (its) iniquity. Some suppose this to be an ex
planation of the sickness mentioned in the first clause, as a
spiritual malady. Others understand it as explaining bodily
disease to be the consequence and punishment of sin. The
words may be taken in a wider sense than either of these,
namely, that suffering shall cease with sin which is its cause.
Thu3 understood, the words are strictly applicable only to a
state of things still future, either upon earth or in heaven.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
This chapter and the next appear to constitute one prophecy,
the first part of which (ch. 34) is filled with threatenings against
the enemies of the church, the latter part (ch. 35) with promises
to the church itself. The threatenings of ch. 34 are directed,
first, against the nations in general, vs. 1-4, and then against
Edom in particular, vs. 5-15, with a closing affirmation of tin
truth, and certainty ofthe prediction, vs. 16, 17. The destruo.
tion of the enemies of Zion and the desolation of their lands
are represented by the figures of a great sacrifice or slaughter,
the falling of the heavenly bodies, the conversion of the soil
into brimstone, and the waters into pitch, and the inhabitation
of animals peculiar to the desert. This is a general threaten
ing of destruction to the enemies of Zion, Edom being particu
larly mentioned, as an enemy of ancient Israel peculiarly in
veterate and malignant, and thence used to represent the whole
class of such enemies. Thus understood, the prophecy extends
both to the past and future, and may include many particulai

CHAPTER XXXIV. 383
events, not excepting the destruction of Antichrist, as tke
greatest event of this kind which is foretold in prophecy,
Compare the note on ch. 11 : 4.
1. Come near, ye nations, to hear, and ye peoples, hearken. Let
the earth hear and its fulness (that which fills it, all that it con
tains), the world and all its issues (or productions, all that comes
forth from it). This may either be explained as an appeal to
inanimate nature, like the one at the beginning of the book
(ch. 1 : 2), or as an appeal to men, poetically represented as
the fruit of the earth, which is the sense given in the ancient
versions. It announces, as about to be delivered, a prediction
of great moment and deserving the attention of the whole
world. 2. This verse assigns the reason for the invocation in the
one before it. For (there is) anger to Jehovah. The English
Version has, the indignation ofthe Lord is, an idea which would
be otherwise expressed in Hebrew. The construction is the
same as in ch. 2 : 12. Jehovah has anger (or is angry) against
all the nations. And wrath (is to Jehovah) against all their host.
Not their armies in particular, but their whole multitude, all
that belong to them. (Compare the same expression in Gen.
2 : 1.) — He has doomed them, or devoted them irrevocably to
destruction. For the peculiar usage of the Hebrew verb,
see the note on ch. 11 : 15. — He has given (i. e. appointed
and abandoned) them to the slaughter. The past tense de
scribes the divine determination or decree as really and liter
ally past.
3. And their slain shall be cast out. The Hebrew word
Btrietly means their wounded, but usage gives it the specific
sense of wounded mortally, and for the most part in battle.
Cast out i e. unburied. This suggests the several ideas of

CHAPTER XXXIV.

384

contemptuous neglect, of a multitude too vast to be interred,
and perhaps of survivors too few to perform the duty. (Com
pare ch. 14 : 18-20.) They shall not" lie unburied merely for
a time, but until they rot upon the ground. And (as to) their
corpses (or carcasses), their stench shall go up. And mountains
shall be melted with (or by) their blood, as they are sometimes
washed away by rains or torrents._
4. And all tlie host of heaven (or heavenly bodies) shall con
sume away. This verb is commonly applied to the pining or
consumption occasioned by disease. In Ps.j^v 5 it means to^
run as a sore. The ideas of jj<Je]y£lehts and dying lights are
not unknown to modern •'f8$tryW\And tlie heavens shall be rolled
up (or together) like a scroll, i. e. like an ancient volume (volumen
from volvo) or a modern map. As God is elsewhere described as
having stretched out the heavens like a curtain, their destruc
tion or any total change in their appearance would be naturally
represented as a rolling up of the expanse. And all their host
(referring to tlie heavens) shall fade (or fall away) like the fading
of a leaf from a vine. This beautiful comparison with the decay
of plants makes it the more probable that the preceding clause
alludes to that of animal life. And like the fading (leaf) or a
withered (fig) from a fig-tree. The context clearly shows that
the terms used are poetical, and that here, as in ch. 13 : 10,
the idea which they are all intended to convey is that of revo
lution, sudden, total, and appalling change. The imagery of
the passage has been partially adopted in Matt. 24 : 29 and
Rev. 6:13, neither of which however is to be regarded either
as a repetition or an explanation of the one before us.
5. All this shall certainly take *place, for my sword (the
Speaker being God himself) is steeped (saturated, soaked) in
heaven. The phrase in heaven probably refers to the divine
determination and foreknowledge. In the Bight of" God the

CHAPTER XXXIV. 385
sword, although not yet actually used, was already dripping
blood. The sword is mentioned as a natural and common
though poetical expression for any instrument of vengeance.
Behold, upon Edom it shall come down. The name Edom is
here applied to the inveterate enemies of the church at largej
and not to any one of them exclusively. The fulfilment of
these threatenings cannot be traced in the history of ancient
Edom. They ceased to be a people not by extirpation but by
incorporation with the Jews. The name Idumea, as employed
by Josephus, includes a large part of Judea. The Herods, the
last royal family of Judah, were of Idumean origin. And
upon the people cf my curse or doom i. e, the people whom I
have doomed to destruction. (See v. 2.)
6. A sword (is) to Jehovah (or Jehovah has a sword) ; it is full
of blood. The genitive construction (the sword of Jehovah),
although not ungrammatical, is not to be assumed without
necessity. It is. smeared with fat. The allusion is to fat and
blood as tne animal substances offered in sacrifice. With the
blood of lambs and goats, mentioned as well-known sacrificial
animals, with the fat of the kidneys (or the kidney-fat) of rams,
mentioned either as remarkable for fatness or as a parallel ex
pression to the foregoing clause. For there is to Jehovah (or
Jehovah has) a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the
land of Edom. Bozrah was an ancient city of Edom, perhaps
the same with the modern Busaireh, a village and castle in
Arabia Petraea south-east of the Dead Sea.
7. And unicorns shall come down with them, and bullocks with
bulls. And their , land shall be soaked (or drenched) with blood,
and their dust with fat shall be fattened. The unicorn has been
commonly regarded as fabulous in modern times ; but of late
Borne traces of it have been found in Thibet and other parts
of Asia. But even supposing it to be a real animal, we have
17

386 CHAPTER XXXIV.
no reason to believe that it was ever common in the Holy
Land, as the cne here named would seem to have been from the
frequency with which it is mentioned. The modern writers
are divided between a certain species of gazelle or antelope
and the wild buffalo of Palestine and Egypt. The name may
here be used either as a poetical description of the ox, or to
suggest that wild as well as tame beasts should be included in
the threatened slaughter. Dust here denotes dry soil, which is
said to be enriched by the bodies of the slain. So Virgil says
that Roman blood had twice enriched the soil of Macedonia,
and similar statements have been made with respect to the
field of Waterloo. To come down in the first clause is by, some
explained as meaning to come down to the slaughter (Jer.
50 : 27. 51 : 40) ; by others to fall or sink under the fatal stroke
(Zech. 11 : 2).
8. For (there is) a day of vengeance to Jehovah, a year of recom
penses for the cause of Zion, i. e. to maintain her cause. This
verse connects the judgments threatened against Edom with
the cause of Zion or the church of God. On the construction
and meaning of the first words of the sentence, compare ch.
2:12. 9. And her streams (those of Idumea or the land of Edom)
shall be turned to pitch, and her dust 4o brimstone, and her land
shall become burning pitch. This verse announces nothing new,
but repeats the same prediction under other figures, borrowed
from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, which throughout
the Bible are set forth for an example, suffering ihe vengeance oj
eternal fire (Jude 7). To the fire and brimstone there men
tioned, pitch or bitumen is added, as some suppose, because the
soil of Idumea, lying adjacent to the Dead Sea, is bituminous
and abounds in veins or springs of naphtha. The first clause
expresses in the strongest terms the idea of utter and permanent

CHAPTER XXXIV. 387
destruction, as complete and terrible as if the streams were turned
to pitch. 1 0. Day and night it shall not be quenched ; forever shall its
smoke go up ; from generation to generation shall it lie waste, for
ever and ever, there shall be no one passing through it. The re
markable gradation and accumulation of terms denoting perpe
tuity can scarcely be expressed in a translation. This is espe
cially the case with the last and highest of the series. A strik
ing parallel to this verse is found in the statement (Gen. 19 : 28),
that when Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, the
smoke cf the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. These sub
lime and fearful images are copied in the book of Revelation. •
(14: 10, 11.) Keith , in his Evidences of Prophecy, h as collected
some remarkable illustrations of this passage from the incidental
statements of modern travellers with respect to what was once
the land of Edom. Thus Volney speaks of thirty deserted
towns within three days' journey ; Seetzen, of a wide tract ut
terly without a place of habitation, and of his own route through
it as one never before attempted ; Burckhardt, of the passage
as declared by the people of the nearest inhabited districts to
be impossible, in accordance with which notion he was unable
to procure guides at any price. These are striking coincidences,
and as illustrations of the prophecy important, but are not to
be insisted on as constituting its direct fulfilment, for in that
case the passage of these very travellers through the country
would falsify the prediction which they are cited to confirm
The truth of the prophecy in this clause is really no more sus
pended on such facts, than that of the first clause and of the
preceding verse upon the actual existence of bituminous streams
and a sulphureous soil throughout the ancient Idumea. The
whole is a magnificent prophetic picture, the fidelity of which.
so far as it relates to ancient Edom, is notoriously attested by
its desolation for a course of ages.

388 CHAPTER XXXIV.
•
1 1. Then shall ptssess it (as a heritage) the pelican and porcu
pine,, the crane and crow shill dwell in it. And he (or one) shal,
stretch upon il the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. Hav
ing declared that man shoild no longer pass through it, he now
explains who shall be its inhabitants. These animals should
not only occupy the land, but occupy it as the successors and
to the exclusion of mankind. The essential idea is that of wild
and solitary animals. (Compare ch. 13:21,22. 14:23. Rev.
18 : 2.) Here again a remarkable coincidence is furnished by
the statements of travellers with respect to the number of wild
birds in Edom. Mangles, while at Petra, describes the scream
ing of the eagles, hawks, and owls, seemingly annoyed at any
one approaching their lonely habitation. Burckhardt speaks of
Tafyle as. frequented by an immense number of crows and of
the birds called katta, which fly in such large flocks that the
boys often kill two or three at a time merely by throwing a
stick among them. The apparent inconsistency between this
clause and the description of the country in the verse before it
only shows that neither can be striotly taken, but that both are
metaphorical predictions of entire desolation. In the next
clause the same idea is expressed by an entire change of figure.
The line meant is a measuring linej mentioned elsewhere not
only in conneetion with building (Zech. 1 : 16), but also with
destroying (2 Kings 21: 13). The stones are stones used for
weights (Deut. 25 : 13. Prov. 16 : ll), and here for plumb-line or
plummet. The same figure is employed by Amos (7 : 7-9) to
denote a moral test -or standard, but in this case as a symbol of
destruction. The plummet is here mentioned as a parallel to
line, both together expressing the idea of exact and careful
measurement. The sense of the whole metaphor may then be
either that God has laid this work out for himself and will per
form it, or that in destroying Edom he will act with equity and
justice, or that even ir. destroying he will proceed deliberately
and by rule.

CHAPTER XXXIV. 389
12. Her caves and there is no one there (i. e. her uninhabited
or empty caves) they will (still) call a kingdom, and all her chiefs
will be cessation (i. e. cease to be). The great variety of expla
nations which have been given of this verse, and the harshness
of construction with which most of them are chargeable, may
serve as an excuse for the suggestion of a new one, not as cer
tainly correct, but as possibly entitled to consideration. All
interpreters coincide in giving to the first noun, the sense of
nobles, which it certainly has in several places. (See 1 Kings
21:8, 11. Neh. 2:16. 4 : 14.) But in several others, it no less
certainly means holes or caves. (See 1 Sam. 14 : 11. Job 30 : 6.
Nah. 2 : 12.) Now it is matter of history, not only that Edom
was full of caverns, but that these were inhabited, and that the
aboriginal inhabitants, expelled by Esau, were expressly called
Horites, as being troglodytes or inhabitants of caverns (Gen. 14 :
6. 36 : 20. Deut. 2 : 12, 22). This being the case, the entire
depopulation of the country, and especially the destrudtion of
its princes, might be naturally and poetically expressed by say
ing that the kingdom of Edom should be thenceforth a kingdom
of deserted caverns. How appropriate such a description would
be to the actual condition of the country, and particularly to its
ancient capital, may be seen from Robinson's account of Petra
(Palestine, II. pp. 514-537).
13. And her palaces (or in her palaces) shall come up thorns,
nettles and brambles in her fortresses. The natural consequence
of her depopulation. The situation here "described would of
course be the resort of wild and solitary animals. And she
shall be a home of wolves, a court (or grass-plot) for ostriches.
The general sense is that of an enclosed and appropriated spot
a play-ground or dwelling-place.
14. And wild (or desert) creatvms shall (there) meet with howl
ing creatures. The verb sometim »s means to meet or encoun

390 CHAPTER XXXIV.
ter in the sense of attacking (Ex. 4 : 24. Hos. 13 : 8); but
here it seems to have the general sense of falling in with.
These lonely creatures, as they traverse Idumea, shall encoun
ter none but creatures like themselves. And the shaggy mon
ster shall call to his fellow. For the true sense of satyrs,
see the comment on the plural form as it occurs in ch.
13 : 21. The interpretation most consistent with itself and
with the etymology is that given above, shaggy monsters, on the
ground that it corresponds better with the general descriptive
neaning which, as we have seen above, most probably belongs
to the words in the preceding clause. If that clause speaks of
wild and howling beasts, and not of any one class exclusively,
it is more natural that this should speak of shaggy monsters
generally than of goats. Only there reposes the night-monster
and finds for herself a resting-place. If the terms used above rep
resent the animals occupying Idumea, first as belonging to the
wilderness, then as distinguished by their fierce or melancholy
cries, and then as shaggy in appearance, nothing oan be more
natural than that the fourth epithet should also be expressive
of their habits as a class, and no such epithet could well be
more appropriate than that of nocturnal or belonging to the
night. 15. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch,
and gather under her shadow : there shall the vultures also be
gathered, every one with her mate. A_s to the particular species
of animals referred to in this whole passage, there is no need
of troubling ourselves much about them. The general sense
evidently is, that a human population should be succeeded by
wild and lonely animals, who should not only live but breed
there, implying total and continued desolation.
16. Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah and read. The most
natural interpretation seems to be that which makes this an

CHAPTER XXXIV. , 391
exhortation to compare the prophecy with the event, and which
is strongly recommended by the fact that all the verbs are in
the past tense, implying that the Prophet here takes his stand
at a poiut of time posterior to the event. Tlie book may then
be this particular prophecy, or the whole prophetic volume, or
the entire scripture, without material change of sense. The
persons addressed are the future witnesses of the event. One
of them has not failed. This refers to the animals mentioned in
the preceding verses, as signs of desolation. As if he had
said, I predicted that Edom should be occupied by such and
such creatures, and behold they are all here, not one of them
is wanting. This is a lively and impressive mode of saying,
the prediction is fulfilled. One another they miss not. The
verb has here the sense of mustering or reviewing to discover
who is absent, as in 1 Sam. 20 : 6. 25 : 15. For my mouth, it
has commanded ; and his spirit, it has gathered them, i. e. the
animals aforesaid. The last phrase is a more specific explana
tion of the general expression has commanded. The sudden
change of person from my mouth to his spirit has led to various
explanations. The simplest course is either to suppose that
Jehovah speaks in one clause and the Prophet in the next, or
that the Prophet really refers the command to his-- own mouth
instrumentally, but then immediately names the Divine Spirit
as the efficient agent. This is the less improbable because the
first clause of the verse, as we have seen, contains an appeal
to his own written prediction. The Spirit of God is not
merely his power but himself, with specfal reference to the
Holy Ghost, as being both the author and fulfiller of the
prophecies. 17. He too has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it
to them by line. An evident allusion to the division of the land
of Canaan, both, by lot and measuring-line. (See Numb.
26 : 55 56. Josh. 18 : 4-6.) As Canaan was allotted to

392 CHAPTER XXXV.
Israel, so Edom is allotted to these doleful creatures. Having
referred to the allotment as already past, he now describes the
occupation as future and perpetual. Forever shall they hold it
as a -heritage, to all generations shall they dwell therein.

CHAPTER XXXV.

A great and glorious change is here described under the
figure of a desert clothed with luxuriant vegetation, vs. 1, 2.
The people are encouraged with the prospect of this change
and with the promise of avenging judgments on their enemies,
vs. 3, 4. The same change is then expressed, by a change of
figure, as a healing of corporeal infirmities, vs. 5, 6. The for
mer figure is again resumed, and the wilderness described as
free from all its wonted inconveniences,, particularly those of
barrenness and thirst, disappointment and illusion, painless
ness and beasts of prey, vs. 7-9. The whole prediction winds
up with a promise of redemption, restoration, and endless
blessedness, v. 10.
The chapter is the description of a happy condition of the
church after a period of suffering. Thus explained it may be
considered as including various particulars, none of which can
be regarded as its specific or exclusive subject. Without any
change of its essential meaning, it may be applied to the resto
ration of the Jews from Babylon, to the vocation of the Gentiles,
to the whole Christian dispensation, to the course of every in
dividual believer, and to the blessedness of heaven. The
ground of this manifold application is not that the language
of the passage is unmeaning or indefinite, but that there is a
real and designed analogy between the various changes men
tioned, which brings them all within the natural scope of the
same inspired description.

CHAPTER XXXV 393
1. Desert and waste shall rejoice (for) them, and the wilder
ness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. The construction of the
pronoun in the first clause is obscure and doubtful. Some
refer it to the animals mentioned at the close of ch. 34 ; some
to the judgments there threatened against Edom ; some to the
Jews returning from captivity. As the pronoun is not ex
pressed in any of the ancient versions, some explain it as a mere
appendage to the verbal form, and translate simply, shall rejoice.
The last word in the verse has been variously explained to
mean the lily, the narcissus, the crocus, etc. The common ver
sion (rose) is not only quite as probable, but more familiar, and
suggests more clearly the essential idea of beauty,
2. (It shall) blossom, it shall blossom and rejoice; yea, (with)
joy and shouting ; or, yea, joy and shouting (there shall be). The
glory of Lebanon is given unto it (the desert), the beauty of Car-
mel and of Sharon. They (who witness this great change) shall
ee the glory of Jehovah, the beauty of our God. The same idea
of complete and joyful change is again expressed by the same
figure, but with greater fulness, the desert being here described
as putting on and wearing the appearance of the spots most
noted for luxuriant Yegetation.
3. Strengthen hands (now) sinking, and knees (now) tottering
make firm. With the prospect of this glorious change the peo
ple are commanded to encourage themselves 'and one another.
The hands and knees are here combined to express the powers
of action and endurance. The participial forms represent the
hands as actually hanging down, relaxed, or weakened, and the
knees as actually giving way. The passage thus explained is
far more expressive than if we make the participles adjectives,
denoting a permanent quality or habitual condition. In itself,
the language of this verse is applicable either to self-encourage
ment or to the consolation of others. There is no reason why
17*

394 CHAPTER XXXV.
the words should not be taken in their widest sense, as meaning,
let despondency be exchanged for hope. That self-encourage
ment is not excluded may be learned from Paul's use of the words
in that sense (Heb. 12 : 12). That mutual encouragement is not
excluded, is sufficiently apparent from the following verse.-
4. Say ye to the hasty of heart (i. e.. the impatient, those who
cannot wait for the fulfilment of God's promise), Be firm, fear
not ; behold your God (as if already present or in sight) ; ven
geance is coming, the retribution of God ; he (himself) is coming,
and will save you. The connecting link between his vengeance
and their safety is the destruction of their enemies. (Seeing it
is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to ihem that
trouble you. 2 Thess. 1 : 6.) This verse shows how the command
in the one before it is to be obeyed, by suggesting, as topics of
.tautual encouragement, the vindicatory justice of God, ajid his
certain interposition in behalf of his people. Hasty, i. e. impa
tient of delay in the execution 6f God's promises, includes
the ideas of despondency and unbelieving fear. Compare the
analogous expression in eh. 28 : 16, he that believeth will not make
haste or be impatient. The words are really a promise of deliv
erance to God's people, and include, as the most important part
of their contents, the unspeakable gift of Christ and his salvation.
5, 6. Then (when God has thus come) shall the eyes of the blind
be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame leap (or bound) as an hart and the tongue of the dumb
shall shout (far joy), because waters have burst forth in the wilder
ness and streams in the desert. The change in the condition of
the people is now represented by another figure, the removal of
corporeal infirmities. The reason assigned in this last clause
for the joy to be expressed shows clearly that the miraculous
removal of disease and the miraculous irrigation of the desert
are intended to express one and the same thing. The essential

CHAPTER XXXV. 395
idea in both cases is that of sudden and extraordinary change.
The simple meaning of the passage is, that the divine interpo
sition which had just been promised should produce as wonder
ful a change in the condition of mankind, as if the blind were
to receive their sight, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the
lame to walk, and deserts to be fertilized and blossom as the
rose. In the process of this mighty transmutation, miracles
were really performed, both of a bodily and spiritual nature,
but the great change which includes these includes vastly more.
The original form of expression is not that they shall rejoice for
waters shall burst forth, but that they shall rejoice because waters
have burst forth already, the last event being spoken of as rela
tively past, i. e. as previous to the act of rejoicing which the
future verb expresses.
7. And the mirage shall become a pool (or the sand lake a
water lake, the seeming lake a real one), and the thirsty land
springs of water, (even) in the haunt of wolves, their lair, a court
(or field) for reed and rush. The idea of complete and joyful
change is still expressed by the transformation of a desert and
the consequent removal of its inconveniences, among which the
Prophet here particularly mentions the tantalizing illusions to
which travellers in the wilderness are subject. The first noun
denotes the illusive appearance caused by unequal refraction in
the lower strata of the atmosphere, and often witnessed both at
sea and land, called in English looming, in Italian fata morgana,
and in French mirage. In the deserts of Arabia and Africa,
the appearance presented is precisely that of an extensive sheet
of water, tending not only to mislead the traveller but to aggra
vate his thirst by disappointment. The phenomenon is well
described by Quintius Curtius in his Life of Alexander the
Great. It is also referred to in the Koran. More deceitful
than the mirage (or scrab) is an Arabian proverb. Its intro
duction here adds a beautiful stroke to the description, not only

396 CHAPTER XXXV.
by its local propriety, but by its strict agreement with the
context. 8. And there shall be there a highway and a way ; and there
shall not pass through (or over) it an unclean (thing or person) ;
and it shall be for them (alone). Job (12 : 24) speaks of a wil
derness in which there is no way, and Jeremiah (18 : 15) of a way
not cast up, to both which descriptions we have here a contrast.
The comparison suggested is between a faint track in the sand
and a solid artificial causeway. The desert shall cease not only
to be barren but also to be pathless or impassable by reason of
sand. The obvious meaning of the last clause is that the people
of Jehovah shall themselves be holy. (Compare ch. 1 : 25. 4 : 3.)
This is also the meaning of those scriptures which exclude from
Zion (or the sanctuary) the Canaanite (Zech. 14:21), the uncir
cumcised (Ezek. 44 : 9), and the stranger. . The pronoun them has
no expressed antecedent in the sentence, and has been variously
applied ; but the precise import of the original expression seems
to be, that the highway shall belong exclusively to them for
whose sake it was made, for whose use it was intended.
9. There shall not be there a lion, and a ravenous beast shall not
ascend it, nor. be found there ; and (there) shall walk redeemed (ones).
The wilderness, though no longer barren or pathless, might still
be the resort of beasts of prey. The promised highway might
itself be exposed to their incursions. But immunity from this
inconvenience is here promised. For a similar promise, in a
still more figurative dress, see Hosea 2:18, and for a descrip
tion of the desert as the home of deadly animals, Isaiah 30 : 6.
The primary allusion is no doubt to the highway described in
the foregoing verse. Hence the phrase ascend it, i. e. from the
level of the sands, through which the road is supposed to be
cast up. These terms are intended to complete the great pro-
phetic picture of a total change in the condition of the desert,

CHAPTER XXXV. 3»7
under which general idea we may then include a great variety
of suitable particulars, without however making any one of them
the exclusive subject of the prophecy.
10. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion
with shouting, and everlasting joy upon their head ; gladness and
joy shall overtake (them), and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The whole series of promises is here summed up in that of res
toration and complete redemption. Zion is mentioned as the
journey's end ; they shall not only move towards it but attain
it. The words everlasting joy may either be governed by the
preposition (with shouting and everlasting joy upon their head),
or construed with the- substantive verb understood (everlasting
joy shall be upon their head). The latter construction seems to
agree best with the Maioretic accents. Jn the last clause, joy
and gladness may be either the subject or the object of the verb.
The latter construction is given in the English Bible (they shall
obtain joy and gladness) after the example of the Targum, Pe-
shito, and Vulgate. In favour of the other, which is given in
the Septuagint (xaraX^ipeiai airoig), may be urged the analogy
of Deut. 28 : 2 (all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake
thee) and of the last clause of the verse, where sorrow and sighing
are the subjects of the verb. " The highway before described
not only leads to Zion the church below, but to the Zion above,
to the heavenly glory; and all the redeemed, all that walk
in this way, shall come thither ; at death their souls return to
God that gave them, and in the resurrection their bodies
shall return from their dusty beds and appear before God in
Zion." (Gill ) The allusions to the Babylonian exile are cor
rectly explained upon the principle that minor and temporal
deliverances were not only emblems of the great salvation but
preparatory to it. end of vol. I.

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