Gracious promises of B. C. cir. 712. ISAIAH.. A. M. cir. 3292. yet surely my judgment is with | 8 Thus saith the LORD, cir. annum Numa Pompilii, my God. R. Roman., 4. 5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, 1 Though Israelbe not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to. the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. V redemption to Israel. thee, and in a day of salvation Numa Pompilii, 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. by a metaphor, signifying the acuteness and the appo-marginal reading. This word has been matter of great site application of his panegyrio." doubt with interpreters: the Syriac renders it the branch, taking it for the same with netser, chap. xi. 1. See Michaelis Epim. in Prælect. xix. that is, to his Holy One. This person, who is (ver. 3) called Israel, cannot in any sense be Isaiah. That name, in its original design and full import, can only belong to him who Verse 7. The Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy contended powerfully with God in behalf of mankind, One-"The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One"] and prevailed, Gen. xxxii. 28. After all that Vitringa," Perhaps we should read wrp likdosho," SECKER : Bp. Lowth, and others have said in proof of this chapThe preceding word ends ter speaking of the Messiah, and of him alone, I have with a lamed, which might occasion that letter's being my doubts whether sometimes Isaiah, sometimes Cy-lost here. The Talmud of Babylon has rus, and sometimes the Messiah, be not intended; the sho, and his Holy One. former shadowing out the latter, of whom, in certain respects, they may be considered the types. The literal sense should be sought out first; this is of the utmost importance both in reading and interpreting the oracles of God. וקרושו ukedo To him whom man despiseth-"To him whose person is despised"]"Perhaps we should read 712) nibzeh," SECKER; or bazur, Le Clerc; that is, instead of the active, the passive, form, which seems here to be required. Verse 5. And now, saith the Lord-"And now, Verse 9. To them that are in darkness" And to thus saith JEHOVAH"] The word coh, before those that are in darkness"]. Fifteen MSS. (five anamar, is dropped out of the text; it is supplied by cient) of Dr. Kennicott's, eleven of De Rossi's, and eight MSS. (two ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, two of one ancient of my own, and the two old editions of De Rossi's, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. 1486 and 1488, and three others, add the conjunction Though Israel be not gathered-" And that Israel vau at the beginning of this member. Another MS. unto him might be gathered"] Five MSS. (two ancient) had it so at first, and two others have a rasure at the confirm the Keri, or marginal correction of the Maso-place: and it is expressed by the Septuagint, Syriac, retes, 1 lo, unto him, instead of lo, not, in the text; Chaldee, and Vulgate. and so read Aquila; and the Chaldee, Septuagint, Verse 12. Behold, these shall come from far] "Baand Arabic omit the negative. But the Septuagint, bylon was far and east, n♫♫ mimmizrach, (non sie MSS. Pachom, and 1. D. II. express also the Keri Vett.,) Sinim, Pelusians, to the south.”—SECKER. to by apos aurov, to him. The land of Sinim.] Prof. Doederlein thought of Verse 6. And to restore the preserved of Israel-Syene, the southern limit of Egypt, but does not "And to restore the branches of Israel"]"] netsirey, abide by it. Michaelis thinks it is right, and promises or netsurey, as the Masoretes correct it in the to give his reasons for so thinking in the second part Sing, O heavens; and be Olymp. XVII. 1. joyful, O earth; and break forth cir. annum R. Roman., 4. to his followers. palms of my hands; thy walls are A. M. cir. 3292. B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, into singing, O mountains: for 17 Thy children shall make Numa Pompilii, the LORD hath comforted his haste; i thy destroyers and R. Roman., 4. people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. they that made thee waste shall go forth of 14 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken thee. me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, 1as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the doeth. C Chap. xliv. 23. - See chap. xl. 27. See Psa. ciii. 13; Mal. iii. 17; Matt. vii. 11.Heb. from having compassion. of his Spicilegium Geographia Hebræorum Exteræ. See Biblioth. Oriental. Part xi. p. 176. 19. Rom. xi. 29. See Exod. xiii. 9; Cant. viii. 6.- Ver. bonayich, unde vertit, structores tui; cui et Septuaginta fere consentiunt, qui verterunt xodounons, sin signifies a bush, and Dr sinim, bushes, adificata es, prout in Plantiniana editione habetur; in woods, &c. Probably this means that the land where Vaticana sive Romana legitur, oixodounenon, ædificaseveral of the lost Jews dwell is a woodland. The beris. Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus ten tribes are gone, no one knows whith er. On the consentit, ubi, et ædificabunt. Confer infra Esai. liv slave coast in Africa, some Jewish rites appear among 13, ad quem locum rabbini quoque notarunt ex tractatu the people, and all the males are circumcised. The Talmudico Berachot, c. ix., quod non legendum sit whole of this land, as it appears from the coast, may be emphatically called Derets sinim, the land of bushes, as it is all covered with woods as far as the eye can reach. Many of the Indians in North America, which is also a woodland, have a great profusion of rites, apparently in their basis Jewish. Is it not possible that the descendants of the ten lost tribes are among those in America, or among those in Africa, whom European nations think they have a right to enslave? It is of those lost tribes that the twenty-first verse speaks: "And these, where had they been?" ་ Verse 13. Break forth into singing, O mountains— "Ye mountains, burst forth into song"] Three ancient MSS. are without the yod or the conjunction vaú before the verb: and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. Verse 14. The Lord ( Yehovah) hath forsaken me, and my Lord (†18 Adonai) hath forgotten me.] But a multitude of MSS. and several ancient editions read Yehovah in both places. Verse 16. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands—“ Behold, on the palms of my hand have I delineated thee"] This is certainly an llusion to some practice, common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representation of the city or temple, to show their affection and zeal for it. They had a method of making such punctures indelible by fire, or by staining. See note on chap. xliv. 5. It is well known, that the pilgrims at the holy sepulchre get themselves marked in this manner with what are called the ensigns of Jerusalem. See Maundrell, p. 75, where he tells us how it is performed and this art is practised by travelling Jews all over the world at this day. : Verse 17. Thy children shall make haste-"They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders"] Auctor Vulgata pro T banayich, videtur legisse banayich, id est, filii tui; sed 2 bonayich, ædificatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. part ii., p.. 226, ut et D. Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "The author of the Vulgate appears to have read a bonayich for 1 banayich, as he translates it by structores tui, 'thy builders.' The Septuagint is almost the same with the Vulgate, having wxodounens, art built, as in the Plantin edition: but the Vatican or Roman copy reads oxodoμnnon, thou shalt be built. To these readings the Targum of Jonathan has some sort of correspondence, translating et ædificabunt, and they shall build.' See chap. liv. 13; on which place the rabbins also remark, in the Talmudic tract Berachoth, c. 9, that we should not read T but ' bonayich, thy builders. See the note in Prec. Jud. part ii., p. 226, and also D. Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9." See also Breithaupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc.; and the note on this place in De Sac. Poës. Hebr. Prælect. xxxi. banayich, thy sons, bonayich, thy בנין or בונין Instead of builders, several MSS. read 7 baneycha, thy sons. So also the Syriac: see the above note. Shall go forth of thee-" Shall become thine offspring."] WYDD mimmech yetseu, shall proceed, spring, issue, from thee, as thy children. The phrase is frequently used in this sense: see chap. xi. 1; Mic. v. 2; Nah. i. 11. The accession of the Gentiles to the Church of God is considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Sion: see ver. 21, 22, and chap. lx. 4. The common rendering, "shall go forth of thee, or depart from thee," is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by "shall become thy builders:" and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other, which should be parallel to it: Verse 18. Bind them on thee, as a bride doeth"Bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels."] The end of the sentence is manifestly imperfect. Does a bride bind her children, or her new subjects, about her? о R. Roman., 4. 20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. 21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 22 P Thus saith the Lord GoD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. See chap. liv. 1, 2; Zech. ii. 4; x. 10.-n Chap. 1x. 4: Matt. iii. 9; Rom. xi. 11, 12, &c.- -P Chap. lx. 4; Îxvi. 20. 9 Heb. bosom. Psa. lxxii. 11; ver. 7; chap. lii. 15; lx. 16. Heb. nourishers.- - Heb. princesses.- - Psa. lxxii. 9; Mic. Sion clothes herself with her children, as a bride clothes herself,-with what? some other thing certainly. The Septuagint help us out in this difficulty, and supply the lost word: 5 xooμov vuμon' as a bride her ornaments. ɔɔɔ kichleyha callah, or no kecallah keleyha. The great similitude of the two words has occasioned the omission of one of them. See chap. Ixi. 10. Verse 21. These, where had they been-" These then, where were they?"] The conjunction is added before elleh, that is, n veelleh, in thirty-two MSS. (nine ancient) of Kennicott's, and fifty-four of De Rossi's; and so the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Vulgate. See on ver. 12. Verse 22. Thus saith the Lord God— Adonai Yehovah. Adonai is wanting in one MS., in the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, and in the Arabic. Verse 23. With their face toward the earth—“With their faces to the earth"] It is well known that expressions of submission, homage, and reverence always have been and are still carried to a great degree of extravagance in the eastern countries. When Joseph's brethren were introduced to him, "they bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth," Gen. xlii. 6. The kings of Persia never admitted any one to their presence without exacting this act of adoration; for that was the proper term for it. Necesse est, says the Persian courtier to Conon, si in conspectum veneris, venerari te regem; quod poσxuvεIV illi vocant. 66 "It is necessary, if thou shouldest come in sight, to venerate thee as king; which they call worshipping."-NEPOS in Conone.. Alexander, intoxi.cated with success, affected this piece of oriental pride: Itaque more Persarum Macedonas venerabundos ipsum 194 t Gentiles foretold. B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum R. Roman., 4. 23 And kings shall be thy A. M. cir. 3292. nursing fathers, and their Olymp. XVII. 1 queens thy nursing mothers: Numa Pompilii, they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and "lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. W 24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25 But thus saith the LORD, Even the y captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own a blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 品 Matt. vii. 17.- Psa. xxxiv. 22; Rom. v. 5; ix. 33; x. 11.xii. 29; Luke xi. 21, 22.- - Heb. the captivity of the just. y Heb. captivity.- Chap. ix. 20.- Rev. xiv. 20; xvi. 6. Or, new wine. - Psa. íx. 16; chap. lx. 16. salutare, prosternentes humi corpora. "The Macedo nians, after the manner of the Persians, saluted their monarch with the ceremony of prostration."-CURTIUS, lib. viii. The insolence of eastern monarchs to conquered princes, and the submission of the latter, is astonishing. Mr. Harmer, Observ. ii. 43, gives the following instance of it from D'Herbelot: "This prince threw himself one day on the ground, and kissed the prints that his victorious enemy's horse had made there; reciting some verses in Persian, which he had composed, to this effect : "The mark that the foot of your horse has left upon the dust, serves me now for a crown. "The ring which I wear as the badge of my slavery, is become my richest ornament. "While I shall have the happiness to kiss the dust of your feet, I shall think that fortune favours me with its tenderest caresses, and its sweetest kisses.'” These expressions therefore of the prophet aronly general poetical images, taken from the manners of the country, to denote great respect and reverence and such splendid poetical images, which frequently occur in the prophetical writings, were intended only as general amplifications of the subject, not as predictions to be understood and fulfilled precisely according to the letter. For the different kinds of adoration in the east, see the note on chap. xliv. 17. Verse 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty "Shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued"] For 8 tsaddik, read my arits. A palpable mistake, 'like that in chap. xlii. 19. The correction is self-evident from the very terms of the sentence; from the necessity of the strict correspondence in the expressions between the question and the answer made ( 13* ) In this chapter God vindicates his dealings with his people, whose alienation is owing to themselves, 1. And, by allusion to the temporal deliverances connected with the drying up of the Red Sea and the Euphrates, asserts his power to save, 2, 3; namely, by the obedience and sufferings of the Messiah, 4-6; who was at length to prove victorious over all his enemies, 7–9. The two last verses exhort to faith and trust in God in the most disconsolate circumstances ;. with a denunciation of vengeance on those who should trust to their own devices, 10, 11. A. Meir. 3292. cir. annum B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, THUS saith the LORD, Where fish stinketh, because there is no A. M. cir. 3292. is the bill of your mother's water, and dieth for thirst. Nume Pompilii, divorcement, whom I have put 3 I clothe the heavens with R. Roman., 4. away? or which of my creditors blackness, and I make sackcloth is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for their covering. your iniquities have ye sold, yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put 4 m The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is "weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. car ils sont des principaux meubles; et en plusieurs lieux on les paye aussi de ses enfans. "In the east they pay their debts by giving up their slaves, for these are their chief property of a disposable kind; and in many places they give their children to their creditors." But this, saith God, cannot be my case; I am not governed by any such motives, neither am I urged by any such necessity. Your captivity therefore and your afflictions are to be imputed to yourselves, and to your own folly and wickedness. - Verse 2. Their fish stinketh—" Their fish is dried up"] For van tibaosh, stinketh, read wi'n tibash, is dried up; so it stands in the Bodl. MS., and it is confirmed by the Septuagint, Enpavondovrai, they shall be dried up. Where is the bill—" Where is this bill"] Husbands, through moroseness or levity of temper, often sent bills of divorcement to their wives on slight occasions, as they were permitted to do by the law of Moses, Deut. xxiv. 1. And fathers, being oppressed with debt, often sold their children, which they might do for a time, till the year of release, Exod. xxi. 7. That this was frequently practised, appears from many passages of Scripture, and that the persons and the liberty of the children were answerable for the debts of the father. The widow, 2 Kings iv. 1, complains "that the creditor is come to take unto him her two sons to be bondmen." And in the parable, Matt xviii. 25: "The lord, forasmuch as his servant had not to pay, commands him to be sold, and his wife and children, and Verse 6. And my cheeks to them that plucked off all that he had, and payment to be made." Sir John the hair] The greatest indignity that could possibly be Chardin's MS. note on this place of Isaiah is as fol-offered. See the note on chap. vii. 20. lows: En Orient on paye ses dettes avec ses esclaves, I hid not my face from shame and spitting.] An Verse 5. Neither turned away back-" Neither did I withdraw myself backward"] Eleven MSS. and the oldest edition prefix the conjunction vau; and so also the Septuagint and Syriac. God will defend B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, ISAIAH. R. Roman., 4. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.. his follonters. A. M. cit. 3292 CH. ALGER Numa Fong, Roman 4 walketh in dark A. M. cir. 3292. cheeks to them that plucked off | shall wax old as a garment; Olymp. XVII. 1, the hair: I hid not my face from the moth shall eat them up. shame and spitting. 10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that ness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. 11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. Chap. li. 8. t 8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is "mine advesary? let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord GoD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?lo, they all Rom. viii. 32, 33, 34. Heb. the master of Job xiii. 28; Psa. cii. 26; chap. li. 6. Psa. xxiii. 4* John ix. 19. - 2 Chron. 11. 20; Psa x1.7. Psa. xvi. 4. Ezek. iii. 8, 9.my cause. other instance of the utmost contempt and detestation. It was ordered by the law of Moses as a severe punishment, carrying with it a lasting disgrace; Deut. xxv. 9. Among the Medes it was highly offensive to spit in any one's presence, Herod. i. 99; and so likewise among the Persians, Xenophon, Cyrop. Lib. i., p. 18. mi hu zeh, "Who is this one?" The word has 66 MS. and another add the word 1771 hu; 27 877 probably been lost out of the present text; and the reading of the MSS. above mentioned seems to be genuine. They abhor me; they flee far from me ; They forbear not to spit in my face." Job xxx. 10. “And ́JEHOVAH said unto Moses, If her father had but I believe this passage has been generally, if not danVerse 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord] spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?" Num. xxii. 14. gerously, misunderstood. It has been quoted, and On which place Sir John preached upon, to prove that "a man might conscienChardin remarks, that "spitting before any one, or spitting upon the ground in speaking of any one's ac- law and the prophets; obey the voice of his servant— tiously fear God, and be obedient to the words of the tions, is through the east an expression of extreme de- of Jesus Christ himself, that is, be sincerely and regutestation."-Harmer's Observ. ii. 509. See also, of the same notions of the Arabs in this respect, Niebuhr, our blessed Lord, and yet walk in darkness and have larly obedient to the moral law and the commands of Description de l'Arabie, p. 26. It so evidently ap-no light, no sense of God's approbation, and no evipears that in those countries spitting has ever been dence of the safety of his state." This is utterly im an expression of the utmost detestation, that the learn-possible; for Jesus hath said, “He that followeth me ed doubt whether in the passages of Scripture above shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of quoted any thing more is meant than spitting,-not in life." If there be some religious persons who, under the face, which perhaps the words do not necessarily the influence of morbid melancholy, are continually imply,—but only in the presence of the person affront-writing bitter things against themselves, the word of ed. But in this place it certainly means spitting in the face; so it is understood in St. Luke, where our Lord plainly refers to this prophecy: "All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, surruddnderai,” xviii, 31, 32, which was in fact fulfilled; xaι nggavçO TIVES EUTTUEN aus, "and some began to spit on him," Mark xiv. 65, xv. 19. If spitting in a person's presence was such an indignity, how much more spitting in his face? Verse 7. Therefore have I set my face like a flint] The Prophet Ezekiel, chap. iii. 8, 9, has expressed this with great force in his bold and vehement manner : "Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, And thy forehead strong against their foreheads: Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, 196 God should not be bent down to their state. There Q. 1. "Who is there among you that feareth Ans. Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant. Ans. Let him trust in the name of Jehovah; Now, a man awakened to a sense of his sin and misery, And lean himself (prop himself) upon his God." word; and what should such a person do? Why he may have a dread of JEHOVAH, and tremble at his should hear what God's servant saith: "Come unto me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden; and I will |