A. M. cir. 3292. hungry: behold, my servants shall | membered, nor k B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. drink, but ye shall be thirsty mind. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, behold, my servants shall rejoice, ye b Matt. viii. 12; Luke xiii. 28.- Heb. breaking. See Jer. xxix. 22; Zech. viii. 13. Ver. 9, 22. Chap. lxii. 2; Acts xi. 26. Psa. lxxii. 17; Jer. iv. 2.- h Deut. vi. 13; Psa. Ixiii. 11; chap. xix. 18; xlv. 23; Zeph. i. 5. wary who were among them adorned themselves; and, standing at the gate of the king's house, said, Is there any thing lacking in the king's house? i. e., Is there any work to be done in it? But the foolish which were among them went, and mocking said, When shall the feast be, in which there is no labour? Suddenly, the king sought out his servants: they who were adorned entered in, and they who were still polluted entered in also. The king was glad when he met the prudent; but he was angry when he met the foolish. Therefore he said, Let those sit down, and let them eat; but let these stand and look on. This parable is very like that of the wise and foolish virgins, Matt. xxv., and that of the marriage of the king's son, Matt. xxii. Verse 15. Shall slay thee-" Shall slay you"] For vehemithecha, shall slay thee, the Septuagint and Chaldee read 'n vehemithechem, shall slay you, plural. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R. Roman., 4. for ever in that which I create: 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another in iChap. li. 16; lxvi. 22; 2 Pet. iii. 13; Rev. xxi. 1. Heb. come upon the heart. Chap. lxii. 5.- Chap. xxxv. 10; li. 11; Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 4.-n Eccles. viii. 12. See Ler. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 30; chap. Ixii. 8; Amos ix. 14. natural death shall not happen till men be full of days; as it is written, ver. 20: There shall be no more thence an infant of days, i. e., the people shall live to three or five hundred years of age, as in the days of the patriarchs; and if one die at one hundred years, it is because of his sin; and even at that age he shall be reputed an infant; and they shall say of him, An infant is dead. These things shall happen to Israel in the days of the Messiah."-Kimchi. mishsham, Verse 20. Thence "There"] For thence, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read Dy sham, there. Verse 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit] The reverse of the curse denounced on the disobedient, Deut. xxviii. 30: "Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof." For as the days of a tree] It is commonly supposed that the oak, one of the most long-lived of the trees, lasts about a thousand years; being five hundred years growing to full perfection, and as many decaying: which seems to be a moderate and probable computation. See Evelyn, Sylva, B. 1. chap. iii. The present emperor of China, in his very ingenious and sensi Verse 17. I create new heavens and a new earth] This has been variously understood. Some Jews and some Christians understand it literally. God shall change the state of the atmosphere, and render the earth more fruitful. Some refer it to what they call the Millennium; others, to a glorious state of religion; oth-ble poem entitled Eloge de Moukden, a translation of ers, to the re-creation of the earth after it shall have been destroyed by fire. I think it refers to the full conversion of the Jews ultimately; and primarily to the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. Verse 18. Rejoice for ever in that which I create-ty's commentators, in their note on the place, carry the "Exult in the age to come which I create"] So in chap. ix. 5, y‘Is abi ad, warng TOU μEXλOVTOS Niwvos, "the father of the age to come," Sept. See Bishop Chandler, Defence of Christianity, p. 136. Verse 19. The voice of weeping, &c.]. "Because of untimely deaths, shall no more be heard in thee; for 242 which in French was published at Paris, 1770, speaks of a tree in his country which lives more than a hɩndred ages; and another, which after fourscore ages is only in its prime, pp. 37, 38. But his imperial majes matter much farther; and quote authority, which affirms, that the tree last mentioned by the emperor, the immortal tree, after having lived ten thousand years, is still only in its prime. I suspect that the Chinese enlarge somewhat in their national chronology, as well as in that of their trees. See Chou King, Preface, by Mons, de ( 16 ) 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. . PPsa. xcii. 12. Ver. 9, 15. Heb. shall make them continue long, or shall wear it. Guignes. The prophet's idea seems to be, that they shall live to the age of the antediluvians; which seems to be very justly expressed by the days of a tree, according to our notions. The rabbins have said that this refers to the tree of life, which endures five hundred years.-L. Verse 23. They shall not labour in vain—“My chosen shall not labour in vain"] I remove bechirai, my elect, from the end of the twenty-second to the beginning of the twenty-third verse, on the authority of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and a MS.; contrary to the division in the Masoretic text.L. The Septuagint is beautiful: My chosen shall not labour in vain, neither shall they beget children for the curse; for the seed is blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them." Nor bring forth for trouble-"Neither shall they generate a short-lived race"] na labbehalah, in festinationem, "what shall soon hasten away." Eis xarapav, for a curse, Sept. They seem to have read lealah.-Grotius. But Psa. lxxviii. 33 both justifies and explains the word here : the Messiah's kingdom. 24 And it shall come to pass, that "before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. W A. M. cir. 3292. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R. Roman., 4. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: " and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. babbehalah ushenotham "And he consumed their days in vanity, μsta σroudns, say the Septuagint. Jerome on this place Verse 24. Before they call I will answer] I will give them all they crave for, and more than they can desire. Verse 25. The wolf and the lamb, &c.] The glorious salvation which Jesus Christ procures is for men, and. for men only fallen spirits must still abide under the curse: "He took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham.” Shall feed together] For keechad, as one, an ancient MS. has 17 yachdav, together; the usual word, to the same sense, but very different in the letters. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate seem to agree with the MSS.-L. CHAPTER LXVI. This chapter treats of the same subject with the foregoing. God, by his prophet, tells the Jews, who valuea themselves much on their temple and pompous worship, that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; and that no outward rites of worship, while the worshippers are idolatrous and impure, can please him who looketh at the heart, 1–3. This leads to a threatening of vengeance for their guilt, alluding to their making void the law of God by their abominable traditions, their rejection of Christ, persecution of his followers, and consequent destruction by the Romans. But as the Jewish ritual and people shadow forth the system of Christianity and its professors; so, in the prophetical writings, the idolatries of the Jews are frequently put for the idolatries afterwards practised by those bearing the Christian name. Consequently, if we would have the plenitude of meaning in this section of prophecy, which the very context - requires, we must look through the type into the antitype, viz., the very gross idolatries practised by the members of Antichrist, the pompous heap of human inventions and traditions with which they have encumbered the Christian system, their most dreadful persecution of Christ's spiritual and true worshippers, and the awful judgments which shall overtake them in the great and terrible day of the Lord, 4-6. The mighty and sudden increase of the Church of Jesus Christ at the period of Antichrist's fall represented by the very strong figure of Sion being delivered of a man-child before the time of her travail, the meaning of which symbol the prophet immediately subjoins in a series of interrogations for the sake of greater force and emphasis, 7-9.Wonderful prosperity and unspeakable blessedness of the world when the posterity of Jacob, with the fulness of the Gentiles, shall be assembled to Messiah's standard, 10-14. All the wicked of the earth shall be gathered together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many, 15-18. Manner of the future restoration of the Israelites from their several dispersions throughout the habitable globe, 19-21. Perpetuity of this new economy of grace to the house of Israel, 22. Righteousness shall be universally diffused in the earth; and the memory of those who have transgressed against the Lord shall be had in continual abhorrence, 23, 24. Thus this great prophet, after The wickedness and ISAIAH. hypocrisy of the Jews. tracing the principal events of time, seems at length to have terminated his views in eternity, where all revolutions cease, where the blessedness of the righteous shall be unchangeable as the new heavens, and the misery of the wicked as the fire that shall not be quenched. A. M. cir. 3292. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum M. eir. 3292. Olymp. XVII: 1. Numa Pompilii, B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum THUS saith the LORD, The eut off a dog's neck; he that heaven is my throne, and the offereth an oblation, as if he offerNuma Pompilii, earth is my footstool where is ed swine's blood; he that h burneth the house that ye build unto me? incense, as if he blessed an idol, and where is the place of my rest? Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. R. Roman., 4. с 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and d trembleth at my word.. 3. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a flamb, as if he a1 Kings viii. 27; 2 Chron. vi. 18; Matt. v. 34, 35; Acts vii. 48, 49; xvii. 24.b Chap. lvii. 15; lxi. 1.—Psa. xxxiv. 18; li. 17.- d Ezra ix. 4; x. 3; Prov. xxviii. 14; ver. 5. NOTES ON CHAP. LXVI. R. Roman., 4. 4 I also will choose their i delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; * because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. same time affected great strictness in the performance of all the external services of religion. God, by the Prophet Ezekiel, upbraids the Jews with the same practices: "When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it," chap. xxiii. 39. Of the same kind was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in our Saviour's time: “who devoured widows' houses, and for a pretence This chapter is a continuation of the subject of the foregoing. The Jews valued themselves much upon their temple, and the pompous system of services performed in it, which they supposed were to be of perpetual duration; and they assumed great confidence and merit to themselves for their strict observance of all the externals of their religion. And at the very time when the judgments denounced in verses 6 and 12 of the pre-made long prayers,” Matt. xxiii. 14. ceding chapter were hanging over their heads, they were rebuilding, by Herod's munificence, the temple in a most magnificent manner. God admonishes them, that "the Most High dwelleth not in, temples made with hands;" and that a mere external worship, how diligently soever attended, when accompanied with wicked and idolatrous practices in the worshippers, would never be accepted by him. This their hypocrisy is set forth in strong colours, which brings the prophet again to the subject of the former chapter; and he pursues it in a different manner, with more express declaration of the new economy, and of the flourishing state of the Church under it. The increase of the Church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the Christian faith, are to be employed in the Divine mission to the Gentiles, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gentiles as an offering to God; see Rom. xv. 16. And both, now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable. The generality of interpreters, by departing from the literal rendering of the text, have totally lost the true sense of it, and have substituted in its place what makes no good sense at all; for it is not easy to show how, in any circumstances, sacrifice and murder, the presenting of legal offerings and idolatrous worship, can possibly be of the same account in the sight of God. These two chapters manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans.-L. Verse 2. And all those things have been—" And all these things are mine"] A word absolutely necessary to the sense is here lost out of the text: li, mine. It is preserved by the Septuagint and Syriac. Verse 3. He that hilleth an ox is as if he slew a man "He that slayeth an ox killeth a man"]. These are instances of wickedness joined with hypocrisy; of the most flagitious crimes committed by those who at the He that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood-"That maketh an oblation offereth swine's blood"] A word here likewise, necessary to complete the sense, is perhaps irrecoverably lost out of the text. The Vulgate and Chaldee add the word offereth, to make out the sense; not, as I imagine, from any different reading, (for the word wanted seems to have been lost before the time of the oldest of them, as the Septuagint had it not in their copy,) but from mere necessity. Le Clerc thinks that hy maaleh is to be repeated from the beginning of this member; but that is not the case in the parallel members, which have another and a different verb in the second place. " dam, sic Versiones; putarem tamen legendum participium aliquod, et quidem i zabach, cum sequatur cheth, nisi jam præcesserat." -SECKER: Houbigant supplies achal, eateth. After all, I think the most probable word is that which the Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have designed to represent; that is, ' makrib, offereth. pubeshikkútsey In their abominations: hem," and in their abominations;" two copies of the Machazor, and one of Kennicott's MSS. have na ubegilluleyhem, "and in their idols." So the Vulgate and Syriac. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompense to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. Ver. 1. Chap. v. 19.2 Thess. i. 10; Tit. ii. 13. Or, beget. -p Or, brightness. $ Verse 5. Your brethren that hated you—said—“ Say ye to your brethren that hate you"] The Syriac reads DJ's 198 imru laacheychem; and so the Septuagint, Edit. Comp. sirare adsλpois iuwv and MS. Marchal. has adepois and so Cyril and Procopius read and explain it. It is not easy to make sense of the reading of the Septuagint in the other editions; Tare αδελφοι ήμων τοις μισουσιν ὑμας· but for ήμων, our, MS. 1. D. II. also has iuwv, your. Verse 6. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord] It is very remarkable that similar words were spoken by Jesus, son of Ananias, previously to the destruction of Jerusalem. See his very affecting history related by Josephus, WAR, B. vi., chap. v. of the Gentiles, B. C. cir. 742. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, A. M. cir. 3292. and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum R. Roman., 4. 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the Pabundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 8 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ziz; but, as far as it appears to me, without any authority. I am more inclined to accede to the opinion of those learned rabbins, and to think that there is some mistake in the word; for that in truth is their opinion, though they disguise it by saying that the corrupted word means the very same with that which they believe to be genuine. So in chap. xli. 24 they say that yos apha, a viper, means the same with D ephes, nothing; instead of acknowledging that one is written by mistake instead of the other. I would propose to Verse 8. Who hath seen" And who hath seen"] read in this place in mizzin or fi mizzen, which is Twenty MSS., (four ancient,) of Kennicott's, and the reading of one of De Rossi's MS., (instead of in twenty-nine of De Rossi's, and two ancient of my own,meziz,) from the stores, from ¡11 zun, to nourish, to and the two oldest editions, with two others, have feed; see Gen. xlv. 23; 2 Chron. xi. 23; Psa. cxliv, umi, adding the conjunction 1 vau; and so read all the ancient versions. AND who hath seen? Verse 9. Shall I bring to the birth] v.haani ashbir, num ego matricem frangam; MONTANUS. The word means that which immediately precedes the appearance of the fetus-the breaking forth of the liquor amnii. This also is an expression that should be studiously avoided in prayers and sermons. Verse 11. With the abundance of her glory-" From her abundant stores."] For in mizziz, from the splendour, two MSS. and the old edition of 1488, have 15 mizziv; and the latter zain is upon a rasure in three other MSS. It is remarkable that Kimchi and Sal.. ben Melec, not being able to make any thing of the word as it stands in the text, say it means the 13. And this perhaps may be meant by Aquila, who renders the word by απο παντοδαπιας· with which that of the Vulgate, ab omnimoda gloria, and of Symmachus and Theodotion, nearly agree. The-Chaldee follows a different reading, without improving the sense; "meyin, from the wine.-L. Verse 12. Like a river, and—like a flowing stream "Like the great river, and like the overflowing stream"] That is, the Euphrates, (it ought to have been pointed cannahar, ut fluvius ille, as the river,) and the Nile. Then shall ye suck-" And ye shall suck at the breast"] These two words by al shad, at the breast, seem to have been omitted in the present text, from their likeness to the two words following; y y al Glorious ingathering A. M. cir. 3292. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R. Roman., 4. 15 For, behold, the LORD | abomination, and the mouse, shall will come with fire, and with his be consumed together, saith the chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire... Chap. ix. 5; 2 Thess. i. 8.- - Chap. xxvii. 1. tsad, at the side. A very probable conjecture of Houbigant. The Chaldee and Vulgate have omitted the two latter words instead of the two former. See note on chap. lx. 4. Verse 15. The Lord will come with fire-" JEHOVAH shall come as a fire"] For VN baesh, in fire, the Septuagint had in their copy sp kaesh, as a fire; ὡς πυρ. LORD. A. M. cir. 3292. B: C. cir. 712. cir. annum 18 For I know their works and their thoughts; it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 y And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lúd, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar Chap. lxv. 3, 4. Or, one after another. - Luke ii. 34. flesh." I suppose they all read in their copies I know not what to make of this place; it is certain that our translation makes no sense, and that of the learned prelate seems to me too refined. Kimchi interprets this of the Turks, who are remarkable for ablutions. "Behind one in the midst" he understands of a large fish-pond placed in the middle of their gardens. Others make in achad a deity, as above; and a deity of various names it is supposed to be, for it is Achad, and Chad, and Hadad, and Achath, and Hecat, an Assyrian idol. Behynd the fyrst tree or the gate withine forth.—Old MS. Bible. Verse 18. For I know their works] A word is here To render his anger with fury—“ To breathe forth his anger in a burning heat"] Instead of an lehashib, as pointed by the Masoretes, to render, I understand it as n lehashshib, to breathe, from w nashab. Verse 17.. Behind one trèe—“ After the rites of Achad"] The Syrians worshipped a god called Adad. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 11; Macrob. Sat. i. 23. They held him to be the highest and greatest of the gods, and to be the same with Jupiter and the sun; and the name Adad, says Macrobius, signifies one; as like-lost out of the present text, leaving the text quite imwise does the word Achad in Isaiah. Many learned men therefore have supposed, and with some probability, that the prophet means the same pretended deity. achad, in the Syrian and Chaldean dialects, is n chad; and perhaps by reduplication of the last letter to express perfect unity, it may have become chadad, not improperly expressed by Macrobius Adad, without the aspirate. It was also pronounced by the Syrians themselves, with a weaker aspirate, 177 hadad; as in Benhadad, Hadadezer, names of their kings, which were certainly taken from their chief object of worship. This seems to me to be a probable account of this name. But the Masoretes correct the text in this place. Their marginal reading is nns achath, which is the same word, only in the feminine form; and so read thirty MSS. (six ancient) and the two oldest editions. This Le Clerc approves, and supposes it to mean Hecate, or the moon; and he supports his hypothesis by arguments not at all improbable. See his note on the place. Whatever the particular mode of idolatry which the prophet refers to might be, the general sense of the place is perfectly clear. But the Chaldee and Syriac, and after them Symmachus and Theodotion, cut off at once all these difficulties, by taking the word achad in its common meaning, not as a proper name; the two latter rendering the sentence thus: Orlow αλληλων εν μέσῳ εσθιόντων το κρέας το χοιρειον ; “ One after another, in the midst of those that eat swine's perfect. The word is y yodea, knowing, ‘supplied It shall come " And I come"] For 7 baah, which will not accord with any thing in the sentence, I read & ba, with a MS.; the participle answering to y yodea, with which agree the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. Perhaps it ought to be N veba, when I shall come, Syr.; and so the Septuagint, according to Edit. Ald. and Complut., and Cod. Marchal. Verse 19. That draw the bow] I much suspect that the words up moshechey kesheth, who draw the bow, are a corruption of the word meshek, Moschi, the name of a nation situated between the Euxine and Caspian seas; and properly joined with tubal, the Tibareni. See Bochart, Phaleg. iii. 12. The Septuagint have pooox, without any thing of the drawers of the bow : the word being once taken for a participle, the bow was added to make sense of it. |