CHAP. I.

A. M. cir. 3244. the LORD of hosts, the mighty of righteousness, the faithful A. M. cir. 3244.

one of Israel, Ah, I will ease city.

me of mine adversaries, and
avenge me of mine enemies:

25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

Purge away thy dross-"In the furnace"] The text has cabbor, which some render "as with soap ;" as if it were the same with n keborith; so Kimchi; but soap can have nothing to do with the purifying of metals. Others, "according to purity," or "purely," as our version. Le Clerc conjectured that the true reading is kechur, “as in the furnace;" see Ezek. Dr. Durell proposes only a transposito to the same sense; and so likewise That this is the true reading is

* Chap. xliii. 17. Or, and his work. and verdant by the waters of the Barrady, (the Chrysorrhoas of the ancients.) which supply both the gardens and city in great abundance. This river, as soon as it issues out from between the cleft of the mountain before mentioned into the plain, is immediately divided into three streams; of which the middlemost and big

h Chap. Ixv. 3; lxvi. 17. Ezek. xxxii. 21. up and destroyed. An ancient, who was an inhabitant and a native of this country, understands it in like manner of a tree blasted with uncommon and immoderate heat; velut arbores, cum frondes astu torrente decusserunt. Ephrem Syr. in loc., edit. Assemani. Compare Psa. i. 4; Jer. xvii. 8. Upon the whole I have chosen to make it the ilex, which word Vossius, Ety-gest runs directly to Damascus, and is distributed to all molog., derives from the Hebrew ellah, that whether the word itself be rightly rendered or not, I might at least preserve the propriety of the poetic image.-L.

By the iler the learned prelate means the holly, which, though it generally appears as a sort of shrub, grows, in a good soil, where it is unmolested, to a considerable height. I have one in my own garden, rising three stems from the root, and between twenty and thirty feet in height. It is an evergreen.

Verse 29. For they shall be ashamed—“For ye shall be ashamed"] wan teboshu, in the second person, Vulgate, Chaldee, three MSS., one of my own, ancient, and one edition; and in agreement with the rest of the

sentence.

the cisterns and fountains of the city. The other two
(which I take to be the work of art) are drawn round,
one to the right hand, and the other to, the left, on the
borders of the gardens, into which they are let as they
pass, by little currents, and so dispersed all over the
vast wood, insomuch that there is not a garden but has
a fine quick stream running through it. The Barrady
is almost wholly drunk up by the city and gardens.
What small part of it escapes is united, as I was in-
formed, in one channel again on the southeast side of
the city; and, after about three or four hours' course,
finally loses itself in a bog there, without ever arriving
at the sea. This was likewise the case in former
times, as Strabo, lib. xví., Pliny, lib. v. 18, testify;
who say,
"that this river was expended in canals, and
drunk up by watering the place.”

Verse 30. Whose leaf-"Whose leaves"] Twentysix of Kennicott's, twenty-four of De Rossi's, one an- The best sight," says the same Maundrell, p. 39, cient, of my own, and seven editions, ready aleyha," that the palace of the emir of Beroot, anciently Bein its full and regular form. This is worth remarking, as it accounts for a great number of anomalies of the like kind, which want only the same authority to rectify them.

rytus, affords, and the worthiest to be remembered, is the orange garden. It contains a large quadrangular plat of ground, divided into sixteen lesser squares, four in a row, with walks between them. The walks are shaded with orange, trees of a large spreading size. Every one of these sixteen lesser squares in the garden was bordered with stone; and in the stone work were troughs, very artificially contrived, for conveying the water all over the garden; there being little outlets cut at every tree for the stream as it passed by to flow out and water it." The royal gardens at Ispahan are watered just in the same manner, according to Kemp

As a garden that hath no water—“A garden wherein is no water."] In the hotter parts of the Eastern countries, a constant supply of water is so absolutely necessary for the cultivation and even for the preservation and existence of a garden, that should it want water but for a few days, every thing in it would be burnt up with the heat, and totally destroyed. There is therefore no garden whatever in those countries but what has such a certain supply, either from some neigh-fer's description, Amen. Exot., p. 193. bouring river, or from a reservoir of water collected from springs, or filled with rain water in the proper season, in sufficient quantity to afford ample provision for the rest of the year.

Moses, having described the habitation of man newly created as a garden planted with every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food, adds, às a circumstance necessary to complete the idea of a garden, that it was well supplied with water, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;" Gen. ii. 10: see also xiii. 10. That the reader may have a clear notion of this matter, it will be necessary to give some account of the management of their gardens in this respect.

This gives us a clear idea of the D'ho palgey mayim, mentioned in the first Psalm, and other places of Scripture, "the divisions of waters," the waters distributed in artificial canals; for so the phrase properly signifies. The prophet Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 8, has imitated, and elegantly amplified, the passage of the psalmist above referred to :—

"He shall be like a tree planted by the water side,
And which sendeth forth her roots to the aqueduct.
She shall not fear, when the heat cometh;
But her leaf shall be green;

And in the year of drought she shall not be anxious,
Neither shall she cease from bearing fruit."

"Damascus," says Maundrell, p. 122, "is encompassed with gardens, extending no less, according to From this image the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xxiv. common estimation, than thirty miles round; which 30, 31, has most beautifully illustrated the influence makes it look like a city in a vast wood. The gardens and the increase of religious wisdom in a well prepared are thick set with fruit trees of all kinds, kept fresh | heart.

A prophecy of the

"I also come forth as a canal from a river,
And as a conduit flowing into a paradise.
I said, I will water my garden,

And I will abundantly moisten my border:
And, lo! my canal became a river,

And my river became a sea."

being so disposed that the waters of the uppermost may descend into the second, and those of the second into the third. Their figure is quadrangular, the breadth is the same in all, amounting to about ninety paces. In their length there is some difference between them; the first being about one hundred and sixty paces long,

This gives us the true meaning of the following ele- the second, two hundred, and the third, two hundred gant proverb, Prov. xxi. 1:

and twenty. They are all lined with wall and plas

"The heart of the king is like the canals of waters tered; and contain a great depth of water."

in the hand of JEHOVAH; Whithersoever it pleaseth him, he inclineth it." The direction of it is in the hand of JEHOVAH, as the distribution of the water of the reservoir through the garden by different canals is at the will of the gardener. "Et, cum exustus ager morientibus æstuat herbis, Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam Elicit illa cadens raucum per levia murmur Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva.' Virg., Georg. i. 107. "Then, when the fiery suns too fiercely play, And shrivelled herbs on withering stems decay, The wary ploughman on the mountain's brow Undams his watery stores; huge torrents flow; And, rattling down the rocks, large moisture yield, Tempering the thirsty fever of the field." DRYDEN. Solomon, Eccles. ii. 5, 6, mentions his own works

of this kind

"I made me gardens, and paradises;

And I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
I made me pools of water,

To water with them the grove flourishing with trees." Maundrell, p. 88, has given a description of the remains, as they are said to be, of these very pools made by Solomon, for the reception and preservation of the waters of a spring, rising at a little distance from them; which will give us a perfect notion of the contrivance and design of such reservoirs. "As for the pools, they are three in number, lying in a row above each other;

The immense works which were made by the ancient kings of Egypt for recovering the waters of the Nile, when it overflowed, for such uses, are well known. But there never was a more stupendous work of this kind than the reservoir of Saba, or Merab, in Arabia Felix. According to the tradition of the country, it was the work of Balkis, that queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. It was a vast lake formed by the collection of the waters of a torrent in a valley, where, at a narrow pass between two mountains, a very high mole or dam was built. The water of the lake so formed had near twenty fathoms depth; and there were three sluices at different heights, by which, at whatever height the lake stood, the plain below might be watered. By conduits and canals from these sluices the water was constantly distributed in due proportion to the several lands; so that the whole country for many miles

became a perfect paradise. The city of Saba, or Me

rab, was situated immediately below the great damn; a great flood came, and raised the lake above its usual height; the dam gave way in the middle of the night; the waters burst forth at once, and overwhelmed the whole city, with the neighbouring towns and people. The remains of eight tribes were forced to abandon their dwellings, and the beautiful valley became a morass and a desert. This fatal catastrophe happened long before the time of Mohammed, who mentions it in the Koran, chap. xxxiv. ver. 15. See also Sale, Prelim. s. i. p. 10, and Michaelis, Quest. aux Voyag. Dan. No. 94. Niebuhr, Descrip. de l'Arabie, p. 240.-L.

CHAPTER II.

Great

Prophecy concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, and the conversion of the Gentile world, 1-5. wickedness and idolatry of the unbelieving Jews, 6–9. Terrible consternation that will seize the wicked, who shall in vain seek for rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of God in the day of his judgments, 10-17. Total destruction of idolatry in consequence of the establishment of Messiah's kingdom, An exhortation to put no confidence in man, 22.

18-21.

A. M. cir. 3244.
B. C. cir. 760.
Anno Olymp.
Quintæ I.
Ante Urbem
Conditam 7.

THE word that Isaiah the son
of Amoz saw concerning

Judah and Jerusalem.

с

in the last days that the moun- A. M. cir. 3244. tain of the LORD's house shall d be established in the top of the

2 And it shall come to pass mountains, and shall be exalted

a Mic. iv. 1, &c.- b Gen. xlix. 1; Jer. xxiii. 30.

The prophecy contained in the second, third, and fourth chapters, makes one continued discourse. The first five verses of chap. ii. foretell the kingdom of Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their admission into it. From the sixth verse to the end of the second chapter is foretold the punishment of the

c Psa. lxviii. 15, 16.

B. C. cir. 760.
Anno Olymp.
Quintæ I.
Ante Urbem
Conditam 7.

-d Or, prepared.

unbelieving Jews for their idolatrous practices, their confidence in their own strength, and distrust of God's protection; and moreover the destruction of idolatry, in consequence of the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. The whole of the third chapter, with the first verse of the fourth, is a prophecy of the calami

A prophecy of the

4. M. cir. 3244.

B. C. cir. 760.
Anno Olymp.
Quintæ I.
Ante Urbem
Conditam 7.

above the hills; and all nations [up to the mountain of the LORD,
shall flow unto it.
to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths:

3 And many people shall go
and say,
Come ye and let us go

* Psa. lxxii. 8; chap. xxvii. 13.

ties of the Babylonian invasion and captivity; with a particular amplification of the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Sion; chap. iv. 2-6 promises to the remnant, which shall have escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour and protection of God.

A. M. cir. 3244.

B. C. cir. 760.

Anno Olymp.

Jer. xxxi. 6; 1. 5; Zech. viii. 21, 23.

Quintæ I.
Ante Urbem
Conditam 7.

For the mouth of JEHOVAH, God of hosts, hath
spoken it."

The description of well established peace, by the
image of "beating their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks," is very poetical. The
Roman poets have employed the same image, Martial,
xiv. 34. "Falx ex ense."

This prophecy was probably delivered in the time
of Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah, as Isaiah is
said to have prophesied in his reign; to which time
not any of his prophecies is so applicable as that of
these chapters. The seventh verse of the second,
and the latter part of the third chapter, plainly point
out times in which riches abounded, and luxury and
delicacy prevailed. Plenty of silver and gold could
nly arise from their commerce; particularly from
that part of it which was carried on by the Red Sea.
This circumstance seems to confine the prophecy
within the limits above mentioned, while the port of
Flath was in their hands: it was lost under Ahaz, and And so likewise the Roman poets:-
never recovered.

"Pax me certa ducis placidos curvavit in usus :
Agricolæ nunc sum; militis ante fui."

"Sweet peace has transformed me. I was once
the property of the soldier, and am now the property
of the husbandman."

NOTES ON CHAP. II.

The prophet Joel, chap. iii. 10, hath reversed it,
and applied it to war prevailing over peace :-

"Beat your ploughshares into swords,
And your pruning-hooks into spears."

Non ullus aratro

Dignus honos: squalent abductis arva colonis,
Et curvæ rigidum falces conflantur in ensem.
Virg., Georg. i. 506.

:

"Agriculture has now no honour the husbandmen
being taken away to the wars, the fields are overgrown
with weeds, and the crooked sickles are straightened
into swords."

Bella diu tenuere viros: erat aptior ensis
Vomere: cedebat taurus arator equo.
Sarcula cessabant; versique in pila ligones; ·
Factaque de rastri pondere cassis erat.

Ovid, Fast. i. 697.

"War has lasted long, and the sword is preferred to the plough. The bull has given place to the warhorse; the weeding-hooks to pikes; and the harrowpins have been manufactured into helmets."

Verse 2. In the last days-"In the latter days"] "Wherever the latter times are mentioned in Scripture, the days of the Messiah are always meant," says Kimchi on this place: and, in regard to this place, nothing can be more clear and certain. And the mountain of the Lord's house, says the same author, is Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built. The prophet Micah, chap. iv. 1-4, has repeated this prophecy of the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, and of its progress to universality and perfection, in the same words, with little and hardly any material variation for as he did not begin to prophesy till Jotham's time, and this seems to be one of the first of Isaiah's prophecies, I suppose Micah to have taken it from hence. The variations, as I said, are of no great importance. Ver. 2. 1 hu, after 8 venissa, a word of some emphasis, may be supplied from MiThe prophet Ezekiel, chap. xvii. 22-24, has precah, if dropped in Isaiah. An ancient MS. has it signified the same great event with equal clearness, here in the margin. It has in like manner been lost though in a more abstruse form, in an allegory; from in chap. liii. 4, (see note on the place,) and in Psa. an image, suggested by the former part of the proxxii. 29, where it is supplied by the Syriac and Sep-phecy, happily introduced, and well pursued :— tuagint. Instead of Dan col haggoyim, all the nations, Micah has only D'by ammim, peoples; where the Syriac has Dry col ammim, all peoples, as probably it ought to be. Ver. 3. For the second el, read veel, seventeen MSS., one of my own, ancient, two editions, the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Chaldee, and so Micah iv. 2. Ver. 4. Micah adds pad rachok, afar off, which the Syriac also reads in this parallel place of Isaiah. It is also to be observed that Micah has improved the passage by adding a verse, or sentence, for imagery and expression worthy even of the elegance of Isaiah:"And they shall sit every man under his vine,

And under his fig tree, and none shall affright them :

"Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH :

I myself will take from the shoot of the lofty cedar,
Even a tender scion from the top of his scions will
I pluck off:

And I myself will plant it on a mountain high and
eminent.

On the lofty mountain of Israel will I plant it;
And it shall exalt its branch, and bring forth fruit;
And it shall become a majestic cedar :
And under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing;
In the shadow of its branches shall they dwell:
And all the trees of the field shall know,
That I JEHOVAH have brought low the high tree;
Have exalted the low tree;

ply"] Seven MSS. and one edition, for p'a yaspiku, read D' yaspichu, "and have joined themselves to the children of strangers;" that is, in marriage or worship.-Dr. JUBB. So Vulg., adhæserunt. Compare chap. xiv. 1. But the very learned professor Chevalier Michaelis has explained the word

'

The word 'n venathatti, in this passage, ver. 22, as the sentence now stands, appears incapable of being reduced to any proper construction or sense. None of the ancient versions acknowledge it, except Theo-yesupachu, Job xxx. 7, (German translation, note on the place,) in another manner; which perfectly well dotion, and the Vulgate; and all but the latter vary very much from the present reading of this clause. agrees with that place, and perhaps will be found to no saphiach, the noun, Houbigant's correction of the passage, by reading in- give as good a sense here. means corn springing up, not from the seed regularly stead of 'venathatti, ♫ veyoneketh, and a tender scion—which is not very unlike it, perhaps better sown on cultivated land, but in the untilled field, from the scattered grains of the former harvest. This, by par veyonek, with which the adjective 1 rach will agree without alteration-is ingenious and probable; children irregularly and casually begotten. an easy metaphor, is applied to a spurious brood of The Septuagint seem to have understood the verb here in this sense, reading it as the Vulgate seems to have done. This justifies their version, which it is hard to account for in any other manner : και τεκνα πολλα αλλόφυλα εγενήθη αυτοίς. Compare Hos. v. 7,. and the Septuagint there. But instead of 1 ubeyaldey, “and in si's MSS. have 1 ucheyaldey, “and as the chilthe children," two of Kennicott's and eight of De Ros

and I have adopted it in the above translation.-L. Verse 3. To the house] The conjunction 1 vau is added by nineteen of Kennicott's, thirteen of De Rossi's MSS., one of my own, and two editions, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, and some copies of the Targum; AND to the house. It makes the sentence more emphatic.

He will teach us of his ways] Unless God grant a revelation of his will, what can we know?

We will walk in his paths] - Unless we purpose to walk in the light, of what use can that light be to us? For out of Zion shall go forth the law] In the house of God, and in his ordinances only, can we expect to hear the pure doctrines of revelation preached. 1. God alone can give a revelation of his own will. 2. We must use the proper means in order to know this will. 3. We should know it in order to do it. 4. We should do it in order to profit by it. 5. He who will not walk in the light when God vouchsafes it, shall be shut up in everlasting darkness. 6. Every man should help his neighbour to attain that light, life, and felicity: "Come ye, and let us walk in the light

of the Lord."

Verse 4. Neither shall they learn war any more.] If wars are necessary, how deep must that fall be that renders them so! But what a reproach to humanity is the trade of war! Men are regularly instructed in it, as in any of the necessary arts. "How to dislodge most souls from their frail shrines By bomb, sword, ball, and bayonet, is the art Which some call great and glorious!"

dren."

strangers.

And they sin impudently as the children of
See De Rossi.

And are soothsayers-"They are filled with diviners"] Heb. "They are filled from the east ;" or 66 more than the east." The sentence is manifestly imperfect. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Chaldee, seem to have read ɔɔ kemikkedem; and the latter, with another word before it, signifying idols; "they are filled with idols as from of old." Houbigant, for mikkedem, reads mikkesem, as Brentius had proposed long ago. I rather think that both words toge

מקדם

מקסם

מקסם ,mikkedem מקדם : ther give us the true reading

mikkesem, "with divination from the east ;" and that the first word has been by mistake omitted, from its

similitude to the second.

his land is filled with horses"] This was in direct Verse 7. Their land is also full of horses—“ And contradiction to God's command in the law: "But he (the king) shall not multiply horses to himself; nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he, should multiply horses; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold,” Deut. xvii. 16, 17. Uzziah seems to have followed the example of Solomon, see 1 Kings x. 26–29, who first transgressed in these particulars; he recovered the port of Elath on Verse 6. They be replenished—" And they multi-the Red Sea, and with it that commerce which in

And is this a necessary part of a finished education in civilized society? O Earth! Earth! Earth!