(Psa. cxxi. 4, 5.- -2 Sam. xxiii. 6; chap. ix. 18.- hOr, » Job xxiii. 6; Psa. vi. 1; Jer. x. 24; xxx. 11; xlvi. 28; 1 Cor. march against.- Chap. xxv. 4. Job xxii. 21. Chap. x. 13.- 0 Or, when thou sendest it forth. - Or, when he removeth xxxvii. 31; Hos. xiv. 5, 6.- Heb. according to the stroke of those. it. - Psa. lxxviii. 38. VINEYARD. Let him make peace with me! Peace let him make with me! 6. JEHOVAH. They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. in chomah, wall, is not found in any MS. in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, nor in any of my own MSS. However, one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. has cheimah; but probably that which now appears to be A vineyard of red wine] The redder the wine, the a yod was formerly a 1 vau, and now partially oblimore it was valued, says Kimchi. Bishop Lowth translates, To the beloved vineyard. For chemer, red, a multitude of MSS. and editions have chemed, desirable. This is supported by the Septuagint and Chaldee. Verse 3. Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day-" "I will take care of her by night; and by day I will keep guard over her"] For p¡ pen yiphkod, lest any visit it, the Syriac read psi veephkod, and I will visit it. Twenty MSS. of Kennicott's, fourteen of De Rossi's, and two of my own, and six editions read 7 ephkod, I will visit, in the first person. Verse 4. Fury is not in me" I have no wall"] For chemah, anger, the Septuagint and Syriac read in chomah, wall. An ancient MS. has on cheimah. For n bah, in her, two MSS. read Da bam, in them, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall and a fence of thorns-human strength and protection, (as the Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbours for assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Egypt:) JEHOVAH replies, that this would not avail her, nor defend her against his wrath. He counsels her, therefore, to betake herself to his protection. On which she entreats him to make peace with her. From the above note it appears that the bishop reads in chomah, wall, for a chemah, anger or fury, in accordance with the Syriac and Septuagint. The letter vau makes the only difference, which letter is frequently absent from many words where its place is supplied by the point. cholem: it might have been so here formerly; and in process of time both vau and cholem might have been lost. The Syriac supports the learned bishop's criticism, as the word ao shora is there used; which word in the plural is found, Heb. xi. 30: "By faith the walls of Jericho." The bishop thinks the Septuagint is on his side: to me, it seems neither for nor against the criticism. The words in the Vatican copy are εγω πολις οχυρά, I am a fortified city; which the Arabic follows: but ་ terated. This song receives much light from being collated with that in chap. v.; and perhaps the bishop's criticism will find its best support from such a collation. In ver. 5 of that chapter, God threatens to take away the wall of his vineyard: this was done; and here the vineyard complains, I have no wall, and wishes for any kind of defence rather than be thus naked. This is the only natural support of the above criticism. "About Tripoli there are abundance of vineyards and gardens, inclosed, for the most part, with hedges, which chiefly consist of the rhamnus, paliurus, oxyacantha," &c. Rawolf, p. 21, 22. A fence of thorns is esteemed equal to a wall for strength, being commonly represented as impenetrable. See Mic. vii. 4; Hos. ii. 6. Who would set the briers and thorns against me— "O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier"] Seven MSS., (two ancient,) and one edition, with the Syriac, Vulgate, and Aquila, read ♫ veshayith, with the conjunction vau prefixed: Who would set the briers and thorns. N' DW ''mi yitteneni shamir shayith, Who shall give me the brier and thorn, i. e., for a defence but hear Kimchi: "Who (the vineyard) hath given me (Jehovah) the brier and the thorn instead of good grapes." ་ Verse 5. Or" Ah"] For o I read Noi, as it was at first in a MS. The yod was easily lost, being followed by another 'yod. Verse 6. To take root—“ From the root"] For yashresh, I read, with the Syriac, vɔwɔ mishshoresh. And for 11 yatsits uparach, no 1873" yatsitsu parach, joining the 1 vau to the first word, and taking that into construction with the first part of the sentence, Israel shall bud forth. I suppose the dialogue to be continued in this verse, which pursues the same image of the allegory, but in the way of metaphor, Verse 9. The groves-" And if the groves"] velo. Four MSS., two ancient, of Kennicott's, and one Promises of favour B. C. cir. 712. CHAP. XXVIII. B. C. cir. 712. and restoration. 4. M. cir. 3292. Jacob be purged; and this is all understanding: therefore he that 4. M. cir. 3292. made them will not have mercy Olymp. XVII. 1. on them, and he that formed Numa Pompilii, them will show them no favour. R. Roman., 4. cir. annum Olymp. XVII. 1. the fruit to take away his sin; Nnma Pompili, when he maketh all the stones R. Roman., 4. of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. 10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. 11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire for it is a people of no : cir. annum 12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. u Deut. xxxii, 18; chap. xliii. 1, 7; xliv. 2, 21, 24.11. Matt, xxiv. 31; Rev. xi. 15. W Chap. ii. ancient of my own, with the Septuagint; this makes a prophet says that the vines themselves of the beloved fuller sense. vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken, and the Verse 10. There shall the calf feed] That is, the women shall come and gather them up, and carry away king of Egypt, says Kimchi. Verse 11. The boughs thereof-" Her boughs"] p ketsireyha, MS. and Vulg.; that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above. The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the east is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow-dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers; see Matt, vi. 21-30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here: "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel;" chap. xv. 3, 4. "If a man abide not in me," saith our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch of the vine and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned;" John xv. 6. They employed women and children to gather these things, and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel; but the the whole of them to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer's Observations, vol. i., p. 254, &c. Verse 12. The channel of the river] The river Sabbation, beyond which the Israelites were carried captive.-Kimchi. Verse 13. The great trumpet shall be blown] Does not this refer to the time spoken of by our Lord, Matt. xxiv. 31: He shall send forth his angels—the preachers of his Gospel, with a great sound of a trumpet— the earnest invitation to be saved by Jesus Christ; and shall gather his elect the Jews, his ancient chosen people, from the four winds-from all parts of the habitable globe in which they have been dispersed. In this prophet there are several predictions relative to the conversion of Egypt to the true faith, which have not yet been fulfilled, and which must be fulfilled, for the truth of God cannot fail. Should Egypt ever succeed in casting off the Ottoman yoke, and fully establish its independence, it is most likely that the Gospel of Christ would have a speedy entrance into it; and, according to these prophecies, a wide and permanent diffusion. At present the Mohammedan power is a genuine antichrist. This also the Lord will remove in due time. CHAPTER XXVIII. This chapter begins with a denunciation of the approaching ruin of the Israelites by Shalmaneser, whose power is compared to a tempest or flood, and his keenness to the avidity with which one plucks and swallows the grape that is soonest ripe, 1-4. It then turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of their brethren; and gives first a favourable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah, 5, 6; but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings for their intem· perance and their profaneness, 7, 8. They are introduced as not only scornfully rejecting, but also mocking and ridiculing, the instructions of the prophet, 9, 10. To this God immediately retorts in terms alluding to their own mocking, but differently applied, 11-13. The prophet then addresses these scoffers, 14; who considered themselves as perfectly secure from every evil, 15; and assures them that there was no method under heaven but one, by which they could be saved, 16; that every other vain resource should fail in the day of visitation, 17, 18. He then farther adds, that the judgments of God were particularly Woes denounced ISAIAH. against Ephraim. levelled against them; and that all the means to which they trusted for warding them off should be to no purpose, 19, 20; as the Almighty, who, on account of his patience and long-suffering, is amiably described as unacquainted with punishing, had nevertheless determined to punish them, 21, 22. The pro phet then concludes with a beautiful parable in explanation and defence of God's dealing with his people. 23-29. A. M. cir. 3279. Olymp. XIII. 4. cir. annum Romuli, WO to the crown of pride, to 3 The crown of pride, the the drunkards of Ephraim, drunkards of Ephraim, shall be whose glorious beauty is a fad-trodden under feet: R. Roman., 29. ing flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. A. M. cir. 329. B. C. eir. 725. cir. annum Romuli, 4 And the glorious beauty, R. Roman., 29. which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, a Ver. 3. b Ver. 4. Heb. broken. d Chap. xxx. 30; Ver. 1.- Heb. with feet. Ver. 1.- Heb. swalEzek. xii 11. loweth. quently throws out a third crop, or the winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the leaves are shed; and, provided the winter proves mild and tem Shaw, Travels, p. 370, fol. The image was very obvious to the inhabitants of Judea and the neighbouring countries, and is frequently applied by the prophets to express a desirable object; by none more elegantly than by Hosea, chap. ix. 10:— NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII. Verse 1. Wo to the crown of pride] By the crown of pride, &c., Samaria is primarily understood. "Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it;" Maun-perate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring;" drell, p. 58. "E regione horum ruderum mons est peramœnus, planitie admodum frugifera circumseptus, super quem olim Samaria urbs condita fuit;" Fureri Itinerarium, p. 93. The city, beautifully situated on the top of a round hill, and surrounded immediately with a rich valley and a circle of other hills beyond it, suggested the idea of a chaplet or wreath of flowers worn upon their heads on occasions of festivity, expressed by the proud crown and the fading flower of the drunkards. That this custom of wearing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, appears from the following passage of the book of Wisdom : "Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and oint ments, And let no flower of the spring pass by us: Verse 2. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one-" Behold the mighty one, the exceedingly strong one"]" ammits ladonai, fortis Domino, i. e., fortissimus, a Hebraism. For ladonai, to the Lord, thirty-eight MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's and many of De Rossi's, with some of my own, and two editions, read n laihovah, to JEHOVAH. Verse 3. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim "The proud crowns of the drunkards of Ephraim"] I read y ataroth, crowns, plural, to agree with the verb teramasnah, “shall be trodden down." "Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel; Like the first ripe fig in her prime, I saw your fathers." Which when he that looketh upon it seeth—“ Which whoso seeth, he plucketh it immediately"] For yireh, which with 8 haroch makes a miserable tautology, read, by a transposition of a letter, yoreh; a happy conjecture of Houbigant. The image expresses in the strongest manner the great ease with which the Assyrians shall take the city and the whole kingdom, and the avidity with which they shall seize the rich prey without resistance. Verse 5. In that day] Thus far the prophecy relates to the Israelites, and manifestly denounces their approaching destruction by Shalmaneser. Here it turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of God's people who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of the Israelites. It begins with a favourable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah; but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings for their intemperance, disobedience, and profaneness. Jonathan's Targum on this verse is worthy of notice: "In that time Messiah, the Lord of hosts, meshicha dagai tsebaoth, shall be a משיחא דיי צבאות Verse 4. The hasty fruit before the summer-" The early fruit before the summer"]"No sooner doth the boccore, (the early fig,) draw near to perfection in the middle or latter end of June, than the kermez or summer fig begins to be formed, though it rarely ripens before August; about which time the same tree fre- ever blessed Redeemer, Jesus Christ. crown of joy and a diadem of praise to the residue of his people." Kimchi says the rabbins in general are of this opinion. Here then the rabbins, and their most celebrated Targum, give the incommunicable name, Yehovah tsebaoth, the Lord of hosts, to our The abominable A. M. cir. 3279. B. C. cir. 725. cir. annum 6 And for a spirit of judgment | ness, so that there is no place A. M. cir. 3279. Olymp. XIII. 4. to him that sitteth in judgment, clean. Romuli, R. Roman., 29. i B. C. cir. 725. Olymp. XIII. 4. cir. annum Romuli, R. Roman., 29. 91 Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand "doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept "must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; *the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiChap. lvi. 10, 12.- Jer. vi. 10. n Heb. the hearing. Prov. xx. 1; Hos. iv. 11. Verse 6. The battle to the gate-"The war to the gate of the enemy."] That is, who pursue the fleeing enemy even to the very gates of their own city. " But we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate," 2 Sam. xi. 23; that is, we drove the enemy back to their own gates. See also 1 Sam. xvii. 52. The Targum says, The Messiah shall give the victory to those who go out to battle, that he may bring them back to their own houses in peace. Verse 9. Whom shall he teach knowledge?" Whom, say they, would he teach knowledge?"] The scoffers mentioned below, ver. 14, are here introduced as uttering their sententious speeches; they treat God's method of dealing with them, and warning them by his prophets, with contempt and derision. What, say they, doth he treat us as mere infants just weaned? doth he teach us like little children, perpetually inculcating the same elementary lessons, the mere rudiments of knowledge; precept after precept, line after line, here and there, by little and little? imitating at the same time, and ridiculing, in ver. 10, the concise prophetical manner. God, by his prophet, retorts upon them with great severity their own contemptuous mockery, turning it to a sense quite different from what they intended. Yes, saith he, it shall be in fact as you say; ye shall be taught by a strange tongue and a stammering lip; in a strange country; ye shall be carried into captivity by a people whose language shall be unintelligible to you, and which ye shall be forced to learn like children. And my dealing with you shall be according to your own words: it shall be command upon command for your punishment; it shall be line upon line, stretched over you to mark your destruction, (compare 2 Kings xxi. 13;) it shall come upon you at different times, and by different degrees, till the judgments, with which from time to time I have threatened you, shall have their full accomplishment. Jerome seems to have rightly understood the general design of this passage as expressing the manner in which the scoffers, by their sententious speeches, turned into ridicule the warnings of God by his prophets, though he has not so well explained the meaning of the repetition of their speech in ver. 13. His words are on ver. 9-" Solebant hoc ex persona prophetarum ludentes dicere:" and on ver. 14-" Quod supra diximus, eum irrisione solitos principes Judæorum prophetis dicere, manda, remanda, et cætera his 11 For with stammering Plips and another tongue will he speak to this people. similia, per quæ ostenditur, nequaquam eos prophetarum credidisse sermonibus, sed prophetiam habuisse despectui, præsens ostendit capitulum, per quod appellantur viri illusores." Hieron. in loc. And so Jarchi interprets the word 'n mishelim in the next verse: "Qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolicè." And the Chaldee paraphrases ver. 11 to the same purpose, understanding it as spoken, not of God, but of the people deriding his prophets: "Quoniam in mutatione loquelæ et in lingua subsannationis irridebant contra prophetas, qui prophetabant populo huic."-L. Verse 10. For precept must be upon precept] The original is remarkably abrupt and sententious. The hemistichs are these: לצר צו כי צו -- לצר Line to line, line to line. A little there, a little there. Kimchi says 1 tsav, precept, is used here for mitsvah, command, and is used in no other place for it but here. 13 tsav signifies a little precept, such as is suited to the capacity of a child; see ver. 9. p kav signifies the line that a mason stretches out to build a layer of stones by. After one layer or course is placed, he raises the line and builds another; thus the build ing is by degrees regularly completed. This is the method of teaching children, giving them such information as their narrow capacities can receive; and thus the prophet dealt with the Israelites. See Kimchi in loc., and see a fine parallel passage, Heb. v. 12-14, by which this may be well illustrated. My old MS. Bible translates oddly:- Commande that may be commanded; A gracious promise A. M. cir. 3279. ISAIAH. B. C. cir. 725. of the Messiah. 12 To whom he said, This is Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun- A. M. eir. 3279. Olymp. XIII. 4. the rest wherewith ye may cause dation a stone, a tried stone, a the weary to rest; and this is the precious corner stone, a sure refreshing yet they would foundation: he that believeth R. Roman, cir. annum Romuli, R. Roman., 29. not hear. 13 But the word of the LORD was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: 'for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves : shall not make haste. Olymp. XIII 4. cir. annu Romuli, 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. 20 For the bed is shorter than that a man 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, can stretch himself on it: and the covering Or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine. Amos ii. 4.- Gen. xlix. 42; Psa. cxviii. 22; Matt. xxi. 42; Acts Ver. 15.- Heb. a treading down to it. iv. 11; Rom. ix. 33; x. 11; Eph. ii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7, 8. Forbyd that maye be forbydden; Kepe backe that maye be kepte backe: Verse 12. This is the rest-"This is the true rest"] The sense of this verse is: God had warned them by his prophets that their safety and security, their deliverance from their present calamities and from the apprehensions of still greater approaching, depended wholly on their trust in God, their faith and obedience; but they rejected this gracious warning with contempt and mockery. Verse 15. A covenant with death] To be in covenant with, is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security from evil and mischief of any sort :— “For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the `field; at peace with Job v. 23. them with the And the beasts of the field shall be thee." “And I will make a covenant for beasts of the field, And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creep-ing things of the ground." Hos. ii. 18. With healing gifts and privileges graced, Rowe. We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement] nin ivy asinu chozeh, we have made a vision, we have had an interview, struck a bargain, and settled all preliminaries. So they had made a covenant with hell by diabolic sacrifice, uno carathnu berith, "We have cut the covenant sacrifice;" they divided it for the contracting parties to pass between the separated victim; for the victim was split exactly down the middle, so that even the spinal marrow was exactly divided through its whole length; and being set opposite to each other, the contracting parties entered, one at the head part, the other at the feet; and, meeting in the centre, took the covenant oath. Thus, it is intimated, these bad people made an agreement with 1 sheol, with demons, with whom they had an interview; i. e., meeting them in the covenant sacrifice! To such a pitch had the Israelitish idolatry reached at that time! Verse 16. Behold, I lay in Zion] See the notes on the parallel places in the margin. Kimchi understands this of Hezekiah; but it most undoubtedly belongs to Jesus Christ alone; and his application of it to himself See the margin as even the Jews could not contest. Verse 20. For the bed is shorter] A mashal of |