give you rest." There may be a sincere penitent, walking in darkness, having no light of salvation; for this is the case of all when they first begin to turn to God. What should such do? They should trust, believe on, the Lord Jesus, who died for them, and lean upon his all-sufficient merits for the light of salvation which God has promised. Thus acting, they will soon have a sure trust and confidence that God for Christ's sake has forgiven them their sin, and thus they shall have the light of life.

Verse 10. That obeyeth the voice of his servant"Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant"] For you shomea, pointed as the participle, the Septuagint and Syriac read yeyishma, future or imperative. This gives a much more elegant turn and distribution to the sentence.

แ

to trust in God.

That compass yourselves about with sparks" Who heap the fuel round about"] "na megozeley, accendentes, Syr.; forte legerunt pro i meazzerey D meirey; nam sequiturur."-Secker. Lud. Capellus, in his criticism on this place, thinks it should be "ND meazzerey, from the Septuagint, xarioXvovTES.

There are others who are widely different from those already described. Without faith, repentance, or a holy life, they are bold in their professed confidence in God-presumptuous in their trust in the mercy of God; and, while destitute of all preparation for and right to the kingdom of heaven, would think it criminal to doubt their final salvation! Living in this way, what can they have at the hand of God but an endless bed of sorrow! Ye shall lie down in

sorrow.

Verse 11. Ye that kindle a fire] The fire of their But there is a general sense, and accordant to the own kindling, by the light of which they walk with design of the prophecy, in which these words may be security and satisfaction, is an image designed to ex-understood and paraphrased: Behold, all ye that kindle press, in general, human devices and mere worldly a fire-provoke war and contention; compass yourpolicy, exclusive of faith, and trust in God; which, selves about with sparks—stirring up seditions and rethough they flatter themselves for a while with plea- bellions: walk in the light of your fire-go on in your sing expectations and some appearance of success, lust of power and restless ambition. Ye shall lie shall in the end turn to the confusion of the authors. down in sorrow-it will turn to your own perdition, Or more particularly, as Vitringa explains it, it may See the Targum. This seems to refer to the restless mean the designs of the turbulent and factious Jews spirit of the Jews, always stirring up confusion and in the times succeeding those of Christ, who, in pur- strife; rebelling against and provoking the Romans, suit of their own desperate schemes, stirred up the till at last their city was taken, their temple burnt to war against the Romans, and kindled a fire which the ground, and upwards of a million of themselves consumed their city and nation. destroyed, and the rest led into captivity!

CHAPTER LI.

The prophet exhorts the children of Abraham to trust in the Lord; and briefly, but beautifully, describes the great blessedness which should be the consequence, 1-3. Then, turning to the Gentiles, encourages them to look for a portion in the same salvation, 4, 5; the everlasting duration of which is majestically described, 6. And as it is everlasting, so is it sure to the righteous, notwithstanding all the machinations of their enemies, 7, 8. The faithful, then, with exultation and joy, lift their voices, reminding God of his wondrous works of old, which encourage them to look now for the like glorious accomplishment of these promises, 9-11. In answer to this the Divinity is introduced comforting them under their trials, and telling them that the deliverer was already on his way to save and to establish them, 12-16. On this the prophet turns to Jerusalem to comfort and congratulate her on so joyful a prospect. She is represented, by a bold image, as a person lying in the streets, under the intoxicating effects of the cup of the Divine wrath, without a single person from among her own people appointed to give her consolation, and trodden under the feet of her enemies; but, in the time allotted by the Divine providence, the cup of trembling shall be taken out of her hand, and put into that of her oppressors; and she shall drink it no more again for ever, 17-22.

A. M. cir. 3292.

B. C. cir. 712.

Olymp. XVII. 1.

cir. annum

Numa Pompilii, ye

a

ARKEN to me, bye that 2 Look unto Abraham your HEARKEN follow after righteousness, father, and unto Sarah that bare that seek the LORD; look you: for I called him alone, unto the rock whence ye are and blessed him, and increashewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

R. Roman., 4.

ed him.

3 For the LORD f shall comfort Zion: he

- Psa. cii. 13; chap. xl. 1; lii. 9; lxi. 2; Ixvi. 13; Zech. i. 17; ver. 12.

Ver. 7. Rom. ix. 30, 31, 32. e Rom. iv. 1, 16; Heb. xi. Gen. xxiv. 1, 35.11, 12.- d Gen. xii. 1, 2.

NOTES ON CHAP. LI.

Verse 1. Ye that follow after righteousness]. The people who, feeling the want of salvation, seek the Lord in order to be justified.

Abraham.

The rock]
The hole of the pit] Sarah; as explained in ver. 2.
Verse 2. I called him alone] As I have made out
of one a great nation; so, although ye are brought low

and minished, yet I can restore you to happiness, and tsedek, righteousness, is used in such a great latitude` greatly multiply your number.

m

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of. mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

17 PAwake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD

Or, made himself ready. Job xx. 7.Psa. Ixxiv. 13; Job xxvi. 12; chap. lix. 21; John iii. 34.

Jer. xxxi. 35.

-m

Chap. xlix. 2.

Job xxi. 20; Jer.

Zech. ix. 11.
Deut. xviii. 18;
Chap. lxv. 17;
xxi. 15, 16.

the cup of his fury; thou hast
drunken the dregs of the cup of
trembling, and wrung them out.
18 There is none to guide her
among all the sons whom she hath brought
forth; neither is there any that taketh her
by the hand of all the sons that she hath
brought up.

S

19 These two things are come unto thee, who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and "destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

by mistake there, because it was here. That it was desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword, there the Septuagint show by rendering pyn ham taking the terms alternately: of which form of conmetsikech Bouros CE, of him that oppressed thee.struction see other examples. De S. Poësi, Heb. And so they render this word in both its places in this verse. The Vulgate also has the pronoun in the first instance; furoris ejus qui te tribulabat." Dr. Jubb. The correction seems well founded; I have not conformed the translation to it, because it makes little difference in the sense.

Verse 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed-"He marcheth on with speed, who cometh to set free the captive"] Cyrus, if understood of the temporal redemption from the captivity of Babylon; in the spiritual sense, the Messiah, who comes to open the prison to them that are bound.

Verse 16. That I may plant the heavens-" To stretch out the heavens"]. In the present, text it is ylintoa, “to plant the heavens :" the phrase is certainly very obscure, and in all probability is a mistake for lintoth. This latter is the word used in ver. 13 just before, in the very same sentence; and this phrase occurs very frequently in Isaiah, chap. xl. 22, xlii. 5, xliv. 24, xlv. 12; the former in no other place. It is also very remarkable, that in the Samaritan text, Num. xxiv. 6, these two words are twice changed by mistake, one for the other, in the same

verse.

Verse 17. The cup of trembling] bynn D cos hattarelah, "the cup of mortal poison," veneni mortiferi.-MONTAN. This may also allude to the ancient custom of taking off criminals by a cup of poison. Socrates is well known to have been sentenced by the Areopagus to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock, which occasioned his death. See the note on Heb. ii. 9, and see also Bishop Lowth's note on ver. 21.

Verse 19. These two things-desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword] That is,

Præl. xix, and Prelim. Dissert. p. xxx. The Chaldee paraphrast, not rightly understanding this, has had recourse to the following expedient: "Two afflictions are come upon thee, and when four shall come upon thee, depredation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword-" Five MSS. have haraab, without the conjunction 1 vau; and so the Septuagint and Syriac.

By whom shall I comfort thee-"Who shall comfort thee"] A MS., the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate have it in the third person, ♪ yenachamech, which is evidently right.

Verse 20. As a wild bull in a net: they are full, &c.- 'Like the oryx taken in the toils; drenched to the full"] "Perhaps michmerah mehe, prefixed to meleim, full, seems improper in this place. Verse 21. Drunken, but not with wine] Eschylus has the same expression :—

leim." SECKER. The demonstrative

Eumen. 863.

Αοίνοις εμμανεις θυμωμασι· Intoxicated with passion, not with wine. Schultens thinks that this circumlocution, as he calls it, gradum adfert incomparabiliter majorem; and that it means, not simply without wine, but much more than with wine. Gram. Heb. p. 182. See his note on Job xxx. 38.

The bold image of the cup of God's wrath, often employed by the sacred writers, (see note on chap. i. 22,) is nowhere handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah, ver. 17-23. Jerusalem is represented in person as staggering under the effects of it, destitute of that assistance which she might expect from her children; not one of them being

God will confound all

A. M. cir. 3292.
B. C. cir. 712.

cir. annum

ISAIAH.

22 Thus saith thy Lord the Olymp. XVII. 1. LORD, and thy God y that pleadeth Numa Pompilii, the cause of his people, Behold I R. Roman., 4. have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

y Jer. 1. 34. Jer. xxv. 17, 26, 28; Zech. xii. 2. able to support or to lead her. They, abject and amazed, lie at the head of every street, overwhelmed with the greatness of their distress; like the oryx entangled in a net, in vain struggling to rend it, and extricate himself. This is poetry of the first order, sublimity of the highest character:

the enemies of his Church.

B. C. cir. 712.

Olymp. XVII. 1.
Numa Pompilii,

çır. annum

R. Roman., 4.

23 But I will put it into the A. M. cir. 3292.
hand of them that afflict thee;
which have said to thy soul,
Bow down, that we may go over:
and thou hast laid thy body as the ground,
and as the street, to them that went over.
a Psa. lxvi. 11, 12.

Blessings to these, to those distributes ills;
To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed
To taste the bad unmixed, is cursed indeed :
Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,
He wanders outcast both of earth and heaven."

POPE.

Verse 23. Them that afflict thee- Them who oppress thee"] "The Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate appear to have read monayich, as in chap. xl. 26."-Secker.

Which have said to thy soul, Bow down-"Who say to thee, Bow down thy body"] A very strong and most expressive description of the insolent pride of eastern conquerors; which, though it may seem greatly exaggerated, yet hardly exceeds the strict truth. An example has already been given of it in the note to chap. xlix. 23. I will here add one or two more.

Plato had an idea something like this: "Suppose," says he, "God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear, so that the more any one should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of every thing. both present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of men, should be totally possessed by fear and afterwards, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again." De Leg, i., near the end. He pursues at large this hypothesis, applying it to his own purpose, which has no relation to the present subject. Homer places two vessels at the disposal of Jupiter," Joshua called for all the men of Israel; and said unto one of good, the other of evil. He gives to some a potion mixed of both; to others from the evil vessel only: these are completely miserable. Iliad xxiv. 527-533. Δοιοι γαρ τε πιποι κατακείαται εν Διος ουδει Δωρων, οἷα διδωσι, κακων, ἕτερος δε εαων. Ω μεν καμμιξας δῴη Ζευς τερπικεραυνος, Αλλοτε μεν σε κακῳ όγε κύρεται, αλλοτε δ' εσθλῳ· Ω δε κε των λυγρων δῴη, λώβητον έθηκε, Και ὁ κακη βουβρωστις επι χθονα διαν ελαύνει· Φοιτᾳ δ' ούτε θεοισι τετιμένος, ούτι βροτοισιν, Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, The source of evil one, and one of good; From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,

the captains of the men of war that went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings,” Josh. x, 24. "Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: As I have done, so hath God requited me," Judg. i. 7. The Emperor Valerianus, being through treachery taken prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, was treated by him as the basest and most abject slave: for the Persian monarch commanded the unhappy Roman to bow himself down, and offer him his back, on which he set his foot, in order to mount his chariot or horse, whenever he had occasion, -LACTANTIUS, De Mort. Persec. cap. v. AUREL. VICTOR. Epitome, cap. xxxii.-L.

CHAPTER LII.

Jerusalem, in manifest allusion to the strong figure employed in the close of the preceding chapter, is represented as fallen asleep in the dust, and in that helpless state bound by her enemies. The prophet, with all the ardour natural to one who had such joyful news to communicate, bids her awake, arise, put on her best attire, (holiness to the Lord,) and ascend her lofty seat; and then he delivers the message he had in charge, a very consolatory part of which was, that "no more should enter into her the uncircumcised and the polluted," 1-6.. Awaking from her stupefaction, Jerusalem sees the messenger of such joyful tidings on the eminence from which he spied the coming deliverance. She expresses, in beautiful terms, her joy at the •news, repeating with peculiar elegance the words of the crier, 7. The rapturous intelligence, that Jehovah was returning to resume his residence on his holy mountain, immediately spreads to others on the watch, who all join in the glad acclamation, 8; and, in the ardour of their joy, they call to the very ruins of Jerusalem to sing along with them, because Jehovah maketh bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth are about to see the salvation of Israel's God, 9, 10. To complete the deliverance, they are commanded to march in triumph out of Babylon, earnestly exhorted to have nothing to do with any of her abominations, and assured that Jehovah will guide them in all their way, 11, 12. The prophet then passes to the procuring cause of this great blessedness to the house of Israel in particular, and to the world in general, viz., the humiliation, sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ; a very celebrated and clear prophecy, which takes up the remainder of this and the whole of the following chapter.

Zion is encouraged

712.

Olymp. XVII. 1.

cir, annum

CHAP. LII.

B C. Cir. 19 AWAKE, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy Numa Pompilii, beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, R. Roman., 4. the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

Chap. li. 9, 17:—— Neh. xi. 1; chap. xlviii. 2; Matt. iv. 5; Rev. xxi. 2.-c Chap. xxxv. 8; x. 21; Nah. i. 15. d Rev. xxi. 27.

See chap, iii. 26; li. 23.

NOTES ON CHAP. LII. Verse 1. There shall no more come into thee-For yabo, "shall come," a lebo, "to come," is the reading of five of Kennicott's and two of De Rossi's MSS. This is the better reading,

to trust in the Lord.

B. C. cir. 712.

cur. annum

4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, A. M. cir. 3292. My people went down aforetime Olymp. XVII. 1. into Egypt to sojourn there; Numa Pompilii, and the Assyrian oppressed them R. Roman., 4. without cause.

h

5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed,

6 Therefore my people shall know my name therefore they shall know in that day that I Zech. ii. 7.-g Psa. xliv. 12; chap. xlv, 13; Jer. xv. 13. Gen. xlvi. 6; Acts vii. 14. Ezek. xx, 27; Rom. ii. 24.

tom. ix. p. 85, 12mo. Besides the six steps to Solomon's throne, there was a footstool of gold fastened to the seat, 2 Chron. ix. 18, which would otherwise have been too high for the king to reach, or to sit on con

יוסיף .ki veniently כי לא

lo yosiph lebo, "There shall not add to come."
The uncircumcised and the unclean.] Christians
have turned many passages of the prophets against the
Jews; and it is not to be wondered at, that in support
of their obstinate and hopeless cause, they should press
a prophecy into their service, and make it speak
against the Christians. This Kimchi does in this
place; for he says, by the uncircumcised, the Christians
are meant; and by the unclean, the Turks. The Chris-
tians are uncircumcised; and the Turks, though cir-
cumcised, and using many ablutions, are unclean in
their works.

When Thetis comes to wait on Vulcan to request armour for her son, she is received with great respect, and seated on a silver-studded throne, a chair of ceremony, with a footstool :—

66

POPE.

Ado

Ο γαρ προνος αυτός μόνον ελευθεριός εστι καθέδρα συν
moodi. Athenæus, v. 4. A throne is nothing more
than a handsome sort of chair with a footstool."-L.
. Verse 4. Thus saith the Lord God]
nai Yehovah; but Adonai is wanting in twelve of Ken-
nicott's, five of De Rossi's, and two of my own MSS.;
and by the Septuagint and Arabic. Some MSS. have
nixax nn · Yehovah tsebaoth, “Lord of hosts;" and
others have an Yehovah Elohim, “Lord God.”

Verse 5. They that rule over them-" They that are lords over them."] For moshelo, singular, in the text, more than a hundred and twenty, MSS. (De Rossi says, codices innumeri, "numberless copies") have the moshelaiv, plural, according to the Masoretical correction in the margin; which shows that the Masoretes often superstitiously retained apparent mistakes in the text, even when they had sufficient evidence to authorize the introduction of the true reading..

Verse 2. Sit down, O Jerusalem-" Ascend thy lofty seat, O Jerusalem"] The literal rendering here is, according to our English translation, "arise, sit;" on which a very learned person remarks: "So the old versions. But sitting is an expression of mourning in Scripture and the ancients; and doth not well agree with the rising just before." It does not indeed agree, according to our ideas; but, considered in an oriental light, it is perfectly consistent. The common manner of sitting in the eastern countries is upon the ground or the floor with the legs crossed. The people of better condition have the floors of their chambers or divans covered with carpets for this purpose; and round the chamber broad couches, raised a little above the floor, spread with mattresses handsomely covered, which are called sofas. When sitting is spoken of as a posture of more than ordinary state, it is quite of a different kind; and means sitting on high, on a chair of state or throne called the musnud; for which a footstool was Make them to howl-" Make their boast of it"] For necessary, both in order that the person might raise him- yeheililu, "make them to howl," five MSS., self up to it, and for supporting the legs when he was (two ancient,) have 1 yehalelu," make their boast;" placed in it. Chairs," says Sir John Chardin, "are which is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrast, who never used in Persia, but at the coronation of their kings. renders it na mishtabbechin. Ulaloo is not only. The king is seated in a chair of gold set with jewels, the cry itself, but also the name of the funeral song of three feet high. The chairs which are used by the the Irish. The Arabs have a cry very much resempeople in the east are always so high as to make a bling this." footstool necessary. And this proves the propriety of the style of Scripture, which always joins the footstool to the throne," (Isa. lxvi. 1; Psa. cx. 1.) Voyages,

66

Verse 6. Therefore my people shall know] The word lachen, occurring the second time in this verse, seems to be repeated by mistake. It has no