Isaiah, who is placed first in our sacred volume, prophesied at least during four reigns, as stated Chap. i. 1; and, as some think, during part of the reign of Manasseh, whom the Jews charge with being his murderer, by sawing him asunder at a very advanced age. He calls himself the son of Amoz-not Amos the prophet; but Amoz, the son of Joash, and brother of Uzziah, king of Judah. His style of writing is so sublime and beautiful, that Bishop Lowth calls him, " the prince of all the prophets." He has been also called the Evangelical Prophet, from the many discoveries he exhibits of the work and cha racter of the Messiah. As we have hitherto acknowledged the principal help we have received from commentators and critics on separate books, it may be proper here to state, that on the Pro phets we have regularly consulted Bishop Lowth, Dr. Blaney, and Bishop Newesmes but our obligations are the most considerable to a small volume by Dr. John Smith, of Cambleton, in which he has admirably condensed the substance of their remarks with many beautiful thoughts and pious reflections of his own. To this valuaile book we have had recurrence, even more frequently than we have thought it neces sary to express. We have not, however, omitted to consult the general Commentators, and the New Translation of Dr. Boothroyd. On this book of Isaiah we have had also repeated reference to the "Annotations" put forth by "The Westminster Assembly of Divines," whose exposition of this and some other of the Prophets, is well known to have been written by the very learned Gataker, who was one of their body. * See A Summary View of the Writings of the Prophets, by J. Smith, D.D. &c. 8vo. 1804. Judah exhorted] CHAP. I. CHAP. I. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither been bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by stangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. [to repentance 9 Except the LORD of hosts had. left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judg.. ment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be NOTES. CHAP. I. Ver. 3. Crib-that is, rack, or manger. Ver.4. Gone aw ry backward-Heb. "Alienated." Ver.5. Revolt more-Heh. "Increase revolt." Vet. 6. Have not been closed-Lowth, "pressed," which seems to intimate that the modern practice of binding wounds was not then unknown. -Marg. Oil." Oint Ver. 7. Ocerthronn by strangers-that is, by a foreign power. Many critics, however, read, "by an innodalion." Ver.K. As a cottage.... a lodge, &c-that is, a temporary hut, for a guard against wild beasts, &c. Louth. N. B. Wherever the name of Lowth is men tioned in this Book, the Bishop is to be understood, Ver. 11. I am juli-Lowth, "cloyed." Ver. 12: To tread my courts-Bp. Lowth, following the LXX, begins the next verse with these words: "Tread my courts no more: bring no more." Ver. 14. They are a trouble-Lowth," A burden." -Weary to bear-Lowth, "Weary of bearing." Ver. 15. Make many prayers - Heb. "Multiply prayer." Ver. 17. Relieve-Marg. " Righten;" i. e. do justice to the oppressed. Ver. 18. As wool-meaning, white as wool; i. e. cleansed from the guilt of blood, ver. 15. 1 Grace promised, and] ISAIAH. [destruction threatened. thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. (A) EXPOSITION. (A) Isaiah upbraids the ingratitude and hypocrisy of Judah, and exhorts them to repentance. The first verse we consider as a general title to Isaiah's prophecies, which were delivered during several successive reigns. Bp. Lowth is of opinion, that the first five chapters were written during the reign of king Uzziah. If so, the desolation it describes must allude to the calamities which had been previously occasioned by Jehoash, king of Israel, (2 Kings xiv. 12 -14.) But as prophecies are not always arranged according to the order of time in which they were delivered, Bp. Horsley and others refer it to the time of Ahaz (which it appears to suit better,) and to the invasion of Rezin and Pekah: and some place it still later, when Jerusalem was besieged by Sennacherib. The Prophet, with a boldness and majesty becoming the herald of the Most High, begins with calling on the whole creation to attend, while Jehovah himself speaks; and a charge of gross insensibility and ingratitude is then brought against the Jews, by contrasting their conduct with that of the ox and the ass, the most stupid of all animals. This leads to an amplifi cation of their guilt, highly aggravated by their slighting the chastisements and judgments of God, though repeated till they had been left almost like Sodom and Gomorrah. The incidental mention of those places leads to an address to the rulers and people of Judah (under the character of princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah,) no less spirited and elegant. In ver. 10, and following, the vanity of trusting to the performance of outward rites and ceremonies of religion is exposed; and the necessity of repentance and reformation strongly urged, as well by the most encouraging promises, as by the most awful threatening. The Prophet, aware that neither of these motives would produce their proper NOTES-Chap. I. Con. Ver. 20. Devoured with the sword-Lowth, "Ye shall be food for the sword. Ver. 23. Come unto them-Lowth, "Come before them." Ver. 25. And I will turn, &c.-Lowth, "1 will again my hand over thee, and I will purge in the ce thy dross, and I will remove all thine alloy." The gospel dispensation] CHAP. II. CHAP. II. THE word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 50 house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. 6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. [predicted. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: 13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. EXPOSITION. effect, he bitterly laments their degeneracy; and concludes with declaring, in the name of Jehovah, his purpose of inflicting still heavier judgments, such as would destroy the wicked, and excite in the righteous (who should also pass through the furnace) an everlasting shame and abhor rence of every thing connected with idolatry, the source of all their misery. "The whole chapter affords a beautiful example of this great Prophet's manner: whose writings, like his lips, were touched with hallowed fire." NOTES. CHAP. II. Ver.1. That Isaiah saw---Lowth, "That was revealed to Isaiah." Ver. 2. Established - or Compare Micah iv. 1-4. " prepared," Margin. Ver. 4. Pruning-hooks-or "scythes," Margin. Ver. 6. Replenished from the East - Lowth, "Filled (with diviners) from," &c. Ibid. They please themselves - Marg. "Abound with," &c. Lowth, "They multiply a spurious brood of strange children." This refers to the illegitimate produce of their licentious connexion with the heathen, which is here compared (in the original) with the corn, or grass, springing from seed accidentally scattered. Ver.7. Full of silver and gold... horses, &c -This was contrary to Deut. xvii, 16, 17. He followed the example of Solomon, 2 Chron. i. 14, 15. Ver. 9. The mean man boweth, &c. that is, all ranks bow down to idols: but Bp. Lowth renders this in the future; "therefore shall the mean man be bowed:" so Boothroyd. - Forgive them notLowth, "Thou wilt not forgive them." Ver. 12. Shall be upon-" Is against," and so in the four following verses. Lowth. Ver. 13. Cedars of Lebanon, &c. that is, great men, princes, &c. Ver. 14. High mountains-kingdoms, states, &c Ver. 15. Every high tower-military state, Predictions] the tablets, and the earrings, ISAIAH. 21 The rings, and nose jewels, 22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, 23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods and the vails. 24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. (C) [of the Messiah. 2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and ke that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4 When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. (D) EXPOSITION. (C) Judgments on the wickedness of the men, and the pride and folly of the women. The whole of this chapter, with the first verse of the following, is a prophecy of the Babylonian invasion and captivity, in which all ranks of society were involved. These calamities are represented as so great, and so general, that even the honour of government should be declined, from the desperate state of the country, as affording no ground to hope the return of its prosperity. Its governors are declared to he weak as women, capricious as children, and corrupt as Sodom, whereby they had brought these evils upon themselves. Amidst all the evils denounced, however, an exception is made in favour of good men-"Say ye to the righteous, that it is, and shall be well!" The latter part of the chapter is a particular amplification of the distress of the delicate daughters of Zion, whose deploraable situation is finely contrasted with their former luxury and ease. Some think that this prophecy may likewise refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and it is remarkable, that on a medal struck by Vespasian on that occasion, Jerusalem is represented in the very posture described by the last words of this chapter, under the figure of a disconsolate mother bewailing the unhappy fate of her children. See Ps. cxxxvii. CHAP. IV. (D) A prophecy of Christ, the Branch; and the blessings to spring from him. The first verse of this chapter (which ought not to have been separated! from the preced. NOTES. CHAP. IV. Ver. 1. Let us be called by thy name. -Heb. "Let thy name be called upon us." Ver. 2. The branch of the Lord" The Messiah of Jehovah," says the Chaldee. Beautiful and glorious-Heb. "Beauty and glory. Fruit of the earth-Lowth, "Of the land;" i. e. of Judah. By expression, if not exactly parallel with the iz, Bp. Lowth would understand its fruit; ines consequent upon his redemption." Ver. 3. Among the living-Marg. "To life;" i. e enrolled among the remnant left. See Ezek. xiii. 9. Ver. 4. A spirit of burning-meaning the fire of God's wrath, by which (in his furnace) he will purify his people." Lowth. See Ezek. xxii. 17-22. Ver.5. Upor all the glory shall be a defence-Heb. "Above all the glory shall be a covering." See Exod. xiii. 21; xl. 38. 1 |