4 My Spirit and Bleſſing, whichis frequently compard to Water ; As 2., and ſo it is expounded in the latter part of the Verſe. e Either 1.u- pon.him that deſires it. Or rather 2. upon him that is deſtitute of it; For what is here thirſty, in the next Clauſe it is called dry ground. f The gifts and gracesof my Spirit : Which expreſſion heſcems de- ſignedly to uſe,to lift up the minds and hearts of the Jews from car- nal and worldly Things, to which they were too much addiQeed,; unto ſpiritual and heavenly Bleſſings, and thereby to prepare them for the better entertainment of the Goſpel g All the Bleflings of my Covenant,both Spiritual and Temporal.
4 And they ſhall ſpring up as among the graſs b, as willows by the water-courlſes.
h They thall increaſe and flouriſh like Graſs, and thoſe Herbs and Plants which grow up in the midſt of it.
5 One ſhall ſay, I amtbe LORDS: and another ſhall [| call himſelf by the natne of Jacob, and another ſhall | ſubſcribe with kis hand unto the LORD, and || ſirname fOr, nem himſelf by the name of Ifrael;. the name
*Th.4
5 The Bleſſing of God upon the Jews ſhall be ſo remarkable, that Jacob. the Gentiles ſhall joyn themſelves unto them, and accept the Lord aOrg | e ae 0
for their God, and own themſelves for liis People. | 6 Thus faith the LORD +5 the king of Iſrael, and his Ira. redeemer the LORD of hoſts, *1 > the ficſt, and lam , the laſt, and beſides me there is no God. - 58 | k Here God reneweth his Conteſt with Idols: which he inſifteth Red og upon1o oft, andſo much, becauſe his own People were exceeding & pts protie to Idolatry. | > if 7 And whol, as, ſhall call, and ſhall * declare #» * Cha. qr! it, and ſet ic in order o for me p, ſince I appointedthe 22. & 451 ancient peopie q ? and the things that are coming, and | ſhall come r? let themſhew unto them «.
1 Which of all the heathen Gods. » Shall by his powerful C
or Word cauſe it to'be, and by his infinite ri alt irs o So that it ſhall be, Or, Sha# publiſh and declare: Two words expreſſing the ſame thing, as is uſual, » Thar which ſhall come to pats whatſoever it be ; which is eafily underſtood out of the following
Clauſe. » Orderly relate all future Events in the ſame manner ag they ſhall happen. ? Heb. 0 me, ſoasT may hear it, and thereby be convinced of their Divinity. I 4 the time that I appointed
5 or
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'XLIV., tj £19 od 3 alled the Iſraelites ta be my People, whom he calleth *be anccent = —_— they were his Prople long before this time ; or as the Words may be rendred, the everlaſting People, becauſe he deter- mined, That he would never totally and finally caſt them off and deſtroy them, as he would do other Nations. Burt the Words are, and may well be otherwiſe rendred, Since I Conſtitutea or maae ( as this Word is elſewhere rendred ) The people of the world ; ſince I firſt made Man upon Earth, as the Seventy and others underſtand 1t. Let them give me-an account of any of their Predi&ions of future E- —m the beginning ofthe World to this day. 7 Such things
' as are near at hand, and ſuch as are to come hereafter. 5, Unto their Worſhippers, who conſu't their Oracles about future Events, as T have told them wnto thee, O Faceb, as it follows inthe next Verte. So: the Pronoun Relative. is put for the Antecedent, which is left to be underſtood out of the;following Clauſe. Clauſe. Or, #o or for themſelyes,' in their own: defence. Although theſe Words might have been omitted in the Tranſlation, as being inſignificant, ſuch pronouns being. oft redundant in the Hebrew Language, as Gen. 12. 1. and oft elſewhere, as alſo in the,Greek and Latine. 10197 -- 8 Fearye nor, neither be afraid : have not I told 3.10 thee 3 from thattimes, and have declared itx? * ye are . 4- even my witneſſes y. Is therea God beſides me z ? yea, © * thereis no} God, Iknow not any a phe] p "a +; # Thee, ,O Iſrael, whom, he'bids not to fear. The Senſe is, I ca'l =: you Iſraelites to bear me Witneſs, whether I have nor, from time ro f - time, acquainted. you with things to come, ſuch as'your Sojourn- 2, ing an ay tua Land for Four Hundred Years, and your deliverance 354+ nd happineſs after that time, Ger. 15.13, 14+ and many things of the like nature ? « From the time when 71 appointed the ancient people, as I'now faid; wer. 7, Thele were pregnant Inftances of Gods Pre- "dition of things to come, not only from the beginning of the Jewiſh common- wealth ; but even from the firſt Ages of the World,
as unto Exo:h. Jude wer. 14. and unto Noah. Gen. 6,3. To ſay no- thing of what other Authors Relate concerning, Adam, and Seth; Have publiſhed to the World in my Yacred Records. y
to: them 2 Judge by this CharaQter, wherher I be. not” only the true God. # If any of you be wiſer than I am, I am willing to be informed. It is a ſarcaitical Speech. But this Clauſe may be, and is, by others taken interrogatively, do net 1 know :t-? Is it not a cer- tain and undeniable Truth.chat there is no. other God ?
- 9. They chat make a graven Image re all of them
Both of my Predi&ions, and ofthe ExaTt agreea'leneſs of Events :
T4 Hh Chap. XLIV«+ ſuits beſt with the next foregoing Clauſe, He worketh with the ftrength 'of his arms, i. e. fervently, and putring forth all his might in the Work. 2. Becauſe the Prophet in this, and in the next following Verſes, is only deſcribing tl:e mechanical part, or the matter of ]. mages, and the art and Jabour of the Workmen in making them ; and afterwards proceeds to the Theological conlideration of "7g thing, and the confutation of theſe PraQtices, as we ſhall 6c. ;