The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 16

I 7. L1TEBATUBB o• luu:a. The earliest, nnd one of ihe best, comments on Isaiah is that of Jerome, written in Latin, about the year A,D, 410. It is divided into eighteen books, and contains much that is of the highest value, especiaUy on philological and geographical points, Jl!l'ome's knowledge of Hebrew WM great, nnd his acquaintance with the works of the Jewish rabbis extensive. But his exegesis is to n large extent fanciful. Jerome was followed, towards the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century, by Procopiue of Gaza, who wrote, in Greek, n long and elaborate work, which was little known until it was trnnslnted into Latin by Curterius towards the close of the sixteenth century (' In Esaiam.Prophetam Commentationum Epitome,' Grmce et La.tine, J. Curterio interprete, folio, Paris, 1580). Christian interpretation had then e. long pause, and the exegesis of Isaiah was carried on in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Jewish scholars, of whom the most eminent were Ra.shi (died 1107), Aben Ezra (died 1167), and D. Kimchi (died 1235). Rashi's works are printed in the rabbinical Bibles, nnd have been partly translated into Latin by Breithaupt (3 vole., Gotha, 1710). Aben Ezra.'s commentary on Isaiah has been transle.ted by Dr. Friedlander, and published, with the text, for the Society of Hebrew Literature, by Triibner and Co. (London, translation in 1873, text in 1877). D. Kimchi's work was printed, with a Latin version, a.t Ulyssipolis, in 1492. Of these three commentators, Aben Ezra is regarded a.s the best. He is clear- hea.ded, laborious, and clever, though somewhat given to scepticism. The labours of the Jewish writers were utilized for the Church by Nicolas de Lyra, a Franciscan monk, about .&.D. 1300-40. His critical work, entitled 'Postillre Perpeture,' in eighty- five books, was published by the Benedictines at Antwerp in 1634. It has considerable merit, though somewhat too venturollll in its allegorical interpretations, as the author himself felt in his later yea.ra. With the Reformation an increased amount of attention was devoted to the writings of "the evangelical prophet." Calvin (' Commentationes in lsaia.m,' folio, Geneva, 1551);gnve-the views on the subject taken by the more advanced Reformers; while Musculus ('In Esaia.m Prophetnm Commenta.rii locupletissimi,'.Bale, 1570)wrote from the Lutheran standpoint, Marlora.tllll (' Esaiai Prophetia, 'cum Catholica Exposilione Ecclesia.stica,' folio, Paris, 1564) nnd Pintus (' Commentaria in Esaia.m,' folio, Lyons, 1561) from the Roman. Of these commentaries, Calvin's is by far the most important. CC Calvin's works," says Diestel," offer even yet a. rich store of biblical knowledge." His comment on. Isaiah will be found largely quoted in the present work. Another writer on Isaiah, belonging to the Reformation period, was Pellicanus, a. good Hebraist, whose notes upon Isninh will be found in the third volume of his 'Commentaria Sa.era• (3 vols., Zurich, 1540). The seventeenth century did not do very much for the criticism or exeg8!1is of Isaiah. Its chief theological writers belonged to the Dutch school, and comprised Hugo Grotius, whose scanty notes upon lsninh, in his 'Annotata nd Vetus Testamentum,' vol. ii. (folio, Paris, 1644), •are of little value; De Dieu, who wrote 'Anima.dversiones in Veteris Testnmenti Libros Omnes' (Leyden, 1648); Schultens, whose 'Animad versiones Critice et .Philologicm ad Varin Locn Veteris 'l'estamenti' (Amsterdam, 1709) were highly esteemed by Gesenius; and Vitringn, whose great' work (' Commentarillll in LibrumProphetinrum Jesaiai,' 2 vols.folio, Leuwarden, 170!-10) is still regarded as "a vast mine of rich materials" by modern critics. This commentary is characterized by considerable learning nnd much sound sense, but is spoilt by its diffuseness. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, England began to show her interest in the study of the greatest of Hebrew prophets, nnd to produce commentaries nnd transla- tions. The lend was taken by Robert Lowth, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, ,md after- wards Bishop of London, who published, in 1763, n work on the 'Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews,' which he followed up, in 1778, by 'Isaiah: e. New Translation with n Pre- liminary Dissertation, and Nates Critical, Philological, and Explanatory' (1 vol. 4to). This work excited great attention. It was translated into German in the year following, by J, R.' Koppa, under the title, • Dr, R. Lowth's Jesains neu iibersetzt, nebst einer Ein- leitung' (2 vols. Svo, Leipzig, 1779), and provoked criticism both in Germany nnd in England. ~ocher in Gennnoy criticized its emendations of the Hebrew text in a sinall  ll:Xt. IN'l'RODUCTION TO