The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 17

'l"oiuwe, eot.itlcd, 'Vindicite S. Textus Hebrrei Esaim Yetis' (Ilerne, 1786). In England a layman, Mr. llf. Dodson, ende&vou'red to improve \ll'QD it in his work, 'Isaiah : 11, NeV: 'l'mnslation, with Notes Supplemenl11ry to those of Bishop Lo,vth,' by a layman (1 vol. 8vo, Loodon, 1790); and this work was shorUy followed by another of the ·se.me kind, from the pen of a Dr. Joseph Stock, called,• Th'll Ilook of the.Prophet Isaiah in Hebrew and English, the Hebrew metrically a1Tanged, and the 'l'ranslatlon. nltcred from that of !3ishop Lowt.hi with Notes,' etc. (Bath, 1803). Bishop Lowth's work has, however, held 11s ground agarnst all attacks, and, though far from faultless, still deserves the attention of students. A ~rench tra~slat.ion of I~aiah was p_ublished in the year 1760, by M. Deschamps (' E~R1as, Traduct10n N 01n·ell~, 12mo, Pans); 1md a. seoond German translation(' Jesaias ncn iibersetzt ') by Hensler, in 1788. J, C. Dodcrlein also published the text with a Lalin version (Srn, Altorf), in 1780. None of these works is of any considerabie ·merit. T~e fi_rst step in ad,ance that was m~de after Bis?op Low_th's labours was- by thti pubhcat10n of the comment and translation of Gesemus (' Ph!lologisch-kritischer und historischer Commeotar iibcr den Jcsaia,' 2 vols. Svo, Leipzig, 1820, 1821), Gesenius as a Hcbraist, far exce:Jed Lowth. He possessed more historical and antiquarian know~ ledge. His work, we arc told, "is hardly! yet superseded." He had, however, •the demerit of being II pronounced rationalist, an absolute unbeliever in either miracle or prophecy, and his exegesis is thus poor and shallow, nay, almost wholly worthless. Gesenius was followed by Hitzig, a writer of the same class and type. Hitzig's work on Isaiah (' Der Prophet J csaia iibersetzt und ausgelehrt,' 8vo, Heidelberg, 1883) intensified Gesenius's rationalizing tone, but had merits which must not be denied, Hitzig's intellect is acute, his historical, knowledge extensive, his grasp upon, H.ebrew grammar unusual. He is sometimes overbold, sometimes oversubtle; but- the serious student can scarcely dispense with the light to be derived· from his explanations; Rosenmuller's 'Scbolia in Esaiam' (3 vols. Svo, Leipzig, 1811-20) are also.frequently of great ser.ice, though he also belongs to the rationalistio,or sceptical school.· Con- temporary with Hitzig, but somewhat later in publishing his 'Views, was the distinguished critic and historian Ewald, 'the second founder of the science of the H.ebrew language,' acute, philosophic, profound, of a poetic temperament. Ewald's criticism of Isaiah will be found, pa.rtly in bis general work upon the prophets (' Die Propheten des A.lten Bundes,' _Berlin, 1st edit., 2 vols. 8vo, 1840-4.1; 2nd edit., 3 vols. 8vo, 1867-68), partly in his' History of the People of Israeli'(' Geschichte des Vol.kes Israel,' GottiDgen, 6 vols; 8vo, 1843--55), translated into English, and published in five volumes by Longman, (London, 1869-71). Ewald is to be read with caution. He is overbold, oversubtle, overfond of minnte systematizing, and possessed of an overweening self-confidence,. which makes him put forward the merest theories as ascertained facts. Another com- mentator of importance, belonging to the sceptical school, is Knobel, whose work (' Der, Prophet J esaia erkliirt,' forming the sixth volume of the 'Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch zn.m .A.lten Testament,' Leipzig, 1854, 2nd e.d.it.) will be, for its linguistic' and archEO!ogical notices, found of service by every student. ·, • • •. The anti-rationalistic school in Germany has not been idle on its side in the Iaaian, controversy. Hengstenberg's views &re contained in his 'Christology of the Old Testa:.' ment,' translat.ed for Clark's Foreign Theological Library (ll:dinburgh; 1854'-7),: and are well worthy of attention. Dreschler produced, between 1845 and 1851, his valuable treatise, 'Der Prophet Jesaja iibersetzt und erklart,' which was continued 11,fter: his death by Hahn and Delitzsch. K~einert had, in 1829, published a noteworthy defence of the genuineness of the whole of Isaiah (' Die lEchtheit des Jesaias,' Berlin, 1829). This was followed, in 1850, by the excellent work of Stier(' Jesaias, nicht PJ1eudo- Jesaias,' Barmen, 1850), a comment on eh. xL-lxvi., "of real value for its spiritual insight;., and in 1866, Delitzsch, the contina.ator of Dreschler, produced what is generally allowed to be the best and moBt complete of all existing commentaries (' Commentar iiber Jesaias,' bt edit., 1866 ; 3rd edit., 1879) which has been made accessible to the English reader in Clark's Fo1eign Theological Library. Of recent English commentaries on Isaiah, the most important are the following: Dr. E. Henderson, 'The ;Book of the Prophet Isaiah, translated from the Hebrew, with a Commentary, Critical, Philological, and Exegetical• (1 voL 8vo, London, 1st edit., 184,e; 2nd edit., 1857); J. A. .Alexander, 'Isaiah, Translated and Explained' (2 vole. 8  THE BOOK 01<, TlIE PROPHET ISAIAH. :nd