The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 20

p. 5.) t ' by J>ar4qtiipJ;: grace (Exod. x.xxiii. 12-17). Vers. 2~.-Go»'s CoMPLADIT AGAINST Despite all their paekslidings, he had not BIS PEOPLE. The ground work of Isaiah's yet ca~,t •· the~ off'. They are still "_his · b - J d--..,8 d • • . , ' f · people ,lil Isa.ie.h from, first to last, standmg entire prop ecy 18 u = e,ection rom in contra.at with "the nations" or "the God. God's people have sinned, done amiss, Gentiles," nmong whom they ar~ to be '' set ,lealt wickedly. The hour of vengeanoe, • ~as a sign" (eh. lxvi. 19). Doth not oonsider. npproaches. Punishment has .begnn, and Gesenius translates,. "~oth not consider will go on continue.Hy inarea~ti.g in se~erity: ~her'!°/;". Cheyne, "IS wit½out understand- . ' ·• • . . , , mg. ' Bishop Lo,.,.th; -rota.ms the words of ~atione.1 repen:tanee "'.ould _ avert Gods the Aut~orized Version. The meanJ_ng JUdgments, bu't the nation will not repent. would •seem to be, "My people doth . not God's vengeance will fe.11, e.nd .by it a rem- consider me; doth not refiect on my relation nant will be puri1ied, and return to God, to them¥ l,,qrd_and.:M~ter." . . ,. and be his true people. In. the present Ver. 4.;-~ Biilful ?tiOD,. TJ;l8118 are,tb\'. · - d"otm - laid. J ..,_1., - wor~ ot Isa1aJ;i, not 9f Jehovah. The pro- section t 11e m l ent lB n....... s sina phet, having •delivered ·God's message in are called t.o her remembrance. vere. 2 and 3, p:roceeas· 'to impress a.nd en- Ver. 2.-Haa.r, 0 heavens, and give ear, force it on the people 1by remarks of hie own: 0 earth. "A gra.ve nncl magni.ficent exor- He ,begins with a lamentation··over tlleir dium I All nature is invoked to bear Jeho- wiokedness. and impenitence:,." Ah __ sinfu~ ve.h make compla.int of the ingratitude of natipn l" or "Alas for µi~ Hinful natiol,11_"- bis people" (Roeenmiiller). '!'he invocation the nation called. to be "holy (Exod. xix. 6: is cast iu the same form with that so common Lev. x.x. 26, etc.), but' suuk in sin 'u;nd in Deuteronomy (iv. 26: xu. 19; x:u::L 28: wickedness. How' sad·: their condition I xxxii. I), 11.lid seems t.o indicati, familiarity How almost hopeless I La.den with iniquity; with that book. The idea extends widely • literally, heavy with guiU. . B~t. o).lr ver.ion among sacred and other ·poets (see Ps. l well expresses the sense. As ~be psa~ie,t 3, 4: Micah vi. I, 2; Esch., • P. V.,' lL Ba}'B, "My sins have gone up over my head, 88-92). The Lord h.ath spoken; rather; and are like a sore harden, too henvy for the Lord (lit.erally, Jehu,,ah) apeaketh (so me to bear''(Ps,:nxviii. 4: cf. Matt. xi. 28). Lowth, Cheyne, and Gesenius). The epeeeb A seed of evil-doer1. Not descendants of of Jehovah follows in vers. 2, 8. I have· e,v,il-doors, .but ".an , evil-doing Bll09," · or nourished and brought up children; lite- "race" (,ndpfLa 11ov71plw, LXX .. ; 9(ll)lJ?, oh. rally, (my) sons I haf!e =d.e great and high; xiv. 20; lxi,9; lxv. 28). Child.fen tha~ are i.e. I have fl).i8ed Israel to greatness and corrupter&; literally, aona that do corruptly. exalted him among the nations. Notwith- It ls not their corrupting of others, though standing their disobedience, God still ae- that might follow, hut the oorrnption, that knowledges theJD as his w sons.'' They have was in themselves, which . is spo~en of, rebellod a.ga.inst me. 'l'he verb used is The eorruptio11 was both moral and doctrinal genera.Uy rendered in our version "trans- (see ver. 21), In, corroboration of the fact, . gressc,cl" (see Jer. iii. 18, Hoil. vii. 18; see 2 Chrou. dvii. 2. They have forsaken OR, I, J ...... 31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'f ISAIAH. a the Lord. Not by renonnoing hie worship, fled with ointment; re.ther, with ~- On whioh they still continued (see ver~. 11-15), the treatment or woundd e.nd ulcers with oil but by reducing it to o. formality. The in e.ncient times, see Hippocre.t., 'De Ulceri. people " honoured him with their lip.~, while bus,' § 4; Galen., 'De Compos. Medic.,' § 2; their heiarts were far from him" ( eh. xxix. and comp. Lnke x. 31. Recent medic:il 13). They hove provoked to anger; rather, science has revived the practice, e.nd wonn,ls deBpiBed (Reviser! Version), or Bcotned (Kay, of all kinds are now frequently treated with Oheyne), or r~jectcd with diBdain (Lowth), nnthing but ce.rbolic oil. The general in e.llusion to their disobeying J;>.is command- sentiment of the entire passage is that ment.s (see vers. 21-23), The Holy One of there has been no medical treatment of the Iere.el. This title of God is e. favourite one wounds of any kind; they have been left with Isaiah (see eh. v. 19, 24; x. 17, 20; to t! ,emsclves, to spread corruption over the xii. 6; xvii. 7; x.xix. l!l, 23; XXX. 11, 12, whole body-no attempt he.a been made to 15; x.xxi. 1; xxxvii. 23; xli. 14, 16, 20; cure them. xliii 3, 14; xiv. 11 ; xlix. 7; !iv. 5; Iv. 5; Ver. 7.-YoUl' country is desolate. Me- Ix. 9, 14), e.nd is very re.;rely used by the other taphor is now dropped, and the prophet ee.cred writers. We find it thrice in the describes in strong but simple langnage the Psalms (Ps. lxxi. 22; lxxviii. 41 ; h:xxix. judgments of God, which he.ve already fol- 18); once in Kings (2 Kings xix. 22), but lowed the sins of the Ilfltion. First of a.II, then in the mouth of Isaiah; twice in their land is "e. desolation." It has been Jeremiah (1. 29; Ii. 5); e.nd once in Ezekiel recently rave.ged by an enemy; the towns (xxxix. • 7). According to Isaiah's concep- he.ve been burnt, the crops devoured. tion of God, holiness is the most essential There is nothing to determino who the element of his nature (see eh. vi. 3, 5, 7). enemy had been. Knobel supposes the They are g,9ne away be.ckwe.rd; literally, Erlomites and Philistines, who invaded they are ll8tranged backwards; or, as Bishop Judrea in the time of Ahaz (2 Chron. =viii. Lowth pe.re.phre.ses, •· they are estre.n)!:ed 17, 18), to be intended; Rosenmiiller sng- from him ; they he.ve turned their back gests the Israelites under Amaziah (2 Chron. upon him." Insteil.d of looking to God, e.nd :xxv. 21-24); while Mr. Cheyne supposes the following e.fter him, they "followed e. multi- devastation to he.ve been wronght by tho tude to do evil" (Exod. :xxiii. 2). Assyrie.ne under Se.rgon. If we could be Ver. 5....:...Why should ye, etc.? Translate, nssured that the prophecies of Isaiah arc Why will ye be still smitten, r/J1Jolting more arranged in chronological order, we should 'and more 1 or, Why wi7l ye persiBt in re- either he.ve to accept Rosenmiiller's view, .bellion, and so be Bmitten yet more 1 The or to suppose some invasion of J udrea to Authorized Version does not express the have taken place in the later years of sense, which is the.t suffering must follow Uzziah of which no mention is ma.de bv ein-the.t if they still revolt, they must still the e.uthors of Kings e.nd Chronicled; b,it be smitten for it-why, then, wiU they do it is impossible to be certain on what prin- 80? Compare Ezekiel's "Why will ye die, ciple Ise.ie.h's prophecies are arranged. The 0 house of I~re.el?" (xviii. 31 ). The whole mention of "stre.ngers " is in favour of the head . . . the whole heart. Mr. Cheyne enemy he.ving been actual foreigners, and tre.nsl11tes, " Every head . . . /J1Jery heart ; " therefore not the Israelites. Yot:r cities are but Lowth, Gesenius, e.nd Ewald agree with burned with fire. The common fe.te of the Authorized Version. The prophet per- cities taken in war. In the Assyrie.n scul p- sonifies Isre.el, e.nd means to se.y the.t the tures we often see the torch applied to whole hee.d of the na.tion is disee.scd, its them. Yo1ll' land. Mr. Cheyne translates, whole bee.rt faint, or "prostrate with lan- "your tilT.age." Adamah means " soil" M guor" (Kuy). The hee.d e.nd heart repre- " ground" genera.Hy; but here no donbt sent respectively the intellectue.l e.ud more.I denotes the gronnd which bore crops. natures. Stre.ngers devour it ; i.e. " foreigner~ " - Ver. 6.-J'rom the sole of the foot even others the.n the sons of the soil-not ncecs- 11J1to the hee.d (comp. Job ii. 7). From top se.rily persons of ~ different race, but ,till to bottom, the body corpore.te is disee.sed probably such per,ous. In your presence; throughout-there is no soundness in it before your eye,, 11s you look on-an (of. Ps. xxxviii. 3, 7)-1111 is 011a wound, aggrave.tion of the affliction. It is de!ola.~e, one livid bruise, one festering sore. Note e.s overthrown by etre.ngers; liternlly, it is the use of the singule.r number in the ori- a desolation, like an overthroio by stnmga,. gine.l. They he.ve not been olosed ; lite- The near approach to repetition Jisplenscs ·re.ny, the!/ have not. been pi·essed; which is moderns, who conjecturo (1) that zarim, expie.ined to mean (Abeu Ezra, Kay) tbe.t strangers, he.s a.nether meaning, and shouhl they he.ve not he.d the matter formed by be here tmnsle.te,1 by "inundation'' or suppuro.tion pressed out of thorn. Neither "deluge" (Aben Ezrn, Michaelis, Lowth); bou.nd u:p j ,.e. not bo.ndt1ged. Neither molli• or (2) that it is o. wrong reading, and shouhJ  4 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.