The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 21

be 11.ltere<l into ~dim, & word not very preteMe of religion e.e an aggravo.tion of different <_EwRld, Oheyne). Bot "the their sin, e.nd characterizing their whole r,,tum to words whose sounds ere yet worship e.s an "abominl\tion." lingering in the ear" is char11.cterist.ic of Rncient writing, end 11. favourite practice of Ver. 10.-Kear the word of the Lord; i.e. J AAiah's (Kay). The translation of the "Do not Bpeah t.o no purpose, but hear." Aut.horized Veraion m11.y therefore stend. The rulers are supposed to have begun their Ver. 8.-The daughter of Zion. Not" the plea, but the prophet stops them. Ye rulers fe.ithful Chnrch" (Key), but the city of of Sodom. Having so.id in the prooeding Jeroealem, which is thus pereoni~ed. Comp. verse how nearly Jerusalem had suffered eh. xlvii. I, 5, where Babylo~,1s called th~ the fate of Sodom and Gomormh, the writor "daughter of the Chaldeans; and L11.m. 1. grows more bold, and proceeds to give Jeru- 6; ii. I, 4, 8, 10, where the phrase here salem the obnoxious names. Her II rulers," used is repeated in the same eenee. More literally, judges (kat.sin in Hebrew corre- commonly it designates t~e people _with~t~t sponding to kadi in Are.bio), are •• rulers of the city (Lam. ii. IS; 1v. 22 ; Micah 111. Sodom;" her people o.re the II people of 8, 10, 18; Zeph. iii. 14; Zech. ii. 10; Gomorrah." There is as much wiokedncss, ix. 9, etc.). As a oottage; rat~~-r, as a b~oth though it may be not the same wickeduess, (Revised Version; see Lev. :nm. 42). Vme- in " the daughter of Zion" at the existing )'ards required to ~e watohed for e. few time, as in the oities of the plo.in when Goel weeks onlv e.s the frmt began to npen; e.nd destroyed them. The law of our God. Not the wo.tcl,crs, or keepers, built themselves, the Levitical Law, though the word used therefore mere" booths " for their protection he.s generally that sense, bot the "in- (Job xxvii. 18). These were fro.ii, solitary struction'' or "direction" that was about to dwellings-very forlorn, very helpless. be uttered (comp. Ps. lxxviii. 1; and see Such was now Jernsalem. As a lodge in below, eh. ii. 3 and Ii. 4). See Mr. Cheyne's note on the passage. a garden of ou.cumbers. Cucumber-gardens Ver. 11.-To what purpose is the multi- required watching throughout the sea.so1:1, tude of your saori11.oes unto me 1 Cui bnno f i.e. from spring to autumn, and theu What good end do they serve? " Thinkest watcher needed a more solid edifice than e. thou that I will ee.t the flesh of bulls, and booth. Hence rnch gardens had "lodges" drink the blood of goats?" (Ps. 1. 13). God in them, i.e. permanent huts or sheds, snch 11 deli "'hts not in burnt offerings." From a,, those still seen in Palestine (Tristre.m's the time of Samuel he had declared, 'Natural Historv of Po.Jestine,' p. 442). " Behold, to obey is better then sacrific~: As a besieged oity. Though not yet be- and to hearken than the fat of rams sieged, Jerusalem is 118 ifbesieged-isole.ted, (1 Sam. xv. 22). David had said of him, surrounded by waste tracts, threatened. " Sacrifice and mee.t offering thou wouldest Ver. 9.-E:ll:oept the Lord of hosts had not ; bnrnt offerings and sacrifice for sin left unto u a very &m&ll remnant, we should he.et thon not required" (Ps. xl. 8, 9); e.nd have been as Sodom. Lowth e.nd Cheyne again, " I will not reprove thee becau~e of prefer to divide the two clauses differently, thy sacrifices, or for thy burnt offermgs, e.nd to translate, " Except the Lord of be('ause they were not e.lwe.ys before me. hosts had left us a remnant, within e. little I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor we should have been like Sodom." The he-goe.t out of thy folds; for e.11 tho beasts "remnant " is that of the few godly men of the forest are mine, and so are the caltle who still inhabit Jerusalem. The com- upon a thousand hills" (Ps. 1. 8-10). Not, parison of Jerusalem with Sodom is made of course, that either David or Iso.iah again in eh. iii. 9, e.nd is carried out at desired to abolish sacrifice, or he.d e.ny com- some length by Ezekiel (xvi 44-5'.7). It mission so to do ; but they were, both of implies a condition of extreme depravity. them, anxious to impress on. men the.t se.- Vere. 10-15.-THE PEOPLE'S PLEA !rO crifice, by itself, was. n?thmg-that s~lf- ExcrsE, BUT .ill AGGRAVATION OF TB'EIB dedica.tion self-renunc1at1on, true devotion GUILT. The prophet supposee the people, of the bee.rt, with its necessary con_comitant obedience must accompany sacr1flce, for by the month of their rulers, to meet God to b; pleased therewith. The sacrifices the charge of rebellion with an appeal to of e. people such as is described in vers. the fe.ct the.t they me.into.in all the outward 21-23 could not but bo an offence to him. ordinances of religion, as required by the Baith the Lord. The phrase employed is Law, e.nd are therefore blameless. This unusual, and almost confined to Isaiah, draws from him e. bur;;t of indignant occurring elsewhere only in Ps. xii. ~- Isaiah uses it again in ver. I B, ~nd also 1_n eloquence, which the Holy Spirit directs eh. xxxiii. 10; xii. 21 ; and lxv1. 9. It 1s him to put, mainly, into the mouth of explained to be emphatic, implying that God (vers. 11-15), denouncing such a thu i1 what God says, and will BBY, con- OU, I, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 6