.. ont or the 11b11ndante of the heart the mouth ver. 9 throws on it, as indicative of the doci~ apenkl'th " (Matt. xii. 84). I dwell in the trine of the Trinity (comp. Gen. I. 26). midlt or a people of unclean lip,. Men ootob Ver. 9.-Hear ye indeed . , . 1ee ye indeed; up the phraseology of their time, and use literally, In hearing hear , , , in 1eei1tg ,ee- ,n-nng forms of speech, because they hear with the force of•• Listen and hear; look and them daily. "Evil communications corrupt see;" " Attend," that is, "with the outwnrd good m,mners" (l Cor. xv. 33). sense, and catch all thnt sense onn ce.toh, but Ver. G.-A live ooal; or, a glot11ing stoM, without perception of the inwo.rd meaning" as Gesenius, Rosenmiiller, Knobel, and Mr. (see Matt. xiii, H; Mark iv. 12, etc.). Thie Cl:eyne understand (comp. I Kings xix. 6, is what they would do. Isaiah is bidden to where I\ cognate word is used). The tonga ... exhort them, in grove irony, to do it. the o.Itar. The presenoe of an altar in the Ver. 10.-llake the heart of thil people fat. be:.Yenly dwelling, ";th the usual 11.ppurte- Isaiah is commanded to effect by his pre11ch- mmres, is assumed (comp. Rev. vi. 9; ing that which his prcMhing would, in fact, viii. 3 ). The altar is, no doubt, an altar of effect. It would not awaken the people oul in<:'euse, and of gold. not of i;tone ; but the of their apathy, it would not stir them to inrense is burnt upon stones heated to a repentance; therefore it would only harden rlnw. and it is one of these stones which the and dooden them. The w11rds have a na- angel takes with the golden tongs of the tional, not an individual, application. Shut sanctuary (Exod. u:v. 38). their eyes; literally, besmear their eyes; or, Ver. 7.-:e:e la.id it upon my month; lite- seal them up. Such sealing has been em- rally, he caused it to touch my mouth; i.e. ployed by Oriental monarchs as a punish- " lie touched my month with it." He brought ment. And convert; i.e. "'tum to 'God." it into cont.not with that part of him which Our translators have 11Bed the word in an tlie prophet had recognized (ver. 5) as the intransitive sense. • sent of impurity. Thine iniquity ii taken Ver. IL-Then said I, Lord, how long1 away. By the contact the prophet's impurity Either, "How long am I to continue this is pnr!!,'ed, and he iB freed from it. '.l'he preaching?" or," How long is this blindness irrmbolice.l act showed (I) that sin could and callo11Bness of the people to continue?" be purged; (2) that the higliest angelic Isaiah assumes that .he has not heard as yet natw·c could not, alone and of its own furce, God's final purpose; that there is some mer- purge it ; and (3) that the purging could ciful intention kept in reserve, which is to come only from that fire which consumes the take effect after the close of the period of incense tbe.t is laid upon the altar of God. judgment. The oities .. , the houses; rather, Dr. li.ay suggests that this fire ill "the cities . . . houaes. An entire desolation of Divine love." the whole land, and extermination of its in- Vere. 8-13.-Tlm PROPHET ENTB'O'BTED habitants, is not prophesied, and never took place. Nebuchadnezzar" left of the poor of WITH A SPECIAL MISSION. We do not know the land to be vinedressers and husband- what specie.I call Isaiah had had previously. men " (2 Kings :u:v. 12; Jer. xxxix. 10). Perhaps he had been brought up in the Even when the great mass of these persons "schools of the prophets." Perhaps, when went into Egypt and pe·rished there (Jer. the " word of the Lord" ea.me to him, he xliv. 11-27), 11 certain number escaped and returned to Palestine (Jer. xliv. 14, 28). had accepted the fact as snflicient call Now, The land; rather, the ground, the soil. however, he had, in vision, e. clear and dis- Ver. 12.-A.n4 the Lord have removed men tinct call and Illll!sion (vers. 8, 9). He was far away. The Assyrian and Babylonian told to "go," and iruitrncted BI! to what he policy of deportation ill pointed at. Pul had was to se.y (vers. 9, 10). Ail before (eh. i attacked the kingdom of Israel ten or twelve years before Uzziah's death, and had perhaps -v.), while in the main he was to denounce made the Assyrian policy known, though woe, lie was still to proclaim the survival of he bad allowed himself to be bought off a remno.nt (vere. 10-12). (2 Kings xv. 19, 20). •nd-there be a great Yer. 8.-Whom shall I 1en41 (comp. foruking; rather, and the desolation be great; 1 Kings xx. 20). Such questione enable i.e. till a great portion of Judah h11 depopu• tl.o;.e who wait in the courts of heaven to lated. show their zeal and readiness. Who will Ver. 13.-llnt yet In it shall be a tenth, go for m1 Some explain the plural pro- etc. ; rather, and should there still be in it a noun as UBed of the Almighty and tboee tenth ; i.e. should there still remain, a~ter th_e with whom he is coneulting. Bnt be doee great deportation, a tenth part of the mhab1- not really "consult" hie creatures (infra, tants, "tliis again shall be humed ,up," i.e. eh. xl. 14; Rev. ;d. 34), nor do hie meaaen• shall be destined to further judgmeµt anil gcre do his errands /or them. The plural destruction. The trials of the Jewish nation form is beat explained by ihe light which UDder the Penlan, Egyptian, awl Syriau OR, VJ. 1-13,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPirnT ISAIAH. 109
moncuohles mo.y be inhmded, /d a teil tree, their destruction." So to Jndah shall remain, and u an oak, eto.; rather, a. the terebinth after all, a "holy seed," which shall be its tree and a. the oak-trees which shoot up "stem" or "stock," and from which it shall again from the stock after being'cutdown; or, once more" take root dowriward, and bear as the prophet expresses it, "have a stem in fruit npward" (eh. xxxvii. 31).