The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 140

qucstioned whother the word tmnelat.ed and thorns will come up everywhere I wild "virgin,'' viz. 'almah, has necessarily that beasts will increase ; cattle will browse on meaning; but it is admitted that the moon- ing is borne out by every other place in the hills that were once oe.roflllly oultivatod which the word ooours in the Old Testa- to their summits (venl. 23-25). ment (Gen. niv. 43; Exod. ii. 8; Ps. lxviii. Ver. 17.-The Lord shall bring upon thee, 25; Prov.xxx. 19; Cant.i.8; vi.8). The eto. The trnnsition from promises to thront- LXX., writing two centuries before the birth enings is abrupt, and oalcuhLted to impress of Christ., translate by Ta.p8,11os. The render- any one who wo.s to nny extent impressible. ing " virgin " has the support of the best But Ahnz seems not to have ho.d "eore to modem Hebraists,as Lowth, Gesenius, Ewo.ld, henr." From the day that Ephraim departed Delit.zsch, Kay. It is observed with reason from J'nda.h ; i.e. from the time ol the revolt that unless 'almah is translated "virgin," under Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 16-24)-an there is no announcement made worthy of evil dny, which mnkled in the mind of_all the grand prelude; "The Lord himself shall true Judmans. Even the King of Assyria;. give you a sign-Behold I" The Hebrew, The construction is awkward, since "the however, has not "a virgin," but " th~ vir- King of Assyria." cannot well stand in appo- gin" (o.nd so the SeptuRgint, ;, ,ra,p8,11os), sition with "de.ye." Hence many take the which points to some special virgin, pre- ~ords for ~ gloss that has been accidentally_ eminent above all others. And shall oall; intruded mto the text (Lowtb, Gesenius, better thnn the marginal rendering, thou ihalt Hitzig, Knobel, Cheyne). Others, however, eall. It was regarded as the privilege of a see in the grammatical anomaly a grace of mother to determine her child's name (Gen. composition. • iv. 25; xn. 11; :u.ix. 82-35; xxx. 6-13, Ver. 18.-The Lord shall hise (see eh. v, 18-21, 24; x:a::v. 18, etc.), although form- 26, o.nd note ad~.). J'or the 1ly that is iii ally the father gave it (Gen. xvi. 15; 2 Sam. the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, xii. 24; Luke i 62, 63). Imma.nuaL Trans- The " fiy of Egypt," like the "bee of Asa lated for us by St. Matthew (i 23) as "God syria.," represents the military force of the v.ith us" (p.tJ' f/µ.,,,Y I, 8£.ls). (Comp. eh. nation, whicli God summons to take part in viii. 8, 10.) the coming affiiction. of J udiea. The pro- Ver. 15.-Butter and honey shall he eat. phetic glance may be extended over the His fare shall be of the simplest kind ( comp. entire period of Judah's decadence, and tho ver. 22). That he may know; rather, UU he "files" summoned may include those which ahall /rnou, (Rosenmiiller) ; i e. till be come clustered about Neco at Megiddo, and· oar- to years of discretion. (The rendering of ried off Jehoahaz from Jerusalem (2 Kings the Revisers of 1885," when he lmoweth," is xxiii. 29-34). There may be allusion also less satisfactory.) to Egyptian ravages in the reigns of Sargon, Ver. I 6. - The land, etc. Translate, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon. In any ~ land ,1wil be duolate, before IDM8e ttDo genera.I review of the period we shall find kings thou art afraid. The " land" must it stated that, from the time of Sargon to certainly be that of the two confederate that of Cyruo, Judea we.e the battle-ground kings, Rezin and Peka.b. the Syro-Ephraim- upon which the forces of Assyria (or Assyro- itic land, or Syria and Sa.maria. •• Desolate " Babylonia) and Egypt contended for the may be used physically or politically. A empire of westem Asia. The desolation of. land is "desolate" politically when it loses the land during this perio<l was produced .he last vestige of independence. almost as much by the Egyptian "fiy " ali Vere.17-25.-~DANGEBTOJUDABFBOll by the Assyrian "bee." 'l'he "riven of A.Bsrnli. The perversity of Ahaz, already Egypt" are the Nile, its branches, and perhaps the great oanals by which. its waters rebuked in ver. 13, is further punished by a were distributed. The bee that is in the threat, that upon him, and upon his people, land of Asayri&. The choice of the terms and upon his father's house, shall come "bee" and "fiy," to represent respectively 11hortly & dire calamity. The very power the hosts of Assyria and Egypt, is not with- whose &id be is himself bent on invoking out sign.ificnnce. Egyptian. armies were swarms, liastily levied,and very imperfectly shall be the liCOurge to che.stise both king disciplined. Assyrian were bodies of trained and people (vera. 17-20). The land ehall troops accustomed to war, and almost as well be made bare 1111 by & razor (ver. 20). Cul- disciplined as the Romans. . tivation shall cease; its scant inhabitants Ver. 19.-And rut; or, ,ettk. li the will support themselvee by keeping & few deaolate valley1. Gesenius and Vanoe Smith translate "the precipitous valleys ; " ~r. cows and sheep (ver. 21). and will nourish Cheyne, "the steeply walled viLlleys." But themselves on dairy produce, and the honey the cognate word used in eh. v. 6 can only th&t ihe wild bees produce (ver, 22). :Priero melUI "waete,'' which eupporkl tbetellderin;  OIL VII, 1-25.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 129