grand exordium, "The Lord himself ehe.11 me.tter be that euggeeted by Bishop Lowth gi'I'<' you a sign-Behold I" and the mnk of -that the prophecy had a double bearing Immanuel (eh. viii. 8), are a.like against this. and a double fulfilment? " The obvious nnd II. The purely Messie.nic theory is main- liternl meanin~ of the propheoy is this,'' he tained by Rosenroiiller and Dr. Ka.y, but says: "the.t within the time the.t a young without nnv consideration of its difficulties. woman, now a virgin, should conceive e.nd The birth of Christ was an event more thnn bring forth a child, and the.t child should seven hundred years distant. In what sense arrive at suoh o.n age IUl to distinguish be- ,md to what persons oould it be a" sign" of tween good and evil, tlmt is, within 11, few thecomingdelivere.nce of the land from Rczin yee.rs, the enemies of Judah should be and Peks.h? And, upon the purely Messi-. destroyed." But the prophecy was .so anic theory, what is t.b.e mooning ef ver. 16/i' worded, he e.dds, e.s to have e. further mee.n- Syria and Same.rie. were, in fa.et, crushed ing, which wns even ",the original desi@ within e. .few years of the delivery of the nnd principal int.Qntion of the prophet," v~z. prophecy. Why is their desole.tion put_ off, the Messianic one. All the expressions of apparently. till the coming of the Messiah, the propheoy do not suit both its intentions and even till he has reached a certain e.g<l? -some are selected with reference to. the Mr. Cheyne meets these difficulties by the first, . others with . reference to -the. second startling statement that Isaiah expected the fulfilment-but all suit one or '.the other, e.d'i'ent of the Messirui. to ,eynohronize with e.nd some suit both. The first child may· the Assyrian in'i'e.sion, and consequently have received the ne.me Immanuel (comp. thought that before Rezin and Pekah were lttiel) from ·a .faithful Jewish. motheri,who crusl,ed he would he.ve reached the: age of believed that God was . with ,his people, discernment. But he does not seem to see whatever de,ngers three.tened, a.ad may have the.t in this ~ase the.sign was altogether dis- ree.chl)d yea.re of discretion about the time appointing and illusory. Time is ·an essen- the.t Samaria. was ce.rried e.wa.y captive. The tial element of a prophecy which turns upon second child is the true "Imma,nuel," .'' G·od the word" before" (vez. 16). If this faith with us," the king of eh. viii.~; it is his of Isa.i:ah's disciples was arous8'Land their mother, :who is pointed e.t iu, the· expression, hopes raised by the e.nBGµnoem&1t that, I< the virgin:;'' e.nd on his account is the grand Immannal was just Mbout to be born (Mr. preamble; through him the people of God, Cheyne translates, ''A.virgin i.9 with child"), the true Israel, is deliver11~ from its spiritual whnt won Id be the revulsion of feeling when enem,ies, sin a.n!).,Sa.te.n-two kingit who no Immanuel appeared? . CJl?ntioually threate~ it. , . m. Me.y n°' the true aooount of the:
HOMILETICS. Ver6. 1-7.-The designs of the wicked, however wel,l 1,a,id, easily brought to nought by God. It would be difficult to find a sehem:e, humanly speaking, more prudent an_d promising than that now formed byRezin and Pekah.· '.-fh,!.lY _h~_d_t,~Clb, lll!'!lS?,f~.,_ ~_!i,eµ- 6trength again,~.t. t~t~f_.Ahaz ~_g!,r, and bad come ~ff decided v:1ctors. from the encoun~er. What doubt could there beof success when their a.rlI!s were ,unite~? And success would be a matter of-the greatest importance to them. It would e~\.lle _them to ,(orm a. compact alliance of three. considerable ·,warlike na.tione against 1the 11:ggressive power. which was.t,hreateu.ing all Western .A§.ia. with 6Uhjugation. . It would put an end to the perpetnai little wars in iwhic~ they had. ibeen for ~i;,nturies wasting their strength, and weakeaina themselves for reS1stanee a.gawst an alien conqueror. But God speaks the wora: "ft shall not st.and; neither shall it come-to pass;" and the promising scheme drops through ends in·disaster. Rezin, its framer, instead of triumphing over Aha.z,-·is himself attacked by Tigia.tli-l'ileser_; his territpries are invaded, his capital besieged and taken, his r,eople carried away captive, and himself slain (2 Kings xyi. ~)- , ~eke:~, Rezin's aider and abettor, is then exP?5ed tq the full brunt of .Assynan 1nva.~1on, ~s attacked, defeated, loses cities and provmces, apd, tho1;1gh not slam by_ t;he A,ssyr1ans; 1s left so weak and so disgraced, that he is shortly dethroned by a. new us11rper, llos~ea, who murders him for his own security (2 Kings xv, 29, 30). 'l'he "house of Pav1d," threatened with removal by the confederates, esca.pea .the crisis unhurt, and conti,J,i,ues to o,cupy the throne of Judah for another century and a half, while the kingdo~s of Syria and Israel fall within a. few ye.ars, and their inhabitants a.re deported to _far-distant regions (2 Kiags xvi, 9; xvii. 6; 1 Cbron. xv'. 26). Yf e 1:1a.y learn from this- . L 'fai,; MA.DN'Y.!!B ·or 'OPl'OBING Goo; Syria. and Ephraim were confederate against Oll, VTI. 1-"'-28.] THE BOOK OP THEi PROPHET ISAIAR. 131