for the west thRt signifying "behind." their young men. "The Lord taketh plea- 8vria •eems to have b,'On hostile to Samaria sure in them that fear him, iu those thal until the leagne wns formed between Rezin hope in his mercy" (Pa. cxlvii. 11). He and Pek&h, and may hal'e become hostile ee.n have no joy or delight in evil-doers, og,<in nfter Peka.h's death (2 Chron. xxviii. or idolaters, or in those whose apeeoh i■ 23). We read of a Pliilistine inva,sion of profanity. Neither ahall have mero:, on Judah in Chronicles (2 Chron. xniii. IS), their fatherless and widows. The widow but not of their attacking Israel. SLill, it ancl the orphnn are obj,oots of God's wBS BS eBSI' for them to attack the one as tenderest love nnd compnssion (Exod. the other. • They abutted on the territory xxii. 22; Dent. x. 18; xiv. 29; eh. i. 17, of Israel towards the south-west, as Syria etc.); but when the wiokeu J.ess of II land did towards the north-ea.st. For all this hia provokes him t.o send any ore of his " four uger is not tnrned away; since Israel sore judgments" upon it, the widow nnd the continued impenitent. It would have cea.-!ed fatherless must suffer with the other in- hnd they repented and tnrned t.o God (see habitants. God pities them, doubtless, but ver. 13). His hand is stretahed out; not his justice and his righteous anger force to save, but to smite. him to restrain his pity,.nnd carry out his Ver. 13.-The people. The people of judgment in spite of it. Every one is an lsroel, as distinct from the people of Judah. hypoorite ; or, corrupt; compare, "They are The particular judgment announced in all gone nside, they are all together become ver,;. 11, 12 is clearly to fall on them, filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, Ji either do they seek the Lord of hosts. not one" (Ps. xiv. 8). A certain allowance Israel had eet itself to seek after Baal from must be made for the natural hyperbole of the time ef Ahab (I Kings xvi. 81). The strong feeling. Every month spea.il:eth folly, reform of Jebu (2 Kings x. 28) had gone The word translated here (e.nd generally) but skin-deep. Baal wa.s still "sought to," "folly" is rendered "villnny" in eh. xxxii. rather than Jehovah, when the final judg- 6 and Jer. xxix. 28. Its proper meaning ment came (2 Kings xvii. 16; Hos. ii. 13). 1100ms to be "lewdness" or " profligacy." Ver.14.-B:eo.dud tail, branch and rush; Ver. 18.-Wiokedness bumeth as the fire; i.e. the whole na.tion, from the highest to i.e. tile contagion of wickedness overspreads the lowest. The " branch " intended is the a whole nation in the same rapid way that "palm branch," at once lofty in position fire spreads over a field of stubble or and the most glorious form of vegetable life a forest. They shall mount up like the (Ps. xcii. 12; Cant. vii. 7, 8, etc.); the lifting up of smoke; rather, the1J--i.e. the " rush " is the simple " sedge " that grows, forest thickets-sltall be whirled upward not only low on the ground, but in the with the uplifting of BmOlce. The burning "mire" (Job viii. 11). The same expres- thickets shall mount up with the volumes sion occurs again in eh. xi.x. 15. of smoke into the air, e.nd hang there ae Ver. 15.-Some suppose this verse to be e. murky but lurid pall. The fie.mes of a gloss, or marginal note, which has crept wickedness give no light to a laud, but into the text; but it is too pointed and plunge it in heavy, hopeless gloom. sarcastic for e. mere gloss. There is no Ver. 19.-Is the land darkened; rather, reason to doubt its being Isaiah's. Having burnt up (<Tvy1<E1<av-ra1, LXX.). The root spoken of "tile tail," he takes the oppor- used occurs in Arabio in this sense. It is tunity of lashing the false prophet, who not used elsewhere in Scripture. The people claimed to be among the "honourable," but shall be as the fuel of the fire. Though wo.s really the lowest of the low, worse than the general ravage, devastation, end deso- his dupes, the true" tail" (comp. eh. xxviii. lation of the land, with its buildings, its 7; nix. 10 ; m. 10). trees, and its other vegetable products, is Ver. 16.-The leaden of this people oaue included in the image of the fire devourinl!" them to err (comp. eh. iii. -l2). Both the the thorny brakes and tangled thickets of peoples were Jed into idolatry by their e. dense forest, yet the threat is intended rulers, but Israel especially. Jeroboam, tile still more against the Israelite peop'le, who first king, introduced the calf-worship, and were the true " fuel of the fire," sinre the his sncceBBOre from first to last persisted ravAge would go on until the land should in his Bin. Ahe.b added the still grosser be depopulated. No man shall 1pare hia idolatry of Baal Those who held high brother. We have here a new feature. position under the kings were equally bad Not only shall foreign enemies-Syrians e.nd examples to the people (see above, eh. i. 23). Philistines-devour Israel, but the plague Are destroyed. First, morally oonupted of civil war will also be let loose upon and debased, then physically given over them (oomp. ver. 21, and see 2 Kings xv. 80, to destruction-slaughtered by Philistines, where we find that Pekah fell a victim to Syrians, and A.ssyrinns. a oonspiracy bended by Hoshee.). Ver, 17.-The Lord lhall have no joy la Ver. 20.-He 1hall 11116toh; rather, f-718 CM. It. 1-21.] Til"E BOOK OF Tlt:E PROPHET ISAIAH. 160
1Tiall del!OUr, A man, i.e., shall plunder and Ver. 21.-Manaaeh, Ephraim. These ravage in one qunrter, and yet not be satis- two a.re mentioned as the two principal fied ; then he shall do the same in another, tribes of the northern kingdom (comp. and still desire more. " Increase of l\ppeti te I Chron. ix. 3; 2 Chron. xxx. 1, 10, HI; &1111.ll grow by whe.t it feeds on. n There :u:xi. 1; xxxiv. 9). It is not to be B11p- ehe.11 bo no eense of e11,tiety anywhere. The posed that civil rliscnrd was couflned to flesh ot his own arm. In a civil war, or them. Probably there was a generul dis- a time of anarchy, each man ie always org11,uize.tion. Still, all the tribes would at "eating the flesh of his own arm "-i.e. any time willingly unite "together 11,gninst injuring hie neighbour, who is hie own Judah" (see 2 Kings xv. 37; 2 Chron. natural protector e.nd defender. xxviii. 6-8).