The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 199

pletcd by the men of Ephraim, whereof we The "pe.seage of Michma.,h" (1 Sam. Iiii. have an account in Judg. vii. 19-25. Its 23)-the deeply sunken valley, ea.lied now counterpart in Aesyrio.n history would seem tbe Wady Bvweinit, between Michmash to be the destruction of Sennacherib's army, (Mukkmaa) and Gebo. (Jeba). They have 88 related in 2 Kings xix. 35. As his rod taken up their lodging at Gebo. ; or, at Geba was npon the sea. An allusion to the they rest for the night. Having crosrnd the drowning of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea. wa.dy, they bivouac on the crest of the hills This we.s e. nearer parallel to the destruction enclosing it on the south. Ramah . . . of Sennacherib's army the.n the slaughter of GibM.h of Saul. Ra.mah is, no doubt, Er-Ram, the Midie.nitcs, since it was wholly miracu- a village on an eminence, as the name im- lone. By "hie rod" we me.y understand the plies, a.bout eix miles north of Jerusalem, rod of Moses, endued by God with mira.cu- and on the direct road from Bcitin. Gibeah lo1IS powere (Exod. iv. 3, 4; xiv. 16, 27). of Saul is thought to have occupied the site After the manner of Egypt ; i.e. "after the of the modem Tukil-el-Fid, two miles nearer manner of his action in Egypt." Jernsalem. It is certainly a. distinct place Ver. 27.-The yoke shall be destroyed be- from Geba. The inhabitants evacuate these oame of the anointing; literally, be/ore the two places during the night. oil; i.e. "the Anointed One "-primarily Ver. 30.-Lift up thy voice, 0 daughter of Hezekiah, "the anointed of the Lord" Gallim. Gallim and Laish must have been (2 Sam. xix. 21; 2 Kings xi. 12; Lam. iv. 20) villages between Gebo. and Jerusalem; but for the time being, but with a. further refer- it is impossible to fix their site. _<\nathoth ence to the Messiah, who breaks all the (now Anata) obtains mention in Joshua. bands of the wicked asunder, and caste away as a city of refuge in the territory of Benja- their cords from him (Pe. ii. 2, 3); and who min (Josh. ui 18). It was Jerem:ia.h's birth- is represented by each prince of the ho1ISe of ple.ce (Jer. i. 1). Gallim wa.s the birthplace David, as he was by David himself. of the man who became the second husband Vere. 28-32.-This graphic portraiture of of Michal, Saul's daughter. La.ish is not the march of an Assyrian army on Jerusalem elsewhere mentioned. Ca.me it to be heard is probably not historic, but prophetic. unto Laieh; rather, hearken, 0 Laisha. Ise.ia.h sees it in vision (eh. i. 1), and de- Ver. 31.-Mad.menah ... Gebim. These scribes it like an eye-witness. There are e.t a.re, like Gallim and Laisha., villages other- present no sufficient means of deciding to wiBe unknown. They must have been within what particular attack it refers, or indeed a mile or two of J eru,alem., towards the whether the march is one conducted by north. Their inhabitants tly as the As- Bennecherib or Sargon. Sargon calls him- syria.ns approach. self in one inscription "conqueror of the land Ver. 32.-Ae yet shall he remain at Nob of Judah" (La.yard,' Inscriptions,' xxxiii. 8), that day; literally, yet that day (ia he) at and the deta.ils of the present prophecy, Nob to halt. The .As,iyria.ns pitch their camp especially ver. 9, suit the reign of Sargon at Noh, the priestly city destroyed by Saul rather than that of his son, so that on the (I Sam. xxii 19),1 which was evidently whole it is perhaps most probable that some within sight of J"erusalem. Major Wilson's expedition of Sargon's is portrayed. conjecture, that it occupied the site of the Ver. 28.-Ke is oome to Aiath. "Aiath" later Scopus, is probable. is probably Ai (Josh. viii. 1-28), with a Ver. 33.-The Lord . . . shall lop the feminine termination. It lay a.bout three bough with terror. A check to the .As- miles south of Bethel, which had become syrian e.rme is intended, but of what na.turti Assyrian with the conquest of Sa.me.ria. If is not clear. The " lopping of the bough an Assyrian army mustered at Bethel, it with teTTor" might indica.te a panic, such ~ would naturally enter Judman territory e.t that which seized the Syrians and made Ai. Ke is paSBed to Migron ; rather, he has Benhadad II. raise the siege of Samaria paued thf-ough Migron. "Migron" is men- (2 Kings vii. 6, 7). But the expressions tioned ns a. village in the territory of Gibea.h used later on, "hewn down," ·• cut down," of Benjamin (1 Sam. xiv. 2) ; buttha l\Ii"ron "shall fall," rather imply a defeat. of this passage must have been furthc~ to Ver. 34.-Ke shall out down; or, one shall the north. . He ha.th laid up his oarriages ; out down; Jehovah being, nocloubt, intended. i.e. "hos left his baggage-train." l\Iichmnsh Lebanon (comp. Ezek. xxxi. 3, "Behold, the was about sevcu miles nearly duo north of Assyrian was a ccd,u in Lebanon "). Here Je1:1snlem. 'rhe heavy baggnge might con- the comparison is enlarge,!, and Assyria. ap- vemcntly be loft there, especially as it w11s pear! as Lebanon itself with all if.3 ceda.r difficult of attack (1 Snm. xiv. 4-13), woods. By a mighty one; rather, a glorious while a lightly equipped body of troops one (comp. oh. xxxiii. 21, where tho word ma.de a. d11sh at Jerusalem. he~ wied~iT-il au epithet 9f Jehovah). Ver. 29.-The7 are gone over the paesago.  190 THE P.OOK OF TEE PROPHET ISAIAH. [cu. x.1-34.