The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 254

Ver. 17.-Tbat opened not the house of Belshazz,ir's father, Nabonidus; but the hil pruonera; literally, tJiat l.oolied not hi8 claim is characterized as false, and a false pnso,.,,,·, homeward,. The long imprieon- claim would scarcely have been ■et up had ment of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar real descendants survived. . (thirty-six yea.rs, 2 Kings _xx~. 27) is an Ver. 21.-Prepare slaughter tor his ohil• illustration; but perhaps 1t 18 rather the dren. Belshazzar had " wives and conou~ retention in captivity of the entire Jewish bines" (Dan. 'V. 2), and therefore probably people that is brought to the prophet's children. The magnanimity of Oyrus may cognizance. have spared them; but neither Ce.mbyse1 Yer. 18.-All the kinga of the nations, eto.; nor Darius Hystaspis had the same· meroi- i.e. the other kings, spee.l..ug generally, died ful disposition. As soon as tbero was seen in peace, and had an honourable burial, to be danger of Babylon revolting, they each one in the sepulchre that he had pre- would almost certainly be put to death, pnred for himself as his final abode or J'or the iniquity of their fathers ( comp; "ho11Se" (comp. eh. xxii. 16). The care Exod. xx. 5). The destruction of their pos• taken to prepare tombs was not confined to terity was a part of the punishment of the Egypt, though there obta,ining its greatest fathers. That they do not rise; i.e. "that development. Among others, the Persian they do not recover themselves and become J.--i11C"S certainly prepared their own se- great monarchs once more, and once more pulchres ; and probably the practice was build great cities," such as those which they general. were famous for - Babel, Erech, Accad; Ver. 19. -But thou art out out (see Ce.lneh, Ur, Sepharve.im, Borsippe., Opis; ver. 13). Again ••thou" is emphatic. Teredon, eto. It was as city-builders that Translate, But thou-thou art cast 0'/1,t. The the Babylonians were especially_ celebrated Babylonian monarch did not rest in the (Gen. x. 10; Dan. iv. 30; Herod., 1.178, etc.); tomb which he had prepared for himself. Vars. 22, 23.-These verses constitute the His body wn.s "cast out "-left, apparently, epode of the poem. Theil' me.in object is where it fell in battle. If there is allusion to make it clear that the punishment about to any individn"l, it is probably to Bel- to fall on Babylon comes frciIU none other shazze.r (Dan. v. 30). Like an abominable than Jehovah, who~e Ne.tp.e occurs-twice in branch. .Ml a shoot from a tree, which is ver. 22, and emphe.tico.lly closes ver. 23. disapproved, o.nd so condemned and cut The lines •ere much more irregular than awe.v. As the raiment of those that are those of the strophes, or stanzas. Ills.in. The garments of the slain, soaked Ver. 22. - And cut o:ff from Babylon the in blood ( eh. ix. 5), were useless, and were name. It is not quite clear in what sense consequently flung away or left to rot un- her •• name " we.s to be "cut off" from Be.bys cared for. So was it with the corpse of the Jon. One of the main masses of ruin still great king. That go down to the stones of bears the old name almost unchanged (Babil), the pit. This clause is thought to be mis- and can scarcely be supposed to have lost placed. It def'angea the metre and damages it and afterwards reoovered it. Perhaps the sense. Corpses were not interred on "name" here me1ms "fome" or "celebrity" :fields of battle in the East (Herocl., iii. 26). (comp. Deut. xxvi; 19; Zeph. Hi. 2.0). Son They were left to be " trodden underfoot." and nephew; -rather, son and grandson, or It is best, with Ewe.Id and Mr. Cheyne, to issue and descendants. The same •phrase transfer the clause to the commencement of occurs in the same sense in Gen. xxi. 23 and the next verse. Thus the fourth~anzais re- Job xviii. 19. lieved, and the fifth properly filled out. Ver. 20.-H we make the alteration sug. Ver. 23.~A possession f~r the bittem. gested in the preceding note, this verse will Some we.ter-bii·d or other is probably in- begin as follows: "They that have gone tended, since the word used is joined in eh, down to the stones of the pit, with these xxxvi. 11 with the names of three other thou shalt not be joined in burial "-a repe- birds, and is also certainly a bird's name in tition certainly of the first clause of ver. 19, Zeph. ii. 14; but the identification with the Lui with amplification, and with the reason •• bittern" is a mere guess, and rests on no appended. Tho~ ~ destr~yed tl!-Y land ; authority. And pools of water. The swampy i.e. •· brought rwn on it by d1spleaswg God, character of the country about the ruins of and causing him to visit it with a judgment." Babylon is generally noticed by travellers. The seed of evil-doer11 ■hall never be re- It arises from neglect of the de.ms nlong the nowned; rather, shall not be named for ever course of the Euphrates. Ker Porter says (comp. Pa. ciL 13). The meaning is that that •• large deposits of the Euphrates water they sl,o.11 have no seed, or, if they have any, are left st.e.gnant in the hollows between the that it shall be early cut off, and the whole ruins" (' Travels,' vol. ii. p. 389). race blotted out. Pretenders rose up under Vere. 24--27.-A FUBTHBU. PBOPBEOY o• Diuiw, J:lystaspi~, claiming descent from D.ELIVEBANOE Jl'BO]lf[ ASSYRIA. From the dis- Otl, XIV, 1-32,) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAlt. 247