The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 296

should be paetured on the Bites of cities. Vor. ~-A• when th•,harvutman gttther~ None llh&ll make them afraid; i.e. " there eth the .oom. Death is the "hnrvcstmnn •• shall be no iflhe.bitants to ma.ke any objec- here, and g'l!.thers the Isrnelitea by 11hocka, or tion." sheaves, into his garner. A great'depopula- Ver. 3.-The· fo'ttre11 Ill.so Bha.ll oeue from tion nppcitrs in 2 Rin~s xvii. 25, where we Ephraim. Sargon did not destroy Sitmaria loam that lions so mnlt,plied in tho 111.nd aa ntJ. the OO<'aSion of his first capture. But he to become II terror to the few in haliitl\nts. l!&yt! that he" reduced it t-0 a heap of ruins" Reapeth the ea.re. Mr. Cheyne well romn.rk11 on the oooa.sion of its second capture (' Re- thl\t the " eiirs" only 1vore reaped, the st11llt cords of the Past,' l.s.c.). And the kingdom being cut close under tho ear. Thie . wo.s from DamasollS, We do not hear of any the praotice also in Eg-ypt (Rnwlinson1 King of Damascus after Rezin, who was slain • Hist. of Anoient Egypt,' vol. i. p. 162); by Tiglath-Pileser about B.C. 732. Damas- In the valley of Rephaim. . The valley of c.us, i.iowcver, reasserted her independence Rephaim was the scene of David's do11bfo in n.c. 721, and probably eot up a king at victory over the Philistines, related in. th0 same time. In B.o. 720 she wits reduced 2 Snm. v. 17-:-25. It is. disputed whether it and destroyed. Nothing more is heard of lay north or south of Jerusalem ; but the her until B.C. 694--the eleventh year of Sen- connection with Bethlehem (2 Sam. xxiii. nscberib--wben her "governor., is Assyrian 18-17) and with the cave of Adulle.m ·seem Eponym, and she must therefore he.ve been decisive in favour of a. southern poeition. • A absorbed into the Assyrian empire. The "valley," however· (!emek), suitable for the remnant of Syria. This phrase shows that cnltivation of com, in this direction, has .yet the great blow which struck do:wn Syrie.- to be discoveted. · · . , Tiglath-Pileser's capture of Dame.seas and Ver. 6.-Yet gleaning grapes shall be left slaughter ,of Rezin-was a thing of the past. in it; mther, yet gleani,J,gs 8haUbe left in it. Syria was already but "a. remnant." Now There. is ;no Il)e;ntion of graP.es, and it is clear she we.s t.o cease t.o exist altogether. They tli11t the "gleaning" intended is_ that of an aha.11 be u the glory of the ohildren 1if olive-ground. As the •shaking of an olive Israel Ironical. The irony is me.de appe.- tree; rather, as at the beating of an olive tree, rent by the next verse. 'l'he olive crop was obtained, not by shaking, Vers. 4--11.-A DENtJNCUTION o:r WOE but by bee.ting the trees '(Deut. xxiv. 20), The owner was forbidden fo "go· over the Oll' 1sRAEL, COMBINED WITH THE PROMISE .OF : bonghs again/' in :order. :that a portion -0f A REMNANT. Israel, having united herself the crop might be left for the.stranger, thei with Syria to resist the Aesyrians, will incur widow, and the fatherless to glean. In the a similar fate. Her glory will decay, her top of the uppermost bough. Whore.the sticks population dwindle e.nd almost disappear. . of th~ heaters bad not reached. Four or five in the outmost fruitful branohes; re.ther,four Still there will be a few left, who, under the or five apiece on its fruitful branches. 'fbis airoumste.nces, will turn to. God (ver.• 7). is the average Uiat wotiia be left, after bee.t- But it will be too, late for anything like a ing, on a good-sized branch. national recovery ; the land will remain " a Ver. 7.-At that day shall a man look to desolation " on account of the past l!lll8 of its his Maker. We have evidence of this revul- sion of feeling on the part of Israel in the inhabitants (vere. 9-11). statement of Chronicles that, in the reign of Ver. 4.-The glory of 1acob shall be ma.de Josiah, offerings of money were made for the thin. There is reason to believe that the temple service by men of uManusseh and deportation of the Israelites was gradual. Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel,'~ Sargon, on taking Se.maria for the first time, which the Levites collected.and brougM to in B.o. 722, carried off no more than 27,290 Jerusalem (2 Chron. xriiv. 9). •• of the inhabitants (G. Smith, 'Eponym Ver. 8.-And he ah&ll not look to the Canon,' p. 125). Over the remainder he a.lta.rs. The altars at Dan e.n<l Bethel appointed governors, and required them to (I Kings xii 28-33) may be intended,,.ot pay the same taxation as before. About the Israelites may have had other idolatrous, s.c. 715 he placed a number of Arabs in altars besides these (2 Kings xvii. 11; Hos. Samaria, probably deporting natives to make viii.11). Josiah, about s.o. 631, broke down room for them (ibid., p. 128). The continu- altars throughout all the land of Israel, in a.nee of a. remnant of Isra~lites in the land the cities of Manasseh nntl Epbro.im 11.nd down to 11.0. 625 is indicated by 2 Chron. • Simeon(?), even unto Nnphtali (2 Chron. :uxiv. 9. The fatneBB of hie 1iesh shall wu: uxiv. 5-7). Apparently he bad the consent lean (comp. eh. L 16). Depopulation is of the inhabitants to this demolition. Either primarily iutended: but there iB, perhaps, the grovea, or the images. Asherah, tho word also e. more general refereuoe to depression, here and elsewhere commonly translated wasting, and misery. "grove" in the Authorized Version, is now vu. xvu, l-14-.J 'l'HE HOOi{ Oh' ,THE ,PnOPHET ISAIAH. 291