to Hezekiah when he was sick (eh. xxxix. 1; 2 Kings xx. 12). The prophet may well grieve over the fall of Babylon, as likely to drag down with it weaker kingdoms. I. Tlll!I BOUND 01!' THE TEMPEST. What sublime poesy have the prophets found in the tempest I We are perhaps impressed more through the perception of the ear than that of the eye, by the sense of vague, v:ast, overwhelming power working through all the changes of the world. The sweeping up of a tempest from the southern dry country of Judah is like the gathering of a moles belli, and this again betokens that Jehovnh of hosts is stirring up his might in the world unseen. Hence his arrows go forth like lightning, his trumpet blows (Zech. ix. 14). This movement comes from the terrible land, the desert, the haunt of serpents and other horrible creatures. II. THE VISION OF CALAMITY. 'rhe march of the barbarous conqueror is marked by cruelty and devastation. 'l'he prophet's heart is overpowered within him. He writhes with anguish as in the visions of the even-tide the picture of Babylon's fall passes before his mind. He beholds a scene of rivalry. There is feasting and mirth. We are reminded of that description which De Quincey adduced as an example of the sublime: "Delshazzar the king made a great feast unto a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand" (Dan. v. 1); and of Byron's description of the eve of the battle of Waterloo at Brussels. Suddenly an alarm is given; the walls bave been stormed, the palace is threatened; the banqueters most start from the couch and exchange the garb of luxury for the shield and the armour. The impression of the picture is heightened by the descriptions in Herodotus (i. 191) and Xenophon (' Cyrop.,' vii. 5), whether they refer to the same event or no. It is the picture of careless ease and luzury surprised by sudden terror. "Let us go against them," says Cyrus in Xenophon. "Many of them are asleep, many intoxicated, and all of them unfit for battle." The scene, then, may be used parabolically to enforce those lessons of temper- ance, of watchfulness, of sobriety, and prayerfulness which our religion inculcates. III. THE WATCHMAN. The word of Jehovab directs that a watchman shall be posted, the prophet" dividing himself into two persons"-his own proper per~on and that of the ,peculator or scout upon the height of the watch-tower. So Habakkuk "stands upon his watch, and sets him upou the tower" (ii. 1). And what does the prophet see? Oavalry riding two abreast, some on horses, others on asses, others (with the baggage) on camels. This he sees ; but he bears no autheutic tidings of distant things, though straining his ear in utmost tension. Then he groans with the deep tones of the impatient lion. How long is he to remain at his post? We cannot but think of the fine opening of the '.Agamemnon' of 2Eschylus, where the weary warder soliloquizes- " The gods I ask deliveranoe from these labonl'S, Watch of a year's length, whereby, slumbering thro' it On the Atreidai's roof on elbow, dog-like, I know of mighty star-groups the assemblage, And those that bring to men winter and summer." (R. Browning's translation.) .As he waits for "the torch's token and the glow of fire," so does Isaiah wait for certain news about Babylon. .And, no sooner is the plaint uttered, than the wish is realized. The watchman sees a squadron of cavalry, riding two abreast, and the truth flashes or, him-Babylon is fallen I The images, symbols of the might of the city, protected by the gods they represented, are dashed to the ground and bruken. What was felt under such circumstances may be ga•hered by the student of Greek history from the awful impression made, on the eve of the expedition to Sicily, by the discovery of the mutila- tion of the statues of the Hermai. It is all over with Babylon. IV. THE ANGUISH OF THE PATRIOT. "0 my threshed and winnowed one! n Poor Israel, who has already suffered so much from the Assyrian, how gladly would the prophet have announced better tidings I The threshing-floor is an image of suffering, and not confined to the Hebrews. It may be found in old Greek lore, and in modern Greek folk-poesy. No image, indeed, can be more expressive (comp. eh. xii. 15; Micah iv.12, 13 • Jer. Ii. 33). "But Jove also takes part in the threshing, and restrains the wrath." V. GENERAL LEBB0NB, The Christian minister is, too, a watcher. He must listen and he must look. There are oracles to be heard by the attentive ear, breaking out of the heart of things-hints in the distance to be caught by the wakeful and searching 312 THE BOOK 01'' THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [en. xxi. 1~17.
eye. 11 They whom God has appointed to watch are neither drowsy nor dim-sicrhted 0 .. The prophet also, by this example, exhorts and stimulates believers to the eame .kind of attention, that by the help of the lamp of the Word ihey may obtain a distant view of the powerofGod."-J. , ,,·•' ,
Vers. 11, 12.-The watchman. I. THE 0ALL FROM SEIB. The Edomites are asking, 11 Will the light soon dawn ? What hour is it? " Like the sick man tossin"'0 on his bed, they long for the first tidings that the night of tribulation is r,ast. •