qmmel with Kednr, nnd lit the ea.me time that hie power and omnigcience will aecure tne fulfilment of Lhe threatening. I. T11E DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE. "All things are naked anJ opened unto the eyee of him with whom we have to do;" "He knoweth the end from the beginning." God may be pleased to leave man his freedom, and yet he may eo know man, and each man, as to see beforehand how each will act in given circumstances; and the Di vine plans can be based on such foreknowings and forc-estimatings. IL THE DIVINE UTTERANCES ARE BASED ON BUCH FOREKNOWLEDGE. God may not be pleased to tell us oil he knows, but we may have perfect confidence in what he tells. Revelation is limited, but it is absolutely true within its limitation, because based on complete, adequate _knowledge. III. 'l'IME PROVES THE HARMONY OF THE UTTERANCE AND THE EVENTS. Because the utterance was made in full view •of the event. To God the unexpectetl never happens, and his Word never fails. Men do, in their freedom, just euctly what God, surveying their work, anticipated that they would do. "He will let none of his words fall to the ground." IV. THE CONFIDENCE IN Gon's UTTERANCES mvor.VES THE PRACTICAL ORDERING OF OUR CONDUC;JT. This applies to prophetic anticipations; but how much more to announcements of ever-working principles! There are no exceptions to the ;;reat laws of righteousness; which are Jehovah's Word to men. "God has said," is enough for us, and it may shape ourlives, It will ,come to pass, if the "Lord God of Turael bath spoken it."-R. T.
EXPOSlTION. on the subject is more complete and exact CHAPTER xxn. than is really the ca.ee. It is almost im- , Vers.1-14.-A PnoPHECY AGAINST JERU- possible to imagine any other army than the SALEM. The prophet, present in J eruse.lem, Assyrian besieging Jerusalem in Isaiah's either e.ctuo.lly, or at any rate in spirit, sees time. Moreover, the particulars concerning the inhabitants crowded together upon the the preparations ma.de against the enemy housetops, in a state of boisterous merri- (\'ers. 9-11) agree with those mentioned in ment (vers. 1, 2). Outside the we.Ila is a 2 Chron. :u:xii. S-5 and 30 es m11de by foreign army threatening the town (vers. Hezekiah against Sennacherib. .And the 5-7). Preparations have been me.de for second section of the chapter has certainly resistance, which 11re described (vers. 8-11): reference to this period. It seems, there- but there he.s been no turning to God. fore, reo.sonable to regard the siege intended as th11t conducted by Sennacherib in his On the contre.ry, the danger has but made fourth year (B.c. 701), of which we have e. the bulk of the people reckless. Instead of humbling themselves and putting on sack- brief account in his annal. (G. Smith, cloth, and weeping, and appealing to God's 'Eponym Co.non,' p. 135, 11. 15-18). mercy, they have determined to drown care Ver. 1.-The burden of the valley of vision. " The valley of vision" is only mentioned in drink and sensu11l enjoyment (vers. 12, here and in ver. 5. It must have been one 13). Therefore the prophet is bidden to of the deep depressions near Jerusalem from denounce woe upon them, o.nd threaten that which there is a good view of the town. Jehovah will not forgive their recklessness The LXX. render," the burden of the valley until their death (ver. 14). There is nothing of Zion.'' What e.ileth thee now! Jerusa- lem is addressed by the prophet, who assumes to mark very distinctly the n11tiouality of the the role of a spectator, surprised at what he foreign army; but it is certainly represented sees, and asks an explanation. That thou as made up of contingents from many nations. art wholly gone up to the housetops. Partly, Delitzsch holds tho.t the Assyrian nrmies no doubt, they went to watch the enemy nud were never so mu.de up, or, nt nny rate, thnt his movements, os Rosenmiiller so.ye; but still more for fensting and rernlry (Jnclg. the nations here mentioned never served in xvi. 27: Neh. viii. 16). The fiat roofs or its ranks (' Site of Po.re.disc,' p. 237); but Oriento.l houses are often used aa places .,f this is,perhAps, nssuming that our knowledge recreation and entertainment, especially in 852 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH, xxn. 1-25,