The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 413

11 prayer; mther, Ill! in the margin, a ,ecret nymous parl\llelism : " " Thy dead men eMll ,peMh, or o 1.ou, t11hi,per (Kay); comp. oh, live; my dead shall arise." Awake lllld. xxix. 4. The word elsewhere mee.ns "the ling; rather, au,ak6 and . shout for jo11 muttering of a charm," but must he1·e signify (comp. Ps. xuv. 27; lxvh. 4, eto.), Ye the " whispered prayer" of one in deep that dwell in dUBt (oomp. Dan. xii. 2, humiliation. " Many that aleep in the duat of the earth shall Ver. 17.-Like u a womu with ohild awake"). Thy dew is as the dew of herbs; (comp. eh. xiii. 8; xxi. S). Ieaiah uses the i.e. refreshing, vivifying, potent to make metaphor to express any severe pain com- even dead bones live. " Thy dew" may be bined with anxiety. Bo h11ve we been in thy said with referenoe to Jehovah, for ohangea eight; mther, "° ha'De u,e been at thy presence. in the person addressed are frequent in When thou wert visiting us in anger, and Ieaiah: or with referenoe to the people of lnying thy ch&stieements upon ne. Israel, meaning, "the dew whioh Jehovah Ver. 18.-We have as it were brought forth will shed on tJ1ee," i.e. on thy dead. wind. Our pa.ins ha.ve been idle, fntile- Ver. 20.-Come, my people, , . , into thy 1-.ave effected nothing. We have not given oha.mbers. As when a storm comes, pru- deliverance (literally, "salvation ") to our dence counsels men to seek shelter (Exod. land; we have not effected the downfall of ix. 19), so now the prophet advises his our heathen enemies. That downfall was people to put themselve1 under cover during· God's work (eh. xxiv. 16-20). the coming tempest. His meaning, pro- Vera. 19-21.-Twn PROPHET'S 0o?dld:ENT bably, is that they should retire into the ON THE SONG 011' THE JusT. Having COil• privaoy of oom.munion with God, withdraw- ing from pub!io nffairs and the distraotions eluded his "song of the jnet" in a minor of a worldly life. Shut thy doors about key with a oonfession of human weakness, thee (comp. 2 Kings iv. 33: Matt. vi. 6). the prophet proceeds to cheer and encourage For a little moment (so in eh. x. 25: and his disciples by a clear and positive decla- again in oh. !iv, 7, 8). God's estimate of ration of the doctrine of the resurrection : time, we must remember, is not as man's (Ps. xc. 4 ; 2 Pet. ill. 8), "Thy dead, 0 Israel, shall live."' He then Ver. 21.-The Lord oometh out of his add!! a recommendation for the present-a plaoe (comp. Micah i S). In the Psalms recommendation to privacy and retirement, God is represented as" bowing the heavens until the jud,,,"ID.ents of God which he has and coming down," bringing them, as it. predicted (eh. :uiv.) are shown forth upon were, with him. Here (a.nd in Micah) he quits his place in heaven, as a king quits the earth. his own oountry when he proceeds to take Ver. 19.-Thy de11d men shall live. A vengeance on rebels in another. The ex- uni versa! resurrection of " some to everlast- pressions are, both of them, 80commodationa ing life, and some to shame and everlasting to human modes of thought. To p11llish the contempt" (Dan. xii 2), is not yet an- inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; nounced ; but only a resurrection of the literally, ro oisit the iniquity of the inhabitant just, perhaps only of the just Israelites. of the earth upon him. The earth also shall The object is encouragement, especially disclose her blood ; literally, her blood, ; i.e. encouragement of those whom the prophet her blood!!hed<lings ; the many murdel"II directly addresses-the religious Israelites committed by man upon her surface. of his own day. It is enough for them at Isaiah denounced " murderers " in his fust the present time to know that, whether the oha.pter (ver. 27). Manasseh'a murders were day of the Lord comes in their time or 110, the main cause of the first destruction of when it comes, they will have a part in it. Jerusalem (2 Kings xx:iv. 4). The second The assurance is given, e.nd is made doubly destruction was equally e. judgment for the sure by repetition. The prophet does not innocent blood that had been shed upon the say, Together with my dead body they will earth, " from the blood of righteous Abel arise ; for there is nothing in the Hebrew unto the blood of Zaoharias son of Be.re.- corresponding to "together," e.nd the el- chias" (Matt. uiii. 35). Bloodshed " cries lipse of 'im, "with," though suggested by to God for vengeance" (Gen. iv. 10), and Kimchi, is impossible; nor is it likely that will be one of the me.in ea.uses of the world's he intends to speak of his own dead body final destruction (Rev. xvi. 6 ; xviii. 20). e.t all He may, perhaps, call the past gene- And she.11 no more oover her slain. " There rations of just Israelites " my dea<l," i.e. is nothing covered that shall not " in the the der,d with whom he is in symp,.tby; or la.et day "be revealed, and hid that she.11 the supposed penonaJ suffix may bl:l merely not be lmown" (Matt. x. 26). Every paragugic, as .Roienmiiller argnea. In any murder, however secret, will be brought to CW1E: the two cle.uBeB must be regarded e.s light, and every murderer, however unsus- ill~t4ica.l Ul Pl811,lling-;t,u wstance of II syno- pected previously, deuounced aud pllnisbed OH, xxv1, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF THE 'i'ROPHET ISAIAH. 417