The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 432

tion. In the day of the eaat wind, or of the Wednesday). He made all men, but ho nl\tione.l oatlls!rophe, when hia breath we.a "me.de" and "formed" Israel with excep- fierce and hl\rd age.inst his people, he tiona;l care, e.nd exceptional care lee.de on would "sigh" at the needful che.stisement. to exceptional love. Will not ha.va meroy As Dr. K(ly well sil.ys, " Amid the rough , .. will 1how them no favour; i.e. " will nnd stern severity whioh he breathed into not spare." No contradiction of vers. 7, 8 the tempest, there was an undertone of sad- is intended. God will have "mee.su-re" and ness and grief." "mercy" in his punishment of Israel, but will Ver. 9.-By this; i.e, "by the punish- not so have mercy e.s not to punish severely. ment inflicted." God accepts punishment Vers. 12, 13.-JUDAH PROMISED RESTO· as o.n expio.tion of sin; and this punish- RATION. The general practice of Isaiah i~ ment of Judah was especially intended to be expiatory, and to remove at once hie to append to gloonty propheciee words of guilt, and the evil temper which had led encouragement. He does this even when him iuto sin. .Its fruit would be a revulsion heathen nations a.re denounced (eh. xviii. 7 ; from idoliitry, which would show itself in a xix. 18-25; xxiii. 17, 18); e.nd still more Jl0l"ce determination to destroy all idola.ttona when he is predicting judgmentil upon emblems and implements, altara, grovea, ime.ges, and the like. This spirit we.a Israel (oh. ii. 2:-4 ; vi. 13 ; x. 20-34 ; xx.iv. strongly shown in the Me.oca.bee period (see 23; xxix. 18-2-l, etc.). 'the encourage- 1 Me.cc. v. 44, 68 ; x. 84 ; xiii. 47, eto. ). ment in this pla.oe is e. promise of return He ma.keth all the stones of the altar as after dispersion, and of re-establishment on ohalkstonea. A calcining of the stones the "holy mount at Jernse.lem" (ver. 13). into lime is ,probal!ly intended. _ It wa.s usual ~ subject the idolatrous objects to Ver. 12.-The Lord shall beat oft'; i.e. the action of lire, and then to stamp them "ga.ther in his harvest." The metaphor is intq powder (2. Kings xxiii. 4, 6, 11, 12, 15, taken either from the beating of olive trees etc.). J'he groves and images (oom·p. 1 Kings to obfain the berries (see eh. xvii. 6), or from xv_. ~3; xvi. 33; 2 Kings xvii. 10; 2 Chron. the beating out of the grain by e. threshing- xiv. 3; and see the comment on oh. xvii. 8). Jlail (Judg. vi. 11 : Ruth ii. 17; e.nd below, - Ver. 10.-Yet the defenoed city shall be eh. uviii. 27). Perhaps the best transla- desolate. Though her punishment is in tion would be, The Lord. shall thre;;h. mercy, as e. ohe.stisement which is .to purge From the ohanilel of the river; rather, from away her ain, yet Jerusalem shall for a. time the strong stream of the ri-oer. As usual, be desolate; -,voidi without inha.bita.nt, left "the river" (hannahar) is the Euphrates li,ke a -wild!m1ess. Fofsa.ken; or, put away; (comp. Gen. x.x:ri. 21 ; Exod. xxiii. 31 ; Deut. the sai;n,e, word that. i_s used -in ver. 8 of xi. 24; Josh. x.xiv: 2, 3, H, 15, etc.). Its Jerusalem. Th.ere shall the oalf feed. A· ••·strong stream," or "flood," is- contrasted . f11,miliar image_ of desolation (comp. eh. v. with the scant thread of water which was ,17 ; ivii. 2; xxx.ii. 14, etc.). a.lone to be found in the "Torrens JEgypti." _,--.Y~r.11.-~en the boughs thereof are The stream of Egypt (nachal Mizraim) is wit~ered, they shall be broken oil'. By a genera.Uy ilUowed to be the modern Wady sudden introduction of metaphor, the city el Arish, which was appointed to be the becoll!es a tree, the prophet's thought going southern boundary of the Holy Land be;ek; perhaps, to ver. 6. "Withered boughs" (Numb. xxxiv. 5; I Kings viii. 65). The a.re indications of internal rottenness, and _Lord would collect within these limits nil . muet, be "broken off" to give _the tree 11 that were or Isre.el. He wuuld a.\so, as cba11Q0 of- recovery. Samaria. may be vi~wed appears from the next verse, subsequently as, such _a. "bough," if the " tree" be ·ta.ken overstep the limits. as " the Israel .of God'' in the wider sense. Ver. 13.-The great trumpet shall be Otlierwise, we must suppose a threat against blown; rather, a great tntmpet (comp. Matt. individual Judllle.ns. The women oome. xxiv. 31 ; l Cor. xv. 52; l These. iv. 16). Weak women are strong enough to break off This imagery, and the return of the ls• dead branches; they fall e.t o. touch, o.nd raelites from Egypt and A ssyn·a, point rather "their end is to -be bumed •· (Heb. vi. 8). to the fine.] gathering of Israel into the For it is e. people of no understanding. It Church triumphant than to the return from woa folly, madness, to turn away from the Ba.bylonia.n captivity. Egypt and As- ·Je;hovah, and ~o after other gods. Only syria. were carte.inly not the countries from thtough having "no .understanding" could which they ea.me chiefly a.t that time. But Israel h11,ve been so foolish (comp. Deut. tuey are the countries from whieh they will xxxii. 28; 2 Kings xvii. 15; Jer. iv. 22). chiefly come when Jehovo.h "sets bis hand He, that me.de them , , . he that formed o.ga.in the second time to recover the remnant them (comp. oh. xliii. 1, 7). God "hateth of his people" (eh. xi. 11). The outoasta nothing that he he.s made" (Collect for Ash (comp. oh. xi. 12). 436 TlIE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH. xxvu. 1-13.