The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 447

the two met11pbors are joined together. It whelm Egypt, wliieh is a "lllfuge or llee,'1 ah&ll not oome to us. Somo means will be false nnd uutrustwnrthy (see the comment found-what, they do not say, oith~ for on ver. 15). The hiding-plaoe, Mr. Oheyne di'l"erLing the flood, or for stemming it. For adds, " of fnlsehoo<l," supposing I\ wotd to we have made lies our refuge. Here the have fallen out of the text. Such nn acl- Divine reporter departs from the langunge clition seems almost required to complete of those whose words he is reporting, and the pnrallelism of the two olauses, and Blstl substitutes bis own estimate of the true for tbe balance betweou this verse and nature and true Yalue of that" refuge" on ver. 15. 'l\"bich they placed such entire reliance. It Ver. 18.-And your oovenant with de&th appears by eh. xxx. 1-7 and eh. XXX'l"i. shall be disann1!lled; or, wiped ·out. The 6-9 that tlrn.t refuge was Egypt. Now, cnlire clever arrangement, by which they Egypt was a " bruised reod," not to be de- thought to avert tho danger from themselves pended on for keeping her engagements. nnd from Judron, shall come to nought. To trust in her ·was to put confidence in When the overflowing scourge shall pass "lies" and "falsehood." through, then ye shall be trodden down by Ver. 16.-:Sehold, I lay in Zion for a foun- it. As the prophet continues, his metaphor dation a stone. In contrast v.;th the insecure becomes still more mixed. " Treading down " refuge and false ground of confidence where- was so familiar an expression for destroying, on the nobles relied, the prophet puts for- that, perhaps, its literal sense was overlooked ward the one sure" Rock" on which complete ( comp. eh. v. 5 ; vii.- 25; x. 6: Dan. viii. 18 ; dependence may be placed-which ho de- Micah vii. 10; Zech. x. 5, etc.). clares that Jehomh is laying, or" bas laid," Ver. 19.-From the time that 'it goeth in Zion as a tried stone, a precious comer forth it shall take you; rather, CUI often: as stone, a sure foundation. The imagery is, it passes alo1lfl, it shall tal,e you away; i.e. as no doubt, drawn from tLc practice of Orien- often as the flood of Assyrian invasion sweeps tal kings, and notably Solomon, to employ through Palestine, it shal} thin the popula- foundation-stones of enormous size and tion by death o.nd captivity. WeknowofO:t weight at the comers of buildings. Some least eight pnssages of the flood through of those uncovered at ili.e comers of Solo- Judiea-one under Sargon, two under Sen- mon's temple by the Palestine Exploration nacherib, three or four under Esarhaddon, Fund are more tLan ihirty-eigbt feet long, and two under Asshur-bani-pal. There may' and weigh nborn a hundred tons (see have been more. Morning•by morning; i.e. • Onr Work in Palestinr,' pp. 38, 115). But frequently-time after time. Shall it pass the Teference cannot, of eourse, be to the over; rather,paSB along, or pass through. It material structure of the temple as Israel's shall be a vexation only to understand the re- true refuge. Rather, Jehovah himself would port; rather, it'will be sheer terror to under- seem to be the Rock (eh. :x.xvi. 4; xxx. 29, stand the doctrine. There is an allusion to etc.) intended; nnd hence the application ver. 9. They had thonght scorn of Isaiah's to Christ by the writers of the New Testa- "doctrine," when he taught it them by word ment (Rom. ix. 33 ; Eph. ii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. of mouth ; they will understand it but too 6--8) wa.s natural and easy. But it may be well, and find it "nothing but a terror," when questioned whether the passage was to Isaiah it is impressed on them by the preaching of himself " Messianic," or meant more than facts. ' that God had set his Name e.ud his presence Ver. 20.-l!'or the bed, etc. We have a s.t Jerusalem from the time that the temple proverb, "As a mau makes his bed, so must was built there, and that it was a mistake to he lie in it." The Jews will have made look el.Jlewhere than to him for deliverance themselves a bed in which they can have no or security. Re that believeth shall not ma.ke comfort or ease, and consequently no rest. haste. The LXX. have" He that believeth But they will only have themselves to blame shall not be ashamed" or "conjounded;" and for it. St. Paul (Rom. ix. 33) follows this rendering. Ver. 21.-The Lord shall rise up as in It is conjectured that the Hebrew had origi- :Mount Perazim. The '' Mount Perazim" of nally yabish instead of yaldiish. this passage is probably the same as the Ver. 17.-ludgment also will I lay to the "Baal-Perazim" of 1 Chron. xiv. 11, where line, and righteoi:mess to the plummet; David completely defeated the Philistines rather, justice auio will I set for my rul.e, and by the Divine help. This victory is con- righteousness for my plumb-line; i.e. I will nected with another over the same nation in execute justice and Judgment on the earth the valley of Gibeon (1 Chron. xiv. 18-16). with all strictness and exactness. The Now, however, God was to be on the side scorners had implied that, by their clever of tho enemies of his people, ,,.ho were to de'l"ices, they would escape the judgment of suffer as the Philistines had suffered in the God ('l"er. 15). The h.llil (comp. ver. 2). olden time. This punishment of his own , The iil,orm of Assyrian iIJ rasfon will oveP- people by the sword of foreigners was 1trange  OB. xxvm. 1-29.] THE BOOK OF THE' PROPHET ISAIAH. 451