work on God's part-o. lltrange aot. But it not cast abroad the fltohes t The Hebrew wns their strange conduct which caused word translated" .6.tches"-i.e. "vetches"- God's strange notion. They had beoome, is qetsach, which is generally allowed to ne it were, Philistines. represent the Nigella saliM, a sort of ranun- Ver. 22.-Be ye not mookera. As they oulue, which is cultivated in me.ny parts of ho.d sllown themselves previously (vers. 9, the East for the ee.ke of its seeds. These 10). Lest your bands be made strong; or, are black, and have an aromatic flavour. lest your fetters grow strong. The prophet Dioscorides (iii. 83) and Pliny (xix. 8) say views Judo.h o.s stil); to some. extent, an As- that they were sometimes mixed with bread. syrlo.n°dependenoy, held in light bonds: and And scatter the onmmin. "Cummin" 'wo.rns his countrymen that an attempt to (Ouminum sati1'um) is "o.n umbelliferous break the light bonds may result in Assyria's plant, something like fennel." The seeds- me.king them.stronger and heo.vier.. A con- or rather, berries-have "a bitterish warm . aumption, . . . detennined upon the whole taste, with an aromatic, flavour" (' Diet. of earth; rather, a consummatiqn (comp. eh. the Elbie,' vol. i. p. 372). They seem to lt, 22, 23). ha..-e been eaten a.a a relish with varions kind~ Vers. 23-29.-.A PARABLE TO COMlfORT of food. And cast in the principal wheat ; rather, and put in wheat in rows. Drill- BELIEVERS. Isaiah is always careful to ·ploughs, which would deposit grain in rows, intermingle promises with his threats, were known to the Aseyrians (< Ancient comfort with his denunciations. Like his Monarchies,' vol. ii. p. 198). And the rie in great Master, of whom he propllesied, he their place. Oussemeth, the word translate, l was fa.in not to " break tile bruised reed '' "rie," is probably the Holeus sorghum, or "spelt," which is la.rgely cultivated in qri',q.uench the smoking flax." When he Palestine and other po.rts of the East, an,I had searched.men's wounds with the probe, is the ordinary material of the bread eaten he was ·careful to pour in oil and wine. So by the poorer classes (see the 'Pulpit now, having· denounced the sinners of Commentary' on Exodu8, pp. 219, 220). Judah through three long paragraphs (vers. For "in their place," Kay translates, "in its own border." The wheat and the barlev 7-22), he has a word of consolation and en- and the spelt would all be sown separate!);, couragement for the better disposed, whose according to the direction of Lev. xix. rn, hearts he hopes to llo.ve touched and stirred "Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingleJ by his warning. This consolation he pnts seed." in a parabolic form, leaving it to their Ver. 26.-For his God doth inst1'1lot him. Through the reason which God has given to spiritual insight to discover tile meaning. men, they dee.I thus prudenily o.nd carefully Ver. 23.-Give ye e!l,r (comp. Ps. xlix. 1; with the pieces of land which they culti- lxxviii. 1), A preface of this kind, enjoin.- ve.te. ing special attention and thought, was Ver. 27.-For the fitches are not threshed approprinte to occasions when instruction with a threshing-instrument. The Nigella •was couched in a parabolic form. saliva is too lender o. plant to be subjecte,l Ver. 24.-Doth the plowman plow all day 1 to the rude treatment of a threshing-instru- The Church of God, so often called a vine- ment, or "threshing-sledge." Such in- yard, is here compared to e.n arable field, struments are of the coarsest e.nrl clumsiest o.nd. the processes by which God educates character in the East, and quite inapplicable and disciplines his Church are compared to to plants of o. delicate fe.bric. Kan,ten •those employed by man in the cultivation of Niebuhr thus describes the Arabian uu<l such a piece of ground, and the obtaining Syrian practices: "Qu1md le grain Joit ctru of a harvest from it. First of all, the battu, les Are.bes da Yemen posent le ble,l ground must be ploughed, the face of the par terre en deux rangees, epis contra epis, earth "opened" nnd the "clods broke;i." apres quoi ils font trainer par-dessus uua This, however, does not go on for ever; it is grosse pierre tiree par deux brn ufs. La for an object-that the seed may be sown; machine dont on se sert en Syrie consiste and, as soon as the ground is fit for the en quelques planches garnies par-dessou; , sowing to take place, the prepnro.tion of the d'une quantite de pierres a fusil" (' Descri p- soil ceases. Doth he open and break, etc. ? tion de l'Arnbie,' p. HO). Neither is a cs.r;; Ho.rrowing succeeds to ploughing in ihe wheel turned about npon the oummin. Thu naturo.l order of tllings, the object of the nllusion is to another coarse mode of thresh- harrowing being to breo.k o.nd pulverize i11g practised iu Palestine o.nJ else"· here, by the clod~. driving a ce.rt with broad wheels over thu Ver. 25.-When he hath made plain the gmin. But the fitches are beaten out with face thereof; i.e. levelled it-brought the 11, staff, e.nd the oummin with a rod. Cano,i l;(l'Ound io n tolcmbly evei;i. surfaco, potl). ho Tristrnm says, " While the O\Ullmin can 452 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [011. xxv11L 1-29,
easily be sepnrnt.ed from its oase by e. slender as to orush and injure. Only suoh violonoe rod, the harder pod of the Nigell,a requires is used as is required to detach the good to be beaten by II stout ate.ft'" (' Nature.I seed from the hueks. Where the process is History of the llible,' p. 445). most severe, etill the " bread-oorn " ie not Ver. 28.-Bread oorn is bl'llised; liter11lly, "bruised." bread; but no 'doubt the corn, from which Ver. 29.-Thia also (comp. ver. 26). This bread is made, is meant. Most critics regard prudent dealing of the husbe.udman with the clause R.B interrogative, "Is bread corn his produce is the result of the wisdom im- bruised? "--1md the answer as given in the phmted in him by God. The prophet goes negative 1;,y the rest of the sentence, "No; no further, but leaves his dieoiples to draw he will not continue e.l ways threshing it, nor the conclusion that God's own method of crunch it with his ea.rt-wheel and his horses working will be eimilar. Wonderful in -he will not bruise it." Even where the oounsel (comp. eh. ix. 6). Exoellent in rougher modes of threshing are employed, working; rother, great in wisdom (comp, there is moderation in their employment. Job vi. 13; xii. 16; Prov. ii. 7; iii. 21; Care is tuken not to injure the grain. Here viii. 14; xviii. 1; Micah vi. 9). Prov. viii. the main bearing of the whole parable 14 is especially in point, since there the same appears. The afflictions which God sends two qualities a.re asoribed to God as in the upon his people are adapted to their strength present pasaage. and to their need& In. no case are ihey such