The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 20

believed, however, in his heart, that he wonld eye on Senne.cherib throughout all his career, find e. way of" drying up" tlieso "rivers." seeing to and watching over his performance Ver. 26.-Hut thou not hee.rd, etc.? An of his will. 'fhe phrase, going out, and ebrupt transition, such as is common in ooming in, is a Hebrew idiom for a man's Iee.inh. From speaking in the person of Sen- doings (see Nnmb. xxvii. 17; Dcut. xxviii. nacherib, the prophet without warning breaks 6; xxxi. 2; 1 Sam. xvi ii. 13, 16; 2 Sam. iii. oft', and returns to speaking in the person 25; I Kings iii. 7, etc.). Thy rage againllt of Jehovah, as hie mouthpiece. "Hast thou me. As shown in tl,e message sent by Ra.b- not heard," he says, long e.go ; or rather, ehakeh ( eh. xxxvi. 7), in Rabshakeh'e speech "that from long ago I have done this?" to the "men on the wall " ( eh. xxxvi. 15--- Art thou so ignorant, so devoid of that light 20), and in the letter sent to Hezekiah from of nature, which should "lighten every man Lachish (eh. xxxvii. 10). the.t cometh into the world" (John i. 9), as Ver. 29.-Therefore will I put my hook in not to know Goil's method of governing the thy nose (comp. Ezek. xxix. 4; xxxviii. 4; world ? How that "from long a.go," in his 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 ). The Assyrians were in eternal counsels, he designs the rise and full the hnb:t of paBSing "hooks" or ''rings" of nations, and the mode in which their through the noses or lips of their more dis- destruction is to be brought nbout? Art tinguished prisoners, an<l attaching a thong thou not 11wnre thnt conquerors a.re mere to the hook or ring, by which they led the instruments in God's hnnus-" the rods of prisoners into the royal presence (' Ancient his nnger" ( eh. x. 5)-to work his will, and Monarchies,' vol. i. p. 30-l ; vol. iii. p. 436). then to have his will worked upon them in The expressions used <lerive their force from turn (see eh. x. 6-19)? Sennacherib seems these practices, but are not in the present to be really reproached for not knowing place to be understood literally. God "turned what he ought to have known, e.nd might Sennacherib back" and reconducted him to have known, if he had listened to the voice Nineveh, not with an actual "hook" or of conscience and reason. Now have I "thong,'' but by the "bridle" of necessity. brought it to pass, etc. All that Sennacherib Ver. 30.-This shall be a sign unto thee; had done, he had done as God's instrument, rather, the sian. The prophet now turns to by his permission-nay, by his aid. He bad Hezekiah, and makes an address to him. been the axe in the hand of the hewer ( eh. "This,'' he says, "shall be the sign unto x. 15), the saw, the rod, the stuff, of God's thee of Sennaclterib's being effectually indignation (eh. x. 5), the executer of his ' bridled,' and lhe danger from .Assyria over. vengennce. The very purpose of his being In the third year from the present the land wns that he should" lay waste (certain) de- shall have returned to its normal condition, fenced cities into ruinous heaps." and you shall enjoy its fruits as formerly. Ver. 27.-Therefore. The originnl is not Meanwhile you slte.11 obtain sufficient nou- so emphatic, but still contains the idea, not rishment from the i,rain which has sown merely of sequence, but of consequence. itself." The "third yea.r,'' according to God, having decreed the successes of the Hebrew reckoning, might be little more than Aesyrians, effected them (in part) by in- one yenr from the date of the delivery of the fusing weakness into the nations that were prophecy. The entire withdrawal of all the their ad versariee. They were as the grass of Assyrian garrisons from the country, which the field (comp. eh. xl. 6, 7). The compari- no donbt followed on Sennacherib's retreat, son is one constantly used by the Hebrew might well have occupied the greuter part of psalmist9 (Ps. xxxvii. 2; xc. 5; xcii. 7; ciii. o. yenr. Till they were withdmwa, the Jews 15), and wus not unknown to the Assyriaus could not venture to till their territory. (' Reconls of the Paet,' vol. iii. p. 41 ; vol. v. Plant vineyards. The .Assy1·iuns had, no p. 14). 'l'he delicate grass of spring in the doubt, cut down the vines (s,•e • Records of Ee.et withers within o. few weeks, and the the Past,' vol. iii. pp. 40, 62, 79 ; vol. vii. p. fresh aml tender hcrlmge b,-comcs yellow, 43, etc.; I.ayard, 'Mouuments of Nineveh,' parched, nod sapless. 'file g-rnss that springs seco11d series, pl. -10). upon the earthen roofs or houses fails even Ver. 31.-The remnant that is escaped (see more rapidly (comp. Pa. cxxix. 6). As corn the comment on var. 4). Take root down- ble.sted before it be grown up; literally, ward, and bear fruit upward ; i.e. "sprea,l li/1e a field before t/1e stall,. Our tmnslntors over the lnnd, and became firmly rMted iu seem to hnvo rightly preforred the reading of it, and flourish 11s in the former tiruo." ,ve 2 Kinµ;e xix. 26 (sh'dephah, equivalent to must conceive of the Assyrions having, in "blastina") to thnt or Isaiah (•h'demah, their two recent inv,isions, completely de- equivale~t to "fiolcl ") in this place. 'fheir popnlt,ted the country Liistrictil. Sumbers rendering brings out the true sonso. had, no doubt, been shiiu; mnru tlutn two Ver. 28.-I know thy abode; literally, thy hundre,l thousand had bcon cnrriod iuto cap- down-~ittina ( comp. Pa. cxxxix. 2). 'rho tivity; a portion hnd found rofugo in the meaning is that Gnd has, uutl has had, his cnpit:tl. Ou the withdrnwaI of tbe All-  22 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE1' ISAIAH. [os. xx:1.vu.1-38.