The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 66

work. How infinitely above ma.n must he him WIIB his own whdom, an essential part be, who a.rron~ed in such perfection, "b;v of the Di vine essenoe. The eve.ngelioal pro- mei,snre ancl number Rnd weight" (Wied. Xl, phet approaches those mysteries of God's 20), the e11rth, the waters, and the heavens, nature which the gospel bl'ougM to light, ~o proport.ioning ea.oh to ea.oh as to produce but ,•annot penot.rate them. tlrnt ndmirnblc order and regularity which Ver. 15.-Behold, the nations nre as a drop the intl'lligent obscrw•r e.annot but note in of a bucket. "From nature," as Mr. Cheyne the material uuirnrse as among its chief say8, •• we pltss to history." If God is so charaet~ristics ! In the hollow of his hand. great, so 11pe.rt nm\ by himself in relation to The anthropomorphism is strong, no doubt, the material universe, whllt is be in relation but softened by the preceding mention (in to man? What a.re nations, oompe.red to ver. 10) of God's "arm," and by the coin- him, but "os o. drop from a bucket," which r arison of God to a shepherd (in ver. 11). saiah's exa.lted notion of God renders him fearless with regard to anthropomorphism. drips from it, and is of no account? What are they, but e.s the small dust of the be.lance, which lies on it but does not disturb its And meted ont heaven with the span; rother, equilibrium? They are absolutely "as no- with a span (comp. eh. xlviii. 13, "My right thing" ( ver. 17)-ve.nity and emptiness. He hand J,ath spanned t.he heavens"). And te.keth np the isles a.a e. very little thing ; oomprehended the dnst of the earth in a litere.lly, he taketh up islands, or perho.ps m~a,ure; literally, in a tierce (e.s in the lands generally. As be weighs mountains margin). The measure intended is pro- and hills in his be.lance (ver. 15), so he ce.n h:1bh the aeah, which w!IB the third pext of take up in bis own hands" lands," or" coun- an ephah, and held about three gallons. The tries" (Cheyne), with all their inhabitfmts, seah was " the ordinary measure for house- and do with them as seemeth him good. hold purpos~s." In scales ... in a balanoe. They nre no bnrden to him. The peles, here translated "scales," is pro- Ver. 16.-Lebe.non is not suffloient to bnrn. bably the steelyard, while the mozinaim Man may think that he must be of some is ·'the balance" or" pair of scales" ordinarily e.ooonnt, since God !te.s required of him used for weighing. God metes out all se.crifice and burnt offering, from which he things with measures, scales, and balances may suppose God to derive some satisfaction. of his own, which are proportioned to his But, the prophet says, even if man were 1o greatness. . burn all Lebanon as firewood on God's altar, Yer. 13.-Who ha.th direoted the Spirit of and offer there all the (clean) beasts of the the Lord 1 Mr. Cheyne remarks, that "in entire tract, still God would be put under Isaio.h there is e. marked tendency to hypos- no obligation. Man would even then have te.ti.ze the Spirit;" and the remexk is un- paid less tbe.n his debt. doubtedly a just one (see eh. :nxii 15; Ver. 17. -All nations; rather, all the x:r::xiv.16; xlviii.16; lxi. l, e.tc.). In the pre- nations; i.e. all the Dlltions of the eal'th put sent place, perhaps, the introduction of" tl:e together. In ver. 15 single "nations" had Spirit of the Lord" exises out of the remem- been declared to be of no account; now the brance of the po.rt in creation which is ea.me is said of all the nations of the eo.rth assigned to the Spirit in Gen. i. 2. He collectively. They are e.ccounted of God e.s " moved," or "brooded," upon the fa.cc of 'ephea, nothingness, and tohu, chaos or con- the waters, and thence began the change, or fusion. series of <"he.nges, by which order we.9 pro- Ver. 18 is more the complement of who.t duced out of confusion. The Spirit of the precedes than the introduction to what fol- Lord" directed," or regulated, these changes; lows (comp. ver. 25). If God be all that but who, Isaiah asks, '' directed," or regu- he.a been ea.id of him in vers. 12-17, lated, the Spirit itself? Can it he supposed~ must he not be wholly unique and inoom- that he too had e. director over him? Isaiah pare.ble? Then, out of this, the thought does not serious! y doubt on this point, or a.rises of the strange, the poor, the mean "lee.ve it e.n open question." He makes "likenesses" of God, which men have in his inquiry by way of e. reductio ad ab- their folly set up in various times and places. 8urdum. Is it not absurd to suppose that It hns been so.id that Israel in co.ptivity diu he had a director or a counsellor? He does not need to be warned nge.iust idolatry, of not-bere, at any rate-so far "hypostatize the inclination to which the Captivity is the Spirit" as 1o view him as e. Person euppu8ed e.t once to have cured them (Ur- distind from the Person of God the Father, wick, 'Sel've.nt of Jehovah,' p. 15). But workiug under him, and carrying out his there is no evidence of this. Ro.ther, con- will. Or being bis counsellor ha.th taught sidering the few that returned, and the many him l "The Lord iy uiadom founded the that remained behind (Joseph.,' Ant. Jud.,' earth" (Prov. iii. 19); \Jut he was his own xi. 1), we may conclude that o. large number cou1u,ellor. He had no adviser exteme.1 to adopted the customs, religion, and gcnorn l himst:lf. The wisdom which wrought with mode of life of their m11.sters. oa. xt. 1-31.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. G9