The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 171

that the appointment of Cyrus is from him Ver. 13.-1 have raised him up. "Him" (vcr. 13). can only be referred to qyrus, t?e one Ver. 9.-Woe unto him that etriveth with individual roentionecl prev1011.Iy m the hie Maker I Let the potsherd strive, etc.; chapter (vers. 1-5). The expression," raised rather, woe unto /,im that st,·iveth with his up," had been already user! of him (eh. xii. Malcer, a potsherd among pot~herds of the 25). In righteousness means "to carry ground! All men are equally made of out my righttous purposes." I will direct; 11 the dust of the ground" (Gen. ii. 7). rather, as in the margin, malce etrai(lht. He Ierncl l,as no prerogative in this respect. . . , aha.11 let go my ca-i;tives, not for price He, tou, is "a potsherd among potsherds·• nor reward. Captives were often "redeemed -clay moulded by ~be P?tter ; ~o mo~e for a. price" (N eh. vi. 8). In Greece a entitled' to lift up his voice agamst hie fixed sum was established by general con- Maker than the vessel to rebel against the sent as the ransom of a captive (Aristot., roan who shapes it (comp. ob. xxi.x. 16; ' Eth. Nie.,' v. 6). Cyrus, however, in and see the comment furnisbe,I by St. Paul letting the Jews go free, would not he in the Epistle to the Romans ix. 20- actuated by the paltry motive of pecuniary 24). What would a roan think if the c~ay profit. He may, as l\lr. Cheyne remarks, that he was fashioning objected to bemg have bP.en actuated in part "by a comidera- moulded in a pMlicular form, or if a work tion of the usefulness of such a. faithful that he had made exclaimed, "He is e. advanced guard at the border of Egypt;" poor bungler-he hath no hands" 1 Yet but mainly it is probable that "he obeyed this is what a man does who finds fault the dictates of religious sympathy with the with the arrangements of the Al.mighty. Jews." The recent contention, that he was not a Zoroastrian (Sayce, Academy, Ver. 10.-Woe unto him that sai~ unto October 16, 1880; 'Ancient Empires,' p. his father, etc. I A change is made m the 439; Cheyne, 'Isaiah,' vol. ii. p. 279) rests inetaphor, the relationsbip of a. father and upon insufficient evidence, his so-called his child being substituted for that of a inscription being a. docu~ent not pnt forth potter and his clay. Wha~ would_ a ma:n by himself, but by the priests of Merodach think of a. child murmuring a.gamst his at Babylon; and the tirst introduction of parent for not having ma.de him stronger, Zoroastrian monotheism into the state handsomer, cleverer? Would not such e. reli""ion of Persia by Darius Hystaspis child be re"',,rded as most nnno.tural, anci as (Sayce, 'Ancient Empires,' p. HO) being deservin"' ~ have woe denounced upon him? expressly disclaimed by him in tlie B~- Ver. 11.-The Holy One of Israel; i.e. histun inscription, whe~e he_ declares ~1s he who always does right, and with reformation to have consisted m the rebu1lcl- whom, therefore, it is absui·d to find fault. ing of the temples whicll Goroat_c.s _the Eis Maker; i.e. Israel's Maker, who has, Magie.n had <lestroye<l, and ~b~ remst1tu- therefore, the right to do with him as he tion for the stata of the rehg1ous cbants pleaees. Ask me of things to come oon- and the worship which he bad put dowu ce~n.ing my sons. Tbis sentence is wrongly (col. I. par. 11). punctuated. Tho last three words should Vers. 14-25.-THE CONVERSION OF THE be, attached to what follows, thus: " Ask me of things to come : concerning my sons GENTILES A CONSEQUENCE OF THE RESTOIIA· and concerning the work of my hands curo- TION AND SALVATION OF ISRAEL. "With me.D<l ye me;" i.e. first learn of me what the prospect of the release of the exiles is iu my designs is to be the course of human associated," se.ys Delitzsch, "w the prophet's events, and then (if necessary) give me perspective, the prospect of an expnnsiou directions concerning my sons (Israel), who a.rn the work of my hands; but do not of the restored Church, through the entrance presume to give me directions while. you of the fulness of the Gentiles." Egypt, are still in ulter ignorance of my designs. Ethiopia, a.nil S£1b:1, nre especially men- In any case remember who I am-the tioned here, as in oh. xliii. 3, e.s among tho Maker of hee.ven and earth, the Cree.tor first to come in ( vers. 14, 15). Later on, I\ of roan, One accustomed to give directions to the angelic host (vcr. 12). more genera.I influx is spoken of (ver. 20); Ver.12.-I, even my hands; litere.lly, I, and, fin£11ly, a. prospect is held out of an my bands; i.e. " my hands, and my hnnds ultimate universal conversion (ver. 23). At a.lone." All their host. The " host of the s£1me time, judgment is denounced heaven" is sometimes put for the stars, agl\iust the idolaters who persist in their e.nd m£1y be so unilerstood here; but " com- idollltry (vers. 16, 20), and they a.re we.rned mands" a.re laid on intelligent rather than on unintelligent beings. (The object of that they will h11ve no she.re in the coming the verb tsavah in Hebrew is almost always glories of the Israel of God. persona.I.) Ver. 14.-The labour of Emt, and mer-  THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ou. n.v. 1-25,