a new earth, and place hie people therein : Ver. 20.-There ahall be no more thence and the old conditione will be all changed, an infant of de.ye ; i.e. there shall not go and the old grounde of complaint disappear. from the new Jerusalem into the unseen world any infant of e. few days old. On the In the "new Jeruealem '' there will be no contrary, even "the youth" shall reach a sorrow, neither "weeping" nor ••crying" hundred; i.e. one who dies when he is a. (ver. 19): life will be greatly prolonged hundred shall be regarded as cut off in his (ver. 20): men will always enjoy the fruit youth. Tbe general rule shall be, that old of their le.boure (vere. 21, 22), and eee their men shall '' fill their days," or attain tn patriarchal longevity. Even the sinner, who children grow up (ver. 23). Prayer will be is under the curse of God, shall not be anewered almost before it is uttered (ver. 24). cut off till be is e. hundred. What is most Finally, there will be peace in the animal remarkable in the description is that death world, and between the animal world and man. and sin are represented as still continuing. No living thing will kill or hurt another in Death was spoken of as " swallowed up in victory" in one of the earlier descriptions of all God's "holy mountain" (ver. 25). Messiah's kingdom (eh. x:xv. 8). Ver. 17.-I oreate. The same verb is used Ver. 21.-They shall build houses, and in- as in Gen. i. 1 : and the prophet's idea seems .habit them. The curse pronounced on apos- to be that the existing heaven and earth tasy in Dent. xxviii. 30 shall no more are to be entirely destroyed (see eh. xxiv. rest on God's people. They shall have the 19, 20, and the comment ad loc.), and a fresh fruition of their labours. No enemy shall heaven and earth created in their place out be able to deprive them of their crops and of nothing.· '.l'he "new Jerusalem " is not houses. the old Jerusalem renovated, but is a veri- Ver. 22.-As the days of a tree are the table "new J erusalern," "created a rejoicing" days of my people. Trees endure for many (ver. 18; comp. Rev. x:xi. 2). The germ of hundreds, perhaps for thousands of years. the teaching will be found in eh. Ii. 16. The The cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Rashan, former shall not be remembered. Some sup- were known to have an antiquity of centu- pose "the former troubles" (see var. 16) to ries. Isaiah may have had a knowledge of be meant ; but it is best ( with Delitzscb) to other trees to which attached the tradition understand "the former heavens and earth." of a. yet longer existence. In our own day The glory of the new heavens and earth Brazil and California have furnished proofa would be such that the former ones would of vegetable growths exceeding a millen- not only not be regretted, but would not nium. Mine eleot shall long enjoy; literally, even be bad in remembrance. No one would shall wear out; i.e. have the full use and so much as think of them. enjoyment of the work of their bands. Ver. 18.-I oreate Jerusalem (comp. Rev. Ver. 23.-They she.11 not .. , bring forth x.xi. 2, "I, John, saw the holy city, new for trouble. Their women shall not bear Jerusalem, coming down from God out of children to see them carri~d off o.fter a few heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her days, or months, or years, by disease, or husband"). The description which follows accident, or famine, or the sword of the in vers. 11, 12 is quite unlike the.t of the invader. There shall be an end of such old Jerusalem. A rejoioing. The "new "troubles," and. God's blessing resting upon J erusalcm " we.a to be from the first all joy those who a.re his children, their children e.nd rejoicing-a scene of perpetual gladness. shall, 11s a general rule, "be with them; " Her people e.lso was to be "a joy " or " e. i.e. remain to them during their lifetime, delight," since God would delight in them and not be lost to them by a. premature (ver. 19). decease. Ver. 19.-The voice of weeping she.11 be Ver. 2-l:.-Before they oe.ll, I will e.nswer. no more heard (comp. Rev. xxi. 4). The God is always" more ready to hear than we reasons there given are satisfactory: "There to pray." In the" new Jerusalem" he will shall be no more death, neither sorrow , .. be prompt to answer his people's proyers neither shall there be any more pain." Ilut almost before they are uttered. It is involved these reasons sca.rcely apply here. For in this, as Delitzsch notes, that the will of Isaiah's "new Jerusalem" is not without the people shall be in harmony with the will death (ver. 20), nor without sorrow, since it of Jehovah, and the.t their prayers will there- is not without sin (ver. 20), nor, as there is fore be 11cceptable prayers. death there, is it without pain. Isaiah's Ver. 25,-The wolf e.nd the lamb she.11 pioture, o.ccording to Deli tzsch, represents feed together (comp. eh. xi. 6-8; Hos. ii. the millennial state, not the final condition of 18). The portraiture here is far less elo.bo- the redeomed: but this trait-the absence rnte tho.n in the earlier chapter, to which the of all weeping-can only he literally true of present pRssage may be regarded as a refer- Ule final state. enco. (For the sense in which the entire 474 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. ton. nv. 1-2,.
picture is to be understood, see the comment food of the she.des in the Aeeyrio-Be.bylonle.n upon eh. xi. 6--9.) Dut she.II be the 1erpent•1 Ha,les" (eee the "Legend of Ishtl\r" in the mea.t. Here we he.ve e. new fea.ture, not oon- •Records of the Past,' vol. i. p. 143, line 8). tained in the earlier deeoription. Serpents They she.ll not hnrt nor destroy. Repee.ted shell beoome harmless, e.nd instea.d of prey- from eh. xi. 9, word for word. In noither ing upon beasts, or birds, or reptiles, she.ll ce.se should we re"ard the subject of the be content with the food e.ssigned them in sentence o.s limited to the animals only. the primeval deoree, "Upon thy belly she.It Tho meaning is that there shall be no vio- thon go, and dU11t Bhalt thou eat e.11 the days lence of any kind, done either by man or of thy life" (Gen. iii. H). Mr. Cheyne beast, in the happy period described. appositely nofel that "much dust is the