4ly and especially Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and of Assyria too who utterly ruined the State of Judah 2 Chron. 36.17 The Prophet having hitherto sought to appease the fears of Ahaz by assuring him of the approaching ruin of Rezin and Pekah here now he begins to threaten him with far greater evils which should notwithstanding come at last upon him his family and people for his great wickedness and particularly for his contempt of Gods grace at this time his infidelity and calling in the King of Assyria to his help telling him that though God would make good his promise for the deliverance of Jerusalem and the House of David from these two Kings yet he should have no great cause long to triumph herein and that because within a while for greater miseries should befall him and his people and that by those very 〈◊〉 whom he intended to call into his aid And yet withal this might be foretold too to fore-arm the faithful that their hearts might not sink when they should see such dreadful evils come upon the Nation Ver. 18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss c. See the Note Chap. 5.26 for the fly that is in the utmost parts of the rivers of Egypt whereby some understand the Egyptians themselves and those too in the farthest parts of it that had their dwelling by those several water-courses which were cut out of the river Nilus for the watering of their land who they say are termed flyes not only with respect to their invading the land of Judah with such huge multitudes of people like so many swarms of flyes but also with respect to the situation of their Country which lying low full of ponds and ditches and being withal a very hot Country was usually much pestered with flyes And indeed we find that the land of Judah was sorely oppressed by Pharoah Necho King of Egypt who flew Josiah their good King and afterward deposed his Son Jehoahaz and carried him prisoner into Egypt and set up his brother in his stead c. See the Notes 2 King 23.29 33. And again others understand those Nations that bordered upon Egypt either towards the Sea where Nilus brancheth forth it self into several Channels See Chap. 11.15 or near the head of Nilus which at its first entrance into Egypt is cut out into many Channels as namely the Philistines the Edomites the Lybians and Ethiopians which they say was accomplished when the Edomites and Philistines invaded Judah in the days of Ahaz for which see the Note 2 King 16.7 Or when the Assyrian or Babylonian King did subdue the land because it is most probable that he having at that time vanquished Egypt and all those adjacent parts did bring with him bands of all these Nations that served in his army for which see the Notes 2 King 24.2 7. And then for the following words And for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria we must know that the Assyrians and Chaldeans who are both here intended as serving both under one King are compared to Bees not only with respect to their multitudes and fury for which see the Notes Deut. 1.44 Psal 118.12 and to Chaldea's abounding with Bees as being a woody Country as much as Egypt with flyes but also especially because these were far the more dreadful Nations for their military power and discipline and the exceeding great cruelty they should shew to the Jews when they subdued their Country Yea and some think that their arrows and darts and javelins are particularly here intended by the stings wherewith the Bee is armed Ver. 19. And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys and in the holes of the rocks and upon all thorns and upon all bushes Or as it is in the Margent commendable trees that is goodly fair trees The Prophet proceeds in the foregoing metaphor ver 18. And because flyes and gnats do usually love to be and are found in greatest abundance in low moist grounds and to rest upon trees and bushes and shrubs and because Bees love to harbour and nestle themselves in holes and clefts of rocks see the Notes Deut. 32.19 therefore in allusion hereto he saith of the Assyrians that they should rest in the desolate vallies c. And some conceive that those words all of them are purposely inserted And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys to imply that the number of their army should not be diminished by the length of their march or any distress that should befall them by the way See the Note Chap. 5.27 But however the meaning is that the Assyrians being entered the land should over-spread the whole Country by reason of the multitude of their army and should seize upon and possess themselves of all places high and low fruitful and barren eating up and consuming all they could meet with in every corner of the land yea in the most desolate and uninhabited places by reason whereof too there would be no place of shelter for the inhabitants though they should fly to the caves and most desolate vallies to hide themselves it would be in vain for every where they should find the enemy ready to surprize them Some Expositors I know there are that by the desolate vallies understand the Cities in the vallies which the inhabitants had out of fear forsaken and by the holes of the rocks the Cities built on the rocky mountains and by thorns and bushes the villages wherein the Country-people dwelt But the foregoing Exposition is I conceive far more clear and easie Ver. 20. In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the river c. To wit Euphrates see the Notes Exod. 23.31 Psal 72.8 by the King of Assyria See the Note above ver 17. the head that is the King and the hair of the feet that is of the secret and lower part of the body according to the like expression Judg. 3.25 for which see the Notes there and 2 King 18.27 where mens urine is in the Original termed the water of the feet meaning the meaner sort of people and it shall also consume that is quite take away the beard whereby some understand the strong men in the land with respect to the beards being a sign of virility others the Nobles that usually are about the King and others the Priests or the wise men and elders of the people The devastation which the Assyrians and the Chaldeans especially should make in the land of Judea is here expressed by shaving with a razor 1. To imply that these enemies should be only as an instrument in Gods hand for the executing of his just vengeance upon that people not able to move one jot any farther than God was pleased to make use of them 2. To imply the clean riddance they should make in the land both by cutting off the inhabitants and
from the blasphemous Aspersions of the Assyrian and for my Servant Davids sake that is For the love I bear to his seed for his sake and that I may make good the promise I made to him and not because the inhabitants of Jerusalem have deserved any such favour at mine hands But see the Note 2 King 19.34 Ver. 36. Then the Angel of the Lord c. In 2 King 19.35 it is And it came to pass that night which makes it more than probable that this was done the very night after the foregoing promise made Hezekiah concerning the Destruction of Sennacheribs Army and the deliverance of Jerusalem that the Angel of the Lord went out to wit from Heaven or from the Lord as it is said 2 Chron. 32.21 That the Lord sent an Angel and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand See the Note 2 King 19.35 Why this was done in the night we may easily conceive namely that this Judgment might come upon them the more suddenly and with greater terror and so likewise why it was done by an Angel to wit that they might clearly see that it was by the immediate Sword of God for the horrible contempt they had cast upon him for which see the Note Chap. 31.8 A more difficult question is Where the camp of the Assyrians was when the Angel made this slaughter amongst them Now though concerning this we may upon clear grounds determine 1. That it was in the land of Judah according to that Chap. 14.25 I will break the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains tread him under foot for which see the Note there And 2ly That Sennacherib had not then besieged Jerusalem for above ver 33. it is expresly said That he should never do that yet in what particular place he lay encamped with his Army I find no where expressed Some think it was at Libnah where Rabshakeh found him ver 8. when he went back to him from Jerusalem And again others hold that it was at Nob a Town not far from Jerusalem which I judge the more probable because Chap. 10.32 where our Prophet seems to describe the manner of Sennacheribs marching from one place to another when he went up against Jerusalem Nob is mentioned as the last place where he pitched his Camp and from thence it is said That he shaked his hand against Mount Zion as by way of threatning that he would now presently be with her See the Note in that place So that I say it is most probable that whilst Sennacherib made a stand there that he might put all things in a readiness for the siege of Jerusalem there it was that his Army was miraculously destroyed by an Angel Only withal it is most likely too which others say That this slaughter was made not only in Sennacheribs Camp wherever it was but also amongst those forces which Rabshakeh had from the first left to block up Jerusalem And accordingly of both places that must be understood which followeth and when they arose early in the morning that is The Inhabitants of Jerusalem that looked every moment for the coming of Sennacherib or rather those few of the Assyrians that God would have escape the sword of the Angel and behold they were all that is Their whole Army in a manner dead corpses that is Not sick and dying but stark dead By what manner of death they were destroyed it is no where expressed only some places elsewhere in this Prophecy seem to import That a mighty and terrible tempest fell upon the Camp of the Assyrians at that time when this Havock was made amongst them for which see the Note Chap. 30.30 Ver. 37. So Sennacherib King of Assyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at Niniveh That is He with those few that were not slain by the Angel fled away home into their own Country And thus God was pleased to order it by his providence that he should escape and not fall by the Sword of the Angel 1. That he might to his greater confusion see the dreadful power of the God of Israel whom he had despised and blasphemed clearly discovered in that strange and horrid Judgment which he found executed upon his Army 2ly That he might to his exceeding vexation flee back in so disgraceful a manner the very way that he came See the Note before ver 34. And 3ly that he might be reserved to a death far sadder in many respects than that of his being slain by the Angel as is related in the following verse As for Nineveh that was at present the chief City of Assyria See Gen. 10.11 that strong hold whereunto the Prophet had before foretold he should flee See the Notes Chap. 31.8 9. Ver. 38. And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god that Adramelech and Sharezer his Sons smote him with the Sword c. As the Prophet Isaiah had before foretold it should be ver 7. And some conclude from the Apochryphal Book of Tobit Chap. 1.21 That it was not above five and fifty days after the Destruction of his Army in Judea that this was done However just it was with God that he that had blasphemed the true God should find his Idol-god unable to defend him and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esarhaddon his Son reigned in his stead who is also called Asnappar Ezra 4.10 and Tobit 1.21 Sarchedonus and by other Writers as some conceive Sardanapalus in whose days ten years after Sennacheribs death the Chaldeans overcame the Assyrians by Merodach their King CHAP. XXXVIII VERSE 1. IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death c. See the Notes 2 King 20.1 Because ver 6. there is a promise made of delivering the City Jerusalem from the King of Assyria therefore many learned men think that Hezekiahs sickness was before the ruin that fell upon Sennacherib and his Army But the series of the History is clear and how that promise ver 6. must be understood See the Note 2 King 20.6 Ver. 2. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord. To wit As still trusting in the goodness and fatherly love of God to him notwithstanding he had heard so severe a Sentence so absolutely pronounced against him from the Lord. But see the Note 2 King 38.2 Ver. 3. And said Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight c. As if he had said And therefore do not cut off my life in the midst of my days That this was that which by these words of his he intended to beg of God is evident because in that promise that is afterward made to him ver 5. of lengthning out his days God is said to grant him that which he had prayed for And therefore we may well think that the reason why he did
were carried away But I rather think that because the teil-tree by reason of its spreading branches and exceeding florid beauty and the oak being a strong tree deeply rooted in the earth and usually very long lived seem most unlike to become as dead in winter therefore they are chosen to set forth the ruin of the State and Kingdom of Judah which by reason of her prosperous and flourishing condition seemed most unlike to be brought so low Or rather because the Church and people of God when they came to spring up again should like these trees spread forth their boughs and branches very far But see the Note also Chap. 1.30 CHAP. VII Vers 1. ANd it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham the son of Uzziah c. See the Note Chap. 6.1 This Ahaz whose father and grandfather Jotham and Uzziah are here mentioned because under these and these only Isaiah had hitherto Prophesied was one of the most wicked Kings of Judah yet in his reign the Prophet Isaiah was sent with many comfortable Prophesies to him and to the people for the support and eneouragement of the faithful as we may well think in those evil times amongst which this is one which is here related the occasion whereof is said to be that Rezin King of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah King of Israel Nations that were usually at great enmity one against another went up towards Jerusalem to war against it for being encouraged by the successful invasions they had already made upon the land of Judah each of them severally by their own forces wherein they had slain many of their great ones that were a chief stay and support of their State and huge multitudes of the flower of the people besides they assured themselves that if they now joined their forces together they should easily subdue this disheartened broken people and thereupon resolved to go up together and besiege Jerusalem which accordingly they did chuckering themselves no doubt with hope of a full conquest and the huge spoil they should carry away from Jerusalem concerning all which see the Notes 2 King 16.5 but could not prevail against it which is premised before-hand to hint how causless those their fears were which are here afterward related and how base their incredulity was and neglect of God Ver. 2. And it was told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim c. That is tidings were brought to the Court of Judah to Ahaz the King who was of the lineage of David and to the other Princes and Officers of his Court and State that the Syrians and the Israelites of the Ten Tribes who are here called Ephraim for which see the Note Psal 78.9 had made a confederacy together against Jerusalem But why is this expressed thus that it was told the house of David and not that tidings were brought to Ahaz or to the House or Court of Ahaz I answer that probably we may think it was either 1. To hint the reason why this confederacy against Ahaz should come to nothing namely because he was the lawful heir of the Crown being descended from David and God would make good his promise to David concerning the perpetuity of his Kingdom see the Note 2 Sam. 7.16 Or else as some think to imply how far Ahaz was degenerated from the courage of David and other his holy ancestors as was discovered in that base fear of his at this time which is related in the following words and his heart was moved and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind that is as the leaves of trees will quiver and shake with the first breathing of the wind when a tempest is rising so did their hearts tremble and shake as we use to say like an aspin leaf at the first breath of that report that was brought to them concerning the preparations that were made against them by these two Kings all which is expressed to shew that the deliverance of this people at this time was only of God or to set forth the wonder of the deliverance where both Princes and people were so faint-hearted that they were no way able to make any resistance against the mighty forces that were breaking in upon them Ver. 3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah c. Though Ahaz sought not to God or his Prophets for help or counsel yet he sent his Prophet to him with a message that he would deliver him and his people from the danger they were in 1. To magnifie the riches of his long-suffering and mercy towards the worst of men 2. To render Ahab and his people the more inexcusable And 3. for the support and comfort of the faithful that were amongst them Go forth now to wit out of the city as appears by that which follows to meet Ahaz he was sent to Ahaz both in regard of the greatness of his terrors and in regard the care of providing for the publick safety lay chiefly upon him Nor was he to stay till the King came back to the City but to go forth to meet him both to express that respect and reverence which was due to him as King and because this was suitable for him that had such good tidings to carry to the King And as for that command that is given the Prophet for carrying his Son along with him Go forth now to meet Ahaz thou and Shear-jashab thy Son we must know 1. That Shear-jashab is being interpreted the remnant shall return 2. That this name had been before given to this Son of the Prophet either by the express command of God or by the secret instinct of Gods Spirit purposely as a sign either 1. of a remnant that should return from the Babylonian captivity which the Prophets did often foretell See the Notes before Chap. 6.13 Or 2. of a remnant that should repent and return unto God from whom they had departed after Sennacheribs army was destroyed before Jerusalem according to that express place Chap. 10.21 The remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God for which see the Note there And indeed many of those that returned out of Babylon were such as had been purged and reformed by their afflictions and brought home unto God See the Notes Chap. 4.2 3. 6.13 And 3ly that the Prophet was enjoined to take this his Son Shear-jashab along with him that he might stand by as a visible sign of the deliverance now promised and of the ground of it to wit Gods purpose still to preserve a remnant in this people that should be as a holy seed for the perpetuating of the Church in future times See the Notes Chap. 1.9 6.13 and upon the 15 and 16 verses of this Chapter And hence it seems probable that the reason why this name Shear-jashab was given to this Prophets Son was commonly known for else his going along with his father to the King
for us that is let us violently break in upon it or thorough it and surprize it and make it ours Yet some think that because the great design which they had in their thoughts was the besieging of Jerusalem therefore the breach here intended was the making a breach in the walls thereof at which they might enter and take the City and others understand it of making a breach or division amongst the inhabitants of the land or City that being likely to tend much to their advantage and others of dividing the land betwixt them each of them taking that part which lay most convenient for them But the first Exposition I conceive is the best and most agreeable to that which follows Let us make a breach therein for us and set a King in the midst of it even the son of Tabeal for this man they intended doubtless to set up as a Viceroy or a tributary-Tributary-King over the land and one that should hold the Kingdom of them and be wholly at their disposing But now who this son of Tabeal was is altogether uncertain that which is said by some of his being a Syrian and by others of being some eminent man of the Israelites that was a known enemy to the house of David are but meer conjectures But see the foregoing Note Ver. 7. Thus saith the Lord God It shall not stand neither shall it come to pass That is Though they have with such proud and bold confidence resolved before hand that they will thus dispose the Kingdom of Judah and subject it to themselves yet this which they have thus determined shall not take effect and be established as they have determined it shall be So far shall they be from making the Kingdom of Judah theirs as they have resolved that they shall not be able to effect that which they have determined concerning their taking of the City Jerusalem all they attempt herein shall come to nothing Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin As if he had said Damascus is the Metropolis or head-city of Syria and Rezin is the King and Head of Damascus these are the bounds which God hath set them and beyond these bounds they shall not extend their power The design they have in hand for the enlarging of their Dominions shall not prosper Neither shall Damascus become the head of Judea by having dominion over that land nor shall Rezin become King of Jerusalem as he makes account to be but Judah and Jerusalem shall continue under the Government under which God hath set them And indeed most fully was this made good within a short time when the Assyrian called into the help of Ahaz took Damascus and carried the people of it captive to Kir and slew Rezin 2 King 16.9 And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people That is And the people of Ephraim the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes shall be within threescore and five years so broken in pieces notwithstanding their great confidence in their present confederacy with Rezin and his Syrians that they shall no longer be a people that is a distinct State and people living apart by themselves in their own land and under their own Laws and Princes and Government But now the great question is how these threescore and five years must be reckoned after which the Israelites were to cease to be a people and that because the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser King of Assyria and his carrying away of the Ten Tribes out of their native Country into his own dominions was in the ninth year of Hoshea which was the sixth of Hezekiah See the Notes 2 King 17.5 6. Now if we account from the beginning of Ahaz his reign to that Captivity of the Israelites that makes in all but two and twenty years for Ahaz reigned in all but sixteen years 2 King 16.2 to which adding the six years of Hezekiah his son in whose sixth year this great calamity befell the Ten Tribes the whole amounts I say to no more than two and twenty years And yet because the Kings of Syria and Israel had before this severally invaded the land of Judah in Ahaz his time as is noted before ver 1. therefore it is most probable that Isaiah Prophesied this in the third year of Ahaz and then from thence to Shalmanesers carrying away the Israelites captive there could be no more than about twenty years The most ordinary answer that is given by Expositors for the resolving of this hard question is that these threescore and five years are to be numbred not from the time when Isaiah spake these words but from the time when the Prophet Amos did first foretell this utter destruction of the land and people of Israel which that he did very expresly is evident in many places of his Prophesie And indeed it is clear that Amos began to Prophecy two years before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Amos 1.1 of which there is also mention made Zach. 14.5 Ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Now if this Earthquake was in the seven and twentieth year of Uzziah's reign as the Jewish Writers affirm it was just about the time when Uzziah was smitten with a leprosie then it follows that Amos began to Prophecy in the five and twentieth year of Uzziah from whence if we begin the account of the time prefixed by Amos for the utter ruin of Israel there will be seven and twenty years left behind of the reign of Uzziah for he reigned in all two and fifty years 2 King 15.2 To which if we add the sixteen years of his Son Jothams reign 2 King 15.33 and the sixteen of Ahaz 2 King 16.2 and six of Hezekiah in the sixth year of whose reign Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 18.10 these make in all just threescore and five years Yea and the same account of years they make up also by reckoning the years of the Kings of Israel for Amos they say began to Prophecy in the seventeenth year of Jeroboam the second who reigned in all forty and one years 2 King 14.23 and if so then he reigned four and twenty years after Amos Prophesied the Captivity of Israel to which adding the ten years of Menahems reign 2 King 15.17 not accounting the short reigns of Zachariah and Shallum which made up together but seven months and the two years of Pekahiah 2 King 15.23 and the twenty years of Pekah 2 King 15.27 and the nine years of Hoshea in whose ninth year Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 17.6 this also makes just threescore and five years And whereas it may seem strange that Isaiah should speak of the destruction of the Israelites after threescore and five years only because Amos Prophesied of their destruction so many years before it came to pass to this it is answered that Amos did not only
foretel this ruin that should come upon the Kingdom and people of the Ten Tribes but did also prefix the time when it should be namely after threescore and five years which hereupon passing by tradition from one to another was common in mens mouths and was often mentioned by the succeeding Prophets as the period appointed by God to the Kingdom of Israel and that so it is mentioned here by the Prophet Isaiah as if he had said that within that threescore and five years which were so long since foretold and were so commonly spoken of Ephraim should be so broken that they should no longer be a people And indeed could this be made out a very observable aggravation this would have been of Pekah and his Israelites bold prophaneness and contempt of Gods Prophets that after so fair a warning given so long before wherein the time was expresly mentioned when they should cease to be a people they should be so far from fearing the threatned ruin that they should with so much confidence undertake a design for the swallowing up of the Kingdom of Judah But the truth is that this computation of the threescore and five years here mentioned is built upon meer uncertain conjectures as 1. That Amos did foretel that the Israelites should be carried away captives within threescore and five years of which there is no mention at all in his Prophecy And 2. that the great Earthquake two years before which Amos begun to Prophecy was in the seven and twentieth year of Uzziahs reign which can be no way made out from the Scripture Or 3ly that this was just at the time when Uzziah was smitten with a leprosie And 4. that Amos began to Prophecy in the seventeenth year of Jerobeam the second And indeed neither of these two last assertions can agree with the Chronology of the Scripture For 1. if Uzziah reigned but five and twenty or seven and twenty years after he was smitten with leprosie then was Jotham his son born about the time when he was so smitten for he was five and twenty years when his father died 2 King 15.32 33. and how could that be seeing it is expresly said that Uzziah being upon this occasion sequestred from the Government Jotham the Kings son was over the house judging the people of the land See the Note 2 King 15.5 And for the second of Amos beginning to Prophecy in the seventeenth year of Jeroboam the second if Uzziah began to reign in the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam as it is said 2 King 15.11 then by that acccount Amos should have begun to Prophecy ten years before Uzziah began to reign which is contrary to what is expresly said Amos 1.1 whereby it is apparent that this way of accounting these sixty and five years cannot be justified There is therefore another answer given by others to this great question which is that this breaking of the Israelites whereof the Prophet here speaks was not that when the main body of the Israelites were carried away captives by Shalmaneser in the ninth year of Hoshea 2 King 17.6 which was indeed but two and twenty years after this Prophecy of Isaiah for there were then many of the Israelites left behind in the land of Israel who continued still to be a people by themselves though very much weakened and broken but that when Ezar-hadden the son of Shalmaneser 2 King 19.37 did sweep away all those whom his father had left behind and carried them away captives into his own Countries placing a fuller Colony of other Nations in their room See Ezra 4.2 at which time they were indeed utterly broken from being a people Now that this was threescore and five years after this Prophecy of Isaiah they make out thus Taking it for granted that Isaiah Prophecyed this about the third year of Ahaz there were thirteen years after this of Ahaz his reign 2 King 10.2 to which if we add the twenty and nine years of Hezekiahs reign 2 King 18.2 then if the remainder of the Israelites were carried away by Ezar-bâ—â—don in the three and twentieth year of Manasseh as it may be probably thought because about that time the Assyrians did invade the land of Israel and carried away Manasseh himself captive into Babylon 2 Chron. 33.11 this makes up just threescore and five years And indeed this computation of these years and exposition of this place is by latest Expositors best approved Ver. 9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is Remaliahs son This must be understood as the like expression was in the foregoing verse concerning Damascus and Rezin to wit that Samaria concerning which see the Note 1 King 16.24 was the head-city of the kingdom of Israel but should never come to be the Metropolis of Judea and that Pekah was the King of Samaria but should never be the King of Jerusalem or have power to dispose of the Kingdom of Judea as they had designed Yet by subjoining this to that which was said immediately before in the close of the foregoing verse concerning the destruction of the Israelites it may seem to imply that Samaria and Pekah Remaliahs son should be so far from having any dominion over Jerusalem that they both should together with the people of Israel be ruined and destroyed which indeed came accordingly to pass for within a year or there-about Pekah was slain by Hoshea See the Note 2 King 15.30 and in Hoshea's reign Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 18.9 10. If ye will not believe c. Some read it as it is in the Margent Do ye not believe It is because ye are not stable to wit in the faith or in the Covenant whereof you make profession in that you profess your selves to be Gods peculiar people As if he had said If you believe not this promise concerning your deliverance from these two Kings that have conspired against you and thereupon will seek to secure your selves elsewhere by sending to the Assyrian for help as it is clear Ahaz at this time did 2 King 16.7 this is because you are not stedfast and stable in resting and relying upon God as you ought to do and so are over-born with these distrustful fears You have cast off God and so do not put confidence in his help and this is the reason why you regard not this promise But I conceive the words are best translated as they are in our Bibles If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established that is If you will not give credit to this message which I have brought you and rely upon this deliverance which from God I have promised you you shall never be setled in your minds against these terrors and fears or rather you shall not prosper in any design you take in hand for the securing and establishing of your selves you shall not be setled in your present state and condition but shall e're long be ruined and destroyed It
less will undertake the burying of it And all this is thus expressed to shew how abominable the Babylonian should be unto all men for his Pride and Cruelty Ver. 20. Thou shalt not be joyned with them in burial c. That is Thou shalt not have that honour done thee in thy burial which other Kings of the Nations have usually done for them for this is spoken with reference to that which was said before ver 18. Thou shalt not be laid in such a stately Sepulchre amongst thy Progenitors nor be carried thereto with that Pomp and Solemnity as other Kings use to be because thou hast destroyed thy land and stain thy people to wit the land of Babylon and his subjects there For though some would have this to be understood of the land and people which he had made his by Conquest and others that understand it of his Hereditary Kingdoms do withal hold that he is said to have destroyed this his land and to have slain his people only because by his wickedness he had provoked God to destroy them yet I rather conceive that this it is that is here intended as a great aggravation of his Tyranny that not content with the ruin that he brought upon other Kingdoms and Nations he did likewise destroy his own Land and his own people to wit by the sore burdens and exactions wherewith he oppressed them and by the cruelties he exercised amongst them as bloody Tyrants are wont to do The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned That is instead of being renowned the memory of them shall be abhorred yea the remembrance of them shall utterly perish See the Note Prov. 10.7 They shall by degrees be cut off so that at last there shall not be one left to be called by their name neither shall there be any mention made of them And this though delivered in general terms is here inserted with relation to Belshazzar and his wicked Progenitors as a reason why he was cut off and after him all his posterity too as is farther threatned in the following Verses Ver. 21. Prepare slaughter for his children c. That taunting Speech or Song begun ver 4. being ended with the foregoing verse here the Prophet doth again proceed to foretel the destruction of the Babylonian and his Posterity Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers see the Note Josh 7.25 Now this is spoken as to the Medes and Persians that did at first surprize Babylon as that before Chap. 13.2 so to all others that were in after-times to execute farther vengeance upon Babylon till it was utterly destroyed That they do not rise nor possess the land nor fill the face of the world with Cities that is that they may not grow up in their fathers stead and raise up again that State and Empire which God had overturned and replenish the world with another wicked generation that might dom neer and make as much havock in the world and enlarge their Dominion by building and beautifying many Cities called by their names as their Fathers had done before them Ver. 22. For I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts c. Having in the foregoing verse enjoyned the Medes Persians and others to cut off the issue of the Babylonian King that they might not rise nor possess the land here he assures them that this should be effected how incredible soever it might seem in an eye of reason because the Lord himself would rise up against them who would certainly bring it to pass and cut off from Babylon that is from the King of Babylon the name and remnant that is all his Posterity see the Notes Psal 9.5 1 King 14.10 and so it is expounded in the following words and Son and Nephew But yet there are very many Expositors understand this more generally that God would cut off from Babylon the name that is the great fame and glory which that City had gotten by the renown of their King and remnant and Son and Nephew that is the Posterity of the inhabitants of Babylon Ver. 23. I will also make it a possession for the Bittern c. A kind of water-fowl that thrusting her bill into the mire or some broken cane doth thereby several times together make a most hideous noise like the braying of an Asse which translation of the original word seems the more probable because of the following words and pools of water and because elsewhere the Bitter and the Cormorant another water-fowl are joyned together Chap. 34.11 But the Cormorant and the Bittern shall pâ—ssess it and so also Zeph. 2.14 As for that which is said here of making Babylon pools of water the most Expositors hold that this was occasioned by Cyrus his letting out the River Euphrates into many ditches which he had cut for that purpose that so he might with his Army pass over that great River and surprise Babylon by means whereof the Country or Land thereabouts that was low and watry before became much more moorish and fenny especially in after-times when by degrees the dams and sluces came to be more and more neglected and the dikes to be choaked up and I will sweep it with the besome of destruction saith the Lord to wit by clearing it of all the riches and inhabitants thereof See the Notes Chap. 13.19 20. and 1 Kings 14.10 Ver. 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass c. See the Note Chap. 5.9 Ver. 25. That I will break the Assyrian c. The rod of Gods anger as the Prophet had before called him Chap. 10.5 in my land that is the land of Judea which God had given to his people and where he had promised to dwell amongst them and upon my mountains that is the mountains of Judea or those about Jerusalem tread him under foot as in great wrath and contempt See the Note Psal 44.5 And this I conceive is meant of the destruction of Sennacherib King of Assyria and his Army related 2 Kings 19.35 36. which was done not far from Jerusalem which they were come to besiege that hereby it might be the more apparent that it was the God of Israel that destroyed him and that for seeking to ruine his people then shall his yoke depart from off them and his burden depart from off their shoulders that is then shall the Assyrian yoke be taken from off my people See the Note Chap. 10.27 Some indeed hold that it is the Babylonian that is here called the Assyrian See the Note Ezra 6.22 to wit because the Assyrian Empire was translated to the Babylonians when they subdued the Assyrians and because when the Babylonian invaded the land of Judea his Army consisted chiefly of the Assyrians who were then under his command and nearest to Judea and upon pretence of whose old quarrel against the Jews it may well be that he took occasion to invade them But this
Ahaziah or Joram his Son See the Notes 2 King 1.1 and 35. Therefore it is thought the Moabites are here advised to pay their wonted Tribute again to the King of Judah Send ye the Lamb that is the Tribute which you formerly paid of Lambs and other cattel to the Ruler of the Land that is to the King of Judah to whom of right you are Vassals ever since David subdued you From Sela some chief City in the South-borders of the Land of Moab which was afterwards taken by Amaziah King of Judah and called Joktheel See the Note 2 King 14.7 To the wilderness that is the wilderness of Jordan in the North-border Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion that is to Jerusalem See the Note Chap. 1.8 Which is all one therefore as if he had said Let all the people all the Land over gather up this Tribute and send it But indeed many Expositors understand this as spoken in a way of derision as if the Prophet had said You had best to prevent the ruin that from Judah will be brought upon you to send the old Tribute again you had wont to pay to Hezekiah the Ruler of the land and it is like in your straits you will think of doing so but alas it will do no good that will not then keep off the destruction which will certainly come upon you Ver. 2. For it shall be that as a wandring bird cast out of the nest or as a nest forsaken so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon A river in the utmost borders of the land of Moab Numb 21.13 The meaning therefore seems to be that as a wandring bird driven out of her nest or as a brood of young birds forsaken of their damme or cast out of their nest do fly up and down not having any body to protect them not knowing whither to go or where to take up their rest so the daughters of Moab that is the Inhabitants of the Towns of Moab or the Moabitish women see Chap. 3.16 17. and Luk. 13.34 even they as well as the men shall flee away out of their Country and wander up and down in desart places not knowing where to settle themselves Or they shall be carried away captives into Assyria over the River Arnon But now we must know that this may be taken as spoken only conditionally to wit that thus it should be with the Moabites if they did not hearken to the advice given them in the foregoing verse But others that understand that which is said in the foregoing verse as spoken Ironically do accordingly understand this as added to shew why there would be no thinking to send a Lamb either by way of pacifying God's anger by Sacrifices or by way of procuring their Peace by paying their former Tribute because instead of that they should flee in great dread from the Sword of the Enemy or should be carried away by the Enemy into Captivity as easily as a bird is driven out of her nest Ver. 3. Take counsel c. That is say some Expositors Consult together how you may escape the destruction that is coming upon you And they that do understand these first words thus do accordingly hold that in the next words the Prophet tells them what would be the best course they could take if they desired to prevent their approaching ruin namely to be courteous and kind to the out-casts of God's people in their distress Execute Judgment make thy shadow as the night c. But I rather conceive that these first words do intend the same thing with those that follow after Take counsel that is Consider with your selves and consult together to wit how you may any way protect and relieve and procure the good of my people in their affliction and distress Execute judgment that is Do that for them which in all Justice and Equity you ought to do be not injurious to my people in their distresses as you have formerly been but shew them that compassion which is due to a people in such misery Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day that is when my people are driven out of their Country and flee to you to shelter them from their enemies let them be concealed and hidden by you that even at Noon-day they may be as if they were covered with the darkness or shadow of the night when no body can see them or find them out or rather let the harbour and entertainment they find amongst you be as a safe and sweet refuge and refreshment against the noon-day heat of the Assyrians breaking in upon them even as the pillar of the cloud to which haply this Expression doth allude was a covert to the Israelites against the heat of the Sun as they travelled through the VVilderness to Canaan hide the out-casts bewray not him that wandereth that is Hide those that being driven out of their own Land wander up and down amongst you to seek for some place of shelter and do not deliver them up into the hands of their enemies But now all this is understood by many as spoken Ironically Take counsel execute Judgment c. as if he had said Now when the enemy is broken in upon you it may be you will wish you had done what it was indeed your duty to have done to Gods poor people when they were persecuted and pursued by their enemies But alas it is now too late you had wont to reject them and to deal cruelly with them at such times and now you will meet with the same hard measure Ver. 4. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee Moab c. That is those of my people that are driven out of the land which I had given them and that I own still as my people though I have at present in just displeasure against them cast them out for their sins Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler as if he should have said As at the first bringing of my people out of Egypt you did discover your spleen against them See the Notes Deut. 23.4 so you have done ever since being still ready to side with their enemies that have prevailed against them and to deal hardly with them in their distress but beware do not so still but rather let them have a hiding-place amongst you to shelter them from the rage of their enemies to wit the Assyrians as most Expositors do here conceive But now the drift of all this is only to shew what in all reason the Moabites ought to have done and as some think to insult over their destruction because they had not done so for the Extortioner is at an end the spoiler ceaseth the oppressors are consumed out of the land that is the Land of Judea shall be quite freed from the enemy that came to spoil and oppress her which I say most Expositors understand of the quick dispatch that God made of Sennacherib and his army
heart amongst the people is ready to faint Ver. 6. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores c. That is the whole land and all the people therein from the lowest to the highest are in a sad condition having been plagued with variety of judgments over and over so that in the whole body from top to toe there is no part free they have not been closed neither bound up neither mollified with ointment that is there is no means used for the removing of these judgments that are come upon them See the Note Psal 147.3 As that their Neighbours and Confederates never minded to afford them any relief so neither had they power or skill to help themselves and as for that which was the only sure way to cure them of their evils namely their turning to the Lord by unfeigned repentance that was never minded but they obstinately ran on still in their sins and that either because they whose work it was to have administred these means of their cure neglected their duty or else because the people would not follow their direction The drift of all is to shew that the condition of Israel was at present in a manner hopeless and desperate Ver. 7. Your Country is desolate c. What was before expressed figuratively is here repeated in plain terms It is in the Original only your Country desolate or a desolation and therefore some render it in the future tense your Country shall be desolate c. and accordingly conceiving that he spake this in the days of Uzziah because they find it in the beginning of his Prophecy they conceive it to be a Prediction of the desolation that was to come upon the land of Judah in the days of Hezekiah Ahaz and others that succeeded him even unto the Babylonian Captivity Yea and some that read it in the present tense Your Country is desolate c. do yet understand it of the desolation which the Chaldeans should make in the land and conceive that it is expressed as done already only to shew how certainly it should be But because it seems far most probable that the Prophet still proceeds to shew that God had proceeded so far in a way of punishing them that it was in vain to smite them any more therefore I conceive it is best rendered in the present tense Your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire and that it must be understood of desolations past or present when the Prophet spake this to wit of the devastations made either by Tiglath-Pileser in the land of Israel in Jothams days 2 King 15.29 or by Râ—zin King of Syria and Pekah King of Israel in the land of Judah in the days of Ahaz see the Notes 2 King 16.5 and by the Philistines 2 Chron. 28.17 or by the Assyrians both in the land of Israel and Judah in the days of Hezekiah 2 King 18.9 13. Isaiah Prophecyed in those times when all these devastations were made both in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel and therefore this might be spoken with respect to all or either of them there being no necessity why we should conclude that all his Prophesies are set down in order as he delivered them Your land strangers devour it in your presence c. That is foreign Nations yea and some of them such as are of Countries very far off from you as were the Babylonians Deut. 28.4 5. having invaded your land do eat up and consume the fruit of it and that to the great increase of your grief before your faces you being no ways able to help your selves herein And it is desolate as overthrown by strangers which is in the Hebrew And it is desolate as the overthrow of strangers and so some understand it thus That God had made their land desolate according to the destruction which he used to bring upon Heathens such as were meer strangers to God as were those of Sodom and Gomorrha mentioned in the next verse But the meaning rather is That the desolation of their land was according to the overthrow which foreigners and strangers are wont to make in a land who because they expect no benefit from the Country in future times do therefore barbarously make all the havock they can wasting and destroying all that is before them where ever they come Ver. 8. And the Daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a Vineyard c. The Prophet having spoken of the misery of the land in general here he sets forth the misery of Jerusalem the chief City thereof in particular Sometimes the people or inhabitants of Jerusalem are called the Daughter of Zion for which see the Note 2 King 19.21 But here it is the City it self that is so called because the chief part of Jerusalem where the Temple stood was built upon Mount Zion and so with respect to the former splendor and stateliness of that City is compared to a fair and beautiful damsel standing by her mother or with respect to the tender respect that God bare to her And in saying that she was left as a cottage in a Vineyard as a Lodg in a garden of cucumbers he alludes to the custom of that Country where they used to build little Cottages Sheds or Lodges in their Vineyards and Fruit-gardens that those who were appointed to watch their Grapes and other Fruits might lodg there by night and by day might shelter themselves from the rain and from the heat which after the Vintage and the ingathering of their Summer-fruit were usually left ruinated tattered and defaced or at least empty and desolate no body then abiding in them and that because by reason of the wast and havock that was made in the Country round about Jerusalem either by the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah Chap. 7.17 20. 36.1 2. or by the Syrians and the Israelites and others in the days of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. and by reason the City it self had suffered much it was become a sad spectacle base and contemptible more like one of those poor forlorn cottages and lodges when all the Vines in the Vineyards and all the Fruit in the Gardens were cut up and carried away than such a stately and glorious City as it had formerly been To which purpose also that eighth clause is added as a besieged city implying that the Country was wasted and destroyed round about and Jerusalem it self so exceedingly straitned that there was scarce any going in or out of it in safety as usually it is when the chief City of any Country is besieged Ver. 9. Except the Lord of Hosts c. See the Note Gen. 2.1 Having spoken of the devastation of the land and the low and contemptible estate whereinto the City Jerusalem was brought in comparison of what it had been in former times Here the Prophet adds what mighty havock had been made amongst the inhabitants of the land
the light than bats are The meaning is that they should of their own accord cast away their most precious Idols which they had before most highly esteemed into any sordid secret hole or corner as into some hole of the earth where moles use to be or into some dark and dusty corners of their houses where bats are wont to roost And the reason intended why they should do this may be either first their astonishment and fear in that day of trouble and terrour though haply at first they might desire to keep them for the worth of the materials whereof they were made yet afterwards that they might not be encumbred with them in their flight they should cast them aside into any secret obscure place Or 2ly rather their disregard and contempt of them finding how unprofitable and vain they were and being ashamed of their former confidence in them they should throw them away with indignation and disdain as thinking any vile neglected place good enough for such gods to lye in Ver. 21. They go into the clefts of the rocks c. This is repeated to shew why they should cast away their Idols as he had said in the foregoing verse to wit either that being rid of them they might flee the more freely or because they hoped for that shelter from the rocks which they could not afford them Ver. 22. Cease from man c. That is give over your confidence in man whose breath is in his nostrils and so he may be taken away in a moment though he may puff and seem to breathe forth wrath yet alas his breath may be soon gone for wherein is he to be accounted of to wit in and of himself when God is not with him and especially when God is against him The Prophet having threatned them with the ruin that was coming upon them doth hereupon infer this warning not to slight the foregoing threatnings out of a vain confidence in the strength of their present estate And withal this makes way to that which follows in the next Chapter where God threatens to destroy all in whom they might think they had most cause to trust CHAP. III. Vers 1. FOr behold c. The Prophet having closed the foregoing Chapter with an exhortation not to trust on man Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils c. here he adds this as a reason of that exhortation to wit that God would destroy all the power of man and of all humane helps and supports whereon they did with so much confidence rely And observable it is that he speaks of this destruction as of a thing which they might see immediately and suddenly coming upon them For behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah that is it shall be as certainly done yea and that suddenly too as if it were doing already the stay and staff that is all things wherewith your state is supported and whereon you do for your preservation and safety rest and rely and so under this general expression may be comprehended all those stays of their state which in this and the two following Verses are particularly mentioned or all things requisite for the support of mans life and if we understand the words so then the following words are added to shew what he meant here by the stay and the staff to wit the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water that is all meat and drink necessary for the preservation of mans life for the phrase here used the stay of bread and water see the Notes Levit. 26.26 And how this was accomplished we may see 2 King 25.3 where it is said of Jerusalem when it was besieged That the famine prevailed in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land See also Jer. 38.9 Lam. 5.4 Ver. 2. The mighty man and the man of war the Judg and the Prophet and the prudent and the ancient By the mighty man may be meant such as were great men amongst the people for power of command see the Note Gen. 10.8 or rather men of great strength valour and courage as indeed we find it expresly mentioned that at the taking of Jerusalem the King of Babylon carried away all the Princes and all the mighty men of valour 2 King 24.14 Again by the Prophet may be meant all their Teachers or more particularly those that had the spirit of Prophecy to foretel future things which how it was accomplished you may see in the Note Psal 74.10 when the Eyes of a Nation those which are the Rulers and Teachers are put out that Nation must needs be in a sad condition And then by the prudent is meant men of a piercing judgment able to bolt out the truth of things in the most difficult cases and to give a shrewd guess at things that should afterward come to pass But for this see the Notes Prov. 16.10 1 Chron. 12.32 Ver. 3. The captain of fifty c. By mentioning this which was one of the most inferior places of command the Prophet implies that there should scarce be a man left that was fit to undertake the meanest and the lowest charge for the leading forth and governing of their armies As for the following words and the honourable man and the counsellor that which is translated in our Bibles the honourable man is in the Hebrew a man eminent in countenance and thereby is meant men that for their birth and place their gravity parts and vertue were so reverenced and of so great esteem amongst the people that the very sight of them caused an awe in the hearts of those that came before them they carried authority with them in their very countenance See the Note Eccles 8.1 And then the cunning artificer is mentioned amongst others because those that were more than ordinary skilful in such arts were of great use in a State as for the fortifying of their Cities and making engines of war and many other things both in civil and warlike imployments that did contribute much to the upholding of the State yea and to the preservation of mens lives and the cutting off such therefore must needs be a great invenience and loss to a people And accordingly indeed we read that when the Babylonians had taken Jerusalem amongst others they carried away all the Craftsmen and Smiths 2 King 24.14 As for the last here named and the eloquent Orator or the man of speech as it is in the margent which is in the Original skilled in charms the taking of these is mentioned because such are very able to disswade from evil and to perswade to good to restrain to still and suppress and as I may say to charm the seditious as Abigal by her good language charmed David and as the woman of Abel charmed Joab first and afterward the whole City and to bow the minds of men to those things that may be for publick good Ver. 4. And I
another that is to purchase several houses and several fields That which the Prophet condemns is their insatiable covetousness that they never had enough but were still seeking to enlarge their possessions not caring how unjustly they did it by fraud or violence wresting other mens possessions from them And because by the Law of God it was unlawful for the Jews to alienate their lands from one Tribe to another see Levit. 25.23 Numb 36.7 it may well be that this encroaching upon other mens possessions is here amongst others intended see the Note 1 King 21.3 Till there be no place that is say some Expositors till there be no place left which they have not gotten into their possession or rather till there be no place left for their poor neighbours to dwell near them as if the land had been given only for them to dwell in which is implied in those last words That they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth Ver. 9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts c. That is the Lord spake this which I shall now tell you in my hearing which agreeth with that expression of our Saviours Luk. 4.21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears or The Lord revealed it secretly to me by the inspiration of his Spirit Yet many translate it as it is in the Margent of our Bibles This is in mine ears saith the Lord of hosts and then the meaning must needs be that the cry of their oppressions in joining house to house c. as he had said in the foregoing verse or the cry of those that were oppressed by them was gone up into the ears of the Lord though they thought he regarded it not And it may well be that from hence the Apostle James borrowed that expression of his Chap. 5.4 Behold the hire of your labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud crieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath that is the Lord of hosts See also the Note Ezra 9.6 Of a truth many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without inhabitant to wit because their owners should be slain or carried into captivity which was fully accomplished at the Chaldeans taking of Jerusalem when after a great slaughter amongst all sorts of people the Princes Nobles and rich men were carried captive into Babylon and so no body was left to dwell in their stately houses And this is mentioned as a punishment proportioned to their sin in joining house to house as was before said All the benefit they should reap by the multiplying and enlarging their houses in such a way was that they should be taken away from the enjoying of them and their houses should be left desolate and without an inhabitant It is expressed in the Hebrew with a conditional particle If many houses shall not be desolate c. But this is an Emphatical form of swearing usual in the Scriptures wherein somewhat is left to be understood by those that hear it which is not expressed It is as if the Lord had said If this comes not to pass as I have said let not me be owned for the true God or let me not be deemed a just God a God of truth c. And therefore it is well rendered in our Translation Of a truth many houses shall be desolate c. Ver. 10. Yea ten acres of Vineyard shall yield one bath c. Which was about eight gallons see the Note 1 King 7.26 so that an acre of ground planted with vines should not yield to the owner one whole gallon of wine And the seed of an homer which was much about our bushel shall yield an ephah and that was Ezek. 45.11 the tenth part of an homer and therefore consequently the meaning must needs be that their land should not yield them above the tenth part of the seed that was sown in it Indeed Exod. 16.36 it is said expresly that an homer is the tenth part of an ephah But therefore I conceive the Omer and the Homer were two different measures as indeed they are differently also written in the Hebrew The Omer was a smaller measure the tenth part of an Ephah but the Homer was a far greater measure the same with the Bath Ezek. 45.11 containing ten Ephahs and therefore it was a very heavy curse of God upon their land when they should reap but one Ephah where they had sown an Homer which was ten Ephahs As in the foregoing verse the desolation of their houses was allotted as the punishment of their joining house to house so here the barrenness of their land is threatned as a just and fit reward of their laying field to field yet it may be also added as the cause why their houses should be left desolate And besides this is inferred fitly upon the foregoing Parable Because God had lost his cost and labour bestowed upon them that were his Vineyard therefore they should lose the cost and labour they bestowed upon their lands and Vineyards Ver. 11. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink c. To wit as pursuing it with all eagerness being never well till they be at it see the Note Eccles 10.16 That continue until night which is in the Original until twilight and so the meaning may be that they sate at it either from morning to evening or from morning to morning till wine inflame them to wit with unnatural heat and so instead of quenching increaseth their thirst and so they many times fall into burning fevers and are as it were set on fire with anger and fury and inflamed with burning lusts See Prov. 23 29-33 Ver. 12. And the harp and the viol the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts c. That is they give up themselves wholly to these carnal delights not minding the Lord nor their duty to him The things here named were not mentioned as evil in themselves but it is their excess herein and their abuse of them that is here condemned And therefore it follows but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands that is his judgments to wit either those which God had already brought upon their land for it is most probable that this was spoken when in the days of Ahaz the Syrians Pekah and the Philistims had made great havock in Judea yea when the Ten Tribes were already carried away captives into Assyria And we see the Prophet Amos condemns the same jollity upon this very ground of their not laying to heart the sad calamities that were befallen the Ten Tribes But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Amos 6.6 Or else those which did at this time hang over their heads which God had threatned by his Prophets and to which he had already begun to make way which seems most probable because
how long c. That is how long shall this people continue in this sad condition being blinded and hardened yea and made more and more rebellious and refractory by the Preaching of thy servants the Prophets whom thou sendest unto them as if he had said is there no end or period set to this their rejection And this it seems the Prophet spake both by way of wondering at this judgment denounced out of a sollicitous care for this people and out of pity and compassion towards them and likewise as being carried thereto by a secret instinct from God that in the answer which God returned it might be made known with what great severity he meant to proceed against them Until the cities to wit of Judah be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate that is until by the incursion of several enemies under the reign of the several Kings that shall successively sit in the Throne of Judah the inhabitants of the land shall be exceedingly wasted and destroyed so that at last both cities and particular houses standing by themselves shall be in a manner left desolate without any to inhabit them And this extream desolation and havock that was made amongst them might be intended concerning that great destruction which was brought upon them by the Babylonians and yet it may be extended also to that extream devastation that was made in that land by the Romans namely by Titus and Vespasian first and afterwards by Hadrian the Emperour But see the Notes Chap. 1.7 5.9 Ver. 12. And the Lord have removed men far away c. To wit the inhabitants of the land whom the Lord in his wrath shall cause to be carried away captives into Assyria and Babylon Countries far remote from the land which God had given them The same expression is again afterward used concerning the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon Chap. 26.15 Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land that is and by this means the land shall be in a great measure totally in a manner forsaken of her inhabitants and so shall be left desolate It is not therefore Gods forsaking of this people as some think but the lands being forsaken of the people which the Prophet here intends and that was when the people were forcibly carried away into Babylon Yet some I know extend this as is said in the foregoing Note to that great desolation that was made in the land by the Romans when they that were left were dispersed and scattered all the world over Ver. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth Some learned Expositors do understand this of a tenth King that should sit in the Throne of Judah or of a Decade of Kings that should successively reign in the Kingdom of Judah before that desolation was to come upon the land that was threatned in the foregoing verses And indeed from the time when this was prophesied which was in the days of Jotham the Son of Uzziah see the Note above ver 1. unto the time when the people were carried captives into Babylon by the Chaldeans there were just ten Kings that swayed the Scepter of Judah to wit Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehojakim Jehojachin and Zedekiah But by the general current of Expositors it is far better understood of a small remnant of the people as it were one in ten that should be left in the land according to a like expression Amos 5.3 The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel Lest the faithful should be too much dejected at the mention of that utter devastation that should be made in the land this promise is annexed for their comfort that the people should not be so universally destroyed and rooted out but that there should be a small remnant of them left which may be meant both of those few that were left in the land when the generality of the people were carried away captives into Babylon or of that remnant that should be brought back out of Babylon and setled again in their own land And it may well be that these are the rather called a tenth with respect to the reformation that should be wrought in those that were reserved or to Gods preserving the faithful amongst them from the common destruction thereby to imply that they should be as indeed the tythes of the land was holy to the Lord see the Notes Chap. 4.2 3. And it shall return and shall be eaten c. Some read this as it is in the Margent of our Bibles When it is returned and hath been broused and they take the meaning of the words to be that when that remnant should return out of Babylon that had been so miserably eaten and broused cropt and destroyed both before and in the captivity there should be but a tenth of them in comparison of what they formerly were But if we read the words as they are in our Translation then either no more is intended by this It shall return and shall be eaten then if it had been said it shall be eaten again meaning that this remnant should be again wasted For this is an Hebraism frequent in the Scripture as in Dan. 9.25 the street shall return and be built for the street shall be built again Or else the meaning must needs be that after the return of this remnant this tenth out of Babylon even they should be much wasted and consumed which was often done by the rage of their enemies against them after their return from the Babylonian captivity As a teil-tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof That is as when these trees do cast their leaves in winter and so seem to be in a manner quite dead for the time yet there is a lively sap remaining in the root or body of the trees which keeps them alive and so is the substance or subsistence of them by reason whereof in the spring they sprout out again so when my people shall seem to be utterly wasted and destroyed yet there shall be a small remnant left a holy seed see the Note Chap. 1.9 a seed of Saints which shall be as the life and the substance and subsistence of this people by reason of whom this my Church and people shall be continued in all succeeding times so that they shall never be utterly raced out and destroyed Some think the teil-tree or line-tree and the oak are here particularly instanced in because these trees buding forth later in the spring than other trees are longer ere they lose their leaves in the Autumn and so were fitter to represent the Kingdom of Judah which continued in a safe condition after the people of the Ten Tribes
would have been to no purpose at all And then for the place whither the Prophet is sent to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the high-way or causey-way of the fullers field this is thus particularly expressed both to clear the certainty of the story and to assure the Prophet of the certainty of this Prophecy We read of two Pools that were in Jerusalem the one called the lower Pool we find mentioned Chap. 22.9 Ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool because it lay on the west-side of the lower City and another called the upper pool made for the receiving and retaining of the waters that came from the fountain of Gihon and situate on the south-side of the upper City the same as some think that is else-where called the pool of Silâ—ah Joh. 9.8 and which is said to have been nigh to the Kings garden Neh. 3.15 And this is that Pool which is here meant from whence it seems there was a fair way that led to the fullers field which no doubt they had chosen because the waters of this Pool lay conveniently for the washing and whiting of their linnen and here it was that the Prophet was directed to meet with Ahaz and observable it is that it was the very same place where afterwards Sennachenibs Captains that were sent by him to besiege Jerusalem made a stand and summoned Hezekiah to deliver up the City for so it is said 2 King 18.17 They came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool which is in the high-way of the fullers field What the cause was of Ahaz his being in this place is not expressed Some think that hearing of these sad tidings in some place whither he had removed his Court out of the City he was now coming to shelter and secure himself in this his chief City and so the Prophet was sent forth to meet him there and to comfort him with a promise from God concerning the deliverance of Jerusalem that he might not farther dishearten the people by coming in such a fright into the City But then again others conceive that he was gone thither or come thither from some place abroad that he might consult about the fortifying of that place either because they feared it might be a place of advantage for the enemy whereby to enter the City or because it was a matter of so great consequence to secure the waters of this Pool for the use of the City when it should be besieged and so the Prophet was sent thither as it were to tell them in the midst of these their consultations that the Lord whom they minded not would be instead of fortifications to the City and would secure it from the enemy though they were not able to do it And this indeed seems most probable because Rabshakeh when he went to besiege Jerusalem did make his first approaches to the City at this place 2 King 18.17 and at that time Hezekiah had taken all the care he could to secure these waters 2 Chron. 32.3 4. Ver. 4. And say unto him take heed and be quiet c. That is take heed of being thus unquiet and restless in thy mind as thou art beware of all distrust and distrustful fears be not disturbed and distracted but be of a quiet composed mind trusting in God look not after help from the Assyrian or any other foreign aid but rely wholly upon Gods protection and his blessing upon thine own forces And this last we may the more probably think was here intended because it is expresly said 2 King 16.7 that Ahaz did immediately after the invasion of these two Kings send to Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria for aid and therefore it may well be that he had this already in his thoughts Fear not neither be faint-hearted it is in the Hebrew Let not thine heart be tender that is soft and apt to take an impression of fear for the two tails of these smoking fire-brands so he calls these two Kings and their forces of whom Ahaz and his people were so exceedingly afraid by way of contempt and scorn He terms them fire-brands because indeed they were coming out against him with such fury and seeming terror as if they meant to set all the land on a light flame and with fire and sword to consume all before them But withal he calls them only tails of fire-brands which might well be both with respect to what had formerly befallen these Kings for indeed their power had been of late already much wasted the Syrians by three great victories which Joash the King of Israel obtained over them 2 King 13.25 and the Israelites by their own Civil Wars and Conspiracies 2 King 15.10 and likewise with respect to the approaching ruin of both their Kingdoms for it was not long e're Pekah was slain by Hoshea 2 King 15.30 and both the Kingdoms of Syria and Israel were utterly destroyed by the Assyrians so that in this regard they might well be compared to the ends or tails of two fire-brands their dominion and tyranny not being like to last long Yea he terms them not burning but smoaking fire-brands and that to imply that though they might be a great vexation to them as smoke is to the eyes and a great terror and affrightment yet there should be more pride and terror in them than strength and power for the effecting of the mischief they intended which yet must be understood with respect to their great design of taking Jerusalem and the utter subverting of the Kingdom of Judah for otherwise we find that when they raised the siege of Jerusalem and went away the Syrians did make much spoil in other parts of the land And to the same purpose is the following Clause where he calls Pekah by way also of contempt because his father was an obscure private person the son of Remaliah for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria and of the son of Remaliah Ver. 5. Because Syria Ephraim and the son of Remaliah c. Even this also is spoken by way of contempt He vouchsafes not so much as to name these two Kings by the report of whose confederacy they were so exceedingly terrified but terms them the Syrian and the son of Remaliah See the foregoing Note have taken evil counsel against thee that is most unjust wicked and mischievous counsel tending to the utter ruin of Gods people and the utter extirpation of the Kingdom of Judah the race and Royal power of Davids family which is the rather mentioned together with that confident resolution of theirs related in the following verse because all this tended the more to set forth their great danger and so the mercy of the now promised deliverance Ver. 6. Let us go up against Judah c. That is against the Land or Kingdom of Judah And vex it to wit by invading and spoiling the land and by besieging their chief City Jerusalem And let us make a breach therein
child as if the Prophet had said Before the child that is now newly born or is shortly to be born shall grow up to years of discretion both these Kings that have now combined against thee shall be destroyed Now to prove that these words the child may be understood indefinitely of any child they alledg another place Chap. 3.5 where the Prophet useth the like indefinite expression The child shall be have himself proudly against the ancient And because it may justly seem strange that the Prophet having spoken in the foregoing verses of the conception and birth and education of Christ and of the last with the very words here used that he should eat butter and honey that he may know to refuse the evil and chuse the good and yet should now presently speak of any child in general now newly born or shortly to be born and that under the same expression For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and chuse the good the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings To this they answer that having in the foregoing verses grounded the hope of their promised deliverance from Rezin and Pekah upon a promise of the supernatural conception and birth and education of their Messiah that was to spring from that Royal family of David which these Kings sought to destroy he now sheweth the time when they should be delivered to wit very shortly before the child now newly born should grow up to have any use of his reason and understanding Again others yea indeed the most of our late and best Expositors understand this not of any child in general but of some particular child there present or whose mother was present and the most pitch upon Shear-jashab mentioned before ver 3. And so they say that whereas in the foregoing verses the Prophet had spoken of the conception and birth of the Lord Christ the Messiah here now he adds that sign which was before tendered to Ahaz to assure them of their present deliverance from the Invasion of Rezin or Pekah Because say they Ahaz might think that they might haply be all destroyed before the birth of this Immanuel which was now given them as a sign of their approaching deliverance To prevent this objection of his the Prophet assures him that they should be so far from preventing the birth of this their Messiah the Saviour of his Church long after to be bore by cutting off the house and family of David the stock from whence he was to spring that before the child that was now newly born suppose Shear-jashab that was there before him or any other should attain to any years of discretion both these Kings that were now combined to cut off the House of David should be destroyed to wit within three or four years Which indeed came to pass accordingly for Rezin was slain by the Assyrians that came to help Ahaz 2 King 16.9 and Pekah was slain not long after by Hoshea as is evident because Pekah began his reign the two and fiftieth the last year of Uzziah or Azariah and reigned but twenty years 2 King 15.27 and considering that sixteen of these twenty years he reigned together with Jotham the Son of Uzziah it must needs be that he was slain about the fourth year of Ahaz the Son of Jotham So that if Shear-jashab were at this time one or two years old it must needs be that Rezin and Pekah were slain before he attained any great ability of discerning between good and evil And the same may be said of any other new-born child or shortly to be born that should be here particularly intended But indeed 1. Because it may well be thought that if the Prophet had spoken this of Shear-jashab or any other particular child he would have said Before this child shall know to refuse the evil and chuse the good c. And 2ly because the words do so clearly seem to have respect to that child already spoken of in the two foregoing verses and more especially to that v. 16. Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and chuse the good I cannot but think that this also is to be understood of the Lord Christ the Son of the Virgin as well as the two foregoing verses The great objection against this is how the Prophet could intend this to comfort Ahaz against his fears concerning Rezin and Pekah if his meaning had been that before Christ that was to be conceived and born so many hundred years after should be able to discern between good and evil the land which he abhorred should be forsaken of both her Kings But to this three answers are given first which indeed seems to me of all most improbable that the Prophet doth not speak this of the death of Rezin and Pekah but of the death of one Obodas King of Damascus and of Herod King of Samaria which was not long after the birth of Christ Secondly that the drift of the Prophet is not to shew how suddenly but how certainly Rezin and Pekah should be destroyed As fully resolved as they were to destroy the House of David from whence the promised Messiah the true Immanuel was to spring before this his miraculous conception and birth and education both these Kings should be destroyed And thirdly That the meaning is only this that within as short a space of time as should be between the birth of this Immanuel the child Jesus and his being grown up to the usual years of discretion both these Kings that were now preparing to make war against Ahaz should be cut off and destroyed This I find mentioned by the Dutch Annotations and it seems to me the most satisfying answer Ver. 17. The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people c. See the Notes Exod. 32.7 And upon thy fathers house that is the Royal family of David and especially his own posterity days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah that is such sad and evil times as never befell the Kingdom of Judah since the first revolt of the Ten Tribes from them in the days of Rehoboam which is mentioned here as the saddest blow that ever was given to the Kingdom of Judah as being indeed a most deadly wound to that people and that which was the original cause of all their following wars and miseries Even the King of Assyria as if he should have said And these evil days shall come upon you by the King of Assyria by whom thou hopest to defend thy self against these two Kings that are combined against thee which I conceive is meant of the successive Invasions of the Kings of Assyria first Tiglath-pileser who sorely distressed Ahaz 2 Chron. 28.20 2ly Sennacherib who invaded the land of Judah in the days of Hezekiah and brought them into great straits 2 King 19.3 3ly Ezar-haddon whose Captains took Manasseh and carried him away into captivity 2 Chron. 33.11 But
the several ranks of men amongst them and likewise by their striping them of all the good of the land every thing that was of any worth or use especially all that was the beauty and glory of the State and wherein the comeliness of the land lay A razor makes quick and clear dispatch where it comes taking away all the hair to the very skin and not leaving any stumps behind as it will be where the hair is cut with scizzers And so should the land of Judah on a sudden be leâ—t bare and naked by these shavers the Assyrians 3. To hint the hope that should be still left of this peoples sprouting forth again in after-times even as the roots of the hair which are not pluckt up in shaving will in time grow forth again And 4. perhaps also to imply the servitude whereinto they should be brought because slaves in those times used to be shaven according to that which is said of the Tyrians with respect to Nebuchadnezzars carrying them into captivity Every head was made bald Ezek. 29.18 Again by a razor that is hired some think that nothing else is meant but a very sharp razor and that because commonly when men hire any thing for their money they will have the best and others hold that this epethite is used to imply what thorough use God would make of the Assyrians in wasting Judea and destroying the people to wit that they should do it with all possible easiness and fury even as men are wont not to spare those things which they hire for their money But methinks it is most clear that the Assyrians are here compared to a razor that is hired either with respect to the Lords drawing them on to the invasion of that wealthy Kingdom with the hope of the great spoil they should get there as elsewhere it is said that God gave the spoil of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as his hire for the great service he had done for God in destroying Tyrus Ezek. 29.18 19. or else simply with respect to that rich present or great sum of money wherewith Ahaz hired Tiglath-pileser to come into his aid 2 King 16.7 8. which seems the more probable because then the words imply a sharp intimation of Ahaz his folly in that the land it is said should be thus shaven with a razor which himself had hired And if this be so observable it is too that the great desolation that is here threatned must take in all the waste that was made by the Assyrians in that land by Tiglath-pileser and others as is noted before ver 17. and not be limited only to that utter destruction which was at last brought upon them by the Chaldeans though indeed the utter desolation here threatned was never consummated till then when they were indeed shaven from top to toe whence it is said Lam. 1.10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things And Jer. 8.16 They have devoured the land and all that is in it And Isa 39.6 All shall be carried to Babylon nothing shall be left Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass in that day c. In the remainder of this Chapter the Prophet sets forth in what a sad desolate manner the land of Judea should lye after the Assyrians had made such havock amongst the inhabitants partly by slaying them and partly by carrying them into captivity and after they had so extreamly plundered and pillaged the whole Country and in what a poor condition those should live that were left behind in the land And it shall come to pass in that day that a man that is any man of those that are left shall nourish a young cow and two sheep the meaning is that there should be only a few here and there left in the land and that those that were left should live very meanly they should not then join field to field as formerly even that man perhaps that had formerly kept great herds of kine and oxen and flocks of sheep should now keep only one young heifer and two sheep the whole substance he had reserved to himself and glad he should be of these too to keep him and his alive in that miserable condition wherein they were lest And see the Note 2 King 25.12 Ver. 22. And it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk they shall give he shall eat butter c. The meaning is that because there should be such plenty of Pasture there being so few cattel left in the land to eat it up this one cow and two sheep should yield store and plenty of milk and that because the poor man that kept them should have so few in his family and besides there should be none in a manner about him to buy it of him so great should be the desolation of the land by reason of the general depopulation which the Assyrians had made therein they should therefore have not only milk enough and enough but they should be able also to make plenty of Butter whereon they should feed also without sparing For butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land As if he should have said And indeed this ordinary common Country-fare milk and butter and honey to wit such as was commonly found in the woods shall be the sole provision wherewith that poor remainder of people that are left in the land should sustain themselves and that because the land shall be so wasted that flesh and corn and wine and oyl which were formerly in great plenty amongst them should not be then to be had a just punishment of their former luxury Yea and because it is in the Original every one that is left in the midst of the land some would have this to imply that this scarcity and penury should be in the best and most fruitful parts of the land because all should lye waste and desolate there as well as in the barren mountains Ver. 23. And it shall come to pass in that day that every place c. In these words we have a farther description how waste and desolate the land should lye and so also a reason why every one left in the land should live upon such poor Country-fare as was said in the foregoing verse namely because the richest and most pleasant places in the land should lye desolate and unfrequented wholly overgrown with briers and thorns every place shall be where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings it shall be even for briers and thorns that is those places which were formerly esteemed the most fruitful and delightful places in the land where they had rich corn-grounds or rather gardens and olive-yards and vineyards shall then lye like so many thickets of briers and thorns for want of Husbandmen to till and plant and dress them He instanceth therefore in vineyards only because therein they chiefly delighted as if he had said Those places for instance where they had formerly the goodliest and
of the Scripture Gen. 6.4 29.23 30. that he lay carnally with her and thereupon it follows and she conceived and bear a Son But however clear it is that if this which is here related concerning the birth of this Son of the Prophet was presently after the writing of the forementioned Prophetical roul then his going in to the Prophetess and her conception thereupon was long before and so should rather have been rendred And I had gone in to the Prophetess and she conceived and on the other side if this his going in to the Prophetess was after the writing of this roul then it was well nigh a twelvemonth after e're this his Son was born and that God gave him that following command concerning his name Then said the Lord to me call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz And therefore I question not but that this was a different passage from that related in the two foregoing verses and that some time after the setting up of this roul upon the birth of this his Son he was enjoined to call him by that mysterious name which was written in the roul and that to confirm that foregoing Prophecy and that this name of his child might be a continual memorial of that Prophecy written in the forementioned roul concerning the destruction of the Syrians and the Israelites Ver. 4. For before the child shall have knowledg to cry My father and my mother c. Some understand this indefinitely as they did the like expression before Chap. 7.16 concerning which see the Note there of any new-born child But methinks it is clearly spoken with reference to that which was said in the foregoing verse to wit that before that new-born Son of the Prophets whom God had appointed to be named Maher-shalal-hash-baz should begin to discern his Parents from strangers and be able to speak that which was intended by that name should come to pass and so in these words there is a reason given why God appointed this name to be given to his child namely to make known how suddenly that foretold destruction should come upon those two Kings and their chief Cities For before the child that is this new-born child of the Prophets called Maher-shalal-hash-baz shall have knowledg to cry My father and my mother that within a year or a year and a half or thereabouts the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria that is the Kingdoms of Syria and Damascus shall be plundered and wasted in his sight and at his command or in these words before the King of Assyria there may be an allusion to the custom of carrying the rich spoils they had gotten from any vanquished people before the Conqueror when he returned in triumph into his own Country And it may be read too as it is in the Margent of our Bibles He that is before the King of Assyria that is his Officers and Ministers or his Captains and Commanders shall take away the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria But however it is clear I conceive that the accomplishment of this was when in or about the fourth year of Ahaz Tiglath-pileser the King of Assyria took Damascus and slew Rezin their King and carried away the people into captivity 2 King 16.9 at which time he made great havock also in the land of Israel 1 King 15.29 though he did not take and destroy Samaria as he did Damascus for that was done sometime after by Salmaneser in the days of Hoshea 2 King 17.6 and this some conceive to be the reason why it is said here that the riches of Damascus should be taken away by the Assyrian and that he should only take some spoil in Samaria Ver. 5. The Lord spake also unto me again saying To wit in the same or some other Vision afterwards Ver. 6. Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly c. That is that run on gently and silently not with any such violence and noise as other great rivers do We read of the pool of Siloam Joh. 9.7 and of the tower in Siloam Luk. 13.4 and it is generally said that this Siloam or Shiloah was the same that is else-where called Gihon see the Note 1 King 1.33 a little brook at the foot of Mount Sion which running into Jerusalem or about some part of it must needs be a great refreshing to the inhabitants but could be no great defence to the City and that therefore the weak estate of the Kingdom of Judah at this time is here intended by the waters of Shiloah that go softly concerning which see the Note Psal 46.4 The great question is what people it is of whom the Prophet here saith For so much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son the most Expositors understand it of the people of Judah to wit that the generality of them for there were some â— a better temper amongst them whom the Lord afterwards ver 16. calls his Disciples did either 1. Approve of Ahaz his sending for the Assyrian as distrusting their own weak estate and not minding the promise which God had made for their deliverance against the threatned invasion of the two Kings of Syria and Israel and relying wholly upon the mighty army which he would bring with him the warlike noise whereof is here opposed to the soft running of the waters of Shiloah in the confidence whereof they should even rejoice to be fighting with Rezin and Pekah Or 2ly did wish themselves to be in such a rich and flourishing estate as the Israelites and Syrians were and under the command of such potent Kings as Rezin and Pekah were Or 3. that considering to what a low ebb the Kingdom of Judah was brought and how unable they should be to resist the invasion of these two mighty Kings they did indeed desire that these Kings might reign over them or at least that Son of Tabeal mentioned before Chap. 7.6 whom they intended to leave as their Viceroy amongst them and for the better effecting hereof had under-hand some treacherous compliance with them But now because we find not the least mention in the Sacred story of any such intended defection of the men of Judah from Ahaz and the House of David and because it cannot be thought without manifest forcing the Text how it should be well said that the people of Judah did rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son that were coming out against them with such fury and bloody intentions therefore I conceive that others do far better understand by this people here mentioned the people of Israel for so much as this people that is this army of the Israelites and Syrians that are now combined against Judah refuseth the waters of Shiloah that goeth softly that is do slight and scorn the weak estate of Jerusalem that hath no great river for its defence but only the small brook of Shiloah
and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliahs Son that is in the power of these two great Kings by whose conjoined forces they made account they should certainly subdue the Jews and bring Jerusalem under their power And observable it is with what contempt these two Kings are still mentioned Rezin and Remaliahs Son see Chap. 7.4 in whose great strength these invaders of Judah did so exceedingly triumph Ver. 7. Now therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many c. They that understand the foregoing verse of the people of Judahs distrusting their own weak estate and desiring the aid of the Assyrian to help them against the two Kings of Syria and Israel do accordingly understand this verse of the havock which the Assyrians should make in the land of Judah to wit that since the people of Judah were not satisfied with their own defences the waters of Shiloah that go softly notwithstanding Gods express promise for their deliverance but desired the great strength of other potent Princes and that the Assyrian should be hired to come into their aid therefore God would by those forces of Assyria as with a mighty flood over-run and waste their land And accordingly they understand the last Clause And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks to wit that the Assyrian would not keep to the Promises and Oaths and Covenants whereby he had bound himself to Ahaz when he hired him to come into his help but would break thorough them all and do them much mischief as it is said 2 Chron. 28.20 The King of Assyria came unto him and distressed him but strengthened him noâ— But now understanding it according to what is said in the foregoing Note of the people of Israel together with their associates the Syrians the meaning of the words is plainly thus Because this army of Rezin and Pekah despised Jerusalem for her weakness the waters of Shiloah that go softly therefore saith the Prophet the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many that is of the river Euphrates see the Note Chap. 7.20 meaning the Assyrian army which as a mighty strong river should presently over-run them and sweep them away for so he explains himself in the next words even the King of Assyria and all his glory that is his army consisting of many glorious Princes brave Captains and Soldiers that should make a gallant shew when they came marching into the land and in whom the King of Assyria would exceedingly glory and boast according to that which is said Chap. 10.8 13. Are not my Princes altogether Kings and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks that is he shall come out of Assyria as a river that in a great flood swells up above all his channels and goeth over all his banks and so shall invade and over-run the whole land of Israel And how this was accomplished first by Tiglath-pileser and afterwards by his successors see in the foregoing Note vers 4. and likewise Chap. 7.17 20. Ver. 8. And he shall pass through Judah c. That is the Assyrian having over-run the land of Israel shall also break into the land of Judah He shall over-flow and go over that is as an over-flowing river he shall over-run that Country also which though it may include that damage which Tiglath-pileser brought upon Judea when he came to aid Ahaz against the Syrians and Israelites 1 Chron. 28.20 yet it must needs be principally meant of that Invasion of the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah when Sennacherib entred the land with a mighty army and took in a manner all their fenced Cities 2 King 18.13 as is evident in the following words He shall reach even to the neck the meaning whereof is either 1. That the Assyrian army having almost over-run the whole land round about for still they are in their proceedings compared to the inundation of some great river should at last swell so high that they should come up to the very walls of Jerusalem which was their Head-city Or 2ly that they should prevail so far that all Judah should be in danger to be utterly lost being in the condition of a man upon whom a deluge of waters breaking in they rise and swell up at last to his very neck so that he hath much ado to keep his head above water and is in apparent danger of being wholly over-whelmed and drowned and indeed the like expression we find else-where used to set forth a dangerous and even desperate condition as Chap. 30.28 His breath as an over-flowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck see also Habbak 3.13 And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land O Immanuel that is his numerous troops and companies of Soldiers which we still usually call the wings of an army shall over-spread and subdue the whole land of Judea which is neither his nor theirs but thine O Christ see the Note Chap. 7.14 The Prophet calls it his land not so much because he was to be born there as because he had given it to be the habitation of his peculiar people his Church amongst whom he was to reign as King according to that Psal 2.6 I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion and that Joh. 1.11 He came unto his own and his own received him not And had setled it to be the peculiar place of his Worship Yet the drift I conceive of this turning his speech to Christ was not only to imply the indignity of the fact that his land should be so surprized and wasted by his proud enemies but also to hint this comfort to the faithful that though they should prevail far in Judea yet they should not be able to hinder the coming forth of their Immanuel there as likewise an earnest desire and hope that they should not be able to cast him out of his inheritance but that their Immanuel would protect them from the present Invasion of Râ—zin and Pekah as is afterwards expressed ver 10. and that when the Assyrian should break out in greatest rage against them Judah should not be wholly over-whelmed by them as Israel should be Ver. 9. Associate your selves O ye people c. It is in the Original peoples in the Plural number and thereby is meant both the Syrians and Israelites that were combined against Judah and Jerusalem as likewise the Assyrians that afterwards invaded Judea in the days of Hezekiah see the Note Chap. 7.18 whose army consisted of several Nations Yea I conceive it is purposely expressed in such general terms to imply that this which is here foretold should be the issue of the associations of all the enemies of Gods Church and people Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces Having made mention of Immanuel in the latter end of the foregoing verse in the confidence of
invading the land with such a mighty army or the grievous destruction that was brought upon them by the Chaldeans in the days of Zedekiah shall not be such that is in every respect so great as was in her vexation that is as it was when the land was vexed and afflicted by those two Invasions of the Assyrians mentioned in the following words when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali which may be meant either first of that Invasion of the land of Israel when Pul the Assyrian made an inroad into the Country in the days of Menahem and then was presently hired with a sum of money to be gone again for which see the Notes 2 King 15.19 which seems to me most probable or else 2. of that Invasion made by Tiglath-pileser which fell chiefly indeed upon the Tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali and wherein they might well be said to be more lightly afflicted because then only some of the Tribes about five of them were carried away captives and not all of them as they were afterwards by Salmanasser for which see the Note 2 King 15.29 And afterward did more grievously afflict her which may be meant of that more grievous hand of God upon the whole Kingdom of the Ten Tribes in the days of Hoshea when by Salmanasser Samaria was taken and the whole people of Israel in a manner were carried away captives into Assyria 2 King 17.3 c. for which see the Notes there Or rather of the Invasion of Tiglath-pileser which may be termed more grievous with respect to the foregoing inroad of Pul which I think is far most probable for whereas it may be and it is usually objected that the Prophet speaks here of calamities that had formerly come upon the land of Israel and it is clear that neither the Invasion by Tiglath-pileser nor that by Salmanasser were come to pass when the Prophet spake this though indeed he lived to see them both accomplished Though to this it may be answered that it was usual with the Prophets to speak of things to come as if they were past and done already only to imply the certainty of them yet I should think that this objection may be better prevented by holding that the Prophet speaks here of two Invasions of the land of Israel that were in a manner past already to wit that of Pul and that of Tiglath-pileser which was now immediately coming upon them and in a manner in being And indeed the following description of that part of the land of Canaan which was to feel the misery of this more grievous affliction agrees best with the Invasion of Tâ—glath-pileser and cannot so well be understood of that of Salmanasser when the whole Kingdom of the Ten Tribes was over-run and dispeopled as first in that this is said to have been by the way of the Sea for this cannot so well be meant of the midland-Sea called the great Sea Josh 1.4 which was the utmost border of the land of Israel westward and very far remote from Jordan which is also here mentioned And that which is said by some is altogether uncertain to wit that the tract of land of which he speaks here is said to have been by the way of the Sea because there was a high-way in those parts about Jordan whereby they carried their wares which were to be transported through the land to the Sea-side which was hereupon called the way of the Sea And therefore I rather think it is meant of that part of the Country which lay upon the Lake of Gennesareth as it is called Luk. 5.1 which was also called the Sea of Cinnereth Josh 13.27 or the Sea of Gennesareth and Mat. 4.18 The Sea of Galilee and Joh. 21.1 The Sea of Tiberias And the like may be said of the following words Beyond Jordan in Galilee of the Nations or as some translate it in populous Galilee for though the whole land of Galilee was divided into two parts the one whereof was called the upper Galilee and the other the lower and some think the lower Galilee is here meant which was in the Tribe of Zebulun and that it was called populous Galilee because it was so full of people and others think the upper Galilee is here meant which was in the Tribe of Naphtali which they say was called Galilee of the Nations because there were many of the Heathens usually inhabiting there in regard that it was near to the Tyrians and Zidonians or for some other reason for which see the Notes Gen. 14.1 Josh 12.23 Judg. 4.2 1 King 9.11 Yet first because it is evident that the Prophet speaks here of a storm that fell upon those parts of the land that lay near to Jordan and not upon the whole Kingdom of the Ten Tribes as that Invasion of Salmanasser did 2. Because it is clear that Tiglath-pileser did indeed subdue and carry into captivity the Tribes without Jordan and those within Jordan to wit on the East-side of it even all the inhabitants both of the upper and lower Galilee which may therefore be here said to be beyond Jordan with respect to those without Jordan that were at the same time carried away into captivity see the Note 2 King 15.29 And 3. because the Evangelist citing this passage of Isaiah Mat. 4.14 15 16. seems to speak of those places about Jordan where our Saviour first Preached the Gospel therefore it seems to me most probable that the Prophet speaks here of the Invasion of Tiglath-pileser Well but however whether this more grievous affliction of the land of Israel be meant of the Invasion of Tiglath-pileser or of that of Salmanasser yet if that judgment which the Prophet in the foregoing Chapter foretold should come upon Judah be meant of that destruction which was made by Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Zedekiah when Jerusalem was taken and both the City and the Temple it self was sacked and burnt and the Jews for the generality were all carried away captives into Babylon which was doubtless the greatest blow that was ever given to the land how can it be said that the dimness then was not such that is so great as it was in her vexation by those two foregoing Invasions of the land of Israel by the Assyrians Indeed if the judgment threatned against Judah in the foregoing Chapter were the Invasion of Sennacherib in the days of Hezekiah which many think most probable that might well be said to be not so great as were the two foregoing Invasions of the land of Israel by the Assyrians But if that threatned in the foregoing Chapter were that dreadful ruin that was made in Jerusalem and in the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar how can that be said to have been not so great as those two Invasions of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes by the Assyrians I answer 1. Because this dimness was not perpetual as the other was The Jews that were carried captives into
words of the Prophet And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him that is for the Assyrian As if he had said When God hath chastised his people by the Assyrian as a Father corrects his Child with a rod he shall bring a sorer judgment upon the Assyrian beating them with a scourge as a Master doth his Slave according to the slaughter of Midian that is suddenly even in one night by the immediate hand of God without the loss of any one of God's people See the Note before Chap. 9.4 At the râ—ck of Oreb see the Note Judg. 7.25 And as his rod was upon the Sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt See the Note above ver 24. Ver. 27. And it shall come to pass in that day c. As above ver 20. that his burdâ—n shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck see the Note Chap. 9.4 for under this may be comprehended the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon which the taking off the yoke from their neck doth most properly imply but principally and most immediately I conceive it is meant of the freeing of the Jews from that tribute and those heavy pressures and exactions which the Assyrians had imposed upon them and from that perpetual bondage under which Sennacherib intended to bring them by Gods miraculous destroying of his mighty Army wherewith he went up to besiege Jerusalem 1. Because the drift of the Prophet here seems to be the comforting of Gods faithful Servants against the terrors of the near approaching invasion and 2ly because in the following verses there seems to be a Description of Sennacheribs going up against Jerusalem And though Hezekiah had assayed to shake off this yoke by refusing to pay the Assyrian his tribute yet it was not done till God destroyed Sennacheribs Army And the yoke shall be destroyed that is not only taken off and broken for the time but also so marred and spoiled that thou shalt be no more afflicted therewith as thou hast been because of the anointing that is because of Christ the promised Messiah Gods anointed see the Notes Psal 2.2 and 45.7 and 132.17 Or because of the eternal Kingdom promised to Davids posterity in Christ whereof the anointing of the Kings of Judah was a type So that hereby is implied both that God would preserve the Royal stock of David with respect to the accomplishment of his promise for the springing up of the Messiah from thence and so under this may be comprehended his respect to holy Hezekiah in destroying the Assyrian Army upon his Prayer and likewise that God would deliver his people for the sake of his annointed the Lord Christ And thus way is made as some conceive to that glorious Prophecy concerning Christ which is inserted in the following Chapter Ver. 28. He is come to Aiath c. That is the Assyrian mentioned before ver 24. Here the Prophet begins to describe the march of Sennacherib with his Army to wit the head-quarters of his Army where himself was present for his Army was no doubt spread abroad all the Countrey over how he passed along from one place to another and what Cities he took and plundred one after another by the way as he went up to besige Jerusalem And that which was designed hereby was That when all things came exactly to pass as is here foretold the faithful might be assured hereby that the Assyrian moved not a foot but according to the foreknowledge and fore-appointment of God and that therefore their deliverance foretold likewise by the Prophet would be exactly accomplished as this was yea and withall the manner how the Prophet relates this is observable to wit as if he had seen all this done in a Prophetical rapture or vision or as if he were telling the rumours that were every where in the affrighted peoples mouths concerning the raging and prevailing of the Assyrian Army He is come to Aiath or Ai see the Note Josh 7.2 He is passed to Migron see the Note 1 Sam. 14.21 at Michmash he hath layed up his carriages a place not far from Migron and Gibeah 1 Sam. 13.2 and 14.5 and it is probable that there he left his carriages wherein he had his train of Artillery and all kind of luggage and provision for his Army purposely that he might march with the more speed against Jerusalem and because he looked upon that as a convenient place where he might lodge them safely under the custody of some few of his forces and supply his Army from thence as occasion did require Yet some would have it that he did it out of confidence That he should presently take Jerusalem and so should then return thither again Ver. 29. They are gone over the passage c. That is Having left his Carriages at Michmash as is said in the foregoing verse he with his Army went over that strait rocky and difficult passage between the Mountains which in 1 Sam. 13.23 is called The passage of Michmash concerning which see also the Note 1 Sam. 14.4 They have taken up their lodgings at Geba which I take also to be the same that is called also Gibeah 1 Sam. 14.5 because the passage there spoken of is said to lye between Michmash and Gibeah But however there was a Geba in the Tribe of Benjamin in whose lot all the rest of the Cities here mentioned were as we may see in Josh 21.17 and Neh. 11.31 And the mention that is here made of their lodging at Geba may seem to be to imply that the hard labour they had undergone in getting thorough the passage at Michmash made them glad to stay a while to refresh themselves at Geba or Gibeah and yet that withal they were so eager to pass on to Jerusalem that they lodged there but one night and then presently away they went Ramah is afraid as being near to Geba Gibeah of Saul is fled that is the Inhabitants of that Gibeah where Saul of old dwelt See 1 Sam. 10.26 and 11.4 And this I coneive is also added to shew how easily Sennacherib should take these places when the rumour of his approach should strike the Inhabitants with such a terror that multitudes of them should immediately fly away to save their lives Ver. 30. Lift up thy voice O daughter of Gallim c. See the Notes 1 Sam 25.44 and 2 King 19.21 The meaning is that there should be a grievous outcry amongst the Inhabitants in that City upon the breaking in of the Assyrians upon them and the same is intended in that which is added concerning Anathoth one of the Towns in the Land of Benjamin that were given to the Priests where the Prophet Jeremy was born and had his abode Jer. 1.1 Cause it to be heard unto Laish O poor Anathoth That is Do thou also O poor Anathoth lift up thy voice so that it may be heard unto the utmost borders of
is the highest or brightest stars see the Note Psal 104.16 Or rather the stars of God's making and which he hath set in the Heaven the place of his own peculiar habitation Now though these things may be said of the Babylonian Monarch or Monarchy with respect to any thought of his wherein out of a presumptuous conceit of his own wisdom and power he arrogated any thing to himself above what could justly be ascribed to man as his affecting the universal Monarchy of the world that he might have all Mankind under his command and his requiring to be owned and worshipped as a God in his image Dan. 3.5 Yet I conceive they are principally spoken with respect to his proud resolving to invade and subdue the Jews Gods peculiar people together with his Temple and Sanctuary never minding the Almighty Power of God whereby he heard they were defended which was all one in effect as if he had resolved to subdue and dethrone God himself And if thus we understand that which is said here then the following words may seem to be added by way of explaining these I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North see the Note Psal 48.2 That is I will set my Throne upon Mount Sion called here The Mount of the Congregation because there God's people used to assemble themselves together to meet with their God as for the same reasons the Tabernacle was of old called The Tabernacle of the Congregation see the Note Exod. 29.42 And hereby may be meant either that he would assume the same honour to himself which by the Jews was given to God in Mount Sion or else rather that he would bring Jerusalem and the Temple in Mount Sion into subjection under him And indeed Belshazzars proud triumphing in this was the immediate fore-runner of Babylon's ruin For the same night that City was taken by way of insulting over God he sate drinking with his Princes and Concubines in the vessels that had been taken out of the Temple Dan. 5.2 Ver. 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most High See the foregoing Note Ver. 15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell c. That is instead of climbing up to Heaven thou shalt be cast down to Hell or the Grave See above vers 9. To the sides of the pit as if it had been said Instead of sitting upon Mount Sion in the sides of the North for to that foregoing brag of the Babylonian vers 13. there is a clear Allusion in this place thou shalt be cast down into the basest room of the infernal Pit or rather into some obscure corner of some common pit digged upon some other occasion and that this shall be to thee instead of a Sepulcher And indeed it is probable that Belshazzar was in the fury of the Surprize of Babylon thus cast out amongst others that were slain without any decent burial Ver. 16. They that see thee c. This may be understood either of the living that should behold the Babylonians carcase so cast out as is beforesaid or else of the dead as formerly ver 13. that should gaze upon him when he came among them They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee that is they shall look wistly upon thee to wit as wondring at his great and sudden and unexpected fall doubting whether it were he or no and scarce believing their own eyes Saying Is this the man that made the earth to tremble that raised an earthquake as it were throughout the world that did shake Kingdoms to wit by the terrors the troubles the ruins and alterations which he brought upon them Ver. 17. That made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the Cities thereof c. That is that laid all waste where he came slaughtering the Inhabitants or carrying them into Captivity and burning up the houses where they dwelt That opened not the house of his prisoners that is say some so inhumane he was that he would never suffer his prisoners to stir out of the Prison-doors though with Shackles about their heels But rather the cruelty of the Babylonian here intended is that he would never release those whom he had once cast into Prison either he would slay them or else damn them to perpetual Imprisonment And therefore some read this place as it is in the Margin of our Bibles That did not let his prisoners loose homeward that is never set his prisoners free that they might go away to their own homes which may be said with special respect to the Jews that could never get to be released and sent back to their own Country till the Medes and Persians had subdued and destroyed Babylon Ver. 18. All the Kings of the Nations even all of them lie in glory every one in his own house That is the Kings of all Nations are ordinarily laid up in stately Tombs and Sepulchers which they had before-hand provided for themselves or which belonged of old to their Families and where their Ancestors were buried which usually were in their own lands or possessions See the Notes 1 Sam. 25.1 and 1 Kin. 2.10 Ver. 19. But thou art cast out of thy grave c. That is Thy dead body shall be cast out amongst the carcases of other mean men and shall never be honourably laid up in that Sepulcher which thou preparedst for thy self and wherein thou hopedst to lye amongst thy Progenitors like an abominable branch that is like some fruitless base plant which men are wont to grub up or like some branch of a tree which as being dead and withered and hurtful to the tree as are the suckers especially that sprout out from the root men do therefore cut off and cast away or which being pruned away as good for nothing are suffered to lye rotting upon the ground till they become so loathsom that no body will care to touch them And as the raiment of those that are slain thrust through with a Sword that is the garment of one slain in the battel that is so cut and mangled and besmeared with blood that it is thence-forth good for nothing neither will any man scarce vouchsafe to touch it and therefore they cast it away together with the carcase whereon it was found which is that the Prophet intends in the following words That go down to the stones of the pit that is which slain men together with their garments are unstript cast into the bottom of any pit that is near at hand where stones lye scattered here and there or upon which the dead being laid there they afterward cast a heap of stones As a carcass trodden under foot that is some stinking carrion or the carcase of a man which out of hatred or in the heat and fury of war is not only left to lye and rot above ground but is so trampled upon bruised and broken that no man well can or much
cannot be for it is clear that the Babylonian was broken by the Medes and Persians in Babylon and not in Gods land and upon his mountains as it is here said the Assyrian should be Rather therefore this which is here said concerning the Assyrian is inserted both to confirm again that which he had before foretold concerning the ruin of Sennacherib and his Army Chap. 10.33 34 and likewise that hereby that which he had now also foretold concerning the ruin of the Babylonians might be the more readily believed this being all one as if he had said As I will now shortly destroy Sennacherib the Assyrian when he shall invade you so will I in time to come destroy the Babylonian too as I have now told you And this your first deliverance from the Assyrian shall be a sign to you of your future deliverance from the Babylonian Yea some Expositors conceive that the foregoing Prophecy concerning the destruction of the Babylonian was delivered by Isaiah after the destruction of Sennacherib and then indeed the destruction of Sennacherib the Assyrian could be here mentioned only to assure them that as he had already destroyed the Assyrian and delivered them from his yoke so he would also destroy the Babylonian as he had now foretold and would deliver them from their bondage under him or that as he had begun to destroy the Assyrians under Sennacherib so he would quite destroy them when they were under the command of the Babylonian and that Empire should also be ruined as the Prophet had now foretold And this they judg the more probable because in the days of Ahaz there was yet no cause of fearing the Babylonian But this is altogether uncertain and for this see the following Note ver 29. Ver. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth c. That is this which I have now foretold is that which shall come upon that great Babylonian Empire that shall have the whole earth in a manner under their command and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations to wit the nations that are in subjection to Babylon See the Note Chap. 13.11 And this therefore seems to be added to assure Gods people of the truth of that which had been now foretold concerning the ruin of the Babylonian Empire however incredible it might seem to them Though the Babylonian had never so many Nations under his command yet that should not hinder his ruine But yet there are some I know that hold that this is spoken with relation to that which was said in the foregoing verse concerning the Assyrian This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth c. that is this which I have purposed and decreed concerning the Assyrian I have also purposed concerning Babylon or this which I have determined concerning the Assyrian I purpose also to do to all Nations that shall attempt to destroy my people And this indeed hath much probability in it Ver. 28. In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden That is say some the foregoing Prophecy against Babylon See the Notes chap. 13.1 and 2 King 9.25 But the most of Expositors understand hereby the following Prophecy against Palestine and that this concerning the time when this Prophecy was delivered to wit In the year that King Ahaz died is purposely inserted to imply the occasion of this Prophecy which was the exceeding triumphing of the Philistines upon the death of Ahaz as is clearly hinted in the following verse or else because here the Prophecies begin under Hezekiah the Son of Ahaz For which see the Note chap. 6.1 Ver. 29. Rejoice not thou whole Palestina because the rod of him that smote thee is broken c. By Palestina is meant that part of the land of Canaan that was inhabited by the Philistines called elsewhere Philistia Psal 60.8 Now because Uzziah King of Judah or rather the state of Judah under Uzziah had in his days sorely smitten this Land and People of the Philistines 2 Chron. 26.6 concerning which see the Note 2 Kin. 15.3 and because this rod of him that smote them that is the power of the state of Judah was very much broken weakned and brought down in the days of his wicked grand-child Ahaz when both the Philistines and divers other Nations had mightily subdued them and made great havock in their land 2 Chron. 28.17 18 19. concerning which see the Note 2 King 16.7 and the Philistines might hope it was utterly in a manner ruined and broken when Ahaz was dead for then there was no longer any fear lest he by the help of his confederate the Assyrian should seek to be revenged on those Nations that had invaded his land and of Hezekiah his Son who was young and tender there was no great fear therefore it is most probable that this people of the Philistines did indeed mightily rejoyce and triumph all the land over when they heard Ahaz was dead as being fully perswaded that now they should quite swallow up the Kingdom of Judah and hereupon it is that the Prophet speaks this as in a way of deriding the jollity of the Philistines Rejoice not thou Palestina because the rod of him that smote thee is broken as if he should have said Alas thy jollity will be soon turned into bitter mourning by reason of thy miseries even all thy land over For out of the Serpents root shall come forth a Cockatrice or an adder That is out of the stock of Uzziah who did bite or sting thee as a Serpent I will raise up Hezekiah the Son of his Grandchild Ahaz who shall be a sorer plague to thee than ever Uzziah was even by how much a Cockatrice is worse than a Serpent yea he shall be worse to thee than so which is expressed in the following words And his fruit shall be a fiery flying Serpent concerning which see the Note Numb 21.6 And indeed Hezekiah did mightily prevail against the Philistines see the Note 2 King 18.8 And it may well be too that his speed in subduing the Philistines is implied by terming him a fiery flying Serpent And not only Hezekiah but also the state of Judah under Hezekiah may be the Cockatrice and fiery flying Serpent here intended Ver. 30. And the first-born of the poor shall feed and the needy shall lie down in safety c. That is The people of God the Jews that were under Ahaz brought to extreme poverty even to be the poorest of all poor people see the Note Job 18.13 by his exactions and the manifold miseries wherewith the land was involved through his wickedness shall under Hezekiah enjoy great peace and shall live in great plenty of all things in their own Country and not be made a prey to their enemies as they formerly were See the Note Chap. 5.17 and Psal 23.2 And thus he that shall be a Cockatrice and a fiery flying Serpent to you O Philistines shall be as a
which are rendred in our Bibles The brook of the willows may be translated as it is in the Margin The valley of the Arabians therefore the meaning may be either that the Arabians should carry away the spoil of the Moabites Country either as serving under the Assyrians or Babylonians or as afterwards entring the land to pillage and carry away what the Assyrians or Babylonians had left or else that the Assyrians and Babylonians should carry away the prey they had gotten from the Moabites to the valley of the Arabians their Confederates there to be kept a while by them intending afterwards to convey them from thence into their own Countrey But however clear it is that this is mentioned as one cause of the great outcry in the land of Moab of which the Prophet is here speaking Ver. 8. For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab c. That is Because of these grievous miseries that shall come upon the Moabites there shall be a dreadful outcry amongst them all the land over both of them that are slain and of them that flee from the enemy The howling thereof unto Eglaim and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim that is the howling of this cry shall reach unto these places See the Notes Numb 21.16 Ver. 9. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood c. To wit with the blood of the slaughtered Moabites So that this is also added as a reason of that great out-cry before spoken of that should be in the land Whether Dimon be the name of a River or of a City is altogether uncertain for we find it no where else mentioned However it seems that there was in this place some greater slaughter made amongst the people than in any other part of the land either because they here stood out longest in the defence of some place against the enemy or for some reason that is not expressed And some think that Dimon is the same City that was before ver 2. called Dibon the name being changed and of Dimon called Dibon which signifieth bloody upon that occasion Yea and very many learned Expositors hold that there is an Allusion in these words to the Story in 2 King 3.20 21 23. concerning a stream of water that came running down from the land of Edem into the Wilderness where there was an Army of three Kings that were going against the Moabites which appeared to the Moabites to be blood and were afterward indeed died red with their blood as if the Prophet would have said That as then the stream was onee before died with blood so it should be again Whereas to me it seems more than probable that the waters mentioned in that place were miraculously sent of God for the refreshing of those Armies and were not the waters of a River that did constantly run thorow that Wilderness And therefore for those following words For I will bring more it is in the Original additions upon Dimon I do not think the meaning of that is that whereas those waters were made red with blood at that time when those three Kings slew the Moabites now there should be more blood there because the slaughter of the Moabites by the Babylonians should be far greater than that formerly was by those three Kings The meaning of those words rather is either 1. That God would add streams of blood to the waters of Dimon which running into it from several places should make the river rise and swell more and more Or 2. that God would bring more and greater vengeance upon Dimon than upon other parts of the land the slaughter should be greater there and so more blood should be shed there than in any other place besides Or 3. that God would bring more evils upon Dimon than what he had hitherto spoken of concerning the spoiling of their pastures and the plundering of their goods ver 6 7. even this here mentioned the shedding of their blood in so great abundance yea say some more than that here mentioned to wit that after the miseries brought upon them by the Assyrians the Babylonians should also in process of time utterly destroy them Or 4. That to the judgment here threatned that the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood he would add yet more to wit the judgment set forth in the following words Lions upon him that escapeth of Moab and upon the remnant of the land which though some understand of men fierce and savage as Lions as namely the Babylonian or the Assyrian who though he was only as a Bear to other parts of Moab yet he would be as a Lion to Dimon Yet I rather think it is to be understood literally to wit that those Moabites that had escaped the Sword and were left in the land should be slain by Lions and other wild beasts to wit either in the wilderness whither they should flee to escape the Sword or in their own land which lying desolate Lions should breed in it as it was with the Colonies in Samaria 2 King 17.25 CHAP. XVI VERSE 1. SEnd ye the Lamb to the Ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion There are only two Expositions of this place which can consist with our Translation The first is that by the Lamb here is meant a Sacrifice of Atonement which the Moabites are here stirred up to send to the Temple at Jerusalem Only there is this difference amongst those that do thus conceive of the Lamb to be sent 1. That some think the Prophet doth here seriously advise the Moabites to send Lambs and other such like cattel to be offered up in Sacrifice to God the Ruler of the whole world at the Temple at Jerusalem there to pacifie God's displeasure against them And 2. that others take it to be Ironically spoken and by way of insulting over the Moabites as if he had said You that had wont to despise and blaspheme the God of Israel now that you see your selves in such desperate danger now that you are so miserably destroyed you had best send your Sacrifices to the Ruler of the world at the Temple in Mount Zion But alas if you had a mind to do so it is now you see too late But then the 2. is that by the Lamb which the Moabites are here advised to send to the Ruler of the land is meant the Tribute which they were wont to pay to the King of Judah Because it is evident that the Moabites were subdued by David and became Tributaries to him See the Notes 2 Sam. 8.2 And it is most probable that the Tribute agreed upon was that which is mentioned 2. King 3.4 An hundred thousand Lambs with an hundred thousand Rams with the wool which it seems they paid duly to the Kings of Israel after that Kingdom was divided from the Kingdom of Judah till after the death of Ahab when they refused to pay their Tribute any longer either to
2 King 19.35 so that the drift of this passage seems to be this that considering the calamity that was to come upon Gods people was not like to last long but that they should be speedily setled again peaceably in their own Land the Moabites had no cause to reject the Jews when they fled to them for shelter as fearing lest the Assyrians should be enraged against them for it but rather might do well therein to gratifie the Jews thereby to make them their friends for the time to come And all this we must know is spoken by way of insulting over the Moabites in their destruction because they had not done that which in all reason and equity they should have done Ver. 5. And in mercy shall the throne he established c. Or prepared That is However the Throne of Judah shall be dangerously shaken by the invasion of the Assyrian which shall cause the Jews to flee to thee O Moab yet it shall not be utterly overthrown and ruined but through the mercy and free grace of God it shall be established and setled again in great strength and power for him to whom it belongs Some I know understand those words in mercy of the mercy of the King of Judah whereby his Throne should be established for him and for his Successors But I question not but that it is meant of Gods mercy to the Kingdom of Judah And thereupon it follows and he shall sit upon it in truth c. which words must be understood both of Christ and of Hezekiah as he was a type of Christ Understanding it of Hezekiah the meaning is That he should sit upon the Throne of Judah in truth i. e. certainly or surely firmly and constantly or that he should govern the people sincerely and uprightly in the Tabernacle of David that is in the house and palace of David judging and seeking Judgment and hastning Righteousness that is being careful to execute Judgment and Justice amongst them without partiality and without delay But understanding it of Christ who is indeed principally here intended the meaning then is That God would raise him up out of the Posterity of David and that he should sit upon the Throne of David for ever See the Note Chap. 9.7 protecting his people and executing Judgment upon his and their enemies see the Note Chap. 11.5 And accordingly the drift of this passage seems to be first more particularly that in regard the Assyrian should be destroyed and Hezekiah setled in the Throne of Judah it would be better for the Moabites to side with the Jews than with the Assyrians And 2ly more generally that it was meer solly in the Moabites and others to expect the ruine of the Throne and Kingdom of Judah upon every prevailing of their enemies against them there being a King to arise in the posterity of David who should sit on that Throne and should justly govern and prosperously defend Gods people for ever Ver. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab c. Some Expositors hold that God speaks here of himself in the Plural Number as in Gen. 1.26 for which see the Note there And others suppose that this is spoken in the name of other people alledging the pride of the Moabites as a reason why it was no wonder to them to hear of their Destruction But more generally it is thought by Expositors that in this word We the Prophet doth include the Lord God himself the Jews and all the neighbour Nations and that it is all one in effect as if he had said That the Pride of Moab was on all sides well known We have heard of the Pride of Moab he is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath that is the wrath which out of his great pride and haughtiness he hath discovered against the Jews The full scope of this whole passage may be thus expressed These things-whereto the Moabites have been here advised verse 1 3 4. they ought in all reason to have done but alas they are too proud to do any such thing we have heard of their proud boastings and threats Because they are a great and wealthy people and their Country and Cities are very strong therefore they fear nothing and instead of carrying themselves to the people of God according to the counsel before given them they on the contrary do in their pride deal despitefully and injuriously with them But this their pride shall not secure them but shall rather prove their ruine which is implied in the following words but his lies shall not be so that is their vain confidence their proud boastings and threatnings shall prove but lies that which they vainly and proudly conceit and boast and threaten shall not come to pass Ver. 7. Therefore c. That is because of their horrid pride Moab shall howl for Moab that is say some the living Moabites shall howl for the dead or rather they shall mutually howl one to another or one for another so that as it follows every one shall howl that is there shall be a general howling all the Land over for the foundations of Kir-hareseth See the Note Chap. 15.1 shall ye mourn that is not for the plundring or defacing of it but for the utter subverting of it and razing the very foundations of it and the rather haply because ye thought them invinsible This indeed may be read as it is in the Margin of our Bibles for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mutter And they that read it so conceive the meaning to be That they should mutter within themselves that seeing that Town had formerly stood out against the siege of three Kings for which see the Note 2 King 3.25 and was now in as good strength as ever therefore they should be well enough able to defend it and accordingly they hold that in the following words surely they are stricken the vanity of these their hopes is discovered in that notwithstanding this their muttering the foundations of this their strong Town were stricken that is overthrown or destroyed or they that flattered themselves thus were stricken that is wounded or slain But I conceive the former Translation to be far the best and that in the last words the reason is given why they should mourn for the foundations of Kir-hareseth namely because they should surely be stricken that is razed and ruined Ver. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languish c. That is they lye waste and desert see the Note Chap. 15.4 and the vine of Sibmah a City formerly taken from the Amorites by the Children of Israel Numb 32.38 but now in the possession of the Moabites both were places it seems of great note for their Vineyards so that the mention of these imports that the most pleasant and fruitful of the Land should be destroyed The Lords of the Heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof that is the Princes and Commanders of the armies invading the Land of
that Country was that is here called the Land shadowing with wings Very many Expositors hold that it is Egypt that is so called And true it is that most of the reasons before given why it is called The Land shadowing with wings do very well suit with Egypt especially the two last which seem the most probable For Egypt abounded with ships and traded much in merchandising and the Jews trusted much in the aid of the Egyptians being still ready to fly to them for shelter and to send to them for succour when they were in danger to be invaded by any other Nation But yet 1. Because in the following Chapter Egypt is threatned by it self And 2. because in the very next words it is said which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia whereas Egypt lay nearer to the land of Canaan than Ethiopia did it is rather thought that Egypt is not the land shadowing with wings against which the wo is here denounced but rather the land of Ethiopia or at least that part of it which lay Southward of Judea near to the Red-Sea together with those other neighbouring Nations that are usually mentioned together with the Ethiopians as we may see Jer. 46.9 and Ezek. 30.5 Which seems most probable 1. Because Ethiopia was a rich Country very populous and therefore their Armies were usually exceeding numerous as is before-noted full of Havens Ships and merchandizing that often joyned with Egypt in aiding the Jews against their enemies that were in danger to swallow up them together with the Jews and a land that might well for all the other reasons before-given be termed a land shadowing with wings And 2. Because having here denounced destruction against this land shadowing with wings and against Egypt in the following Chapter then in the 20th Chap. he seems to joyn them both together and there the Egyptians and Ethiopians are expresly named ver 4. So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and the Ethiopians captives That indeed which makes this most questionable is that concerning this land shadowing with wings those words are added which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia But considering that all Expositors in a manner agree that by the rivers of Ethiopia the streams of Nilus are here principally meant so called because from and thorough the land of Ethiopia they run down into Egypt though other rivers that run into Nilus may be also included I see not but that the reason of adding this clause which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia may be to shew that the judgment here denounced should fall even upon the utmost parts of Ethiopia that were beyond the springs of Nilus So that I conclude that according to our Translation wherein the wo is clearly denounced against the land shadowing with wings Ethiopia must needs be meant And that this wo is here denounced against the Ethiopians either because the Ethiopians had been often-times great enemies to the Jews as we may see 2 Chron. 12.3 and 14.9 Or else rather to discover to the Jews their folly in resting upon the Ethiopians for help that should not be able to secure themselves The very drift of this Phrase Wo to the land shadowing with wings being to imply according to the Reasons before given for it that notwithstanding her high shadowing Mountains or the multitude of shipping or her huge Armies or her forwardness to be a shadow of defence to others even she her self should be miserably destroyed by the Assyrians And many hold that this was done by the Assyrians when Tirhakah the King of Ethiopia went out to fight against them 2 King 19.9 Ver. 2. That sendeth Ambassadors by Sea c. According to our Translation this is clearly spoken of the Land described in the foregoing Verse that is the people inhabiting that Land to wit the Ethiopian that sendeth Ambassadors by Sea that is by the River Nilus say some it being usual with the Hebrews to call all great waters Seas or by the Red-Sea which had Egypt and Ethiopia on the one side and Arabia on the other and was therefore also called The Gulf of Arabia even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters that is in boats barks or ships made of bulrushes but overlaid with pitch both within and without to keep out the water for indeed we find in many ancient Writers that such kind of Vessels were much used in those times both in Egypt and Ethiopia not only because by reason of their lightness they sailed the more swiftly but also because they did not sink so deep into the water as our Vessels made of Timber usually do but did rather float and glide on the top or surface of the water with respect whereto some think this expression is used of Vessels of Bulrushes upon the waters and so were in the less danger of being split or broken upon the rocks and shelves of which there were many in the River Nilus Yea and because where there were great Cataracts or steep downfals of water they could hale them ashore and carry them on their shoulders over land and then put them into the river again beyond those downfals But whither were these Ambassadors sent by the Ethiopians I answer That is set forth in the following words wherein the Ethiopians are brought in Saying Go ye swift messengers to a Nation scattered and peeled c. For the understanding whereof we must know That 1. some understand this of the Embassadors or Heralds sent by the Ethiopians to denounce war against the Assyrian which they conceive was done when Tirhakah King of Ethiopia went out against them 2 Kin. 19.9 and that they are called swift messengers with respect to the lightness or swiftness of the vessels wherein they were sent And accordingly as with respect to the Assyrians they understand the description that is here given us of the Nation to whom they were sent to a Nation scattered and peeled they are said to be scattered because their Forces were dispersed abroad some in Judea and some in other Countries and peeled because the people were by this means left bare of their Soldiery Or because they had been peeled and made bald by long continuing Wars see Ezek. 29.18 and if we read this as it is in the Margin outspread and polished the meaning must needs be that they were a Nation that had large Territories and were glorious for all outward bravery to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto that is that have been from their first original unto this time a terror to other Nations by reason of their fierceness and cruelty and the many Countries that had been subdued by them A Nation meted out and trodden down that is that shall shortly be meted out and destroyed See the Notes 2 Sam. 8.2 and 2 King 21.13 or as it is in the Margin A Nation that meteth out and treadeth down that is that meteth out other Nations to destroy them or that trampleth and treadeth them down at
after the death of Sethon divided the Kingdom of Egypt into twelve petty Kingdoms and did each of them in their several Dominions by causeless huge Taxes and their civil Broils amongst themselves mightily oppress the people And accordingly the next clause And a fierce King shall rule over them they understand of Psammitichus who at last subdued them all and tyrannized cruelly over the whole Land of which see the Note before ver 2. But now many again understand both the one and the other of foreign Kings that often vanquished the Egyptians and made slaves of them and sometimes subdued the Land Thus some think the Assyrian to be the cruel Lord and the fierce King here intended according to that which is said in the following Chapter ver 4. So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and others think it is meant of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon who amongst other Nations did at last subdue and cruelly waste the whole Land of Egypt according to that which we find often foretold by the Prophets as in Jer. 46.26 where God saith of the Egyptians I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar c. And Ezek. 29.19 Behold I will give the Land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon c. And indeed we may the rather think that this is here intended because the expression here used in the Hebrew seems to imply a total and perfect subduing of Egypt which was effected by Nebuchadrezzar And the Egyptians will I shut up into the hand of a cruel Lord That is I will give them up so absolutley into his power that he shall mightily oppress them and they shall be no way able to shake off his yoke or to rescue themselves out of their bondage Yea some hold that all the several evils before-mentioned that came upon the Egyptians may be here included For say they the drift of this Prophecy being to shew the Folly of the Jews in relying so much upon Egypt which they did even to the reign of the Sons of Josiah the Prophet doth accordingly foretel what a succession of sad times were coming upon Egypt wherein they should not be able to secure themselves and much less to help the Jews Ver. 5. And the waters shall fail from the Sea c. By the Sea here some understand the River Nilus because the Hebrews call all great waters Seas and so they make it the same with that which followeth And the river that is Nilus see the Note Chap. 11.15 shall be wasted and dried up But others again understand it as the words do plainly seem to import the first clause of the sinking or failing of the waters of the Sea and the second of the drying up of the waters of Nilus But what was the failing of the waters of the Sea and Nilus that is here threatned I answer 1. It may be understood to be only Figuratively and Hyperbolically spoken Because say some the Egyptians thought the Sea and Nilus such a sure defence unto their Country that there was no fear of their being invaded by foreign Enemies therefore by the expression here used the Prophet would imply that these should be no defence to them but that the Assyrians or Chaldeans should break in upon them as easily as if the waters of the Sea and the river Nilus were dried up Or say others because the wealth and plenty of Egypt did much depend upon their Traffique by Sea and upon the overflowings of Nilus which instead of rain watered their grounds and by such slimy stuff as it brought down with it made the Soyl exceeding fruitful Therefore by this expression the Prophet intimates that partly by their Civil Wars and partly by the invasion of Foreign Enemies Egypt should be brought into as poor and forlorn and miserable a condition as if the wateâ—s should fail from the Sea and the river Nilus should be wasted and dried up see the Note 2 King 19.24 But 2. it may be understood Literally as namely either 1. of a great drought that God should bring upon Egypt whereby and that especially by the low ebb that should be in the river Nilus there should be a sore Dearth and Famine all over the land Or 2. of that great check that was given to the overflowing of Nilus and the manifold detriment which thereby redounded to the whole land when those twelve Kings of Egypt mentioned in the foregoing verse drained the river in several places and by several channels for the more conveniency of their building those two huge Pyramids and a Labyrinth not far from them which were in after-times for their bigness and workmanship the wonder of the world and some say too for the making of that vast Lake called the Lake of Moeris or Meroe all which they did merely to satisfie their own Lust and Ambition mightily thereby oppressing the people whom they imployed in these stupendious works and impoverishing the land in many regards by weakning the river so that it could not overflow the Country as it had formerly done And this indeed suits well with the description given us in the following verses of the manifold mischiefs which Egypt underwent by the failing of their waters Ver. 6. And they shall turn the rivers far away c. That is The seven streams of Nilus see the Note Chap. 11.15 Or rather the brooks or water-courses drawn from thence It is spoken of those that by draining the river had been the cause of the failing of the waters mentioned in the foregoing verse And this expression of turning the rivers far away as if they minded them not seems to imply their slighting and disregarding the common good of the land in the overflowings of Nilus And the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up That is The brooks or rivers drawn out of Nilus which were a great defence to Egypt or which were purposely drawn out for the environing and defending many of their Cities and strong Holds or the brooks which were defended or kept in with strong banks The meaning is that the brooks of Nilus should be dried up where they were widest and deepest and where the river ran with the strongest stream The reeds and flags shall wither to wit for want of moisture And these are the rather mentioned because the Egyptians did many ways make great use of them for of these they made darts mats for their beds weeles for their fishing baskets and many such things yea their boats and barks See the Note before Chap. 18.1 Ver. 7. The Paper-reeds by the brooks by the mouth of the brooks c. By Paper-reeds here are meant reeds of whose rind or skin they made Paper which was a great commodity in Egypt in those days and by the mouth of the brooks is meant the bank or brink of the brooks where these canes or reeds used to grow For it seems not so probable which
some say that by the mouth of the brooks should be meant the Fountain or Spring-head of the river Nilus at which the waters issued out as at a mouth which was not in Egypt or those passages where the water of the river did first enter and disgorge it self into those channels and water-courses that were drawn from thence and that because the Prophet's aim is to shew that all things should wither all the land over even in those places which lay close to the banks or brinks of those brooks that were drawn from the river which used to be the most fruitful places according to that which follows And every thing sown by the brooks shall wither be driven away and be no more whereby is meant that as those things that grew of themselves so those things also that were set or sown should wither and utterly perish even in the most fertile places Yet some I know understand this of the spoil that should be made of those things by the rage of war Ver. 8. The Fishers also shall mourn c. Because the Egyptians fed much on fish wherewith that Country abounded and the more by reason they did superstitiously forbear the killing and eating of many sorts of beasts whence was that of the Israelites Numb 11.5 We remember the fish we did eat in Egypt freely and so many lived on the trade of fishing Therefore it is said that they should mourn to wit because their Trade would be quite marred the fish dying for want of water And all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish to wit as pining away for grief when they should see their way of getting a livelihood quite decayed and brought to nothing Ver. 9. Moreover they that work in fine flax and they that weave net-works or white works shall be confounded That is They shall be ashamed and overwhelmed with vexation to see their Trade quite lost for want of materials to work upon fine yarn and fine linnen were of the principal commodities of Egypt whence is that of the Harlot Prov. 7.16 I have deckt my bed with fine linnen of Egypt See also the Note 1 King 10.28 And therefore the better to set forth how their land should be impoverished by the failing of their waters this also is added that they should want materials for the making of these things which were their chief traffique in foreign parts Indeed because in the foregoing verse the Prophet had spoken of the mourning of their fishermen some hold that by networks here are meant nets for fishing But because fine flax is here forementioned as the stuff whereof these net-works were made it is more probably thought that hereby is meant pure white linnen-cloth or garments woven or wrought net-wise See the Note Chap. 3.18 Ver. 10. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof all that make sluces and ponds for fish This place is very differently rendered by Interpreters and thereupon several different Expositions are given of it The words which we translate in the purposes thereof are in the Hebrew in the foundations thereof And so in the latter clause those words which we translate ponds for fish are in the Original ponds of the soul or of souls Whereby some think is meant not ponds of living things or ponds of fish as it is best rendered in our Translation but ponds made for delight and pleasure Now they that thus render the words of this verse do accordingly understand it of the great task imposed upon the Egyptians by those twelve Tyrants that had divided the land amongst them in digging and making that huge Lake of Moeris or Meroe mentioned before in the Note ver 5. which was three thousand and six hundred Furlongs in compass and in making channels and water-courses for the conveying of the waters of Nilus into the said Lake And the meaning of the place they would have to be this That the poor people of the Land that were imployed in making these huge works meerly for the delight and pleasure of their great Lords should be broken in the foundations thereof that is multitudes of them should miserably perish being slain and broken to pieces by the falling down of the foundations of the earth upon them But now in our translation that which is in the Hebrew in the foundations thereof is rendered in the purposes thereof because projects or purposes are the foundation of action And the words being read thus as they are in our Bibles And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof all that make sluces and ponds for fish the meaning must needs be either 1. That those that lived by the fish of Nilus and to that end made ponds to keep fish in and sluces to let the waters of Nilus into those ponds should be miserably broken and undone by the purposes and projects of Egypt and the Lords thereof in draining the River Nilus as is before said whereupon there should follow such a failing of the waters to the marring of their Trade of fish or by their own purposes in advancing those to be their Kings that should so miserably oppress them Or else 2. That they should be broken in their purposes and projects for the great gain they expected to make of the fish they resolved to have always in a readiness in the ponds they digged for that purpose and that because by the failing of the waters they would be disappointed of their hopes As before he shewed ver 8. that there should be no catching of fish so here that there should be no keeping of fish in the dams and ponds which to this end they had prepared Ver. 11. Surely c. Here the Prophet doth again return farther to set forth that which he had said before ver 3. concerning the Lords infatuating the Egyptians for which see the Note there Surely the Princes of Zoan are fools and Zoan was one of the Royal Cities of the Egyptians see the Note Psal 78.12 It is as if he had said Let them think never so highly of themselves and let others admire them never so much for their great wisdom yet surely they are fools Yea not only their Princes and Nobles are fools but even the wisest of their Counsellors also whereas those that are eminent above others for wisdom are usually chosen to be of a Kings Privy-Council And therefore is that added the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become bruitish by their sottish doings they carry themselves more like brute beasts than understanding men And this he chargerh them with to imply 1. That their Land was like to be impoverished and destroyed not so much by the invasion and power of foreign Enemies as by their own foolish Counsels and by the silly and unadvised designs which they put their Kings upon or wherein they flattered them and soothed them up 2. That now they were in danger they were neither able to
worse their condition should still be The meaning of all is That it was no wonder though the wise men of Egypt should thus play the fools because the Lord should infatuate them Ver. 15. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt which the head or tail branch or rush may do That is Neither the King nor his Wizzards neither high nor low shall be able to advise or do any thing or at least to effect any thing intended or desired that may be any advantage to them to save or help them See the Notes Chap. 9.14 15. Ver. 16. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women c. That is the Egyptians shall be fearful and faint-hearted see the Note above ver 1. and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts which he shaketh over it That is because the Lord God whose wrath and power is irresistible shall by raising up the Assyrians to invade them terrifie Egypt and as it were threaten to destroy it see the Note Chap. 10.32 In this expression of the the Lords shaking his hand over it there seems to be an allusion to Moses his stretching out his hand at Gods command over the Red-sea for the bringing back of the waters thereof upon the Egyptians whereby they were drowned and destroyed Exod. 14.26 27. Ver. 17. And the Land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt c. As if the Prophet had said Yea before the Assyrians shall invade Egypt when the Egyptians shall hear of the Assyrians prevailing in the Land of Judah and the great havock they had made there that Hezekiah had sent the Treasures of his Kingdom and of the Temple to him and had tendered to become his Tributary Vassal and yet could not by all this purchase Peace from him concerning all which see 2 King 18.13 14. this shall exceedingly affright the Egyptians the land of Judah being thus sorely afflicted and endangered shall be a terror unto the land of Egypt 1. Because Judea being such a near neighbouring Country and standing as a wall between them and the Assyrians the land of Judah being subdued there would be a clear way opened for the Assyrian to enter Egypt and little hope there would be that they alone should be able to withstand such a potent Enemy 2. Because of the strict Confederacy that had often been betwixt these two States of Egypt and Judea and the readiness of the Egyptians upon all occasions to help the Jews see 2 King 17.4 and 18.21 which might provoke the Assyrian the more against Egypt And 3. Because if God had not spared his own people the Egyptians might well think that he would much less spare them This I conceive is the true meaning of this place And accordingly it followeth Every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself That is every Egyptian yea some extend this to all other Nations that shall have occasion to speak of the land of Judah to wit of the miseries that are befallen that Country shall be struck with terror the very thinking of the place shall make them tremble Because of the counsel of the Lord of Hosts which he hath determined against it that is because of God's determinate Counsel for the destruction of the Land of Judah which they shall see executed upon it Or because by the ruin brought upon the Land of Judah they shall see that he hath determined also to destroy Egypt Some I know understand this whole verse of the fear wherewith the Egyptians should be surprized when they should hear how wonderfully God had destroyed the Assyrian Army that under Sennacherib had invaded Judea to wit that finding hereby what a mighty God the Jews had to defend them they should not only fear the Lord but also the people of the Lord according to that which the Egyptians said of old Exod. 14.25 Let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians and that Deut 28.10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of thee See also 2 Chron. 32.23 But the former Exposition I judg the more genuine Yet some that understand it so hold it is meant of the destruction brought upon the Land of Judah by the Chaldeans not of the waste that was made therein by the Assyrians Ver. 18. In that day c. That is after these judgements have been fully executed upon Egypt see the Note Chap. 4.2 shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan that is the Hebrew tongue the language which the people of God spake that were planted by God in the Land of Cannaan which is therefore also called the Jews language Neh. 13.24 See the Note also Gen. 11.1 But the meaning is that the inhabitants of certain Cities in Egypt such as God had ordained unto life eternal should embrace the Religion of the Jews and become one people with them professing the same Faith and conversing together with them as if they had been the same people and spake all the same tongue notwithstanding the deadly enmity that had formerly been between the Egyptians and the children of Israel of which see Gen. 43.32 Yea and that they should by their praying to God and praising of God and by the holiness of their speech in every regard manifest themselves to be the people of the Holy God of Israel according to that Zeph. 3.9 Then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent As for the number of five cities here mentioned In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan I do not think that this is spoken with reference to the five Principalities that were formerly in the Land of Egypt 1 Sam. 6.4 for in the times the Prophet was immediately before speaking of Egypt was divided into Twelve Kingdoms Nor that the Prophets intent was hereby to imply that a fith part in five of the Cities of Egypt should embrace the Faith which some hold because of the following clause one shall be called the City of destruction It is only I conceive a certain number put for an uncertain and that which is only intended is that a considerable number of the Cities of Egypt should embrace the Religion of Gods people And because he speaks of the conversion of Cities in general this must needs be meant of their conversion to the Faith in the days of the Gospel not of some few that might be won to embrace the Jewish Religion in the days before Christ by those Jews that should fly into Egypt for shelter upon occasion of any troubles that should be in the Land of Judah And so likewise we must understand those following words and swear to the Lord of hosts to wit that the Egyptians should
whereas it should be nothing so God having determined that he should be deposed from his place of Honour and be carried into a far Country where he should die and be laid up in the earth far enough from that glorious Tomb which he had erected for himself as is more largely set forth in the following verses Ver. 17. Behold the Lord will carry thee away c. Some would have this rendred as it is in the Margin Behold the Lord who covered thee with an excellent covering and clothed thee gorgeously which must be understood of the Robes he wore proper to that place of Honour whereunto God had advanced him shall surely turn and toss thee as it followeth in the next verse But questionless the Translation in our Bibles is the best Behold the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty Captivity It is in the Hebrew with the Captivity of a man but thereby is meant a mighty Captivity and that say many Expositors because men-Captives are commonly used more hardly and carried farther away than those of the weaker Sex are It is as if he had said Thou makest full account to live and die in Jerusalem but God will certainly send thee packing into a far Country and there thou shalt end thy days he will make thee famous in another manner than that which thou affectest and thou shalt not be buried in an ordinary way but with contempt and disgrace and will surely cover thee that is he will even overwhelm thee with shame and confusion And herein there may be an Allusion to the Custom of Covering the faces of those that were condemned to die See the Note Esth 7.8 And this no doubt with all that which followeth in this Prophecy was in due time accomplished but how and when it came to pass the Scripture doth no where express Some think that he went out secretly and perfidiously to Sennacherib upon a design of betraying Jerusalem to him at which time the Assyrian Army being miraculously destroyed Sennacherib in a great rage carried him away with him Others conceive that he was carried away by the Babylonians together with Manasseh And others say that he was banished by Hezekiah or that he went away of his own accord into Foreign parts being displaced and cast out of the Court and there lived and died miserably But all these are but Conjectures Ver. 18. He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large Country c. That is as a ball being thrown with great strength in a large plain where there is nothing to stop it will fly and run very far way or may be tossed up and down from one place to another because the place is very spacious every way so the Lord will be sure to send thee far away from the place of thy present abode into the Territories of some great King that hath large Dominions and there thou shalt be driven up and down from place to place in an afflicted and restless Condition there shalt thou die in a strange land not in Jerusalem where thou hast provided thy self such a stately Sepulcher And there the Chariots of thy Glory shall be the shame of thy Lords house that is say some Thy former Glory shall be turned into extream contempt which shall redound much to the shame of thy Lord whilst it shall be said of him in his poor and wretched estate That once he lived as a Prince in Hezekiah's Court Or rather thy rich and glorious Chariots wherein thou now ridest up and down in great pomp and state shall then tend to the dishonour of thy Lord and of his house too over which thou art set in that it shall be spoken of to his disgrace that such a vile wretch as he should be so highly advanced and live in so great Grandeur in Hezekiah's Court. Ver. 19. And I will drive thee from thy station c. This is spoken in the person of God Though thou thinkest thy self firmly setled in Jerusalem I saith the Lord will drive thee from thence and from thy state that is thy Office and place of Dignity shall he pull thee down that is the King yet it may well be as many others think that even this also is meant of God the Prophets speaking here of God in the the third person And for the place from which Shebna was to be removed See the Note above ver 15. Ver. 20. And it shall come to pass in that day c. To wit when thou O Shebna shalt be removed from thy place in the Court of Judah that I will call my servant Eliakim that is I will cause Hezekiah to advance him that he may in thy place serve me faithfully and this was done before Rabshakeh summoned Hezekiah to deliver up Jerusalem to him See the Note 2 Kin. 18 18. and the Note above ver 15. Ver. 21. And I will clothe him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle c. To wit the robe and girdle which belonged to thee as Lord High Steward of the Kings house See the Notes Chap. 11.5 and Job 12.18 21. he shall be advanced to the place of Honour which now thou enjoyest for so this Expression is explained in the following words and I will commit thy Government into his hand All which was now made known to Shebna the more deeply to wound his heart for though it must needs be sad tidings to such an ambitious wretch to hear of his being deposed from so high a dignity yet it is like enough that it added to his vexation to be told of the man that should be honoured with his place And it may well be too as some conceive That this Prophecy of Isaiah might hasten both the downfall of the one and the advancement of the other and he shall be a Father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah That is he shall with much Fatherly Affection and Care govern the people of the land to wit as a prime Counsellor under the King and they shall love and honour him as a Father Ver. 22. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder c. By the house of David is meant the King's Court or Houshold see the Note Chap. 7.2 And it was commonly so called because God had so often promised that the Soveraignty and Kingly Power in that Nation should be setled in the Family of David and accordingly by laying the key of the house of David upon the shoulder of Eliakim is meant that he should be made Lord High-Steward or Comptroller of the King's Court and should have the Supreme Power under the King of ordering and disposing all things in his house and in governing his Family Because he that hath the just command of the keys in a house hath power to dispose of all things therein at his pleasure and no man can come into the house or go out but by his leave whence it is
should be for a time like a tree that seems in the winter to be dead and withered only there is life in the roots yet like such a tree it should at length grow up again and flourish exceedingly and fill the face of the World with fruit to wit the fruit of her mighty encrease which though it were initially fulfilled at the deliverance out of Babylon yet not fully till the coming in of the Gentiles to the Church of Israel Ver. 7. Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him c. That is Hath God smitten his Israel his people as he smote those that were their enemies that smote them as if it had been said Certainly no God doth not proceed with the same severity and rigor when he contends with his people as he doth when he comes to take vengeance on their enemies whom he hath used as his Instruments to smite and correct his people And the same is repeated again in the next clause though that be not so clear as the former or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him that is say some Is his Israel slain according to the slaughter of those that are slain by him that is The Babylonian Israels enemy as if it had been said That God did not slay his people with that cruelty or envy as that great Leviathan the Babylonian slew the Jews and others against whom he prevailed Or as others say Is his Israel slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him to wit by Israel that is for his sake But rather by them that are slain by him is meant them that are slain by God and so that which is intended is That God had not slain his people according to the slaughter wherewith he had slain his and their enemies of whose slaughtering he had spoken of before ver 1. and Chap. 26.14 namely in wrath and fury utterly to destroy them The drift of all this is still to make good that which was said ver 4. That God was not furious against his people Ver. 8. In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate it c. Here is shewn wherein God deals otherwise with his vine his own people than with their enemies even when he doth smite and correct his people for their sins he will do it in measure that is gently and with much moderation not according to what he is able to lay upon them See the Note Job 23.6 nor according to what their sins have deserved Ezra 9.13 but with respect to their strength that their sufferings may not be greater or of longer continuance than they are well able to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 whereas when he falls upon his and their enemies he lays on without any regard or stint or measure As for those words when it shooteth forth therein as before Gods people are spoken of as a Vineyard The words indeed may be read as they are in the margin In measure when thou sendest it forth thou wilt debate with it and so this expression may be used with respect to Gods sending forth his people into captivity to wit that even then God would debate with this his Vineyard moderately though he seemed to have cast them quite off yet he had still thoughts of peace towards them as it is with a Father that turns away his Son or a Husband that for some offence dismisseth his Wife for a time when yet both the one and the other intend after a while to receive them back again But if we read the words as they are in our Bibles In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it the meaning seems to be that though God may contend with his Vineyard when her branches grow luxuriant or when she is springing and growing up very fairly yet he will do it in measure though he may cut off her branches he will not grub her up by the root yea even in pruning her he will do it warily so as not to spoil the heart of the Vines And to the same purpose tend the following words he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind that is If he bring some terrible storm upon her like a rough East wind which is particularly named because that wind in those Countries used to be most violent yet he will so allay or slacken the boisterousness of this Storm that it shall not break up the Vines by the roots though it may beat down or break off some of her branches Ver. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged c. This is mentioned as another great difference betwixt Gods smiting his people and his and their enemies to wit that whilest he smites their enemies meerly in a way of vengeance to destroy them he smites his people out of pity and fatherly love that he may pardon and reform them and this is all the fruit to take away his sin that is all the fruit that God propounds to himself in correcting his people and all the benefit that redounds to his people thereby is the reforming of them when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder that is when Jacob Gods people shall manifest the truth of their repentance by pulling down and breaking to shivers with much zeal even as men break Chalk-stones in pieces to make Lime all their Altars and other idolatrous Monuments the Groves and Images or Sun-Images shall not stand that is they also shall be hewed and broken down But see the Note Chap. 17.8 Ver. 10. Yet the defenced City shall be desolate c. As if it had been said though God will not proceed as is before said with his people as he doth with their enemies in punishing them but will onely seek the reforming of them yet that they may be reformed he will be forced to correct them with great severity The defenced City shall be desolate that is Samaria and Jerusalem and other the strong Cities both in Israel and Judah shall be laid waste and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness that is all other their habitations in the Land shall be left without Inhabitants there shall the calf feed and there shall he lie down that is Gods people shall be cast out and bruit Beasts shall be brought in to feed and dwell there in their stead and consume the branches thereof that is they shall browse upon the Plants and Shrubs that shall grow up where their Houses and Cities had wont to be Some I know understand this of Gods proceeding in greater fury against the enemies of his people than against his people but that doth not suit so well with our Translation And again some think that the state of Israel being compared to a Vine the destruction of the People is here intended by saying that Beasts should consume the branches thereof according to a like figurative expression chap. 10.33 34. for which
is that for which the Prophet here terms them rebellious children a Rebellion of all other most execrable Chap. 1.2 I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me not so much because they had rebelled against the King of Assyria or Babylon concerning which see the Note 2 Kings 18.7 as because they were rebellious against Gods command whose children they professed themselves to be and that particularly in this business of their seeking to Egypt for help as appears by the following words Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me which is said either because in their streights they consulted amongst themselves what to do but never asked advice from God by enquiring of Gods Prophets or otherwise or else because they were so far from that that they therein disobeyed the command of God by his Prophets And to the same purpose is that which follows and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that is that seek to shelter themselves against approaching storms and to possess the people with great hopes that they shall be covered and sheltered from them but it is not by means which I approve of and which I by my Spirit in the mouth of my Prophets have advised them to it is not by turning to me by repentance and by calling on me for counsel and help but by ways of their own projecting yea contrary to what I have commanded see the Notes Chap. 4.5 6. and 28.15 20. that they may add sin to sin that is that to their sin in revolting from those Heathen Kings to whom they had yielded themselves to be Tributaries see 2 Kings 18.7 did now add the sin of neglecting God and fleeing to Egypt for help Or that to their sin in calling in the Assyrians to their help formerly in the days of Ahaz 2 Kings 16.7 did now add this sin of running to Egypt to desire their help against the Assyrians Or rather that to the wickedness wherewith they had provoked God to bring the Heathen upon them they might add this new sin of seeking to shelter themselves from this vengeance of God by unlawful ways Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt c. It was usual with this people when they were in danger of being invaded by any foreign enemies to fly to Egypt for help Thus Hoshea sent to the King of Egypt 2 Kings 17.4 And thus it seems in Zedekiah's time they had procured the King of Egypt to come and help them against the Chaldeans Jer. 37.5 7. and after the Chaldeans had carried the Jews into Babylon they that were left in the land of Judea fled into Egypt to shelter themselves Jer. 43.5 7. But yet I rather think that here the Prophet speaks of what was done in his own time when Sennacherib invaded Judea and sent his Captains to besiege Jerusalem For though in the story there be no express mention of their sending then to Egypt for aid yet because we find before that Isaiah had forewarned the Jews of their folly in resting at that time upon the aid of the Egyptians see the Notes Chap. 20.1 6. And because in the latter end of this Chapter ver 31. there is a prediction for the comfort of the faithful of the Assyrians dâ—wnfall it seems most probable that Hezekiah's Princes did at that time send secretly to the Egyptian to procure him to come in to their aid and that perhaps not without Hezekiah's consent and that hereupon our Prophet did denounce this wo against those that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth see the foregoing Note to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh of whose exceeding Puiffance and power it seems they had a very high opinion and to trust in the shadow of Egypt see the Note Chap. 18.1 And indeed how unlawful it was for them to seek to Egypt for help especially see the Notes Deut. 17.16 Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame c. To wit when they should find that instead of helping them they should not be able to defend themselves against the Assyrians see the Note Chap. 20. ver 1 6. Ver. 4. For his Princes c. That is Hezekiah's were at Zoan see the Note Chap. 19.11 and his ambassadours came to Hanes elsewhere called Tahapanes Jer. 2.16 and Tahpanhes Jer. 43.7 This is spoken in a way of derision to set forth how eager and busie they were to seek for help from Egypt to no purpose at all Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them c. See the Note above ver 3. Ver. 6. The burden of the beasts of the South c. By the beasts of the South here are meant either the young asses and camels afterwards mentioned on which the Jews carried the great Treasures and Gifts wherewith they meant to hire the Egyptians to come and aid them against the Assyrians into Egypt and thorough the Desart by which they were to go into Egypt both which lay South-ward from the land of Judea as upon the same account Jer. 13.19 the Cities of Egypt are called the Cities of the South Or else the Jews themselves who are termed beasts either because like so many beasts they travelled along South-ward with burdens on their backs the great presents they had provided for the Egyptians or because they were so brutishly foolish as to disobey and forsake God that they might seek help from Egypt And accordingly in these words The burden of the beasts of the South the intent of the Prophet might be only to shew that he would now declare how in seeking to procure aid from Egypt these beasts of the South went with great burdens on their backs as Chap. 46.1 he tells us how the Babylonian Idols were a burden to the weary beast that carried them Or else which most Expositors hold by the burden of the beasts of the South is meant a heavy Prophecy denounced against the beasts that went laden with great burdens of Treasure South-ward from Judea into the land of Egypt see the Note Chap. 13.1 And it may be taken as spoken with reference to that which went before or that which follows after and that in a way of descanting upon the word burden as if the Prophet had said Since you will needs go with such burdens of Treasures into Egypt to get Auxiliary Forces from thence for your defence lo I tell you of another kind of burden that God hath provided for you The burden of the beasts of the South that is a burdensome Prophecy concerning the beasts of the South But however if we understand this Prophecy as denouncing evil against the beasts on which they carried their Presents for Pharaoh we must know that hereby his aim is to inveigh against the Princes themselves that went along with them deriding their folly and madness in taking so much pains and being at so much
Army and yet when he had gotten the money from them he proceeded in the same hostile manner against them as he did before for which see the Notes 2 King 18.14 17. I know some would have this understood of the people of Judah's breaking Covenant with God and others would have it to be a complaint of the people concerning Gods breaking Covenant with them But it is clear the Prophet speaks this of the Assyrian and so likewise that which follows he hath despised the Cities to wit in that in a boasting way he slighted their strength and rejected their Messengers when they sued to him for peace and made nothing of destroying them utterly and levelling them with the ground not caring to preserve them for himself or his people he regardeth no man that is He neither fears any man nor pitieth any man but as a man void of all humanity makes havock of all where he comes And it may be as some think that in this last clause the Prophet had particular respect to Sennacheribs speaking so reproachfully of Hezekiah and to the scorn he put upon his Nobles when having received that great sum of money of them which Hezekiah had sent him for the purchase of his peace he sent them away in a disgraceful manner without doing that which he had promised See 2 King 18.14 17 22. c. Ver. 9. The earth c. That is The whole land of Judea mourneth and languisheth to wit as being laid waste by the Assyrians See the Note Chap. 24.4 Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down that is It is ashamed because all her lofty trees are hewn down Sharon See the Note Cant. 2.1 is like a wilderness to wit as being in a manner wholly left desolate without man or beast and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits that is They are as a tree that is left bare and hath lost her fruit by reason of the great waste the enemy hath made there The end of the Prophet in naming these particular places was certainly to imply That all the most goodly and fruitful places in the kingdom should be thus destroyed And if that could be made good which some say That Lebanon was in the utmost North parts of Judea and Carmel in the South Basan in the East and Sharon in the West we might well think that these places were purposely singled out to shew that the whole land should be left desolate and waste Some indeed say That the two last here named were not in the Kingdom of Judah but in that of the ten Tribes and therefore hold that by Bashan and Carmel here are figuratively meant the exceeding fruitful and pleasant places in Judea such as Bashan and Carmel were But it is clear that there was a Bashan in Judah's portion See the Note 1 Sam. 25.2 And then besides considering that the whole Kingdom of Israel had been already destroyed in a great measure by the Assyrians the Prophets aim being to shew that the whole land God had given to be the portion of his people should be thus over-run it is no wonder though some places are named that were in the Kingdom of Israel Ver. 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self That is Now that my people are brought into such seeming desperate extremities and now their enemies are grown so exceeding insolent now will I arise and glorifie my self in the destruction of their enemies see the foregoing Notes ver 3 5. and Psal 68.1 Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble c. This is spoken to the Assyrians And the words may be understood two several ways either 1. that the Plots which they had conceived against Jerusalem and against Gods people were foolish and the event should be accordingly vain and to no purpose like chaff and stubble nothing worth as if they had sown chaff and stubble had grown up instead of Corn. Or else 2. that their designs against Jerusalem should prove the occasion of their own utter ruine Chaff and stubble are very combustible matter and therefore by saying they should conceive chaff and bring forth stubble is meant that they should plot and bring forth that which should be the means of consuming them And hereto agrees that which follows your breath as fire shall devour you that is as a man by blowing kindles a fire so you by the rage which you breathe forth against God and against his people shall by provoking Gods wrath against you bring destruction upon you and so the fire which you thought to kindle for the burning of others shall consume your selves see the Note Job 15.35 Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime c. That is As hard Chalk-stones are burnt in Kilnes till they become Lime so shall the Lord consume the stoutest of the Soldiers that serve in the Assyrian Army as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire that is they shall be easily and suddenly destroyed even as thorns not growing and green but cut up and seare will soon take fire and are speedily burnt and consumed which is meant of the sudden destruction of the Assyrian Army 2 Kings 19.35 But see the Notes Chap. 27.4 11. and 2 Sam. 23.6 Ver. 13. Hear ye that are far off what I have done c. This may be meant of those Nations that dwelt in Countries far remote from Judea to whom the report should be brought of this great work of God in destroying the Assyrians and delivering Jerusalem And then in the following clause and ye that are near acknowledg my might by those that are near is meant those neighbouring Nations that being nearer to them might have fuller and clearer information and assurance of what God had done Or else by those that are far off may be meant all foreign Nations and by them that are near the Jews that were eye-witnesses of this work of wonder The drift of these words is to imply that the vengeance which God would execute upon the Assyrians should be talked of with admiration far and near all the world over see the like expression Chap. 18.3 Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites c. That is those wicked wretches in Jerusalem that professing themselves Gods people had yet formally slighted and derided Gods Prophets when they foretold the Judgments that were coming upon them When the evil threatned did come upon them then these secure men were overwhelmed with terrors who among us say they shall dwell with the devouring fire who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings And some think they are supposed to speak this upon occasion of that dreadful slaughter which the Angel of the Lord did in one night make in the Assyrian Camp 2 Kings 19.35 which many hold was done by thunder and lightning from Heaven to wit that being terrified herewith as being conscious to themselves of
come in to besiege and batter those Cities it shall not be so with us because the Lord will be such a River of defence about us wherein shall go no galley with â—ars neither shall gallant ship pass thereby that is No ship or galley great or small shall be able to break through to assail or hurt us See the Note Chap. 8.6 Ver. 22. For the Lord is our Judge c. That is he hath taken us to be his peculiar Covenant people and therefore as our supreme Lord he will surely protect us And observable it is that looking upon this as a sure ground of comfort he repeats it in a triumphant manner three several times the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King and then concludes he will save us that is As our Soveraign he will safe guard us if we continue Loyal to him and live in obedience to his Laws Ver. 23. Thy tacklings are loosed c. Having said ver 21. That God would be as a broad river about Jerusalem through which no ship or galley should be able to pass to do them any mischief here now keeping to the former metaphor he addresseth his speech to the Assyrian or in particular to Sennacherib as to one that was coming in some great gallioun or with some huge navy of ships against Jerusalem assuring them that they should be all certainly shipwracked and destroyed Thy tacklings are loosed that is Unfastened or broken Or reading it as it is in the Margin They have forsaken thy tacklings that is The mariners mind not thy tacklings they could not well strengthen their mast they could not spread the sail that is The tacklings being loose and broken could neither keep up the mast steady and upright nor spread or turn the sail as occasion required The drift of all these Expressions is to make known to the Assyrians that their condition should be just like that of a ship when the Mariners desparing of safety do give over all care of ordering their tacklings or where tacklings and mast and sails are useless and broken and so the ship must needs be driven up and down by the wind and waves till at last it be swallowed up of the Sea that is They should be all certainly broken in pieces and destroyed then is the prey of a great spoil divided that is Then shall the inhabitants of Jerusalem go forth and seize upon the spoil of the Assyrian Camp even as when some great ship is cast away that was laden with rich Commodities the people that dwell on the coasts where this is done are wont to make a prey of all that by the Sea is driven on shore And it is called a great spoil partly because of the multitude of them that were slain by the Angel in the Camp an hundred fourscore and five thousand 2 King 19.35 and partly because the Assyrians had before that wasted and plundered in a manner the whole land of Judea the lame take the prey the most impotent among them shall be able to take the spoil there shall be no difficulty in it the enemy being all fled or lying dead before them See the Note 2 Sam. 5.6 Ver. 24. And the inhabitants shall not say I am sick c. That is None of the Inhabitants of Jerusalem shall have the least cause to complain of any sickness or weakness which the siege or the invasion of Sennacherib hath brought upon them or more generally The inhabitants of Jerusalem and under this type all the members of Gods Church are intended shall through Gods favour live in a prosperous and comfortable condition free from all things hurtful to them Yet I know many understand it as spoken with respect to that which was said in the foregoing verse That the inhabitants of Jerusalem should run out with all alacrity to seize upon the prey in the Assyrian Camp no man should withdraw himself from going forth under a pretence of being sick or weak the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity and so God being reconciled to them all shall be well with them God will proceed no more in a way of wrath and vengeance against them CHAP. XXXIV VERSE 1. COme near c. This Chapter seems to be a Prophecy of the dreadful vengeance which God would execute upon all the enemies of his Church and people amongst whom ver 5. the Edomites are particularly mentioned And accordingly in the first words Come near ye Nations to hear and hearken ye people either these Nations are summoned to hear the Judgments here denounced against them or else all Nations are called upon to take notice with admiration in what a terrible manner he meant to proceed against the enemies of his people let the earth hear and all that is therein in the Hebrew it is and the fulness thereof for which see the Note Psal 24.1 the world and all things that come forth of it See the Notes Chap. 1.2 and Deut. 32.1 Ver. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations and his fury upon all their armies c. That is It will certainly fall upon them See the foregoing Note he hath utterly destroyed them he hath delivered them to the slaughter that is It shall as certainly so be as if it were done already the decree and sentence is gone out against them Ver. 3. Their slain also shall be cast out c. To wit in away of detestation and there left like the carcases of beasts to rot above ground without burial Or there shall be such multitudes slain that those that are left alive shall not be able to undertake the burial of them and their stink shall come up out of their carcases that is It shall ascend up and inâ—ect the air and the mountains shall be melted with their blood that is blood shall run down from the Mountains as if the very Mountains were melted into blood It is an Hyperbolical expression whereby is hinted 1. That even the Mountains should not save those that fled thither for shelter 2. That abundance of blood should be shed there And 3. that thus it should be with the Mountains as it were out of fear of Gods wrath see the like expressions Psal 97.5 and Amos 9.13 Ver. 4. And all the host of heaven c. See the Note Gen. 2.1 shall be dissolved that is they shall melt and wither away But the meaning is that by reason of the dreadfulness of Gods judgments then inflicted on the enemies of Gods people it should be with them through extream anguish and fear as if there were no such lights in the Heavens see the Notes Chap. 13.10 13. as if they apprehended the whole frame of Heaven would break in pieces and fall upon their heads And indeed it is usual with the Prophets to set forth extraordinary judgments after the manner of the terror of the last judgment when the whole fabrick of Heaven and Earth shall be
yet I rather think that here this Expression is used to imply that their joy should be discovered in the chearfulness of their countenances their going up and down with their heads lifted up and perhaps with Crowns and Garlands ever green upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away that is Their former grief and mourning shall vanish quite away as if they had never been But now most fitly may all this be applyed to that great work of our Redemption by Christ whereof those deliverances of the Jews were types and shadows as namely That all Christs redeemed ones turning from their sins shall first come in and joyn themselves to his Church with exceeding great joy yea with everlasting joy joy that shall overcome and swallow up all their sorrows and which no man shall ever be able to take from them Joh. 16.22 And then again that Christ having thus called them to himself would never leave them till he had lodged them in the heavenly Jerusalem where indeed their joy shall be everlasting and without any mixture of sorrow Rev. 21.4 CHAP. XXXVI VERSE 1. NOw it came to pass c. Here the Prophet inserts an Historical relation of Sennacheribs invading the land of Judah and of the wonderful deliverance of Jerusalem by Gods miraculous destroying the Assyrian Army and that purposely to shew how exactly all came to pass herein according to what he had long before foretold concerning these things as they are set down in the foregoing Chapters of this his Prophecy that so this might be a seal to confirm his Prophetical Office to the people and might let them see with what assurance they might expect that all other things which he had foretold or shall foretel hereafter even those things which concern Christ and the days of the Gospel should certainly also be accomplished in their season We have the very same relation almost word for word in 2 King 18.13 c. which makes it very probable that this part of that History was composed by Isaiah and the chief thing requisite to be known for the understanding thereof may be found in the Notes there or in 2 Chron. 32.1 c. Only in that which is said here concerning the time of Sennacherebs invading Judea that it was in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah this is further observable that it was therefore within a while after this good King had made such a Reformation in the Land as never any King before him had made that this grievous storm fell upon him and his Kingdom which must needs be both a great tryal and a great stumbling-block to many But see I say the Notes 2 King 18.13 c. Ver. 2. And the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh c. and stood by the Conduit of the upper pool in the high way of the Fullers field For this place see the Note before Chap. 7.3 Ver. 3. Then came forth unto him Eliakim Hilkiahs son which was over the house and Shebna the scribe c. What is noted before concerning these two Eliakim and Shebna we may see Chap. 22.15 and 2 King 18.18 Questionless this Eliakim was the same of whom the Prophet had before prophecied that he should be surely setled in that place of high preferment in Hezekiahs Court which now it seems he was in Shebna that was formerly in it being removed See Chap. 22.20 21. c. And we may well think what a shaking it was to the faith of this good man concerning this promise when he was now to go out to beg terms of peace of the proud Tyrant Sennacherib ready in a manner to yield to any Conditions almost which he would be pleased to put upon them As for Shebna here mentioned I conceive as before that it was not Shebna into whose place Eliakim was put because it seems not very probable that Hezekiah would imploy such a wicked wretch so likely to be discontented and so justly therefore to be suspected in such a weighty service as this was Ver. 4. And Rabshakeh said unto them Say ye now to Hezekiah Thus saith the great King the King of Assyria What confidence is this wherein thou trustest That is What confidence is it that hath emboldned thee first to rebel against me and now to stand out against me when I am come with such a mighty Army to reduce thee under my power Ver. 5. I say sayest thou but they are but vain words I have counsel and strength for war In 2 King 18.20 this passage is expressed thus Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsel and strength for the war and therefore there it is clear that Rabshakeh chargeth Hezekiah with boasting to the people that they should be well enough able to defend the City against Sennacheribs forces as being sufficiently furnished both with Counsel and Strength for War and withal tells him that these were but vain words that is such as Hezekiah himself knew were but meer boasting words that had no ground of truth in them and therefore would be of no avail for the saving of the City And so likewise if we read that passage in the History of the Kings as it is there rendred in the Margin of our Bibles Thou talkest but they are vain words counsel and strength are for the War according to that Translation of the words it is also clear that Rabshakeh told Hezekiah that he talked at a high rate and uttered many big words thereby to hearten and encourage the people as namely that the Egyptians would come in to their help or that however the Lord Jehovah would surely deliver them if the people would earnestly call upon him for help and that withal he added That all this was to no purpose such vain words would not defend the City there was more requisite for the guarding of the City than so counsel and strength are for the war Well but why is this passage rendred here not as there Thou sayest but I say c I answer That though it be Rabshakeh that saith here I say yet he speaks this in the person of Hezekiah as if he should have said I know well enough what thou talkest and pratest to wit I say I have counsel and strength for war but these are but vain words And therefore indeed those words sayest thou are for the clearing of this well inserted by our Translators I say sayest thou c. now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me as if he should have said If it be not a vain confidence of thine own sufficient strength whereon thou reliest on whose help is it then that thou trustest in the hope whereof thou hast emboldned thy self to rebel against me Ver. 6. Lo thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt c. He terms Egypt or the King of Egypt a staff of reed by way of allusion to those Reeds and Canes of Reeds which grew
abundantly on the banks of Nilus and were famously known in foreign Countrys whither they were carried But withal observable it is That the people that would not mind Gods Prophet when he from God did so often threaten them for their confidence in Egypt see the Notes Chap. 30.2 and 31.1 are now to their greater vexation brought to hear themselves upbraided with this by an insulting Adversary Ver. 7. But if thou say to me We trust in the Lord our God is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem Ye shall worship before this altar Though it was in obedience to Gods Command that Hezekiah had pulled down these high places and altars yet there was much cunning couched in this objection of Rabshakeh's both because many of the people whose hearts were not yet wholly taken off from their former Idolatry would be ready to close with this and to conclude That God in his wrath against Hezekiah for this had brought these enemies upon their Land as also because there was some colourable pretence of reason in this which carnal men might soon approve that it was a wrong and dishonour to God thus to limit his worship to one place and that it was some vain glorious or covetous design in Hezekiah to order it so that all the Sacrifices which the people would offer to their God should be offered where he kept his Court and had his constant residence Ver. 8. Now therefore give pledges I pray thee to my master the King of Assyria c. To wit That thou wilt perform the Conditions I shall propound to him namely That if he gave him as in the next words he promiseth two thousand horses he would then come out to fight with him he gives him to understand that he should not need to send to Egypt for Horses he should have them of him or else rather that if he were not able to find men fit to ride and manage them that then he should restore the Horses again and withal that they should submit to his Master upon such Conditions as he should be pleased to impose upon them Ver. 9. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one Captain of the least of my Masters servants c. And thus he hints to them that there was no reason why they should stand out because Sennacherib was not yet come thither with his whole army he alone though the least of his Masters Servants being able enough to subdue them Ver. 12. But Rabshakeh said Hath my Master sent me to thy Master and to thee to speak these words Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall c. To wit The people that in their turns are appointed to be on the walls for the guarding of them and for the defence of the City that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you as if he should have said And who indeed are appointed to be there that the City by a long siege might be brought to such streights that through famine both they and the people might be brought to eat their own dung and drink their own piss And thus he would make a shew of pitying the people and withal seeks to stir them to discontent against Hezekiah and his Princes that cared not to what they exposed the poor people only to uphold themselves in their greatness Ver. 13. Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice c. That is He lifted up himself as high as he could for he stood before ver 2. and that perhaps in some more eminent place which he had chosen for that purpose and then lifting up his voice together therewith he spake aloud that the people on the wall might the better hear him Ver. 14. Thus saith the King Let not Hezekiah deceive you c. He saith not Let not your King Hezekiah deceive you as not being willing to put them in mind of that Allegiance which as Subjects they did owe to their King Ver. 17. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own c. Observable it is how cunningly here Rabshakeh avoids that harsher expression of carrying them away Captives and speaks only of it as if they were peaceably to be transplanted from one Country to another and that to imply his respect to their good though he durst not call the land whither they were to go a better land than that of Canaan yet he tells them that it was a land like to their own a land of Corn and Wine a land of Bread and Vineyards and which is added 2 King 18.32 a land of oyle-Olive and of honey But withal considerable it is also how little this was like to move those that did not so much prize the land of Israel for the outward plenty and fruitfulness of it as for the spiritual priviledges that appertained thereto as it was the inheritance of Gods peculiar people the Temple and the Communion which they then enjoyed with God in his Ordinances Ver. 19. Where are the Gods of Hamath and Arphad where are the Gods of Sepharvaim c As if he should have said say some Where were they when they should have saved those that worshipped them and the Cities they dwelt in But rather he speaks of their gods as destroyed together with the Nations that served them See the Note before Chap. 10.9 and have they delivered Samaria out of my hands that is The gods of Samaria for that must necessarily be understood from the foregoing words It was indeed his Father Salmanasser that took Samaria but he might be present with his Father in that Expedition However it is no whit strange that speaking of the Conquests atchieved by the King of Assyria he should ascribe to himself that which his Father had done before him Ver. 20. Who are they amongst all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand As if he should have said If the gods of other Nations were not able to deliver them their Countries and Cities out of my hands why should you think the Lord Jehovah your God able to deliver Jerusalem out of my hand And so this passage is expressed 2 Chron. 32.14 Ver. 21. But they held their peace c. That is say some The men that were sent forth to treat with Rabshakeh But I rather think it is meant of the people on the wall to whom at last he addressed his speech And so it is expresly said 2 King 18.36 But the people held their peace c. Ver. 22. Then came Eliakim c. with their clothes rent c. See the Notes Gen. 37.29 and 2 King 18.37 CHAP. XXXVII VERSE 1. ANd it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes c. To wit as his Messengers had done that brought him report of what
Rabshakeh had said See the Notes Gen. 37.29 and 2 King 18.37 and covered himself with sackcloth See the Note Psal 30.11 and went into the house of the Lord to wit the Temple that he might there pour forth his soul in Prayer before the Lord. But see the Notes for this Chapter 2 King 19. Ver. 2. And he sent Eliakim c. To wit because they had been ear-witnesses of the Blasphemies of Rabshakeh and the Elders of the Priests covered with sackcloth who were joyned with the other the better to represent the weightiness of the business they were come about and the sad condition of all the Servants of God that were in the City unto Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amos See the Note Chap. 1.1 namely both to engage him to joyn with Hezekiah and the people in praying to God for help and likewise that he might from him be informed of what God would be pleased to reveal to them concerning the great streights they were in and therefore there is express mention made here of his prophetical Office he sent unto Isaiah the Prophet for though this Prophet had formerly given them several promises from God that Jerusalem should be delivered see the Notes Chap. 33.17 yet Hezekiah being conscious to himself of the weakness of his faith and the overbearing power of his fears was desirous further to be confirmed herein Ver. 3. And they said unto him c. To wit delivering the message which Hezekiah had given them in charge Thus saith Hezekiah where some observe that they do not say Thus saith King Hezekiah as being desirous without minding any thing of State to express themselves in the humblest manner suitable to the sad condition whereinto they were fallen This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children are come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth that is say some Expositors into so sad a plight the whole land is that Women with child fall into travel for fear before their time and dye because when the child comes to the birth they have not strength to bring forth But for this whole verse see the Notes 2 King 19.3 Ver. 4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh c. and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard c. Those words the Lord thy God which are twice here repeated were doubtless used in relation to that special interest which Isaiah had in God as he was a Prophet and that special respect which upon that account the Lord had to him and to his prayers wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left that is Cry aloud unto God for them whereto agrees that which is said 2 Chron. 22.20 for this cause Hezekiah the King and the Prophet Isaiah the Son of Amos prayed and cried to Heaven Ver. 5. So the Servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah That is Thus as is before related they went and delivered their message to Isaiah And this is again here inserted to make way to the following answer which the Prophet returned to their Message Ver. 6. And Isaiah said unto them Thus shall you say unto your Master c. As if he should have said Thus shall you say to our King who sent you his servants with this message to me Thus saith the Lord Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard wherewith the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed as if he had said Alas they are but words he shall not be able to do what he threatens to do And as for the blasphemies they have belched out against me fear not I will take care to be in due time avenged on them for that Ver. 7. Behold I will send a blast upon him c. That is He shall be struck with a pannick fear yet I see not why it might not be meant of the terrible tempest which some think God brought upon the Assyrian Army when it was destroyed See the Note Chap. 30.30 But of this and that which follows and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land See the Note 2 King 19.7 and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land that is He that now makes such havock with the sword amongst foreign Nations shall ere long be slain with the sword amongst his Subjects in his own Country yea by the hand of his own Sons as is related in the close of this Chapter Ver. 8. So Rabshakeh returned and found the King of Assyria warring against Libnah c. If this Libnah bordered upon Egypt as some say it did it is likely that Sennacherib left Lachish when perhaps he had taken it and sate down before Libnah that he might the better keep off any auxiliary forces which the Egyptians might bring to the aid of Judea or particularly that he might the better oppose Tirhakah the Ethiopian of whose coming against him he had heard Or if it lay nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish it is then probable that his design was only to draw up the residue of his Army still nearer to Jerusalem for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish from whence Rabshakeh was at first sent against Jerusalem But see the Note 2 King 19.8 Ver. 9. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah King of Ethiopia He is come forth to make war with thee and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah c. See the Note 2 King 19.9 It is not expressed whether this was a true or a false report yet it is most probable that it was so because we find that God foretold by Isaiah that the King of Assyria should vanquish the Ethiopians with the Egyptians and so deprive the Jews of that aid which they expected from them See the Notes Chap. 20.1 3 4.5 And this in likelihood he did not long after he had again sent Messengers with a second summons for the delivering up of Jerusalem to him Ver. 14. And Hezekiah received the Letter from the hand of the messengers and read it c. For though God had promised to destroy Sennacherib yet Hezekiah would not therefore carry himself the more insolently nor neglect to accept of any fair treaty with his enemy and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord that is In the Temple But see the Note 2 King 19.14 Ver. 15. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord. Here again observable it is that though God had already assured him that Sennacherib should be destroyed and Jerusalem delivered yet he would not give over using the means of praying to God for mercy and that especially that he might withal shew himself sensible of the horrible reproaches which the proud enemy had cast upon his great name Ver. 16. O Lord of Hosts c. See the Note Gen. 2.1 God of Israel that dwellest between the Cherubims as if he had said Manifest
O Lord that thou art present amongst us as thine own peculiar people ready to help us and to hear our Prayers of which thine Ark covered with Cherubims is a visible sign to us by delivering us out of the hands of this blaspheming Tyrant and let him see what a bold attempt it is in him to endeavour to dispossess thee of thy dwelling place Ver. 17. Encline thine ears O Lord and hear open thine eyes O Lord and see That is Hear the blasphemous speeches which these wretches have belched out against thee and see the blasphemies that are in this Letter I have spread before thee Ver. 18. Of a truth Lord the Kings of Assyria have laid waste all the Nations and their Countrys So also is this expressed 2 King 19.17 Here indeed it is in the Hebrew all the lands and their Countrys but therefore by lands are meant the Nations inhabiting those lands as we find it explained 2 Chron. 32.13 17. Ver. 21. Then Isaiah the Son of Amos sent unto Hezekiah Most probable it is that this he did by the Messengers whom Hezekiah had sent to him to enquire whether he had received any further word of answer from God Ver. 22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him c. That is concerning Sennacherib The Virgin the Daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn See the Notes Chap. 1.8 and 23.12 but especially 2 King 19.21 the Daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee See the Notes Job 16.4 and Psal 22.7 as he had before shaken his hand at her See the Note Chap. 10.32 Ver. 23. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high c. To wit as every way discovering his pride and insolence See the Note Chap. 10.12 It is all one in effect as if he had said Little dost thou think or consider against whom it is that thou hast thus arrogantly advanced thy self even against the holy one of Israel that is The holy God of Heaven and Earth that hath chosen Israel to be a holy people to himself See the Note Chap. 1.4 It is he whom thou hast blasphemed yea in the reproaches thou hast cast upon Hezekiah his anointed and upon his people thou hast indeed reproached the Lord their God Ver. 24. By thy Servants hast thou reproached the Lord c. In 2 King 19.23 it is By thy messengers and then it follows and hast said By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the Mountains to the sides of Lebanon that is I have got over all the hills and mountains that lay in my way even the loftiest of them such as Mount Lebanon was and that not with my foot-forces only but also with my Chariots which must needs be a work of great difficulty and only to be mastered by a mighty Army as namely by cutting out and levelling their way where the ground was steep and rocky and full of trees that obstructed their passage And this may be meant both of the hills and mountains they climbed that they might take the Towns and Forts that stood thereon and of those also which they were necessarily to pass over that they might get into the Countrys that lay beyond them And it might be that he might herein have special respect also to those Mountains that were about Jerusalem Psal 125.2 and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir-trees thereof that is Having thus far subdued the land before me I shall easily do so still their Cedars and Fir-trees he would cut down at his pleasure either to clear his way for his Army to pass or for other uses See the Note Chap. 14.8 That which he intends is this That nothing should hinder him in his approaches to Jerusalem But withal observable it is that whilst Sennacherib here threatens to hew down the lofty trees of Lebanon God had before threatned and foretold that his Lebanon that is his mighty Army should be hewn down See the Notes Chap. 10.33 34. and I will enter into the height of his border in 2 King 19.23 it is into the lodgings of his borders and the forest of his Carmel or as it is in the Margin the forest and his fruitful field Now by the height of his border or the lodgings of his borders some understand the tower of Lebanon Cant. 7.4 which according to our Translation I will enter into the height of his border seems not so probable because it is before said That the Assyrian had already marched over that Mountain And others again understand thereby Jerusalem the Metropolis and chief place of the Kingdom which being taken there would nothing else in a manner remain to be done and by the forest of his Carmel they understand the Country thereabout because for the pleasantness and fruitfulness of it it was like another Carmel and with the abundance of Fruit-trees and Vines growing therein it shewed like a forest Indeed having compared this place with that in 2 King 19.23 this seems to be the most probable Exposition that by the height of his border is meant the City Jerusalem together with the forts and holds on the frontiers thereabouts and by the forest of his Carmel the goodly and pleasant Country in that part of Judea But see the Notes in that 2 King 19.23 Ver. 25. I have digged and drunk water c. In 2 King 19.24 it is I have digged and drunk strange waters and it follows as here and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places for which see the Note 2 King 19.24 The Expression here used of drying up great Rivers with the sole of his feet is doubtless an hyperbolical vaunt as if he should have said That his Army was so numerous that with their feet alone they were able to dry up all the waters where they came or rather That though the Rivers were never so great his souldiers and their beasts were able to drink them all dry However that which is intended hereby was That the waters could no where keep him off from any place which he meant to assault either by diverting their waters some other way or by some such like policy he could take a course that their waters should be no hinderance to him Now thus considering the words there may be therein a threatning covertly couched to wit that he could soon deprive Jerusalem of her waters which Hezekiah had been so careful to secure for them whereby they must needs be forced to yield or else must perish with thirst Ver. 26. Hast thou not heard c Sennacherib had said ver 11. Behold thou hast heard what the Kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly and to this now God replys Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it and of ancient times that I have
formed it that is That all that thou and thy Ancestors have done was indeed done by me by my decree and all-ruling providence which accordingly therefore I did long ago make known by my Prophets as Chap. 10.5 O Assyrian the rod of mine anger c. and that you therefore were but the instruments in mine hand to do what I would have done and shall the ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith c. Chap. 10.15 Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced Cities into ruinous heaps But for this whole verse see the Note 2 King 19.25 Ver. 27. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power they were dismaied and confounded c. See the Notes for this and the following verse 2 King 19.26 27. they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb See the Note Psal 102.4 as the grass on the house tops which the higher it stands the sooner it is burnt up and withered See the Note Psal 129.6 Ver. 29. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears therefore will I put my hook in thy nose c. In these words there seems to be an Allusion either to fish-hooks wherewith when they have struck some great fish through the nose they use to draw it along this way and that to the end that having thus wearied it they may the better take it up for the proof whereof that passage is usually alledged Ezek. 29.3 4. I am against thee Pharaoh King of Egypt the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers But I will put my hooks in thy chaws or else to those rings which men are wont to put into the noses of Bears and Bufales that they may the better over-master them and carry them up and down which way they list It is all one in effect as if God had said Because thou ragest against me like some furious wild beast therefore I will use thee like a beast therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest And indeed because men mad with rage are wont to discover their fury by the puffing of their nostrils and the foming of their mouths it may well be that in reference hereto the Lord doth the rather use this Expression therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips Ver. 30. And this shall be a sign unto thee c. That is To thee O Hezekiah ye shall eat this year such as groweth of it self and the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year sow ye and reap c. Now though it cannot well be questioned that this was given as a sign for the strengthning of his and the peoples faith concerning the foregoing promise of the destruction of the Assyrian and the deliverance of Jerusalem yet withal it is clear that this tended also to the comforting of them both against the fear of Sennacheribs returning again with a fresh Army because they are hereby assured that after his departure they should live peaceably and quietly in the land and likewise especially against that great distress they must needs be in thinking how they should be provided for food if they were rid of their enemies when they had so far spent their old store and the enemy had spoiled that which was growing in the field and had it may be hindred them that year from sowing their seed which might have yielded them a Crop at harvest-time But for this sign and how it must be understood see in the Note 2 King 19.30 and see also the Note before Chap. 7.14 Ver. 31. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward That is They shall multiply exceedingly and being setled in the land shall prosper and flourish both in their outward estate and spiritually too which was indeed accomplished in the remainder of Hezekiahs reign But see the Note 2 King 19.30 Ver. 32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and they that escape out of mount Zion c. As if it had been said As for Jerusalem in particular of which the Assyrian had said that God himself should not defend it they that were shut up in her shall go out freely and fearlesly wherever they please they that were fled thither shall return to their own habitations and the rest whithersoever their occasions shall call them yet it may also have respect to their going forth to gather the spoils of the Assyrians See the Notes Chap. 33.23 24. and to those that should be sent forth from Jerusalem to repair the great ruines that had been made in many Cities in the land And how this may be also mystically applied to that small remnant that should go out of Zion in the days of the Gospel to encrease the number of Gods Israel amongst the Gentiles we may see in the Note Chap. 1.9 the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this that is the zeal of God Almighty who can do what he pleaseth will do this But see the Notes 2 King 19.31 Ver. 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria c. To wit because the Lord is thus resolved to preserve his people He shall not come into this City nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it the meaning is that he should never come to make any assault upon it nor so much as to lay siege to it By coming before it with shields is meant drawing up men that were to scale the walls and to enter the City who used to be armed with shields therewith to cover and shelter themselves from any thing that might be cast upon them or any strokes that might be made at them by those on the wall And by banks cast up may be meant those banks which the souldiers cast up under the Covert whereof they were to make their approaches to the City or Mounts cast up out of which they were to shoot into the City But see the Note 2 King 19.32 Ver. 34. By the way that he came by the same shall he return To wit with great dishonour and disgrace with shame of face as it is expressed 2 Chron. 32.21 as indeed it must needs be a matter of great reproach to him to flee away with a few scattered Troops through those very parts by which he had a while before marched in so great State and Fury with such a gallant and numerous Army Ver. 35. For I will defend this City to save it for mine own sake c. That is For mine own Glory because I have taken them of mine own free grace to be mine own Covenant-people and determined that Jerusalem shall be the setled place of my Worship and that I may vindicate mine own glory
no way injured them for though Hezekiah had at first revolted from him yet he afterward submitted himself to him and by mutual agreement made him satisfaction and ye know how God destroyed him and his mighty Army and delivered his People from their Rage and Fury Thus I conceive is the meaning and drift of this Verse There is a hint here given the Jews of two former deliverances that God had wrought for his People and then in the following Verse he shews what might be inferred from hence concerning the sadder condition of his People in Babylon I know indeed that several Expositors do judge otherwise concerning the second clause and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause For some think that by the Assyrian there Pharaoh King of Egypt is meant and so they would have the meaning of the whole Verse to be this That the Israelites going down into Egypt only to sojourn there the King of that Country did without cause sorely oppress them But this opinion is built upon meer groundless and improbable conjectures as namely that that Pharaoh that knew not Joseph Exod. 1.8 was a Stranger even an Assyrian or else that all Tyrants were in those days by a Proverbial way of speaking called Assurs Others therefore say that by the Assyrian the Babylonian is meant and that he is here called the Assyrian because the Kingdom of Babylon was always formerly a branch of the Assyrian Empire and all Assyria was at present under the Dominion of the King of Babylon yea the rather too because the Assyrians frequent invading Judea in former times did open a Door to that absolute Conquest which the Babylonians did afterward make of that People and their carrying them away Captives into Babylon And so accordingly they make the Sense of the whole Verse to be this That the Egyptians did of old wrongfully oppress the Israelites when they sojourned amongst them and that the Babylonians had now done the like But the former Exposition is far the clearest to wit that there are here two Instances given of Gods pleading the Cause of his oppressed People formerly and that God argues from hence by an Argument taken from the greater to the less that if God punished the Egyptians for dealing so hardly and inhumanly with his People that went down into that Country voluntarily of their own accord that they might sojourn there though the King of Egypt had some pretence for what he did because they were in his Dominions and under his Jurisdiction And so again if God destroyed the Assyrians that only invaded and wasted the Land of Judea and afflicted them there in their own Country much more will he punish the Babylonians who without cause invaded their Country and carryed them away Captives into a strange Land Ver. 5. Now therefore what have I here saith the Lord that my People is taken away for nought c. The first words are very concise in the original and therefore may be understood several ways As 1. With reference to that which was said before ver 3. Now that my People hath been forcibly carried away into Babylon without any price paid to me for them what have I here that is what gain and advantage do I get by their being here in bondage As if he should have said Surely nothing at all it was not a bargain of my making neither do I get any thing by it and therefore why do I delay the rescuing of my People from this their Captivity Or 2. With respect to the foregoing Verse Seeing I could not endure the Egyptians and Assyrians that oppressed my People but punished them what have I here in Babylon that should move me to spare them that have carried them away Captive into a strange Country which the other did not Or what have I here to do but to destroy Babylon and to hasten the deliverance of my People from their greater oppression here Or 3. As bewaling the desolations of Judea having no People left me here in Judea what do I here Why do I not go away to Babylon and fetch my People from thence Or 4. With respect to their Bondage in Babylon what have I here in Babylon that I should be as it were as a Captive here amongst my People and not carry them back again to my Temple at Jerusalem And lastly some take it as spoken with respect to the state of the Jews when Christ their promised Messiah was sent unto them why do I stay any longer amongst this People sold over for nought and not remove from them and gather to my self another People Or what do I speak of what my People suffer here in Babylon seeing they lye under a far greater oppression of their Spiritual Enemies Why do I not hasten to deliver them from that bondage All these several ways these first words are understood by Expositors not without some ground of probability But the first I conceive doth best suit with our Translation However according to what is said in this first branch of this Verse we must understand the following words they that rule over them make them to howl saith the Lord to wit because of their cruel oppressing them both outwardly and in their Consciences also and my name continually every day is blasphemed to wit by the wicked Enemies of my People who continually insult as if I were not able to deliver my People out of their hands Indeed the Apostle affirms that this might be applyed to the Enemies blaspheming Gods name because of the wickedness of those that profess themselves his People Rom. 2.24 But doubtless the Prophet intended here the Heathens blaspheming the God of Israel by their boasting that he was not able to protect or deliver his People according to what we find also in Ezek. 36.20 And when they entered unto the Heathen whither they went they profaned my holy name when they said to them these are the People of the Lord and are gone forth out of his Land Ver. 6. Therefore c. That is Because my People have been thus carried away for nought and have been thus cruelly oppressed and especially because their Enemies have thus blasphemed my Name my People shall know my Name that is they shall experimentally know that I am the Lord Jehovah the only true God of Infinite Power and faithful to make good all my promises according to that which followeth therefore they shall know in that day to wit when my People shall be delivered out of Babylon as I have promised and when all things shall be accomplished by Christ that were foretold of him by the Prophets that I am he that doth speak behold it is I that is that it is I the Lord God that do now foretell these things by my Prophets in that I will exactly then accomplish what I now foretell Ver. 7. How beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tydings c. That is How welcome delightful and acceptable shall
now as we intend it to that great work of our Salvation by Christ begun here but perfected in Heaven it may be particularly applyed to that Evangelical Righteousnes wherewith Christians may be truly said to be Cloathed for which see the Note Chap. 60.21 This I conceive is the true meaning of this place yet I know there are some that would have nothing else intended thereby but only this that God had changed their Captive Garments into the joyful Attire of those that are delivered out of Captivity Ver. 11. For as the Earth bringeth forth her Bud and as the Garden causeth the things that are sown in it to Spring forth c. To wit when the Winter is gone and the Spring is come So the Lord God will cause Righteousness and Praise to Spring forth before all the Nations that is so though God may hide himself from his People for a time yet when he begins to let the light of his Countenance shine forth favourably upon them again he will cause your Land in the sight of all Nations to abound with Righteousness and Praise that is with the discovery of his Goodness and Faithfulness to you and the Praise that shall thereupon be given to him as if these things did grow and spring up every where out of the Earth see the like expression Psal 72.3 and 85.11 The Land shall be covered with Righteousness and Praise as the Earth is with the Fruits that grow up in the Spring time But see also the foregoing Note The drift doubtless of these Expressions is to shew that how impossible and incredible soever these things might seem which the Prophet had promised â— yet that Almighty God that caused the Earth yearly to yield her Fruit would likewise effect this great Change of which he had spoken CHAP. LXII VERSE 1. FOR Zions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest c. The Prophet here professeth that out of love and tender respect to Zion and Gods Church and People and out of zeal for their good their comfort and incouragement he would not give over publishing those glad tydings which he had already declared to them to wit concerning their deliverance out of Babylon and their Redemption by Christ and praying to God for the accomplishment of them though he had long time done this yet he would still incessantly go on to do it yea though he should be never so much discouraged by the incredulity hatred and injurious dealing of the people to whom he imparted these glad Tydings or by seeing the Ruine that should come upon them for a time yet â—e would not cease incessantly to proclaim these things that hereby he might raise up their Hearts constantly to wait for this promised deliverance and Salvation though it might be long er'e it came Vntil the Righteousness thereof goeth forth as brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burneth that is as it respects the Jews in Babylon until by Gods destroying the Babylonians and his Peoples Deliverance the Righteousness of his Peoples Cause which lay hid during their Captivity shall appear so clearly and gloriously that all the Nations about them shall see and acknowledge it Or as it respects the Church of Christ until Christ come who is the Righteousness and Saviour of his People until the great Work of the Righteousness and Salvation of the Church be fully accomplished and do shine forth gloriously in the Ministry of the Gospel to the drawing of all Mens Eyes to it even amongst Gentiles that before sat in gross darkness Some think that this is spoken by the Prophet in the Person of God For Zions sake I will not hold my peace c. To wit that God would not rest till he had pleaded the Righteous Cause of his People and saved them from their Enemies for when he doth forbear to do this he is in the Scripture Phrase said to hold his peace See the Note Chap. 42.14 Yea they say that it cannot be spoken by the Prophet in his own Person because he dyed long before the return of the Jews out of Babylon and much more before the full accomplishment of these things by Jesus Christ But this is not a sufficient reason to disprove what is most generally held by Expositors to wit that the Prophet speaks here in his own Person since his meaning here may be only this that should he live till these things which God had promised his People should come to pass he would never cease to Preach these glad tydings nor to Pray for the speedy performance of them It is not unlike that Speech of the Apostles 1 Thes 4.17 We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds that is should any of us at that day be found living upon Earth it would be so with us Ver. 2. And the Gentiles shall see thy Righteousness c. To wit that before mentioned which should go forth as brightness for which see the foregoing Note and all Kings thy Glory that is all the great Kings of the Gentiles to whom the knowledge of it shall come shall take notice of the exceeding Glory whereto God hath advanced thee See the Note Psal 138.4 And thou shalt be called by a new Name which the Mouth of the Lord shall Name that is God will give thee a new Name to wit that expressed afterward ver 4. Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah But the meaning is either that Gods Church and People should through his favour to them become exceeding Famous and Renowned far more than ever formerly Or that God would bring them into a new Estate and Condition far more glorious than ever formerly heard of which was most fully accomplished when they became the Church of Christ Ver. 3. Thou shalt also be a Crown of Glory in the Hand of the Lord and a Royal Diadem in the Hand of thy God The meaning is either 1. That the Lord by his Hand upon them in their Deliverance and in the great things he would do for them as his peculiar People would advance them to great Glory so that they should be eminently conspicuous and renowned even as a Glorious Crown or Royal Diadem in the Eyes of those that behold it or rather 2. That God would own his People to be an Honour and Glory to him even as a Crown or Diadem which a King takes in his Hand and puts upon his Head as being the people over whom he Reigned as their King and Soveraign and consequently that he would make as precious account of them as a King doth of his Crown and as carefully preserve them Ver. 4. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken c. See the Notes Chap. 49.14 and 54.6 7. Neither shall thy Land any more be termed desolate See the Note Chap. 1.7 and 54.3 But thou shalt be called that is thou shalt be and shalt be owned to be as we see in the like
Expression used concerning Christ See the Note Chap. 7.14 Hephzi-bah that is my Delight is in her It was the very Name of Hezekiahs Wife the Mother of Manassah 2 Kings 21.1 But here the intent of it is that God of his own free grace should greatly delight in his Church and People and thy Land Beulah that is Married for the Lord Delighteth in thee and thy Land shall be Married that is Whereas thy Land hath been bereaved of her People and so hath sat for many years as a lone Woman without Children thou shalt now be in the state of a Married Wife that hath a House full of Children because being received into Favour and Communion with God her Husband her Land should be abundantly filled with Inhabitants yea and this may be extended also to the great inlargement of the Church under Christ in the Days of the Gospel Ver. 5. For as a young Man Marrieth a Virgin c. These are named because the love of such is usually most sincere and fervent and they usually live together with greatest content delight and comfort So shall thy Son Marry thee as if he had said O Zion O my Church and People thy Sons shall possess and enjoy thee as if they were joyned in Marriage with thee and they shall live and dwell with thee as contentedly and comfortably as a young Man is wont to live with some Beautiful Virgin whom he hath taken to be his Wife The intent of the words is to shew that Strangers should not possess Zion any more but that she should be Inhabited constantly by their own Natives who should rejoice and delight in her according to the joy that is betwixt Husband and Wife This passage indeed seems to have some difficulty in it that the Sons of Zion should be said to Marry their Mother And therefore some by her Sons here would have her Governors and Magistrates to be meant who are as a Husband to the State and People But the Exposition before given is I conceive clearly that which is here intended Ver. 6. I have set Watchmen upon thy Walls O Jerusalem c. Here the Lord is brought in speaking to his Church and telling them that for their better safeguard he had set Watchmen upon their Walls that is Prophets Pastors and Teachers See the notes Chap. 21.11 and 52.8 Which shall never hold their peace Day nor Night that is that shall be constant in their Duty both in Teaching the People warning them of their danger and duty and praying to God on their behalf And then again in the following words the Prophet again speaks ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence that is ye amongst Gods people that are wont to speak of God and to pray to God cease not to sollicite him to be favourable to his poor people Or rather O ye the Watchmen of Jerusalem that make mention of the Lord that put Gods people in mind of God his grace and goodness and promises to them and of their Duty and Obedience Or as it is in the Margin of our Bibles Ye that are the Lords remembrancers that is ye whose Office it is to put God in mind of the concernments of his People Oh fail not constantly to do your Duty herein Ver. 7. And give him no rest till he establish c. That is till he settle his Church in a comfortable and lasting Foundation and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth that is till by his wonderful deliverance of his Church and the glorious condition whereunto he shall exalt her she shall be praised extolled and magnified all the world over Or till the Nations do for this praise the Lord See the Note Psal 76.3 And though this was in part fulfilled when Gods people were delivered out of Babylon yet it was chiefly accomplished in the spiritual Splendor of the Church of Christ when that was spread by the Preaching of the Gospel throughout the World Ver. 8. The Lord hath sworn by his Right Hand c. That is say some by his Faithfulness a token whereof among men is usually the giving one the Right Hand But rather by his Right Hand and by the Arm of his Strength is meant his Almighty power for in regard of the difficulty and seeming impossibility of the things promised God ingageth his Almighty power for the accomplishment of them surely I will no more give thy Corn to be Meat for thine Enemies and the Sons of the Stranger shall not drink thy Wine for the which thou hast laboured that is thy Provisions shall not any more be a prey to thine Enemies It is in the Hebrew If I give any more thy Corn c. for which Form of an Oath see the Note Chap. 5.9 It is all one as if God had said let me not be esteemed as an Almighty God if this be so any more Because even after the Jews return from Babylon Enemies did many times spoil the Jews of their outward provisions therefore several Expositors understand this spiritually to wit that the Devil and his Instruments shall never bereave the Church of those Provisions whereby their Souls are to be nourished unto Life Eternal But there is no necessity of flying to this Exposition It is certainly a promise made to Gods People for their defence and their peaceable enjoying their Estates contrary to that Curse Deut. 28.33 Which as it was partly fulfilled when the Jews returned out of Babylon so especially under the Kingdom of Christ the Church never was nor ever shall be deprived of necessary outward Provisions 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And besides when Chistians are bereaved of their outward Estates the Curse of that threatning Deut. 28. is taken away Ver. 9. But they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord c. That is thy People together with the Harvest men imployed by them in gathering in their Corn shall eat it blessing God for it and they that have brought it together that is the Wine before mentioned ver 8. shall drink it in the Courts of my Holiness that is my Sanctuary or in my Holy Courts in my Temple the meaning is that Gods People should in his Church peaceably enjoy the outward blessings God afforded them praising God for them even in their publick Assemblies only in the expressions here used there is an allusion to the Holy Feasts which the Jews kept in the Courts of the Temple for which see the Note Deut. 12.7 How this also is understood by some of the Soul provisions of the Church see in the foregoing Note Ver. 10. Go through go through the Gates c. The doubling of this charge imports the doing of what is here enjoyn'd with all speed and diligence But the great Question is to whom and concerning what Gates this is spoken Some conceive that the Inhabitants of Zion the