An abundant effusion A. M. 3294. 26 Put me in remembrance: let us || 'teachers have transgressed against me. A. M. 3294. plead together: declare thou, that thou 28 Therefore I have profaned the mayest be justified. B. C. 710. 10 princes of the sanctuary, and have given 27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. 9 Heb. interpreters, Mal. ii. 7, 8. Chap. xlvii. 6; Lam. ii. 10 Or, holy princes. 2, 6, 7. member thy sins-So as to punish them, and destroy thee for them, as thou deservest. -P Psa. lxxix. 4; Jer. xxiv. 9; Dan. ix. 11; Zech. viii. 13. Verses 27, 28. Thy first father hath sinned— Some think that Urijah, who was high-priest in the Verse 26. Put me in remembrance--Of thy good|| time of Ahaz, is here especially meant: see 2 Kings deeds and merits. Let us plead together--I give xvi. 10, 11. But it is more probable that the exthee free liberty to urge all thou canst in thy own pression is put for their forefathers collectively; and behalf. Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified so he tells them, that as they were sinners, so also ---Bring forward all thou canst, in order to thy justi- were all their progenitors, yea, even the best of them. fication, and declare on what ground thou expectest Thus Lowth: "Your ancestors, reckoning from to be acquitted, and continued in my favour. But Adam downward, have been sinners, and you have perhaps the words are not to be considered as spoken trod in their steps:" see Ezek. ii. 3, and xvi. 2, &c. ; ironically, and intended as a rebuke to such as were Ezra ix. 7. And thy teachers have transgressed, proud and self-righteous; but are rather to be under- || &c.--Your prophets, priests, and teachers, who ought stood as a direction to penitent sinners, showing them to have been guides to you, and intercessors for you how they might obtain the pardon offered in the pre- with God, have led you into sin and error, and thereceding verse. Is God thus ready to pardon sin; and, fore you have no reason to fancy yourselves innowhen he pardons it, will he remember it no more? cent. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the Let us then put him in remembrance, mention be- sanctuary-The highest and best of your priests, fore him those sins which he forgives; for they must whose persons were most sacred, and therefore were be ever before us, to humble us, even though he supposed, by themselves and others, to be the farthest pardons them, Psa. li. 3. We must put him in re- from danger. As they had made themselves promembrance of the promises he has made to the fane, so have I dealt with them as such, without any penitent, and of the satisfaction his Son has made regard to the sacredness and dignity of their funcfor them. We must plead these with him when we tions. Have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel implore a pardon, and declare these things, in order to reproaches-Have exposed them to contempt that we may be justified freely by his grace. This and destruction, and made them a proverb of exis the only way, and it is a sure way, to pardon and ecration and reproach to all the neighbouring napeace. tions. CHAPTER XLIV. The prophet proceeds in this chapter, as in the last, to encourage God's people with promises of spiritual blessings to be conferred upon them, after their return from captivity, and especially in the days of the Messiah, 1–5. God solemnly avows his own absolute eternity, sole divinity, and infinite foreknowledge, 6-8. Exposes the vanity of idols, and the folly of those who first made and then worshipped them, 9-20. Charges his people to consider his relation to them, and what he had done, did, and would do for them, as an incitement to repentance and thanksgiving. B. C. 710. a B. C. 710. A. M. 3294. YET now hear, O Jacob, my ser- formed thee from the womb, which A. M. 3294. || vant; and Israel, whom I have will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen : с b Chap. xliii. 1, 7.- Deut. xxxii. 15. son; and as God sometimes designed certain persons for particular offices, from their birth, or conception, so he set apart the posterity of Abraham to be his people from the very original of the family;" and formed and fashioned them for himself, by laws, ordinances, teachers, promises, threatenings, corrections, and many other ways. Jesurun is another name for Jacob or Israel, given to them by Moses, The vanity and folly of A. M. 3291. 3 For I will d pour water upon || are coming, and shall come, let them A. M. 3294. the dry ground : i B. C. 710. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God 4 And they shall spring up as among the besides me? yea, there is no God; I know grass, as willows by the water-courses. not any. 5 One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel. 6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, e and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. k 1 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall de-all be gathered together, let them stand up; clare it, and set it in order for me, since I ap- yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed pointed the ancient people? and the things that together. Deut. xxxii. 15, (where see the note,) and xxxiii. 5, 26. from the first ages of the world. And have declared it--Have published it to the world in my sacred records. Ye are even my witnesses-Both of my predictions, and of the exact agreeableness of events to them. that are coming, &c.-Such things as are near at hand, and such as are to come hereafter. Have not Verses 3-5. I will pour water--My Spirit, as it is I told thee?-Thee, O Israel, whom he bids not to expounded in the latter part of the verse, frequently fear. The sense is, I call you Israelites to bear me compared to water in the Scriptures; upon him that is witness, whether I have not, from time to time, acthirsty--That is destitute of it, and that sincerely and quainted you with things to come; from that time earnestly desires it; and my blessing upon thine off--When I appointed the ancient people, (verse 7,) spring--All the blessings of my covenant, especially those of a spiritual nature. This promise seems to have been made with a design to raise the minds and hearts of the Jews from carnal and worldly things, to which they were too much addicted, to spiritual and heavenly blessings, and thereby to prepare them for the reception of the gospel. And they shall spring up, &c.-They shall increase and flourish like grass, and those herbs and plants which grow up in the midst of it. One shall say, I am the Lord's, &c.-This verse seems to relate to the increase of the church by the accession of the Gentiles: as if he had said, The blessing of God upon the Jews shall be so remarkable that many of the Gentiles shall join themselves unto them, and accept Jehovah for their God, and own themselves for his people. Verses 9-11. They that make a graven image are vanity-Hereby discover themselves to be vain, empty, and foolish men. And their delectable things shall not profit--Their idols, in which they take so much pleasure. They are their own witnesses— They that make them are witnesses against themselves and against their idols, because they know they are not gods, but the work of their own hands. They see not, nor know--Have neither sense nor || understanding, therefore they have just cause to be ashamed of their folly in worshipping such senseless things. Who hath formed a god, &c.--What man in his wits would do it? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed--The workmen who, in this work, are partners with him, by whose cost and command the work is done; or those who any way assist in this work, and join with him in worshipping the image which he makes. They are of men-They are of mankind, and therefore cannot possibly make a god. They shall be ashamed together-Though all combine together, they shall be filled with fear and confusion when God shall plead his cause against them. & Verses 6-8. Thus saith the Lord, &c.-Here God renews his contest with idols, which he insists on so often, and so much, because his own people were exceeding prone to idolatry. And who-Which of all the heathen gods; shall call, and shall declare it-Shall, by his powerful call, cause a future event to be, and, by his infinite foreknowledge, declare that it shall be. And set it in order for me-Order- || ly relate all future events in the same manner as they shall happen. Since I appointed the ancient people-Ad'& εñoinσa avvрwяov. Since I first made man upon the earth: so the LXX. And the things VOL. III. ( 15 ) 225 The vanity and folly of B. C. 710. ISAIAH. B. C. 710. idols, and their worship. A. M. 3294. 12 The smith 3 with the tongs both || and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth A. M. 3294. worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, with hammers, and worketh it with the strength I have seen the fire: of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 6 S 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh 19 And none considereth in his heart, the cypress and the oak, which he strength- neither is there knowledge nor understanding eneth for himself among the trees of the to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth || yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals nourish it. thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: tree? 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for and shall I make the residue thereof an abohe will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, ||mination? shall I fall down to the stock of a he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, P Chap. xl. 19; xli. 6; Jer. x. 3, &c.- -3 Or, with an axe. 4 Or, taketh courage: -9 Chap. xlv. 20.-2 Thess. ii. 11. 5 Heb. daubed. Verses 12-17. The smith, &c.--"The sacred writers," says Bishop Lowth, "are generally large and eloquent upon the subject of idolatry: they treat it with great severity, and set forth the absurdity of it in the strongest light. But this passage of Isaiah || far exceeds any thing that ever was written upon the subject, in force of argument, energy of expression, || and elegance of composition. One or two of the apocryphal writers have attempted to imitate the prophet, but with very ill success: Wisd. xiii. 11-19, and xv. 7, &c.; Baruk, chap. vi.; especially the latter, who, injudiciously dilating his matter, and introducing a number of minute circumstances, has very much weakened the force and effect of his invective. On the contrary, a heathen author, in the ludicrous way, has, in a line or two, given idolatry one of the severest strokes it ever received: "Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum; Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, Maluit esse Deum." || "I was of old the trunk of a fig-tree, a useless block;|| when the carpenter, uncertain whether to make a bench or a Priapus, chose that I should be a god."-Hor., lib. i. sat. 8. He maketh it after the figure of a man, &c.--In the same comely shape and proportions which are in a living man; that it may remain in the house--In the dwelling-house of him that made it. He heweth him down cedars and the oak-Which afford the best and most durable timber; which he strengtheneth for himself--He plants, 226 20 He feedeth on ashes: ta deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? 6 Hebrew, setteth to his heart. brew, that which comes of a tree.21; 2 Thess. ii. 11. Chapter xlvi. 8.—7 He - Hosea iv. 12; Romans i. and with care and diligence improves those trees, that he or his posterity may thence have materials for their images, and those things which belong to them. He maketh an image, and falleth down thereto--Having related the practices of idolaters, he now discovers the vanity and folly of them, that they make their fire and their god of the same materials, distinguished only by the art of man, and roast their meat with the article which they worship. Verses 18-20. They have not known, &c.-They want common discretion, and have not the understanding of a rational being in them. For what an absurdity is it for a man to dress his meat and make his god with the same piece of wood! Or to think that a log of timber hath any more divinity in it than it had before, because of the form man can give it, or any thing he can do to it! When," says Minutius Felix, "does it become a god! Behold, it is cast, fashioned, and carved! It is not yet a god. It is soldered, put together, and set up. Neither is it yet a god. Behold, it is adorned, consecrated, and prayed to! Then at length it is a god when men have chosen and dedicated it." He hath shut their eyes-God hath. Not as if God made men wicked; he only permits them so to be, and orders and overrules their wickedness to his own glorious ends. And none considereth in his heart-By which the prophet implies, that the true cause of this, as well as of other absurd and brutish practices of sinners, is the neglect of serious and impartial consideration. He feedeth on ashes-An unprofitable and pernicious ( 15* ) 3 Expressions of the A. M. 3294. u с B. C. 710. 21 Remember these, O Jacob and || LORD that maketh all things; that A. M. 3294. Israel; for thou art my servant: I stretcheth forth the heavens alone; have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Is- that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself: rael, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. 25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. disappointment of their predictions, and their disgrace which followed it. That turneth wise men backward-Stopping their way, and blasting their designs. That confirmeth the word of his servants -The prophets, as appears from the next clause, food, and no less unsatisfying and mischievous is the || And maketh the diviners mad-With grief for the worship of idols. A deceived heart-A mind corrupted and deceived by deep prejudice, gross error, and especially by his own lusts; hath turned him aside-From the way of truth, from the knowledge and worship of the true God, unto this irrational and foolish idolatry; that he cannot deliver his soul-namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, whom God From this error, and the vengeance that will follow upon it; nor say, Is there not a lie, &c.-Is not this idol which I honour and trust to a mere fiction and delusion which will deceive me? || sent to foretel the destruction of Babylon, and the redemption of his people. The connection of this with verse 25, is, As God discovers the folly and madness of such false prophets, so he punctually fulfils the predictions of his own prophets. That saith to the deep, Be dry—That with a word can dry up the sea and rivers, and remove all impediments. "Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night, through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also noted by Jeremiah. A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: I will lay her sea dry; and I will scorch up her springs, Jer. 1. 38; li. 36. It is proper here to give some account of the method by which the stratagem of Cyrus was effected. The Euphrates, in the middle of summer, from the melting of the snows on the mountains of || Armenia, like the Nile, overflows the country. In order to diminish the inundation, and carry off the waters, two canals were made by Nebuchadnezzar a hundred miles above the city; the first on the eastern || || Verses 21-23. Remember these-These things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters. O Israel, thou shall not be forgotten-I will not forget nor forsake thee; therefore thou shalt have no need of idols. I have blotted out as a cloud, &c.—As the sun arising disperses the clouds, and causes them to vanish and disappear, so have I, arising for thy salvation, with the light and influence of my grace, scattered and removed thy transgressions, that there is no remnant or appearance of them left: a beautiful and expressive metaphor. Return unto meFrom thine idolatry, and other sinful practices. For I have redeemed thee-Therefore thou art mine, and obliged to return and adhere to me. Sing, O ye heavens, &c.—“The prophet here, by an elegant apostrophe, calls upon all creatures to glorify God for his singular blessing to his people in delivering them from their captivity in Babylon; which also has a further respect to the great and spiritual deliverance of mankind by the Messiah;" a mercy so transcend-side, called Naharmalca, or the Royal river, by ent, that, as he intimates, it is sufficient, were it possible, to make even the stones break forth in praises to God. Verses 24-27. I am the Lord that maketh all things-And therefore I can save thee without the help of any other gods, or any creature; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars-Of the magicians and astrologers, who were numerous and greatly esteemed in Babylon, and who had foretold the long continuance and prosperity of the Chaldean empire. || which the Euphrates was let into the Tigris; the other on the western side, called Pallacopas, or Naharaga, (Hebrew, D, the river of the pool,) by which the redundant waters were carried into a vast lake, forty miles square, contrived, not only to lessen the inundation, but for a reservoir, with sluices to water the barren country on the Arabian side. Cyrus, by turning the whole river into the latter lake, laid the channel, where it ran through the city, almost dry; so that his army entered it both above Cyrus and his A. M. 3294. 28 That saith ISAIAH. i victories foretold. B. C. 710. of Cyrus, He || salem, Thou shalt be built; and A. M. 3294. i2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23; and below by the bed of the river, the water not reaching above the middle of the thigh. By the great quantity of water let into the lake, the sluices and dams were destroyed; and being never repaired afterward, the waters spread over the whole country below, and reduced it into a morass, in which the|| river is lost."-Bishop Lowth. Ezra i. 1; Chap. xlv. 13. rescue them from wolves or tyrants, to gather them together, to rule them gently, and to provide comfortably for them. Xenophon tells us, that Cyrus used to compare kings in general, and himself in particular, to a shepherd.-Cyropæd., lib. 8. And shall perform all my pleasure-All that I command him to do, especially to give leave and order for the Verse 28. That saith of Cyrus-Whom God here || rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as mentions by his proper name, two hundred years before he was born, that this might be an undeniable evidence of the exactness of God's foreknowledge, and a convincing argument to conclude this dispute between God and idols. He is my shepherd-Him will I set up to be the shepherd of my people, to it here follows. This prophecy, which thus speaks of Cyrus by name, as foreknown and appointed by the divine counsel for the performance of the great work designed by providence, is one of the most remarkable contained in Scripture, of the same kind with that 1 Kings xiii. 1, 2. CHAPTER XLV. In pursuance of the subject of the preceding chapter, we have here the commission which God would give Cyrus, and the success wherewith he would bless his arms, 1-4. The proof God would hereby give of his eternal power and godhead, and his universal incontestable sovereignty, 5-7. A prayer for the hastening of this deliverance, 8. A check to those who murmured against the appointments and dispensations of God, 9, 10. Encouragement given to those who trusted in God, and continued instant in prayer, 11–15. Idols and their worshippers shall be destroyed, and God alone exalted, 16-21. Both Jews and Gentiles are called to renounce their idolatries and turn to Jehovah, who reveals himself as a just God and a Saviour, engaging that all mankind shall bow to him, and that in him Israel shall be justified and shall glory, NOTES ON CHAPTER XLV. To subdue nations before him—The nations conVerse 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, quered by him, according to Xenophon, were “the &c.-Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed, a title Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, the usually given to the kings of the Jews, who were || Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, BabyloGod's immediate deputies, not because material oil nians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, had been poured upon him when he was made king, Indians, Cilicians, the Saca, Paphlagones, and Maas was the case with most of them, but because he riandyni." All these kingdoms he acknowledges, was raised up, and ordained by the divine counsel, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have to perform God's good pleasure, and furnished for been given him by Jehovah, the God of heaven, that purpose with the necessary endowments; Ezra i. 2. And I will loose the loins of kings—İ among which must be reckoned "his singular jus- || will weaken them, and render them unprepared and tice, his reverence toward the divine nature, his unable to oppose Cyrus. "The eastern people, prudence, fortitude, and distinguished clemency and wearing long and loose garments, were unfit for achumanity:" to all which, and many other of his ex- tion or business of any kind, without girding their cellent qualities, his historian, Xenophon, bears tes- clothes about them: when their business was finishtimony. Whose right hand I have holden-Or || ed, they took off their girdles. A girdle, therefore, strengthened, as npin may be properly rendered; denotes strength and activity; and to unloose the whom I will powerfully assist, teaching his hands to girdle is to deprive of strength, to render unfit for war, as the phrase is Psa. xviii. 34, supporting and action." To open before him the two-leaved gates directing his right hand, and enabling him to surmount all difficulties, and to overcome all opposition. "The gates of Babylon, within the city, leading from the streets to the river, were providentially left |