The desolation of her enemies. CHA P. XXXIV, XXXV. The joyful state of Christ's kingdom. 1 Or, ostriches. + Heb. owl. + Heb. Ijim. ness. 12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. CHAP. XXXV. The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom. 3 The weak are encouraged by the virtues and privileges of the gospel. TH about 713. 13 And thorns shall come up in HE wilderness and the solitary about 713. her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for towls. 14 † The wild beasts of the desert daughters of shall also meet with † the wild beasts Heb. Ziim. of the island, and the satyr shall cry Or, Right to his fellow; the || screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. monster. 15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 16 ¶ Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. 17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess the stones of emptiness.] The Hebrew word Eben, which signifies a 66 stone," is sometimes taken for a "plummet;" as Zech. iv. 10. That sense will best agree with this place, and makes it exactly parallel with 2 Kings xxi. 13, where, as here, the instruments of building are applied to destroying. W. Lowth. The meaning is, God shall condemn it to perpetual confusion and ruin, never to be either built or inhabited. Bp. Hall. 16. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord,] God's omniscience is often described in Scripture as a register book, wherein every occurrence is exactly set down. See chap. lxv. 6; Deut. xxxii. 34; Ps. lvi. 8. So this prophecy, says the text, is a register of the fate of Idumea; whosoever in aftertimes will compare the event with this, will find every circumstance here foretold punctually fulfilled. W. Lowth. Such seems to be the drift of the exhortation, directed here by the Prophet to men of but little faith, who were too apt to receive his assertion with doubt and caution. Some have supposed Isaiah here to refer them to all the passages of Holy Writ which threaten Edom. Vitringa. — my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.] Some manuscripts give, "The mouth of the Lord hath commanded," &c. with which reading the Septuagint agrees. Bp. Lowth. By "them" are intended the creatures mentioned in verses 13-15. W. Lowth. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line:] That is, with the same exactness as He divided the Holy Land by lot among the children of Israel, Josh. xviii. 8; Ps. lxxviii. 55. W. Lowth. place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, a Heb. 12.12. and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a † fear- ↑ Heb. hasty. ful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5 Then the 'eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. с d e lame man leap tongue of the shall 6 Then shall the as an hart, and the dumb sing: for in the wilderness 'waters break out, and streams in the desert. Chap. XXXV. As the judgments denounced in the last chapter belong not only to "Idumea," but to later times and occurrences, so the new face of things described in this is to be applied to the flourishing state of the Church, or golden age of the Gospel, to commence from our Saviour's appearing, and to be more fully completed when all His enemies "shall be destroyed." When the Divine justice is made manifest in punishing incorrigible sinners, it is usual to describe it as matter of rejoicing to the righteous. See Ps. lviii. 10, 11; Jer. fi. 10, 48. And here the Church, which had before been desolate and forlorn, a "wilderness" and solitary place," (see Rev. xii. 14,) is said to be about to rejoice, when these judgments shall be executed upon God's enemies and her persecutors. W. Lowth, Bp. Wilson. See the note on chap. xxix. 17. 66 Ver. 5, 6. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, &c.] This prophecy very fully expresses the power of miracles, with which our Saviour was to be dignified, in curing all manner of diseases, of which the Prophet here names only four, to give a specimen of the rest; and it seems as if he had chosen these sorts before others, because throughout the Scriptures we do not find that any Prophet did the like. Dean Allix. Our Lord's appeal, in His answer to the Baptist's messengers, lies not to miracles in general, but to such as were more particularly predicted of the Messiah. Dean Stanhope. 6, 7.-in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, &c.] The cultivation and watering of desert and thirsty lands is so apt and constant an emblem, in g Chap. 51. 11. 713. a 2 Kings 18. 13. 8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Before CHRIST 710. 3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the || scribe, Or, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. 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? 9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it 5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are shall not be found there; but the re-but † vain words) || I have counsel and deemed shall walk there: strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 'CHAP. XXXVI. 1 Sennacherib invadeth Judah. 4 Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, by blasphemous persuasions soliciteth the people to revolt. 22 His words are told to Hezekiah. NOW OW it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Heze2 Chron. 32. kiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 1. 710. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great 8.- but it shall be for those: &c.] The words here may be better translated, as the marginal rendering gives it in part, "But He (that is, God) shall go along with them in the way, and the simple shall not err therein." W. Lowth. Some ancient manuscripts are favourable to this way of taking the passage, and our old English versions translate to this purpose. Bp. Lowth. The meaning of the "wayfaring man," or the simple's not erring," (as figuratively applicable to the Christian Church,) is, that the duties required of us by God are so plain and evident, that he, who sets himself to the practice of them, though he be of slow understanding, cannot but know them; or, again, that the condition of the covenant required of us under Christ is not such, as that any man through weakness, ignorance, or involuntary errour, should lose his part of the promise of that covenant; but only deliberate sins against grace and against knowledge are imputed to any man to his ruin. Dr. Hammond. See note on Deut. xxx. 14. 9. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast] We may understand to be implied by this, that men of me? secretary. word of lips. Heb. a Or, but strength are counsel and for the war. 6, 7. 6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of b Ezek. 29. this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 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? 8 Now therefore give || pledges, I ||Or, hostages. pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of brutish appetites, of cruel and voracious tempers, shall despise Christ's preaching; neither shall any that delight in wickedness, or trust in themselves and their own reason, the haughty scorners, receive His doctrine, or embrace the Gospel, but the godly alone and humble. Bps. Chandler and Wilson. 10. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads :] The last phrase may allude to the crowns or garlands put on the heads of newly married persons; and used at other times of publick rejoicing compare 1 Thess. ii. 19. The former part to the expressions of joy used in going up to Jerusalem on the solemn festivals. W. Lowth. Chap. XXXVI. The history of the invasion of Sennacherib, and of the miraculous destruction of his army, which makes the subject of so many of Isaiah's prophecies, is very properly inserted here, as affording the best light to many parts of those prophecies; and as almost necessary to introduce the prophecy in the thirty-seventh chapter, being the answer of God to Hezekiah's prayer, which could not be properly understood without it. We find the same narrative in the second book of Kings, chapters xviii, xix, and xx: and this and the three following chapters of Isaiah, for much the most part, the account of the sickness of Hezekiah only excepted, are but a different copy of that narration. The difference of the two copies is little more than what has manifestly soliciteth the people to revolt. Before 710. CHAP. XXXVI, XXXVII. Hezekiah sendeth to Isaiah. Before 710. CHRIST my master's servants, and put thy | gods of these lands, that have deliver- CHRIST trust on Egypt for chariots and for ed their land out of my hand, that horsemen ? the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? favour by a 10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. 11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. 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, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. 15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Hor. Seek my † Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; present. 1 Heb. Make with me a blessing. 17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of hand? my 20 Who are they among all the arisen from the mistakes of transcribers. Some few sentences, or members of sentences, are omitted in Isaiah, which are found in the book of Kings: whether these omissions were made by design or by mistake, may be 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the houshold, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. CHAP. XXXVII. 1 Hezekiah mourning_sendeth to Isaiah to pray for them. 6 Isaiah comforteth them. 8 Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sendeth a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah. 14 Hezekiah's prayer. 21 Isaiah's prophecy of the pride and destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion. 36 An angel slayeth the Assyrians. 37 Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons. AND it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the houshold, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. a 2 Kings 19. 1, &c. 3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of || blas- or, phemy for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is + left. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, provocation. + Heb. found. doubted. Bp. Lowth. For notes upon this chapter the reader is referred to 2 Kings xviii. Chap. XXXVII. See the notes on 2 Kings xix. CHRIST 710. ISAIAH. Hezekiah's prayer. Or, put a spirit into him. 8 ¶ So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 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, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Il Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king | of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? 14 ¶ And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, Isaiah's prophecy of the 19 And have † cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only. 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. Before CHRIST 710. ↑ Heb. given. hand of thy 24 + By thy servants hast thou re- + Heb. By the proached the Lord, and hast said, By servants. the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down + the tall cedars thereof, + Heb. and the choice fir trees thereof: and of the cedars I will enter into the height of his thereof, and border, and || the forest of his Car- the fir trees mel. 25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the || besieged places. the tallness the choice of thereof. || Or, the forest and his fruitful field. Or, fenced and closed. thou not ago, it ancient times? should I now 26 Hast thou not heard long ago, Or, Hast how I have done it; and of ancient heard how I times, that I have formed it? now have made ind have I brought it to pass, that thou formed it of 16 O LORD of hosts, God of Is-shouldest be to lay waste defenced rael, that dwellest between the cheru- cities into ruinous heaps. bims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. 18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of + Heb. lands. Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, bring it to be laid waste, and defenced cities to be heaps? of hand. 27 Therefore their inhabitants were + of small power, they were dismayed ruinous and confounded: they were as the Heb. short grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 28 But I know thy || abode, and | Or, sitting. thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine destruction of Sennacherib. CHA P. XXXVII, XXXVIII. Hezekiah hath his life lengthened. Before CHRIST ears, therefore will I put my hook in | land of † Armenia: and Esar-haddon 710. + Heb. the escaping of Judah that by which thou camest. 30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. 31 And the remnant that is esthe house of caped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: remaineth. + Heb. the 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that esb2 Kings 19. cape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. escaping. 31. ch. 9. 7. e 2 Kings 20. 6. d 2 Kings 19. 35. 33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37¶So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the Ver. 29. therefore will I put my hook in thy nose,] Just as at this day they put a ring into the nose of the bear, the buffalo, and other wild beasts, to lead them, and to govern them when they are unruly. Bp. Lowth. Chap. XXXVIII. See the notes on 2 Kings xx. 1-11. Ver. 3. And said, Remember now, O Lord, &c.] See on ver. 17. the note from Abp. Secker; and on 1 Kings xv. 14. the note from Jos. Mede. 5.- I have heard thy prayer,] From these words, compared with the first verse, it appears, that this sickness would have put an end to Hezekiah's life, if he had not earnestly prayed to God to spare him; and that God was moved by his prayers to reverse the sentence of Na those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the pro- 20. 1. phet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, † Set thine house in order: + Heb. Give for thou shalt die, and not live. charge concerning thy 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face house. toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, 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. And Hezekiah wept † sore. 4¶ Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. 7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; death which was gone out against him, and to grant him a longer continuance on the throne of his kingdom. It appears also from the preceding chapter, that Hezekiah by his prayers obtained another miraculous deliverance; namely, that from the army of the Assyrians. These things are written for our admonition, to excite us to be very diligent and devout in the worship of God, since the issues of life and death, and of all human affairs, are in His hands; and He has assured us, that He is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, that He hears their prayers, and will deny them no manner of thing that is good for them. Reading. 9. The writing of Hezekiah] Here the book of Kings deserts us, the song of Hezekiah not being inserted in it. Bp. Lowth. |