Isaiah · Chapter 5

V. 1. Now-I will record it to be a witness for God, and against you, as Moses did his song, Deuteronomy 31:19 32:1. To-To the Lord of the vineyard. Of my beloved-Not devised by me, but inspired by God. Vineyard-His church. Hill-Hills being places most commodious for vines.

Verse 1. Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved— “Let me sing now a song,” &c.] A MS., respectable for its antiquity, adds the word ryv shir, a song, after an na; which gives so elegant a turn to the sentence by the repetition of it in the next member, and by distinguishing the members so exactly in the style and manner in the Hebrew poetical composition, that I am much inclined to think it genuine. A song of my beloved— “A song of loves”] ydwd dodey, for דודים dodim: status constructus pro absoluto, as the grammarians say, as Micah 6:16; Lamentations 3:14, 66, so Archbishop Secker. Or rather, in all these and the like cases, a mistake of the transcribers, by not observing a small stroke, which in many MSS., is made to supply the m mem, of the plural, thus, /ydwd dodi. דודים שירת shirath dodim is the same with tdydy ryv shir yedidoth, Psalm 45:1. In this way of understanding it we avoid the great impropriety of making the author of the song, and the person to whom it is addressed, to be the same. In a very fruitful hill— “On a high and fruitful hill.”] Heb. שמנ בנ ˆrqb bekeren ben shamen, “on a horn the son of oil.” The expression is highly descriptive and poetical. “He calls the land of Israel a horn, because it is higher than all lands; as the horn is higher than the whole body; and the son of oil, because it is said to be a land flowing with milk and honey.”— Kimchi on the place. The parts of animals are, by an easy metaphor, applied to parts of the earth, both in common and poetical language. A promontory is called a cape or head; the Turks call it a nose. “Dorsum immane mari summo;” Virgil, a back, or ridge of rocks:—

“Hanc latus angustum jam se cogentis in arctum

Hesperiæ tenuem producit in æquora linguam,

Adriacas flexis claudit quæ cornibus undas.”

Lucan, ii. 612, of Brundusium, i.e., Brentesion, which, in the ancient language of that country, signifies stag’s head, says Strabo. A horn is a proper and obvious image for a mountain or mountainous country. Solinus, cap. viii., says, “Italiam, ubi longius processerit, in cornua duo scindi;” that is, the high ridge of the Alps, which runs through the whole length of it, divides at last into two ridges, one going through Calabria, the other through the country of the Brutii. “Cornwall is called by the inhabitants in the British tongue Kernaw, as lessening by degrees like a horn, running out into promontories like so many horns. For the Britons call a horn corn, in the plural kern.”—Camden. “And Sammes is of opinion, that the country had this name originally from the Phœnicians, who traded hither for tin; keren, in their language, being a horn.”—Gibson.

Here the precise idea seems to be that of a high mountain standing by itself; “vertex montis, aut pars montis ad aliis divisa;” which signification, says I. H. Michaelis, Bibl. Hallens., Not. in loc., the word has in Arabic. Judea was in general a mountainous country, whence Moses sometimes calls it The Mountain, “Thou shalt plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance;” Exodus 15:17. “I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land beyond Jordan; that goodly mountain, and Lebanon;” Deuteronomy 3:25. And in a political and religious view it was detached and separated from all the nations round it. Whoever has considered the descriptions given of Mount Tabor, (see Reland, Palæstin.; Eugene Roger, Terre Sainte, p. 64,) and the views of it which are to be seen in books of travels, (Maundrell, p. 114; Egmont and Heyman, vol. ii., p. 25; Thevenot, vol. i., p. 429,) its regular conic form rising singly in a plain to a great height, from a base small in proportion, and its beauty and fertility to the very top, will have a good idea of “a horn the son of oil;” and will perhaps be induced to think that the prophet took his image from that mountain.

Verse 1. Now will I sing, &c. — Bishop Lowth translates this clause, “Let me sing now a song to my beloved; a song of loves concerning his vineyard.” This is the exordium, a kind of title placed before the song; which song he records, as Moses did his, that it might be a witness for God, and against Israel. The beloved, to whom the prophet addresses the song, is the Lord of the vineyard, as appears by the latter clause of the verse, namely, God, or his Messiah, whom the prophet loved and served, and for whose glory, eclipsed by the barrenness of the vineyard, he was greatly concerned: a song of my beloved — Not devised by me, but inspired by God, which, therefore, it behooveth you to lay deeply to heart: touching his vineyard — The house of Israel, (verse 7,) or his church among the Israelites, often, and very properly, called a vineyard, because of God’s singular regard to it, and care and cultivation of it; his delight in it, and expectation of good fruit from it. My beloved hath, &c. — Hebrew, µrk hyh ydydyl, my beloved hath had a vineyard, namely, for many ages, with which he hath long taken great pains, and on which he hath bestowed much culture; in a very fruitful hill — Hebrew, on a horn, the son of oil, “an expression,” says Bishop Lowth, “highly descriptive and poetical.” According to Kimchi the prophet gives the land of Israel this appellation because of its height and fertility. Accordingly, the bishop renders the phrase, on a high and fruitful hill, observing, that “the parts of animals are, by an easy metaphor, applied to parts of the earth, both in common and poetical language. A promontory is called a cape, or head; the Turks call it a nose; a ridge of rocks, a back, (‘dorsum immane mari summo, a huge back in the deep sea;’ Virg.) Thus a horn is a proper and obvious image for a mountain, or mountainous country.” Hills are places most commodious for vines, and the hills of Canaan being very fertile, the phrase, son of oil, is added to express that circumstance, both because oil includes the idea of fatness, and because oil-olive was one of the most valued productions of that land. Indeed the word horn also is frequently used in Scripture as an emblem of plenty, their wealth consisting very much in their herds, as well as flocks.

Verse 1. My well-beloved; the Messiah, who certainly was Lord of the Vineyard, and the men of Judah were his pleasant plants. Psalm 80:14,

15. Ezekiel 17:6. Hosea 10:1. Matthew 20:1-16. They were a people whom he cultivated, and with whom he delighted as a garden. To understand this vineyard of a fruitful horn is diverting enough; for a horn, like a mountain, is elevated. So Dr. Lowth, for two pages; and so Erasmus makes us merry in his battle of grammarians.

1, 2. Now will I sing — Rather, Let me sing. The singing was in the form of chanting. Such was probably the mode of the delivery of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning this “vineyard” — the Jewish Church. To my… beloved — In honour of my beloved, Jehovah, Israel’s manifested deity. Vineyard — The vineyard symbolizes Jehovah’s people — the tribes of Israel. Fruitful hill — Literally, on the horn of the son of oil; that is, a high and very fat and fragile ridge. He fenced it — Girded the holy land with isolating limits, and separated Israel from the nations with isolating institutions and laws. Gathered out the stones — A necessary work in preparing for a “vineyard.” The expression symbolizes the casting out the idolatrous tribes that encumbered the land. Planted… choicest vine — The noble stock of Abraham. Tower in… midst — Vineyards and gardens required to be watched, and towers and booths, the former especially, in established vineyards were erected. These terms signify watchful protection: they may also denote the moral influence of the temple and its worship in Jerusalem. Winepress — A press was a necessary equipment to a rich vineyard. The expressed juice of the grape is here symbolical of the refreshing spiritual strength derived from the worship of Jehovah. He looked — He expected, awaited, a good crop; symbolic of a fruitful religious character. But wild grapes only appeared; a bad fruitage, emblematic of bad men, bad principles, base idolatry.

V. 2. He gathered-He removed all hindrances, and gave them all the means of fruitfulness. A tower-For the residence of the keepers.

Verse 2. And gathered out the stones— “And he cleared it from the stones”] This was agreeable to the husbandry: “Saxa, summa parte terræ, et vites et arbores læduct; ima parte refrigerant;” Columell. de arb. iii. “Saxosum facile est expedire lectione lapidum;” Id. ii. 2. “Lapides, qui supersunt, [al. insuper sunt,] hieme rigent, æstate fervescunt; idcirco satis, arbustis, et vitibus nocent;” Pallad. i. 6. A piece of ground thus cleared of the stones. Persius, in his hard way of metaphor, calls “exossatus ager,” an unboned field; Sat. vi. 52.

The choicest vine— “Sorek”] Many of the ancient interpreters, the Septuagint, Aquila, and Theod., have retained this word as a proper name; I think very rightly. Sorek was a valley lying between Ascalon and Gaza, and running far up eastward in the tribe of Judah. Both Ascalon and Gaza were anciently famous for wine; the former is mentioned as such by Alexander Trallianus; the latter by several authors, quoted by Reland, Palæst., p. 589 and 986. And it seems that the upper part of the valley of Sorek, and that of Eshcol, where the spies gathered the single cluster of grapes, which they were obliged to bear between two upon a staff, being both near to Hebron were in the same neighbourhood, and that all this part of the country abounded with rich vineyards. Compare Numbers 13:22, 23; Judges 16:3, 4. P. Nau supposes Eshcol and Sorek to be only different names for the same valley. Voyage Noveau de la Terre Sainte, lib. iv., chap. 18. See likewise Deuteronomy Lisle’s posthumous map of the Holy Land. Paris, 1763. See Bochart, Hieroz. ii., col. 725. Thevenot, i, p. 406. Michaelis (note on Judges 16:4, German translation) thinks it probable, from some circumstances of the history there given, that Sorek was in the tribe of Judah, not in the country of the Philistines.

The vine of Sorek was known to the Israelites, being mentioned by Moses, Genesis 49:11, before their coming out of Egypt. Egypt was not a wine country. “Throughout this country there are no wines;” Sandys, p.

101. At least in very ancient times they had none. Herodotus, ii. 77, says it had no vines and therefore used an artificial wine made of barley. That is not strictly true, for the vines of Egypt are spoken of in Scripture, Psalm 78:47; 105:33; and see Genesis 40:11, by which it should seem that they drank only the fresh juice pressed from the grape, which was called oinov ampelinov; Herodot., ii. 37. But they had no large vineyards, nor was the country proper for them, being little more than one large plain, annually overflowed by the Nile. The Mareotic in later times is, I think, the only celebrated Egyptian wine which we meet with in history. The vine was formerly, as Hasselquist tells us it is now, “cultivated in Egypt for the sake of eating the grapes, not for wine, which is brought from Candia,” &c. “They were supplied with wine from Greece, and likewise from Phœnicia,” Herodot., iii. 6. The vine and the wine of Sorek therefore, which lay near at hand for importation into Egypt, must in all probability have been well known to the Israelites, when they sojourned there. There is something remarkable in the manner in which Moses, Genesis 49:11, makes mention of it, which, for want of considering this matter, has not been attended to; it is in Jacob’s prophecy of the future prosperity of the tribe of Judah:—

“Binding his foal to the vine,

And his ass’s colt to his own sorek;

He washeth his raiment in wine,

And his cloak in the blood of grapes.”

I take the liberty of rendering hqrc sorekah, for wqrc soreko, his sorek, as the Masoretes do by pointing hry[ iroh, for wry[ iro, his foal. ry[ ir, might naturally enough appear in the feminine form; but it is not at all probable that qrc sorek ever should. By naming particularly the vine of Sorek, and as the vine belonging to Judah, the prophecy intimates the very part of the country which was to fall to the lot of that tribe. Sir John Chardin says, “that at Casbin, a city of Persia, they turn their cattle into the vineyards after the vintage, to browse on the vines.” He speaks also of vines in that country so large that he could hardly compass the trunks of them with his arms. Voyages, tom. iii., p. 12, 12mo. This shows that the ass might be securely bound to the vine, and without danger of damaging the tree by browsing on it.

And built a tower in the midst of it] Our Saviour, who has taken the general idea of one of his parables, Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1, from this of Isaiah, has likewise inserted this circumstance of building a tower; which is generally explained by commentators as designed for the keeper of the vineyard to watch and defend the fruits. But for this purpose it was usual to make a little temporary hut, (Isaiah 1:8,) which might serve for the short season while the fruit was ripening, and which was removed afterwards. The tower therefore should rather mean a building of a more permanent nature and use; the farm, as we may call it, of the vineyard, containing all the offices and implements, and the whole apparatus necessary for the culture of the vineyard, and the making of the wine. To which image in the allegory, the situation the manner of building, the use, and the whole service of the temple, exactly answered. And so the Chaldee paraphrast very rightly expounds it: Et statui eos (Israelitas) ut plantam vineæ selectæ et ædificavi Sanctuarium meum in medio illorum. “And I have appointed the Israelites as a plant of a chosen vine, and I have built my sanctuary in the midst of them.” So also Hieron. in loc. Ædificavit quoque turrim in medio ejus; templum videlicet in media civitate. “He built also a tower in the midst of it, viz., his own temple in the midst of the city.” That they have still such towers or buildings for use or pleasure, in their gardens in the East, see Harmer’s Observations, ii. p. 241. And also made a wine-press therein.— “And hewed out a lake therein.”] This image also our Saviour has preserved in his parable. bqy yekeb; the Septuagint render it here prolhnion, and in four other places upolhnion, Isaiah 16:10; Joel 3:13; Haggai 2:17; Zechariah 14:10, I think more properly; and this latter word St. Mark uses. It means not the wine-press itself, or calcatorium, which is called tg gath, or hrwp purah; but what the Romans called lacus, the lake; the large open place or vessel, which by a conduit or spout received the must from the wine-press. In very hot countries it was perhaps necessary, or at least very convenient, to have the lake under ground, or in a cave hewed out of the side of the rock, for coolness, that the heat might not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must. Vini confectio instituitur in cella, vel intimæ domus camera quadam a ventorum ingressu remota. Kempfer, of Shiras wine. Amæn. Exot. p. 376. For the wind, to which that country is subject, would injure the wine. “The wine-presses in Persia,” says Sir John Chardin, “are formed by making hollow places in the ground, lined with masons’ work.” Harmer’s Observations, i., p. 392. See a print of one in Kempfer, p. 377. Nonnus describes at large Bacchus hollowing the inside of a rock, and hewing out a place for the wine-press, or rather the lake:— Kai skopelouv elachne, pedoskafeov de sidhrou

Qhgaleh glwcini mucon koilhnato petrhv,

Leihnav de metwpa baqunomenwn kenewnwn

Afron [f. akron] eustrafuloio tupon poihsato lenou.

DIONYSIAC. lib. xii., l. 331.

“He pierced the rock; and with the sharpen’d tool

Of steel well-temper’d scoop’d its inmost depth:

Then smooth’d the front, and form’d the dark recess

In just dimensions for the foaming lake.”

And he looked— “And he expected”] Jeremiah, Jeremiah 2:21, uses the same image, and applies it to the same purpose, in an elegant paraphrase of this part of Isaiah’s parable, in his flowing and plaintive manner:—

“But I planted thee a sorek, a scion perfectly genuine:

How then art thou changed,

and become to me the degenerate shoots of the strange vine!” Wild grapes— “poisonous berries.”] באשים beushim, not merely useless, unprofitable grapes, such as wild grapes; but grapes offensive to the smell, noxious, poisonous. By the force and intent of the allegory, to good grapes ought to be opposed fruit of a dangerous and pernicious quality; as, in the explication of it, to judgment is opposed tyranny, and to righteousness, oppression. גפנ gephen, the vine, is a common name or genus, including several species under it; and Moses, to distinguish the true vine, or that from which wine is made, from the rest. calls it, Numbers 6:4, היינ גפנ gephen haiyayin, the wine-vine. Some of the other sorts were of a poisonous quality, as appears from the story related among the miraculous acts of Elisha, 2 Kings 4:39-41. “And one went out into the field to gather potherbs; and he found a field vine, and he gathered from it wild fruit, his lapful; and he went and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not. And they poured it out for the men to eat: and it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, There is death in the pot, O man of God; and they could not eat of it. And he said, Bring meal, (leg. wjq kechu, nine MSS., one edition,) and he threw it into the pot. And he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was nothing hurtful in the pot.”

From some such sorts of poisonous fruits of the grape kind Moses has taken these strong and highly poetical images, with which he has set forth the future corruption and extreme degeneracy of the Israelites, in an allegory which has a near relation, both in its subject and imagery, to this of Isaiah: Deuteronomy 32:32, 33.

“Their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

And from the fields of Gomorrah:

Their grapes are grapes of gall;

Their clusters are bitter:

Their wine is the poison of dragons,

And the cruel venom of aspics.”

“I am inclined to believe,” says Hasselquist, “that the prophet here, Isaiah 5:2-4, means the hoary nightshade, solanum incanum; because it is common in Egypt, Palestine, and the East; and the Arabian name agrees well with it. The Arabs call it anab el dib, i.e., wolf grapes. The באושים beushim, says Rab. Chai., is a well known species of the vine, and the worst of all sorts. The prophet could not have found a plant more opposite to the vine than this; for it grows much in the vineyards, and is very pernicious to them; wherefore they root it out: it likewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk;” Travels, p. 289. See also Michaelis, Questions aux Voyageurs Danois, No. 64.

Verse 2. And he fenced it — In this verse the prophet, carrying on the allegory, proceeds to express, in parabolical language, the singular favours which God had bestowed on the Jewish nation, and the peculiar care which he had taken of them. He separated them from other nations, took them into covenant with himself, gave them a variety of laws and ordinances respecting his worship and service, and became, in an especial manner, their protector and governor. Thus he fenced his vineyard; Hebrew, whqz[y, circumsepsit eam, hedged it round on all sides. In removing the heathen nations, and destroying all the forms of their idolatrous worship, forbidding all idolatry, and all intimate friendship and intermarriages with idolaters, and by giving them plain and ample directions for their whole conduct, lest they should fall by error or mistake, he gathered out the stones thereof — Which otherwise might have marred the land, (2 Kings 3:19,) and injured the vines. In other words, he removed all the hinderances of fruitfulness. In that he formed his church of the posterity of those wise, holy, and faithful men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and purged and reformed the nation in the wilderness before he established them in Canaan, he might truly be said to plant his vineyard with the choicest vine — Or, as the Hebrew is, the vine of Sorek, alluding to a valley between Ascalon and Gaza, running up eastward into the tribe of Judah, and famous for the best vines, and the richest vineyards. And he built a tower in the midst of it — As edifices, termed towers by the Jews, were erected in vineyards, containing, as Bishop Lowth supposes, “all the offices and implements, and the whole apparatus necessary for the culture of them, and the making of wine;” and, doubtless, also serving for the accommodation and defence of the labourers; and as places of pleasure for the owners of the vineyards; so God provided his church with a most commodious and magnificent temple, furnished with all conveniences for every part of that worship and service which he required his people to perform to him, and affording every requisite accommodation for the residence, support, and comfort of the priests and Levites, while ministering in holy things, and employed in cultivating God’s mystical vineyard; and where he, the Lord of the vineyard, might be peculiarly present, as the protector and consolation of his people, their refuge and strength, and very present help in times of trouble or danger. Thus the Chaldee paraphrast: “I have constituted them the plant of a choice vine, and built my sanctuary in the midst of them.” So also Jerome interprets the clause. He also made a wine-press therein — Hebrew, bxj bqy µgw, which Bishop Lowth properly translates, “And he hewed out also a lake therein;” observing that the word bqy means, not the wine-press itself, or calcatorium, (the vessel or place where the grapes were stamped, or trod for the wine, which is expressed by another word,) but “what the Romans called lacus, the lake; the large open place or vessel, which, by a conduit, or spout, received the must (or new wine) from the wine-press.” This place, he thinks, in very hot countries, it was necessary, or very convenient, to have under ground, or in a cave hewed out of the side of a rock, “for coolness; that the heat might not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must.” Now this lake, made to contain the new wine, may here signify the great altar, made to receive the sacrifices and oblations, as the fruits of the spiritual vineyard. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes — Real, genuine fruit, true, substantial piety and virtue, or godliness and righteousness; and it brought forth wild grapes — Or, rather, poisonous berries, as Bishop Lowth translates µyvab, the word here used, which does not signify “merely useless, unprofitable grapes, such as wild grapes; but grapes offensive to the smell, noxious, poisonous;” such as those mentioned 2 Kings 4:39-

41. For, according to the force and intent of the allegory, “To good grapes ought to be opposed fruit of a dangerous and pernicious quality; as, in the explication of it, to judgment is opposed tyranny, and to righteousness oppression.” See an elegant paraphrase of this part of the parable, Jeremiah 2:21.

Ver. 2. The choicest vine; literally, the vine of Sorek, a valley not far distant from Eshcol, from which the spies brought the large clusters and branches of the vine.—A wine-press. Mystically understood of the atoning altar, as the pleasant hill and the tower are understood of the temple.

1, 2. Now will I sing — Rather, Let me sing. The singing was in the form of chanting. Such was probably the mode of the delivery of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning this “vineyard” — the Jewish Church. To my… beloved — In honour of my beloved, Jehovah, Israel’s manifested deity. Vineyard — The vineyard symbolizes Jehovah’s people — the tribes of Israel. Fruitful hill — Literally, on the horn of the son of oil; that is, a high and very fat and fragile ridge. He fenced it — Girded the holy land with isolating limits, and separated Israel from the nations with isolating institutions and laws. Gathered out the stones — A necessary work in preparing for a “vineyard.” The expression symbolizes the casting out the idolatrous tribes that encumbered the land. Planted… choicest vine — The noble stock of Abraham. Tower in… midst — Vineyards and gardens required to be watched, and towers and booths, the former especially, in established vineyards were erected. These terms signify watchful protection: they may also denote the moral influence of the temple and its worship in Jerusalem. Winepress — A press was a necessary equipment to a rich vineyard. The expressed juice of the grape is here symbolical of the refreshing spiritual strength derived from the worship of Jehovah. He looked — He expected, awaited, a good crop; symbolic of a fruitful religious character. But wild grapes only appeared; a bad fruitage, emblematic of bad men, bad principles, base idolatry.

Verse 3. Inhabitants] ybvy yoshebey, in the plural number; three MSS., (two ancient,) and so likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate.

Verses 3, 4. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, &c. — God is here introduced as calling upon the guilty themselves to pass sentence, or judgment, in the case, and leaving it to them; because, without downright madness, they could do no other than condemn themselves; who, when they had received so many benefits from God, had been so ungrateful to him. What could have been done, &c. — What work is there belonging to the office of an owner or keeper of a vineyard, which I have neglected? Wherefore — brought it forth wild grapes — How unworthy a conduct and inexcusable a crime is it, that you not only have been unfruitful in good works, but have brought forth, in abundance, the fruits of wickedness! Who can read these words without being moved at the justness as well as the tenderness of the reproach; which is equally applicable now to professing Christians in general, as it was to the Jews at that time? What is it that God has not done for us? What good thing has he withheld from us? How many invaluable blessings has he bestowed upon us in our creation and preservation! And how many still more inestimable in our redemption! What more could have been done for us than he has done? Wherefore then, when he looketh for grapes, does he only find wild grapes, or rather poisonous berries? When he looketh for a tribute of grateful praise, does he find ingratitude, forgetfulness of his mercies, and disobedience to his commands?

3-7. So far the parable is left unexplained to the prophet’s hearers. And to them the appeal is, “What is to be done?” Then the explanation begins, but still in a parable. The inquirer answers his own questions. Will take away… hedge thereof — An Eastern “hedge” is composed of thorny plants, which, densely placed in rows around a ground, forms a strong protection against intruders.

The answer in verse 4 is in bitter irony. It implies that more would be done if possible, but from the rebellious conduct of Israel that is impossible. It is also God’s divine self-justification. He had done all the best vintner could do for the vineyard, but it would be obstinately bad. Waste and desolation will now ensue, and tempests and war shall at times sweep over it with fury. Rains will be withheld, and famines and general depopulation will follow. In plain words, this “vineyard” of the Lord — of the prophet’s “beloved” — is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

Thence follows the announcement of a series of disciplinary woes, with an enumeration of the popular vices that cause them.

First woe — upon great land monopoly, 8-10.

Verses 3, 4. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, &c. — God is here introduced as calling upon the guilty themselves to pass sentence, or judgment, in the case, and leaving it to them; because, without downright madness, they could do no other than condemn themselves; who, when they had received so many benefits from God, had been so ungrateful to him. What could have been done, &c. — What work is there belonging to the office of an owner or keeper of a vineyard, which I have neglected? Wherefore — brought it forth wild grapes — How unworthy a conduct and inexcusable a crime is it, that you not only have been unfruitful in good works, but have brought forth, in abundance, the fruits of wickedness! Who can read these words without being moved at the justness as well as the tenderness of the reproach; which is equally applicable now to professing Christians in general, as it was to the Jews at that time? What is it that God has not done for us? What good thing has he withheld from us? How many invaluable blessings has he bestowed upon us in our creation and preservation! And how many still more inestimable in our redemption! What more could have been done for us than he has done? Wherefore then, when he looketh for grapes, does he only find wild grapes, or rather poisonous berries? When he looketh for a tribute of grateful praise, does he find ingratitude, forgetfulness of his mercies, and disobedience to his commands?

3-7. So far the parable is left unexplained to the prophet’s hearers. And to them the appeal is, “What is to be done?” Then the explanation begins, but still in a parable. The inquirer answers his own questions. Will take away… hedge thereof — An Eastern “hedge” is composed of thorny plants, which, densely placed in rows around a ground, forms a strong protection against intruders.

The answer in verse 4 is in bitter irony. It implies that more would be done if possible, but from the rebellious conduct of Israel that is impossible. It is also God’s divine self-justification. He had done all the best vintner could do for the vineyard, but it would be obstinately bad. Waste and desolation will now ensue, and tempests and war shall at times sweep over it with fury. Rains will be withheld, and famines and general depopulation will follow. In plain words, this “vineyard” of the Lord — of the prophet’s “beloved” — is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

Thence follows the announcement of a series of disciplinary woes, with an enumeration of the popular vices that cause them.

First woe — upon great land monopoly, 8-10.

Verses 5, 6. And now I will tell you, &c. — He graciously warns them beforehand, that they may have space and encouragement to repent, and so to prevent the threatened miseries. I will take away the hedge thereof, &c. — I will withdraw my presence and protection from you, and give you up into the hands of your enemies. I will lay it waste — It shall be overrun by heathen and infidels, and shall no longer bear the form of a vineyard. It shall not be pruned nor digged — Vine-dressers used to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who have used great care and diligence to make you fruitful: but there shall come up briers and thorns — I will give you up to your own wicked lusts. I will also command the clouds — I will deprive you of all my blessings.

3-7. So far the parable is left unexplained to the prophet’s hearers. And to them the appeal is, “What is to be done?” Then the explanation begins, but still in a parable. The inquirer answers his own questions. Will take away… hedge thereof — An Eastern “hedge” is composed of thorny plants, which, densely placed in rows around a ground, forms a strong protection against intruders.

The answer in verse 4 is in bitter irony. It implies that more would be done if possible, but from the rebellious conduct of Israel that is impossible. It is also God’s divine self-justification. He had done all the best vintner could do for the vineyard, but it would be obstinately bad. Waste and desolation will now ensue, and tempests and war shall at times sweep over it with fury. Rains will be withheld, and famines and general depopulation will follow. In plain words, this “vineyard” of the Lord — of the prophet’s “beloved” — is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

Thence follows the announcement of a series of disciplinary woes, with an enumeration of the popular vices that cause them.

First woe — upon great land monopoly, 8-10.

V. 6. Nor digged-Vine-dressers use to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who used great care and diligence to make you fruitful. Thorns-I will give you up to your own lusts. No rain-I will deprive you of all my blessings.

Verse 6. There shall come up briers and thorns— “The thorn shall spring up in it”] One MS. has rymvb beshamir. The true reading seems to be rwmv wb bo shamir, which is confirmed by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Verses 5, 6. And now I will tell you, &c. — He graciously warns them beforehand, that they may have space and encouragement to repent, and so to prevent the threatened miseries. I will take away the hedge thereof, &c. — I will withdraw my presence and protection from you, and give you up into the hands of your enemies. I will lay it waste — It shall be overrun by heathen and infidels, and shall no longer bear the form of a vineyard. It shall not be pruned nor digged — Vine-dressers used to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who have used great care and diligence to make you fruitful: but there shall come up briers and thorns — I will give you up to your own wicked lusts. I will also command the clouds — I will deprive you of all my blessings.

3-7. So far the parable is left unexplained to the prophet’s hearers. And to them the appeal is, “What is to be done?” Then the explanation begins, but still in a parable. The inquirer answers his own questions. Will take away… hedge thereof — An Eastern “hedge” is composed of thorny plants, which, densely placed in rows around a ground, forms a strong protection against intruders.

The answer in verse 4 is in bitter irony. It implies that more would be done if possible, but from the rebellious conduct of Israel that is impossible. It is also God’s divine self-justification. He had done all the best vintner could do for the vineyard, but it would be obstinately bad. Waste and desolation will now ensue, and tempests and war shall at times sweep over it with fury. Rains will be withheld, and famines and general depopulation will follow. In plain words, this “vineyard” of the Lord — of the prophet’s “beloved” — is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

Thence follows the announcement of a series of disciplinary woes, with an enumeration of the popular vices that cause them.

First woe — upon great land monopoly, 8-10.

V. 7. Pleasant-In whom God formerly delighted. A cry-From the oppressed, crying to men for help, and to God for vengeance.

Verse 7. And he looked for judgment] The paronomasia, or play on the words, in this place, is very remarkable; mishpat, mishpach, tsedakah, tseakah. There are many examples of it in the other prophets, but Isaiah seems peculiarly fond of it. See Isaiah 13:6; 24:17; 32:7; 28:1; 57:6; 61:3; 65:11, 12. Rabbi David Kimchi has noticed the paronomasia here: he expected cpvm mishpat, judgment, but behold jpvm mishpach, oppression; he expected hqdx tsedakah, righteousness, but behold hq[x tseakah, a cry. The rabbins esteem it a great beauty; their term for it is הלשונ twjx tsachoth haltashon, elegance of language.

Oppression— “tyranny.”] jpvm mishpach, from jpv shaphach, servum fecit, Arab. Houbigant: hjpv shiphchah is serva, a handmaid or female slave. jpvm mispach, eighteen MSS.

Verse 7. For the vineyard, &c. — Or rather, Now the vineyard, as Dr. Waterland renders it: here we have the interpretation of the preceding parable in general. In the subsequent verses the prophet enters into particulars. This general interpretation is fully verified by the history of the Jewish people, especially in the time of our Lord and his apostles: and the men of Judah his pleasant plant — In whom God formerly delighted; and he looked for judgment — Both the administration of justice by magistrates, and justice in the dealings of the people with one another: but behold oppression — From the powerful upon their inferiors; and for righteousness — For equity, mercy, and benevolence; but behold a cry — From the oppressed, crying to men for help, and to God for vengeance. “The paronomasia, or play on the words, in the Hebrew, in this place, is very remarkable; mispat, mispach; zedakah, zeakah. There are many examples of it in the other prophets; but Isaiah seems peculiarly fond of it. The rabbins esteem it a great beauty: their term for it is, elegance of language.” — Bishop Lowth.

3-7. So far the parable is left unexplained to the prophet’s hearers. And to them the appeal is, “What is to be done?” Then the explanation begins, but still in a parable. The inquirer answers his own questions. Will take away… hedge thereof — An Eastern “hedge” is composed of thorny plants, which, densely placed in rows around a ground, forms a strong protection against intruders.

The answer in verse 4 is in bitter irony. It implies that more would be done if possible, but from the rebellious conduct of Israel that is impossible. It is also God’s divine self-justification. He had done all the best vintner could do for the vineyard, but it would be obstinately bad. Waste and desolation will now ensue, and tempests and war shall at times sweep over it with fury. Rains will be withheld, and famines and general depopulation will follow. In plain words, this “vineyard” of the Lord — of the prophet’s “beloved” — is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

Thence follows the announcement of a series of disciplinary woes, with an enumeration of the popular vices that cause them.

First woe — upon great land monopoly, 8-10.

V. 8. Alone-That they alone may be the lords and owners, and all others only their tenants and servants.

Verse 8. Wo unto them that—lay field to field— “You who lay field unto field”] Read xbyrqt takribu, in the second person; to answer to the verb following. So Vulgate.

Verses 8-10. Wo unto them, &c. — The unfolding of the parable, after the general key in the preceding verse, comprehends two things, according to the argument of the parable; the crimes of this ungrateful people, and the punishment decreed to their crimes. That join house to house — That add new purchases of houses and lands to their former possessions. Not that this was in itself absolutely unlawful, but because they did it from an inordinate desire of riches, and with the injury of their brethren. That they may be placed alone — That they alone may be the lords and owners, and all others only their tenants and servants. Thus, “the first crime condemned is avarice and rapacity; which is strongly described in this verse, and which prevailed remarkably among the Jews. Its punishment, even the desolation of those houses which they coveted, and the devastation of those fields which they obtained so rapaciously, is set forth in the two following verses.” See Vitringa. In mine ears, said the Lord — That is, It was revealed in mine ears: or, I heard God speak what I am now about to utter. Of a truth many houses shall be desolate — “In vain are ye so intent upon joining house to house, and field to field; your houses shall be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become desolate and barren: so that a vineyard of ten acres shall produce but one bath (not eight gallons) of wine, and the husbandman shall reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has sown.” — Bishop Lowth. Thus it is predicted that a fruitful land should be made barren for their wickedness, according to God’s threatening, (Psalm 107:34,) and they would have as little comfort in their lands as in their houses.

8. [Join house to house… field to field — The building of long city blocks, and forming immense estates, by monopolizing landholders. No place — Between the vast landed estates the small farmer was crowded out, “no place” being left for him, and he was turned adrift or reduced to serfdom. Tendencies to such concentration of estates in the hands of great landlords arise in times of great prosperity both in England and America. Alone… earth — Or, rather, land. The great feudal mansions would dot the whole of Judea, each in solitary grandeur. For a similar picture in the Roman empire consult our note on James 5:6. Micah 2:2 contemporaneously with Isaiah confirms his description. The woe on this landed aristocracy was decay and desolation.]

V. 9. In mine ears-I heard God speak what I am about to utter.

Verse 9. In mine ears.— “To mine ear”] The sentence in the Hebrew text seems to be imperfect in this place; as likewise in Isaiah 22:14, where the very same sense seems to be required as here. See the note there; and compare 1 Samuel 9:15. In this place the Septuagint supply the word hkousqh, and the Syriac [mtva eshtama, auditus est JEHOVAH in auribus meis, i.e., hlgn niglah, as in Isaiah 22:14. Many houses] This has reference to what was said in the preceding verse: “In vain are ye so intent upon joining house to house, and field to field; your houses shall be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become desolate and barren; so that a vineyard of ten acres shall produce but one bath (not eight gallons) of wine, and the husbandman shall reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has sown.” Kimchi says this means such an extent of vineyard as would require ten yoke of oxen to plough in one day.

Verses 8-10. Wo unto them, &c. — The unfolding of the parable, after the general key in the preceding verse, comprehends two things, according to the argument of the parable; the crimes of this ungrateful people, and the punishment decreed to their crimes. That join house to house — That add new purchases of houses and lands to their former possessions. Not that this was in itself absolutely unlawful, but because they did it from an inordinate desire of riches, and with the injury of their brethren. That they may be placed alone — That they alone may be the lords and owners, and all others only their tenants and servants. Thus, “the first crime condemned is avarice and rapacity; which is strongly described in this verse, and which prevailed remarkably among the Jews. Its punishment, even the desolation of those houses which they coveted, and the devastation of those fields which they obtained so rapaciously, is set forth in the two following verses.” See Vitringa. In mine ears, said the Lord — That is, It was revealed in mine ears: or, I heard God speak what I am now about to utter. Of a truth many houses shall be desolate — “In vain are ye so intent upon joining house to house, and field to field; your houses shall be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become desolate and barren: so that a vineyard of ten acres shall produce but one bath (not eight gallons) of wine, and the husbandman shall reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has sown.” — Bishop Lowth. Thus it is predicted that a fruitful land should be made barren for their wickedness, according to God’s threatening, (Psalm 107:34,) and they would have as little comfort in their lands as in their houses.

9, 10. Many houses shall be desolate — Without occupant, desolation dwelling there, because of the invasion invoked below, in verses 26-30. Great and fair — Aristocratic though they be. Ten acres — An acre was a space of ground ploughed by a man with a yoke of oxen in one day, about three fourths of an English acre. Ten acres of vineyard, it is estimated, (Kay,) might be expected ordinarily to produce 32,000 pints of wine, or 500 baths, instead of which it is here said they shall produce but one. A homer — About ten bushels, enough to sow ten acres, but here only one bushel is promised. A bath was a liquid measure, in capacity one tenth of a “homer,” a dry measure. Ezekiel 45:11-14. God directly permits devastation like this as a punishment for these specified sins. Compare Leviticus 26:20 with Isaiah 24:7 and Joel 1:10-12. Second woe — on high-living and revelry, 11, 12.

In the train of the luxury of the times, drunkenness follows. The woe is deserved because (observe the particularity of the statement) appetite seeks gratification from early morn, through the day, and into night.

V. 10. One bath-Of wine. The bath contained about eight gallons. Thus an acre did not yield one gallon. An ephah-Which was of the same quantity with the bath, only the bath was the measure of liquid things, the ephah of dry things; and a ephah was the tenth part of an homer. So instead of the increase which that fruitful land commonly yielded, they should loose nine parts of their seed.

Verses 8-10. Wo unto them, &c. — The unfolding of the parable, after the general key in the preceding verse, comprehends two things, according to the argument of the parable; the crimes of this ungrateful people, and the punishment decreed to their crimes. That join house to house — That add new purchases of houses and lands to their former possessions. Not that this was in itself absolutely unlawful, but because they did it from an inordinate desire of riches, and with the injury of their brethren. That they may be placed alone — That they alone may be the lords and owners, and all others only their tenants and servants. Thus, “the first crime condemned is avarice and rapacity; which is strongly described in this verse, and which prevailed remarkably among the Jews. Its punishment, even the desolation of those houses which they coveted, and the devastation of those fields which they obtained so rapaciously, is set forth in the two following verses.” See Vitringa. In mine ears, said the Lord — That is, It was revealed in mine ears: or, I heard God speak what I am now about to utter. Of a truth many houses shall be desolate — “In vain are ye so intent upon joining house to house, and field to field; your houses shall be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become desolate and barren: so that a vineyard of ten acres shall produce but one bath (not eight gallons) of wine, and the husbandman shall reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has sown.” — Bishop Lowth. Thus it is predicted that a fruitful land should be made barren for their wickedness, according to God’s threatening, (Psalm 107:34,) and they would have as little comfort in their lands as in their houses.

Ver. 10. A homer shall yield an ephah; just one tenth of what was sown.

9, 10. Many houses shall be desolate — Without occupant, desolation dwelling there, because of the invasion invoked below, in verses 26-30. Great and fair — Aristocratic though they be. Ten acres — An acre was a space of ground ploughed by a man with a yoke of oxen in one day, about three fourths of an English acre. Ten acres of vineyard, it is estimated, (Kay,) might be expected ordinarily to produce 32,000 pints of wine, or 500 baths, instead of which it is here said they shall produce but one. A homer — About ten bushels, enough to sow ten acres, but here only one bushel is promised. A bath was a liquid measure, in capacity one tenth of a “homer,” a dry measure. Ezekiel 45:11-14. God directly permits devastation like this as a punishment for these specified sins. Compare Leviticus 26:20 with Isaiah 24:7 and Joel 1:10-12. Second woe — on high-living and revelry, 11, 12.

In the train of the luxury of the times, drunkenness follows. The woe is deserved because (observe the particularity of the statement) appetite seeks gratification from early morn, through the day, and into night.

Verse 11. Wo unto them that rise up early] There is a likeness between this and the following passage of the prophet Amos, Amos 6:3-6, who probably wrote before Isaiah. If the latter be the copier, he seems hardly to have equalled the elegance of the original:—

“Ye that put far away the evil day

And affect the seat of violence;

Who lie upon beds of ivory,

And stretch yourselves upon your couches;

And eat the lambs from the flock,

And calves from the midst of the stall;

Who chant to the sound of the viol,

And like David invent for yourselves instruments of music; Who quaff wine in large bowls,

And are anointed with the choicest ointments:

But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”

Kimchi says, “they consider not the heavens nor their hosts: they pray not the morning nor the evening prayer unto the Lord.”

Follow strong drink] Theodoret and Chrysostom on this place, both Syrians, and unexceptionable witnesses in what belongs to their own country, inform us that rkv shechar (sikera in the Greek of both Testaments, rendered by us by the general term strong drink) meant properly palm wine, or date wine, which was and is still much in use in the Eastern countries. Judea was famous for the abundance and excellence of its palm trees; and consequently had plenty of this wine. “Fiunt (vina) et e pomis; primumque e palmis, quo Parthi et Indi utun tur, et oriens totus: maturarum modio in aquæ congiis tribus macerato expressoque.” Plin. lib. xiv. 19. “Ab his cariotæ [palmæ] maxime celebrantur; et cibo quidem, sed et succo, uberrimæ. Exodus quibus præcipua vina orienti; iniqua capiti, unde porno nomen.” Id. xiii. 9. Karov signifies stupefaction: and in Hebrew likewise the wine has its name from its remarkably inebriating quality.

Verses 11, 12. Wo unto them, that rise up early, &c. — Here we find another vice reproved, namely, that of luxury, or intemperance; whose companion and daughter is Inattention to the works of God, whose child, also, is Ignorance; see verse 13; that rise up early to follow strong drink — As husbandmen and tradesmen rise early to follow their employments; as if they were afraid of losing time from that which is the greatest misspending of time and the most sinful abuse of it. That continue until night — Spending the whole day at their cups; till wine inflame them — Inflame their lusts and passions: for chambering and wantonness, on the one hand, and contentions and wounds without cause, on the other, generally follow upon rioting, and drunkenness, Romans 13:13; Proverbs 23:29. And the harp, and the viol, &c., are in their feasts — Musical instruments of all sorts must accompany their wine, that every sense may be gratified to the utmost, and their pleasures rendered more exquisite. But they regard not the work of the Lord — What God hath lately done, and is yet doing, and about to do, among them; his grievous judgments, partly inflicted, and partly threatened, which require another course of life, even to give themselves to fasting and prayer, and to reform their manners, that so they might remove the calamities which, now afflicted them, and prevent those which were approaching.

Ver. 11. Strong drink. The LXX, sikera, wine made from the nuts of the date, or palmtree. See Exodus 15:27. We have this passage more at large in Amos 6:3-6. Dr. Lowth here quotes Pliny, who says that strong drink means palm wine.

11, 12. Strong drink — A drink of topers, (rkv, shakar,) made from dates, grain, grapes, and whatever else will produce intoxication. Till wine — “Wine,” here, is from the word nyy, yayin, a term generic of this liquid, whether fermented or not; but here it is fermented and intoxicating, for the latter fact is specifically stated. “Strong drink” is also stated here to originate revelry, and music becomes in request. The harp — The same in kind that David used in chanting his odes. [For figure of the instrument and mode of handling see the next page.] The viol — This was of wood, made hollow, and overstrung. The original word, lbn, nebhel, is generic of the ancient guitar, four forms of which have been taken from the ruins of Egypt. The tabret — A kind of drum, perhaps with strings attached. The pipe — A flute or flageolet. They regard not — God is not in all their thoughts. They look not toward his work… the operation of his hands. These parallel words of course mean the same thing, namely, What God teaches men through nature, providence, and revelation; hence, these instructors being overlooked, God is compelled to teach them by a severer discipline — by famine and captivity.

V. 12. The harp-They give up themselves wholly to luxury. The work-What God hath lately done, and is yet doing, and about to do among them; his grievous judgments, partly inflicted, and partly threatened, which required another course of life.

Verses 11, 12. Wo unto them, that rise up early, &c. — Here we find another vice reproved, namely, that of luxury, or intemperance; whose companion and daughter is Inattention to the works of God, whose child, also, is Ignorance; see verse 13; that rise up early to follow strong drink — As husbandmen and tradesmen rise early to follow their employments; as if they were afraid of losing time from that which is the greatest misspending of time and the most sinful abuse of it. That continue until night — Spending the whole day at their cups; till wine inflame them — Inflame their lusts and passions: for chambering and wantonness, on the one hand, and contentions and wounds without cause, on the other, generally follow upon rioting, and drunkenness, Romans 13:13; Proverbs 23:29. And the harp, and the viol, &c., are in their feasts — Musical instruments of all sorts must accompany their wine, that every sense may be gratified to the utmost, and their pleasures rendered more exquisite. But they regard not the work of the Lord — What God hath lately done, and is yet doing, and about to do, among them; his grievous judgments, partly inflicted, and partly threatened, which require another course of life, even to give themselves to fasting and prayer, and to reform their manners, that so they might remove the calamities which, now afflicted them, and prevent those which were approaching.

11, 12. Strong drink — A drink of topers, (rkv, shakar,) made from dates, grain, grapes, and whatever else will produce intoxication. Till wine — “Wine,” here, is from the word nyy, yayin, a term generic of this liquid, whether fermented or not; but here it is fermented and intoxicating, for the latter fact is specifically stated. “Strong drink” is also stated here to originate revelry, and music becomes in request. The harp — The same in kind that David used in chanting his odes. [For figure of the instrument and mode of handling see the next page.] The viol — This was of wood, made hollow, and overstrung. The original word, lbn, nebhel, is generic of the ancient guitar, four forms of which have been taken from the ruins of Egypt. The tabret — A kind of drum, perhaps with strings attached. The pipe — A flute or flageolet. They regard not — God is not in all their thoughts. They look not toward his work… the operation of his hands. These parallel words of course mean the same thing, namely, What God teaches men through nature, providence, and revelation; hence, these instructors being overlooked, God is compelled to teach them by a severer discipline — by famine and captivity.

V. 13. No knowledge-No serious consideration of God’s works, and of their own duty and danger. Honourable men-Who thought themselves quite out of the reach of famine.

Verse 13. And their honourable men— “And the nobles”] These verses have likewise a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking shall perish with hunger and thirst; and Hades shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The image is strong and expressive in the highest degree. Habakkuk, Habakkuk 2:5, uses the same image with great force:—the ambitious and avaricious conqueror.

“Enlargeth his appetite like Hades;

And he is like Death, and will never be satisfied,”

But, in Isaiah, Hades is introduced to much greater advantage, in person; and placed before our eyes in the form of a ravenous monster, opening wide his immeasurable jaws, and swallowing them all together: “Therefore Sheol hath dilated her soul, she hath opened her mouth beyond limit.” Destruction expects more than a common meal, when God visits Jerusalem for her iniquities. This seems to refer to the ruin brought on the Jews by the Romans. Our blessed Lord repeats this parable, and applies it to this very transaction, Matthew 21:33.

Verses 13, 14. Therefore the people are gone into captivity — The prophet may refer to those carried captive in the time of Ahaz: see on Isaiah 2:20. Or his words may be rendered, the people go into, &c.; that is, shall certainly and shortly go, speaking of the approaching judgments as if they were already come. Because they have no knowledge — No serious consideration of God’s works, and of their own duty and danger. And their honourable men are famished — Who thought themselves quite out of the reach of famine. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself — The grave, or the place of torment to which certainly the souls of such persons must descend; and opened her mouth without measure — To receive those vast numbers which die by this famine, or otherwise, as is here implied. The prophet is thought to allude “to the form of the ancient sepulchres, which were subterraneous caverns hollowed out of a rock, the mouth of which was generally closed by a great stone. The prosopopœia is extremely fine and expressive, and the image is fraught with the most tremendous horror.” And their glory, &c. — Their nobles, or honourable men, as they are called, verse 13, being distinguished, both here and there, from the multitude; and their pomp — Which shall die with them; and he that rejoiceth — That spendeth all his days in mirth and jollity, and casteth away all cares and fears; shall descend into it — Not only into the grave, but into hell. Bishop Lowth’s translation of this verse is peculiarly striking: “Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite;

And hath stretched open his mouth without measure:

And down go her nobility, and her populace,

And her busy throng, and all that exult in her.”

“These verses,” (13 and 14,) he justly observes, “have a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking, shall perish with hunger and thirst: and Hades” (the invisible world, hell prepared to receive these sinners that live and die in sin) “shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The image is strong and expressive in the highest degree. Habakkuk uses the same image with great force, chap. 2:5. But in Isaiah, Hades is introduced, to much greater advantage, in person; and placed before our eyes as a ravenous monster, opening wide his unmeasurable jaws, and swallowing them all together.”

13. Therefore — In consequence of the delinquencies that bring down both these woes. My people — Still His, (iii, 12,) but therefore all the more to be chastised. Amos 3:2. No knowledge — They were heedless of what the consequences must be. These they might have known, and ought to have known and heeded. Their — Literally, his; his people of honour, or honourable men, are men of starvation, famished from want of food and drink. This is clearly the sense. Hence, great mortality among them. Hence, too, the next therefore.

V. 14. And he-That spends all his days in mirth and jollity.

Verses 13, 14. Therefore the people are gone into captivity — The prophet may refer to those carried captive in the time of Ahaz: see on Isaiah 2:20. Or his words may be rendered, the people go into, &c.; that is, shall certainly and shortly go, speaking of the approaching judgments as if they were already come. Because they have no knowledge — No serious consideration of God’s works, and of their own duty and danger. And their honourable men are famished — Who thought themselves quite out of the reach of famine. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself — The grave, or the place of torment to which certainly the souls of such persons must descend; and opened her mouth without measure — To receive those vast numbers which die by this famine, or otherwise, as is here implied. The prophet is thought to allude “to the form of the ancient sepulchres, which were subterraneous caverns hollowed out of a rock, the mouth of which was generally closed by a great stone. The prosopopœia is extremely fine and expressive, and the image is fraught with the most tremendous horror.” And their glory, &c. — Their nobles, or honourable men, as they are called, verse 13, being distinguished, both here and there, from the multitude; and their pomp — Which shall die with them; and he that rejoiceth — That spendeth all his days in mirth and jollity, and casteth away all cares and fears; shall descend into it — Not only into the grave, but into hell. Bishop Lowth’s translation of this verse is peculiarly striking: “Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite;

And hath stretched open his mouth without measure:

And down go her nobility, and her populace,

And her busy throng, and all that exult in her.”

“These verses,” (13 and 14,) he justly observes, “have a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking, shall perish with hunger and thirst: and Hades” (the invisible world, hell prepared to receive these sinners that live and die in sin) “shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The image is strong and expressive in the highest degree. Habakkuk uses the same image with great force, chap. 2:5. But in Isaiah, Hades is introduced, to much greater advantage, in person; and placed before our eyes as a ravenous monster, opening wide his unmeasurable jaws, and swallowing them all together.”

Ver. 14. Hell—opened her mouth, as a wide cavern. See on Psalm 9:17. 16:10.

14, 15. Hell — In the Hebrew, sheol, to which, in the New Testament, the corresponding term is hades. The term sheol never means the grave, but always the invisible domain of the dead, whether referring to souls, as usually, or to bodies. See Dr. Burr’s Excursus on Job 7:21. The famished multitudes are making sheol populous with newly departed ones. Hence, enlarged herself means “enlarged” her capacity; and without measure imports ambition for more extensive limits than are decreed to her. Their glory… multitude… pomp, etc. — The pronoun “their” doubtless refers to Jerusalem, the fallen Zion, and the nouns belonging to it are the noisy, revelling inhabitants thereof. The common mass, mean… mighty… lofty, are seen tumbling daily into sheol together. Chap. 14, where see notes.

V. 15. The mighty-All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction.

Verses 15-17. And the mean man, &c. — All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction. But the Lord shall be exalted in judgment — By the execution of his just judgment upon his incorrigible enemies. And God that is holy shall be sanctified — Shall appear to be a holy God; in righteousness — That is, by displaying his righteousness, or executing his righteous judgments. Then, &c. — When God shall have finished that work of judgment upon the ungodly, he will extend mercy to the remainder; the lambs — The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land, when the rich are carried into captivity, as it happened 2 Kings 25:12; shall feed after their manner — Or, without restraint, as Bishop Lowth renders it. And the waste places of the fat ones — The lands left by their owners, the rich and great men, who were either slain or carried into captivity; shall strangers eat — The poor Israelites who were left in the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, who are called strangers, because they were so in reference to that land, not being the proper owners of it, nor related to them. Vitringa is of opinion that this verse “refers to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, who, seeing and deploring the destruction of the Jews, should rest safely under the protection of God; while, according to the next clause, the Gentiles should be brought into the communion of the church, and rejoice in those benefits, prerogatives, and privileges, whereof the carnal, rich, and luxurious Jews were deprived.” See John 10:16.

14, 15. Hell — In the Hebrew, sheol, to which, in the New Testament, the corresponding term is hades. The term sheol never means the grave, but always the invisible domain of the dead, whether referring to souls, as usually, or to bodies. See Dr. Burr’s Excursus on Job 7:21. The famished multitudes are making sheol populous with newly departed ones. Hence, enlarged herself means “enlarged” her capacity; and without measure imports ambition for more extensive limits than are decreed to her. Their glory… multitude… pomp, etc. — The pronoun “their” doubtless refers to Jerusalem, the fallen Zion, and the nouns belonging to it are the noisy, revelling inhabitants thereof. The common mass, mean… mighty… lofty, are seen tumbling daily into sheol together. Chap. 14, where see notes.

V. 16. Exalted-By the execution of this just judgment. Sanctified-Shall appear to be an holy God, by his righteous judgments.

Verses 15-17. And the mean man, &c. — All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction. But the Lord shall be exalted in judgment — By the execution of his just judgment upon his incorrigible enemies. And God that is holy shall be sanctified — Shall appear to be a holy God; in righteousness — That is, by displaying his righteousness, or executing his righteous judgments. Then, &c. — When God shall have finished that work of judgment upon the ungodly, he will extend mercy to the remainder; the lambs — The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land, when the rich are carried into captivity, as it happened 2 Kings 25:12; shall feed after their manner — Or, without restraint, as Bishop Lowth renders it. And the waste places of the fat ones — The lands left by their owners, the rich and great men, who were either slain or carried into captivity; shall strangers eat — The poor Israelites who were left in the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, who are called strangers, because they were so in reference to that land, not being the proper owners of it, nor related to them. Vitringa is of opinion that this verse “refers to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, who, seeing and deploring the destruction of the Jews, should rest safely under the protection of God; while, according to the next clause, the Gentiles should be brought into the communion of the church, and rejoice in those benefits, prerogatives, and privileges, whereof the carnal, rich, and luxurious Jews were deprived.” See John 10:16.

16. The pomp of defiant man is humbled. But the Lord of hosts, he who has at his service all holy ones and agencies, is exalted in judgment, that is, in the exercise of his justice. The future tenses of the Hebrew, here, imply that divine principles are eternally fixed and true. Sanctified in righteousness, namely, at the final restoration of Israel.

V. 17. Then-When God shall have finished that work of judgment. The lambs-The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land when the rich are carried into captivity. Manner-Or, by their fold, as this word is manifestly used, Micah 2:12, the only place of scripture, except this, in which this word is found. Waste places-The lands left by their owners. Fat ones-Of the rich and great men. Strangers-The poor Israelites, who were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, 2 Kings 25:12, who are called strangers, because they were so, in reference to that hand, not being the proper owners of it.

Verse 17. The lambs— “And the kids”] גרים gerim, “strangers.” The Septuagint read, more agreeably to the design of the prophet, כרים carim, arnev, “the lambs.” גדים gedayim, “the kids,” Dr. Durell; nearer to the present reading: and so Archbishop Secker. The meaning is, their luxurious habitations shall be so entirely destroyed as to become a pasture for flocks. After their manner— “Without restraint”] כדברם kedobram, secundum duetum eorum; i.e. suo ipsorum ductu; as their own will shall lead them.

Verses 15-17. And the mean man, &c. — All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction. But the Lord shall be exalted in judgment — By the execution of his just judgment upon his incorrigible enemies. And God that is holy shall be sanctified — Shall appear to be a holy God; in righteousness — That is, by displaying his righteousness, or executing his righteous judgments. Then, &c. — When God shall have finished that work of judgment upon the ungodly, he will extend mercy to the remainder; the lambs — The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land, when the rich are carried into captivity, as it happened 2 Kings 25:12; shall feed after their manner — Or, without restraint, as Bishop Lowth renders it. And the waste places of the fat ones — The lands left by their owners, the rich and great men, who were either slain or carried into captivity; shall strangers eat — The poor Israelites who were left in the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, who are called strangers, because they were so in reference to that land, not being the proper owners of it, nor related to them. Vitringa is of opinion that this verse “refers to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, who, seeing and deploring the destruction of the Jews, should rest safely under the protection of God; while, according to the next clause, the Gentiles should be brought into the communion of the church, and rejoice in those benefits, prerogatives, and privileges, whereof the carnal, rich, and luxurious Jews were deprived.” See John 10:16.

17. Then — In the day when Jehovah is “sanctified” by Israel. Lambs — any body’s flocks — (defined in the next parallel member of the verse) shall feed after their manner, that is, at their pleasure, (literally, at or according to their word,) over the fields of restored Israel. In other words, they shall feed as in their own pasture. Strangers — Nomadic tribes, Gentiles, the present Arabs, and any others who shall be their successors. The “strangers” are allowed to eat only the waste places of the fat ones of God’s true Israel.

Third woe — upon the energetic and defiant transgressors, 18, 19.

V. 18. That draw-That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world; but are active and illustrious in drawing sin to themselves. Cords-Or, with cords of lying, as the last word frequently signifies, with vain and deceitful arguments and pretences, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin. A rope-With all their might, as beasts commonly do that draw carts with ropes.

Verse 18. With a cart-rope— “As a long cable”] The Septuagint, Aquila, Sym., and Theod., for ylbjb bechabley, read ylbjk kechahley, wv scoiniw, or scoinioiv; and the Septuagint, instead of awv shau, read some other word signifying long; wv scoiniw makrw; and so likewise the Syriac, akyra arecha. Houbigant conjectures that the word which the Septuagint had in their copies was [wrc sarua, which is used Leviticus 21:18; 22:23, for something in an animal body superfluous, lengthened beyond its natural measure. And he explains it of sin added to sin, and one sin drawing on another, till the whole comes to an enormous length and magnitude; compared to the work of a rope-maker still increasing and lengthening his rope, with the continued addition of new materials. “Eos propheta similes facit homini restiario, qui funem torquet, cannabe addita et contorta, eadem iterans, donec funem in longum duxerit, neque eum liceat protrahi longius.” “An evil inclination,” says Kimchi on this place, from the ancient rabbins, “is at the beginning like a fine hair-string, but at the finishing like a thick cart-rope.” By a long progression in iniquity, and a continued accumulation of sin, men arrive at length to the highest degree of wickedness; bidding open defiance to God, and scoffing at his threatened judgments, as it is finely expressed in the next verse. The Chaldee paraphrast explains it in the same manner, of wickedness increasing from small beginnings, till it arrives to a great magnitude.—L.

I believe neither the rabbins nor Bishop Lowth have hit on the true meaning of this place, the prophet seems to refer to idol sacrifices. The victims they offered were splendidly decked out for the sacrifice. Their horns and hoofs were often gilded, and their heads dressed out with fillets and garlands. The cords of vanity may refer to the silken strings by which they were led to the altar, some of which were unusually thick. The offering for iniquity was adorned with fillets and garlands; the sin-offering with silken cords, like unto cart-ropes. Pride, in their acts of humiliation, had the upper hand.

Verses 18, 19. Wo unto them that draw iniquity — That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world, or by the persuasions of wicked men, but are active and industrious in drawing sin to themselves, or themselves to sin: with cords of vanity — Or, of lying, as the word awv frequently signifies; that is, with vain and deceitful arguments and pretences, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin, such as, That God does not regard human affairs; that many of the greatest sinners often go unpunished; that we see no proofs of the divine interposition, &c. See 2 Peter 3:3, 4. And sin with a cart-rope — With all their might, as beasts that draw carts with ropes. That say, Let him make speed — Namely, God, in whose name thou and other prophets are always reproving and threatening us; and hasten his work, that we may see it — He only thinks to affright us, as if we were fools or children, with bugbears, or pretended evils: he either cannot, or will not, do us any harm. This was the plain language of their actions; they lived as if they were of this opinion. And let the counsel of the Holy One draw nigh — What you have declared to be his counsel, with regard to our going into captivity, and which, you say, his holiness obliges him to execute: they scornfully repeat the title of Holy One, usually given by the prophets to God. And come, that we may know it — We cannot believe that it will ever happen unless we see it with our eyes. Thus, “by a long progression in iniquity, and a continued accumulation of sin, men arrive at length to the highest degree of wickedness; bidding open defiance to God, and scoffing at his threatened judgments;” to which they cannot be persuaded to give any credit till they find them executed upon them.

Ver. 18. That draw sin as with a cart rope. This simile is so unnatural that we suspect a mistake. The LXX, “a long rope.” This idea indicates a long continuance in wine, and long continuance in vice, which bears away and overpowers the whole force of public morals. Others say, the punishment of sin as a load on their conscience.

18. Draw iniquity — [The truly muscular sinners, who put their pluck and power into the business of sin: so that they are like very stout pullers who draw the greatest cartloads with the strongest of ropes. Yet the cords that bind them to the huge loads of iniquity they carry are but cords of vanity, of infatuated folly.]

V. 19. Let him-God, in whose name thou and other prophets are always threatening us. This was the plain language of their actions; they lived as if they were of this opinion. The Holy One-They scornfully repeated the title usually given by the prophets to God.

Verse 19. Let the counsel of the Holy One] Tryphiodorus has an expression something like this:—

epei diov hluqe boulh.

TRYPH. Il Excid. 239.

Because the counsel of Jupiter was come.

“This expression, hluqe boulh, is, I believe, something uncommon; but it is exactly paralleled and explained by a passage in Isaiah, Isaiah 5:19. The Septuagint has expressed it in the very same words with Tryphiodorus: kai elqoi h boul h tou agiou israhl, ina gnwmen.”—Merrick’s note, ad loc.

Verses 18, 19. Wo unto them that draw iniquity — That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world, or by the persuasions of wicked men, but are active and industrious in drawing sin to themselves, or themselves to sin: with cords of vanity — Or, of lying, as the word awv frequently signifies; that is, with vain and deceitful arguments and pretences, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin, such as, That God does not regard human affairs; that many of the greatest sinners often go unpunished; that we see no proofs of the divine interposition, &c. See 2 Peter 3:3, 4. And sin with a cart-rope — With all their might, as beasts that draw carts with ropes. That say, Let him make speed — Namely, God, in whose name thou and other prophets are always reproving and threatening us; and hasten his work, that we may see it — He only thinks to affright us, as if we were fools or children, with bugbears, or pretended evils: he either cannot, or will not, do us any harm. This was the plain language of their actions; they lived as if they were of this opinion. And let the counsel of the Holy One draw nigh — What you have declared to be his counsel, with regard to our going into captivity, and which, you say, his holiness obliges him to execute: they scornfully repeat the title of Holy One, usually given by the prophets to God. And come, that we may know it — We cannot believe that it will ever happen unless we see it with our eyes. Thus, “by a long progression in iniquity, and a continued accumulation of sin, men arrive at length to the highest degree of wickedness; bidding open defiance to God, and scoffing at his threatened judgments;” to which they cannot be persuaded to give any credit till they find them executed upon them.

19. Let him make speed — In a tone of defiance they say, Let him come on. And hasten his work — His work of direful providence and threatened judgment. That we may see it — We are ready for him. When he does what he threatens, we will believe him. Counsel — The prophet’s predictions; evident from the words Holy One of Israel, which not they, but only the prophet, would use. In effect they say: “‘The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.’ Ezekiel 12:22. We doubt their truth. Let him show his hand in these threatened woes. Only then can we believe you, his prophet.”

Fourth woe — on the reversers of right and wrong, 20.

It takes but little time for such sinners wholly to reverse and uproot all moral distinctions, hence another woe is pronounced upon such.

V. 20. To them-That take away the difference between good and evil; that justify wicked men and things, and condemn piety, or righteous persons.

Verse 20. Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil — That endeavour to confound both the names and the natures of virtue and vice, of piety and impiety; commend and applaud what is evil, and disparage and discountenance what is good; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, &c. — Ignorance and error, for knowledge and truth: in other words, who subvert, or pervert, all the great principles of truth, wisdom, and of righteousness. A most corrupt condition of a church and state is that indeed, “in which men, accustomed to vices, begin, with the things themselves, to lose also the names of them, and to draw a veil, as it were, over their impieties, by sanctifying their crimes with the names of virtues.” This reproof of the prophet supposes, that the difference between good and evil, sin and holiness, is as self-evident as that between the most contrary qualities which we are informed of by the report of our senses: and that the advantage which light hath above darkness does not shine out with a brighter evidence than the pre-eminence which virtue hath above vice, righteousness above unrighteousness. See Lowth.

20. That call evil good — Those who call “evil,” “good,” and “good,” “evil;” to whom right is to be shunned, and wrong to be preferred; to whom the truth is a lie, and a lie is the truth. The woe is on such for their villainous attempts utterly to deprave the moral principles of the people. Fifth woe — on the scornful self-conceit of errorists, 21.

Verse 21. Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes — Who, being puffed up with a high opinion of their own wisdom, despise the counsels and instructions of Jehovah by his prophets, and prefer their own vain imaginations before the decisions of infinite wisdom.

21. Wise… prudent — Those who conceive they possess the highest wisdom as against God’s wisdom, (administrative wisdom,) thus upsetting ordained social, civil, and moral law. This picture is more vividly given in Romans 1:18, 22, 23.

Sixth woe — on public dissoluteness, 22, 23.

Drunkards, too, again receive their woe; (see verse 11;) where the people indulge in thoughtless, rollicking dissoluteness.

V. 22. To mingle-To drink: the antecedent being put for the consequent: for they mingled it in order to drinking.

Verse 22. Mighty to drink wine] “They show not,” says Kimchi, “their strength in combating their enemies, but in drunkenness and debauchery.”

22, 23. Drink wine… strong drink — Here the terrible evil is contemplated as affecting those intrusted with the administrative interests of the nation. How can magistrates with reeling brain and besotted soul adjudge the rights of the poor and the weak?

V. 23. Take away-Pronounce sentence against him.

Verse 23. The righteous] qydx tsaddik, singular, Sept. Vulg., and two editions.

22, 23. Drink wine… strong drink — Here the terrible evil is contemplated as affecting those intrusted with the administrative interests of the nation. How can magistrates with reeling brain and besotted soul adjudge the rights of the poor and the weak?

V. 24. Rottenness-They shall be like a tree which not only withers in its branches, but dies and rots at the roots, therefore is past recovery. Dust-Shall be resolved into dust, and yield no fruit.

Verse 24. The flame— “The tongue of fire”] “The flame, because it is in the shape of a tongue; and so it is called metaphorically.” Sal. ben Melec. The metaphor is so exceedingly obvious, as well as beautiful, that one may wonder that it has not been more frequently used. Virgil very elegantly intimates, rather than expresses, the image;—

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli

Fundere lumen apex; tactuque innoxia molli

Lambere flamma comas, et circum tempora pasci.

Æn. ii. 682.

“Strange to relate! from young Iulus’ head

A lambent flame arose, which gently spread

Around his brows, and on his temples fed.”

And more boldly of Ætna darting out flames from its top:— Interdumque atram prorumpit ad æthera nubem,

Turbine fumantem piceo, et candente favilla:

Attollitque globos flammarum, et sidera lambit.

Æn. iii. 574.

“By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high,

By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,

And flakes of mountain flames, that lick the sky.” The disparted tongues, as it were of fire, Acts 2:3, which appeared at the descent of the Holy Spirit, on the apostles, give the same idea; that is, of flames shooting diversely into pyramidal forms, or points, like tongues. It may be farther observed that the prophet in this place has given the metaphor its full force, in applying it to the action of fire in eating up and devouring whatever comes in its way, like a ravenous animal whose tongue is principally employed in taking in his food or prey; which image Moses has strongly exhibited in an expressive comparison: “And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this collection of people lick up ali that are around about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field,” Numbers 22:4. See also 1 Kings 18:38.

Their root shall be as rottenness] qmk cammak, like mak; whence probably our word muck, dung, was derived.

Verse 24. Therefore as the fire, &c. — “The latter part of the parabolic song, contained in verse 6, begins here to be more fully explained; and, to the end of the chapter, we have an account of that total destruction of the republic, which was to be brought upon it by a people most skilful in war, and coming from a very distant country.” The greatness and impelling cause of this threatened destruction are explained in this and the following verse: the instruments of it, a fierce and warlike people, are described verses 26-29. And the consequence of it, the trouble and desperation of those that remained from this slaughter, verse 30. See Vitringa. Their root shall be as rottenness — They shall be like a tree, which not only withers in its branches, but dies and rots at the roots, and therefore is past all hopes of recovery. That is, they shall be destroyed, both root and branch, and that as certainly and irresistibly as fire devours the stubble on which it kindles, and the flame consumes the chaff which it touches. Their blossom shall go up as dust — Shall vanish as the dust, which is blown away with every wind, or shall be resolved into dust, and yield no fruit; because they have cast away the law of the Lord, &c. — Have cast off all obedience to it, and treated it with contempt.

24. Therefore — The general subject of destructive judgments is here resumed from verse 14. As the fire devoureth — Very like the stubble and chaff by fire shall Judah’s glory disappear; root and branch it shall be burned up and pass off in air as smoke.

Verse 25. The hills did tremble— “And the mountains trembled”] Probably referring to the great earthquakes in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, in or not long before the time of the prophet himself, recorded as a remarkable era in the title of the prophecies of Amos., Amos 1:1, and by Zechariah, Zechariah 14:5.

Verse 25. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled — This implies that, before the time of that final vengeance, concerning which the prophecy principally treats, God had afflicted, or, rather, would afflict and chastise this rebellious people, with the most grievous calamities: that those calamities should consume many, who, being slain in the wars, should be trod upon by their enemies, like the dung in the streets; most certain indications these of the divine justice and wrath, while they, unawakened by these chastisements, would not so much as attempt to appease the divine displeasure, but would provoke it still more by repeated crimes; till, at length, it should come upon them to the uttermost. — Vitringa. And the hills did tremble — A metaphorical and hyperbolical description of a grievous calamity, familiar to the prophets: see the margin. For all this, his anger is not turned away, &c. — This is not the end, as you vainly imagine, but, if you repent not, only the beginning of your sorrows, and an earnest of further miseries.

Ver. 25. Their carcases torn in the streets, with dogs, it might seem: but the LXX more naturally say, as dung in the streets. This was fulfilled when the Chaldeans filled the streets with the slain. Ezekiel 11:6.

25. The declaration just made is virtually repeated here, probably as a backing to the closing refrain. The verbs of this verse are of the prophetic preterite for future; that is, the ideal standpoint is in the future, from which the prophet sees, in the past, wave after wave of divine judgment rapidly following each other over the nation. For all this — In all this, or notwithstanding all this, God shall inflict still other judgments. Though the blows be heavy, his anger, or ethical intuition, abates not, because his judgments do not, as intended, bring the people to repentance. Leviticus 26:18, 23, 27. (See this dirge-like strain repeated in Isaiah 9:12, 17, 27, and 10:4.)

The foreign invaders summoned to execute judgment, 26-30.

V. 26. An ensign-To call them together for his service. From far-To the Chaldeans; for even Babylon is called a far country, Isaiah 39:3. And he saith nations, because the Chaldean army was made up of several nations. Will hiss-Or, will whistle unto, or for them: will gather them together by his word. as shepherds gather their sheep. He intimates how easily and speedily God can do this work. From the ends-Which is not to be understood strictly, but with a latitude, from very remote places.

Verse 26. He will—hiss— “He will hist”] “The metaphor is taken from the practice of those that keep bees, who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, surismasi, by a hiss or a whistle.”— Cyril, on this place; and to the same purpose Theodoret, ib. In Isaiah 7:18, the metaphor is more apparent, by being carried farther, where the hostile armies are expressed by the fly and the bee:—

“JEHOVAH shall hist the fly

That is in the utmost parts of Egypt;

And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria.”

On which place see Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalm 118:12; and God calls the locusts his great army, Joel 2:25; Exodus 23:28. See Huet, Quest. Alnet. ii. 12. qrv sharak or shrak, he shall whistle for them, call loud and shrill; he shall shriek, and they (their enemies) shall come at his call.

With speed] This refers to the nineteenth verse. As the scoffers had challenged God to make speed, and to hasten his work of vengeance, so now God assures them that with speed and swiftly it shall come.

Verse 26. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations — To call them together for his service. Here that decree of the divine severity, which had been spoken of in general terms in verse 24, is explained. God is shown to be the supreme general or leader of the people, which were to come from far to execute his vengeance; they were to assemble at his setting up his ensign as a signal; and at his hissing — A metaphor taken from the practice of persons keeping bees; who used to draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, surismasi, by hissing, whistling, or some sounds of that kind; as Cyril, Theodoret, and Bochart have shown. The meaning is, that God would collect the people, like bees, by the slightest indication of his will, and bring them into Judea to execute his vengeance. — Bishop Lowth and Dodd. It is not expressed particularly from whence they should be brought, but only said in general, 1st, That they should come from far — Which may be applied, either to the Assyrians, spoken of under this same character, (Isaiah 10:3,) and who, not long after, invaded Judea, and did much mischief in it; or to the Chaldeans, even Babylon being called a far country, Isaiah 39:3. 2d, That they should come from the ends of the earth — An expression hardly applicable either to the Assyrians or Chaldeans, but which exactly agrees to the Romans, and which undoubtedly received its final and most perfect accomplishment in the destruction brought on the Jews by them. In saying, they shall come with speed swiftly, the prophet refers to verse 19. As the scoffers had challenged God to make speed, and to hasten his work of vengeance, so now they are assured, that with speed, and swiftly, it shall come.

Ver. 26. He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far; as is repeated, chap. 10:5. Ho to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff of my indignation, &c.

26-30. An ensign — A signal to nations from afar — Assyrians, Babylonians, Parthians, Scythians, perhaps, and finally Romans. And will hiss — This illustrates the preceding words, and is an allusion to the practice of Orientals in managing bees. They hiss or whistle (Zechariah 10:8) in calling swarms from and to their hives. So shall the called armies from afar be obedient and powerful in action and speed. From across the whole earth they shall come swiftly. Their pace shall be without weariness, without demand for sleep, without stumbling, without impeding loosened girdle or sandals. On they come, with arrows sharp, bows bent, hoofs of horses rock proof, and chariots of war flying. On they come, with shouts, as if for certain victory, and they snatch away their prey at a single bound — no one resisting. All warring nations, from very early times, made large use of the horse, which to Israel was forbidden, in order to keep the nation religious and peaceful. But horses and mules came all at once into fashion in the reigns of David and Solomon. Horses, inured to rocky bridle paths, seldom fail of foot up and down mountain steeps. As anciently Israel and other world powers, so now Bedouins, Circassians, and Tartars, never shoe their horses, whose faint sense of feeling in their feet secures their surefootedness. The prey which these on-rushing armies are seeking is JUDAH; but it adds to the gloom of the prophecy that Judah is not mentioned. It seems hard for the prophet to let the word pass his lips.

V. 27. Nor sleep-They shall all be watchful and diligent to take all opportunities of executing my judgments. Nor latchet-I will take all impediments out of their way.

Verse 27. None—among them] Kimchi has well illustrated this continued exaggeration or hyperbole, as he rightly calls it, to the following effect: “Through the greatness of their courage they shall not be fatigued with their march; nor shall they stumble though they march with the utmost speed: they shall not slumber by day, nor sleep by night; neither shall they ungird their armour, or put off their sandals to take their rest. Their arms shall be always in readiness, their arrows sharpened, and their bows bent. The hoofs of their horses are hard as a rock. They shall not fail, or need to be shod with iron: the wheels of their carriages shall move as rapidly as a whirlwind.”

Neither shall the girdle] The Eastern people, wearing long and loose garments, were unfit for action or business of any kind, without girding their clothes about them. When their business was finished they took off their girdles. A girdle therefore denotes strength and activity; and to unloose the girdle is to deprive of strength, to render unfit for action. God promises to unloose the loins of kings before Cyrus, Isaiah 45:1. The girdle is so essential a part of a soldier’s accoutrement, being the last that he puts on to make himself ready for action, that to be girded, zwnnusqai, with the Greeks means to be completely armed and ready for battle:— Atreidhv d ebohsen, ide zwnnusqai anwgen Argeiouv.

Iliad, xi. 15.

To de endunai ta opla ekaloun oi palaioi zwnnusqai. Pausan. Bœot. It is used in the same manner by the Hebrews: “Let not him that girdeth himself boast as he that unlooseth his girdle,” 1 Kings 20:11; that is, triumph not before the war is finished.

Verses 27-29. None, &c. — In these verses the prophet describes the quality of the forces which should come against Jerusalem; their vigour, activity, and diligence, verse 27; their military expedition, readiness, skilfulness, and apparatus, verse 28; their fortitude and undaunted courage, verse 29; for all which particulars the Romans were remarkably eminent. — Dodd. None shall be weary — Though their march be long and tedious. As I have called them to this work, so I will assist them in it. None shall slumber nor sleep — They shall all be watchful and diligent to take all opportunities of executing my judgments. Nor the latchet, &c., be broken — I will take all impediments out of their way. Whose arrows are sharp — Who are every way furnished and ready for my work, waiting only for my command. Their horses’ hoofs like flint — Because they shall not be broken or battered by the length or stoniness and ruggedness of the way. And their wheels like a whirlwind — For the swiftness of their march, and for the force and violence of their chariots in battle. They shall roar like young lions — Which signifies both their cruelty, and their eagerness to catch and devour the prey. They shall lay hold on the prey, &c. — These words do not agree to the Assyrians, for they were forced to retreat with great shame and loss, and the Jews were delivered from them: but they agree perfectly both to the Chaldeans and the Romans, both of whom carried the prey away safe, and none delivered it — That is, neither the Jews themselves, nor any of their confederates, to whose help they trusted.

26-30. An ensign — A signal to nations from afar — Assyrians, Babylonians, Parthians, Scythians, perhaps, and finally Romans. And will hiss — This illustrates the preceding words, and is an allusion to the practice of Orientals in managing bees. They hiss or whistle (Zechariah 10:8) in calling swarms from and to their hives. So shall the called armies from afar be obedient and powerful in action and speed. From across the whole earth they shall come swiftly. Their pace shall be without weariness, without demand for sleep, without stumbling, without impeding loosened girdle or sandals. On they come, with arrows sharp, bows bent, hoofs of horses rock proof, and chariots of war flying. On they come, with shouts, as if for certain victory, and they snatch away their prey at a single bound — no one resisting. All warring nations, from very early times, made large use of the horse, which to Israel was forbidden, in order to keep the nation religious and peaceful. But horses and mules came all at once into fashion in the reigns of David and Solomon. Horses, inured to rocky bridle paths, seldom fail of foot up and down mountain steeps. As anciently Israel and other world powers, so now Bedouins, Circassians, and Tartars, never shoe their horses, whose faint sense of feeling in their feet secures their surefootedness. The prey which these on-rushing armies are seeking is JUDAH; but it adds to the gloom of the prophecy that Judah is not mentioned. It seems hard for the prophet to let the word pass his lips.

V. 28. Bent-Who are every way furnished and ready for my work, waiting only for my command. Flint-Because they shall not be broken or battered by the length or stonyness and ruggedness of the way. Whirlwind-For the swiftness of their march, and for the force and violence of their chariots in battle.

Verse 28. Their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint— “The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant”] The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman writers, especially those that treat of horse medicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious and of such importance that now the whole science takes its name from it, being called by us farriery. The horseshoes of leather and iron which are mentioned; the silver and gold shoes with which Nero and Poppæa shod their mules, used occasionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind; they enclosed the whole hoof as in a case, or as a shoe does a man’s foot, and were bound or tied on. For this reason the strength, firmness and solidity of a horse’s hoof was of much greater importance with them than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. Xenophon says that a good horse’s hoof is hard, hollow, and sounds upon the ground like a cymbal. Hence the calkopodev ippoi, of Homer, and Virgil’s solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. And Xenophon gives directions for hardening the horses’ hoofs by making the pavement on which he stands in the stable with roundheaded stones. For want of this artificial defence to the foot which our horses have, Amos, Amos 6:12, speaks of it as a thing as much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock as to plough up the same rock with oxen:—

“Shall horses run upon a rock?

Shall one plough it up with oxen?”

These circumstances must be taken into consideration in order to give us a full notion of the propriety and force of the image by which the prophet sets forth the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, which made a great part of the strength of the Assyrian army. Xenop. Cyrop. lib. ii.

Like a whirlwind] hpwsk cassuphah, like the stormy blast. Here sense and sound are well connected.

Verses 27-29. None, &c. — In these verses the prophet describes the quality of the forces which should come against Jerusalem; their vigour, activity, and diligence, verse 27; their military expedition, readiness, skilfulness, and apparatus, verse 28; their fortitude and undaunted courage, verse 29; for all which particulars the Romans were remarkably eminent. — Dodd. None shall be weary — Though their march be long and tedious. As I have called them to this work, so I will assist them in it. None shall slumber nor sleep — They shall all be watchful and diligent to take all opportunities of executing my judgments. Nor the latchet, &c., be broken — I will take all impediments out of their way. Whose arrows are sharp — Who are every way furnished and ready for my work, waiting only for my command. Their horses’ hoofs like flint — Because they shall not be broken or battered by the length or stoniness and ruggedness of the way. And their wheels like a whirlwind — For the swiftness of their march, and for the force and violence of their chariots in battle. They shall roar like young lions — Which signifies both their cruelty, and their eagerness to catch and devour the prey. They shall lay hold on the prey, &c. — These words do not agree to the Assyrians, for they were forced to retreat with great shame and loss, and the Jews were delivered from them: but they agree perfectly both to the Chaldeans and the Romans, both of whom carried the prey away safe, and none delivered it — That is, neither the Jews themselves, nor any of their confederates, to whose help they trusted.

26-30. An ensign — A signal to nations from afar — Assyrians, Babylonians, Parthians, Scythians, perhaps, and finally Romans. And will hiss — This illustrates the preceding words, and is an allusion to the practice of Orientals in managing bees. They hiss or whistle (Zechariah 10:8) in calling swarms from and to their hives. So shall the called armies from afar be obedient and powerful in action and speed. From across the whole earth they shall come swiftly. Their pace shall be without weariness, without demand for sleep, without stumbling, without impeding loosened girdle or sandals. On they come, with arrows sharp, bows bent, hoofs of horses rock proof, and chariots of war flying. On they come, with shouts, as if for certain victory, and they snatch away their prey at a single bound — no one resisting. All warring nations, from very early times, made large use of the horse, which to Israel was forbidden, in order to keep the nation religious and peaceful. But horses and mules came all at once into fashion in the reigns of David and Solomon. Horses, inured to rocky bridle paths, seldom fail of foot up and down mountain steeps. As anciently Israel and other world powers, so now Bedouins, Circassians, and Tartars, never shoe their horses, whose faint sense of feeling in their feet secures their surefootedness. The prey which these on-rushing armies are seeking is JUDAH; but it adds to the gloom of the prophecy that Judah is not mentioned. It seems hard for the prophet to let the word pass his lips.

V. 29. Roar-Which signifies both their cruelty, and their eagerness to devour the prey.

Verses 27-29. None, &c. — In these verses the prophet describes the quality of the forces which should come against Jerusalem; their vigour, activity, and diligence, verse 27; their military expedition, readiness, skilfulness, and apparatus, verse 28; their fortitude and undaunted courage, verse 29; for all which particulars the Romans were remarkably eminent. — Dodd. None shall be weary — Though their march be long and tedious. As I have called them to this work, so I will assist them in it. None shall slumber nor sleep — They shall all be watchful and diligent to take all opportunities of executing my judgments. Nor the latchet, &c., be broken — I will take all impediments out of their way. Whose arrows are sharp — Who are every way furnished and ready for my work, waiting only for my command. Their horses’ hoofs like flint — Because they shall not be broken or battered by the length or stoniness and ruggedness of the way. And their wheels like a whirlwind — For the swiftness of their march, and for the force and violence of their chariots in battle. They shall roar like young lions — Which signifies both their cruelty, and their eagerness to catch and devour the prey. They shall lay hold on the prey, &c. — These words do not agree to the Assyrians, for they were forced to retreat with great shame and loss, and the Jews were delivered from them: but they agree perfectly both to the Chaldeans and the Romans, both of whom carried the prey away safe, and none delivered it — That is, neither the Jews themselves, nor any of their confederates, to whose help they trusted.

26-30. An ensign — A signal to nations from afar — Assyrians, Babylonians, Parthians, Scythians, perhaps, and finally Romans. And will hiss — This illustrates the preceding words, and is an allusion to the practice of Orientals in managing bees. They hiss or whistle (Zechariah 10:8) in calling swarms from and to their hives. So shall the called armies from afar be obedient and powerful in action and speed. From across the whole earth they shall come swiftly. Their pace shall be without weariness, without demand for sleep, without stumbling, without impeding loosened girdle or sandals. On they come, with arrows sharp, bows bent, hoofs of horses rock proof, and chariots of war flying. On they come, with shouts, as if for certain victory, and they snatch away their prey at a single bound — no one resisting. All warring nations, from very early times, made large use of the horse, which to Israel was forbidden, in order to keep the nation religious and peaceful. But horses and mules came all at once into fashion in the reigns of David and Solomon. Horses, inured to rocky bridle paths, seldom fail of foot up and down mountain steeps. As anciently Israel and other world powers, so now Bedouins, Circassians, and Tartars, never shoe their horses, whose faint sense of feeling in their feet secures their surefootedness. The prey which these on-rushing armies are seeking is JUDAH; but it adds to the gloom of the prophecy that Judah is not mentioned. It seems hard for the prophet to let the word pass his lips.

V. 30. Sorrow-Darkness; that is, sorrow; the latter word explains the former. The heavens-When they look up to the heavens, as men in distress usually do, they see no light there.

Verse 30. If one look unto the land, &c.— “And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the earth”] xral cbnw venibbat laarets. Kai embleyontai eiv thn ghn. So the Septuagint, according to the Vatican and Alexandrian copies; but the Complutensian and Aldine editions have it more fully, thus:—Kai embleyontai eiv ton ouranon anw, kai katw; and the Arabic from the Septuagint, as if it had stood thus:— kai embleyontai eiv ouranon, kai thn ghn katw, both of which are plainly defective; the words eiv thn ghn, unto the earth, being wanted in the former, and the word anw, above, in the latter. But an ancient Coptic version from the Septuagint, supposed to be of the second century, some fragments of which are preserved in the library of St. Germain des Prez at Paris, completes the sentence; for, according to this version, it stood thus in the Septuagint.—Kai embleyontai eiv ton ouranon anw, kai eiv ghn katw; “And they shall look unto the heavens above and unto the earth beneath,” and so it stands in the Septuagint MSS., Pachom. and I. D. II., according to which they must have read their Hebrew text in this manner:— hcml xralw למעלה לשמים cbnw. This is probably the true reading, with which I have made the translation agree. Compare Isaiah 8:22; where the same sense is expressed in regard to both particulars, which are here equally and highly proper, the looking upwards, as well as down to the earth: but the form of expression is varied. I believe the Hebrew text in that place to be right, though not so full as I suppose it was originally here; and that of the Septuagint there to be redundant, being as full as the Coptic version and MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. represent it in this place, from which I suppose it has been interpolated. Darkness— “The gloomy vapour”] The Syriac and Vulgate seem to have read בערפלח bearphalach; but Jarchi explains the present reading as signifying darkness; and possibly the Syriac and Vulgate may have understood it in the same manner.

ISAIAH

Verse 30. And in that day, &c. — “Here Isaiah closes this prophecy, with a strong and eloquent description of the consequences of this calamity; setting forth, in the most emphatical terms, the utter confusion, blackness, and desperation of the miserable Jews.” See Isaiah 8:22. They shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea — Which is violent and frightful; and if one look, &c., behold, darkness and sorrow — Darkness, that is, sorrow: the latter word explains the former. Every thing looks black and dismal. And the light is darkened in the heavens thereof — When they look up to the heavens, as men in distress usually do, they see no light there. Their comforts are wholly eclipsed, and their hopes like the giving up of the ghost. It must be observed, that the Scriptures frequently express great calamities and changes, in states and churches, by the heavens being darkened, and the sun, moon, and stars withdrawing their light, or falling from heaven.

30. In that day they shall roar — In this description the transitions are spirited and beautiful. First, the change is from the enemy’s rapid movement to his roaring in expectation of speedy victory; and now, from his roaring as a lion to a roaring as the sea. “Israel is threatened by the raging sea, and, looking landward, sees it growing dark there, until, after being fluctuating, the darkness becomes total.” — Alexander.