tihvavy of trhe t:heolo0ical ^eminarjp PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY the widow of George Dugan, '96 \W4 • Q9? CLARK'S ./;•/> FOEEIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. NEW SEEIES. VOL. XLII. VOL. I. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 1894. PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED. NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER's SONS. TORONTO : THE PRESBYTERIAN NEWS CO. A\) :5^>^'" OOT '! 11 BIBLICAL COMMENTARY \fe ^^ik ON THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D., TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH EDITION. IKIlitb an JntroDuction BY Tkofessor S. K. DEIVER, D.D., Oxford. VOL. I. EDINBUEGIJ^ T. & T. CLAEK, 38 OEO^GE STEEET. 189:*. {This Translation is Copyright, by arrangement with the Author.] DEN OXTORDER MEISTEM ALTTESTAMENTLICHER FORSCHUNG T. K. CHEYNE und S. R. DRIVER ALS DANK FUR BEWAHETE LIEB' UND TREUE GEWIDMET. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. This fourth edition of my Commentary on Isaiah contains the fruit of continued labour since the appearance of the third in 1875, and, after the latter was out of print, a thorough revisal of the whole has been made in preparation for a fourth appearance. To the commentary in the form it has hitherto presented, the objection has been made that it contained too much etymological matter and too many curious details far removed from the proper object of an exegetical work. The com- plaint was not without foundation, and I have taken care that it cannot be raised against the commentary in its present form, especially since, apart from this consideration, I had thought to make the greatest possible curtailment, and my taste is opposed to uu necessary repetitions. In former editions of my commentaries, however, I always leave so much that is peculiar to each, that they do not quite become antiquated by later ones. The illustrative essays contributed by my friends Fleischer (d. Feb. 10, 1888), Wetzstein, and Von Strauss-Torney are to be found in the second and third editions ; those who consider these contributions of importance may still have access to them, at least in libraries.'^ The excursus by Wetzstein on the Gable mountain - range in Batanea (Ps. ^ These papers are those of Victor v. Strauss-Torney, " Can D'':"'D, in Isa. xlix. 12, be the Chinese?" and of Wetzstein, in the second edition, " On Isaiah, chap. xxi. ; " " On the Nabl (i?33) and kindred stringed instruments, chap. v. 12;" "On nniD3, chap. v. 25;" "On nOD3 and i.\^ £, and matters of agricultural botany generally, chap, xxviii. 25 ; " VI PKEFACE. Ixviii. 16), wliicli was published separately in 1884 as a supplement to the fourth edition of my Commentary on the Fsalms (1883), but which has not yet been appreciated as it deserves, was the last conjoint production which I could obtain from him. In the correction of typographical errors appearing in this edition of my Commentary on Isaiah, I have been somewhat fortunate ; perhaps I may venture to hope that it will be found as correct as could possibly be expected. And yet even this book, after it is finished, will sooner or later, in my eyes, shrink into a very imperfect and insignificant produc- tion ; of one thing only do I think I may be confident, that the spirit by which it is animated comes from the good Spirit that guides along the everlasting way. r. D. Leipzig, August 7, 1889. "On rnp and nm, cliap. xxx. 24." There are also, in the third edition, papers, " On rnn in Isa. xi. 8, and m^n'' in Josh. xix. 34 ; " TT T : " On pD in Isa. xvi. 1, xlii. 11, and nivn in xxxiv. 6 and Ixiii. 1." - V T : T The contents of these essays are much more varied than the titles lead one to expect. PUBLISHER'S NOTE. The translation of chaps, i. to iv., and from page 436 to end of this volume, is by the Eev. James Kennedy, B.D., New College, Edinburgh. The Eev. William Hastie, B.D,, and the Eev. Thomas A. Bickerton, B.D. (Examiners in Theology, Edinburgh University), have translated chaps, v. to XX. and chap. xxi. to page 435 respectively. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE By Professor S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Oxford.i The death of Professor Franz Delitzsch, which took place on March 4, 1890, deprived Christian scholarship of one of its most highly gifted and influential representatives. Though known probably to the majority of English students only by his commentaries upon parts of the Old Testament, these writings represent, in fact, but a part of the literary activity of his life, and, except to those who can read between the lines, fail entirely to suggest the wide and varied practical interests to which his energies were largely dedicated. The outward story of his life may be told briefly. He was born at Leipzig, February 23, 1813 ; and, having graduated at the University of his native city in 1835, he became Professor at Piostock in 1846, at Erlangen in 1850, and at Leipzig in 1867, the last-named Professorship being retained by him till his death. From his early student days he devoted himself to the subject of theology, and laid the foundation of his knowledge of Hebrew literature (including especially its post- Biblical development in the Talmud and cognate writings), as well as of Semitic philology generally, under the guidance of Julius Fiirst, editor of the well-known Concordance (1840), and H. L. Fleischer, who was destined in future years to become the acknowledged master of all European Arabic scholars. What may be termed the two leading motives of his life, the desire, viz., to make the Old Testament better known to Christians, and the New Testament to Jews, were first kindled in him by the apparent accident of his meeting in these early years two agents of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. His earliest publi- 1 Eeprinted from The Exfository Times, June 1890. VIU INTRODUCTOKY NOTICE. cations, which appeared during the time that he was Prirat- clocent at Leipzig, were, however, philological or historical. The first of all was a learned and interesting work on the history of post-Biblical Jewish poetry, Ziir GescJdchte Jiidischer Poesie, 1836, followed, in 1838, by Wissenschaft, Kunst,Juden- thum, Schilderungen und Kritiken, and Jcsurun, seu Isagoge in grammaticam et lexicograpJiiam linguae Hehraeae, in which, following his teacher, Fiirst, he developed etymological prin- ciples which were far from sound, and which afterwards, at least in great measure, he abandoned. In 1841 he edited a volume of Anekdota in illustration of the history of mediaeval scholasticism among Jews and Moslems. The next work which deserves to be mentioned is of a different kind — a devotional manual bearing the title of Das Sacrament des tcaJiren Leihes und Bhctes Jcsu Christi, which attained great popularity in the Lutheran Church, aud has passed through several editions (the seventh in 1886). In 1842 there appeared a Dissertation on the life and age of Habakkuk, which was followed in 1843 by the first of his exegetical works, consisting of an elaborate philological commentary on the same prophet — part of a series of commentaries which was projected by him at this time in conjunction with his friend, C. P. Caspari, but of which the only other volume that was completed was the one on Obadiah (by Caspari). A treatise on Die BiUiscliproplietisclie Tlieologie, published in 1845, closes the list of works belonging to the years during which he was Privatdocent at Leipzig. Not much of importance was published by Delitzsch during the Eostock period (1846-50); he was probably at this time engaged in preparing lectures, and also in amassing that store of materials which was to be utilized more fully in future years. The seventeen years of his Erlangen Professorship were more prolific. 1851 saw Das Hohelied untersuclit und ausgelegt ; 1852, the first edition of his Genesis — interesting from the fact that he already clearly recognised the composite structure of the book ; 1855, his System of Biblical Psychology, remarkable for original but difficult thought and subtle specu- lations ; 1857, a Commentary on the Bpistle to the Hebrews, to which Bishop Westcott, in his recent edition of the same epistle, acknowledges gratefully his obligations ; 1859-60, the INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. IX first edition of a Commentary on the Psalms; 18G1-G2, a monograph, entitled, Handschriftliche Funde (notices of the textual criticism of the Apocalypse, and an account of the re-discovery by himself of the famous Codex Reuchlini, — a MS. of A.D. 1105 containing the Hebrew Text, with Targum, of the prophets, — which had been used by Erasmus, but had since been lost); 1864 and 1866, the first editions of his Comme7itaries on Joh and Isaiah respectively (in the series edited by himself and C. F. Keil conjointly). The Erlangen period was closed by a second edition of the Psalms (1867 — incorporated now in the series edited with Keil), and the two instructive descriptive sketches of life in the time of Christ, entitled, Jesus and Hillel (directed against Eenan and the eminent Jewish writer Abraham Geiger), and Artizan Life in the time of Jesus. The literary activity of the last period of his life, the twenty-three years passed by him in his Professorship at Leipzig, shows even greater versatility than that of his earlier years. His inaugural lecture is a study on Physiology/ and Music in their relation to Grammar, especially Hchrcw Grammar. The studies on the age of Christ, just mentioned, were followed before long by others of a similar nature, viz. A Day in Capernaum (graphically written and learned), Sehet welch ein Mensch ! and Jos6 and Benjamin, a tale of Jerusalem in the time of the Herods. In 1869 he published his System dcr Christlichen Apologetik, in 1873 and 1875 Commentaries, likewise in the series edited with Keil, on Proverbs, and on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, respectively. In 1871, 1878, and 1886 there appeared three monographs, full of minute and interesting researches, entitled. Studies on the Origin of the Compilutensian Polyglott ; in 1874, in honour of his former teacher and present colleague, Fleischer, Jildisch- Arahisehe Poesien aus Vormuhammedischer Zeit ; Ein Speci- men aus Fleischers Schule als Beitrag zur Feier seines silbernen Jiibildums ; in 1885 a short Biblical study, i)er Messias als Versohicr ; in 1880 another, Sind die Juden wirklich das auserwdhlte Volk ? The publication of Wellhausen's Geschichte Israelsin 1878 stirred him deeply: he was alternately pained by the boldness with which it treated sacred things and impressed by its brilliancy and the frequent cogency of its argument. X INTRODUCTORY NOTICE, The immediate result was the series of twelve papers, called Pentateuch-Icritische Studien in the Zeitschrift filr Kirchliche Wissenschaft und Kirchliches Leben for 1880. In these papers Delitzsch discusses critically certain prominent questions (such as the laws respecting the Passover, the Tabernacle, Deuteronomy, the " Law of Holiness ") on which Wellhausen's conception of the history of Israel turns, and, while fre- quently repudiating particular points in Wellhausen's argu- ment, recognises in his conclusions a large element of truth. Six other papers on cognate topics followed in the same periodical in 1882. About this time also two courses of his lectures were published in English from notes taken by one of his pupils — Messianic ProjjJiccies and The Old Testament History of Redemption (1880, 1881). Meanwhile he had been busy in the preparation of new and improved editions of many of his commentaries. Thus the fourth edition of his Genesis appeared in 1872, the fifth, incorporating the results to which his recent critical stndies had led him, under the title Ein neuer Commcniar uber die Genesis, in 1887 ; Job reached a second edition in 1876, the Psalms a fourth edition in 1883, Isaiah a fourth edition in 1889. In 1888 a number of discourses and articles were reprinted by him in a volume called Iris ; Farhenstudien und Blumenstiiche ; here he gives freer scope than usual to his imagination, and treats a variety of topics half playfully, half in earnest, M'ith inimit- able ease and grace. Professor Delitzsch's last work was Messianische Wcissagungen in Gcschichtiicher Folge, the preface to which is dated only six days before his death. In this volume, which contains his lectures on Messianic prophecy in the form in which they were last delivered by him in 1887, •his aim, he tells us, was to state the results of his lifelong study — " eine Spatlingsgarbe aus alter und neuer Frucht " — ■ in a clear, compendious form, as a last bequest to those engaged in missionary work. One department of Delitzsch's literary labours remains still to be noticed. As remarked above, it was a guiding aim of his life to make the New Testament better known to Jews. This first bore fruit in the missionary periodical called Saat auf Hoffnung, — " Seed in hope," — which was edited by him- self from 1863, and to which he was a frequent contributor. INTKODUCTORY NOTICE. XI In 1870 it assumed a still more practical shape in an edition of the Epistle to the Eomans in Hebrew, accompanied by a most interesting introduction, containing an account and criticism of existing translations of the New Testament into Hebrew, and valuable illustrations of the thought and phrase- ology of the apostle from Eabbinical sources. He did not, however, rest here. A series of Talmudische Studien, chiefly on linguistic points connected with the New Testament, which ulti- mately extended to seventeen papers, had already been begun by him in the Zeitschrift fur die gesammte Lutlierische Theo- logie lend Kirche (1854—77);^ and in 1876-88 these were followed in the same periodical by another series of papers, Horae Hebraicae et Tahnudicae, supplementary to Lightfoot and Schoettgen, on the Hebrew equivalents of various New Testament expressions. These were, no doubt, " chips " from the great work on which he was at this time busily engaged ; for the desire of his heart, a new Hebrew version of the entire New Testament, was now on the point of being realized, the British and Foreign Bible Society having en- trusted him with the revision of the version publislied by them. This revision was completed in 1877. The improve- ments which it contained were very numerous ; nevertheless, it was capable of more ; and these, due partly to himself, partly derived from the criticisms and suggestions of other scholars (which Delitzsch always generously welcomed), were incor- porated by him in the editions which followed (the 9th, in 1889). It was in consequence of some suggestions tendered by him for this purpose that the present writer first made the acquaintance of Professor Delitzsch, and began a literary correspondence with him, which was continued at intervals to the period of his last illness. An interesting account of Professor Delitzsch's labours in connection with this subject has been written by himself in English in a pamphlet called The Hebrew Nevj Testament of the British and Foreign Bible Society (Leipzig 1883). In its successive editions Delitzsch's Hebrew New Testament has enjoyed a very large circulation, partly among Christian scholars, on account of the exegetical interest attaching to it, and partly among Jews, for many of ^ See the subjects and dates in Tlie Hebrew New Testament of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 35 f. Xll INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. whom the primary documents of Christianity, set forth in their own language, have been found to possess a peculiar attractiveness. During the later years of his life, Delitzsch spent much time in the successive revisions of this work, and was unwearying in the effort to make it correspond more completely with the ideal which he had set himself.^ At the time of his death he had nearly completed his preparations for a tenth edition, which was to include such extensive im- provements as to entitle it to be termed, in a certain sense, a " new " translation.^ The translation, even in the editions which have already appeared, shows great scholarship and accuracy, and every page evinces the care that has been bestowed upon it. Such is the record, though even so not told quite fully,^ of Professor Delitzsch's wonderfully busy literary life. It can afford no cause for surprise that one who knew him well, and who found him working whilst lying propped up in bed during his last illness, should have remarked that he had never known a man who made uniformly such a careful use of his time. His nature was a richly-gifted one ; and he had learnt early how to apply to the best advantage the talents entrusted to his charge. And yet he was no mere student of books. He had a singularly warm and sympathetic dis- position ; he was in the habit of meeting his pupils informally ^ See, most recently, liis short papers in the Exjiositor for February, April, and October 1889 ; twelve others, written by him during his last illness, and published in the TJieologisches Literaturblatt, 1889, Nos. 45-52, 1890, Nos. 1 and 2 ; and Saat auf Hoffnung, February 1890, pp. 71-74. The first of those in the Expositor is of importance as evidence of the friendly spirit in which Delitzsch and Salkinson, the author of another modern Hebrew version of the New Testament, which has sometimes been placed in rivalry with Delitzsch's, regarded personally each other's ^ork. On the characteristics of these two Hebrew New Testaments, the writar may be permitted to refer to an article by himself in the Exjmsitor for April 1886 (though it should be stated that some of the grammatical faults there pointed out in Salkinson's translation have since been corrected). 2 See Saat au/Hoffnuvg, February 1890, pp. 67-70, 74. ^ For some minor writings, as well as several other articles in periodi- cals, and his contributions to Herzog's Eeal-Encyclopadie (Daniel, Heilig- keit Gottes, Hiob, etc.; see the list in vol. xviii. p. 725 of the second edition), have, of necessity, been left unnoticed. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Xlll ill both social and religious gatherings ; and he loved to make, and succeeded in malving, many friends. His personality was an impressive one, and exerted a wonderful charm upon all who came within reach of its influence. He loved England ; and there are many both in this country and in America who still retain the vivid memory of kindnesses received from him in past years, while they were students at Leipzig, and who have heard with sorrow the tidings of his death. The present writer never had the privilege of meeting him personally, but he has received from him many most genial and friendly letters, besides experiencing in other ways tokens of his re- gard. The depth and reality of his convictions are attested by many passages of his writings. His personal religion was devout and sincere. Mission work, especially among the Jews, interested him warmly ; he was much attracted by the movement among the Jews of South Eussia in the direction of Christianity, headed by Joseph Eabinowitzsch, and published several hrocJiures illustrating its principles and tendencies. Of his pamphlet, Ernste Fra/jcn an die Gebildcten Jildischer Religion, more than 4000 copies were disposed of in three months. The anti-Semitic agitation which broke out in Germany a few years ago deeply vexed him ; the injustice of the charges and insinuations brought against the Jews by a Eoman Catholic writer in 1881 he exposed in a pamphlet, entitled, Rolilings Talmudjude heleuchtet, which was followed by other publications having a similar aim. As a thinker and author, though he is apt to be less suc- cessful in his treatment of abstract questions, and sometimes does not sufficiently hold his imagination in check, Delitzsch is forcible, original, and suggestive. His literary style is altogether superior to what those who know it only through the medium of translations would suppose to be the case. His commentaries and critical writings are distinguished nor ' less on account of the warm religious feeling which breathes in them than for the exact and comprehensive scholarship which they display. Thoroughness is the mark of all his works. His commentaries, from their exegetical complete- ness, take rank with the best that Germany has produced. He brings out of his abundantly furnished treasury things new and old. Among Christian scholars his knowledge of XIV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Jewish literature was unsurpassed. Jewish views — though these, it is true, are often only of interest as curiosities — are noticed in his commentaries more fully than in those of any other modern scholar. In difficult and controverted passages, the interpretations adopted by different authorities, from the earliest times, are compactly stated. The successive editions of his commentaries invariably bear witness to the minute and conscientious labour bestowed upon them. It is not the least valuable of their characteristics that they incorporate, or contain references to, the latest notices or researches which have any important bearing upon the text. History, philo- logy, criticism, travel, archaeology, are equally laid under con- tribution by the keen-eyed author. One never turns to any of his commentaries without finding in it the best information available at the time when it was written. His exegesis, if occasionally tinged with mysticism, is, as a rule, thoroughly sound and trustworthy, attention being paid both to the mean- ing and construction of individual words, and also to the connection of thought in a passage as a whole. The least satisfactor}'' of his commentaries is that on the Song of Songs, the view taken by him of the poem as a whole obliging him in many cases to adopt strained interpretations of the text. Delitzsch appreciated scholarly feeling and insight in others, and acknowledges gracefully (in the Preface to the second edition of Joh) his indebtedness to the exegetical acumen of that master of modern Hebraists, Ferdinand Hitzig. In the matter of etymologies, however, Delitzsch never entirely dis- owned the principles which he had imbibed from Fiirst ; and hence, even to the last, he sometimes advocated derivations and connections between words, which are dependent upon questionable philological theories, and cannot safely be accepted. /Critically, Delitzsch was open-minded; and with praise- worthy love of truth, when the facts were brought home to him, did not shrink from frankly admitting them, and modi- fying, as circumstances required, the theories by which he had previously been satisfied. As was remarked above, he had accepted from the beginning, at least in its main features, the critical analysis of Genesis ; and in the earlier editions of hi? Commentary on Isaiah he had avowed that not all the argu- ments used by rationalists were themselves rationalistic. But INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XV as late as 1872 he still taught that the Pentateuch, as we have it, was virtually a product of the Mosaic age. A closer study of the subject, however, which he was led to undertake by the appearance of Wellhausen's History, convinced him that this view was not tenable; and in the papers noticed above, written by him in 1880—1882 (the substance of which is stated in a condensed form in the Introduction to his Ncio Commentary on Genesis), he embraced the critical view of the structure of the entire Hexateuch, treating Deuteronomy as being, in form, the work of a prophet of the age of Hezekiah, and allowing that the ceremonial law was not probably cast into its present shape until a later date still. While accept- ing these conclusions, however, he holds rightly that each of the main Pentateuchal codes embodies elements of much greater antiquity than itself, and rests ultimately upon a genuine Mosaic basis. The importance of this change of position on Delitzsch's part is twofold : it is, firstly, a signi- ficant indication of the cogency of the grounds upon which the critical view of the structure of the Old Testament rests ; and, secondly, it is evidence of what some have been disposed to doubt, viz. that critical conclusions, properly limited and qualified, are perfectly consistent with a firm and sincere belief in the reality of the revelation contained in the Old Testament. In the matter of the authorship of the Psalms, though there are signs in his last edition that he no longer upheld so strenuously as before the authority of the titles, he did not make the concessions to criticism which might per- haps have been expected of him. In the case of the Book of Isaiah, the edition of 1889 — which, by what was felt by both to be a high compliment, was dedicated conjointly to Professor Cheyne and the writer of this notice — is accommo- dated throughout to the view of the origin and structure of the book generally accepted by modern scholars. Such is a sketch, only too inadequate and imperfect, of Franz Delitzsch's life and work. He has left a noble example of talents consecrated to the highest ends. May his devotion to learning, his keenness in the pursuit of truth, his earnest- ness of purpose, his warm and reverent Christian spirit, find many imitators ! S. R. DRIVER. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETICO-PREDICTIVE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. [n the Canon of the Old Testament the prophetico-historical are followed by the prophetico-predictive books. Both to- gether, under the name of Ci"'X''3:, form the middle of the three divisions in the collection, — the first, in accordance with their position, being designated the " Former Prophets " (D''X''33n D''3b'X"in), while the second are named the " Later Prophets " (D^jinnxn n^xuart). in the Masora this middle division is sometimes called xri»7tJ'K, " tradition," ' because the Torah is regarded as the fundamental revelation of God, and post- Mosaic prophecy as tradition (i^/^i?, for which the Aramaic is ^^P.f^^, from Q^^'^5, tradere) flowing from this original source in a continuous stream ; the Former Prophets are then, under the title of «n>Dip Nno^:^'x distinguished from the Later Prophets, which are called ^^l'^^ ^J^^?'^'^*. It is true that the Torah also is a prophetical work, and is cited as such in Ezra ix. 11; for Moses, the mediator of the revelation of law, is, as such, the prophet to whom no other was like, Dent, xxxiv. 10 ; but it was not becoming that the Pentateuch, which is separated from the Book of Joshua under the name of minn (iqd), should be included in the division of the Canon which is designated " the Prophets ; " it is certainly the unique record of the fundamental revelation which has ever conditioned the existence and life of Israel as the nation pre-eminently associated with the history of re- ^ Regarding this Masoretic title, see Johannes Delitzsch, De Inspiratione Scrijjturae Sacrae, 1872, p. 7 f. VOL. I. A Z ISAIAH. demption, and from which, moreover, all prophecy in Israel has been derived. And this holds true, not merely of prophecy, but of all later writings. Not only the prophetic style of writing history, but also the non-prophetic, — i.e. the priestly, the political, the popular styles, — has its model in this Torah. The former follows the Jehovistico-Deuteronomic type, the latter the Elohistic.-^ The opinion that the historical works found among the Hagiographa were placed there merely because of their later origin, but should properly have been ranged among the " Former Prophets," ^ rests on a misconception concerning this variety in the style of writing history. Ezra, — whom we have good ground for regarding as the author of the great " Book ^ With reference to tlie Pentateuclial criticism, we purposely remark here, in a conspicuous position, that tlie acknowledged Isaianic discourses present parallels to all the constituent portions of the Pentateuch. (1) The Jehovist : jn ^Ipnn b''^3, xxx. 29, cf. niDD, xxxi. 5'-\jEs. xii. 13, 23, 27 (only here in Jehovistic context is the name of the festival referred to the verb riDQ) ; nirT'b • • • naVJO, xix. 19 -x. Gen. xxviii. 18, 22, xxxi. 13 (as, inasmuch as the law forbids the erection of a n2!»?D, not only as a means of heathen worship. Lev. xxvi. 1, but also absolutely, Deut. xvi. 22, the view which the prophet reveals appears to be shaped by a reference to the ra^O of Jacob at Bethel).— (2) The Law of the Two Tables: ija nii^"!^ i. 12'>^i3S-ni{ niJt"l^,Ex.xxxiv.24(alsoDeut. xxxi. 11). — (3) Deuteronomy, i. 2''Xjthe beginning of the Song 'i3''TSn, Deut. xxxii. 1. — (4) Deuteronomy together with the Law of Holiness : i. 7, njDJOlJ' D3^'"iS'^^Lev. xxvi. 33, HDOK' DD!iix nn''ni; n^a nisic' nanyx.Lev. xxvi. 3i, 33, r.T D^nyi na-in ; nns □"b^ onr ddi::^ n^nrnx'^^Deut. xxviii. 33 (cf. 51 ; Lev. xxvi. 16) ; D^T msnjDD HOD::''! ^\^ Deut. xxix. 22, nncyi DID n3Sn»3 (cf. the reference to Sodom and Gomorrah in ver. 10 ff.). Add also xxxvi. 7, according to which Hezekiah abolished the high places, and centralized the worship in the Temple of Jerusalem : the restriction of worship to one place, accordingly, does not date from Josiah's time. — (5) The Elohist : iv. 5, nin^ i{-i21 ""Vi Gen. i. 1 (though I would not adduce this parallel, if Wellhausen did not pronounce {<-i2 to be the late production of theological abstraction, and the passage in Isaiah corrupt); i. 14, D3''tJ'Tn''NjNum. X. 10, xxviii. 11 ; j<")pD, i- 13 (which occurs with the Elohist and else- where also, but not with the Jehovist), and n"l!»y in the same verse 'Xj mvy, Num. xxix. 35 (and elsewhere also, but not with the Jehovist) ; mop in the same verse "Xj Lev. ii. 2, ix. 16, v. 12, vi. 8, jnan "l*Lipni (viz. the nijfx)- And is not the altar in heaven, vi. 6, the antitype of the n2fO niLipn in Ex. XXX. 27, etc. 1 ' This view has been maintained, e.g., by B. Anger, Ge^chichte der messianischen Idee (edited by Max Krenkel, 1873), p. 9. INTRODUCTION. 3 of Kings" to which the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxiv. 27) refers under the title D'^PfiLi i^? t^ll^, a collection bearing on the history of Israel, to which he had appended, as the concluding portion, the history of the time of the Kestoration, — is no- where called a " prophet " (^''??), and, in fact, he was not one. The Chronicler also — who, besides the Books of Samuel and of Kings, both of which have been arbitrarily divided into two parts, had also before him that work of Ezra as his main source of authority, and thence produced the historical com- pendium lying before us, the conclusion of which was made up of the memorabilia of Ezra (now, however, in separate form as the Book of Ezra) — makes no claim to be a prophet. Nehemiah, too, — from whose memorabilia our Book of Nehemiah is an extract, arranged in the same fashion as the Book of Ezra, — was not a prophet, but a Tirshatha, i.e. a provincial governor under the king of Persia. The Book of Esther, however, through its relegation of the religious element to the background, is as far as possible removed from the prophetic style of writing history ; from the latter, indeed, it differs as characteristically as the Feast of Purim, the Jewish Carnival, differs from the Passover, the Israelitish Christmas. But it must seem strange that the Book of Euth stands among the Hagiographa. This little work so closely resembles in character the closing portion of the Book of Judges (chaps, xvii.— xxi.) that it might have been placed between Judges and Samuel, and probably did actually stand there originally ; only for liturgical reasons has it been placed beside the so- called five Megilloth (festival rolls), which succeed one another in accordance with the festival calendar of the ecclesiastical year; for the Book of Canticles forms the lesson read on the eighth day of the Feast of Passover, Euth is read on the second day of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Kinoth (Lamentations) on the ninth of the month Abib, Koheleth (Ecclesiastes) on the third day of the Feast of Tabernacles, while Esther is read in the Feast of Purim, which falls in the middle of Adar. This is also the simplest answer to the question why the Lamentations of Jeremiah are not appended to the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies. The Psalms, however, — though David may be called a prophet (Acts ii. 30), and Asaph is named " the seer " ('^l!^^'), — stand first among the Hagio- 4 . ISAIAH. grapha, inasmuch as they do not belong to the literature of prophecy (nsnj), but of that of sacred lyric poetry (T'B' niri''). Their prophetic contents are entirely lyric in their origin, whereas the lyric contents of the Lamentations through- out presuppose the official position and public announcements of Jeremiah as a prophet. Among the canonical books of the prophets (D''N''33) are found only the writings of those who, in virtue of special gifts and calling, were commissioned publicly — whether by word of mouth or by writing — to pro- claim the word of God ; and this they did freely, not being fettered, like the priests, by legal forms, For, though the name X''a3 denotes one who announces, publishes, proclaims, i.e. (as we must further conceive of him) one who speaks as the organ (ns, "mouth," Ex. iv. 15 f. ; Jer. xv. 19) of God; and though the earliest application of the term (see Gen. xx. 7 ; cf. xviii. 17—19 ; Ps. cv. 15), which is revived in the writings of the Chronicler, is far wider than the later ; yet here, in designat- ing the middle division of the Canon of the Old Testament, the word is certainly not so restricted as in Amos vii. 14, where it indicates one who, having gone through a school of the prophets, or at least having been educated through inter- course with prophets, had wholly devoted himself through life to prophetic teaching. It has, however, a specific sense that has been incorporated into the organism of the theocratic life : here it is the designation of one who comes forward, on the basis of a divine vocation and divine revelations, as a public teacher, and who thus professes not merely the gift of predic- tion, but also by preaching and writing exercises the office of a prophet, — an office which, at least on Ephraimitish soil, had further received a distinct and characteristic impress through the institution of the schools of the prophets. This explains the fact that the Book of Daniel could not find a place among the n''N^ni Eor Daniel was not a prophet in this sense : he received and became the medium of divine revela- tions, but he was not a divinely commissioned public teacher like Nathan and Gad, Ezekiel and Zechariah. As remarked by Julius Africanus (in his letter to Origen concerning Susanna), not only did the way and manner in which the divine disclosures were made to him differ from the eiriirvoia irpo^'qTLicrj, but he did not hold the office of a prophet, so that INTRODUCTION". 5 the Talmud {Megilla 3a), speaking of the post-exile prophets in relation to him, says, " They stood above him, for they were prophets, but he was not a prophet " (n"'rD '•cnj? inrx It is thus because of a fundamental distinction between literary productions of a prophetic character properly so called, and those which are not prophetic in the same strict sense, — a distinction that holds alike in the domain of history and in that of prediction, — that all the books of historical and pre- dictive content, which stand among the Hagiographa (D"'ninD, which the grandson of Sirach renders by the expressions ra aXKa irdrpta ^i^Xia and ra Xoltto, tcov ^c^Xloov), have been excluded from the middle division of the Old Testament Canon entitled D"'S''23. Distinction was made between the historical books from Joshua to Kings, and the predictive books from Isaiah to Malachi, as works of men who exercised the prophetical office, and thus as works of a prophetic character ; and such books, on the other hand, as Chronicles and Daniel, which, though recognised as having been written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, were not written on the occasion of a call to make prophetic announcements through speech and writing, and did not thus originate from true prophetic inspiration. The two different styles of writing history are also really unmistakable. Each of them has its own peculiar history. The non-prophetic — considering its history and remains — we would call the national or annalistic. It is evidently quite possible that a prophetic historical work like the Books of Kings and an annalistic work like the Books of Chronicles, may have borrowed certain elements from the other historical style ; but when once the distinguishing features of the two styles have been discerned, those elements which are foreign to the peculiar nature of each work, and which have merely been utilized for carrying out its design, nearly always admit of being made out with certainty. The oldest type of non-prophetical historic composition is found in the priestly-Elohistic style of writing in the Penta- teuch, as distinguished from the Jehovistic-Deuteronomic style. These two styles are continued in the Book of Joshua, and this, too, in such a way that, generally speaking, the latter appears in those portions which narrate the history of the 6 ISAIAH. conquest, while the former occurs iu those sections which describe the division and apportionment of the land. The Book of Judges, at the very beginning, which holds up the history of the judges as a mirror in which one may see and learn of God's dealing in salvation, bears the impress of a pro- phetic historical production ; while the concluding portion, like the Book of Euth, deals with Bethlehemitish stories, which point to the Davidic kingdom, the promised kingdom which formed the centre of prophecy. And though the main portion of the book is founded upon oral and even written forms of the stories regarding the judges, there are also introduced extracts from a more complete work, in which the prophetic pencil of a man like Samuel had combined into an organic whole the accounts of the judges, not merely down to the times of Samson, but even to the complete overthrow of the Philistine oppression. That the Books of Samuel are a pro- phetico-historical work is expressly attested by the Chronicler in a passage which refers to the main body of these books ; in those pieces, however, wdiich record the encounters with the four Philistine children of the giants, 2 Sam. xxi. 15 ff. (= 1 Chron. xx. 4 ff.), and those which tell of David's heroes (Qninji) who stood nearest to him, 1 Sam. xxiii. 8 ff. (= 1 Chron. xi. 11 ff.), they contain at least two remnants of national or popular historical composition, which delights in the repetition of the same words at the beginning and the end, after the manner of a refrain, and touches on the domain of an epic or national ode, reminding us, as Eisenlohr has fitly said, of the legend of Poland and Artus, and the Spanish Cid. More of such remains are found in the Chronicles, as the list of those who joined David during the time of persecution by Saul, 1 Chron. xii. 1—22, beginning with the words : " Now these are they who came to David at Ziklag, while he %vas still hard pressed hy Saul the son of Kish ; and they belong to the heroes ivho are ready to help in war, armed luith hovjs, vnth the right hand and the left using stones and arrows hy means of the loio." Some of these pieces may have fallen into the hands of the later historians separately, and may have been incorporated without any change ; but, so far as they are tabulated, the Chronicler leaves us in no doubt regarding their main source. After giving a census of the Levites from the age of thirty INTKODUCTION. 7 years and upwards, in 1 Chron. xxiii. 2-2 4a, he adds in ver. 24Z> and other verses following, in a sketchy manner, that David, considering afterwards that the heavy work of former days had now ceased, reduced to twenty the age at which service should begin ; for " in the last words of David (in ''"il^'n D''3i"inxri) the descendants of Levi are numhered from the age of twenty!' He here refers to the last part of the history of David's life in the " book of the Kings of Israel " (^?^'P ^3? ^??")^0 which lay before him ; and we learn from 1 Chron. xxvii. 2 4, regarding the other work from which such lists had been transferred into this his leading source. There, after giving the list of the princes of Israel, he remarks concerning a general census that David had intended to make, " Joali, the son of Zeruiah, began to count, hut he did not finish ; and there arose because of this an outburst of wrath upon Israel, and this numbering was not put into the numbering (idddi, but read ■1SD3, ' into the book ') of the Chronicles (p'^iy^n "•"lai) of Davids Hence the Annals or Chronicles of David contained such tables, which bore the cliaracter of national historic writing ; and from these Annals they were transferred into the large Book of Kings lying before the Chronicler. These official annals began with David. The kingship of Saul rose into little more than a military supremacy ; and the kingdom, as reunited under him, did not develop beyond the first stages of a military constitution. Under David, however, king and people entered into a mutual relationship of the most extensive kind, and the thorough organization of the kingdom was necessarily followed by the multiplication of public servants of various kinds and degrees. We see David, as supreme head of the kingdom in all respects, even in matters of religion, acting on his official supremacy ; and we meet with several entirely new offices instituted by him. Among these was the post of the "'''210, i.e. " recorder," or, as the LXX. often designatively renders the word, virofjuvrjiiaro- 7/3a^o9, or (as in 2 Sam. viii. 16) 6 i-rrl twv vTrofjivrjfidToov (Jerome, in genuine Koman fashion, " a commentariis "). The Targums similarly render K*3-i3-n-^y bs'sprp, "the officer over the memorabilia " (= S"'3"i3T "i2D bv, over the annals, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8 ; cf. Ezra iv. 15 ; Esth. vi. 1). The n>3TQ had to keep the national annals, and his office was different 8 ISAIAH. from that of tlie "isiD, or chancellor. The "iQID had to prepare the public documents ; the "T'^ro had to preserve them, and to incorporate them in the connected history of the nation. That it was David who instituted the office of national annalist in Israel is proved by the fact that references to the annals begin with the Chronicles (D''D^"I ''im) of David, 1 Chron. xxvii. 24, and are afterwards continued in the " Book of the Chronicles of Solomon " (nrDb'^ '•"im "iSD, which is an abbreviation from nr^b'^^ D^OTi """in idd), 1 Kings xi. 41. Thereafter, references to them are carried on in Judah to the end of Jehoiakim's reign, and in Israel to the end of the reign of Pekah. Under David, and also under Solomon, the office of national annalist was filled by Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud. The fact that, apart from the annals of David and those of Solomon, nothing but the annals of the kings of Judah and those of the kings of Israel are ever cited,is easily and simply explained. When we view the national annals as a whole, they naturally divide themselves into four parts : the first two, the annals of David and of Solomon, set forth the history of the still united kingdom ; while the last two, the annals of the kings of Judah and of Israel, presented the history of the nation as divided. The original state archives doubtless perished in the flames when Jerusalem was burnt by the Chaldeans. Copies made from these documents, however, were preserved ; and the histories of the reigns of David and Solomon in the historical books which have been handed down to lis, particularly rich as they are in annalistic material, show that diligence in copying and distributing was specially directed to the annals of David and of Solomon, and that these probably were circulated separately, like single decades of Livy. Eichard Simon thought the 4crivains publics were prophets, and in more recent times also the annals have occasionally been regarded as prophetic historical compositions. I. Appeal is made to the statements of the Chronicler regarding prophetic materials in the work which formed his main source, the great Book of Kings; and it is assumed that this great Book of Kings contained the combined annals of the kings of Judah and of Israel. But (a) the Chronicler cites his chief source under various designations, as a Book of the Kings, once INTRODUCTION. 9 (2 Chron. xxxiii. 8) as ''7?"^ (*•«• ■?*cs gestae, or historice) of the kings of Israel, but never as the annals of the kings of Judah or Israel ; he even designates it once as iSp "'IIP D"'D?Qn, commentarius lihri regum, and thus, as an explanation and elaboration of our canonical Book of Kings, or — what we leave undecided — of an older Book of Kings altogether. (h) In this ]\Iidrash there were, of course, inserted numerous and extensive pieces of a prophetico-historical character, for the purpose of illustrating the history of the kings ; but the Chronicler expressly states, on several occasions, that these were incorporated materials (2 Chron. xx. 34, xxxii. 32). Among the documents which were taken into the annals, there must also have been pieces of a prophetic character, and not merely those referring to priestly and Levitical matters, military affairs, and such like ; but it would be the greatest literary blunder to imagine that such pieces as the histories of Elijah and Elisha, which are plainly of Ephraimitish and prophetic origin, have been taken from the annals, especially because Joram of Israel, during whose reign Elisha flourished, is the only monarch of the northern kingdom in whose case there is no reference to the annals. The character of the documents which were chiefly utilized in the annals, and incorporated into the connected history, may be perceived from an instance found in 2 Chron. XXXV. 4, where the arrangement of the Levites into classes is referred to the " writing of David " (in 303) and the " writing of Solomon " (^ly?'^ ^ri3tt), which passed for royal writings, either because they were drawn up by order of the king, and confirmed by him, or because records actually written by the king's own hand formed the basis of the sections in the annals (cf 1 Chron. xxviii, 11-19). When we further bear in mind that the accounts given by the Chronicler of the arrangements made by David regarding the priests and the Levites, point to the annals as the original source, we have — at least in 2 Chron. xxxv. 4 — a confirma- tion of the governmental and (so to speak) royal character of these annals. II. A second reason for regarding the annals as prophetic historical works is the consideration that otherwise, especially in the kingdom of Israel, they could not have been written in 10 ISAIAH. the theocratic spirit. But {a) the official or state origin of the work is implied in the very fact that they end just where the work of a prophetic historiographer would properly have begun. For, of references to the annals in our Book of Kings, there are fourteen (counting from Eehoboam and Jeroboam) in the history of the kings of Judah (references being wanting only in the cases of Ahaziah, Amaziah, and Jehoahaz), and seventeen in the history of the kings of Israel (the case of Joram being the only one in which no reference is given) ; in neither line do the annals come down to the last monarch in the two kingdoms, but only to Jehoiakim and Pekah, from which we must infer that the writing of the national annals ceased with the approaching fall of the two kingdoms. (6) When we look more closely at the thirty - one references, we find that sixteen of these merely state the rest of the acts of the king mentioned are written in the annals: 1 Kings xiv. 29 ; 2 Kings viii. 23, xii. 20, XV. 6, 36, xvi. 19, xxi. 25, xxiii. 28, xxiv. 5; 1 Kings XV. 31, xvi. 14; 2 Kings i. 18, xv. 11, 21, 26, 31. In the case of four Israelitish kings, it is merely stated further that their nniaa (heroism, i.e. their brave conduct in war) is described in the annals, 1 Kings xvi. 5, 27 ; 2 Kings X. 34, xiii. 8. More definite statements, however, regarding what was to be read in the annals, are found in the case of Abijam, whose war with Jeroboam was there described, 1 Kings XV. 7 ; in the case of Asa, xv. 23, all whose bravery, and all that he did, and all the cities that he built, being there related ; in the case of Jehoshaphat, xxii. 46, where reference is made to the heroic deeds that he performed, and the kind of wars that he carried on ; in the case of Hezekiah, 2 Kings XX. 20, where mention is made of all his heroism, and how he made the pool and the aqueduct, and brought the water into the city; in the case of INIanasseh, xi. 17, all that he did, and the sin whereby he sinned ; in the case of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiv. 19, what kind of wars he carried on, and how he ruled; in the case of Zimri, xvi. 20, his conspiracy that he formed; in the case of Ahab, xxii. 39, all that he did, and the ivory house that he constructed, and the cities that he built ; in the case of Joash, 2 Kings xiii 12, xiv. 15, his heroism, how he warred with Amaziah, INTRODUCTION. 1 1 king of Judah; in the case of Jeroboam, 2 Kings xiv. 28, his bravery, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath, that belonged to Judah, for Israel ; in the case of Shallum, xv. 15, his conspiracy which he formed. These references furnish plain proof that this annalistic history was not prophetico-pragniatical iu its character. It recorded out- ward events, it had its roots in the popular mind and its sphere of action in the national life and institutions ; com- pared with the prophetic history, it was more secular than sacred, more a history of the people than a history of redemption. The numerous references of the Chronicler to historical writings by prophetic authors show the constant literary activity in the field of history which was displayed by the prophets generally, after the time of Samuel, with whom, properly speaking, begins the era of the prophets in Israel as a nation settled and constituted under the law (Acts iii. 24). That writer, at the close of the history of David, refers (1 Chron. xxix. 29) to the words of C"]?'^) Samuel the seer (^^'"•0)' 0^ Nathan the prophet (^''?|l1), and of Gad the seer (nrnri) ; at the end of the history of Solomon (2 Chron. ix. 29) to the words of 0"]?^) the prophecy of (nsi3?) Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of (Hitn) Jedi (or Jedo) the seer; in the case of Eehoboam (2 Chron. xii. 15), to the words of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer ; in the case of Abijah (2 Chron. xiii. 22), to the commentary of (^"H^) the prophet Iddo ; in the case of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. XX. 24), to the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which were included in the Book of the Kings of Israel ; in the case of Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 22), to a complete history of tliat king, which was composed by Isaiah the son of Amoz ; in the case of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxii. 32), to the vision of (Htn) Isaiah, as an account that could be found in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel ; in the case of Manasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 19), to the words of Hozai. There is certainly room for doubting whether, in these citations, ''^?'^ does not rather (as, for instance, in 1 Chron. xxiii. 27) denote the historical account of such and such a person. The following reasons, however, prove that, in the mind of the Chronicler, historical accounts written by the person named were meant, (a) From 12 ISAIAH. 2 Chron. xxvi. 22 we see how easy and natural it was for him to think of prophets as historians of particular epochs in the history of the kings. (&) In other places also, where '''?.?'7 is combined with the name of a prophet (as in 2 Chron. xxix. 30, xxxiii. 18), the latter is the genitive of the subject or author, not of the object, (c) In the citations given above, *nai3 is used interchangeably with "'■?.?'^"''y, an expression which still more decidedly requires us to understand it as referring to authorship ; and {d) this view is put beyond all doubt by the interchange of nv ^IIP, in 2 Chron. xiii. 22, with ny "•'nn'n, in 2 Chron. xii. 15. That these accounts, how- ever, which are named after prophets, were not lying before the Chronicler as separate writings along with his main source, is evident from the fact that, except in 2 Chron. xxiii, 18 f., he never refers to both together. They had been incorporated in " the commentary of the Book of Kings " (2 Chron. xxiv. 27) lying before him, where, along with the annalistic sources of the work, they could easily be distin- guished as prophetic productions. And inasmuch as it is conceivable that the author of our canonical Books of Samuel and Kings should not have made use of these sources com- posed by prophetic authors, it is legitimate to ask whether it be still possible for critical analysis to discover these sources, either in whole or in part, — ^just as one may with certainty say that the list of officers used as a boundary-stone in 2 Sam. XX. 23—26, and the survey given in 1 Kings iv. 2—19 of Solomon's ministers and his court, together with the details as to the requirements of the royal kitchen (1 Kings v. 2 ff.), the number of stalls for the king's horses (1 Kings v. 6), and similar matters, have been derived from the annals. This is not the place to enter more minutely into such an analysis. It is enough for us, through the references given in Chronicles, to have cast light on the restless activity of the prophets, from the time of Samuel onwards, engaged in writing history, — an activity which, even without the express references, is obvious from the many historical extracts in the Book of Kings from the writings of prophet-historians. Both authors draw, directly or indirectly, from annalistic and prophetic sources. But the Book of Kings and the Chronicles them- selves also, taken as a whole — when we look at their authors. INTRODUCTION. 1 3 and thus at the mode in which the historical materials are arranged and wrought into shape — represent two different styles of historical composition ; for the Book of Kings is the work of a prophet, and is pervaded by the prophetic spirit, while the Book of Chronicles is the work of a priest, and bears a priestly character. The author of the Book of Kings has taken Deuteronomy and the prophetic literature as his models, whereas the Chronicler so closely imitates the old style of the Q''P*l' ''"?.?'?, that his own is often undistinguish- able from the style of the sources from which, directly or indirectly, his material was derived ; the work, accordingly, is a strange mixture of very ancient and very modern phraseology. From the view of history which is inserted in 2 Kings xvii. 7 f., one may see the spirit and the purpose of the author in writing the book. Like the author of the Book of Judges, who wrote in a similar spirit (see Judg. ii. 11 ff.), he seeks to show, in his history of the kings, how both the king- doms of Judah and Israel, by despising the word of God borne to them by the prophets, and particularly through the great sin of idolatry, had fallen from one stage of inward and outward corruption to another till they reached the depth of misery in the Exile. Judah, however, with its Davidic government, was not without hope of rising again from the depths, if the hearts of the people were not closed against the prophetic preaching from their own past history. The Chronicler, on the other hand, permits his love for the monarchy and priesthood, which were chosen from the tribes of Judah and Levi, to be felt even in the annalistic surveys forming the preface to his work ; and, starting at once with the sad end of Saul, wastes not a word on the course of suffering through which David reached the throne, but hastens on to the joyful beginning of his reign, which is pictured to us in a style at once popular, military, and priestly, as in the case of the annals. Then he sets before us — almost quite apart from the history of the northern kingdom — the history of Judah and Jerusalem under the rule of the Davidic family, and this with special ful- ness when he is able to praise the care of the monarch for the temple and its service, and his co-operation with the Levites and the priesthood. He displays a preference and partiality for the brighter portions of the history ; whereas, in the case 14 ISAIAH. of the author of the Book of Kings, the law of retribution, which prevails in the historical matter, demands at least equal prominence for the darker parts. Both of them, nevertheless, equally afford us a deep insight into the laboratory of the two modes of writing history, and the historical works of both are rich in discourses by prophets, which deserve closer consideration, because, equally with the prophetico-historical writings from which citation is made, they are to be regarded as the preliminary and occasional exercises of the prophetic literature, properly so called, which afterwards assumed a more or less independent position, and to which the " Later Prophets " (D^J'inx Q'^'2^) belong. The Book of Kings contains the following utterances and discourses of prophets : (1) Abijah of Shiloh to Jeroboam, 1 Kings xi. 29-39 ; (2) Shemaiah to Eehoboam, xii. 22-24 ; (3) a man of God to the altar of Jeroboam, xiii. 1 f. ; (4) Abijah to the wife of Jeroboam, xiv. 5—16 ; (5) Jehu the son of Hanani to Baasha, xvi. 1—4 ; (6) a prophet to Ahab, king of Israel, XX. 13 f., xxii. 28 ; (7) a pupil of the prophets to Ahab, XX. 35 ff. ; (8) Elijah to Ahab, xxi. 17-26 ; (9) Micaiah the son of Imlah to the two kings, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, xxii. 14 ff. ; (10) Elisha to Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings iii. 11 ff. ; (11) a pupil of Elisha to Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 1—10 ; (12) a "burden" or message concerning the house of Ahab, ix. 25 f . ; (13) Jehovah to Jehu, x. 30 ; (14) Jonah to Jero- boam II., — indirectly, — xiv. 25—27 ; (15) a general message of the prophets, xvii. 13 ; (16) Isaiah's addresses toHezekiah, chaps, xix. and xx. ; (17) warning prophecy on account of Manasseh, xxi. 10-15 ; (18) Huldah to Josiah, xxii. 14 ff. ; (19) message of warning from Jehovah concerning Judah, xxiii. 27. Of all these prophetic utterances and discourses, only Nos. 2, 9, and 18 are found again with the Chronicler (2 Chron. xi. 24, xviii., xxxiv.), partly because he relates merely the history of the kings of Judah, and partly because he aimed at supplementing our Book of Kings, which doubt- less lay before him. The following prophetic utterances and addresses, not found in the Book of Kings, meet us in the Chronicles : (1) The words of Shemaiah in the war between Eehoboam and Shishak, 2 Chron. xii. 7, 8 ; (2) the words of Azariah the son of Obed before Asa, xv. 1-7 ; (3) Hanani to INTRODUCTION. 1 5 Asa, xvi. 7-9 ; (4) Jahaziel the Asaphite in the assembling of the nation, xx. 14-17 ; (5) Eliezer the son of Dodavahu to Jehoshaphat, xx. 37 ; (6) the letter of Elijah to Jehoram, xxi. 12-15 ; (7) Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the time of Joash, xxiv. 20 ; (8) a man of God to Amaziah, xxv. 7-9 ; (9) a prophet to Amaziah, xxv. 15, 16 ; (10) Oded to Pekah, xxviii. 9-11. To extend still more widely the sphere of our examination, we add (1) the address of the "messenger of Jehovah " in Bochim, Judg. ii. 1-5 ; (2) the address of a prophet to Israel, in Judg. vi. 8-10 ; (3) the address of a man of God to Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 27 ff. ; (4) Jehovah's words to Samuel concerning the house of Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 11—14 ; (5) Samuel's words to Israel before the battle at Ebenezer, 1 Sam. vii. 3 ; (6) Samuel's words to Saul in Gilgal, 1 Sam. xiii. 13 f.; (7) Samuel to Saul after the victory over Amalek, 1 Sam. XV. ; (8) ISTathan to David in view of his intention to build the Temple, 2 Sam. vii. ; (9) Nathan to David after his adultery, 2 Sam. xii. ; (10) Gad to David after the numbering of the people, 2 Sam. xxiv. After taking a general survey of these utterances and addresses, and comparing one with another, we are warranted in assuming that some have been preserved to us in their original form, such as (in the Eirst Book of Samuel) the addresses of the man of God to Eli, and the words of Samuel to Saul after the victory over Amalek : this we infer from their peculiar character, their sublimity, and the difference between their style and that of the historian who gives them, as this is seen elsewhere in his writings. In other cases, at least the essential features have been preserved, as in the addresses of Nathan to David : this is proved by their echoes which reverberate in later history. Among the addresses handed down ver'bati7n by the author of the Book of Kings may be reckoned those of Isaiah (2 Kings xix. 6 ff., 20 f., XX. 1, 5 f., 17 f.) ; the " burden " (Xf^) in 2 Kings ix. 25 f., of primitive and peculiar form, together with some other brief utterances of prophets. Possibly also the words of Huldah are given in all essential respects, for it is only in her mouth (2 Kings xxii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27), in the mouth of Isaiah (2 Kings xxii. 19), and in the "burden" to which reference has just been made, that we find the prophetic 16 ISAIAH. expression " declareth Jehovah " (nin^ nsp), which likewise meets us in 1 Sam. ii. 30 with other tokens of its being original, and whose high antiquity is fully attested by the Davidic Psalms and 2 Sam. xxiii. 1 (of. Gen. xxii. 16). In some of these utterances the historian does not at all concern himself about giving the original words ; they are prophet- voices which sounded forth at one time or another, and whose leading tone he seeks to give, as in Judg. vi. 8-10 ; 2 Kings xvii. 13, xxi. 10-15. Eeproductions of prophetic testimonies in such general form naturally bear the impress of the reproducing writer; thus, in the Books of Judges and Kings there is visible the Deuteronomic style of thought of their final editor. But we will go farther, and must affirm generally that the predictions in the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles bear marked traces of the narrator's own hand, and of the influence exercised by indirect sources. The dis- courses which are common to the Chronicles and the Book of Kings, are almost literally the same in both ; the remainder, however, have quite a different look. The addresses in the Book of Kings almost always begin with, " Thus saith Jehovah " (njn> '\m nb), or, " Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel" (so also in Judg. vi. 8, and in 2 Kings xix. 20 before the addresses of Isaiah) ; and there is nothing that occurs in them more frequently than the phrase 1*^'^? iV! (" because that "), and Deuteronomic expressions like ^''VP'?, ^'^PJ^i}, T^ 1^?, and others ; to which may be added a liking for similes, in- troduced by ")t^*^{^ ("as"), 1 Kings xiv. 10, 15; 2 Kings xxi. 1 3. The idea of God's " choice " of Jerusalem recurs in the same words in 1 Kings xi. 36 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 27 ; and the idea " that there may always remain a light to David" (Ti"]? "T"^), 1 Kings xi. 36, is an exclusive peculiarity of the author among Old Testament writers. The words, " I have raised thee up from among the people, and set thee for a prince over my people Israel," occur not merely in the second address of Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. 17), but also slightly altered in the address of Jehu (xvi. 2). The words, " Him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat," are found in substantially the same form in the second address of Ahijah (xiv. 11), in Jehu's address (xvi. 4), and in that of Elijah to INTKODUCTION. 1 7 Ahab (xxi. 24). The threatenings, " I will destroy every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel, and will sweep behind the house of Jeroboam," is found, with slight variation, in the second address of Ahijah (xiv. 10), in the address of Elijah to Ahab (xxi. 21), and in the second address of Elijah to Jehu (2 Kings ix, 8) ; while it is clearly seen from 1 Kings xvi. 11 and 2 Kings xiv. 26, that the form of these threatenings is the style of the narrator. It is therefore undeniable that almost all these prophet- utterances, so far as a common impress is possible at all, are of similar type, and that the common bond which unites them is no other than the subjectivity of the Deutero- nomic narrator. A similar conclusion must be drawn regarding the prophetic addresses in the Chronicles, which likewise so extensively bear the unmistakable traces of the Chronicler's own treatment, that Caspari, in his treatise on the Syro-Ephraimitish war (p. 53 £f.), acknowledges, even regarding what seems to be the most original of all the addresses (in 2 Chron. xv. 2-7), that it recalls the peculiar style of the Chronicler, In the case of the Chronicler, how- ever, whose chief source of material must have resembled the spirit and style of his own, — an assumption which the Book of Ezra especially warrants us in making, — it is less easy to say how far he exercised a free hand than it is in the case of the author of the Book of Kings, who seems to have found the most of the addresses merely indicated in outline, and to have freely reproduced them from such sketches. If these discourses had come down to us in their original form, we should possess in them an exceedingly important source of information for the history of the development of prophetic ideas and forms of expression. We should then know that Isaiah's favourite phrase, " for Jehovah hath spoken it " (15"7 nin"; '•3)^ so far as we have information, was first employed by Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. 11); that Joel, when he prophesied " in Jerusalem shall be deliverance " (Joel iii. 5), had been preceded by Shemaiah (2 Chron. xii. 7) ; that Hosea, in iii. 4 (cf. v. 15), took up again the utterance of Azariah the son of Oded, " And many days shall Israel con- tinue without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law ; but when they turn in their distress "... VOL. I. . B 18 ISAIAH. (2 Chron. xv. 3 f., where, as the parallel proves, the perfects in ver. 4 are to be understood in accordance with the pro- phetic context) ; that in Jer. xxxi, 1 6 we have an echo of an utterance by the same Zechariah, in the words, " for there is a reward to thy work;" that Hanani, in saying, "The eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth " (2 Chron. xvi. 9), is the precursor of Zechariah (iv. 10); and there are other similar instances. But, considering the influ- ence which the idiosyncrasies of the two historians exercised upon the discourses which they communicate (cf. for instance, 2 Chron. xv. 2 with 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 ; 2 Chron. xii. 5 with xxiv. 20; also ver. 7 with 2 Chron. xxxiv. 21, and the parallel in 2 Kings xxii. 1 3 ; and 2 Chron. xv. 5, "In those times," with Dan. xi. 14) ; considering also the difficulty in finding out the original elements of these addresses (pos- sibly, for instance, the idea that a light will remain to David, 1 Kings XV. 4, 2 Kings viii. 19, was really first expressed by Ahijah, 1 Kings xi. 36), one will be able to make of them for this purpose only a cautious and sparing use. It is doubtful whether such expressions as, " to put my name there," 1 Kings xi. 36, and " he shall root out Israel from this good land," 1 Kings xiv. 15, have received the Deutero- nomic form (see Deut. xii. 5, 21, xiv. 24, xxix. 27) from the prophet or from the author of the Book of Kings (cf. 1 Kings ix. 3 and the parallel passages in 2 Chron. vii. 20, ix. 7 ; 2 Kings xxi. 7 f.). There remains, however, in the predictions of those older prophets, a sufficient amount of original matter for enabling us to see in them the prefigura- tions and predecessors of the later ones. Thus Shemaiah, with his threat against Eehoboam and its later modification (2 Chron. xii. 5-8), reminds us of Micah opposing Hezekiah (Jer. xxvi. 17 ff.). The position assumed by Hanani towards Asa, when he invoked the aid of Syria, is precisely the same as that of Isaiah in relation to Ahaz, — as there is also a close resemblance generally between both events. Like the man of God in Bethel, Hosea and Amos prophesied against the " high places of Aven " (Hos. x. 8), and the " altars of Bethel " (Amos iii. 14, ix. 1). When Amos, in consequence of the divine call (Amos vii. 15), leaves his home and betakes him- self to Bethel, the chief seat of the Israelitish image-worship, INTEODUCTION. 1 9 in order to prophesy against the idolatrous kingdom, is there not in this a repetition of the history of the prophet in 1 Kings xiii.? And when Hanani, in consequence of denouncing Asa, is thrown into prison, is this not a kind of prelude to the subsequent fate of Micaiah the son of Imlah (1 Kings xxii.), and of Jeremiah (Jer. xxxii.) ? Moreover, Ahijah's symbolization and confirmation of what he predicted, by rending into twelve pieces a new garment (a symbol of the kingdom still undivided and strong), has its analogies in the history of the earlier prophets (1 Sam. xv. 26-29) as in that of the later (Jer. xxii.). It is only such signs (□'•riQio) as that by which the prophet who came from Judah to Bethel confirmed his prophecy (1 Kings xiii. 3), that almost wholly disappear from the later history of the prophets, though even Isaiah does not disdain to offer King Ahaz a sign in verifica- tion of his prophetic testimony (Isa. vii. 11). 'No essential difference exists between the prophecy of earlier and that of later times ; in particular, we see it is the same spirit which from the first, and all through, unites the prophets of both kingdoms, notwithstanding the diversity of action which was necessitated by different circumstances. But differences do present themselves. The earlier prophets are exclusively occupied with the internal affairs of the king- dom, and do not as yet draw within their range the history of other nations in the world with which that of Israel was closely interwoven ; their predictions are exclusively directed to the king and people of both kingdoms, and not yet to a foreign nation, — one of the neighbouring peoples, or what we might expect, the Egyptians and Syrians ; the Messianic element still lies in a non-transparent chrysalis state ; and the poetry of thought and language, which afterwards ap- peared as the result of prophetic inspiration, announces itself only in some striking figures of speech. As we have seen, it is perhaps scarcely possible to pronounce a decided opinion regarding the style of delivery of these older prophets ; but, from a general impression of a sufficiently reliable kind, we may distinguish prophecy, down till about the time of King Joash, as the prophecy of overmastering action, from the later prophecy, which was that of convincing speech : as remarked by G. Baur, in the case of the older prophets it is 20 ISAIAH. only as a confirmation of clear inward conviction that concern is shown about words, — the modest attendants of powerful external action. Just for this reason they could not very well produce prophetic writings in the highest sense of the word. But even from the time of Samuel, the prophets as a body had made it a part of the duties of their calling to treat the history of their time in a theocratic-pragmatic way. The cloistral, but by no means quietistic, retirement of the life in the schools of the prophets was specially favourable in the northern kingdom to this literary occupation, and secured for it unquestioned liberty. From 2 Chron. xx. 34, however, we perceive that prophets in Judah likewise occupied themselves with the writing of history ; for the prophet Jehu belonged to Judah, and, as may be inferred from 2 Chron. xix. 1—3, lived in Jerusalem. The literature of predictive writings, however, properly so called, had begun in the time of Jehoram king of Judah with the " vision " (PTn) of Obadiah, — for we think we have proved elsewhere^ that this pamphlet against Edom was occasioned by the calamity mentioned in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17, to which also Joel and Amos refer. Obadiah was followed by Joel, who had before him the prophecy of the former, introducing into the wider and fuller circle of his own publication, not only matter, but also expressions, found in the prophecy of Obadiah. Here again the prophetic literature, in the higher sense, shows how it grew out of the prophetico-historical literature ; for Joel informs us of the result of the penitential worship which had been brought about through his appeal, in a historical passage (ii. 18, 19a) connecting the two parts of his writings. It is now the fashion to bring him down into post-exilic times, but this is one of the worst fruits of the forced consistency of Penta- teuch - criticism : nothing is more certain than that he flourished during the first half of the reign of Joash the king of Judah.^ Obadiah and Joel were contemporaries of Elisha. 1 In the essay, "When did Obadiah Prophesy?" Zeitschrift fur das gesammte lutlierische Tlieologie und Kirche, 1851, p. 91 ff. 2 See my essay, " Two certain Results regarding the Prophecy of Joel," in the same journal, 1851, p. 306 ff. ; cf. Lc Proplieie Joel nach E. Le Savoureux, von Ant. J. Baumgartner, Paris 1888. INTRODUCTION. 2 1 Elisha himself wrote nothing ; but from the schools under his guidance there proceeded, not merely prophetic deeds, but also prophetic writings; and it is significant that the writings which bear the name of Jonah, whom an ancient Haggada describes as one of the " sons of the prophets " (D''N^a:n "'33) of the school of Elisha, do not so much belong to the prophetic literature, in the higher sense, as rather to the prophetico- historical, and, in fact, to the historical writings by prophets. An approximation to the time when Jonah was sent to Nineveh may seem from 2 Kings xiv. 25 — according to which Jonah the son of Amittai, of Gath-hepher, in the tribe of Zebulun, had predicted the restoration of the kingdom of Israel to its promised extent — a prediction which was fulfilled in Jeroboam the son of Joash, the third of his house after Jehu, and which thus was issued in the beginning of the reign of Jeroboam II., if not even under Joash. The mission to Nineveh may belong to an earlier period than this predic- tion. A glance at the Book of Amos, on the other hand, shows us that at the time when this prophet flourished, Assyria was about to arise again. The indication of time, " two years before the earthquake " (Amos i. 1), fixes nothing for us. But if Amos prophesied " in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel," then — assuming that, according to 2 Kings xiv. 23, Jero- boam II. had reigned forty-one years, from the fifteenth year of Amaziah, and was thus for fourteen years contemporary with Amaziah, and for twenty-seven years with Uzziah — his period of activity lay in the last twenty - seven years of Jeroboam's reign. When he appeared, the kingdom of Israel was still at the height of its power which had been secured through the efforts of Jeroboam, while the kingdom of Judah was yet in the low estate into which it had fallen under Amaziah ; for both, he predicts a common fate to befall them at the hands of Assyria, which, though not mentioned, is never- theless clearly meant. The beginning of the public ministry of HosEA comes into contact, at most, with the close of the ministry of Amos. The symbolical portion (chaps, i.-iii.) with which his book begins takes us to the last five years of Jeroboam's reign, and the subsequent prophetic discourses are not out of accord with the statement in chap. i. 1 (which is 22 ISAIAH. from a later hand), according to which this prophet continued to prophesy under Hezekiah, and thus till the fall of Samaria, in the sixth year of Hezekiah. After Hosea, the Ephraim- itish Jeremiah, appeared Isaiah, who according to chap. vi. was called in the last year of Uzziah, about twenty-five years after the death of Jeroboam II. His younger contemporary was MiCAH, of Moresheth, who, according to chap. i. 1, did not appear till some time within the reign of Jotham, and whose book, according to the inscription " concerning Samaria and Jerusalem," must have been composed after the fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign (with which also the narrative in Jer. xxvi. 17 ff. agrees), so that his ministry thus began and ended within the far longer ministry of Isaiah. The same remark holds good of Nahum, the Elkoshite, whose " burden of Mneveh " closes the pro- phetic writings of the Assyrian period : he prophesied after the defeat of Sennacherib, when the power of Assyria was broken; but the yoke on Judah's neck (i. 13) was to be viewed as broken only if Assyria did not rise again. Nahum was followed by Habakkuk, who, among the twelve minor prophets, was the last of the Isaianic type, and began to announce a new era of judgment, — the Chaldean. He prophesied before Zephaniah and Jeremiah,^ during the reign of Josiah, and possibly even as early as Manasseh's time. With Zephaniah, then, begins the series of prophets of the type of Jeremiah, whom he resembles in following older prophets, and reproducing their materials and words in a kind of mosaic. Jeremiah, according to the opening verse in his prophecy, was called in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign ; hence he began his public ministry before Zephaniah, — for internal grounds ^ compel us to place the prophecies of the latter after the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. Jere- miah's ministry in Judaea, and finally in Egypt, lasted more than eighty years. In his last prophetic discourse (chap, xliv.) he gives a pledge of the certain fulfilment of its threats, in the approaching fall of Pharaoh-Hophrah, who in the year 570 B.C. lost throne and life in the same place where his great-grandfather Psammetichus, a century before, had seized 1 See my Commentary on these prophets, 1843. 2 See my article on Zephaniah in Herzog's Cyclopaedia. INTRODUCTION. 23 .the Egyptian crown. Contemporaneously with Jeremiah, though without knowing him personally, so far as we are aware, Ezekiel wrought in the same spirit among the exiles of Judah. According to chap. i. 1, 2, his call took place in the thirtieth year, i.e. of the era of Nabopolassar, which is nearly the fifth year after the captivity of Jehoiakim, 595 B.C. The latest date associated with his ministry (xxix. 17) is the twenty-seventh year of the captivity, which is the sixteenth after the destruction of Jerusalem, — the period between Nebuchadnezzar's raising of the siege of Tyre and his expedition against Egypt. We thus know of a ministry of twenty-two years on the part of this prophet, who, when called, may have already been older than the still very youth- ful Jeremiah. Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the two great prophets who spread their praying and protecting hands over Jerusalem as long as possible, and when the catastrophe was inevitable, saved it even in its fall. Their announcements, together with the prophetic sermon in Isa. chaps, xl.— Ixvi., have bridged over the chasm of the exile, and laid the foundation of the restored national church of post - exilian times. This community was cheered and encouraged by Haggai, in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, through his prediction of the glory in store for the temple, now rising anew from its ruins, and for the house of David, which was again coming to honour in Zerubbabel. Only two months later Zechaeiah appeared : his last predictive discourse belongs to the third year of Darius Hystaspes, the year after the promulgation of the edict requiring the building of the temple to be continued. The predictions of the second portion of his book (chaps, ix.— xiv.) are thoroughly eschato- logical and apocalyptic, and make use of older circumstances and utterances of prophets as emblems of the final future. Prophecy was now silent for a considerable time, until the last prophet-voice of the Old Covenant was heard in Malachi. His book accords with the state of things found by ISTehemiah on the occasion of his second stay in Jerusalem under Darius Nothus ; and it was his peculiar calling in connection with the history of redemption to predict the speedy advent of the messenger appointed to precede the coming of the Lord, — namely, Elijah the prophet, — and that the forerunner would 24 ISAIAH. then be followed by the Lord Himself, as " the Angel of the Covenant " (n''"}3n '^ispD), the Messenger or Mediator of a New Covenant. This survey shows that the arrangement of the "later prophets " in the Canon is not strictly chronological. The three " greater " prophets, who are so called because of the extent of their books of prophecy, stand together ; and the twelve " minor " prophets, because of the smaller extent of their books of prophecy, are conjoined in a yu.oi^o/3t/3A.o9, as Melito calls it, which is named "^^V Ci'^jp, in the Masora "'P''?.'!! (-"^PJ? ''7.^), in the Hellenistic dialect ol BcoSeKa (Wisd. xlix. 1 ; Josephus, c. Apion, i. 8 ; cf. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii. 10), but also to BcoSeKairpocfirjTov (the Book of the Twelve Prophets). Within this collection of the smaller prophetical books, chronological order is so far observed as that they fall into three groups, representing three periods of prophetic literature, viz. prophets of the Assyrian period (Hosea to Nahum), pro- phets of the Chaldean period (Habakkuk and Zephaniah), and prophets of the post-exilian period (Haggai to Malachi). There is, moreover, an evident desire to join, as far as possible, a prophet belonging to the kingdom of Israel with one belong- ing to the kingdom of Judah, — thus, Hosea with Joel, Amos with Obadiah, Jonah with Micah, Nahum with Habakkuk. Besides this, however, Hosea stands first, not so much because the opening word in his book (viz. ripnn, " beginning ") made this an appropriate one with which to begin the collection, — still less because (as is stated in Batlira 145) of the four prophets, Hosea and Isaiah, Amos and Micah, he was the first to be called, — but (in the same way as, among the Pauline letters, the Epistle to the Ptomans is placed first) because his book is the largest; and this principle of arrangement becomes more prominent in the Septuagint, in which Hosea comes first with fourteen chapters, while Amos follows with nine, then Micah with seven, Joel with three, Obadiah with one ; a new series next begins with Jonah. The reason why, in the Hebrew Canon, Joel immediately follows Hosea, may lie in the contrast between the complaint of Joel over the all-parch- ing heat and the all-devouring swarms of insects on the one hand, and the illustrations from vegetable life — bright, fresh, and fragrant — at the close of Hosea on the other. Amos INTRODUCTION. 25 then succeeds Joel, because, taking up again the announcement of judgment with which the latter concludes (Joel iv. 16), he opens his book with the words, " Jehovah will roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem." Obadiah follows, on account of the mutual relation between Obad. 19 and Amos ix. 12. And Jonah comes after Obadiah, for the latter begins, " We have heard tidings from Jehovah, and a messenger is sent among the nations," and Jonah was such a messenger. Similar reasons of a more accidental character aided in the combination of a Judaic with an Israelitish prophet. The fact that Zephaniah follows Habakkuk is explained on such a ground, which happens also to accord with the chronological order; for a catchword in the prophecy of Zephaniah (i. 7), " Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God," is taken from Habakkuk (ii. 20). The post-exilian prophets (called in the Talmud D''Jinxn D^^?''33^, " the last prophets ") then form the close, necessarily following in the order of time and in accordance with the contents of the books ; for, like the trans- position of Joel into the post-exilian period, the transposition of Malachi into the time before Ezra is one of the evil results of forced consistency in Pentateuchal criticism.^ We now return to the so-called Greater Prophets. These immediately follow the Book of Kings, which is now divided into two parts ; and at the head, in the Hebrew as well as in the Alexandrian and Syriac Canon, stands Isaiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, — such is the Masoretic arrangement,^ in accordance with the chronological order of their appearance. In the manuscripts, particularly the German and French, an- ^ From the fact that no trace of any reference to the Priest-code is found in Malachi, but rather, on the other hand, more reference to Deuteronomy, — for to him the Levite is identical with the priest (ii. 4-7), his proscribing of mixed marriages (ii. 11) rests on Dent. vii. 3 (but cf. also Ezra ix. 14), and his requirement of the tithe and the heave-offering (iii. 8-12) is stated in Deuteronomic langriage in Deut. xii. 6, xi. 17, — one must draw another inference than that false conclusion of Pentateuchal criticism. ^ In Ochla ive-ochla, indeed, the citations from Isaiah follow those from Jeremiah and Ezekiel ; but when the Masora reckons Isa. xvii. 3, i^'n D''N'33n, i.e. the middle verse of the division called the D^N''33) it is understood that Isaiah is the first prophet following after the series from Joshua to Kings. 26 ISAIAH. other arrangement is occasionally found, — Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah : this is the order laid down in the Baraitha (i.e. the collection of treatises not taken into the official Mishna) regarding the consecution of the Biblical books and their authors, and the regulating principle here was, as shown in the Gemara,^ affinity of contents. Jeremiah follows the Book of Kings because his prophecies almost wholly relate to the Chaldean catastrophe, with which the Book of Kings con- cludes ; and Isaiah follows Ezekiel, whose book ends with consolation, because the hortatory portion of Isaiah is consola- tion throughout.^ In opposition to this Talmudic arrangement, — which Lagarde {Symmida, p. 142) and others, following Eichhorn, erroneously regard as meant to be chronological, but which Cornill {Jereraia uoid seine Zeit, 1880) thinks was in- tended to express progressive estimation of the worth of the several works, — the order given in the Masora, for which better reasons can be assigned, and which is further attested by the earliest ecclesiastical writers (Melito, Origen, and Jerome), has justly maintained its superiority. 1 The explanation is not a false one, but neitlier is it exhaustive. The Baraitha regards Jeremiah as the author not merely of the book contain- ing his prophecies but also of the Book of Kings, so that "Kings" and " Jeremiah " inseparably cohere, forming the links uniting the " former prophets " with the " later prophets ; " see Marx (Dalman), Traditio Eah- hinorum veterrima de librorum V. T. ordhie atque origine, 1884, ]Dp. 34-37. 2 It is precisely with reference to chaps, xl.-lxvi. that Isaiah is regarded as the prophet of comfort Kar ii^x'^'^ I so that according to Berachoth 57b, whoever sees Isaiah in a dream may look for consolation ; and according to the Midrash on the Lamentations, all the ill that Jeremiah predicted was by Isaiah turned beforehand into good. INTEODUCTIOI^ TO THE BOOK OF ISAIAH, ESPECIALLY THE PIEST PAET, CHAPS. I.-XXXIX. § 1. Tiie Time of the Prophet. The first requisite for an understanding and appreciation of the prophecies of Isaiah is the knowledge of his time, and of the periods during which he exercised his ministry. The first period embraces the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham. The f starting - point is determined in accordance with the view taken of chap. vi. ; but, in any case, Isaiah appeared about the end of Uzziah's reign, and thereafter laboured continuously through the sixteen years of Jotham's reign. The first twenty- seven years of the fifty-two during which Uzziah reigned run parallel with the last twenty-seven of the forty-one during which Jeroboam II. ruled. The kingdom of Israel, under Joash and his son Jeroboam II., and the kingdom of Judah, under Uzziah and his son Jotham, each passed through a season of outward splendour greater in height and duration than had ever been previously experienced. In proportion as the glory of the one kingdom faded, that of the other flourished ; the bloom of the northern kingdom grew fainter as that of the south grew brighter and excelled the other. But outward splendour, in this case as in the former, carried within it the seeds of ruin and decay ; for prosperity degene- rated into luxury, and the worship of Jehovah stiffened into idolatry. It was during this last and longest season of pro- sperity in Judah that Isaiah appeared, called to the sad task 27 28 ISAIAH. of vainly preaching repentance, and therefore also of announc- ing the judgment of hardening and devastation, of the ban O and banishment. The second period of his ministry extends from the accession of Ahaz to that of Hezekiah. During hese sixteen years three events occurred, all combining to briig on a new and momentous turn in the fate of Judah. In )lace of the worship of Jehovah, which had been conducted uiiaer Uzziah and Jotham with regularity and in external con- formity to the law, open idol-worship of the most varied and abominable character commenced with the reign of Ahaz. Then were resumed and continued the hostilities already begun under Jotham's reign by Pekah the king of Israel, and Eezin the king of Damascene Syria : the Syro-Ephraimitish war threatened Jerusalem with the express purpose of destroy- ing the Davidic kingdom. In this distress, Ahaz invoked the aid of Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria ; he made flesh his arm, and thereby entangled the people of Jehovah with the kingdom of the world in a manner unknown before, so that they thenceforward completely lost their independence. • The kingdom of the world is the Nimrodic form of the heathen state. Its characteristic feature is the constant endeavour to burst beyond its natural boundaries, not merely for purposes of self-defence or revenge, but for conquest, and to throw itself upon foreign nations like an avalanche, that it may become an ever-growing and world-embracing colossus. Assyria and Eome are the first and the last members of the world-kingdom that brought enslavement and oppression on Israel througliout her history. The times of Isaiah saw the approach of the calamity. Placed thus on the verge of this new and important change in history, and embracing the whole with his far-seeing eye, Isaiah is, so to speak, the universal prophet of Israel. The tJiircl period of his active ministry extends from the beginning to nearly the end of Hezekiah's reign. Under this king the nation rose almost in the same degree as it had fallen during the reign of Ahaz. He forsook the course of his idolatrous father, and restored the worship of Jehovah. The mass of the people, indeed, remained at heart unchanged, but Judah had once more an upright king who listened to the word of the prophets at his side, — two pillars of the state, men of miglit in prayer y § 1. THE TIME OF THE PROPHET. 29 (.2 Chron. xxxii. 20). When it came therefore to a breaking off from the Assyrian domination, this was certainly an act of unbelief on the part of the nobles and the mass of the people, since they relied on help from Egypt, — an expectation which caused ruin to the northern kingdom in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, — but, on the part of Hezekiah, an act of faith in Jehovah (2 Kings xviii. 7). When Senna- cherib then, the son and successor of Sargon, was coming against Jerusalem,, conquering the country and laying every- thing waste, while Egypt did not bring the help that had been promised, the carnal defiance of the magnates and the mass of the people brought its own punishment. But Jehovah averted the worst of the impending calamity ; the flower of the Assyrian host was destroyed in a night, so that, as in the Syro-Ephraimitish war, now also there was no proper invest- ment of Jerusalem ; thus the faith of the king and of the better portion of the people received a reward for their quiet resting in the word of promise. There was still a power in the state that preserved it from ruin ; and the coming doom, shown in chap. vi. to be inevitable, was yet once more delayed when the last annihilating blow was to have been expected. It was in this miraculous deliverance, which Isaiah predicted, and for which he prepared the way, that the public ministry of the prophet reached its culmination. Isaiah is the Amos of the kingdom of Judah ; for, like the latter, he has the dreadful vocation to see and proclaim the fact that the time of forgiveness for Israel as a people and kingdom is gone for ever. But he was not likewise the Hosea of the kingdom of Judah, for the dreadful call to accompany the fatal course of his country with the knell of prophetic announcements was not assigned to Isaiah, but to Jeremiah. This is the Hosea of the southern kingdom ; for to Isaiah was granted what was refused to his successor Jeremiah, once more to restrain, through the might of his prophetic power, arising from the deep and strong spirit of faith, the coming of the night, which threatened at the time of the Assyrian judgment to engulf his people. The Assyrian oppressions ceased, and, so far as Judah was concerned, were not to be renewed. The view beyond Assyria was clear, and prophecy was about to be concerned with the next world - kingdom, now cautiously 30 ISAIAU. approaching. Beyond the noon-tide of his public ministry there remained the evening of life, which he cannot have idly spent, devoid of word or deed. But though he no longer took part in public affairs, he lived to the beginning of Manasseh's reign, when, according to credible tradition ' to which allusion is made in Heb. xi. 3 7 (" they were sawn asunder "), he fell a sacrifice to the heathenism which had once more become predominant. I have purposely refrained from assigning numbers which might indicate the length of reign of the four (or, including Manasseh, five) kings of Judah under whom Isaiah exercised his ministry. It is certainly difficult enough to make a thoroughly harmonious and consistent arrangement of the dates given in the Book of Kings and also in the Chronicles ; but at present, after the monument literature of Babylonia and Assyria has also come forward as a witness, it is un- deniably certain that the Biblical numbers assigned to the reigns of kings occasionally need correction, though in other respects they are proved to be true by indubitable Assyrio- logical testimonies. The founder of the received Biblical chronology was James Ussher (Usserius), in his Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti, 1650-54,^ a work at which he had laboured for sixty years. We give here a tabular view of his reckoning in that portion of the history of the kings under whom those prophets flour- ished who committed their prophecies to writing. The Biblical reckoning of this section rests on trustworthy tradition, but in a number of instances it is uncertain how ^ According to the Talnmdic treatise, Jebamoth 496, it was found in a genealogical list of a Jerusalem family ; and according to Sanhedrin 1036 in a Targum on 2 Kings xxi. 16 (publislied by Assemani, Catal. Vatic. i. 452), it is amplified in a Jerusalem Targum whicli the Godex Reuchlin puts in the margin, Ixvi. 1 ; and appears in simpler form (compared with the Targum) in the Apocryphal "Ascension of Isaiah" (edited in the Ethiopic text by Rich. Laurence in 1819, and by Aug. Dillmann in 1877 ; in Greek, from a MS. in the National Library at Paris, by 0. von Gebhardt in Hilgenfeld's Zeitschrift, xxi. 330 if.), to which Origen appeals. Regarding a Persian form of this " Ascension," or rather the kindred " Vision of Isaiah," see Spiegel, Literatur der Parsen^ p. 128 ff. - Gustav Baur also made Ussher's system the basis of his Tabellen ilber die Geschichte des israel. Volkes, 1848, except where Prideaux (on Ezra and Nehemiah) and Bunsen (on Egypt) offered something better. § 1. THE TIME OF THE PROPHET. 31 the Scripture historian himself counted the beginning and the end of the reigns, and the mutual relation of these in Ijoth kingdoms. Alongside of Ussher's calculations, accordingly, I place, by way of example, those of my friend Aug. Kohler (in the appendix to his Biblische Gcscliichte des A. T., 188-i). The figures within parentheses beside the name of the king indicate the duration of his rule, and the large numbers give the year in which the monarch in question ascended the throne. JUDAH. Usslier. Kohler. Israel. Ussher. Kohler. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. Athaliah (6), . 884 881 Jehu (28), 884 881 Joash (40), 878 875 Jehoaliaz (17), . 856 853 Amaziah (29), . 839 836 Jehoash (16), . 839 838 Uzziah (52), 810 807 Jeroboam 11.(41), 825 822 Zechariah (i), . 773 769 Shallum {^), . 772 768 Jotham (16), Menahem (10), . 772 768 Sole ruler, . 758 755 Pekahiah (2), . 761 758 Ahaz (16), 742 739 Pekah (20), 759 756 Hezekiali (29), . 726 724 Interregnum . 736 Manasseli (55), . 698 695 Hoshea (9), 730 727 Anion (2), . 643 640 Fall of Samaria, 722 719 Josiah (31), 641 638 This table is merely intended to render the computation of the Books of Kings and Chronicles as objective as possible. Doubt remains especially as to the interregnum between Pekah and Hoshea ; perhaps such a blank should be excluded, and the reign of Pekah made to extend to 727 B.C. No account is taken in the table of the Assyrian chronology : Kohler himself is of opinion that it helps us in several instances to the actually correct dates. He has already shown ^ that what is narrated in Isaiah, chaps, xxxviii., xxxix., occurred in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign ; and, on the other hand, what we read in Isaiah, chaps, xxxvi., xxxvii., happened in his twenty-fourth year (701 B.C.). The following durations of reigns are definitely fixed by the testimony of the Assyrian monuments : — Shalmaneser IL, .... 860-824 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser IL, . . . . 745-727 .. ^ In the Zeitschrift fiir lutherische Theologie, 1874, pp. 96-98. 32 ISAIAH. Shalmaneser IV., .... 727-722 B.C. Sargon, 722-705 „ The following names and dates are also given : — Ahab (battle at Karkar between Aleppo and Hamath, against the kings of Damascus and Hamath, with their allies ; unless, as Well- hausen and Kamphausen suppose, Ahab is erroneously named instead of his son, Joram), . . . . . 854 B.C. Jehu (tributary), . . . . . 842 „ Azariah {i.e. Uzziah, in connection with Tig- lath-Pileser II.), . . . . 740 „ Menahem (made tributary by Pul, i.e. Tiglath- Pileser II.'), . . . . 738 „ Pekah (dethroned by Tiglath-Pileser), . 734 „ Fall of Samaria, . . . . . 722 „ Campaign of Sennacherib against Samaria, 701 „ See the thorough investigations of Schrader's Cuneiform In- scriptions and the Old Testament, 2nd edition ; ^ and the sum- maries of Friedrich Delitzsch, under the article, " Sanherib," in Herzog's Bcal-Encyclop., continued by Hauck, Band xii. (1884). To these Assyrian synchronisms regard is shown, either entirely or in great measure, in the calculations of Well- hausen in his article on " The Chronology of the Book of Kings after the Division of the Kingdom," in the Jahrhilcher fur Deutsche Theologie, 1875, pp. 607-640; cf. Kamphausen, in Stade's Zeitschrift, iii. (1883) pp. 193-202, and in his work. The Chronology of tlie Hebrew Kings, 1883 ; and of Duncker in his History of Antiquity, 5th edition, 1878. Following S. E. Driver in his Isaiah, his Life and Times (1888, p. 13), we give here the estimates of these three writers, .passing over the otherwise important article in The Church Quarterly Beview for Jan. 1886, pp. 257-271, inas- much as the author is unknown to us, and an anonymous authority is of no weight. ^ His name was probably Puhi (Puru) before he rose to be ruler of the Babylono- Assyrian kingdom. - Translated into English by the Rev. Professor Owen C. Whitehouse, .London 1885-88, 2 vols.— Tk. § 1. THE TIME OF THE PROPHET. 33 ^ ^ rH ^ JUDAH. Zi 3 Israel. U a ^ « ^ M fi B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. Athaliah (6), . 84? 843 843 Jehu (28), 84? 843 843 Joash (40), 83? 837 837 Jelioahaz (17), . 81? 815 815 Amaziah (29), 800 797 797 Jehoash (16), . 801 798 798 Uzziah(32), . 791 778 792 Jeroboam II:(41), 785 782 790 Zechariah (i), . 746 741 749 Shallum (^), . 745 741 749 Jotham (16), . (750) (751) Menahem (10), . 744 741 748 Sole ruler, . 740 736 740 Pekahiali (2), . wanting 738 738 Ahaz (16), 735 735 734 Pekah (20), 734 736 736 Hezekiah (29), 715 715 728 Hoshea (9), 733 730 734 Mauasseli (55), 686 686 697 Fall of Samaria, 722 722 722 Amon (2), 641 641 642 Josiali (31), , 639 639 640 The figures do not give here the year of accession to the throne, but the complete first year of the reign of the monarch which followed his accession. Those of Duncker prefer, in seven places, instead of the Biblical figures, other numbers, which make Jeroboam II. to have come to the throne earlier than Uzziah, and Jotham earlier than Pekah, — an unfounded conjecture, as even Kamphausen thinks. A strange feature in Wellhausen's arrangement is the elimina- tion of Pekahiah (but cf. his Prolegomena, p. 475). Kamp- hausen, in six instances, lengthens or shortens the numbers of the years indicating the duration of reigns (Amaziah, 19 ; Uzziah, 42 ; Ahaz, 20 ; Manasseh, 45 ; Menahem, 3 ; Pekah, 6) ; but, without claiming mathematical exactness for these corrections, he is rather on the whole convinced that, in the Biblical chronology of the period of the kings, we are on really historical ground. It may thus perhaps be necessary also to maintain, with W. Piobertson Smith {The Prophets in Israel, pp. 413-419), that the year of Samaria's fall was not one of the last years of Ahaz, but one of the first of Hezekiah. If we place the death of Uzziah in the year 740, and the defeat of Sennacherib before Jerusalem in the year 701, then Isaiah's public ministry embraced a period of forty years. VOL. I. C 34 ISAIAH. § 2. The Arrangement of the Collection, The collection of Isaiah's prophecies is, on the whole, chronologically arranged. The dates in vi. 1, vii. 1, xiv. 28, XX. 1, XXX vi. 1, are points in a continuous line. The three main divisions also form a chronological series ; for chaps. L— vi. set before us the ministry of Isaiah under Uzziah and Jotham ; chaps, vii.-xxxix., his ministry under Ahaz and onwards to the last years of Hezekiah ; while chaps, xl.-lxvi. — their authenticity being assumed — are in any case the latest productions of the prophet. In the middle division, likewise, the group in chaps, vii.-xii., belonging to the time of Ahaz, chronologically precedes the prophecies in chaps. xiii.— xxxix., belonging to the days of Hezekiah. In several instances, however, the chronological arrangement is set aside xiin favour of an arrangement according to the subject-matter. y Thus the discourse in chap. i. is not the oldest, but is placed (\ first as an introduction to all the rest ; and the account of the prophet's consecration, given in chap, vi., which should stand at the beginning of the group which belongs to the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, is placed at the end, where it looks backwards and forwards, like a prediction in the process of being fulfilled. 1 The Ahaz group, which follows in chaps. vii.-xii., is a whole moulded at one casting.] But in the group belonging to Hezekiah's time (chaps, xiii.— xxxix.) the chronological order is again interrupted several times. The predictions against the nations, from xiv. 24 to chap, xxii., which belong to the Assyrian period, are introduced by a " burden " concerning Babylon, the city of the world-power (chaps, xiii. -xiv. 23), and closed by one concerning Tyre, the city of the world's commerce, which was to be destroyed by the Chaldeans (chap, xxiii.) ; while a shorter " burden " concerning Babylon, in chap. xxi. 1-10, divides the cycle into two halves, and a collection of prophecies regarding the nations converges in the great apocalyptic epilogue (chaps, xxiv.— xxvii.), like streams discharging themselves into a sea. Accordingly, the first portion of the Hezekiah group, of pre-eminently ethnic contents, is interwoven with Babylonian pieces which belong to divers points in the life of Isaiah. Another such piece is the great epilogue in chaps, xxxiv., xxxv., forming the last § 2. THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE COLLECTION. 35 echo of the second portion of the Hezekiah group. This second portion is mainly occupied with the fate of Judah, the judgment which the Assyrian world-power executes upon Judah, and the deliverance that awaits it (chaps, xxviii.-xxxiii.) : these announcements are closed with a solemn declaration, in chaps, xxxiv., xxxv., of the judgment of God on the world of Israel's enemies on the one hand, and the redemption of Israel on the other. This Babylonian portion is followed by the historical section in chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix., which form the historical frame of Isaiah's predictions delivered near the time of the Assyrian catastrophe, and furnish us with the key for understanding not merely chaps, vii.-xxxv., but also chaps, xl.-lxvi. If we take the Book of Isaiah, then, as a whole, in the form in which it lies before us, apart from critical analysis, it falls into two halves, chaps. i.-xxxix., and chaps, xl.— Ixvi. The former subdivides into seven parts, the latter into three. The first half may be called the Assyrian, inasmuch as the point at which it aims and in which it terminates is the fall of Assyria ; the second may be called the Babylonian, as its final object is the deliverance from Babylon. The first half is not purely Assyrian, however ; but among the Assyrian portions are inserted Babylonian pieces, and generally such as apocalyptically break through the limited horizon of the former. The seven portions of the first half are the following: 1. Prophecies on the growth of obduracy in the mass of the people (chaps, ii.-vi.). 2. The consolation of Immanuel in the Assyrian oppressions (chaps, vii.— xii.). These two portions form a syzygy, ending with a psalm of the redeemed (chap, xii.), the last echo of the song at the Eed Sea ; and are separated by the consecration of the prophet (chap, vi.), which looks both backward and forward : the opening discourse (chap, i.), as a kind of prologue, forms the introduction to the whole. 3. Prophecies of judgment and salvation of the heathen (chaps, xiii.-xxiii.), chiefly belonging to the period of the judgment on Assyria, but enclosed and intersected by Babylonian pieces. A prophecy concerning Babylon (chap, xiii.-xiv. 2o), the city of the world-power, forms its introduction ; while a prophecy concerning Tyre (chap, xxiii.), the city of the world's com- merce, which received its death-blow from the Chaldeans, 36 ISAIAH. forms its conclusion ; and a second prophecy concerning the desert by the sea, i.e. Babylon (chap. xxi. 1-10), forms the centre. 4. Then follows a great apocalyptic prophecy con- cerning the judgment of the world and the last things (chaps, xxiv.— xxvii.), affording a grand background to the cycle of prophecies concerning the nations, and with it forming a second syzygy. 5. A third syzygy begins with chaps, xxviii.-xxxiii. : this cycle of prophecy is historical, and treats of the revolt from Assyria and its results. 6. With it is combined a far - reaching eschatological prophecy on the avenging and redemption of the Church (chaps, xxxiv., xxxv.), in which we already hear, as in a prelude, the keynote of chaps, xl.— Ixvi. 7. After these three syzygies we are carried back (by chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix.) in the first two historical accounts to the Assyrian period, while the other two show us, afar off, the entanglement with Babylon, which was then but about to begin. These four historical accounts, with the indications of their chronological order, are peculiarly arranged in such a way that half of them look backwards, half of them forwards ; they thus also fasten together the two halves of the whole book. The prophecy in chap, xxxix. 5—7 stands between the two halves like a sign-post, bearing on its arm the inscription " Babylon " (''^3). Thither tends the further course of Israel's history ; there is the prophet henceforward buried in spirit with his people ; there (in chaps, xl.-lxvi.) does he proclaim to the mourners of Zion the approaching deliverance. The trilogical arrangement of this book of con- solation may be regarded as proved ever since it was first observed and shown by Klickert in 1831. It falls into three sections, containing three times three addresses (chaps. xl.-xlviii., xlix.-lvii., Iviii.— Ixvi.), with a kind of refrain at the close. § 3. Tlie Critical Questions. The collection of Isaiah's prophecies is thus a united whole, whose several parts have been skilfully and significantly arranged. This arrangement is worthy of the prophet. Nevertheless, the present form of the work is not to be attributed to him, if (1) the prophecies in chaps, xiii.— xiv. 23, § 3. THE CEITICAL QUESTIONS. 37 xxi. 1-10, xxiii., xxiv.-xxvii., xxxiv. and xxxv. cannot have been composed by him ; and (2) if the historical accounts in chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix., which we find again in 2 Kings xviii. 13 to XX. 19, are not records from Isaiah's pen. For if those prophecies be taken away, the beautiful whole, especially the book against the nations, tumbles to pieces into a confused qnodlibct ; and if chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. were not directly com- posed by Isaiah, then neither can the arrangement of the whole be directly the work of Isaiah ; for it is precisely chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. which form the clasp binding the two halves of the collection together. The critical treatment of Isaiah began in the following manner : — The commencement was made with the second 'part. Koppe first of all expressed doubt regarding the genuineness of chap. 1. ; then Doderlein expressed his decided suspicion as to the genuineness of the whole ; and Justi, followed by Eichhorn, Paulus, and Bertholdt, raised the suspicion into confident assurance of spuriousness. The result thus attained could not possibly remain without reaction on the first part. Eosenmiiller, who was always very dependent upon predeces- sors, was the first to deny the Isaian origin of the prophecy against Babylon, in chaps, xiii.-xiv. 23, though this is attested by the heading ; Justi and Paulus undertook to find further reasons for the opinion. Greater advance was now made. Along with the prophecy against Babylon in chaps, xiii.- xiv. 23, the other, in chap. xxi. 1-10, was likewise condemned, and Eosenmiiller could not but be astonished when Gesenius let the former fall, but left the latter standing. There still remained the prophecy against Tyre, in chap, xxiii., which, according as the announced destruction of Tyre was regarded as accomplished by the Assyrians or the Chaldeans, might either be left to Isaiah, or attributed to a later prophet unknown. Eichhorn, followed by Eosenmiiller, decided that it was spurious ; but Gesenius understood the Assyrians as the destroyers, and as the prediction consequently did not extend beyond the horizon of Isaiah, he defended its genuineness. Thus was the Babylonian series of prophecies set aside. The keen eyes of the critics, however, made still further dis- coveries. In chaps, xxiv.-xxvii., Eichhorn found plays on words that were unworthy of Isaiah, and Gesenius an allegorical 38 ISAIAH. aunouncement of the fall of Babylon : both accordingly condemned these three chapters, and Ewald transposed them to the time of Cambyses. With chaps, xxxiv., xxxv., on account of their relation to the second part, the procedure was shorter. Eosenmliller at once pronounced them to be " a poem composed during the Babylonian exile, near its close." Such is the history of the origin of the criticism of Isaiah. Its first attempts were very juvenile. It was Gesenius, but especially Hitzig and Ewald, who first raised it to the eminence of a science. If we take our stand on this eminence, then the Book of Isaiah is an anthology of prophetic discourses by different authors. I have never found anything inherently objection- able in the view that prophetic discourses by Isaiah and by other later prophets may have been blended and joined together in it on a definite plan. Even in that case the collec- tion would be no play of chance, no production of arbitrary will. Those prophecies originating in post-Isaian times are, in thought and the expression of thought, more nearly akin to Isaiah than to any other prophet ; they are really the homo- geneous and simultaneous continuation of Isaian prophecy, the primary stream of which ramifies in them as in the branches of a river, and throughout retains its fertilizing power. These later prophets so closely resembled Isaiah in prophetic vision, that posterity might on that account well identify them with him. They belong more or less nearly to those pupils of his to whom he refers, when, in chap, viii. 16, he entreats the Lord, "Seal instruction among my disciples." We know of no other prophet belonging to the kingdom of Judah, like Isaiah, who was surrounded by a band of younger prophets, and, so to speak, formed a school. Viewed in this light, the Book of Isaiah is the work of his creative spirit and the band of followers. These later prophets are Isaian, — they are Isaiah's disciples : it is his spirit that continues to operate in them, like the spirit of Elijah in Elisha, — nay, we may say, like the spirit of Jesus in the apostles; for the words of Isaiah (viii. 18), "Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me," are employed in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ii. 13) as typical of Jesus Christ. In view of this fact, the whole book rightly bears the name of § 3. THE CRITICAL QUESTIONS. 39 Isaiah, inasmuch as he is, directly and indirectly, the author of all these prophetic discourses ; his name is the correct common-denominator for this collection of prophecies, which, with all their diversity, yet form a unity ; and the second half particularly (chaps, xl.-lxvi.) is the work of a pupil who surpasses the master, though he owes the master every- thing. Such may possibly be the case. It seems to me even prob- able, and almost certain, that this may be so ; but indubitably certain it is not, in mj' opinion, and I shall die without getting over this hesitancy. For very many difficulties arise, — this first of all, that not a single one of the canonical books of prophecy has a similar phenomenon to present, ex- cepting only the Book of Zechariah, with chaps, ix.-xiv. of which the same is said to be the case as with Isaiah, chaps. xl.— Ixvi., with this difference merely, that whereas the latter are ascribed to a prophet who lived during the exile, chaps, ix.-xiv. of Zechariah are attributed to one or two earlier prophets of pre-exile times. Stade has proved the post- exilian origin of Zechariah, chaps, ix.-xiv., also ; and we may still continue to assume that it is the post-exilian — but, after chaps, i.— viii., much older — Zechariah himself who, in chaps, ix.-xiv., prophesies concerning the last days in figures borrowed from the past, and purposely makes use of older prophecies. No other book of prophecy besides occasions like doubts as to its unity of authorship. Even regarding the Book of Jeremiah, Hitzig allows that, though interpolated, it con- tains no spurious pieces. Something exceptional, however, may have happened to the Book of Isaiah. Yet it would cer- tainly be a strange accident if there should have been preserved a quantity of precisely such prophecies as carry with them, in so eminent a degree, so singularly, and in so matchless a manner, Isaiah's style. Strange, again, it would be that history knows nothing whatever regarding this Isaian series of prophets. And strange is it, once more, that the very names of these prophets have suffered the common fate of being forgotten, even although, in time, they all stood nearer to the collector than did the old prophet whom they had taken as their model. Tradition, indeed, is anything but infallible, yet its testimony here is powerfully corroborated by the rela- 40 ISAIAH. tion of Zeplmniah and Jeremiah — the two most reproductive prophets — not merely to chaps, xl.-lxvi., but also to the undisputed portions of the first half. To all appearance they had before them these prophecies, making these their model, and taking out passages for incorporation in their own pro- phecies, thus forming a kind of mosaic, — a fact which has been thoroughly investigated by Gaspari, but which none of the modern critics as yet has carefully considered, and ventured, with like citation of proofs, to disprove. Further, though the disputed prophecies contain much that cannot be adduced from the remaining prophecies, — material which Driver, in his Isaiah (1888), has carefully extracted and elucidated, — yet I am not convinced that the characteristically Isaian elements do not pre- ponderate. And, thirdly, the type of the disputed prophecies, which, if genuine, belong to the latest period of the prophet, does not stand in sharp contrast to the type of the remainder, — rather do the confessedly genuine prophecies lead us in many ways to the others ; the brighter form and the richer eschato- logical contents of the disputed prophecies find their preludes there. And if the unity of Isaian authorship is actually given up, how many later authors, along with the great anonymous writer of chaps, xl.-lxvi., have we to distinguish ? To this query no one has yet given a satisfactory reply. Such are the considerations which, in the Isaian question, assuredly do not allow me to attain the assurance of mathematical certainty. Moreover, the influence of criticism on exegesis in the Book of Isaiah amounts to nothing. If any one casts reproach on this commentary as uncritical, he will at least be unable to charge it with misinterpretation. Nowhere will it be found that the exposition does violence to the text in favour of a false apologetic design. When John Coleridge Patteson, the missionary bishop of Melanesia, undertook his last voyage of supervision among the islands, — a voyage which ended with his martyrdom on September 29, 1871, — he was studying, on board the schooner, the Book of Isaiah, with the help of this com- mentary, regarding which he wrote before on one occasion, " Delitzsch helps me much in Isaiah." His last letter speaks at the close about this commentary and Biblical criticism. Miss Ch. M. Yonge, in her biography, has not given this J 4. EXPOSITION IN ITS PRESENT STATE. 41 passage.^ But doubtless it expressed his deep and absorbing interest in the Divine word of prophecy, which at present almost completely disappears behind the tangled thorns of an overgrawn criticism. Meanwhile, if we hold ourselves warranted, on the one hand, in objecting to that direction of criticism from which a naturalistic contemplation of the world demands foregone conclusions of a negative character, — on the other hand, we are certainly far from denying to criticism as such its well-founded rights. § 4. Exposition in its Present State. When the Church, at the time of the Eeformation, be^an to examine and sift its possessions that had been handed down by tradition, Biblical criticism also took its rise. At the same time. Scripture exposition on historico-grammatical principles, conscious of its task, endeavoured to reach the one true meaning of Scripture, and put an end to the legerdemain of the " manifold sense of Scripture " which had been developed in accordance with tedious examples ; this advance was made under the influence exerted by the revival of classical studies, and by the help of increased knowledge of Hebrew derived from Jewish teachers. For Isaiah, however, the Eeformation- period itself did not accomplish much. Calvin's Commentaries answer the expectations with which one goes to consult them ; on the other hand, Luther's Scholia are a second-hand and poor performance. The productions of Grotius, important enough in other iields, are in Isaiah, as throughout the prophets generally, of little consequence ; he mixes up the sacred with the profane ; and being unable to follow prophecy in its flight, he clips its wings. Aug. Varenius, of Eostock, one of the orthodox Lutherans, wrote a Commentary on Isaiah which is not to be despised even now ; but, though learned in many ways, it is the confused production of an undisciplined mind. But Campegius Vitringa (who died in 1722 as professor of theology at Franequer), by his Commentary in two folio volumes, which appeared in 1714, threw all the works of his predecessors into the shade. It is he who originated the historical ^ Life of J. G. Patteson, vol. ii. p. 379 (cf. 268), 5tli edition (1875). 42 ISAIAH. method of expounding the prophets, and in this he has given us his own work as a model ; ^ but, though starting with the correct principle that it does not exhaust the meaning of the prophet's words, he nevertheless, in the allegorical explanation appended to the grammatico-historical, shows that he is not yet quite free from the Cocceian method, whicli, without con- sidering the complex-apotelesmatic character of prophecy, reads in the prophets the most minute allusions to the history of the world and the Church. The shady sides of the commentary usually come before the reader first ; but the more he uses it, the more highly does he learn to value it. There is deep research throughout, — nowhere a superabund- ance of dead and dry learning. The author's heart is present in his work. At times he pauses in the path of toilsome investigation, and gives vent to his thoughts in rapturous expressions. He sees and feels more deeply than Bishop Lowth, who keeps to the surface, alters the Masoretic text according to his taste,^ and does not get beyond aesthetic admiration of the form. The era of modern exegesis begins with that destructive theology of the latter half of the eighteenth century which pulled down but could not build. This destruction, however, was not unproductive of good : the denial of the divine and eternal in Scripture has helped us to recognise its human and temporal aspects, the charm of its poetry, and — what is of still greater consequence — the concrete reality of its history. Rosenmillkrs Scholia (3 vols.; last edition, 1811- 1820) are an industrious, clear, and elegant compilation, chiefly from Vitringa ; the sobriety of judgment displayed in selecting, and the dignified earnestness — far removed from all frivolity — deserve our praise. The Commentary of Gesenius (in three parts, or with the translation, four parts, 1820- 1821), which is more decidedly rationalistic, is also more independent in its exegesis, careful in its historical expositions, and especially distinguished for its pleasing and perspicuous style and the stores of learning gathered from all the literature on Isaiah, especially the new sources of grammatico-historical knowledge opened up since Vitringa's time. The Commentary ^ See Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der christlichen Kirche, 436-438. ^ Against him, Kohler wrote Vindiciae textus Heb. Esaiae, 1786. § 4. EXPOSITION IN ITS PIJESENT STATE. 43 of Hitzig (1833) remains his best work, eminent for its precision, acuteness, and originality of grammatical perception, its fine tact in discovering the train of thought, its pith and exactness in stating carefully considered results ; but it is also disfigured by reckless and pseudo-critical assertions of an arbitrary character, and by a designedly profane style of thought that remains unaffected by the spirit of prophecy. The Commentary of Hendewerk (2 vols. 1838—1843) is in philological and historical exposition often very weak ; the style is diffuse, and the eye of the disciple of Herbart is too dull to distinguish between Israelitish prophecy and heathen poetry, between the politics of Isaiah and those of Demos- thenes. Nevertheless, the careful diligence and earnest endeavour to point out in Isaiah the germs of eternal verities, are unmistakeable. In the work of Ewald (translated into English; London 1875-1881) there is universally recognised his natural penetration, and the noble enthusiasm with which he throws himself into the contents of the prophetic books, in which he finds a perpetual present ; and his endeavour to attain a deep apprehension is in some degree rewarded. But it is provoking to observe the self-sufficiency with which he ignores nearly all his predecessors, the dictatorial confidence of his criticism, the false and often nebulous pathos, and the com- plete identification of his opinions with truth itself. In setting forth the characteristics of the prophets, he is a master ; his translations, on the other hand, are stiff, and hardly according to the taste of any one. Umhreit's Practical Commentary (2nd edition, 1846) is useful and stimulating; a profound aesthetic and religious conviction of the glorious character of the prophetic word reveals itself in highly poetic language, heaping one figure on another, and almost never descending to an ordinary level. The other extreme is the prose of Knobel (died 1863). The precision of this scholar, the third edition of whose Commentary on Isaiah (1861) was one of his last works, deserves the most grateful recognition for its excellence in philological as well as in arch geological matters ; but his almost affected commonness of style prevents him from seeing the depth of meaning, while his excessive desire to find historical realization everywhere conceals from him the poetry of the form. The Commentary of BfeclisUr was a real 44 ISAIAH. advance in the exposition of Isaiah. It was edited by himself only as far as chap, xxvii., and then completed (2 vols. 1845-57) by me and by H. A. Hahn of Greifswald (who died in 1861), from his notes, though these afforded little that could be used in the exposition of chaps, xl.-xlvi. Since the time of Vitringa, this is comparatively the best Commentary on Isaiah, chaps, i.-xii.,^ and especially on chaps, xiii.-xxvii. Its excellence does not lie in the exposition of details, — for this is inadequate, through the fragmentary and giossatorial style of its exegesis, and, though diligent and thorough, especially in a grammatical point of view, is not homogeneous or productive, — but in the spiritual and spirited conception of the whole, the profound perception of the character and the ideas of the prophet and of prophecy, the vigorous penetration into the inmost nature of the plan and contents of the whole. Meanwhile (1850, 2 vols.) there appeared the Commentary of Peter Schegg, which follows the Vulgate, and contains valuable remarks in connection with the history of translations, but also displays free and profound insight into the genesis and meaning of the prophecies ; at the same time there also appeared the Commentary of Ernst Meier, the Tubingen orientalist, which did not get beyond the first half. If any one was specially called to advance the exegetical study of the Book of Isaiah, it was C. P. Caspari of Christiania ; but of his Norwegian Commentary all that has appeared reaches only to the end of chap, vi.,^ and its progress has been hindered not only by the exhaustive thoroughness of investigation at which he aimed, but also by the Grundtvig controversy, which involved him in very extensive studies in the field of Church history. Wealth of material for the following prophetic dis- courses is also afforded by his " Contributions to the Intro- duction to the Book of Isaiah, and to the history of Isaiah's time," which appeared (1848) as vol. ii. of our Studies in Bihlieal ^ See the review by Franz Dietrich in Reuters Eepertm-ium, vol. xlviii. pp. 1-25. In the same year, 1845, Schroring in Wismar began his Studies in Isaiah, three parts of which (1845, 1852, 1857) have appeared. 2 Commentar til de tolv forste Capitler of Propheten Jesaja, Christiania 1867. Cf. also the treatise on the Seraphim in Isaiah in the Theological Tidsskrift for 1859, and the Essay on the position and meaning of Isaiah viii. in the History of the Kingdom of God, in the Bibelshe Afha^idlinger, 1884. § 4. EXPOSITION IN ITS PRESENT STATE. 45 Tlieologii ; his "Programm" on the Syro-Ephraimitish war (pub- lished iu 1849) ; and his treatise, not by any means obsolete, on "Jeremiah a witness to the genuineness of Isaiah, chap, xxxiv., and hence also to that of Isaiah, chaps, xl.-lxvi., chaps, xiii.- xiv. 23, and xxi. 1-10 " (with an Excursus on the relation of Zephaniah to the disputed prophecies of Isaiah), which appeared in the Zcitsclirift f. d. ges. lutli. Thcologie u. Kirche, 1843. Among Jewish Commentaries, two must be mentioned ; the work of M. L. Malbim (who died at Kiew 1879), which (published at Krotoschin 1849) especially deals in a concise style with the exact meaning of synonymous words and ex- pressions ; and the learned, subtle, and ever-stimulating work of Samuel David Zuzzatto, of Padua (died 1865), part of which, from the beginning to chap, xxxviii., was published by himself under the title Frofeta Isaia volgarizzato e commentato ad uso dcgli Isracliti, while the remainder was edited after his death from the materials he had left (Padua 1855—1866). Of additional literature that has been published since the appearance of the second and third editions of this Com- mentary (1869, 1879), the following, arranged in chronological order, is worthy of notice : — Cheyne, T. K. (Oriel Professor at Oxford, and Canon of Colchester) : The Book of Isaiah chronologically arranged. An amended version, with historical and critical introductions and explanatory notes. London 1870. There had previously been published, by the same writer, Notes and Criticisms on the Hebrew text of Isaiah (London 1868) : frequent i-eference was made to this work in the second edition of our Commentary. Seinecke, L. (Pastor at Hevensen, near Nordheim) : Der Evangelist des Alten Testaments. Erkliirung der Weissaguug Jesaia's, Kap. xl.-lxvi. Leipzig 1870. See the review by Ed. Riehm, in Studien u. Kritiken, 1872, pp. 553-578. BiRKS, T. K. : Commentary on the Book of Isaiah. London 1871. 46 ISAIAH. n'lyc''' "12D, Liber Jesaiae. Textum masoreticum accuratissime expressit, e fontibus Masorae varie illustravit, notis criticis confirmavit S. Baer. Praefatus est edendi operis adjutor Fr. Delitzsch. Leipzig 1872. DiESTEL, LuDWiG (died at Tiibingen, 1879): Der Prophet Jesaia, erklart von Aug. Kuobel (who died 1863); Aufl. 4. Leipzig 1872. EiEHM, Ed. (died at Halle, 1888): Das erste Buch Mose nach der deutschen Uebersetzuug Dr. Mart. Luthers in rediviertem Text mit Vorbemerkungen imd Erlauterungen, und einem die Berichtigungen des Jesaja enthaltenden Anhang ini Auftrasr der zur Eevision der Uebersetzung des A. T. berufenen Conferenz heraussesceben. Halle 1873. -'o^o^ Stade, Bernhaed (Professor in Giessen) : De Isaiae vaticiniis Aethiopicis diatribe. Leipzig 1873. See the notice by Aug. Dillmann in the Liter. Centralblatt, 1874, Nr. 9. Strachey, Sir Edward : Jewish History and Politics in the time of Sargon and Sennacherib. An inquiry into the historical meaning and purpose of the prophecies of Isaiah. Second edition, revised. London 1874. Weber, Feed, (died at Polsingen, 1879): Der Profet Jesaja in Bibelstunden ausgelegt. 2 vols. Nordliugen 1875-76. Klostermann, Aug. (Professor in Kiel) : Jesaja, cap. xl.- Ixvi. Eine Bitte um Hiilfe in grosser Noth. In Zeitschrift flir luth. Theologie, 1876; pp. 1-60. KoHUT, Alex. (Chief Ptabbi in Flinfkirchen) : Antiparsische Aussprtiche im Deuterojesajas. In Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1879, pp. 709-722. Neteler, B. : Das Buch Isaias aus dem Urtext iibersetzt und mit Beriicksichtigung seiner Gliederung und der auf seinen Inhalt sich beziehenden assyr. Inschriften erklart. Miinster 1876. See the notice by W. Baudissin in the Theol. Literaturzeitung. 1876, Nr. 19. § 4. EXPOSITION IN ITS PRESENT STAl E. 47 • Eeuss, Ed. (Professor in Strasburg) : Les Proph^tes (form- ing Part 2 of his work on the Scriptures), 2 vols., the former of which contains the translation and exposition of the old Isaiah portions, while the latter contains the decidedly later portions. Paris 1876. The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah according to the Jewish Interpreters. I. Texts edited from printed books and MSS. by Ad. Neubaner. II. Translations by S. Pi. Driver and Ad. Neubauer. With an introduction to the translations by Prof. E. B. Pusey. Oxford and London 1876-77. See the notice by Hermann Strack in the Theologische Literatur- zeitung, 1877, Nr. 21. Le Hir (formerly Professor in the Seminary of Saint- Sulpice, Paris) : Les trois grands prophetes, Isaie, Jer^mie, Ezechiel ; analyses et commentaires. Paris 1877. See the notice by W. Baudissin in the Theologische Literatur- zeitung, 1877, Nr. 11. Nagelsbach, C. W. Eduard (died at Gunzenhausen, 1880) : Der Prophet Jesaja, theologisch-homiletisch bearbeitet (Theil 14 des Lange'schen Bibelwerks). Bielefeld u. Leipzig 1877. [Translated into English, with additions, by Samuel T. Lowrie and Duulop Moore. New York and Edinburgh 1878.] See the notice in the Beilage zur Luth. Kirchenzeitung, Nr. 1, and that by Em. Kautsch in the Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1878, Nr. 25. Strack, Herm. (Professor in Berlin): Zur Textkritik des Jesaias. In Zeitschrift fiir luth. Theologie, 1877, pp. 17-52. Studer, G. L. (Professor in Berne) : Beitrage zur Textkritik des Jesaja. In the Jahrbiicher fiir protest. Theologie, 1877, pp. 706-730. Fehr, Fredrik : Profeten Jesaja : Ett gammaltestamentligt Utkast. Upsala 1877. De Lagarde, Paul (Professor in Gottingen) : Semitica. Aus dem 23. Bande der Abhandl. der kgl. Gesellschaft der Wissensch. in Gottingen. Gottingen 1878. 48 ISAIAH. Pages 1-32 contain critical remarks on Isaiah, chaps, i.-xvii. : see the notice by Eberh. Nestle in the Theol. Literaturzeitung, 1878, Nr. 11. LoHR, ¥r. (Pastor in Zirchow a/Usedom): Zur Frage liber die EchtheitvonJesaias 40-66. Drei Hefte. Berlin 1878-80. See the notice in the Liter. Beilage der Luther. Kirchenzeitung, 1879, Nr. 17. KoSTLiN, Feiedeich : Jesaia und Jeremia. Ihr Leben und ihr Wirken aus ihren Schriften dargestellt. Berlin 1879. Baetii, J. (Professor in Berlin) : Beitrage zur Erklarung des Jesaia. Karlsruhe 1855. ScHOLZ, Anton (Professor in Wiirzburg) : Die alexandrin- ische Uebersetzung des Buches Jesaias. Wiirzburg 1880. Cheyne, T. K.: The Prophecies of Isaiah. A new trans- lation, with commentary and appendices. 2 vols. London 1880-81. [Fifth edition, 1889.] See my notice of the first edition in The Academy, 1880 (Ap. 10). Knabenbauee, a. (Jesuit priest) : Erklarung des Propheten , Jesaia. Freiburg i. B. 1881. Distinguished for the very extensive use made of the older exposi- tory literature (certainly with no great j)rofit), and for beneficial regard to the more modern. GUTHE, Heem. (Professor in Leipzig) : Das Zukunftsbild des Jesaia. Leipzig 1885. Bredenkamp, C. J. (Professor in Greifswald) : Der Prophet Jesaia erklart. Drei Lieferungen. Erlangen 1886—7. This author has also published Vaticinium quod de Immanuele edidit Jesaias. Erlangen 1880. Von Oeelli, Gone. (Professor in Basle): Die Propheten Jesaja und Jeremia ausgelegt. Nordlingen 1887. [Trans- lated in Clark's For. Theol. Lib., Edinburgh 1889.] [Deivee, S. R (Eegius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford University): Isaiah, his Life and Times. London 1888.] [Sayce, a. H. : The Life and Times of Isaiah. London 1889.] [Smith, Geoege A. : The Book of Isaiah. 2 vols. London 1889-90.] THE SUPERSCRIPTION OF THE BOOK OP ISAIAH. I. The external title as handed doivn is ^IW\. The LXX. always modifies the form of the prophet's name into HXAIAX (see Frankel, Vorstudien, p. Ill); on the other hand, it renders the name nij/B''' in Ezra viii. 7, 19 by 'la-aca^ (but in other places in many other ways ^), both paroxy tone, inasmuch as a? in prosody is long ; Lat. Isaias {Esaias), in Prudentius with accented a and short i (but, on the other hand, Jeremlas, because in this case the e, which is short in accordance with the Hebrew, is not suited for bearing the accent of the word). In the book itself, and throughout the Old Testament Scrip- tures, the prophet is called li^^V^'. (iu the Babylonian Codex, dating from the year 916, li^J^Ji'^ according to the old style of writing) ; on the other hand, iu the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the shorter form designates other per- sons. Though the shorter form of such names was in ancient times current along with the longer, it came to be exclusively used in more recent days ; hence its employment as the usual title. The name is a compound word, signifying " Jahii (Jah) has wrought salvation," — yD'"" being equivalent to T^^ (in i^^^V^'i'"'), as nm in nurri is equivalent to ^'ni.'} — not " salvation of Jahu " (as explained, for instance, by Kiiper, with Caspari) ; for, as Kohler has shown, in the beginning of his Commentary on Zechariah, the number of the names of persons compounded of a substantive and n"" is exceeded by ^ 'Hauiot; (or even 'Ho-ai'a?, following the analogy of 'Ho-/oSoj, 'Havxio;) is essentially a modification like ' laoLiu.;. There are some other proper names beginning with K>% but the LXX. renders none of these by Ha or Ii7, like this one. In Ezra viii. 7, 19, rTiyty^ is modified into the form 'laxiot.;, and in 1 Chron. iii. 21, Neh. xi. 7, into 'ho-Za,', — a worse form. VOL. I. D 50 ISAIAH, that of those which are formed from the perfect of the Qal, and this, too, with the meaning of a derived conjugation, especially the Piel and Hiphil. Combined with V^\ how- ever, the name would probably take the form ^^*Vp\ (like •^^iPpO, '"''??P, ^"^^^IV), and signify, " Jahu is my salvation ; " hence n^^VP"!, like '^ll?], ^ll^h '^l'^.^?, will be an exclamation of thankfulness to God made into the name of the child/ The prophet shows he is conscious that it was not by accident he bore this name ; for J?''K'in^ v^^, and i^VV^"] are among his favourite words, — nay, we may say, he lives and moves in the coming salvation : but nin'' is the God of salvation ; this is the peculiar redemptive designation of God. The name in- dicates the Being who exists absolutely {i.e. eternally and independently), who bears witness to Himself (Ex. iii. 14), as freely and according to His own counsel determining His ways, ruling throughout the course of history, and fixing its form. This work of free grace has for its end that salvation which, beginning with Israel and working outwards, embraces and includes all mankind. The element in' (n^) in the prophet's name has been shortened from the " tetragrammaton " nin'' by rejecting the second n. From this abbreviation we see that the vowel a stood at the beginning of the divine name. According to Theodoret, it was pronounced 'laySe by the Samaritans ; this is also the pronunciation given in the Archontic list of the divine names found in Epiphanius. Jacob of Edessa, as we learn from an excursus to his Syriac translation of the ^.0704 iiriOpoviot of Severus of Antioch, was under the erroneous impression that the name in Hebrew was pronounced nNT" like ^^^^< ; moreover, this (TUCJi-i, in the Codex Curzonianius of the Syro-Hexaplar Isaiah, is tran- scribed in Greek characters HEHE (Zeitschrift cUr deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft, xxxii. 465 ff.). The testimony hereby borne to the conclusion of the word in n— is confirmed by the abbreviation into 1^^, which, after the analogy of similar abbreviations, has come from '"Tin^j through an intermediate form ]\^\ The modified form 'Aid (found in Theodoret) does not point to the divine name nirT" (which must have been represented by 'la^d), but n'' ; 'law with its by-forms is in^, and 'lacoid (in Origen, contra Celsuon, i. 656) is the •* See Friedr. Delitzsch, Prolegomena, pp. 206-208. THE SUPERSCRIPTION OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 51 condensed iT* in\^ The pronunciation Jehovah {Yehovah) has arisen from a combination of the Qeri and Kethih, and did not become current till after the sixteenth century ; Galatinus, about 1518, in his work de arcanis catholicae veritatis, was the first who remarked that the " tetragrammaton," read as it is pointed, sounds Jehovah (Ychovah) ; from that time people began to pronounce it so, but Genebrard, who died in 1597, in his Commentary on the Psalms, continues against Beza to oppose it as an intolerable innovation : Impii vetustatis temeratores et nominis Dei incffahilis profanatores atque acleo transformatores JovA vel Jehovah legunt, vocdbulo novo, harlaro, fictitio, irreligioso et Jovem gentiliiim redolente. II. The title of the hook, given hy itself. Ver. 1 : " The vision of Yesliayahu, son of Amoz, lohich he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziyahu, Jotham, Ahaz, Yehizkiyahu, kings of Judah." Isaiah is here called pK:x"|3. The Jewish doctrine, known even to the early Fathers of the Church, that when a prophet's father is named, the latter also was a prophet (2Icgilla 15a), is unfounded. But there is at least some sense, though no historic basis, in an old tradition repeated in the Midrash (Pesikta de-Rah Cahana 117&) and the Talmuds {Mcgilla 10&, cf, Sota 10&), that Amoz was the brother of Amaziah, the father and predecessor of Uzziah, and that Isaiah was thus, like the Davidic kings, a descendant of Judah and Tamar. The nature and appearance of Isaiah make a thoroughly royal impression. He speaks to kings like a king. With majestic bearing he goes to meet the magnates of his people, and of the world-power beyond. In his style, he is among the prophets what Solomon was among the kings. In all circumstances and moods, he is master of his materials, a master of language, — simply magnificent, sublime without affectation, splendid though unadorned. But this regal character had its roots somewhere else than in blood. Only this much may be said with certainty, that Isaiah was born in Jerusalem. For the character of his prophecy betokens closest intimacy with the capital : accord- ing to Chagiga 13&, he stands in relation to Ezekiel as a native of the chief city to a native of the provinces ; notwith- standing his exceeding manifold prophetic missions, we never ^ Cf. Baudissin, Btudien zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. 183 f. 52 ISAIAH. find him outside of Jerusalem ; here, too, as may be seen from chap. xxii. 1, and the style of his intercourse with king Hezekiah, he lived with his wife and children in the lower part of the city ; here he carried on his ministry under the four kings named in ver. 1, who are enumerated without " vav copulative ; " there is the same unconnected enumeration as in the titles of the Books of Hosea and Micah. There Hezekiah is called njipTn"", — almost the same form as here, — but with the simple rejection of the toneless ^. The Chronicler especially prefers the complete form, — full both at the beginning and the end, — though he also uses the rarer form irriprn. Eoorda is of opinion that the Chronicler took this malformation from the three titles, where it is a copyist's error for ^i^'ipT'^l or nj;iptni ; but it is also found in Jer. xv. 4 and 2 Kings xx. 10, where such an error in transcription could not possibly have taken place. Accordingly, it is not an irregular form ; we must not, however, with Eoorda, derive it from the Piel, but from the Qal of the verb (" strong is Jehovah"), with a connecting i, which occurs pretty frequently in proper names derived from verb-roots with a vowel in the middle, such as bxp^b'^^ from D^, 1 Chron. iv. 36. Under the kings already mentioned Isaiah exercised his ministry, or, as it is expressed in ver. 1, saw the vision which he committed to writing in the book before us. Among the many Hebrew synonyms for seeing, nrn is the general ex- pression regularly used for prophetic perception, whether the form in which the divine revelation was made to the prophet was a vision or an audible communication ; in both cases he " sees " it, — distinguishing this divine message, in its super- natura,l objectivity, from his own conceptions and thoughts by means of the inner sense, which is designated by the term used to denote the noblest of the five external senses. The prophet accordingly is called nfri^ " a seer " (at an earlier period in the language, nxn, 1 Sam. ix. 9), and prophecy is called |iin ; the term nx^33, which is the cognate of i<''?3, appears only in the latest period (thrice in Chronicles and Nehemiah). The noun |ifn, indeed, is also applied to individual visions (cf. Jer. xxix. 7 with Job xx. 8, xxxiii. 15), like |i''jn (const, i^'^^!'), which is formed from \Tn by euphonic doubling, and is more frequently used in this sense; but here, in the title to the THE SUPER.SCRirTION OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 53 •Book of Isaiah, the abstract meaning passes over into the still more closely related collective, indicating the whole of what is seen, i.e. the contents of the vision. We may not conclude, therefore, that the first part of ver. 1 was originally the superscription merely of the first prophetic address, and that it was only through the addition of the latter part that it was changed into a general title for the whole book : Yitringa held this view, and perhaps it may even be correct, but with the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxxii. 32) this in''yK''' pm appears as the general title of the collection. Along with Judah, Jerusalem is further specially mentioned as the object of the vision. The " perpetual Qeri " to D^iJ'i^ (D7L^^"l'') is Qv5^"'\ which is hardly to be regarded as a " broken dual," i.e. as formed through internal change of sound, but — like i:i3J? for pav, 2 Chron. xiii. 19, and the Aramaic T^^^ — a later form in which the diphthongal ajim or aim has been resolved from the original em, dm, an. Cheyne finds in the particularizing, from Judah to Jerusalem, an indication of the fact that Isaiah was a city-prophet. But the object of the prophecies of the provincial prophet Micah is also (i. 1) marked by the mention of the capitals of both kingdoms. The advance from " Judah " to " Jerusalem " is a centralizing step ; and if prn is meant to indicate the totality of what was seen by Isaiah, this designation of the object of Isaiah's prophecies by " Judah and Jerusalem " is centralizing. Tor his vision extends far beyond Judah, not merely to the sister kingdom of Ephraim, but also to the Gentile nations. Within the widest circle of the nations of the v/orld there lies the smaller one containing the peoples bordering on the Hebrews ; and within this, again, there is the still smaller one of all Israel, including Samaria ; within this, once more, there is the yet smaller circle of the kingdom of Judah ; and all these circles include Jerusalem, because the whole history of the world, regarded in its inmost working and its final purpose, is the history of the Church of God, which has Jerusalem, the city of Jehovah's temple and the kingdom of promise, for its peculiar site. In this sense, the expression " concerning Judah and Jerusalem " is also suitable for the whole book, in which everything that the prophet sees is seen from Judah and Jerusalem, and for the sake of both, and in the interests 54 ISAIAH. of both. It is more probable, however, that the latter part of ver. 1 is a more recent addition, so that the words from ptn to ub^i'' thus formed the original superscription of the first address, and could only indirectly (like the names of the Books of the Pentateuch) be used as the designation of the whole book. For it is inadmissible, with Luzzatto, to take "iC'X as nominative instead of accusative {qui instead of quam, sc. visioncm), in order to stamp the \vords " The Vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz," as the superscription of the first dis- course, in chap. i. ; the suggestion is contrary to the syntax, for ntn ^^^ lirn is the usual Hebrew construction of the verb with its own substantive (Ges. § 138. 1). FIRST HALF OF THE COLLECTION OF PROPHECIES. CHAPS. I.-XXXIX. PAKT I.— PKOPHECIES RELATING TO THE COURSE OF THE MASS OF THE PEOPLE ONWARDS TO HARDENING OF HEART, CHAPS. I.-VI. Opening Discouese, eegaeding Jehovah's way with His Ungeateful and Eebellious People, I. 2 ff. The prophet is standing on the fateful boundary-line between the two halves of the history of Israel. Neither by the riches of divine goodness which they experienced during the times of Uzziah and Jotham, which closely resembled those of David and Solomon, nor by the chastisements of the divine displeasure which inflicted wound upon wound, have the people allowed themselves to be brought to repentance and reflection ; the divine means of training have been exhausted, and it only remains that Jehovah should let His people in their present condition be consumed in the fire, that a new people may be formed out of the gold which has stood the fiery test. At this period, so pregnant with storms, appear the prophets, like birds upon the sea, presaging the tempest, and more active than at any other epoch, — Amos in the days of Jeroboam, Micah in the reign of Jotham, but above all Isaiah, the prophet Kar e^o^yjv, standing midway between Moses and Christ. Conscious of this his exalted position in the history of salvation, he begins his opening address in Deuteronomic fashion, like the grand Song of Moses in Deut. xxxii. This form has been shown by the investigations of Klostermann i ' ■■ ISAIAH. {Stndicn u. Krit. 1871) to have passed current in Hezeliiali's time, at latest, as a prophetic testimony reaching back to Moses, so that it may actually be regarded as such (see No. X. of my " Studies in Pentateuchal Criticism," in Luthardt's Zeitschrift, 1880, p. 503 ff.). This song is the compendious programme and the common watchword of all prophecy, to which it stands in the same fundamental relation as the Decalogue to all other laws, and the Lord's Prayer to all other prayers. The law- giver therein sets before the eyes of his people their whole history to the end of time. This history falls into four great periods : the creation and exaltation of Israel ; the ingratitude and apostasy of Israel ; the surrender of Israel into the hands of the heathen ; lastly, the restoration of Israel, — sifted but not destroyed, — and the accord of all nations to praise Jehovah, who has revealed Himself in judgment and in mercy. This fourfold division is not merely preserved in every part of the history of Israel, but it forms the distinguishing mark of the history as a whole to its remotest end. Every age of Israel has thus in that song a mirror of its present condition and future destiny. This mirror the prophets held up before their contemporaries. Thus did Isaiah. He opens his prophetic address as Moses begins his Song. Moses begins (Deut. xxxi. 1) : " Hear, ye heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth." In what sense he calls on heaven and earth he himself tells us in Deut. xxxi. 28 f. He foresees in spirit the future apostasy of Israel, and takes heaven and earth, which will endure beyond his earthly life now drawing to a close, as witnesses of what he has to say to his people with such a prospect. In like manner, — only with the interchange of the parallel verbs yDD' and prsn, — Isaiah begins, " Hear, heavens, and give car, earth : for Jehovah sjjeahs." The ground of the demand is put in a general way : they are to hear because Jehovah is speaking. But what Jehovah speaks substantially agrees with that address of Jehovah which is introduced in Deut. xxxii. 20 by the expression "And he said." What Jehovah, according to the statement there, will one day have to say in His wrath, He now says through the prophet, whose present corresponds to the future of the Song of Moses. For the time has now arrived when heaven and earth, — which always exist CIIAPTEK I. 2. 57 and are always the same, wliich have continued through the past history of Israel in all places and at all times, — should fulfil the duty laid on them by the lawgiver to be witnesses ; and this is just the special, true, and ultimate sense in which they are required, as they were by Moses, to hear. They were present and shared in the proceedings when Jehovah gave the Law to His people ; the heavens, according to Deut. iv. 36, as the place from which the voice of God issued, and the earth as the place where His great fire appeared. They were solemnly admitted to the scene when Jehovah gave to His people the choice between a blessing and a curse, life and death (Deut. xxx. 19, iv. 26). /They are now, therefore, to hear and bear witness regarding what Jehovah, their Creator and the God of Israel, has to say, and what complaints He has to make ( ver. 2^ : " Children have I 'brought wp and exalted, hit they have rebellecl against Me" Though Israel is meant, Israel is not named, but the historical facts are generalized into a parable, in order that the astounding and appalling state of matters may be made more prominent. Israel is Jehovah's son (Ex. iv. 22 f.) ; all the members of j the nation are His children (Deut. xiv. 1, xxxii. 20) ; He is / the Father of Israel, whom He has begotten (Deut. xxxii. I 6, 18). The existence of Israel as a nation, like that of other nations, is effected, indeed, by means of natural repro- duction, not by spiritual regeneration ; but the primary ground of Israel's origin is the supernaturally efficacious word of grace addressed to Abraham (Gen. xvii. 15 f.) ; and a ^ series of wonderful dealings in grace has brought the growth and development of Israel to that point which it had attained at the Exodus from Egypt. It is in this sense that Jehovah has begotten Israel. This relation of Jehovah to Israel as His children has already, in Isaiah's time, a long time of grace behind it in the past, — the time of Israel's childhood in Egypt, the time of youth in the desert, the time of growing , manhood from Joshua to Samuel ; and now Joshua can say : in the days of Isaiah, " I have brought up children, and exalted them." The opposite of bna is jbi^, that of D") is 7|?^*. The Piel ''"i!? signifies to " make great," and when applied to children (as here and in 2 Kings x. 6, etc.), to " bring up " in the sense of natural growth ; and the Pilel Dpi"), 58 ISAIAH. which is used also in xxiii. 4, Ezek. xxxi. 4 (cf. the proper • names in 1 Chron. xxv. 29-31), as the parallel to ^'^}, signifies to " exalt " in the dignitative sense of raising to a high position, to which wise love of a fathet gradually advances a child. The two verses depict the condition of mature man- hood and high honour which Israel had reached under the monarchy of David and Solomon, and which has again been enjoyed under Uzziah and Jotham. But how ungrateful were they towards God for what they owed to Him, — " but they have broken away from me ! " Instead of an adversative particle ('?3>^ possibly), there is merely i copulative, used energetically, as in vi. 7 (cf. Dni, Hos. vii. 13). Two things that ought never to have been conjoined, — the gracious and filial relation of Israel to Jehovah, and Israel's base apostasy from Jehovah, — these, though utterly contradictory, were now actually combined. The verb V^'^, (_!Lui (here with retracted tone/ from the presence of the following ''3), in accordance with its radical idea, signifies to " break away, break loose " (Lat. dirwnpcre, as in amicitiam dirumpere)^ and is followed by 3 with the object forming the completion of the action ; it means violently and determinedly to break connection with V any one, and is here used of the inward severance from God, and renunciation of His claims, which forms the climax of rii^tpn (Job xxxiv. 37), and of which the full outward mani- festation is idolatry. From the time that Solomon, towards the end of his reign, gave himself up to idolatry, the worship of idols had never wholly ceased, even in public, down to the days of Isaiah. Two attempts had been made to put an end to it, — the reformation begun by Asa and completed by Jehoshaphat, and afterwards the one accomplished by Joash during the lifetime of the high priest Jehoiada, who had ^ Only in the following cases is there no retraction of the tone : (1) When the syllable to which it would be retracted is a closed syllable ; (2) "Wlien the former of the two logically connected words ends with a heavy suffix ; (3) When the final syllable of this v.'ord is closed and accented, as in w D"'l?i7. 2 In Arabic, i__!;Au.i originally had a purely sensuous meaning, and it is expressly remarked that it received an ethical sense only through Islam ; it is the proper word for breaking the fruit by bursting open the husk. CHAPTER I. 3. 59 •preserved him and brouplit him up ; the first, however, had not been able wholly to abolish idolatry altogether, and what had been removed by Joash returned with redoubled abomina- tions as soon as Jehoiada was dead. Hence the expression, " they have broken away from me," which sums up the whole of Israel's ingratitude in the one culminating sin, applies to jj the entire history of the nation from the zenith of glory under David and Solomon down to the time of the prophet. In ver. 3. Jehovah now complains of the apostasy with which His children have rewarded Him as inhuman, — nay, worse than that which would be shown by the brutes : " An ox hnoweth his oioner, and an ass the crib of its master , — Israel doth not himo, my 'peoiplc doth not consider." A plough- ing ox has a knowledge of its purchaser and owner (i^.^P), to whom it willingly submits ; and an ass, the domestic animal of proverbial stupidity (in the East also ; see Zcitschrift dcr ' deutschcn morgenl. Gcsellschaft, xl. 266 f.), has a knowledge at least of the crib of its master Qy^^, a plural of excellence, as in Exod. xxi. 29, — a degenerate species of the " extensive " plural, as distinguished from the " multiplicative " plural), i.e. it knows that it is its master who puts its fodder into the manger (DUX — from D3N*^ to fatten cattle — with — instead of — , like the forms i^t^X, Jiiox). No such knowledge has \ Israel, — neither direct, like instinct, nor indirect, acquired by I reflection (JJiarin). The expressions yn" xb and pi^nn xb can- not be taken here (as for example in Ivi. 10 ; Ps. Ixxxii. 5) in an objectless sense, and as indicating a state or condition, — — as if the meaning were, "they are ignorant and inconsiderate," but the object is implied in what precedes, and the words mean "they know not, consider not what, on their side, corresponds to the owner and to the manger which the master fills," — namely, that they are the children and the property of Jehovah, and their existence and prosperity solely depend on the grace of Jehovah (Jer. v. 24, cf. Hos. ii. 10). The parallel, with its many contrasts, like the similar one in Jer. viii. 7, where animals are again introduced, explains itself even through the employment of " Israel " and " my people." Those who, in knowledge and gratitude, are far surpassed and put to shame by the brutes, are not a nation like any other nation among men, but " Israel," descendants of Jacob, who 6 ISAIAH. wrestled with and overcame the wrath of God, and by wrestling also obtained the blessing for himself and his pos- terity ; they are " my people " too, — those whom Jehovah has chosen out of all peoples to be the people of His possession, and most especial care and direction. This people, bearing the honoured name — bestowed by God Himself — of one who was a hero of faith and prayer, — this favoured people of Jehovah lowered itself far beneath the level of the brutes. Such is the complaint poured out before heaven and earth by the noble speaker. The piercing cry of complaint by the deeply-pained Father ^ is at the same time the heaviest impeachment. But the cause of God is to the prophet the cause of a friend who feels the grief of his friend as he would feel his own (v. 1). Hence the complaint of God now changes into strong invective and "" threatening on the part of the prophet; and in conformity with the deep indignation by which he is moved, his discourse in verse^ moves rapidly along like a lightning storm, giving forth flash upon flash. The address consists of seven mem- bers, not formally connected, but so arranged as to form a climax, and each is composed of but two or three words : " Woe, to the sinful nation, the guilt-laden 2Jeople, the oniscrahle race, the children acting corruptly ! They have forsaken Jehovah, hlasphcmcd the Holy One of Israel, turned away hackioards!" The distinction attempted between lin and lis, making the former to signify " Oh!" and the latter " Woe!" is untenable ; for, with some doubtful exceptions, ^in also is an exclamation of pain, and here not so much a calling down of woe {vae genti, as Jerome renders it), as a lamentation {vae gentem), but one that is filled with wrath. The appellations of Israel which follow point to what the nation ought to be in accordance with the divine choice and determination, and express what, through its own choice and self-determination in opposition to God, it has become. (1.) According to the divine choice and determination, Israel should be a "holy nation," Ex. '<^ xix. 6, but it is a " sinful nation " (gens peeeatrix, as the Vulgate correctly translates) ; for Npn here is not so much a participle as a participial adjective, signifying what is habitual, — the usual singular to the plural D^^tsn, dfiap- Tcokoi, the singular of which is not in common use, and occurs CHAPTER I. 4. 61 only once (Amos ix. 8) in the feminine as an adjective. " Holy " and " sinful " are sharp contrasts, for ^'^\^ signifies that which is separated from what is common, unclean, sinful, and superior to it. At the same time, the alliteration in ''iu Mn (with Fasek, to preserve the independence of the two words, whose sound is so similar) is intended to produce the impression that the nation as sinful is a nation of woe. (2.) In the Law, besides being called K'i^P ^is, Israel is called niiT' Dy (Num. xvii. 6), the people chosen and highly favoured by Jehovah ; but it is jlV I?? QV, a people heavy with iniquity. "133 is the construct from 133, " heavy," like ^"JV from PiV ; ^ the form "i?3 is usually employed with the meaning of "clumsy" (Ex. iv. 10); and besides, the dissyllabic form sounds more rhythmically. Instead of employing the readiest descriptive expression, " a people of heavy iniquity," the , property of the iniquity (the weight) is attributed to the people themselves upon whom it lies as a burden, — in accord- ance with the view that he who carries a heavy burden is himself so much the heavier (cf. gravis oncrihus in Cicero). l""iy is always the word employed whenever sin is meant to be indicated as heavy and coarse {e.g. in xxxiii. 24 ; Gen. xv. 16, xix. 15), and when there is further included the idea of the guilt incurred by it. From being the people of Jehovah, they have become a people heavily laden with the guilt of sin. In this way the true nature of Israel has been crushed, and changed into its opposite. We translate ""is by " nation," and Dy by " people," because the former (from n^a) is the mass of individuals who have been joined together through one common descent, language, and country, whereas oy (from o - 2py, *x, " to combine ") is the people joined together by unity of government (cf. for instance Ps. cv, 13); hence we always read of the " people of Jehovah " (nini oy), not the " nation of Jehovah " (nini ^ia) ; and ''ia, free from every slur, occurs only twice (Zeph. ii. 9 ; Ps. cvi. 5), with a suffix referring to Jehovah, but here it is used as in Mai. iii. 9. (3.) Israel elsewhere bears the honourable title of the seed of the patri- arch (xli. 8, xlv. 19, cf. Gen. xxi. 12); in reality, however, it is a seed of evil-doers (xiv. 20, cf. xxxi. 2). The idea of a similar descent, contained m yiT, goes back to that of a like 6 2 ISAIAH. inherited nature (Ixv. 23 ; Pro v. xi. 21); and Q^J'"?.^ does not mean the fathers, but the contemporaries of the prophet (the genitive being intended to be taken attributively), — a race consisting of miscreants. The singular of the noun ^^V"}^ is yp, with the sharpening of Vy^ with Pathach, which i*. usual in ]}"]} verbs with guttural radicals ; V^J? (with Kamez in pause, ix. 16, which see) is a Hiphil participial noun. (4.) The children of Israel are, in virtue of the divine act, " children of Jehovah," Deut. xiv. 1 ; but through their own doings they are D''ri''n^o D''?3, " children acting corruptly;" what the Law had dreaded and predicted had thus come to pass: Deut. iv. 16, 25, xxxi, 29. In all these passages the Hiphil is found, and in the parallel passages of the grand song, Deut. xxxii. 5, the Piel ^^p, both of which conjugations contain within themselves the object of the action (Ges. § 53. 2): these verbs thus signify to do some- thing destructive, to act in such a way that one becomes a cause of ruin to himself and others. That the degeneration of the children is meant to be regarded in relation to Jehovah, and not to their forefathers, — the opinion of Eosenmiiller, who follows Yitringa, — is evident from the latter part of ver. 2, cf. xxx. 1, 9. After the four exclamatory clauses, there follow — making up the saddening seven — three de- claratory clauses describing Israel's apostasy as complete. There is apostasy in disposition: " they have forsaken Jehovah/' There is apostasy in words : " they blaspheme the Holy One of Israel." T??? (properly, " to sting," then " to mock, treat with contempt"), used of blasphemy, is an old Mosaic word; see Deut. xxxi. 20; Num. xiv. 11, 23, xvi. 30. " The Holy One of Israel " is a title designedly applied to God here ; it is the keynote of Isaianic prophecy, and first sounded in this passage (see under vi. 3). To mock what is holy is in itself sinful ; it is doubly a sin to mock God the Holy One ; it is trebly a sin that Israel mocks God the Holy One, who has set Himself to be the Sanctifier of Israel, and who, as He is the holiness of Israel, so also, in conformity with His holiness, seeks to be sanctified by Israel (Lev. xix. 2, etc.). And lastly, their apostasy is also apostasy in their way of acting : " they have turned away backwards." In the Niphal "iiT3, which occurs only hei?, there is contained the CHAPTER L 5. 63 idea of deliberateness in their estrangement from God : the expression of this is still further intensified by employing "linN (which is added emphatically, instead of 1''^D^P). Their conduct should be an imitation of Jehovah's ; but they have turned the back to Him, and entered on the path chosen by themselves. — In yer. J ), which now follows, it is, first of all, doubtful re- garding the meaning of no"i5y (no, as in Ps. x. 13, iv. 3, with ^r- even in cases where no guttural follows, after bv, as after *iy, Ps. iv. 3 ; JV!, Hag. v. 9 ; and thrice n»^, 1 Sam. i. 8 ; see on Prov. xxxi. 2 ; cf. Konig, Zehrgeh. p. 143), whether it signifies " why," as the LXX., Targum, Syriac, Eashi, Kimchi, Hitzig, and now also Cheyne take it, or " on what," i.e. " on which part of the body " (Jerome, Saadias), a view for which Ewald, Knobel, and Schroring (in Part 2 of his Jesaian. Stuclicn) decide. Eeuss also translates, oii vous frappera-t-on encore .^ Luzzatto considers the latter rendering insipid, especially because a member of the body that has already been smitten can be repeatedly struck again ; but he thinks the meaning is that there is no judgment which had not already fallen on Israel, so that it is no longer far from utter ruin. Never- theless, we decide with Caspari for the meaning " to what " {i.e. for what end) ? For in all the other (fourteen) passages in which r\iyhv occurs, it has this meaning, once even along with nan^ Num. xxii. 32 (cf. Prov. xvii. 26), and the people do not come to be viewed as a body till ver. 6, whereas the interrogative, " upon what," would require the reader or hearev to presuppose it even here. But in translat- ing no-?y by " to what end," we do not understand it (as Malbim does, for instance) in the sense of cui hono ? with the idea underlying the question, that it would certainly be fruitless, as all smiting hitherto has proved, — for this thought is not, as we should expect, directly expressed, — but after the a: alogy of questions with rvcb (Ezek. xviii. 31 ; Jer. xliv, 7 ; cf. the comment, on Eccles. v. 5, vii. 16 f.), qua de causa ? with the underlying thought that this continual calling forth of divine chastisement is certainly a mad desire for one's own destruction. Accordingly, we render the first part of ver. 5 : " Why do you wish alvjciys to he smitten, increasing your re- bellion?" niy (with Tip)hcha, a stronger disjunctive than 64 ISAIAH. TeUr, cf. Ezek. xix. 9) belongs to ^^^ ; but I3n without niy would make it appear as if they had not yet been smitten for their apostasy hitherto. There are not two interrogative clauses on the same plane (as Luzzatto thinks), as if the mean- ing were, " Why do ye wish to be smitten afresh ? Why do ye add revolt ? " Nor is the second clause the answer to the first, to which it assigns the reason (as Nagelsbach thinks), " For what (for what purpose) should ye be smitten still more ? Ye heap rebellion on rebellion ; " but the second clause is subordinated to the first, an adverbial secondary clause more closely defining the main proposition, as in v. 11, xxx. 31, cf. Ps. Ixii. 5 (" delighting in lies "), iv. 3 (" while ye love vain show"); also Ps. v. 10, xxvii. 27 ; see Ewald's Helrau Syntax, § 341& [Eng. transl. pp. 240, 241]. The LXX. has TrpoaTiOevTe^ avofiiav. niD (a fem. partic, used as a noun, with neuter sense) is deviation from truth and rectitude ; here, as pretty frequently elsewhere, it means disloyalty to Jehovah, who is the absolutely Good and absolute Goodness. It is difficult to decide whether B'XVps and ^?^"?2 signify " every head," " every heart," or, as Ewald and others think, " the whole head," " the whole heart." h'3, followed by an indeterminate singular, sometimes signifies completeness, as in ix. 11, " with whole mouth ; " Ezek. xxxvi. 5, " with joy of the whole heart ; " 2 Kings xxiii. 3, " with whole heart and with whole soul ; " also Ezek. xxix. 7, " the whole shoulder . . . the whole loins." More usually, however, ^'3, with an indeter- minate genitive of parts of the body, signifies " each," " every" (quisquc, not totus), xv. 2, xlv. 23 ; Jer. xlviii. 37 ; Ezek, vii, 17 f., xxi. 12. It is thus most natural, syntactically, to translate the latter part of ver. 5, " every head is diseased, and every heart is sick ; " this rendering is also most in accord with the circumstances, inasmuch as the words in the first part of the verse are not addressed to the people as a whole, but as a multitude made up of individuals. The ? at the beginning of vnp, indicates the state or condition into which a person or thing has come : " every head is in a diseased con- dition ; " see Ewald, § 21*7 d : lacliSli (this, in spite of Konig, Lehrgeb. p. 106 f., is the pronunciation intended), without the article, as in 2 Chron. xvi. 18; cf . V^^s 1 Sam. i. 1 1 ; the form with the article would need to be yJ]?. What is meant CHAPTER I. 6. 65 is disease arising from a wound caused by a blow (as in Jer. X. 19, V. 3). The prophet asks his fellow-countrymen why they are so mad as to continue calling forth the judgments of God, which have already fallen on them stroke upon stroke, through their heaping one apostasy on another. Are matters already so far gone with them that, among the many heads and hearts, there is.no longer a head that has not fallen into a diseased condition, and no heart which is not thoroughly sick (''fl, an intensive form, from nn) ? Head and heart are named as the noblest portions of the outer and the inner man : outwardly and inwardly, every individual of the nation has already been smitten by the wrath of God, so that they have enough, and might have been brought to bethink themselves. Considering this utterly miserable condition of every individual of the nation, the view (i n ver. 6) of the whole people as a miserably diseased body does not come on us unexpectedly : " From the sole of the foot to the head, there is nothing sound in it, — scales, and weals, and festering wounds: they have not been pressed out, or hound up, nor has there been any softening with oil." In the body of the nation, to which (or to the people as a whole) reference is made by i3, " in it," — the address now passing into objective form, — there is nothing healthy (Dhp from D?iJ^, not, as in Judg. xx. 48, from no with the root nno) ; it is covered with wounds of various kinds, inflicted at different times ; and for the healing of these many and manifold wounds, which all together, close on one another, one on the other, cover the body of the nation, no kind of means has been employed. VVS (from J?i>2), to cleave, tear open) is a wound made by tearing the flesh, as by a sword-stroke: this required binding up (Ezek. xxx. 21), that the gaping flesh might close again; n"i5i3n (from "1?^= a-^, to be striped) is a swollen stripe or lump, such as is caused by the stroke of a whip or a blow of the fist ; this required softening with oil, in order that the coagulated matter or the swelling might disperse ; nnp n3» is the still fresh and bleed- ing wound, which needed pressing out to cleanse it, and thus facilitate healing. The three predicates, in relation to the ideas presented in the subjects, show an approximation to a chiasm. The predicates are plural in form, owing to the subjects being taken collectively ; the expression iptj'n nri3"i NPi, VOL. I. E 66 ISAIAH. which, as regards its meaning, refers to mun, is accordiugij' to be understood as a neuter construction, and to be rendered, "nor has softening with oil been effected." Considering the Pual near it, ^"if might also appear to be of the same conjuga- tion, but actually is not, because, according to the accentuation (with two Pashtas, the first of which, as in ^-,jl,. Gen. i. 2, marks the place of tone, so that the form here is to be pro- nounced zdru), it has the tone on the penult, — a fact for which (in spite of what Stade says, § 415) no reason could be perceived, if the form were from the verb nnj. For the assumption that the tone is retracted in order to prepare us for the heavy incidence of the tone in ^ti'lin (Ewald, § 194c) is quite arbitrary; for, though the influence of the Pause sometimes reaches to the second last word, it does not extend to the third last. Moreover, according to the usage of the language, n"if signifies " to be dispersed," not " to be pressed out," whereas n^iT and "ilT are commonly used in the sense of pressing together, and pressing out. Hence mf (like ^ic'n) is either the Qal of a middle-vowel intransitive verb "lir, or (more probably) — because the middle-vowel verb ^-if in Ps. Iviii. 4 has another meaning (" they are estranged ; " cf. ^">fJ above, in ver. 4) — the Qal of ilj (—jj> constringcre), which is here in- flected as an intransitive verb, and in a measure corresponding to the Arabic passive of the Qal \,^u (Olsh. § 245. 1) ; cf. Job xxiv. 24, ^sh, and Gen. xlix. 23, the actively used ^an. The surgical treatment, so highly necessary for the nation, is a figurative representation of the pastoral address of the prophet, which, though certainly published, was as if it had not been published, inasmuch as its salutary effect was con- ditioned by repentance on the part of the nation. The people despised God's offer of service like that of the good Samaritan (Luke X. 34). They did not like the radical cure of which / the prophets made offer. The view of the body as diseased within and wholly lacerated without was thus all the more calculated to excite compassion. The prophet speaks of the existing condition of things. He says that it has already come to the worst with the people, and this is precisely the ground and the subject of his inculpatory complaints. Hence, when he passes in ver. 7 from figurative to literal CHAPTER I. 7. G7 .language (like ver. 23 after 22), it is to be perceived that he is there also speaking of what was then present. The body thus internally and externally disorganized was, properly speaking, the people and the country in the frightful condition described in vgj:. 7, which begins in the most compre- hensive manner, and closes in the same way : " Your country — a waste ! your cities — burned with fire ! your arable land — before your eyes strangers are devouring it, and a desert like an overthrotving by strangers." Caspari (in his Beitrdge zur Evnl. in das Bueh Jesaia, p. 204) has pointed out how nearly every word here corresponds to the threatenings of a curse in Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxviii. (xxix.). The designation given by the prophet to the foes who have devastated the country reduced its cities to ashes, and seized its harvest, is simply D^i.f, " strangers," or barbarians (cf. Festus : liostis apud antiquos ^ercgrinus dicebatur), without mentioning their nationality. He abstracts from the historic definiteness of the present, in order the more impressively to show that it bears the character of the curse \vhich was predetermined. The climactic ex- pression for this is, that — as stated in the nouu-clause at the end of ver. 7, which goes back to repeat what was previously said — there has been wrought a desolation, D'''iT DDSnpa^ " like an overthrow of foreigners." This emphatic repetition of a catchword in a verse, seen here in the case of CIJ, is a figure of speech (called epanaphora) common to the two halves of the collection : Ewald, Studer, Lagarde, and Cheyne, reading Q'np nasnpa, mistake this peculiarity of Isaiah's writings. It is a question, however, whether, with Caspari, Knobel, and Nagelsbach, D''"iT is to be taken as a subjective genitive, in which case the clause would mean " like an overthrow such as barbarians usually cause ; " or whether we should, with Hitzig, Luzzatto, and others, regard the word as an objective genitive, and render the expression, " like an overthrow such as is wont to befall barbarians." As •^^Si?'?, in conformity with the primary passage in Deut. xxix. 22, in all other ])laces where it occurs, designates the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc. (xiii. 19 ; Amos iv. 11 ; Jer. 1. 40), that was accomplished by God, and seeing that Isaiah also, as ver. 8 shows, has this catastrophe in his mind, we decide for the view that C^T, like 2''yK>T in Prov. xii. 7, is the objective 68 ISAIAH. genitive : this view is further rendered more probable by the form of the noun, which points to a state or condition rather than an action (cf. nj?.']^, ^^^^^, ^^IPp'o) ; in this way also the 3, marking the comparison, becomes more significant. The prophet means to say that the desolation which has befallen the country of the people of God is like such com- plete ruin (suhversio) as God sends on nations which stand outside of the covenant-relation (cf. Eph. ii. 14), and which, like the people of the Peutapolis, are utterly destroyed by Him, leaving no trace behind. But, as declared in vers. 8, 9, there is merely similarity, not identity. Jerusalem is still preserved, but in how sad a condition ! There is no doubt that in ver. 8 " the daughter of Zion " means Jerusalem. The genitive in the expression ;^>>*"n3 is that of apposition, so that " daughter of Zion " is equivalent to "daughter Zion;" cf. li'^Tia npina, xxxvii. 22, where annexion comes in twice, instead of apposition (Ges. § 128. 2d). Zion itself is represented as a daughter, i.e. as a woman. Such is the name applied, first of all, to the townspeople dwelling round the fortress of Zion, to which the individual inhabitants of the city are related as children to their mother, inasmuch as the community sees its members from time to time coming into existence and growing up, and those who are thus born within her are, as it were, born of her and brought up by her ; but, in the next instance, the name is also applied to the city itself, either including or excluding (cf. Jer. xlvi. 19, xlviii. 18; Zech. ii. 11) the inhabitants, — here, however, as shown in ver. 9, these are included. This is precisely the point of the first two com- parisons. " And the daughter of Zion is left remaining like a booth in a vineyard, like a night - hut in a cucumber -field." The vineyard and the cucumber field are considered by the prophet in their condition before the harvest (not after, as the Targums represent it), during which they need to be watched ; hence the point of the comparison is this, that throughout the vineyard and the cucumber field not a single human being is to be seen, and that nothing but the booth and the night hut ^ show, nevertheless, that such a being has his abode here. ^ The picture of " a lodge in a garden of cucumbers," in Thomson's Land and the Book, shows four poles covered above with boughs, and with CHAPTER I. 8. 69 So stands Jerusalem in the midst of a far-rcachiug desolation, — a sign, however, that the country was not wholly de- populated. But what is the meaning of the third of the comparisons ? Hitzig renders, "like a watch-tower;" Knobel, "like a guard- city;" Eeuss (who, however, would rather expunge the words, which he considers a gloss), " comme un lieu de garde;" but though n-iiVJ may mean a guard, a watch, "fy cannot mean a tower. And for the rendering which most readily presents itself, " like a guarded city " (i.e. a city preserved from danger), the 2 of comparison is unsuitable. Nor is it ad- missible to take the first two ? in the sense of sicut, and the third in the sense of sic; for this correlative 3 is usual only in clauses indicating identity, not in those properly signifying comparison. Weir's conjecture, that the reading should be n^'^B n^J?r (Prov. xxv. 28 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 5), is ingenious: this would make the clause mean "like a city (with walls) broken through," — hence, defenceless ; but there is no need for this conjecture. We translate, "like a blockaded ^ city," deriving nniVJ here, as in Prov. vii. 10, from "iVJ, — not, with Luzzatto, from n^x, ■N'i. ""i^^, fem. nni^3 (which is not in use, and, moreover, in this obscured feminine form, cannot be proved to exist; see Stade, § 7 Set), and after the LXX., with Strachey, rendering the words " like a besieged city." ""VJ signifies to observe with keen eye (cf. TJ^P, and Uj, ohservare, with U), custodire), with good intention, or (as in Job vii. 20) with hostile design ; it may thus, like the synonymous terms in 2 Sam. xi. 16, Jer. v. 6, be used of the investment of a city. . Jerusalem was not actually blockaded when the prophet uttered his predictions, but it was just like a blockaded city, inasmuch as between such a town and the blockading enemy there is a desolate and uninhabited space, in the midst of which the city lies in silence and solitude, shut up within itself. The citizens do not venture forth ; while the enemy, on account of the missiles of the citizens, do not hazard an approach into the near vicinity of the walls ; in the suburbs a floor for the watcher, raised somewhat above the ground : the whole thus forms a hut open on all sides. A fuller description is given by "Wetzstein in our Commentanj on Job (2nd edition), p. 348. 70 ISAIAH. everything has been laid waste, partly by the citizens, that the enemy may not find anything useful, — partly by the enemy, who, for instance, fell the trees. Thus, in spite of all the joy that might be felt at the preservation of Jerusalem, the city wears a cheerless aspect ; it looks as if it were in a state of blockade. That we must explain the passage in this way, with Caspari, is shown by Jer. iv. 16 f., where the actual storming of Jerusalem is predicted, and the enemy — probably with reference to this comparison by Isaiah (see Hitzig on the passage in Jeremiah) — are called Ci^lV^. For the present, Israel has still been spared the worst : the omnipotence of God has graciously prevented it. " Unless Jeliovah of Hosts had left us a little of what escaped, we should have become as Sodom, we should be like Gomorrah" ver. 9. T"}B> (for which the LXX. and Eom. ix. 29, with a regard to vi. 13, has airepixa) is also in Deut. ii. 34, etc., what escapes by flight from defeat and destruction : and, accord- ing to the accents, t^ypa is to be taken with T'l^i', so that these two words will mean " an escaped remnant, which is nothing more than a trifle:" on this noun-use of toyo, cf. xvi. 14 ; 2 Chron. xii. 7 ; Prov. x. 20 ; Ps. cv. 12. Looking at Ps. Ixxxi. 14 f., cf. Job xxxii. 32 (where the conditional clause is easily supplied), one might be inclined to place ^V'0'2 in the apodosis, and render it "we would almost . . .;" but considering the accentuation actually before us, the inference is more strictly logical. The designation ms3V nin'' occupies a strongly emphatic position in the front. It would have been all over with Israel long ago but for the compassion of God (cf. Hos. xi. 8) ; and because it is the omnipotence of God which set in motion the will of His compassion. He is called nixnv TV\r\\ " Jehovah (the God of) the heavenly hosts," — a title in which nixny is a governed genitive, — not, as Cheyne and Luzzatto think, in accordance with the analogy of '^"'D^.'??, an independent name of God.^ The prophet says " us " and " we :" he is himself an inhabitant of Jerusalem ; and even if he had not been such, he is, nevertheless, an Israelite : ^ That riiX3^ does not indicate the hosts of Israel (which was the view of E. Jose in Shabuoth 35b), but the powers of nature subject to God, I think I have shown in the essay, Der Gottesname Jahve Zebaoth, in the Liither. Zeitschrift, 1874, p. 217 ff CHAPTER I. 10, 11. 71 he therefore associates himself with his nation, like Jeremiah in Lam. iii. 22. As he has come to experience the wrath of God along with them, so he now also celebrates the mighty compassion of God which he has experienced with them. But for this compassion, the people of God would have become like Sodom, from which only four human beings escaped : they would have been like Gomorrah, which was utterly annihilated. The address of the prophet has now reached a resting- point. That it is here divided into two sections is shown even to the eye by the space left between vers. 9 and 10. The prophet pauses after he has declared that nothing but divine compassion for Israel has prevented the utter destruc- tion it has well deserved. He hears in spirit the remon- strance of his audience. They would fain represent the accusations which he had just uttered as unfounded, by appeal- ing to their exact observance of the divine law ; but in opposition to this ground of self-vindication which the pro- phet has read out of the hearts of those impeached, he but proceeds to prove the divine arraignment, which he begins in vers. 10, 11 : "Hear the word of Jelwvah, ye Sodom-judgcs ! listen to the law of our God, Gomorrah-nation ! For what purpose is the midtitude of your slain offejnngs to me ? saith Jehovah. I am sated with hurnt-offerings of rams, and the suet of fatted calves ; and the blood of bullocks and lambs and hc-goats, I do not like." The second attack in the prophet's address begins, like the first in ver. 2, with " hear ye ! " and "listen!" The summons to hear is in this instance (just as in the case of Isaiah's contemporary, Micah, — chap: iii.) addressed to the ^'^T'^?. (from ri^;?^ ^•^^' decidere, with the noun -ending I""— , see Jeshurun, p. 212 ff.), i.e. men with decisive authority, the rulers in the fullest sense, and to the people who are subject to them. It is of the mercy of God that Jerusalem still exists, for Jerusalem is 'rrvevfiariKM'i HoBofjba, as is said regarding Jerusalem in the Apocalypse (xi. 8), with reference to this passage in Isaiah. According to Ezek. xvi. 49, pride, the lust of the flesh, and want of mercy were the chief sins of Sodom ; and of these, the rulers of Jerusalem and the multitude subject to them and worthy of 72 ISAIAH. them were not less guilty now. But they think they do not by any means stand in such disfavour with God, because out- wardly they render satisfaction to the law. The prophet, therefore, summons them to hear the law of the God of Israel which he wishes to declare to them, — for the prophets were called to be the expounders of the law, and to announce what was truly the will and good pleasure of God ; and what He requires is, not external acts of worship with no corresponding homage of heart, not ceremonial performances at all in the first instance, but freedom from sin and a course of life that flows from obedience to Him and loving sympathy with other men. " For what purpose is the multitude of your slain- offerings to me ? saith Jehovah." The prophet purposely says ■ipx\ not "ipt<, to indicate that what he declares is the constant language of God in opposition to the heartless show of rever- ence and the hypocritical ceremonial righteousness of Israel. The multitude of ^V^], i.e. sacrifices of animals which they slaughtered, has no value in His eyes. As the whole worship is here examined in detail, ^V^\ appears to denote the D"'pptr, i.e. the " peace-offerings " or communion-offerings, with which a meal was associated, for Jehovah vouchsafed to the offerer a share in the enjoyment of what he offered. But it is better to take ^V^\ as a general name for the bloody sacrifices, which are then divided into ni^^iy and 27ri ; for they are partly whole-offerings, which are wholly (though piece by piece) laid on the altar and there consumed by fire, and partly those sacrifices of which only the pieces of fat were burned on the altar, viz. sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, and especially peace - offerings. Of the sacrificial animals mentioned, C^S (bullocks) and Q''^''"!P (fatted calves) are species of "li^s (large cattle), while Ci''b'a3 (lambs) and D''']iriy (young he-goats as distinguished from "i''y|^, the older long-haired he- goat, the animal taken as a sin-offering) together with the ^\^ (ram; the usual whole-offering of the high priest, the tribe- prince, and the nation on all high feast-days) are species of |NX (smaller cattle). The blood of these sacrificial animals (such as, for example, the young bullocks, sheep, and he-goats) was, in accordance with the requirement of the law, dashed against the altar round about, in the case of the whole-offer- ing, the peace-offering, and the trespass-offering ; in the case CIIArTER I. 12. 73 of the sin-offering, it was smeared on the horns of the altar, poured out at the foot of the altar, and in some instances sprinkled on the side of the altar or towards the vessels of the inner sanctuary. With such offerings Jehovah is sated, and no longer cares for them. (The two perfects here indi- cate what has long been and still is going on at present.) What Jeremiah (vii. 22) says of sacrifices — that God never properly wished them — Isaiah now says, in ver. 12, regarding visits to the temple : " JVIien ye come to appear hefore my face, who hath ashed this at your hand, — to tread iny courts ? " nixn? is a contracted infinitive Niphal for nixnnp, as in Ex. xxxiv. 24; Deut. xxxi. 11; cf. the similarly contracted Hiphil forms in iii. 8, xxiii, 11 ; on the other hand, "i^'V? in Deut. xxvi. 12=i|'J?^ (cf. Neh. x. 39); as P^^to, Dan. ii. 35, iv. 34 = r??L'P. ^}'^\ ''?.?> "^^I^ is the standing expression for the appearing of all male Israelites in the temple, in accordance with the law, at the three great feasts, but it also came to be used in speaking of visiting the temple generally (cf. Ps. xlii. 3, Ixxxiv. 8), According to Ewald (§ 279c), \JS indicates the subject connected with the passive verb (" to be seen by the face of God ") ; but why is it not rather a local accusative with prepositional meaning, "before the face of" (as Nagelsbach thinks), seeing that it is used interchangeably with the prepositions ?, OX, and ??< ? It is probable that niN"i? has thus been pointed here and in Ex. xxxiv. 24, Deut. xxxi. 11, instead of nixn^) (like ^K^:, Ex. xxiii. 15, xxxiv. 20, instead of ^^T.), in order to avoid speaking of " seeing God," — an expression which is so apt to be misunderstood as meaning a vision with the eye of sense (cf. Ex. xxiv. 11, LXX. u>(f)67}- aav) ; unquestionably, however, the Niphal perfect stands in xvi. 12 ; 1 Sam. i. 22 ; and also nxT (not nxn^) in Ex. xxiii. 1 7 ; moreover, the expression, " to see the face of God," i.e. of Him who reveals Himself in His sanctuary, is not opposed to the religious ideas of the Old Testament, Ps. xi. 7, xxvii. 4 ; and in the Mishna, appearing before God at the great feasts is called nsx-i and P"'X"i {Ragiga i. 1 ; Pea i. 1). Cheyne considers that the expression " to see the face of God " is a remnant of the old Semitic worship of God by means of sensible figures which has been transferred to the language of revealed religion : this is possible, but there is no proof that 7-i ISAIAH. such transition has actually occurred. Those whom Jehovah here addresses through His prophet certainly visit the temple diligently ; but who has required this of their hand {i.e. asked this performance from them) ? Jehovah certainly has not. " To tread my courts " stands in apposition with " this," which it more closely deiines. Jehovah has not desired them to appear before Him ; He has not asked for this lifeless and undevotional tramping thither (vii. 25, xxvi. 6 ; Ezek. XX vi. 11), this senseless opus operahim, which would better be left unperformed, as it merely desecrates the holy places, by wearing out the floors for no purpose. Because they do not perform what Jehovah has commanded, as He has commanded it. He directly forbids them in ver. 13 to go on : " Continue not to hring lying meat-offerings: abomina- tion-incense is it to me." It is but rarely that nmp denotes an offering in general (Gen. iv. 3-5; 1 Sam. ii. 17, xxvi. 19); here, however, as throughout Malachi, the " meat-offering " (meal- offering) is meant, as is shown by the more specific term n"}bp following, which, without such an addition as is made in Ps. Ixvi. 15, cannot be understood in the same way as the expres- sion in the law, '^!^?Tr3n "I'tppn (to consume in smoke upon the altar). The meat-offering of the people of Jerusalem is called Slty nn^p (the second noun being derived from siLr=nN£i^, to be waste, desolate, and of like form with riiD), as being a lifeless and hypocritical performance, having behind it nothing of the mental disposition which it appears to express (cf. Job XXXV. 13). In the second half of the verse the LXX., Jerome, Gesenius, Umbreit, Knobel, and Nagelsbach trans- late thus : " incense, — it is an abomination to me," — the term " incense " being here used as the name of what was offered daily on the golden altar of the Holy Place (Ex. XXX. 8). But in no place where the prophets denounce heartless ceremonial worship is mention made of the offering of incense by the priests, and in any case it is more simple and natural to take n"}bp, not as a bare absolute case, but — what is quite allowable — in conformity with the Darga marking it, as a construct. The meat - offering is called " incense " because of the so-called " memorial " (^"i^TX), i.e. that portion of it which brought the grateful offerer in remembrance before God, and which the priest burned on the Cir AFTER I. 14. 75 •altar, — an act wliicli was called i^n"!?!^ '^VP') (see Lev, ii. 2 ; cf. Jer. xxxiii. 18); with this "memorial" also there was regularly combined incense, which was wholly — not merely in part — burned on the altar. The meat-offering, with its sweet odour, is merely the form in which gratitude for God's bless- ing, and earnest prayerful desire for this, manifest themselves; but in the case of these worshippers, there was only the form, without the inner spirit ; the form with which they thought they have satisfied God is empty, and therefore an abomination to Him. As little pleasure has God in their punctilious observance of the feasts : " Neiu moon and Sabbath, the calling of an dssemhly — / cannot bear iniquiti/ and a festal crowd." The ■ first object-ideas, which are logically governed by ^sis-xp (properly the iraperf Hophal, " I am unable," viz, to bear, — an ellipsis which must be supplied in the same way as in Ps. ci, 5; Jer, xliv. 23; Prov, xxx, 21), become absolute cases, inasmuch as ?31X"N^ assumes another and a different object in the following >^'}^P.l ])!^. When three things are enumerated, the conjunction is readily dropped by the third, and stands only with the second: see also Deut. xxix. 22; Ps. xlv. 9 ; Job xlii, 9 ; Eccles, vii. 26, As to new moon and Sabbath (which, when joined with ^p, always signifies the weekly Sabbath), and generally the convocation of assemblies of the whole community on the weekly Sabbath and high festivals, as required in Lev. xxiii., — Jehovah cannot endure a festival associated with wickedness, 'iivy (from "i>*y, to press, squeeze together) is synonymous with X"5i?P, as shown by comparing Jonah i, 14 with 2 Kings x. 20, to which it is related in the same way as Trav^yvpa to eKKkr^ala ; ^ and jl^? (from fix, to breathe) is moral vileness, as the utter absence of all that has essence and value in God's sight. These two nouns are purposely placed together by the prophet. A closely packed festive gathering, and inward barrenness and emptiness on the part of those assembled, — this is a contradiction that God cannot endure. ^ In the language of the law, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 36 ; Num. xxix. 35) and the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. xvi. 8) is called nivy, not from nvy, cohibere. clmcdere, but consdpare (cf. Jer. ix. 1). 76 ISAIAH. In ver. 14 He gives still stronger expression to His aversion : " Your new moons and your festal seasons my soul hates ; they have 'become a 'burden to me ; I am weary of bear- ing them." As the soul of man, viewed as the bond between his spiritual and his bodily life, is, though not the principle of his self-consciousness, yet the centre from which he draws the circle of this self-consciousness, in order to comprehend the sum-total of his whole being, and attach it to the thought of himself as a person ; so — to take a designation from man who has been made in the image of God — the " soul " of God, as indicated by ''?'?3, is the centre of His being, encircled and penetrated by self-consciousness : hence, whatever the soul of God hates (cf. Jer. xv. 1) or loves (xlii. 1), that He hates or loves in the inmost depths and in the whole extent of His being. (See Bibl. Psychology, p. 258 of Eng. transl.) Thus He hates each and all of the festivals that are kept in Jerusalem ; the beginnings of the months and the OHJ^^'^ (" appointed feasts," — here, as in Ezra iii. 5, applied to all the feasts on which, or on the most solemn days of which, a " holy convoca- tion " took place) during the course of the month. These have long been to Him, who bears them, a bij rden, nib? (m_b being synonymous with Ntro Deut. i. 12), so that He can no longer endure them ; His patience is. tired of such religious service. ^^"^'3 (in Isaiah, found also in xviii. 3, for nNb* or ni}^) similarly takes the place of the object : such employment of this infinitive as a noun is not very rare, see vii. 15 f., xlii. 54, Ivii. 20; Jer. ix. 4. That this primary exhortation now branches out into four minor ones referring to the administration of justice, is accounted for by the fact that no other prophet directs so keen an eye upon affairs of state and judicial proceedings as Isaiah. In this respect he differs from Iiis younger contemporary Micah, whose character is more generally ethical, while Isaiah's is largely political. Hence the exhortations : " apply yourselves to judgment," — t^'l'n signifying to devote one's self zealously and carefully to a thing ; then : " bring the oppressor to the right way." So we must render the words ; for P^O (from r^n, to be sharp in taste, dazzling in appearance, violent or furious in disposition) cannot well mean him who is oppressed, injured in his rights, as most of the old translators have rendered it (LXX. aStKovfjievov, Targ. D''JN'n, " who is oppressed "). The form ^^^\^ certainly may have a stative meaning closely connected with the passive, and marking a high degree (as shown by "liin^ " provided with a girdle," in relation to "il^n, " girded ; " plur. 'Tliin, Ezek. xxxiii. 15); but more frequently it has an active sense, like f^^^ (see ver. 31), nin, Jer. iii. 7, 10 ; pic^'i?, Jer. xxii. 3, and the Qamez is then unchangeable (hence fern. '"T^iJ?), after the manner of the Arabic form Jj^U (fd'ul). Such is the meaning here ; for the Piel "i^N signifies neither to make happy nor to strengthen (Luzzatto renders rianimate cJii d ojyj^resso), — nor is the latter its meaning in the Talmud, where it rather signifies to confirm or ratify, — but either to pronounce a person happy or fortunate (the verb being in this case a denominative from IK'S, nt^'N', like fiaKapi^eiv), a meaning which is quite unsuitable here ; or, as in iii. 2, ix. 15 (cf. Prov. xxiii. 19), to lead in the right way; or, to make any one keep the straight course. In this way, then, pon will have the intensified signification of Pi?'^^, Ps. Ixxi. 4, i.e. it will mean a violent, regardless, heartless man ; and I'ion nE'X will signify, " show the violent man the way of righteousness : " the 80 ISAIAH. expression does not point so much to punishment and render- ing harmless, as to correction and improvement, Ps. Ixxii. 4.^ Next follow two exhortations referring to widows and orphans : these, with the stranger, are under very special protection, the objects of care by God and His law; see Ex. xxii. 21, cf. 20. " Pronounce the sentence of the orphan " (^P'f, as in Deut. XXV. 1, is abbreviated from 'b tDSit^'p ^pf); for, if no decision and verdict is pronounced in their case, this is the most outrageous unrighteousness, inasmuch as not even the form and appearance of justice are preserved. " Plead the cause of the widow," the imperative ^^"!, with the accusative of a person (a construction which is furtlier found only in li. 22), is a condensed expression for 's y^ ^1, to plead and maintain the cause of any one. Thus the reasonings adduced in self-defence by the hearts of the accused are refuted, both negatively and positively. They are thunderstruck and put to shame. The law announced in ver. 10 has been preached to them. The prophet has thrown aside the husks of their dead works, and revealed the moral kernel of the law in its universal application to all mankind. ,1 Jehovah has been addressing His people in anger, but even in the exhortations of vers. 16, 17 His love had begun to move. This love, which seeks not the destruction of Israel, but their inward and outward salvation, now breaks forth in ver. 18:" Come tww, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah : if your sins come out like scai^lct clothes, they shall become tvhite like snow : if they be red like crimson, they shall come out like wool." Cheyne translates : " let us bring our dispute to an end," and thus interprets away the offer of free grace, but without giving any reason for the possibility of this rendering. Wellhausen also sets it aside by taking the latter part of ver. 1 8 as a question (" If . . . should they become white ? "). But it is always a very precarious make- shift to regard such clauses as questions without any inter- rogatory sign, when there is no necessity for a resort to this expedient; the Hiphil H''?^'^ certainly may signify to ^ It is an instructive fact, throwing light on the meaning of the word, that in the Talmud (Joma 396) a person who had usurped not merely his own inheritance but that of another, bore the nickname of j^'DPl f3 through life. CHAPTER I. 18. 81 "decide;" the Niphal hdij, however, does not mean to " bring a lawsuit to an end," but to cany on litigation with another. Job xxiii. 7 (in post-Biblical Hebrew, npinn), syn. ^S^'?, xliii. 26. In this litigation it will be made clear that no kind of guilt lies on the side of Jehovah, but that the righteousness which Israel could vindicate for themselves is but a semblance of righteousness, and this seeming righteous- ness, properly regarded, is blood-stained unrighteousness. It is assumed that the investigation can have no other result than this ; hence Israel is worthy of death. Jehovah, how- ever, does not wish to deal with Israel in accordance with His retributive justice, but according to His free mercy and compassion (cf. the expression pointing to " grace alone " in xliii. 25, and further, Micah vii. 18 f.). He is willing to remit the punishment, and not merely to regard the sin as if it were not, but even to change it into its opposite. Sin of the brightest red dye is by His grace to become the purest white. On the two Hiphils indicating colour, see Gesen. § 53. 2, where the signification was formerly stated to be, to assume a colour, or rather to give out (or emit rays of) colour, — not coloreiii accipere, but eolorem dare. '^^^ signifies clear or bright red (from "r^^U^.^ to be bright, glisten), not hi^ac^ov (from njK^, to do twice, viz. to dye twice; for it is in the ^ case of purple that the double dyeing can be proved, not in the case of crimson). D^?' (cf. our remarks on Prov. xxxi. 21) are not materials which have been dyed twice, but those which have been dyed with ^'^f, " bright red." Pbin (here and in Lam. iv. 5), a worm = worm -dye, is the name of the same dye-stuff, — that of the crimson obtained from the coccus- insect of the querciis coccifera and other plants, — the color coccineus. In the middle books of the Pentateuch the colour- ing matter is called VF ^V^'^^ ; and where mention is made of wool dyed this colour, the expression used is nybiri ^3^' (Lev. xiv. ; Num. xix.) : here and in Prov. xxxi. 21, 2''^^ are scarlet clothes, — the plural from the singular which is used in the same sense in 2 Sam. i. 24, Jer. iv. 30, along with which ypiJi (worm-dyed cloth) is employed.^ Jerome has translated 1 The later name, found only in the Chronicles, is b''P"i3 (from the Persian kirm, kirim), Eom. carmin, carminio; see my essay on red dye-stuffs VOL. I. F 82 ISAIAH. the term correctly ; but Luther, in order to give .'t a more popular turn, has " rose-colour ; " the red of the rose, indeed, represents all the shades of red from a pale red to a dull and almost dark red to a fiery red, but the rose is unsuitable in the present passage. The representation of the work of grace, which God promises, as a change from red to white, is founded on the symbolism of colours, quite as much as when, in the Apocalypse, the garments of the saints are said to be of a / bright white (xix. 8), while the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (xvii. 4). Eed, and this of a scarlet hue (i.e. bright red, or yellowish red), is the colour of fire, of anger, and therefore also of sin : white is the colour of light, of grace, of righteousness and holiness. White and scarlet are corre- lated as light and fire. Fiery red is the colour of sin, as the . aelfish, greedy, passionate life, which goes out of itself in order to destroy : sin is called red, inasmuch as its nature consumes and destroys the man in whom it dwells, and when it breaks forth, also consumes other men. According to the Biblical view, sin and piety, anger and love or grace are mutually related as fire and light, hence as red and white, or also as black and white ; for red is the colour of the fire that shines up out of the darkness and returns into it, while white, with- out any mixture of darkness, sets forth the pure, absolute triumph of light. What we read here in Isaiah is a deeply significant symbolical representation of the act of justification. Jehovah offers Himself to Israel for the performance of a forensic act, out of which, though the people have merited death on account of their sins, they are to go forth justified by grace. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which Israel goes forth, is a gift which, without being con- ditioned by the performance of a legal requirement, becomes theirs through pure compassion displayed towards them. But after Israel has been completely restored to its former state through such an act of grace, the conduct of the people, of course, comes into consideration, not, however (as Cheyne thinks), as the condition on the fulfilment of which the pro- in the Zeitschrift der deutsch. morg. Gesellschaft, xvii. 676 ff., and the article "Colours in the Bible" in Herzog's Cijclopaedia (English translation, edited by Schatf, vol. i. p. 514 f.), also my "Iris : Studies in Colour and Talks about Flowers " (English translation, Edinburgh 1889). CHAPTER I. 10, 20. 83 niised change would take place, but as prospectively, its morally certain and necessary result. According as Israel accepts the proffered grace of God and afterwards acts in accordance therewith, Jehovah decides the future of Israel, vers. 19, 20 : " If ye will consent and hear, ye shall eat the good of the land ; hut if yc tvill refuse and rebel, ye shall he devoured by the stvord, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it." If they assent to the act of grace which God offers them, and accept this discharge from the guilt of sin, then certainly there again lies before the justified once more a blessing and a curse, in the same way as the law had already announced both (in connection with ver. 196, compare Deut. xxviii. 33 f. ; Lev. xxvi. 3 ff. ; and on the threat of the avenging sword in 20&, see Lev. xxvi. 25). The promise speaks of eating, viz. the enjoyment of abundant domestic blessings, and thus points to settled and peaceful home-life ; for here the subject of the purification from sin is not (as in Ps. li.) a person, but the nation. The opposite of this is the curse, — not of eating the sword (cf. Arab, afama cs-sefa, to give any one the sword to eat, i.e. to kill him), as Aug. Mliller {Hebr. Syntax, Eng. transl. § 47, Eem. a) thinks, rendering, " ye shall be made to devour the sword," — but (as ^3^5 elsewhere also is a simple passive, not a causative passive of the Qal), as shown in Gesen. § 121. 3, "ye shall be devoured by the sword." 3"?n is the accusative of manner, in the sense of the means (instrumental accusative), as in Ps. xvii. 13, 14 ; standing in this way, without genitive or adjective or suffix (as also, e.g., in Ex. XXX. 20), this adverbial accusative is rare, and in this passage is a bold construction which the prophet allows him- self to make for the sake of the paronomasia, instead of saying °5??^'^ ^"?0- I^ ^^® conditional clauses, the two imperfects are followed by two perfects (cf. the mode of expression in Lev. xxvi. 21, which is more consonant with our Western usage), inasmuch as obeying and rebelling equally result from an act of the will : " if ye will consent, and, in consequence of this, hear ... if ye will refuse, and show yourselves obstinate : " we have thus here true " consecutive perfects." nnx, which is elsewhere used fifty-two times with vh, or in a negative question (Job xxxix. 9), is used only here in a positive mean- ing, — perhaps to chime with niD ; like 1^53X0 with 'h'2^T^, 84 ISAIAH. The second half of the address begins with ver. 21, and like the first it opens with the lamentation of God over the apostasy of His people. To the Piska after ver. 20 corre- sponds a long pause in the mind of the speaker. Will Israel tread the saving path of forgiveness of sins, now offered them, and enter on a life of new obedience, and will it thus be possible for them to be brought back by this way ? Some may perhaps return, but not all ; hence the divine address becomes a mournful complaint. So peaceful a solution of the discord between Jehovah and His children is not to be hoped for ; Jerusalem is far too deeply depraved. " Hoiv is she become a harlot, the faithful citadel, — she that was full of judgment, and wherein righteousness used to lodge, — hut noio murderers ! " The keynote here sounded is that of an elegy. n3''K (properly, " how thus ? " — for ''N gives an interrogative sense to demonstrative words), only seldom in the shortened form T^, is an expression indicative at once of complaint and astonishment. This longer form, more like a sigh, is a word characteristic of the nj'^i? or lamentation ; thus, while the Lamentations of Jeremiah begin with na^x, and receive their usual designation (in Hebrew) from this word, — on the other hand, the shorter ^''i?, used in mocking complaints, is a word characteristic of the ?^b or proverb, see xiv. 4, 12 ; Micah ii. 4. From this word, which gives the keynote, every- thing runs on softly, fully, evenly, and slowly, in the manner peculiar to an elegy. That such forms, moreover, as ^n^.?P for riNpp (on the so-called " Hirek compaginis," see the introduction to Ps. cxvi.), softened through lengthening, are adapted for elegiac productions, is at once evident from the first verse of the Lamentations, which begin with the elegiac keynote struck by Isaiah. Jerusalem was formerly nnj? n3CX3, a faithful city, i.e. one that stedfastly adhered to the alliance of Jehovah with her (cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 37). This ^ alliance was a marriage-alliance ; but she has broken it and has thereby become a n^ir, " harlot," — a prophetic view, the outlines of which have already been given in the Pentateuch, Israel's worship of idols being there called a whoring after them, e.g. in the law of the two tables, Ex. xxxiv. 16 ; Num. xiv. 33, etc. (in all, seven passages); cf. Ps. xvi. 4, Ixxiii. 27. It is not merely gross outward idolatry, however. CHAPTER I. 21. 85 that makes the Church of God a " harlot," but the defec- tion of the heart, however this may at any time express itself ; for which reason Jesus also could call the generation of His time ^evea fioi-)(a\i< there is here used D^5J, from Cl^53^ for which the form in the Mishna is D^3 ; cognate is Dn^, Arab. >l), to speak softly, groan; *3, to whisper quietly. All these verbs indicate the emission of a dull and hollow groan ; hence D=iN3 means that which is spoken significantly and secretly, solemnly and softly. The word occurs only in genitival connection with a following subject indicating the person who speaks, particularly in the expression nin^_ asp ; it always forms a noun-clause (" declara- tion of Jehovah," i.e. Jehovah speaks). It is first found in Gen. xxii, 16 ; in tlie writings of the prophets, it is found even so early as in Obadiah and Joel, most frequently in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, usually at the end of a sentence, or parenthetically in the middle of it, — rarely, as here and in 88 ISAIAH. ivi. 8 (see our commentary on Ps. ex. 1), at the beginning. The utterance commences with "lin, the painfulness of pity commingling with the outburst of wrath that has been determined. Along with the Niphal IP 01^3 (" to avenge one's self on ") there stands the allied Niphal Qn3 (properly, " to console one's self "), the latter with e, the fo'^'^lA- (in accord- ance with the so-called Assyrian system of pointing) with i under the preformative, which is sometimes found elsewhere also, e.g. in Gen. xvi. 2, xxi. 24; Num. xxiii. 15; Ezek. XX. 36 ; 1 Sam. xii. 7. Jehovah is going to relieve Himself of His enemies by letting out on them the wrath that had hitherto burdened Him (Ezek. v. 13): thus does He now call the mass of the people in Jerusalem by their right name. Ver. 25 declares wherein consists the revenge to which Jehovah has been inwardly constrained : " And I vnll bring mine hand uioon thee, and will smelt out thy dross as with alkali ; and I will remove all thy pieces of lead." As long as God leaves any man's actions or sufferings alone, His hand is said to rest, 1^' y^'^, followed by ^V signifies the turning of the hand which has hitherto been at rest, either for punishing (Amos i. 8 ; Jer. vi. 9 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 12; Ps. Ixxxi. 15), or even, though but seldom, for saving (Zech. xiii. 17) the person mentioned. Here the reference is to dealing towards Jerusalem, in which punishment and salva- tion are combined — the punishment as the means, salvation as the end. Jehovah's intervention is compared to a smelting which will sweep away, not Jerusalem, but the ungodly who dwell there. These are compared to dross or drossy ore, and — inasmuch as lead is removed in all refinement of silver — to those commingled pieces of lead which Jehovah will speedily and thoroughly separate "i33, " like the alkali," — the abbreviated mode of comparison, instead of i323, " as with the alkali." ^''V'^^ (from h'T^^ to separate) are the pieces of tin or lead (lead-glance)^ containing the silver, which, inasmuch as 1 Pliny {Hist. Nat. 24. 16) says that plumbum nigrum sometimes occurs alone, sometimes combined with silver : ejus qui pritmts fluit in fornacihus liquor stannum appellatur. "What is here meant is the litharge which, in the process of obtaining silver from the lead-glance containing the precious metal, separates itself till it comes to be the so-called silver- glance. This dross, in the form of powder, is called pHB, and the pieces CHAPTER 1, 2G. 89 all the baser metals are distinguished from the precious ones by the fact that they are combustible (oxidisable), are sepa- rated by smelting. Both "13, i.e. potash (an alkali obtained from the ashes of wood and of land-plants generally), and iri3, i.e. natron or soda (which is either mineral, or obtained from plants), which dissolves in water (see on Prov. xxv. 20), were employed from the earliest times, when one wished to extract a metal from its ore, as a means of accelerating ihe process of smelting. The conjecture of a different reading, 132 (""^3?, " in the crucible "), is thus superfluous. As the threat against Jerusalem, put in this allegorical form, does not refer to destruction, but to smelting, there is nothing strange in the fact that in ver, 26 it changes into pure promise, the meltingly soft, ardently mournful conclusion of the clauses in '^\—, which is the keynote of the later songs of Zion, being continued : " And I will restore thy judges as in the olden time, and thy counsellors as in the beginning ; afterwards thou shalt he called the city of righteousness, a faith- ful citadel." Even the threatening itself was relatively a promise, in so far as what could stand the fire in Jerusalem would survive the judgment, the specific object of which was to bring back Jerusalem to the precious metal of its true nature. But after this has been accomplished, still more than this shall also come to pass. The imperishable kernel that remains becomes the centre to which all elements of excellence are attracted, — Jerusalem again receiving from Jehovah its judges and counsellors, whom, from the time that it became the city of David and the seat of the temple, it had possessed in the best days of the kingdom, — not, indeed, the same persons, but men of like excellence. The two time-limitations have the force of accusatives attached to the predicate : " as in the beginning," i.e. of the same character as they were before. njb'N'in signifies, in a neuter sense, what is D v'^na ; on tlie other hand, niQ'y is the name of the solid lead which is obtained by melting down lead -glance which does not contain silver. But that ^na signifies lead (i^lumbum nigrum), Zech. iv. 10, as well as tin (phimbum album), Num. ssxi. 22, is accounted for in the same way as the homonymy of iron and basalt, oak and terebinth : the two metals are called by the same name on account of external resemblance and common properties, — softness, flexibility, colour, and specific gravity. 90 ISAIAH. temporally or locally (Ix. 9) the first ; and the fact that, in n:b'J<'i^3, a second preposition follows 3, is not without example elsewhere, as Gen. xxxviii. 24 ; Lev. xxvi. 37 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 14 (also x. 27, if we read '^I'^^r, which is sug- gested by the LXX.); cf. also bv^, Ps. cxix. 14 ; Isa. lix. 18, Ixiii. 7 Under such divinely commissioned leaders, Jerusalem will then become what it had been, and will be what it ought to be ; and the names by which the city is called are the expression of the effect produced on the minds of others through the manifestation of its true nature and character (cf. Zech. viii. 3). With Isaiah the giving of a name is the perception and recognition of the real existence of what has come into outward manifestation. The second designation applied to Jerusalem is without the article : this term nnjp, of such weighty and definite purport, is never used in Isaiah with the article, and, indeed, never occurs with it anywhere except in 1 Kings i. 41, 45. Jehovah has thus announced the course irrevocably fixed, and leading to salvation, which He will pursue with Israel : this is the leading principle of God's dealings henceforth, the law of Israel's history. Its purport, briefly and tersely put, is thus expressed in verj_^ : " Sion will he redeemed through judg- ment, and her returning ones through righteousness." DSiB'b and np^V are in other places called divine gifts (xxxiii. 5, xxviii. 6), lines of conduct on the part of men that are well-pleasing to God (i. 21, xxxii. 16), royal and Messianic virtues (ix. 6, vi. 3—5, xvi. 5, xxxii. 1). Here, however, the idea is not this peculiarly human • one (as Cheyne thinks), but, as shown by parallel passages like iv. 4, v. 16, xxviii. 17, it is to be referred to Jehovah, and the words are to be regarded as meaning God's justice and righteousness in their primarily judicial self-fulfilment. A judgment of God the Eighteous One will be the means through which Zion, — so far as it has remained faithful to Jehovah, — and those who in the midst of the judgment return Q^r^^, instead of which Luther read lTat^'), will be redeemed. This judgment will fall upon sinners and sin, and will be the means of breaking that power which has restrained and impeded the nature and workings of Zion, as these were designed of God ; it will further be the medium through which those who turn to Jehovah are incorporated CIIxVPTEIl I. 29. 91 into His true Church. AVlion God therefore reveals Hiuiself in His punitive righteousness, He is working out a rigliteous- ness which is bestowed as a gift of grace on those who escape the former. The idea of " righteousness " (BiKaioavvr}) is here, as in Hos. ii. 21, on iSTew Testament lines. In front, there is the fire of the law ; behind, there is the light of the gospel. Behind the wrath is hidden love, as the ultimate motive- power, like the sun behind the thunder-clouds. Zion, as far as it is truly Zion and is becoming Zion, is redeemed ; only the ungodly are destroyed, but these without mercy, as is added in ver. 28 : " But the destruction of the transrjressors and sinners [shall be] together, and those ivho forsake Jehovah shall perish." In tliis way even the judicial aspect of the ap- proaching act of redemption is expressed in a manner that can be understood by every one. The impassioned exclama- tory clause in the first half of the verse is explained by the declamatory verb-clause of the second. D''J?C'3 are those who in heart and in outward conduct have broken away from Jehovah ; D''X^n are those who spend their lives in open and prevailing sins ; nin"' "'^t'y are those who have become estranged from God in one or other of these ways. Ver. 29, beginning with an explanatory ''3, declares how God's judgment of destruction falls upon all these : " For they shall he ashamed of the terebinths in tohieh ye deliglited, and ye must Mush because of the gardens in which ye had pleasure." The terebinths and gardens (this second word with the article, as in Hab. iii. 8 first nnnjn, then nnnja) are not referred to as objects of luxury (as Hitzig and Drechsler suppose), but as unlawful places of worship (see Deut. xvi. 21) and objects of worship : both of them are frequently mentioned by the prophets with this meaning, Ivii. 5, Ixv. 3, Ixvi. 17. l»n and ins are the usual verbs employed in speaking of Gentile will- worship (i0e\o6p7)aKeLa), as in xliv. 9, xli. 24, Ixvi. 3 ; and P C'in is the customary phrase for indicating the shame that comes over idolaters when the helplessness of their idols proves that they are nothing. Eegardiug tr'is (to be disturbed, lose self- command) and "lan (to be covered over, become covered with shame), see our commentary on Ps. xxxiv. 6, xxxv. 4 ; cf. Wlinsche on Rosea, i. p. 54. The LXX. and other ancient versions incorrectly render D"'^''^ by etBcoXa, though the feelino- 92 ISAIAH, by which they were prompted is correct : the places of worship here (cf. Jer. xlviii. 13) stand for the idols (Qv??, for which the form Qv""^ is never written when Dii is the meaning). The abrupt transition from plain statement to direct address shows how excited the prophet is here at the close of the discourse. In this animated strain he continues ; and, led by the association of ideas, he makes terebinths and gardens the future figures of the idolaters themselves. Ver. 30 : " For ye shall he like a terebinth with withered leaves, and like a garden in which there is no water" Their prosperity is being destroyed, and they are thus like a terebinth n?y J^.??^. This last expression does not mean " withered its foliage," i.e. whose foliage is withered (for >^^V is masc), but " which is withered in its foliage " ^ (genitival construction, as in xxx. 2 7 ; see Ewald's Syntax, § 288c); their sources of help are dried up, and thus they resemble a garden that has no water, and is therefore waste. The terebinth (turpentine-pistacia), a native of southern and eastern Palestine, casts its leaves (which are small, and resemble those of the walnut-tree) in the autumn. In this dry and parched condition, terebinth and garden, to which the idolaters are compared, are readily inflammable. There is but needed a spark to kindle, and then they are consumed in the flames. Ver. 31, in a third figure, shows the quarter from which this kindling spark will come : " And the loealthy one becomes tow, and his ivork a spark ; and both shall burn together, and no one extinguishes them." The form vJ|3 primarily suggests a participial meaning, " he who prepares it ; " but pDnn would be an unusual epithet to apply to the idol. Besides, the figure, on this view, becomes distorted, for certainly the natural order is that the idol is what kindles or inflames, while man is the object to be kindled, — not the converse. Hence i^VQ here means " his work " (as in the LXX., Targum, ^ The noun n^y is a collective, and not till we come to Neliemiah do we find the plur. D''bj?, just as it is not till we reach the post- Biblical Hebrew that a plur. ni"l2 is formed from the collective "i-ig. We might have expected ^h'^ instead of rbv, — like nib' in 2 Kings viii. 3 ; but such nouns from verbs t\? are mostly combined with the suffixes ehu, eha (e.g. nsin for nslD, Lev. xiii. 4, xx. 25), the termination a — aj having an influence on the choice of the suffix-form (Gesen. § 91, note Ih). CHAPTER I. 31. 93 and Vulgate) : the forms i%B and i^VB (cf. lii. 1 4 ; Jer. xxii. 13) are two equally possible modifications of the funda- mental form i^i^Q (hv^). As ver. 29 referred to the worship of idols, ^ya does not here mean work in the general ethical sense (as Gesenius thinks, Thes.), but the idol, as something made (cf ii. 8, xxxvii. 19, etc.). The wealthy idolater, who out of the abundance of his possessions (|Dn, xxxiii. 6) could afford gold and silver for making idols, will become tow (Talm. iDt^'S b^ mV3, " refuse of flax," from ij?3, to shake out, viz. in the swingling and combing ; and, on the other hand, \oh is the Talmudic word for flax that is still uncombed and un- dressed), and the idol will be the spark that sets this mass of fibres on fire, so that both will burn without any possibility of being saved (regarding lya, see the remarks on iv. 4).^ For the fire of judgment that consumes sinners does not need to come from without : sin carries within itself the fire of wrath. But the idol is the corpus delicti, — the sin of the idolater, as it were, set forth and embodied in visible form. The time when this first prophetic discourse was composed is a difficult problem. Caspari, in his Contributions, has thoroughly examined all possible dates, and has finally decided in favour of the view that it belongs to the time of Uzziah, on the ground that vers. 7-9 do not relate to an actual, but merely to an ideal present. But this view is, and must con- tinue to be, arbitrary. Every unprejudiced reader will receive from vers. 7-9 the impression that what is there depicted is something actually present. Moreover, during the period of Isaiah's ministry the land of Judah was actually laid waste on two occasions, on both of which Jerusalem was spared only through the miraculous protection of Jehovah, — once during the reign of Ahaz, in the year of the Syro-Ephraimitish war ; and the second time during Hezekiah's reign, when the Assyrian host laid waste the country, only to be finally dashed to pieces at Jerusalem. Gesenius, Maurer, Movers, Knobel, Driver, and 1 This ph is an old Hebrew word preserved in the Mislwia (Shabbath ii. 1). Eabbi Joseph there explains it, with reference to the present passage, psj nb) p''^'\'\ WJVD, flax which has been broken, but not yet combed ; and it seems to be assumed there that Isaiah, when he calls the idolater ponn, alludes to jDJl : "As the miyj proceeds from the jDIH, so will the idolatrous port become miyj-" — (Dr- H. Ehrentreu.) 94 ISAIAH. others decide in favour of the year when the Syro-Ephrainiitish war took place ; while Hitzig, Umbreit, Drechsler, Luzzatto, and Kliper hold that the time was that of the Assyrian oppression. Whichever view we may take, there ever remains, as the test of its admissibility, the difficult question, How has this pro- phecy come to stand at the beginning of the book, if it belongs to the times of Uzziah and Jotham ? This question we shall endeavour to answer when we reach chap. vi. vO The path of General Judgment, showing the coukse of Israel from False to True Glory, Chaps. II.-IV. The limits of this discourse cannot be mistaken. From the beginning of chap. ii. to the end of chap. iv. a complete circle is formed. After frequent changes between exhortation, reproach, and threatening, the prophet reaches the object of the promise with which he began. On the other hand, chap. v. commences with a wholly new subject, forming an indepen- dent discourse, though connected with that which precedes by the superscription in ii. 1 : "The ivorcl v-hich Isaiah the son of Amos saiv concerning Judah and Jerusalem." Ohaps. ii.— v. may possibly have already existed under this heading before the whole collection was formed : this superscription was then taken over into the entire work, in order to call attention to the transition from the prologue to the body of the book. What the prophet utters concerning Judah and Jerusalem he calls " the word which he saw." When men speak one to another, the words are not seen, but heard ; but when God speaks with the prophet, this is done in a supersensuous manner, and the prophet sees it in this way, — for though the spirit of man has neither eyes nor ears, yet when enabled to perceive the supersensuous, it is altogether eye. The way in which Isaiah begins this second discourse is without a parallel ; there is no other prophetic address whatever that commences with n^ni (for Ezek. xxxviii. 1 is not a begin- ning, but a continuation). It is easy to tell the reason, however. This " consecutive preterite " receives the meaning of a future only from the context ; whereas '''^11 (with which historical books and sections very commonly begin) shows its character by its very form. It is further to be noted that the copu- / CHAPTER II. 1. 95 ■ lative meaning of the i in the " consecutive imperfect " retains less of its living force than in the " consecutive perfect." The prophet accordingly begins with " and ; " and that r\'3 is the 3rd pers. of the preterite, not tlie participle : "' Jehovah is exalted," i.e. shows Himself exalted ; while the haughty demeanour of the people is abased (^0 is a verb, not an adjective, in agreement, by attraction, with the genitive, instead of its governing word ; see also 2 Sam. i. 2 1 ; Lev. xiii. 9 ; Ps. cxl 10, Kethih ; Dan. iii. 19, Kethib), and the pride of the lords is bowed down (^^' = ^^f, Job ix. 13). Here ends the first strophe of the proclamation of judgment, appended to the borrowed prophetic passage in vers. 2-4. Tlie second strophe extends as far as ver. 1 7, where ver. 1 1 is repeated as the conclusion. Looking at the expression, " on that day," we ask ourselves, what kind of day is this ? To this question the prophet 106 ISAIAH. replies in the second strophe, first of all in ver. 12: " I of Jehovah of Hosts has a day over everything, toivering and high, and over everything lofty, and it hecomes loio." ^)>^''P Di'', " Jehovah has a day " (xxii, 5, xxxiv. 8), which even now forms part of what He has freely and independently determined and appointed beforehand (Ixiii. 4, xxxvii. 26 ; cf. xxii. 11), the secret of which he makes known to the prophets, who, from the time of Obadiah and Joel, announce this day, in terms ever the same, like a watchword. But when the time appointed for this day arrives, it passes into the history of time, — a day for the judgment of the world, which, through the omnipotence by which Jehovah rules over the highest as well as the lowest spheres of all creation, passes upon all worldly glory. With NE'r?!) the accent used is Tijihcha (Luzzatto, Baer) ; but certainly Athnach would be more suitable, as in Lev. xiii. 18. As the future is spoken of, the perfect 70\ acquires the force of a future {inet. consec), " and it shall be brought low (or, sink down)." The prophet now enumerates all the high things on which this day falls, arranging them together two by two, and com- bining them in pairs by a double correlative \ The day of Jehovah falls, as the first two pairs declare, on everything lofty in nature (vers. 13, 14) : " Asvpon all cedars of Lebanon, the lofty and exalted, so ^cj^on all the oaks of Bashan ; as upon all moimtains, the lofty ones, so tipon all hills, the exalted ones." But why upon all this majestic beauty of nature ? Has this language a merely figurative meaning ? Knobel understands it figuratively, and regards it as referring to the grand build- ings of Uzziah and Jotham, for the erection of which like timber had been brought from Lebanon and Bashan, on the western slope of which the old shady oaks (sindidn and hallut) still con- tinue to grow luxuriantly. But that trees may mean the houses built of them cannot be proved from ix. 9, where the reference is not to houses made of sycamore and cedar wood, but to the trunks of such trees ; nor again from Nah. ii. 4, where D'^ti'niin mean the fir lances which are brand i:shed about in eager desire for the fight. As little can mountains and hills mean the castles and fortresses upon them, especially because ver, 1 5 expressly refers to these, in literal terms. In order to understand the prophet, we must bear in mind what sacred CHAPTER II. 15; 16. 107 Scripture assumes throughout, that all nature is joined with man to form one common history ; that man and the whole world of nature are inseparably connected as centre and circumference ; that this circumference likewise is under the influence of the sin which proceeds from man, as well as under the wrath and the grace which proceed from God to man ; that the judgments of God, as proved by the history of nations, bring a share of suffering to the subject creation, and that this participation of the lower creation in the corruption and the glory of man will come into special prominence at the close of this world's history, as it did at the beginning ; and lastly, the world in its present form, in order to become an object of the unmixed good pleasure of God, stands as much in need of a regeneration (TraXcyyeveaia) as the corporeal part of man himself. ' In accordance with this fundamental view of the Scriptures, therefore, we cannot wonder that, when the judgment of God goes forth upon Israel, it extends to the land of Israel, and, along with the false glory of the nation, overthrows everything glorious in surrounding nature which had been forced to minister to the national pride and love of display, and to which the national sin adhered in many ways. What the prophet predicts was already actually beginning to be fulfilled in the military inroads of the Assyrians. The cedar forest of Lebanon was being unsparingly shorn : the hills and vales of the country were trodden down and laid waste, and, during the period of the world's history beginning with tTiglath-Pileser, the holy laud was being reduced to a shadow of its former predicted beauty. From what is lofty in nature, transition is now made in vers. 15, 16 to what is exalted in the world of men, — the fortresses, commercial structures, and the works of art that minister to the lust of the eye : " As iipon every high tower, so upon every precipitous icall. As wpon all ships of Tarshish, so upon all worJcs of curiosity." By erecting lofty and precipi- tous, i.e. difficult of ascent ("il^'?), fortifications for defence and offence in war, Uzziah and Jotham particularly desired to render service to Jerusalem and the country generally. The chronicler (2 Chron., chap, xxvi.) states that Uzziah built fortified towers over the corner-gate, the valley-gate, and the southern point of the cheese-makers' ravine, and strengthened 108 ISAIAH. these places (till that time, possibly, the weakest positions in Jerusalem) ; also that he built towers in the wilderness (perhaps in the wilderness extending from Beersheba to Gaza, for increasing the safety of the country, and its vast flocks that were pastured in the i^^pp, i.e. the western portion of Southern Palestine), The Books of Kings (2 Kings xv. 32 f.) and Chronicles relate of Jotham that he built the upper gate of the temple ; and the Chronicles, moreover, record (2 Chron. xxvii.) that he still further fortified the Ophel, i.e. the southern spur of the temple-mount ; that he founded cities in the hill - country of Judah, and erected strongholds and towers in the forests (for watching and repelling hostile attacks). Hezekiah also distinguished him- self by such building enterprises (2 Chron. xxxii. 27—30). But the mention of ships of Tarshish points to the times of Uzziah and Jotham (as Ps. xlviii. 8 points to the time of Jehoshaphat), for the seaport of Elath, which, according to 2 Kings xiv. 22, was recovered by Uzziah, was once more lost to the kingdom of Judah under Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 6), From this Elath (Ailath), Jewish ships, following in the wake of the Phenicians, used to sail through the Eed Sea and round the coast of Africa, landing at the harbour of Tartessus, the ancient Phenician emporium of the maritime district abounding in silver and watered by the Baetis (i.e. the Guadalquivir), which was itself also called TdpTr]aao •"'^'P!?'!' is taken in too restricted a sense if we confine it, with the LXX., to the ships, or, with Gesenius, understand it as meaning beautiful flags. Jerome has correctly rendered the * Jerome, on the verse we are now considering (where the LXX. renders l^j ■s-ay ■s-Xor&v doe.'hoi.aaYi;), gives it as a Jewish opinion that C^C'in is the proper Hebrew name for the sea, while D'' was originally derived from the Syriac ; and in conformity with this, Luther says that the Hebrew has two words for indicating the sea, D'' and ti'''tjnn, the latter being used specially to indicate the ocean. Perhaps this view is meant to reconcile 2 Chron. ix. 21, xx. 36 with 1 Kings ix. 26 if. (Kamphausen in Jenaer Literaturzeitung, 1876, p. 170.) CHAPTER II. 17. 109 clause et super omne quod visu pulchrum est. '^'?^, from n^b', to see, behold (see my commentaries on Job xxxviii. 36 and Gen. iii. 6), is sight in a quite general sense (Oea) ; while rrnpn is used here in something of the same way as in Ezek. xxvi. 12, but without the need of understanding it, as in that passage, to mean splendid buildings, with the additional idea of watching, or outlook, in accordance with the Targumic ni3D = ^3^fO (Ewald, Cheyne) ; the proper place for men- tioning these would rather have been after ver. 15, before the ships of Tarshish. What is meant, therefore, is every kind of works of art, made of stone or metal, and painted (n''3b'», dia/xa, display ; cf. Lev. xxvi. 1 ; Ezek. viii. 12), which delight the beholder by their imposing and tasteful appearance. Ver. 17 now concludes the second strophe of the an- nouncement of judgment appended to the earlier prophetic passage : " And the pride of the people is howed down, and the haughtiness of the lords Irought low ; and Jehovah, He alone, stands exalted on that day." This refrain-verse only slightly differs from ver. 11. The subjects of the verbs in ver. 17« have been transposed. It is almost a rule to put the predicate at the beginning of the sentence in the masculine (n^'l, but T\r\m in Ps. xliv. 26), though the subject following is a feminine noun, when this denotes a thing or things (see Gesenius, § 145. 7, a). The refrain-verse of the two following strophes (in vers, 19—21) is based on the closing portion of ver. 10, and runs out into the concluding words p.^'? Y'^Vx. The announcement of judgment now turns to the idols, which were mentioned before (in vers. 7, 8), but last in order, as the root of evil, among the things with which the land abounds. In a brief verse, consisting of one member and but three words, their future is declared (ver. 18) as if with a swift lightning- flash : " and the idols pass utterly away." The combination of the plural nominative with the verb in the singular is intended to signify that the idols, one and all, are a " mass of nonentity " which will be reduced to annihilation : they will disappear ^vS, i.e. either they will utterly perish, or (seeing that ''v? is not elsewhere used adverbially) they will all perish (Judg. xx. 40, a passage which shows that one might 110 ISAIAH. also say 2''?yi!'n ^7?^), — their images, their worship, even their names and their memory, Zech. xii. 2. In ver. 19 is declared what the idolaters will do when Jehovah has so thoroughly deprived their idols of all divinity, by rising from His heavenly throne, while His glory revealed in heaven returns to earth and manifests itself as a judicial fire : '■' And they vjill creep into caves of rochs, and into cellars of earthy before the dreadful look of Jehovah, and hefore the glory of His majesty, when He rises to put the earth in terror." nnyp (from n^y, to go down deep, to be sunk down) is a cave naturally formed, and npnip (from ''^n, to bore through, or bore out) is an artificial excavation underground : in this way, apparently, — to judge from the added genitives, — we must distinguish between the two synonyms. p«} in an obscene sense ; better is the rendering of the LXX. which gives ifjuiTaiKraL, though e/xiraiyfiara would be more exact : here, in association with Wi]}:, it denotes out- bursts of youthful caprice, which, whether in joke or in earnest, do injury to others. It is not law and righteousness that will rule, but the very opposite of righteousness, — a course of conduct which treats the subjects as the helpless */ plaything, at one time of their lust (Judg. xix. 25), at another of their cruelty. Varying humour, utterly unregulated and unrestrained, rules supreme. Then the people become like the government : passions are let loose, and all restraints of modesty are burst asunder. Ver. 5 : " Ajid the people oppress one another, one this a7id another that ; the loy breaks out furiously upon the old man, and the despised upon the honoured." As shown by the clause describing the mutual relation of the persons, '^P. is a Mphal with reciprocal meaning (cf. on^J, xix. 2) ; this verb, followed 118 ISAIAH. by n, signifies to treat as a tyrant or taskmaster (see ix. 3). The meanest selfishness then stifles all nobler motives ; one becomes a tyrant over another, and rude insolence takes the place of reverence, which, by the law of nature, as well as the Torah (Lev. xix. 32) and custom, is due to the aged and superiors from boys and those in the humbler ranks. n?ip3 (from ^bp^, which is synonymous with ?i?n, viii. 23, xxiii. 9 ; of. xvi. 14 ; the root of which is hp, to be light, small) means one who belongs to the lowest stratum of society (1 Sam. xviii. 23), and is the opposite of "i^s: (from ^?^, to be difficult, weighty): the LXX. well renders 6 drifio'i Trpo? tov evTifiov. When there is this disregard of the distinctions due to age and rank, the State in a short time becomes a wild and waste scene of confusion. At last, there is no longer any authority bearing rule ; even the desire to govern dies out, for despotism is followed by mob-rule, and this by anarchy in the most literal sense ; distress becomes so great that he who has a coat (cloak), so as to be still able in some degree to clothe himself respectably, is besought to undertake the government. Vers. 6, 7 : " When a man shall lay hold of his brother in his father's house [and say'], ' Thou hast a cloak ; thou shall he oiir ruler, and take this ruin binder thy hand,' he will cry out on that day, saying, ' I do not want to he a surgeon, ivhen there is in my house neither hread nor cloak ; ye cannot make me ruler of the people.' " The population will have become so lean and dispirited through hunger, that, with a little energy, it would be possible to decide, within the narrow circle of a family, who is to be ruler, and to carry out the decision. The father's house is the place where (JT'a being here the local accusative) one brother meets the other ; and one breaks out into the following words of urgent entreaty, which are here introduced without "iJ^Np (cf. xiv. 8, 16, also xxii. 16, xxxiii. 14). nap is a rare mode of writing ^^, found also in Gen. xxvii. 37 ; ^T,:)^ indicates the assumption, without any ceremony, that he will agree to what is expected. In Zeph. i. 3, '"i/^PP means that through which one comes to ruin ; here it means the thing itself that has been overthrown, and this because ^K'a (not merely to stumble, trip, slip, but actually to tumble over after being thrown off the equilibrium by a CHAPTER III. 8. 119 thrust from the outside) is not used of buildings that fall into ruin, and with a reference to the prosopopeia which follows in ver. 8. He who has the advantage over many, or all others, of still being able to clothe himself respectably (even though it were merely with a blouse) is to become supreme ruler or dictator (of. TVi^, Jndg. xi. 6), and the State, now lying in a wretched state of ruin, is to l3e under his hand {i.e. his dominion, his protection and care: 2 Kings viii. 20; Gen. xli. 35; cf. xvi. 9, where, instead of the more usual singular y, the plural is found). With ver. 7 begins the apodosis to the protasis introduced by ^3 as a particle of time. The answer given by the brother to the urgent request of those who make the appeal is introduced by the words, " he will raise (viz. his voice ; see xxiv. 1 4) on that day, saying : " it is stated in this circumstantial manner because it is a solemn protest. He does not like to be '^^h^ ^.e, a binder (viz. of the broken arms and legs and ribs of the ruined State, xxx. 26, i. 6, Ixi. 1). It is implied in the form 'THK that he does not like it, because he is conscious of his inability. He has no confidence in himself, and the assumption that he has a coat is false ; not merely has he no coat at home in his house (in view of which we must remember that the conversation is carried on in his father's house), but he has no bread ; hence what is expected from him, almost naked and starving as he is, becomes impossible. " When the purple of the ruler," says the Midrash on Esth. iii. 6, "is offered for sale at the market, then woe to the buyer and the seller alike ! " This deep and tragic misery, as the prophet proceeds to show in vers. 8—12, is righteous retribution. Ver. 8 : "For Jerusalem is overthroivn and Judah is fallen, hecause their tongue and their doings are against Jeliovah, to defy the eyes of His glory." The name of the city of Jerusalem is regularly (Gesen. § 122. 3a) treated as feminine, the name of the people of Judah as masculine ; names of nations appear as feminines only when there is a blending of the two ideas, the country and the people (as, for instance, Job i. 15). The two preterites np^'a and ?3J express the general fact which will prove the occasion of such scenes of misery as have just been described. The second clause (a substantive one), on the other hand, beginning with ""S, assigns already v^ 120 ISAIAH. present sin, not sin still future, as the reason of the coming judgment. ^^ is employed to indicate hostile direction, as in ii. 4 ; Gen. iv. 8 ; Num. xxxii. 14 ; Josh. x. 6. The capital and the country are in word and deed against Jehovah ini33 ^.V "^"^P^- Here '?y. = ^^^ and nnjp^ (as in Ps. Ixxviii. 17) is the syncopated Hiphil inf. for ninpnij (of. the syncopated forms in xxiii. 11, i. 12). The Qal m)0, which is likewise pretty often construed with the accusative, means to reject in a contumacious manner, and the Hiphil nnrpn to treat contumaciously, — properly, to oppose strenuously, avmeiveiv, obniti : the root is "lO, j^t stringere, and this is connected with ip, the name of anything bitter, as being astringent, though there is no warrant for the rendering in the LXX. of nio, nnipn, inn, Ex. xxiii. 21, by TrapaTTLKpalveiv. The ? is a somewhat shortened expression for \Viy}, Amos ii. 7 ; Jer. vii. 18, xxxii. 29. But what does the prophet mean by " the eyes of His glory " ? The con- struction is certainly just the same as is " the arm of His holiness" (lii. 10), and a reference to the divine attributes is thus intended. The glory of God is that eternal manifesta- tion of His holy nature in its splendour which man pictures to himself anthropomorphically, because he cannot conceive of anything more sublime than the human form. It is in this glorious form that Jehovah looks upon His people. In this is mirrored His condescending yet jealous love, His holy love which breaks forth into wrath against all who requite His love with hate. But Israel, instead of living in the consciousness of being a constant and favoured object of these majestic and earnestly admonishing eyes, is studiously defying them in word and deed, not even hiding its sin through fear of them, but exposing it to view all unabashed. Ver. 9 : " The appear- ance of their faces testifies against them, and their sin theij declare like Sodom, without concealing it; woe to their sold! for they do evil to themselves." In any case, what is meant is the insolent look which their sinfulness is stamping upon their faces, without the self-condemnation which in others takes the form of dread to commit sin (Seneca, de vita heata, c. 12). The construct form n"i3n, if derived from nan (Jos. Kimchi and Luzzatto), would follow the analogy of rnj^a CHAPTER III, 10, 11. 121 in Ezek. xxxiv. 12. But i^n = Arab, hakara (haJcira), affords no suitable meaning ; nnan is the active noun formed from the Hiphil i"'3n. The common expression D-as "T'ari ^ signifies to look searchingly, inquiringly, keenly into the face of a person, to fix the eye upon him ; and, when used of a judge, to take the side of a person, by showing undue regard to him (Deut. i. 17, xvi. 19). This latter meaning, however (" their respect of persons," " their partiality," Prov. xxiv. 23, xxviii. 21), though supported by Hitzig, Maurer, and Gesenius, is inadmissible here, simply because the words do not refer to judges specially, but to the whole nation. " The appearance of their faces " is to be understood here in i/ an objective sense, their look (to elSot, Luke ix. 29), as the agnitio of Jerome is also to be taken as meaning id quo se agnosccndum dat vidtus eorum. This is probably the usual Hebrew designation for what we call physiognomy, — the meaning indicated by the expression of the face, and then the latter itself. The expression of their countenance testifies against them (3 njy as in lix. 12) ; for it is the distorted and troubled image of their sin that cannot and will not hide itself. They do not even content themselves, however, with this open though silent display; they further speak openly of their sin, making no concealment of it, like the Sodomites who proclaimed their fleshly lust (Gen. chap. xix.). Jerusalem ^ is, in fact, spiritually Sodom, as the prophet called it in i. 10. Through such shameful sinning they do themselves harm (b?p2, allied to "ip3, signifies to complete, then to carry out, to show by actual deed) : this is the undeniable fact, the actual experience. But seeing it is the curse of sin that the knowledge of what is perfectly clear and self-evident is just what is marred and even obliterated for man, the prophet dwells still longer on the fact that all sin is self-destruction and self-murder, presenting this general truth with its opposite in palilogic fashion, like the Apostle John, and calling to his contem- poraries in vers. 10, 11 : " Say of the just, that it is well with him ; for they will enjoy the fruit of their doings. Woe to the tvicked ! it is ill ; for what his hands have wrought will he done to him." What is declared in Prov, xii. 14 is here )/ re-echoed in prophetic form. We cannot, with Vitringa and 122 ISAIAH. some modern commentators, tianslate "Praise the righteous one ; " for, though "ip^5 is sometimes construed with the accusative (Ps. xl. 11, cxlv. 6, 11), it never means to praise, but to utter, express (see also Ps. xl. 11). We have here the transposition familiar to us even from Gen. i. 4, — simple and natural in the case of the verbs nxn (cf. also xxii. 9 ; Ex. ii. 2), VT^ (1 Kings v. 17), and ^os (like Xeyetv, John ix. 19): dicite justum quod homis=:dicite jnshmi esse honum (Ewald, § 336&) : the object of seeing, knowing, or saying is first mentioned generally, and then what qualifies it or defines it in some way. 2\u and, in ver. 11, J'"] (J^l when not in pause) might both be the 3rd sing, perfect of their verbs, used in a neuter sense : 2iD, " it is well," viz. to him (as in Deut. v. 3 ; Jer. xxii. 1 5 f.) ; and Vl (from Vp^, " it is ill" (as in Ps. cvi. 32). But Jer. xliv. 17 shows that we may also say ^^in 2V0, N^n V\, in the sense of Ka\a)<; e')(jet, KUKm e^ei, and that botli expressions have been so regarded, and hence in both cases do not need Sh to be supplied. The form of the first favours this, while in the second the accentua- tion vacillates between ■'ix with Tifcha, j?t;nb with Munach, and ''IS with Ilerkah, j;t:^-i^ with Tifcha; the latter mode of accentuation, however, which favours the personal view of yn, is presented by important editions (such as those of Breschia, 1494; Pesaro, 1516 ; Venice, 1515 and 1521), and rightly preferred by Luzzatto and Baer. The summary statements, " the righteous is well," " the wicked is ill," are established by the latter end of both, in the light of which the previous misfortune of the righteous appears as good fortune, and the previous good fortune of the wicked as misfortune. With reference to this difference in the eventual fate of each, the call " say," which is common to both clauses, summons to a recognition of the good fortune of the one and the ill fortune of the other. that Judah and Jerusalem recognised this for their salvation, ere it becomes too late ! For the state of the poor nation is already sad enough, and they are very near destruction. Ver. 12:" ^ly people, — its oppressors are hoys, and women rule over it ; my people, thy leaders are misleaders, and they have sioalloiued the way of thy paths." The idea that Ty^^P signifies those who maltreat or abuse others, is opposed by CHAPTER m. 12. 123 the parallel Q't^'J ; moreover, the notion of despotic treatment is already contained in V^'Jb. Along with women, one expects to find children ; ^ and this, too, bbSv^ means, but not a suck- ling (Ewald, § 160a), like h^V and y)V (see our commentary on Job xvi. 11), for the active form requires an active idea; but ^iy does not mean " to suckle " (rather to support, nourish), much less then " to suck," so that it would thus need to signify the suckling in the sense of one who is nourished. This is improbable, however, for the simple reason that it occurs in Jer. xliv. 7 and Lam. ii. 11 along with pyi\ and thus cannot have exactly the same meaning as the latter word, but, like ?^iy and ^?iy (the former of which may have been contracted from ^T^V^), signifies a boy as playful and wanton (lascivum, profervum) : see the remarks on ver. 4 (where Q^^l^yn occurs with 2''"?^?), and cf. the Bedouinic ^""^sy, plur. 'aicdlil, with the sense of juvencus (a young bull, three or four years old). Bottcher correctly renders the word by pueri (lusores) ; hb)]}^, however, is not, as he supposes, in itself a collective form, but the singular is used collectively ; or perhaps better still, the predicate is meant to apply to every individual included in the plural idea of the subject (cf. xvi. 8, xx. 4 ; Gesenius, § 145. 5), so that the meaning is, — the oppressors of the people, every one without exception, are (even though advanced in years), in their way of thinking and acting, like boys or youths, who make all those subject to them the plaything of their capricious humour. The person of the king — v'^i: being understood by Hitzig, Ewald, and Cheyne as a plural of excellence — is here also placed in the background ; but the female sway, afterwards mentioned, points us to the court. This must have been the state of the case when Ahaz, a young spendthrift, twenty years of age (according to the LXX., twenty-five), came to the throne, after the end of Jotham's reign. Once more the prophet, with deep pain, repeats the words " my people," and, addressing them directly, passes from the rulers of the nation to the preachers, — for the DntJ'Np are prophets (Micah iii. 5) ; but what characters ! 1 An Arabic proverb (Cat. Cocld. Lips. p. 373) runs thus: "I flee to God in order to escape from the domination of boys and the government of women." 124 ISAIAH. Instead of leading the people on the straight road, they lead them astray (ix. 15; cf. 2 Kings xxi. 9); for, as we know from the history of this gang of prophets, they ministered to the godless interests of the court, making themselves the slaves either of the dynasty or the demagogues ; or they pandered to the desires of the people, which were of no higher tone. Moreover, " the way of the path " of the people {i.e. the main-road or highway, by the branches of which the people were to reach the goal designed by God) have they " swallowed" (i.e. taken away the eyes and feet of the people), so that they cannot find it and walk in it. Nagelsbach renders this passage differently, — " they drag flown thy path of life into destruction ; " but the solemn nature of the expression rather points to the conclusion that " way " means law, or the path of duty (Theodoret, Jerome, Luther). Whatever is swallowed is invisible ; it has disappeared without leaving a trace behind. " To swallow," in the sense of dcglutire, is expressed by the Qal, as in xxviii. 4 ; the Piel V}2. signifies absorption, in the sense of annihilation. The way of salva- tion shown in the law is no more to be seen or heard ; it has perished, as it were, in the preaching of the false prophets with their misleading doctrines. Such is the state of matters. The exhortations of the prophet have no great range or breadth of view, for he must ever recur to the announcement of judgment. The judgment of the world comes anew before his mind in ver. 13 : " Jeliovah is standing to plead, and has stepped forward to judge the nations." When Jehovah, wearied of exercising patience, arises from His heavenly throne, this is called Dip, as in ii. 19, 21, xxxiii. 10; when He sits down on the judgment-seat before the eyes of all the world, this is called ^^l, as in Ps. ix. 5 ; Jonah iv. 12 ; when He descends from heaven (Micah i. 2 ff.) and comes forward as accuser, this is called 3Sf^ or ipy, Ps. Ixxxii. 1, — the latter word signifies to go forward and stand, in contrast with sitting ; while the former means to stand, with the additional idea of being firm, fixed in purpose, ready. But Jehovah's pleading (2^"!, Jer. XXV. 31) is likewise judging (p'l), because His accusation, which cannot possibly be denied as false, is at the same time the sentence of condemnation ; and this sentence, which CHAPTER III. 14, 15. 125 irresistibly operates, is at the same time also the execution of the puuishiuent. Thus God stands — Accuser and Judge and ^ Executioner in one Person — in the midst of the nations (Ps. vii. 8). But among the nations it is Israel specially, and among the Israelites it is particularly the leaders of the poor misguided and neglected people against whom He stands, as shown in vers. 14, 15 : "Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His 2^cople and their princes, — and you, ye have eaten up the vineyard ; the plunder of the sufferer is in your houses. What do you want, that you crush my people, and grind the face of those in suffering ? Declaration of the Lord Jehovah of hosts." With the first part of ver. 14 cf. Ps, cxliii. 2. The address of God begins with DJ31XI ; the clause to which this " and ye " (or " but ye ") forms the contrast is wanting, just as in Ps. ii. 6, where the address of God begins with ''3K1, " and I " = " but I." The suppressed clause, however, is easily supplied in some such way as this : " I set you over my vineyard, but ye have eaten up the '^ vineyard." The question has been asked whether it is God Himself who silently passes over this clause, or the prophet ; but certainly it is Jehovah Himself. The majesty with which He comes before the rulers of His people of itself practically and undeniably declares, even without express statement in words, that their majesty is but a shadow of His, and that their office is held from Him and under Him. But their office is owing to God's having committed His people to their care ; the vineyard of Jehovah is His people, — a figure which the prophet, in chap, v., forms into a parable. Jehovah appointed them to be keepers and pre- serves of this vineyard, but they have themselves become the cattle ("i^V3) which they were to drive off; the verb 1J?? is used in speaking of the cattle that utterly devour the stalks of what grows in a field, or the tender vines in a vineyard (Ex. xxii. 4). The property of which their unhappy fellow- countrymen have been robbed is in their houses, and attests the plundering that has been carried on in the vine- yard. ''^V[} forms an explanation of Q"i3n ; for a lowly and distressful condition is the usual lot of the community which God calls His vineyard ; it is an oppressed Church, but woe to the oppressors ! In the question Ma'^ there is implied the 126 ISAIAH. want of understanding and the bold insolence of the begin- ning they have made : no is here, after the manner of a prefix, fused into one word with DDp, as in Ex. iv. 1 ; Ezek. viii. 6 ; Mai. i. 13. The Qcri, by resolving the KetJiib, helps us to understand the meaning. Q3?Ki should properly be followed by "3 (quid est vobis quod atteritis 'poinihtm meum, as in xxii. 1, 16), but the discourse hurries on (as in Jonah i. 6) because it is an outburst of wrath. Hence also the expres- sions setting forth the conduct of the rulers of the people are the strongest possible, 5<3"^ occurs also in Prov. xxii. 22, but ''.^3 in^ is a strong metaphor of which no other example is found. The former signifies to beat (or pound), while the latter (the extreme opposite of ''JS npn) means to grind small (to powder), as the millstone grinds the grain. They beat the face of those who are already bowed down, repelling them with such merciless harshness that they stand as if they were annihilated, and their face becomes pale and white, from oppression and despair, — or even (without any reference to the loss of colour) so that their joyful appearance is ex- changed for the features and gait of men in despair. Thus far, language still affords figurative expressions fitted in some measure for describing the conduct of the rulers of Israel, but it lacks the power of adequately expressing the boundless im- morality of this conduct ; hence the greatness of their wicked cruelty is set before them for consideration in the form of a question : " What is it to you ? " i.e. what kind of unutterable wickedness is this you are beginning ? Thus the prophet hears Jehovah speak, — the majestic Judge whom he here calls riiX3^' nin^ ^jMn (to be read Adonay Elohim Zebaofh, according to the traditional vocalization). This threefold name of God, which pretty frequently occurs in Amos, and also in Jer. ii. 19, first appears in the Elohistic psalm Ixix. (ver. 7), — as this judgment-scene generally is painted with psalm-colours, and especially reminds us of Ps. Ixxxii. (Elohistic, and a psalm of Asaph). But though the prophet has this judgment - scene thus vividly and dramatically before him, yet he cannot help breaking off, even after he has but begun the description ; for another message of Jehovah comes to him. It is for the women of Jerusalem, whose sway is now, when the prophet CHAPTER III. 16, 17. 127 is delivering his burden, not one wliit less influential in the capital (see ver. 12, beginning) than that of their husbands, who had forgotten their calling. Vers. 16, 17: "And Jehovah hath spoken : Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with necks stretched forth and twinkling loith the eyes, walk tvith tripping gait, and tinkle ivith their foot ornaments ; therefore the Lord maketh the crovjn of the head of Zion's daiighters scahhed, and Jehovah will make hare their secret parts." Their pride of heart {^^^ is used as in Ezek. xvi. 50, cf. Zeph. iii. 11) reveals itself in their outward conduct. They go with outstretched neck, i.e. bending back the fore part of the neck, seeking to make themselves taller than they are, since they think themselves exceedingly great. Cornelius k Lapide here remarks : instar gruum vel cygnoram ; hahitu.s hie est insolentis ac procacis. (The Qeri here substitutes the usual form n'^ito:, but Isaiah perhaps intentionally employed the more rare and rugged form rii^D3, for this form actually occurs in 1 Sam. xxv. 18, as also its singular it:3 for litiJ in Job XV. 22, xli. 25.) Moreover, they go twinkling (nniJib'Q, not niii^B'p, " falsifying ") the eyes (like |i"i|, the accusative of closer specification), i.e. in pretended innocence casting wanton and amatory glances about them (LXX. vev/xaTa o^daX/uLMv) : this participle comes from "ij?^""!!??, not in the sense oi fucnrc (Ta.rgnm, Shahhath 62&, Yonia 9h, Luther), properly " to dye reddish-yellovv' " (Fesikta, ed. Buber, 132a, "with red colly- rium;" Talm. pT^, parall. bna, Kctlmloth I7a) ; but secondarily to paint the face. This derived sense is in itself not probable here, from the simple fact that the painting of the eyelids black with powdered antimony (tj^q, liv, 11) was not con- sidered a piece of vanity, but regarded as an indispensable item of female adornment. The verb is rather used in the sense of nictare (LXX. Vulgate, Syriac, cf. Saad. " making their eyes flash "), syn. TD"i, cf. "ip?, Syr. to squint, Targ. = ^V^, Job XX. 9. Compare also the Talmudic witticism, " God did not create the woman out of Adam's ear, lest she might become an eavesdropper (JT'jri^V) ; nor out of Adam's eye, lest she might become a winker (^''p'JPp)." ^ ^ Cf. also Sota Alb : " Since there has been increase in the niamher of women with extended neck and winking eyes, there has also been increase of the cases in which the curse-water (Num. v. 18) had to be used." To 128 ISAIAH. The third descriptive clause states that they walk incedenclo et saliendo : the second infinitive absolute is here, as usual, that which gives the definite colour to the expression, while the other keeps before the eye the occurrence that would be denoted by the verb in its finite form. They go skipping along (^'29, cf. ujils ,il:', to spring, so called from drawing the feet together ; hence H^, the skipping little family), i.e. taking short and tripping steps, almost always placing the heel at the great toe, as the Talmud everywhere says. The LXX. gives a rendering of interest for the history of luxury in dress : Kal TTj TTopeia roiv ttoSmv cifia avpovcrai rovn (also published sepa- rately, Vienna 1870). [See also Keil's Biblical Archaeology (English translation, Edinburgh 1888), vol. ii. 142.] It is not customary elsewhere with Isaiah to be so detailed in his descriptions ; among all the prophets, Ezekiel most displays this style of writing (see, for example, chap, xvi.) ; nor do we find anything similar again in other prophecies against women (cf. xxxii. 9 ff.; Amos iv. 1 ff.). Here ends the enumeration of articles of female finery and show ; and while it forms a trilogy with the enumeration of the props of State in iii. 1—3, and the enumeration in ii. 13—16 of persons and things lofty and exalted, it has its own special ground in the boundless love of ornament which had become prevalent especially during the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, it is intended to make a serious impression, and yet show the ridiculous cha- racter of the unrestrained luxury actually existing ; for it is the prophet's design in this address throughout to draw a sharp contrast between the titanic, party-coloured, noisy, worldly glory, and the true glory, which is spiritual, grandly simple, and shows itself in working outwards from within. Indeed, the subject of the whole address is the course of universal judgment from false glory to the true. The general idea ol " splendour " or " glory " (niNSri), which stands at the head and forms the foundation of the whole, already points to the contrast which follows in iv. 2, with quite another kind of glory. CHAPTER III. 18-23. 1 3 1 In explaining each particular term, we must content our- selves with stating what is most necessary and comparatively- most certain regarding the words which here occur. ^^^V. (from Day, fj^Si. (jli^J, to bind, see the remarks on lix. 5) are rings worn round the ankles, and made of gold, silver, or ivory: hence the denominative verb D|y (used in ver. 16), to make a clinking sound with these rings. D'p^ptJ' (from D2C'=}^3r, to weave) are bands woven of gold or silver thread, worn on the forehead and under the hair-net, and extending from one ear to the other ; plausible, but less probable, is the explanation current since Schroder's time, that the word means sun-like balls (D''p"')pt^), worn as ornaments round the neck (Arab, sumeisa, hibeisa, a little sun). DV'"'i!l?' are hulhilae of this kind, moon-shaped ornaments (Arab. ^^-i>, Aram, -ino, moon), fastened round the neck, and hanging down on the breast (Judg. viii. 26 ; cf. 21, royal ornaments), half-moons or crescents (Jiildlat), like those of which an Arabic girl usually possesses several kinds, for the Midi (new moon) is an emblem of increasing good fortune,^ and, as such, the most approved means of warding off the evil eye.^ DiDtp: are ear-drops (found in Judg. viii. 26 as a designation of the ornament worn by Midianite kings) ; hence the Arab, munattafa, a female adorned with ear-rings, nii^' (from i"]^, to twist) are chains, and these, too (according to the Targum), chains for the arms, or spangles for the wrists, corresponding to the spangles for the ankles; the arm-chain or bracelet is still at the present day called siivdr (hence the denominative ,»-j, to present or adorn with a bracelet), niby") are veils (from ^T^, Aram. ^ In this sense tlie crescent is the sign {loasm) with which the tribe of the Ruivale mark their herds as their property. ^ " Amulet " and " talisman ''' are both words derived from the Arabic ; the former comes from <.d.V/*.=^ instead of the plural , \j\a.:>' (from ^j-^s^, to bear, carry), which is more usual in this sense, — see, however, Gildemeister (in the Zeitschrift der deutsch. morgenl. Gesellschaft, xxxviii. 140-142), who considers amoletum an old Latin word : the latter is from ^^\^, the Arabic form of rihiaua. 132 ISAIAH. ''^"1' J-t" J^' J^' *° ^® loose and flaccid, to hang down or hang over loosely) ; these were more costly and of better quality than the ordinary veil worn by maidens, which is called ^'•y^*. D'lixs are tiaras; the term occurs elsewhere in Scripture only in passages in which the word is applied to coverings for the heads of men (the priests, the bridegroom, and persons of rank). i^i^^V are the stepping-chains (from nnyy^ which primarily means a step or pace ; then the little chain which makes the pace short and elegant). Dnti'P (from "^P'i^, to gird) are dress girdles, such as the bride wears on the marriage-day (cf. Jer. ii. 22 with Isa. xlix. 18) ; the Targum wrongly renders ^<'?pPPpP hair-pins (KaXa/jbiSe'i). ^p), ''03 are holders of scent (C'SJ being used only here in the sense of the breath of an aroma). Luther appropriately renders the ex- pression " musk-apples," i.e. capsules filled with musk. ^"^^'^ (from ^^^, to whisper, to work magically) are amulets worn either as charms or as a protection against witchcraft, perhaps something like the later niyiDp {Shahhath 60a), i.e. small plates with an inscription, or small bunches of plant- roots with sanative powers, niyap (from V^D, to sink into, seal) are signet- rings worn on the finger, corresponding to the Dnin worn by men on a string hanging down over the breast. ^^V" ^— ^^® ^^^® nose-rings in common use from patriarchal times (Gen. xxiv. 22) till the present, generally put through the right nostril, and hanging down over the mouth ; they are different from nn (a word occurring seven times), which is the ring put through the nose of animals, though this term is also found along with DT3 in Ex. xxxv. 22 as the designation of an ornament.^ Oi^^l^P are garments such as a person of rank brings out and presents to another, — gala-dresses, robes of honour (from pn, -i-lri-, to draw out ; as a denominative verb it signifies to put on a gala - dress) ; the Arab, is iuL>- (usually pronounced Axisi^, whence our "gala," Spanish gala; it does not come from 1>. =7^, ^f?^, jewellery, ornaments). 1 This DM signifies also an ear-ring, which afterwards came to be called y'^iV by way of distinction ; see the essay on "Ohrgehange (D''DT3) als ' T gotzendienerisches Gerath," in Geiger's Zeitschrift, x. (1872) pp. 45-48. CHAPTER III. 18-23. 133 nsoyo is the second tunic or frock, which was worn over the T T -; - ' ordinary one, — the Koman stola. ninstpp (from nsD, to spread out) are wrappers or broad wrapping - cloths/ like the one which Euth wore when she crept close to Boaz in her best attire (Euth iii. 15). D'P'^n (here written D'^'iqn with the article, according to the Masora) are pockets into which people put money (2 Kings v. 23), which at other times is carried in the girdle or in a purse (C?). Q''?v? (according to LXX. Biacpavrj XaKcoviKo., sc. l/jbdria) are Lacedaemonian gauze or crape dresses, which reveal rather than conceal the naked- ness (from n^2 in the sense of laying bare) ; Kimchi (in his Lexicon, under n^a) compares the Arab, if^ij^, a transparent dress ; but the word is more certainly mirrors with handles, polished plates of metal (from n.?a, ^^s^, J^^ in the primary sense of making smooth), for li^? elsewhere signifies a smooth table, as in the later Hebrew it means the empty space on the page of a book, the margin.^ 2''?"'1P are veils or coverings made of the finest linen, perhaps of Sindu or Hindu texture ((TLvSoue^;) ; for Sindu, the country of the Indus, is the ancient name of India (see our commentary on Prov. xxxi. 24).'^ ni3"'jV (from ^3V, to roll up) are the turbans or headbands formed of cloths of various colours, twisted round the head. ^ The term nnatSJO is very commonly used in the Mishiia and the Gemara to signify a wrapping-cloth, such as a bath-sheet, or a cloth in which articles {e.g. the Levitical utensils) are wrapped up, a cloth for wiping off (such as a hand towel or bath towel) ; see, for example, Kelim xxiv. 13, xxviii. 5. On the other hand, niV^TIO has no connection with the Mishnic terra nibsHD, which means plaited mats for covering and laying on the top of an object, but not for folding round anything. - The Jerusalem Talmud everywhere explains wvh^ by n'''»i?3bj, ^'^'^'^ ii^ Bereschith rabba c. 19, JV^Jl occurs as a specific article belonging to the class of rriin, corresponding to the articles of male attire named pDP^p, galeae; Levy accordingly renders it by "headband," and derives it from "•^3=^^j. But, as shown by the use of the word in other passages, the root does not mean to roll or wind, but to make smooth, or lay bare. ^ The Mishna {Kelim xxiv. 13) distinguishes between three kinds of p3nD, the material used for bed-clothes, the material used for curtains, and that used for embroidering. The Sindon is pretty often mentioned as a covering for the body ; and in Menachoth 41a we read {'^. This word signifies neither a " wound " (as inter- preted by the Targum and Talmud) nor " rags " (the opinion of Knobel in his first edition), — views which find some support in the derivation from ^PJ as meaning to smite through, cut through, — but it denotes the rope (as rightly rendered in 1 Easlii remarks on Shabhath 65a, " The Israelitisli women, in Arabia go out veiled (nibiyi wearing a veil tliat muffles the countenance), while those in India go out ni2^"is (with a cloak fastened together above, about the mouth)." CHAPTER III. 24. 135 the LXX. Vulgate, and Syriac) which is thrown over them as prisoners : the word is derived from ^p_^, to turn round, revolve, and is thus the feminine of a masc. ^P^ or ^i^^ ; it is un- necessary to assume the existence of a verb "^^p^nip^ signifying to twist (as is done by Meier, and by Knobel in his second edition)/ A baldness takes the place of n^f'pp nb'yio (not nb'yo, so that the second noun is in apposition, as in the case of two indeterminate notions; see also Ezek. xxii. 18; 1 Chron. xv, 19, etc.; cf. also the remarks on xxx. 20), i.e. not (as the LXX. renders) a golden head -ornament, though ntJ'pD in other passages signifies embossed or carved work in metal or wood: by " artificial turned- work" is here meant hair either crisped with the curling-iron, or artificially plaited and set up, which custom compels them to cut off in times of mourning (xv. 2, xxii. 12), or which falls off from them through grief. A P'^ n"};no^ ix. a smock of coarse hair-cloth, comes in place of the ^i''^^, i.e. dress cloak (from 303, the root of which is riD, to be open, spreading, with the noun -ending il: Targ. ;iri2-:;'U?, pD ; by the old interpreters, beginning with the Talmud, the word was misunderstood, as if it were a compound of '•riQ and ?''2) ; and in place of beauty comes ''3, a branding mark (= ""la, the cognate form being n'ls^ which occurs in the legal enactment, Ex. xxi. 25 ; the word is derived from nn, Arab. ^^, which is especially used of cauterizing with the i^LCc, i.e. red-hot iron, as practised by surgeons), which is burnt by the conquerors into their fore- head, though proud and beautiful as Juno's. For ''3 (Arab. <>) is a noun,^ not a particle, as in Jer. ii, 34 ; in correct codices it stands without Maqqeph, and with Tifclia, but nnri with Mercha, and the first letter of this word with Dagesh. ^ Of cognate origin perhaps is the Arab, nulcba (explained in Zamach§ari, MoImcIcUiwo, Wetstein's edition, p. 62, by the Persian mijdn-hend, a waist- belt), a kind of apron fastened by means of a drawing-string, according to the Turkish KamCis. — Fl. - In Arabia the application of the kej by means of a red-hot piece of iron (mikwdh) plays an important part in the medical treatment of man and beast. One sees many people who have been burned, not merely on the legs and arms, but also on the face ; and the most beautiful horses are generally disfigured by the kej. 136 ISAIAH. The form of the word is like ""X, '•y, ■•>', ""I, Job xxxvii. 11 ; along with ''"!, Simson ha-Nakdan also compares ■*? in Ezek. xxvii. 32. The inverted arrangement of the words in the last of the five clauses is very effective. In the fivefold exchange, shame and sadness take the place of the haughty- rejoicing of luxury. The prophet now, by a sudden transition, directly addresses the people of Jerusalem ; for the " daughters of Zion " are the daughter Zion in her present degenerate state. The daughter Zion loses her sons ; the daughters of Zion thereby lose their husbands. Ver. 25 : " Thy men will fall hy the sword, and thy heroism in the war." The plural D"'np (the singular of which — in Ethiopic, met, " man " in the sense of husband, the Latin maritus — is still found only in the form inp, with the union-vowel H, as a constituent part of proper names) is a prose-word in the Pentateuch, especially Deuteronomy ; else- where it is a poetic archaism. 'Jl^np is changed for ^!}'^'>23, " thy. heroic power," an abstract expression meaning the inhabitants of the city, in the same way as robur and rohora are also used in Latin (probably in like manner Jer. xlix. 35). What the prophet here predicts for the daughter Zion he sees in ver. 2 6 as fulfilled on her : " Then ivill her gates lament and mourn ; and she is made desolate, sits down on the earth." The gates where the husbands of the daughter of Zion, now fallen in the war, used at one time to assemble in such numbers, have been deserted, and in this condition one as it were hears them complain and sees them mourn (xiv. 31 ; Jer. xiv. 2 ; Lam. i. 4) ; and the daughter Zion herself is quite vacated, thoroughly emptied, utterly stripped of her former population. In this state of saddest widowhood, or bereavement of her children, brought down from her former exalted position (xlvii. 8) and princely adornment (Jer. xiii. 18), she sits on the ground in the manner shown on Eoman commemorative medals, struck after the destruction of Jerusalem, which represented Judea as a woman utterly crushed and in despair, sitting under a palm-tree before a warrior standing erect, while there is inscribed at the side, Judaea capta (or devicta). The LXX. translates in accord- ance with the general sense, Kal KaToXeKpOijaf} iiovq Kal eh CHAl'TEK IV. 1. 137 T7)i' jrjv iSa(f)iaOi](rrj (cf. Luke xix. 14), — only ^^'!j} is not the second, but the third person, as also nnpp is third person perfect Niphal (for '"inj^J), a pausal form, such as is often found also with smaller distinctive accents than Silluk and Athnach (here in connection with Tifcha, as also in v. 9, xxii. 14 ; 1 Kings V. 31 ; Amos iii. 8). The clause ^'^^ Y"}^ follows without any connecting particle, as is pretty frequently the case when one of the two verbs stands in relation to the other as a closer specification which would otherwise be expressed adverbially, as for instance in 1 Chron. xiii. 2, and with inverted arrangement of the words, Jer. iv. 5 ; cf. xii. 6 : in her depopulated and therefore isolated condition, or her deprivation also of even the most necessary articles of house- hold furniture (cf. xlvii. 1, 5, and the Talmudic VD330 >p3, " robbed of his property "), Zion sits on the earth. When war shall have thus unsparingly swept away the men of Zion, then will arise an unnatural state of things : women will not be sought by men, but men by women. Chap. ^. l): " And seven women shall lay Jiold of one man on that day, saying, Our otvn hread will we eat, and in our own garments tvill we clothe ourselves ; only let thy name he named upon us, take away our reproach" The division of the chapters is wrong, for this verse is the closing one of the prophecy against the women, and the concluding portion of the whole discourse only begins with iv. 2. The present pride of the daughters of Zion, every one of whom deems herself the greatest, as the wife of so-and-so, and whom many men now woo, comes to an end with the self-hunailiating fact that seven of them offer themselves to one man, — any one, — and that, too, with a renunciation of the claim, legally resting on the husband, for food and clothing (Ex. xxi. 10). It is enough for them to be allowed to liear his name (?y is employed, as in Ixiii. 19 : the name is piit upon what is named, because giving it its definiteness and its character) ; he is to take away their reproach merely by letting them be called his wives (viz. the reproach of being unmarried, liv. 4, as in Gen. v XXX. 23 the reproach was that of being childless). Grotius appropriately compares Lucan {PharsaUa, ii. 342) : Da tantum nomen inane conmibii, liceat tumulo scripsisse Catonis Marcia. The number seven (seven women to one man) is explained by 138 ISAIAH. y the fact that there is an evil seven as well as a sacred seven (for example, Matt. xii. 45). With iv. 1 ends the threatenings addressed to the women of Jerusalem. It is the side - piece which accompanies the threatenings against the rulers of the nation. Both scenes of judgment are but parts of the picture showing the doom about to fall on Jerusalem and Judah as a State or commonwealth. And even this again is but a part, namely, the central group in the picture of a much more comprehensive judgment about to fall on everything lofty and exalted on the earth. Jeru- salem is thus the centre and focus of the great judgment-day for the world. In Jerusalem there is concentrated the un- godly glory now ripe for judgment ; here, too, will concentrate the light of the true glory in the latter days. To this pro- mise, with which the discourse returns to its starting-point, the prophet now passes directly. But indeed no transition- stage is needed ; for the judgment in itself is the medium of salvation. /Jerusalem is sifted by being judged ; and by being sifted it is delivered, pardoned, gloritied. In this sense the prophet proceeds, with the words " on that day," to describe the one great day of God at the end of time (not a day of twenty-four hours any more than the seven days of creation) in its leading features, as beginning with judgment but bringing deliverance. Ver. 2 : " On that day will the sproict of Jehovah become an ornament and glory, and the fruit of the earth pride and splendour for the saved ones of Israel." The four terms signifying glory, here combined in pairs, confirm us in the expectation that after the mass of Israel have been swept away together with the objects of their worthless pride, mention will be made of what will become an object of well- grounded pride for the " escaped of Israel " {i.e. those who have escaped destruction, the remnant that has survived the judgment). According to this interpretation of what is pro- mised, it is impossible that it can be the Church of the future itself that is called " the sprout of Jehovah " and " the fruit of the earth " (the opinion of Luzzatto, Malbim, and Eeuss) ; moreover, considering the contrast drawn between what is promised and what is set aside, it is improbable that nin^ nov and p.^5n na (not " fruit of the ground," ^^y^^ ^If) mean the blessing of harvest bestowed by Jehovah, the i^ich produce of CHAPTER IV. 2. 139 the land. For though " the sprout of Jehovah " may possibly signify this (Gen, xix, 25 ; Ps. civ. 14), and though fertility of the land is a permanent feature in the promise regarding the latter days (as seen in xxx. 23 ff. ; Zech. ix. 16 f. ; cf. the close of Joel and Amos, also the end of Hos. ii.), v/hile it is also said that the fruitful fields of Israel will become famous in the eyes of the nations (Ezek. xxxiv. 29 ; Mai. iii. 12 ; cf. Joel ii, 17), yet this earthly, material good, of which, more- over, there was no lack during tlie times of Uzziah and Jotham, was wholly unsuited for forming a contrast that would quite outshine the worldly glory hitherto prevailing. Even after granting what Hofmann says, " that the blessing which comes from the fields, as the natural gift of God, may form a con- trast with the studied works of art and articles imported from " abroad of which men had hitherto been proud," yet what Eoseumliller had previously remarked remains true, "that the grandeur of the whole discourse is opposed to this inter- pretation," Let any one but compare xxviii, 5, where Jehovah Himself is in like manner called the glory and ornament of the remnant of Israel. But if i^)^\ nn^' is neither the delivered remnant itself, nor the fruit of the field which Jehovah causes to sprout, it will be the name of the Messiah : such is the view given in the Targum, and such also is the opinion, among modern commentators, of Eosenmiiller, Heng- stenberg, Steudel, Umbreit, Caspari, Drechsler, Strachey, and de Lagarde,^ The great King coming in the future is called npv {dvaroXi] in the sense of Heb. vii. 14), as a Sprout arising from soil which is at once earthly, human, and Davidic, — a Sprout that Jehovah has planted in the earth, and causes to burst through and sprout up as the pride of His congregation, which was waiting for this heavenly Child, In the parallel member of the verse, this Child is likewise called P.^C* ''^^> ^^ the fruit which the land will bring forth, — just as Zedekiah is called pxn y"}T in Ezek. xvii. 5, because the same reasons ^ In his Semitica (i. 178) on this passage, this writer explains niH'' ncv as ctvroficiru; (pvsu and oLuuhu oibupvif/Avou, so that, taken in conjunction with Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15, it points to a descendant of the house of David whom Jehovah causes to be born in a time of darkness and distress, in contrast with the natural descendant that had become utterly useless and worthless. 140 ISAIAH. for which nin'; np^ cannot mean the blessing of the lields apply with like force to pxn ''13, instead of which there would be used the expression "^^l^v" ""I^j if the produce of agriculture were intended, — for whenever the former expres- sion occurs instead of the latter, there is always a probable reason for the choice, as in Num. xiii. 20, 26 ; Deut. i. 25 ; cf. Lev. XXV. 18 f. Here, however, it was necessary to say " the fruit of the ground " in order to make clear the mean- ing of the expression " the sprout of Jehovah," for it is self-evident that i^?"]^ means the land of Israel. In this way therefore will the Messiah be the " fruit of the earth " as the noblest fruit of the land in the future, — fruit in which all growth and bloom in the history of Israel reaches the end that has been promised and appointed of God. Without importing New Testament ideas into the passage, we may nevertheless account for this double designation of the Coming One merely on the ground of the endeavour to describe V the twofold aspect of His origin : on the one side. He comes from Jehovah, and yet on the other side He is also of earthly origin, by His going forth from Israel. We have here the passage on the basis of which nn); has come to be adopted in Jeremiah (xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15) and Zechariah (iii. 8, vi. 12) as a proper name of the Messiah. There is much that com- mends itself, however, in Bredenkamp's interpretation : " The prophet here depicts the circle of light forming part of the future glory, but not its centre. The Sprout of Jehovah — an expression which points to the silent and mysterious power of creative grace — and the fruit of blessing with which the land is clothed, is the same as is called in Hos. iii. 5, ' the goodness of Jehovah,' the good things of the last days, which, as the gift of God, will present themselves on the ruins of the glory that has passed away." Nagelsbach also understands what is promised in the sense of the declaration in Ixi. 11. Connecting itself with the expression ?5<"3^'! np^ps in ver. 2, ver. 3 goes on to describe the Church of the future : " And it shall come to pass, whoever is left in Zion and. remaiiis in Jerusalem, — holy will he be called, every one loho is written down for life in Jeriisalem.'^ The keynote of the whole verse is given by the word " holy." Whereas formerly, in Jerusalem, persons were distinguished according to their CHArXER IV. 3. 141 rank and their fortune, without regard to their moral worth ^ (iii. 1-3, 10 f . ; cf. xxxii, 5), "holy" will then be the one chief name of honour befitting every individual, inasmuch as the national vocation of Israel (Ex, xix, 6, etc.) would now be realized in every one. Hence the expression " he shall be called " is not, of course, equivalent to " he shall be," ^ but it presupposes this, as in i. 26, Ixi. 6, Ixii. 4. "Holy" (C'nj?) means what is separated from the world and superior to it ; the congregation of the saints, or holy ones, who now inhabit Jerusalem, are what remain after a smelting ; their holiness is the consequence of a washing. The term "iSw'sn is interchanged with "inian .• the former word contains the T : • - o T idea of intention as a part of its meaning, and thus signifies what has been purposely left behind ; the latter points more to the simple fact, and signifies what remains over or is left. The latter part of ver. 3 declares the character and the numbers of those who will constitute this " remnant of grace." This apposition - clause means something more than those who are entered as living in Jerusalem ; for p 3ri3 signifies not merely " to inscribe as " something, but (like 3ri3 with the accusative, Jer. xxii. 30) "to inscribe as destined for" something. Whether we translate Q"'*n7 " for life " (as in Dan. xii. 2), or — a less probable meaning, however, as the form is not Q'^'n^' — " for living ones " (cf Ps. Ixix. 29 ; 1 Sam. XXV. 29), there is always contained in the expression p n^nan the idea of predestination, the presupposition of a divine " Book of life " (Ex. xxxii. 3 2 f . ; Dan. xii. 1 ; cf. Ps. cxxxix. 16 ; Eev. xx. 12, etc.), and thus a meaning like that which is contained in the words of Acts xiii. 48, oaoi rjaav reTa^jjievoL eh ^aijv alcoviov. The reference is to persons who, on account of the good kernel of faith which is in them, have their names standing in the book of life as those who are to be partakers of the life in the New Jerusalem, and who, in accordance with this divine purpose of grace, have been spared amidst the sifting judgment. Por it is only by passing through the judgment, w^hich sets free this kernel of faith, that such a holy community can be formed. Whether ver. 4 belongs to ver. 3 and specifies the con- dition and the time of the fulfilment of what is there indicated, is a question as difficult to decide as the similar case in 142 ISAIAH. Ps. Ixiii. 7a. It seems more likely and natural, however, that ver. 4 is a hypothetical protasis to ver. 5 : the combination of clauses will then be like what is found in 2 Sam. xv. 33 f.: " When the Lord sJmll have washed aivay the filth of the daughter of Zion and purged away the hlood-guiltiness of Jerusalem from the midst of her, hy the spirit of judgment and the spirit of sifting ; then Jehovah creates " . . . Here, as in xxiv. 13, Q{< followed by a preterite forms the futurum exactum (Gesen. § 106. 3c), and introduces that through the preceding occurrence of which the other is conditioned. The imperfect nn^ (Hiphil, to wash or rinse away, as in 2 Chron. iv. 6 ; Ezek. xl. 38, to rinse off; from nn, to push away) likewise obtains the meaning of a futurum exactum through the preterite YD"} (cf. the very same consecution of tenses in vi, 11). The double purification corresponds to the two scenes of judgment described in chap. iii. The filth of the women of Zion is the moral pollution hidden under their showy and coquettish finery ; and the bloody deeds of Jerusalem are the judicial murders committed by its rulers on the poor and innocent. This filth and these spots of blood the Sovereign Euler washes and purges away (see 2 Chron. iv. 6) by the pouring out of His Spirit or breath (xxx. 28) over the men and women dwelling in Jerusalem. y This breath is called tsac'p nn, inasmuch as it punishes what is evil, and 1^3 nil,- inasmuch as it sweeps it away or removes it. "ly^ is to be explained, as in vi. 13, in the same way as in Deut. xiii. 6, etc.; cf. especially xix. 13, xxi. 9. The rendering of the LXX. (which is followed by the Vulgate), iv 'TTvev/xart Kavcr£ai?1i?'? (a defective plural form, as in Jer. xix. 8), refers to Zion. There is no need for taking this noun (as is done by Gesenius, Meier, Hitzig, Ewald, Luzzatto) in the sense of " meeting-halls " — a meaning which it has nowhere else ; it may, however, also signify (as in i. 13) the meetings or assemblies {iKKXrjcrlat). Though ambiguity rests on the explanatory clause ~^^~^V ''? nsn 1123, this is no reason for holding (as Cheyne does) that the text has been mutilated ; rather may we suppose these words, as a general statement, to be a gloss. Schegg and others regard the clause in this way, as a locus communis, and render it : " because, for everything glorious, protection and covering are seemly ; " and certainly nan bears the mean- ing of covering and concealing generally. As a noun, nsn in Ps. xix. 6, Joel ii. 16, does not signify, as in post-Biblical Hebrew, the nuptial canopy, but the bridal chamber, from its being concealed. But the verb-forms nsn, nsm also signify to cover, to clothe for adornment ; and in this way the nsn here will also serve, not merely for a guard or protection, but also as an honour to the object covered. A cloud of smoke and a blaze of fire floats over Mount Zion like a canopy. (It is thus unnecessary to take nsn as the 3rd pers. Pual, inasmuch as ■T'?^, which immediately follows in ver. 6, readily suggests itself as a word to be supplied.) The only question is whether nu3"?3 means " every glory," or, as in Ps. xxxix. 6, xlv. 14, "pure glory, nothing but glory." There is much that commends itself in the view of Hofmann, that Jerusalem is now all glory, as its inhabitants are all holiness, and that therefore this screen is spread out over pure glory ; nevertheless we prefer the former view, as more in accord with the noun -clause. The glory of which Zion has now become a partaker no longer suffers any decay ; Jehovah acknowledges it by tokens of His gracious presence, for there will henceforth be nothing glorious in Zion over which. CHAPTER IV. 6. 145 in the way indicated, there will not be a canopy to ailurd shade and light, to cover, protect, and adorn. In this way, Zion becomes a safe retreat and shelter against all adversities and misfortunes. Ver. 6 : " And there vnll he a hooth for a shade hy day from the heat of the sun, and a refuge and hiding-place from storm and from rain.'' Just as in this passage, the place of concealment and safety is also called nap in Ps. xxxi. 21, Ixxvii. 5. The subject of the verb ninn is not the miraculous roofing, for |Jy (cloud) is masculine ; and to say of a nan (canopy) that it will be a nzip (booth) is absurd. But i^inn is either used in a pregnant sense (as in xv. 6, xxiii. 13), so as to mean "and there will be a booth;" or " Zion " in ver. 5 is the subject. Considering that " Zion " is so far away, we prefer the former alternative ; the preservation naturally applies to the dwellers in Zion. Hitzig, with whom Niigelsbach agrees, thinks the end of ver. 5 should be read in undivided connection with ver. 6 (" for over everything glorious will arise a canopy and a booth for a shade by day," i.e. serving as such, etc.). But the combination of the synonymous terms n3pl nsn is not in Isaiah's style, and the preservation from the glowing heat of the sun does not properly accord with the inanimate object ni33-!53. With ^^^'Q {i.e. not npnp) from nprij which is allied to C'ln (cf. the Assyrian hasu and hdsu), " to flee for refuge," -^ liripp is combined (only here in the Old Testament), for the sake of alliteration, instead of in?, which is more frequently used by the prophets in other passages, as xxviii. 17, xxxii. 2. The temporal adjunct QOi"', " by day " (which stands in construction with b>7 ; cf. Ezek. xxx. 16), is purposely left without a corresponding n^?, " by night," because what is meant is a place of safety and concealment at all times, whether by night or by day. Instead of speci- ^ This word is shown by the sound of its initial letter Qi not h) to be different from the Arab. ..^„..~». , from which comes ^u*^\ *U:, the water that is preserved under or by means of a covering of sand, or by means of the rock below, from evaporating or oozing away. In a biography of Mohammed (MSS. in the Royal Library at Berlin, Sect. Wetzst. ii. Nr. 311), it is said in the section on the battle at Muta : •' ^*m.^!' {hisd or hasd) is a sandy spot under which there is a rocky bottom ; if rain falls upon this sand, the water dries up, but the rock prevents it from running VOL. I. K 146 ISAIAH. fying the most manifold dangers, the burning heat of the sun, storm, and rain are mentioned as examples ; but it is a striking fact that the rain, which certainly is a benefit earnestly desired by one in a state of y^p, i.e. drought and burning heat, is also mentioned. At the present day, when rain falls in Jerusalem, the whole city leaps for joy. But the effects of rain, especially of the winter rain which suddenly pours down, are certainly very often destructive. The Jeru- salem of the latter days is like Paradise restored (Gen. ii. 5 f ) ; one will not then be any longer exposed to the destructive changes of the weather. In this way the end of this pro- phetic address runs into the beginning. This Mount Zion, roofed over with a cloud of smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, is no other than the mountain of the house of Jehovah, which is exalted above all mountains, and to which the nations make their pilgrimage ; and this Jeru- salem, which is holy within and all-glorious without, is no other than the place from which one day the word of Jehovah will go out into all the world. But what kind of Jerusalem is that ? Is it the Jerusalem which is to see the glorious days of the people of God in this present life (Eev. xii.), or is it the Jerusalem of the new heavens and the new earth (Eev. XX.) ? The proper answer is. Both in one. In the vision of the prophet, the Jerusalem of the latter days on earth and Jerusalem of the life beyond — the glorified Jerusalem of earth and the glorified Jerusalem of hdaven — are fused to- gether as one. For it is a characteristic of the Old Testa- ment that it views the closing period of the present life and the eternity that lies beyond as forming one continuous line, and looks upon the whole as if its character were that of earth. The first cross-line was drawn by the New Testament. away, and the sand keeps the heat of the sun from drying it up ; if any- one therefore digs under this sand, he finds water." According to this, it might appear that non originally means to " hide one's self." But the T / C / / / proper signification of the old Arabic <-^m.^j ls'^^ ^^ *° draw out (water), to exhaust, empty, and, metaphorically, to find oxit something secret, to draw secret thoughts out of any one by questions, etc. The water of a .wj>. is gradually taken out from under the sand, hence the chapter v. 1. 147 The Judgment of Devastation upon Jehovah's Vineyard, Chap. V. Concluding Discourse of the First Cycle of ProphecTj. The foregoing discourse, at the close of chap, iv., has run through all the phases of prophetic address; and it has so completely worked out its fundamental thought, — the over- throw of the false glory and the establishment of the true glory of Israel, which is realized through judgment, — that chap. V. cannot be regarded either as a continuation or as a completion of it. Unquestionably chap. v. contains various allusions to chap, ii.-iv. The parable of the Vineyard in chap. V. 1—7 grows as it were out of chap. iii. 14 ; and in chap. V. 15 the recurrent verse or refrain of chap. ii. 9 is repeated, but varied in a similar manner as m chap. ii. 17. Yet these and other points of contact with chap, ii.-iv. do not prove that chap. v. was not independent, but only that the two were written about the same time. The contem- porary circumstances or situation of the two discourses is the same ; and the range of the prophet's thought from its relation to his surroundings at the time, is therefore closely/ related. Nevertheless the fundamental thought which is/ carried out in chap. v. is an entirely different one.' The basis of the discourse is constituted by a parable of Israel as the Vineyard of Jehovah, which, contrary to all expectation, was bringing forth bad fruit, and therefore was given up to devastation. What sort of bad fruit this was, is described in a sixfold woe ; and what kind of devastation it was to be, is told in the gloomy night-like close of the dis- course, which is wholly without a promise. The prophet began the first discourse in chap. i. like another Moses, and the second not less intensely with the text of an older prophecy ; and now he begins this third discourse like a player who has a crowd of people around him, and who with alluring words addresses and rouses up himself and his hearers. Ver. la: "Come, I loill sing of my helovcd, a song of my dearest about his vineyard ! " The winged rhythm, the musical euphony, and the graceful assonances of this invocation are inimitable and cannot be reproduced in a translation. The b of ^Tt? and i^"^?? \/ 148 ISAIAH. indicates the reference : the song refers to his Beloved ; it is a song of his dearest one himself about his vineyard (not of his cousin, patruelis, as Luther, following Jerome, translates it, for nn signifies patruus, uncle, but here the meaning is deter- mined by 'T'1^ dyairrjro^). The song of the beloved one is more definitely designated a song of the beloved one himself ; it is not a song composed about him or composed for him, but a song as he himself has sung it and has to sing it. Knaben- bauer rightly says : " The prophet recites it out of the thoughts of God," Cheyne, with Lowth, conjectures the reading Q^IIT ^"l''{^' ; but this is not appropriate, for it is not a "love-song." The little song is short, and runs thus, lh—2: " My Beloved had a vineyard on a fatly nourished moicnt. And he dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with noble vines, and huilt a tower in it, and also hetved out a wine- press therein, and he hoped for grape-hringing , hut it hr ought wildings." The vineyard Q"}3 (originally meaning hill, like the Assyrian karmu, cf Talm. ^^2, to heap, to heap up^) lay upon a Hi?, i.e. a mountain peak projecting like a horn, and consequently open to the sunshine on all sides ; for " apertos Bacchus amat colles," as Virgil says {Georg. ii. 113). This mountain-horn or peak was i^^'l^, a child of fatness ; fatness was innate in it, it belonged to it by nature. IP^', as in chap, xxviii. 1, is used to indicate the richness of a soil capable of cultivation. On this vineyard the possessor bestowed all possible trouble and care. On account of the steep side of the mountain, the plough could not be used ; and therefore he dug it up, i.e. the soil, which was to become the vineyard, with a hoe (p)V, to hoe, i.e. with the hoe ; Arab, mi'zak, mizaka, to hand hoe in order to make fertile ; Mishn., to draw a trench around something, whether a plant or a place, which is followed by the LXX., cf. Mark xii. 1 : /cat (fypayfiov TreptidrjKa, see Kimchi's Diet, under pty). And as he found it covered over with stones and dihris, he proceeded to get rid of this rubbish by throwing it out (bi^p, privative Pi.; lit. taking to do with stones, to clear of stones, like ^jaj^> removing sickness, healing, cf casting the skin, scaling off, and such like). ^ The Gemara, Shahhath 88b, says of the verb DID : " it has the sense of heaping, gathering " (sin t^JDJOT ii:^'^)- CHAPTER V. 2. 1-19 After the soil had been brought under cultivation, he planted it with Pity, the finest kind of eastern vine with bright-red grapes ; for it is a colour word, not (like the Arab, name of wine, ez-zerJfd, the bright-blue, the bright) indicating the colour of the drink, but that of the grapes (P"i.f = j^-i, to be suffused with red, i.e. to be dark red, different from ^.ii-i, signifying to be light red). Then, in order to protect and adorn the vineyard, planted at suqh cost, he built in the midst of it a tower. QJl. sets prominently forth that he also hewed out a wine- press trough in it (3p'', the trough into which runs the must pressed out in the wine-press ria, lacus in distinction from torcular) ; using a rocky portion of the soil in order that the trough may be the more immoveable and lasting, i^ n^;n has not the accent retracted, as e.cj. ny^ nnk, Prov. xii. 1, xvii. 19, and ■'3 y^^, Ps. xviii. 20, because a Beth would thereby easily become inaudible, and hence there is also more firmness given to avn by the pronunciation 3Vn ; and in like manner in chap. x. 15 we have i3 nvhn'and ^1033 for ^"33, chap, xi. 14; cf. Comm. on Ps. cxxxii. 10. This was a difficult piece of work, as the aai gives us to understand ; it was difficult, and for that reason gave evidence of surest expecta- tion. But how utterly was this deceived ! The vineyard ' brought forth no such fruit as is expected from a sorek- planting ; it brought forth no Cp^y at all, i.e. no berries or clusters such as a cultivated vine bears, but it brought 2"'K''N3, wildings. Luther at first translated this word as wild grapes, and latterly as harsh or sour grapes ; but they come to the same thing. The wild and the noble vine are only qualita- tively different ; the vitis vinifera is, like all cultivated plants, assigned to human nurture, under which it becomes ennobled, whereas growing in its wild state it falls short of its destina- tion. Hence D^ti'xn designates the small sour berries of the wild vine (Eashi : lamhruchcs, i.e. berries of the labrusca), as well as those berries of the noble vine which have remained unripe and stunted (but which are not like 1D3, which are only not yet ripe).^ Such berries as these were brought forth 1 In the Jerusalem Talmud such stunted berries are called ptJ'^IK J and in the Mishna {Mdascroth i. 2, Shebitth iv. 8), ^^^^^ is the word used regularly of grapes that have become half-ripe. 150 ISAIAH. by that vineyard ; they were such as are produced • by the wild vine, but not such as are to be expected from the most carefully cultivated vines of the noblest sort. The Song of the Beloved One, so sorely deceived, thus ends. The prophet recites it, and not his dearest one himself ; but because the two are one heart and one soul the prophet can continue thus in vers. 3 and 4 : " And noiu, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I j)Taij you, between me and my Vineyard! Wliat was there further to do for my Vineyard which I did not do for it ? Why hoped I for the bringing of grapes, and it brought wildings ? " The person of the Beloved may already be discerned, from the fact that the prophet speaks as if he were the beloved himself. The Beloved of the prophet and Lover of the prophet, T'lJ and nn, is Jehovah, with whom he is so united through a U7iio mystica, elevated above earthly love, that, like the Angel of Jehovah in the primeval histories, he can speak as if he were Jehovah Himself (see especially Zech. ii. 12—15). To one who has insight, the parabolical meaning and purpose of the song, therefore, betrays itself already here ; and even the inhabit- ants of Jerusalem and men of Judah (^l^T and ^''^, taken collectively, as in chap. viii. 14, ix. 8, xxii. 21, cf. xx. 6), who are appealed to as adjudicators or umpires, are not so utterly stupefied by sin that they should not perceive at what the prophet was aiming. They are called upon to decide on which side the guilt of this unnatural issue lies, of this nib'y of the Vineyard, so contradictory to the nib'y of the Lord : that instead of the bringing of grapes, which was hoped for, it has brought wildings. On niu'y^Tip^ q^tid faciendum est ? see Comm. on Hab. i. 17 : Ges. S 132. 1. Instead of (~^?) L ■ ^'' n»7, we have the more appropriate y^"^P ; for the latter asks for the causa cfficicns, or the cause, whereas the former asks for the causa finalis, or the purpose. The parallel passage in chap. 1. 2 resembles this passage, both in the use of the ync, and also in the fact that there, as well as here, it relates to both clauses, and especially to the latter of the two. This paratactical construction is also found in the case of other con- junctions, as in chap. xii. 1, Ixv. 12. They are called upon to decide and answer as to this vjhat and wherefore ; but they are silent, just because they clearly see that they would have to CHAPTEK V. 5, C. 151 condemn theniselves (as David similarly condemned himself on the occasion of Xathan's parable, 2 Sam. xii. 5). The Lord of the vineyard, therefore, again proceeds to speak. He, its accuser, will now also be its judge. — Ver. 5 : " Now then, I will let you knoiu ivhat I will forthwith do to my vineyard : take away its hedge, and it shall he for grazing ; pidl dovni its wall, and it shall he for trampling iqjon." Before nriyi, as in chap, iii. 14, we must imagine a pause ; the Lord of the vineyard breaks the silence of the umpires, which betrays their con- sciousness of guilt. They shall hear, then, from Him what He is going to do to His vineyard (? in V"^^"?, as, for example, in Dent. xi. 6). nb'j? ''Ji< ns, id quod, is unfolded. On this explicative use of the inf. ahs., see chap. xx. 2, Iviii. 6, 7 ; in such cases it represents the place of the object, as elsewhere of the subject, but always in an abrupt, stiff manner. He will take away the naibp, i,e. the green thorny hedge (Prov. xv. 19 ; Hos. ii. 8 = nabo Micah vii. 4 fr. ^^^f='^^!i^, •^^Q, jw, to hedge round), with which the vineyard is enclosed, and will pull down the i"i.|, i.e. the low stone wall (Num. xxii. 24; Prov. xxiv. 31 ; cf. Ezra ix. 9 ending, according to Cheyne, in allusion to Isaiah's parable), which had been surrounded by the hedge of thorn- bushes to make a better defence, as well as for the protection of the wall itself, more especially against undermining, so that the vineyard, in consequence of this, is exposed to grazing and trampling down (LXX. KaraTrdTTjfia), i.e. becomes an open way and resort for men and beasts. Thus the unthankful vineyard comes to an end, and indeed to a hopeless end. Ver. C : " And I will utterly ruin it : it shall not he loruned, and it shall not he hoed, and it shall shoot wp in thorns and thistles; and I will command the clouds not to rain rain over it." nri3 = nri2 fr. n^3=nn3 ((.:>».', akin to 103, JO ), ahscindere, signifies the sharply cutting off, and, as the action is viewed as a quality : what is sharply cut off, ahscissum l)ra:.ruptum, vii. 19, or it is also transferred to the result of the action : the sudden total destruction.^ This is the 1 In the Arabic, LJ.S\\, elbatta (Vulg. halbatt), from the meaning dTTOTOfia; (absolutelj^), comes to be commonly used for " surely." 152 ISAIAH. meaning here, where nni n''t^' is a more refined expression for the more usual n?3 nc'j?^ both being construed with the accusa- tive of the thing which is brought to a total end. Further, pruning (-ior) and hoeing (mj?, different from another my, to put in order, 2 Chron. xii. 33, 38) with the weeding- hoe O'^.V^, vii. 25), would not improve it, but only bring new disappointments : it is the will of the Lord, therefore, that the deceitful vineyard shall shoot up thorns and thistles (npy is applied to the soil, as in chap, xxxiv. 13 and Pro v. xxiv. 31 ; cf. n»y, Eccles. ii. 6, with ace. of the object, according to Ges. § 138, 1, 2, applied here to the exclusively and peculiarly Isaianic ^y^] "^''P^"). And in order that it may remain a wilderness, the clouds receive commandment from the Lord not to rain upon it. There can now be no longer any doubt \/ who the Lord of the vineyard is. He is the Lord who gives commands to clouds (cf. Gen. ii. 16), or in respect to the clouds (cf. 2 Sam. xiv. 8, according to the old interpretation, to the angels), and therefore the Lord of heaven and of earth. It is He who is the pipphet's Beloved and dearest One. The song which opened in so loving and harmless a tone, has now become sharply severe, and terribly repulsive. The husk of the parable, which has already been broken through, now falls completely off (cf. Matt. xxii. 13, xxv. 30). What it sets forth in symbol is true. This truth the prophet establishes by an open declaration in ver. 7 : " For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of His delight ; he luaited for justice, and behold rapine; for righteousness, and behold an outcry." The conception is not that the Lord of the vineyard lets no more rain fall upon it, for this Lord is Jehovah (which is not indeed said in what follows ""S) ; but more generally : this is how it stands with the vineyard, for all Israel, and especially the people of Judah, is this vine- yard, which so bitterly deceived the expectations of its Lord, and, moreover, it is the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts, and therefore of the omnipotent God, whom even the clouds must serve when He punishes. The ''3 justifies, as in Job vi. 21, not only the truth of what was last stated, but the truth of the whole simile, including this ; it is '•3, cxjjHc., which opens the epimythion. " The vineyard of the Lord of hosts " CHAPTER V. 7. 153 (riis*2V 'n n-i3) is the predicate. " The house of Israel " (bX'iK'' rr'Zi) is the whole nation, which is also symbolically represented in other passages under the same figure of a vineyard (chap, xxvii. 2 sqq. ; Ps. Ixxx., etc.). But because Isaiah is prophet in Judah, he applies the figure more parti- cularly to Judah, which is called Jehovah's favourite planta- tion, inasmuch as it was the seat of the divine sanctuary and of the Davidic kingdom. J?Pf conit. along with VP}I, like V:] in Num. xi. 7, Ew. § 213a, and Q'^V^'T^!', an abstract lilural furm : the delighting, from the Pilpel, occurring in chap. xi. 8, in the sense of delightful playing, literally, stroking or caie.s.-ing ; Luther has seine zarte Fcser, a term applied to the vine-^hoot which is planted. This makes it easy enough to interpret the details of the simile. The fat mountain-peak is Canaan, flowing with milk and honey (Ex. xv. 17) ; the digging up of the vineyard, and clearing it of stones, is the clearing of Canaan from its former heathen inhabitants (Ps. xliv. 3) ; tlie sorek-vines are the holy priests and prophets and kings of Israel of the better early times (Jer.ji. 21) ; the protecting and ornamental tower in the midst of the vineyard is Jeru- salem as the royal city, with Zion the royal fortress (j\licah iv. 8) ; the winepress-trough is the temple, where, according to Ps. xxxvi. 9 (8), the wine of heavenly joy flows in streams, and by which, according to Ps. xlii. and many other pass- ages, all the thirst of the soul is quenched. The grazing and tramjDling down are explained in Jer. v. 10 and xii. 10. The bitter deception experienced by Jehovah, is expressed in a play upon two words, indicating the surprising change of what was hoped for, into its opposite. The explanation which Gesenius, Caspari, Knobel, and others give of nab'p, as " shedding " = bloodshedding, does not commend itself ; for even if nsD occurs once or twice in the Arabizing book of Job (chap. XXX. 7, xiv. 19) in the sense of effundcrc, like ^vi^-, yet this verbal root is otherwise strange to the Hebrew (and the Aramgsan). Moreover, nsb'D in any case would only mean pouring out, or shedding, and not shedding of blood ; and although the latter might indeed be possible in reference to the Arabic saffdh, saffdk (blood-shedder, blood-man), yet it would be an ellipsis such as cannot be substantiated anywhere 154 ISAIAH. else in Hebrew usage. On the other hand, nsb'D, rendered " leprosy," does not yield any appropriate sense, as (nnap) nnspp is never generalized anywhere else into the general meaning of " dirt " (Luzzatto : sozzura), nor does it appear as an ethical conception. We therefore prefer to connect it with a meaning assuredly belonging to the verb nsD (see Kal, 1 Sam. ii. 36; Niplial, xiv. 1 ; Hithpael, 1 Sam. xxvi. 19), viz. " to associate or to join," of violent annexation, or from the root-conception of " snatching," and specifically " carrying forcibly away," etc. ; of ^P\, 1P^<, ^'iD, i^??. Hence we regard the word as denoting the grasping appropriation and unjust heaping up of worldly possessions ; certainly a suitable anti- thesis to tiSki'D, as ni?y^ vox oppressorum (not sanguinis, which would be said) to i^P"JV. The prophet depicts, in full-toned figures, how the expected noble grapes had turned into wild grapes, with nothing more than an outward resemblance to grapes. The introduction to the prophecy goes thus far. The prophecy itself follows next, a sevenfold discourse composed of the sixfold woe contained in the following vers. 8-23, and the announcement of punishment in which it issues. In this sixfold woe the prophet describes the bad fruits individually. Confirming our explanation of nsib'fp, tlie first woe relates to irkeove^la, covetousness and avarice, as the root of all evil. — Ver. 8 : " Woe unto those joining hov.sr to house, who lay field to field, till there is no more room, en ye are made to dwell cdone within the land!' y::, as also mp, i.^ construed with 3 in Judg. xix. 1 3 and Ps. xci. 1 0. The participle, because equivalent to a relative clause, is continued in the finite verb, as in ver. 23 and x. 1 ; the regular syntactical construction in cases of this kind (Ges. § 134. 2). The preterites after ^V (there being two such preterites, for DSN' is an intensified l^^ including the verbal idea) correspond to future perfects : they, the insatiable, rest not till, after all the smaller landed properties have been swallowed up by them, the whole land has become their possession, and no one ^ besides themselves will be settled in the land (Job xxii. 8). Such covetousness was all the more condemnable, as the ' law of Israel had provided very stringently and carefully, that as far as possible there should be a proper proportional distribution of the ground and soil (Num. xxxiii. 54), and that hereditary ciiAriEU V. 9, 10. 155 family property should be inalienable. The curse in Deut. xxvii. 17 was directed against the displacing of a boundary (in the language of the Eoman law, Crimen termini moti). All landed property that had been alienated reverted to the family every fiftieth year, or year of jubilee ; so that aliena- tion had reference only to the usufruct of the land till that time. But how badly the law of the jubilee year was observed, may be inferred from Jer. xxxiv., according to which the law of the manumission of Hebrew bondsmen in the Sabbatical year had fallen entirely into neglect. The same complaint which Isaiah makes is brought forward by his con- temporary Micah, in chap^ ji. 2 (cf. Ps. xlix. 12 ; Job xxii. 8). v The announcement of punishment is also there expressed in terms similar to what we have here in vers. 9 and 1 : " Into my ears JcJiovah of hosts : Truly many houses shall become a desolation, large and heautiful ones loithout any in- habitants. For ten yokes of vineyard land will yield one yailfid, and a quarter of seed corn unit bring forth a bushel." How the prophet thinks of the nominal clause, Into my ears (or literally in my ears) is Jehovah - Zebaoth, is made clear from chap, xxii. 14 : He is revealing Himself there to me. ""^t??, pointed with Kamez along with Tifcha, as in that parallel passage, reminds us of what is to be interpolated in thought. In Hebrew, to say into the ears did not mean to speak secretly and softly; but, as Gen. xxiii. 10, 16, Job ^ xxxiii. 8, and other passages show, it means to speak in a manner that is distinct and intelligible, and which excludes all misunderstanding. It is true that the prophet has not Jeh!)vah now locally external to him, but he has Him notwitlistanding objectively over against his own ego, and he is able to distinguish distinctly the thoughts and words of his own ego from the inspeaking of Jehovah which rises aloud within him. This inspoken word tells him how it will go with the rich insatiable landowners. NP'Oi;? introduces an oath of an affirmative sense (the complete form being "'^^^ "'H ^'''^^), just as Qi?, e.g. Num. xiv. 23, introduces an oath of a negative sense. A universal desolation will ensue ; ^''sn signifies not less than all, for the houses (pronounced bdttim) form altogether a great number (cf. Q''3n, chap. ii. 3, and TToWol, e.g. Matt, xx, 28). p^p is double, and is thus abso- 1/ ^ 1 5 C ISAIAH. lutely negative (so that there is not no inhabitant). How such a desolation of the houses will come about, is explained by "•?, beginning in ver. 10 : failure of crops brings famine, and this brings depopulation of the country. Ten '•'npv (with Dag. Une, Ewald, § 212&) of vineyard laud are ten pieces as large as can be ploughed daily with a yoke of oxen, as is shown by the analogous \^ ( \^), Ur^- HJ?, which signifies the plough-span with belongings, and then the field, and particularly (in accordance with the Turkish Kamus) a culti- vated field of the extent of 400 roods. On the assumption that vineyards, on account of their many curves, are difficult to calculate by yokes, and that they were never ploughed, Noskowyj (in his treatise, De, valle Hadhramaiit, 1866) under- stands the meaning to be ten pieces of yoke-like espaliers of vines trained on cross-laths (called vina jugata in Varro). But 1 Sam. xiv. 14 decides iox jitguni (jugei^um) SiS a measure of land. D''»"i3 is also applied to vineyards lying in the plain, and nDV may be a measure of corn-land transferred to vine- yard land, which undoubtedly was not worked with the plough but with the hoe. Moreover, we want the inter- mediate links requisite to furnish the proof that the ancient Israelites had the same chief field-measure as the Eomans.^ Thus, then, ten days' work will only produce a single nil. This measure of liquids, which first appears in the time of the kings, was equivalent to ns''X as a dry measure (Ezek. xlv. 11). According to Josephus {Antiq. viii. 2. 9), it con- tained 72 Eoman sextarii, or a little more than 33 Berlin quarts. The "ipn (perhaps an ass's burden,^ cf. "tion, 1 Sam. xvi. 20), a dry measure generally called lb after the time of the kings, contained (according to Josephus, Antiq. xv. 9. 2) about ten Attic fieBifivoi,^ a fieSifivo^; being a little more than 15 pecks. If any one sowed 150 pecks of grain, not more would be reaped from it than 1 5 pecks : the harvest there- ^ See on the jugerum, Hultscli, Griechiscke und rdmische Metrologie, 1862, p. 68 f. 2 It has been objected to me that, according to Mezia 80a, a "^rh is already equal to -g 13 ="1011, the amount of a normal ass's burden, 3 Or rather 7^ Attic Medimni = 10 Attic Metreti = 45 Eoiuan Modii ; see Boekh, Metrologische Untersiichungen, p. 259. CHAPTEll V. 11, 12. 157 fore would only yield the tenth part of the seed sown, for the n2"'« is the tenth part of ion, or three seahs, the usual minimum for one baking {e.g. Matt. xiii. 33). In the trans- lation, these relations of measure could not be exactly re- produced. The second woe, to which the curse falling upon the vine cultivation (ver. 10a) leads by association of ideas, is directed against the revellers who carry on their indulgence in carnal security into the day. Ver. 11:" Woe to those lolio rise up in the earhy morning to run after strong drink, ivho continue till late in the evening, wine inflaming them." "ii^'3 (from ii?3, hakara, to slit, tear up, split) is the break of day, and ^l^'J (from ^t:*^, to blow, sigh) the evening twilight {Berachoth 36), when it begins to become cool (1 Sam. xxx. 17), and the night into which it passes (chaps, xxi. 4, lix. 10). "inx, to continue till late, as in Pro v. xxiii. 30; the construct state before words with a preposition, as in chaps, ix. 2, xxviii. 9, and often elsewhere (Ges. § 116. 1). "^y?, standing with T.\, is the general name of all other strong drinks, especially of wines made artificially from fruit, honey, raisins, dates, etc., including barley - wine, 041^09 KplOiva, or beer (e'/c KpiOwv fxeOv in ^schylus, Suppl. 930, elsewhere called /SpvTov jBpvTov, ^v6obp, Deut. ix. 28, cf. Xum. xiv. 16, and also in Hos. iv. 6 : from want of knowledge ; and to regard it here as the negative (as in CHAPTER V. 14. 159 because nyi is indeterminate, is not justified ; and besides, our view is supported by nyn ^S^n, being immedi- ately joined to 12& as a fundamental statement. Moreover, nyn '•i'no does not signify " unawares," but unknowingly = un- designedly, and yet more frequently " in non-understanding," Job XXXV. 16, xxxvi. 12, cf. iv. 21. The knowledge which they lack, according to 12h, is knowledge of the ruling of God and of the moral order of the world, according to which calamity is the necessary consequence of wrong-doing. In the sequel, i'li^p and i^i^n are, as the predicates show, collective terms used in a personal sense ; the former signifies the dite of the people (cf. Mic. i. 15), and the latter the crowd that lived in riot and revelling. The former become ^V"] ''no, men of famine {"^P, as in Gen. xxxiv. 30 ; Job xi. 11 ; otherwise '*C'JS, 2 Sam. xix. 29, or ''33 1 Sam. xxvi. 16); and the latter Koy nny (sing, as the subj.), parched with thirst. Instead of "np, the LXX. and Jerome read ''np (dead ones) ; but the reading adopted by Hitzig, Eoorda, Ewald, and Bottcher, 7.0 (nro), after Deut. xxxii. 24, and exactly corresponding to the parallel nnv, is more probable ; it signifies sucked out or emaciated by hunger, nny (^utt. \ery.) is formed like o^i^, •^n?, ^'j[}, and other adjectives which express defects ; the place of the e is represented in such forms of verbs n'h by an a that has arisen out of ay. The debauchees of rank must starve, and the low boon companions must thirst to death. The threat of punishment commences again with )3? ; it has not yet satisfied itself, and therefore reaches deeper still. Ver. 14: "Therefore the under-world opens ivide its throat, and stretches its mouth imrheasurdbly wide ; OMd the pomp of Jerusalem goes down, and its tumult and uproar, and those ivho are jiibilating in it" The verbs which follow I?? are prophetic preterites, as in ver. 13. The feminine suffixes attached to what the lower world swallows up, do not refer to ''i'^V', but, as expressed in the translation, to Jerusalem, which is necessarily required by !^3 Tpyi ; ?ixt^' has, accord- ing to the rule, Dag. forte conj. The withdrawal of the tone from T^yi to the penultimate (cf. T^C ^^ Ps. xviii. 20, xxii. 9, Ezek. xxii. 25, whereby the Zere, which cannot be shortened into Segol, gets the checking Metlieg) is here omitted ; the rhythm thereby becomes more picturesque : one hears the 160 ISAIAH. falling object rolling down, and at length striking upon some- thing. A mouth is ascribed to the under-world, also a ti'33, i.e. a greedy soul, in which sense ^P^. is applied metonymically sometimes to a thirst for blood (Ps. xxvii. 12), and sometimes to devouring greed (chap. Ivi. 11), and even, as in the present passage and Hab. ii. 5, to the throat or gullet which the soul opens "without measure" (cf. Mai. iii. 10, ''^"V?"''V, to insuf- iicieucy), when its craving knows no bounds {Psychol, p. 204). One is reminded here of Cerberus, whose original was Egyptian : the devourer in Amenthes (nether-world).-^ The prophet ap- pears to connect ?^^^ (which is feminine, like the names of countries) in thought with the verb b^'^ (cf. Ilab. ii. 5 ; Pro v. XXX. 15): the God-ordered accursed power which calls for and swallows up all that is upon the earth. The idea of " decision " appears to be really connected with the Assyrian ludlu^ But the view always still recommends itself, which holds that the Hebrew word starts from the idea of sinking or depth ; for the fundamental meaning of the V^K' is -xakav, not to be hollow, as it might appear after bV'^ (hollowing, properly deepening of the hand), Piy^p (hollow way, properly a sinking of the ground), bv'>i^ {excavator = cavorum hahitator, properly deepener, one who digs himself in). The desig- nation corresponds to the notion, universal in antiquity, which assigned Hades to the depths below the upper world. As God reveals Himself in heaven among blessed spirits accord- ing to the light of His love, so does He reveal Himself in Sheol, in the darkness and fire of His wrath. And, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament, with / their singular departure from this life, the way of all mortals went hither, until Jesus Christ changed the dying of all believers on Him from a descent into Hades into an ascension to heaven. But even under the Old Testament the believer might know that whoever hid himself on this side the grave in Jehovah the living One, would retain his eternal germ of life even in Sheol in the midst of the shades, and would taste the divine love even in the midst of wrath. It was this postulate of faith which lay at the foundation of the fact, ^ See Ludw. Stern, TJeher das cig. Todtengericht, Ausland 1870, Nr. 46. ■ 2 See Alfred Jeremias, Die babyl.-assyr. Vorstellunge^i vom- Leben nach dem Tode, 1887, p. 62. CHAPTER V. 15, 16. 161 that already under the Old Testament the all-comprehending range of the idea of S1^{:i; begins to be contracted into the narrower notion of a limbo or fore-hell (see Psychol, p. 415). This is the case in the passage before us, where Isaiah predicts of everything of which Jerusalem was proud, and in which it revelled, including the jubilating persons themselves, descent into Hades ; just as the Korahite author of Ps. xlix^ wrote (ver. 14) that the pomp of the godless will be given up to Hades to be consumed, without having hereafter a place in the upper world, when the righteous will have dominion over them at some future time. Hades even there is almost equivalent to the ISTew Testament J, in this favourite figure of Isaiah, alternates with Q'^'in. The peoples through whom this was first fulfilled, were those of the Assyrian empire. These peoples are regarded as far off, dwelling at the end of the earth (chap, xxxix. 3), not merely inasmuch as the Euphrates formed tlie boundary to the north-east between what was geographically known and unknown to the Israel- ites (Ps. Ixxii. 8 ; Zech. ix. 10), but also inasmuch as the prophet has in his mind a complex body of peoples stretching away into further Asia. The second figure is taken from a ^ bee-master, who entices the bees with hissing or whistling to come out of their hives and settle on the ground ; as Virgil {Geonj. iv. 54) says to the bee-master who wants to make the bees settle down : " Eaise a tinkling sound, and beat the cymbals of Cybele round the quarter." ^ Thus does Jehovah ^ This tinkb'ng with scythes and cymbals is now regarded r.s of no use ; see Gedde's Apiarium Anglicum (1721), xy. § 13. CHAPTER V. 27, 28. 171 entice the banded peoples, like swarms of bees (chap, vii. 18), ^ who now swarm hither, hurrying rapidly. The plural passes into the singular, for those who are approaching appear at first as an indistinguishable agglomerated mass ; but it is also possible that the ruling people among the many is fixed upon. The perception and the expression are both misty, and this is quite characteristic. With nsn the prophet points to those who step into his circle of vision ; bp n"inD^ they are coming on, i.e. in the shortest time, with quick feet, and the nearer they come within his view, the more distinctly can he describe them. — Ver. 27: " There is none wearied, and no one stumbling among them ; they give themselves no slumher and no sleep, and to none is the girdle of his hips loosed ; and to none is the thong of his shoes rent asunder." Notwithstanding the long, far march, there is no one fatigued, ^'^V, who had been obliged to fall out singly and remain behind (Deut. xxv. 18 ; Isa. ^ xiv. 31). There is no bti'iB ; for they march on, pressing incessantly forwards, as if on a levelled road (Jer. xxxi. 9). From their eagerness for the conflict they do not slumber (D13, mimetic of audible breathing), to say nothing of them sleeping (}^l) : they do not slumber in order to repose, and they do not allow themselves the usual night's rest. The girdle of his armour-shirt or coat-of-mail in which the sword f is inserted (Neli. iv. 12), is lacking in none; not even the shoe-thong of any one, with which the sandals are fastened and knotted, is rent asunder (P^?, disrumpitur). The descrip- tion of their wanting rest forms a elimax descendens, while the representation of the tightness and lastingness of their armour is a climax ascendens ; the two statements follow each other after the manner of a chiasmus. The prophet now describes their weapons and war-chariots. Ver. 28 : " He whose arroios are sharjjened, and all his lows strung ; the hoofs of his horses are accounted like to flint, and his wheels to the whirlwind." As perceived by the prophet, they are moving always nearer. For they have brought with j/ them pointed arrows in their quivers (chap. xxii. 6). But all their bows are already trodden (which implies that, as they were in length as much as the height of a man, this was done by means of setting the left foot upon the inner bend) ; and the fact shows that thev find themselves near their aoal. The 172 ISAIAH. right reading is l''nriE'ip^ with Dag. dirimens (Geseii. § 20. 26); as, according to Abulwalid, Kimchi, and other witnesses, it is also in Ps. xxxvii. 15. As the horses in ancient times were not shod, firm hoofs, oTrXau Kaprepal, were, according to Xenophon's Hippikos, a prime quality of a good horse. The horses of the enemy now drawing near to Judah have hoofs which must be found like flint (i^, air. \e7.=Arab. zirr, Syr. tarana), hard, sharp-cornered or sharp-pointed stone. Homer calls such horses ')(akK6Trohe^ ; see Curtius, Griech. Eiymol. No. 543. CHAPTER V. 30. 173 a place of safety; cf. Micah vi. 14). This prey or booty is Judali. And it adds to the weird, gloomy character of the prophecy that the prophet does not name Judah, As if he was not able to let it pass his lips, this object still remains unexpressed in ver. 30 : "And there is a deep moaning over it in that day, like the moaning of the sea ; and he loohs to the earth, and hehold darkness — tribulation and light — if hecomes night in the clouds of heaven over there." The roar of the lion and the surging of the sea are so like each other in the impression they make, that Sierra Leone (Sierra = Arab. i'L-.-, mountain chain) took its name from the fact that those who first landed there took the noise of the waves breaking on the steep shores for the roaring of lions. The subject of Dny"! is the mass of the enemy ; and in the expressions lyy and DZip (with the Pi. used only here instead of the usual Hi. t2''3n) the prophet has the people of J.udah in view as the enemy falls upon them with a roar like the sea, and thus rushes as in sea-billows over them. And when the people of Judah looked to the earth, and therefore to the land in which they dwelt, darkness presents itself to them, — a darkness in which is swallowed up every friendly and smiling aspect formerly exhibited by it. And what further ? lixi "ly have been explained as moon (=">nD) and sun (Jewish expositors), and as stone and gleam = hail and lightning (Drechsler) ; but these and similar explanations depart too far from the ordinary usage. And the separation of the words 1V and nix, proposed by Hitzig, Gesenius {Thesaurus), Ewald, Knobel, Umbreit, Schegg, Meier, Luzzatto, Nagelsbach (who refers to Job xviii. 1 6), and Bredenkamp, so that the one word closes a sentence (" darkness of tribulation ") and the other opens one (Cheyne : " yea, the light is dusk through the clouds thereof"), is against the impression of the connection made by the two monosyllables, and which is supported by the punctuation. However, we thus obtain a connected thought, as in the Vulg. : ct ecce tenebrae trihulationis et lux dbtenelrata est in caligine ejus (Jer.). But if li^^J "iV are left together, a still more expressive meaning results. lii^J "iv are tribulation and lighting up, the one following the other and passing over into the other, like morning and night, chap. xxi. 12. This 174 ISAIAH. pair of words forms an interjectional clause, which states that when the prophesied darkness has settled itself on the land of Judah, this will not yet be the last, but that an alternation of anxiety and a glimmering of hope will follow it, until it will have become utterly dark in l^''^"'"}!?, the clouded sky over the land of Judah (D"'S''"}y, air. Xey., from ^IV ; cf. ^IT, ( ijj, to drop or trickle, whence also ^^"^V., with which Jerome confounds it, and the suffix referring back to P.?^, pi« at one time denoting the earth as a whole, and at another the land as forming a part of the earth). The prophet here prophesies that before it comes to an extremity with Judah, approaches will be made towards it within which a divine respite will always again appear. Grace tries and always tries again to spare, till at last the measure of sin is full, and the period for repentance has expired. The history of the Jewish people runs on, according to this law, till the destruction of Jeru- salem by the Eomans. The Assyrian troubles, and the miraculous light of divine help which arose in the annihilation of the host of Sennacherib, form the foreground of the sad course of history, which ever and again awakened hope, but at last ended in utter darkness. Thus closes the third prophetic discourse. It begins with a ^ parable which contains Israel's history in nuce, and closes ■with an emblem which symbolically represents the gradual but sure accomplishment of the penal termination of the parable. This third discourse is therefore not less complete i in itself than the second. The kindred references are explained from the contemporary basis of them being the same, both being grounded and founded upon the powerful and rich, but also proud and luxurious Uzziah - Jotham time of peace. The terrible slaughter in the Syro- Ephraimitish war, which broke out at the end of the reigfl of Jotham, and the varied complications with the imperial world-power which king Ahaz introduced, and which issued eventually in the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, — the period in the history of the kingdoms of the world, or great empires, to which the Syro-Ephraimitish war was the prelude, — still lies for the prophet in the womb of the future. The description of the great mass of people rolling over Judah CHAPTER V. 30. 176 from afar is couched in such nameless and general terms, and is so vague and misty, that we cannot but say that everything that was to happen to the people of God on the part of the world-power during the five great and extended periods of judgment that were now so soon to commence (viz. the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Eoman), is here unfolding itself out of the mist of futurity, and presenting itself to the proplietie eye of the seer. Already in the time of Ahaz the character of the prophecy changes in this respect. It is then that the eventful relation of Israel to the imperial power assumes its first concrete shape in the form of a relation to Assur (Assyria), And from that time forth the imperial power in the mouth of the prophet is no longer an unknown quantity ; for although the notion of the world-power was not yet embodied in Assur, yet it is called Assur, and Assur represents it. It also necessarily follows from this, that chaps, ii.— iv., v, belong to the time anterior to Ahaz, i.e. to that of Uzziah and Jotham. But several puzzling questions suggest themselves here. If chaps, ii.— iv., v. were uttered under Uzziah and Jotham, how could Isaiah begin with a promise (chap. ii. 1-4) which is repeated word for word in Micah iv. 1 sqq., where it is the direct antithesis of the threat, in chap. iii. 12, which was uttered by Micah, according to Jer. xxvi. 18, in the time of Hezekiah ? Again, if we consider the advance made in this threatening prophecy from the general expressions with which it commences in chap. i. to the close of chap, v., in what relation does this discourse in chap. i. stand to chaps, ii.— iv., v., seeing that vers. 7—9 are not ideal, but have a contemporary historical reference, and therefore at least presuppose the Syro-Ephraim- itish war ? And lastly, if chap. vi. does really relate, as it apparently does, to the calling of Isaiah to the prophetic office, how are we to explain the singular fact that three prophetic discourses precede the history of his call, which ought properly to stand at the opening of the book ? Drechsler and Caspari have attempted to explain this by maintaining that chap. vi. contains an account of the call of the prophet, who was already installed in his office, to a particular mission. The proper heading to be adopted for chap. vi. would therefore be, " The consecration of the prophet 176 ISMAIL as the preacher of the judgment of hardening;" and if chap. vi. stands in its true historical place, it would contain the result or sequel of the preceding prophetic preaching. But true as it is that the whole of the central portion of Israel's history, which lies midway between the commencement and the close, is divided into halves by the contents of chap, vi., and that the significant importance of Isaiah as a prophet consists especially in the fact that he stood upon the boundary between these two historic halves, yet there are serious objections which present themselves to such a view of chap. vi. It is possible, indeed, that this distinctive importance may have been given to Isaiah's calling and appointment at his very first call. And what Umbreit says — namely, that chap. vi. must make the impression upon every unprejudiced mind of its being the prophet's inaugural vision — cannot really be denied. But the position in which chap. vi. stands in the book itself exercises an influence contrary to this impression, unless that position can be accounted for in some other way. The im- pression, however, still remains (just as at chap, i, 7—9), and recurs again and again. We will therefore proceed to chap, vi. without labouring to efface it. It is possible that we may discover some other satisfactory explanation of the enigmatical position of chap. vi. in relation to what has preceded it The Prophet's Account of his Divine Mission, Chap. VI. The time of the occurrence narrated in the following words : In the death-year of the king Uzziah, is important as regards the prophet himself. The statement thus made in the naked form in which it is here prefixed, mak@s' a much sharper impression than if it commenced with "'n^l (of. Ex. xvi. 6 ; Prov. xxiv. 27). It was the year of the death of Uzziah (as he is also called in 2 Kings xv. 13, 2 Chron. chap, xxvi., whereas he is called Azaria in 2 Kings xiv. 21, 1 Chron. xii. 12, and in cuneiform inscriptions). It was therefore the year in which Uzziah was still reigning, although his death was at hand ; not the first year of Jotham's reign, but the last of Uzziah's ; for it is more than highly probable that in the calculation of the regnant years of the kings, the year of the accession of one king was reckoned to his prede- CHAPTER VI. 1. 177 cesser as his last (Mc. v. Niebuhr, Wellhausen, Dilliiiann). Consequently, although the first call (Heyschius : rj 'x^eiporovla 70V ■7rpo(f>7JTov) of Isaiah is narrated in chap, vi., yet in the superscription of chap. i. the ministry of the prophet is rightly dated from Uzziah ; for although his activity imder Uzziah was but very short, yet it is reckoned as a very significant epoch-making beginning. It is true that, according to 2 Chron. xxvi. 22, Isaiah wrote a historical work embracing the whole time of the reign of Uzziah, but it does not follow from this that he appeared in public long before Uzziah's death. If he was called in the year of the death of Uzziah, then that historical work was a historical retrospect of the times of Uzziah. According to the Biblical statement, Uzziah reigned fifty-two years. This long period was for the king- dom of Judah what the less lengthened period of Solomon had been for the whole of Israel — a time of powerful and ^ happy peace, in which the people were completely flooded with proofs of the love of their God. But the richness of this divine goodness exercised as little influence over the v people as did their earlier troubles. And now the eventful change in the relationship of Jehovah to Israel occurred for which Isaiah was chosen to be tiie instrument, primarily and before other prophets. The year in which this took place was the year of the death of Uzziah. In this year Israel as a ^ people was given up to hardness of heart, and Israel in the mass, as a kingdom and country, was given over to annihilation 1 and devastation by the imperial power. How significant is it that, as Jerome remarks (in his Up. 18 ad Bamasum), the death year of Uzziah is the birth year of Eomulus, and that { Rome was founded shortly after Uzziah's death in 754—3 B.C.! In this year, the prophet goes on to relate: " Tlien I saw the All- Lord sitting upon a high and exalted throne, and His skirts fill the temple." Isaiah sees, and, moreover, not when sleeping and dreaming, but God gives him while awake a look nto the invisible world, by opening within him the inner ense for the supersensible, while the external activity of the .senses ceases ; and he presents this supersensible object in \ fi^nsible form on account of the spirituo- corporeal nature of ''^ 1 [German : ^ Z^/ierr.— Tr.] VOL. I. M 178 ISAIAH. man, and his limitation by the present life. This is the mode of revelation characteristic of ecstatic vision (iv eKo-Taaei or i iv TTpev/xaTt). Isaiah, then, is here transported to heaven ; for although elsewhere prophetic ecstasies have the earthly temple as the place and object of the seeing (Amos ix. 1 ; Ezek. viii. 3, x. 4, 5 ; Acts xxii. 17) ; yet here the high exalted throne (to which and to Him sitting on it, chap. Ivii. 15, NE'pl DT is to be referred) is the heavenly counterpart of the earthly throne of the mercy-seat ; and therefore '?3^^ (properly, spacious hall, a name of the temple as the palace of God the King), as in Ps. xi. 4, xviii. 7, xxix. 9, and frequently else- i/- where, is not the Jerusalem temple (Eeuss and others), but the heavenly temple. There he sees the universal ruler, or, as we prefer to translate this name, formed from n^'^i^'^,^ the '' All - Lord sitting (3??''' is an accusative predicate, for the Hebrew expression is like the Latin form vidi te amhulantem), and, moreover, in human form (Ezek. i. 26), as is shown by the trailing robe, of which the floating ends or skirts fill the hall (D^lEJ', as in Ex. xxviii. 33, from ^ik'=JL;, med. 0, and Jlj, med. Y, to hang down loose, see on chap. jy. 14). The LXX., Targum, Jerome have obliterated the figure of the trailing robe as too anthropomorphic. But John in his Gospel is bold enough to say that it was Jesus whose glory Isaiah beheld (John xii. 41) ; for the incarnation of the Logos is the truth of all the Biblical anthropomorphisms. The heavenly temple is the super - terrestrial place which Jehovah, by giving Himself to be beheld there by angels and saints, makes into a heaven and a temple. In giving His ""^ glory to be beheld, He must at the same time veil it, because the creature cannot bear it. But what veils it is not less splendid than what of it is made manifest. It is this which is symbolized to Isaiah in the long trailing robe. He sees the Lord, and what he further sees is the all-filling splendid robe of the indescribable One. As far as the look of the seer reaches, the ground is covered everywhere with this splendid robe. There is therefore no place to stand there. In accorc ance with this, the vision of the seraphim is determined : 1 Comp. Der Waltende as applied to God by the Old German and Ang' Saxon poets. CHAPTER VI. 2. 179 ver. 2 : " Seraphim stood over Him, each one of which had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with tv)0 he covered his feet, xnd with two he fieio." i^ ^W? is not to be explained as near to him ; for although the mode of expression that one in slanding finds himself ^V, over one sitting, Ex. xviii. 13, or even ^VO, above him, Jer. xxxvi. 21 (2 Chron. xxvi. 19, m^pn n^Tob hvj?, above the altar of incense), is also used of spirits. Job i. 6 ; 1 Kings xxii. 1 9 ; Zech. vi. 5 ; and of men, Zech. iv. 14, in relation to God upon His throne, where an actual towering above is not to be thought of ; yet "b hvoiD, that strongest expression for supra, cannot be otherwise than literally meant ; and hence the Targum and Eashi explain it " above, for His service." The sequence of the accents can be taken as in favour of this view (Luzzatto) ; it is the same as in GeiL i. 5a. How Isaiah thinks of this standing above Him who is on the throne, is to be inferred from the use made of the wings of the seraphim. The imperfects do not state what they are accustomed to do (Bottcher and others), but what the seer saw them do ; he saw them fly with two of their six wings (D!'?iJ3, dual, instead of the plural, as also elsewhere in the case of words used for what is presented in pairs, DMZ. xxxii. 33), They therefore stood flying, that is, they hovered (cf. noy. Num. xiv. 1 4), as is said of the earth and the stars : they stand although in free space, Job xxvi. 7 ; and as Apuleius says of the eagle when fixing his prey : mlatu paene eodem loco pendula circumtttet^ir. It is true that the seraphim (how many not determined ^) are not to be regarded as tower- ing over the head of Him who is sitting on the throne, although "h applies to Him, and not to the throne (Jer. super illud, scil. solium) ; but they hovered over His robe that filled the hall, being supported by the two outspread wings, while with two other wings they covered their faces in awe before the divine glory (Targ. ne vidcant), and with two wings they covered their feet in the feeling of the deep distance of the creature from the Holiest of all (Targ. ne videantur), as the cherubim in Ezek. i. 11 do their bodies. This is the only ^ Nestle draws my attention to the fact that Origen only accepts two seraphim, and refers the suffix of VJS and vi'3") to God. The LXX. fiivour this view, for they have merely ro TrpoauTrov and tov; 'xo^u.^ (without v.hru]/^ as in the imperfect text of the Stier-TIieil Polyglott). 180 ISAIAH. passage in the Holy Scripture where the seraphim are mentioned. The representation of the Church, which tcok its rise from Dionysius Areopagita, represents them as av the head of the nine choirs of angels ; the first rank or ordei is formed by the seraphim, cherubim, and throni, for which view it may be adduced that the cherubim in Ezekiel bear up the chariot of the divine throne, whereas here the seraphim hover round the seat of the divine throne. In any case the seraphim and cherubim are heavenly beings, different in kind ; the attempts to prove their identity have only an apparent support in Eev. iv. 8. Further, CS'ib' certainly does not mean merely spirits as such, but if not the most exalted of all, yet such as have a separate place before the others ; for the Scriptures really teach a gradation in their rank, Merarchia coelestis. As the cherubim of Ezekiel are three-fourths in animal form, and the writer of the Apocalypse gives animal forms to three of the four ^*"i, ' Comp. Ncildeke, Syrische Gramm. p. 18. An analogous example is the distinction betweeen \^] and \^], of which the former means a natural father, the latter a spiritual father (see Payne Smith, under " In the sense of burning coal or burning stone, ns^n is related to D'"S^'"i (niV)j 1 Kings xix. 6. as n. unitatis. Also in Arab. c-_£j. (not 186 ISAIAH. glowing coal; and the latter must be what is here meant, as the seraph would not have torn a stone out of the structure of the altar ; and it is far from being natural to think of the heavenly altar as constructed of stones, according to the direc- tions in Ex. XX. 25 (cf. Josh. viii. 31), which, moreover, refers to the altar of burnt-offering, and not to the altar of incense. \ With a pair of tongs he has taken it off from the altar, because even the seraph's hand does not immediately touch the structure consecrated to God, and the sacrifice belonging to God ; and now he flies with this burning coal to Isaiah, makes it come into contact with his mouth (W!l, Hi. in the causative sense as in chap. v. 8 ; Ex. xii. 22), of whose uncleanness above the other members of the body he had complained (cf. Jer. i. 9, where the prophet's mouth is touched by Jehovah's hand, and is thereby made divinely eloquent), 4 and assures him of the forgiveness of his sins, coincident with the application of this sacramental sign (cf. Zech. iii. 4). The 1 connects as simultaneous what is said by W3 and ip ; the ^l in the neuter refers to the burning coal ; and "isari is a mode of sequence separated from its 1, because the notion of the subject has to be made prominent. For it is really im- possible that the removal of the guilt of sin is to be thought ^ of as momentary and the expiation as taking place gradually : the very tact that the guilt of sin is done away, shows that the expiation is also completed. 123, with the accusative or ^V of sin, signifies to cover up, extinguish, or wipe out this sin (see for the fundamental meaning, chap, xxviii. 18), so that it has no existence for the punitive justice of God. The sinful uncleanness is burned away from the prophet's mouth. The seraph therefore does here by means of fire from the n. This distinction is correctly made by Miihlau- Volch. Stone, calculus, -tp^to:, as a part of the flooring, is a meaning erroneously adopted by Aquila and others. CIIArTER VI. 8. 187 altar, and therefore by means of divine fire, what his name denotes : he burns up, yet not in a destructive way, but in a wholesome way : he burns away as likewise from the elevated ^~\jy in Num. xxi. 6—9, there proceeds a healing power which makes the deadly poison ineffective. As the smoke which fills the house comes from the altar, and arises in consequence of the adoration of the Lord on the part of the seraphim, the incense-offering upon the altar and this adoration are thus closely connected. A fire-glance of God, and, moreover, as the seraphim are sinless, a pure fire-glance of love, has kindled the sacrifice. Now, if the fact that a seraph by means of this love-fire purges the seer of sin, presents an example of the historical calling of the seraphim in relation to salvation, the seraphim are the bearers and mediators of the fire of divine love, as in Ezekiel the cherubim are the bearers and mediators of the fire of divine wrath. For as in this instance a seraph takes the fire of love from the altar, so in that case (Ezek. X. 6, 7) a cherub brings forth the fire of wrath from the throne-chariot ; and the cherubim therefore appear as the bearers and mediators of the wrath which destroys sinners ; or at least of the doxa which has its fiery side turned towards the world, as the seraphim appear as the bearers and mediators of the love which purges away sin, or of the doxa which is turned on its side of light to the world.^ After Isaiah is purged of sin, it becomes manifest what is ^■ the special purpose of the heavenly scene. Ver. 8 : " Then I heard the voice of the All-Lord saying : Whom shall I send, and who will go for us f Then I said : Behold me here ; send me ! " According to Knobel, the plural 13? is the plural of majesty, by which God frequently speaks of Himself in the Koran ; but the Holy Scripture furnishes no certain example of this. It is rather the plural of inner reflection or of self-*' consultation (Hitzig), but the Biblical representation of the relation of the heavenly beings to the heavenly God decides for the view that the seraphim are included in the idea, as ^ Seraphic love is the expression used in the language of the Church to denote the ne plus ultra of holy love in the creature. The Syriac fathers regarded the burning coal as the symbol of the incarnate Son of God, who is often designated in poetry as the " live or burning coal " (kemurtd denura) : DMZ. 1860, pp. 679, 681. 188 ISAIAH. they form along with the Lord an assembled council (nio Li'pSip, Ps. Ixxxix. 8), as in 1 Kings xxii. 19-22 ; Dan. iv. 14, and elsewhere (see comm. on Gen. i. 26). The mission for which the right man is sought is not only a divine mission, but generally a heavenly mission ; for it is not only a matter that concerns God that the earth shall become full of the glory of God, but it is also a thing incumbent on the spirits who serve Him. But Isaiah, whose longing to serve the Lord is no longer suppressed by the feeling of his sinfulness, has no sooner heard the voice of the Lord than he exclaims in holy self-consciousness : ''PD^p' V?"?- There now follows the terms of the mission and the sub- stance of the message. Vers. 9, 10 : "He spake, Go and say to this people : Hear always, and understand not ; and but see ever and perceive not. Make the heart of this peoiple greasy, and its ears didl, and its eyes sticky ; lest it see with its eyes, and hear with its ears, and its heart understand, and it be converted, and one bring about its healing." n^rn Dyn points back to the people of iinclean lips, dwelling among which Isaiah had complained, and which the Lord cannot call ""^V (cf. Judg. ii. 20 ; Hagg. i. 2). He is called to go to this people and to preach to it, and therefore he is called to be the pro- phet of this people. But how sad does the divine commission sound ; it is the terrible opposite of the seraphic mission which was experienced by the prophet in himself. The seraph had purified Isaiah from sin by the burning coal, in order that he now as prophet may not purify his people from sin, but harden them by his word. They are to hear and see, and, moreover, as the added intensive infinitives say, on and on, by having the prophetic preaching actu directo always before them, but not to their salvation. The two prohibitives i3''nn-pK and ^yiJ^"^*? express what, according to God's judicial will, is to be the result of the prophetic preaching. And the im- peratives in ver. 1 commission the prophet not merely to say to the people what God has determined ; for the proposition saepe prophctae facer e dicuntur quae fore pronunciant (for which reference is made to Jer. i. 10, cf. xxxi. 28 ; Hos. vi. 5 ; Ezek. xliii. 3) has its truth not in a rhetorical figure, but in the very nature of the divine word. The prophet is the orcjau of the divine word, and the divine word is the CHAPTER VI. 9, 10. 189 comprehension of tlie divine will, and the divine will is an intra-divine act, a divine act that has only not yet become historical. For this reason it may be said that the prophet executes what he proclaims as future : God is the causa efficiens principalis ; the word is the causa media, and the prophet is the causa niinisterialis. There are three figurative expressions for hardening : V^^^, to make fat, pinguem, i.e. to make without feeling for the operations of grace (Ps. cix. 7) ; T'zsn, to make heavy, and especially heavy or dull of hearing (chap. lix. 1) ; VJ^\^ or V^\} (whence imper. W^, also in p. V^'^), to spread thickly, to smear over, to do to any one what happens to diseased eyes when their sticky secretion during the night becomes a closing crust (from VVf, syn. nitD or nriD, chap. xliv. 18 ; Arab. A^, illinere collyrium in the sense of occaecare ; related to ViE^, with which nriD is translated in the Targum). The three future clauses with IS point back in the inverse order to the three demands. Spiritual sight, spiritual ^ hearing, spiritual feeling are to be taken from them, their eyes becoming blind, their ears deaf, and their hearts covered over with the grease of insensibility. Euled by these im- perfects, the two preterites v ^^2^1 ^^ say what might have been the result, but what will not be the result, if this hardening had not taken place, f ^^1 is always elsewhere used transitively {e.g. Hos, vii. 1), for to heal any one or to heal a disease, and never subjectively, to become whole ; here it gets a passive sense through the so-called impersonal con- struction, " and one heal it = and it be healed," according to which it is paraphrased in Mark iv. 12, whereas the three other New Testament quotations of it (in Matthew, John, and > Acts) reproduce the koI Idaco/jiat avTov> quite incompatible with the fact that God as the Good only wills the good. But it is not only God's will of love that is good, but also His will of wrath, into which His will of love ' is transformed when He is obstinately rejected. There is a self-hardening of man in evil which makes him absolutely incorrigible, and which is not less a judicial infliction of God than self-produced guilt of man. The two are involved in each other, sin bearing its punishment already essentially in itself, as a punishment which consists in the wrath of God y 190 ISAIAH. excited by it. Israel has delivered itself over to this wrath by obstinate sinning. Hence the Lord now closes the door of repentance to His people. But that He nevertheless has repentance preached to the people through the prophet, takes place because the judgment of hardening, while decreed upon the mass of the people, is yet not without the possibility of the saving of individuals. Isaiah has heard with sighing, but with obedience, what the mission to which he has so joyfully offered himself is to consist in. Ver. 1 la ; " The,n I said, How long, All-Lord ? " He asks how long this service of hardening and this state of hard - heartedness were to continue, — a question which .his sympathy with the people to which he himself belongs forces from him (cf. Ex. xxxii. 9—14), and one which is justified by the certainty that God, who is faithful to His promise, cannot cast off Israel as a people for ever. The divine answer follows. Vers. 11—13 : " Until cities are made desolate, with- out inhabitants, and houses loithout men, and the ground shall he laid waste, a wilderness, and Jehovah shcdl remove men far away, and there shall he mamj forsaken places within the land. And if there is still a tenth therein, this is again given up to extermination ; like the terebinth, and like the oak, of which, when they are felled, there only still remains a root-stock — a holy seed is such a root-stock." The answer intentionally begins, not with "^"^'^V, but with Cii< "lt^^? '^V (which is only elsewhere found in Gen. xxviii. 1 5 and Num. xxxii. 7), — an expression which, without dropping the conditional ^^, means that the end of the judgment of hardening is only coming after the condition is realized that the cities, houses, and soil of the land of Israel and its surroundings have been first laid waste (pret. and imperf., thus in the sense of fut. ex. as in chap. iv. 4 ; cf Num. xxiii. 24) ; and, moreover, utterly and thoroughly as the three successive accompanying determinations declare (without inhabitants, without men, wilderness), pn"! is a still wholly vague designation of tlie exile (cf. Joel iv. 6 ; Jer. xxvii. 10), for which chap. v. 13 already presents the proper designation in using ^73. Instead of some national designa- tion, the expression here employed is general, Q'^^^rrnx, along with the process of depopulation, its consequence, the lack of men, being thus expressed. Like pn"}!, nani is also a perf CHAPTER VI, 11-13. 191 •coTisec. with accent on the last syllable (Olsh. p. 482); and nniryn, " the forsaken," embraces the idea of places which M-ere formerly full of life, with the life now extinct and fallen into ruins (chap. xvii. 2, 9). This judgment will be followed by a second, which will also subject the remaining tenth of the people to a sifting; n^ni ^f, to become again (Ges. § 142, 3); lyib T)'^J^, not as in chap. v. 5, but as in chap. iv. 4, after Num. xxiv. 22, the feminine refers to the tenth. Up to "IW^ the announcement is a threatening one ; but from that point up to Q^ a comforting prospect already begins to dawn, which in the last three words lines the horizon of this gloomy announcement like a distant streak of light. It will fare with them as with the terebinth and the oak. These trees, with which a multitude of associations from the early times of Israel were connected (see on Gen. xii. 6), have (like certain others, as, for instance, the beech, the nut tree, and the alder) the property of renewing themselves again from the root- stump even when their trunk has been felled. As the forms nc'a'^ (dryness), nfp?"! (fever), nn|iy (blindness), nsriK' (consump- tion) designate certain conditions, and especially faulty ones, so na?^ is not the throwing down or felling as an act, but the condition of a tree which is thrown down or hewn down : the state of fallenness, not (which would here be too little) that of defoliation (Targum) or of the falling of the fruit from the stalk (Syr.). Perhaps also the name of the gate of the temple, ri3?"^^ IV'^, points to trees which formerly stood there, and had been felled down. D2i • • • "iK'N goes together in quihus ; 3 has its primary significance of cleaving to something. Of the felled terebinth or oak, deprived of its trunk and its crown, there is still a ri2sp (collateral form of "^^SfD); i,e. there is a root-stock, truncus (a cippus, which the word otherwise signifies, but it is a natural cippus, and capable of shooting), fast fixed in the ground, — an image of the remnant surviving the judgment, which becomes a ^"^p V^l from which a new Israel shoots out after the old Israel is exterminated. In a few weighty words the way is thus sketched upon which God will henceforth go with His people. It presents an outline of the history of Israel to the end of time. It is repeated in Zech. xiii. 8, 9, where instead of the tenth we have a third, and they are therefore both to be taken as the symbolical 192 ISAIAH. designation of a fraction, but not as its arithmetical measure- ment. Israel as a people is imperishable in virtue of divine promise ; but the mass of the people is henceforth destined for destruction in virtue of a divine decision, and only a remnant which is converted will finally propagate Israel's prerogative as a people, and inherit the glorious future. Now, if the impression which we have received from vers. 5-8 is not a false one, — namely, that the subject of chap. vi. is the inaugural vision of the prophet, and not his calling ad unum specialem actum officii, as Sebastian Schmidt holds, — this impression will be verified by the fact that the discourses in chaps, i.— V. do not merely give a picture of the state of the people ripening for the fatal event in chap "vi., as Strachey holds, but that these discourses already contain the elements here conveyed to the prophet in the way of a revelation, and that the prophet is there already found executing his fateful commission. The impression also actually stands the applica- tion of this test. For the very first discourse, after it has shown to the people as such the gracious way of justification and sanctification, takes in the consciousness of its being all in vain, the turn indicated in chaps, xi.-xiii. The theme of the second discourse is that it will only be after the overthrow of the false glory of Israel that the promised true glory will be realized, and that after the extermination of the mass of the people, only a small remnant will live to experience its realization. The parable with which the third discourse begins, rests upon the supposition that the measure of the sin of the people is full, and the threatening of judgment which is introduced by this parable agrees actually, and in part verbally, with the divine answer received by the prophet to his question, '•np'^y. From all sides, therefore, we have the view confirmed, that Isaiah in chap. vi. relates his consecra- tion as a prophet. The discourses in chaps, ii.— iv. 5, which belong to the time of Uzziah and Jotham, do not fall earlier than the death-year of Uzziah, from which date the whole time of Jotham's sixteen years' reign is open for them. Now Micali appeared on the scene under Jotham ; but his book, by work- ing up the proclamations he delivered in the time of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, has taken the form of a chronologically indivisible summary, which, as we may learn from Jer. xxvi. CHAPTER VI, 11-13. 193 18, he recited or published in the time of Hezekiah ; and hence Isaiah may thus quite well have taken the word of promise in chap. ii. 1—4 (certainly borrowed from some source) from Micah's lips, though not from Micah's book. Further, the position of chap, vi, is not inexplicable. Havernick has already observed that the prophet in chap. vi. is justifying, on the ground of a divine commission, the manner and style of his previous proclamation. But this only serves to explain the intention from which chap. vi. was not made to stand at the commencement of the collection, and not why it is found exactly in this and no other place. Prophecy and^^ fulfilment are brought together ; for, on the one hand, chap, vii. brings manifestly forward the judgment of hardening suspended over the Jewish people in the person of king Ahaz ; and, on the other hand, we find ourselves in the middle of the Syro-Ephraimitish war, which forms the transition to the judg- ments of extermination prophesied in chap. vi. 11—13. It is only the position of chap. i. which still remains obscure. If the verses chap. i. 7—9 are meant to have a historical reference to the times, then chap. i. was composed when the danger of the Syro-Ephraimitish war was averted from Jerusalem, while the land of Judah was still bleeding from the opened wounds which this war, aimed at its annihilation, had inflicted upon it. Accordingly chap. i. is more recent than chaps, ii.— v., and also more recent than the connected chaps, vii.— xii. It is only the comparatively more indefinite and general character of chap. i. which seems to tell against this view. This objection, however, is removed, if we assume that chap. i. is not, indeed, the first spoken discourse of the prophet, but the first of his discourses that was written down, and that it was primarily designed to form the proemium to the discourses and historical narrations in chaps, ii.— xii., the contents of which are ruled by it.^ Eor chaps, ii.— v. and vii.-xii. are two cycles of prophecy ; chap. i. is the portal which leads into them, and chap. vi. the band which connects them 1 A different view is taken by v. Hoffman (Hermeneutik, herausgeg. von Volck, p. 133), who regards chap. i. as the preface to chaps, ii.-xxxv. Nagelsbach again holds chaps, i. 2-v. 6 to be the threefold introitus of the whole book in its two divisions, chaps, vii.-xxxix., xl.-lxvi., and chap. i. to be the portion of the collection which was written last. VOL. I. N 194 ISAIAH. together. The cycle of prophecy in chaps, ii.— v. may, with Caspari, be called the Book of hardening, and chaps, vii.— xii., after the example of Chr. Aug. Crusius, may be called the Book of Immanuel. For in all the stages through which the proclamation in chaps, vii.— xii. passes, the future Immanuel is the banner of consolation which the proclamation lifts up amid the judgments which are now breaking in, in consequence of the doom pronounced in chap. vi. PART II.— CONSOLATION OF IMMANUEL IN THE ASSYRIAN OPPRESSIONS, CHAPS. VII.-XII. The Divine Sign of the Wondrous Son of the Virgin, Chap. VII. As the following prophecies cannot be understood without reference to the contemporary historical events into which they entered, the prophet begins historically. Ver. 1 : "It came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, the king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Bemaliah, the king of Israel, went lip toivards Jerusalem to war against it ; and was not able to war upon it." We read the same words again, only a little varied, in the history of the reign of Ahaz in 2 Kings xvi. 5. That the author of the Book of Kings takes them from the Book of Isaiah, is betrayed by the fact that he inter- prets them. Instead of " and he was not able to war upon it," he says particularly : " and they besieged Ahaz, and could not war upon him." The singular ?b^ in Isaiah is transformed into the simpler plural ; and the fact that the two allies could not assault or storm Jerusalem (which must be the meaning of ?y Dnpj here) is more exactly determined by saying that they vainly besieged Ahaz QV "ilV is the usual expression for ohsidione claudere, cf. Deut. xx. 19). This et ohsederunt Ahazum cannot merely mean ohsidere conati sunt, although we know nothing in detail about this siege, and 2 Kings xvi. 5, from the secondary relation of this passage to Isa. vii. 1 , cannot be regarded as a historical source. But happily we have CHAPTER VII. 2. 195 two accounts regarding the Syro-Ephraimitisli war, in 2 Kings xvi. and 2 Chron. xxviii. The Book of Kings relates that the incursion of the two allies into Judah began already at the end of the reign of Jotham (2 Kings xv. 37); and apart from the statement taken from Isa. vii. 1, it mentions that Eezin reconquered for Edom the port of Elath which belonged to the kingdom of Judah (in 2 Kings xvi. 6 read DHN^ instead of Dix^) ; and the Book of Chronicles relates that Eezin brought a multitude of Jewish captives to Damascus ; and that Pekah conquered Ahaz in a bloody battle, in which his forces were destroyed. However unquestionable the credibility of these events is, yet it is as difficult to bring them into an indubitably certain connection in relations of fact and chrono- logy, as Caspari has attempted to do in a monograph on the Syro-Ephraimitish war, published in 1849. If we could assume that Ih, h'^l (not 'i^S^J, is the authentic reading, and that the thwarting of the attempt to take Jerusalem, related here, had its ground, not in the intervention of Assyria, but in the strength of the city, — so that accordingly 1& would not be an anticipation of the ultimate thwarting of the whole under- taking, although such summary anticipations are in the manner of the Biblical mode of writing history, and likewise also in the manner of Isaiah,- — then the course of events might be so represented that while Eezin marched to Elath, Pekah wished to deal with Jerusalem, but did not attain his purpose ; but that Eezin was more successful in his easier undertaking, and that after the conquest of Elath he joined his allies. It is this which may thus be taken to be referred to in ver. 2 : " And it was told the house of David : Aram has settled down upon Ephraim, — then his heart shook, and the heart of his peojjle, as the trees of the forest shake before the vjind." The '?y n''^ indicates here the coming down of the one army after the other in order to strengthen it ; whereas ver. 19, 2 Sam. xvii. 12 (cf. Judg. vii. 12), indicates a hostile attack, and 2 Kings ii. 15, a spiritual /cara^atVeti/. Qll^^J! (feminine, like the names of countries, and of the peoples thought along with their countries, see chap. iii. 8), as the name of the chief stock of Israel, is used as the name of the whole kingdom, and here of the whole military power of Israel. Following 196 ISAIAH. the combination indicated above, we find that the alhes now prepared themselves for a second united march against Jeru- salem. In the meantime, Jerusalem was in the condition v/ indicated in chap. i. 7—9 : like an invested city in the midst of a land overrun by a plundering enemy setting everything on fire. Elath had fallen, as Rezin's opportune return from it showed ; and it was quite natural, humanly regarded, that in the face of his approaching junction with the united army of the allies, the court and people of Jerusalem should tremble like aspen leaves, V^l\ is a contracted impf. Qcd ending in a, not in short o, on account of the guttural, as in nri, Ex. XX. 11, and such like ; and J^i^, otherwise the form of the infin. abs. chap. xxiv. 20, is here and only here inf. constr. instead of V^^ (cf. ni:^ Num. xi. 25 ; 2^, Josh. ii. 16 ; toio, Ps. xxxviii. 17, and frequently). In this time of terror, Isaiah received the following divine instructions. Ver. 3 : " Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, Come, go out to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-Jashuh, thy son, to the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool hy the road of the f idlers' fieldJ* The fullers,^ i.e. cleaners and thickeners of woollen stuffs, received as workmen the name Q''p23 from D23, related to B'M, ijuuA^) suhigere, which is related to Y^l, as ifkvveiv, likewise specially used in reference to clothes washing, is related to \oveiv. The Dli3 rrib, so called as being their washing and bleaching place, lay, as Robinson, Schultz, von Eaumer, Thenius, Unruh, Schick, and most expositors hold, upon the western side of the city, Zimmermann, in his maps and plans of the topography of ancient Jerusalem (1876), places the two great pools on the west of the city, the lower pool and north-west therefrom the Mamilla pool, eastward from which in the same line lies the Hezekiah pool, through which an aqueduct led the water of the upper pool to the upper city. On the other hand, Williams, Kraft, Meier, and Hitzig transfer the upper pool with the fullers' field to the north- east of the city, beside the monument of the fuller (Joseph. ^ In the Aramaic of the Talmud and Targums the fuller is called ijfp as in Arab, we have also kassdr and miksar, the cylindrical round fuller's club, which, according to Hegesippus (in Euseb. H. E. ii. 23), was the instrument by which James the Just was beaten to death. A D313 appears in the controversial dialogue with a Christian in Sanhedrin 38i. CHAPTER VII. 4. 197 Wars, V. 4, 2). But Eabshake encamping by the upper pool (chap. XXX vi. 2) comes from Lachis, and therefore from the south-west. Furrer (in the Bibel-Lex. ii. 464) also recognises the Mamilla-pool as the " upper pool in the fullers' field." Explorers have not yet succeeded in discovering a living spring on the west side ; ^ both pools were probably even in former times only fed by rain, for catching which the lie of the land is very favourable.^ If the upper pool was the Mamilla-pool, then the road n?pp, which ran past this fullers' field, was the road which led from the western gate to Joppa. Here in the west of the city, outside the enclosing wall, king Ahaz now found himself engaged in preparations for the event of a siege of Jerusalem, which received the most part of its water supply from the upper pool ; and here, according to Jehovah's direction, Isaiah with his son was to meet him. These two are like a blessing and curse in person, offering themselves to the king for him to make his choice. For the name ^'^'^1 '^^'^, i.e. remnant is converted (chap. x. 21, 22), is a kind of abbreviation of the divine answer which had been given to the prophet in chap. vi. 11—13, and is, moreover, at once threatening and promising, but in such a way that it has the curse, as it were, before it, and the grace behind it. The prophetic name of the son of Isaiah is intended to urge the king by threat to Jehovah, and the prophetic announcement of Isaiah himself, whose name points to salvation, V^'!,, is designed to entice him by promise to Jehovah. No means remain untried. Ver. 4 : " And say to him, Take heed, and keep thyself quiet ; fear not, and let not thy heart become soft from these two smoking stumps of firebrands, — at the burning anger of Besin and Aram, and the son of Rema- liah.'" The imper. " take heed " is regularly pointed i^^i? (see especially, Ex. xxiii. 21 ; Job xxxvi. 21), and thus ""P^H ^\?'f'}\ will accordingly be infinitives absolute in the sense of urgent imperatives (Hitzig) : take heed, and keep at rest ! = ^ Schick believed he had discovered it in 1865 about ten minutes' walking distance from the Jaffa gate ; see Ausland, Nr. 38, 1865. 2 This is entirely different from the Gihon, a running, although inter- mittent spring, probably the same as the Mary-spring at the east foot of Ophel, and therefore in the eastern side of the city. 198 ISAIAH. be on your guard, and do not act precipitately, rather keep at rest. The first is a warning against self-willed acting ; the latter is an exhortation to undismayed equanimity. Calvin correctly renders it : ut et exterius contineat sese et intus pacato sit animo. The explanation given by Jewish expositors of "iCE'n, conside supper faeces tuas (Luzzatto, vivi riposato), according to Jer. xlviii. 11 and Zeph. i. 12, gives an unseemly sense to the exhortation. The object of terror before which and at which the king's heart is not to be dismayed, is first introduced with ip, and then with 3, as in Jer. li. 46. The two allies are at once designated as what they are before God, who sees through things in the future. They are two tails, i.e. nothing but the fag ends of wood pokers (nw, properly turners, namely, fire-turners, an Arabic figure for a warrior, Ges. Thes. p. 157&),^ half -burned off and wholly burned out, so that they do not burn any longer, but only still keep smoking. Certainly they are not this yet at the time in question as regards outward reality, where, as ''"}nj^ does not conceal, their anger has not yet been long kindled, but they are such before God, who makes the prophet cognisant with Himself of His covmsel. Along with T-f"! (in cuneiform in- scriptions Rasiina ^), in order not to honour it with the name of a king, D'^^? is specially named, and Pekah is called '"TrPTI?, to recall the lowness of his descent, and the want of any promise in the case of his house. The ''3 ]T. which now follows does not belong to ver. 4, as might appear in consideration of the Sethume after it (fear not on this account that), cf. Ezek. xii. 12, but it gives the motive of the following sentence of judgment as in chap, iii. 16. Vers. 5-7: "Because that Aram Jias resolved evil against thee, E'phraini, and the son of Remaliah, saying, We will march against Judah, and strike it ivith terror, and conqiier it for ourselves, and make the son of Talel king in the midst of it : thus saith the All-Lord Jehovah, It shall not come about, and not take place." The promise to Ahaz is founded upon the wicked design with which the war has been begun. How far the allies had already advanced on the way to their ^ Cf. Scliwartzlose, Waffen der alien Araber, p. 32. " Sclirader, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, 2nd ed. 1883, p. 260 sqq. CHAPTER VII. 8,9. 199 ultimate goal, the overthrow of the Davidic kingdom, it does not say. But we know from 2 Kings xv. 37 that the invasion had already begun before Ahaz had ascended the throne, and we may see from ver. 16 of Isaiah's prophecy that the '^3>"'i53 (from f^p, taedere, pavere, for which the Syrian translator has i^32fi53 from Y^\l, ahscindere) had been successfully attained. The ri??n^ i,e. cleaving, forcing of the passes and fortification (2 Kings xxv. 4 ; Ezek. xxx. 16 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 17, xxxii. 1) can therefore not be regarded as pertaining to the future, For history knows nothing whatever of a successful resistance of Judah in this war. Only Jerusalem has not yet fallen, and this, as nriina TQ^ shows, is what is specially referred to under 'I'JliTl, just as "iltJ'K in chap, xxiii. 13 refers to Nineveh. Here they intend to appoint as king a favourite named ????p^ (see Ezra iv. 7, in p. intentionally ^^?^, a vocalic change which the tout; - long e of ?^ does not otherwise admit ; cf. DMZ. xxxiii. 30, but which here separates the name of God from the name of " this good-for-nothing fellow ") ; but the intention remains a mere wish, the thing wished does not come about (cf. Prov. xv. 22), and is not realized (cf. Zech. xiv. 8). The allies will not succeed in altering the course of history as the Lord has ordered it. Vers. 8-9 : " For head of Aram is Damascus, and head of Damascus Besin, and in other sixty and five years Ephrain/i will he hrohen to pieces as a people. And head of JEphraAm is Saraaria, and head of Samaria the son of Bemaliah ; if ye helieve not, verily you ivill not remain." It naturally occurs to regard 8& as a later interpolation (Eichhorn, Gesenius, Hitzig, Maurer, Knobel, Meier, Dietrich, Cheyne, Eeuss). The prophecy here becomes divination, and one might hold that an indefinite expression of the near future would have been more effective than this fixing of a considerably distant terminus, and it is, in fact, probable that instead of r\^f tTDni W^m niyni there stood in the original text the expression of what was only but a short delay (chap. xvi. 14, xx. 3, xxi. 16), and that a later hand glossed the unprecise expression by a reference to the history of the 1 The name has not yet been traced out in the cuneiform inscriptions ; see Schrader, u.s. p. 384, and comp. his Keilinschriften u. Geschichts- forchung, p. 396. 200 ISAIAH. fulfilment of the prophecy. If 85 be left out, the whole idea is only this, that the two hostile powers will remain in their previous relationships without an annexation of Judah. If 8h is retained (under the supposition of such a phrase as " within a short time " instead of the " within sixty-five years "), then 8a and 9« similarly say that the old condition of things will remain ; but 8b states that while Syria gains nothing, Ephraim, which had become involved in an unnatural and irreligious league with it, will lose its national inde- pendence, and 9h, that Judah, although Samaria's attempt to take away its independence fails, yet if it gives up its trust in Jehovah and makes flesh its arm, it will have no continuance, i.e. will lose its national independence. Ver. 8h is a prophecy announcing the destruction of Ephraim ; 9& is a warning, threatening Judah with destruction in so far as it rejects the promise from unbelief. The colour of the style of 8b is entirely Isaianic (cf. on liVB, chap. xxi. 16, xvi. 14; and on Dy^, away from being a people = so that it is no more a people, cf. chap. xvii. 1, xxv. 2, and Jer. xlviii. 2, 42). But it cannot be asserted that the sixty-five years are false, and that they are in contradiction with chap. vii. 16. Certainly they do not come out if we refer the prophecy to what happened to Ephraim in consequence of the Syro- Ephraimitish war carried on by Tiglath-Pileser, and to what was done to it by Salmanassar in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, to which events, and more especially to the former, chap. vii. 16 relates. But there is another event through which the existence of Ephraim, not merely as a kingdom, but also as a people, was broken, namely, the carrying away of the last remnant of the Ephraimitish population, and the planting of East Asian colonists upon the soil of Ephraim. While the land of Judah remained desolate after the deporta- tion to Chaldea, and a new generation grew up there, which, being in exile, might again return, the land of Ephraim was occupied by heathen settlers, and the few who remained behind were fused with these into the mixed people of Samaritans, those in exile being lost among the heathen. This is the view which was already held by Malvenda, Calmet, and Usher as to the terminus ad quern. Bosanquet reckons the sixty-five years from the year 736 as the con- CHAPTER VII. 8, 9. 201 jectural date of the meeting of Isaiah with Ahaz, and as extending to 671, founding upon the fact that even after the fall of Samaria, a kingdom of Samaria continues to be always mentioned in the inscription, but it is found for the last time in one that dates from 681 to 673. This calculation by the Assyrian monuments has, however, meanwhile become doubt- ful, by more correct reading of them. Nevertheless the fact remains that the populating by Esarhaddon (2 Kings xvii. 24, Ezra iv. 2, and his successor Asnappar = Asur- banipal, Ezra iv. 10) of the land of Ephraim with colonists from Eastern Asia is the fulfilment of the DVO nn';, ; and if it was Esarhaddon under whom Manasseh was carried away to Babylon about the middle of his reign (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11), then we get just sixty-five years from the second year of the reign of Ahaz to the final ending of the existence of Ephraim as a people (fourteen years of Ahaz + twenty-nine of Heze- kiah -f twenty-two of Manasseh = sixty-five). Then was ful- filled what is here unconditionally predicted, Dl?^ nn"; (certainly not 3 invpf. Qal, but Ni. rin3, Mai. ii. 5), just as the condi- tionally threatened i^P^'O ^^ was fulfilled on Judah by the Babylonian exile. For iPX3 signifies to have a fast hold, and rP^I?. to prove fast holding. If Judah does not holdfast to his God, he will lose his fast liold by losing the country in which he dwells, the ground beneath his feet. The same play on words is found in 2 Chron. xx. 20. The suggestion that the original reading was '•3 iroNn K^ DX, but that '•a appeared objectionable and was altered into ''3, is improbable.^ Why should it have been objectionable when the words form the conclusion of a solemnly introduced direct discourse of Jehovah ? On this ""S, which has passed from the confirmat- ive into an affirmative meaning, and here opens the conse- quence of the hypothetical clause, cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 39 ; Ps. cxxviii. 4 ; and (as used in the formula nriy ''3) Gen. xxxi. 42, xliii. 10; Num. xxii. 29, 33 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 30. Their con- tinuance is conditioned by faith, as this ""a surely asserts.^ ^ Geiger in BMZ. 1861, p. 117, and previously in the Keview p^Jnn, 1860, p. 89. 2 It is worth quoting what Augustine remarks on this subject in his I)e doctrina ChrisiiarM, ii. 11: Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis [so LXX. and Itala]. AHus [Jerome] interpretatus est : Nisi credideritis, non 'per- 202 ISAIAH. Thus Isaiah speaks, and thus Jehovah speaks through him, to the king of Judah, We are not informed as to whether he replied or what he replied. He is silent, for in his heart he hides a secret which consoles him better than the word of the prophet. The invisible assistance of Jehovah and the distant prospect of the fall of Ephraim are not sufficient for him. His mind is already made up. His trust is in Assur (Assyria), with whose help he will be superior to the kingdom of Israel, as that kingdom had been to the kingdom of Judah through the help of Damascene Syria. The pious theocratic policy of the prophet comes too late. He therefore lets the enthusiast talk, and thinks he knows what it is worth at the best. Nevertheless, the grace of God does not give up the unhappy son of David as lost. Vers. 10, 11 : "And Jehovah continued to sjjcak to Ahaz as follows : Ask thee a sign from Jehovah thy God, going deep down to Hades or high up to the height above." Jehovah continued, — what a deep and firm consciousness of the identity of the word of Jehovah and the word of the prophet is expressed therein ! It occurs also in chap. viii. 5. According to an astonishing communicatio idiomatum which runs through the Old Testament books of prophecy, the prophet speaks at one time (as, e.g., in Zech. ii. 13 and 15) as if he were Jehovah, and at another time, as in this passage, Jehovah speaks as if He were the prophet. Ahaz is to ask a sign from Jehovah his God. Jehovah does not scorn to call Himself the God of this son of David who so hardens himself Perhaps the holy love which pulsates in this 'T'^^.^? may yet move his heart ; or perhaps he may reflect upon the covenant promises and covenant duties manebitis. Quis horum vera secutus sit, nisi exemplaria linguae praece- dentis legantur, incertum est. Sed tamen ex utroque magnum aliquid insinuatur scienter legentibus. Difficile est enim ita diversos inter se interpretes fieri, ut non se aliqua vicinitate contingant. Ergo quoniam intellectus in specie sempiterna est, fides vero in rerum temporalium quibusdam cunabulis quasi lacte alit parvulos, nunc autem per fidem ambulamus, non per speciem, nisi autem per fidem ambulaverimus, ad speciem pervenire non poterimus, quae non transit, sed permanet per intellectum purgatum nobis coliaerentibus veritati : propterea ille ait : Nisi crcdideritis non permanebitis. Ille vero : Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis. Et ex ambiguo linguae praecedentis plerumque interpres fallitur, cui non bene nota sententia est, et eam significationem transfert, quae a sensu scriptoris penitus aliena est. CHAPTER YII. 10, 11. • 203 which this yrfpii recalls to mind. He is to ask for a nix from this his God. nix (from n)^^, to indicate) is a thing, event, or act which may serve to guarantee the divine cer- tainty of some other thing, event, or act. This happens partly through sensible miracles presently performed (Ex. iv. 8, 9), or through fixed symbols of the future (chap, viii. 18, XX. 3), and partly through prophesied events, which, whether miraculous or natural in themselves, are not to be humanly foreseen ; and therefore if they occur, they authentic- ate either the divine causality of other events retrospectively (Ex. iii. 12), or their divine certainty prospectively. The thing to be here guaranteed is what the prophet has just prophesied with great definiteness : the preservation of Judah with its kingdom, and the fruitlessness of the wicked enterprise of the two allied kingdoms. If this was to be guaranteed to Ahaz in a manner that would break down his unbelief, it can only be done by a sign, nix, which breaks through the regular course of nature. As Hezekiah, when Isaiah announces his recovery and a prolongation of life for fifteen years, requires a nix, and the prophet gives him it (chap, xxxviii.), so does Isaiah here meet Ahaz with the oifer of such a sign, and, moreover, by laying before him heaven, earth, and Hades as the sphere of the miracle. ppVi' (PPi?p) and 'li^jn are either injin. ahs. or imper., and '^/^^ is apparently imper. : ^^^ with the He of challenge, which is given here instead of "^^^^ as i^^^^' (as likewise elsewhere with distinctive accents, as in Dan. ix. 19, and even without any pause in xxxii. 11, q.v.); but in no case do we need to read, with Hupfeld, npx*^ with the tone upon the last, in the sense of >^^^^ ; and thus : in profunclum desccnde (or dcscend- endo) precare. But '^^^'^ rnay also be a pausal collateral form for npxtr^ which is allowable in itself (cf. Y^^\ always in p. for YB% and other examples, Gen. xliii. 14, xlix. 3, 27),^ and here it appears to be preferred on account of its con- sonance with n^yD^ (Ewald, § 93. 3). We give the preference to this latter possibility, with Aq. Sym. Theod. Jer. {^dOwov ^ The passing of the o into a (a) likewise produces the infinitive form ^n^'lpp, 1 Sam. XV. 1 ; -^y-\rh (according to Norzi), 1 Sam. xxiv. 11 ; 1^0i^ Obad. ver. 11. On corresponding imperative forms, see on chap, xxxviii. 14. 2U4 ISAIAH. £19 aSr}v), against the Targum ; it corresponds to the antithesis (cf. Job xi. 8), and if the words before us were unpointed, this would first suggest itself. The challenge, accordingly, amounts to this: Descend down deep (in thy asking) to Hades, or ascend high up to the height ; but more probably (as the closer construction is more pleasing, and nain as imper. would be well distinguished from the inf. by the form H3jn, cf. ^?']>?, Ezek. xxiv. 10, with a gerundive acceptation of PD]}>^ and n3jn, Ewald, § 280ft) : going deep down to Hades, or ix, from nix, as vel, from velle) going high up to the height. ]'his offer of the prophet of any kind of miracle in the upper or lower world cannot but perplex the adherents of the modern view of the world. The prophet, says Hitzig, is here playing a dangerous game, and if Ahaz had closed with the ofter, Jehovah would certainly have left him in the lurch. So Meier observes : it cannot have at all come into the mind of an Isaiah to wish to do a miracle. And de Lagarde says : If he had done it, he would have been an enthusiast whom the failure of such a niN would have subjected to punishment for lying, or whom an artificial performing of it would have made a deceiver. None of these commentators can recognise the miraculous power of the prophet, because they do not at all believe in miracles ; whereas Ahaz knows the miraculous power of the prophet, but is not to be constrained by any miracle to renounce his own plans and believe on Jehovah. Ver. 1 2 : " But Ahaz answered, I may not ask, and may not tempt Jehovah." How pious this sounds, and yet his self-hardening ' culminates in these pious - sounding words ! Hypocritically he hides himself under the mask of Deut. vi. 16, in order not to allow himself to be disturbed in his Assyrian policy, and he is so unthinking as to call the acceptance of what Jehovah Himself offers him a tempting of God. He studiously draws down upon himself the fate indicated in chap, vi.; and not merely upon himself, but upon all Judah. For under the successor of Ahaz, the host of Assyria will stand upon this same fullers' field (chap, xxxvi. 2), and demand the surrender of Jerusalem. In this hour when Isaiah stands before Ahaz, the fate of the Jewish people is decided for more than two thousand years. The prophet might now be silent, but in accordance with CHAPTER VII. 13-15. 205 the command in chap. vi. he must speak, although liis \\-ord be a savour of death unto death. Ver. 13: "He. spake, Hear, then, house of David : Is it too little for you to make men weary, that ye also weary my God .^ " He spake. Who spake ? The speaker, according to ver, 10, is Jehovah, and yet what follows is given as the word of the prophet. Here again the statement proceeds on the assumption that the word of the prophet is the word of God, and that the prophet himself, even when he distinguishes himself and God, is the organ of God. The address is directed to 1)"=J n^?, i.e. to Ahaz, includ- ing all the members of the court. ^T^^ is the plural of the category, and by it the prophet indicates himself. The prophet would, indeed, well have borne that those of the house of David should yield no results to his zealous human efforts, but they are not satisfied with this (cf. on the expression minus quam vos = qiiam ut vobis sufficiat, Num. xvi. 9 ; Job XV. 1 1) ; they also weary the long-suffering of his God by letting Him exhaust all the means of their correction without effect.^ They will not believe without seeing ; and when signs are about to be given them to see in order that they may believe, they will not even look at them. Jehovah, then^_will_give them a sign against their will after His own choice. Vers. 14, 15: "Therefore the AU- Lord^T^Ie Witl give you a sign : Behold, the virgin ^ is 2vith child, and hears a son, and calls his name Immamtel. Butter and honey ivill he eat when he knoius to reject the had and to ^ Perhaps IX^D and iplbx form an intended enantiophony ; see the collection of examples in the Review |*l^nn, Jahrg. 2 (1853), pp. 94-99. 2 [As will be seen by what follows, " virgin " is not strictly the correct rendering of n?D^y, according to Dr. Delitzsch's own view ; but as he retains Jungfrau in the German, it has been thought better in like manner to retain the usual English term rather than introduce " damsel,', "maid," or "maiden." Cheyne renders njobyn, "the young woman," "so Hitzig, R. Williams, Niigelsbach, and (in effect) Gesenius ;" gives the rendering of Ewald and Delitzsch (Jungfrau) as " the maiden ; " and quotes the late Professor Weir of Glasgow as retaining "virgin," while observing : " But the Hebrew, strictly speaking, does not correspond to our 'virgin.'" Dr. Kay in his comm. on Isaiah in the Speaker's Com- mentary, S.I., says : " Our English word " maiden " comes as near, pro- bably, as any to the Hebrew word." " Or maiden " is added in the margin of the Revised Version. Prof. Drever remarks : " Probably the English word damsel would be the fairest rendering" (Isaiah, p. 41). — Tr.] 206 ISAIAH. cJioose the good." In its form the prophecy recalls Gen. xvi. 11: " Behold, thou art with child, and wilt bear a son, and call his name Ishmael." Here, however, the words are not addressed to her who was afterwards to bear the child, although Matthew gives this form to the prophecy ; ^ for nNnp is not 2 2^- but 3 2^- = '^?1[? (ground form karaaf, which occurs for n^i?, " it takes place," Deut. xxxi. 29 ; cf. Gen. xxx. 11 ; Lev. xxv. 21 ; Ps. cxviii. 23).^ The question as to wliether the clause is to be translated : Behold, the virgin is with child, or shall be with child, ought not to have been raised. njn with the following participle (here participial adjective ; cf. 2 Sam. xi. 5) is always presentative, and the thing presented is always either a real thing, as in Gen. xvi. 11 and Judg. xiii. 5 ; or it is an ideally present thing, as is to be taken here ; for except in chap, xlviii. 7, i^.^n always indi- cates something future in Isaiah. This use of n:n in Isaiah is of itself opposed to the view of Gesenius, Knobel, Fried- mann (De Jesaiae vaticiniis Acliaso rege eclitis, 1875), S. Davidson, and others, who understand nppyn to apply to the already pregnant young wife of the prophet, and who, like Eaven (see on chap. viii. 3) and Eeuss, identify Immanuel and Mahershalal.^ But it is already very improbable that it is the wife of the prophet who is meant ; for if he meant her, one cannot well see why he did not rather say ns''23n. Further, the meaning and use of no^y are against the reference of the mx to the prophet's own household. For while npin3 (from ?n3, related to ?^3, to separate, sejungere) signifies the virgin maiden living retired in her parents' house, and still a long while from marriage (Assyr. has also hatulu, a youth), n»py (from opv, to be strong, full of sap and vigour, arrived at the age of puberty. V^y, J-i, to swell) is the 1 Jerome discusses this difference in an exemplary manner in his Ep. ad Pammachium de optimo genere interpretandi. 2 The pointing makes a distinction between nsip (she calls) and DXIp (as Gen. xvi. 11 should be pointed), thou callest (see Abenezra's Zachoth, la, and Jekuthiel ha-Nakdan on Gen. xvi. 11) ; and Olshausen (§ 356) is wrong in pronouncing the latter form of writing the word a mistake. ' Another view is taken by the expositor to whom Jerome refers : Quidam de nostris Judaizans Esaias duos filios habuisse contendit Jasub, et Emmanuel. Et Emmanuel de prophetissa uxore ejus esse generatum in typuni Domini salvatoris, etc. CHAPTER VII. 14, 15. 207 mature woman who is near marriage.^ Both names may be applied to a female who is betrothed or even married (Joel i. 8 ; Prov. xxx. 19; see Hitzig on these passages). It must also be admitted that the idea of immaculate virginity is not necessarily connected with ncbl? (as in Gen. xxiv. 43, cf. 16), since in such passages as Song of Sol. vi. 8 it can hardly be distinguished in sense from the Arab. Surriya. It must also be admitted that it might be said of one who has a still youthful fresh wife, that he has a rvohv for his wife ; but it is inconceivable that in a religiously earnest and well- weighed style a woman who has been already for a long time married, like the prophet's wife, could be called absolutely HD^yn without qualification.^ On the other hand, the ex- pression warrants the assumption that the prophet by no^yn means one of the ^i^^i? of the royal harem (Luzzatto) ; and if we consider that the birth of the child in the view of the prophet is to take place in the near future, his look might have been directed to that Ahij'ah (AM) hath-Zechariah (2 Kings xviii. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 1) who became the mother of king Hezekiah, to whom the virtues of his mother appear to have been transmitted in contrast with the vice of his father. But while the expression might admit this view, reference to Hezekiah and his mother is excluded by the fact that he was born to the young king Ahaz before his accession to the throne, and therefore he cannot be meant either here or ^ Vercellone, in a lecture (in his Dissertazioni accademiche, Roma 1864), has defended at considerable length the assertion of Jerome : Hebraicum nioby nunqiiam nisi de virgine scribitw, significat enim puellam virginem ahsconditam ; but his defence is untenable. The root is not Q^y, to con- ceal, according to which Aq. translates Gen. xxiv. 43, x7r6>cpvipog. Luther, in 1523, expressed himself to better effect thus : " Well, then, to oblige the Jews, we shall not translate the word Alma as virgin, but as a maid, although in German maid means a woman who is still young, and wears her crown with honour, so that it is said : she is still a maid and not a wife. Thus, then, the text of Isaiah is most properly translated : Behold, a maid is with child." In fact, the translation ^ i/ioiv/; (Aq. S. Th.) is more exact than ^ ^aso^svo; (LXX. Syr.). In medieval sermons Christ is called " the son of the maid." ^ A young and newly-married wife might be called rhp (as in Homer, j/i/^(p») =: nubilis and niipta ; Eng. bride) ; but even in Homer a married woman, if young, is sometimes called nxvpiQi-n oi>.ox,o;, but not x.oip-n viviut;). / 208 ISATAH. in chap. ix. 5.^ But, in any case, even if the prophet thought of one of the niD^y of the then royal house, the child thus prophesied of is the Messiah, that wondrous heir of the Davidic throne whose birth is exultingly greeted in chap, ix. It is the Messiah whom the prophet here beholds as about to be born, then in chap. ix. as born, and in chap. xi. as reigning, — three stages of a triad which are not to be wrenched asunder, a threefold constellation of consoling forms, illuminat- ing the three stadia into which the future history of his people divides itself in the view of the prophet. Or is nDb]}^ no determinate person at all, or not any single person? Duhm asserts that wife and son are merely representative ideas ; and Eeuss holds that by the virgin is meant la femme commc telle. Kuenen thinks that some particular woman of the time was meant ; and Henry Hammond as early as 1653 expounded this view, maintaining that the prophecy has found in Jesus Christ a fulfilment which goes beyond its immediate sense, that in its primary sense pregnancy, birth, and maturity are only parabolical facts subservient to the chronological measure- ment of time. But all this is opposed by the address in chap. viii. 8, which demands a definite and highly significant personality. And, further, the view is not to be accepted which holds that the house of David is the r\):hv, and that her son is a future new Israel (Hofmann, Ebrard, Kohler, Weir) ; for while it is true that in contrast to the widowhood of the community of Israel a youthful age of it, ^''P^-'y, is spoken of in chap. liv. 4 (cf, Jer. ii. 2), yet the community of Israel is never absolutely called "^^^VC or npiDsn, and the text is here thoroughly individual in its reference, and does not point to a . ^ According to 2 Kings xvi. 2, Ahaz on ascending the throne was twenty years old, and according to 2 Kings xviii. 2, Hezekiah on his ascending the throne was twenty-five years old. Now, as, according to 1 Kings xvi. 2, Ahaz reigned sixteen years, he thus died in his thirty-sixth year, and would thus have to be regaMed as father of Hezekiah when eleven years old. According to the LXX. and Pesh., in 2 Chron. xxviii. 1 he was twenty-five years old on ascending the throne, and therefore died when forty-one years old, so that Hezekiah, according to this reckoning, would have been born to him in his sixteenth year. This might have been possible. But however Hezekiah's accession to the throne may be regarded (see the tables on pp. 32-33), the result is always reached that Hezekiah was already born when his father succeeded to the govern- ment (cf. Driver, Isaiah, p. 40). CHAPTER VII. 14, 15. 209 twofold persona moralis. The prophet would have said P'V"'^? ; noby in this kind of personification is unheard of, and the house of David, as then before the view of the prophet, was not at all deserving of such a designation. There is therefore no other alternative left but to accept the view that the prophet means by nobyn a particular virgin, and one, more- over, belonging to the house of David, as the Messianic character of the prophecy desiderates. She who is meant is the same as is named by Micah v. 2, nni3i\ It is the virgin whom God's spirit presents before the prophet, and who, although he cannot name her, yet stands before his soul as selected for something extraordinary (cf. the article in ly^n in Num. xi. 27 and similar passages). How exalted this mother appears to him, is seen from the fact that it is she who gives the son his name, the name ^^''^^V (here to be written as one word).^ The purport of this name is purely promissory. But if we look at the |3p and the occasion which preceded it, the nix can be no mere promise and no pure promise; we expect (1) that it will be an extraordinary fact which the prophet announces, and (2) a fact with a threatening presentative side. Now a humiliation of the house of David is alread}^ included in the fact that the God it will not recognise nevertheless shapes its future as the emphatic N^n says : He (ayTo«?) from His own impulse and out of His own choice. But this shaping of the future must also be as threatening for the unbelieving house of David as it is promising for the believers of Israel. And the threaten- ing of the nis cannot be to be sought exclusively in ver. 15, seeing that both pb and nan transfer the central bearing of the niN to ver. 1 4 ; and further, the externally unconnected addition of ver. 15 shows that what is said in ver. 14 is the main thing, and not conversely. In ver. 14, however, a threatening element of the niN can only lie in this, that it is not Ahaz and not a son of Ahaz, or generally of the house of David as then hardening itself, through whom God saves His people, but that a nameless virgin of humble rank, whom God has chosen, and whom He shows to His prophet in the mirror of His counsel, will bring forth the divine deliverer of His ^ See on this the tractate Sofrim iv. Halacha 8, and pp. 67, 68 of the edition by Joel Mitller, 1878. VOL. I. ^ V 210 ISAIAH. people in the midst of the impending tribulations. And by this it is indicated that He who is the pledge of the continued existence of Judah does not come until the present degenerate house of David, which is bringing Judah to the brink of destruction, is removed even to the stump (chap. xi. 1). But now comes the further question, "Wherein consists the extraordinary characteristic of the announced fact ? It consists in this, that according to chap. ix. 5, Immanuel Him- self is a i*?3, — He is God in bodily self-presentation. If, how- ever, the Messiah is ^^^'i^'^y in the sense that, as the prophet in chap. ix. 5 (cf. chap. x. 21) expressly says. He is Himself ''N, His birth must also be a wonderful or miraculous one. The prophet, it is true, does not say that the T\'ohv whom no man has yet known will bear Him without that happening, so that He is born not so much out of the house of David, as into it, a gift of heaven ; but this no^yn was and remained in the Old Testament an enigma or mystery, powerfully inciting to the epevvav mentioned in 1 Pet. i. 10—12, and waiting for its solution in a historical fulfilment. Thus the niN is on the one side a mystery staring threateningly at the house of ■^ David, and on the other side it is a mystery rich in comfort to the prophet and all believers ; and it is couched in such enigmatic terms in order that they who harden themselves may not understand it, and in order that believers may so much the more long to understand it. It is the result of the self-hardening of Ahaz, that the Dis withdraws itself from his comprehension, just as the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, according to Matt. xiii. 10-17, was wrapped in the veil of parable to the benefit of the disciples, but for the punishment of the hardened masses. In ver. 15 the threatening element of ver. 14 then becomes alone predominating. It would not be so if thickened milk and honey were meant here, as the usual food of the tenderest age of childhood (as maintained by Gesenius, Hengstenberg, and others). But the reason on which it is grounded in the following verses, 16, 17, conveys another view. Thickened milk and honey, the food of the desert, will be the only provisions which the land will furnish in the time con- temporaneous with the ripening youth of Immanuel. '^?9'3 (from i^pn, U-s-, to be thick, clotted) is butter including the CHAPTER VII. 16, 17. 211 cream (both included in Arab, ^ja^), as n^'^aa means cheese including the curd. The object to VT" is expressed in vers. 15, 16 by inf. dbsoluti (cf. the more usual mode of expression in chap. viii. 4). The h in injnb is that of time (Spurrel on Gen. iii. 8) ; it is used in a somewhat vaguer manner than "IV, as in ■'^'i^?, Amos iv. 7 ; ^i?^?, Deut. xvi. 4, where all the three parallel passages, Ex. xii. 10, xxiii. 18, Num. ix. 12, have "ly ; ^'^ in Lev. xxiv. 1 2 is a designation of the terminus ad quern, as it also interchanges in reference to space in Ps. lix. 14 with Py and ly. The incapacity to distinguish between bad and good belongs characteristically to the age of childhood (Deut. i. 3 9 and elsewhere), and to old age when it relapses into childish ways (2 Sam. xix. 36). The commence- ment of the capacity to distinguish things is equivalent to entering into the so-called anni discretionis, into the riper age of conscious free self-determination. The notion implied in the expression is not purely ethical, and therefore the ^ is not to be taken as the b of purpose. By the time when Immanuel has advanced to this age, all the blessings of the land will be reduced to this, that a land full of luxuriant corn- i^ fields and vineyards would have turned into a great wooded pasture land, only furnishing milk and honey and nothing more. The fact that t^?"i=i ^bn niT n« is used in the Torah as the characteristic designation of Canaan, ought not to disturb this view. The desolation of the land is the reason of the limitation of Immanuel to that most simple and ^ uniform kind of food, a food which is also most meagre and insipid when compared with the fat of wheat and the exhilaration of wine. This limitation thus finds its reason in vers. 16, 17 ; there are two successive and causally connected events which bring about that universal desolation. Vers. 16, 17: "For he/ore the hoy shall understand how to reject the evil and choose the good, laid waste will he the land hefore v)hose two kings thou art in terror. Jehovah will hring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days such as have not come since the day when Ephraim tore himself from Judah — the king of Assur." The land of the two kings, Syria and Israel, is first devastated by the Assyrians who are called hither by Ahaz. 212 ISAIAH. Tiglath-Pileser conquered Damascus and a part of the kingdom \/ of Israel, and took away a large portion of the inhabitants of both regions into captivity (2 Kings xv. 29, xvi. 9). Judah is then also devastated by the Assyrians as a punishment for having scorned the help of Jehovah and having preferred their human help. Days of misfortune will come upon the royal house and the people of Judah, such as (i^?^, quales, as in Ex. X. 6) have not come upon them since the days of the calamity of the falling away of the ten tribes (Qi'P? with prefixed p, the vague expression of direction in time, as in Judg. xix. 30 ; 2 Sam. vii. 6 ; for which elsewhere is also used Qi'i!i"ip?, with following infin., Ex. ix. 18 ; 2 Sam. xix. 25). The calling in of Assur laid the foundation for the overthrow of the king- dom of Judah not less than for that of the kingdom of Israel. Ahaz thereby became a tributary vassal of the Assyrian king, and although Hezekiah again became free from Assyria through the miraculous help of Jehovah, nevertheless what Nebuchadnezzar did was only the accomplishment of the frustrated undertaking of Sennacherib. "i^tJ'x T]^0 ns stands with incisive force at the end of the two verses. The ON is frequently placed where to an indefinite object is appended the more particularly defined object (Gen. vi. 19, xxvi. 34). Cheyne thinks that the closing words I'lK'K "i^o DK weaken the energy of the expression, and that their ultra - distinctness betrays the fact of their being an interpolation. Like Knobel and others, he rejects them as a gloss. But even if ']bD2 '\)^ii in ver. 20a be a gloss, here the words appear to me to be like the arrow point of vers. 16, 17. The very king to whom Ahaz has recourse in his terror will bring Judah to the brink of destruction. Besides, the entirely loose unconnected succession of ver. 1 7 after ver. 1 6 is very effective. The hope sj which ver. 16 gives rise to in Ahaz, is suddenly transformed into bitter deception. In the view of such catastrophes, I^iah prophesies the birth of Immanuel. At the time when he will understand aright what is good and bad, he will eat only thickened milk and honey ; and this fact has its reason in the desolation of the whole of the old territory of the Davidic king- dom which will precede his maturer youth, when he would choose other kinds of food if they were to be found. Consequently the birth of Immanuel in the vision of the prophet qccurs^in CHAPTEK VII. 18. 213 the interval between that present time and the A.-isyrian oppressions, and his earliest childhood runs parallel with the Assyrian oppressio^. ~Tn any case, their consequences are still lusting during the time of his riper youth. This^cannot be taken away from the prophecy; nor does Bredenkamp (who takes inyn^ as determining a purpose " in order that he may know what Ahaz has not known : to reject the evil and to choose the good ") succeed thereby as he intends in separat- ing the birth of Immanuel from being interwoven with the Syro-Ephraimitish war. We shall afterwards see how, not- withstanding this involvement, the truth of the prophecy nevertheless continues to exist. What now follows in vers. 18—25 is only the development in detail of ver. 17. The promising side of the nis remains in the background. In the presence of Ahaz the promise must be dumb. So much the more eloquent is the threatening of judgment expressed from ver. 18 : "And it comes to pass in that day, Jehovah shall hiss for the fiy that is at the end of the Nile-arms of Egypt, and the hee that is in the land of Assur ; and they come and settle down all of them in the valleys of the declivities, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thorn thieJcets, and in all the meadoivs." The prophet y already said in chap. v. 26 that Jehovah would hiss for dis- tant peoples, and now he is able to name them by name. Bees and swarms of flies are also used as a Homeric image . for swarms of peoples, //. ii. 87 : '^vre edvea elal ^ekiaaawv L aSiz^awi', and 469 : r/vre fividcov aBivdcov edvea iroWd. Here the images are likewise emblematic. The Egyptian people, being unusually numerous, is compared to the swarming fly (2l2f, i ,[jj, from ( ,J, to move much and inconstantly hither • and thither) ; and the Assyrian people, being warlike and eager for conquest, is compared to the stinging bee, which is so difficult to turn away (Dent. i. 44; Ps. cxviii. 12); n-jh'^ from "lai, ^_o, to be behind one another, to follow one another, drive, swarm. The emblems also correspond to the nature of the two countries ; the fly to slimy Egypt, which, from being such, abounds in insects (see chap, xviii. 1),^ and the bee to the more moun- ^ Egypt abounds in midges, gnats, gadflies, and especially muscariae, in- cluding a species of small flies (jvj», *-^- 1000 shekels of silver, recall to mind Song of Sol. viii. 1 1 ; but there that is the value of the yearly produce. Here the thousand shekels are the value of a thousand vines, the designation of a peculiarly valuable bit of vineyard. In the present day the value of a vineyard in Lebanon and Syria is still reckoned according to the value of the separate vines, and usually one vine is reckoned as worth one piastre, a little more than two- pence each, just as in Germany a Johannesberg vine is valued at a ducat. Every piece of land where such precious vines stand will become a prey to thorny brushwood. People go CHAPTEE VII. 23-25. 217 there ("i^^ i^i^^, retraction of the tone, with following Milel) ^ with arrow and bow, because the whole ground will have become thorns and thistles (see on chap. v. Qa), and therefore wild beasts will make their abode among them. And thou, — thus does the prophet address the dweller in the country, — thou comest not to all the hills which have been hitherto most carefully cultivated,^ thou comest not to them in order to make them again fertile, from fear {^^y. in the accusative = nx"i'0) of thorns and thistles, i.e. because the thick undergrowth frightens thee from attempting to reclaim such a fallow. Jerome, Vitringa, Ewald, and others interpret otherwise : timor veprium non venid illuc, but ns^ xi3n"X^ has a personal meaning ; if nsn^ were the subject, the expression would have been Dsian. Thus, then, they give the oxen free course there, and let what grows be trodden down by sheep and goats. The description is intentionally tautological and pleonastic, heavy and dragging. It aims at giving the impression of a waste heath, of a dull uniformity. Hence the repetitions of ^''J) and n^ni. In vers. 23-25, whatever is intended as historically future may be also in every case translated by the future ; the impf Qf'"'T.'?''., ver. 23a, expresses the condition of things at the breaking in of the devastation (" where when this breaks so and so many vines will stand"); only jmy in ver. 25a has not a future, but a present signification ; not sarrientur, and still less sarriehantur, but sarriuntur, as expressing tlie culti- vation going on at present. The indefinite subject of i^^ni. in ver. 251) is all that lies round about. Thus far doe-i the discourse of Isaiah to king Ahaz go. He does not say expressly when Immanuel will be born, but only what will have happened before he enters upon the riper years of boyhood : namely, first the devastation of Israel and Syria, and then the devastation of Judah itself by the Assyrians. But when he represents Immanuel as eating thickened milk and honey as well as all those who survive the Assyrian oppressions in the Holy Land, he manifestly beholds and thinks of the childhood of Immanuel as coincid- ing with the time of the Assyrian calamities. In such a ^ In the Codices the remark is expressly made on X13'' : yV^ Dy03 '3 P3 p J?CJ'in% i.e. twice occurring as Milel, here and in Deut. i. 33. ^ Compare the reminiscence in the Mishna, Peak ii. § 2. !/ 218 ISAIAH. combined perspective view of events which lie far apart, consists what Chr. A. Crusius has designated the complex character of the prophecy.^ The ground of this complex character of it is the human limitation attaching to the far look of the prophet, which limitation the Spirit of God allows to exist and makes subservient to Himself. If we cleave to the letter of the prophecy, it is possible on account of its complex character to find fault with its truth ; but if we look upon the substance of w^iat it contains, it will be found that its truth is not thereby destroyed. For the things which the prophet sees together are also essentially connected although not in time. If Isaiah here, in chaps, vii.-xii., looks upon Assyria absolutely as the universal empire (cf. 2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; Ezra vi. 22), this is so far true, seeing that the four empires from the Babylonian to the Eoman are really only the unfolding of the beginning which had its beginning in Assyria. And if, here in chap, vii., he thinks of the son of the virgin as growing up under the Assyrian oppressions, this is also so far true, since Jesus was actually born in a time in which the Holy Land, deprived of its earlier fulness of bless- ing, found itself under the supremacy of the universal empire, and in a condition which went back to the unbelief of Ahaz as its ultimate cause. Besides He, who in the fulness of time became flesh, does truly lead an ideal life in the Old Testa- ment history. The fact that the house and people of David did not perish in the Assyrian calamities is really, as chap. viii. presupposes, to be ascribed to His presence, which, although not yet in bodily form, was nevertheless active. Thus is solved the contradiction between the prophecy and the history of its fulfilment. We do not need to have recourse to the expedient of Bengel, Schegg, Schmieder, and others, who hold that the mx consists in an event just about to happen, which points typically to the birth of the real Immanuel ; nor do we require the expedient of Hofmann, who takes the words of the prophet as an emblematic prophecy of the rise of a new Israel which will come to spiritual understanding in a troublous 1 Ed. Konig (Offenharungsbegriff des A. T. ii. 388, 389, 1882) thinks this subject can be more correctlj' formulated thus: "God makes what was announced by prophecy separate itself in reality into different stai:ces." CHAPTER Vlir. 1, 2. 219 feime, due to the want of understanding in the Israel of that present time. Eather is the view of Vitringa^ Haneberg, Eeusch, Vihiiar, and others to be adopted, namely, that the prophet makes the stages in the life of the Messiah of the far future to be time-measures of the events of the immediate future. This he actually does ; but in prophesying, without holding the birth of Immanuel to be an event of the distant future, he combines him who is seen in vision with the approaching tribulations. Far sight and near sight are com- bined with each other in his prophecy ; the prophecy is divine within human limits. Two Signs of the Immediate Future, Chtap. VIII. 1-4. In the midst of the continued turmoils of the Syro- Ephraimitish war, Isaiah receives God's instruction to perform a peculiar prophetic action. Vers. 1, 2 : " Then Jehovah said to me, Take thee a large tablet, and write thereon in common legible lines : In speed trophies, booty hastens} And I will take for me trustworthy witnesses : Uriah the priest and Zecharioh the son of Jebcrechiali." The tablet (cf. iii. 23, where the same word signifies a metal mirror), perhaps a smoothed tablet of wood, is to be large, in order to produce the impression of its being monumental ; and the writing upon it is to be C'i3X LS^ri, the stylus of the people, i.e. writing in the usual popular character, consisting of inartistic lines easily read (cf. Eev. xiii. 18, xxi. 17). What is to be written is introduced with p of dedication, as in Ezek. xxxvii. 16, or, more generally, of relation, as, e.g., j^ Jer. xxiii. 9. But as it is not a personal name which the ^ introduces, but a thing, "inpp will have to be taken, as Luzzatto does, for fut. instans, according to Gen. xv. 12; Josh. ii. 5 ; Hab. i. 1 7 (see remark upon it) =: acceleratura sunt spolia, spoils are about to be hastened. Most of the commentators confuse the nature of the thing by taking these words at once as the name of a person (Ewald, § 288c); they are not yet this at the outset, but only become such afterwards. At first they are an oracular announcement of what is future : trophies, booty, are at hand. — but who is the conquered one ? Jehovah and ^ [Maher-shalal-liash-baz.] / 220 ISAIAH. His prophet, although not initiated into the policy of Ahaz, know. But their knowledge is intentionally shrouded in the veil of mystery. For the inscription is not to predict any- thing to the people. It is only to be a means whereby publicly to announce that the course of events was one that was foreknown and pre-indicated by Jehovah. Accordingly, when what is said by the inscription on the tablet occurs, men will know that it is the fulfilment of this inscription, and therefore an event predetermined by God. On this account Jehovah takes to Himself witnesses. It is not necessary to read either '^"^"'i^^,^^, with Knobel and others (and I got to testify), nor nvynif with LXX. Targ. Syr. Hitzig (and get to testify). The relation is the same as with P''"it^ instead of P'iin in Ezek. v. 3. Jehovah says what He will do, and the prophet knows without its being necessary to be told him that it was to be done instrumentally through him. Uriah is doubtless the same person who afterwards set himself to serve the heathen desires of Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 1 sqq.). Zechariah ben Jeberechiah (Berechiah), of the same name as the post- exile prophet, was perhaps the Asaphite mentioned in 2 Chron. xxix. 13. The two are reliable witnesses as being persons of high distinction whose testimony is of great authority with the people. Accordingly, when the history of the time itself solves the enigma of that inscription, these two will tell the people how long before it had been written down by the prophet as such. In the meantime something occurred whereby the place of the dead tablet was taken by a more eloquent living one. Vers. 3, 4 : " And I approached the prophetess; and she con- ceived, and hear a son. Then said Jehovah to me : Call his name Swiftly — Trophies — Booty hastens ; for before the hoy ivill learn to cry my father and my mother, they will carry the property of Damascus and the trophies of Samaria he fore the king of Assur." How entirely different does ver. 3 sound from chap. vii. 14 ! The ns^a: is not the n^bj? there ; for if the son of the virgin is the Messiah, he is born into the house of David, and not into the house of the prophet. Besides, the prophet has already a son from his young wife, and she was no longer rrohv^ To his son Shearjashub, in whose name the 1 J. J. Raven (Cambridge), in his Essay on Isaiah vii.-ix. 7, observes on chap. viii. 3 : " Kow to accomplish the sign that was given to Ahaz, CHAPTER VIII. 3, 4. 221 law of the history of Israel was formulated to the prophet ou the occasion of his call in chap, vi., there is now added another son, to whom the inscription on the tablet (with omission of the b) is given as a name, and who therefore symbolizes the approaching chastisement of Syria and of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Before this boy learns to lisp the name of father and mother, they will carry away (i^f), not 3 imperf. Ni. which is ^^^\, but Kal with the latent un- determined subject Nf^'i^L', Ges. § 137. 3) the treasures of Damascus and the trophies {i.e. spoils taken from the flying or slaughtered enemy) of Samaria before the king of Assyria, and he will therefore leave the territory of the two capitals as a conqueror. It is true that Tiglath - Pileser only conquered Damascus and not Samaria ; but he wrested from Pekah, the king of Samaria, the land beyond the Jordan and also a part of the land on this side. The trophies which he took home from there to Assyria were not less ^?"^* Ihob' than if he, as Shalmanasar-Sargon afterwards did, had conquered Samaria. 'The birth of Mahershalal took place about three-quarters of a year later than the preparation of the tablet (for there is no need to take ^"^S^^] in the sense of a plupf.) ; and the interval defined from the birth of the boy till the chastisement of the allied kingdoms amounts to about one year. Now, as the Syro-Ephraimitish war did not begin later than in the first year of Ahaz, and as the chastisement by Tiglath-Pileser occurred during the lifetime of the allies, whereas Pekah was murdered soon thereafter (2 Kings xv. 30), there elapsed from the beginning of the war to the chastise- ment of the allies at most three years, and the setting forth of the tablet cannot consequently be assigned a much later date than the scene with Ahaz. The inscription on the tablet adopted as the name of the child was not a purely consolatory prophecy, since the prophet had shortly before prophesied that the same Assyria would devastate Judah as well as the two allied countries. It was only a practical proof of the omni- scient omnipotence of Jehovah shaping the history of the future. The prophet has indeed the melancholy vocation of the prophet takes to wife the young woman spoken of ; " but this and other forced hypothetical explanations — such as that Ahaz may have adopted Mahershalal — convict themselves. 222 ISAIAH. having to make obdvirate, to harden. Hence his discoursing and acting are so enigmatical in relation to both the king and the people. Jehovah foreknows the consequences which the calling in of the help of Assyria will have for Syria and Israel. This knowledge He writes down with the certification of witnesses. If this is fulfilled, it is at the same time a termination to the rejoicing of the king and people in their self-obtained deliverance. But Isaiah does not find himself surrounded merely by the very wide circle of an incorrigible people ripe for judgment. He does not stand alone, but is surrounded by a small band of believing disciples, who need consolation, and are worthy of it. It is to these that the promising other side of the prophecy of Immanuel belongs. Mahershalal cannot comfort or con- sole them ; for they know that when Assyria has done with Damascus and Samaria, the troubles of Judah are not over, but are only really about to begin. The prophecy of Immanuel is destined to be the stronghold of the believers in the terrible judgment time of the worldly power which was then commencing ; and to turn into the light and unfold the consolation it contained for the believers, is the purpose of the discourses which now follow. The Esoteric Discourses, Chaps. VIII. 5 -XII. A. — Immanuel's consolation in the coming darknesses, chap. viii. 5-ix. 6. The heading and introduction : " And Jehovah continued further to speak to me as folloivs," extends to all the following discourses as far as chap. xii. They all tend to consolation. But consolation presupposes need of consolation. Hence the prophet must also begin here with threatening of judgment. Vers. 6, 7 : " Forasmuch as this people despises the waters of Siloa that go softly and hold with delight to Rezin and the son of Remaliah — therefore behold ! the All- Lord hringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great ones, the king of Assur and all his host ; and it rises up over all his channels, and goes over all his hanks." The Siloa has the name oSk', or, according to a well - supported reading, n?tJ' CHAPTER VIII, 6, 7. 223 (the resolved open form like pJ''V, it^'p is interchanj^eable with the sharpened fornj like Ni^p, liny, '.i'3, and the full writing with the defective as in in^, ">if^^?^')' ^"^^ emittendo, either in an infinitive sense as shooting forth, or in a concretely coloured participal sense (after the form "li^a) as emissus {airea-Tdkfikvo'i, John ix. 7), bubbling forth ; cf. Talm. pnijtrn n''3, land to be artificially irrigated {op'pos. bv2r\ n''2, fertilized by rain).^ The " waters of Siloa " streamed from what is now called the Mary - spring, and they were brought from there to the ^/ western city by means of a canal sunk in the rocks ; and they served besides for watering the gardens lying at the outlet of Tyropoeon and the valley of Kedron (see Miihlau, Art. " Siloah " in Eiehm's Diet.). The canal had a slight slope ; the fall, therefore, was moderate \ and, further, the spring was intermittent. These still-flowing waters ^ present an image of \ the invisible ruling of God which does not always appear sensibly to the eye, — that God whom Israel and the royal house with which He had connected His promise might call their own. The beautiful figure was the more appropriate, that the Siloa passage ran through the Ophel from the north- east to the south-west, and the Siloa water therefore to a certain extent streamed from Zion. But Zion and the mount of the temple are one, and hence Jerome has good ground for representing the fons Siloe as flowing ad radices montis Sion, and again in radicihus montis Moria. The reproach of ^ Since Athias, the written form n'^E'n (without Dagesh) has come in. But all the editions from Soncin and the Complutensian to the Venetian of 1521 (as well as Nissel, Lombroso, and Hutter) have nWn. The Cod. Babyl. also writes it thus with Dagesh (although a later hand has erased it), and the Targum has Nni^JJ*. It is true that Kimchi also erroneously quotes (under the form ^iy^s) Tvh'^^; but there is not a single text which presents this double plena scriptio with ^ rapliahim. 2 Rabban Simon b. Gamaliel — as we read in Erachin 106 — taught that the Siloah poured forth water only to the extent of an as, that is, so that the opening of the spring had only the circumference of an as. Then the king ordered that it (the Siloah) was to be enlarged, that it might give more water. But, on the contrary, it gave less, so that they again made it smaller, and it then ran as before ; in order thus to confirm what is said in Jer. ix. 13 : "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might." 224 ISAIAH. despising the waters of Siloah applies to Judah as well as to Epliraim, and not to the latter only (Nagelsbach) : to the /^former, because it trusts in Assyria and despises the less tangible but surer help which the house of David — if it remained faithful — had to expect from the God of promise ; to the latter, because it had allied itself with Aram to over- throw the house of David. And yet the house of David, although sunken and deformed, is the God-chosen fountain- head of the salvation which is realized in secret still course. The second reproach applies more especially to Ephraim. riK is a prep. : and (because) delighting (is felt) with (see on the form of connection before a following preposition, Ges. § 116. 1), i.e. in and by the fellowship with Eezin and Pekab, nx b'^b like DJ? n^n. The substantive clause is pre- ferred to the verbal clause t^^l on account of the antithetical consonance of b'iba with dnd. Knobel and others refer the reproof to dissatisfied Jews who were secretly favourable to the undertaking of the two allies. But although there may have been such under the misgovernment of Ahaz (to which Luzzatto refers the D''P'^n; niKpn), yet chap. vii. 2 speaks of the people of Judah without exception, and ni;n Dyn, which in Isaiah mostly applies to Judah {e.g. chap. xxix. 13), but sometimes also to the whole people, with special reference to Ephraim (chap. ix. 15, cf. chap. ix. 7, 8), will consequently in attachment to chap. viii. 4 comprehend Ephraim. This is also confirmed by ver. 8 ; and chap. ix. 7 sqq. ma}' be cited ^ in support of it, where sin and punishment are also appor- tioned to Ephraim and Judah. An explanation which would allow the immediate reference of ntn oyn to Judah would be welcome. Such an expedient is furnished by Kohler {Gesch. ii. 1, p. 2), who refers 6 a to Judah and explains 6& thus : " And because nothing but jubilation prevails with Eezin and the son of Eemaliah about the previous succeeding of their .plans." But nx after t^iboi makes the impression that it indicates the object of the delighting. Perhaps DiDO is to be read with Meier and Bredenkamp, following which Eeuss also translates : et percl courage au sujet de Resin ; Diop, melt- ing away (chap. x. 18), for fear is perhaps pregnant for fearing, and is in virtue of a bold construction, tt^o? to o-Tjfiatvo/xevov (like b'^'^, chap. Ixv. 18), connected with the CHAPTER VIII. 8. 225 accusative of the object This melting away would corre- spond to the trembling like aspen leaves in chap. vii. 2. But however the text is to be taken, what is threatened in vers. 7, 8 must be referred to Ephraim and Judah. The image of the invasion of Assyria is, as in Jer. xlvii, 2, taken ^ from the periodic overflowings of the Euphrates. Tlie over- How of the Assyrian host p^^^ here used of a heavy massive / nuiltitude) strikes Ephraim first, in whose territories it flows over everything. P'SS is the channel holding tlie water, and nnji the bank ; riiia is abbreviated from ni-ia. The threat of punishment is introduced by \^^\ ; \ is like the Arab. ,_; , the mark of sequence (Ewald, § 3486). The words i=iti'S 'ij^'pTis we take as an elucidation by the prophet himself, as in chap. vii. 17. Not till then, but certainly then, and irresistibly, this overflowing reaches on to Judah. Ver. 8: ''And presses fonvard into Judah, overjiows, and streams farther, till it reaches to the neck ; and the spreadings out of its wings fill thy land, as hroad as it is, Immanuel ! " Ephraim is put wholly under water by the river ; it perishes entirely. But ^ in Judah the river rolling on (i?y, driving farther or there- over, Hab. i. 11) and pressing forwards {^^^), really reaches the most dangerous height ; yet if a deliverer is found, there u- is still a possibility of being saved. Such a deliverer is Immanuel. To him the prophet complains that the land which is his land, and not merely the land of his birth (Gen. xii. 1 ; Jonah i. 8) but of his dominion (cf. chap. ix. 6), is almost swallowed up by the world-power ; the land has become filled in its whole breadth (cf. on n^ni, Ges. § 1-4 7a) by the outspreadings (nit^p, a Hophal noun ; cf. similar nominal forms in ver. 23, chap. xiv. 6, xxix. 3, and especially Ps. Ixvi. 11^) of the wings of the stream, i.e. of the masses of water covering the land, pouring from the main stream like two equally broad wings, on either side of the trunk. The figure of wings of the stream is introduced by the fact that ^ the stream represents the army of Assyria, and the wings of the stream are the "'^ax^ the wings of the army of Assyria. •• ntD3, to spread itself out, applied to a river, corresponds to the Arab. maddu, yamuddu, which is also said of the water passing over its bank and the surroundings, and flooding them. VOL. I. P 226 ISAIAH. But it also ricaturally occurs from tlie nature of the subject to compare the onward hurrying stream to a bird shooting thither ; 'AeTo^ is an old name of the Nile/ Immanuel, whether it be written masoretically as one word or as two, is here in any case used as a proper name, as in chap. vii. 14 (as Jerome remarks, nomen pro23rm7n own interpretatum). Bredenkamp makes the apostrophe of Immanuel into an apostrophe of the people of Judah, and takes Sx iJDy as the watchword : With us is God. But we cannot let this Old Testament invocation of the name of the future Christ (Acts ix. 14 ; 1 Cor. i. 2) be so easily wrested from us. The upturned look, imploring help, does not remain un- answered. The lamentation over the threatening destruction is immediately transformed into the jubilation of holy defiance. Vers. 9, 10: "Exasperate yourselves, peop)les, and hrcah to pieces ; and learn it, all distances of the ea.rth ! Gird yourselves, and hreah to _2:>t'ecgs ; gird yourselves, and break to pieces ! Counsel council, and it comes to naught; speak speech, and it does not become real : for with us is God." The second imperat- ives in ver, 9 are threatening words of authority, having a future signification, and alternating in ver. 10 with imper- fects : Go on exasperating yourselves (^y'l with the tone on the penult., and therefore not Pu. of nj?"i, consociari, as the Targum translates, but the Qal of VT\, malum esse), go on equipping yourselves ; nevertheless ye are about to fall in pieces (^iPih from nnn, related to rin3, confringi, consternari). The prophet classes together all the peoples that are rushing on against God's people, pronounces upon them the sentence of annihila- tion, and calls upon all the distant lands to hear this ultimate fate of the kingdom of the world spoken to them. The world - kingdom must be shattered to pieces in the land of Immanuel ; for with us — as the watchword of believers runs in reference to Him — with us is God ! 1 A. V. G. in the Lit. GBl. 1869, Kr. 5, puts forward the conjecture tliat AiyvTrro;, which is also used as an original name of the river, is equiva- lent to ctiyvTrio;, because the powerful many -armed river made the impression on the first Hellenes of a bird of prey with powerful pinions. Unrecfio; is hardly to be derived from ■rriT-oucti, but rather from -tti — n[E]T— ^, and is therefore synonymous with pii (see A. Kolbe in the Zeitschrift ficr d. Gymnasiahccsen, xx. 927X CHAPTER VIII. 11, 12. 227 . There now follows in ver. 11 an explanatory proposition. It seems at first sight to turn away to a different theme, but it stands in the closest connection with the triumphal words of vers. 9, 10. Immanuel is the stronghold, the fortress of the believers in the approaching time of Assyrian judgment. He and in Him God, and not any kind of human support. This is the connection of vers. 11, 12: "For Jehovah has thus spolccn to me, ovcrpoiocring me with God's hand, and pressing it uj)07i me not to walk in the vxiy of this people, saying : Call not conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and ivhat is feared hy it fear not, and do not think terrible." ^*n, the hand, is the absolute hand which, when it is laid upon a man, overpowers all his perception, feeling, and thinking ; 1*n nprn (that is to say, vy, Ezek. iii. 14) is therefore the condition in which God's hand shows itself peculiarly strong on the pro- phet, the state of a peculiarly pressing and impressive working of God. Luther, like the Syriac, erroneously interprets it : as if he takes me ly the hand ; riprn is related to the Kal, invalescere, not to the Hi. apprehendere. This circumstantial statement, and not the main verb ip^<, is what is carried on in "jnDM ; for the latter term is not 3 j?. 2^'/. ^l-, which would have to be Vlf.V as Ps. cxviii. 18 0;i^"]li^ Josh. ii. 18, is the form of address to a woman, with e instead of ^), nor does it need to so be corrected ; rather is this 3 p. impcrf. Kal (without sufiix "iQ^., Hos. X. 10, whereas impif. Pi. "iQ^l) closely con- nected with nM nprna, according to the analogy of the usual passing of the participial and infinitive expression into the finite form. With overwhelming influence and instructively warning against going in the way of this people, Jehovah spake to the prophet as follows. The warning runs to the effect that the prophet and those who stand on his side are not to call i^p. what the mass of the people call "it^'p. (cf. the cry of Athaliah, "itr'p "ili'p, 2 Chron. xxiii. 13). The combination of Eezin and Pekah does not appear to be meant, for that was, in fact, an actual conspiracy or league against the house and people of David. Still less can the warning mean that believers, when they see how the unbelieving Ahaz brings the people into misfortune, ought not to enter into conspiracy against the person of the king (Hofmann, Drechsler) ; they are not warned, in fact, against making -ic''p, but from joining in the 228 ISAIAH. popular cry when the people say -iC'p. Eoorda is therefore perhaps right when he explains it thus : sermo hie est de con- juratione, quae dicebatur prophetae et discipidorum ejus. The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos (Amos vii. 10) and Jeremiah ; when the prophets were zealous against calling in foreign assistance, they were treated as being in the service of the enemy, and as having conspired for the over- throw of the kingdom. Those who were honest were not to share in this confusion of ideas. But this explanation of Eoorda is seen to be impossible, by the fact that the warning is introduced as addressed to the prophet himself ; and even if it is to be regarded as applying mainly to the disciples gathered around him, yet it cannot exclude himself. No solution of the enigma justifies the transformation of the "itrp into t^'npj as held by Seeker, Gratz, and Cheyne ; for that Isaiah with his disciples is warned against making the religion of the people theirs, is a thought quite foreign to the connection, nor is it so expressed that the warning could be understood according to ver. 19. We are therefore thrown back upon the explanation which has been commonly adopted since Jerome : noli duorum regum timere conjurationcm. The prophet and his followers are not to call the enterprise of Eezin and Pekah conspiracy ; and they are generally not to join with cowardly political newsmongers (Nagelsbach) in the worldly ways of judging and speaking of the people who look upon things apart from God, nor in the hue and cry (2 Kings xi. 4) of the rabble who deny the higher hand in all things (Knabenbauer) ; they are not to fear 0'^"]^'^) what is to the people an object of fear (with subj. suffix, which is applied objectively in 1 Pet. iii. 14), nor are they to regard it as terrible, or feel it as terrible (Pl^i^, as in chap. xxix. 2 3 ; Deut. i. 29, and in the Jewish Tefilla "^flV^., "we shudder before thee "). The object of its fear was a very different one. A^ers. 1 3-1 5 : " Jehovah of hosts, Him sanctify ; and let Him he your fear, and let Him he your terror ; so will He become a sanctuary, hut a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, a snare and trap to the inhabitants of Jeru- salem. And many among them vjill stumble and will fall, and break to pieces, and be snared, and taken." With ^l^\ commences CIIArTER VIII. 13-15. 229 the logical apodosis to ver. 13. If ye actually confess Jehovah the Holy One as such a one (^'"'^iP'?, as in chap, xxix. 23, for which there is only once Pi. in Dent, xxxii. 51), and if it is He whom ye fear, and who fills you with terror, (P"},^^. used of the object of the terror as ^"^^^ of the object of the fear, and therefore it is that which terrifies in a causative sense), then He will become a t^'^k'P. trnpo may indeed also denote the sanctified object or the object to be sanctified, as Knobel understands it here according to Num. xviii. 29 (cf. the plural in Lev. xxi. 23 ; Ezek. xxviii. 18, res sandae) ; but keeping to the idea of the word, this gives an unmeaning apodosis. Usually :^'ipo means the sanctified place, the sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum is easily associated, because the temple was also regarded among the Israelites as an asylum, and was also generally respected as such (1 Kings i. 50, ii. 28 ; 1 Mac. x. 43 ; cf. Ex. xxi. 14). This is the explanation given here by most expositors ; and the punctuators also took it in this sense, seeing that they have divided the two halves of ver. 14, as antithetical, by athnach ; and thus C'lpO is to be understood really, and to be translated sanctuary (Driver), and not asylum or refuge, which would be too narrow. The temple is not only a place of shelter, but also of grace, of blessing, of peace. Whoever sanctifies the Lord of lords, him He encompasses like temple walls ; He hides him in Himself while death and tribulation dwell without, and He comforts, feeds, and blesses him in his fellowship. C'lpab n\m must thus be explained, as I still always think, according to such passages as chap. iv. 5, 6 ; Ps. xxvii. 5, xxxi. 21, and Prov. xviii. 10 ; for the sequence makes us expect the expression of what Jehovah will become for those who sanctify Him. Another view is held by Eeuss, who understands tj'lpo to mean an unapproachable dBvrov (J.r^) (see Baudissin, Studien, ii. 89), and similarly Breden- kam.p, and v. Orelli : " Sanctuary, He showing Himself as the destroying one whom one does not profane unpunished ; " Cheyne, " and He shall show Himself as holy." But this gives an idea that is not germane to the following series of synonyms, and a thought that is not to be expected in relation to ver. 13. One expects the statement that He will become 230 ISAIAH. a sanctuary to those who sanctify Him, also on His side. The antithesis follows : to the two houses of Israel, on the con- trary, i.e. to the mass of the people of the two kingdoms as a whole, which neither sanctifies nor fears Jehovah, He becomes a rock and snare/ The synonyms are intentionally accumulated (comp. xxviii. 13) in order to make the impression of a manifold but always inevitable fate of death. The first three verbs of ver. 1 5 refer to ]^^ (stone) and "i^\* (rock), and the last two to na (snare) and ti'i?.i'2 (springe).^ All those who do not give the honour to Jehovah are dashed to pieces by His ruling as on a stone, and they are caught in it as in a trap. Accordingly, 2^ might refer to ps and ii^ (on them, as Gesenius, Hitzig, and Cheyne explain it); but why then not 11 on Him ? "We take D3, v^ith Ewald. and Nagelsbach, partitively like 13 in chap. x. 22. The words that follow in ver. 16 : " Bind up the tcstimomj, seal the doctrine among my disciples" is either a prayer of the prophet addressed to God (Drechsler and others), certainly not to Immanuel (Vitringa), or a command of God to the prophet. As the word of God to the prophet has preceded this, and as God is not expressly addressed, it is such an instruction as we find in Dan. viii. 26, xii. 4, 9, Eev. xxii. 20, and elsewhere, addressed to the seers of things in the far future. The explanation of Eosenniiiller, Knobel, and others, namely, by bringing in God-taught men (adhihitis viris jpiis ct sapientihus), is grammatically impossible. As keep- ing safely requires a place, the immediate local significance of the 3 has to be maintained. People tie together (i^V imper. liV, instead of iv, the more orthographic mode of writing it, not infin. absolute, which would be I'lV) what they wish not to get separated and to be lost ; men seal (^^^) what is to be kept secret, and is only to be opened by one entitled to do it. ^ As Jerome on this passage informs us, the " two houses " were referred by Jewish Christians {Nazaraei qui ita Christum recipiunt ut ohservationes legis veteris non aclmittant) to the schools of Shammai and Hillel. 2 Malbim correctly remarks : "riQ catches but does not injure ; ti'pij^ catches and injures [e.g. by breaking off the legs or by crushing the nose, Job xl. 24] ; the former is the simple snare [like the simple snare or gin for catching fieldfares] ; the latter is the springe [a rod bent like a bow, of a flexible nature, which easily springs back], and the snare which catches by means of the springe (Amos iii. 5)." J> CHAPTER VIII. 17, 18. 231 And so the testimony of the prophet which rehites to the future, and his instruction designed to prepare for this future — that nn^yn and nnin wliich the great mass in their obduracy do not understand, and spurn in their self-hardening — has to be deposited by him well secured and well preserved, as if by band and seal, in the hearts of those who with believing obedience receive the prophetic word pi'^p, of the same form as T^W, ready to learn and learned, common to both halves of the collection of prophecy, chap. 1. 4, liv. 13). For it would be all over with Israel unless a community of believers con- tinued to exist ; and it would be all over with this community if the word of God, which is the ground of their life, escaped from their heart. There is here already announced the great idea which the second part of the Book of Isaiah carries out in the grandest style. The command in ver. 16 stands un- connected without nrisi like the beginning of a new discourse, and in ver 17 the prophet continues to speak of himself without "'^^,1; ''^''?D1 is the perf. of sequence. Ver. 17: " / luait then upon Jehovah who conceals His face from the house of Jacob, and, I hope on Him.!' There is a lacuna per- ceptible between vers. 17 and 16, and the supposition that something has fallen out (Cheyne) suggests itself. '^'^'^ gets from the fundamental meaning of " making fast " the mean- ing of firmly directing, of straining the mind towards some- thing future, just as nj;5^ ^ ;, originally means to be strained, firm, strong, and ^)? therefore signifies strained expectation, confident hope. With the % form T'''?'!^"!, the older e, form Wp") interchanges (Ges. § 75, 9). A time of judgment has now commenced which will last for a long time yet ; but the word of God is the pledge of Israel's continuance in the midst of it, and of Israel's renewed glorification beyond it. The prophet therefore hopes in the grace which has now hidden itself behind the wrath. The future is his home, and he also serves it with his whole house. Ver. 18:" Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah has given me for sig7is and types in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth upon Mount Zion." He presents himself to the Lord with his children ; he devotes himself with them to Him. His bodily children are meant, not his spiritual children (his disciples, as Jerome 232 ISAIAH. Calvin, Vitringa, and Bredenkamp explain it). It is not the latter, for the obvious reason that it would then be expressed by D''32n, according to the analogy of D''N''33n ""^n and 0?, the " my son " of the Proverbs. •» They are indeed Jehovah's gift, and certainly given for a higher purpose than the common everyday happiness of the family. They serve as signs and types ministering to the purpose of the history of salvation. nix is a preindication and token, cr7)fj,etov, in word and deed, which (whether it is itself something miraculous or natural) points to the future and is a pledge of it. nsio (after the form ipio = idnd and ITX^, from nss', or after the form 1J/i», ^'p)^ from ns^ = npx, ^j^il — "n^C, CXi^) is a miraculous work, repa'?, which refers to a supernatural cause or type, tutto? (prodiffiiim=porridigm7n), which points beyond itself to something future and concealed, literally turned round, that is, opposed to the common, para- doxical, striking, standing out ; Arab. c:..-aJ^, res mira, Beivov tl. His children are signs and enigmatic images of the future, and that from Jehovah of hosts who dwells on Zion. In accordance with His counsel (to which the QV in Di?p points), He has set up these signs and types. He who can realize the future which they represent as certainly as He is Jehovah of hosts, and who will realize it as certainly as He has chosen the hill of Zion for the place of His gracious presence on earth. Shear-jashub and Mahershalal are indeed figures of future wrath no less than of future grace, but the name of their father ^'^1Vp\ declares that the salvation of Jehovah is the ultimate end. Isaiah and his children are figures and emblems of the redemption which is making way for itself through judgment. The Epistle to the Hebrews in chap. ii. 13 puts the words of Isaiah into the mouth of Jesus, because the spirit of Jesus was in Isaiah, — the spirit of Jesus which in this holy family, bound together by bands of the shadow, pointed to the New Testament community, bound together by bands of the substance. Isaiah and his children, together with his wife, and the believing disciples gathered around this family, form upon the ground and soil of the present CHAPTER VIII. 19. 2o3 massa perdita of Israel the stock of the community or church of the Messianic future. To this ecclesiola in ccdcsia is directed the admonition of the prophet in ver. 19: " And when they shall say to you, Inquire ye of the necromancers and of the soothsayers who chirp and vjhisp)er — shall not a p)eople inquire at their God .? for the living at the dead!" It is unnecessary to take 19a as an anacolouthon (as Cheyne does) : 1 9& is the apodosis, as 'nOND nb Di?b easily completes itself. Those who are demanding are Jews of the existing stamp; for, from chaps, ii. 6, iii. 2, 3, we know that all kinds of heathen superstition had found their way into Jerusalem, and were practised there as a trade. Tliose to whom the prophet assigns the answer are his chil- dren and disciples. The circumstances of the time were critical. People were going to wizards to obtain information about the gloomy future. 2ix (from nix, to be bellied or hollow, to sound indistinctly) means primarily the spirit of sorcery or witchcraft, then the possessor of such a spirit = 3ix 7J?3, and more especially the necromancer or conjurer of the dead. ■'py^'; means primarily the possessor of a spirit of soothsaying (TTvdcoi' or iTvev^ia tov irvOwvo^;), Syr. jadiia (after the inten- sive form ?^y3 with unchangeable vowels), then also the soothsaying spirit itself (Lev. xx. 27 ; Deut. xviii. 11), which may have been called \^Vy,, just as halixoov is, according to Plato, =r Sarj/iicov. These people, designated by the LXX. here and elsewhere as iyyaarpofivOoL, i.e. ventriloquists (at eic ri]^ Koi\iani ^liS ..^ii, ohtcgcre, the veiling round, darkening). The judgment of God does not convert them, but only heightens their bad- ness ; just as in Eev. xvi. 11, 21, after the pouring out of the fifth and the seventh vials of wrath, men utter blasphemies and do not penitently cease from their works. After this statement of what the people sees when it turns up its eyes or casts them down, the participial closing clause of ver. 22 fin. tells how it sees itself: in caliginem pro2Julsum. There is no need to supply a completing t<^n, but from the preceding nsn there is easily repeated i^n or '^^'}, en ipsiim ; "^p?^, ace. loci, stands with emphasis first, as in Jer. xxiii. 12, '^l'?^^. What next follows would be directly connected if mjD nijssi could mean at caligo clispcllitur (more exactly, est aliquicl quod dis- Ijcllitur). This is tlie view of Hitzig and of Chr. A. Crusius. But the verb mj, the part. Piial, the shrill interruption of the 1 Menaliem b. Seruk in his Lexicon (written c. 950), under the word |2X, assumes the reading "13^22- CHAPTEE VIII. 23. 237 gloomy night - image whose close is expected, is altogether opposed to this interpretation. And yet the reason -giving '>:i, which now follows, assumes the thought that it will not always continue thus ; but as it remains unexpressed we must seek to get it by looking back to nnti' )b px '\^ii. The prophet gives the reason for the assumption involved in the words he has used, namely, that a renewed dawning of light is to be expected, although not for that present genera- tion. Ver. 23 : "For it docs not remain darh where there is now distress : at the first time he has trought into ignominy the land of Zebrdon and the land of Na'phtali, and in the last he hrings to honour the road hy the sea, the other side of the Jordan, the circle of the heathen." Is vh ""a to be understood as inter- rogative with Abravanel and Luzzatto ? (cf. 2 Kings v. 26); for is it not surrounded with night . . . ? Such a form of address expressed by vh with the accent of interrogation, is the style of Hosea, but not of Isaiah. Or is ''3, by supplying the intermediate clause, " it will not so continue," to be trans- lated by "but" or "nay, rather, immo," Ewald, § 3306 (Cheyne, 1870, "nay," now, " surely")! This would be a harsh ellipsis. We have not to read between the lines what is grounded by ''3 ; but the statement that the unbelieving people of Judah is passing into a night without a morning, is grounded on the fact that a morning is cominfj whose lioht, however, does not rise first over the land of Judah, but over other regions of the land. The transition is harsh, how- ever explained. Eeuss remarks : Transition brusque (chap, iv. 2, vi. 13) d la prediction d'un changement heureux. ^^^i'^ and P^^J^, because formed from piy and pvi, cannot have arisen from flV)? and pi?]^ (as np^^'^0, a tube for pouring through, from •^P,^"".?), and are therefore to be regarded as Hophal nouns, like n^SD in chap. viii. 8. They indicate that which (o, tl) is darkened, oppressed, and then also that {otl) it is darkened, oppressed, and therefore the fact or circumstance of darkening and oppression ; and they thus pass into the meaning of abstract verbal terms, being darkened, being oppressed. The meaning is that there is not, i.e. there does not continue, a state of surrounding night on the land (y^, like ^3 in ver. 21, to be referred to pN) which is now in a state of distress, and, moreover, those very regions which God formerly made to ^ 238 ISAIAH. experience deep humiliations, will be brought by Him in the future to honour (/?.[} = ^\?.[}, opp. T'^an, as in chap, xxiii. 9). The height of the glorification will correspond to the depth of the ignominy. The noun riy, however it be construed, is used as masculine, although it is originally feminine, how- ever it may be derived. It is not correct to translate with Knobel : as in the former time, etc., so that DV is ace. temp., and S^iy^'^j? for ? is never used conjunctionally in this way (see on Ps. xxxviii. 15) and in chap. Ixi. 11, Job vii. 2, the verbal clauses after 3 are elliptical relative clauses. The rendering adopted by Eosenmliller and many others is also wrong : sieut tempus prius vilem reddidit, etc. Hence, too, the 1 of liinj^ni. is not the toaw of sequence used in place of i? of comparison, Ewald, § 360a. Both I'ltJ'S-in ny3 and jnnsn are adverbial determinations of time. The prophet intention- ally designates the time of ignominy with 3, because this is a period in which the same fate should occur again and again. And, on the other hand, he indicates the time of the glorifica- tion with ace. temp., because it comes in at once in order to continue unchangingly. It is undoubtedly possible also that ilinsn is regarded as the subject, but the antithesis thereby become incongruent. The region ('""Vlr) localis, with the signification obliterated, as in Job xxxiv. 13, xxxvii. 12, cf. Ezek. xxi. 31) of Naphtali is the later Upper Galilee, and the region of Zebulon is the later Lower Galilee. In the antithetical parallel clause what is meant by the two regions is specialized : (1) '^*'] ^"?.l is the tract of land on the western side of the "733 D;'(Eashi, xnntp hf n?i)^_) ; (2) I^/.n iny, the country east of the Jordan ; (3) Q)i3n yh^, the northern border district of Palestine, only a part of the later so called TaXiXaia. All these regions were exposed from the time of the judges, by their local position, to the disintegration of heathen infl.uences, and to subjection by heathen enemies. The northern tribes on this side, along with those on the other side, suffered most in the almost incessant war of Israel with the Syrians and in the later war with the Assyrians ; and the deportation of their inhabitants went on increasing under Phul-Tiglathpileser and Shalmanasar until it gradually came to utter depopulation (Caspari, Beitr. pp. 116—118). It is these very regions which will be remembered before- all CHAPTER IX. 1. 239 others when that dawn of glory arises. How this has been fulfilled in the commencement of the Christian era, is stated in Matt. iv. 13 sqq. On the ground of this prophecy of Isaiah, and not, as Eenan in chap. xiii. of his Life, of Jesus says, of a " considerably erroneous exposition of it," the Messianic hope of the Jewish people was actually directed to '' Galilee.^ The Nazarenes, indeed, according to Jerome on this passage, referred ver. 23& to the light of the gospel spread in tcrminos gentiiim et viavi universi maris by the Pauline preaching. In the time of the crusades, the via maris was still the name of the way passing by the Mediterranean from Acco to Damascus ; but it is impossible to take Q^'n here as referring to the Mediterranean, for it was the Philistines and Phenicians who inhabited the D''n l"n in this sense. But the prophet intends to designate the regions belonging to the Israelitish people which have suffered ignominy and affliction above all others. The prophecy now takes together the inhabitants of those rejected and degraded regions, while at the same time the range of vision is widened. Chap. ix. 1 : " The pcoi^le ivfwK, walk in darkness see a great light ; they who dwell in a land f of the shadoiu of death — a light shines forth over them." The horizon is enlarged, not, however, to the heathen, but to the/ whole of Israel. Salvation does not break forth till it haS become entirely dark along the horizon of Israel, as in chap. V. 30, till the land of Jehovah, on account of the falling away of its inhabitants from Him, has become a land of the shadow ,' of death. ri"iop^' is modified^ in the manner of a composite 1 It is a Jewish tradition that the Messiah will appear in Galilee, and that the redemption will break forth from Tiberias ; see Literaturblatt des Orients, 1843, Col. 776 ; cf. Eisenmenger, ii. 747. 2 The shadow, 'pv? Arab. gi'W (radically different from _*=?>' as, e.g., in ''?^?^'?), like the proper name ^ilipTy in 2 Sam. xxiii. 31, being modified from Tm^i according to the form T\r\'}\>_ (from D^^*, Aeth. salSma, Arab, zaliina, to be dark). The apostate mass of the people is to be regarded as swept away ; for if death has cast his shadows over the land, it must be quite desolate. In this state of things those remain- ing in the land behold a great light which breaks through the sky hitherto covered with blackness. The people which turns its eyes upwards in vain, because with cursing, chap. viii. 21, is no more ; it is the remnant of Israel which sees this light of spiritual and material redemption rise above their heads. The prophet, in what follows, tells what this light consists in, first describing the blessings and then the star of the new time. He tells it in a thanksgiving of prayer and praise. Ver. 2 : " Tliou mahcHt the nation numerous, ]prc2Jarest for it great joy ; they rejoice before thee like, the joy in, harvest, as men rejoice ivhen they divide spoil." "'i^L' is doubtless the Israel that has melted down to a small remnant. That God makes this again into a numerous people, is a leading feature in the picture of the time of glory (chap. xxvi. 15, Ixvi. 8 ; Zech. xiv. 10, 11), which in this respect is a counterpart of that of Solomon in 1 Kings iv. 20. If our explanation is so far correct, then the Chethib iih, taken negatively, can only be understood if we translate, with Hengstenberg, Hitzig, and Schegg, thus : Thou increasest the nation to which Thou formerly didst not give great joy, which must signify jjer litoten, which Thou hast sunk into deep sorrow. But it is unnatural to take one of the prophetic preterites commencing with T'^pn in chap. viii. 23 in any other than a future sense. "We must therefore give the preference to the Kerl \^^ and translate : magnum facts numerum gentis, ei ingcns gaudium faras. i? stands first without special emphasis, as in chap. xlv. 24 ; Lev. vii. 7—9 ; 1 Sam. ii. 3, Zen; Job xxix. 21; Ps. vii. 14, cxxxix. 17; Dreschler gives it such emphasis, rendering thus : To it, in which there was not any appearance at all of such an issue. xVnd it is intentionally that ^'^'^f} and n'?in stand beside each 1 On the passages in which ^^b Chethib is i^ Kerl, see commentary on Ps. c. 3, and in Job xiii. 15. rb'^i^ is an ingenious conjecture by Selwyn and others for i6 '•'iJn (n'2"in). CHAPTER IX. 3, 4. 241 other, in order to co-orLlinate the intensity of joy with the extensiveness of the multitude. This joy is a holy joy, as T^^? indicates ; the expression is the one used in Deuteronomy for the joy that is experienced at the meals connected with the sacrifices and tithes (chap. xii. 7, xvi. 11, xiv. 23, 26). It is a joy "i''VM rinot:'2, like the joy in the harvest-time (the temporal "i"'Vp2 operates here as a virtual genitive), just as men exult when they divide spoils. It is therefore joy over good ^ things that have been obtained, and, moreover, in consequence of evil that has departed. For the division of spoil is a thing that is done by conquerors. This second figure is not merely a figure. The people so gladdened is actually a victorious and triumphant people. Ver. 3 : " Fo?' the yoke of its hurclen, and the stick of its neck, the stick of its driver, thou hast broken to pieces, as in the day of Midian." The suffixes refer to oyn Instead of v3p from ^3b, the more vigorous form i?3D is inten- tionally used with Dag. dirimens and Chateph-Kamez, under the influence of the previous u. The rhythm of the one-membered verse is anapaestic. i?3p and i^ Ji'^3 both recall the Egyptian bondage (Ex. ii. 11, v, 6^ The future deliverance which the /, prophet celebrates is the counterpart of the Egyptian deliver- ance. Eut as at that time the whole of the great people of Israel was redeemed, whereas only a remnant participates in the final redemption, he compares it to the day of Midian, when Gideon broke the seven years' dominion of Midian, not with a great army, but with a handful of undismayed warriors strong in God (Judg. vii.). One asks here : Who is the hero, Gideon's antitype, through whom this is to happen ? The prophet does not say this yet, but building a clause with ''3 upon the others, he first of all gives a reason in ver. 4 for the ceasing of the despotic sway of the world-power from the annihilation of all the equipments of war. Ver. 4 : " For every hoot of hooted tramplers in the tumult of battle, and cloak rolled in blood — all is for burning, a food of fire." The complex subject stands first in the way of a protasis, for the predi- cate begins in the way of an apodosis with •^J^^'^l ; cf. chap, xliv. 12 ; Ex. xxx. 33, 38 (Driver, § 123a). iil'the equip- ments of war are meant, wherever they may be found; but^/ while in Zech. ix. 10 the representation referring to the fratri- cidal wars between the separated kingdoms applies primarily VOL. I. Q 242 ISAIAH. to the wliole of Israel, here it is applied by reference to the previous subjugation by the universal power primarily to the foreign enemies from whom the possibility of conquering Israel henceforth shall be withdrawn. What becomes "^Qn'C'p C'N npbsip is not merely kindled and burned out, but entirely burned away ; it is consumed by the fire until it disappears without leaving a trace behind. This closing state- ment requires for liS^D the concrete sense of a thing that can be burned ; and this at once excludes the meaning, noise or din (=P^ti', Jer. Syr. Eashi, Malbim, and others). On the other hand, the meaning, equipment of arms, given by Knobel and others, is admissible; it is obtained by comparison of the derivatives of the Aramean pT, }T^? and the Arabic zd)ia, Impf. yazin (to deck, to equip) ; nevertheless the interchange of d and T in this word cannot be philologically established by the dialects. Jos. Kimchi has rightly referred to the Targumic pp {DJp (Syr., also saHn), which means shoe (see Bynaeus, De calceo Hcbracorum, p. 83), which is rather an Aramean than a Hebrew word, and the application of which in this place is explained from the fact that the prophet has in his mind the annihilation of the Assyrian forces. One would, indeed, rather expect l^^^p (sdun), a-avSa\ovfievo^, instead of 1^0 ; but the denominative verb ]^^ may mean the appearing or coming up in the soldier's shoe or soldier's boot, caligatum venire, although the primary meaning is undoubtedly calceare se (Eph. vi. 1 5 ; Syr.). Accordingly we translate it : Every boot of the booted strider in the tumult of battle. Thus we do not take ^'V'\ (which Gratz, after the Targum, would transform into Vp"}), with Drechsler, as indicating the noise of the warrior proudly tramping in his war-boots, nor do we take it, with Luzzatto and Nagelsbach, as applying to the war-boot itself, for which, notwithstanding the clavi califjares of Pliny, H. JY. ix. 8, the word is too strong; but we take it as referring to the noise of battle (as in Jer. x. 22), amid which the v/arrior, booted for military service, appears. i^?3 is genitive and npbiip is attributive ; rolled in 2'''P"=i, that is, in violently shed blood, in which the mortally wounded warrior rolled about. The prophet intentionally names boot and cloak. The destruc- tion of the hostile weapons is viewed as a matter of course, \/ when even every single shoe which a soldier of the enemy CHAPTER IX. 5. 243 lins worn, and every soldier's cloak lying on the battle-field, is given up to the fire. The prophet upon the two sentences with ''3 now rears a third. The ground of the triumpli is the deliverance, and the ground of the deliverance is the annihilation of the enemy, and the ground of all the joy, of all the freedom, of all the peace, is the nev/ great king. Ver. 5 : " For a child is horn to us, a son is given to iis, and the government rests upon Jlis shoidcler, and they call His name : Wonder, Counsellor, Strong God, Eternally Father, Peace Prince." He whom the prophet foretells in chap, vii, as the Son of the virgin, who was to grow up in a troublous time, is here beheld by him as born ^/ (but the words do not say that this is now seen only in the vision of the prophet), and as having entered upon possession of the government. In the former passage he appeared as a sign, and here as a gift of grace. The prophet does not say expressly here, any more than in chap, vii., that he is a descendant of David. But this follows of itself from the fact that he bears 'iTu'ipn (from i^y^"='iTv^ "''''^), the government with its official right, chap. xxii. 22, upon his shoulder; for the promise of eternal kingship, of which the new-born child is the fulfilment, has been bound up with the seed of David in the course of the history of Israel since 2 Sam. vii. In chap. vii. it is the mother who names the child ; here it is )/ the people, or any one who rejoices in him, ^"iP"l, " they name, he is called," as Luther correctly translates, but under the mistaken idea that the Jews, in order to efface the Messianic sense of the passage, had altered the original 5<7i^'l into ^<1h"!!. The active x"ip''i has, in fact, been misused by Jewish expositors with this object in view, as Eashi, Kimchi, Malbim, and others, following the example of the Targum, explain the passage thus : The God who is called, and is ny-'nx nur^i* J-'yr n^S, calls his name Di^C'-ib' ; but this explanation evidently tears asunder the connection in the clause from a motive or tendency. And Luzzatto rightly observes that one does not here expect attributes of God, but such as characterize the child ; and therefore he translates thus: God, the Strong, the Eternally-Father the Peace-Prince, resolves upon something wonderful. He thus persuades himself that the whole of this long clause is meant to be the 244 ISAIAH. proper name of the child, as, indeed, other proper names thus consist of whole verbal clauses, not merely in Arabic (as, for example, the giant's name, lardka nahruhu, his collar-bone flashes), but also in the Hebrew, as, for instance, the names of the two sons of the prophet. But granting such a sesquipedalian proper name to be possible, how unskilfully would it be formed, since the long-winded sentence, which yet should have to be spoken in one breath, would resolve itself in this form into separate clauses which are again names, and, moreover, contrary to expectation, names of God ! This holds also against Cheyne, who maintains that what follows ^12^ is one name, although not, as Luzzatto thinks, in the form of a connected proposition. There are, however, in any case five, or if, with Cheyne, Wonderful-Counsellor is taken together, four names, forming one name. According to Luzzatto's way of taking it, the name would also be one name as regards its form. Luzzatto frankly confesses what prompted him to his view. He formerly attempted, like Aben Ezra, to take the words from npd to D"i^^""ib as the name of the child, regarding "lUJ ba as well as nj;-''2S as a hyperbolical expression, like the words applied to the king in Ps. xlv. 7a ; but afterwards he could not help taking the view that it was absolutely impossible for a human child to be called inj !?«, as God Himself is in chap. x. 21. The accentuators likewise appear to have shrunk from making "lUJ ha be regarded as a human name. For if "id'J' N"ip"'l was to be the introduction of the following string of names, then iDK^ would not have been marked with geresh, but with zakeph. It is inter-punctuated as if D"i!?tr""ib' ny""'2X were the name of the child, and what precedes from KP3 were the name of the God who assigns to him these two names of honour. But wherefore should there be just here in connection with the naming of the child such a periphrastic designation of God, seeing that this is not Isaiah's habit elsewhere, and generally it is unexampled, especially in this form, without a prefixed 'n ? Moreover, the names of God, in order to mark them off in contrast to the two names of the child, should at least be determined thus : lissn psn xpQ I'yi'n. Supposing then that, according to the accentuation, the translation would be : " And He who is a Wonder of a Counsellor, or (as in this case we CHAPTER IX. 5. 245 expect a connective accent instead of the tcltsha, although tlie least separative accent) He who resolves upon something wonderful, the Strong-God, calls his name : Eternally-Father, Peace-Prince : " we must yet reject it as resting upon mis- understanding and misinterpretation. We take the whole from X^D — as the connection, expression, and syntax require — as a governed accusative predicate to the ic:j' Nip''1, which stands at the head : " they call his name " (cf. Nip, they name, it is called. Gen. xi. 9, xvi. 14; Josh. vii. 26, and sitpra chap. viii. 4, Nb'^ they will carry; chap. vii. 24, they will come, Ges. § 137. 3). If it be objected to the Messianic interpretation of chap. vii. 14, 15, that the Christ who appeared has not been called Immanuel, but Jesus, this objection is removed by the fact that neither did He bear as a proper name the five names by which He is to be called according to this second prophecy. Moreover, this objection does not less apply to the interpretations adopted by Jewish expositors, such as Ptashi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Abravanel, Malbim, Luzzatto, and others, and also by such Christian expositors as Grotius, Gesenius, and Hendewerk, who are in favour of referring the prophecy to Hezekiah, — a view v/hich is chronologically untenable, as has been shown in connection with chap. vii. 14. The name Jesus is a combination of all the Old Testament designations of the one to come, according to His nature and works. The designations given in chap, vii. 14 and chap. ix. 5 have not, however, disappeared in it ; they continue to be in the mouth of all believers from Mary downwards ; and there is none of these names under which worship and homage have not been paid to Him. The first name is n|?3 or ^2^^ which is not to be taken along with Xp", as might seem recommended according to chap, xxviii. 29, n^*y N^^sn. This is the view of the LXX., A S^ : OavixacTo^ aufil3ov\o'i^ Theodoret : 6av/jia(TT(oiijj oiyyiho; a new independent translation of the five names : Socvfioiaroi avi/.fiov'ho; lax^pog eS,oviTiu(rT'/j; d a knife : and therefore the pilpel is to be translated to goad, to incite, according to which the Targuni translates this passage and chap. xix. 2 and the LXX. chap, xix. 2. It is not necessary to adduce the Talinudic ^??p, to kindle (by friction), which never occurs in the metaphorical sense of to excite ; our *]D3D would be better taken as an intensive form of 'il?D, in the sense of the Arab. {Jxti, " to provide oneself with weapons, to arm ; " but this is properly a denominative from that sikica which means an offensive weapon, from stabbing and spearing, from which the transition is easy to the meaning of spurring on and instigating. The " oppressors of Eezin " (PV"! "'"'V, like "lia lin in chap. i. 4) are the Assyrians who were called in by Ahaz against Eezin. The indirect designation of them is peculiar, but neither does the striking out of the ""nv (Lagarde) nor its transformation into nt^ (Ewald, Cheyne) commend itself; most in its favour has the conj. vnx with p^n expunged (Bredenkarap), so that V"nv (vnv) and vn'^s are specialized in ver. 11. The range of vision here widens to the whole of Israel ; for the northern , kingdom has never had to suffer from the Philistines, whereas an invasion of Philistines into Judah actually belonged to the punitive judgments of the time of Ahaz, 2 Chron. xxviii. 16—19. Ephraim is overrun by Aram, that is to say (if p^n is not expunged), by Aram as subjugated by Assur, and now tribu- tary to it, and Judah is invaded by the Philistines, and becomes a fat prize of both. But this extreme distress is still far from being the end of God's punishments. Because Israel does not turn {2U i6), God's wrath also does not turn (2^ i6). Strophe 2, vers. 12—16 : "But the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth it, and they seek not Jehovah of hosts. There- fore Jehovah rooteth out of Israel head and tail, palm-lranch and rush, in one day. Elders and tJie right honourable, this is the head ; and projjhcts, teachers of lies, this is the tail : the leaders of this people have become mis-leaders, and their followers swallowed up ones. Therefore the All- Lord will not rejoice in their young men, and ivill not have compassion on their orphans and widows : for altogether they are impious and evil- CHAPTER IX. 12-x6. 253 doers, and every mouth spcalxdh llaspliemy, — ivith all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still" The 1 of Dyni corresponds to the Latin autem. "^V ^'^^ is used of thorough conversion that does not stop half way. insan^ the smiter of it, or he who smiteth it, is Jehovah (com- pare, on the other hand, chap. x. 20, where Assiir is meant). The article and suffix are used as in chap. xxiv. 2 ; Prov. xvi. 4, and elsewhere. It might be thought that the 1 of inDon was inadvertently appended from the following nxi ; but the article could rather be dispensed with than the suffix ; the case is similar to what we have in D*p D?i'on, chap. Ixiii. 11, q.v. There is now coming a great day of punishment, like several which Israel has experienced in the Assyrian oppressions and Judah in the Chaldean oppressions ; and in it head and tail, or, according to another proverbial ex- pression, palm branch and rush are rooted out. One might think that by this is meant the upper and the lower classes, high and low; but ver. 14 makes another application of the lirst double figure by giving it a turn different from its popular sense (cf. Arab, er-ru'iis w~al-edndb = high and low, in Dietrich, p. 209). Since Koppe this ver. 14 has been almost universally held to be a gloss (Hitzig, Ewald, Dietricli, Knobel, Cheyne, Diestel), and, moreover, a sotte glose (Reuss). But in opposition to this is to be put the habit of Isaiah (chap. i. 22, 23), and also of the other prophets and poets of interpreting their figures themselves (Hos. xiii, 15 ; Ps. xviii. 17, 18, cxliv. 7); against it also is the Isaianic conception in chap. iii. 3, xxx. 20 ; against, too, is the mediating relation of this verse to ver. 15 ; and against it further is the wit of the inter- pretation. The chiefs of the people are the head of the people as a body; and behind it sit the prophets, like the wagging tail of <^ a dog, flattering the people, — prophets who love, as Persius says (iv. 15), Uando caudani jactare popello. The prophet drops the figure of nQ3j the palm branch forming the crown of the palm (which has its name from the fact that it is formed like the palm of the hand, instar p)ci-lmae manus), and P^J??, the rush which grows out of the marsh.^ It signifies the rulers of the people 1 The noun Qjj? is i;sed in the Old Testament as well as in the Talmud to signify both a marshy place (see Mezta 3G/), and more especially Ahoda z., to rot, to fust=D3Si j^y 1 On the extra-biblical use of the f\^n. see DMZ. xxiii. 635, 636. 2 The reading j?-io is wrong ; the Masoretic reading is ^1J2, and the interpretation ix, -jroyyipov is therefore excluded. CIIAriER IX. 17-20 255 not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still." The standpoint of the prophet is at the farthest end of the course of judfrraent, and from there he looks Lack ; consequently this link of the chain is also past in his view, and hence the con- secutive imperfects. The curse, which the apostasy of Israel carries within itself, now breaks fully out. Wickedness nyvi, i.e. the constant willing of evil, is a fire which man ^ kindles in himself. And when the grace of God, which stifles and checks this fire, is at an end, it breaks forth ; the wicked- ness flames forth like fire i^V"^, as in chaj). xxx, 27, is used of God's wrath). So it stands with the wickedness of Israel, which now consumes first thorns and thistles, i.e. the indivi- dual evil-doers who are the most ripe for judgment on whom the judgment begins, and then the thicket of the wood C^^-? or "'??p, as in chap. x. 34, from ^?P, Gen. xxii. 13 = ^3'd), that is to say, the mass of the people knit together by bands of iniquity, is set on fire Q^'^^l, not reflexive Niphal, as in 2 Kings___xzii. 13, to kindle, hxxt Qal : to kindle into something = to kindle up, from riy^,, related to J>'^\ literally to set on [fire]). The distinction which the two figures intend is therefore not the high and low (Ewald), not the useless and useful (Drechsler), but the individuals and the whole people (Vitringa). The fire into which the wickedness breaks out seizes individuals first, and then like a forest-conflagration it seizes the people in all its ranks and members who whirl up (roll forth) the ascending of smoke, i.e. they roll forth in high ascending smoke. "=1?^'"?'?, avr. \ey., a synonym of ^^^'r^'?, Judg. vii. 13, to turn oneself or roll (cf. Assyr. dbdku, to turn) ; the smoke itself has the name \^'V, .^U, from the pillars of smoke curling into one another (cf ,^.»aJ'^, used of the felted beard of the camel). This fire of wickedness is nothing else but God's nnny for so wrath is called as breakins forth from within and spreading itself inwardly more and more, and then passing outwards into word and deed ; it is God's own wrath ; for all sin carries this within itself as its ^ own punishment. By this fire of wrath the soil of the land is gradually and wholly burnt out, and the people of the land entirely consumed ; Dny, arr. Xey., to glow (LXX. avyKe- V 256 ISAIAH. Kavrai, and similarly also in Targum), and to be dark, black (Arab, 'atama, late night), for what has burned out becomes black (cf. Din, Aram. ^"'0*^'). Fire and darkness are correlates throughout the whole of Scripture. Thus far do the figures go in which the prophet unveils the inner nature of this stage of judgment. In its historical manifestation it consists in the most inhuman self - destruction during an anarchical civil war. Devoid of any gentler feeling (p^ Ppn for ^V, as in Jer. li, 3), they devour each other without being satisfied ; 1^3, to cut, to hew into (whence the Arab. ,^ i::^, the butcher), iy'"ir, according to Jer. xix. 9 = l^P"?., a member of his family and tribe, who, as being a natural defence and support, is figuratively called his arm, Arabic 'adiid (see Ges. Tlics. p. 433). The Talmud in reading iJ?^J testifies to the defective mode of writing lyir (see Norzi). This interminable self- slaughtering and the king-murder conjoined with the jealousy of the tribes, shook the northern kingdom again to its destruction. And how easily the unbrotherliness of the northern tribes towards each other can turn into united hostility against Judah, has been sufficiently proved by the Syro-Ephraimitish war, whose consequences are always still going on, even now when the prophet is prophesying. This hostility of the brother kingdoms will still increase. But tiven this is not yet the end of the judgments of wrath. Strophe 4, chap. x. 1— 4 : " Wo& unto them that ordain (jodless ordinances, and to the writers who i^repare trouble ; to force away the needy from demanding justice, and to rob the suffering of my 'people of their rightful claim, that widows may become their prey, and they plunder orphans. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the storm that comcth from afar ? To tohom will ye flee for help, and where will ye deposit your glory ? TJiere is nothing left but to crouch down binder captives, and they fall tinder the slain — ivith all this His anger is not turned aivay, but His hand is stretched out still." This last strophe is directed against the unjust authorities and judges. The woe upon them, as we have already several times seen, is the ceteriim. censeo of Isaiah. Pi?n (to cut in, originally to mark, chap. xxx. 8 ; Job xix. 23) is their deciding of decrees ; and 3ri3 (Piel occurring only here, and CHAriER X. 1-4. 257 in the perf, according to Ges. § 12G. 3) is their official sub- scribing and writing (not scribbling, scrawling, Ewald, § I20b). Their decrees are ])^ ''i?.pn (an open plural from a principal form pn = pn, as in Judg. v. 15, cf. 'h^i, ^^.r", V^V, "b^^)' inasmuch as their content is notliingness, i.e. is the direct opposite of moral reality : and what they write out is b^V, trouble, i.e. unjust (cf. ttovo'?, Trovrjpof;) oppression of the people.^ Poor people who wish to enter upon legal proceed- ings are not allowed by them to do it ; widows become their prey — that is, the object of their spoil, and they plunder the orphans entirely (compare on the diversion into the finite verb, chap. v. 24, viii. 11, xlix. 5, Iviii. 5). For this the judgment of God cannot be escaped by them, and this is told them in ver. 3, the statement being clothed in three questions (beginning with nn^ quid igitur). The noun ITips of the lirst question always means simply a visitation of punishment. nxic' from nNC' is empty and waste, emptiness and wasteness, then the rumbling of what has fallen down into an empty deep ; and more generally it is a catastrophe, destruction, and here " coming from afar," because a distant people (Assur) is God's instrument of wrath. The second question runs thus : Upon whom will ye throw yourselves when seeking refuge (^V CIJ, constr. pracgnans only here) ? Third question : Where, i.e. in whose hand, will ye deposit your wealth in money and property C^^^?, what is weighty in value and imposing in its appearance) ? ^]V with ?^?, as in Job xxxix. 11, or ^, Job xxxix. 14, is to leave anything with a person as property in trust. No one receives from them their wealth as a deposit ; it is irretrievably lost. To this negative answer there is attached the following ""^iipB, which as a preposition after a preceding negation signifies loraeter, as a conjunction nisi (DX ""rips, Judg. vii. 14), and when it governs the whole proposition, as in this case (cf. Gen. xliii. 3 ; Num. ^ On the punctuation of ""ppn with vocal Sliebd (without metheg) see Kimchi, Michlol, 796. In like manner Deut. xxxiii. 17 has ni23"i, not authenticated lilce ni32"l in Num. x. 36. - The current accentuation, D"'3n3?Dl, mercha, ^JOJ?, tiplichah, is wrong. The correct accentuation is D''3n3?:51, tii:ihchah (and metheg), ^^y, mercha; then una b'OV is an attributive clause. VOL. I. R 258 ISAIAH. xi. 6 ; Dan. xi. 18), nisi quod ; and here, where the previous negation is to be supplied in thought, it signifies nil rdiqimm est nisi quod. The singular J?13 is used contemptuously, the high persons being taken together in the mass ; and rinri does not mean acque ac or loco (Evvald, § 2l7/j), but infra in its primary local sense (cf. "^ina, Ezek. xxxii. 20). Some crouch down in order to find more room at the feet of the prisoners who are crammed closely together in the prison ; or if this is to be taken as referring to a scene of deportation, they sink under the feet of the other prisoners, being unable to bear their hardships. The others fall in war ; and as the carnage lasts long, in such a way that when corpses them- selves they are covered by the corpses of the other slain (cf chap. xiv. 19).^ And even with this God's wrath is not yet satisfied. The prophet, however, does not follow out the terrible gradation further. The exile to which this fourth strophe points also actually forms the close of a period. C. — The anniliilation of the imperial kingdom of the ivorld and the rising of the kingdom of Jehovah in His Anointed, chap. x. 5— xii. The law of contrast which rules in the history of salvation also holds good in prophecy. When distress culminates, the / course of events takes a turn and it is changed into help ; and when, as in the previous section, prophecy has become black as night, it suddenly becomes as bright as day, as in the section which now begins. The ""in spoken over Israel now becomes a "•in over Assyria (Assur).^ Assyria, proud of its own power, after having served for a time as a rod of the wrath of Jehovah, itself now falls under the power of that wrath ; its attack upon Jerusalem becomes its overthrow, and ^ Lagarde (Symmida, i. 105 ; Mitthdlungen, i. 210) reads nyib W3 ''I'^DN nn : " Beltis sinks down, Osiris is crushed" (according to xlvi. 1 ; Jer. 1. 2). But the following V^S'' WTr\T] nnni has then no connection ; and I still hold that it cannot be shown that Egyptian gods were worshipped in Judah in the time of the kings. 2 [Dr. Delitzsch uses " Assur " rather than Assyria, and it is retained in the renderings of the Hebrew text. — Tr.] CHAPTER X. 5-XIT. 25^ on the ruins of this imperial kingdom of the world there rises up the kingdom of the great and righteous son of David, who rules in peace over his redeemed people and over the people who rejoice in him. This is the counterpart of the redemption from Egypt, and one rich in material for songs of praise, like that which happened on the other side of the Eed Sea. The Messianic prophecy, which in chap. vii. turns the ^ side of its curse towards unbelief, and the substance of whose promise breaks through the darkness in chap. viii. 5-ix. 6, like a great light, is standing now upon its third and highest stage. In chap. vii. it is like a star in the night ; in chap, viii. 5— ix. 6 it is like the breaking in of the morning ; and now the sky becomes entirely cloudless, and it appears like the / noonday sun. The prophet has now penetrated to the fringe of the light of chap, vi. The name Shear-jashub, having emptied itself of the curse it contained, is now transfigured into a pure promise. And it now becomes as clear as day what the name " Immanuel " means, and what Immanuel's name "ii^J hn declares : the remnant of Israel turns itself to God the Strong, and God the Strong is henceforth with His people in the sprout of Jesse, who has the seven spirits of God dwelling in him. As regards the date of the com- position of this third section of the esoteric discourses, most modern commentators agree in assigning it to the time of Hezekiah, because chap. x. 9—11 represents the conquest of Samaria as having already taken place. Now if the prophet had, in fact, already foretold in chap. vii. 8 and viii. 4, 7 that Samaria, and with Samaria the kingdom of Israel,^ would succumb to the Assyrians, he might presuppose it here as ideally a past. But vers. 9-11 really require us to assign the composition of this section, at least in its existing form, to the time of Hezekiah, and is opposed to the view that would assign its composition to the time of Ahaz, whether before or after the punishment inflicted on the two allies by Tiglath - pileser (Vitringa, Caspari, Drechsler). The prophet begins with lirtj which is always used as an expression of indignant pain in opening a proclamation of judgment over the party named ; although this proclamation, as in the present case (cf. chap. i. 4, 5-9), does not always 260 ISAIAH. immediately fullow, but there may be prefixed to it a state- ment of the sin by wliicli the judgment is brought about. First of all, Assyria is more definitely indicated as the chosen instrument of divine judgment upon all Israel. Vers. 5, 6 : " IFoe to Assicr, the rod of mine anger and a staff is he in their hand — mine indignation. Against a reprobate nation will I despatch them, and against the people of my displeasure will I direct them to prey pirey, and to spoil spoil, and to make it trodden down like street mire." What follows ''in is not necessarily vocative, but it may be the designation of the object (without ^, ?^?, ?V), as shown by chap. i. 4. ''^V* is either permutative of the predicative K^in, which is placed emphatically in front (cf. the K^M-nrit?, similarly with makJcep)h, in Jer. xiv. 22), as we have translated it; or DTn i<^n stands elliptically for nr2 Nin TC'^, the staff which they use is my indignation (Aben Ezra, Gesenius, liosen- miiller, and others), in which case, however, we should rather expect ""DyT Xin n^n nooi. It cannot, however, be rendered : " And a staff is he, in their hand is my indignation," as Knabenbauer gives it, for this breaks up the half verse too much. Nor is it permissible, following Knobel's view, to take "'oy? as a separated genitive to riDD, and to punctuate nipp, which is altogether without an example in the Hebrew language.'^ Hitzig, Ewald, Diestel, and others eliminate DT^ Nin as a gloss ; but a glossator would have written "\iyii DT'n, and what remains would be a tautology. Instead of 1D''tJ'p the Keri gives I0i"'p!|, as the infinitive combined with a suffix appears everywhere else ; compare, on the other hand, 2 Sam. xiv. 7. Further, the manuscripts waver between DO^p and Dmp like n;pnp (Ewald, § 160c). Assyria is to be a means of inflicting the divine wrath on Israel ; for Israel, and particularly (in accordance with the standpoint of this prophetical discourse) Judah, is the reprobate nation, the people which had become the object of the overflowing divine wrath. The instrument of punishment, however, exalts itself and ^ In Arabic this separation of tlie governed word from the governing word with a genitive relation (even ajoart from the allowable interposi- tion of a word expressive of an oath) is a poetical licence ; see de Sacy, Gramm. t. ii. § 270. CHAPTER X. 7-11. 261 makes itself out of a mean into an end in itself. Ver. 7 : " Nevertheless he mcaneth not thus, nor doth his heart thinlc thii.s : for to destroy is his striving, and to cut off nations not a few." Assyria thinks ]T^^, not as he ouglit to think, in consequence of the fact that he is conditioned in his power over Israel by Jehovah. For what filled his heart 0^^?? instead of the usual i^pp'oy) is the striving peculiar to the imperial power, not tolerating any independent people beside itself, to destroy peoples not a few (pvp NP in apposition, as in Xeh. ii. 12, cf. Num. ix. 20), i.e. as many peoples as pos- sible, in order to extend the range of its dominion, and to deal with Judah as with all the rest ; for Jehovah is to Assyria only as one of the idols of the peoples. Vers. 8—11 : " For he saith, Are not my generals all kings ? Is not Calno as Carehemish, or Hamath as Arjpad, or Samaria as Damascus ? As my hand has reached the kingdovis of the idols — and their graven images were more than those of Jerusalem and Samaria — shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, likewise do to Jerusalem and her idols ? " The king of Assyria bore the title of the great king (chap, xxxvi. 4) ; in Assyrian same rallu, or even (cf. Ezek. xxvi. 7) of the King of kings ; in Assyrian, sar sarrdni (sarru, not malik, because the former, in the political linguistic usage of the Assyrian,^ is a higher title than the latter). The generals in his army he can call kings, because the satraps ^ who led their contingents were like kings in the extent and splendour of their dominion, and some of them were also really subjugated kings (cf 2 Kings XXV. 28). He proudly asks whether one of the cities named was not as incapable of resistance as the other, and yet had fallen before him. tJ'Vps'iZ! (even after a connecting accusative, not C'''DDn3p, but ti'^03")32/ on account of the incompatibility of 1 In the titular designations of tlie gods, sarru (sarratu) and malik (malkatu) intercliange, as Sclirader has shown against Stade. 2 SaTpotTT/i? (cf. actrpcc in the Persian sense in the Acharnanians of Aristo- phanes), in Theoponipus s^xrpxTi-yi;, in inscriptions s^xidpci7riviyj,ist\\e old Persian (cuneiform) khshatra pdvan, i.e. government-keeper {j)dvan, in neo- Persian abridged as ^^,1,' in ^^.^, kirhdn, city-keeper, ^Ixit', hdghhdn, garden-keeper), plur. Hebraized into D^3S"n'J'ns. 3 Cf. on the rule, Luth. Zeitschrift, xxiv. (1863) p. 414. The punctuation adopted is 33, 33, even after "i^?-^ V"*^, a combination not met with elsewhere, similar to the expression found in the Elohimic Psalms, niwv D^■^S^{; of. on the other hand, chap. iii. 15, x. 23, 24. However, the expression nixa:* ''JIK wants the evidence of the Masora,^ while many codices and editions give riix^^' 'n. |in (chap. xvii. 4) is a disease contained in the register of curses in Lev. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 22. Galloping consumption comes like an angel of punishment upon the fleshy lumps of the well-fattened Assyrian grandees ; Q"'3?ti'p is personal, as in Ps. Ixxviii, 31. And under the glory of Assyria, i.e. its expensively equipped army pi^^, as in chap. viii. 9), He who makes His angels flames of fire, puts fire so that it passes away in flames. This is expressed in such a way that one seems to hear the crackling and cracking, the spluttering and hissing of the fire as it lays hold round about. This fire, whatever it may be in its natural phenomenal appearance, is essentially the wrath of Jehovah. Ver. 17:" And the light of Lsracl becomes a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it sets on fire and devours its thistles and thorns in one day." God is fire, Deut. ix. 3, and light, Ps. xxvii. 1 ; 1 John i. 5 ; and in His self-life the former is taken up into the latter. tJ'Hi? stands here parallel to lix ; for that God is holy, and that He is absolutely pure light, is essentially one and the same thing. The nature of all creatures, and of the whole cosmos, is a mixture of light and darkness. The nature of God alone is absolute light. But light is love. In this holy light of love He has given Himself to Israel to be its own, and He has taken Israel to Himself as His own. But He has also in ^ Himself a principle of fire which sin stirs up against itself, and which now breaks forth as a flaming fire of wrath against Assyria, when committing sin against Him and His people. ^ For this passage is not included among the 134 instances of ps'HI enumerated by the Masora, i.e. "real" instances of '•Jlx (not merely in- stances to be read, but actually written). CHAriER X. 18, 19. 267 To this exterminating power of His penal righteousness the splendid host of Assyria is nothing but a crop of thistles and a tangle of thorns (here this pair of words, peculiar to Isaiah, n^^J "^V^, is given in reversed order), and as such they deserve to be burned, and are easily made to burn. According to the external appearance it is a forest and a park, but yet irretrievably lost. Vers. 18, 19 : "And the glory of his forest and of his garden field it shall destroy, both soul as well as flesh, that it is as tvhcn one mortally sick dies ; and the remnant of the trees of his forest ivill let themselves he numbered, and a boy could icrite them" A forest, "iJ?!, and a gardenfield, ?P1I, repre- sent the army of Assyria, which resembled the former in being composed of many and various peoples, and the latter as glitter- ing in the beauty of its men and armour ; it is a forest of men and a park of men, and hence the idea oi penitus is expressed by the proverbial l^^'iyi. SJ'Qap (which is to be understood in i accordance with Gen. xiv. 23 ; Deut. xxix. 10 ; Num. v. 3 ; 1 Sam. XV. 3). This gives occasion for a leap to the figure of the pining away of a Dpi (^anr. Xey., the wasting one, from Dp3, which comes from the same root-idea in ^'\^, c'3S, Assyr. inehi). Bredenkamp puts the words from C'D3?D to DD3 after pn, and thus obtains two figures that are more distinct from each other (consumption and forest-burning). The two words Dpi Db03 depict the melting away, i.e. the dying out in the consuming fire of fever, and tiie representation is not only indicated by their slow movement, but also by their conson- ance and their accumulated sibilants, in which heavy-breathed expiring life becomes audible. By resuming the first figure the prophecy leads us from the death-bed to the scene of the burning of the forest. The proud beautiful forest is burned down, and only here and there does an isolated tree still tower over the desolate surface. Only a few trees of the forest, easily countable ("iSDp, as in Deut. xxxiii. 6 ; cf Isa. xxi. 17), will remain ; a boy could count up their numbers, and write them down (compare the lad who is represented as doing much more in writing in Judg. viii. 14). as would be the figures representing the larger cedars of Lebanon which still remain. And so it actually came about ; only a remnant of the army that marched against Jerusalem escaped. The prophet now contrasts with this remnant of a large 268 ISAIAH. destroying power the remnant of Israel, which is the seed of a new power that is rising. Ver. 20 : "And it loill come to 2Jass in that day : the remnant of Israel and what has escaped of the house of Jacob vnll not continue to stay itself upon its chastiser, and will stay itself tipon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth." Behind the judgment on Assyria lies the restoration of Israel, ^nsrp is the Assyrian. Supporting itself upon the Assyrian, Israel was smitten, Jehovah making Israel's supporting stick the rod of His wrath. Thereafter, however, Israel will sanctify the Holy One of Israel by putting its trust in Him and not in man ; riOX3, purely and faith- fully, and no longer with hypocrisy and wavering. Then will be fulfilled what the name Shear -jashub promises after there is fulfilled what He threatens, as is seen in the following verse. Ver. 21:" The remnant ivill turn itself, the remnant of Jacob, to God the Strong." "1*33 b^ is He who has become historically manifest in the heir of David, chap. ix. 5. Whereas Hosea (chap. iii. 5) puts Jehovah and the other David side by side, Isaiah thus beholds them in each other. So then the remnant of Israel will return, but only the remnant to the God who dwells in that son of David (accord- ing to the New Testament mode of expression, to God in Christ). Vers. 22, 23 : " For althoiigh thy people ivere as the sand of the sea, the remnant thereof ivill turn itself : extermi- nation is strictly determined, flowing in righteousness; for a thorough and strictly determined finish the All-Lord, Jehovah of hosts, executes within the whole earth." As there is no pre- ceding negation, DX ""a do not go together in the sense of scd or nisi ; but, as belonging to two clauses, the words mean oiam, si. Were the highest number of the people of Israel attained according to the promise, yet will only the remnant among them or of them (i3, partitively, like "^3 in Zech. xiii. 8 ; 2 Kings ix. 35) be converted ; or seeing that the more definite determination ad Deum is wanting, come again into their right position. With regard to the mass, extermination is irrevocably decided (Pl^, re/xveiv, and then to determine something diroro/LLco^, 1 Kings xx. 40) ; an extermination which is overflowed by righteousness, or better, which flows along (^^i'^', as in chap, xxviii. 18), i.e. which flowing brings along righteousness, and therefore comes like a swelling CHAPTER X. 24. 269 billow of divine righteousness, i.e. penal justice. It is not (as Luther translates) uprightness as the fruit of the penal judgment, — a thought which, though appropriate in itself, would not be expressed merely by one word, and it is excluded by the reason given in the following clause. On ^^^ with the ace, see Ges. § 138. 2. That F??, as in Deut. xxviii. 65, is not used in the sense of perfecting, is shown by ver. 23, where np3 (fern, of '"1/3, that which vanishes, then the vanishing, the thorough ending) interchanges with it, and ^'pj}.}.. designates the judgment as a thing inexorably decided (as in chap, xxviii. 22, and borrowed thence in Dan. ix. 27, xi. 36). Such a judgment of extermination the Almighty Judge is about to execute (nb'j? in the sense of a fiU. instans.) within the whole land (3"ip3, within, not ^inn, in the midst of), or rather of the whole earth (LXX. ev rf} oiKov/xivr) oXrj) — a judgment of the nations of which the judgment on Israel is a central constituent. In these esoteric discourses it is not, however, the intention of the prophet to threaten and terrify, but to comfort and encourage. Therefore he turns to that portion of the people which is in need of consolation and is receptive of it, and he draws the inference from the element of consolation in what has been prophesied that they may be consoled. Ver. 24 : " Therefore thus saith the All-Lord, Jehovah of hosts : Fear not, my iKojile, which inhabitest Zion, hefore Assur if it ivill smite thee loith the rod and lift %ip its stick against thee in the manner of Egypt" )3? never means in Hebrew, nor consequently here, attamen (Gesenius, Hitzig), but propterea. Already the address contained in the words : My people which inhabits Zion, is indirectly encouraging. Zion is, in fact, the site of the divine gracious presence, and of the kingdom which is imperishable according to the promise. Those who dwell there, and who are God's people (God's servants), not merely by their calling but by their inner qualities, are also heirs of the promise ; and if the Egyptian bondage becomes renewed in an Assyrian bondage, they may be certain of this to their consolation, that the redemption of Egypt will also be renewed. '^."'"^V? ■^■)'33, in tlie way, i.e. in the manner of the acting of the Egyptians, "^y], is the course both of active procedure and also (as in ver. 26 and Amos iv. 10) of passive endurance. 270 ISAIAH. The encouraging address is now based upon new reasons by taking up again the grounds of consolation from which the t?? derives it. Vers. 25, 26 : " For yet a very little, then is the indignation past, and my ivrath turns to destroy them, and Jehovah of hosts shakes over him the scourge as He smote Midian at the rock of Orch, and His staff reaches otit over the sea, and He lifts it up in the manner of Egyi^t" The phrase : a very little (as in chap. xvi. 14, xxix. 17), is meant from the point of view of the ideal present, when Israel is threatened by Assyria with destruction. Then will the indignation of Jehovah at His people suddenly have an end (pvi npzi, borrowed in Dan. xi. 36, and to be interpreted according to "^cbap. xxxvi, 20); and Jehovah's wrath becomes or goes forth Dri73ri"?y. Luzzatto recommends the conjectural reading: ur\\ h'yrrhv ''SS'i : and my wrath against the world will cease ; bnn being taken, as in chap. xiv. 17, with reference to the oLKov/uLevT) as enslaved by the empire. It would be better explained as : " and my wrath at the world will fulfil itself," ^3n being taken for the sinful world represented by the empire. But the traditional text gives an easier connection for ver. 26. We are not, however, to be misled by the bv into explaining it as : my wrath (burns) at the destruction inflicted by Assyria on the people of God, or at the destruction endured by that people. It is the destruction of the Assyrians to which Jehovah's wrath is now directed ; ^V is used here, as frequently, of that to which the look is directed, that to which the intention points (Ps. xxxii. 8, xviii. 42). When taken thus, ver. 2 oh leads on to ver. 26. The destruction of Assyria is here prophesied in two antithetical figures founded on facts of the olden time. The almighty criminal judge will brandish the scourge over Assyria ("ilii*, agitare, as in 2 Sam. xxiii. 18, in assonance with the following '^'})V), and will smite it after the manner of the smiting upon Midian, chap, xxvii. 7, or of the blow (overthrow) which Midian experienced. The rock of Horeb is the place where the Ephraimites slew the Midian king Oreb (Judg. vii. 25). Then will His staff be over the sea, i.e. will be stretched out, like the miraculous staff of Moses, over the sea of tribulation into which the Assyrians have driven Israel (p\, an emblem borrowed from the type, see Kohler on Zech. x. 11 ; cf. Ps. CHAPTER X. 27. 27l Ixvi. 6), and He will lift it up, commanding the waves of the sea that they swallow Assyria. Q'']->P ^"J.'^?, a Janus-word, as Cheyne calls it, indicated in ver. 24 how the Egyptians raised it, but here how it was raised over the Egyptians. The expression is intentionally conformed to that in ver. 24 : Because Assyria had raised the rod in the Egyptian manner over Israel, Jehovah will also raise it in the Egyptian manner over Assyria. The yoke of the world-power must then burst asunder. Ver. 27: "And it will come to pass in that day, its burden will remove from thy shoulder and its yoke from thy neck, and the yoke will he destroyed from the pressure of the fat." There are two figures here : in the first (cessabit onus ejus a cervice tud), Israel is represented as a beast of burden ; in the second (et jugum ejus a collo tud), as a beast of draught ; and this second figure divides again into two divisions. For "i^D^ only states that the yoke, like the burden, will be taken from v, Israel ; but %^, that it will itself spring the yoke by the counter pressure of its fat strong neck. Knobel, who alters the text, remarks against this view that the yoke was a cross piece of wood and not a collar. And undoubtedly the simple yoke is a cross piece of wood, but it lies upon the back of the neck of the ox (usually of two beasts yoked together, jumcnta ^=jvgmenta, like jugum from jungere), where it often rubs deep broad wounds on the nape, and is fastened under the neck by means of a cord, which at the same time connects it with the beam of the plough.^ It is derived from h^V = hbv, inirc, \£, immittere, to let in and close (as by a sort of stoppel, which the Kamus explains by l.^,^, to stop up). The conj. ?'y b.^ni is therefore in accord with the thing. But that 1?!^ \^3 means " face of the fat," and refers to the head of the fat bullock, is contrary to the linguistic usage, according to which Vf"? must designate that before which the yoke must yield (cf. e.g. Ps. Ixviii, 3). We therefore do not get away 1 Professor Schegg wrote to me after tis return from a visit to Palestine, in tlie year 1866, in these terms : " I saw many oxen at the plough in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and at Ephesus ; and the yoke (^0) was always a cross piece of wood laid on the back of the neck of the beast, and con- nected by a rope under the neck with the beam of the plough." \/ ^/ 272 ISAIAH. from the view that what is expressed is a bursting of the yoke produced by the increasing fatness of the ox, the yoke being a cross piece of wood with its connecting rope or strap. Undoubtedly p^^ is not the most natural word for it; it means a corrumpi, but such as has been produced by means of a disriimpi, which has resulted, lit., if we compare the Arabic L\j>- , ^y nieans of a crumpling, a crushing together, a wrench- ing. Probably the word was chosen by reference to ''?n, the yoke-rope, although there is no denominative Fnal in the privative signification of being unroped (Nagelsbach). Kimchi makes the striking remark on this passage, that the yoke usually becomes hurtful to the fat flesh of the ox by pressure and rubbing, but that here the converse case occurs, that the fatness of the ox becomes the means of destroying the yoke (compare the figure of grafting in Eom. xi. 17, to which Paul there also gives a turn Trapa (pua-iv). There is no need for a correction of the text by removing ??n (Robertson Smith, Bredenkamp). The deliverance comes from within (27&) and from without (27a). It is no less a consequence of the world-overcoming power which is at work in Israel than a miracle performed for Israel upon the enemy. The prophet now describes how the Assyrian army advances against Jerusalem without halting, and spreading terror around ; and how, like a towering forest planted there, it breaks to pieces before the omnipotence of Jehovah. Eichhorn and Hitzig declare this prophecy to be a vaticinium 'post eventum, because it is too special for any other view. But the Assyrian army when it marched against Jerusalem did not come directly from the north, but from the way to Egypt out of the south- west. Sennacherib had conquered Lachish, then besieged Libnah, and marched thence against Jerusalem. The prophet, however, does not mean to give a piece of military history, but to present vividly the future fact that the Assyrian will advance to Jerusalem after devastation of tlie land of Judah. One need not object to calling the description ideal, or even poetical (see Driver, Isaiah, p. 73). It is not, however, on that account a chimera ; for ideas are the essential roots of the real, and reality is their historical and external form. This external formation, their essential manifestation, may. CIIAPTErv X. 28-34. 273 without detriment to their essentiality, he presented in par- ticular momenta either in one form or in another form. The Assyrian has really come with the storm strides of a conqueror from the north, and the cities named have been really struck by the dangers and terrors of war. The description here given, when looked at aesthetically, is one of the most pictur- esque and magnificent representations that human poetry has ever produced. Vers. 28-34 : " He comes itpon Ayyath, marches through M'ujron, in Michmash he leaves his laggage. They march right across the ravine ; — let Gelia he our night- quarters ! Bamah trembles ; Giheali of Saul flees ; Screa.m loud, daughter of Gallim ! only listen, Luysha I Poor Anathoth ! Hurries Madmena, the inhabitants of Gebim rcscite. To-day he still makes a halt in Nob, — sivings his hand over the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. — Be- hold, the All- Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lops down the branches with terrible force, and those of towering groioth are hewn down, and the lofty are laid loio. And He fells the thickets of the forest tvith the iron ; and Lchanon, by a majestic One it falls." The Assyrian suddenly assails n^y, or as the two St. Petersburg MSS. write it, n*y (=njy, 1 Chron. vii. 28, ^'V, Neh. xi. 31, usually ""yn or ''V), about six German miles to the north-east of Jerusalem (?y i3y^ as in chap. liv. 11, is an exclamation, and nin^y follows according to the same order of words as in chap, xxiii. 12 ; it is a prefixed apposition as in Jer. iii. 6, ^^'^)^\ "^^^'P (compare in the Persian text •^l^; ^ri-li ^\, 0, noble Buchara, DMZ. xxxviii. 330, 331). Ever nearer now to Jerusalem draws the crisis so much to be feared. Madmena ("dung-heap," see on Joh, pp. 62, 63) flees in anxious haste ; the inhabitants of Gebin (" water- pits ") run off with their belongings ; ri?n from Tiy, iU, to flee (cf. c'!in, and also ^^^)} and therefore to carry away in flight, to bring hastily into safety, Ex. ix. 19, cf. Jer. iv. 6, vi. 1, synonymous with D"'jn^ Ex. ix. 20, Judg. vi. 11 ; different from Tyn (Prov. xxi. 29, vii. 13), from ^V, jz, to be firm, strong, defiant, from which is derived T'yo, maoz, a fortifica- tion, in distinction from the Arabic JU^, met del, refuge ; cf. chap. XXX. 2, " to flee to Pharaoh's fortress," 2 W, like < 5 JU. Neither of these places has left any certain trace ^ Hardly, however, ti'^y, John iv. 11, which prohably means, according to LXX. and Targ., covgrccjari, and with which G.esenius compared the Arab. iwli. in the erroneously accepted sense of " to hasten." CHAPTER X. 28-34. 277 behind.^ The passage is usually held to mean further that the army rested another day in Nob. But this is not conformable to the intention of surprising Jerusalem by the suddenness of the destroying blow. Hence we explain it thus : Even to- day he will make a halt in Nob (m eo est ut suhsistat, Ges. § 132. E. 1) in order to gather up new strength in sight of the city doomed to destruction, and to arrange the plan of attack. The view held, that Nob is the still inhabited village of el-Iscnvti/a to the south-west of Anata, fifty-five minutes to the north of Jerusalem, is at variance with the situation as described by Jerome : Stems in oppiehdo Nob et procul urhem conspiciens Jerusedem. " 'isawiya," says Schegg, " lies at the commencement of the valley of that name, which is turned towards the Dead Sea ; it is a very lovely place, but is so sunk in the valley, and surrounded on three sides by mountains, that one cannot think at all of identifying it with Nob." Perhaps what is meant is the height which rises on the north of Jerusalem, and which is called Saclr from its breast-like prominence or convexity. From this height the way leads down into the valley of Kedron, and the city spreads out at a short distance before one going down. It may have been here where the Assyrian is represented as halting in the vision of the prophet. Nor is it long (which is ex- pressed by the ^i^i"". which follows aauvSirco^)^\ n''3 in), over the city of the holy hill. What will Jehovah then do, the only one who can save His threatened dwelling-place from such a host? — Up to ver. 32« the discourse has moved in rapid stormy steps ; then it begins to linger, and, as it were, to beat with anxiety, and now it breaks forth in dactylic vibrations like a long rolling thunder. The hostile army stands before Jerusalem like a broad thick forest. Then it is shown that Jerusalem has a God who does not allow Himself to be taunted with impunity, nor does He leave His city at the decisive moment in the lurch, like the gods of ^ A writer in the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1880, p. 108, supposes that Gebim is in the neighbourhood of the caves of the six hundred Benjamites {Mugh dret-el- Ga i). l/ // 278 ISAIAH. Carcheraish and Calno. Jehovali is the Lord, the God of the spiritual and starry hosts. He smites down the branches of this forest of an army ; ^Vp is a so-called Picl privativum : to lop off (literally, to deal with the branches, cf. ^i^p, chap. v. 2), and msa = nnxa (in Ezekiel nnxs) means, like the Latin frons, both branch and foliage, the leafy branches as the adornment of the tree, or the branches as adorned with leaves. His instrument is "^V^J^P' His terrifying crushing power (compare the verb in chap. ii. 19, 21). And even the lofty stems of the forest, thus stripped of branches and foliage, do not remain standing ; hewn down, they lie there, and the tall ones must go down. It goes with the stems, i.e. the leaders, as with the branches and the foliage, i.e. with the great crowded mass. The whole thicket of the forest (as in chap. ix. 1 7) He hews down {^\, 3 p. Piel, although it may be also N'ijohal), and Lebanon, i.e. the army of Assyria, which now stands over against Mount Zion, like Lebanon with its forest of cedars, falls down through a gloriously powerful One, "i"'^.'?, i.e. through Jehovah (chap. xxx. 21 ; Ps. Ixxvi. 5, xciii. 4). In the history of the fulfilment given in xxxvii. 36, the 'n 'H^r'^ is this inx as the organ of the present divine government. it goes with the imperial kingdom of the world. When the axe is laid to it, it falls without hope. But in Israel it becomes spring. Chap. xi. 1_ : " And there goes forth a sprout out cf the stump of Jesse, and a shoot out of its roots brings fruit." If the world-power is like the cedar forest of Lebanon, on the other hand the house of David, on account of its falling away, is like the stump of a felled tree (y]2, truncus, from Vl\, truncare), like a root stock without stem, branches, or crown. But while the Lebanon of the world- power is overthrown so as to remain lying, the house of David becomes young again ; and while the former, when it has reached the height of its glory, is suddenly laid low, the latter, when it has reached the utmost danger of destruction, is suddenly exalted. What Pliny says of certain trees in L. >ivi. 44 : inareseunt rursusque adolcscunt, senescunt quidem, scd e radicihus repullulant^ is fulfilled in the tree of the 1 The cedar is unlike the oak in that when it is felled it does not send np any shoots. The pine resembles the cedar in this respect according to Herodot. vi. 37 : " to destroy like a pine-stem." CHAPTER XL 2. 279 Davidic dominion, which has its root in Jesse. Out of the stump of Jesse, i.e. out of the remnant of the chosen royal family, which had snnk down to the insignificance of the house from which it sprang (" the fallen tabernacle of David," as Amos expresses it in chap. ix. 11 ^), there goes forth a sprout, ip'n ( U^i- , from ipn^ to swing, to sway, lalanccr), wliich promises to fill up the place of the stem and crown ; and below in the roots, covered by the earth and only rising a little above it, there shows itself a "i>'3, a little fresh green twig (from "i>*^, ^, to glance, to blow). The history of the fulfilment has here alluded even to the sound or ring of the prophecy ; the at first insignificant and undistinguished '^'^l, was a poor despised Nazarenc (Matt. ii. 23). But that this lowliness of the beginning will not continue is already indicated by the nnD^_, from ms, to break out and up, to unfold itself, to be or become fruitful, Ex. xxiii. 30. In the humble beginning there lies a power which carries it up to the height with certain progress (Ezek. xvii. 22, 23). The sprout shooting out below the soil becomes a tree, and this tree gets a crown with fruits ; and thus a state of exaltation and completion follows the state of humiliation. Jehovah acknowledges him and consecrates and equips him for his high work with the seven spirits. Ver. 2 : " And the sjnrit of Jehovah descends vpon him, spirit of wisdom and of under- standing, spirit of counsel and of 'potver, spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah." 'n 0''"' is the Divine Spirit as the bearer of the whole fulness of divine powers. Then follow in three pairs the six spirits comprehended by 'n nn, the first pair of which relate to the intellectual life, the second to the practical life, and the third to the direct relationship to God. For noan is the faculty for recognising the essence of things through their appearances, and nj"'3 is the faculty for recognis- ing the distinctions of things through their appearances ; the former is a-o(j)ia, the latter SiaKpiaa or avveat^. nyy is the gift which enables man to form right resolutions, and ni^3a ^ The Messiah is therefore emblematically called >pS3 "12, Sanlicdrin 966 : " when will Bar nafli come ? " Cf. Dalman, Der leidende und sterhende Messias der Synar/oge (1888), p. 13. 280 ISAIAH. that of putting tliem energetically into action, 'n riy"n is the knowledge that is founded in fellowship of love, and 'n nx"!"; is the fear of Jehovah giving itself up to adoration. There are seven spirits which are enumerated from above down- wards ; for the spirit of the fear of God is the basis of all (Prov. i. 7; Job xxviii. 28; Ps. cxi. 10), and the spirit of God is absolutely the heart of all ; it corresponds to the shaft of the seven-flamed candlestick, and the three pairs to the arms that stretched out from it. In these seven forms (see my Psychology, pp. 188, 203) the Holy Spirit descends upon the second David for abiding possession ; as is expressed here by the perf. consec. nnJi., which is accented on the last syllable on account of the following guttural in order to guard against its indistinct pronunciation (cf. Gen. xxvi. 10); ni3j like Kara^alveiv /cal fxeveiv, John i. 32, 33. The seven torches before God's throne in Eev. iv. 5, cf. i. 4, burn and illumine in his soul. The seven spirits are his seven eyes (Eev. v. 6). His royal mode of ruling is then also determined according to this his divinely produced, spiritual equipment for his office. Ver. 3 : "And fear of Jehovah is fragrance to him, and he judges not according to outward seeing, and he determines justice not according to outward hearing." The translation should not be : His smelling is smelling of the fear of God, i.e. the penetrating of it with deep judicial insight (Hengsten- berg, Umbreit, and others) ; ^ nor : His breathing is in the fear of Jehovah (Cheyne), for nnn does not mean " to breathe," and with 3 it does not mean " to smell something " (as with a following accusative), but " to smell with pleasure " (v. Orelli), like ^ nxi, to see with pleasure, or as in Gen. xxix. 32, to see with inward sympathy (Ex. xxx. 38 ; Lev. xxvi. 31 ; Amos v. 21). It is not meant that he has as regards himself pleasure in fear of God, but that fear of God when he perceives it in men is fragrance to him (nh'J ry\ Gen. viii. 21); for the fear of God is a sacrifice of adoration, continually ascending to God. Brilliant or repellent external qualities do not determine his favour or disfavour ; he judges not by the external appear- 1 So also in Sanhedrin 936, whereas R. Alexandri combines in^TH with DTII, fu^d explains it : He (God) has loaded him with duties and suflferinga as with millstones (see Dalman, ojj. cit. p. 38). CHAPTER XI. 4, 5. 281 ance, but by the relationsliip to his God in tlie depths of the heart. This is the standard according to which he will judge in saving and will judge in punishing. Vers. 4, 5 : " And judges with righteousness the insignificant, and passes sentence with equity on the humble in the land, and smites the earth with the staff of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he slays the transgressor. And righteousness is the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his hips." The main thing in ver. 4 lies in the objects there presented. He will do right to the Q'p'n, the weak and helpless, by incorruptibly just procedure against their oppressors ; and he will decide with straight- ness for the humble or meek of the land ; 131?, like ''?y, from n^y, to bend, the latter meaning one who is bowed down by misfortune, the former one who is bowed down inwardly or emptied of all selfness ; ? D'Sin, as in Job xvi. 21. The 7rT&);^ot and TT/oaei? will be the very special object of his royal care ; just as the first beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount really apply to them. But the earth, i.e. the antichristian world and the wicked one (^'^1, not collective, but used as also in Ps. Ixviii. 22, ex. G, Hab. iii. 13, 14, of one in whom the hostility against Jehovah and His Anointed One satanically culminates),^ will come to experience the force of his punitive righteousness. The very word of his mouth is already a staff which shatters to pieces (Ps. ii. 9 ; Eev. i. 16), and the very breath of his lips, no further means being required, exercises an annihilating influence (2 Thess. ii. 8) — a feature in the Bible which, as Cheyne remarks, brings the Messiah near the Deity. As the girdle around the loins, Cl^3^? (LXX. ri]v 6a-(f)uv), and forward on the hips, Ql'V/H (LXX. ra? irXevpd'i), holds the clothes together, — the unity of the designa- tion, "lilt?, showing that it is not two kinds of girdles that are meant, — so all the qualities and activities of his person have as their connecting bond "^i^^^, which follows the inviolable norm of the divine will, and '^J^^i!?,!^, which keeps immovably to the relationship which is instituted by God, and in accord- 1 In this sense the Targum translates Dv''IO"iX) Armilus, i.e. 'FufivT^o;^ Romulus {DMZ. xxxix. 343), and according to another reading m the Cod. Reuchlin, pj^onx (D"1j!?D"1X), which perhaps, as Bucher supposes^ means the incarnated Agramainyus (Ahriman). 282 ISAIAH. ance with the promise (chap. xxv. 1). The ^}^''^^ is specially made prominent by the article : he is the true and faithful witness (Eev. i. 5, iii, 14). The trilogy of the prophetic figures of the Messiah — as ^/ about to be born, as born, and as ruling — is now complete. Isaiah was not the creator of Messianic prophecy, as Guthe (in his Das Zukunftsbild dcs Jesaia, 1885) tries to prove, lorcing the proof by negativing all the Messianic prophecies before Isaiah. An ideal king was hoped for before the expectation was attached to the house of David. But Isaiah and his contemporary Micah raised the outline to a living richly-coloured picture, for which the opening period of the secular empires furnished the basis. With the virgin's son, the five-named king's child, the son of David anointed with- out measure with God's spirit, there begins a new time in which this king's righteousness attains to a world-conquering position, and finds a home in a humanity which, like him, has risen up out of deep humiliation. The fruit of righteousness, however, is peace, which now reigns under the government of the Prince of Peace, not only in humanity, but, without being disturbed from any quarter, also in the animal world. A'^ers. 6—9 : " And the wolf dwells loith the lamb, and the ])ard lies doivn ivith the kid, and the calf and lion and fattened ox together — a little hoy drives them before him. And coio and bear go to the ^^(^'^sticre, their young lie down together; and- the lion devours chopped straw like the ox. And the suckling p>lctys on the hole of the adder, and the weaned child stretches his hand to the pupil of the basilisk-viper. They will not become bad, and will not commit destruction in all my holy mountain : for the land has become full of knowledge of Jehovah like the tvaters covering the sea." The Sibyllines, iii. 766 sqq., paraphrase this, and Virgil in his Eclogue perhaps stands unconsciously under the influence of Isaiah through the medium of that paraphrase (Cheyne). The Church Pathers, Luther, Calvin,- ^ Vitringa, Schmieder, regard these images from the animal world as symbolical. Rationalistic expositors take them literally, but as a beautiful dream and wish. In the Midrash on Ecclesiastes at chap. i. 9, a real transformation of the animal world is already rejected with cv-C'n nnn \yin ps ; but CHAPTEK XI. (5-9. 283 we have here really a prophecy before iis the full realization of which is certainly conditioned by a re-creation, and it there- fore belongs to the new earth under the new heaven. Even Eeuss refers here to Eom. viii. 19 sqq., remarking that "the idea, at once poetical and sublime, of nature sighing for its glorification, is at bottom only a more ideal form of this same conception." There now reigns in irrational nature, from the greatest beings in it down to the invisibl}' least, a malevolent strife and fierce delight in carnage. /But when the son of David shall have entered upon the full possession and exercise of his royal inheritance, then will the peace of Paradise be renewed, and the truth contained in the popular legends of an aurea aetas will be authenticated. It is this which the prophet depicts in charming images. The wolf, formerly scared away from the flock, now keeps good neighbourhood ("12) with the lamb ; the leopard lets the frisky kid lie down beside it. The lion between calf and fatted ox neither seizes upon the weak neighbour nor lusts after the fat one ; a little boy rules the whole three together with his driving staff (:n:, according to Stade, V j:, stimulo 'propcllerc). The cow and bear graze with each other, while their young lie together on the meadow. The lion thirsts no more for blood, but, like the ox, is satisfied with chopped food, i.e. with cut and crushed straw. The suckling has its delight, i.e. enjoys itself (Filpel in the same reflexive sense as in Ps. cxix. 70, from yy^'', to stroke, to caress, to smoothen, mulcere) on the hole of the adder ; and the child hardly yet weaned boldly and safely stretches his hand to '•^U'^V nn^xo.^ Prom Jer. viii. 17 it is clear that ""Jiys^f is the name of a species of snake ; it is, according to Aquila and Jerome in the passage, the /SaatXlaKO'?, serpens regulus (with which also agrees the Targum and Syr. !^"iin^ charmana), according to Schultens from j;Di*=.A~^, to singe by means of the hot breath, but according to Gesenius and Piirst from V f]S, to pipe, to hiss, for which Isidore {Origg. xii. 4), sibilus idem est qui et 1 This trait of tlie Messianic time has been borrowed by a tradition cited by Damire under the rubric jj-u^s- (serpent) : " till it come to this that the child puts his hand into the mouth of the serpent without its harming him." 284 ISAIAH. rcgulus ; sioilo enhn occidit, cmtequam mordeaf vcl exurat. It is hardly equivalent to ''?iJ'7^*' ^^ ^^ appears according to Saadia, who translates it er-rakds, the spotted (speckled), nnn is a air. \e