directly thus applied and explained, ver. 11—13. And this deliverance is expressed with a manifest opposition to what is here said above, ver. 14, of the great lords and tyrants, under whom they had groaned; They are dead, they shall not live: They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise: that they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from fence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was at that time a popular and common doctrine; for an image which is assumed in order to express or represent any thing in the way of allegory or metaphor, whether poetical or prophetical, must be an image commonly known and understood; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed. 20. Come, O my people; retire-] An exhortation to patience and resignation under oppression, with a confident expectation of deliverance, by the power of God manifestly to be exerted in the destruction of the oppressor. It seems to be an allusion to the command of Moses to the Israelites, when the destroying angel was to go through the land of Egypt, "not to go out at the door of their houses until the morning:" Exod. xii. 22. And before the passage of the Red Sea: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of JEHOVAH :-JEHOVAH shall fight for shall hold your peace." EXOD. xiv. 13, 14. CHAP. XXVII. you, and ye THE subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the measure, and the dealings with his people: ver. 1, his judgements inflicted on their great and powerful enemies: ver. 2, his constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue: ver. 7, the moderation and lenity, with which the severity of his judgements have been tempered: ver. 9, the end and design of them, to recover them from idolatry; and ver. 12, the recalling of them, on their repentance, from their several dispersions. The first verse seems connected with the two last verses of the preceding chapter. 1. Leviathan, &c.] The animals here mentioned seem to be: the crocodile, rigid, by the stiffness of the back-bone, so that he cannot readily turn himself, when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent, or dragon, flexible and winding; which coils himself up in a circular form: the seamonster, or the whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt, for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily within the design of these notes. 2. the beloved vineyard] For an, á great number of MSS. and some printed editions, have ; which is confirmed by LXX. and Chald. Ibid. —a responsive song] to sing responsively; and that this mode of singing was frequently practised among the ancient Jews; see De S. Poes. Hebr. Præl. xix. at the beginning. That, to answer, signifies occasionally 3. I will take care of her] For p 15 Svr. reads PN: and fifteen MSS. (six ancient,) and six editions, read pax in the first person. חימה MS. has 4. I have no wall] For non, LXX. and Syr. read on. An ancient For 3, two MSS. read □, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall, and a fence of thorns; human strength and protection; (as the Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbours for assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Egypt :) JEHOVAH replies, that this would not avail her, nor defend her against his wrath: he counsels her therefore to betake herself to his protection. On which she intreats him to make peace with her. “About Tripoly there are abundance of vineyards and gardens, inclosed for the most part with hedges; which chiefly consist of the rhamnus, paliurus, oxyacantha, &c." Rawolf, p. 21, 22. A fence of thorns is esteemed equal to a wall for strength, being commonly represented as impenetrable. See MICAH vii. 4. HOSEA ii. 6. Ibid. —of the thorn and brier] Seven MSS. (two ancient,) and one edition, and Syr. Vulg. Aquila, read no, with the conjunction prefixed. 5. Ah!] For w, I read ", as it was at first in a MS. The was easily lost, being followed by another. 6. from the root] For ww, I read with the Syr. ww. And for 1701 p. 779 wy, joining the 1 to the first word, and taking that into construction with the first part of the sentence. I suppose the dialogue to be continued in this verse, which pursues the same image of the allegory, but in the way of metaphor. 9. And if-] 1, four MSS. (two ancient,) and LXX. 11. —her boughs] yp, MS. and Vulg. that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above. The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the east is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers: see MATTH. vi. 21-30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned, as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here; "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel." Chap. xv. 3, 4. "If a man abide not in me, saith our Lord, he is cast forth as a branch [of the vine] and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." JOHN XV. 6. They employed women and children to gather these things; and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning of their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel: but the prophet says, that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken; and the women shall come, and gather them up; and carry away the whole of them, to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer, Observ. i. p. 254, &c. CHAP. XXVIII. 1. The proud crown-] "SEBASTE, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure; having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it." Maundrell, p. 58. "E regione horum ruderum mons est peramœnus, planitie admodum frugifera circumseptus, super quem olim Samaria urbs condita fuit." Fureri Itinerarium, p. 93. The city beautifully situated on the top of a round hill, and surrounded immediately with a rich valley, and a circle of other hills beyond it, suggested the idea of a chaplet, or wreath of flowers, worn upon their heads on occasions of festivity; expressed by the proud crown, and the fading flower of the drunkards. That this custum of wearing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Ro mans, appears from the following passage of the book of Wisdom: "Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they are withered.” WISD. 11. 7, 8. 2. -the exceedingly strong one], fortis Domino, i. e. fortissi mus, a Hebraism. For 7, thirty-eight MSS. and two editions, read, ליחות 3. -crowns] I read y, plural, to agree with the verb . 4. The early fruit before summer] "No sooner doth the boccore [the early fig] draw near to perfection, in the middle or latter end of June, than the kermez, or summer fig, begins to be formed, though it rarely ripens be fore August; about which time the same tree frequently throws out a third crop, or the winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the leaves are shed: and, provided the winter proves mild and temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring." Shaw, Travels, p. 370. fol. The image was very obvious to the inhabitants of Judea and the neighbouring countries, and is frequently applied by the prophets to express a desirable object; by none more elegantly than by Hosea, chap. ix. 10. "Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel: Like the first ripe fig in her prime, I saw your fathers." makes a miserable a happy conjecture of Ibid. -he plucketh it] For NT, which with tautology, read by a transposition of a letter Houbigant. The image expresses in the strongest manner the great ease with which the Assyrians shall take the rich city and the whole kingdom, and the avidity with which they shall seize the rich prey without resist ance. 5. In that day-] Thus far the prophecy relates to the Israelites, and manifestly denounces their approaching destruction by Shalmaneser. Here it turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of God's people, who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of the Israelites. It begins with a favourable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah: but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings, for their intemperance, disobedience, and profaneness. 6. —to the gate of the enemy] That is, who pursue the fleeing enemy even to the very gates of their own city: "But we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate:" 2 SAM. xi. 23. that is, we drove the enemy back to their own gates: see also 1 SAM. xvii. 52. 9. Whom [say they] would he teach-] The scoffers mentioned below, ver 14, are here introduced as uttering their sententious speeches; they treat God's method of dealing with them, and warning them by his prophets, with contempt and derision. What, say they, doth he treat us as mere infants just weaned? doth he teach us like little children, perpetually inculcating the same elementary lessons, the mere rudiments of knowledge; precept after precept, line after line, here and there, by little and little? imitating at the same time, and ridiculing, in verse 10, the concise prophetical manner. God by his prophet retorts upon them with great severity their own contemptuous mockery; turning it to a sense quite different from what they intended. Yes, saith he, it shall be in fact as you say: ye shall be taught by a strange tongue, and a stammering lip; in a strange country; ye shall be carried into captivity by a people whose language shall be unintelligible to you, and which ye shall be forced to learn like children; and my dealing with you shall be according to your own words : it shall be command upon command for your punishment; it shall be line upon line, stretched over you to mark your destruction; (compare 2 KINGS xxi. 13) it shall come upon you at different times, and by different degrees; till the judgements, with which from time to time I have threatened you, shall have their full accomplishment. Jerom seems to have rightly understood the general design of this passage, as expressing the manner in which the scoffers, by their sententious speeches, turned into ridicule the warnings of God by his prophets : though he has not so well explained the meaning of the repetition of their speech in the 13th verse. His words are on ver. 9, "Solebant hoc ex persona prophetarum ludentes dicere:" and on ver. 14, "Quod supra diximus, cum irrisione solitos principes Judæorum prophetis dicere, manda, remanda, & cætera his similia, per quæ ostenditur, nequaquam eos prophetarum credidisse sermonibus, sed prophetiam habuisse despectui, præsens ostendit capitulum, per quod appellantur viri illusores." Hieron. in loc. And so Jarchi interprets the word hwn in the next verse: "qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolice." And the Chaidee paraphrases the 11th verse to the same purpose, understanding it as spoken not of God, but of the people deriding his prophets : "Quoniam in mutatione loquelæ & in lingua subsannationis irridebant contra prophetas qui prophetabant populo huic." 12. This is the true rest-] The sense of this verse is: God had warned them by his prophets, that their safety and security, their deliverance from their present calamities, and from the apprehensions of still greater approaching, depended wholly on their trust in God, their faith and obedience: but they rejected this gracious warning with contempt and mockery. 15. —a covenant with death] To be in covenant with, is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security from evil and mischief of any sort: "For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.” JOB V. 23. "And I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground.” Hos. ii. 18. That is, none of these shall hurt them. But Lucan, speaking of the Psylli, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded, comes still nearer to the expression of Isaiah in this place: "Gens unica terras Incolit a sævo serpentum innoxia morsu Pax illis cum morte data est." "Of all who scorching Afric's sun endure, Pharsal. ix. 894 ROWE. 18. —shall be broken] For , which seems not to belong to this place, Chald. reads ; which is approved by Houbigant and SECKER: see JER. XXXiii. 21, where the very same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dis sert. p. xxx. |