all the possibility of deliverance. This mediation is through the Cross of Christ. It is only when this mediation has not been accepted that punitive justice has free course. It should not surprise us that even the Evangelist of the Old Covenant, who wrote chap. liii., did not possess perfect knowledge of this mediation. Let us remember John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 7; xi. 11) and the disciples of the LORD (Luke ix. 54). [Let us not forget that Isaiah was a true Prophet, and spoke as he was moved by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul did not find fault with the most terrible denunciations of judgment contained in the Old Testament, or affect a superiority over the men who uttered them. On the contrary, he quotes them as words which could not be suffered to fall, but which must be fulfilled in all their dreadful import. See e. g. Rom. xi. 9, 10.-D. M.]. 18. xxvi. 12. "It is a characteristic of true, sincere Christians, that they give God the glory and not themselves, and freely confess that they have nothing of themselves, but everything from God (1 Cor. iv. 7; Phil. ii. 13; Heb. xii. 2)." CRAMER. ، 19. xxvi. 16. The old theologians have many comforting and edifying thoughts connected with this place: "A magnet has the power to raise | and attract to itself iron. Our heart is heavy as iron. But the hand of God is as a magnet. When that hand visits us with affliction, it lifts us up, and draws us to itself." "Distress teaches us to pray, and prayer again dispels all distress. One wedge displaces the other." "Ex gravibus curis impellimur ad pia vota." "Ex monte myrrhae procedimus ad collem thuris (Cant. ix. 6). In amaritudine crucis exsurgit odor devotae precationis (Ps. lxxxvi. 6 sq.)." "Ubi nulla crux et tentatio, ibi nulla vera oratio. Oratio sine malis est tanquam avis sine alis. Optimus orandi magister necessitas. Tà лadhuara pavýμara. Quae nocent, docent. Ubi tentatio, ibi oratio. Mala, quae hic nos premunt, ad Deum ire compellunt. Qui nescit orare, ingrediatur mare." "When the string is most tightly drawn, it sounds best. Cross and temptation are the right prayer-bell. They are the press by which God crushes out the juice of prayer." CRAMER and FOERSTER. 20. xxvi. 20. As God, when the deluge was about to burst, bade Noah go into his ark as into his chamber, and Himself shut the door on him (Gen. vii. 16); so does the LORD still act when a storm is approaching; He brings His own into a chamber where they can be safe, either for their temporal preservation and protection against every might (Ps. xci. 1), or, on the other hand, to give them repose by a peaceful and happy death." His anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life (Ps. xxx. 6)." CRAMER. 21. xxvii. 1. [“Great and mighty princes [nations] if they oppose the people of God, are in God's account, as dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and the LORD will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with, and call to an account; and therefore the great God will take the doing of it into His own hands." HENRY.-D. M.]. 22. xxvii. 2-5. "It seems to the world that God has no concern for His church and Christians, else, we imagine, they would be better off. But certain it is, that it is not the angels but God Himself that will be watcher over this vineyard, and will send it gracious rain." VEIT DIETRICH. ["The church is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the refor mation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, chap. v. 4." "God takes care (1) of the safety of this vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this, as glorying in it, that He is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel; those that bring forth fruit to God are, and shall be always, under His protection. (2) God takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment; and yet it shall not be over watered. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither and come to nothing." HENRY. D. M.]. 23. xxvii. 4. "Est aurea promissio, qua praecedentem confirmat. Indignatio non est mihi, fury is not in me. Quomodo enim is nobis irasci potest, qui pro nobis est mortuus? Quanquam igitur appareat, eum irusci, non tamen est verum, quod irascatur. Sic Paulo immittitur angeius Satanae, sed non est ira, nam ipse Christus dicit: sufficit tibi gratia mea. Sic pater filium delinquentem castigat, sed non est ira, quanquam appareat ira esse. Custodia igitur vineae aliquando cogit Deum immittere speciem irae, ne pereat luxurie, sed non est ira. Est insignis textus, which we should inscribe on all tribulations: Non est indignatio mihi, non possum irasci. Quod autem videtur irasci est custodia vineae, ne pereas et fias securus. LUTHER. "In order to understand fully the doctrine of the wrath of God we must have a clear perception of the antithesis: the long-suffering of God, and the wrath of God, wrath and mercy." LANGE. 24. xxvii. 7-9. "Christ judges His church, i. e., He punishes and afflicts it, but He does this in measure. The sorrow and cross is meted out, and is not, as it appears to us, without measure and infinite. It is so measured that redemption must certainly follow. But why does God let His Christians so suffer? Why does He not lay the cross on the wicked? God answers this question and speaks: the sin of Jacob will thereby cease. That is: God restrains sin by the cross, and subdues the old Adam." VEIT DIETRICH. 25. xxvii. 13. ["The application of this verse to a future restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. In itself considered, it appears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to events long past." J. A. ALEXANDER. "This prediction was completely and entirely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus." BARNES.-D. M.]. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. 1. On xxiv. 4-6. Fast-day sermon. Warning against dechristianization of the life of the people. 1) Wherein such dechristianization consists: a transgression of the commandments that are in force; b, alteration of the commandments which are essential articles of the everlasting covenant, as e. g. removing of all state institutions from the basis of religion. 2) Its consequences: a, Dese cration of the land (subjectively, by the spread of a profane, godless sentiment; objectively, by the secularization of relations hitherto held sacred); b, the curse consumes the land, ver. 4. : 2. On xxv. 1-5. The LORD, the refuge of the needy. 1) He has the power to help. This we perceive u, from His nature (LORD, God, Wonderful); b, from His deeds (ver. 1 b, ver. 2). 2) He gives His strength even to the feeble, (ver. 4). 3) These are thereby victorious, (ver. 5). 3. On xxv. 6-9. Easter Sermon, by T. SCHAEFFER (Manch. Gab. u. ein Geist III., p. 269):"The glorious Easter-blessing of the Risen One: 1) Wherein it consists? 2) who receive it? 3) what are its effects? Christmas Sermon, by ROMBERG (ibid. 1869, p. 78): Our text represents to us Christmas joy under the image of a festive board. Let us consider, 1) the host; 2) the guests; 3) the gifts." 4. On xxvi. 1-4. Concerning the church. 1) She is a strong city in which salvation is to be found. 2) The condition of having a portion in her is faith. 3) The blessing which she is instrumental in procuring is peace. 5. xxvi. 19-21. The comfort of the Christian for the present and future. 1) For the present the Christian is to betake himself to his quiet chamber, where he is alone with his LORD and by Him made cheerful and secure. 2) For the future he has the certain hope, a, that the LORD will judge the wicked, b, raise the believer to everlasting life. 6. xxvii. 2-9. How the LORD deals with His vineyard, the church. 1) Fury is not in Him towards it; 2) He protects and purifies it; 3) He gives it strength, peace and growth; 4) He chastens it in measure; 5) He makes the chastisement itself serve to purge it from sins. THIRD SUBDIVISION. THE RELATION OF ISRAEL TO ASSYRIA IN THE TIME OF KING HEZEKIAH. CHAPS. XXVIII.-XXXIII. As chapters vii.-xii., resting on the facts related vii. 1 sqq., contain the first great cycle of Isaiah's prophecies, so our chapters (xxviii. xxxiii.), which have for their basis the facts narrated in the historical appendix (xxxvi.-xxxvii.) contain the second great cycle. Chapters vii.xii. depict the relation of Israel to Assyria in the time of Ahaz. Our chapters set forth this relation as it stood in the time of Hezekiah. As the sin of Ahaz consisted in his seeking protection against Aram-Ephraim not in the LORD, but in Assyria, so Hezekiah erred in seeking protection against Assyria, that had become a scourge through Ahab's guilt, not in the LORD, but in Egypt. Hezekiah, the otherwise pious king, must have been weak enough to yield so far to the influence of those around him, as to sanction a policy which aimed at concluding a league with Egypt, as the infallible means of deliverance. Isaiah now in chapters xxviii.-xxxiii. assails with all his might this Egyptian alliance, which the government of Hezekiah, knowing it to be contrary to the will of God, was seeking behind the back of the Prophet to bring about with all diplomatic skill, and at great sacrifices of money and property. He follows it from its rise through all stages of its development. He leads us, chap. xxviii., to its source. The Prophet assigns as its source a swamp, if we may employ a figure; the swamp of low carnal passion for drink. From this swamp the policy had already issued which Ephraim was pursuing to its destruction. From this swamp too the disposition was produced which led Judah to contemn the admonitions of the LORD, and to place wicked confidence in its own carnal prudence (xxviii. 14 sq.). In chap. xxix. the Prophet lets it be clearly perceived that the secret plotting behind his back did not remain concealed from him (xxix. 15 sqq.). But it is not till chap. xxx. that he plainly declares (ver. 2 sqq.) that those secret machinations were with a view to an alliance with Egypt. But he certifies at once by a written declaration (ver. 8), that this Egyptian alliance will be of no benefit. The LORD only will deliver Israel. He will certainly do it. In chaps. xxxi. and xxxii., which belong together, the LORD proclaims the vanity of Egyp tian succor. Assyria will not fall by the sword of a man (xxxi. 8), but the LORD will overturn it; and to this promise of the impending deliverance of Israel from Assyrian oppression the Prophet immediately attaches a glorious picture of the future, which, while it praises the truly noble disposition of those high in rank in the Messianic time, is very severe on the existing aristocracy, composed of the nobility and of public functionaries; and at the same time (as in chap. iii.) addresses with an impressive warning the women who have great influence, and occupy high positions. Finally (xxxiii.), the Prophet speaks directly to Assyria in order to announce its speedy and sudden destruction. This last chapter contains matter which is for the most part of a joyful character for Israel. It has a dark side for the people of the LORD only so far as it sets forth that the predicted glorious deliverance will make a disagreeable impression on the sinners in Israel, who desire to know nothing of Jehovah. Although therefore chaps. xxviii.—xxxiii. are arranged according to a certain plan, they do not form one connected speech. There are rather five speeches delivered at different times, each of which in itself forms a whole, while each presents a complete picture of what the Prophet beheld, embracing threatening and promise. We have here to remark that the Prophet always draws the most remote Messianic future into the sphere of his vision, though he does so every time from a different point of view. The first speech must have been composed before the destruction of Samaria (722 B. C.), for it addresses Samaria | and hear, xxxi. 1 sqq., the futility of Egyptian as yet standing. Nay, more, as Samaria is seen flourishing in all her pride, and her inhabitants indulge their evil passions without fear or restraint, the speech must have been written before the commencement of the three years' siege of Samaria by the Assyrians, say in the year 725, and therefore in the commencement of the reign of Hezekiah. Chap. xxix. belongs to a later time. In ver. 1 the Prophet declares that the city of Jerusalem should be shut in. He can only mean that isolation of the city in regard to which Sennacherib states in his inscriptions (comp. SCHRADER, pp. 176 and 187), that he had enclosed Hezekiah" as a bird in a cage." This event, according to the usual chronology, happened in the year 714, while according to the Assyrian monuments (comp. SCHRADER, Cuneiform Inscriptions, p. 299, and our Introduction to chaps. xxxvi. xxxix.), it took place in the year 700. As this difference, as we will attempt to show in the introduction to chaps. xxxvi.-xxxix., was occasioned by a misunderstanding of later writers, there being originally no disagreement between the biblical and Assyrian chronology, but Loth originally agreeing in referring the expedition of Sennacherib against Phenicia, Egypt and Judah to the 28th year of Hezekiah, i. e., the year 700 B. C., the speech contained in chapter xxix. would consequently have been delivered about the year 702. We have an aid to fixing the date in the words ver. 1: "Add year to year, let the festivals complete their round." According to our exposition the Prophet intimates by these words that after the expiration of the current year another year should complete its revolution, and then the hour of decision should arrive. That at this time the Egyptian alliance had been already, as is hinted in ver. 15, arranged to a considerable extent in secret consultations, is extremely probable. And when we find, xxx. 2 sqq., the Jewish Ambassadors already on the way to Egypt, help again emphatically asserted, and then read xxxii. 10 that, after an indefinite number of days above a year had expired, Jerusalem should be cut off from its fields and vineyards by the enemy, we may draw from all this the conclusion, that chaps. xxx.-xxxii. were produced not long after chap. xxix. But when we read, xxxiii. 7 sqq., that the ambassadors of peace sent by Hezekiah return in sorrow, because the Assyrian king in addition to the great ransom (2 Kings xviii. 14 sqq.) demands the surrender of the city itself; when that passage describes the occupation of the surrounding country by the enemy, in consequence of which Judah (xxxiii. 23) is compared with a ship whose ropes no longer keep the mast firm, when at last the LORD, Xxxiii. 10, exclaims "Now will I rise; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself," we shall not err in assuming that this prophecy belongs to the time immediately after the return of those ambassadors of peace, and was therefore uttered shortly before the summons given to Hezekiah by Rabshakeh. Each of the five speeches of our prophetic cycle begins with ". From the absence of '17 at the beginning of chap. xxxii., as well as from the tenor of this chapter, we see that it forms with chap. xxxi. one whole. 1 is found once, xxix. 15, even in the middle of the discourse. That Isaiah is the writer of these speeches is almost universally admitted. The doubts which were raised by Eichhorn in regard to separate parts, were seen by GESENIUS to be unfounded Comment. I. 2, p. 826,; and EWALD'S conjecture as to the composition of chap. xxxiii. by a disciple of Isaiah, has been sufficiently refuted by KNOBEL. We have not in the section before us one organic discourse, but five speeches, which from the initial word common to all of them we shall designate as first woe, second woe, etc. I. THE FIRST WOE. CHAP. XXVIII. 1. SWAMP EPHRAIM, SWAMP JUDAH, AND WHAT ARISES OUT OF THE SWAMPS. 1 CHAP. XXVIII. 1-13. WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, Which are on the head of the fat valleys Of them that are 'overcome with wine. 2 Behold, the LORD hath a mighty and strong one; Which, as a tempest of hail, And a destroying storm, As a flood of mighty waters overflowing, Shall cast down to the earth with the hand. 3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Shall be trodden 'under feet. 4 And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley, Shall be a fading flower, And as the 'hasty fruit before the summer; Which, when he that looketh upon it seeth, While it is yet in his hand he 'eateth it up. 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, And through strong drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; They are out of the way through strong drink ; 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, 9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand 'doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, And drawn from the 'breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; Line upon line, line upon line; Here a little, and there a little : 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue, "Will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; Yet they would not hear. 13 But the word of the LORD was unto them Precept upon precept, precept upon precept; Here a little, and there a little; That they might go, and fall backward, And be broken, and snared, and taken. נבל .1.Ver 4 Heb. the hearing. b valley. TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. ז' as subst. cum adj. would be here abnormal, inasmuch as nothing can come between the nomen rectum and regens. The normal construction would be. But we know from £ 30 and xxxiv. 4, that Isaiah uses the participle of substantively in the signification of that which is with ered, falling off. We have then to regard here not as an adjective qualifying p, but as a substantive coordinate with the other members in the series of genitives. Comp. on ny ver. 4. The absolute state need cause no surprise. The word does not stand in the genitival relation to what follows. But two genitives are dependent on, namely, and יין . [We prefer to say with DELITZSCH that , although standing connected with what follows, has the absolute form, the logical relation carrying it over the syntax. Comp. xxxii. 13; 1 Chron. ix. 13.D. M.]. Hebrew language an ideal subject can be readily understood. The proud crown is Samaria. But this one great crown includes many smaller ones. The plural can be referred to this ideal multitude (comp. NAEGELSBACH'S Gr., S. 61, 1). [It appears to me simpler to say with the Jewish grammarians that the word crown is to be taken here as a collective noun.-D. M.]. In ver. 4 looks as a hint for the right understanding of. We have already remarked on ver. 1 that is to be taken as a substantive. If this could be seen from the mere grammatical construction, and from the parallel places, i. 30; xxxiv. 4, it is obvious from the word '. For we clearly perceive from this nominal form which occurs only here, and which is certainly intentionally chosen, that is to be regarded as a substantive, and as a coordinate member of the series of genitives. Ver. 7. P, Kal, only here. Besides only Hiphil Job xxxi. 28. Iviii. 10. (accus. loci) only here. Comp. xvi. 3; Ver. 9. On the preposition between the governing and the governed noun, see NAEGELSBACH'S Gr., 63, 4 c. Ver. 3. The verb П in the plural has no exVer. 12. N for N comp. OLSHAUSEN'S Gr., 226, pressed subject. This is not necessary. For in the b, p. 449 sq. T T EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1 Samaria is still standing in proud pomp, but Samaria (1 Kings xvi. 24; Amos iv. 1; vi. 1). sunk in the vice of drunkenness. Therefore the 1 (comp. xvi. 8) are vino obtusi, percussi. Compare Qui se percussit flore Liberi, Plant. Cas. 3, 5, 16; multo percussus tempora Baccho, Tib. 1, 2, 3; mero saucius Mart., 3, 6, 8; oivonλn§, oivóTÄNKTOS, etc. Two images are here blended; namely, that Samaria is the crown of the hill, and the crown or garland on the head of the Ephraimites. The accumulation of predicates shows off the vain glorious pride of the Ephraimites; and at the same time it is intimated by 73 and Prophet proclaims a woe upon it (ver. 1), and announces that a mighty foe as a tempest will cast it to the ground (ver. 2), and tread the proud crown under foot (ver. 3). Then shall this gloricus but already decaying flower quickly disappear, as an early fig which a man no sooner sees than he eats it (ver. 4). Not till then is the moment come when the LORD Himself will be to the remnant of His people for an adorning crown, and for a guiding spirit in judgment, and for strength in war (vers. 5 and 6). With Jerusalem it stands no better than with Samaria. There," by that this garland, this crown too, the vice of drunkenness prevails fearfully. will not endure long. For the garland is withEven priests and prophets are under its sway. ered, and the crown totters upon the head of the Even in the sacred moments of prophetic vision drunkards. For the avenger of this drunken [?] and of judging, its effects are visible on them; pride is already prepared. The LORD has him the holy places are polluted by their vomiting at hand (ii. 12). He is the Assyrian. He will (vers. 7 and 8). And, moreover, they mock the overturn to the ground (Amos v. 7) Ephraim's servant of Jehovah who warns them: Whom glory with his hand (72 stands over against does he think that he has before him? Are they the following '), as a storm of hail (xxv. mere children? (ver. 9). We hear from him con- 4; xxx. 30), as a shower of destruction tinually trifling moral preaching, broken into lit- and up only here in Isaiah), as the rushtle bits, which are scoffingly imitated by short, ing of mighty waterfloods ( only Job oft-repeated words, which resemble stammering sounds (ver. 10). For this they will have to hear viii. 2; xv. 10; xxxi. 25; xxxiv. 17, 24; xxxvi. the stammering sounds of a foreign nation of bar- 5 bis and Isa. x. 13; xvi. 14; xvii. 12, and in barous speech (ver. 11). Because they would not this place; , vers. 15, 17, 18; chap. viii. 7 hear the word of Jehovah which offered rest and comfort to the weary (ver. 12), the will of God sq., 10, 22; xxx. 28; xliii. 2; lxvi. 12). The will be made known to them in words, which in meaning is that Ephraim, when standing, shall be sound resemble their scornful words, but in im- dashed to the ground with the hand; when lying, shall be trodden with the feet. Ver. 4. The port are short, sharp words of command. That flower of the fading one is like the expreswill of God has this significance, that they will be ensnared in inextricable ruin. sion xxii. 24. This flower will be de2 Woe- eateth it up.-Vers. 1-4. It is no stroyed as quietly as an early fig, which is no honor for Jerusalem, when it is said to her that sooner seen than it is eaten off-hand by him who she walks in the footsteps of Samaria. Jerusalem discovers it. Such a dainty morsel (comp. ix. should be ashamed of this likeness, and seek to 10) is not laid by, as the other fruits which ripen remove it. This is, doubtless, the reason why the at the usual time, which are afterwards eaten at Prophet first directs his look to Samaria in order table out of the dish or off the plate. This is the to describe the there prevailing vice of literal meaning of y. The intentionally lengthened (and in connection therewith of spiritual) drunk-sentence 77787 paints how the inquienness, and to threaten it with punishment from ring look passes slowly and gradually over the God. Thence his look passes over to Jerusalem. tree. The Prophet predicts not a hasty capture Micah had before Isaiah done just the same. In chap. i. 6 sq. Micah first of all threatens Samaria with judgment, although "Judah and Jerusalem were the proper objects of his mission" (comp. CASPARI, Micah the Morasthite, p. 105). Isaiah himself had once already (viii. 6 sqq.) announced that the storm of judgment would first come upon Ephraim, and thence spread into the territory of Judah. This way of the judgments of God is not determined simply by the geographic situation. There is also a deeper reason when Jerusalem goes in the ways of Samaria. On 1 comp. on i. 4. besides only Ixii. 3. On Л comp. of the city (Samaria, as is known, did not fall till after a siege of three years, 2 Kings xvii. 5; SCHRADER, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T., p. 157 sqq.), but a change of affairs in general, which should take place in a surprisingly brief time, considering the proud security that then prevailed. If our prophecy was delivered in one of the first years of Hezekiah, it was fulfilled in such a manner that four or five years later a kingdom of Israel was no longer in existence. Of this no one could have had a presentiment when the Prophet uttered these words. נבל stands in conjunction with צִיץ .10 .on xxvi besides only xl. 7 and 8. On comp. on iv. 2; xiii. 19. This proud crown of Ephraim, this flower of his glorious ornament which lay upon the head of the valley of fatnesses (comp. v. 1; xxv. 6) i. e., on a beautiful hill commanding a fertile valley, is It is self-evident that N D is again to be taken 3 In that day—to the gate.-Vers. 5 and 6. as a prophetic date, which is not to be judged according to the ordinary human measure. It simply intimates that when Ephraim has lost the deceptive earthly crown, Jehovah will take the place of it. Judgment must make it possible for the LORD to assume the place at the head of His people which belongs to Him. This has virtually |