'Zeph. i. 7. Rev. vi. 17.-b Job xxxi. 23. Joel i. 15. Or, fall down. d Ps. xlviii. 6. Ch. xxi. 3.- Heb. render-Heb. every man at his neighbour. -8 Heb. faces of the flames.- 5 Mal. iv. 1.—— Ps. civ. 35. Prov. 1.22. Ch. xxiv. 21, 23. Ezek. xxxii. 7. Joel ii. 31. Verse 8. And they shall be afraid—" And they shall be terrified"] I join this verb, ¬¬n venibhalu, to the preceding verse, with the Syriac and Vulgate. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them-" Pangs shall seize them"] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read myochezum, instead of yochezun, which does not express the pronoun them, necessary to the sense. Verse 10. For the stars of heaven-"Yea, the stars of heaven"] The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars: which they describe as shining with increased plendour, and never setting. The moon becomes Eke the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented sevenfold (see Isai. xxx. 26); new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overflow and destruction of kingdoms is represented by opposite images. The stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more! The earth quakes, and the heavens tremble; and all things seem tending to their original chaos. See Joel ii. 10, iii. 15, 16; Amos viii. 9; Matt. xxiv. 29; and De S. Poës. Hebr. Præl. VI. et IX. And the moon shall not cause her light to shine] This in its farther reference may belong to the Jewish polity, both in church and state, which should be totally eclipsed, and perhaps shine no more, in its distinct state, for ever. of Babylon. A. M. cir. 3292. B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. Numa Pompilii, cir. annum 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. R. Roman., 4. 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. m 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. n 14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be P dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall Verse 11. I will punish the world-"I will visit the world"] That is, the Babylonish empire; as y OIKOVμEvη, for the Roman empire, or for Judea, Luke ii. 1, Acts xi. 28. So the universus orbis Romanus, Minos calls for the Roman empire; Salvian. lib. v. Crete his world: "Creten, quæ meus est orbis;" Ovid. Metamorph. viii. 9. Verse 12. I will make a man more precious than fine gold-wedge of Ophir.] The Medes and Persians will not be satisfied with the spoils of the Babylonians. They seek either to destroy or enslave them; and they will accept no ransom for any man— either for wx enosh, the poor man, or for 8 adam, the more honourable person. All must fall by the sword, or go into captivity together; for the Medes (ver. 17) regard not silver, and delight not in gold. Verse 14. "And the remnant "] Here is plainly a defect in this sentence, as it stands in the Hebrew text; the subject of the proposition is lost. What is it that shall be like a roe chased? The Septuagint happily supply it, oi xaтadedeiμμevoi, “w shear, the remnant. A MS. here supplies the word av yosheb, the inhabitant; which makes a tolerably good sense; but I much prefer the reading of the Septuagint. They shall turn-" They shall look "] That is, the forces of the king of Babylon, destitute of their leader, and all his auxiliaries, collected from Asia Minor, and other distant countries, shall disperse and flee to their respective homes. Verse 15. Every one that is found-" Every one that is overtaken"] That is, none shall escape from the slaughter; neither they who flee singly, dispersed The desolation A. M. cir. 3292. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, ISAIAH. be spoiled, and their wives 17 "Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. a Ch. xxi. 2. Jer. li. 11, 28. Dan. v. 28, 31. and in confusion; nor they who endeavour to make their retreat in a more regular manner, by forming compact bodies: they shall all be equally cut off by the sword of the enemy. The Septuagint have understood it in this sense, which they have well expressed :Ος γαρ αν ἁλῳ ἡττηθησεται, Και οίτινες συνηγμένοι εισι πεσούνται μαχαιρα. "Whosoever is caught shall be overthrown, 18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, b Ch. xiv. 4, 22. their bows were three cubits long, Anab. iv. They were celebrated for their archers, see chap. xxii. 6, Jer. xlix. 35. Probably their neighbours and allies, the Medes, dealt much in the same sort of arms. In Ps. xviii. 34, and Job xx. 24, mention is made of a bow of steel; if the Persian bows were of metal, we may easily conceive that with a metalline bow of three cubits' length, and proportionably strong, the soldiers might dash and slay the young men, the And all that are collected together shall fall by the weaker and unresisting of the inhabitants (for they sword." Where, for Tronσerat, MS. Pachom has EKKEVOŋoerat, et oir Cod. Marchal. in margine, et MS. 1. D. II. EKKEVTηonσetai, which seems to be right, being properly expressive of the Hebrew. Verse 17. Which shall not regard silver-"Who shall hold silver of no account"] That is, who shall not be induced, by large offers of gold and silver for ransom, to spare the lives of those whom they have subdued in battle; their rage and cruelty will get the better of all such motives. We have many examples in the Iliad and in the Eneid of addresses of the vanquished to the pity and avarice of the vanquishers, to induce them to spare their lives. Est domus alta: jacent penitus defossa talenta Pitt. It is remarkable that Xenophon makes Cyrus open a speech to his army, and in particular to the Medes, who made the principal part of it, with praising them for their disregard of riches. Ανδρες Μήδοι, και παντες οἱ παροντες, εγω ύμας οιδα σαφως, ότι ουτε Xonator dropvol ovv eμoi ežnλ0ete" "Ye Medes, and others who now hear me, I well know that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with a view of acquiring wealth."-Cyrop. lib. v. Verse 18. Their bows also shall dash- "Their bows shall dash"] Both Herodotus, i. 61, and Xenophon, Anab. iii., mention, that the Persians used large bows, Toža μeyada: and the latter says particularly that are joined with the fruit of the womb and the children) in the general carnage on taking the city. terattashnah, shall be broken or shivered to pieces. This seems to refer, not to □ nearim, young men, but to nep keshathoth, their bows. The bows of the young men shall be broken to pieces. On the fruit, &c.-" And on the fruit," &c.] A MS. of Dr. Kennicott's, reads “by veal peri, and on the fruit. And nine MSS. (three ancient) and two editions, with the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac, add likewise the conjunction vau, and, to by al, upon, afterwards. Verse 19. And Babylon] The great city of Babylon was at this time rising to its height of glory, while the prophet Isaiah was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it was brought to the highest degree of strength and splendour, are about one hundred and twenty years. I will here very briefly mention some particulars of the greatness of the place, and note the several steps by which this remarkable prophecy was at length accomplished in the total ruin of it. It was, according to the lowest account given of it by ancient historians, a regular square, forty-five miles in compass, inclosed by a wall two hundred feet high and fifty broad; in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square, a most magnificent palace, and the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain, raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as well as the most beautiful sorts. Cyrus took the city by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the midst of it, and entering the place at night by the dry channel. The river being never restored afterward to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it little better than a great morass; this and the great slaughter of the inhabitants, with other bad consequences of the taking of the city, was the first step to the ruin of the place. The Persian monarchs ever The desolation A. M. cir. 3292. Olymp. XVII. 1. Numa Pompili, B. C. cir. 712. cir. annum R. Roman., 4. CHAP. XIII. the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew 'Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. Heb. as the overthrowing.. b Gen. xix. 24, 26. Deut. 1x, 23. Jer. xlix. 18. 1. 40.- -- Jer. 1. 3, 39. li. 29, 62. Ch. xxxiv. 11-15. Rev. xviii. 2.-- Heb. Ziim. Heb. regarded it with a jealous eye; they kept it under, and took care to prevent its recovering its former greatness. Darius Hystaspes not long afterward most severely punished it for a revolt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates. Xerxes destroyed the temples, and with the rest the great temple of Belus, Herod. iii. 159, Arrian. Exp. Alexandri, lib. vii. The building of Seleucia on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighbourhood, as well as by the immediate loss of inhabitants taken away by Seleucus to people his new city, Strabo, lib. xvi. A king of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great number of the inhabitants, and burned and destroyed the most beautiful parts of the city, Valesii Excerpt. Diodori, p. 377. Strabo (ibid.) says that in his time great part of it was a mere desert; that the Persians had partly destroyed it; and that time and the neglect of the Macedonians, while they were masters of it, had Learly completed its destruction. Jerome (in loc.) says that in his time it was quite in ruins, and that the walls served only for the inclosure of a park or forest for the king's hunting. Modern travellers, who have endeavoured to find the remains of it, have given but a very unsatisfactory account of their success. What Benjamin of Tudela and Pietro della Valle supposed to have been some of its ruins, Tavernier thinks are the remains of some late Arabian building. Upon the whole, Babylon is so utterly annihilated, that even the place where this wonder of the world stood cannot now be determined with any certainty! See also note on chap. xliii. 14. d of Babylon. A. M. cir. 3292. B. C. cir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, R. Roman., 4. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and howls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. k Ochim.- -g Or, ostriches.- Heb. daughters of the owl. i Heb. Iim.- -k Or, palaces.—— Jer. li. 33. method of making bricks; see on chap. ix. 9. The walls of the city were built of the earth digged out on the spot, and dried upon the place, by which means both the ditch and the wall were at once formed, the former furnishing materials for the latter. That the walls of Babylon were of this kind is well known; and Berosus expressly says (apud Joseph. Antiq. x. 11) that Nebuchadnezzar added three new walls both to the old and new city, partly of brick and bitumen, and partly of brick alone. A wall of this sort must have a great thickness in proportion to its height, otherwise it cannot stand. The thickness of the walls of Babylon is said to have been one fourth of their height, which seems to have been no more than was absolutely necessary. Maundrell, speaking of the garden walls of Damascus, says, They are of a very singular structure. They are built of great pieces of earth, made in the fashion of brick, and hardened in the sun. In their dimensions they are two yards long each, and somewhat more than one broad, and half a yard thick." And afterward, speaking of the walls of the houses, he says, "From this dirty way of building they have this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent rain the whole city becomes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire;" p. 124. And see note on chap. xxx. 13. When a wall of this sort comes to be out of repair, and is neglected, it is easy to conceive the necessary consequences, namely, that in no long course of ages it must be totally destroyed by the heavy rains, and at length washed away, and reduced to its original earth.-L. 66 We are astonished at the accounts which ancient historians of the best credit give of the immense extent, height, and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon; nor are we less astonished when we are assured, by the concurrent testimony of modern travellers, that no remains, not the least traces, of I presume, for ¬ bearmenothaiv. It is so corthese prodigious works are now to be found. Scat-rected in two MSS., the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. tered fragments of its tiles and bricks are yet to be found. Proud Babylon reduced now to a few brickbats! Our wonder will, I think, be moderated in both respects, if we consider the fabric of these celebrated walls, and the nature of the materials of which they consisted. Buildings in the East have always been, and are to this day, made of earth or clay, mixed or beat up with straw to make the parts cohere, and dried only in the sun. This is their Verse 21. Satyrs] A kind of beast like to man, which is called won marmots, a monkey.-Rabbi Parchon. Verse 22. In their pleasant palaces-“ In their palaces"] bealmenothaiv; a plain mistake, Πουλυποδες δ' εν εμοι Θαλαμας φωκαι τε μέλαιναι Hoм. Hymn. in Apol. 77. Of which the following passage of Milton may be taken for a translation, though not so designed :— "And in their palaces, Where luxury late reigned, sea monsters whelp'd, And stabled." Par. Lost, xi.. 750. Deliverance of Israel from captivity, which shall follow the downfal of the great Babylonish empire, 1, 2. Triumphant ode or song of the children of Jacob, for the signal manifestation of divine vengeance against their oppressors, 3-23. Prophecy against the Assyrians, 24, 25. Certainty of the prophecy, and immutability of the divine counsels, 26, 27. Palestine severely threatened, 28-31. God shall establish Zion in these troublous times, 32. A. M. cir. 3292. OL. XVII. 1. R. Roman., 4. C b they were; and they shall rule A. M. cir. 3292. cir. annum Numa Pompilii, FOR the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will over their oppressors. Numa Pompilii, yet choose Israel, and set them 3 And it shall come to pass in their own land: and the in the day that the LORD shall strangers shall be joined with them, and they give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy shall cleave to the house of Jacob. fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives e eHeb. 4 That thou shalt take up this "proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! b Or, taunting speech. —— Or, exactress k Rev. xviii. 16. Ch. Ix. 4, 5, 10. 19. Hab. ii. 6.- Ps. cii. 13. Zech. i. 17. ii. 12. Eph. ii. 12, 13, &c. dh. xlix. 22. Ix. 9. lxvi. 20.that had taken them captives.- f Ch. lx. 14. Verse 4. This proverb-"This parable"] wo mashal. I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and NOTES ON CHAP. XIV. Verse 1. And will yet choose Israel.] That is, will still regard Israel as his chosen people; however he may seem to desert them, by giving them up to their enemies, and scattering them among the nations. Judah is sometimes called Israel; see Ezek. xiii. 16, Mal. i. 1, ii. 11: but the name of Jacob and of Israel, used apparently with design in this place, each of which names includes the twelve tribes, and the other circumstances mentioned in this and the next verse, which did not in any complete sense accom-authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And pany the return from the captivity of Babylon, seem to intimate that this whole prophecy extends its views beyond that event. Verse 2. For servants and handmaids] for thrallis and thrallesses.-OLD BIBLE. Male and female slaves. Verse 3. In the day-"In that day"] bayom hahu. The word & hahu is added in two MSS. of Kennicott's, and was in the copies from which the Septuagint and Vulgate translated: Ev Ty ǹμεpg ERELvy, in die illa (ý avaravou, MS. Pachom. adding ÿ), in that day. This is a matter of no great consequence: however, it restores the text to the common form, almost constantly used on such occasions; and is one among many instances of a word apparently lost out of the printed copies. such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule; to exercise authority; to make equal; to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy (Numb. xxiii. 7—10) is called his mashal; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it: but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to his three friends, chap. xxvii.-xxxi., are called mashals; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of The fall of A. M. cir. 3292. B. C. eir. 712. Olymp. XVII. 1. Nune Pompili, cir. annum R. Roman., 4. CHAP. XIV. 5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 9 'Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. See the Lote on Prov. i. 1. The Septuagint in this place render the word by Spqvos, a lamentation. They plainly consider the speech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that species of poetry which we call the elegiac; either from the subject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon, or from the form of the composition, which is of the longer sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Septuagint Opηvo, are written. The golden city ceased] madhebah, which is here translated golden city, is a Chaldee word. Probably it means that golden coin or ingot which was given to the Babylonians by way of tribute. So the word is understood by the Vulgate, where it is rendered tributum ; and by Montanus, who translates it aurea pensio, the golden pension. Kimchi seems to have understood the word in the same sense. De Rossi translates it auri dives, rich in gold, or auri eratrix, the exactor of gold; the same as the exactor of tribute. Verse 9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to met thee] That is, Nebuchadnezzar. "It (hell) hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the earth;-the ghosts (rephaim) of all the mighty ones, of goats (ny attudey), of the earth-all the oppressors of mankind." What a most terrible idea is here! Tyrannical kings who have oppressed and spoiled mankind, are here represented as enthroned in hell; and as taking a Satanic pleasure in seeing others of the same description enter those abodes of misery! Nebuchadnezzar. xxxiv. 4.Or, O day star.-k Matt. xi. 23. Dan. viii. 10.-m Ps. xlviii. 2. and Vulgate, read umechassecha, in the singular number. Verse 12. O Lucifer, son of the morning] The Versions in general agree in this translation, and render ¬ heilel as signifying Lucifer, wopopos, the morning star, whether Jupiter or Venus; as these are both bringers of the morning light, or morning stars, annually in their turn. And although the context speaks explicitly concerning Nebuchadnezzar, yet this has been, I know not why, applied to the chief of the fallen angels, who is most incongruously denominated Lucifer (the bringer of light!), an epithet as common to him as those of Satan and call this arch-enemy of God and man the lightDevil. That the Holy Spirit by his prophets should the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor bringer, would be strange indeed. his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text. O how necessary it is to understand the literal meaning of Scripture, that preposterous comments may be prevented! Besides, I doubt much whether our translation be correct. heilel, which we translate Lucifer, comes from 5 yalal, yell, howl, or shriek, and should be translated, "Howl, son of the morning;" and so the Syriac has understood it; and for this meaning Michaelis contends: see his reasons in Parkhurst, under ↳ halal. But the truth is, Verse 13. I will ascend into heaven] I will get the empire of the whole world. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God-above the Israclites, who are here termed the stars of God. So the Targum of Jonathan, and R. D. Kimchi. This chapter speaks not of the ambition and fall of Satan, but of the pride, arrogance, and fall of Nebuchad Verse 11. Cover thee-"Thy covering."] Twenty-nezzar. eight MSS. (ten ancient) of Kennicott's, thirty-nine The mount of the congregation-" The mount of of De Rossi's, twelve editions, with the Septuagint the Divine Presence"] It appears plainly from 2705 8 K |