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Isaiah, his lite and times :an^^^
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'mm of m6 3xU&.
THEIR LIVES AND TIMES.
" JVe commend the volumes of this series as useful
contributions to the popularization of the results of
Biblical scholarship — a tendency and movement of
our time of the utmost interest and promise " — New-
England er.
ABRAHAM : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the
Rev. W. J. Deane, M.A.
MOSES : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev.
Canon G. Rawlinson, M.A.
SOLOMON : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Ven.
Archdeacon Farrar, D.D.
ISAIAH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev.
Canon S. R. Driver, M.A.
SAMUEL AND SAUL: THEIR LIVES AND
TIMES. By Rev. William J, Deane, M.A.
JEREMIAH : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the
Rev. Canon T. K. Cheyne, M.A.
JESUS THE CHRIST : HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
By the Rev. F. J. Vallings, M.A.
ELIJAH : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev.
W, MiLLIGAN, D.D.
DANIEL : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By H. Deane,
B.D.
DAVID: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By Rev. Wm.
J, Deane, M.A.
KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. By the Rev.
Canon G. Rawlinson, M.A.
JOSHUA: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By Rev.
William J. Deane.
ST. PAUL : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By James
IVERACH, M.A.
THE MINOR PROPHETS. By the Ven. Archdea-
con Farrar, D.D.
ISAAC AND JACOB: THEIR LIVES AND
TIMES. By George Rawlinson, M.A.
GIDEON AND THE JUDGES : A Study, Historical
and Practical. By Rev. John Marshall Lang, D. D.
EZRA AND NEHEMIAH : THEIR LIVES AND
TIMES. By George Rawlinson, M.A., F.R.G.S.
Each volume sold separately at $i.oa ; or the set of
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No. 182 Fifth Avenue, New York.
ISAIAH :
HIS LIFE AND TIMES
AND TEE WRITINGS WHICB BEAR HIS NAME,
BY
REV. S. R. DRIVER, D.D.,
ZKGIUS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, AND CANON OK CHKISTCHURCH, OXVOIIB^
NEW YORK:(>lt j^h U
ANSON D. F. RANDOli.Pp I t COMPANY,
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^ ■ ■ »^ A K >
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PREFACE.
The present volume almost speaks for itself. It Is an endeavonr to eschfbit
the character aad position of the greatest of the prophets, and to exemplifyi
biy means of the brilliant illustrations which the Book of I^iah suppUes,
the historical significance of prophecy. Prophecy is intimately conne^ied
with history ; and recent discoveries have added greatly to our knowledge \
of the position and political relations of both Israel and Judah in Isaiah's f
day. The writer has endeavoured to utilize this knowledge as far as
possible. He has sought to interpret the writings which bear Isaiah's name
in the light of history, to show how they are coirelated throughout with the
needs and circumstances of the times which gave them birth, while at che
same dme they embody elements of permanent validity, and speak to e3i
future generations. The writings of the prophets-^os indeed the Biblical
writings generally — when studied attentively, are seen to possess definite
and distinctive features, reflecting the individuality pf their authors, whick
are apt to escape the notice of ordinary readers : these the writer has n^ade
it his aim, so far as possible, to note and estimate. He has also noticed
incidentally some of the difficulties connected with the "fulfilment" of
prophecy, which are likewise not apparent to many readers. To the
critical questions which arise out of the Book of Isaiah, he has devoted
much independent attention ; and his conclusions respecting the style and
character of its different portions have been tested and confirmed by
repeated study of the text, both in itself, and as compared with other
writings of the Old Testament. The justification, if justification be needed,
of the results to which he has been led, is to be foimd in the fapt that the
Oil Testament is not a systematic treatise of theolo^, but the record of a
historical revelation, which, just because it was historical, passed through
many successive phases, and was completed gradually. The grounds for
his conclusions are stated, as fully as the limits and scope of the work per-
miued, m Chapter V. of Part XL
Naturally, the writer is indebted to many predecessois. Gesenius {1821),
Hitzig(i833), Ewald (ed. 2, 1867-8), Delitzsch {ed. 3, 1879), Cheyne (ed. 3,
1884), must be named as standing out pr&-eminently among the scholars
who in modern times have contributed to the elucidation of the Book of
IT PREFACE.
Isaiah, and as those who have earned most emphatically the gratitude of
subsequent labourers in the same field. Two other writers also deserve
mention in the same connection, on account, especially, of the attention
bestowed by them on the historical side of Isaiah's work, viz., Sir Edward
Strachey, in his "Jewish History and Politics in the times of Sargon and
Sennacherib " {ed. 2, 1874), and Dr. W. Robertson Smith, in his " Prophets
of Israel " (1882), The scope of the present volume was obviously such as
to forbid a constant citation of authorities, or discussion of competing
views ; but references have usually been added in all important cases.
The Inscriptions, wherever possible, have been quoted from the standard
work of Eberhard Schrader, "The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old
Testament" (ed. 2, Giessen, 1883'), in which the passages illustrative of
the Old Testament axe excerpted, translated, and annotated with a
thoroughness and sobriety of judgment, which leave nothing to be
desired. Reference has also been made to the series of Inscriptions
translated under the title, ''Records of the Past" (Bagsters), where the
passages quoted can be read in their original connection. The translations
are not mere reproductions of Schrader's German versions ; with the view
of exhibiting as closely as possible the sense and rhythm of the original,
they have usually been compared throughout with his transliterations of the
Assyrian text. The Authorized Version of the Book of Isaiah often, un-
fortunately, misses the sense of the Hebrew ; in quotations, therefore, the
writer has generally availed himself of either the Revised Version, or the
translation of Prof. Cheyne. Except in a few extreme cases he has accom-
modated his renderings to the traditional Hebrew text,° without, however,
de^ring thereby to be understood to pronounce an opinion on its Integrity
in individual passages. The notes occasionally appended will, it is hoped,
be found useftil in the elucidation and illustration of the text.
S. R. D.
*.' In citations the letters a and d denote respectively the first and second
halves of the verse cited.
' The citations are according to the German pagination, which is repeated
on the margin of the English translation (vol. i., 1885). In 1883 Schrader
wrote (p. 331), -" Respecting the assassination of Sennacherib (2 Kings
xix. 37), tn? Assyrian Inscriptions are silent ; " but since Chapter VII.
Part I. of the present work was in type, Mr. Pinches has published the
text of an Inscription acquired by the British Museum in 1884, and con-
taining the following notice of it: — "On the 20th day of Tebet Senna-
cherib, king of Assyria, | his son in a revolt killed him. For . . . years
Sennacherib | had ruled the kingdom of Assyria. From the 20th day of
Tebet to | the 2nd day of Adar the revolt in Assyria continued. [ On the
i8th day of Adar, Esarhaddon, his son, sat on the throne in Assyria, | &c."
{'* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," Oct., 1887, p. 678). The Inscrip-
tion is a Babylonian Chronicle, and throws no additional light on the
relations existing between Judah and Assyria in Isaiah's lifetime,
' On the nature of this text the reader will find much information in an
article in " The Church Quarterly Review " for April, 1887,
CONTENTS.
PART I.
tSAlAH AND HIS OIVN AGS,
CHAPTER L
fsR^NAL Life oj Isaiah • • • • •
Particixlars of Isaiah's private life— Relation of the prophets to
the history of their age.
CHAPTER II.
Assyria and Judah in the Eighth Century b.c. • • •
Influence of Assyria upon Israel and Judah in the eighth century
B.C. — Reign of the Assyrian Icing, Tjglath-Pileser II, (745-727)—
Reigns of Uzziah (Azariah) and Jotham in Judah (790-736).
CHAPTER IIL
Thb Beginnings of Isaiah's Ministry • • • • • 15
Isaiah's " call " (chap, vi.) — Prophecies belonging to the end of
Jotham's reign (chap. i. ?), pr the beginning of the reign of Ahaz
(chaps, it-iv., and v.)*
CHAPTER IV.
Thb Syro-Ephraimitish War
Isaiah and the Syro-Ephraimitish war (ch&pa. vii. z-ix. 7 ; ix. 8*
X. 4 ; xvii. i-ii) — The prophecy of Immanuel.
n CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
The Reigns of Shalmaneser IV. and Sargon - • . 43
Influence of Egypt upon the politics of Palestine— End of the
Northern Kingdom (B.C. 722) — Sketch of the reign of Sargon
(B.C. 722-705) — Ahaz succeeded by Hezekiah — Rise of a party
in Judah whose watchword was alliance with Egypt — Prophecies
of Isaiah belonging to this period (chaps, xxviii., xx.),
CHAPTER VI.
The Early Years of the Reign of Sennacherib • > • 55
Sargon succeeded by Sennacherib (705-681) — Preparations for
rebellion in Palestine — Negotiations with Egypt — Line taken by
Isaiah in 703 (chaps. xxix.-xxxii.).
CHAPTER VII.
The Great Deliverance 66
Sennacherib's campaign of 701 — Its four stages: (i) against the
cities of Phoenicia ; (2 and 3) against the Philistine cities of Ash-
kelon and Ekron; (4) against Judah — Isaiah's position at the
crisis — The great deliverance (chaps, x. 5-xii. 6 ; xiv. 24-7 ; xvii.
12-X4 ; chap, xviii. ; chap, xxxiii. ; 2 Kings xviii. 13^16 ; xviii.
17-ziz. 36 [= Isa. xxxvi. i^-xxxvii. 37]).
CHAPTER VIII.
The Occasional Prophecies op Isaiah • ■ ■ • • 84
(Chapters xiii.-xxiii.)
CHAPTER IX.
Isaiah's Character and Genius •;•..« 107
Isaiah as a statesman and social reformer — His most characteristic
theological doctrines — The figure of the Messiah — Isaiah's lite-
rary and poetical genius.
PART II.
PROPHECIES UNRELATED TO ISAIAH'S AGE,
CHAPTER I,
Israel's Tribulation and Subsequent Redemption • , 115
(Chapters xxiv.-xxvii.)
CONTENTS. VU
CHAPTER II.
FAGB
Babylon and Edom • 126
(Chapters xiii. i-xiv. 33 ; xxxiv.-xxxv.)
CHAPTER III.
The Ghbat Prophecy of Israel's Restoration • . 133
(Chapters xl.-lxvi.^
Circumstances which led to the Babylonian captivity — Condition
and prospects of the Jews during the exile — Standpoint of the
author of chaps, xl.-lxvi., and exposition of his argument.
CHAPTER IV.
Theology and Literary Style of Chapters xl.-lxvi, . . 168
The author's distinctive teaching determined in part by his his-
torical situation — Characteristic features of his theology — The
figure of "Jehovah's Servant" — The author's literary style — The
character of his poetry.
CHAPTER V.
Authorship op Chapters xl.-lxvi. •••••• 185
INDSX OF Prophecies ••••••••■ M3
ERRATA.
Page 91, line 21, /w 75, read 38.
ti 189, last line, yS^ own, rra«/ coming.
PART I.
ISAIAH AND HIS OWN AGE
CHAPTER I.
PERSONAL LIFE OF ISAIAH.
Particulars of Isaiah s private life — Relation of the prophets to the history
of their age.
Of the personal life of Isaiah little is known. From notices in his
own book we learn that he received the prophetic call in the last
year of the reign of King Uzziah (vi, i), from which it may be
inferred that he was at that time not less than 20 or 21 years of
age, possibly rather older. He was married (viii. 3) ; and two
sons are alluded to ; one, Shear-jashub, sufificiently old in 736-5
to accompany his father on the occasion of his interview with
King Ahaz during the Syro-Ephraimitish war (vii. 3) ; the other,
Maher-shalal-hash-baz, bom about a year afterwards (viii. 1-4).
The scene of his labours appears to have been chiefly, if not
exclusively, Jerusalem ; and from the position which was evi- \
dently accorded to him at Court, under both Ahaz and Hezekiah, I
it has been supposed that he was of noble blood. The Rabbi- f
nical tradition, however, which made the prophet's father Amoz
to be a brother of King Amaziah, and Isaiah consequently to be
cousin to King Uzziah, rests probably upon nothing better than
a fanciful etymological combination ; and, as the great mediaeval
commentator, David Kimchi, of Narbonne, remarks, nothing is
' n fact known respecting the prophet's genealogy and connections.
2
3 ISAIAH.
From notices either in his own book or in the Book of Kings,
it cannot with certainty be inferred by how many years he sur-
vived the great crisis of Hezekiah's reign in 701 ; but according
to a tradition current among the Jews in the second century A.D.,
and alluded to by many ancient writers, both Jewish and Christian,
he suffered martydom in the heathen reaction under Hezekiah's
successor, Manasseh, In one of the treatises of the Mishnah
(collected about a.d. 200) mention is made of a " roll of genea-
logies" in Jerusalem, in which it was stated that "Manasseh
slew Isaiah ;" and other authors specify the manner in which he
was reputed to have suffered. Thus Justin Martyr, writing about
A.D. 15P, in his controversial Dialogue with the Jew Trypho
(ch. 120) reproaching the Jews with the deed, writes — " Whom
ye sawed asunder with a wooden saw ; " and the same account
of his martyrdom, together with details as to the circumstances
which led to it, is given in the apocryphal work called " The As-
cension of Isaiah," which is assigned by critics to the beginning
of the second century. Whether the tradition be a true one we do
not know ; but there is a definiteness and (in its earliest form as
here cited) a simplicity attaching to it which is in its favour.
The martyrdom of Isaiah has been supposed to be alluded to
in the Epistle to the Hebrews (xi. '^'] \ "were sawn asunder"),
and this is possible : the passage cannot, however, be quoted
in proof of the tradition, for, of course, the reference in it may
be to other martyrs. The chronology of the reigns of Jewish
kings contemporary with Isaiah is in some particulars uncertain,
\ but upon the shortest possible scheme, that, viz., which places
I Uzziah's death in 740, Isaiah's prophetical ministry will have
! embraced a period of at least forty years (740-701) ; and if he
Survived the accession of Manasseh, he will hardly at the time
of his death have been less than seventy years of age. In addi-
tion to the prophecies embodied in the book which bears his
name, he was, according to the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxvi. 22 ;
xxxii. 32), the author of a history of the reign of Uzziah, and
also of a work (called a "vision ") containing an account of the
reign of Hezekiah ; the latter was incorporated in the (lost)
" Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel," which is one of the
authorities often referred to by the Chronicler in the course of
his work.
But though little can be told concerning the incidents of
Isaiah's private life, his personality and character stand before
NATURE OF PROPHETS* WORK. 3
OS in his writings with all the certainty and clearness that cauld
be desired. True, a considerable part of the contents of the
book which bears his name cannot (as will be seen) be attributed
to him ; but in tlie parts which are indubitably his we can watch
him, and, as it were, walk by his side, through all the varied
and eventful phases of his forty years' ministry. We can observe
hira as a ref ormer^ denouncing social abuses, sparing neither
high nor low in his fearless and incisive censure. We can fol-
low him as a statesman, devoted patriotically to his country's
interests, and advising her political leaders in times of difficulty
and danger. We can see him as a theolo gian , emphasizing old
truths, developing new ones, bringing fresh ideas to light which
were destined to exercise an important influence in the genera-
tions which followed. Throughout the reigns of Ahaz and Heze-J
kiah he is the central figure in Jerusalem, and the position which{
he there took — ^his motives, principles, policy, the character of
his teaching, the nature and extent of his influence— are all re-
flected in the collection of his prophecies which we possess. It
will be the object of the following pages to present a picture of
Isaiah's character and work, under the three aspects mentioned,
such as may both justify this estimate of his position, and assist
the reader who may desire to understand the volume of his
prophecies better.
It may be desirable at the outset to call attention to a cha-
racteristic of the prophets, which must be steadily kept in view
if their position and significance is to be rightly apprehended.
The prophets, one and all, stand in an intimate relation to the
history of their times. Whatever be the truth which they an-
nounce, it is never presented by them in an abstract form ; it
is always brought into some relation with the age in which
ihey live, and adapted to the special circumstances of the persons
whom they address. Of course, .the principles which the pro-
phets assert are frequently capable of a much wider range of
application ; their significance is not exhausted when they have
done their work in the prophet's own generation ; but still his
primary interest is in the needs of his own age. The vices which
Amos or Hosea denounces are those of the kingdom of Israel,
in the middle of the eighth century B.C., and though they would
have raised their voice not less loudly had they lived at some
other period of Israelitish history, in which the same faults were
prevalent, the form 'which their denunciations assume^ the cha*
4 ISAIAH.
racteristic features of society which they attack, are those of the
age in which they themselves lived. Similarly in their theology,
while there are naturally a series of fundamental principles
common to the prophets generally, each prophet in particular
possesses a special individual element, partly conditioned by his -
own genius and temperament, partly determined by the course
of general events in the world in which he moves. As men
expressing habitually their judgment on the conduct of public
affairs, and holding decided political views, it will be still more
evident that the principles advocated by them must stand in 9
definite relation to the circumstances of particular junctures,
and to the attitude assumed on such occasions by the nation
generally. The position taken by Amos, for instance, in view
of the Assyrians, is very different from that taken by Jeremiah
at a subsequent period with reference to the Babylonians. As
we shall see, many of Isaiah's most important prophecies are
dependent, in their most characteristic features, upon the rela-
tion which Judah, through the action of its responsible rulfers,
occupied alternately towards one or other of the two great
empires of Assyria and Egypt. It is thus essential, if the work
of any prophet is to be properly understood, to study it in the
light of contemporary history. In the case of Isaiah we are
peculiarly fortunate in being able to do this ; for the decipher-
ment of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Assyria — one of the most
brilliant scientific achievements of the present century — has
enabled us to watch the movements of the Assyrian kings,
almost year by year, through the whole period of his ministry,
and the result has been to exhibit this great prophet's character
and position with a distinctness and completeness which, an-
tecedently, would assuredly not have been anticipated. Before
proceeding, however, to the details of Isaiah's work it will bo
necessary, for the reasons stated, to give some account of the
condition and prospects, at home and abroad, of the kingdom ot
Judah, at the time when Isaiah first stepped into pufcfic life, in
the last year of Uzziah's reign.
Note. — The "Ascension of Isaiah," alluded to above, exists only in an
Ethijpic Version, which has been edited, with a Latin translation and
Introduction, by the veteran Ethiopia scholar, Aug. Dillmann (Lipsiae, 1877),
The book appears to consist of a ground-work of Jewish origin, into which
passages have been inserted, bearing a decidedly Christian impress.
CHAPTER IL
ASSrVRIA AND JUDAH IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY RC
Influence of Assyria upon Israel and Judah in the eighth century B.a—
Reign of the Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser II. (745-727)— Reigns of
Uzziah (Azariah) and Jotham in Judah (790-736).
Till the eighth century B.C., the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, l
with the solitary exception of Shishak's invasion in the reign of I
Rehoboam, had escaped serious attack from any really formid- J
able power. There had been indeed no lack of hostilities from/
time to time between themselves, and each in its turn was liable
to incursions on the part of one or other of the neighbouring
nationalities which, when the empire of Solomon was divided,
had cast off the yoke of Israelitish rule ; but the best organized
of these, the Syrian kingdom of Damascus, was scarcely more
than an equal match even for the northern kingdom alone. In
the course, however, of the eighth century, the political relations
of all these kingdoms underwent an entire change. A new power
was making itself felt in the regions of Western Asia, destined,
as the great prophets of both Israel and Judah quickly discerned,
to determine for many years to come the history of both
countries. The monuments have revealed to us the character of
thatvast civilization which had its seat at Nineveh : theprodigious
activity of the Assyrians, in letters, in science, in architecture,
in sculpture, in the industrial arts, in military enterprise, as-
tonishes us : we are familiar with the single expedition sent by
Sennacherib against Jerusalem, but to form an adequate idea of
their ceaseless movement, as disclosed in the annals of one
king after another for centuries, we must multiply thatexpedition
indefinitely, and conceive it to be but the type of what took
O ISAIAH.
place almost yearly against one or other of the tribes of Media,
or Armenia, or Syria, or whatever other district it might be of
the regions bordering on the great plain watered by the Tigris
I and the Euphrates. The Assyrians have been termed the
) Romans of Asia, and though the parallel is not intended to be com-
plete (for, to notice but one difference, the Assyrians possessed
no genius for civilizing or consolidating a conquered province),
it nevertheless suggests a true idea of their skill in military or-
ganization, and of their mastery of the principles and methods
of war. To be sure, it must not be imagined that the Assyrians
were now about to interfere in Western Asia for the first time.
Between Assyria and Damascus there had been already many
a rough encounter. In the previous century ShaJmaneser II.
had been victorious against Benhadad, the contemporary, and
for a while the ally (i Kings xx. 34), of Ahab, as well as against
his successor Hazael. He had also (as the Black Obelisk in the
British Museum informs us) received tribute of Jehu (842 B.a),
as Rammannirar received it from his son Jehoahaz (or possibly
his grandson Jehoash) in 803. But these interferences left no
lasting impression on the history of Israel, and did not affect
Judah at all ; nor was either nation involved by them in any
grave political complication.
It was probably towards the end of the long and prosperous
reign of Jeroboam 11, (790-749) that Amos, amid his presages
of disaster for the northern kingdom, first alludes darkly to a
nation soon to be brought actively upon the scene of history
for the purpose of humbling the proud and too confident people
(vi. 14) : ** Behold, I raise up against you a nation, O house of
Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts ; and they shall afflict
you from the entering in of Hamath, unto the torrent of the
Ardbah," ue., from the far north to one of the torrent-valleys
constituting a boundary on the east or south-east of the Dead
Sea. As it happened, both in Israel and Judah, the first inter-
vention of the Assyrian was at the invitation of the ruling king.
) With a power of unlimited capabilities so near at hand, the
} temptation was as irresistible as it was a century and a half
1 afterwards in Jerusalem, as it was three centuries afterwards in
the great struggle for supremacy between Sparta and Athens,
; for either party in a political contest to aim at securing its
1 support against their antagonists ; and thus though Hosea
(viii. 9f. ; x. 4"^) foresaw the consequences, Menahem, to retain
REIGN OF TIGLATH-?ILESER. 7
his throne amid division and dispute, purchased, at the cost of an
enormous tax levied upon his subjects, the potent aid of Assyria
(2 Kings XV. 19 f.),' The name of the Assyrian king, as stated in
the passage quoted, is Pul ; but recent discoveries seem to have
definitely established, what the best Assyriologists had already
adduced strong grounds for suspecting,^ that Pul is but another f
name of the same king who is called elsewhere Tiglath-Pileser. }
In accordance with the position of dependence which Menahem
hereby assumed, we find him included in an inscription relating
to the year 738, among many other princes of Syria and Phoe-
nicia, as paying tribute to the Assyrian king.
The reign of Tiglath-Pileser has an intimate bearing on
the state -of political feeling in Judah during the early years
of Isaiah's ministry. Let us take a rapid survey of the principal
events belonging to it. The dates are fixed in most cases by the
Assyrian monuments, and, as is still more the case in the subse-
quent reigns, afford an invaluable clue amid the uncertain, and
sometimes conflicting, chronology of the Hebrew historical
books.3 Tiglath-Pileser's reign extended from B.C. 745 to 728,
Its termination thus nearly synchronizing with the accession oi
Hezekiah in Judah. Almost in his first year he was engaged
in a successful campaign in Babylonia, which was quickly fol-
lowed by other expeditions in the direction of Media and Ar-
menia. In 742 he marched against Arpad. in Syria ; and after
a siege of three years succeeded in reducing it>(B.c. 740), To
the same period, probably to 740, belongs his reduction of
the little kingdom of Hamath, a place not far distant from
Arpad, and named beside it more than once in the Old Testa-
ment. Tiglath-Pileser's notice of ,this success is interesting on
account of its containing a name which can hardly be any other
than that of Uzziah (or, as he is called in 2 Kings, AzariaK) of
Judah : " Nineteen districts of the city of Hamath, together
with the towns round about them, which are by the sea of the
setting of the sun, which in their faithlessness had made revolt
to Azriyahu, to the territory of Assyria I annexed; my officers^
* From the allusions in Rosea it is plain that at this time there were
opposite factions in the northern kingdom, which placed reliance upon
Assyria and Egypt respectively. (5<'e v. 13 ; vii. 11 ; xii. i.)
= Schrader, "Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament," on a
Kings XV. ig.
» See note at the end of this chapter.
8 ISAIAH.
my deputies, I appointed over them."* It would seem from
this notice as though Uzziah shortly before his death had con-
cluded an alliance with Hamath, probably in conjunction with
other states as. well, for the purpose of resisting Assyrian aggres-
sion — a step which, as we proceed, we shall see exemplified in
other instances. Shortly afterwards, in 738, Tiglath-Pileser
mentions his receiving tribute from numerous prinres cf Syria
and Asia Minor — amongst others, from Refia cf Damascus,
Menahem of Samaria (p. 7), and Hiram ;f Tyre.
From 737 to 735 Tiglath-Pileser was occupied in the East,
but his twelfth year, 734 B.C., was one of critical importance fo*
both Israel and Judah. In an inscription relating to this year
the Assyrian king narrates how he advanced further to the
south than he had previously done, as far, in fact, as the Philistine
city of Gaza, with an eye, not improbably, to the possibility at
some future time of penetrating into Egypt. ". . . . the city
of Gal-[ed ?].... [A]-bel . . . which was above the land of
the House of Omri, ... in its whole extent to the territory oi
Assyria I annexed ; my [officers], the deputies, I appointed
[over them], Hanno of Gaza, who fled before my troops, to the
land of Egypt escaped. Gaza [I captured]; his possessions,
his gods [I carried away], and my royal effigy [I erected]."
'* The land of the House of Omri, the distant .... the whole
of its inhabitants, together with their possessions, to Assyria I
deported. PekaK their king, I slew. Hoshea [to rule] over
them I appointed. Ten [talents of gold, one thousand talents
of silver, together with . . . ,] I received from them." * Though
there must be some exaggeration in the statement that " the
whole " of the inhabitants of the " land of the House of Omri "
were deported to Assyria, the rest of the notice is in evident
accordance with 2 Kings xv. 29, 30 : " In the days of Pekah
king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and took
Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and
Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali '* — all
» See the argument of Schrader {pp. 217-223). It is from this notice oi
Uzziah, taken in combination with another which, th. ugh fragmentary,
describes Tiglath-Pileser as receiving tribute from ". . . riyahu of the
land of Judah," that we seem compelled to bring down the date of Uzziah'a
death to 74a
■ ochrader, p. 255 f., the " land of the House of Omri " is the name by
Which the kingdom of Israel is designated in the Inscriptions.
REIGN OF UZZIAH. 5
districts in the north-east and north o£ Israel- -" and carried
them captive to Assyria. And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made
a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and slew
him, and reigned in his stead." The new point not mentioned
in the Old Testament, but made clear by the Inscription, is that
the conspiracy in Samaria, which cost Pekah his throne and j
life, was carried through with the aid of the Assyrians, and that j
Hoshea's elevation to the throne was due to his. recognition of
Assyrian supremacy. How this action on the part of the As- \
Syrian king affected Judah will appear subsequently. Pekah,
as we learn from Isaiah, had been in close alliance with Rezin,
king of Damascus, against which city Tiglath-Pileser proceeded
next to turn his arms. The Inscriptions assign the siege of
Damascus to the years 733 and 732, It ended wiS-h the capture of
the city, the flight or deportation of the inhabitants, and the devas-
tation of its territory. With this agrees substantially the account
in 2 Kings xvi. 9 : " The king of Assyria went up against Damas-
cus, and took it, and carried (the people of) it captive to Kir,
and slew Rezin," The occasion on which (2 Kings xvi. 10-16)
Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser in Damascus was doubtless
a levy of tributary princes held in the conquered city : an in-
scription of the same king's last year mentions, with many other
princes of. the neighbouring districts, "Joahaz {z\e, Ahaz) of
Judah " as paying him tribute. The concluding years of Tiglath-
Pileser's reign, 731-728, were not marked by any special enter-
prise.
The preceding outline will be sufficient to convey some idea
of the power which the Assyrians at this time wielded in Western
Asia, and of the uses to which they were apt to apply it. The
problem which a statesman, whether in Israel or in Judah, had
to face, was by no means a simple one, even when it was not
complicated, as was frequently the case, by the intrigues of
opposing factions. Both states, in fact, were passing through a
critical period in which nothing short of the greatest wisdom
and firmness could succeed in guiding them aright.
Let us turn next to the kingdom of Judah itself, and consider
what its circumstances were at the close of the reign of King
Uzziah. Uzziah's reign embraced upwards of fifty years — ac-
cording to the chronology as corrected by the help of Assyrian
data, from B.C. 791 to B.C. 740. At the time when he ascended
the throne, Judah had recently sustained a severe humiliation.
«0 ISAIAH.
Elated by his successes against Edom, Uzziah's father, Amaziah,
had sent a foolhardy challenge to Jehoash, king of IsraeT^rhe
parable of the thistle and the cedar, by which Jehoash sought
to divert him from his purpose, fell upon unheeding ears.
Amaziah persisted, and in the battle which ensued suffered a
humiliating defeat. Nor was this al.. Jehoash, following up
his success, marched upon Jerusalem ; resistance was im-
possible : it was treated as a captured city ; a considerable
length of wall was broken down ; treasure was carried off, both
from the temple and the royal palace ; and hostages were led
back by the conqueror to Samaria (2 Kings xiv. 8-14). It is
not improbable that the passage of Amos which speaks of the
"breaches" of the "booth of David that is fallen" (ix. 11)
may contain a remini3cence of this disaster. Uzziah, however,
who followed Amaziah upon the throne, proved himself a
vigorous and able ruler. Under his administration the kingdom
rapidly recovered itself; its resources were replenished; its
military defences reorganized ; commerce and the arts of peace
again flourished undisturbed. Thus one of his first acts (2 Kings
xiv. 22) appears to have been to push forward to the Gulf of
Akabah and rebuild the port of Elath, probably with the object
of utilizing the Red Sea for commercial enterprise after the
example of Solomon (i Kings ix. 26), and hoping for better
success than had rewarded Jehoshaphat (i Kings xxii. 48). The
fortification of Elath and its recovery for Judah implies that
Uzziah*s hands were too strong for resistance to be effectually
opposed by Edom, which indeed must have been still sorely
crippled by the sanguinary defeat inflicted upon it by Amaziah
(2 Kings xiv. 7). This is almost the only event of importance
related in the somewhat meagre account of this reign contained
in the Book of Kings ; further particulars, derived apparently
from a credible source, are supplied by the Second Book of
Chronicles (chap. xxvi.). From this we learn that Uzziah ob
tained various military successes upon his south and south-
west frontiers — a quarter in which Judah was always exposed
and liable to invasion, whether from its old and restless enemy,
the Philistines, or from nomad Arab tribes. Gath, Jabneh. und
Ashdod were dismantled ; and garrisons were established in the
surrounding parts to keep the district under proper control.
Edom, as we have seen, was not at present in a position to
resume hostilities, so that the whole southern frontier of Judah
THE REIGN OF JOTHAM, II
was thus secure. Even the Ammonites, on the east of the
Dead Sea, were again (2 Sam. viii. 2) reduced to the condition
of tributaries. Further, Uzziah improved the defences of the
capital, and greatly strengthened the army. He built new
towers for the walls of Jerusalem— amongst others, one at the
same "corner-gate" (probably at the north-west corner of the
city) which marked one limit of the four hundred cubits destroyed
by Jehoash (2 Kings xiv. 13), of course repairing the breach
itsel'f (if it had not been repaired already) at the same time.
The walls were also provided by him with elaborate " engines "
of defence "to shoot arrows and great stones withal ; " and the
army was newly equipped with " shields, and spears, and
helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging.**
By these and other precautionary measures he secured peace
for himself and his subjects, and was able to encourage com-
merce and agriculture, to the latter of which he was himself
personally devoted. Thus " he built," we are told, " towers in
the wilderness" for the protection of flocks, "and hewed out
many cisterns, for he had much cattle ; in the lowland ' also,
and in the plain : ' and he had husbandmen and vinedressers
in the mountains and in the fruitful fields ; for he loved hus-
bandry." Clearly the material prosperity of Judah was ably
cared for under this firm and wise administration. In religion
Uzziah appears to have been a sincere worshipper of the true
God. Towards the end of his reign he was smitten with leprosy
— according to the Chronicles ^ on account of his presumption
in attempting to exercise the office of priest, and to sacrifice
incense— and passed the closing years of his life in a " several
house,'* his son [otham acting, in his stead, as regent.
How long Jotham filled this position the Biblical narrative
does not state. Sixteen years are, however, assigned as the
length of his reign ; but it is now generally supposed (uppn
chronological grounds) that the greater part of these years
•/.tf., in the "Sheph61ah," or low country, in the direction of the
Mediterranean. See Dean Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," App. § 8.
=• I.e., the downs, or high " table-land " (Revised Version marff,), on the
east of Jordan {Deut. iii. 10).
3 For 2 Chron. xxvi. 5-20 is an addition made by the Chronicler to the
narrative of Kings. This passage, though it may be dosed upon the work
of Isaiah, alluded to in v. 22, cannot, however, be an extract from it ; for it
abounds with marks of the peculiar style and diction of the Chronicler,
of a late type which Isaiah could not have used.
13 ISAIAH.
belongs to the period of his regency, and that, in fact, he did not
survive his father Uzziah by more than a very few years.
Whether as regent or as naorarch, he adhered to the same
administrative principles as his father, The narrative in Kings
is again meagre, but may be supplemented, as in the case ot
Uzziah, by the Chronicles (2 Chron. xxvii.). Jotham continued
the public works commenced by Uzziah ; he built a new gate in
the temple court, and increased the fortifications of Jerusalem
at a spot called Ophel, or " the Mound," immediately below the
royal palace on *the south-east of the city. Cities were also
built by him in the hill-country of Judah, and castles and towers
in the exposed forest districts. The Ammonites, who soughc
to regain their independence, were speedily reduced and obliged
to pay a large annual tribute. Other warlike enterprises are
alludeu to by the Chronicler, and the terms in which he speaks
authorize us in the inference that Jotham was a brave and suc-
cessful ruler, and maintained his country in the same honourable
position to which it had been raised by his father.
Not, probably, until shortly before his death does a change
begin to be perceptible. In 2 Kings xv. "^"j we read : " In those
days Jehovah began to send against Judah Rezin the king of
Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah." This is the first
instance at this period of an outbreak of hostile feehng upon
the part of Syria and Israel — an outbreak destined shortly to
assume grave proportions and to involve Judah in serious trouble.
But the further course of the Syro-Ephraimitish war must be
reserved for a subsequent chapter.
Note on the Chronology of Isaiah's Time.
The Biblical chronology of the Kings of Judah and Israel is in perplexing
disagreement with that fixed by the contemporary Assyrian Inscriptions. It
is allowed by modern commentators and historians that in cases of diver-
gence the latter is to be preferred (for the system of the Book of Kings, at
least in some items, was only arrived at through computation by the com-
piler), the only question being how the figures of the Book of Kings are to
be rectified so as to be brought into agreement with it. The following
table exhibits a synopsis of dates, from i Jehu=r Athaliah, in accord-
ance both with the chronology of Ussher (affixed to the margin of reference
Bibles), and with the principal modern systems :—
CHRONOX.OGICAL NOTE.
13
JUDAH.
Athaliah(6)...
jQash(4o)
Amaziah (29)
Uzziah(52) ...
Jotham (16), regent
„ sole ruler 7
Ahaz(i6) ,
Hezekiah (29) ..
Manasseh (55) .,
Anion (2)
Josiah(3i)
!= ^.
I.
9.
b'
J3,
is
!S
t=
is
884
84?
878
8:5 Y
839I Bdi 1
8(o
79*
f7So)
758
740
742
735
72b
71S
6q8
686
643
641
641
639
843 843 S44
(731)
736
735
71S
686
641
639
(749I
735
734
727
Israel.
Jehu (28) ... .,
Jehoahaz (17)
Jehoash (16)
Jeroboam II. (41)'
Zechariah (J^)
Shallum (i-i2th)...
Menahem (10),
Pekahiah (s) ,
Pekah (20^ ....
Hoshea (9) .,._,
Fall of Samaria ...
Do
S43.843 844
815815 8t7
798 798
782790
74rl749
741 749
7411748
738738
736736
730734
722 722
801
786
746
746
746
737
736
739
72»
854 B.C.
In columns 2 and 3 the figures will sometimes be observed to be higher
by a unit than those in the author's own tables. The dates given here are
those of the years of accession ; in the original tables they are those of the
first year of reign., i.e., the first whole year following the accession. The
figures immediately after the name indicate the regnal years as stated in the
Bible. On the authorities cited, see the end of this note.
Upon the Assyrian Inscriptions — "
Ahab is named „.
Jehu
Uzziah (probably ')
Menahem
Pekaji (dethroned by Tiglath-Pileser and succeeded
by Hoshea)
Ahaz »
Fall of Samaria
Campaign against Hezekiah
It is evident at once that Ussher's chronology is irreconcilable with these 1
nafa ; the aim of all the other schemes is so to adjust the figures that the |
dates mentioned may fall within the reigns of the respective kings. It is |
impossible here to discuss each scheme at length. The most important
different^ between them relates to the date assigned to Hezekiah's accession.
According to the Inscriptions there was an interval of twenty-one years
between the fall of Samaria and Sennacherib's invasion of Judah ; accord-
ing to 2 Kings xviii. 10, 13 the former occurred in Hezekiah's 6th year, the
latter in his 14th year — in other words, the interval between them was not
more than eight years. The dates in 3oik these verses cannot be correct
(2) and (3) now abandon the date in v. 10, adhering to the " 14th year " is
V. 13 ; (4) and (5), on the contrary, abandon the date in v, 13, adhering ta
740
ft
738
II
734
•I
734»
II
722
If
701
•1
» Schrader, pp. 463-466.
Ibid., pp. 217-223. I Ibid., p. 357!.
H ISAIAH.
the " 6tli year" in v. lo. {z) or (3), if adopted, necessitates a shortening
of the subsequent long reign of Manasseh by 10 years ; (4) or {5) neces-
sitates an alteration in the ages of Ahaz and Hezekiah at their succession "
(to avoid the absurdity of Ahaz dying at the age of [zo + 6 or 7=] 26
or 27 years, and leaving a son aged 25 I) ; the age of Ahaz at his accession
must be increased — say, to 25 years (as 2 Chron. xxviii. 1 in the Sept. and
Pesh.), and that of Hezeldah reduced (probably to 15 years). It follows
from (4), (5), that Hezekiah's sickness (Isa. xxxviii., seev.St " fifteen years"),
and probably also Merodach-Baladan's embassy (chap, xxxix.), must pre-
£ede, chronologically, the events narrated in chaps, xxxvi., xxxvii. (Sen-
nacherib's invasion) by some 12 years* Upon the system of (2), (3),
Hezekiah's sickness, at any rate, will nearly synchronize with the Assyrian
invasion. Merodach-Baladan's embassy may be placed, consistently with
what we know of him from the Inscriptions, somewhat prior to either 710
or 703.
The system (2), or (3), has much to recommend it, and has been accepted
by recent writers in Germany ; ^ but the system (4), from which (5) does not
differ in principle, has been generally followed in this country, and for
that reason it is adopted in the present volume. Fortunately, the difficulties
in question form no impedimeLt to the study of Isaiah's life. It is certain,
in any case, that Ahiz and Pekah were reigning in 735-4, and that Heze-
kiah was on the throne in 702-1. In the prophecies belonging to the Interme-
diate period no king's name is mentioned ; and the attitude assumed by
the prophet is determined, not by the personal views or character of the
reigning king of Judah for the time being, but by the movements of the
Assyrians, and by political feeling in Judah as influenced by them.
The chronological question is treated at length by Wellhausen, in a
luminous essay in the "JahrbUcher fiir Deutsche Theologie," 1875, pp.
607-40 ; also by W. R. Smith, " Prophets of Israel," pp. 416-19 ; by
Kamphausen^ "Die Chronologie der Hebr. Konige " (Bonn, 1883);
Duncker, "History of Antiquity'* (Eng. Tr,), voL iii. pp. 16-18, &c. ;
and in T^ Church Quarterly Review, Jan., 1886, pp. 257-271.
■ A point which the reviewer in The Church Quarterly has overlooked
■ E,g, by Guthe, " Das Zukunftsbild des lesaia " (1885), p. 37.
CHAPTER III.
THE BEGINNINGS OF ISAIAH'S MINISTRY.
Isafah's "call" (chap, vi.) — Prophecies belonging to the end of Jotham's
reign (chap, i, ?), or the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (chaps. ii.-iv.,
and v.).
The prophecies of Isaiah have the misfortune not to be arranged I
in chronological order. The effort to view the events of the f
prophet's life in their proper perspective is, in consequence,
attended with some difficulty. Thus Isaiah's "call," though
not described till chap, vi,, must evidently precede, in order of
time, the delivery of the prophecies which stand now as chaps.
i. and ii.-v. This presumption derived from the nature of the
prophetic call is confirmed by internal evidence ; for while the
call is expressly stated to have taken place in the last year of
King Uzziah's reign, chaps, i.-v. contain indications that they
were written at a later date. Why the narrative of the prophet's
call was not, as in the cases of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, allowed
to occupy the first place in the book, is a question which can-
not be certainly answered. One conjecture is that chaps.
i,~v. were placed first for the purpose of preparing the reader
of the book for the severity of tone which marks the end of
chap, vi., and of acquainting him with the condition of things
in Judah which led to such atone being adopted. Or, again, it
is possible that chap. vi. may have been placed so as to follow
chaps, i.-v., because, though describing what occurred earlier,
it may have not been actually committed to writing till after-
wards — perhaps as an introduction to chaps, vii. i-ix. /. In a
biography of the prophet the call will of course occupy its
proper and natural position.
l6 ISAIAH.
What, however, IS the " call " which Isaiah here describes?
The prophets uniformly "speak of themselves as actuated in
their work by a power not their own. It is the God of Israel in
whose service they stand, whose purposes they declare, whether
of judgment or salvation, whose message they deliver to His
people. Their declarations are continually prefaced or attested
by the words, Thus saith Jehovah^ or Oracle of Jehovah, Such
expressions as these are not, indeed, to be taken as implying
that the words which they utter were placed mechanically upon
their lips — the varying style and phraseology of different pro-
phets, to say nothing of other grounds, forbids this supposition ;
but they must be understood to imply the conviction that the
substance and purport of what they utter is not their own,
only the form in which it is cast bearing the stamp of their own
genius and literary art. Not only is this conviction a charac-
teristic of the whole activity of a prophet, it is especially promi-
nent in all the accounts which we possess of the occasion on
which a prophet was first made aware of the vocation which he
was destined to pursue in life. The prophets do not speak of
a resolution or purpose, framed by themselves, to devote them-
selves to their vocation ; but they describe a moment in which
they received a call — i.e., to speak from a human point of view,
were conscious of a sudden intuition, impressing itself upon
them with irresistible clearness and force, and, in certain
instances, communicated to them in the form of a vision.
Thus Amos refers to this moment of his life in the following
words (vii. 14-15) : "I was no prophet, neither was I a pro-
phet's son {i.e., no professed member of a prophetic guild) ; but
I was an herdman, and a dresser of sycomore trees : and
Jehovah took me fro7n fpllowmg the flock, and Jehovali said
unto me, Go feed my people Israel." Anios was thus diverted
from secular employment by an inward prompting, the guidance
of which he could not resist. He does not, however, state that
the call came to him in a vision. But Ezekiel, and apparently
Jeremiah as well, like Isaiah, both experienced a vision at the
time of their call (Ezek. i. i, ii. 1-3 ; Jer. i. 4-10). The necessity
flf obeying the prophetic summons is finely expressed by Amos
(iii. 8) : ** The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord
'fehovah hath spoken, who can but prophesy ? '■'
The vision in which Isaiah's future vocation was thus made
known to him bears the impress of that grandeur of imagination^
ISAIAH'S CALL. 1 7
which is the distinctive mark of his genius. " In the year that
king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high
and lifted up, and his train filled the palace." The scene i^
the heavenly palace of Jehovah's sovereignty, modelled upon,
though not a copy of, the earthly temple at Jerusalem. The
comparatively small chamber of the Temple on Zion is indefi-
nitely expanded, the lofty throne takes the place of the mercy-
seat, the skirts of the royal mantle, falling in ample folds, fill
the space about and below the throne, and conceal from the
prophet, as he seems to himself to be standing beneath, the
Form seated upon it. The two colossal cherubim, whose ex-
tended wings overshadowed the ark in the Holy of holies, are
absent, their place being taken by a choir of living creatures
encircling the throne. The seraphim are not mentioned else-
where in Scripture ; and the origin and meaning of the name
can only be supplied by conjecture. Here their presence seems
intended to symbolize the adoration unceasingly due from the
highest of created beings to the Creator. Possessed apparently
of human form, and in an erect posture, they stand in a double
choir about the throne, each with two of his wings seeming to
support himself upon the air, with two covering his face in
reverence, that he might not gaze directly upon the Divine glory,
and with two his own person in humility, not deigning to meet
directly the Divine glance. Isaiah, standing, as it were, by the
doorway, hears the seraphs' hymn of adoration ; and as the
sound of their united voices peals through the expanse the
pillars of the door shake to their foundation, and smoke, indi-
cating probably an approaching manifestation of God (Exod.
xix. 1 8), fills the space around. The prophet, overpowered for
the time by the vision, as he recovers self-possession, is conscious
only of his unworthiness to be where he is. Unlike the seraphs,
he is a man of unclean lips ; the nation of which he is a mem-
ber is uiiclean also . " Woe is me," he exclaims, " I am un-
done." But an altar is there, with fire burning upon it ; and one
of the seraphs, taking from it a hot coal, touches the prophet's
lips with it, and pronounces him absolved. Only then is he
re-assured, and ready, when he hears the invitation, Who will
go for us f with generous ardour to offer himself for the work;
He does not yet knoyv what is required of him ; but his com-
mission, when i ts terms are disclosed to him, proves to be a
strange and disheartenmg one. He is to be the preacher and
l8 ISAIAH.
teacher of his people ; but with the result of making them only
less ready to listen, less fit to recover moral and intellectual '
soundess. The very earnestness of his preaching will but con-
firm them in their unwillingness to obey. Whatever it may
accomplish secretly, his work is to be in appearance fruitless.
Is this to continue always? he wonders. He asks anxiouslvi
How long? and, in reply, another prospect as discouraging,
though in a different way, as the first, is opened before him ; it
must continue unt? I the desolating tide of invasion has swept
over the land, and purged to the utmost the sin-stricken nation ;
so severe should the judgment be that even though a fraction
{" a tenth ") should escape, or recover, from the first assault, a
second and a third should follow till the purgation was com-
plete {^. I3«). But the dark prospect is not left without a
gleam of hope ; a new figure abruptly shapes itself in the pro-
/phet's imagination : as a terebinth or an oak, which, when
I it is felled and left apparently without chance of recovery,
I will yet germinate afresh, for its stock remains unimpaired, so
the core of the Jewish nation will survive the judgment, and
burst out afterwards into new life ; it is a " holy seed," and, as
such, is indestructible (7/. 13(5), In the words just explained we
have the first germs of an idea which will frequently meet us
in Isaiah, and which we shall find to be one of his most charac-
teristic doctrines.
Such was the moment in which Isaiah beheld, as through a
veil, the glory of his God, and was given to understand his own
mission in life. The truths thus vividly presented before him
left upon his mind an indelible impression. The majesty and
the holiness of Israel's God are the two aspects of the Divine
nature pre-eminently conspicuous in his writings ; of the former
an illustration will recur before long in the grand picture of
Jehovah's '* Day " (ii. 10 ff.) ; the latter is perpetually brought
before us in the prophet's favourite phrase, " the Holy Ore of
Israel"— the Holy One, that is, who is peculiarly Israel's own,
and who reigns in Israel as its Monarch and King. And the
conviction that the chosen seed, however severe the trials
through which it must pass, is indestructible, and that " a rem-
nant will return," was embodied almost immediately" in the
* "Heart ''=understaiidiug, as Hos. vii. 11 (see R. V,), Jer. v. ai, &a
=> For in 736-5 the child is old enough to accompany his father to meet
Ahaz (vii. 3).
PROPHECIES AT THE END OF JOTHAM'S REIGN. I9
name given to his son Shear-Jashtcb, and is the principle
which is ever afterwards his support and hope whendisappoint-
ment vexes or dangers threaten.
Whether in chap, i. we have Isaiah's first p ubl ic u tte rance is
a question difficult to determine.
Undoubtedly this chapter is fitted, both by its contents
generally, and by its fine exordium in particular, to have been
the first address publicly deUvered by Isaiah: but it is not
less fitted, upon the same grounds, to open the volume of his
prophecies ; and though written subsequently it may have been
placed here — whether by Isaiah himself, or by a collector oi
his prophecies — as an introduction to the following discourses.
The evidence of internal criteria is not decisive. The passage
which speaks apparently most definitely is v. 7-9, especially
7/. 7 : " Your country is a desolation ; your cities are burned
with fire ; your land, strangers are devouring it in your presence,
and it is a desolation, as the overthrow of strangers ; " but
these words are capable of being referred not only to the
Syro-Ephraimitish invasion, which (as has been already stated)
began at the end of Jotham's reign, but to an Assyrian in-
vasion many years later (cf. xxxiii. 8). It is urged in favour of the
latter date, that the expressions correspond more closely with
the Assyrian than with the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion ; and,
in particular, that the picture of isolation and disaster which
the verses set before us is darker than the facts at the earlier
date would justify. Still, an army of which Syrians formed a
large^perhaps the larger — part might not inaptly be described
as "strangers ;" and,irom allusions elsewhere, the ravages per-
petrated by the allied troops appear to have been considerable.
It is possible, too, that the description itself may be somewhat
idealized : the prophets seldom use the language of mere prose ;
and Isaiah discerning beforehand what the ultimate issue would
be, may have heightened the colours of his description in
" fu jing the actual present with the expected future." " At the
same time, it cannot be denied that the passage is exactly
appropriate to the period of Sennacherib's invasion in 701,
when, as the Assyrian monarch tells us himself, he had .shut
up Hezekiah in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage," had cap-
tured forty-six Judsean cities, and had bestowed the territory
around them upon his Philistine vassals. The very fact, however,
* Sir Edward Strachey, "Jewish History and Politica," p. 24.
20 ISAIAH.
that the historical allusions are thus ambiguous makes the
question of its date one of minor importance. On the whole,
though without any confidence that his view is correct, the
I present writer prefers to suppose, upon the prima fade ground
fof its position, that it is the first of Isaiah's spoken dis-
I courses, and to assign it accordingly to the end of the reign
I of Jotham.
The chapter is so suggestive and significant that it is im-
possible to do more here than point to a few of its more salient
features, for in several cases even a single expression would
demand some pages for its proper elucidation. The chapter
has been styled by Ewald " TheGr^^t^^^^yrai^ment ; " and a
more appropriate title could not be proposed. The long peiJod
of prosperity under Uzziah and Jotham has blinded the nation
to its real condition ; the prophet pulls the veil aside, and
exhibits to it its own image without concealment or disguise.
The nation evinced an unworthy neglect in the discharge of the
claims due from it ; like unnatural children, its members have
disowned their father ; they have frustrated the purpose
(Exod. xix. 6), which their national existence was designed to
realize. Hence the peril in which they at present find them-
selves ; the " body politic " is unsound, morally and materially ;
it is diseased alike in intellect (" heart ") and will ; it succumbs
in consequence the more quickly to an attack from without which
it might otherwise have effectually resisted (v. 2-9). The
defence which the nation is supposed to offer, that the Temple
services are maintained with splendour and regularity, and that
thus all religious obligations are completely discharged, is in-
dignantly disallowed by the prophet ; ho ritual, however costly
and elaborate7can supply the place of sincerity of heart and in-
tegrity of purpose : God indeed accepts such service from His
worshippers, but only as the token and expression of a right
mind {v, ia-17). Still the day of grace is not yet past, and
upon condition of the nation's amendment, an offer of re-
conciliation is made. But the prophet foresees too truly that
the* offer ""will not be listened to, or at least that it will be
lis tened, to only by a minority ; the nation as a whole will
not ' be "reformed "{v7 1i 8-2357 and judgment is accordingly
passed. "Hal I will appease me through mine adversaries"
—so God now calls those who were formerly his "sons " — " and
avenge me of mine enemies ; and I will bring back my hand
PROPHECIES AT THE END OF JOTHAM'S REIGN, 21
upon theis, smelting out as with lye thy dross, and I will take
away all thy lead-alloy ; and I will bring back thy judges
as aforetime, and thy counsellors as at the beginning : after-
wards thou shalt be called Citadel of righteousness, Faithful
city." Nothing but a severe discipline will restore the nation to its
former and ideal character—a discipline that will result in the
destruction of evildoers, and the survival of a worthy residue
ftlone (t/. 24-31).
Such (if the view here taken of the chronology be correct) is
Isaiah's first endeavour to awaken in his nation its slumbering
spiritual susceptibilities, to arouse it by the offer of pardon, and
to bring it back to singleness and sincerity of life. His aim is
to produce what would now be described as a great social and
moral reform — a reform, however, consisting, not merely in the
removal of palpable anomalies and injustice, but having its
root in a complete change of heart — iizTavoia, as it is termed in
the New Testament (Matt. iii. 2, &c.)^n the individual. In
the picture which Isaiah draws, it will be noticed that the upper
and ruling classes form a prominent feature. Corrupt rulers,
unjust officials, are, and always have been, a crying evil in the
East : legislators in vain denounced them [e,g, Exod. xxii.
21-24 ; xxiii. 6-9) ; they flourished in Judah during the pros-
perous days of Uzziah as they flourished in the neighbouring
kingdom during the prosperity which similarly marked the
long reign of Jeroboam II. (Amos ii. 6; v. lo-ii). Their
misgovernment is largely the cause of the calamities under
which the nation is suffering, and their bad example is a per-
manent obstacle to reform : thus their downfall is the essential
condition of national improvement. But all other unworthy
members of the nation must perish with them. And these, as
the prophet perceives, are so numerous that when the judgment
comes only a remnant w ill survive it. This principle of the a
survival of a worthy remnant, which, as we saw, was fore-
shadowed on the occasion of Isaiah's call, is here enunciated ]
more distinctly. The idea was not a new one : it had been J
already dropped by the prophet Amos (chap. v. 15 ; cf. ix. 19).
But in Isaiah's hands it acquires a new significance. It is the 1
principle by which he reconciles God's faithfulness with His |
justice. His nation has received noble promises, and has \
been entrusted with a noble work ; it is the depository ol
Divine truth , it is therefore impossible that it Should be wholly
M ISAIAH.
cast off and perish. But it has been untrue to its high vocation;
it has abandoned itself to sin ; and justice demands that it
should reap the penalty. It will be purged therefore, but not
destroyed. Judah will pass through the furnace of trial and
come out refined, freed from the admixture of evil — her rulers
no longer corrupt, but displaying ideal perfection j her capital
the home of justice and faithfulness. Isaiah pictures to himself
a catastrophe which will remodel the national life, and in-
augurate a new epoch. The inhabitants of Judah, in so far as
they either remain faithful, or are led by the judgment to reform,
will be rescued : those who thus " turn " to Jehovah (" her
converts'*^') and are saved, form the nucleus of a hew community
which will then be established, and which will exhibit the true,
or, as we may term them, the ideal^ characteristics of the " Israel
of God." This thought of an ideal society, to succeed and take
the place of the existing corrupt one, will often meet us in
Isaiah. No other prophet dwells upon it so frequently, or
paints it with the same distinctness and force. To be sure, it
was never actually realized in the form in which he himself
anticipated it, but his visions of it are not on that account de-
prived of their value ; for he conceives and gives expression in
them to an ideal of life and conduct, which was an example
and a model both to his contemporaries and to succeeding
ages ; while to us they remain as a foreshadowing of what may
one day be accomplished by the Gospel.
Chapters ii.-v. — divided by a natural break at the end of
chapT iv!— "Selong either to the end of the reign of Jothamor the
beginning of that of Ahaz. The language of chap. iii. 12,
" My people — his governor is a wilful child, and women rule
over him," points to a time when the vigorous administration
of Uzziah and Jotham had been succeeded by tfej weak and
inefificient government of Ahaz ; and, on the other hand, the
general impression derived from the chapters is that they were
written at a time when the disasters of the Syro-Ephraimitish
war had not yet commenced, but were only imminent. It is
possible that prophecies belonging to the two periods mentioned
have been fused together. Whether this be so or not the
chapters present a vivid picture of .the condition of Judah and
of its prophets, as they were viewed by the prophet at the
time indicated, while the tide of prosperity which (p. 10 f.) had
continued to flow throughout the age of Uzziah and Jotham
PROPHECIES AT THE BEGINNING OF AHAX'S REIGN. 23
showed still no signs of intermittence. The reader will recall
the sketch which has been given of the material progress which
the kingdom of Judah had made during the reign of these two
kings. The particulars derived from the historical books may
be supplemented by Isaiah, whose allusions in the chapters
before us make it evident that Jerusalem had become, in ai
word, a fashionable capital, where wealth increased daily, and J
where luxury and dress, with their accessories, were a first object]
in everybody's thoughts. Foreign relations were, moreover, ;
amicable : trade was flourishing ; military defences were in a
high state of efficiency ; was it possible for a nation to be more \
prosperous or to feel more secure ?
All those who thought thus were speedily disillusioned by
Isaiah. The scene at the beginning of his discourse is effec-
tively conceived by Ewald. The verses ii. 2-4, it should be
premised, recur with slight variations in the fourth chapter of
Mic'ah, and are supposed by many to have been borrowed by
both writers from some older source. The prophet appears
before an assembly of the people, perhaps on a Sabbath, and
recites this passage, depicting in beautiful and effective imagery
the spiritual pre-eminence to be accorded in the future to the
religion of Zion, He would dwell upon the subject further :
but scarcely has he begun to speak when the disheartening
spectacle meets his eye of a crowd of soothsayers, of gold and
silver ornaments and finery, of horses and idols; his tone ini-
mediately changes, and he bursts into a diatribe against the
foreign and idolatrous fashions, the devotion to wealth and
glitter, which he sees about him, and which extorts from him in
the end the terrible wish Therefore forgive them not (v, 5-9).
And then in one of his stateliest periods, Isaiah declares the
judgment about to fall upon all that is "tall and lofty," upon
UzziaVs towers and fortified walls, upon the great merchant
ships at Elath, upon every object of human satisfaction and
pride, when wealth and rank will be impotent to save, when
idols will be cast despairingly aside, and when all classes
alike will be glad to find a hiding-place, as in the old days of
Midianite invasion or Philistine oppression (Jud. vi. 2 ; i Sam.
xiii. 6), in the clefts and caves of the rocks.
^°^ ^collapse of _all_exis tjng ,^aQiet^is^Jmminent : " Behold
the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and
from Judah stay and staff, every stay of bread, and every stay
24 ISAIAH. ,
of watei" : hero and warrior, judge and prophet, and soothsayer
and elder ; the captain of fifty and the man of repute, and th«
counsellor, and the skilful artificer, and the expert enchanter.
And I will make youths to be their princes, and with wilfulness
{or capriciousness) shall they rule over them," Society is to
be dissolved ; and the prophet names as typical examgles th«
different professional classes which usually constitute an ele-
ment of stability in a state, but which will all be involved in
the impending ruin. The army, which had been newly orga-
nized and equipped by Uzziah, the ** elders" and others re-
sponsible for justice and order, the prophets, who formed a
recognized order in the state (Jer. xviii. i8), the artizan class,
who no doubt were numerous in Jerusalem, especially at a time
when luxury and wealth would ensure them employment, and
who are expressly named among those carried away to Babylon
(Jer. xxiv, i), will all be broken up ; and a similar fate .will
befal the ** soothsayers" and "enchanters,'* a class which
clearly, in Isaiah's day (cf. ii. 6 ; viii. 19), enjoyed no small
reputation among the people. The king, it has been remarked,
is not named : Ahaz has no independence of character ; he is
under the guidance of companions, young and thoughtless, like
the advisers of Rehoboam ; ere long the state will be aban-
doned to the rule of mere caprice, and then, government being
at an end, every one will be free to pursue his own interests
and assert his imagined rights, regardless of those of his
neighbour. So desperate will be the condition of society, that
even should the office of ^adz—}nc\ge, or,, as we might say,
dictator (cf. Jud. xi. 6) — be tendered to a man, with power to
use his authority in the restoration of order, he wi]l decline the
proffered honour ; the task he will at once see to be beyond
his powers {v, 6, 7). And why is it that the state is drifting
to this deplorable condition ? As in chap, i., it is the rulers at
whose doors the guilt lies ; " O my people, they which lead thee
cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." The king
and his advisers, the men of authority and influence, have for-
gotten their responsibilities, have had no thought for the moral
and social well being of the nation, have "eaten up" the vineyard
instead of tending it, have~sought only to amass the means of
enjoyment for themselves, heedless of the cruelty or inj jstice
which may m the process have been inflicted upon o.hers.
Isaiah here (chap. iii. 13) imagines a judgment scene : the
TROPHECIES AT THE BEGINNING OF AHAZ'S REIGN. 2%
nations (" peoples," R. V.) appear before Jehovah for judgment,
and Judah with the rest. The sentence, addressed sternly to
the "elders*' and "princes," runs in these terms: "It is _y6
that have eaten up the vineyard : the spoil of the poor is in
your houses ; vi^hat mean ye that ye crush my people and grind
the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.'*
The prophet next attacks a fresh feature in the society of the
capital — the dress and luxury of the wo men. The ladies of
Jerusalem hardly impress Isaiah more favourably than those of
the capital of Samaria, a generation earlier, had impressed
the prophet Amos (iv. i). The ground, however, upon which
the attack here rests is not selfishness or devotion to the plea-
sures of the table, but vanity and ostentatious display. Isaiah's
indignation, it may be, was suddenly aroused, as he watched
their demeanour whilst they were escorted in state through the
public places of Jerusalem, or caught sight of the costly and
curious attire which was the chief object of their thought ;
and he enumerates, with bewildering minuteness, the various
articles of dress and adornment which thus constituted their
pride ; declaring emphatically that the day will come when they
will be forcibly stripped of it all, and obliged to assume the
coarse and humiliating attire of captives. The image which
the prophet has in his mind is that of a disaster in the field :
the warriors of Judah defeated and slain ; their wives and
daughters defenceless in the hands of the conquerors ; the gates
which had seen them march forth in the full assurance of
victory, mourning over their fail ; the city itself desolate and
empty, " And seven women shall take hold of one man in that
day, saying. Our own bread will we eat, and our own clothing
will we wear ; only let us be called by thy name ; take away
our reproach" (iv. i). The women that remain crowd round
the few survivors : they do not claim the support which it was
the natural duty of a husband to confer ; they will provide
their own food and clothing ; they desire only that the reproach
of childlessness may not rest upon them for ever.
This, however, is not the end. Dire as the disaster has been,
little as it has left of- what was once the boast of men and the
delight of women, it has not exterminated all. The glitter
which has been swept away will be succeeded*by something oi
sterling and abiding worth. Abruptly the prophet sets before
us t he new glory which is to follow. " In that day shall the
26 ISAIAH.
growth' of Jehovah be for beauty and for glory ; and the fruit of
the land for majesty and adornment, unto the escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and that
remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every on^
who is written down for life in Jerusalem." The thought is the
same as that which we found in chap, i., but it is developed
with richer and more magnificent imagery. A remnant will
survive the judgment, and under changed and brighter auspices
will found an ideal community in the future. A new social state,
established without man's intervention, is what the prophet
pictures as about to commence. A new glory and ornament
will appear, and take the place of that which has perished.
The very growth of the land, for those that escape^ fostered by
Jehovah's care, will be clad with preternatural splendour. The
inhabitants of Zion will realize the ideal character of the nation :
every one of the survivors, written down for life in ferusalem^
i.e.^ inscribed in the register of its living citizens, shall be called
\holy (Exod. xix. 6). By "life" Isaiah means not life hereafter,
I but life on earth, though under new conditions ; a glorified life,
[freed from sin and trouble. The purification of the nation
being thus completed, provision is next made for i ts continue^ ,
safety. It is defended by the protecting presence of Jehovah,
described, in imagery drawn from the story of the Exodus
(Exod. xiii. 21 f.), as " a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining
of a flaming fire by night." Nor are more material comforts neg-
lected : a pavilion, or canopy, extended over the whole site of
Zion, will be a shelter against those violent extremes of weather
to which an Eastern climate is always exposed.
Such is Isaiah's second picture of the ideal Zion of the
future — the vision which, when he looks out beyond the dark
and disheartening present, his eye of faith enables him to
descry.
Chaov., in its general scope, is parallel to chap, iil., and
demonstrates afresh the grounds upon which sentence has
been already passed upon the nation. In the parable of the
'See Gen. xix. 25 ; Psa. Ixv. 10 (" the j/r?«^*ff^ thereof "). Not the word
rendered rightly Branch in ch. xi. i. Jeremiah (xxiii. 5) applies the term
to the Messiah ; but it is doubtfulif it is so used here. In Jeremiah the
sense of the figure iS limited by the context (" I will raise up unto David a
righteous growth or sprout ") ; but here the parallel clause (" fruit of th<
land") is in favour of the \iew that it is to be understood literally.
PROPHECIES AT THE BEGINNING OF AHAZ'S REIGN. 27
vineyard) with which it opens, Isaiah shows now, in 'spite of the
advantages profusely lavished upon it, Israel has not borne the
expected fruits — " He hoped for justice, but behold bloodshed ;
fcr righteousness, but behold a cry." ' And then one by one the
national sins are summed up (v. 8-23), The inordinate desire
for the possession of large estates which now asserted itself,
and was accompanied, doubtless, not by an increased sense of
the duties of landed proprietors, but by the unfair or violent
ejectment of less fortunate possessors ; the immoderate in-
dulgence in enjoyments of the table, which, in the minds
of many, left no room for more serious thought {v. 12) ;
the devotion to sin for sin's sake, attended by a scoffing
and defiant unbelief ; the confusion of moral distinctions,
blinding men to the true nature and issue of the course which
they were pursuing ; the self-satisfied astuteness of the leading
politicians,'* who conceived that their management of affairs was
above criticism (v, 21); the systematized corruption of the
authorized administrators of justice — these are the sins against
which Isaiah hurls his denouncing 'Woe,' showing {v. 24)
how in truth they aie already working their natural effects in the
disintegration of the national life, and the slow but steady
deterioration of the national vigour. And he ends his discourse
with a picture, imitated by Jeremiah, but not surpassed, of
the rapid advance, the compact array, the unerring aim,
the iron grasp, of an unnamed but terrible invader, whose shock
none can resist, and at whose presence clouds of impenetrable
darkness will shroud the political horizon.
These, then, were the thoughts which presented themselves
to Isaiah, as his eye penetrated beneath the surface of
society in Judah, and showed him how deceptive its plau-
sible exterior was. Not only did Isaiah perceive clearly the
unsound elements which underlay -it — he saw also, what the
popular leaders of opinion did not see, how ill-fitted Judah
was to sustain the attack of a really formidable foe, and
how delusive the imagined security of the country was. The
approaching future is represented in chap. ii. (v, 12 ff.),
under the form of a "Day of Jehovah," a figure used fre-
quently by the prophets, and implying a signal and trium
' The cry, viz., of oppression ^ see £xod. xxii. 21-4,
• Comp. xxix. 14 ; xxxi. a (see Chap. VI.).
|8 ISAIAU.
phant manifestation of Jehovah in vindication of His laws and
rights.' Though this vindication may be effected by means
of human agents, the conception puts their instrumentality out
of sight, and regards the decisive movements of history as an
exclusive manifestation of Jehovah's purpose and power. The
prophets elaborate the figure under varying imagery, suggested
partly by the occasion, partly by their own imagination. In
Joel ii. I ff., for instance, the imagery is evidently suggested by
the recent visitation of locusts, described by the prophet in
chap. i.» Isaiah effectively represents the " Day '^ as directed
against the various objects of pride and strength which the
nation had accumulated in the days of Uzziah, Here, then, the
judgment is depicted on its Divine side ; and the case is similar
in v. i6, where it is treated also as an exhibition or assertion of
Jehovah's holiness.^ Viewed on its human side, it takes the form
of a defeat and desolation of Judah (iii. 25-iv. I ; v. 9 f., 13, 17))
effected through the instrumentality of the Assyrians (v. 25-30),
whom the demoralized people are powerless to resist (v. 24).
The event did not actually prove as serious as Isaiah had an*
ticipated ; but his object is to reform his nation, to brace up its
energies, to quicken its perceptions ; and with this purpose in
view he holds up before it the true principles which its respon-
sible leaders are disregarding, and paints vividly the con-
sequences to which their continued neglect may be expected tQ
Head. In the next chapter we shall see the false and short-
I sighted principles which he here exposes operating disastrously
I at a grave political juncture.
« B^ed, probably, upon the Hebrew use of ifixy as = victory (Ezelc. xlll. 5 ;
comp. Isa. ix. 4). See W, R. Smith, •* The Prophets of Israel," p. 131 f.
396 f.
» For other examples, see Amos v. 18, 20 ; Zeph, i. 7, 14-16 ; Isa. xiit
6-ro.
3 " Is sanctified,'* R. V. ; rather, *' shows himself holy " (Cheyne) comp,
Ezek. xxxvi. 33 ; xxxviii. : 6 (holiness vindicated in an act of judgment).
CHAPTER IV.
TME SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH WAR.
fsalah . .^ the Svro-Ephraimitish war (chaps, vii. i-ix. 7 ; tz. 8-x. 4 ;
xvi,'. j-ii)— The prophecy of ImmanueL
We arrive liov at the first great political crisis through which
Judah passed during Isaiah's lifetime. The prophet assumed
in it a conspicuous part, and it proved the occasion of two of
his greatest and most famous prophecies. In order to under-
stand how it arose, we must go back a few years. Menahem, it
will be remembered, owed his throne to Assyrian help, and had
naturally in consequence acknowledged the suzerainty of As-
syria ; but Pekah, who overthrew Menahem's successor and estab-
lished himself in his place, was in his sympathies anti-Assyrian.
It was, probably, a willingness to co-operate against a common
foe that now drew together the two kingdoms of Israel and
Syria, which in the past had usually viewed one another with
feelings of inveterate hostility. Hence the league between
Pekah and Rezin, the object of which, in so far as Jt was
directed against Judah, appears to have been to force it to join
a coalition formed for the purpose of opposing more effectual
resistance to the Assyrians. The beginning of hostilities is
referred (2 Kings xv. 37) to the end of the reign of Jotham, At
first, to judge from the description there given, the incursions
were probably of a desultory kind ; but after the accession ol
Ahaz they took the form of an organized campaign. It is
difficult to follow the stages precisely, and especially to feel any
confidence as to the manner in which the details related in
2 Chronicles (xxviii. 5-15) are to be combined with the briefer
narrative contained in Isaiah (vii. i, 2) and 2 Kings (xvi. 5, 6),
JCJ ISAIAH.
The tradition of a particular incident it. the war appears to
have reached the Chronicler, which he has amplified in accord-
ance with his usual plan, without giving any clue as to the place
occupied by it in the struggle as a whole. The numbers in
verse 6, it is clear, have been largely exaggerated ; but the fact
that a grave disaster befel the troops of Ahaz in the progress o<
the war may be fairly held to underlie the Chronicler's narrative.
From the language of Isaiah vii. 2, which appears to describe
danger anticipated rather than danger already experienced, it may
perhaps be inferred that the disaster in question did not take
place till subsequently. But, however that may be, it is plain
that the territory of Judah must have suffered severely from the
continued incursions, and that the people, enable to repel them,
became gradually demoralized. There are other indications
that the position of Judah was now no longer what it had been
under the two previous reigns, Uzziah (p. lo) had fortified the
port of Elatb, and many Judasans had settled in it, probably for
commercial purposes. But in the account of Ahaz's reign we
read (2 Kings xvi. 6) that Rezin ended all this : his forces
swept past Judah unimpeded, obtained possession of Elath, ex-
pelled from it the Jewish settlers, and restored it to Edom."
Nor was this all. According to the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxviii.
17 f.) the Edomites and Philistines, both old enemies of Judah,
took advantage of the exposed and defenceless state of the
country to make marauding expeditions, and the latter — retalia-
ting what Uzziah had done — even captured some of the towns
and villages, carrying away their inhabitants. So little was the
army, in spite of all that had been done for it by Uzziah (p. 11)^
able now to protect its country.
ButSo return to the occasion of which Isaiah tells us. The
object of the attack on the part of the allied forces was, as has
tjeen stated, to force Judah to join them in offering resistance to
Assyria. It was against the *' House of L ivid" that the com-
bination was specially directed ; and the mtention was to sub-
stitute a more subservient ruler in place of Ahaz. the son oi
Tabeel, to judge from the form of his name, a Syrian. Ahaz, it
would seem, had been antecedently favourable to Assyria ;
deficient himself in independence, he was probably disposed to
» So we must doubtless read, for "Syria," and the ** Syrians:" the
words for Syria (" Aram "), and Edom, written In the old Hebrew charafr
terg, would be scarcely distiuguishable>
THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH WAR. 3I
tfirow himself upon the support of a strong external power.
Hence his resistance to the solicitations of Rezin and Pekah
and their consequent appeal to arms. The narrative of Isaiah
opens with what would seem to have been the beginning of the
danger ; or possibly with the approach of a more numerous and
better organized body of forces. How great the alarm in Jeru-
salem was appears from the comparison which the prophet
uses, " And the king's heart shook, and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the forest shake t)efore the wind." The people,
in a word, were paralysed at the approach of danger : nor was
Ahaz the man to come forward at a crisis and allay the general
alarm, or to adopt with decision a prompt and well-considered
line of action. On the contrary, he was already meditating the
expedient which he ultimately adopted, and which, though
perilous, when viewed in relation to the consequences which it
might involve, was one which, nevertheless, promised imme-
diate relief. He meditated following the precedent set by Mena-
hem a few years before, and inviting the assistance of Tiglath-
Pileser to rid him of his troublesome invaders. The step cost
him his independence : it cost him also now and subsequently
a heavy expenditure of treasure — so terribly was he impoverished
by the Assyrian demands that he had eyen to strip the Temple
of its ancient ornaments : but in its immediate result it was suc-
cessful (2 Kings xvi. 7-9). Tiglath-Pileser accepted the terms
offered by Ahaz ; he invaded the territory of Damascus and
Israel in the rear, thereby at once necessitating the withdrawal
of the allied forces from Judah. It was on the occasion of this
invasion (fixed by the Inscriptions to B.C. 734) that the districts
in the north-east of Israel, including Gilead, Galilee, and Naph-
tali, were lost to Israel, and their inhabitants deported to
Assyria (p. 8 f.).
We have, however, somewhat anticipated the course of
events. At the date of Isaiah's interview with Ahaz (chap, vii.),
the application to Assyria was meditated, but not actually carried
into effect. To understand this interview two things must be
borne in mind. Firstly, Isaiah is aware of the king*s intention
to solicit aid from Assyria, but it is not openly admitted between
them. Secondly, the power and resources of the allied kings,
especially of Rezin, so impressed the popular imagination that
they were held to be practically invincible : Isaiah views both
differently ; describes them as " smoked out firebrands/* and
^2 ISAIAH.
intimates that he considers the terror of the people to be un-
reasonable. Hence, the words in verses 8, 9, in Isaiah's mouth,
have a contemptuous import : it is as though he said : " For the
head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is a mere
Rezin ; . . . and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head
of Samaria is only Remaliah's son." Rezin and Pekah constitute
in his eyes no ground of real alarm.
It was close outside the walls, " at the end of the conduit of
the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller^s field" — ^whither,
we may conjecture, Ahaz had gone to make provision for a sup-
ply of water within the city, in the event of a siege — that Isaiah,
accompanied by Shear-Jashub his son, met Ahaz, upon the
memorable occasion described in the seventh chapter of his
book. The contrast of character and bearing between the king
and the prophet is marked. Ahaz is timid and helpless, takes
no position, and displays no promptitude or courage. Isaiah,
on the contrary, steps forward with assurance : he is collected
and calm : and his complete control of the political situation
impresses us forcibly. With prophetic intuition he has dis-
cerned already that the power and splendour of the allied king-
doms is doomed to extinction — " Take heed, and be quiet : fear
not, neither be faint-hearted, for these two tails of smoking
fire-brands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the
son of Remaliah ;" and declares with emphasis that their plan
for the ruin of Judah is not to succeed : " It shall not stand,
and it shall not be ;" the head of Syria is only Rezin, the head
of Ephraim is but Pekah : and " within threescore and five
years, Ephraim will be broken that it be not a people." " If
ye do not believe," he adds (t/. 9), "surely ye shall not be
estabhshed." The prophet in these words assumes the part of
a practical statesman, and warns the nation that their safety
.ties not in the help to be derived from some external alliance,
but in reliance upon their own resources strengthened and sus-
tained by faith in Jehovah. He pauses, waiting to observe the
impression made by his words upon Ahaz. The king hesi-
tates to reply : the prospect opened by Isaiah is too distant
for his faith : his hopes rest in reality upon the Assyrians, to
whom he may even already have made overtures : and his
consciousness that Isaiah disapproves makes him silent and
reserved. Isaiah, endeavouring to win his confidence, and in-
terpreting his hesitation in the most favourable sense, is ready
THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH WAR. 33
to reassure him. " Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God ; ask it
either in the depth, or in the height above." " I will not ask,
neither will I put Jehovah to the test." His answer, though
couched in the language of resignation and piety, is not sincere :
he declines the sign because he has a secret dread of the truth ;
and sees too well, that if given it would be the condemnation of
his distrust, the ruin of his fondly cherished scheme. The
reply, addressed not to the king only, but to the princes of the
royal house, who approved, perhaps guided, his policy, follows :
" Is it not enough for you to weary men" (z.^., the prophet him-
self, in his human capacity), " that ye will also weary my God,"
by refusing His gracious offer to renew and confirm your faith ?
"Therefore,"asyouhavedeclinedthe proffered choice," Jehovah"
withdraws the offer, and "will Himself give you a sign : " and
there rises before the mental eye of the prophet the vision of the
maiden, ere long to give birth to the child who, in spite of the
destitution through which his country must first pass,' is still the
mysterious pledge and symbol 'of its deliverance (^. 13-16).
And now, at last, what has been in the background all along is
no longer concealed : abruptly (-z/. 17) the prophet confronts
Ahaz with the naked truth. " The power on which you rely for
safety, and which will indeed for the moment save you, will
afterwards bring upon you a retribution which you have not
foreseen : it will make your land the arena of a conflict with
Egypt (t/. 18 f.) ; your country will be swept bare, and the
simplest" pastoral produce — curdled milk and honey — will be
the^ole means of subsistence for the survivors" (2/. 2o-2S).3 The
sequfel will show how true Isaiah's forecast, expressed in these
verse^;-,was, and how accurately they indicate the natural results
of Ahaz's policy. A generation hence, Judah passed through
perils greater than any which had befallen it since the division
of the kingdom ; and though Isaiah's worst anticipations were
happily not realized to the letter, the conflict between Assyria
* His only fare, in infancy (v. 15), being of the simplest kind, viz.,
curdled njilk and honey, such as implies privation (cf. v. 22).
' ** Immanuel," i.e., God is with us : the name which the child bears is
an assurance of God's protecting presence (for the '* name " as expressing
symbolically a reality, cf. 1. 26 ; Jer. xxxiii. 16 ; Ezek. xlviii. 35, &c).
3 Notice the sarcasm in v, 20. The razor, "hired" by Ahaz, to freo
Judah quickly and efficaciously of its foes, will in the end despoil and
humiliate Judah itself.
4
34 ISAIAH.
and Egypt took place on the very borders of Judah, and tha
land itself was terribly devastated by the wild Assyrian soldiery.
The danger which Ahaz dreaded was not, however, removed
at once ; and if it be true that the scene just described occurred
at the beginning of the campaign, it must even have grown
more grave as the allied forces proceeded to ravage and plunder
the territory of Judah. But Isaiah continued to assert his un-
abated confidence in the issue (viii. 1-4) : in some conspicuous
spot, perhaps the court of the Temple, he inscribed in large
characters the motto, which every one could understand, " Swift
spoil, speedy prey ; " and after an interval approaching a year,
he recorded his conviction in a still more permanent form by
naming his son, Maher-shalal-hash-bas — " For before the boy
shall know how to cry, My father, and My mother, the riches of
Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away ■
before the king of Assyria." And now follow words of conso-
lation addressed to those who could see below the surface, and
had realized the truth of Isaiah*s contention a year before, viz.,
that the fall of Damascus and Samaria was fraught with peril
for Judah as well : " Forasmuch as this people — the entire
nation. North and South alike^hath rejected the waters of
Shiloah which flow softly, and rejoice with Rezin and the son of
Remaliah : therefore, behold, Jehovah bringeth upon them the
waters of the river, mighty and great," which first inundating
Israel will afterwards sweep on with impetuous violence into
Judah, " and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth
of thy land, O Immanuel ! " There is little consolation as yet ;
but no sooner has the magic word escaped the prophet's lips
than his tone at once changes, and with bold defiance he
challenges the combined nations (whether near, as the Syrians
and Israelites, or distant as the Assyrians), and announces
triumphantly their overthrow (z*. 9, 10). Nothing shows more
forcibly than this sublime apostrophe how vividly Isaiah must
have conceived the reality of the unborn child of his imagina-
tion, Immanuel, and with what lofty attributes he must have
invested him. But he reverts to the nearer present : he has
grounds for his assurance ; foi: an hour of sacred ecstasy ' had
made it clear to him. The cry in Judah had been, " There is a
conspiracy against us, a formidable combination, which can
» " With strength of hand" (v. n), *.tf.i seizing him, and casting him
into the prophetic trance : see 2 Kings iii. 15 ; Ezek. i. 3, iii. 14, viii, i.
THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH WAR. 35
only be met by a counter-alliance with Assyria"' : Isaiah and his
little circle of adherents had been warned not to join in it, not
to judge of the enterprise, or probable success, of Rezin and
Pekah, by the worldly and superficial estimate of the masses.
A truer guide for action had been revealed to them. " Do not,"
such is the lesson which he has been taught, " do not follow the
common people in their unreasonable alarm" (v. 12) : "Jehovah
of hosts, Him shall ye count holy ; and let Him be your fear,
and Him your dread," z.e,, in modern phraseology, " Do not be
guilty of a practical abandonment of Jehovah ; do not sacrifice
principle to expediency. If you do not lose faith, ' He will be
for a sanctuary* " {v. 14), i.e. (apparently), He will be as a sanc-
tuary protecting the territory in which it is situated, and securing
for those who honour it safety and peace ; " but " (it is omin-
ously added) "a cause of stumbhng and ruin to both the houses
of Israel," to you of Judah not less than to those of Ephraim,to
whom alone you might think that the warning can apply. Trans-
lated into modern language, the prophet's lesson is this — that
those who in a time of difficulty and temptation, sacrifice prin-
ciple to expediency, and abandon the clear path of duty for a
course which may seem to lead to some greater immediate
advantage, must not be surprised if the penalty which they
ultimately have to pay be a severe one.
" Bind thou up the admonition, seal the teaching among
my disciples." So important a formula of action is not to be
entrusted to the memory alone ; it is to be written down, and
deposited, carefully bound and sealed, in the custody 01 the
prophet's disciples. The time will come, when though mis
understood and neglected now, the lesson may be divulged,
and its value will be recognized. Meanwhile Isaiah, though
the time is dark, and God's favour withdrawn, will wait and
hope. He, and his children, he recollects, are the living omens
of a happier future '(^. 17 f.). But darker days are destined
tc come first — days in which those who once refused to listen
to the prophet's voice, and who in their despair and anxiety to
learn the future had recourse, hke Saul, to the aid of necro-
mancers and wizards, will be only too eager to know what
' Such appear to be the best interpretation of the text as it stands.
=* Isaiah = " Salvation of Jah " : Shear-yashub »= *' A remnant shall re-
turn" : Maher-shalal-hash-baz ^ "Swift spoil, speedy prey," implying the
sertainly of the fall of Damascus and Samaria.
sx
36 ISAIAH.
Isaiah said, and to sulmit to his direction — "To the teaching
and to the admonition 1 " — this will be their cry, when it is too
late, and the darkness closes finally around them.' In the two
verses following, the gloom thus alluded to, with the blank and
utter despair accompanying it, is inimitably represented. But
a sudden change ensues. Deep as is the humiliation now
falling upon the land of Zebulun and Naphtali (which, with the
region " beyond Jordan," was jiist the district depopulated by
Tiglath-Pileser in 734) ; dark and hopeless as their prospect
seems to be, the prophet transports himself into the " lattei
time," and sees the clouds lifted, and a brilliant day shining ;
the very region which suffered most should then rejoice most
unrestrainedly. The nation is restored and triumphant ; the
rod of the taskmaster is broken ; the garments of war become
fuel for a bonfire. " For a child is born unto us, a son is given
unto us " " who will restore the empire of David upon an im-
perishable basis ; and in a few brief but pregnant sentences
Isaiah describes his wonderful and glorious rule (ix. 1-7).
We reach here the climax of the series of prophecies which
begins with vii. i. As regards the announcement made to
Ahaz in vii. 14 it is to be observed that it is not one wholly of
encouragement ; nor, after the insincerity which Ahaz had
displayed, could it be expected that it would be such. Not
only is the promised deliverance itself only to be obtained
through privation and suffering {v. 15) ; but, whether Ahaz had
the j^pacity to see it or not, the terms of the promise imply a
repulse. Not Ahaz, not some, high-born son of Ahaz's house, is
to have the honour of rescuing his country from its peril : a
"nameless maiden of lowly rank" (Delitzsch) is to be the
mother of the future deliverer. Ahaz and the royal house are
' So Revised Version, margin, "This word" means the saying just
quoted, "To the teaching and to the testimony." The text of the Revised
Version expresses nearly the same sense, stated hypothetically : " If they
speak not according to this word," &c., i.e. if they do not agree in making
their appeal to the prophet's teaching, " tliey will have no morning, " Le.^
no brighter days will ever dawn for them. Testimony = solemn admoni-
tion : comp. the cognate verb, Exod. xix. 21 (" charge ") ; 2 Kings xvii. 15
l" testify ") ; Jer. xi. 17 (" protest ").
» Authorized Version and Revised Version, " For unto us a child is bora
unto us a son is given "—the rhythm of which is immortalized by Handel's
" Messiah." 3ut it is undeniable that this rendering gives to the words a
false emphasis ; chilci and son, not w«^ff ^s, are the emphatic words i i the
sentence.
THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH WAR, SJ
thus put aside : it is not till chap. ix. 7— spoken at least a yeaii
subsequently — that we are able to gather that the Deliverer is toj
be a deS'Cendant of David's line. '
Before considering in what manner Isaiah's predictions were
fulfilled, it will be desirable to notice two other prophecies
which, from internal evidence, must be assigned to the same
period, viz.. chap, ix. 8-x. 4 and chap. xvii. l-ii. These two
prophecies differ from the one which has just been re-
viewed, in that while this deals primarily with the future of
Judah, the subject of chap ix. 8-x. 4 is the condition and pros-
pects of Ei>hraim^ and that of chap. xvii. i-ii is the issue of
the conflict in its effects upon Syria and Ephraim together.
The prophecy, chap. ix. 8-x. 4, forms a well-articulated whole,
divided into four strophes, each marked by a closing refrain.
In its general purport, it may be described as a development of
the thought expressed more concisely in chap. vii. 16 or viii. 4.
In the first strophe Isaiah depicts the Ephraimites' proud
superiority to danger, and their placid assurance after defeat :
" The bricks," they say, " are fallen, but we will build with
hewn stone ; the sycomores ' are cut down, but we will put
cedars in their place": no sooner, in other words, has one
scheme miscarried than they are prepared with a more magnifi-
cent one to take its place ; no sooner is one dynasty overthrown
than another rises in its stead. The proverb gives apt expres-
sion to the temper habitually displayed by the northern king-
dom, and may be compared to the one used by the prophet
Amos about thirty years before for a similar purpose (vi. 13) :
" Which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own
strength?" In the present instance, the result which Isaiah
foresees for Israel is that the country will be beset on all sides
(7/. II, 12) by its foes. But the temper of the nation remains
unimproved; and so the prophet adds the refrain : "For all this
His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out
itill." In the next strophe a second stroke is described as
descending upon it ; a great and sudden disaster befalls it,
by which the plans of its statesmen are in a moment wrecked :
"therefore Jehovah cutteth off from Israel head and tail, palm-
branch and rush, in one day ;" so dire is the defeat that even
the widows of those slain in the battle find no mercy. But no
' The commonest tree in the lowlands of Palestine, by the Mediten'nean
Sea (see i Kings x. 27).
38 ISAIAH.
reform ensues ; and a third stroke accordingly follo«?5. In-
ternal lawlessness results in general anarchy, and the strife ol
rival factions {v, 20). The nation is given up to internecine
conflict : the two sons of Joseph engage with each other in
mortal fray, yet do not forget their old animosity against Judah.
The figures \nv. 18 are applied effectively by the prophet. Un-
righteousness, like' burning fire, when once it has attacked the
nation, spreads with destructive fury and rapidity ; its flames en-
circle first the humbler plants, then the forest itself (symbolizing
the nation), till the whole mass seems to roll upwards in a proud
column of smoke. That factions such as those to which Isaiah
alludes were the bane and ruin of the northern kingdom is well
known, i Kings xvi. 21 f. may exemplify the fact for the earlier
period of the history ; the rapid succession of short-lived
dynasties, which followed after the assassination of Zechariah
(2 Kings XV. 10, 13 f,, 25, 30), will illustrate it for the period
within Isaiah's own lifetime. Pekah himself, who now occupied
the throne, had obtained it by a successful conspiracy, in which
he was aided by a band of Gileadite adventurers ; by another
conspiracy, of which Hoshea was the head, he was destined
soon to lose it. Possibly, as Isaiah wrote* during the absence
of Pekah with his forces in Judah, the conspiracy was already
being planned. But again, as Isaiah conteanplates the nation,
he can discern no sign of improvement ; so in a fourth and last
strophe, the final sentence upon it is declared. Injustice and
oppression are rampant amongst its rulers, self-interest is the
dominant passion ; strength and independence of character is
undermined ; how can a nation thus demoralized expect to
cope with misfortune? It will succumb at the first shock ; and
its magnates will then discover that their only place of safety
will be beneath the corpses on a battle-field 1 And, as though
this prospect were not dark enough, "For all this,*' the
prophet ominously adds, " his anger is not turned away, but
his hand is stretched out still I" (x. 1-4).
In chap, xvii. i-ii, the prophet begins by declaring the
unpendin^ fall of Damascus, and afterwards passes on to show
how the ruin of Syria will be followed rapidiv bv that of Ephraim
as well. It is probably owing to the prominence given in this
prophecy to Damascus that it has been placed by the collector
among the "foreign prophecies" of Isaiah (see Chap. VIIL).
After describing how the storm which breaks upon Damascus
THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITISII WAR. 39
{v. l), will afterwards (v, 2) sweep over the region east of
Jordan, and finally (v. 3) cross over into Israel itself, until both
nations share a common doom, Isaiah dwells next {1/. 4, 5)
upon the scene of desolation which the Northern kingdom will
then present. The few who survive the judgment — not more
numerous than the berries which escape after the last strokes
have been given by the beaters (Deut. xxiv. 20) to an olive-
garden — will indeed be spiritually transformed, and recognize
Him who is the true source of their strength ; but, as a whole,
the cultivated plains and fortified cities of Ephraim will again
be deserted by their inhabitants, as they were deserted by the
Canaanites of old in presence of the invading Israelites (v. 7-9).
For Israel had abandoned the service of its Maker ; it had
offered a home upon its soil to foreign cults ; the plantations
(such is the metaphor by which the prophet describes the
foreign worships imported into Israel') had been carefully
enclosed and otherwise tended ; the seed had even blossomed,
and there was promise of an abundant crop ; but the day of
harvest would be a sad one {v. lo-i i). The people of Israel had
" transplanted heathen gods into their worship, and they must
reap God's abandonment of their nation as the fruit." '
How Isaiah's predictions, so far as Syria and Ephraim were
concerned, received their fulfilment, is disclosed by the annals
of Tiglath-Pileser (above, p. 8, 9). Ephraim was crippled by a
serious loss of territory and population in 734 ; Damascus
capitulated in 732 : Samaria itself did not fall until it was
captured by Sargon in 722. Tiglath-Pileser's advance upon
the north-east provinces of Israel obliged the allied forces to
withdraw from Judah, and brought the Syro-Ephraimitish in-
vasion to an end. Pekah, returning to Samaria, is slain by the
conspirators, who, it may reasonably be conjectured, had taken
advantage of his absence in Judah to organize their plan of
rebellion : Tiglath-Pileser marches fonvard to Samaria, gives
his support to Hoshea, and banishes to Assyria the nobles
who had favoured or defended Pekah. For the present Syria
escaped, but in the following year, 733, the Assyrian king laid
siege to Damascus, which, after a stubborn resistance, was
* "Gardens " were a common site for the practice of idolatrous rites (i, 29) ;
there may even, in the word rendered " pleasant," be a specific allusion t«
the worship of Adonis (comp. R.V, marg.)
■ Sir Edward Strachey, " Hebrew History and Politics," &c., p. 20^
40 IS^ lAH.
reduced in 732, just at the time anticipated by Isaiah (viii. 4).
Its inhabitants were punished wifh deportation, and hence-
forward we read no more of a Syrian kingdom of Damascus in
the Old Testament. No fresh peril, however, threatened Judah.
The Assyrian king was occupied with affairs at home ; he madfl
no attempt to invade Egypt, nor did his troops molest Judah.
For the present the danger which Isaiah had feared (vii. 17 ff. ;
viii. 8) passed by.
But who is the child Immanuel the subject of the famous
verse, vii. 14? Many readers, more familiar perhaps with the
quotation m St. Matthew's Gospel (i. 23) than with the place
which the prophecy holds in Isaiah, see in it merely z. prediction
of the birth of Christ of a Virgin. / This view of the meaning of
the prophecy is, however, insufficient ; it offers no explanation
of its historical setting. It is the prophet's plain intention to
intimate to the men of Judah that a temporal deliverance is immi-
nent ; and hi,s words would be singularly unreal had it been
mplied in them that many centuries must elapse before the limit
of time which he was fixing could arrive. To do better justice,
therefore, to the historical setting of the prophecy, different
suggestions have been made. It has been thought that the
allusion may be to'4 child shortly to be born to Ahaz himself,
and this either as exhausting the significance of the prophecy,
or as a first fulfilment, typical of a further fulfilment in the more
distant future ; or, again, it has been held thafa child about to
be born to the prophet is intended ; or, thirdly, the words have
been supposed, like the not dissimilar ones in viii, 3 f., to be
meant as% simple note of time, as though the prophet said,
" Before the time when a maiden, now of marriageable age, shall
have brought forth her firstborn (whom, in token of the coming
deliverance, she will name Immanuel)^ and before that child
shaU be old enough to distinguish good and evil, the power
whif.h you dread will be no more." None of these suggestions,
however, supplies a satisfactory solution of the difficulty. It is
decisive against the first that, whatever scheme of chronology
be adopted, Hezekiah was ahead)' born at the time of the inter-
view of Isaiah with Ahaz.' Against the second view it is to be
» Being 25 years old (2 Kings xviii. 2) at his accession, if this be' placed
in 715, his birth will have been in 740 ; if his accession be placed in 728,
and his age at that time have to be reduced for the reason stated (p. 14), it
would still be most arbitraiy to suppose him not yet bom in 735-4.
THE PROPHECY OF IMMANUEL. 41
observed that, though viii. 3 f. is referred to in support of it, the
parallel is a very imperfect one ; not only is Isaiah's wife there
called the " prophetess " ; but, while the language used with
reference to Maherrshalal-hash-baz does not imply that Isaiah
saw in him anything remarkable beyond the symbolism of his
name, the announcement of Immanuel's birth is made with
peculiar solemnity, and the mention of his name afterwards
(viii. 8) stirs the prophet's soul with profound emotion. The
same objection, viz,^ that it does not account for the hope and
wonder with which Isaiah evidently regards the child, holds
against the third suggestion that his words are intended solely to
mark pointedly a limit of time. And an objection which is of force
against each view equally is the fact that in viii. 8, Immanuel
is conceived as owner of the land: is it credible that Hezekiah
should be passed by, and a younger son of Ahaz be so desig-
nated? or that the prophet's own child, or even the child of no
one in particular, could be invested by him with such a dignity ?'
The manner in which Isaiah reverts to him in chaps, viii.-ix.
should also be noticed. Even after the interval of a year
(viii. 1-4) the child is still now visibly present before him ; he
is located by the prophet in a ^g^nodi yet future, when Zebulun
and Naphtali have been restored, the dwindled nation re-
plenished, and the glorified realm of David inaugurated (ix. 6f).
The language of Isaiah forces upon us the conviction that the
* The word rendered "virgin," Heb. *almah, cannot be urged against
the suggestions proposed. For it is not the term ordinarily employed in
Hebrew for virgin^ and cannot be shown to be exclusively applicable to
one who was unmarried. It occurs besides in Gen. xxiv. 43 ; Exod. ii. 8 ;
I Chron. xv. 20; Psa. xlvi. title; Ixviii. 25; Prov. xxx. 19; Cant i. 3;
vi, 8 : the corresponding masculine occurs 1 Sam. xvii. 56 ; xx. 23. From
th sense borne by the root in Arabic, it appears to denote properly one of
marriageable afe. The conesponding term in Aramaic (strictly a diminutive)
unquestionably does not connote virginity (see e.g, Deut. xxii. 28, 29 [for
damsel], Targ. and Pesh.). Probably the English -word damsel would be
the fairest rendering. From the prophecy as a whole, it may indeed b*
inferred that Isaiah saw something remarkable in the birth of the child
Immanuel ; and it may even be plausibly contended that his use of th«
term ' almah creates 2l presumption (though not a proof) that he conceived
of the mother as unmarried ; but more than this cannot be deduced from
philological considerations. It is for the purpose of doing justice to the
facts as here stated, that the margin " Or, maiden " (a less emphatic word
than "virgin ") has been added in the Revised Version,
42 ISAIAH
Aigure of Immanuel is an z'd^al one, projected by him upon the
shifting future — upon the nearer future in chap, vii., upon the
remoter future in chap, ix., but grasped by the prophet as a
living and real personality, the guardian of his country now, its
deliverer and governor hereafter. The circumstances under
which the announcement is made to Ahaz are such as appa-
rently exclude deliberation in the formation of the idea ; it is
the unpremeditated creation of his inspired imagination. This
view satisfies all the requirements of the narrative. The birth
of the child being conceived as immediate affords a substantial
ground for the assurance conveyed to Ahaz; and the royal attri-
butes with which the child speedily appears to be endued, and
which forbid his identification with any actual contemporary of
the prophet's, become at once intelligible. It is the Messianic
king, whose portrait is here for the first time in the Old
Testament sketched distinctly . Earlier prophets or psalmists
had told of the promises bestowed upon David, and had spoken
of the permanence thus assured to David's line,' but by Isaiah
these comparatively vague hopes are more closely defined, being
centred upon a concrete personality, to whose character we shall
find fresh traits added, more than thirty years afterwardsj in
chap, xi."
« See 2 Sara. vii. 12-16, xxiii. 5 ; Psa. xviil 43-5 ; i Kings xi. 34-6 ;
Hosea iii. 5. See further below, Chap. IX.
^ This view of the prophecy of Immanuel is supported by Micah v, 3,
written not many years later, and with apparent reference to Isa. vii. 14.
Judah, it is there said, will be given up " until the time when she that beareth
hath brought forth ; " and there similarly the advent of the deliverer is placed
within Assyrian times, though he is not, as in Isaiah (ix. 4), to break the
power of the Assyrians, but only to ensure his country's safety by repelling
their attacks (v. 6: "And he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when Mt
(ometh into our laTid, and when he treadeth within our border").
CHAPTER V.
THE REIGNS OF SHALMANESER IV. AND SARGON.
Influence of Egypt upon the politics of Palestine — End of the Northern
Kingdom (b.C, 722) — Sketch of the reign of Sargon (ac. 722-705)—
Ahaz succeeded by Hezekiah — Rise of a party in Judah whose watcb
word was alliance with Egypt— ^Prophecies of Isaiah belonging to this
period (chaps, xxviii., xx.).
TiGLATH-PiLESER died in 727, being succeeded by Shal-
maneser IV ., who reigned till 722, The period of Shalmaneser'sl
reign marks the first beginning of an altered attitude on the I
part of both Israel and Judah towards Assyria, due, at least inl
a measure, to the encouragement which it received from the I
valley of the Nile. The glorious period in the history of Egypt /
had indeed passed by — the period of the Thothmes and the
Ramses, when the Egyptian arms penetrated far and wide, and
when Egyptian monarchs could command terms, not only
with the powerful kingdom of the Hittites, on the Orontes, but
even with the empire of Assyria itself. Nevertheless, although
no longer the brilliant power which she had once been, Egypt
had suffered no direct humiliation ; she had tendered no sub-
mission to Assyria. The Assyrian kings, though they had
'"arried their arms into the country of the Philistines, had been
content, hitherto to rest there. Thus the reputation of Egypt
was unimpaired ; a new dynasty, the twenty-fifth, founded by
an enterprising Ethiopian prince, Sabako,' had just risen to
power (in 725), and the principalities of Syria and Palestine, in
■ So in Herodotus (ii. 137). In Egyptian Shehek; in Hebrew, S*
a )Kings xvii. 4), or otherwise vocalized Stvi ; in Assyrian, Shab'i,
44 ISAIAH.
their efforts to stem successfully the tide of Assyrian aggression,
would instinctively turn thither for support. The fact that the
Assyrian kings had not yet essayed the invasion of Egypt was
far from being a guarantee that they would not do so in the
future ; and Sabako would be aware that it was to his interest to
anticipate attack by uniting the elements of resistance exist-
Iing in Syria. Hoshea, weary after a while of paying tribute,
entered into negotiations with Sabako, and ultimately revolted
(2 Kings xvii. 4). No Assyrian annals of the short reign of
Shalmaneser have come down to us ; but we read in the Book of
Kings that he immediately took steps to reduce his rebellious
vassal to subjection : no effectual aid was rendered by the
Egyptians, and, after holding out for three years, Samaria fell
(b.c. 722). Shalmaneser himself, however, died before this
success was achieved : and it is assigned by the Assyrian annals
to the first year of Sargon. The terms in which Sargon speaks
of it is in complete agreement with what we read in the Book of
Kings : " The city of Samaria I besieged, I took ; 27,280 of its
inhabitants I carried into captivity ; fifty of their chariots I
seized ; the rest of their possessions I let (my dependents)
have ; my officers I appointed over them ; the tribute of the
former king I laid upon them." The Biblical statement that
people from Babylonia and other parts of the Assyrian Empire
were subsequently settled in ^he conquered country is confirmed
by a parallel Inscription, which contains the words, " In their
place I settled the men of countries conquered [by my hand]."'
Sargon's reign was of sixteen years* duration (722-705). The
principal events may be briefly told as follows, Ilubid (or
Jaubid), an aspirant to the throne of Hamath, induced some of
his neighbours to unite with him in rebellion against Assyria ;
but this was speedily suppressed in 720, and the land of Hamath
made *' a heap of ruins." Sargon now directed his arms towards
the south, where Hanno, king of Gaza, had contracted an
alliance with Sabako. The joint forces gave battle at Raphia,
a spot about half-way between Gaza and the " torrent of Egypt."
Sabako saved himself by an ignominious flight ; Hanno fell into
the hands of Sargon. At Raphia the old antagonism between the
rival powers was revived ; and the issue of the encounter was an
omen of the future. Sargon did not, however, pursue the ad-
vantage which he had gained ; he was satisfied with the impo-
» Schrader, p. 272, 274 ; " Rscords of the Past," vii. p. 28.
THE REIGN OF SARGON. • 45
sition of tribute ; and the actual invasion and conquest of Egypt
was reserved for Esarhaddon (681-668) and Asshurbanipal, many
years after. During the following years Sargon was principally
occupied with expeditions against Armenia, Media, and other
countries on the north of Mesopotamia. But the spirit of the
Philistines was not yet broken, and Egypt was soon ready again
with promises of support. This time Ashdod was the centre of
disaffection. Azuri, its king, refused his accustomed tribute,
and incited some of the neighbouring princes to join him in
open revolt. Sargon arrives upon the scene, deposes Azuri, and
places on the throne his brother Ahimit. But the anti-Assyrian
party in Ashdod were in the ascendant, and came to an under-
standing with some of their neighbours, who were nominally
Assyrian tributaries. " The people of Philistia, Judah, Edora,
and Moab, dwelling beside the sea, bringing tribute and presents
to Asshur my lord, were speaking treason. The people and
their evil chiefs, to fight against me, unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
a prince who could not save them, their presents carried, and
besought his alliance." ' Ahimit was deposed, and one Yaman
chosen in his place- The consequence was the siege of Ashdod
by the *' Tartan," or Assyrian general-in-chief, alluded to in
Isa. XX. The hopes of effectual assistance from Egypt resulted,
as the prophet foresaw, in disappointment, the Philistine city
''capitulated, and its inhabitants were carried into captivity.
This happened in 711. Meanwhile, an important movement
had been advancing in the .East. Babylon, mindful of her
ancient greatness, had for limg been a recalcitrant and un-
willing subject of Nineveh ; and now Merodach-Baladan, the
" Babylonian patriot," whose romantic career forms the subject
of one of M. Lenormant^s interesting studies,"* having "against the
will of the gods of Babylon, for twelve years sent ambassadors,"
presumably for the purpose of securing allies to support him in
his venturesome undertaking, openly threw off his allegiance.
Sargon collects his forces, compels Merodach-Baladan to
evacuate his capital, enters Babylon with triumph, and " estab-
lishes his power in the midst of Merodach-Baladan's palace." '
The following year, 709, was occupied by Sargon in com-
■ G. Smith, "Eponym Canon," p. 130; or "Assyrian Discoveries,"
p. 291.
» *' Les Premieres Civilisations," iL p. 203 ff.
3 " Records " vii. p, 41, 46!
ISAIAH.
pleting his successes, in capturing the city of Dur-Yakin (to
which Merodach-Baladan had retreated), in receiving formally
his submission, and in re-establishing the Assyrian dominion
to the shores of the Persian Gulf,*
Such, in outline, were the chief events of Sargon's reign. In
Judah, meanwhile, Ahaz had been succeeded by Hezekiah.
SL prince of very different character and temperament from
' his father. In his public life, Hezekiah may be said to have
[reverted to the ideas of his great-grandfather Uzziah. Thus
he improved the water supply of Jerusalem (2 Kings xx. 20 ;
2 Chron, xxxii. 30), thereby enabling the city more effectually to
withstand a siege ; and the Hebrew Inscription found in 1880
upon the wall of the Pool of Siloam, near the lower exit of a
tunnel pierced through the rock from the Gihon-spring above,
and describing how the excavators, starting from the two ends,
met in the middle, has been not unreasonably supposed to pre-
serve a record of his work." It appears further that Hezekiah
had a care for the military efficiency and financial resources
of the kingdom : at least, at the time of Merodach-Baladan's
embassy (probably about 712), his armouries and treasuries
were well Bled (2 Kings xx. 13 ; also 2 Chron. xxxii. 27). The
only warlike enterprise, however, related of him is the subjuga-
tion of the Philistines (2 Kings xviii. 8), who had harassed
Judah during the reign of Ahaz, but who were smitten by
Hezekiah as far as Gaza, in the extreme south-west limit of
their territory. Like Uzziah also, he encouraged the cultivation
of the soil, and made provision for the storage of its produce,
and for the protection of flocks (2 Chron. xxxii. 28-29). -A-t his
court, moreover, literature flourished : a poem attributed to him
is preserved in the Book of Isaiah (xxxviii. 9-20) ; and in Prov.
XXV. i. allusion is made to the patronage bestowed by him upon
literary undertakings. The " men of Hezekiah," who " copied
out " proverbs, were evidently employed in the collection and
preservation of the literary remains of former ages ; and we
would gladly know whether their activity extended to other
departments of literature besides " proverbs."
Lastly, Hezekiah was devoted to the worship of Jehovah ;
%nd in 2 Kings xviii. 4 (cf, 22 end), a religious reformation is
« " Records," vii. p. 47 f.
■ Others, however, hold that the tunnel is really of earlier date ; e.g;,
Stade. "Geschichte des Volkes Israel," i. p. S93 f*
THE REIGN OF SARGON. 47
ascribed to him, which, though not so efficacious as the subse-
quent one under King Josiah, was at least a n:iovement in the
same direction. The temple, which had been treated with
violence (2 Kings xvi. 17 f.) and neglect by his father, was
purified and restored, the occasion being celebrated with solemn
sacrifices (2 Chron. xxix.-xxxi.) ; and measures were taken for the
abolition of images and other idolatrous symbols. From the
allusions in Isa. xxx. 22, xxxi. 7 (belonging to 702 or 701 B.C.),
it would seem either that this reform was not carried out till
after the triumph over Assyria had secured Isaiah's position
and influence ; or, if it belongs really (2 Chron. xxix. 3 ; xxxi. i)
to the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, that it was limited to a
withdrawal of the State recognition hitherto accorded to idola-
trous practices, and did not penetrate the life of the people.
Hezekiah attempted, further, a centralization of the public
worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem, by a removal of the " high
places ** which lent themselves readily to abuse, and to con-
tamination by heathen cults. That these and similar efforts,
in spite of the support which they would receive from Isaiah
and the prophetical party, were only partially successful, and
that the unspiritual tendencies prevalent in the nation were far
from extirpated, appears from the prolonged and violent reaction
in favour of heathenism which.ensued shortly afterwards under
Manasseh. A more radical reform was indeed undertaken a
century after Hezekiah's time by Josiah ; but the tendencies
in question were not finally overcome until after the return from
the Babylonian captivity.
It remains to describe the change which gradually passed
over the political feeling of the nation during the period which
has been just surveyed. Ahaz, it will be recollected, renouncing
his independence, had owned the suzerainty of Assyria ; his
immediate aim had been secured ; and, for the time, the nation
was doubtless content. But after hi? death a reaction set in, the
beginnings of which may be traced in the prophecies of Isaiah
even before the fall of Samaria in 722. The Assyrian pro-
tectorate involved naturally an annual payment of tribute, the
vexatiousness and humiliation of which began gradually to be
keenly felt ; and thus a party arose in Judah which rested its
hopes elsewhere, and saw, in an alliance concluded upon equal
terms with Egvpt. a position at once more honourable and more
secure. The reputation which Egypt at this tim» enjoyed has
45 ISAIAH.
been already alluded to (p. 43). In the case of Judah, the
project of an alliance would be the more attractive, for Egypt
it was thought, would supply a want of which the Jews were
always consciouSj and which was a primary requisite in a
struggle with such antagonists as the Assyrians — a powerful
and active cavalry . The horse does not appear on the oldest
monuments of Egypt ; but it was introduced into the country
from Asia either by the Hyksos (xv.-xvii. dynasties), or by
the great conquerors of the xviii. dynasty ; and henceforth the
renown of the Egyptian cavalry was established/ Matters,
however, were not ripe for a rupture with Assyria at once.
What Hezekiah's personal views at this time may have been
we do not know ; but even if they verged in that direction,
prudential motives would for a while restrain him. Severe
losses must have been sustained by the country during the wars
under Ahaz, from which it could hardly have recovered at the
time of Hezekiah's accession, only six years after the evacuation
of Judah by the troops of Rezin and Pekah ; an empty treasury
(2 Kings xvi. 8), a ruined peasantry, an unprotected frontier, a
shattered army, must have warned him that he was not yet in
a position to risk the retribution which a refusal of tribute to
Assyria would inevitably involve. And Isaiah was opposed to
a rupture. He had, it is true, been averse to the original appli-
cation to Assyria ; but when the decisive step had been taken
by Ahaz, and a position of dependence accepted by the country,
his advice was, " Be content : above all things place no rehance
upon Egyptian promises : they will but deceive you." Isaiah,
in fact, saw that it was of primary importance to Judah to avoid
all political complications with the powers around her ; and
hence his opposition to the policy of Ahaz ; but when, in spite
of his remonstrances, the application to Assyria had been made
and responded to, he acquiesced, and sought to avert any step
which might lead to a rupture. Chap, xxviii., written before
the fall of Samaria in 722, shows that the friends of Egypt
possessed already influence in Jerusalem, though they were
HS yet in a minority. The reduction of the strong fortress of
Samaria, and deportation of its population to Assyria, must
have produced a profound impression in Judah : the fall oi
Hamath in 720, and the defeat of Egypt at Raphia in the same
' Compare Exod. xv. 4; Deut. xvii. 16; i Kings a, 26, 28 ; Cant. i. 9J
Ezet afvii. 15 ; also Homer, //. ix, 383 f.
THE REIGN OF SARGON. 49
year, must have satisfied a majority among Hezekiah's advisers
that the Assyrians were practically irresistible, and that no
scheme of revolt could for the present succeed. But in the
course of the six or seven following years, during which (as the
annals of Sargon show) the Assyrian forces did not show them-
selves in Western Asia, the dread which they once inspired
would be gradually forgotten, and the influence of the Egyptian
party would proportionately increase : the embassy of Merodach-
Baladan in 713-12 (which, though its ostensible object was a
congratulatory message to Hezekiah, was prompted, doubt-
less, by a political motive as well) probably encouraged the
Jewish king to hope that a successful diversion might be made
upon the empire of Assyria in the East ; and Judah was
certainly implicated (in conjunction with Edom and Moab) in
treasonable negotiations with Egypt shortly afterwards, in 711
\9 45)- ^o actual breach, however, appears to have taken
place at this time ; Sargon's troops, whilst engaged before Ashdod
(p. 45) may have intimidated Judah : the Assyrian king may
even have demanded fresh proof of Hezekiah's allegiance ; and
it is at least possible that something may have occurred (though
hardly, as has been thought, an invasion of Judah almost on
the scale of the subsequent one by Sennacherib) to justify
Sargon in styling himself, as he once does, " subjector of the
land of Judah." * The renewed appearance of an Assyrian army
m a country immediately contiguous to Judah would itself con
siderably strengthen Isaiah's hands against the advocates of an
Egyptian alliance. And thus, though the Egyptian party never
ceased to exert itself, and continued to number its representatives
among the politicians of Judah, it was not powerful enough to
carry the king with it, until after the death of Sargon in 705
(see Chap. VI.).
The prophecies, with a distinct bearing upon Judah, which
may be assigned with certainty to the two reigns of Shalmanesei
IV. and Sargon, are chap, xxviii. and chap. xx. Chap, xxviii.
is the first of a great group of representative discourses,
chap, xxviii.-xxxii., all treating with the relation of Judah to
Assyria, and all enforcing the same political principles ; but
only chap, xxviii. appears to belong to the present period,
chap, xxix.-xxxii. being assigned with greater probability to
the reign of Sennacherib. Chap, xxviii., from the internal
' ftchrader, p. x88.
5
so ISAIAH.
evidence of the first six verses, must have been written prior t«
the fall of Samaria in 723, and therefore during the reign of
Shalmaneser IV. The prophet begins with a glance at the
approaching ruin of the strong fortress of Samaria, proudly
seated though it was upon the eminence which the military
genius of Omri had chosen for his capital ; but he soon turns
aside (^. 7, " But these also," i.e.^ the people of Jerusalem) to
expose the faults, not less grave, of those nearer home. The
haughty spirit of the Ephraimites has been alluded to before
(p. Zl) ■ t^6 immoderate self-indulgence of the magnates of
Samaria is a feature in the picture drawn by Amos of society in
the northern capital (vi. 3-6 ; cf. iii. 12). But Isaiah's aim is
to produce an effect, not so much on Samaria as on Jerusalem.
There also, he exclaims, the same habits are only too con-
spicuous. Discreditable levity attends the discharge of the
most solemn offices, even those of priest and judge (7/. 7 end).
Impatient of censure, his hearers mock his words : " Whom
will he teach knowledge ? and whom will he make to under-
stand the message ? them that are weaned from the milk, and
drawn from the hearts ? " «>., Will he teach us^ who are no longer
infants, but adults, educated, and able to judge for ourselves ?
" For," they continue, " it is precept upon precept, precept upon
precept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, there a
little : " he is always at us : he treats us like children, interfering
perpetually with his petty recommendations and advice. But
Isaiah rises to the occasion; he retorts his opponents' sarcasm,
charged with a new and terrible significance, upon themselves :
"Nay, but with men of strange lipsj_ and. with another tongue, will
he speak to this people. . . , Therefore shall the word of Jehovah
be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept ; line
upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little ; that they
may go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and
taken." That is, " Nay, you are mistaken. This childish
monotone (for such, in the Hebrew, are the words in which they
censure the prophet) shall indeed sound in your ears : you shall
listen to the harsh and uncouth tones of a foreign invader. The
word which you liave rejected as a series of vexatious com-
mands shall become to you a series of vexatious demands,
culminating in a disaster for which your calculations have
omitted to allow." The prophet is conscious that, whether the
counsel which he offers be palatable or not, if it is not listened
THE KHGN OF SARGON. 5 1
to, i^triburton wfll follow, as certain as it will be severe. His
metttimg becomes plainer as he proceeds. He turns with pas-
sion to the "men of scorn, who rule this people that is in
Jerusalem,*' «.^., the politicians who rested all their hopes
upon the alliance with Egypt, and imagined that they had
found a sclicme which would enable Judah to challenge danger
with impunity {v. 15),* but who in reality, as Isaiah, saw, were
regardless ot all ulterior issues, and pursued merely what ap-
peared to offer an immediate advantage ; the storm, he declares,
will burst soon ; tne refuge in which the politicians trusted will
be instantly swept away : not once or twice only, but re-
peatedly, day after day^ will the "scourge," which they had
hoped to elude, pass over Ictoem ; life will be spent amid suspense
and anxiety unspeakable. *^Will you mock me?" he exclaims ;
"will you tell me I am the victim of an illusion? will you
persist in your scheme for the recovery of independence ? Then
you will but fix your bonds ; nay, you will do more than this,
you will invoke upon yourselves certain destruction" («'. 22),
The vehemence of Isaiah's tone makes it evident what a
power the politicians now guiding opinion in Jerusalem must
have been ; and his utmost efforts wtre needed in order to
counteract their influence. The charge which he brings against
them is that of having entirely miscalculated the relative
resources of Egypt and Assyria ; in the event of a revolt the
help of Egypt will fail them, and the result will be that, instead
of securing for Judah the coveted freedom, the bands of servi-
tude will simply be drawn more tightly about her {v, 22), As
regards the value of Egyptian aid Isaiah's judgment was bril-
liantly confirmed by the future : in 720, in 721, and (as we
shall see) in 701, her troops were powerless in presence of the
Assyrians, The picture drawn by him of the consequences of
revolt is meant obviously as a dissuasive — an occurrence which
as yet it was not given to him to foresee intervened to prevent
its being realized to the letter.
The positive side of Isaiah's teaching must not, however, pass
unnoticed. In contrast to the illusory hopes cherished by the
friends of Egypt, he points with confidence to the secure
foundation of Zion {v. 16), " Therefore thus saith the Lord
• " We have made a covenant with Death, and with the Grave are we at
agreement/* ^.e,^ we have concluded an arrangement by which we have no
longer any fear of death.
3S
52 ISAIAH.
\
Jehovahj Behold I found in Zion a stone, a tried stone, t
precious corner-stone of solid foundation • he that hath faith
shall not make haste.*' The prophet borrows his figure from the
huge and costly foundation stones upon which the Temple rested
(l Kings V. 17) ; and the thought which he desires to enforce is
that in Zion there is an element of permanency^ a constitutional
fabric capable of resisting all shocks ; and that whoso fixes his
faith upon this, need not hasten hither and thither in search c<
some better security, for his refuge is close at hand and certain.
The counsel of the prophet may be compared with that
offered by him on a previous occasion (viii. 13) : Do not, for the
sake of some apparent but unreal advantage, abandon the
fundamental principle of your constitution. The element of
permanency to which Isaiah here looks is, of course, the theo-
cracy centred at Zion, and represented by the Davidic dynasty,
the continuance of which had been promised long since by
Kathan to David (2 Sam. vii. 13 ; cf xxiii. 5 ; i Kings xi. 36).
As the people of Israel, in Isaiah's view (p. 18), is indestructible,
so is the dynasty, which, since it was estabhshed, became the
centre and pivot of the national life. The prophecy is not in
its primary import a Messianic one ; for the element of security
to which the prophet appeals is opposed to the plan of an
Egyptian alliance, and hence must be something not pointing
entirely to a distant future, but having some reference to present
needs. But it is true that a Messianic reference is included in
the terms of the prophecy, as it was included similarly in the
promise of permanency to David's dynas'-y. The mistake to
be guarded against is that of so limiting the prophet's words as
to unfit them for their obvious and primary application,*
The discourse closes in a different strain (2/. 23-39) with a
parable of comfort, addressed by the prophet to his own circle
of friends and adherents. The parable is drawn from the opera-
» The refuge of the politicians (7/. 15) is swept away (w. 17) : the stone
laid in Zion is secure (z/. 16). In order for the " ston"^ " to form an effectual
substitute for the unreal refuge to which it is opposed, it must represent
some existent reality ; that is, it must symbolize something which, however
far it may reach into the future, must have its bash in the prophet's own
present. Undoubtedly the permanency which the figure expresses resolved
itself ultimately into the kingdom of the Messiah ; but to the prophet's
contemporaries this lay still in the future ; and to them his words could
only, in the first instance, have been significant as the assertion of a pre'
amU element of security, upon which he would lead them to rest their f^ith.
THE REIGN OF SARGON. 53
lions of agriculture. The sole aim of the husbandman's labours
is to mature his crops and to produce food. For this end, variety
of treatment (v, 24, 25) and sometimes rough and violent
measures (v, 27, 28) are needful : nevertheless, arbitrary as
some of these operations may appear to be to a superficial
observer, all are directed to a single object, and each is accom-
modated to the particular nature of the seed subjected to it.
The wisdom guiding the husbandman in these operations pro-
ceeds from God, and is a reflection of His wisdom {v. 26, 29).
The lesson, for those who will learn it, is : Has not God similarly
an object in the varied and severe discipline to which he may
subject His people? Is it not His purpose that out of it Israel
may issue forth, a fruit perfected and matured, cleansed from
every admixture of husk or chaff?
Thejeoond^praph^eX^^*^^^ may be assigned with certainty
to the same period is the short one embodied in chap, xx. The
title of this chapter, with which the internal evidence entirely
agrees, fixes its date to the siege of Ashdod, which ended in 711.
The forces of Sargon were in the immediate neighbourhood oi
Judah ; but yet so strong was the Egyptian party in Jerusalem that
extraordinary means were adopted by Isaiah for the purpose of
impressing visibly upon the people of the capital the folly oi
reliance upon Egypt. The prophets frequently accompanied
their words by symbolical acts, such as would set vividly before
an Eastern audience the truths which they desired to bring
home to them. Such acts, for instance, are recorded of Samuel
(i Sam. xvi. 37) and Ahijah (i Kings xi. 30), and two yet more
closely parallel to that of Isaiah are related in Jer. xxvii. 2 f,
and Ezek. xii , 1-7. On the present occasion Isaiah for three
years— perhaps ' until the final defeat of Merodach-Baladan by
Sargon in 709, had, for the time, convinced the people of Judah
that all hopes of independence were vain — walked the streets of
Jerusalem in a captive's garb ' to symbolize the shameful fate
that would befall Egypt at the hands of the victorious Assyrians.
The application follows (v, 5, 6), When Egypt is thus openly
» W. R. Smith, "The.Prophetsof Israel," p. 281 1
■ Vet. 3, "naked," i.e., discarding the outer garment (here the sackcloth
worn by the prophets, of. a Kings i, 8), and retaining only the long linen
tunic, which was worn next the skin. So i Sam. xix. 24 ; Mic L 8 (wailing
" stripped and naked ").
54 ISAIAB.
humiliated and disgraced, what will be the feelings of those who
had bestowed upon her their unsuspecting confidence ? Will
not "the inhabitants of this coast-land,*' ue., the dwellers on
the sea-coast belonging to Judah and Philistia, who, as Isaiah
spoke, were intent upon forming a league with Egypt — will they
not then, when it is too late, begin to tremble anxiouslyfor their
own safety ? " Behold, such is our expectation, whither we
fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria : and we,
how shall we escape ? "
It is not improbable that others of the foreign, or occasional,
prophecies of Isaiah (chaps, xiii.-xxiii.) belong also to the reign
of Sargon. As, however, these rarely illustrate the state of feeling
in Judah, or add substantially to the picture which we have
already formed of the position taken during this period by Isaiah,
it will be preferable to reserve them for separate considerftttcM
(see Chao VJIL).
CHAPTER VI.
THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB,
Sargon auccceeded by Sennacherib {705-681)— Preparations for rebel-
lion in Palestine — Negotiations with Egypt— Line taken by Isaiah ia
702 (chaps. xxix.-xxxii.).
After a reign of seventeen years Sargon died — in point of fact,
as it appears, was assassinated * — in 705, and was immediately
succeeded by his son, Sennacherib. Upon news of the decease
of Sargon Babylon again declared its independence, and
Merodach-Baladan reappeared from the retreat to which he had
withdrawn since his submission five years previously (p. 45).
The first task imposed upon the new king was thus the restora-
tion of his authority in Babylonia. This he achieved in 703, in
which year (to cite his own words ==) ** Merodach-Baladan, King of
Kardunias, together with the troops of Elam, in front of the city
of Kishj I defeated. In the midst of the battle he abandoned
his baggage ; he fled alone ; into the land of Guzumman he
escaped ; he entered in among the marshes and reeds ; his life
he saved. The chariots, , . . horses, mules, asses, camels,
and dromedaries, which he left on the field of battle, my hands
captured. His palace in Babylon I entered with rejoicing ; I
opened his treasuries ; gold and silver, vessels of gold and
silver, precious stones of every kind, his goods and possessions,
abundant treasure, his wife, the women of his palace, his nobles,
his ... ? all the officers of his palace, I brought forth, I
counted them as spoil, I took possession of them. My soldiers
I despatched after him, into the land of Guzumman, into the
« Schrader, p. 407, 489.
■BellinoCylinder, " Records," i. p. 25 f. ; Schr,, p. 346'f.
$6 ISATAH.
midst of the marshes and reeds. Five days passed ; but not a
trace of him was seen. In the might of Asshur,* my lord, 8g
strong cities and fortresses of Chaldsea, as well as 820 smaller
towns round about them, I besieged, I took, I carried away their
spoil. The Arabians, Aramaeans, and Chaldasans who were in
Erech, Nipur, Kish, Charsakkalama, Kutha, with the inhabitants
of the rebellious city, I brought forth, I counted them as spoil."
Upon his return from this campaign Sennacherib receives the
submission of numerous neighbouring tribes, and returns to
Assyria with a fabulous quantity of booty. The rest of 703 and
702 were occupied in other undertakings in the East, amongst
other things with improvements in the city of Nineveh Itself.
Meanwhile, as on previous similar occasions (pp. 44, 45), the
cities of Phoenicia and Palestine showed no disposition to
neglect an opportune moment for reasserting their freedom.
After nearly ten years' intermission, it seemed as if the tide of
Assyrian aggression had permanently receded from Western
Asia. In the north the centre of revolt was Sidon ; in the south,
the Philistine cities of Ashkelon and Ekron. Egypt, of course,
was intriguing in the background, and encouraging the move-
ment with liberal promises of aid. And now at length the
Egyptian party in Judah overcame the remonstrances of Isaiah,
and succeeded in carrying the king with them. An under-
standing had probably been already arrived at with Sidon and
the Philistine cities ; implicit reliance was naturally placed in
the Egyptian promises ; Sennacherib was engrossed with im-
perial interests in the far East ; the people of Jerusalem, per-
suaded by their favourite leaders, deemed themselves in a position
to take the critical step with impunity. Chapters xxix.-xxxii.
of Isaiah's book remain as monuments of the action which
the prophet took at this juncture, while (as it would seem) the
plan of revolt was being concerted, but before the decisive step
had been actually taken. If the expressions in xxix. i are in-
terpreted correctly,^ the date of the discourse will be fixed to
702 B.C. Within a year, Ariel 3 — such is the mystic name by
» The tutelary deity of Assyria, to whom the Assyrian kings, in their
Inscriptions, regularly ascribe their successes.
» " Add ye a year to (the current) year ; let the feasts run their round,"
i.e., in a year's time.
3 /.tf., either '* God's lion" or " God's hearth '* — in either case, applied
ia z^. 3 as a symbol of hope ; *' but she shall be unto me as an Ariel,'* i.e„
Vi the extremity of her need I will enable her to verify her name (Cheyne).
EARLY YEARS OF SENNACHERIB. I')
which the prophet designates Jerusalem — will be reduced to
extremities ; Zion, figured as a woman, will then be seen sitting
on the ground in dejection and despair, scarcely able to make
her voice heard ; but suddenly the hostile throng pressing
around her will be scattered, and vanish away like an unsub-
stantial dream {v, 1-8). But the residents of the capital viewed
the situation very differently ; these evil forebodings had no
meaning for them. It is not surprising, therefore, that when
the prophet pauses, endeavouring to read the effect of his
parable upon the countenances of his hearers, he sees them
unmoved ; they gaze at him in blank astonishment ; the
prophecy seems to them to be out of all relation to the facts.'
Isaiah proceeds to indicate the cause of this want of discern
ment. A spirit of infatuation has seized upon the nation, and
has blinded in particular its leading representatives ; thus to the
educated and intelligent classes, who might read the vision if
they would, it is a sealed book ; the less intelligent classes, on
the other hand, are debarred from reading it by defects of edu-
cation or training ; the one will not, the others cannot, discern
the application of the parable {v, 11-12). By the strict ob-
servance of external ceremonial the nation imagined that they
had secured Jehovah'sfavour, and could count upon His approval,
whatever the project upon which they might embark. -The
prophet retorts that this is not so ; the very fact that they have
sought to conceal their purpose now from Isaiah* is evidence
that they secretly think otherwise : the wisdom of their self-
confident but short-sighted counsellors will stand abashed when
the issue of their policy declares itself, and the army of the
Assyrians claims vengeance at their gates I Then it will
seem as if Jehovah had dealt ** wonderfully" with His people,
abandoning them to the natural consequences of their self-
delusion, and treating them as if they had renounced all claim
upon His protection (v, 14, cf. xxviii. 21).
* The exact sense of v. g is uncertain. If the rendering of the R.V.
be correct, the meaning will be — "Hesitate and wonder at my words,
if you will ; take your pleasure whilst you can, and be blind : your
amazement and blindness with regard to the prospect which I lay before
you is no evidence against its truth.''
' This is the meaning of v. 15. The verse shows incidentally how
influential politically the great prophets of the capital were ; a project has
to be concealed fiom Isaiah, lest his opposition should defeat it.
S8 ISAIAH.
But the prophet does not close here. The vision of a brightel
future dawns before him. Ere long, He whom they thus ignore
will assert His presence : " Is it not yet a very little while, and
Lebanon shall be turned into a garden-land, and the garden-
land shall be accounted a forest ? " The aspect of nature will
be changed. The mountain region, now unvisited in its native
wildness, will become a cultivated tract of orchards and vine-
yards : so complete will be the transformation that what is now
reckoned a garden-land will then be esteemed no better than
a forest. But this is but an external transformation : it is
significant only as the accompaniment — or perhaps as the
symbol^of a more radical and vital change effected in the
nation itself. The people now deaf and blind, will then have
their ears and eyes unstopped, ready to receive the word which
at present they refuse j and the first to profit by the change will
be the poor and humble servants of Jehovah, who, free at last
from oppression and contempt, will be able to rejoice thankfully
in their God. For the foe without, the scorner within, those
who are vigilant {v. 20), not for justice, but for injustice, will
have disappeared : the purged and regenerated nation will
no more have to endure humiliation or shame ; for the mis-
applied shrewdness, which once beguiled its rulers {v. 14),
will then have given place to true wisdom, and those who
murmured discontentedly at the prophet's warnings will be
ready to accept instruction. It is another vision of the ideal
future of his nation, which in spite of present appearances will,
he is sure, be realized, and to which, in the dark hour which
seems to be drawing ever nearer, he turns as to a source of
consolation and strength.
In chap. XXX. the negotiations with Egypt are represented as
having reached a further stage : an embassy, despatched for the
purpose of concluding a treaty, is already on its way to the court
of the Pharaohs. Isaiah takes the opportunity of re-iterating his
sense of the fruitlessness of the mission, and derides the folly of
those who expect from it any substantial result. The plan, he
complains, has never received Jehovah's sanction ; those who
take part initare as "rebeUious "or "unruly sons," acting in direct
opposition to their father's wishes : the prophet, who had a
claim to be consulted on such an mportant occasion (cf. xxix.
1 5), has been deliberately ignored. An undertaking commenced
under such auspices is doomed to failure : " Therefore shall tha
EARLY YEARS OF SENNACHERIB. 59
Strength oF Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow
of Egypt your confusion." The prophet sees in imagination the
ambassadors arrived in Egypt, and watches them as they meet
there with a disgraceful disappointment {v. 4 f.). Then his
thoughts revert to the period, of the journey : he expatiates on
the foolhardiness which they show in undertaking it: they
venture to traverse a perilous region haunted by wild animals,
with costly presents for the acceptance of a people, who, after
all, will render them no aid 1 And to crown this exposure of folly,
he sums up, in a brief and pithy sentence, the character of
Egyptian promises and Egyptian aid : —
•* Egypt helpeth in vain and to no purpose j
Therefore have I called her Rahab, that sitteth still l^
The terseness and force of the original phrase cannot be re-
produced in our language^; but its meaning is evident : Isaiah
describes Egypt as a worthless, procrastinating power, loud
enough with the offer of promises, but sitting inactive when
promptitude is demanded in the performance of them. The
short and pointed form in which the thought is expressed would
adapt it for retention in the memory of his hearers ; it was
further, like "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" on a previous occasion
(viii. i), to be inscribed in some prominent public spot, as a
permanent record of the prophet's conviction (7/. 8).
The people of Judah, he continues, are so blinded that they
will not submit to hear the straightforward truth : they will
only listen to the prophets on condition that they promise what
is agreeable to their wishes ; nay, such is their impiety that they
will have no more of the " Holy One of Israel," they are weary
of the monotony with which a prophet like Isaiah appeals
constantly to the Divine right by which he speaks, and which
he urges against his opponents. By an effective comparison
(7/. 13 f.) he shows that the results of this political shortsighted-
ness, though unsuspected at the time, will manifest themselves
only too terribly in the end. ** Your rejection of the Divine
message, your devotion to this Egyptian alliance, is like a
hidden flaw gradually and insidiously spreading : the end
of it will be that your whole national existence will be im-
perilkd," A dignified neutrality is what your statesmen should
* " Rahab, they are utter indolence " (Cheyne). Rahab is a poetical titla
for Egypt (li. 9 ; Ps. Ixxxix. lo). expressing the idea of inflation and pridoi
6o ISAIAH.
have striven to maintain ; a restless, dissatisfied search for
external alliances will result only in disappointment. The
cavalry of Egypt will ignominiously fe.il you : on the day of
battle, your few survivors will be found deserted and defenceless.
But again, as in chap, xxix., the strain abruptly changes ; and
in v. i8 a gleam of light appears amid the clouds, which expands
before long into a brilliant day. Because the prospect is thus
dark, because the battle would be thus disastrous, therefore
Jehovah, in His longsuffering, will intervene before the crisis
has arrived ; He will wait expectantly in order to give you time
to repent, He will even lift Himself up — be in readiness — to
show mercy upon you, if you will but respond ! The respite is
accepted ; the nation's cry of penitence has been heard («/. 19);
the siege is over; the moral perceptions of the people are
restored ; prophets arc as honoured and welcome amongst
them as they are at present the reverse. It is the first stroke
in a fine description of the ideal future which now follows. The
people's altered mind will recognize the uselessness of idols';
even the costliest will be flung contemptuously aside. The
external aspect of the country will be correspondingly trans-
formed ; in contrast with the scarcity and distress which the
prophet (7/. 20) saw imminent in the nearer future, means of
livelihood will be abundant, there will be rich and ample
pastures — even cattle employed upon farms (z/. 24) will not
lack their artificially flavoured provender ; the land itself will
be copiously irrigated. The light, which at present suffices for
an entire week, will then be concentrated in a single day ; night
and day alike will be preternaturally bright (cf, iv, 2, 5, 6).
Isaiah, as iv. 2, 5, 6, imagines a transformation and glorification
of external nature as accompanying the advent of the ideal
future, when the Assyrian will have been discomfited, and the
mistakes of the present will all be at an end.
But the scene of judgment which must precede this happier
future has yet to be described (7/. 27-33) ; and Isaiah employs
some of his grandest imagery for the purpose. Firstly, the
approach of Jehovah is described ; the effect of His advent is
to " sift the nations in the sieve of vanity (or, destruction); and
a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples,"
z>., they will be scattered and disappear, the path along which
they move only leading them to their ruin. But in the midst
of the confusion in which the " nations " are thus involved, the
EARLY YEARS OF SENNACHERIB. 6l
Jews are pictured as exulting at the discomfiture of their foes ;
they rejoice as in the night when a feast (most probably the
Passover) is celebrated, or as those who journey up to Jerusalem
at one of the annual pilgrimages, and whose way was brightened
by music an^l song : "Ye shall have a song, as in the night when
a feast is hallowed, and gladness of heart, as when one goeth
with a pipe to come into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock
of Israel." The judgment itself is next figured under the form
of a theophany : "And Jehovah shall cause the peal of His
voice to be heard, and the lighting down of His arm to be
seen, in fury of anger, and the flame of devouring fire, the bursting
of clouds, and a storm of rain and hail-stones. For at the voice
of Jehovah shall Asshur be panic-stricken, when He shall strike
with the rod." And as blow after blow falls upon their proud
foe a fresh shout of triumph rises from the Jews, who watch the
scene as spectators : " And every stroke of the appointed (or,
destined) staflf which Jehovah shall lay upon him shall be with
timbrels and with lutes, and with battles of swinging will He fight
against them." The close of the drama follows. Already the
funeral pile stands prepared, it is waiting only to be kindled ; it
has been made deep and wide that it may be able to receive the
corpses of many dead, for king and army alike are destined
for it ; and even as the prophet speaks, he sees in imagination
a stream of burning sulphur pouring down upon it and setting
it ablaze {v, 33.) The description is of course figurative : and
the details, as is often the case in prophecy, are not to be under-
stood literally ; they merely constitute the drapery in which the
prophet clothes his idea. No such scene as is here described
was ever actually enacted ; Sennacherib, in point of fact,
perished twenty years after his invasion of Judah in his own
land, being assassinated by his own sons (chap, xxxvii. 38).
A third discourse, chap, xxxi.-xxxii., belonging to the same
period (see xxxi. i), reiterates under fresh imagery substantially
the same thoughts. Again Isaiah raises his warning voice
against reliance upon the help of Egypt, and again there follows
a representation of the ideal future. In v, 2 he dwells particu-
larly on the failure and mortification of the politicians who were
responsible for urging on the Egyptian alliance. "Jehovah,
he sarcastically reminds his hearers, is " wise " as well as the
politicia.is of Judah (xxix, 14), and when they congratulate them-
selves that they have taken an effective step "bringeth mis
62 ISAIAEL
chief," «>., defeats it, and " doth not call back his words '' (such
as those in xxix. 14, xxx. 12-17, condemning the alliance) ; but
"will arise against the house of evildoers and against the
helpers of those that work iniquity" — in other words, will ruin
alike the politrcians (whose motives Isaiah discredits) and
the Egyptians .whose assistance they invoke ; both {v. 3) will
fall together. For Jerusalem is Jehovah's possession, which
Jews and Egyptians combined will be powerless to rob Him of;
like a lion descending from the mountains (Ps. Ixxvi. 4) to
seize its prey, whom the shepherds are impotent to dismay, so
Jehovah, at the head of the Assyrian battalions, will advance
against Jerusalem; the city is already within His grasp — when
suddenly the image changes, and the impetu/jus lion is trans-
formed into a bird protecting and shielding its threatened nest,
Jerusalem will escape indeed, but in spite of the Egyptian
alhance, rather than because of it, and only after a moment
of extreme peril, "And the Assyrian shall fall with the sword,
not of man ; and the sword, not of men, shall devour him; and
he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become
tributary."
Such will be the ignominious end of the proud battalions of
Assyria. For Judah a happier future immediately begins.
There should be no break between the two chapters. The
representation which follows (xxxii. 1-9) is the positive comple-
ment to xxxi. 6 f., and is parallel to xxx. 23-26, completing
under its ethical and spiritual aspects the picture of which the
external material features were there delineated. Society, when
the crisis is past, will be regenerated. King and nobles will be
the devoted guardians of justice, and great men will be what
their position demands that they should be— the willing and
powerful protectors of the poor.* All classes, in other words,
will be pervaded by an increased sense of public duty. The
spiritual and intellectual blindness (xxix. loj will have passed
away (v. 3) ; superficial and precipitate, judgments will be re-
placed by discrimination (v. 4a) ; hesitancy and vacillation will
give way before the prompt and clear assertion of principle
(v. 4*5). The present confusion of moral distinctions will cease ;
men and actions will be called by their right names. The
* *' A man," v. 2, »'.«., any pjarticular citizen, but the term, as here used,
denotes one individually conspicuous, rather than one taken at random oul
of the masses. The passage does not allude to the Messiah.
EARLY YEARS OF SENNACHERIB. 63
characters of the "fool" and the knave are manifest in their
acts ; ' and these, it is implied (though at present they are
viewed with indifference), will then be recognized at their true
worth. It is not improbable that Isaiah here alludes to types
of character which were in some way conspicuous among his
contempcraries.
But he turns aside abruptly from his main theme. His eye,
we may suppose, was arrested by the spectacle of some women,
sitting down perhaps at a little distance from where he stood,
and testifying their indifference to his words. In chap. iii.
(p. 25), it was their vanity and love of display which called forth
the prophet's censure ; here it is their complacency and uncon-
cern. They have never known want ; they have lived always
in luxury and ease ; they are light-hearted, and feel per-
fectly secure. They will soon, he tells them, be disillusioned ;
their comfort and security will be at an end. Next yearns
harvest will never come. He has not before spoken so unam-
biguously : it is the first distinct intimation of the coming in-
vasion ; and not only does he already see, as it were («/, 12),
the people mourning ' over their ravaged fields and crops, but
so far has the calamity advanced that the capital itself is desolate,
"the hum of the city is deserted," even the strong hill,3
crowned at its summit by the Temple and royal palace, is be-
come the haunt of wild asses * and a pasture for flocks. It is
the prophet's darkest utterance ; the desolation anticipated in his
inaugural vision (vi. 11 f.) does not (apparently) touch the
capital ; in his more recent prophecies (xxix. 5 ; xxx. 20) the
picture is one of distress, but not of ruin ; the nearest approach
to it is the scene of disaster and bereavement pourtrayed in iii.
25 f., likewise (as commentators have observed) elicited by the
* Ver, 6 unfolds in his acts the character of the *' fool," ue.^ the illiberal,
obstinate churl, who has no regard for God or man [Heb. nahal ; see Ps,
xiv. 1 ; I Sam. xxv. 10, 11, 14^, 17*, 25], as v, 7-8 unfold the characters
of the knave (R.V. marg, "crafty") and the liberal man respectively.
Will in V. 6 means is disposed to^ is in the habit oft as Prov. xix, 6, 24 \
XX. 6, &c.
■ In V. 12 the scene is represented vividly by the participle j lit. men are
smiting. In v. 14 the tenses in the original are ^past ; the scene appears
to the prophet as though already completed.
3 " Ophel " — the steep, southern side of the Temple hill, which had been
fitrengtheued recently by Jotham (2 Chron, xxvii. 3),
4 Implying that it Is actually desert; see Job xxxix. 5-8.
64 ISAIAH.
spectacle of the women. And the state of ruin is to continue
for an indefinite time, until a vivifying spirit be poured upon it
from on high, wfiich will transform external nature and re-
generate the inhabitants. Then human justice, now so rare,
will dwell throughout the land (cf. i. 26), and its fruits will be
palpable — tranquillity, peace, confidence, a true security in
place of the false security on which at present {v. 9) the women ,
feed their hopes. Yet the prophet reverts for a moment, before
concluding, to the crisis which must be passed through before
this more blissful future can arrive. " It shall hail in the downfall
of the forest ; and the city shall be utterly laid low." There is
the storm in which Assyria (typified by the " forest," as x. 34)
will be brought down ; and there is the humiliation through
which Jerusalem itself must simultaneously pass. This double
aspect of the crisis is expressed more distinctly, as we shall
shortly see, in the great prophecy, x. 5-xii. 6. For the present,
the aspect which is chiefly prominent is the thought that Zion
will indeed escape, but not without suffering, and not entirely
unscathed. The same thought has met us before in xxix. 2-4 ;
XXX. 17, 20 ; xxxi. 4 ; and it is evidently one which, at the period
when these discourses were delivered, was dominant in Isaiah's
mind. How well justified it was will before long appear. The
prophet closes, however, with a glance at the brighter, if remoter,
future. The land which {v. 13 f) is so shortly to be desolated
will eventually be restored to its possessors. Happy they who
survive the catastroplie, and can then avail themselves freely
of its ample pastures and well-watered plains (xxx. 23) I
The three discourses of Isaiah (xxix., xxx., xxxi.-ii.) which have
now been reviewed, are amongst his most characteristic which
we possess. The line pursued in each is similar, though the
imagery and other details naturally differ ; hence they mutually
illustrate one another, and place us in a position to grasp more
completely the prophet's mind. All show how deeply he felt upon
the great pohtical question of the day— the alliance with Egypt,
and its necessary correlative, the rupture with Assyria. He sees
what the issue of the alliance will be. Egypt will disappomt
the hopes that are placed in her ; the vengeance of Assyria will
be certain and complete. The outlook for Judah is as dark as
can well be imagined ; if salvation is to accrue for her, it will
arise from a wholly unexpected quarter ; it will not accrue
through the exertions of her own political leaders, whose fall,
EARLY YEARS OF SENNACHERIB. 65
when the disastrous issue of their projects has become apparent,
will as a natural consequence follow irretrievably. The nation
must pass through a crisis ; the privation and distress will be
extreme ; but Isaiah has faith in the future ; he looks beyond
the immediate trial, and sees the survivors emerge from it puri-
fied and regenerate, prepared to take their place as members
of a new social state, free from the wrongs and imperfections
visible in society abcut him.
CHAPTER VII.
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE.
Seimacherib's campaign of 701 — Its four stages : (i) against the cities ol
Phoenicia ; (2 and 3) against the Philistine cities of Ashkelon and
Ekron ; {4) against Judah — Isaiah's position at the crisis — The great
deliverance {chaps, x. s-xii. 6 ; xiv. 24-7 ; xvii. 12-14 I chap, xviii. ;
chap, xxxiii. ; 2 Kings xviii. 13^-16 ; xviii. 17-xix. 36 [ =* Isa. xxxvi.
i^xxxvii. 37]).
We reach the critical year of Isaiah's life, the year 701 B.C. The
forebodings which had found expression in the prophecies of the
past year were only too surely to be verified ; and in the spring
or early summer of 701 Sennacherib marches his forces west-
wards for the purpose of reducing his rebellious vassals to sub-
mission. We possess in duplicate/ on the Taylor Cylinder, found
at Nineveh in 1830, and now in the British Museum, and on the
Bull-inscription of Kouyunjik, Sennacherib's own account of the
stages of his campaign. Sidon and the cities of Phoenicia were
the first to be attacked ; and, after reducing these, and receiving
homage from several of the kings of the countries bordering on
Palestine,^ who apparently were not this time implicated in the
■ Schrader, pp. 288, 301 ; " Records," i. p. $5, vii. p. 59.
» '* In my third campaign [701 B.C.] to the land of the Hittites I went.
Lulii [Elulaeus], king of Sidon, the terror of the splendour of my sovereignty
overwhelmed him ; and to a far-ofFspot [in ike parallel text : from the midst
of the West country, to the land of Cyprus] in the midst of the sea he fled ;
his land I brought into subjection. Great Sidon [Josh. xix. 28], Little
Sidon, Beth-Zitti, Zarephath [i Kings xvii. 9], Machallib, Ushu, Achzib
[Judges i. 31], Akko \ib.\ his strong cities, the fortresses, the open and
unoccupied (?) places (?), his garrisons (for the majesty of the weapons ol
Asshur, my lord, overwhelmed them) submitted tbemse'^ves to me. Tubalu
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. ^1
plan of revolt, Sennacherib started southwards, aiming to recover
similarly Ashkelon, Ekron, and Jerusalem. In Ashkelon
he deprived Zedek of his crown, which he bestowed upon
Sarludlri, the son of a former king, doubtless on the ground
that he was friendly to Assyrian interests : \ at the same time
four subject-cities belonging to Zedek, Beth-dagon, Joppa, Bene-
Barak, and Azuru were captured and plundered." Sennacherib
next proceeds to deal with Ekron. The people of Ekron, in
order to carry through their plan for the recovery of indepen-
dence without hindrance, had deposed their king Padi, who
remained loyal to Assyria, and sent him bound in chains to
Hezekiah. Upon news of the approach of the Assyrians, they
had summoned the Egyptians to their aid; they arrive now
" with forces innumerable ; " the encounter takes place at Altakil
(probably not far from Ekron) ; victory declares for the Assyrian,^
[Ithobaal ; cf. i Kings xvi. 31] I seated upon the royal throne over them ;
and the payment of the tribute of my sovereignty every year, without fail,
I laid upon him. Menahera of Samsimuruna, Tubalu of Sidon, Abdiliti of
Arvad [Ezek. xxvii. 8], Urumilki of Gebal \ib. v. 9], Mitinti of Ashdod,
Puduil of Ammon, Chemoshnadab of Moab, Malikram of Edom, all the
kings of the West country, all the coast-lands together brought to me their
rich presents and utensils, and kissed my feet " {Taylor Cylinder, coL ii.
lines 34-57). In 711 Edom and Moab are described by Sargon (above, p. 45)
as *• speaking treason" in concert with Judah ; and Ashdod was at that
time the head-quarters of revolt : now, their rulers come forward to court
the favour of his successor.
■ Compare the case of Azuri in Ashdod, p. 45.
• *' But Zedek, king of Ashkelon, who had not submitted to my yoke, the
gods of his father's house, himself, his wife, his sons, his daughters, his
brothers, the seed of his father's house, I carried away, and brought them
to the land of Assyria. Sarludari, son of their former king Rukibti, I
placed over the men of Ashkelon ; and the payment of the tribute of sub-
jection to my sovereignty I imposed upon hlmj and he rendered obedience.
In the course of my campaign the cities of Beth-dagon [Josh. xv. 41],
Joppa, Bene-Barak \Jh. xix. 45], Azuru, the cities of Zedek, which had not
in due time submitted themselves to my yoke, I besieged, I took, I carried
off their spoil " (/(J. lines 58-68). Beth-dagon and Bene-Barak are both
near to Joppa ; Azuru may be the modern Yizdlr, in the same vicinity
(Schrader, p. 168).
3 " The commanders, nobles, and people of Ekron, who had thrown Padi
their king, owning allegiance and loyalty to Assyria, into fetters of iron, and
had delivered him as a foe to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who imprisoned him
in darkness, — their heart trembled. The kings of Egypt, the archers, the
68 ISAIAH.
and the Egyptians retire without effecting the desired relief.
After this Sennacherib soon reduces Ekron ; he obtains,
moreover, the surrender of Padi from Jerusalem, and restores
him to his throne/ Now follows the account of the aggressive
measures adopted by him against Judah and Jerusalem. "And
Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke, forty-six
of his strong cities, fortresses and smaller towns round about
their border without number, with laying low of the walls, and
with open (?) attack, with battle .... of feet, hewing
about and trampling down (?), I besieged, I took. 200,150
people, small and great, male and female, horses, mules, asses,
camels, oxen, and sheep without number, from the midst of them
I brought out, and I counted them as spoil. Himself, as a bird
in a cage, in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut up.
Siege-works against him I erected, and the exit of the great gate
of his city'- 1 blocked up. His cities which I had plundered, from
his domain I cut off; and to Mitinti, king of Aslidod, to Padi,
king of Ekron, and to Zilbel, king of Gaza, I gave them ; 1
diminished his territory. To the former payment of their yearly
tribute, the tribute of subjection to my sovereignty I added ; 1
laid it upon them. Himself, Hezekiah, the terror of the splendour
chariots, the horses of the king of Miluchchi [probably Ethiopia], forces
innumerable they summoned together, and they came to their aid. In
front of Altakfl [Eltekeh, Josh, xix. 44] they drew up before me their battle
array ; they called forward their troops. In reliance upon Asshur, my lord,
I fought with them, and effected their defeat. The charioteers, and the
sons of the kings of Egypt, together with the charioteers of the king of
Miluchchi, my hands captured alive in the midst of the battle. The cities of
Altalili and Tamna [Timnath, Josh. xv. 10] I besieged, I took, I carried off
their spoil" [lb., lines 69-83). The mention of Padi makes plain what does
not appear from the Biblical account, viz., that there was an understanding
between Hezekiah and the rebellious I'hJlistine cities. From Josh. xix.
43 sq., both Timnah and Eltekeh appear to have been in the neighbourhood
of Ekron.
* "Then I drew near to the city of Ekron. The commanders, the nobles,
who had been guilty of rebellion, T put to death ; on stakes round about tlie
city I impaled their corpses. Those inhabitants of the city who had com-
mitted mischief and wrong I counted as spoil ; to the rest of them, who had
not been guilty of rebellion and of execrable deeds, and had not committed
the same crimes, I proclaimed amnesty. Padi, their king, from the midst
of Jerusalem 1 brought out ; I seated him on the throne of his sovereigntj
over them ; and the tribute of my sovereignty T laid upon him " [/b,
coL iii. lines i-ii).
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 09
of my sovereignty overwhelmed : the Arabians and his depen-
dents, whom he had introduced,' for the defence' of Jerusalem,
his royal city, and to whom he had granted pay, together with
30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, bullion (?) . ...
precious (?) stones of large size, couches of ivory, lofty thrones
of ivory, elephant-skins, ivory, . . . wood, .... woods of every
kind, an abundant treasure, and, in addition, his daughters, the
women of his palace, his male and female harem(?)-attendants
unto Nineveh, my royal city, he caused to be brought after me.
For the payment of tribute, and the rendering of homage,
he sent his envoy."" Here the account on the Inscription
closes, the lines which follow relating to the campaign of the
subsequent year.
Such was the course of external events as told by the con-
temporary Assyrian annalist. How, meanwhile, stood feeling
in Jerusalem, and how did Isaiah face the crisis ? Tidings of
Sennacherib*s movements would, as we may be sure, be received
in Jerusalem with anxiety ; nor would the alarm be diminished
when it became known how rapidly one success had followed
another among the Phoenician cities, and when the report arrived
that his vast army was preparing for the march southwards.
The politicians, who a year before (p. 56f.) had derided the idea of
an attack upon Jerusalem as beyond the limits of practical possi-
bility, must have begun now to experience misgivings. Still
Hezekiah had considerably strengthened his fortifications ;
according to the Book of Chronicles (Il.xxxii. 2-5) he put in force
every necessary precaution for enabling the capital to resist a
siege ; and messages, we may suppose, would be sent to the
Egyptians, acquainting them with the situation and urging them
tahold their troops in readiness. Now Isaiah steps forward in
his greatness. -He has done his utmost, and has been defeated;
the approaching danger is a direct consequence of that
disastrous step against which for years past he had not ceased
to raise his protesting voice. But as with Aristides at the great
crisis of Athenian history,3 party interests recede : denunciation
and opposition are forgotten : the national existence, Isaiah
knows, will shortly be at stake, and national interests alone are
those which he contemplates. He no longer alarms and dis-
heartens : his words are buoyant with encouragement arid hope
■ Parallel text : into the midst.
• Id.t lines ii-^4z. 3 Herod, viii. 79.
70 ISAIAH.
Certainly he does not conceal from his countrymen that a time
of suffering and anxiety is in store for them ; but the ultimate
issue is painted by him more brightly than ever. Is Jerusalem
to perish, and is the theocracy to be no more ? To Isaiah the
answer is not doubtful : and as Sennacherib's army starts from
Phoenicia for the south, it is greeted by him with a. prophecy,
which not less for grandeur of conception ,than for beauty of
artistic fornr. is, perhaps, the most remarkable which he has
bequeathed to us — the prophecy x. 5 — xii, 6. Isaiah here
seizes the idea that there are bounds which even a despot can-
not overstep with impunity. Sennacherib, like Napoleon in
that terrible Russian expedition of 1812, had essayed a task
which he was unable to complete. The Assyrians had no con-
ception of benefiting or civilizing the nations which they
conquered : their activity was a purely destructive one ; their
only motive was ambition and lust of dominion. And now, in
pursuing the same objectless career, they were meditating the
extermination of a nation whose preservation was vital to the
future of humanity. But the Assyrian, though he knows it
not, is an instrument in the hand of Providence ; he has a
mission to execute by the limits of which his pretensions must
be bounded. And so Isaiah, describing first how the Assyrian
fails to recognize this truth, and repeating his proud, yet true
boast that the nations of the earth were, so far as hitherto ap-
peared,' powerless before him, announces boldly his failure in
' The significance of v. 9 appears when the dates of the events alluded
to are considered. Hamath was taken by Sargon in 720 ; Arpad by
Tiglath-Pileser in 740 ; Samaria by Sargon in 722 ; Damascus by Tiglath-
Pileser in 732 ; the city attacked last, then, succumbed not less easily
than the one attacked earlier. The application to Jerusalem is obviotis.
(Carchemish was taken by Sargon in 717 ; when Calno was taken is not
known — ^by analogy from the other instances it will have been at some sub-
sequent date.)
It is true the conquests alluded to in v, 9-1 r are not those of Sennacherib,
and V. 13 f. would be in his mouth an exaggeration ; and hence the prophecy
has been referred by some to the period of Sargon. But the subject in
V. 7-1 1 is " Assyria '* (see v. 5), and though Isaiah may have regarded the
king (v. 12) as being here the speaker, yet v. 5 f, show that he speaks, not
with reference to his personal achievements, but as an impersonation of the
policy of his nation. And this policy Sennacherib in 701 was truly main-
taining. The language of these verses does not therefore in reality militate
against a date which iu other respects is in entire accordance with the con-
tents of the prophecy.
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 7^
his present enterprise. " For he hath said, By the strength oi
my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom ; for I am prudent i
and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed
their treasures, and I have brought down as a valiant man them
that sit on thrones; and my hand hath found as a nest the riches
of the peoples ; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken,
have I gathered all the earth ; and there was none that moved
the wing, or that opened the mouth or chirped." This wonder-
ful image of helplessness is followed by the defiant challenge,
** Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth there-
with? shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh
it ? as if a rod should shake him that lifteth it up, or as if a
staff should lift up him that is not wood ! " Isaiah's genius now
supplies him with a splendid figure under which to depict the
collapse of the Assyrian enterprise. The serried battalions of
Assyria appear to his imagination as the trees of some huge
forest, irresistible in their strength and countless in their
number : but the Light of Israel kindles majestically into a
flame ; and at the end of a single day a child may count them !
(z/. 17-19). For a moment the prophet turns aside in order to
trace the purifying effect of the judgment upon Judah (v. 20-23),
Never again will the remnant of Israel that escapes be
tempted to rely, like Ahaz, upon the Assyrian, who, though he
brought relief at the time, involved Judah in subsequent trouble ;
for those who emerge from the crisis, though but a remnant,
will have their understanding enlightened, and will look to
none save Jehovah alone (cf. xvii. y). But, for the present, " a
consumption is determined, overflowing with righteousness,'* —
s.£. an exterminating judgment, giving effect with a torrents
force to God's righteous purpose, is decreed to be enacted
upon the earth. Therefore, though Assyria menace, let not
Judah fear: ere long the yoke of the oppressor will torment
no more ! ' There follows a passage of astonishing power, in
which the prophet, conscious of his strength, resorts to the use
of a species of irony. He knows that Sennacherib, having
completed his vengeance on the cities of PhcEnicia, is on the
way, prepared to do the same upon Jerusalem ; and he draws
accordingly an imaginary picture of the concluding stages of
* f^. 27^, "And the yoke shall be broken by reason of fatness." Judah
is compared to an animal which, as it increases in strength and size, burst!
Che yoke whidi presses and galls its neck.
72 ISAIAH.
his march. He is already at Aiath (Ai), nine miles i orth o!
Jerusalem ; he advances rapidly to Michmash ; the deep gorge
of the Wady Suweinit ' is no obstacle to his progress, for he
has seized M'gron, south of the pass(i Sam. xiv. 3), by a
coup-de-7nain^^ and his army now crosses it, and is quartered,
securely at Geba {Jeba). The inhabitants of the neighbouring
villages — Ramah, for instance, west of Geba, and Gibeah of
Saul (Tell-el-F^il), three miles north of Jerusalem — are in con-
sternation and flight ; he is now at Nob, within sight of the
capital itself, and swinging his hand audaciously against the
citadel of Zion ; the prize, as it seems, is within his grasp, when
suddenly, by an unseen stroke, his arm is paralyzed, and the
pride of his strength laid low : — " Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of
hosts, lops off the mass of boughs with a crash of terror ; and
the high of stature are. felled, and the lofty are brought low ;
and He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and
Lebanon shall fall through a Glorious One." ^
And thus, against hope, Judah will be rescued. But, as else-
where — notably in the great prophecy uttered a generation
before, chap. ix. 4 f., 6 f. — the downfall of the Assyrian is the
signal for the commencement of a new era for Judah. The
house of Jesse, though humbled* (comp. X..20 f.), has not lost
its recuperative power ; there emerges from the ancient stock a
shoot endued with new life ; and the stormy scene of tumult
and destruction is succeeded by Isaiah*s marvellous picture of
the just and perfect rule-of the ideal Prince (xi. i-io), who will
tranquillize and transfigure human nature and diffuse a blessing
to the ends of the earth. Then will Israel's exiled citizens
return triumphantly ; seas and rivers will oppose no barrier to
their progress ;S Ephraim and Judah, no longer envious of each
'The "pass'' (v. 29), the same deep defile, with precipitous sides, in
parts 600 feet high, which was the scene of Jonathan's exploit, i Sam. xiv.
1-16 (who, of course, traversed it in the opposite direction, from Geba to
Michmash). See Dean Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," chap. iv.
» See W. R. Smith, ap. Cheyne (ed. 3) ii. p. 146.
3 The " forest,'' as in w, 17-1^, a figure of the Assyrian host ; similarly
"Lebanon," from its cedars and pines (xxxvii. 24; Ix. 13). For the
expression "Glorious One" compare xxxiii. 21.
4 The " stock " [v. i), ///. the hewn stump.
5 V, 15, the "tongue," i.e., bay (of. Josh. xv. 2) of the Red Sea (the Gull
of Suez) will be "' banned j" i.e. rendered harmless to those who would
cross it, by being dried up ; "the River" (the Euphrates), swift and to«
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 73
Other, will unite in friendly conscit, and defend their common
country from its common foes {v, 13 f.). Nor will the nation,
thus wonderfully restored, be unmindful of its benefactor ; like
Israel after the Exodus (Exod. xv.)j it will give utterance to its
gratitude in a hymn of thanksgiving and praise (chap. xii. ; with
V. 2, cf. Exod. XV. 2).
The route imagined by Isaiah for Sennacherib*s approach
does not, however, appear to have been the one actually taken
by him. To be sure, the danger, as Isaiah wrote, loomed upon
Jerusalem from the north, and hence the prophet represents it
as advancing from that direction ; there was further a dramatic
propriety in exhibiting the Great King as bringing his army with-
out difficulty over defiles and mountain ranges : but, in point
of fact, Sennacherib followed the safer, if more prosaic, route
through the Maritime Plain,^ by the road leading straight down
past the south-east foot of Carmel, into the heart of the Philis-
tine country; and it was from Lachish, on the south-west, that
the Rabshakeh, ** with a great force," appeared ultimately before
Jierusalem (2 Kings xviii. 17 ; cf. v, 14.). Arrived in the south, the
Assyrian king, in the first instance, directed his attack upon the
disloyal Philistine cities ; and' the successes obtained by him
against Ashkelon, against the Ekronites, with their allies, the
" kings of Egypt," at AltakA, and Ekron itself, have been
related (p. Sy f.). It was doubtless in consequence of the defeat of
his allies — perhaps of his own troops as well — at Altakil that
Hezekiah was obliged to surrender Padi (p. 68) to Sennacherib.
At the same time Judah was overrun by the Assyrian soldiery ;
forty-six strong cities^ and many smaller places were captured ;
more than 200,000 inhabitants, with their possessions, carried off
as spoil. The territbiy of Judah can never before have suffered
so terribly. liaiah had truly foretold that, though the nation
might escape eventually, it would escape only after great trouble
and disaster. Meanwhile Jerusalem itself was blockaded ; the
Cdptured cities, with their territory, were distributed amongst
the three Philistine kings,, the king of Ashdod, the king of
Ekron, and the king of Gaza, who had remained loyal to
Assyria. At this point Hezekiah appears to have made the
deep to be forded as it is, will be split into seven separate channels, which
separately may be forded without danger.
* Stanley's *' Sinai and Palestine," chap, ft
74 ISAIAH.
offer of submission recorded in 2 Kings xviii. 14, " I have of-
fended ; return from me : that which thou puttest upon me I
will bear," accompanied doubtless by promises of obedience for
the future. The offer was accepted : according to the Inscrip-
tion, an immense and, in some items, hardly credible tribute
h'as imposed, consisting not merely in a heavy payment of gold
and silver, but in an enormous amount of other valuables as
well. It is even added that Hezekiah's daughters and the
women of his palace were sent after the Great King to Nineveh.
However, in all its main features the statement of Sennacherib is
in entire agreement with the narrative in 2 Kings xviii. 13^-16,
which describes (i) the capture of the fenced cities ; (2) the
heavy tribute exacted — three hundred talents of silver and
thirty talents of gold ; " (3) the means to which Hezekiah was
compelled to resort for the purpose of satisfying the demands of
Sennacherib — not merely emptying all the royal treasuries, but
even stripping the gold off the doors and posts of the Temple."
* The amount of gold agrees exactly with that specified by Sennacherib.
The quantity of silver named on the Inscription is eight hundred talents,
but it has been maintained, on independent grounds, that the silver talent of
Palestine was heavier than that of Babylon in the proportion of eight to
three. If this be correct, the amounts named will agree in the case of
both metals.
" 2 Kings xviii. 14-16 are not in Isaiah, and are derived almost certainly
from a different source from that which has been followed by the compiler
in the ensuing prophetical narrative. (They differ in style, and the name
Hezekiah is spelt in them in a different way.) The narratives which now
occupy Isa. xxxvi.-xxxix. are probably in their more original place in the
Book of Kings, whence, they were excerpted (with a few slight abridg-
ments and alterations, and with one addition, viz., the Song of Hezekiah)
by the compiler of the Book of Isaiah on account of the important materials
contained in them relating to Isaiah's prophetical work. It may be con-
venient to note here that (verbal differences being disregarded) —
8 King
3 xviii. 13
b: Isaiah xxxvi. i.
(f
xviii. 14-16
- • * •
ti
xviii. 17 — ^xix.
37
» „ xxxvi. 2— xxxvii. 38.
• 1
XK. z-6
H „ xxxviii. z-6 {w. 4-6 abridged).
*■
.* 7-8
- „ „ 21-22 (out of place).
ti
» 9-"
- .1 >. 7-8 (abridged).
•
• •
— „ „ 9-20 (Hezekiah's song).
•■
1 ia-19
M „ xxxix. (Merodach-Baladan's em-
bassy).
The superior originality of a Kings xx. 4, 9-11 to Isa. xxxviii. 4, 7-8 is
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 7S
Of Sennacherib's presence at Lachish {v. 14) an interesting
independent monument has been preserved in the form of a
bas-relief, now in the British Museum, which represents the
Assyrian king seated upon a throne, attended by his warriors in
their chariots, and receiving the submission of Jewish captives,
with the inscription ; ** Sennacherib, king of multitudes, king of
Assyria, seats himself upon a lofty throne and receives the spoil
of the city of Lachish." ' Doubtless Lachish was one of the
forty-six "strong cities" (cf 2 Chron. xi. S-io), the capture of
which is recorded on the Taylor Cylinder.
It may have been after the invasion of Judasan territory had
thus actually commenced, and while the main army of the
enemy was hourly expected at the gates of Jerusalem itself,
that Isaiah uttered the two brief but artistically finished, pro-
phecies, xiv. 24.-27 and xvii. 12-14. In the first of these
prophecins, with allusion, we may suppose, to the hills of Judah,
now overrun by the Assyrian soldiery, Isaiah asserts with
emphasis Jehovah's irrevocable purpose, that " I will break the
especialR'" evident. In Isa. xxxviii. 21 the rendering- " Now Isaiah had
said," is ungrammatical, and is adopted in R.V. merely for the purpose of
affording the English reader a consistent and intelligible narrat.ve. The
only legitimate version is "And Isaiah said," which at once shows that the
words are in their proper position in 2 Kings xx. 7. The only part of
2 Kings xvilL 13 — xix. 37, which is undoubtedly from Isaiah's hand, is the
prophecy xix. 21 ff. The origin of the narrative in which this prophecy is
embedded is doubtful. A contemporary would hardly have attributed the
conquest of Hamath, Arpad, and Samaria {xviii. 34 ; see p. 70, note) to
Sennacherib {Isa. x. 9-11 is not parallel ; for here Sennacherib speaks in his
own person), or have so worded xix. 37, as to leave the reader without any
indication that Sennacherib's assassination occurred as long as twenty years
after the close of his expedition against Judah (». 36). Chap, xviii. 14-16
may be based upon the State annals ; the rest of the narrative, as in
other cases {e.g.^ 2 Kings ix.-x.), has been incorporated by the compiler of
the Kings in his work from some earlier prophetical source, with occasional
additions and amplifications. Traces of the compiler's hand are noticeable,
in particular, in the form in which Hezekiah's prayer is cast, xix, 15-19,
and in chap. xx. {e.g.^ v, 1 ; cf. a. 32 ; xv. ;^y ; v, 3, **a perfect heart ;"
,cf. I Kings viii. 61 ; xi. 4 ; xv. 3, 14 [elsewhere, only in Chron.] ; v. 12;
cf. I Kings xiv. 1 ; 2 Kingsxvi, 6 ; xviii. 16 ; xxiv. 10). On the *' fourteenth
year" in 2 Kings xviii. 13 ( =Isa, xxxvi. i), see the note above, p. 13 f.
" See Schrader, p. 287, and the illustration in Stade's "Geschichte,"i. p.
620. (Photographs of the bas-relief, Nos. 433, 434, 436 of the Assyrian
series are published by Messrs. Mansell, a, Percy Street, Rathbone Place.)
76 • ISAIAH.
Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under
foot;'' and repeats the promise of x. 27, that his "yoke" will
then depart from off the shoulder of Judah. In the second
prophecy (to quote the words of Professor Cheyne), " Isaiah in
his watch-tower hears, and we seem to hear with him, the ocean-
like roar of the advancing Assyrian hosts:" but destruction, the
prophet declares, awaits their vast array — like chaff from a
threshing-floor upon the mountains, like a whirling eddy of dust
before the wind, it vanishes before the Divine rebuke ; a single
night effects its ruin — " At eventide, behold terror I before
morning it is not ! " ^' '^"^
To the same period may be assigned chap, xviji. Tfie king of
Ethiopia, alarmed by the intelligence of the approach of the
Assyrians, is sending messengers by the light riv-ey-vessels in
use upon the Nile, for the purpose of summoning tr\oop3 from
the different parts of his empire {v. 1-2), Isaiah, as it were,
intercepts the messengers on their route ; and substitutes for
the instructions to arm which they carry with thlem, the
invitation contained in ?/. 3 ; " All ye inhabitants of thte world,
and ye dwellers on the earth : when a signal is lifted up on the
mountains, see ye ! when the trumpet is blown, hear ye ! f The
anxiety displayed by the Ethiopians is needless : the p^rophet,
in imagination, sees the signal given for the overthroTS- of the
Assyrian host : let Ethiopia assist, not as a combatant,, but as
a spectator ! For at the moment when the Assyriad plans
mature, under apparently the most favourable conditioris, they
will be suddenly, but effectually, intercepted ;' and the Asslyrians
themselves will be left a prey to beasts and birds upon the
mountains. \
But the end was not yet. Some circumstance occurred Jgither
arousing Sennacherib*s suspicion, or making him dissatisfied
with the engagement which he had concluded. It may be that
news reached him of warlike preparations being still carried on
in Jerusalem, or he may have heard of afresh movemerifon the
part of the Egyptian forces (which, in fact, soon actually took
place — chap, xxxvii. 9), and may have begun to feel that he had
« This is the meaning of the figure in v. 4-5. The ripening crops
represent the maturing plans of the Assyrfans : Jehovah looks on, and in
appearance promotes them, as a favourable sun and sky advances the
grape ; but, just before maturity is reached, fruit and branch alike are
violently cut away, «.*., the enemy's plans are abruptly intercepted.
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 77
been guilty of a strategical error in leaving a strong fortress
like Jerusalem unreduced in his rear : whatever the motive,' a
fresh demand was now made by him for the unconditional sur-
render of the capital. Negotiations were at once commenced
for the purpose of obtaining more favourable terms, but the
messengers sent to Lachish returned with the disheartening
news that their endeavours had been ineffectual, and that the
Assyrian king remained obdurate. The dismay in Jerusalem
must have been intense ; for the city was now not only cut off
from its alUes, but stripped of its resources, and so practically
defenceless: how Isaiah seeks to allay it we read in chap, xxxiii.,
"the most beautiful of Isaiah's discourses," in which "the long
conflict of Israel's sin with Jehovah's righteousness is left
behind, and the dark colours of present and past distress serve
only as a foil to the assured felicity that is ready to dawn on
Jehovah's land."'
The nation which has dealt out, unchecked, a barbarous de-
struction to so many, will at length, the prophet exclaims, suffer
violence itself. For a moment he concentrates himself in
prayer : ** O Lord, be gracious unto us ; we have waited for
Thee : be Thou their arm ^ every morning, yea, our salvation in
the time of trouble." Hardly has Isaiah uttered his petition
when he is conscious that it is answered : the " multitudes " of
whom Sennacherib at Lachish boasted himself the king (p. 75)
are in flight ; the Jews are eagerly seizing the spoil —
" At the noise of a tumult, the peoples are fled,
At the lifting up of thyself the nations are scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathereth ;
As locusts leap, shall they leap upon it. "
Nor is Jerusalem merely secure : it is also, in the prophet's
vision, filled already with spiritual blessings (7/. 5, 6). But he
again reverts to the present ; the disconsolate envoys (the
"ambassadors of peace") have just returned from Lachish;
the country districts are beset by the foe, and impassable ;* the
' It is implied by Isg.iah ("he hath broken the covenant," xxxiii. 8), that
the demand involved a breacl> of faith.
» W. R. Smith, '* Prophets of Israel," p. 354.
3 I.e,, an arm {= support, Psa. Ixxxiii. 9) to the defenders of the city.
# V. 8^, ut. neither moral obligations, nor fortified cities (for the figure
employed, of Hab. i. 10), nor respect for human life, form an obstacle to
the Assyrians' progress.
78 ISAIAH.
land "mournetb and lariguisheth," in sympathy with its suffep»
ing inhabitants. " Now will I arise, saith Jehovah, now will 1
lift up myself, now will I be exalted." He turns next to the
proud invader, and in two expressive images declares that his
plan is both futile and will defeat itself : " Ye conceive hay, ye
shall bring forth stubble : your breath is a fire which shal!
devour you"; and the multifarious hosts of Assyria will be
seized, andrapidly consumed, in the devouring flame (v. 11-12).
The prophet pauses, impressed by the magnitude of this great
act, and invites all nations to recognize its far-reaching conse-
quences {v. 13). But when the Divine judgment is thus near^
even the Israelite cannot contemplate it unmoved : how, asks
the unbeliever, when he sees the day approach at which he once
scoffed (v. 19; xxviii, 14, 22). how is he to abide in the presence
of such " perpetual burnings" ? In two beautiful verses Isaiah
gives the answer, and sketches the portrait of the man who,
even in that appalling time, may deem himself secure {v,
15 f.). And thus his thoughts are brought back again to
the people, and he pictures them in the age when the judgment
has passed-^
* Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty,
They shall behold a far-stretching land : " ■
the terror of the present will be " mused on " only as
*^omething which is past ; the hated Assyrian officials, who
exacted the tribute and reconnoitred suspiciously the forti-
fications, will be no more : " Thine eye shall muse on the
terror (saying), Where is he that counted, where is he
that weighed the tribute ? where is he that counted the
towers ? " Zton at length is at peace, — secure like a tent which
no blast of wind or weather can overturn ; safe from , the
assaults of foes, like a city encircled by a broad protecting
stream. For a while, indeed, it may seem otherwise ; and
Zion, as the prophet speaks, may rather by a spectator be
'-ompared to a ship, shattered by wind and wave ; but, shattered
though she be, she will yet gain the victory ; nay, so abundant
will be the spoil that even the lame, even those who arrive
iast at the scene of the encounter — will not fail to secure their
share. And then no sickness, and no sin, will mar the felicity
« /.«., a land no longer " diminished " (to use Sennacherib's own expre»
sion, p. 68) bv spoliation or hemmed in by foes (of. xxvi. 15, R.V.).
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 79
which her citizens will henceforth enjoy (the same thought as
iv. 3 ; xxix i8-2o; xxxii. i-8),
Sennacherib, meanwhile, loses no time in taking steps tor
the purpose of enforcing his demand. He sends his officer,
the Rabshakeh, from Lachish, accompanied by a "great army,"
to claim thesurrender of Jerusalem. The Rabshakeh's harangue,
the object of which is, partly to intimidate the people, partly to
beguile them by false promises to rise up against Hezekiah,
and compel him to open the gates to the AssyrianSj is recorded
in Isa. xxxvi. (esp, v, 12-21).' The alarm both of Hezekiah
and his ministers is great : but the king's faith does not desert
him, and he sends to Isaiah to crave his intercession (xxxvii,
1-4).^ The prophet's reply is promptly given : he assures Heze-
kiah that he has no cause for alarm ; Sennacherib will be com-
pelled by unexpected tidings to return to his own land {v, 6-7).'
Isaiah's answer inspired confidence in both king and people ;
and the measures of the Rabshakeh were entirely ineffectual.
The troops at his disposal were apparently not sufficiently
numerous to enforce submission, and he was obliged to return
to his royal master with the report that his mission had proved
unsuccessful. Sennacherib was no longer at Lachish : he had
advanced to Libnah (Josh. x. 29 ; xv. 42) — about twelve miles
nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish 4— which his army was now
besieging. Here news reached him that the Egyptian general
was marching against him in person s (xxxvii. 9) ; and alarmed
« In his estimate of the Egyptian promises, v. 6, the Rabshakeh agrees
with Isaiah himself {e.g., xxx. 6, 7). Comp. also the expression used of
Egypt bySargon in 711 (p. 45). In v. 11 the representatives of Hezekiah
desire the Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic, the language of commerce,
and probably also of diplomacy, in the East. But his aim is to produce
an improssioa upon the multitude, and accordingly he insists upon using
Hebrew,
* "The remnant that is left" : comp. Sennacherib's account of the con-
quests won by him from Judah (p. 68).
3 *• I will place a spirit in him," &c., i.e. (as we should say), an unex-
plained impulse (see Numb. v. 14) will seize him, which, combiningwith the
" tidings " (whether of the advance of Tirhakah, or of an insurrection in
some part of his own dominions), will alter his intention, and bring about
his retreat.
* At least if the customary identification of Lachish with Um Lakis, and
of Libnah with Tell-es-Sdfia, be correct.
S At Altakd it was "the kings of Egypt," i.e., probably sub-kings or
petty princes of the Delta, who came to the assistance of the Ekronitea
80 ISAIAH,
at last in his own turn at the possible consequences if the forces
of Tirhakah should succeed in uniting with those of Judah, he
sent yet a second message to Jerusalem, repeating his previous
demand. As before (xxxvi. 19-20), the argument urged by
the Great King turns upon the past successes of the Assyrians,
and the inability of any nation which they have hitherto
attacked, even with the presumed assistance of its gods,
effectually to resist them (xxxvii. 10-13), Hezekiah spreads
the taunting, defiant letter before Jehovah, and concentrates
his spirit in prayer {v. 14-20).
The crisis was indeed a real one. The reiterated demand for
the surrender of Jerusalem could only mean that, if it were not
complied with, Sennacherib would himself advance against the
city, and bring to bear upon it those formidable engines of attack
which made the name of Assyria dreaded in antiquity. The
boast of Sennacherib was a true one : Arpad, Damascus, Samaria,
the Phcenician and Philistine cities, which he, or his predeces-
sors on the throne, had attacked, had, one after the other,
succumbed : Jerusalem was stripped of her aUies, Isaiah himself
reposed no confidence in the relief to be expected from Kgypt ; ,
even if news of the movement of Tirhakah had reached Jepu- 1
salem, the hopes which some might have been disposed to place]
in it must have been sorely damped by the recent defeat at)
Altaku. No fewer than forty-six of the fortified cities of Judali
had been captured, her territory was at the mercy of the enemy-,
who was already dividing it among his vassal subjects, Judah/s
ancient foes. Must not resistance have seemed despera^
Were not the chances incalculably against Jerusalem's escape ?
The prostration of Hezekiah and his nobles is manifest on both
occasions, when the messengers of Sennacherib are before the
gates ; and though the pen of the historian has not recorded it,
we may be sure that the agony and despair of the populace
generally (whose numbers would be augmented by refugees from
the country districts) could have known no limit. To the human
eye the fate of the city must have appeared sealed. And it was
(p. 6i). "Ethiopia" here denotes, not Ethiopia proper, but the Ethio-
pian dynasty, founded by Sabako, and now ruling over Egypt (p. 43).
According to Egyptologists, the chronology of this dynasty was as follows :
Sabako, 725-712 ; Shabatok, 712-698 ; Tirhakah 698-672. It is sup-
posed that Tirhakah is called " king of Ethiopia " in 701 by anticipation,
and that he was really in command as representing his father.
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 8l
a crisis upon which^ as' we who look back upon it in the light oi
history can see, something more turned than the future of a
single nation. The issue was as momentous as any that have
been determined by the " decisive battles of the world." It was
a crisis as grave as when Persia threatened to intercept the
rising civilization of Greece, or Vandal and Moor to destroy the
Christianity of Europe. Isaiah did not see it in its full dimen-
sions ; but to him also the crisis must have seemed a real one :
"The fate of the new world which lay in germ in his teaching must
have seemed to tremble in the balance." But he never wavered.
From the first he had seen distinctly ; and though the people
were in terror, the messengers of peace " weeping bitterly,"
the king and his advisers helpless, the friends of Egypt of course
disgraced, his confidence never forsook him ; his calmness and
self-control are unperturbed. The more closely the toils
seemed drawn about Jerusalem, the more boldly he announces
his nation's deliverance, the brighter are his visions of its future
glory (see esp. chap, xxxiii.). At the time of the Rabshakeh's
mission, he is appealed to as a matter of course ; upon the pre-
sent occasion (unless the narrative be curtailed), he volunteers
himself a message to the king. His message consists of the
fine prophecy (xxxvii. 22-35) ^^ which the " virgin " stronghold
of Jerusalem is represented as disdainfully mocking her proud
assailant in his defeat, and watching derisively his retreating
footsteps. The skilled strategy of the Assyrian will avail him
no more ; his past career has been in accordance with the pur-
poses of Providence ; but his appointed bound has at length been
reached. Hope still remains for the ** remnant " of Judah.
" By the way that he came, by the same shall he return ; and
into this city he shall not come, saith Jehovah." That night the
long series of Isaiah*s predictions received its fulfilment : the
flower of the Assyrian army was cut off ; ' and the Assyrian
monarch "heard the rumour" which impelled his return to his
own land. Sennacherib himself does not even claim to have
captured Jerusalem ; and though he survived this expedition
" The locality of the disaster is uncertain. The Egyptian tradition re-
corded by Herodotus (ii. 141) describes Sennacherib, *'king of Arabians
and Assyrians, " as marching against Egypt with a great host, and as having
advanced as far as Pelusium when his army suddenly found itself defence-
less, and was in consequence easily routed, through innumerable field mica
having during the night gnawed their bows, and the thongs of theii
82 ISAIAH.
wenty years, and was engaged subsequently in numerous mili-
tary undertakings, he never renewed the attempt against it/
Never, it has been justly remarked, had a prophet predicted
more boldly, never was a prediction more brilliantly fulfilled.
Whether the blow which fell upon Sennacherib*s army was due to
a supernatural interposition, or resulted from natural causes,* its
occurrence in time to save the Jewish state was a coincidence
which no political forecast could have anticipated, no estimate
of probabilities calculated. Yet Isaiah's foreknowledge of it was
of long standing, certain, and precise. Not once, but repeatedly,
even before Sennacherib's army had appeared on the north of
Palestine, and while all seemed calm on the political horizon,
he had announced, not merely the distress in which before long
Jerusalem would find herself, but the unexpected and startling
interposition by which she would be released from it. The very
first utterance, in the parable of God's lion (xxix. i-8) speaks
as distinctly as any : Zion is represented as closely besieged —
shields, rendering them useless. If any confidence may be placed in this
tradition, Sennacherib had left Libnah, and was encamped at Pelusium,
amid the marshes at the mouth of the eastern-most end of the Nile. Isa.
xxxvii. 25 (R.V.) implies that it was part of Sennacherib's plan to press
forward into Egypt : his movement on this occasion from Libnah may have
been accelerated by a desire, if possible, to intercept the advance of Tir-
hakah (p. 79).
' The Biblical and theAssyrianaccountsof Sennacherib's campaign, while
in substantial agreement, are both imperfect, and may be combined in
different ways. The essential difference between them is that while the
one narrates the entire campaign (viz, : (i) The subjection of the Phoenician
cities ; (2) the conquest of Ashkelon ; (3) the successes against Ekron and
the Egyptian forces ; (4) the hostilities against Judah), the other dealsonly
with the stage affecting Judah, and dwells principally upon two episodes (9
Kings xviii. 17-xix. 7 ; xix. 8-36), belonging in fact to 2. fifth and subsequent
stage, upon which the Assyrian account is silent The combination given
m the text rests upon the close general coincidence of the fourth stage in the
Assyrian account with the verses 2 Kings xviii, 13^-16. Schrader combines
differently, supposing that in the Assyrian account the order of events has
been altered, that the concluding stage (the tribute of Hezekiah) might give
the appearance of an issue favourable to Assyria, There seems, however,
to be no necessity for such a supposition.
^ The form in which the tradition of the occurrence reached Herodotui
(that the reverse resulted from a plague of field-mice) supports the view that
the immediate cause of the disaster was a pestilence, of which elsewhere
the mouse appears as a symbol. For the angel as the agent in a pestilence,
comp, 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, z6.
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 83
" But tbe multitude of thy enemies shall become as small dust,
and as the flitting chaff the multitude of the terrible ones ; and
it shall come to pass In a moment, suddenly." In xxx. 28, 30,
31, the terms are more general; but afterwards we have the
series, xxxi. 8 ; x. 33f. ; xiv. 25 ; xvii. I3f. ; xviii. jf. ; xxxiii. 3,
10-12 ; all, under different imagery, describing a stroke, dealt in-
stantaneously by an unseen hand, and scattering or annihilating
the Assyrian hosts. In chap, xxxvii. 7, 29, 33, 34, which are
Isaiah's latest utterances, the language is less figurative, and
also more definite : the prophecy of xvii. 14, for instance, is not
reaffirmed to the letter ; Jerusalem will remain unharmed, but
Sennacherib (with, presumably, other survivors) will return to his
own land. Between these predictions, taken in their entirety,
and the fulfilment, there is a consistency which could in no way
have been suggested by the known circumstances of the casej
and which is too striking and complete to be reasonably attd'
bated to chance.
CHAPTER Vni.
THE 0CCA13I0NAL PROPHECIES OF ISATAK
(Chapters xni.-xxiii.)
It will be convenient to designate by this name the group of
prophecies now occupying chaps, xiii.-xxiii. of the Book of Isaiah.
In chaps, i.-xii., as also in chaps, xxviii.-xxxiii.j xxxvi.-vii., the
centre of intq^est is almost entirely the prophet's own country
Judah, whether regarded in itself (as in chaps, i., ii.-v.), or
in its relation to the combination of Syria and Ephraim (vii.
i-ix. 7), or to its great Assyrian antagonist (as in most of the
remaining chapters). The prophecies of the present group, oti
the contrary, are as a rule concerned only indirectly with
either Judah or Israel. Their interest centres in the particular
country which they respectively concern. The prophets ob-
served closely the movements of history : they saw in the rise
and fall of nations the exhibition of a Divine purpose ; and
hence it was natural to them to embrace within their survey of
the future the destiny of the nations forming part of the same
world to which their own people belonged. These nations
were related to Israel and Judah in different ways. Politically,
for example, they sometimes viewed one another with mutual
jealousy and distrust : at other times, common interests united
them together by the ties of sympathy or alliance. How intimately
the prosperity of both Israel and Judah depended upon the
relations maintained by them with such neighbours as Damas-
cus, Moab and Ammon, or Edom, the historical books abun-
dantly exemplify. And in addition to the relations grounded
PROPHECIES ON FOREIGN NATIONS. 85
apon political antipathies and sympathies, mutual intercourse
for commercial or social purposes was also, it is probable, not un-
frequent. Nations thus variously related, and all familiarly known,
to their own people, could not be left unnoticed by the Hebrew
prophets, Amos opens his prophetic book by an enumeration
of the specific sins of Damascus, Gaza, and other neighbouring
principalities, and by an announcement of the judgment which
each may expect (i. 2-ii. 3), deducing the conclusion that Israel
and Judah, so far from being dealt with more leniently, as
members of a chosen race, will be judged by precisely the
same standard (ii. 4-16) ; and a century after Isaiah, Jeremiah
(chaps, xlvii.-li.) and Ezekiel (chaps, xxv.-xxxii.) pass also in
review the destinies of the foreign nations prominent in their
age.
The occasional prophecies of Isaiah are distinguished by
great individuality of character. The prophet displays a
singular familiarity with the condition, social or physical, as
the case may be, of the different countries with which he deals ;
and seizes in each instance some characteristic aspect, or
feature, for notice. The haughty independence for which Moab
was notorious, the tall and handsome physique of the Ethio-
pians, the manners and habits peculiar to Egypt, the careless
gaiety of the Babylonians, the commercial enterprise and wide
colonial relations of Tyre, — are brought before us one after
another with picturesqueness of detail and great variety of
literary form. The ancient Hebrews were keen observers of
national character ; and Isaiah is true to the genius of his nation.
Theologically these prophecies are of interest as exemplifying
Isaiah's views of the future of the heathen world. The prophet
applies tne thought of ii, 2-4 to individual cases, and by typical
instances represents the nations as incorporated ultimately in
the kingdom of God.
The first of these prophecies is one on Babylon (xiii. 2-xiv.
23), which differs from all the other prophecies of Isaiah which
have been hitherto reviewed in the remarkable circumstance
that it stands unrelated to IsaiaJ^s own age. The Jews are not
warned, as Isaiah might warn them (xxxix. 6), against the folly
of concluding an alliance with Babylon, or reminded of the
disastrous consequences which such an alliance might entail ;
nor are they even represented, as in Jeremiah, as threatened
with impending exile : they are represented as in exile, and as
86 ISAIAH,
about to be delivered from it (xiv. 1-2).* It is of the very
essence of prophecy to address itself to the needs of the pro-
phet's own age ; it was the prophet's office to preach to his
own contemporaries, to announce to them the judgments, or
the consolations, which arose out of the circumstances of
their own time, to interpret for them their own history.
As far as we have hitherto gone, this is what Isaiah has
uniformly done. His prophecies have been replete with
allusions to contemporary history, to Ephraim, Damascus, and
the Assyrians ; that history is the foundation upon which
his grandest predictions rest. Here, on the other hand, the
allusions are not to Assyria, but to Babylon^ not the Babylon
of Merodach-Baladan who sought (p. 49) Hezekiah's friendship,
which was known to Isaiah (chap, xxxix.), but the Babylon of
the exile, which held the Jews in cruel bondage (xiv. 2, 3), and
was shortly to be destroyed by the Medes (xiii. 17). To base
a promise upon a condition of things not yet existent^ and
without any point of contact with the circumstances or situa-
tion of those to whom it is addressed, is alien to the genius of
prophecy. Hence upon grounds of analogy and probability it
I is reasonable to conclude that we really have here before us
the prophecy of a later writer, living in the exile, and writing
from the same position as Jer. 1., li. With the long invective
against Babylon contained in these chapters of Jeremiah, the
present prophecy is, indeed, in temper and spirit, remarkably
akin ; whilst, on the other hand, it exhibits few or none of the
accustomed marks of Isaiah's style. The compiler of the Book
of Isaiah (who cannot have lived earlier than the exile," and
may have lived much later), supposing it (upon what grounds
we know not) to be Isaiah's, inserted it amongst his prophecies,
assigning to it the first position among those dealing with foreign
nations, on account, probably, of the prominence assumed by
Babylon in the later centuries of Jewish history. A closer study
of this prophecy is accordingly reserved for Part II.
X *' For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel,
and set them in their own land* , , . And the peoples shall take them and bring
them to their place ; . . . and they shall take them captive, whose captives
they were ; and they shall rule over their oppressors."
^ For (p. 74) he excerpted chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. from the Book of Kings,
the composition of which evidentl'.y cannot be earlier than the close of the
oionarchy.
PROPHECY ON PHILISTIA. 87
Chap. xiv. 24-27. — This prophecy, announcing the overthrow
of the Assyrian hosts upon the mountains of Judah, has been
noticed already (p. 75).
Chap. xiv. 28-32, on Pjiilistia. The Philistines are in exulta-
tion at the fall of some dreaded foe : Isaiah warns them that their
rejoicing is premature, that the power which they dreaded,
though broken, will recover itself, and prove indeed far more
formidable than before.* But while Philistia may expect to
suffer severely at its hands, the faithful in Judah need not fear
{v. 30). In a succeeding short strophe, the prophet repeats
his cry of warning : — " Howl, O gate ; cry, O city ; thou art
melted away [Exod. xv. 15], O Philistia, all of thee ; for
out of the north a smoke cometh, and there is no straggler
in his ranks." It is the Assyrian whose approach the prophet
thus discerns, — the smoke marking either his camp-fires or
the burnt villages along his line of march ; his ranks are
broken by no loiterers or stragglers, every one is at his
appointed post (cf. v. 27). A second time the prophet turns
aside to address a word of consolation to his own people ; in the
strength of its God, Jerusalem will yet be secure. The title
suggests that " the rod which smote" Philistia is Ahaz ; and in
this case, the more formidable power, represented by the " flying
serpent," will be naturally Hezekiah. And it is true that
the Philistines suffered at Hezekiah's hands (2 Kings xviii. 8),
though he appears, both in 711 (p. 45) and in 701 (p. 67), to
have been on friendly terms with them. But the connection of
thought in the prophecy appears to require that the foe alluded
to in V. 29 shall be identical with the foe alluded to, more
directly, in v. 31. As the latter is plainly the Assyrian, the
former will be the Assyrian likewise. The prophecy belongs,
in all probability, to 705 or 704 B.C., Sargon being the " snake,"
and Sennacherib the more, terrible '* serpent flying about."
The Philistines might well feel elated upon receiving news of
' This is the sense of the figure in v. 29, " for out of the snake's root
shall come forth a great viper, and his fruit shall be a fiery serpent flying
about." The root which (metaphorically) had produced a "snake," as
the Philistines' assailant, will now put forth a "great viper" [Tristram,
** Natural History of the Bible," p. 275] ; as this corresponds to the tree, the
pri>phet now proceeds to speak of its fi-vU, which he characterizes as a
•Miery serpent flying about" (xxx. 6), i.e., something far more agile and
foi-midable than the original "snake'' Nid been.
88 ISAIAH.
the murder of Sargon, who had ruinouslj defeated Hanno of
Gaza, at Raphia, in 720, and had captured Ashdod in 71 1 ;
and the aUiance in 701 between ^Jezekiah and Padi (p. 67)'
lends probability to the conjecture that the occasion of the
prophecy was the presence in Jerusalem of an embassy from
Philistia (the ** messengers of the nation "), inviting the co-opera-
tion of Judah in the plan of revolt. Isaiah, of course, would
be strongly averse to such an invitation being accepted. His
prophecy did not long remain unfulfilled ; for Sennacherib,
before four years had elapsed, wreaked severe vengeance upon
both Ashkelon and the party opposed to him in Ekron (p. 68). It
may be observed that the teaching of the prophecy is in accor-
dance with that adopted by the prophet at the period in question
(with V. 30^7, of. xxix. 19 ; xxxii. 18: with v. 32^, cf. xxxi. 5 ;,
xxxiii. 20).
Chaps. XV -xvi., on Moab. The territory occupied by Moab
was the elevated and rich plateau ' on the east of the Dead
Sea. Technically the steep defile of the torrent Amon was
regarded as the northern limit of Moab, the country to
the north of this being assigned to the pastoral tribe of
Reuben (Numb, xxxii.; Josh. xiii. 15-21). Reuben, however,
was not strong enough permanently to retain possession of the
district allotted to it ; and hence many of the cities mentioned
in Josh. xiii. 15-21, as part of the inheritance of Reuben, are
named by Isaiah as in the occupation of Moab. At times
relations of friendliness subsisted between Moab and Israel,''
but more usually Moab held aloof in haughty independence, or
was reduced temporarily to a condition of reluctant sub-
jection.3 The prophets allude frequently to the arrogant and
encroaching temper which Moab displayed in its dealings with
Judah.* From the Inscription of Mesha {c. 900 B.C.), found
at Dibon in 1869, and commonly known as the "Moabite
stone," 5 we learn that the Moabites spoke a language differing
* The Mishor, or "plain" (R.V.), Deut. iii. 10 (p. 11).
^ Cf. I Sam. xxii. 3, 4 ; and in Uzziah's time, 2 Chron, xxvi. 10.
3 To David, 2 Sam. viii. i, 2 ; to Israel, reduced, as we now know from
Mesha's Inscription, by Omri. Mesha's annual tribute to Israel, prior to
his revolt, is attested by 2 Kings rii. 4.
* See (besides Isa. xvi. 6) chap. xxv. 11 ; Zeph. ii. 10 ; Jer. xlviii. 29, 42.
5 The Inscription gives particulars respecting the revolt recorded briefly
in 2 Kings i. i, and iii. 5. See Sayce, ** Fresh Light from the A/icienl
Monuments," p. 87 ff.
PROPHECY ON MOAB. 89
only dialectically from Hebrew ; and it is probable also that, in
matters of material prosperity and civilization, Moab stood
hardly upon an inferior level to Israel itself. Such v^as the
nation whose approaching disaster is described by Isaiah with
such vivid details and with evident sympathy.
A great catastrophe has befallen the two principal cities of
Moab ; and the population crowd in terror to the temple — not
improbably that *' House of High Places " mentioned by Mesha
— to invoke the aid of their god/ The streets and market-
places are filled with signs of mourning ; from Heshbon and
Elealeh, in the far north, the cry of agony penetrates into the
very heart of the country. Moab is beset on all sides ; the
pastures are ruined, for the waters upon which their fertility
depends have been stopped at their sources by the enemy (xv.
8) : " there is no resource left for the inhabitants, except to seek
refuge in flight, carrying what they can save of their possessions
with them («/. 9). And now the cry of destruction has circled
round the entire land ; it reaches equally Eglaim in the south,
and Beer-Elim in the north. But still the vista of trouble does
not end for Moab : for those who escape the prophet discerns
worse evils in store (v. 9).
Meanwhile the fugitives are supposed to have found a tem-
porary home in Edom. Here a voice addresses them (xvi. i),^
exhorting them to seek safety in the protection of the house of
David, and to send a tribute of lambs^ to Jerusalem, in token of
their allegiance. The scene again changes. The prophet
transports us back to Moab itself: at the fords of Arnon we see
another band of fugitives prepared for flight in the opposite
direction. They address themselves to the community of
Zion (v, 3-40), appealing to it to interpose on their behalf, to act
the part of an arbitrator, to shelter the exiles. The appeal is a
reasonable one ; for, as Isaiah well knows, in Judah the violence
of the Assyrian aggressor will soon be stilled, and a king,
" Viz., Chemosh (Numb. xxi. 29, &c.), whom Mesha names repeatedly
in bis Inscription.
^ As had been done before, at Elisha's suggestion, by the Israelites and
Edomites, in the attempt to re-conquer Moab (2 Kings iii. 19, 25).
^ The verse may be spoken by the prophet, or (as Professor Cheyno
suggests) it may proceed from the Moabite chiefs themselves, exhorting
one another to take this step.
* The country was pastoral (Numb, xxxli 3, 4) ; and Mesha's tribite tc
Israel consisted in wool (2 Kings iii. 4).
90 ISAIAH.
earnest in the execution of justice and prompt in righteous-
ness, will be sitting upon David's throne (v, 4^5). The passage
is Messianic, and is a counterpart to ix. 5-7. The advent
of the Messianic age follows immediately on the judgment upon
Assyria ; and the Messianic king protects his land henceforth
from all intruders.' And Moab also, the prophet freely admits,
if it will accept the needful conditions, may share the same
blessings as the chosen nation.
But there is an obstacle still unremoved. The haughty and
pretentious temper which Moab had already too often dis-
played, precludes the hope that these conditions will be at
present accepted. The judgment, therefore, must run its
course unchecked ; and the prophet, not without a deep thrill
of sympathy (v. 9, 11),'' pictures in succession the riined
vineyards, 3 the wasted orchards, the deserted winepresses,
closing with the figure of Moab exerting himself in vain at his
sanctuary to obtain the favourable intervention of his god
{v. 12). "This is the word which Jehovah spake concerning
Moab in time past. But now Jehovah hath spoken, saying,
In three years, as the years of an hireling, shall the glory of
Moab be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude ;
and the remnant shall be very small, and not many." These
two verses form an epilogue. The prophecy, as a whole, had
been delivered originally on some previous occasion ; but it
was now solemnly reiterated by Isaiah. The expression used
is an indefinite one : it may denote a comparatively short inter-
val of time (2 Sam. xv. 34), or may be applied to a much longer
period (Ps. xciii. 2). The epilogue may be assigned with some
plausibility to a period shortly before Sargon*s campaign against
Ashdod in 711, when Moab is mentioned (p. 45) as engaged in
treasonable negotiations with Philistia and Egypt, such as would
' Micah V, 6 (p. 42). With v. 46 compare chap. xxix. zo.
" y. II. The " bowels," in Hebrew psychology, are the seat of deep-
felt emotion or affection (of. Ixiii. 15 ; Jer. xxxi. 20 ; Cant. v. 4) ; and the
prophet, therefore, means to say that his inmost being vibrates to the
impression produced by the scene of woe, as the lute responds to the
touch.
3 In V. 9 end there is an oxymoron. Not the joyous huzzah with which
the vintagers pressed out the juice of the grape (which the word properly
denotes, Jer. xxv. 30), but the huzzah of the fierce Assyrian soldii^ry, is
heard among the vineyards. See Jer. xlviii. 33.
PROPHECY ON ETHIOPIA. 9I
naturally arouse the displeasure of the Assyrian king. There
exists, however, no evidence showing that Moab was actually
invaded then by Sargon.' But to what date tl.e body of the
prophecy is to be assigned is altogether uncertain. Perhaps it
was written by Isaiah, twenty-four or twenty-five years before,
in anticipation of the foray made by Tiglath-Pileser upon the
districts east of Jordan in 734. This, according to i Chron. v.
26, extended as far south as the territory of Reuben ; and
Tiglath-Pileser at least mentions receiving tribute from " Salman
of Moab" on the occasion (as it would appear'') of his march
southwards from Syria and Phcenicia to Gaza. Whether, how-
everj this tribute was the result of an appeal to arms, we do not
know. If not, the fulfilment of the prophecy may have re-
mained in suspense until it was reaffirmed by Isaiah shortly
before 711. It will be noticed that the disaster does not
annihilate Moab : as in the case of Judah (vi, 13 and often),
Israel (xvii. 6), Egypt (xix. 18), a "remnant,'' however small,
escapes — a remnant, doubtless, though that is not here ex-
pressly stated, worthy to inherit a better future and to share
the blessings of the Messianic age.
Chap. xvii. i-i I and I2-I4have been noticed before (pp.75, 76),
Chap, xviii., on Ethiopia. The sudden destruction of the
Assyrians and the homage of Ethiopia to Jehovah form here
Isaiah's theme, which is worked out by him in a picturesqua
and dramatic way. Ethiopia [in Hebrew, Cus^ was the region
to the south of Egypt, beginning at Syene, and corresponding
generally to what is now known as the Souddn (/>., the land of
the Blacks), which the earlier Egyptian kings often on their
monuments describe themselves as invading. The country is
traversed by the Nile, which in its turn is fed by numerous
tributaries, to both of which Isaiah in his first verse alludes.3 Its
.capital was Napata, situated in a great bend of the Nile, be-
tween lat. 18° and 19° North. By the ancients the character of
the Ethiopians was almost idealized ; they were imperfectly
known to them, and yet report told that they controlled, in their
distant home, an extensive empire. Homer applies to them the
' This date is, however, preferable to 701, for Moab seems at this time
tc have been friendly to Sennacherib, and renders him homage {p. 67).
» Schrader, p. 258.
3 " That sendeth ambassadors by the ka," *.*., by the Nile (cf. xix. 5,
Nahum iii, 8) ; "whose land the rivers divide," {.e., the tributary streamy
$2 ISAIAH.
epithet " spotless/' alluding probably to their physical beauty ;
and Herodotus calls them " the tallest and handsomest of men."
Isaiah notices their personal physique ("tall and smooth "), but
he emphasizes more particularly their martial qualities — the
capacities which they possessed for subjugation and conquest.
Isaiah*s words may here reflect the memory of recent events ;
for Sabako, an Ethiopian prince, had not long since (p. 43)
acquired dominion over Egypt, and his son now occupied the
throne of the Pharaohs. The country, however, which is the
subject of the present prophecy, is not Egypt, albeit still ruled
by an Ethiopian monarch,' but Ethiopia properly so called.
The scope of the prophecy, regarded historically, has been
explained previously (p. 76). In the last verse Isaiah dwells
upon the moral effects which may be expected to ensue from
the promised deliverance. Ethiopia, in gratitude, will own the
power of Israel's God : and the ancient and mighty nation, in
token of its faith, will send a " present " (Ps. Ixviii. 29, cf. 31)
to '* the place of the name (i Kings viii. 17) of Jehovah of hosts,
the mount Zion."
Chap, xix., on Egypt, one of the most noteworthy and charac-
teristic of Isaiah's foreign prophecies. A period of unexampled
collapse and decay, affecting every grade and class of society,
is about to commence for Egypt, to be succeeded, however,
ultimately, by the nation's conversion and spiritual renovation.
The spell which Egypt cast around Judah, and the unbounded
confidence which she there inspired, have been repeatedly
noticed in these pages ; and no doubt one motive prompt-
ing Isaiah to draw this picture of Egyptian weakness was the
desire to point a moral for his own countrymen, and to show
how unreasonable it was to look for aid from such a source.
The figure used in the opening verse is applied effectively by
the prophet. At the approach of Israel's God, riding — as in the
imagery of the Psalmist, Ps. xviii. 9 — upon a cloud, the idol-gods
of Egypt totter upon their pedestals, and the heart of the entire
nation *' melts " within it (Josh. ii. 11, &c.) in dismay. The im-
mediate result is that the hand of government is paralyzed : the
country is distracted by dissensions and party conflict ; city
contending with city, and " kingdom (z.^., nome-principality)
' The Ethiopian dynasty held Egypt from 725 to 672 (p. 80), when
Esarhaddon expelled Tirhakah, and reduced Egypt to the condition of an
Assyrian province.
PROPHECY ON EGYPT. 93
urith kingdom." ' The power of cool and rational deliberation
ceases : advice is sought by recourse to those magical arts for
which in antiquity Egypt was celebrated. But the issue is disas-
trous : " I will deliver Egypt into the hand of a hard lord, and
a fierce king shall rule over them " {v. 4).
In a second strophe the prophet describes, under its most
characteristic traits, the period of material and social decay
which will then begin for Egypt. The traits which he notices are
just those which are the common accompaniments in this country
of civil disorder. From lack of regular attention to reservoirs
and dykes, the supply of wat^r, upon which the soil of Egypt
was dependent for its fertility, will fail : vegetation will be
parched : one class after another of the population will find its
occupation gone (v. 5-10). The counsellors of Egypt, in spite
of their boasted possession of a traditional lore, will be in
perplexity and dismay: a spirit of infatuation will seize them :
no plan that may be proposed will succeed. And, the prophet
adds, reverting to the thought of v, i, the mere mention of the
name of Judah, whose God Jehovah is, will strike terror in
Egypt into all that hear it {v. 11-17).
At this point an abrupt transition follows. The prophet in-
terrupts his main theme, the description of Egyptian disorder
and collapse, to contemplate the happier future, when a remnant,
at least, of those who survive the approaching troubles will have
learnt to own the God of Israel as their Saviour, " In that
day," among the innumerable cities of the populous nation,
there will be just "five"" speaking the language of Canaan,
and swearing to Jehovah of Hosts, /.^., using the Hebrew
language in their religious rites, in token of their loyalty to
Israel's faith : " one of them shall be called the city of de-
struction " — with Heliopolis, the city devoted to the worship of
the sun, in his mind, and playing upon the name which it might
« From 725, Egypt, as has been just observed, was under the sway of
an Ethiopian dynasty ; but the country was, for administrative purposes,
divided into forty-four provinces or districts, called technically "nomes "
(vo}ioi) , the governors of which attained often to the dignity and importance
of sub-kings. A spirit of local jealousy prevailed in these " nomes " ; and
when the central authority was weakened, the tendency was for Egypt to be
broken up into local factions, headed by the leadeis of rival districts.
■The number implies a small proportion: comp. xxx. 17. Herodotus
(ii. 177) was told that before the Persian conquest thert were 20,000 cities
in the country.
94 ISAIAH.
have borne in Hebrevi', Isaiah says, that it wfll be no mo7«
' ir ka-chJres, " the city of the sun,'' but * ir ha-kires^ *' the city oi
destruction^^ the city in which the. sun-worship has been de-
stroyed.' In lieu of the obehsks and other heathen emblems with
which Egypt abounded, there will henceforward be the tokens
that it is a land devoted to Jehovah — an altar in its midst, and
a pillar, symbolizing the same truth to all who enter it, upon its
border. The people will be zealous and prompt in the perform-
ance of their religious duties {v, 2i). Egypt and Assyria, im-
placable at present in their enmity, will then unite har-
moniously in the common service of Jehovah (^. 25) : more
than this, they will hold a position not inferior to Israel itself,
and will share the same privileges and the same honourable
titles which have been hitherto reserved for the chosen nation
alone (7/. 25).
The expressions in v, 18-2-5 ^^® of course figurative, and are
not to be understood literally any more than, e.g., the expressions
in xi. 1 5 f. The prophet, desiring to express the truth that the day
will come when Egypt will recognize the God of Israel, clothes
his idea in the religious forms with which his own age was
familar — the attar," the pillar,^ the vow. But we are impressed
by the width and catholicity of Isaiah's view : not merely Egypt,
the nation which more than any other he himself mistrusted,
but Assyria, the power which he saw from the first was des-
tined to be his people's oppressor (vii. 18 ff.), are treated by
him as incorporated in the ideal kingdom of God. *' Never had
the faith of prophet soared so high, or approached so near to the
conception of a universal religion, set free from every trammel
of national individuality." ^ "He rises far above the strife ol
party and the war of nations, and points to that golden age in
which all strife and war will cease : when Egypt and Assyria
» The best explanation of th& verse is Jer. xliii. pj, where Beth-shemesh
(i.tf., " House of the Sun") alludes to the great Temple of Turn («,*., thesun)
in the same city. The site of Heliopolis is near Cairo, on the north-east.
In ancient times the city was full of obelisks^ dedicated to the sun, of which
now only one remains erect. " Cleopatra's needle " was one of two erectetj
by Thothmes III. (of the i8th dynasty), in front of the Temple of Turn
(Ebers, '* Egypt," i. 186-8).
" It may not be superfluous to remark that these terms cannot denote q
pyramid, as has been oddly supposed.
3 W. R. Smith, " Prophets of Israel," p. 33,6*
PROPHECY ON EGYPT, 95
and Israel will a.11 be one people, sharing the sacred names that
are the peculiar inheritance of Israel.'*' True: such an era
never dawned for Assyria or for Egypt. But these nations
represent to the prophet the heathen world which was
*' eventually to be incorporated in the kingdom of God. The
prediction can never be realized for those nations, because they
have ceased to exist; but it will yet be realized in that great
peace of the world, which is the hope of all the nations of
mankind." '
The date of the prophecy is uncertain, as it is not clear who
is alluded to by the expression in v. 4, a " cruel lord," and a
" fierce king." On the whole, the opinion of Prof. Cheyne is
as plausible as any, that it was written in 720 upon the occasion
of the defeat of the Egyptians by Sargon at Raphia. It is true
that Sargon did not actually enter and " rule over'* Egypt ; it was
reserved for Esarhaddon to take that step, many years later, in
672 : but it is not necessary to suppose that Isaiah had any
individual definitely in view in v. 4 — what he rather means to
express is his sense that, owing to its inherent political in-
capacity, the whole country will fall a prey to the first ambitious
and determined man who invaded it. And this actually happened.
Already Sabako had acquired an over-lordship over Egypt ; hei
armies were defeated by both Sargon (in 720 and 711) and
Sennacherib (in 701) ; Esarhaddon penetrated as far as Thebes,
breaking up the country into twenty governments, and reducing
it to the condition of an Assyrian dependency, which with some in-
terruption was maintained till another foreigner, a Libyan named
Psammetichus, made himself master of the country about 660,
and inaugurated a new era in Egyptian history by opening it, for
the first time, to the Greeks.^ Thus, once and again, Egyptian
nationality showed itself unable to hold its ground. That Isaiah
as early as 720 had begun to view Egypt with distrust, appears
plainly from chap, xxviii. (p. 51), and this date has more to re-
commend it than 703-2 (which has also been suggested), when
Isaiah would, perhaps, be less disposed to view with such a
favourable eye the future prospects of Assyria.
This prophecy is remarkable for the acquaintance which it
sfaaT^s with the local peculiarities of Egypt ^, 2, 6, 7, &c.)
« C. A, Briggs, ** Messianic Prophecy," 1886, pp. 207, ao8.
■ Rid.t p. 208. 3 Herodotus ii. i5z-i5.{.
|6 ISAIAH.
On chap xx. (the siege of Ashdod), see p. 53.
Chap. xxi. i-io on Babylon. The prophet in imagination
sees Babylon besieged by an eager and impetuous foe : the
vision, as he gazes at it, agitates and appals him {v, 3-4) j
and he announces the issue, as a duty imposed upon him,
but with no sense of satisfaction or relief («'. 10). The prophecy
has been commonly referred to the capture of Babylon by the
Medes and Persians under Cyrus in 538. This view, however,
is not free from objection ; for, firstly, no intelligible purpose
would be subserved by Isaiah's announcing to the generation of
Hezekiah an occurrence lying like this in the distant future
and having no bearing on contemporary interests : and, secondly,
it does not account for the attitude of alarm and aversion with
which the prophet contemplates the issue {v, 3, 4, 10), so different
from the strain of exuberant exultation with which elsewhere
the prophets always announce the fall of the great oppressing
city (chap. xiii. 2-xiv. 23 ; chaps. xl.-Ixvi. ; Jer. L-li.). It is
probable therefore that Prof. Cheyne is right in following the
view proposed by a German scholar, Dr. Kleinert, in 1877, and
in referring it to a siege of Babylon by the Assyrzans \n Isaiah's
own time. As we now know (p. 45), Merodach-Baladan sought
indefatigably to free his native city Babylon from its condition of
unwilling subjection to Assyria ; and prior to his revolt of the
year 710 had "for twelve years" been "sending ambassadors."
The embassy to Hezekiah, narrated in Isa. xxxix., was in all
probability one of those thus undertaken by Merodach-Baladan
for the purpose of providing himself with allies. Inasmuch
now as there was at this time in Judah a party straining its
utmost to combine all elements antagonistic to Assyria, there is
nothing unreasonable in supposing that some understanding
was arrived at between the ambassadors from Babylon and
Judah. Upon this view of the circumstances of the occasion,
Hezekiah's motive in displaying his treasures will have been to
satisfy the embassy that he had resources at his disposal; and
Isaiah's rebuke (xxxix.6 f.) gains in significance and force. If, now,
such an understanding subsisted, when the Assyrians entered
upon the task of reducing the rebellious city to submission, the
issue of the struggle would be awaited with eagerness in Judah :
for their success would of course mean not only the failure of
the combination against Assyria, but the prompt and condign
punishment of those who were suspected of being implicated
PROPHECY ON BABYLON. 97
'fl it. This success Isaiah finds it his duty to annor.tnce. His
human sympathies are with his own people : he foresees the
sufferings which, sooner or later, the present triumph of Assyria
will entail upon them ; nevertheless he delivers his message
faithfully, though he betrays by his accents and tone that it is
one which does not fall readily from his lips.'
The mode in which Isaiah conveys the announcement to his
people forms the most striking scene which the volume of his
prophecies contains. "As tempests in the South sweeping along *'
— as the whirlwinds, that is, rising rapidly with tempestuous
violence Job i. 19), in the south land (the "Negeb") of Judah
— "it Cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land " : the
prophet is sensible of some mysterious agency borne along
irresistibly from the Arabian desert towards Babylon. A
"hard" vision unfolds itself next before his gaze, overwhelming
him with anguish and alarm (^. 2-5). He sees the enemy —
who is denoted by the same characteristic terms" which he uses
in xxxiii. i to designate the Assyrian — storming the Babylonian
capital, and hears him in spirit exhorting his forces to commence
the assault : " Go up, O Elam ; besiege, O Media." The fated
city is only too confident and unprepared ; its generals andofficers
are revelling at a banquet {v. $d), when suddenly the loud call
to arms interrupts the feast : " Arise, O princes, anoint the
shield 1 "3 But how has Isaiah been assured of the issue? In
the next verses he explains this. He describes how in spirit he
had ascended his prophet's watch-tower,* with instructions :
" should he see a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of asses, a
troop of camels" — z>., along military train moving along — "let
him hearken diligently with much heed," to discover, if possible,
the message which they bear. For a while, eagerly as his
'attention was fixed, he saw and heard nothing; and his long
« Comp. Jer. xvii. 16 ; xx. 7-9 ; Ezek. xxiv. 15-18, passages which
exemplify th6 distinction between the human interests of the prdphet and
the Divine impulse actuating him.
" The " treacherous dealer " — i.e,, the barbarotis warrior, who "has no
regard for the law of humanity" (Cheyne) — and the "devastator."
*' Elam" and " Media" are named (like Elam and Kir, in xxii. 6) as con-
tingents in the assailing army.
3 /.*., prepare for action — the shields being "anointed/' in order that
the missiles of the enemy might glide readily off them.
4 For the figure of the " watchrian *' applied to the prophet, see Hab. it
I ; Ezek. xxxiii. 7.
8
98 ISAIAH.
and fruitless watch wrung from him a cry of impatience ' {v, 8).
Even as he speaks, however, his inner eye descries " a troop oi
men, horsemen by pairs " : silently, like the figures in a camera
obscura^ they move in the distance over the plain : at first,
apparently, he does not perceive their significance ; he pauses
for a moment, and it flashes across him — they are the messengers
bringing tidings of what has occurred ; and he answers forth-
with, " Fallen, fallen is Babylon ; and all the images of its
gods he hath broken to the ground." The second part of this
answer is a rebuke aimed indirectly at those in his own country
who had been tempted to rest their hopes upon an alliance with
the idolatrous power. " O thou my threshing, and child of my
floor " — «>., Judah hardly treated by the merciless Assyrian —
" that which I have heard from Jehovah of Hosts, the God of
Israel, have I declared unto you."
Though the scene in v. 6-9 is an ideal one, it is pourtrayed
with all the vividness of real life ; and we can see in imagina-
tion the prophet — like the watchman " on the roof of the gate,"
for whose report David listened so intently (2 Sam. xviii. 24
ff.), or like that other watchman, standing upon " the tower in
Jezreel," spying afar off a company of horsemen, but uncertain
for a while what it signified (2 Kings ix. 17-20) — eagerly scan-
ning the horizon, his eye fixed, his mind intent, the disappoint-
ment visible on his countenance transformed to hope, the hope
changing into sadness, until finally, with grave and solemn
earnestness, he delivers the message which he has "heard."
Whether Babylon was actually upon this occasion taken under
the circumstances described by the prophet, cannot be said :
probably, as in other cases {e.g,^ x. 28-32 ; xxx. 33), the details
are merely the drapery in which Isaiah clothes his idea ; but
it is certain that the Assyrian attack was successful, and
Sargon relates (p. 45 f.) how he triumphantly entered Merodach-
Balad^n's capital, and re-established the Assyrian power over
Babylonia.
Chap. xxi. 11-12, on Dumah. Neither the Dumah of Gen.
XXV. 14, nor that of Josh. xv. 52, can be here intended by Isaiah ;
and as the prophecy plainly relates to Seir (Z.^., Edom), it is
probable that the name, which signifies silence (Ps. xciv. 17), ii
an anagram (though not an exact one) of Edom, with an allu
' Such appears to be the sense of the comparison, ** cried as a lion."
PROPHECIES ON DUMAH AND ARABIA. 99
sion to the *^' silence" which the prophet sees is reserved for it.
Edom was celebrated for its ** wisdom" (Obad. 8; Jer. xlix. 7),
ue.^ for shrewdness in discovery (i Kings iii. 28 ; x. 3, 4, 8 ;
Prov. i. 6) or device (2 Sam. xiv. 2 ; xx. 16) ; and ISaiah, as it
seemsj adapts this prophecy to the character of the nation which
it concerns, casting it into a dark, enigmatic form, with the
view of stimulating their interest. A call of inquiry seems to
reach him from Edom, ** Watchman,' what hour of the night?"
The call is repeated, in token of the anxiety with which it is
asked. He replies, " Morning cometh, and also night : if ye
would inquire, inquire ; return, come {or^ turn, viz,^ to God,
come);" ue. (if the "dark speech" be rightly interpreted),
" Edom may see the dawn of brighter days, but it will be but
the dawn, a night of trouble will quickly follow. If ye would
have fuller information, ye may come and ask again " — with an
allusion, perhaps, to the other sense of the word rendered return^
viz., "turn" to Jehovah (x. 21), as the condition of a more satis-
fying reply. The prophet has nothing hopeful to communicate to
Edom ; and purposely gives his answer indirectly.
Chap. xxi. 13-17, on Arabia. The term "Arabia," in the
Old Testament, is not used in such a wide sense as in modern
English, and denotes merely a particular tribe, having its home
in the northern part of what is now known as the Arabian,
peninsula, and mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 20-21 by the side of
Dedan and Kedar as engaged in commerce with Tyre. Isaiah
sees a tide of invasion about to overflow the region inhabited by
these tribes, and addresses the Dedanite caravans, warning them
that they will have to turn aside from their customary routes
and seek concealment in the "forest." In v. 14 he sees in
imagination the natives of Tema bringing food and water to the
fugitive traders.^ Tema was the name of a tribe settled in the
same neighbourhood, about 250 miles south-east of Edom, on
the route between Damascus and Mecca,^ in a locality in which
some interesting inscriptions have recently been discovered.
Within a year, the prophet concludes, the glory of the wealthy
' A different word from that in v. 6, and signifying not one who spies or
hoks out, but one \i)\o guards or keeps (Ps. cxxx. 6).
* The past tenses in v. 14 do not describe what has actually occurred ;
fliey are instances of the *' prophetic" past, denoting what the prophet see*
(»i vision as completed, and describes accordingly (so ix, 1-7; x. 28-31, &c,)
3 So Delitzsch. Otherwise Wetzstein, ap. Cheyne.
iOO ISAIAH.
pastoral (ch. Ix. 7) tribe of Kedar — here used so as to include
by implication its less influential neighbours— will be past, and
of its warriors only an insignificant remnant will survive.
Sargon names " Samsieh, queen of the land of Aribu," as.
paying him tribute, both in 720, after the battle of Raphia, and
in 715" (though it does not appear that he conducted in this
year any expedition into these parts) ; and in 711 he mentions
(P- 45) Edom as concerned in a treasonable conspiracy with
Judah and other nations. It may be conjectured that these
two prophecies were delivered in view of an expected campaign
of Sargon in one of these years — probably either in 720 or in
711, when his troops are known to have been engaged in the
district south of Palestine.
Chap. xxii. contains the only two strictly domestic prophecies
which have found a place in the present group. The aim of the
firstof these, z/. 1-14,15 to administer a rebuke to the inhabitants
of the capital, on account of the undignified temper exhibited by
them upon an occasion when their city was threatened with an
assault by the foe. The prophecy is a difficult one, but the
situation, so far as the allusions enable us to judge, is ap-
parently as follows. The Assyrians are outside the city : an
encounter has already taken place ; and many of the Judseans
have fallen dishonourably {v, 2, 3). The occasion, however, is
treated by the people at large partly with indifference, partly
with the forced gaiety of despair {v, i). The prophet, on the
other hand, is overwhelmed with grief and shame ; yet so little
are his emotions in harmony with the feeling prevalent about
him that the attempt is even made to calm and console him
{v. 4, 5). Isaiah now goes back to describe more particularly
what has occurred. When the Assyrian troops were actually at
the gates {v. 6, 7), hasty measures of defence were taken — the
armoury in " the house of the forest of Lebanon " " was ex-
amined, the fortifications were repaired, provision was made to
ensure a supply of water in the event of a siege {v. Z-iia) ; yet
no thought was directed to Jehovah who alone could ensure the
safety of the city (z/. lib). The call had been to humiliation and
seriousness (v. 12) ; but there had been no response ; and when
the moment of danger came, it found the people so unprepared
* Schrader, p. 397, 404 ; " Records," ix., p. 5 ; vii., p. 34.
• Comp, I Kir gs vii. 2 with i Kings x. 17.
PROPHECY ON JERUSALEM. lOI
that not only was an ignominious disaster the result, but the
survivors were demoralized, and abandoned themselves to de-
spair, heedless of the future — " Let us eat and drink ; for to-
morrow we shall die" {v. 13). It is the discreditable temper
thus exhibited, that is the occasion of the prophecy, and evokes
from Isaiah the severe rebuke with which it ends (v. 14).
But what is the invasion to which Isaiah here alludes ? The
measures described in v. 6-1 1 agree generally with those attri-
buted in 2 Chron. xxxii. 3-6 to Hezekiah upon news of the
approach of Sennacherib's forces in 701, The objection to
referring the prophecy to that date arises from the contrast of
tone which it displays, as compared with the other prophecies
belonging to the same period ; in these (see Chap. VII.) he exerts
himself uniformly to encourage and sustain, whereas here the
language is minatory to a degree unparalleled in any other part
of his writings. Ewald was so impressed by the difference of
tone distinguishing this prophecy from others belonging to the
period of Sennacherib's invasion, that he postulated for it a dif-
ferent occasion, which he himself assigned conjecturally to the
reign of Shalmaneser. Since Ewald wrote, however, Assyriolog^
has brought to light abundant particulars relating to Sargon's
reign, and the text has been already quoted (p. 49), in which-
that monarch styles himself " subjecter of the land of Judah.*
It is considered that this text confirms the justice of Ewald'3
view, and gives the occasion which Ewald could only supply by
conjecture. The prophecy, it is supposed, alludes to one of the
successes by which Sargon won that title ; and it is referred to
the year 711, when he mentions Judah (p. 45) as "speaking
trea£.on" against him — a circumstance which would form a suf-
ficient pretext for a body of troops being detached from the
siege of Ashdod and despatched against it. That is not impos-
sible. There may have been at this time some collision with
Sargon's soldiery, resulting in a defeat of the forces of Judah,
such as Isaiah describes. It is, however, too bold to assume
(as has been done ') that Sargon gained a series of successes
* The writer regrets on this point to be unable to yield assent to the
conclusions of his friend, Professor Cheyne. He has never been able to
satisfy himself either that sufficient daia exist to support such a hypothesis.
or that the facts require it. He agrees with the criticisms of W. R. Smith,
" Prophets of Israel," p. 296 f., though the view expressed in the text was
reached by him independently and prior to the appearance of Dr. Smith's
volume.
I02 ISAIAH.
against Judah, and even ended by capturing Jerusalem ' ; mort
probably immediate submission was tendered, with offer of tri-
bute, which satisfied his demands.^ It is however possible that
the prophecy may refer to an episode in the invasion of Senna-
cherib — to the first alarm, for instance, which the sight of his
troops inspired. There may easily have been at such a ciisis
fluctuations of feeling which our authorities do not notice ; and
for a time the temper of the capital may have been such as to
merit the rebuke administered by the prophet, though afterwards
the panic was allayed, and discipline restored.^
Chap. xxii. 15-25, on Shebna. This prophecy illustrates
the influence wielded by Isaiah in the domestic politics
of Judah. Shebna was a minister holding an important
office in Jerusalem, and no doubt representing a pohcy
obnoxious to Isaiah — probably one of the friends of Egypt :
and the prophet exerts himself here to secure his over-
throw. The office that Shebna filled was that of Governor
or Comptroller of the Palace, an office dating from the time
when Solomon completed the organization of the monarchy,-*
and, owing to the duties and privileges attached to it, a post of
authority and influence. From the terms used in v. 16, it may
be inferred that Shebna was not a native of Jerusalem ; to judge
from the form of his name, he was probably a Syrian. Isaiah
accosts him as an ostentatious foreigner, presuming to treat
Jerusalem as though it were his native home, and parading its
streets in state ("the chariots of thy glory," v, 18). He declares
to him, in no measured terms, that he will assuredly be hurled
ere long from his office, and banished from the country in dis-
grace (7/. 17-19). Eliakim, a man of approved views, will be
invested as his successor with the robes of office, and will be
entrusted with the "key of the house of David," i.e.j will
receive the authority peculiar to his office, and delegated to the
holder of it by the king. His tenure of office will be assured ;
« Sayce, " Fresh Light," &c., pp. 137, 157.
« The term mushacnish ("subjecter") need not appai'ently imply more
than this. Ramman-nirar is said to have " subjected to his yoke " the land
of Israel (Schrader, p. 213, 1. 19), viz., by imposing tribute upon it {lb,
p. 216). The notice is, moreover, an isolated one {see the context in
Oppert, Inscriptions des Sargonides, 1862, p. 34) : in the continuous annali
of Sargon's reign, no mention is made of an invasion of Judah.
3 So W. R. Smith, " Prophets of Israel," p 346.
4 I Kings iv. 6 ; s Kings xv. 5 ; in Israel, i Kings xvi. 9 ; xviii. 3.
PROPHECY ON TYRE. IO3
and his elevation, the prophet adds, in language betraying,
apparently, a touch of satire, will redound to the honour and
advantage of his relations.'
The prophecy must be prior to 701, — for in that year (chap.
xxxvi. 3 ; xxxvii. 2) Eliakim is mentioned as holding the office
here promised to him by Isaiah ; and Shebna occupies the sub-
ordinate position of "scribe," or secretary. Perhaps Shebna
had been degraded, when events in 701 made it plain how
gravely the friends of Egypt were jeopardizing the State.
Whether after the triumph of Isaiah and his party, which that
year subsequently saw, his prediction was more completely
fulfilled by Shebna's banishment, we have no means of knowing.
Chap, xxiii., the last of Isaiah's foreign prophecies, on Tyre.
The Phoenicians were conspicuous in antiquity for enterprise and
activity ; and Tyre, their chief city, was the pioneer of com-
merce, the parent of colonies, the mistress of the sea. Tyrian
merchants were the first who ventured to navigate the Mediter-
ranean waters ; and they founded their colonies on the coasts
and neighbouring islands of the jEgean Sea, in Greece, on the
north coast of Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily
and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus, and even beyond the pillars
of Hercules, at Gadeiia (Cadiz). The Phoenicians exerted an
important influence upon the early development of Greece,
by acting as a channel of civilization and art,' and the nations
of Europe are indebted to them for their knowledge of that
greatest of all inventions, the alphabet.^ A graphic picture of
the extent and variety of Tyrian commerce is drawn by Ezekiel,
writing about 5U8 B.C., in the twenty-seventh chapter of his
* The vessels, large and small, in v. 24, are figures of the various members
of Eliakim's family. As vessels of every kind are suspended upon a nail,
so will Eliakim's connexions, rich and poor alike, support themselves upon
tiim in his new dignity. Verse 25 is difficult. It is generally understood to
jrefer to Eliakim, who the prophet foresees will misuse his position in favour
of his many relatives, and meet in consequence witli the usual fate which
attends nepotism. But this comes strangely after the laudatory terms that
have been applied to Eliakim, and perhaps Gesenius and Ewald are right
in supposing that Isaiah in this verse reverts to the fall of Shebna.
■ See the luminous study of Lenormaut, ** Les premieres Civilisations,*
ii. p. 313 f£ ; or Sayce, in The Contemporary Review, Dec, J878.
3 The characters in old Greek inscriptions are scarcely distinguishable
Crom Phoenician, and ate even written similarly from right to left, or indis*
ctiminaXelyj iu opposite direciions in alternate lines.
I04 ISAIAH.
Book. The oldest Phoenician city was Sidon (Gen. x. 15) ; bul
Tyre had a longer and more illustrious history. In Isaiah's
time Tyre consisted of two parts, a rock fortress, forming the
older city, built on the mainland^ and an island, situate about
half a mile distant. This island was strongly fortified: it was
taken by Alexander the Great after a siege of seven months,
by an enormous mole being thrown across to it from the main-
land ; the mole still remaining, what was formerly an island
is now a peninsula. This, however, was not the only memorable
siege which the city sustained. Josephus relates, on the
authority of the Tyrian historian, Menander, that the island
city held out against a combined attack of Shalmaneser and of
Phoenicians of the mainland who assisted him for five years ;
but he does not state how the struggle terminated. Owing,
however, to the failure, in the reign of Shalmaneser, of Assyrian
sources (p. 44), this statement of Josephus cannot be controlled.
Nebuchadnezzar also besieged it, — according to Josephus, for
thirteen years ; but again there is uncertainty whether he suc-
ceeded in taking it. Ezekiel, from the manner of his allusion
in xxix. 18, implies apparently that he did not. Both Tiglath-
Pileser and Sargon mention tribute being paid by Tyre ; but
there is no statement that either besieged it. After all these
sieges Tyre recovered, though it ceased to be a place of the
same political and commercial importance. The last blow was
given to it A.D. 1291, when it was taken by the Saracens, and its
entire population expelled.
The prophecy is artistically constructed, and may be divided
into four strophes.
Ships returning from Tarshish, the Phoenician emporium in
Spain, are greeted upon their arrival at Cyprus ' with the un-
expected tidings that the great merchant city has fallen. Her
populous quays are empty and deserted, and the island fortress
is compared in her desolation to a woman passionately be-
wailing her childlessness {v, 1-5). There is no hope left for
Tyre where she is ; let the ancient proud city find herself a
home elsewhere ; let her emigrate, and take refuge in her
colonies ! But who, the prophet here asks, has purposed this
against Tyre, "the crowning' city, whose merchants are
■ Kittim (Gen. x. 4), i.e., Kition, the capital of Cyprus,
• Alluding to the kings ruling in the Tyrian colonies
PROPHECY ON TYRE. I05
princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth " ?
It is Jehovah's purpose, is the answer, "to profane the
pride of all glory, to ■ bring into contempt all the honour-
able of the earth" {v. 6-9). But further humiliation yet
awaits Tyre. The fall of the mother city is the signal for
the emancipation of lier colonies : Tarshish may now *' over-
flow" its "land as the Nile," fearless of restraint ; even there-
fore, should Tyre follow Isaiah's advice and emigrate, her
colonies would be free to repel her: — "Arise, pass over to
Kittim : even there thou shalt have no rest ! " The next verse
is difficult and uncertain : as rendered in the R.V., it describes
the punishment recently inflicted upon the land of Chaldea and
its capital, Babylon, by the Assyrians, to which the prophet
ominously points as an example of what Tyre may expect, when
her turn comes to be attacked by Assyria. The third strophe
ends as the first had begun, with the same ominous cry : —
** Howl, ye ships of Tarshish ; for your stronghold is laid waste/'
In the fourth and last strophe, the prophet dwells upon the
revival of Tyre in the ideal future. After seventy years of
enforced retirement and quiescence, Tyre will resume her
previous activity, but with the significant change that her gains
will now be consecrated to Jehovah, supplying food and stately
clothing to the people of Israel who dwell in His immediate
presence (z'. 18). The figure under which Isaiah expresses
this thought, appears to us a strange one ; but it is suggested
by the reflection that devotion to gain as such, unrelieved by
any ennobling principle, is an unworthy occupation, which may
easily degenerate into spiritual prostitution.' The prophet
having once made use of the figure retains it to the end. Dis-
engaged from its singular garb, the truth which he enunciates
is an important one. Tyre was pre-eminently, in Isaiah's day,
the representative of the spirit of commerce : and the prophet
here anticipates the time when this spirit may be elevated
and purified. Isaiah, as we have seen, pictures to himself the
future growth of religion among the different nations with which
he was acquainted under figures consonant to the peculiarities
of each : in the case of Tyre, it takes the form of a purification
of the base spirit of commerce ; the old occupation of Tyre is
not discarded, it is only purged of its worldliness, and ennobled.
If verse 13 be rightly interpreted, the event alluded to will
» Comp. Nahum iii. 4 (of Nineveh).
I06 ISAIAH.
fix, at least as a terminus a quo^ the date of the prophecy.
Babylonia was ravaged, and Babylon itself entered, by the
Assyrians, nr^ore than once during Isaiah's lifetime, — by Sargon
in 709; by- Sennacherib in 703, and again in 696-5, The
language of v, 13 is most exactly applicable to the third
of these occasions, when Sennacherib relates, "The city and
houses from its foundation to the upper chambers I destroyed,
I dug up, in the fire I burnt."* The successes gained by
him in 703 (above, p. 55) would, however, be hardly exagge-
rated by the terms of IsaiaVs description. The criteria are
insufficient to enable us to fix the date absolutely^ If the
prophecy were written between 703 and 701, Isaiah may have
anticipated in it the attack made by the Assyrians upon
Phoenicia in 701, when Sidon was indeed taken by Senna-
cherib, though his inscription (p. (>6) is silent with regard to
Tyre. But at whatever period in Isaiah's life the prophecy was
written, there is no evidence that it was fulfilled, either at
once or subsequently, in accordance with the details of his
description. Tyre indeed was shorn in the end of her former
glory, but the process was a gradual one. As in so many
other cases, the prophecy is fulfilled only in its main conception,
and the details are but the poetical form in which this is pre-
sented, and are unessential."
« " Records/' ix. p. 28.
■ The "seventy years " of w. 18, must also, as it would seem, be sym-
bolical. At least, it is arbitrary to identify them with the period of Baby-
lonian supremacy, B.c. 604-538. There is nothing to authorize the inference
that either 604 or 538 marked an epoch in the history of Tyre ; and the
siege by Nebuchadnezzar must {Ezdc. xxvi. i compared with xxix 17) hav«
iallen between 588 and 572.
CHAPTER IX.
ISAIAH*S CHARACTER AND GENIUS.
!9aiah as a statesman and social reformer — His most characteristic theo-
logicat doctrines— The figure of the Messiah — Isaiah's literary and
poetical genius.
Our study of Isaiah, as a prophet interested in the hopes and
fears, the projects and the disappointments, of the age of Ahaz
and Hezekiah, is concluded. The parts of his book which re-
main to be noticed stand unrelated to the period of his lifetime,
and contribute no fresh features to the picture which we have
formed of his character and personality. The present will there-
fore be a convenient occasion for a review of the position occu-
pied by him in his own age. We may consider him under the
four aspects of statesman, reformer, theologian, and poet.
The position taken by Isaiah as a statesman has been so
abundantly illustrated in these pages, that little need be here
added. Isaiah realized in anticipation the noble ideal of a single-
hearted statesman sketched four centuries afterwards by the
Athenian patriot Demosthenes : ' "to discern events in their be-
ginnings, to be beforehand in the detection of movements and
tendencies, and to forewarn his countrymen accordingly ; to
fight against the political vices, from which no State is free, of
procrastination, supineness, ignorance, and party-jealousy ; to
impress upon all the paramount importance of unity and friendly
feeling, and the duty of providing promptly for their country's
needs." This was his ideal: and how strenuously he sought to
be true to it, his whole career attests. Regarded practically, the
views which he advocated were clear, consistent, and sound.
The circumstances of the age threatened to entangle Judah with
foreign powers, and Isaiah lays down the principles by which
■ "De Corona," § 246, p. 318. Quoted by Sir Edward Stracheyj
'Jewish History," &c., p. 3.
I08 ISAIAH.
her action should be guided. In the panic caused by the Syro-
Ephraimitic invasion, Isaiah alone (so far as appears) retained the
power of sober reflection, estimated the danger at its just pro-
portions, and saw that no stress of circumstances could justify
the abandonment of principle, or neutralize the consequences in
case it should be resorted to (viii. 12-15). Isaiah, then, dis-
countenanced the application to Assyria ; when, however, it was
made, and the Assyrian protectorate had become z.fait accompli^
he acquiesces ; and all his eflforts are directed towards averting
a rupture. From the first he saw the hoUowness of Egyptian
promises ; and it was doubtless owing chiefly to his exertions
and influence that the alliance with Egypt was deferred for so
many years. The soundness of his judgment was shown by the
event. Again and again, when it came to a contest of strength,
Egypt was defeated by Assyria ; neither to Samaria, nor to
the Philistines, nor to Judah, did she render any effectual aid ;
and Jerusalem was only rescued from destruction by an occur-
rence which could not have been calculated upon, and which
was the termination of a crisis, that (so far as we can judge)
would itself not have arisen had Isaiah's counsels been listened
to. And the strength and support which in that crisis Isaiah
proved himself to be, in the midst of the distracted capital, we
have seen in Chapter VII.
As a reformer Isaiah laboured to correct all political and
social abuses. To elevate statesmanship, to purify justice, to re-
form religion, to fight against inconsistency, to redress social
wrongs, was the aim which he set himself in life ; and his book
discloses to us the persistency and uncompromising earnestness
with which he pursued it. No rank escapes his censure. The
soothsayers, and other professors of occult arts, who found in
Judah an only too ready welcome ; the men of wealth and influ-
ence, who ignored the responsibilities of office or position ; the
leaders of opinion, who possessed weight in the government, or
gave a tone to society ; the irreligious, short-sighted politicians,
who nevertheless knew how tc put forward their views in
an attractive and plausible guise ; a powerful minister, whose
policy he saw was calculated to jeopardize the State ; the women,
whose frivolity and thoughtlessness on two distinct occasions
suggested to him his darkest apprehensions for the future ; the
masses, whom he saw sunk in indifference or formalism ; the king
himself, whether it were Ahaz, in his wilfulness and insincerity,
THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH. IO9
or Hezekiah listening incautiously to the overtures of a foreign
potentate — all in turn receive his bold and fearless rebuke.
True, this aspect of a prophet's work, to enforce a proper standard
of action, to remind a nation of the moral obligations which its
professions of religion impose upon it, was in no way peculiar to
Isaiah : it is common more or less to all the prophets ; but it
is exemplified by Isaiah with singular completeness and force
in the course of his lifelong conflict with the dominant ten-
dencies of his age.
Theologically, there is, of course, much that is common to
Isaiah with other prophets ; we must look the more attentively
in order to ascertain what is distinctive or new. As has been
remarked (p, 18), the aspects of the Divine nature most promi-
nent in Isaiah's writings are those of majesty and holiness.
The attribute of majesty is effectively represented in the picture
of Jehovah's '* Day " (ii. 10-21) ; it is conspicuous also in the
figures of a manifestation of Divine power, which shape them-
selves in the prophet's imagination {e.g,^ v. 16; x. 17; 33 f . ;
xxiii. II ; xxviii. 2, 21 ; xxix. 6 ; xxx. 27 f. 30) : it is embodied
in the thought of the seraphs' hymn (vi. 3) that the world in all
its parts is a reflection of the Divine glory. The attribute of
holiness implies that upon occasion Jehovah will vindicate His
holiness in an act of judgment (v. 16) ; it further demands as
its correlative in those who are His people that they should act
towards Him accordingly, or " sanctify" Him, i.e,, treat Him as
holy, and regard Him with reverence and godly awe (viii. 13 ;
xxix. 23). Idols and idolatrous rites are alluded to with con-
tempt, as an unworthy substitute for Jehovah (ii. 8 ; xvii. 8), or
as -a. source of disappointment to their worshippers (i, 29 ; ii.
18, 20; xvii. 10 f.).' Isaiah expects their spontaneous repudia-
tion from the regenerated community of the future (xvii. 8 ; xxx.
22 ; xxxi. 7). There is, however, no formal polemic against
idolatry , such as meets us in Jer. x., or in the second part of
this book (chaps. xl.-xlviii). Like his predecessors, Hosea (vi.
6), and especially Amos (v. 21-27), Isaiah denounces with im-
passioned eloquence the inutility, in the sight of God, of the
external observances of religion (i. 10-17), and of a routine
» The favourite term which Isaiah uses to denote them is ililtm, i.e,
(apparently), nothingnesses (ii. 8, 18, 20 ; x. 11 ; xix. i, 3 ; xxxi. 7} ; in the
sing, (collectively), x. 10, "the kingdoms devoted to Nothingness, w, "th«
kingdoms of the not-gods." (Very rare in other prophets.)
I to ISAIAH.
ceremonial (xxix. 13 f.), when not accompanied by sincerity of
heart, and a consistent discharge of the duties of social life."
Isaiah's most characteristic doctrine is the idea of a judgment
imminent upon the nation, accompanied by the preservation of
a faithful remnant, for whom a new and blissful era will then
immediately begin. This doctrine is first adumbrated at the
time of Isaiah's call (vi. 13) : it is soon afterwards embodied by
him in the name of his son, " Shear-jashub," z.e,, A remnant
shall return (viz., to God) ; it appears subsequently under many
different figures and in different contexts,^ and holds its place in
his last recorded utterance (B.C. 701), chap, xxxvii. 31 f. The
significance of this doctrine to Isaiah has been indicated before
(p. 21 f.). The chosen nation is imperishable ; but Divine
justice requires that its unworthy members should be swept
away : the rest, purged and renovated, will then form the foun-
dation of a new community, exhibiting the ideal character of
the people (Exod. xix. 6, " an holy nation "). The thought of the
security and permanence of Zion, in spite of the distress and
peril which may befall her (xiv. 32 ; xxviii. 16 ; xxix. 5 ; xxxiii.
5), is evidently merely the same idea under another form. The
ideal is nobly and attractively delineated by the prophet : he
grasps it firmly ; and the preceding pages will have shown what
power it held over him, and how constantly he reverts to it.
In the darkest times it is his consolation and support. The
approach of trouble or danger throws him back upon the
thought of the permanence of the nation, and intensifies his
faith in a blissful future reserved for it. The series of passages
belonging to the Assyrian crisis (xxix. 17-24 ; xxx. 20-26 ; xxxii.
1-8, 15-18; xxxiii. 5-6) will be a sufficient illustration of what
has been said.
But how was Isaiah's ideal to be realized ? It is by himself
always closely connected with the end of the Assyrian troubl'^s,
and is apparently to commence as soon as they are passed.
The turning point in the history of the people is the overthrow
of the Assyrian power, which is to mark the inauguration of the
new era.3 This, certainly, never so happened. Nq such trans-
■ Comp. iii. 14 f. v. 7 ("And he looked for justice, but behold oppres-
sion ; for righteousness, but behold a cry ") : xxxiii. 14-16, &c.
^ E.g., i. 27 (" those who return of her ") ; iv. 2 ; x. 21, 22, R.V- ; xxviii.
5 (primarily, of Samaria) ; and elsewhere by implication'
3 See xvi. 4-5; xxix. 17 (" a very httle while"), and comp., «^., xxx. aq
fif. with xxx. 18 f,, or xxxii. i with xxxi. 8 t
ISAIAH'S IDEAL OF THE FUTURE. Ill
formation of society then ensued as the prophet anticipated :
no golden age began for the remnant of Judah. Isaiah's visions
must not be read literally. In their literal sense, they never
were realized ; and, we may safely add, they never can be
realized in the future. The circumstances under which theif
realization was possible, have long since passed away ; the
basin of the Mediterranean sea is no longer the chief centre of
the world's civilization and industry ; there are no Philistines
or Ammonites (xi. 14), to own the suzerainty of restored Israel :
there is no sanctuary on Zion (John iv. 21) privileged to witness
the adoration of the converted Ethiopians (chap, xviii. 7).'
Isaiah's genius enabled him to clothe his ideas in noble imagery ;
and a gallery of gorgeous pictures, the delight and wonder of
the ages, but significant often symbolically^ rather than literally,
is his legacy to humanity. When, however, we divest Isaiah's
thought — for instance, his faith in the permanence and future
renovation of the nation— of the form in which he presents
it, we can see that it has not remained wholly unrealized. For,
in process of time, and after a far more complex series of events
than Isaiah imagined, there were brought into operation, within
the Jewish people, new forces, which exhibiting themselves in
a minority of the entire nation, invested it with new possi-
bilities, and laid the basis for a further progress in the future.
The purification and perfection of society, as a whole, is indeed
a consummation which Christ Himself has taught us not to ex-
pect till ^e end of all things ; but in the Christian dispensation
the goal of Jewish history was reached, and that transformation
of the individual and of society which Isaiah first sketched in
such brilliant colours, was made potentially a reality.
A frequent, but not a constant, figure in Isaiah's picture of
purified and renovated society, is the ideal king, commonly
known as the Messiah.' The development which this idea
received at his hands has been' alluded to already (p. 42). In
place of the permanence of David's dynasty, which is the
substance of Nathan's prophecy, or of the bare representative,
' Comp. also xxiii. 18 (p. 105), xxx. 33 (p. 61), &a
■ /.A, the anointed one^ The "anointed" (same word) "of Jehovah**
'is a standing designation of the chief ruler of Israel (i Sam. xvi. 6 ; xxiv,
7, II ; Ps. XX. 6, &c.) ; and starting from this usage the later Jews desig-
nated the future ideal ruler of the prophets by the title, "theKingMessiah."
Hence " Messiah."
112 ISAIAH.
for the time being, of David's house, which is all that is offered
even by Hosea (iii. 5), Isaiah delineates a concrete, individual
personalitv. whose birth, under remarkable circumstances, he
announces, whom he represents (viii. 8) as the owner and
guardian of the land, and whom he views afterwards, when
arrived at years of discretion, as the capable reformer and ad-
ministrator of David's realm (ix. 6f.; xvi. 5), as endued for his
office with divine graces (xi. 1-4), and as extending far and
wide the blessings of a peaceful and equitable rule (xi, 5-10),
Similar representations, though not so fully developed, appear
in Isaiah's contemporary, Micah (v. 2-6), as well as in Zecnariah
(ix. 9f.), and Jeremiah (xxiii. 5 f.) ; but the portrait is essentially
the creati on of Isaiah, and even later prophets do not contribute
to it any substantially fresh features.
But here, also, as in the previous cases, the fulfilment was no
literal one. Like the prophets generally, Isaiah (cf p. 94) views
the future through the forms of the social and religious organ-
ization under which he lived ; his own times, his own surround-
ings, supply the figures under which he represents it. For cen-
turies the monarchy had been the centre and pivot of the Jewish
constitution ; and accordingly one prominent feature in the
delineations of the future sketched by the prophets is the figure
of the ideal king, who will realize the highest possibilities of
earthly monarchy, governing Israel with perfect justice and
perfect wisdom, and securing for his subjects perfect peace.'
' Observe, the virtues delineated in xi. 2-4 are those of a ruler sjid judge
(the two functions united, as in i Sam. viii, s» 20 ; 2 Sam. viii. 15, &c.),
competent alike to defend his country from its foes (cf. Mic. v. 6), and to
secure justice for his subjects. The foundation of the character of the ideal
prince is the " spirit of Jehovah " resting upon him ; this displays itself in
(i) *' wisdom and understanding," i.e.t the faculty of clear perception leading ■
him aright in matters whether of intellectual or moral interest (i Kings x 8 ;
Job xxviii. 28); (2) "counsel and might," i.e., sagacity in conceiving a
course of action, and firmness and courage in carrying it out (cf. xxxvi. 5) ;
(3) the *• knowledge and fear of Jehovah," i.e., a full apprehension of what
Jehovah demands, and the inclination to act accordingly. This fixes the
ideal prince's character as such : v. 3-4 show next how his character thus
fixed will operate by guiding him in the practical work of government. An
instructive commentary on both this passage and chap, ix, 6'-7 is Jer. xxii,
l-xxiii, 8, where the character of the Messiah (xxiii. 5, 6) is in evident
^ontrast to the imperfect rulers of Jeremiah's own time, described in
chap, xxii, Ps. Ixxii. is a poetical development of the same theme (v. 8
from Zech. ix. 10).
THE MESSIAH 113
But in this form their visions were never realized. The deliverer
promised by Isaiah was to appear speedily (vii. i6) : he was to
free his nation not from their foes generally, but from the Assy -
rians. For though Assyria is not actually named in ix. 4, or
^* 33j yet parallel passages (such as x. 12, 24; xxx. 31;
xxxi. 8) make it plain that Assyria is intended ; and it is quite
without warrant in Biblical usage to suppose the Romans, or
other representatives or successors of the Assyrians, to be in-
cluded in the terms used by^the prophet. We must read such
prophecies as Isaiah's contemporaries would read them : it is
not permissible to impose upon them arbitrary senses in ima-
ginary accordance with the necessities of the fulfilment, Isaiah^s
view does not reach into the distant future ; it is fixed in vii.
14-16 on the immediate future, in chaps, ix. and xi. on a future
not indeed, perhaps, quite so near, but still not remote. At the
same time, the fact that, in chap, xi., uttered a generation after
his first Messianic prophecies (chaps, vii. and ix.), when his hopes
of a literal fulfilment (if such were cherished by him) must
have been disappointed, the vision reappears, as distinct and
brilliant as ever, shows that in truth his conceptions are inde-
pendent of time. They are ideal creations, projected, as has been
said (p. 41), upon the shifting future. By Isaiah himself they
are, indeed, localized always within the Assyrian period ; but
the postponement of their realization, so far from extinguishing
his hopes, invigorates and renews them. They are thus capable
of being detached from the occasion or circumstance with which
originally they were associated. The empire of Assyria passed
aw^-y, yielding to the superior forces of a better organized
nationality : no Messiah or ideal ruler provided Israel with the
means of repelling its attacks (Mic. v. 6), or marked by his just
administration its abandonment of jurisdiction over Palestine
(Isa. xvi. 4-5). But Isaiah's ideal remained ; and, judging from
the example of consistency which has been quoted, it is not too
bold to conclude, that however often his hopes of an immediate
fulfilment might have met with disappointment, he would not
have abandoned it. He would have transferred it, as Jeremiah
did (xxiii. 5-6), to a new point of contact in the future. But
even though thus independent of time, the visions of Isaiah, as
of the other prophets, have still not been realized in the form in
which they conceived them. Christ, it is true, summed up in
Himself the perfections of which Isaiah writes and founded a
9
TT4 ISAIAH.
kingdom : but the king^dom of the prophets is U ansformed : the
glorified earthly kingdom, with a visible centre ar Zion (Isa. h. 25,
has given place to a spiritual " Kingdom of heaven" with no
local centre (John iv. 21) ; and the material blessings which their
ideal king" was to secure for the nations owning his sway ar«
replaced by the empire of Christ exercised over the minds of
men. A too literal interpretation of prophetic imageiy opens
the door to great misunderstandings ; and hence the importance
of noting the conditions by which its application is limited.
Thirdly, Isaiah gives clear expression to the ultimate scope
of Israel's religion. The future establishmeni of a blessed
relationship between Israel and the' Gentiles is probably
hinted at in Gen. xii. 3 ; but it is for the first time exhibited
distinctly by Isaiah — or, at least, by the prophet whose
words he adopts in ii. 2-4 (p. 23) ; and, after him, is met
with frequently in later prophets. This thought is foreign
to Hosea ; Amos (ix. 11 f.) anticipates merely the en-
forced re-subjection of the nations conquered by David to the
yoke of his successors ; Isaiah conceives the relation as a
voluntary one : the nations stream spontaneously (ii. 3) to Zion
as their spiritual metropolis ; in xi. 10, the future scion of
David's house appears as the ensign, or banner, riveting their
gaze ; afterwards, Ethiopia, Egypt, Assyria, Tyre, are repre-
sented as rendering their willing tribute to Israel's God. The
vow, and still more the performance of it (xix. 21), is an especial
mark of voluntary service (Deut. xxiii. 21, 22). As before, the
figurative character of much of Isaiah's language will not be
overlooked : the physical elevation of the Temple hill (ii. 2),
the pilgrimage to it, the "altar" and "pillar" in the land of
Egypt, the "highway " between Egypt and Assyria (xix. 19, 33)
are, it is evident, merely emblems representing the truths which
he .seeks to express under forms suggestive and significant to
his hearers.
On Isaiah, as an orator or poet our remarks must be brief.
Kwald has pointed to the discrimination shown by him in ever
adapting his language to the occasion, and to the skill with
which he secures that the development of the thought is always
complete without being prolix ; the picture impressive, but never
overdrawn. His literary style reflects the elevation and dignity
of his thought. It is chaste and severe ; f;very sentence ig
compact and well rounded ; the movement of the periods is
ISAIAH'S POETICAL GENIUS. II5
•fately and measured. Thus his prophecies form artistic wholes,
adequate to the effect intended, but not more. Then he always
has at his command an apt figure or metaphor to bring his
meaning home : for example, the scene depicted in iii. 6 f. or
xviii. 5, the proverb in ix. i8, the child in x. 19 (cf, \i. 6), the
uneasy couch, xxviii, 20, the disappointing dream, xxix. 8,
the subtle flaw, spreading insidiously through a wall, xxx, 13 f.
For the same purpose he avails himself of the methods which
appeal to an Eastern people — the symbolical act (xx. 2), the
enigmatic word (xxix. 1), and the significant name (viii. i ; xix.
18; xxx. 7). The capacity shown by him for seizing salient
features of character has been observed before (p. 85).
His earliest prophecies already give evidence of his poetical
power ; the " Day " against all that is high and lofty (ii. 12 ff.),
the first description of the Assyrian armies (v. 26-30), the torrent
overflowing its banks and inundating Judah (viii. 7 f.), the
challenge to the nations (zA 9 f.) — are worthy preludes of what
he afterwards accomplished. For it is evident that the great
Assyrian discourses exhibit him in the plenitude of his genius,
and kindle his poetical inspiration to its greatest achievements.
Perhaps, on the whole, the section x. 5-xii. 6 is the most
powerful and original of his writings ; but opinions will differ
on a point of this nature ; and ch. xxix.-xxxiii. contain passages
singularly striking and fine.
Amongst all the prophets, Isaiah is pre-eminent, both for the
variety of the images which he employs, and also for their
grandeur. His imagination never fails him ; and the figures
which it supplies him with are of astonishing brilliancy and
force. Only a few examples can be cited. The signal is raised
aloft upon the mountains^ and we see it commanding the atten-
tion of distant peoples (v. 26 ; xi. 12 ; xviii. 3) ; we see it again
the terribly suggestive symbol of the sparseness and isolation
of his nation's survivors (xxx. 17). The huge forest consumed
rapidly by fire, or deprived of its luxuriant foliage by the axe,
wielded by an invisible hand, represents the collapse of the
hosts of Assyria (x. 16 f. 33). Images borrowed from the country
life of Palestine are often effectively employed by him. The
Divine protection is a canopy or shade (iv. 6a), a rock in a
thirsty land (xxxii. 2), under the burning Oriental noon ; or
again, it is a covert from tjie rain-storm, a refuge from the
tempest, such as are apt to burst in Palestine with appalling
li6 ISAIAH.
violence (iv. 6b), The wadys, dry or nearly so, in summer,
swelling in the winter time to impetuous torrents, suggest to
him some of his grandest pictures — the waters mounting up,
and all but submerging Judah (viii. 7 f.), judgment advancing
irresistibly as a surging tide (x.'22), the rising current washing
away the fortress of Samaria (xxviii. 2), the "overflowing
scourge'* drowning all that it encounters Cxxviii. 18 ; xxx, 28),
the indescribably grand storm by which Assyria is finally panic-
stricken (xxx. 30). Or, again, to illustrate the fewness of the
survivors after the judgment upon Ephraim, he brings us to the
valley of Rephaim, white with an abundant harvest, and shows
us the reaper busy at his work ; he takes us to an olive
garden, on the day when the berries have been beaten off, and
we descry in the uppermost branches the few which have
escaped the beaters' staves (xvii. 5 f.).
Lastly, Isaiah delights in sudden contrasts. The gathering
clouds, which no ray of light seemed able to pierce, are suc-
ceeded by a brilliant day (viii. 22-ix. i) ; the foes pressing
impetuously round the prostrate "daughter of Zion'* are trans-
formed in an instant into clouds of vanishing dust (xxix. 5) ; the
surging multitudes are scattered and disappear in a single night
(xvii, 14) ; the waste and uncultivated ruins are supernaturally
clothed with a rich and abundant verdure (iv, 2) ; the scene of
confusion and destruction, x. 33 f., is succeeded by the marvel-
lous picture of serenity and peace in xi. 1-9 (cf. p. 71, 72), In
conclusion, two examples of bold, but effective, change of image
may be cited ; one (xxxi. 4 f.), in which t'-.e comparison of
Jehovah, advancing against Zion, to a lion descending from the
mountains, and undismayed by the multitude of shepherds
called together to defend the flock against him, is abruptly
followed by the simile of the birds hovering over their nest and
shielding it against its assailants ; the other, from xxxiii, 20 fl;,
where Isaiah surpasses himself in his description of the free and
triumphant Jerusalem of the future. The image with which he
begins is that of a tent, securely pitched, which can defy the
stress of wind and weather. But the vision changes, and we
see the broad stream encircling and protecting Jerusalem ; it
changes again, and the State is now a ship, disabled and dis-
tressed; another image rapidly follows, the victory has beea
won, and the crew are dividing a superabundant spoil
PART II.
P£OPHECIES UNRELATED TO ISAIAHS AGE,
CHAPTER I.
ISRAEL'S TRIBULATION AND SUBSEQUENT REDEMPTION,
(Chapters xxiv.-xxvii.)
The prophecy, chaps, xxiv.-xxvii.j stands by itself in the Book
of Isaiah, and, indeed, in the Old Testament. In its general
diift, it is the description of a great catastrophe about to fall
upon the earth — specially, as it appears, upon the land of Judah
— to be followed by the overthrow of some great power (the
name of which is not stated) hostile to the theocracy, and the con-
sequent triumph of the people of God. No event of Isaiah's
age, with which we are acquainted, constitutes a sufficient occa-
sion for this prophecy ; and, in conception and literary treatment,
it differs remarkably from all the prophecies of Isaiah which
have hitherto been before us. It cannot have been written in
prospect of the Assyrian crisis of 701 ; for we possess a long
series of discourses delivered by Isaiah in 702-1 ; all are con-
structed upon a similar type ; in all Isaiah views similarly the
coming downfall of the Assyrian : but, in the prophecy before
us, both the structure and the point of view are throughout
different. Let the reader who desires to satisfy himself of the
truth of this statement peruse again the prophecies reviewed in
Chaps, VI. and VII. of Part I., and compare them carefully
with the one contained in chaps, xxiv.-xxvii. In particular,
1 18 ISAIAH.
Isaiah never connects either the aggressions or the ruin of the
Assyrian power with movements of the dimensions here contem-
plated. The Assyrian army is annihilated, the plans of the
Assyrian king are defeated : but the earth generally is untouched.
Here, on the contrary (chap, xxiv.), desolation overtakes land
and city alike (7/. 1-12), and words are insufficient to paint the
confusion which is to prevail far and near {v. 17-20). Again,
Isaiah always speaks of the army^ or king, of Assyria ; here the
oppressing power is throughout some great city (compare
XXV. 2-3 ; xxvi. 5). In Isaiah, the "remnant" which escapes is
saved in Judah or Jerusalem (iv. 3 ; xxxvii, 32 ; cf. xiv. 32 ;
xxviii. 16) : here the voices of the redeemed are first heard
from distant quarters of the earth (xxiv. 14-16), Further, the
literary treatment (in spite of the occurrence of certain more or
less characteristic words, which Isaiah also uses) is, as a whole?
unlike Isaiah's : the prophecy contains many peculiar expres-
sions, and the prevailing type of representation is not that of
Isaiah. For these reasons, and especially for the first, the
absence of any occasion in Isaiah's lifetime sufficient to explain
or account for the language here used by the prophet, the author
can hardly be Isaiah. We seem to have before us the work of
some other prophet, not, indeed, devoid of originality, but gifted
with an originality different from Isaiah's ; and we must have
recourse to a different period of Jewish history for the purpose
of explaining it. It is, however, not impossible that it may rest
upon an Isaianic basis, and that its author may have availed
himself sometimes of phrases and verses written by Isaiah : to
this circumstance may perhaps be attributed its incorporation
in the Book of Isaiah, where, moreover, it occupies a suitable
position after the completion of the prophecies dealing with
particular foreign nations (chaps, xiii.-xxiii.). That it was no
unfamiliar custom with the prophets to borrow from the writings
of their predecessors can be demonstrated in the case of Jere-
miah, who (to take but one example) in his prophecy on Moab
(chap, xlviii.) adopts some of the most remarkable and striking
expressions occurring in Isaiah's prophecy on the same nation
(chaps, xv.-xvi.).' Verses here which, in particular, recall the
style or thought of Isaiah, are, for instance, xxiv. 13, 16^^23 :
XXV. 6-8, lo-ii ; xxvii. 9-13.
* See the references in the margin of R,V, on Jer. xlviii. Comp. also
Jer. xlix. 7-16 with Obadiah ; and Isa. ii. a-4 with Mic. iv, 1-3,
CHiiPXERS XXIV.-XXVII, 119
The positive data which exist for fixing the occasion of the
prophecy do not, however, speak decidedly. Moab is named in
XXV, lo, II ; in xxvii. i, Babylon seems to be alluded to, as well
as Assyria and Egypt, as a power to be smitten by Jehovah.
The oppressing city, as has been remarked, is not mentioned
by name. The introduction of Moab is abrupt ; and the unity of
. the prophecy would, no doubt, be more complete if the oppress-
ing city could be identified with the Moabite capital. But the
hostile city seems to be represented as a power too great and
formidable to allow of this identification, so that the allusion to
Moab must be attributed to some incident — probably some
act of insolence or aggression on the part of the Moabites—
of recent occurrence when the prophecy was written/ The
unnamed city is, in all probability, Babylon, according to
the representation usually given of this power (Jeremiah,
passim). We may suppose the prophecy to have been written
on the eve of the Babylonian captivity. Though the terms are
general, the part of the " earth " which the author has chiefly
in view in xxiv. 1-13 is apparently Palestine. The great political
upheaval produced by Nebuchadnezzar (the magnitude of which
may be inferred from the terms in which Jeremiah speaks,
XXV. 15-31) seems to form the historical basis of chap. xxiv. ;
only, since this, as the prophet writes, is still ftiturej he gives the
reins to his imagination, and its effects are described in ideal
colours. The insolent language of Moab, noticed in Ezek.
XXV. 8-1 1 (dating shortly afterwards), would explain the reference
to that country in xxv, 10 f. But, as the prophet looks out into
the future, the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, and the ultimate
fall of his empire, and accompanying deliverance of the Jewish
exiles, foretold by Jeremiah (xxv. 12 ; xxix. 10), are not always
clearly separated from one another ; he passes rapidly from the
approaching troubles to the future deliverance, and back again
to the intervening period of difficulty and suspense. That his
representations do not accord exactly with the event is no
ground of surprise \ like other prophets, the author speaks figu-
ratively : in some of Isaiah's predictions of the ruin of the
Assyrian army (e.g., xxx. 30-33), it would be difficult to recognize;
the disaster which actually befell it. It is ah imaginative pictur e
' It is against tlie usage of the prophets to regard Moab here as typi( al
of Israel's foes in general : Moab, in the Old Testament, is always tnon-
tioned in a strictly literal sense.
I20 ISAIAH.
of the future, which the prophet here draws, embodying through-
out true ideas, but (like many of Isaiah's) not designed to receive
a literal fulfilment. There seems no difficulty in supposing that
such a picture might have been drawn by a contemporary oi
Jeremiah's, developing, in view of the troubles imminent upon
Judah, that prophet's conception of the future restoration of his
nation. Of course, the mode in which the subject is developed
is not that which would be followed by Jeremiah, any more than
it is one which Isaiah would have chosen. It is peculiar to
the author of the prophecy, and in many particulars is original
and uncommon.
The prophet sees a great convulsion about ' to overwhelm the
land, obliterating (-z/. 2) every distinction of class, and spread-
ing ruin and desolation far and wide. In v, 4-12 the scene
is painted with terrible completeness : clause follows clause in
long succession, each adding some fresh trait to the dark
dicture, or describing the cessation, one after another, of the
delights and satisfactions of life. " For thus shall it be in the
midst of the earth among the peoples, as at the beating of the
olive, as at the grape-gleaning when the vintage is done." If
we are right in supposing these verses to be prompted by the
political and social changes which the prophet sees will be a
consequence of Nebuchadnezzar's conquests (Jer. xxv. 15-31),
the immediate reference will be to the approaching ruin ol
the land of Judah ; though, doubtless, other nations are not to
be considered as exempted from the judgment, and the
language of the prophecy soon becomes such (t/. 17-22) as
distinctly to include them. But first, for a moment, the vision
of ruin is interrupted : borne from afar, over the Western waters,
the chorus of praise rising from the lips of the redeemed falls
upon the prophet's ear : — '* These {i.e., the escaped, implied in
V. 13) lift up their voice, they shout : because of Jehovah's majesty
they cry aloud from the sea."' Next, he hears in spirit the song
celebrating the good fortune of the righteous : ** From the skirt
■ xxiv. I, lit, " is making," i.e.^ is on the point of making, as xvii. i, &c.
' The word in v. 15 rendered in R.V. east is very uncertain : probably,
it is best to follow Bp. Lowth and others in reading, with a slight change
in one letter, *' isles." The two clauses of the v, will then be parallel
(cf. for the rhythm Ps. xxix. 5, 8). The " sea " is the Mediterranean : comp,
chap. xi. II end^ and Hos. xi. 10. The majesty of Jehovah is that shown
in the deliverance of His people; cf. Exod. xv. z in the Hebrew.
CHAPTERS XXIV.-XXVII, I2t
of the earth we have heard songs ; * Honour (is come) for the
righteous 1 * " but this, he feels, is premature ; so speaking in the
name of his fellow-countrymen m Judah, he replies, "Misery'
to me I misery' to me I woe is me! The barbarous deal
barbarously, the barbarous deal very' barbarously :" the period
of trouble is njt yet over: another scene in the drama of
judgment has still to be enacted ; and how terrible that will
be is shown by the imagery of the following verses, 17-20,
which depicts shock following shock in succession, until finally
even the earth itself totters in its place. So total, indeed, will
be the ruin of nations, that not only their kings upon earth, but
their guardian princes in heaven, will suffer with them, impli-
cated in their guilt (t/. 21 f.). In the end, however, Zion
will emerge triumphant : and the reign of her Divine king will
then begin, in splendour such as to put to shame the tiatural
luminaries of day and night (z/. 23 ; cf. xxx. 26).
Here the prophet transports himself to the period after the
deliverance has been consummated ; and identifying himself
with the redeemed community, utters in their name a hymn
(xxv. 1-5), expressing their thankfulness for the mercies vouch-
safed to them. God's ancient purposes, they exclaim, have
been fulfilled : the oppressing city has at length been over-
thrown, even the remnant of their oppressors now own Je-
hovah's might («/. 3), who has proved Himself a shelter to the
needy, when the blast threatened to sweep them away {v. 4),
and a screen protecting them from the consuming violence of
the foe {v. 5=).
The hymn of thanksgiving ended, the prophet returns to his
own standpoint {vising future tenses), to dwell on the blessed-
ness, of which Zion, at the time imagined, will become the
centre. A rich banquet — a figure at once of spiritual 3 and
material enjoyments — will be provided there for all nations :
the veil that now blinds their eyes from the truth will be
withdrawn : death and sorrow will vex no more the redeemed
people. Though the imagery is different, the ideas embodied
' Lit^ leanness. The expression is singular,
■ The foe is here compared to a consuming heat — "As heat in a
parched land (viz., is assuaged by a cloud), thou subduest (present tense}
the uproar of strangers (r.tf., of the foreign oppressor ; cf. Jer. xxx. «;
Ezek. xxviii. 7).
3 Cf. Ps. xxxvi. 8, bdii. 5 ; also Matt viii 11. (R.V. marg.).
122 ISAIAH.
in this beautiful vision are similar to those which we have met
in Isaiah : the nations admitted in the future to the privileges
of Israel (ii. 2-4, &c.), and a state of ideal felicity to be enjoyed
by the redeemed and transfigured nation (i. 26 ; iv, 2-6 ; xxxiii.
17, 24). The abolition of the power of death is a new feature:
the curse pronounced upon man in Eden is hereby annulled.
In a second short strain of thanksgiving, the redeemed nation
again declares its gratitude (2/. 9). For "upon this mountain
(Zion) shall rest" the protecting hand of Jehovah : but haughty
Moab will be humbled, and humbled ignominiously {v. lo-ii^).
A third hymn now follows. It is the prophet's effective method
of depicting vividly the feeling of the redeemed 'community of
the future. The nation glories {v. i) in the strength of its city
■ — a strength, consisting not in material bulwarks, but in "salva-
tion," Le.^ in freedom'' and safety, assured by God, and the
guarantee of continued spiritual blessedness. Let the gates be
opened wide, that those who are worthy to be its citizens — those,
viz., who possess the steadfast, unwavering spirit, which is the
mark of faith — may enter in (z/. 2-4 3) ! The hostile city is hum-
bled to the dust \ and the poor may now walk unhindered over
its ruins (z/. 5-6). Henceforth, the way of the just will be free
from trouble or difficulty {v. 7 *) : the prayer, or aspiration, so
often uttered by Psalmists (v. 8 ; xxvi. 12 ; xxvii. ii), will now
become a reaUty. A retrospect here follows which may be thus
paraphrased : "How long and earnestly," the redeemed Israelites
exclaim, " did we desire to witness this consummation of Divine
judgment which is at length accomplished ! {v. 8-10). Thy
hand, Lord 1 has been lifted up ; there have been some who see
it not ; but they must see it now, they must learn Thy zeal for
Thy people. It is Thou, Lord, who wilt assure us peace ; it is
' In V. 11a the figure is of Moab vainly struggling to save himself
in the water of the dungpit; in 11^ "he" is, of course, Jehovah, who
frustrates the efforts made by Moab.
' The original sense of the word rendered salvation (as Arabic shows) is
breadth, largeness, absence of constraint.
3 K. 3 (see R.V. marg.) states the conditions of membership in the ideal
Zion ; a " steadfast mind " may share the " peace '' which the ideal city is
to enjoy.
4 " The way of the just is aright way ; the path of the just thou directest
Aright *' (R.V. marg.). The verse does not describe the condition of things
in the prophet's own present, but is part of the song (see v. i) describing
the ideal condition of the future.
CHAPTERS XXIV.-XXVII. 123
jhrough Thee alone that we are alive this daj- to celebrate Thy
name {v, 11-13). Our oppressors are dead : they are forgotten
in the shadowy world below : they will rise no more : but as for
wj, our nation is increased, its strength replenished, its territory
enlarged I {v. 14-15 ')■ I" our trouble, ere deliverance reached
us, we sought Jehovah ; we addressed to Him the faintly-
whispered prayer, while His chastening was upon us {v. 16),
We cherished hopes {v. 17) : but disappointment overtook us ;
we could achieve no effectual deliverance, we could not re-people
our desolated land {v, 18 % We turned to God ; ' Let Thy dead
live ! let my dead bodies arise ! ' " and here the prophet himself,
interrupting the retrospect, joins in with the jubilant reply :
** Awake and shout, ye that dwell in the dust : for thy dew is as
the dew of herbs,^ and the earth shall cast forth the Shades "
{v, 19). The two next verses {v. 20-21) are spoken from the
prophet's own present ; he bids his people withdraw into the
privacy of communion with God, whilst the judgment — that, viz.,
described in xxiv. 1-12, 17-20 — visits those who are doomed to
perish by it.
Throughout the whole of the first eighteen verses of this
chapter, it must be recollected, the prophet has spoken not from
his own standpoint, but from that of the redeemed nation in the
future, expressing in its name the feelings of gratitude and devo-
tion which he imagines that it will naturally entertain, and
confessing the disappointment which the failure of its own exer-
tions had brought upon it. The thought that Israel can only
be finally restored by the agency of a Resurrection is an impor-
tant one. In the Old Testament the idea of a resurrection is
rarely met with ; and even where it occurs, it is expressed as a
hope rather than as a dogma, and it is, moreover, limited in its
scope, being restricted to Israel, That it is limited to Israel
here is evident from the context ; in v. 14 it is expressly denied
in the case of Israel's oppressors ; and it is denied similarly in
Jer. li. 39, already cited. There is the same limitation in the
famous Vision in Ezekiel (chap, xxxvii.) of the Valley of Dry Bones
' V, 14 may be illustrated from Jer. li. 39 ; v, 15 from chap, xxxiii. 17 ;
xlix. 19-20. "Art glorified," rather, "hast gotten thee glory," viz., by
our deliverance : cf. Exod. xiv. 4 (same word).
» Clause b : "We made not the land salvation, neither were iijhabitanti
of the land produced " (Cheyne).
3 /.*,, as the dew which revives the drooping plants.
124 ISAIAH.
(see ^.11 f.). The passage which speaks most explicitly in
the Old Testament is in one of the latest prophets, Daniel (xii.
2) ; but even there, the terms are not universal. In fact, in the
Old Testament, the dogma is not yet fully formed ; it is nascent j
and we can trace the stages of its growth. The full revelation
of this great truth was reserved for Jesus Christ in the gospel ;
in the Old Testament the way was prepared for this ; and the
passage before us shows that the idea, though not yet revealed
as 2^ fact, is a postulate involved in the complete restoration of
the Jewish nation.
In chap xxvii. the prophet dwells upon particular aspects of
the coming future — sometimes the judgment on Israel's foes
being foremost in his thoughts, sometimes the period of felicity
which is to ensue. V. i, Israel's three great representative
foes, Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt,' are depicted as finally over-
powered and slain. In a fourth song of thankfulness {v, 2-5''),
provided by the prophet, the redeemed nation expresses, under
the figure of a vineyard, its sense of the Divine protection under
which it rests. And thus cared for, the vine of Israel in the
future will spread, and "fill the face of the world with fruit*'
(cf. Hos. xiv. 5-7). Israel, however, must suffer, before this
consummation can be reached; but how? "Hath Jehovah
smitten Israel, as He smote those that smote it? Is Israel
slain as Jehovah's slain ones are slain?" in other words, Is
Israel exterminated? On the contrary, the prophet replies, "in
exact measure," not in excess, has Jehovah " contended " (cf.
• According to the most probable interpretation. "Leviathan," properly
something wreathed or coiled, in Job xll i of the crocodile ; in Ps. civ. 26
of a sea-monster ; in Job iii. 8 (R.V.) of a monster, supposed popularly to
devour the sun at an eclipse. The "fleeing serpent" occurs in Job xxvi.
13 pretty clearly of a constellation, in allusion (it can hardly be doubted)
to some popular belief of a dragon transfixed by Jehovah, and fastened in
the sky : applied here as an emblem (probably) of Assyria, The " crooked "
or " winding" serpent appears to represent Babylon. The " dragon " often
symbolizes Egypt ; see chap, li. 9, and especially Ezek. xxix. 3 ; xxxii. 2.
■ V, 4. The figure bfeing that of a vineyard^ the foes who would vex and
overrun Israel are denoted by "briers and thorns." Jehovah says, "Wrath
have I none {against the vineyard) : if only those who would assail it were
before Me in battle 1 I would speedily attack and destroy them — unless,
indeed, they desisted from the attempt, and took refuge with Me ; for, if
they were ready to make peace with Me, I would not repel them." (Orelsi
let him =^ unless he, in accordance with an Arabic usage.)
CHAPTERS XXIV.-XXVII. T2C
Jer. ii, 9) with His peoplCj when He put it from Him ; the "rough
blast" passed over the nation, but did not exterminate it : Israel
was banished, but not destroyed {v. 8). Jehovah has not yet
cast off His people j repentance therefore will yet be ac-
cepted, if it be sincere, and if all idolatrous emblems be resolutely
discarded {v. 9). For then the hostile city ^ will be visited with
irretrievable disaster and ruin {v. 10, 11). Abruptly, in conclu-
sion, the prophet sets before us two episodes of the restoration.
The land of Israel, to its ideal limits, from the Euphrates to the
Torrent of Egypt,* will be repeopled, as quickly as if it were
one vast olive-garden, the olives being "beaten" (Deut. xxiv. 20)
from the trees, and picked up carefully, one by one, that none
be lost. Next, as soon as the signal (xviii. 3) is heard, the
exiles from Egypt and Assyria will prepare to start homewards;
all will meet in Jerusalem ! (comp. xi. 11-16 ; Hos. xi. 11).
The prophecy is a striking one. We are impressed by the
width of area which the prophet's imagination traverses, by the
novelty and variety of the imagery which he employs. The
interspersed songs are even penetrated by a deeper and more
delicate vein of feeling than the one in chap. xii. ; they remind
us of the emotional tenderness of Hosea more than of the majesty
of Isaiah. A lively faith sustains the author : notwithstanding
the dark days which must be passed through first, his eye
reaches beyond, and lingers with delight upon the bright vision
which it there descries. In this he resembles Jeremiah, who
though repeatedly commissioned to declare to his people the
coming exile {e.g., chaps, xv., xxi., xxv.), nevertheless antici-
pates confidently his people's return, and dwells upon the period
of ideal blessedness which will then begin (chaps, xxx.-xxxiii.).
The sequence of ideas is not so regular as it is in Jeremiah :
and hence the connection of thought is in parts difficult to seize ;
but this appears to be due to the manner in which the prospect
presented by the future impresses the author ; the coming
troubles affect him so deeply that he reverts to them, directly
or indirectly, again and again ; and his visions of the blessed-
ness which is to follow are accordingly interrupted by abrupt
retrospects and transitions.
* So most commentators. But others, perhaps rightly, think that the
"fortified city" is Jerusalem, which will only, through such a disaster, be
brought to repentance.
" Now called the Wady-el-Arish, Comp. Gen. xv. 18; i Kings iv.sx,
CHAPTER IL
BABYLON AND EDOM.
(Chapters xiii. i-xiv. 33 ; xxxiv.-xxxv.)
The fnst of these prophecies consists of an announcement
of the approaching fall of Babylon (xiii. 19), and of the suT>
sequent release of the Jews (xiv. 1-2) from the land of theit
exile. The reasons which forbid our attributing it to Isaiah
have been stated briefly already (p. 86). The prophet is, in the
first instance, the teacher of his own generatioii : hence it is a
fundamental principle of prophecy that the historical situation
of the prophet should be the basis of his prediction. Isaiah
lived during the Assyrian supremacy : and it is the failure of
a particular Assyrian king^ to destroy or subjugate Judah
which he uniformly foretells. In the present "gitQi^^zy Babylon
is represented as owning the empire of the world (xiii. 19 ; xiv.
6f.), w^liich it exercises in particular (xiv. 1-2) by holding the
Jews in exile; and it is the city and empire of Babylon whose
overthrow is announced in it. By analogy it will have been
written during the period of the Babylonian supremacy. For
it is arbitrary to suppose (as has been done) that Babylon may
have been mentioned by Isaiah as the "representative" of
Assyria : not only does Babylon appear here as the sole and
supreme seat of the world-empire ; but Babylon, in Isaiah^s
day, so far from being the representative of Assyria, was its
antagonist, ever struggling to win independence (pp. 45, 55,
96), Moreover the two empires of Assyria and Babylon are
' Isaiah never announces the fall of the Assyrian Empire generally, or the
destruction of its capital Nineveh (which happened, p. 134, about a century
after his time), bttt only, Tike Micah (p. 42), Judah's immunity from future
oppression by it. The announcement of the final end of the Assyriaia
power was reserved for the subsequent prophets, Nahum and Zephanialh.
CHAPTERS XIII. I-XIV. 23. I27
quite distinct in the Old Testament : the rdle which they play
in history is very different ; and they are never confused — still
less, "identified" — by the prophets. The embassy of Mero-
dach-Baladan, the temporary " king " of Babylon, to Hezekiah,
afforded Isaiah a substantial motive for announcing (xxxix. 6) a
future exile to Babylon : it dould supply no motive for such a
promise of a subsequent return from exile, as these chapters
contain. The circumstances of the exile — while the Jews were
yet in bondage and the power of Babylon seemed still unshaken
— constitute a suitable and sufficient occasion for the present
prophecy, an occasion of exactly the nature which the analogy
of prophecy demands : on the other hand, the circumstances of
Isaiah's age supply no such occasion. We have all along been
guided by internal evidence in assigning the prophecies of
Isaiah to the dates with which, severally, they seem best t^
accord ; and we shall scarcely be misled if we follow the same
guidance here. It only remains to add (for the purpose of
obviating misconception') that in assigning the prophecy to
a date during the exile, we do not divest it of its predictive
character: it becomes no *' vaticinium ex eventu; " the language
of chap. xiii. makes it certain that it was written prior to the
actual ca^Jture of Babylon by the Medes in 538. Written some
few years before this event," it would be as fully and truly pre-
dictive as were Isaiah's prophecies of the failure of Sennacherib
(chap, xxix.-xxxii.), which indeed, as we have seen, preceded
the event by not more than a single year.
The time is approaching for Babylon to fall ; and the prophet
imagines poetically the command to be given for a signal
to be raised aloft, that the foes of Babylon, in all quarters,
^ Which has led astray even Dean Plumptre in-his Commentary on this
prophecy. The question at issue is not the possibility or impossibility of
prediction (which must be determined by the testimony of accredited
history), but whether or not the historical situation during Isaiah's lifetime
was such as to explain the tenor of the present prophecy. Undoubtedly
Babylon came within Isaiah's ' ' historical horizon ; " but in order to vindicate
Isaiah's authorship, it must be shown that it came within it in a manner
suited to form the occasion for this particular prophecy^ viz., as the power
which held the Jews in the thraldom of exile, and was destined ere long to
be destroyed. It is evident that this was not the position which Babylon
occupied in Isaiah's day.
" As the prophecy contains no allusion to Cyrus or the Persians, it is
probable that it was written in fact before 549 {see p. 136).
128 ISAIAH.
may see it, and advance to the attack. Jehovah's warriors,
consecrated (Mic. iii. 5 ; Jer. vi. 4) for battle, are ready: and
already among the mountains — those, namely, which skirted
Babylonia on the north-east — he hears in spirit the thronging
hosts assemble. The judgment itself is first depicted under
the form of a " Day of Jehovah " (z/. 6-10) : "Howl ye : for
the day of Jehovah is near ; as destruction from the Almighty
shall it come." The idea of the ** Day" has occurred before
(chap. ii. 12 ff. ; p. 27 f.) : but it is worked out here with dif-
ferent imagery, which recalls rather Zeph. i. 14-18 or Joel ii.
1-2, 10. The prophet proceeds to describe more particularly
the capture of the city : the fewness of the survivors {v. 12 :
"I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man
than the pure gold of Ophir"), the hurried flight of the multi-
tudes, who for purposes of commerce (Ezek. xvii. 4 ; cf. Jer.
1. 16; Ii. 9) had made Babylon their home (17. 14), the carnage
and rapine of which its streets will then become the scene {v, 16).
Next, he specifies the captors, a people who know no pity, and
who will be pacified by no bribe (v. 17 ' f.), — the Medes, whose
home was in the mountains (cf. ^/. 4) north- east of Babylonia, who
were consolidated and organized by their ruler Cyaxares (633-
593 B.C.), and who afterwards, amalgamating with the Persians
under Cyrus, captured Babylon in 538. And thus "Babylon,
the glory of kingdoms, the proud ornament of Chaldea, shall
be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." The busy
and populous city " shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be
dwelt in from generation to generation : " its castles and palaces
of luxury will become the resort of wolves and jackals. And
why is all this? The prophet supplies the answer (xiv. 1-2),
Because the tinte has come for Israel to be released from exile :
"For Jehovah will, have compassion upon Jacob, and will
again choose Israel^ and settle them in their own land : " they
will return to Palestine, under such changed conditions that
foreigners will now claim eagerly the privilege of incorporation
in their community, and the nations will press forward to offer
them an honourable escort upon their journey.
Here the prophet provides Israel with an Ode of triumph,
which he imagines it to sing in the day of its deliverance.
This ode, if it is to be admired as it deserves, must be read
Es a whole : its perfection as a work of art, its picturesquo
' Lit., Behold, 1 am stirring «/, of the imminent future, as xvii. i, &c.
<:hapters XIII. i-xiv. 23. 129
imagery, the ddicate and subtle vein of irony by which it is
penetrated — it is called a " taunt-song," v, 4 — will not endure
partial quotation or paraphrase. The line of thought is as
follows. In the first strophe {v. 4-8), the prophet declares
exultingly how at length the tyrant is stilled,' the earth is at
peace ; only the sound of rejoicing is heard. In the second
\u. 9-1 1 ), he accompanies in thought the Shade of the King
of Babylon as it journeys to the Underworld, and imagines the
ironical greeting which there meets it from the lips of the
other kings — still, as on earth, supposed to be invested with
the panoply of state." The third strophe (j/. 12-15) depicts the
abasement of the Babylonian monarch in its full magnitude :
he who would have joined the ranks of the gods, is cast down
to the inmost recesses of the pit.3 In the fourth and last strophe
(t-', 16-20), the prophet's thought passes to the battle-field — from
the feeble Shade, to the unburied, dishonoured corpse : the
passers-by express their amazement at the contrast which its
fate presents to that of other kings after their death . it is
excluded from the royal burial-place, flung aside as a worth-
less bough, hidden amongst the bodies of slain common
soldiers,* The prophet concludes with an epilogue, spoken
in his own person, and reasserting emphatically the final and
irretrievable ruin of the great city (z/, 21-23).^
The best commentary on this prophecy is Jeremiah's long and
impassioned invective against Babylon (1. i — li. 58), which must
■ In V. 4, either of the renderings "golden city" or "exactress," is
philologically very diflicult. Probably, with the least possible change in
one letter, weshould read "raging" — an excellent parallel to '* oppressor"
(see ill. s, Heb.).
" " Hell " (R.V.) is here, of course (as always in the O.T.) = the Greek
Hades, not a place of torment, but the "meeting-place of all living"
(Job XXX. 23). The prophet's representation is based upon the ideas
current among the people : see Bp. Lowth's " Lectures on the Sacred
Poetry of the Hebrews,'* lect. vii,, towards the end. The same idea is
elaborated in greater detail by Ezekiel, chap, xxxii. 17-32.
3 V. 13, " mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north,*'
i.e. (probably), the " mountain of the world " (see Schrader, p. 388 ;
Sayce, " Hibbert Lectures," 1887, p. 360!), the abode of the Babylonian
gods, in the far North, to which the Babylonian king is here represented
as aspiring to be admitted.
* V. 20, " them,'' i.e.f the kings named in v. 18.
S The short prophecy which follows, v. 24-27, relates \.oAssyriat and hat
been noticed in its proper place (p. 75).
10
150 ISAIAH.
belong quite to the close of that prophet's life, and which is
written from the same standpoint. By Jeremiah the judgment
upon Babylon is developed in greater detail ; but both prophecies
view the impending future similarly, both contemplate with
manifest gratification (chap, xiii, 15-22 ; xiv. 21) the fall of the
oppressing city, both name the Modes as its captors, and both
expect with equal confidence the approaching release of the Jews,
The thoughts of the two verses xiv. i, arecur often in chaps, xl,-
Ixvi. The introduction into a prophecy of a lyrical ode we have
seen recently exemplified in chaps, xxiv.-xxvii. : the ode in chap.
xiv. differs, however, widely in character from those in these
chapters, for while the latter are hymns of thanksgiving to God,
this is secular in character — an ode of worldly triumph sung by
Israel over the fall of its oppressor.
Chap. xxxiv.~v., on Edom. Edom, Israel's "brother," appears
to have been an older nation than Israel, and attained earlier
than Israel the stage of settled government (Gen. xxxvi. 31) : but
it was outstripped by the younger nation ; and great jealousy
and rivalry prevailed between them. By David, Edom was
forced to own the suzerainty of Judah (2 Sam. viii. 13, R.V.
marg. 14), and this relation continued till, under Jehoram, it
successfully revolted (2 Kings viii. 20-22). Amaziah, the pre-
decessor of Uzziah, inflicted upon Edom a severe defeat (zi5. xiv. 7),
though we do not know the circumstances which led to it. Al-
lusions in the prophets illustrate the feeling which subsisted
between the two nations. Amos (i. 6) charges Edom with
receiving as slaves Jewish captives, who had been taken by the
Philistines of Gaza; and in ^. 11 speaks bitterly of the im-
placable animosity cherished by Edom against his "brother."
According to 2 Chron. xxviii. 17, the Edomites in the reign oi
Ahaz " smote Judah and carried away captives " ; and when
Rezin expelled the Jews from the port of Elath, it was at once
occupied by Edomite settlers (p. 30). But the day of Edom's
triumph was when Jerusalem was entered by the Chaldeans in
588 : then their exultation knew no bounds (Obad. 10-16 ; Ezek.
xxxv. 10-15) ; "then, as a Psalmist, writing long after, has not
forgotten, they eagerly assisted at the demolition of the walls :
"Remember. Jehovah, against the children Of Edom the day of Jerusalem;
Who said. Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation therein " (Ps.cxxjivii, 7)
Jeremiah (xHx. 7-22), and the Book of Lamentations (iv. 21 U\
CHAPTERS XXXIV.-XXXV. I3I
Rs well as the passages just referred to, testify how keenly this
outbreak of malicious delight on the part of Edom was resented
by the Jews; and the strong vein of feehng which pervades chap.
xxxiv. makes it probable that this outbreak was the historical
occasion of the prophecy. Isaiah, it will be recollected,
addresses Edom (xxi. 11 f.) in a very different strain : if the
"watchman's" answer be no encouraging one, it is at least
uttered in tones of commiseration and sympathy, as far as
possible removed from the glow of passion which animates the
present prophecy.* Under what circumstances the prophecy
was fulfilled we do not know. In, and after, the captivity, the
Edomites encroached upon the territory of Judah ; and ulti-
mately an Edomite family, the most famous name of which
was that of Herod the Great, acquired rule over Judasa.
Malachi, however (^. 400B.C.), describes Edom Proper as already
desolate (i. 3), A century later it appears in the possession of
the Nabatasans, an Arabian tribe (called Nebaioth in the Old
Testament, Gen. xxv. 13), though how they secured it is not
known. There this thriving commercial nation maintained itself
for many centuries, until, after the Mohammedan conquest,
in the seventh century, A.D., the cities of Edom fell to ruin, and
the country became a desert. It is to be observed that the
prophecy opens with an announcement of judgment against
" all the nations " (^. 2 ; comp. Jer. xxv. 31-33), though Edom
is speedily singled out as the one whose fate would be viewed
with the greatest interest by the Jews.
Universal nature is summoned to hear the prophet's decla-
ration : for a judgment is imminent which will embrace all
nations ; and slaughter and carnage will shortly encircle the
entire earth (7/. 1-4). Specially upon Edom will the Divine
sword descend ; for Jehovah is preparing " a great sacrifice " in
Bozrah, and all classes of Edom, chiefs and common people '
indiscriminately, will be struck down into the slaughtering
trough. " For unto Jehovah belongeth a day of vengeance, and
a year of recompence for the quarrel ' of Zion." The inhabi-
tants being all slain, desolation will henceforth be the fate ol
* Observe also that in xi. 14 it is the re-subjugation of Edom, not it«
destruction, which Isaiah expects from the future.
» Figured by the wild oxen, &c,, of z/. 7 and the smaller cattle of v. 6.
3 Compare the charges brought against Edom in Ezek. xxxv. (where alsl
the future fate of Edom is similarly represented, v. 6-9).
l$2 ISAIAH.
Edom ; its castles and fortresses will become the resort of
desert creatures, which will haunt its ruins for ever.
Far different will be the lot of the ransomed Jews. For them
the wilderness and the parched land will rejoice, and the desert
burst forth into a brilliant and abundant bloom. Let the timid,
therefore, take courage, and the weak feel strong : a Divine
Avenger is at hand to save them. Then human infirmities will
cease to vex, and nature will co-operate spontaneously in the
relief of human needs. " For waters shall break out in the
wilderness, and streams in the desert," yielding grateful refresh-
ment to the returning exiles : the mirage, or '* phantom-lake,"
which so often deludes the caravans, shall become a reality, and
the thirsty land shall send forth springs of water. More than
this, the prophet imagines in the desert a raised way leading to
Zion : only those who are worthy will be admitted upon it ; but
it will be so broad and plain that even the simplest will not lose
their track upon it, so elevated and well-protected that no dan-
gerous beast will be able to climb up and molest the pilgrims
journeying along it. And thus "the freed ones of Jehovah shall
return, and come with singing unto Zion ; and everlasting joy
shall be upon their heads : they shall overtake gladness and
'oy, and sorrow and sighing shall, flee away.*' Many of the
figures in this beautiful prophecy of Israel's restoration recur m
the course of chaps, xl.-lxvi. — v. lo, for instance, is repeated
verbathn in li. 1 1 : here it forms a finely-conceived contrast td
the scene of carnage, desolation, and abandonment anticipated
in chap, xxxiv. for Edom.
CHAPTER III.
THE GREAT PROPHECY OF ISRAEL'S RESTORATION
(Chapters xl.-Ixvi.)
Circumstances which led to the Babylonian captivity— Condition and ^roa
pects of the Jews during the exile— Standpoint of the author ot chaps,
xl.-lxvi., and exposition of his argument.
In passing from chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. to chap. xL we find our-
selves introduced into a new world. The persons whom the
prophet addresses, the people amongst whom he lives and
moves, whose feelings he pourtrays, whose doubts he dispels,
whose faith he confirms, are not the inhabitants of Jerusalem
under Ahaz, or Hezekiah, or Manasseh, but x^x^ Jewish exiles in
Babylonia. Jerusalem and the Temple are in ruins (Ixiv. lo), and
have been so for long (Iviii. 12 ; Ixi. 4 — " the old waste places") ;
the proud and imposing Babylonian Empire is to all appearance
as secure as ever ; the exiles are in despair or indifferent ; they
think that God has forgotten them, and have ceased to expect,
or desire, their release (xl. 27 ; xlix. 14, 24). To arouse the
indifferent, to reassure the wavering, to expostulate with the
doubting, to announce with triumphant confidence the certainty
of the approaching restoration, is the aim of the great prophecy
wliich now occupies the last twenty-seven chapters of the Book
of Isaiah. The arguments which combine with singular cogency
to show that it is not the work of Isaiah himself will be stated
in Chap. V. : the scope and meaning of the prophecy are of
greater importance than the question of its authorship, and claim
therefore our first consideration.
Tn order to understand the prophecy, it will be necessary to
134 ISAIAH.
sketch in outline the course of history, in so far as it affected
Judahj since the period of Isaiah's lifetime. Sennacherib was
succeeded in 68 1 by Esarhaddon ; Esarhaddon by Asshurbani-
pal in 668j under whose reign of forty-three years the literature
and art of ancient Assyria reached their greatest perfection. But
after the death of Asshurbanipal in 626, Assyria rapidly de-
clined : in 625 the great rival of Nineveh, Babylon, through the
enterprise of Nabopolassar, emerged finally from dependence ;
and in or about 607' Nabopolassar, allying with the Medes
under Cyaxares (p. 128), laid the proud capital of Sargon and
Sennacherib in ruins. The supremacy exercised hitherto by
Assyria now passed to Babylon, itnd was retained by it till 538.
Nabopolassar was succeeded by Nebuchadnezzar (606-561), who
greatly strengthened and extended the Babylonian Empire, and
beautified and largely rebuilt his capital, Babylon. In the
history of Judah, the great turning point was JehoiakM s fourth
year^ 604 B.C., the year in which Nebuchadnezzar won his
decisive victory over Egypt at Carchemish, on the upper course
of the Euphrates (Jer. xlvi. 2). The prophet Jeremiah at once
perceived the political significance of this victory ; and comes
forward to advise his countrymen on the course to be adopted
by them. He greets the conqueror with an ode of triumph
(chap, xlvi.), he promises him further victories ; he forms the
conception of a great plan or purpose being enacted in history ;
Nebuchadnezzar is Jehovah's "servant," into whose hand all
countries will fall for seventy years (chap, xxv.), and the safety
of Judah is to be sought in recognizing this, and in submitting
to his dominion accoidingly. Jeremiah here occupies the same
position as political adviser of his nation, which Isaiah assumed
i century before : his advice differs from that of Isaiah, simply
because circumstances had changed, and the political situation
was different. But Egypt had not lost its old power of fascina-
tion for Judah : Jeremiah's warnings were ineffectual ; and after
submitting to the Chaldeans for three years, Jehoiakim rebelled.
The Jews went into exile in two detachments : the flower of the
nation (including, amongst others, the prophet Ezekiel^, under
Jehoiakirn's son, Jehoiachin (2 Kings xxiv. 12-16; Jer. xxiv. i)
in 599 ; the rest, after the revolt 0/ Zedekiah, in 588, when the
city was taken, the Temple burnt, and its vessels carried away
to Babylon (2 Kings xxv.).
■ On this datCf see Schiader, pp. 35S-6Z.
THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. 1 35
Theexiles must have formed a considerable communityinBaby-
lonia. The texts which speak of the numbers of those carried
into captivity (2 Kings xxiv. 14-16 ; Jer. lii. 28-30) are indeed
imperfect, and apparently also in some disorder ' ; but that the^
formed a numerous body is evident from the fact that upwards
of forty-two thousand males, irrespective of women and de-
pendents, returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 2, 64_f.), and
many, as we know, remained behind. In a community as large
as this the life and society of Judah would in great measure be
perpetuated ; some kind of organization would be needed ; and
the moral and religious condition of the exiles would be sub-
stantially what it had been in the closing years of the monarchy.
Thus Ezekiel refers to the " elders " in exile with him as still
forming a distinct class (viii. i ; xiv. i ; xx. i), and alludes
to the idolatrous tendencies still prevalent in their midst
{xx. 38, 39). At first the exiles were unsettled by prophets,
who raised their hopes by delusive promises of a speedy
return to Palestine ; Jeremiah shortly after 599 addresses to
them a letter (chap, xxix.), in which he assures them that the
seventy years of Babylonian dominion must expire before their
hopes can be realized, and exhorts them to rest satisfied mean-
while with their condition, to " build houses and dwell in them,
and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them," in the land of
their captivity. Circumstances left the exiles no option but to
follow the advice of Jeremiah (cf. Ezek. viii. i ; xxxiii. 30, I
** houses ") ; and many, in consequence, grew so attached to their
new home, that when, sixty years afterwards, permission was
granted to leave it, they did not care to avail themselves of it
Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in 561 by his son Evil-Mero-
dach, who "lifted up the head" of Jehoiachin, king of Judah,
releasing him from the prison in which he had for thirty-seven
years been confined, and granting him a continual allowance
from the royal table. After a reign of two years, Evil-Merodack
was followed on the throne by Neriglissar (559-555), and Neri-
glissar by Nabo-nahid (555-538), Meanwhile, Cyrus, heir of a
branch of the royal house of Persia, which had established itsell
in Elam or Susiania (on the west of Persia proper), had already
begun to give proof of those abilities as a conqueror, and com-
mander of men, which enabled him to found the Fifth Great
Empire of the East — an empire which, before two generations
I Stade in the " Zeltschrift fur Alttest. Wissenscbaft/' 18S4, pp. 271-7.
136 ISAIAH.
had passed away, would have absorbed even the nations of
Europe, had not Athenian patriotism, at Marathon and Salarnis/
rolled back the threatening tide. Uniting and organizing the
different tribes of Persian origin, Cyrus overthrew the Median
empire of Astyages, Cyaxares' (p. 128) successor, in 549;' the
Medis themselves amalgamated rapidly with their Persian con-
querors — they were both of Aryan cr?g!n — and at the head of
the combined armies of both nations Cyrus advanced to further
conquests. One of his first successes was obtained against
Crcesus, the wealthy and powerful king of Lydia, in Asia Minor,
whose capital city, Sardis, he took (Herod, i. 73-84). Leaving
his general Harpagus to complete the subjugation of Asia Minor
(including the Greek cities on the west coast), Cyrus next
(Herod, i. 177) reduced one after another the tribes of Upper
(or Inner) Asia, and ultimately prepared to attack Babylon,
His own inscription narrates the result.'^ Nabo-nahid had
neglected the worship of the gods of Babylon, especially of
Merodach,3 who accordingly were displeased with him, and
though, when danger threatened, he had images of them brought '
in solemn state to Babylon, they refused to be conciliated, and
transferred their favour to the invader. Cyrus attributes his
success to the aid of Merodach. " The gods dwelling within
them left their shrines in anger, when he (Nabo-nahid) brought
them into Babylon. Merodach . . . appointed a king to guide
aright in the heart what his hand upholds; Cyrus^kingof Elam^
he proclaimed by name for the sovereignty, . . . To his city of
Babylon he summoned his march, and he bade him take the
road to Babylon ; like a friend and a comrade, he went at his
side. The weapons of his vast army, whose number, like the waters
of a riv2r, could not be known^ he marshalled at his side. With-
out fighting or battle he caused him to enter into Babylon ; his
city of Babylon feared ; in a place difficult of access, Nabo-
nahid, the king who worshipped him not, he gave into his
hand." After this Cyrus relates how he proceeded to honour
the gods of Babylon, by restoring their shrines, and to crave
' The Inscription of Nabo-nahid, discovered in 1879, fixes the defeat of
Astyages to Nabo-nahid's sixth year. Set; Sayce*s "Fresh Light," &c.,
p. 168. Astyages was abandoned by his soldiers, who deserted en masst
to Cyrus. ' IHd. pp. 172-4.
3 The patpon-god of the city of Babylon. See Sayce's " Hibbert Lec-
tures," 1887, pp. 85-88, 91, 92, 96-98, 107 t
THE APPEARANCE OF CYRUS. I37
their good-will : *' In the goodness of their hearts may all the
gods whom I have brought into their strong places daily inter-
cede before Bel and Nebo that they may grant me length of days:
may they bless my projects with prosperity, and may they say
to Merodach my l^rd that Cyrus the king, thy worshipper, and
Cambyses his son (deserve his favour)." Babylon fell in 538.
The precise moment at which the prophecy opens cannot be
■ determined ; but it must, in any case, have been prior to 538, and,
as xli. 25 implies a date subsequent to the union of the Medes with
the Persians in 549 (p. 139 note), it will be limited to the interval
between these years, during which Cyrus v/as pursuing his
career of conquest in the north and north-west of Asia. The
prophet's eye marks him in the distance as the coming deliverer
of his nation ; he stimulates the flagging courage of his people
by pointing to his successes, and declares that he is God's ap-
pointed agent both for the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire,
and for the restoration of the chosen people to Palestine.
The prophecy may be divided, for convenience, into three
parts of nine chapters each. In the first of these parts, chaps,
xl.-xlviii., the prophet's aim is to demonstrate t/ie certainty ofths
coming release^ which no opposition, or other contingencies, will
avail to hinder. In the course of the argument, Israel and the
heathen are represented dramatically as engaged in Contro-
versy ; Jehovah and the gods of the heathen are contrasted
with one another, and the claims of each^ as judged by the
tribunal of reason, are compared.
The theme of the whole prophecy is stated in the opening
verse : " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God."
It is the volume of Israel's consolation and encouragement which
here begins. The words are a reversal of the sad reality which
had been expressed by the poet of the Lamentations forty years
previously (i. 2, 9, 17) : ''There is none to comfort her." Soc i
the prophet hears in imagination the voice of one calling —
** In the wilderness clear ye Jehovah's way ;
Make plain in the desert a highway for our God,"
Let a way be prepared through the wilderness for the triumphal
progress of Israel's King ; let the mountains and valleys be
made plain before Him : a revelation of His glory is to be
made ; and all flesh shall see it together (xl. 3-5). A second
138 ISAIAH.
voice falls upon the prophet's ear, with the command, " Cry.*
What is he to cry ? The answer expresses the fundamental
thought, which the . following chapters expand : hence it is
introduced with peculiar solemnity : —
" All flesh is grass ;
And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
If the breath of Jehovah ' hath blown upon it ;
Surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ;
But the word of our God shall stand for ever,"
The words are of universal import : but the connection shows
the sense in which they are here used by the prophet. IsraeVs
oppressors are mortal: the promise of J ehovah — such a promise,
viz., as that contained in v, 4, 5 — remains sure. In a transport
*^f joy, the prophet forthwith bids ideal messengers bear the
glad news to Zion : Jehovah returns thither as a conqueror,
leadin|^ before Him His prize of war, the "reward" of His
battles — the recovered nation itself. Nor is the Deliverer strong
only ; He displays also towards His people the tender and dis-
criminating regard of a shepherd (^z. 9-1 1). In the next para-
graph the prophet demonstrates at length \}ci^ power of Israel's
Divine Deliverer : no finite spirit can be compared with Him
{v* 12-17) » J^o human conception can express Him (?/. 18-26) ;
He is incomparable and unique. The argument in this fine
passage is drawn principally from the great works of nature, in
contrast to the Being whose omnipotence and wisdom they
reflect. The prophet points ironically to the idol-gods, manu-
factured as the means of their devotees, rich or poor, may
permit. In the emphasis laid upon the insignificance of nations
and their rulers {;v. 1 5, 23, 24), as well as in the sarcastic notice
of the idols, there is a side-reference to the imperial power and
gods of Babylon, which it is the prophet's aim to show cannot
thwart the Divine purpose for Israel's restoration. The prac-
tical conclusion follows, v. 27-31. Israel had suffered in exile so
long that there were many who thought that their case had
escaped God's eye, and that their "judgment " (z.^,, their cause)
had passed beyond His notice : the prophet replies, Jehovah
is no local, limited God, as you imagine ; His power embraces
Babylon not less than Palestine; His strength is not exhausted;
' See Hos. xiii. 15.
CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII. I35
**lhere is no searching of His understanding'*— some inscru-
table purpose must guide Him in delaying, if He do delay, the
redemption of His people ; only continue to trust !
Here the prophet imagines a judgment scene. The nations
are invited to come lorward and plead their case with Jehovah.
The question is, Who has stirred up ' the great conqueror^
Cyrus f Who has led him upon his career of victory ? (xli. 2-3)."
Only one answer is possible — Jehovah, the Creator of history,
who preceded the generations of the past, and will abide through
the generations of the future (■£'. 4). And with exquisite and
well-timed irony, the prophet pauses to depict the nations of
the earth, alarmed at the victories of Cyrus, engaged anxiously
in the manufacture of fresh idols for the purpose of arresting
his further advance ! (z*. 5-7).
A digression follows {v. 8^20), designed, for the encourage-
ment of Israel. "But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom
I have chosen, the seed of Abraham who loved Me, — fear not,
as the nations ; be not dismayed, for I am with thee : thou
shalt conquer and overcome those who would oppose thee ; "
and the thought of the caravans returning homewards through
the thirsty desert suggests to the prophet an efiective
image symbolizing the Divine care which will attend them : the
ground at their side bursts into waterpools, and noble trees
cast their shade about them !
The judgment scene, interrupted after v. 4, is now resumed.
The second proof of Jehovah's godhead is adduced : He alone
knows the future. The heathen gods are addressed: '*Let
us hear your arguments {^. 21) : can you either refer us to
former predictions, which have been (or are now being) fulfilled,
or can you announce to us things still future ? {v. 22-23^) ? Can
you do anything whatever ? can you give any proof at all of
your existence?" (7/. 23^).3 They are silent-; and judgment
accordingly goes against them by default (7/. 24). " It is I, then,
■ Not '* raised up : " the sense is " impelled into activity,"*
^ V. 2, "from the east:" Cyrus's home, Susiania, being to the east of
Babylonia. ** From the north," in v. 25, alludes to the Medes, who .united
with the Persians under Cyrus (p. 136), and whose home was to the north
or north-east of Babylonia. " In righteousness"— Cyrus's career beint^ a
furtherance of God's righteous purpose for the government of the world
(so xlv. 13).
3 With the proverbial phrase here used, corap. Zeph. i. 12 ; Jer. i, 5.
140 ISAIAH.
who have * stirred up' this conqueror; and promised him hi«
successes • but of the devotees, or prophets, of the false gods,
if I look among them, there is not one who can give answer,
or advise as to the future !" And so the idolaters, as before
{v. 24) the idols, are dismissed as unworthy of serious attention
(v. 25-29).
Jehovah's godhead having been thus demonstrated from
nature (chap. xl.)jand from the inability of the idol-worshippers
to explain either the appearance of Cyrus or the phsenomena
of prediction (chap, xli.), the prophecy advances to a new stage,
Jehovah's Servant appears again under a new aspect, and with
new functions — no longer the historic nation of Israel (as in
xli. 8 f.), but an ideal figure^ reproducing in their perfection the
best and truest attributes of the historic nation, and invested
by the prophet with -an august and world-wide mission. The
significance of this remarkable creation of the prophet's inspired
imagination will be considered subsequently (Chap. IV.) : here
it will be sufficient to notice the general scope of the mission
entrusted to him. It is twofold: to teach the world true re^
ligion (" to set judgment ' in the earth," v, 4, to be " a Hght of
the Gentiles," v. 6), and to be the instrument of IsraePs restora-
tiojt (to be " a covenant of the people," v, 6). The far-reaching
prevision of the prophet deserves notice. Looking out into the
future he associates the restoration of Israel with the extension
of Israel's religion to the Gentiles. The epithets in v, 5 are
also significant ; not only do they add solemnity to the an-
nouncement of the Servant's work in v, 6, but they imply that
that work is part of God's plan as the creator and preserver
of the human race. *' Behold," the prophet exclaims (z/. 9) in
<:onclusionj "the former things are come to pass, and new
^ings do I declare ; before they spring forth I tell you of
^hem ' — former prophecies* are fulfilled ; let this be the guarantee
* Or " right," «.«., religion, viewed as an ordering of life : so Jer. v. 4,
■ What the prophet here and xlviii. 3 means by the expression, " the
former things," is not quite certain. His argument would be best satisfied
by the supposition that he has in view prophecies relating to Cynis's^w/
appearance, and earliest successes, with which he contrasts the fresh
announcements now made by himself relating to his further conquests,
and the release of the Jews. xli. k f. appears to show that, as he writes,
Cyrus is well advanced on his career of victory ; what is stilt in thefutun
is his conquest of Babylon (xlv. 1-3).
CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII. 14^
to you that my present announcement will be fulfilled likewise.
The prospect evokes from him a short lyric ode of thanksgiving
(z/. 10-12) ; after which he depicts, in splendid aiuhropomorphic
imagery, Jehovah's approaching manifestation for the deliver-
ance of His people, and the discomfiture of those (primarily the
Babylonians) who trust to graven images to.save them {zf. 13-17).'
But some are blind and deaf j Jehovah's " servant" (Israel,
as xli. 8) has fallen short of the ideal which the titles bestowed
upon it implied : it has failed to profit by the experience
through which it has passed {-z/. 18-20). It was Jehovah's plea-
sure, for the sake of His righteousness, to " make instruction
great and glorious" — to give Israel a succession of inspired
teachers, from whom they might learn noble truths : yet so little
did they heed them, that they are now " a people robbed and
spoiled," held fast in bitter bondage. How were they reduced
to this deplorable condition, and who placed them in it ?
Was it not He against whom they sinned ? " Therefore He
poured upon him in fury His anger, and the violence of war,
and it set him on fire round about, but he took no notice,
and kindled upon him, but he would not lay it to heart " '
(7/. 21-25). But now, Jehovah's wrath is for the time satisfied ;
" Fear not, O Israel ; thou shalt be free ; Egypt, Ethiopia and
Seba, shall take thy place as Cyrus's vassals : from all quarters
thy exiles shall return !" (xliii. 1-7).^
Another judgment scene is next imagined. " Let Israel appear
on the one side, the host of heathen nations on the other." The
question is the same as before (xli. 21-3) : Can the heathen
offer now predictions such as these? or can they point to past
events correctly foretold (the "former things")? If so, let them
bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, and have the
truth of their statements attested. Again, judgment goes by
default ; and Jehovah appeals to ^zV witnesses, viz.. His servant
Israel, which has had abundant proof of His predictive power
■ With V. 15 f, cf. xl. 4 ; xli. 18, The *' man of (many) wars," cf. Exod,
XV. 3.
» Compare, especially, Lam, ii. 1-6 ; also Jer. x. 25 ; Ps. Ixxix, 6-7.
3 V. 3-4 the prophet poetically imagines that, on account of the favour
with which Israel is regarded by Jehovah, it will be ransomed by other
nations : compare, for the thought, Ezek. xxix. 18 f. Egypt was actually
conquered by Cambyses, Cyrus's successor. By Seda (Ps. bcxii. 10) a
meant Meroe, in Ethiopia.
143 ISAIAH.
{v. 8-13). **For your sake, the decree is gone forth ; and the
might of Chaldea shall fall. Think no more of the past {v, 18) :
look to the future, the glorious future, which is now promised
to you** {v. 19-21), But this promise is not based upon any-
thing that Israel has done ; Israel's fealty has ever been imper-
fect (cf. xlviii. 8) : even in exile, when released from the service
of sacrifice, the only requital offered by it for this exemption
has been to make God "serve" with its sins, and to *' weary"
Him with its iniquities. It is Jehovah, then, who alone, and for
His own sake (xlviii. 11), blotteth out Israel's transgressions,
and promises graciously to remember them no more. Has
Israel aught to offer in its defence ? {v. 26) can it urge any merit
of its own ? Nay, its whole history shows the stains of sin : its
*' first father'* (Abraham, or Jacob) sinned ; its representatives,
the prophets and priests, have transgressed against Jehovah.
" So I profaned holy princes, and delivered up Jacob to the
ban, and Israel to reproaches." * But now (xliv. i) all this is
past : God's pardon is freely granted ; and in acknowledgment o£
His ancient choice, He bestows anew upon His people the lavish
tokens of His favour, A glorious and blessed future shall dawn
upon it (7/. 3) : a future in which the nations will press forward
to dedicate themselves to Jehovah, and to claim the honour of
membership in His people {v. 5).'
Here a fresh stage in the prophecy begins, extending to the
end of chap, xlv. Again the prophet brings forth the evi-
dence of Jehovah's godhead ; and the promises of deliverance
given already are made more definite. Who, as Jehovah, can
point to past predictions fulfilled ? Who, as He, can announce
the future now ? It is the same double question that was asked
before in the judgment scene, xli. 22 : and it is followed by the
same appeal to the witness of Israel, as in xliii. 10-12. " Feat
ye not," then, "neither be afraid," when ye see one nation after
« The allusion is, of course, to the destruction of Jerusalem (see Jer,
Hi. 24), and the context requires the past tense (as xlii. 25 ; xlvii. 6). So
Sept., Vulg., Pesh. The Hebrew text is pointed wrongly in a future
sense : there is a similar error in Ixiii. 3, 6. ** Holy princes" is an expres-
sion used — at least at a later time — of the chief priests, in i Chron-
xxiv. 5.
* V. s ^^^* '■*'f * name into which "Israel" enters — e.g., "son o\
Israel " — will be regarded as the most honourable title that a man can
bear.
CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII. 143
another succumbing before Cyrus : ** Have I not declared unta
thee of old, and showed it ?" Is not the fall of the Babylonian
power what Jeremiah long since gave you reason to expect
(xxv. 12 ; xxix. lo) ? Or do you think that the idol-gods of
Babylon, imposing as their temples and the ceremonial of their
worship are, will avail to save their city? And the prophet
points his question by proceeding at once to draw a satirical
picture {v. 9-20) of the manner in which idols were manufac-
tured in antiquity — the laboriousne:5C of the work, the large
number of human agents who co-operated in it, the strange
blindness which hid from the worshipper the logical contradic-
tion in which he was implicated. " He burneth part thereof in
the fire : with part thereof he eateth flesh ; he roasteth roast,
and is satisfied : yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha,
I am warm, I have seen the fire : and the remainder of it
he maketh into a god, into his image : he falleth down unto
it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Rescue
me, for thou art my god.'* ** Remember these things, O
Jacob" — take to heart the nature of idolatry: can idols
made in this fashion impede thy freedom? Thou, on the con-
trary, art My "servant," nor canst thou, as thou vainly com-
plainest (xl. 27 ; xlix. 14)' be forgotten of Me. The only
impediment to thy release has been removed by God's free
grace : " I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,
and, as a cloud, thy sins" (cf. xliii. 25) : let the earth rejoice, then,
for Israel is now free ; and in a majestic series of verses, the pro-
phet describes the commission of Cyrus, culminating in the per-
mission to be given by him for the rebuilding of the Temple {v.
24-28), and supported by the renewed assurance (xlv. 1-7) that he
will triumphantly enter Babylon, and take possession of its trea-
sures :' for Israel's sake he has been called and commissioned,
ev&n though he "knew not" God, and had no claim to be deemed
worthy of such honour.* And the final aim of the work thus con-
fided to Cyrus, it is added, is to produce through the world a
general recognition that Jehovah is the true God — the absolute
author of light and darkness, of welfare and calamity,^ the maker
' "Treasures of darkness," &a, i.e.^ the wealth stored in concealment.
In Babylon. Cf. Jer. 1, 37 ; li. 13 (" abundant in treasures ").
« V. 4, "surnamed," or *' titled""(as xliv. 5), i.e., with such titles as
Jehovah's "shepherd,'' xliv 28, or "anointed," xlv. i,
3 Such, as the opposed "peace" or "welfare" shows, is the sense oj
144 ISAIAH.
of all things. The thought of the blessings thus to be secured for
Israel suggests to the prophet one of the lyric interludes such
as he loves (xlii. io-i2 ; xliv. 23 ; xlix. 13) ; he poetically invites
heaven and earth to co-operate in the work, and by an expres-
sive figure pictures the earth as blooming with the fruits of
righteousness and peace {v. 8). Turning aside for a moment to
rijbuke the want of faith on the part of those who murmured at
the tardy advent of the deliverance, and questioned the Divine
power [v. 9-1 1), he reiterates the assurance respecting Cyrus's
future policy : It is I, who made the earth and created man upon
it, who have also " stirred up " Cyrus *' in righteousness " (p. 139),
and will make plain all his ways : he shall build My city, and
let Mine exiles go free, not for price, and not for reward, saith
Jehovah of.hosts ! He pauses, to express in one long verse the
unspeakable honour awaiting his people in the future, when the
most illustrious nations of antiquity will come over to Israel,
surrendering themselves and their wealth to its service, and con-
fessing with adoration the God who is in its midst. And so the
paragraph ends, with a comparison of the alarm and confusion
which will be the fate of the idolaters, who now hold Israel en-
thralled, with the abiding salvation which Israel will enjoy
{v. 16 f.).
The prophet does not, however, rest here. He justifies anew
the promises which he has uttered ; and takes a still more com-
prehensive and penetrating glance into the future. He appeals
again to the certainty of Jehovah's predictions, emphasizing,
however, two fresh features in connection with them, viz., that
(unlike the generality of heathen oracles) they were uttered
openly and in the light of day, and that He who gave them had
no intention of disappointing or misleading his worshippers. As
there was no uncertainty in their source, no ambiguity or indis-
tinctness as to their intention, their fulfilmeat- might be confi-
dently expected {v. 18-19). On the other hand, as before, no
proof is forthcoming of the divinity of the idols {v. 20-21). But
Jehovah is a Saviours and boldly generalizing this truth, the
prophet apostrophizes the furthest quarters of the earth —
•' Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth •
For I am God, and there is none else — "
" evil " here. The word is the same as in joud. A ? for the thought. Cinnp
Amos iii. 6.
CHAPTERS XL.-XLVni, 145
and declares Ajrthwith, with peculiar solemnity, His irrevocable
promise that in due time the whole world shall accept His
sovereignty : " By Myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth
from My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.** Unreser-
vedly will those who thus confess Jehovah own that He is the
source of their righteousness and strength; and the Israel of God,
augmented now by those gathered in from the Gentiles, will
glory in the consciousness of the state of grace in which they
stand before Him. And so, in the prophet^s vision of the future,
the deliverance of Israel culminates in the salvation of the
world at large.
The favourable light in which the prophet in this section views
Cyrus is noticeable. The unselfish and generous character of
the Persian king is indeed recognized by Greek writers ; ' and is
in harmony with the freedom from motives of worldly interest
or gain (such as would generally operate with an Eastern con-
queror), with which he is here described (xlv. 13) as granting the
return of the Jews. From the Inscription referred to above
(p. 1 36),'' it would seem to follow, however, that this was no favour
bestowed specially upon them, but was part of Cyrus's general
policy in dealing with conquered nations. The same Inscrip-
tion has also rendered it doubtful, whether (as used to be sup-
posed) Cyrus was in reality a monotheist. Undoubtedly the
Persians had strong monotheistic tendencies : Parius, for in-
stance,3 speaks of Ormazd as the creator of heaven and
earth, and attributes to him his successes. Cyrus, however,
was not a direct ancestor of Darius, but belonged to a collateral
branch ; and in his Inscription he expressly ascribes his victories
to Merodach, and relates how, after entering Babylon, he
restored his shrines, as well as those of the other gods, and
sought to win the favourable regard of Bel and Nebo. ** It is
clear, therefore, that Cyrus was a polytheist, who, like other
polytheists in other ages, adopted the gods of the country
he had conquered, from motives of State policy."* In xli, 25
the prophet apparently implies Cyrus's recognition of Jehovah's
godhead, if not in the present, at least in the future. How far
* wc t^^putv e0w, jEsch. Persae 735.
■ " All their peoples I assembled, and I restored their lands " (p. 174).
a " Records," v. 151 (on the Inscription of Nakshi-rustam) ; cf. vii. 87 ft,
« Sayce, " Fresh Light," &c., p. 175.
II
146 ISAIAH.
this corresponded to the event is uncertain ; the terms of the
edict in Ezra i. 2-4 are not necessarily an exact reproduction oi
Cyrus's words : upon the general analogy of speeches and pro-
phecies contained in the historical books, the iorm in which it
appears will be due rather to the compiler. On the whole, the
truth probably is that, as the instrument of the release of the
Jews, the character of Cyrus is, in this respect, idealized by
the prophet ; and he views the permission thus granted by him
as iEvolving a more distinct recognition of the God of the Jews
than, perhaps, was actually the case. It appears further from
the Inscription, that Babylon opened its gates to Cyrus without
a siege — " without fighting or battle he [Merodach] caused him
to enter Babylon." This, however, is in no contradiction with the
language of the prophet : in fact, it agrees excellently with the
picture drawn by him in xlv. 1-2,
There follow two chapters (xlvi., xlvii.) in which the prophet,
having sufficiently established his main contention, dwells upon
the prospect of the fall of Babylon. In chap. xlvi. he thinks
principally of its humiliated idols : in chap, xlvii. he contemplates
the city itself, obliged to relinquish its proud position of im-
perial greatness, and impotent to avert the fate which threatens
it. "Bel' boweth down, Nebo stoopeth" — the supreme deities
of Babylon are humbled : and the prophet sees in imagination
a procession of idols moving along, not, as on some festal day,
amid marks of honour and rejoicing, but on the way from the
captured city into exile. The thought of the idols, borne labo-
riously by the wearied beasts, suggests to him by contrast the
thought of Israel, sustained through its long history by Jehovah
with an attention and affection which has never flagged. But
the prophet uses the opportunity afforded him by the spectacle
of the useless images of the Babylonians to emphasize once
again (xl. 18) the incomparableness of Jehovah. " Remember
this/' take to heart the difference between an idol-god and
* /.«., "lord," a title of Merodach, according to Prof. Sayce, "Hibbert
Lectures," p. 92. Nebo was Merodach's son, his "prophet," and pro-
claimer of his wishes (/3, 112 ff.). Nebuchadnezzar styles himself on
an Inscription, "Nebo's favourite" (Schrader, p. 4x3). The verses con-
tain a signal warning against interpreting the prophetic imagery loo
literally : in point of fact, the images of the Babylonian gods, so far fron?
being exiled by Cyrus, were reinstated ly him in their places with honour
(p. 136) 1 The prophet, of course, merely seeks to show, by an effective
figure, the inability of the Babylonian gods to defend their city.
CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII, 147
Jehovah: remember "the former things of old" — whether
prophecies or other occurrences, which were evidence of the
godhead of Jehovah, and proof that He could "declare the
end from the beginning,*' i,e.^ could declare at the beginning
of a new phase or crisis of history its ultimate issue— as Isaiah,
for instance, had foretold in 702 the issue of the revolt from
Assyria, or Jeremiah the end of the empire of Nebuchadnezzar.
The application at once follows. The declaration already made
respecting the successful issue of Cyrus's advance upon Babylon
will be confirmed. The word spoken will be accomplished.
The exhortation is addressed specially to those among the
exiles who were unspiritually minded, and " far from righteous-
ness," i.e., indifferent to the promised salvation, which here (as
elsewhere in this prophecy, e.g.^ li. 6, Ivi. i) is viewed as a
manifestation of Divine righteousness. On their behalf, then,
the assurance is repeated, that the deliverance will not be de-
layed beyond the appointed time.
Chap, xlvii, is an ode on the humiliation of Babylon. The
city is addressed as a queen, who has boasted that she was the
"lady of kingdoms:'* but she is bidden to descend from her
throne, and prepare in ignominy and shame to pass into exile.
For Babylon had abused her position : in dealing with God's
people she had shown no mercy, paid no regard to age or
infirmity (comp. Lam. iv. 1 6 ; v. 1 2) , heedless of the consequences
("the latter end thereof"), in which such heartlessness would
ultimately involve her. Let Babylon, then, listen now to what
she would not consider before, and hear her fate 1 In spite of
her imperial supremacy, in spite of the curious arts which made
her name famous in antiquity, in spite of her assurance that
there was no avenging God to behold her tyranny, the " child-
lessness" and "widowhood" to which she deemed herself
superior will come upon her, with a suddenness that will make
resistance futile, and evil will fall upon her, which her boasted
skill in sorcery will be powerless to avert. Ironically, the pro-
phet bids her make the attempt : — " Persist then in thy spells,
and in the multitude of thy enchantments, wherein thou hast
laboured from thy youth : perchance thou wilt be able to profit,
perchance thou wilt strike terror ! . . . Let the astrologers, the
star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save
thee from the things that shall come upon thee 1 " And the
chapter closes with a picture of the foreign merchants, \ihci
.148 ISAIAH.
frequented Babylon for purposes of trade (p. 128), fleeing each t«
his native country from the doomed city, eager to escape the
impending disaster.
Chap, xlviii. is mainly a repetition and reinforcement of the
arguments insisted on in the previous parts of the prophecy
The first paragraph is addressed in particular to those who,
though nominally worshippers of Jehovah, had in reality no
faith in Him ; and the prophet explains why, in some instances,
predictions had been given long before the events to which they
related {v. 3-6^), whilst in others they had been spoken only on
the eve of their accomplishment {v. 6*5-8). The former method
had been adopted in order to preclude the possibility of the
event, upon its occurrence, being attributed to some idol ; the
latter method had been adopted, and was, in fact, the one fol-
lowed now by the prophet, lest Israel, familiarized beforehand
with the prediction, should plead forgetfulness of its source, and
claim to know it as a matter of course.' A nation which needed
to be dealt with in this way had no claim for mercy or regard ;
but *'for His own sake," that His name may be no more pro-
faned among the heathen (Ezek. xx, 9), Jehovah spares it.
'' Listen, then, Israel to my words : He, who changes not, has
spoken : one whom He favours is approaching : He has called
him ; and his way will prosper. O that thou hadst hearkened
to Him before ! then had thy peace already come, thy righteous-
ness already been established ! then had old promises (Gen.
xxii, 17; xxxii. 12) already been realized 1" But the time is
now not far off : and the first division of ihe prophecy ends with
a jubilant cry, addressed to the exiles, bidding them depart
from Babylon, and proclaim to the ends of the earth the won-
drous story of their return.
In the second division of the prophecy, beginning with chap.
xHx., there is an evident advance in the development of the
author's theme. The controversial tone, the repeated com-
parisons between Jehovah and the idols, with the arguments
based upon them, disappear ; the prophet feels that, as regards
« The same contrast between the "former things, " i.e., former predictions,
and "new things," now declared, as in xlii. 9 (p. 140). In v. 6b render,
" Henceforth I show {not ' haveshowed ') thee new things " — not, as in the
first case, announced some time before the event, but things revealed now
when they are on the point of being realized {"created," v. 7).
CHAPTERS XLIX.-LVII. 149
these points, he has made his position sufficiently secure. For
the same reason, allusions to Cyrus and his conquest of Baby-
lon cease also ; that, likewise, is now taken for granted. The
prophet's thoughts are free to dwell more exclusively on the
future in store for Israel ; in particular, fresh features are
added to the portrait of Jehovah's ideal " Servant," who hitherto
has been alluded to but once (xlii. 1-7) ; his character is further
developed, and the functions to be discharged by him are more
exactly defined.
Chap. xlix. opens with a dramatically conceived representa-
tion of Jehovah's ideal Servant, describing his person and
experiences. The description should be compared with that in
xlii. i~7, to which it is partly parallel, partly supplementary
The speaker announces himself primarily as the medium of
Israel's restoration : but he has besides a mission to the world ;
and hence he begins by inviting distant nations to listen to his
words. He has been called from his birth, guarded carefully,
and trained for his work, given the sharp tongue to rebuke and
to correct ; he is Israel, in whom Jehovah will glory ' (^, 3). For
a moment he had felt discouraged in the execution of his
mission — like Elijah, dejected by want of success {^. 4) ; -but
he was reassured by the reflection that his cause was in God's
hands, who would render him in due time the reward of his
labour. And now a new and more honourable commission is
confided to him : he had been predestined, indeed, to effect the
restoration of the chosen nation ; but a wider and loftier
mission is now opened before him : he is to be a "light of the
Gentiles," in order to bring all mankind to the knowledge of
the true God. Despised, indeed, and abhorred now, a very
different future is in store for him : " Kings shall see and arise ;
princes, and they shall worship ; " in the season of God's good
pleasure, the strength needful for the completion of his task
will be vouchsafed to him (z'. 8) : he will be made the embodi-
ment of a new covenant between Jehovah and His people (cf.
xlii. 6) ; and Israel's exiles will triumphantly return (-z/. 8-13).
And does Zion yet think that she is forgotten ? Im-
possible ! " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she
' Lit. deck himself: one of the words characteristic of the author of
these chapters. See xliv. 23 ; Ix. 21; Ixi. 3 ; also Iv. 5 ; Ix. 7, 9, 13. " B«
glorified " doea not quite suggest the idea that is intended.
t50 ISAIAH.
should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea,
these may forget, but I will not forget thee. Behold, I have
graven thee upon the palms of My hands ; thy walls are con-
tinually before Me." Art thou bereaved, barren, a homeless
exile ? only look with thine eyes I already thy children are
clustering around thee ! already they are more than the space
about thee can contain ! Dost thou wonder whence they come ?
The signal has been raised aloft to the nations: honourably,
and with tender regard to age, they are escorting back thy
children ; and kings and queens are vying with one anodher in
zeal to do thee service.' But the thought that there are those
among his hearers who are incredulous of such promises, and
question whether the strong grasp of the Babylonian despot will
ever be relaxed, recurs to the prophet, even in the moment of
his sublimest transport. " Shall the prey," hq hears it objected,
" be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the terrible one *
escape.?" Yes, the answer is, "Even the captives of the
mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the terrible one shall
escape ; for with him that contendeth with thee I will contend,"
and internecine conflicts (v. 26) will consume the strength of
thy foes. In conclusion, the prophet turns reassuringly to the
children. By two figures borrowed from legal phraseology, he
shows that there is no insuperable impediment to Israel's
restoration to favour. No formal evidence of their mother's
(Zion's) divorce from Jehovah exists ; and no ci-editor can be
produced to whom (according to the custom of Hebrew parents,
when in debt, 2 Kings iv. 'i) they were sold: thus no legal
impediment exists to their restoration ; and the moral impedi-
ment, which alone stands in the way, will cease, so soon as the
Divine offer of pardon is met by the nation's penitence (1. 1-3).
At this point the ideal Servant is again dramatically intro-
duced, soliloquizing in a strain not unlike that of xlix. 1-4. He
dwells however here, more particularly, on the manner in which
he fulfils his mission, and the trials which attend it. He is a
prophet: he has received the '* disciples' tongue "^ — the tongue
skilled to reproduce its master's teaching ; day by day his ear is
touched that it may appropriate its lesson from above : in the
" A famous verse : " And kings shall be thy xmx%\x\%-\ratheri foster-]
fathers {2 Kings x. i), and their queens thy nursing-mothers " — implying
the superior royalty of Zion herself.
• Read, by a slight change, with the Vulg. and Syr., as on R.V, marg.
CHAPTERS XLIX.-LVn. IJl
exeCQtion of the task entrusted to him, he shrinks from no
reproach or humiliation which it may bring upon him ; the
strength of Jehovah sustains him, for he knows that in the end
he will prevail {v, 4-9). The soliloquy ended, the prophet
resumes speaking in his own person. Addressing first those
who fear and obey Jehovah, he exhorts such, if the way befort
them seems dark, or the prospect blank, not to lose their faith ;
and turning afterwards to those who despise the Divine word,
and arm themselves ("that gird yourselves about with fire-
brands ") against the prophets who announce it, he bids them
ironically walk into the flame that they have kindled : the
weapons which they have forged against others, they will find
recoil upon themselves {v. 10 f.).
In the section extending from li. i to lii. 12 the prospect of
the approaching return is that which chiefly fills the prophet's
thoughts ; and his confidence finds joyous expression in the
thrice- repeated jubilant apostrophe li. 9, 17 ; lii. i. He begins
with a word of assurance addressed to those who, unlike the
merely nominal Israelites of xlviii. i f., strove earnestly to lead
a consistent life, and practised a religion of the heart {v. i, 7).
Let such review their past : let them look back to their origin, ,
and reflect upon their wonderful growth from a single ancestor :
let the blessing which thus visibly rested upon Abraham's seed
be to them a source of encouragement in the present. Let them
listen to what the prophet has now to tell them. A noble and
august future is to be theifs ; for through Israel instruction will
go forth to the nations, and the light of a Divine law will be
revealed to the world {v, 1-8). " Awake, awake^ put on strength,
O arm of Jehovah ; awake, as in the days of antiquity, the
generations of old " : let the wonders of the Exodus be re-
enacted,* that the freed ones of Jehovah may return exultingly
to Zion. To the doubts of such as had still not overcome their
dread of human opposition, the prophet replies by the same
effective comparison ("grass") as in xl. 6, and by pointing
again, as in the same chapter, to the marks of Jehovah's power,
and to His purpose of creating, through Israel's agency, a new
moral world (v. 9-16), ** Wake thee up^ wake thee up^ arise, O
Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of
' V. Q, Rahab, and the " dragon "'^( or, sea-monster), of course symboli'
zing Egypt, as Ps. Ixxxix. 10 ; Ixxiv. 13.
153 ISAIAH.
His fufy ; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of reeling »
and drained it." Jerusalem is pictured as a woman, prostrate
through misfortune, lying helplessly, as though drunken, on the
roadside, her sons unable to guide or assist her : but she is to
stand up ; the past is now solemnly reversed ; and the cup oi
"reeling" which she has drunk is to be given to them that
afflicted her (t/. 17-23). ^^ Aivake^ awake, put on thy strength,
O Zion ; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city : for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean !" Let Zion prepare to lay aside
her captive's garb : for Israel has no longer any place in
Babylon : Jehovah will no longer endure to remain in banish-
ment with His people. And now the prophet sees in imagina-
tion the messengers bearing the tidings of Israel's deliverance
arrive in the mountains of Judah, and hears the watchmen,
whom he pictures as looking out eagerly from the city walls,
exultingly announcing the joyous news.^ More triumphantly
than ever he bids "the waste places of Jerusalem'* rejoice;
for Jehovah has comforted His people : His arm is bared for
action before the eyes of the nations, and all the world will now
witness the manifestation of His salvation (cf. xl. 5), "Depart
ye, depart ye ; go ye out from thence ; touch no unclean thing ;
go ye out of the midst of her ; purify yourselves, ye that bear
the vessels of Jehovah. ^ For ye shall not go out in haste,
neither shall ye go by flight : for Jehovah will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rearguard."
The section which now follows, lii. 13-liii, 12, deals again
with the figure of Jehovah's ideal Servant, and developes under
" /.«., "the horror and bewilderment caused by some great calamity"
(Cheyne). For the figure of the '* cup " comp. Ezek, xxiii. 32-4 ; Jer. xxv.
15-28 ; Lam. iv. 21. V, 20 may be illustrated from Lam. ii, u, 19.
» F. 7, "Thy God reigneth 1 " rather, "is become King," the kingdom
aving seemingly, while Israel was in exile, been in abeyance. Cf
Ps. xciii. I ; xcvii, i ; xcix. i — psalms which (as well as Ps. xcvi., xcviii,
[cf. chap. xlii. 10]), reproduce, in a lyric form, the spirit of this part oi
II. Isaiah, and are instinct with the same consciousness that a new epoch
of Divine revelation is beginning for the world.
3 Or, perhaps, "ye armour -bearers of Jehovah.'' Jehovah, figured as a
warrior (xl. 10 ; xlii. 13 ; lix. 17), would be preceded, pon a solemn
occasion, by armour-bearers (cf. i Kihgs xiv. 28). "From thence," i.e.,
from Babylon, the prophet, from v. 7, having place il himself in spiri; in
[erusalem. In v. 5 " in Babylon " is hen
CHAPTERS XLIX.-LVII. 153
a new aspect his character a.nd work. The division of chapters
is singularly unfortunate; for Hi. 13-15, describing the ideal
Servant's exaltation, after an antecedent period of humiliation
and distress, is just a summary or epitome of what is stated in
greater detail in chap. liii. " Behold, My servant shall deal
wisely (or, shall prosper*) ;'' he will in consequence be '* high,
and exalted, and lofty exceedingly"; and the heathen, who
were for the time astonished at the spectacle of his misfortune,
will afterwards be correspondingly amazed by his new and
unexpected greatness (lii. 13-15)."
The contrast here expressed is developed in chap. liii. The
first three paragraphs {v. 1-3, v, 4-6, v, 7-9), dwell on three
several stages in the ideal Servant's humiliation : the persons
speaking are the Israelites^ represented as at length perceiving
the truth, to which they had before been blind, and reviewing
the period of their incredulity. First, in spite of the prophetic
" report," or message, pointing to him, few or none, they say,
amongst his nation recognized him : he had no outward grace
ot beauty of form, attracting attention : he grew up in their
midst like some mean or lowly shrub, struggling to maintain
itself in an arid soil : men despised him, and even held aloof
from him in aversion {v. 1-3). In truth, however, as the
people, still looking back upon the period of their incredulity,
proceed to confess, they themselves were the occasion of his
distressed appearance : " he was bearing the consequences of
our sins, although we, in ©ur blindness, imagined him to be
* stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted ' " — i.e., smitten, as by a
judgment, for some specially heinous offence committed .by him,
— "whereas, in fact, it was we who had gone astray and the
* Both ideas are included. The word means to act with wisdom such as
to ensure success (i Sam. xviii. 14).
^ In V, 15 the rendering '• sprinkle," independently of the fact that
it forms no suitable antithesis to " were astonished " in v. 14, is indefensible
upon grammatical grounds. If the word here used were derived from the
Hebrew verb signifying £0 spirt (2 Kings ix. 33, ' ' And some of her blood
spirted upon the wall "), the phrase could only signify cause the nations to
spirts as though they were themselves the liquid spirting ! This sense being
obviously out of the question, most moderns {including Delitzsch) derive tha
word from another root, signifying to leap, and so obtain the rendering
cause to leap, i.e., metaphorically, cause to rise up suddenly in wonder, or
(R.V. marg.) startle, *' Shall shut their mouths" — a gesture denoting the
involuntary silence of amazement ; see Job xxix. 9 ; Micah vii. 16.
154 ISAIAH.
penalty, instead of recoiling upon us, lighted K its entirety' upon
him, leaving us free." So far, in a word, I'rom being guilt:^
himself, he bore the guilt of others, and relieved them of its
penal consequences {v, 4-6), Though he let himself be humbled
{«>., suffered willingly), and made no answer to his accusers, he
was still oppressed : first imprisoned by an unjust sentence, he
was afterwards led away to execution, not one among his con-
temporaries considering that he was thus cut off, not for his
own sins, but for those of his people' : in spite of the innocence
of his life, his death was that of a malefactor and his end in-
glorious (v. 7-9). The fourth and last paragraph introduces a
promise for the future. It was Jehovah's pleasure thus to
*' bruise *' him : but out of death will spring a new Hfe : after his
soul has been made a guilt-offering,^ he will live again, enjoy
long life, and be rewarded with the satisfaction of seeing God's
work, or " pleasure,'* prospering in his hand/ Possessed of an
intimate "knowledge " of the dealings and purposes of Jehovah,
» V. 6, " laid," lit, made to light, as on the mark of an arrow (Job vii. 20).
•So V, 8, R.V., text R.V. marg, has "and his life who shall recount?
for he was cut off," &c., t.^., who, at the time of his death, would think of
dwelling upon his memory ? he had, as it appeared, achieved nothing
worthy of remembrance. But the rendering "life" is questionable.
s So R.V, — ^here on marg., elsewhere in text (A.V. trespass-o^trm^ :
Heb. dskdm (Lev. v. 14-vi, 7), to be carefully distinguished from the " sin-
offering," Heb. chattdth (Lev. iv. i-v. 13). In the «n-ofFering, the sin is
viewed in its effects upon the sinner, and the idea of expiation is
prominent: in the^«V/-oiTering, it is viewed in its effects upon other fer so fis^
as involving an infringement of their rights. The guilt-offering always
implies some right or due withheld ; if this could be estimated at a money-
value, a material compensation was made, the guilt in the eyes of God
being met by the sacrifice, or dshdm, offered at the same time. A moral due
cannot be estimated in money ; where such has been withheld, tke sacrifice
alone can be offered. The Philistines rendered an dskdm for the desecra-
tion done to the ark (i Sam. vi. 3, 4). What has been said explains the use
of the term here. Sin is viewed as a sacrilege, an invasion of God's
honour : the dskdm is the satisfaction paid for it, viz., the innocent life of the
Righteous Servant.
4 In "shall see seed and have long life," the figure of ^ patriarch blessed
with longevity and numerous descendants (Gen. 1. fi2 f.) is in the prophet's
thoughts. The ''pleasure of Jehovah" is the Servant's r^/^^zoMj' mission
(xhi. 1, 4, 6 ; xlix. 6, 8). V. ga means that after the travail which he had
experienced, he would enjoy a satisfying view of the progress of the Di ina
work of salvation effected through his instrumentality.
CHAPTERS XLIX,-LVII. IJS
he will "justify the many*' 'viz., hy a method or principle based
upon this knowledge) ; whilst his final reward for having sub*
mitted to the death of a transgressor will be that he will be
ranked as a conqueror, and honoured amongst the great ones of
the earth.' Thus the ideal Servant's humiliation and death are
succeeded by a glorified Hfe ; and the ground of the amazement
of the nations (lii. 15) is made fully evident. It will be observed
that the iJea oi vicarious suffering \s\i^x^ distinctly enunciated:
the subject of the prophecy suffers not with the guilty (involved
with them in a common catastrophe), but for them. The sig-
nificance of the section, as a whole, will however be considered
more fully in Chap. IV. Only one question may be touched upon
here. The context, on both sides of lii. 13-liii. 12, dca^s with
the approaching restoration from exile : and in what connection,
it may be asked, does the figure of Jehovah's ideal Servant stand
to that ? The answer to this question is to be found in the fact
that as xlii. 1-7 ; xlix. 1-13 (especially z/. 5-6, 8-9) show, the future
of Israel as a nation is intimately connected, in the prophet's
view, with the figure in which Israel's history and character
culminate, the ideal Servant. The conception thus reacts upon
the prophet's apprehension of the present. His assurance
that the impersonation of Israel's character and destiny which
he has here pourtrayed is not a Tnere creation of the imagination
and will not remain permanently an unrealized ideal, is a pledge
to him of the approaching temporal deliverance from Babylon,
and a potent confirmation of the promises connected therewith. ■
Accordingly, in chap, liv., the prophet proceeds to develope
the consequences thus implicitly involved in chap. liii. Again,
as in xlix. 20 f., Zion is addressed as a woman, who, after years
of barrenness, is at length a mother, and may now watch her
children "spreading abroad" (see Gen. xxviii. 14) far and
wide, V. 1-3 ; no longer need she fear the reproach of widow-
hood, for her " Husband" is now about to resume His rights over
her: in an "outburst" of wrath, He had indeed for a while
hidden His face from her, but with everlasting lovingkindness
He will now have compassion upon her, and establish with her
an indissoluble " covenant of peace" (see F fck. xxxiv. 25 ; xxxvii,
36), V. 4-10. Tossed to and fro nowj Zion will then be at rest
■ V, iza, the figure is that of a victor, receiving from Jehovah, atn4
dividing with his peers, the spoils of a sugcessful war.
156 ISAtAH.
upon a secure and splendid foundation, her children the "dis-
ciples of Jehovah " (comp. Jer. xxxi. 34) ; and those who
think to assail her will but perish in the attempt, v. 11-17,
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he
that hath no money! come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy
wine and milk without money, and without price." Such is the
offer which the prophet next holds out to the exiles ; for that
this, though the invitation is evangelical in its comprehen-
siveness, is the primary import of his words, appears plainly
from the sequel/ He would have his people prepare them-
selves to receive the coming blessings worthily : a rich spiritual
satisfaction is within their grasp, if they will but comfe forward
and claim it j the only condition is obedience^ Iv. 3. If this con-
dition be cheerfully and generously rendered, the promise given
to David ' will be contirmed to the nation in a fuller and larger
sense : distant nations in voluntary homage will hasten to
own the supremacy of Israel's religion (cf. xlv. 14). Exert
yourselves, then, before it is too late, that ye may be worthy to
partake in the deliverance. Or are you still (xl. 27; xlix. 24)
incredulous ? and do you deem it an idle exhortation to prepare
yourselves for a future that may never come ? I tell you, My
thoughts are not as your thoughts : My purposes are higher than
you are able to comprehend ; 3 My word is unalterable (cf. xl.
8) ; it cannot be recalled ; nor will it return unto Me till the
object for which it is sent has been accomplished — " For with
joy shall ye go forth, and with peace shall ye be led : the moun-
tains and hills shall break forth before you into singing ; and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Nature shall
sympathize and exult ; and the earth shall burst forth with trees
» See V, 12, •* Ye ^\i2X\. go forth with joy," &c.
» 2 Sam. vii. 12-16 (Nathan) ; also xxiii. 5 ^n "everlasting cove-
nant ") ; and Ps. Ixxxix. 49, V. 4 refers to David, As David became ruler
of subject nations (2 Sam. viii.), a knowledge of his religion, however im-
perfect, spread amongst them : thus he was a "witness " to them. This
position of David is idealized in Ps. xviii. 43 (" Thou makest me a head of
nations ; a people whom I have not known shall serve me ") ; and the posi-
tion, as thus idealized, is here enlarged, and extended in a spiritual sense
to Israel {v, 5, " Behold a nation that thou knowest not thou shalt call, and
a nation that have not known thee shall run unto thee").
3 The "thoughts of Jehovah," Micah iv. 12 ; and especially Jer, xxix
1^13 (likewise with reference to Israel's return from Babylon).
CHAPTERS XLIX.-LVII, 157
of noble foliage {v. 13), at the redemption of Jehovah's people
(comp. xli. 19 ; xlii. 11).
Once more, however, and from a fresh point of view, the pro-
phet emphasizes the conditions which must be satisfied by those
who would enjoy these blessings : — " Observe judgment, and do
righteousness: for My salvation is near to come, and My righ-
teousness to be revealed" (comp. li, 5). The duties of the first
Table are typified by the observance of the Sabbath ; those of
the second Table are signified in the comprehensive expression,
"That keepeth his hand that it do no evil"{lvi. 2). But no
other restrictions are imposed ; and all, the prophet hastens to
add, who observe the conditions stated, in spite of any technical
disqualification which may attach to them, will be admitted
freely to the promised privileges. The alien (or foreigner) who
(comp. Deut. xxiii. 3-8) might fear that full religious communion
with Israel would be refused to him, the eunuch who. (z^, v. i)
was permanently excluded from it, are both assured that pro-
vided they fulfil the required conditions of a life in conformity
with Jehovah's will, no legal impediment will be permitted to
bar their adm^gsion : the sacrifices of foreigners will be accepted ;
*'For Mine house shall be called a house of prayer /^^r aU
peoples, Saith the Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts
of Israel : Yet more will I gather unto him (viz., from other
nations), besides his own gathered ones." With this lofty con-
ception of the future of the Gentile world, and of Jehovah's
purpose in relation to it, the prophet closes the present section
of his prophecy. In the quotation in Matt. xxi. 13 and Luke
xix. 46 (though not in Mark xi. 17), the end of the sentence, _;5?f
all peoples, is omitted. These words, however, it is evident, are
of crucial significance in the original context. The passage is,
in fact, the counterpart to xlii. 4; li. 5. What is described as the
desire of the nations there, is shown to be in accordance with
Jehovah's purpose here.
Very different is the tone of the section which now follows —
Ivi. 9-lvii. 21. With chap, lix., it forms the most sombre part
of the entire prophecy. The prophet turns aside from the
glorious future which elsewhere is always uppermost in his
thoughts, to the prosaic reality of the present and the past. He
dwells upon the faults and shortcomings, which Israel has been
only too reluctant to abandon, and which necessitated in the
end a Divine interposition for their removal. First, h$ denounces
158 ISAIAH,
the unworthy rulers of the nation. "All ye wild beasts of th«
field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest ! " Israel
is like a neglected flock ; and thus he bids ironically the beasts
(symbolizing heathen nations) come and devour as they wilL
The " watchmen " ' are blind ; instead of being on the alert,
they are asleep and useless ; the shepherds (as in Jeremiah,"
a figure of the rulers of the people), instead of caring for the
flock, are simply intent on their own advantage or pleasure
{v. II f.). The rulers being thus indifferent, the righteous are
neglected, and perish (Ivii. i f.), no one all the while observing
that they are in fact gathered in, that they may be rescued from
a judgment to come.^
Next (Ivii. S-iia)^ the prophet reproaches Israel with its
idolatry, drawing a vivid description of the nation's devotion
to strange heathen rites, such as had been practised (probably)
in the evil days of Manasseh, and the tendency to which was
still, no doubt, far from extirpated in the mass , of the people
(comp. Ixv. 3-5, 11). Further, under the figure of a woman
attiring herself to attract admirers, he shows effectively bow
ready Israel had been to court the favour of foreign kings>
deterred neither by the distance to be traversed by her emis-
saries, nor by the humiliation involved — " Thou didst get
renewal of thy strength, therefore thou feltest not weak." Of
whom, the prophet retorts, wast thou in fear that thou wast thus
faithless, and forgattest Me? But thy works shall not profit
thee . let thy rabble of idols, when thou ciriest to them, deliver
thee, if they can 1 But he that taketh refuge in Me, shall " inherit
the land, and take My holy mountain in possession^*' And
again (cf. xl. 3), the voice is heard, bidding the way be prepared
for the returning people :
•'Cast ye up, cast ye up, clear the way ;
Take up the stumbling-ldock out of the way of My people."
For Israel has a sure ground of salvation. Lofty though Jehovah
is. He can yet condescend in His mercy to those of a lowly and
contrite spirit ; His wrath is now past ; and He offers peace to
far and near alike of Israel's banished ones. Only the wicked,
t,e, (in this connection), " those Israelites who persist in the
« I.e.t the prophets . see Jer. vi. 17 ; Ezek. iii. 17,
" Chap. ii. 8 ; iii. 15 ; and esp. xxiii. i, 3. See alsa Ezek. xxziv. 3, 5, &
* Illustrate from 3 Kings xxii. 20.
CHAPTERS LVIII.-LXVI. 159
alienation from God which they have inherited from their fore
fathers " (Delitzsch), have no part in the promised blessing.
As the second division of the prophecy exhibits an advance
upon the first, so the third shows an advance upon the second.
At first, indeed, the prophet's strain alters but slightly : as in
Ivii. 3-21, he continues to upbraid his nation for its moral
shortcomings. But after chap. lix. his thoUj^^i not only leaves
behind it the fall of Babylon, but ceases to revert with the
same frequency as before to the release and return of the
Jews : the vision of Zion restored absorbs more constantly
his attention ; he paints its glories in colours of surpassing
brilliancy ; and contrasts emphatically the happiness of the
true Israelites (" my servants ") admitted to be its citizens, with
thfi far different fate reserved for those who indulge in wilful-
ness and sin (chap. Ixv.-lxvi.). First of all, however, the
moral impediments, which disqualify Israel for the enjoyment
of these blessings, must be removed. " Cry aloud, spare not,
lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto My people
their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins "
(Iviii. i). Content with the observances of a formal religion,
the people nevertheless resort to God boldly, and claim His
interposition in their favour. They plead the strictness of
their fasts : and affect surprise that they are disregarded. Fasts
were a common feature of the old Istaelitish religion [e.g,^
I Kings xxi. 9, 12 ; Jer. xxxvi. 9) : in Zech. viii. 19, we learn
expressly that during the exile four days were observed
annually as fasts, in commemoration of dates connected with
the fall of Jerusalem. The prophet replies, Your fasts are no
expression of true humility of soul : you exact to the full, on
such days, the labour of your dependents ; you become even
the more kritable and violent towards them. Has Jehovah
pleasure in a fast that is nothing more than an external form ?
In contrast to fasting such as this, the prophet draws a picture
of the true fast, in which Jehovah delights, viz., deeds of
philanthropy, unselfishness, liberality, and mercy, and of the
blessings which the observance of it will secure, ending, as
usual, with that which is foremost in his thoughts, the particular
blessing of being able to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (z/, 6-
12), But if the true fast typifies the Israelite's duties towards
his neighbour, the Sabbath represents bis duties towards Cock
t6o ISAIAH.
The cheerful and ready observance of the Sabbath (of. Ivi. 2,
4, 6) is thus the second .condition of Israel's restoration. And,
if this condition be complied with, then may Israel, instead of
being enthralled in bondage in Babylon, again (see Deut
xxxii. 13)*' ride "in triumph over the mountains of Palestine,
and resume the possession of its ancient home.
In chap. lix. the prophet enumerates with greater particularity
the faults of which Israel is guilty, for the purpose of showing
that the cause of the withdrawal from Israel of the Divine
favour lies in the people, and not in Jehovah. The picture
drawn by him is a dark one : bloodshed, dishonesty, schemes
of violence and deceit are prevalent ; in the long catalogue
of sins with which Ezekiel in 593 (see chap, xxli.) reproached
their fathers, there were many, it is plain, which the exiles as
a body had not yet learnt to disown, v, 3-8. The prophet,
however, proceeds to represent them as confessing their
responsibility in the social disorder described, as owning it
to be the ground of the helpless condition in which they find
themselves, and acknowledging that they have no claim upon
Jehovah for assistance (v. 9-1 50:). The people*s confession
is heard : no human champion was at hand to save them : the
Divine warrior, therefore, arms himself, and prepares to
•nterpose : his vengeance breaks upon all the authors of dis-
order and injustice in Israel, and not upon these only, but
upon the ungodly world in general at the same time. It is an
ideal scene which the prophet here depicts : the restoration
of the exiles is described under the concrete image of a
manifestation of Jehovah, removing forcibly the obstacles
which impede its realization. As a redeemer, then, He will
show himself in Zion, — not indeed to all without distinction,
but to those who satisfy the needful moral conditions, and have
'* turned from rebellion in Jacob." And the section concludes
with a renewal of the gracious promise made already (xliv. 3)
to the true Israel, that it is to continue the permanent recipient
of the Divine spirit, the permanent organ of the Divine word.
At length (chap. Ix.), the'longed-for "light" (lix. 9) bursts
upon the prophet's eye ; the dark cloud of night that shrouds
the rest of the world has been lifted over Zion ; and a brilliant
day there shines. The bright prospect eclipses all besides : and
in this most beautiful chapter the prophet gathers together the
features belonging to Zion restored into one unsurpassed picturCi
CHAPTERS LVIII.-LXVI. l6l
He addresses the fallen and ruined city under his favourite figure
of a woman, a mother : let her rise from her prostrate condition,
and respond to the touch of the Divine glow that is streaming
upon her ! And as the rays of this bright light pierce the dark-
ness around, he sees distant nations stirred and attracted by it :
they press forward, eager to enter and enjoy it themselves.
Amongst them are Zion's own banished sons ; — *' Lift up thine
eyes round about, and see ; they are all gathered together, and
come to thee : thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters
shall be borne upon the side" (cf. xlix. 22), Lingering for a
moment on the mother's delight (7/. ^a) in thus receiving back her
offspring, he next imagines the wealthiest and most illustrious
nations of antiquity coming in one long train to cast their trea-
sures at her feet, to minister to her wants, to beautify her temple.
Violence and destruction will cease, and assured peace and tran-
quillity will reign throughout the land. No longer will Zion be
dependent for light upon the natural luminaries of heaven : for
" Jehovah shall be thy everlasting light, and the days of thy
mourning are ended." Henceforth the inhabitants will be all
righteous, possessing the land for ever, and thriving upon it, like
a branch planted and tended by God, whose growth redounds
to His honour.
The next two chapters are substantially a continuation of the
same theme, the felicity of the ideal Zion of the future. Only,
at the beginning, Jehovah's ideal Servantis once more introduced,
describing the gracious mission which has been entrusted to him,
" to bring good tidings to the afflicted, to bind up the broken-
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of eyes
to the prisoners '* (cf. xlii. 3, 7 ; xlix. 9). His monologue is imme-
diately followed, as before (xlix. 9-12), by the promise of Jeru-
salem's restoration ('* and they shall renew the ruined cities, the
desolations of past generations "), and of Jehovah's blessing, rest-
ing visibly upon it, and attracting the notice of the world {v. 4-9).
And using figures of supreme beauty (v. 10 f.) the prophet, speak-
ing in the name of the people, expresses its grateful appreciation
of the blessedness thus bestowed upon it. Jehovah Himself
is the next interlocutor, declaring His resolve to be no more
" silent •' (xlii. 14 ; Ivii. 11; cf. Ixiv. 12), no more to be regardless
of His nation's cry : the righteousness of Zion, the ideal Zion
of the future, will ere long be conspicuous to all, and a new name,
corresponding to, and symbolizing, her new character, will be
12
l62 ISAIAH.
conferred upon her by Him. No longer forsalcen, she will ba
taken back into favour by her Husband (cf. 1. i ; liv. 5), and again
become His delight. Upon the walls of this ideal city are set
watchers,* to remind Jehovah perpetually of His promise, and to
*' give Him no rest " until He establish Jerusalem in safety, and
secure her renown in the earth. And now, for the last time (cf.
xl. 3 ; xlviii, 20; hi. 1 1 ; Ivii. 14) the call is heard, bidding the
exiles quit Babylon —
" Pass ye, pass ye through the gates ; clear ye the way of My people :
Cast ye up, cast ye up the highway ; take ye out the stones :
Lift ye up a banner over the peoples " (see xlix. 22).
The words of xl. 10 are repeated ; Jehovah is about to return to
. ZioHj leading before Him, as a prize of war, His newly-won
people. The ideal character of the nation (Exod. xix. 6) will
henceforth be realized ; and the sentence passed in Jer. xxv,
38 ("Jehovah hath forsaken His covert ")» and xxx. 17 (" No man
seeketh her out^^) is finally reversed.
There follows a passage, Ixiii. 1-6, of unique and sublime
dramatic power. The impotence of Israel's enemies to retard
or interfere with their deliverance has been insisted on before
(xli. 15 f. ; xlix. 25, 26 ; li. 23 ; liv. 17) ; and it is here developed
under a novel and striking figure. The historical fact upon
which the representation rests is the long-standing and impla-
cable enmity (p. 130) subsisting between Israel and Edom.
The scene depicted is of course no event of actual history :
it is symbolical: an ideal humiliation of nations, marshalled
upon the territory of Israel's inveterate foe, is the form under
which the thought of Israel's triumph is here expressed. The
prophet sees in imagination a figure, as of a conqueror, his
garments crimson with blood, advancing proudly in the distance
from the direction of Edom ; and asks —
** Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?
This, that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his
strength ? "
In reply he hears from afar the words —
" I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save,"
■ Not watchmen (lit. lookers out)^ as Hi. 8, Ivi. 10, but as in xxi. iz, Cant.
f. 7, lit., keepers, those who guard the city, especially during the night.
CHAPTERS LVI1I.-LXVI. 163
>,^., I who have announced (xlv. 19) a just and righteous
purpose of delivferance, and am able to give it effect. The
answer is not yet sufficiently explicit; so he repeats the ques-
tion in a more direct form —
^* Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel?
And Thy garments like his that treadeth the ^< iiie-press ? "
*' The wine-trough I have trodden alone, and of the peoples there was no
man with Me :
So I irode them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My fury ;
And their life-stream besprinkled My garments, and all My raiment have
I defiled."
Not Edom only, then, but other nations also have been trodden
dqwn and subdued —
" For a day of vengeance was in Mine heart ;
And My year of release had come.
And I looked, but there was no helper.
And I wondered, but there was no supporter ;
Therefore Mine arm wrought salvation for Me,
And My fury — it supported Me ;
And I stamped upon the peoples in Mine anger.
And brake them to pieces in My fury :
And I spilled their life-stream on the earth."
In the hour when the contest Israel contra mundum was to
be decided, no human agent, willingly or consciously, came
forward to assist ; nevertheless, God's purposes were not
frustrated : Israel's opponents were humbled and defeated ; but
human means, in so far as use was made of them, were the
unconscious instruments of Providence. And thus the blood-
stained colour of the Victor's garments is explained : it is a
token of Jehovah's triumph over His people's foes, primarily
indeed over those foes who would impede the release of the
Jews from Babylon, or mclest them when settled again in
Palestine, but by implication also, over other foes who might
rise up in the future to assail the people of God.
The dialogue ended, the prophet's tone changes. In the
assurance that the redemption, guaranteed by Jehovah's triumph,
will be wrought out, he supplies faithful Israel with a hymn of
thanksgiving, supplication, and confession, expressive of the
iiane of mind worthy to receive it (Ixiii. 7-lxiv. 12). In a
1 64 ISAIAH.
Strain of surpassing pathos and beauty the prophet, as it were,
" leads the devotions " (C^heyne) of his nation, and lends words
by his eloquence to their repentance.
Beginning with the commemoration of the mercies signalizing
the past (" I will make mention of the lovingkindnesses of
Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jeho-
vah hath bestowed upon us '*)i ^^^ of the affection with which
Israel was regarded by Jehovah {v, 9), he passes quickly to tell
of the people's ingratitude and rebellion (v. 10), which obliged
Jehovah to " fight against them,'* until calamity directed their
thoughts afresh to the glorious past, and caused them to long
again for the Divine help. In accents of mingled entreaty and
expostulation they pray : " Look from heaven and behold, from
the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory : where is Thy
jealousy (xlii. 13), and Thy mighty acts? the yearning of Thy
bowels and Thy compassions are restrained towards me. . . .
Why dost Thou make us to stray, O Jehovah, from Thy wayS|
and hardenest our heart from Thy fear ? Return for Thy ser-
vants' sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance." The prayer soon
grows bolder, " O that Thou didst rend the heavens, that Thou
didst come down, that the mountains shook at Thy presence
... to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the
nations might tremble before Thee ! *' Confession follows, in
tones that remind us of lix. 10-12: **We are all become as
one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted
garment. . . . And there is none that calleth upon Thy name,
that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee ; for Thou haut
hid Thy face from us, and delivered us ' into the power of our
iniquities." He closes with the beseeching appeal : " Thy holy
cities are become a desert ; Zion is become a desert, Jerusalem a
desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, wherg our fathers
praised Thee, is burned up with fire ; and all our delectable
things are laid waste. Wilt Thou, in spite of these things,
refrain Thyself, O Jehovah? wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and
afflict us very sore ? "
The supplication is ended ; and chap. Ixv. appears to be in-
tended as the answer — an answer, however, in which a distinction
is drawn between worthy and unworthy members of Israel, and
a different prospect is held out to each. God has ever, He says,
» So Sept., Pesh., Targ,, R.V. mar^. For the thought, cf. Job viii. 4.
CHAPt£RS LVin.-LX^I. 165
been accessibis to His people, He has ever been read> to renew
intercourse with them : * it was they who would not respond, but
provoked Him with their idolatries. Such as these are "a
smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day." Their guilt
must first be requited. Israel, however, is not to be rejected on
account of the presence within it of unworthy members : a seed
of " chosen ones " will be brought out of Jacob, who shall again
inherit the mountains of Palestine (^. 8-10). Far different, on
the other hand, will be the lot of those devoted to heathen gods,
whom the prophet next addresses {v. 11-16), contrasting their
future with the future of Jehovah's true servants. A new order
of things ("new heavens and a new earth :" cf. li. 16) is about to
be created, in which Jerusalem and her people will be to Jehovah
a source of unalloyed delight, and in which care and disappoint-
ment, such as are the lot of humanity in the present, will cease
to vex {v. 17-25). It is a transformation of nature and society,
which the prophet here imagines, on the same lines as iv. 2-6 ;
XXX. 23-26, &c., but conceived upon a grander and more com-
prehensive scale."
" Thus saith Jehovah, The heavens are My throne, and the earth
is My footstool : what manner of house would ye build for Me ?
what manner of place for My rest? " Such are the great words
with which the last chapter of the prophecy opens. They are
a declaration, spoken probably in view of the approaching
« K I as well as ». 2 refers to Israel. The application in Rom. x. 20
to the heathen is inferential, and has no bearing on the sense of the passage
in its original context. The prophet's words are extended by the apostle to
other persons exhibiting the same characteristic of not asking or seeking after
God. There is a similar extension in the passages cited, Rom. ix. 25 f. and
X. 18 : in their original context these relate, the one to the material heavens,
the other to the kingdom of Ephraim. Render v, i "have let myself be
inquired of," "let myself be found " {or, "have been at hand"); the words
used may be illustrated from Ezek. xx. 3, 31 and chap. Iv. 6. K. 4, " which
sit among the graves," &c., viz., for the purpose of obtaining dreams there,
which might reveal to them the future. Comp, the lyKoiiiriavQ or "in-
cubatio " practised at oracles [Aen. vii. 86-88). V. 5 alludes to those who
elaimed superior sanctity, in virtue of certain rites into which they had been
initiated ; comp. Ixvi. 5, 17. (In v. ib. we should read, probably, with all
the Ancient Versions, as on R.V. marg.)
* V, ao, observe, the power of death is limited, but not abolished (as in
XXV. 8) : death at the age of 100 years will be reckoned as early or prema-
ture. V. 25 is a condensed quotation from the picture of the Messianic
age in xi. 6-9.
l66 ISAIAH.
restoration of the temple (which, in itself, the prophet entirely
approves, xliv. 28, and expects Ivi. 7 ; Ix. 7 ; Ixii. 9), reminding
the Jews of the truth which a visible temple might readily
lead them to forget, that no earthly habitation could be
really adequate to Jehovah's majesty, and that Jehovah's
regard was not to be won by the magnificence of a
material temple, but by humility, and the devotion of
the heart. How needful the warning was history shows. Jere-
miah (vii. 1-15) argues at length against those who pointed,
with a proud sense of assurance, to the massive pile of build-
ings that crowned the height of Zion, heedless of the moral
duties which loyalty to the King, whose residence it was,
implied. And at a yet more critical moment in their history,
attachment to the temple, as such, was one of the causes which
incapacitated the Jews from appropriating the more spiritual
teaching of Christ : the charge brought against Stephen (Acts
vi. 13, 14) is that he ceased not " to speak words against this holy
place and the law"; and the argument of Stephen's defence
(chap, vii.) is just to show that in the past God's favour had not
been limited to the period during which the Temple of Zion
existed. Here, then, the prophet seizes the occasion to
insist upon the necessity of a spiritual service, passing on
(t/. 3-5) to denounce in particular certain superstitious usages
which had apparently at the time infected the worship of
Jehovah. In his concluding paragraph (z/. 6-24), he con-
trasts the glorious blessedness in store for Jerusalem, with the
terrible judgment impending over her enemies. First, he
hears in spirit the sound as of one stirring in the temple (which
he views in imagination as now restored) : it is the sound of
Jehovah preparing Himself for vengeance —
" A sound of uproar from the city, a sound from the temple 1
The sound of Jehovah who rendereth their deserts to His enemies I ''
The time of Zion's birth is at hand, and will no longer be
delayed. " Was a nation ever born in a day ?'' Yes, he replies ;
in the case of Zion, the paradox is the reality. Henceforth
peace and joy shall reign in Jerusalem {v. 10-14) : for Jehovah
is about to execute judgment upon her foes — **with fire will He
hold judgment, and by His sword with all flesh ; and many shall
be theslain of Jehovah "(comp. Jer. xxv. 31,33). And those Jews
also who, by a strange abnegation of their rights, abandon
CHAPTERS LVIII.-LXVI. l67
themselves (cf. Ixv. 3 f.) to heathen mysteries, will share the
same fate. Distant nations, when they hear of the '' sign " thus
wrought upon Israel's enemies, will hasten to escort back
with reverence the exiles still in their midst {v, 18-21).
An unending future will then commence for the restored
nation,' in which the rites of IsraePs religion will be honoured
by the entire world. Month by month, and sabbath by sabbath,
" all flesh " will come to worship at Jerusalem. The thought of
Ivi. 7 is here expressed by a figure, which, understood literally,
involves a physical impossibility : but the prophet cannot
altogether emancipate himself from the forms of the Jewish
economy (comp. pp. 94, 114), and clothes a spiritual truth in
a garb which in strictness is too narrow for it (comp. Zech. xiv.
16-19). And the memory of the signal act of judgment
{v. 1 8 f.) will not be forgotten : the carcases of those who fall
in it will remain, a never-ending and loathsome spectacle, in one
or other of the valleys outside Jerusalem : and both pilgrims, and
residents in the city, will go out from time to time to gaze ih
horror upon the scene {v. 24). Such is the picture with which the
great prophecy of Israel's restoration closes.
« Comp. Jer. xxxi. 35 f. ; xxxiii. 20-26 (similarly of the returned exiles^
Note.— The most recent account of C3mis and his conquests will be
found in Maspero's " Histoire ancienne des peuples de TOrient " (ed. 4«
1886), chaps. xii.» xiii., where references to the original authorities are also
given. The Rev. J. M. Fuller, in "The Expositor," Dec, 1885, p. 437 ff.,
seeks to evade the conclusion that Cyrus was a polytheist, by the supposi-
tion that the Inscription probably does not represent his true belief, and was
drawn up, not by Cyrus himself, but by the priests of Merodach and Bel
(whose worship Nabo-nahid had neglected), with the view of reconciling the
Babylonians to the change of master. At least, however, the Inscription
leaves no doubt that Cyrus was so far a polythast that he restored the
ViOTMhif of the Babylcnian gods.
CHAPTER IV*
THEOLOGY A^D LITERARY STYLE OF CHAPTI RS XI.-LXV1.
The author's distinctive teaching determined in part by his historical
situation — Characteristic features of his theology — The figure of "Je-
hovah's Servant " — ^The author's literary style — ^The character of his .
po®try.
The general argument of chaps, xl.-lxvi. has been expounded,
it is hoped, with sufficient completeness ; it remains to estimate
— so far as space will permit — ^the author's position and Hterary
characteristics, and to define the more prominent aspects of his
theology.
As in the case of the prophets generally, the author's attitude
and teaching, viewed in their broader features, are determined
by his historical situation. Like Isaiah in 701, like Jeremiah on
the eve of the exile, he stands at a critical moment in the his-
*tory of his nation. Was Judah to lose its individuality in the
land of its exile, to be gradually assimilated, like its brethren oi
the Ten Tribes, to the nations among whom it dwelt? There
were many among the exiles upon whom the promise of Jere-
miah had produced no impression ; who were content to remain
where they were ; who had no high aspirations for the future :
others, who were ready to quit Babylon if the opportunity
should offer, were despondent, over-awed by the power and
magnificence' of the great imperial city (xl. 27 ; xlix. 14, 24),
The prophet saw the future with a truer eye. Though Cyrus,
pursuing his triumphal progress, may throw the nations of
Asia into consternation, and drive them in terror to their idol-
gods (xli. 2-7), Israel has no ground for alarm {v. 8 ff.) : the
promise has been given, and cannot be recalled (xl. 8 ; Iv. Ii) :
THEOLOGY OF CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI- 169
Israel must yet return to its ancient home, and complete the
destined cycle of its history. The approaching restoration
from exile holds in his view a similar position to that occupied
in Isaiah by the triumph over the Assyrians. It marks the
commencement of a new epoch, in which the powers of the
world and of evil, now holding sway over Israel, will be ren-
dered harmless ; it inaugurates the advent of the perfect kingdom
of God. Hence the importance assumed by it in the prophet's
eyes, and the brilliant colours in which he depicts it. It is a
manifestation of the Divine glory (xl. 5 ; xli. 20 ; lii. 10) ; it is
an event of world-wide significance, to be told, and acknowledged
gratefully, in the remotest regions of the earth (xliv. 23 ; xlviii.
20 ; Ixii. 11), But he stands upon a loftier pedestal than Isaiah,
and pierces further into the future. He has a more distinct con-
sciousness of the greatness of Israel's mission : he is aware that,
in some mysterious way, a "light of the Gentiles" is in the
future to proceed from it ; he has received, in even larger and
fuller measure than Isaiah, a revelation of God's purposes of
grace. Hence the extraordinary comprehensiveness of his
view, and the wealth and richness of his prophetic teaching.
" No thought is too lofty or too wide for the Prophet, in the
passion of enthusiasm, which the vision of a restored nature
and regenerated world raises within him." '
In considering the theology of chaps, xl.-Ixvi., we are im-
pressed not merely by the profusion, and (to speak from a
human point of view) the originality of the theological ideas
which they contain, but also by the novel aspects under which
many of these ideas are presented. Not only has revelation
materially advanced since Isaiah's day, but the form in which
theological truths are stated implies a more mature stage of
theological thought — a stage in which the truths are not merely
affirmed, as in Isaiah, but are made the subject of argumentandre-
flection. To a certain point, a relation may be traced between the
truths which the prophet chiefly emphasizes and his historical
situation. Thus one of his main objects is plainly to kindle the aspi-
rations of his countrymen in exile, to stimulate their faith, to con-
vince them that the future which he promises will assuredly be
theirs. Hence he insists, as no other prophet does, on the evi-
dences of Jehovah's godhead, and the proofs of His power, to be
drawn from nature and history. In contrast with the gilded but
« Prof. A. R Davidson, in "The Expositor," Feb., 1884. p. 89,
I70 ISAIAH.
empty splendour of Babylonian idolatry, he dwells upon the
very different character of Israel's God — His transcendence, His
illimitable sovereignty, His absolute supremacy over nature,
His sole and incommunicable Deity. These are the attributes
of the Divine nature which, with ail eloquence rivalled only
by the poet of Job (chaps, xxxviii,, xxxix.), he sets forth in his
opening chapter. He does not set himself to prove Jehovah's
existence; assuming that, he proceeds to establish His character
and attributes : " Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of
His hand, and regulated the heavens with a span, and com-
prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the
mountains in scales and the hills in a balance ? Who hath
regulated the Spirit of Jehovah, and, as His counsellor, in-
formed him?" Alone He projected and carried out (cf. xliv. 24)
the mighty work of creation : none was with Him to counsel or
assist. Not only, however, did He create the universe : He also
sustains it; to His behests it instantly responds (xlviii. 13) ; and
night by night He musters His host, the stars, in their majestic
parade, the visible token of His Deity — '* Lift up your eyes on
high and see : Who created these, bringing forth their host by
number? To all of them He calleth by name; through the
greatness of (His) might, and the strength of (His) power, not
one is missing I " Exalted and transcendent, He looks down
upon the earth, "and the inhabitants thereof are as grass- -
hoppers : " the forests of Lebanon cannot provide Him with a
worthy altar-fire, »or the beasts thereof with a worthy offering
(xl. 16) ; no temple which man can construct is adequate to
His greatness (Ixvi. i). He is without beginning and without
end; again and again does the prophet declare that He is
the P'irst and the Last, the Unchanging One (xli. 4 ; xliv. 6 ;
xlviii. 12). As the Creator of a universe vast as this, He is the
Incomparable One ; no human imagination can express Him
(xl. 18, 25) ; nought besides can claim the name of God (xliii. 10 ;
xliv 6, 8 ; xlv. 5, 6, 14, 21, 22 ; xlvi. 9). But exalted though
Jehovah thus is. He is in intimate relation with the earth : He did
not design it to be an uninhabited waste (xlv. 18) ; He placed
man originally upon it, and still, as ever, summons into being
the successive generations of mankind (xli. 4). He has, more-
over, His purposes in history, breaking up the most powerful
combinations of rulers (xl. 23 f.), and never permitting His plans
to be frustrated (xlvi. 10 ; liv. 16 f.) And, in particular, the
THEOLOGY OF CHAPTERS XL.-LXVl. I /I
prophet has a profound sense of Jehovah's personality j undei
the one limitation of Iv. 8, he represents Him as " a living
moral Person, possessing all the powers of personality in a
degree transcending conception, and showing all the activities
of moral being in perfection." ' If such be Jehovah's cha-
racter, if He be thus all-powerful and all-wise, why should the
idols of Babylon inspire the exiles with misgivings ? Why
should it occur to them to fear that the promised release
would never come, or that unforeseen obstacles would defeat
His declared purpose? (xl. i%b\ Iv. 8-12).
Further, Jehovah is a God who knows the future. This is
a truth to which in chaps. xl.-xlviii. the prophet repeatedly
reverts, and to establish which he represents dramatically the
Jews and their heathen opponents as engaged in forensic dis-
pute. The test of divinity being taken to be the power to
predict the future, the representatives of the heathen gods are
invited to adduce instances of predictions proceeding from
such gods, and unquestionably fulfilled : they are permitted
the option of either offering examples from the past, or pro-
ducing predictions now, the truth of which may be tested by
the immediate future (xli. 22 f. ; xliii. 9 ; xliv. 7). No ex-
amples are forthcoming : the idols and their worshippers can
respond only by silence. To the Israelites, on the other
hand, the prophet appeals confidently (xliii. 10 ; xliv. 8) as able
to adduce from their own past history well-accredited instances
of predictions truly fulfilled. This is another evidence of
Jehovah's godhead, another proof that the Babylonian idols
are nonentities (xli. 24, 29), unable either to save their city
from Cyrus (xlvi. i f.), or to impede the deliverance of the Jews.
Throughout the first division of the prophecy (chaps, xl.-xlviii.)
it is thus the prophet's aim to establish in its true nature, as
against the pretensions of idolatry, Jehovah's true Deity. No-
where else in the Old Testament is there such an emphatic
assertion of the latter, or such a sustained polemic against
the former. Idolatry in Babylon was practised with an im-
posing magnificence and completeness, to which in Palestine
there had never been any parallel : and hence it was the more
necessary for the prophet to refute its claims in detail.
In dealing with God's relation to man^ the prophet lays un-
usual stress upon the motives upon which He acts, and the
* Prof. A. B. Davidson, in " The Expositor," Oct., 1884. p^ 255.
173 ISAIAH.
principles exemplified in His actions, — the latter being not
merely described, but referred to the motive or principle from
which they spring. Thus, as one such principle, justice
(zedek) is emphasized : the path of Cyrus, xli. 2 (R.V.),
xlv. 13, the commission of Israel, xli. 10, or of the ideal
Servant, xlii, 6, are, by the use of this term, exhibited in the
light of a manifestation or furtherance of God's righteous
purpose. Similarly, righteousness (zedakah) is often specified
as the principle determining the approaching deliverance,
xlvi. 13; li. 6, 8; Ivi. \b\ lix. 16, 17 (in all, parallel with
*' salvation *')," Another motive of Jehovah's action is the
Divine Name, xlviii, 9, 11 : being jealous of His honour, He
cannot any longer permit His name to be reproached, or the
glory which is His due to be transferred to idol gods, by the
nation which He has chosen to be His own people remaining
permanently in exile (cf. Ezek. xxxvi. 20-24).
JehovaVs gracious purposes towards Israel are naturally
those which are most fully developed by the prophet. The lines
along which he moves are, for the most part, very different
from those followed by Isaiah. The basis upon which God*s
purposes rest is His choice of Israeli a choice made in the
distant past and irrevocable, xli. 8, g endj xliii. 10 ; xliv. i,
2, 21 (**thou shalt not be forgotten of Me'*), Jehovah has
founded the nation, taken it for His own, impressed upon its
history a character and an aim (see more fully below) ; and
this choice determines His attitude towards it in the present*
xli. 8-10 ; xliii. 1-2 ; xliv, 2 ; xlv. 4 (Cyrus called for IsraeVs
sake). For a while, indeed. He had permitted it to be chas-
tened for its sins (xlii. 24 f. ; xliii. 28 ; Ivii. 17 ; Ix. 10) ; but this
"outburst*' of His wrath was but transient, and was to be
succeeded — if Israel, at least, should not again prove itself
unworthy — by a period of never-ending favour (liv. 8-10).
Accordingly love may now re-assert itself (xliii, 4), forgiveness
is freely offered (xliii. 25 ; xliv. 22 ; Iv. 7), God will now
compassionate His people (xlix. 13, cf. 15 ; Ix. 10) ; twice does
He receive the title (which occurs nowhere besides) of Israel's
*' compassionater " (xlix. 10; liv. 10). Comfort and consolation
is the burden of the prophecy throughout (xl- i, 2 ; xlix. 13 ;
« Whea Isaiah uses this term with reference to the Divine righteousness,
h& conceives it always as a principle of judgment: 1. 97 ; v. x6 ; x. aa;
xxviii. 17.
ISRAEL'S FUTURE IN CHAPTERS Xl^-lXn, 173
li. 3, 12; Hi. 9; Ixvi. 13). The immediate proof of the
nation's restoration to favour is, of course, the release from
Babylon and return to Palestine. In jubilant and commanding
tones the prophet bids his people leave the land of their exile
(xlviii. 20 ; lii. 11 f. ; Ixii. 10) : and the progress homeward is
depicted by him in ideal colours (xli. l8f. ; xliii. 19 f. ; xlviii. 21).
More particularly the restoration itself is viewed by him as the
renewal of a covenant: Jehovah's "covenant of peace" is
unalterably established (liv. 10): the " everlasting covenant'*
with David is confirmed to the nation, upon the one condition
of its obedience, with ampler promises and a larger hope
(Iv. 3-5 : cf. Ixi. 8).' The promise of permanency is repeated
elsewhere, as xlv. 17 (idolaters put to confusion : Israel saved
" with an everlasting salvation ''), Ixvi. 22. In virtue of the
covenant concluded with it, Israel, thus restored, is to be the
perpetual bearer of prophetic gifts, the perpetual recipient of
prophetic illumination, lix. 21,
The prophet's representation of the ideal, restored Zion is
developed gradually. First.there is the bare notice of the glad
tidings brought to the ruined city, xl. 9 ; xli. 27 : then follow the
passages xlvi. 13 (salvation to be placed there) ; lii. x (no more
to be desecrated by insulting foes), 8 f. (joy at Jthovah's
return to Zion) : in liv. 1 1 f, the prophet catches in imagination
the first glimpse of her glittering walls : in chap. Ix. the
full vision of the restored city bursts in all its splendour upon
his raptured eye. As in his conception of the new covenant
to be established with Israel, the prophet is in harmony with
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, so in this vision of the future Zion h«
shows himself to be influenced by Isaiah (comp. e.^.^ iv. 3-6 ;
xxx. 26 : also xxiv. 23 ; xxv. 6-8), but the imagery is more
brilliant, the picture more magnificent and complete. The
inhabitants of the ideal Zion, while free from all anxiety on the
ground of material welfare (liv. 14; Ix. 18 ; Ixii. 8 f.), will ex-
hibit faithfully their ideal character : they will be impregnated
with Jehovah's teaching (the "disciples of Jehovah," liv. 13) ;
"all righteous,*' they will become to Him a source of pride
and delight (Ix. 21 ; Jxi. 3 end\ Ixii. 5 ; Ixv. 19), an example of
righteousness conspicuous in the world, and attracting the
' Comp. Jer. xxxii. 40, Ezek. xvl. 60, xxxiv. 35, xixvii. a6, where the
same expressions occur. Isaiah never uses in thb coqcotftio^ tfie figore a(
a covenant : see p. 199.
174 ISAIAH.
world's reverential wonder (Ixi. iid ; Ixii. 2, 7^), The de^
solated tracts of Palestine will be repeopled and repastured
(Ivii. 13 ; Iviii. 12 ;lxv.9f.): no invader, no pestilence or drought,
will stay the sower from reaping the fruits of his toil :
death will not indeed be abolished, but it will attack none
prematurely: ready then, as they are now (1. 2; Ixv. 12;
Ixvi. 4) the reverse, to invoke Jehovah's name, their prayers
will receive His immediate response (Ixv. 19-24), Only the
unworthy Israelites, especially those addicted to heathen
superstitions, will be excluded from these blessings (Iv, 6 f.,
Ivi, I, chap. Iviii., by implication : lix. 20, Ixv. $-7, 11-15, Ixvi.
3-5, 17, expressly). Extreme reverence and respect will be
rendered to the restored community by the Gentile nations.
Their good-will will be shown first in the readiness with which
they will escort the exiles back (xlix. 22 f. ; Ix. 3, 4, 9 ; Ixv^.
12^, 20) : afterwards in the eagerness with which they will
come forward to claim the same religious privileges (xliv. 5 ; xlv.
14 ; Iv. 5 ; Ix. 9, 14), and in the regard which in other ways
they will exhibit towards them.- Thus not only will they
offer generously of their best (Ix. 16 ; Ixi. 6d), and pour their
wealth at their feet (Ix. 6 f., ii/J; Ixvi. 12) : they will execute
for them menial offices (Ix. 10 ; Ixi. 5) ; they will acknowledge
them as the authorized dispensers of spiritual blessings (Ixi. 6) ;
they will honour them as a nation upon which Jehovah's blessing
"evidently rests (Ixi. 9).
As regards the nations of the world, the prophet's conception
of their future is singularly comprehensive and large. Great as
are the thoughts expressed on this subject by Isaiah (ii, 2-4 ;
xi. 10; xix. 23-5 : comp. xxv. 6 f. ; Jer. iii. 17; Zeph. iii. 9),
those expressed by the prophet of the exile may be said,
without fear of contradiction, to be greater. The world, in his
view, is expectant : no sooner does it hear the message of truth
than it at once recognizes in it the salvation for which it had
more or less consciously yearned (xlii. 4^ ; li. 5^), In the
approaching restoration of his nation the prophet sees a great
evidential act enacted in the eyes of the world (xl. 5 ; Hi. 10),
and adapted in the end to create a revolution in the religious
feelings of mankind (xlv. 6). God's purposes of salvation
embrace the entire earth. " Unto Me every knee shall
bow, every tongue swear" (xlv. 23); "I will make My jwdg-
ment (z>.. My religion) to rest for a light of the peoples " (li.
THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH, 175
4) ; " Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all
peoples " (Ivi. 7) : week by week, and month by month, '* all
flesh " will come to worship before Jehovah at Jerusalem (Ixvi.
23 ; cf. p. 167). The same thought reappears from a different
point of view in connection with the work of Jehovah's ideal
Servant : xlii. id (where judgment, as li. 4, signifies '* religion ") ;
xlii, 6 ('*a light of the Gentiles"); xlix. 6^; cf. lii. 15 (the
wonder which the spectacle of his exaltation will arouse in
nations and their kings).
The last-mentioned feature of the prophecy remains yet to be
considered. The figure of the "Servant of Jehovah" is as con-
spicuousinthe prophecy before us as isthefigureof the Messianic
king in Isaiah, to which indeed it holds in chaps, xl.-lxvi. an
analogous position. What, now, does the prophet mean by this
term? What does the figure denoted by it represent to him?
What attributes or functions does he associate with it? The
term itself denotes in general one who is God's agent or re-
presentative, and who is loyal and devoted, according to the
knowledge possessed by him, in the discharge of the work
entrusted to him. It is thus applied to many different persons,
as Abraham (Gen. xxvi, 24), Moses (Num. xii. 7), Caleb {zd.
xiv. 24), Joshua (Jud. ii, 8), David (2 Sam. vii, 8), Isaiah (ch.
XX. 3), Eliakim (ch. xxii, 20), Job (Job i. 8), the prophets
generally (Amos iii. 7 and frequently), even to a heathen, as
Njebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxv. 9 ; xliii. 10). In the present pro-
phecy, however, the application of the term is peculiar, nor
is it easy to form a perfectly consistent picture of the idea
expressed by it. Let us be guided in our endeavour by the
hints which the author affords us himself.
It is reasonable to seek the origin of the idea in the first
passage in which the term occurs, xli, 8 f. : " But thou, Israel My
sefvant^ Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, who
loved Me ; thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the
earth, and called thee from the corners thereof, and said unto
thee, Thoit art My servant : I have chosen thee, and not cast
thee away : fear thou not, for I am with thee : be not dismayed,
for I am thy God." Here there can be no doubt as to what the
term denotes. It denotes the Israelitish nation^ treated, how-
ever, not as the mere aggregate of the members composing it,
but as a unityg developing historically, and maintaining its con-
tinuity and essential character through successive generations
176 ISAIAH.
The nation is viewed by the prophet as a single individual,
called by God in the distant past, honoured by Him with the
title implying that it is His organ or representative upon earth,
and now exiled in Babylon. Again, in xlv. 4, Cyrus is addressed
in these words : " For Jacob My servants sake, and Israel My
chosen, I have called thee by thy name ; I have titled thee,
when thou hast not known Me." Here, not less plainly, the
term denotes equally the nation, exiled at present in Babylon,
and shortly to be released by Cyrus. The application is the
same in xliii. 10 ; xliv. 1-2, 21 ; xlviii. 20. In all these passages,
the term is a designation of Israel, the nation being regarded
as an individual whose birth (xliv. 2 : Thus saith Jehovah
that made thee, z.-Sidi formed thee from the womb) coincides with
its first appearance amongst other nations, whose ideal charac-
ter ('* My servant ") corresponds with the design (Gen. xviii. 19
R.V.) stamped upon the nation's history, and whose life repre-
sents its subsequent experiences. The nation being thus
grasped as an individual, it follows from the continuity of the
national life that the term may be applied equally to denote it
in every stage of its history. Thus in xlii. 18 f. we read : ** Hear,
ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind but
My servant? or deaf as My messenger that I send ?" Here, as
before, the term " My servant " denotes the nation ; but the
prophet for the moment thinks only of the masses whom he
sees around him, heedless of Israel's mission, and unconscious
of its future destiny : these at the time represent the nation in
his eyes, and elicit from him accordingly the language of re-
proof (comp. xliv. 21, 22). In the other passages that have
been quoted he doubtless, in using the term, has in mind those
wKo are more truly its representatives, and are worthy to
receive the promises which he has to bestow. Just so, *' Israel"
is the recipient of promises and encouragement in xli. 14,
xliii. I, xUv. 23, while it is the object of rebuke in xl. 27,
xliii. 22.
There exists, however, another group of passages in which
the language is often similar, but where this explanation is not
adequate. Thus xlii. if.:" Behold, My servant^ whom I up-
hold ; My chosen, in whom My soul delighteth : I have put My
spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment (/>., religion) to
the nations. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice
to be heard in the streets." And xlix. 1-3 : "Listen, O isles,
THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH. I77
unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far; Jehoiah hath
called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath
He made mention of my name ; and He hath made my mouth
like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid
me : and He hath made me a polished shaft, in His quiver hath
He kept me close ; and He said unto me, Thou art My servant;
Israel^ in whom I will glory . . . (^z. 5 f.) And now, saith
Jehovah, that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to
bring Jacob again to Him, and that Israel be gathered unto
Him : . . . yea. He saith, It is too light a thing that thou
shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
restore the preserved of Israel : I will also give thee for a
light to the Gentiles, to be My salvation unto the end of the
earth." Here, not only does the language describe apparently
the acts of an individual person, but the Servant is expressly
distinguishedfrom the historic nation ; and part of the Servant's
office is to consist in the restoration of the historic nation,
and {v. 8) the re-allotment of its desolated land. The case is
similar in liii. 1-6, where (p. 153) the repentant Israelites reflect
upon their previous misconception of the Servant's character
and work. At the same time, the Servant is still in some
sense ** Israel " ; for the term is directly applied to him in 7/. 3 :
"And He said unto me, Thou art My servant ; Israel, in whom
I will glory.*' The other passages belonging to the same group
are 1. 4-9 ; lii. 13-liii. 12 ; and (probably) Ixi. 1-3. . It is incon-
ceivable that the prophet should use the same phraseology, and
apply the same predicates to subjects entirely distinct ; the
" servant " of the second group of passages must be Israel, not
less truly than the "servant" of the first group is Israel. The
required identity can only be preserved by some such supposi-
tion as the following. The prophet always, in using the term
" My servant," means Israel ; but sometimes, as he speaks, he
has in view the literal historic nation (whether as maintaining
its ideal character, or, as in xlii. 19, falling short of it), some-
times he rises from this to the conception of an ideal person-
ality^ a figure exhibiting the truest and most genuine charac-
teristics of the nation, and realizing them in action with an
intensity and clearness of aim which the historic Israel had
never even remotely attained. It is a great ideal creation vchich
the prophet constructs, a transfigured reflection of the historic
people, a figure conscious of the colossal task allotted to it, but
'78 ISAIAH.
impeded by no moral slackness, or other deficiency, fiom under-
taking it ; a figure (as it appears) which the prophet conceived
would at some time be manifested, as a reality, upon the stage
of history. So vividly, indeed, is this wonderful creation a
figure present to his imagination, that it exhibits all the con-
crete traits of an individual person, and he expects from it the
performance of works in which the historic nation has failed.
But the figure, being delineated on the basis of the historic
Israel, and reflecting its most essential and genuine charac-
teristics, is still designated by the same title. Thus in the first
group of passages the prophet styles the actual nation " Jeho-
vah*s servant," seeing in it (as has been said) not a mere aggre-
gate of individuals, but a society developing historically, and
realising in its history a purpose and an aim} In the second
group of passages he applies the term to an ideal figure^ which
is the impersonation of Israel's ideal character, and which he
represents as accomplishing what Israel, as he knew it, had
left unachieved.
The chief aspects of the ideal Servant's work may be classed
as follows :
1. He is to be the embodiment of a new covenant between
Jehovah and His people, to restore the actual nation exiled at
the time in Babylon, and to re-establish them in their own land
(xlii. 6 ; xlix. 5, 6<«, %b).
2. But he has a mission not to Israel merely, but to the
world: he is to teach the world true religion, and to be a
"light of the Gentiles" (xlii. \b, 3^, 6^ ; xlix. bb),
3. He is to be a prophet, patient and faithful in the discharge
of his work, in spite of the contumely and opposition which he
may encounter (1. 4-9).
4. Being innocent himself, he is to suffer and die for the sins
of others (liii. 4-9).
The central idea here is that of the prophet, Israel is the
prophetic nation marked out aipong other nations of the world,
as the organ and channel of revelation. To maintain and
develop a knowledge of Divine truth is the purpose impressed
upon its history (Gen. xviii. 19). Upon the basis of the
" The germ of this conception of the prophet is perhaps to be found in
Jer. XXX. 10 (=xlvi. 27). By Jeremiah the term is applied to the actual
nation, during the period of its exile, and is not yet used in an individual
■ense, or idealized.
THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH, 175
character thus belonging to it, the prophet constructB his figure
of Jehovah*s ideal Servant, the ideal impersonation of the theo-
cratic attributes of the nation. Particular traits in the portrait
may have been suggested by actual experience. Both the nation
generally (Ps. xliv, 22) and individuals (Jer. xv. 15) suffered
for the truth ; Jeremiah even applies to himself the same
figures as are here used of the ideal Servant (Jer. xi, 19 ; cf. i. 19 ;
xvii. 16 ; xviii. 18-20 ; xx. 11). But the portrait as a wjiole is
a new one, and includes elements transcending experience al-
together. Especially noticeable is the comprehensiveness of
the work assigned to him. The sphere of his operation is co-
extensive with the world ; his innocency imparts to his suffer-
ings a vicarious efficacy ; his death is a ** guilt-offering" (p. 154)
rendering satisfaction for the sacrilege of sin ; and it is followed
by a new and glorious life, in which he carries through success-
fully Jehovah's "pleasure" or purpose to manifest Himself to
the world, and strikes amazement (lii. 15) by his triumph into the
hearts of all that witness it. Another noticeable feature is the
completeness of the figure drawn by the prophet, and the
artistic skill shown by him in its delineation. The character
with which he invests it is unfolded gradually, the figure being
introduced at different successive stages in the development of
the prophet's theme, and some fresh feature, or group of features,
being added each time. There is variety also in the manner in
which it is introduced. Sometimes, the prophet speaks de-
scriptively in the third person, sometimes he allows the figure,
with dramatic effect, to speak in its own person ; sometimes he
represents the Israelites themselves uttering their reflections
upon it (liii. 1-6). Thus it is no abstract character which the
prophet delineates ; his own warmth of feeling and imaginative
sympathy are reflected in it ; it is human in its completeness ;
it speaks in accents of sweetness and pathos ; it is not deficient
in strength and decision (1. 7 f.), yet the attributes of resrg-
nation (liii. 7), tenderness, and sympathy (Ixi. 1-3) predominate;
for a moment it is disheartened, but is quickly reassured
(xlix, 4) : unobtrusively but surely it accomplishes its ends
(xlii. 2 f.) The prophet is master, in a rare degree (p. 183 f,), of
the art of personification : and hence the distinctness, and
dramatic force, with which his delineation is expressed.
Such is the figure which the prophet projects upon the
future, and from which he expects, alike for his own nation and
l8o ISAIAH.
for the world, the highest benefits to accrue. How were his ex-
pectations fulfilled? pt cannot be doubted that, as Christendon!
from the beginning has seen, the character thus delineated
by the prophet with such genius and .power was realized by
Jesus of NazaretHtJ \J^s has been explained, the figure itself
is constructed upon the basis of the historic Israel, and ex-
hibits, in their ideal delicacy and completeness, the most
characteristic attributes of the nation. But it is just these
attributes which were also realized in their fulness 5.r.,
under just those relations of life in which the deepest feelings
of humanity come into play : and the personification is con-
tinued sometimes through a long series of verses. The principal
examples are xlix. 18-23 (Zion, a mother welcoming back her
children) ; li. 17-23 (Zion, prostrate and dazed by trouble, but
now bidden to lift herself up^ ; lii. i f. ; liv. 1-6 (Zion, a bride
reclaimed by her husband) ; Ix, 1-5; btii, 5 ; xlvii. 1-15
(Babylon). This, however, is not the only type of personi-
fication which the prophet employs. He personifies nature :
he bids earth and heaven shout in exultation at the restoration
of God's people (xliv. 23 ; xlix. 13 ; lii. 9) ; he hears in imagina-
tion the voices of invisible beings sounding from the desert
(xl. 3, 6 ; Ivii. 14); he peoples Jerusalem with ideal watchmen,
(lii. 8) and guardians (Ixii. 6). Whatever he touches is at once
aglow with life and animation : the nations themselves
become eager and interested spectators in the Divine drama
about to be enacted, or are summoned up by him en masse
(xliii. 9) to dispute with Israel. And lastly, as the most original
and impressive, as well as the most complete, of the prophet's
personifications must be reckoned naturally his great dramatic
conception of Jehovah's ideal Servant,
» Amos V. 2 (Israel prostrate and helpless) ; Isa. i. 8 (Zion desolate and
abandoned) ; xxiii. 4 (Zidon lamenting her bereavement) ; xxix. 1-6
(where the pronouns in the Hebrew are feminine) ; xxxvii. 22 (Zion disdain-
fully mocking the retreating invader) ; Mic. iv. 8, 10, 13 ; Zeph. iii. 14
and Zech. ix. 9 (Zion exultant) ; Jer. iv. 31 ; vi. 26 ; xlvi. 11, 19, 24 (Egypt) ;
1. 42, and li. 33 (Babylon). Isaiah, unhke the author of chaps. xl.-lxvi.,
displays no exceptional pveierence for personification. ,
Note. — In the preceding chapter, it has naturally been impossible to
notice more than the most salient features in the theology of II. Isaiah.
Those who desire to study the subject in greater detail may consult with
advantage the well-written monograph of F. H. Kriiger, " Essai sur ia
Th^ologie d' Esaie xl.-lxvi." (Paris, 1881), and a series of papers by Prof.
A. B. Davidson in " The Expositor," iQi^ Aug., Sept. ; 1884, Feb., Aprils
Oct., 'Nov., De&
CHAPJ-ER V.
AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI.
In the two preceding chapters it has been assumed that the
great prophecy of Israel's restoration is not the work of Isaiah,
the son of Amoz, but has for its author a prophet writing towards
the close of the Babylonian captivity. It remains to acquaint
the reader with the facts upon which this conclusion rests.
Many of these facts will be appreciated without difficulty by the
general reader ; others, it is true, can only be properly estimated
by those who are conversant with the Old Testament in the
original Hebrew ; but an endeavour will be made to render their
bearing,, as far as possible, intelligible to all.
I. The primary fact is the internal evidence supplied by the
prophecy itself respecting the period at which it was written.
The historical background of the prophecy is the period of the
Babylonian captivity. The reader who has followed the argu-
ment of the prophecy, as exhibited in Chap. III., will not need
to be reminded how numerous are the allusions to the ruined
and deserted condition of Jerusalem {e.g.^ xliv. 26^ ; Ixiii. 18 ;
Ixiv. 10 f.), to the sufferings which the Jews have experienced, or
are experiencing, at the hands of the Chaldeans (xlii. 25 ; xlvii.
6 ; xlii. 22 ; lii. 5), to the prospect of return which, as the prophet
speaks, is imminent (xl. 2 ; xlvi. 13 ; xlviii. 20, &c.). The desola-
tion of Jerusalem is even described as of long standing, or
" ancient " (Iviii. 12 ; Ixi. 4). Those whom the prophet addresses,
and whom (p. 181) he addresses in person, are not the men of
Jerusalem, contemporaries of Ahaz or Hezekiah, or even o(
Manasseh ; they are the exiles in Babylonia. The prophet, to
whose thrilling words we listen, has no interest in the events of
l86 ISAIAH
Isaiah's age ; the deliverer, Cyrus, rivets his gaze ; the pros-
pect of return to Zion absorbs his thoughts. Judged by the
analogy of p^-ophecy^ this constitutes the strongest possible
ground for supposing that the author actually lived \n the period
which he thus describes, and is not merely (as has been sup-
posed) Isaiah immersed in spirit in the future, and holding
converse, as it were, with the generations yet unborn. Such an
immersion in the future would be not only without parallel in
the Old Testament ; it would be alien in itself to the nature' of
prophecy. As has been before observed (p. 86, 126), the prophet
speaks primarily to his contemporaries j and his predictions rest
upon the basis of the history of h*s lime. This principle of
prophecy has been exemplified repeatedly in Part I.: Isaiah's
greatest prophecies have, one and all, as their human occasions,
the crises and circumstances of his own age. The same prin-
ciple is observed equally in the case of the other prophets,
Jt:remiah, for instance, predicts the restoration of Israel ; but
how ? He predicts first the exile, then the restoration (ch. xxx.-
x,ixiii.) ; but he never abandons his own historical position ; he
speaks uniformly from the period in which he lives ; exile and
restoration are alike viewed by him as future. Ezekiel, in
prophecies written before the fall of Jerusalem, does the same
(chaps, xvi., xvii.). There is no analogy for the case of a prophet,
transported in spirit to a future age, and predicting from that
standpoint a future remoter stilL In the prophecy before us,
there is no prediction of exile ; the exile is not announced as
something yet future, it is /^^-j^j^^^i-^^. Had Isaiah been the
author, he would, according to all analogy, have predicted both
the exile and\S\^ restoration. He would have represented ^(?/^,
as Jeremiah and Ezekiel do, as lying equally in the future.
Nothing but the strongest and clearest evidence could neutra-
li*;e the force of this argument. As we shall see, the evidence of
language and thought strikingly confirms it. For the purpose of
meeting it, the following considerations have been urged, which
must be briefly noticed.
a. It is said that there are passages in which the prophets
throw themselves forward to an ideal standpoint, and describe
fiom it events future to themselves, as if they were part : e.g,^
V, 13, 25 ; ix. 1-6 ; xxiii. i, 11-12 ; also xxv. 1-5, xxvi. l-iS (p.
121, 123), This is true ; but the passages are not really parallel.
The transference to the future which they imply is momentary \
AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS XL -LXVI. 1C7
in the immediate context, the prophet uses future tenses, and
speaks from his own standpoint ; the expressions moreover aie
general, and the figures ideal. The passages quoted supply no
analogy for such a sustained transference to the future, as would
be implied if these chapters were by Isaiah, or for the detailed
and definite description of the circumstances of a distant age.
Nor do passages supplying the required analogy exist in the
writings of any of the other prophets.
b. It is said that the standpoint of the exile is not consistently
maintained, and that there are passages in which the prophet
returns to his own present, and betrays by allusions to it
the age in which he really lives. The principal passages
quoted are : Ivi. 9-lvii. 2 ; Ivii. 3-10 ; lix. 1-15. In the notice
of the righteous perishing unheeded, there seems to be an
allusion to the persecutions under Manasseh; the description
of Israel as neglected by its rulers, the mention of its careless
" shepherds," and the idolatries with which it is charged,
remind us forcibly of passages in Jeremiah, relating to the
period of the later kings of Judah (ii. 20-37 \ x. 21 ; xxiii. i, 2);
and the picture of national sin in chap. lix. seems to be too dark
for the close of the exile. It appears, howeve^jto be sometimftfs
forgotten that whatever difficulty these passages present, the
difficulty is precisely the same, whether the author of chaps,
xl.-lxvi. be Isaiah or a prophet writing towards the close of the
exile. For even those who hold these chapters to be Isaiah*s
admit that they are designed for an age other than his own, and
afe^ in fact, implicitly addressed to the generation of the exile.
This being so, the unity of the prophets work requires it to be
accommodated throughout to this sittiation ; and, indeed, the
passages quoted are brought expressly into connection with the
return (Ivii. 13^, 14 ; lix. 19 f.). If now the author be Isaiah,
and he refers exclusively to the practices and social condition
of (say) Manasseh's time, such passages would have no con-
nection with the main theme of the prophecy, and would be out
of place in the argument. The sins of Manasseh's age might
form to Isaiah, as they formed to Jeremiah (Jer. xv. 4), the
ground for an announcement of impending exile : they can, in
themselves^ have no bearing on the future of the exiles more than
a century afterwards. They can only have a bearing upon this,
in' so far as the exiles have identified themselves with their
forefathers, and have not disowned their idolatrous tendencies.
l88 ISAIAH.
Whether, therefore, it be Isaiah or an exilic prophet who speaks,
these aUusions to the idolatry and other sins of the nation,
whilst in Palestine, must be accommodated to the situation oj
the exiles. This accommodation is — to say the least — as readily
conceivable on the part of the exilic prophet as on the part of
Isaiah ; in the judgment of many, it will appear to be more so.
There are frequent allusions in these chapters which show that
the exiles, as a whole, were far from being as spiritually minded
as the prophet would have desired to see them* ; and sins such
as those which Jeremiah and Ezekiel attest as prevalent in
Judah till the very eve of the exile," imply tendencies which
would not be generally extirpated 40 or 50 years later. The
prophet, we may suppose, borrows here passages written
originally in the a^e of Jeremiah, and applies them to the
generation of the exiles, in so far as these are the true children
of their fathers, and in so far as they may see in the mirror
which he thus holds up before them, their own image reflected.'
c. The prophet, in proof of the divinity of Israel's God, appeals
frequently to fulfilled predictions (xli. 26 ; xlii. 9 ; xliii. 8-10 ;
xlviii. 3-8 : cf, xlv. 21* ; xlvi. 10^), This appeal, it is said, is of
no value, if the prophecy dates from the period of the exile. The
argument would be of weight, if there were reason to suppose
that the predictions alluded to were those constituting the
prophecy itself; but if the passages are read attentively, it will
be seen that they contain nothing which lends support to such a
supposition. The prophet's standpoint is indicated in xUi. 9 :
" Lo, the former things are come to pass : and new things do I
declare ; before they spring forth, I cause you to hear them "
(cf. xlviii. 3) ; on the ground of prophecies which, as he speaks,
are already fulfilled^ he rests his claim to be heard in the new
* Chap. xlii. 19 ; xlvi. 8, 12 ; xlviii. i f. ; 1. 11 ; Ixv. 3-5, 11 ; Ixvi. 5.
"Jer. ii, 20, 23, 27 ; iii. 6, 13 ; xix. 4f. ; xxxii. 35 ; xliv. 8 (of the exiles
in Egypt), 15-19 ; Ezek. v. 11 ; viii. (in the precincts of the Temple itself) ;
xi. 21 ; xiv. i-u (idolatry among the exiles) ; xxii.
3 In Ixv, 7, which has been cited similarly as evidence of authorship in
Palestine, it has been overlooked that those v^'ho "offered incense upon the
mountains " are described as ihQfaihers of the persons addressed. And in xliii.
22-25 the/aci of no sacrifices having been offered by Israel during the exile,
especially if, as the prophet holds (xlii. 24f.), the exile wasdue to the nation's
sin, is a sufficient ground upon which to base God's free offer of pardon.
* Where the word rendered "ancient time" is literally a/oreiime, and
need uot express more than this : see Job xxix. 2 Heb.
AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS XL.^LXVI. I89
announcements now made by him. The new announcements
are, primarily, the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, and the release
of the Jews — topics to which the prophet repeatedly reverts
in the course of chapters xl.-xlviii. What the ** former things "
are is not distinctly stated : but it is nowhere implied that they
are anything contained in the prophecy itself. As Cyi'us is
alluded to as already "stirred up" (xli. 2, 25 ; xlv. 13 ; cf. p. 139),
at the time when the prophecy opens, it is probable that they
were prophecies delivered either by the prophet himself or by
others, relating to the early stages of Cyrus's career (p. 140).*
These had been spoken some time before : they had been ful-
filled (cf. xlviii. s-6a) : and now fresh prophecies are delivered
by him relating to events very soon to take place (cf. xlviii. 6^
8). The language of the prophet is throughout consistent with
the supposition that his prophecy was delivered c, 540, ten or
twelve years (perhaps more) since Cyrus's first appearance, and
two years before his capture of Babylon ; and the allusions to
fulfilled predictions are, upon the same supposition, thoroughly
intelligible and clear,*
d. It is said that there is a marked absence in the prophecy
of allusions to Babylon and Babylonia, while, on the other hand,
the scenery and natural objects which the prophet notices, or
from which he borrows his poetical images, are Palestinian, and
not Babylonian. Here, firstly, it is to be observed that the
prophets do not write as travellers or topographers : they men-
tion objects not for the purpose of describing them, but only so
far as the allusion may form an appropriate element in their
argument. There are exceedingly few specific allusions to Baby-
lonia in Ezekiel, though Ezekiel's whole book was written in the
land of his exile. Moreover, as a prophet of Israel, the writer's
* Cf. xli. 22, 26 f., xliii. 9, xliv. 7, xlviii, 14, where the representatives
of the idol gods are taunted with not having produced, and not being ablej
to produce, any similar predictions.
■It has been objected (Smith's "Diet of the Bible," ed. i. voL i. p.
888) that the author of the prophecy claims "/t^re-knowledge of the deliver-
ance by Cyrus.*'* This objection cannot be sustained : in fact, it involves a
fallacy akin to that known to logicians as the fallacy plurium interroga-
tionum. It is open to the reply that the prophet introduces Cyrus as knowHt
and only claims ,^£-knowledge of what he will do, precisely as Isaiah does
in the case of Sennacherib [e.g., xxxvii. 33). And this view of the pro-
phet's language is in harmony with every passage in which he either names
or alludes to Cyrus ; thus xli. 2, xlv. i, be is already in movement, and
has been takA by the hand, and will prosper in his own undertaking
igo ISAIAH.
interest would be centred, notJn Babylon, but in Judah. A«
EzekiePs eye was never averted from the home of his people, as
he was constantly contemplating either the impending fall of
Jerusalem (chaps. i,-xxiv.), or its future restoration (chaps.
xxxiv.-xxxix. ; xI.-xlviii.),so the author of the present prophecy,
though he wrote in Babylonia, would have his eyes ever turned
towards the home to which, as he knew, his people would shortly
be restored. With his mind intent upon the vision of the ideal
glories of Zion, it would not be natural for him to draw his illus-
trations from the land of his nation*s exile. Nor, secondly, must
it be forgotten that it is quite gratuitous to suppose that Palestine
was unknown t& him. Individuals were left behind by Nebu-
chadnezzar's general (Jer. xl. 7, lof. ; xli. 16 ; xlii. i, 10; xliv. 28) :
individuals also in the large community — comprising at least
100,000 or 120,000 souls — which the exiles formed, may have
found the means of re- visiting Palestine : and the author may have
be^i one of either of these classes. Or, again, since we are ex-
pressly told (Ezra iii. 12) that, amongst those who returned with
Zerubbabel in 538, there were some who recollected the former
temple, there is nothing unreasonable in the supposition that
he may have been one oi these ; if in the year 588 he was a
youth of seventeen, he would, at the time at which we have
supposed the prophecy to open, be not more than sixty-five years
of age. Those who attribute the prophecy to Isaiah generally
regard it as written after 701, when he would be (p. 2) at least
sixty years of age ; and if the force and animation which it dis-
plays is not incompatible with the old age of Isaiah, it cannot
plausibly be regarded as incompatible with the old age of
another prophet. In the face of possibilities such as these,
there is nothing arbitraiy or extreme in suppdfedng the author to
have been personally acquainted with Palestine ; and, if this
were the case, such preference as he shows, or appears to show,
for images derived from its scenery, is readily explained.
But the silence as regards Babylon and Babylonia is not
complete. Especially in chaps, xl.-xlviii., where the prophet
chiefly contemplates the approaching conquest of the city by
Cyrus, allusions occur incidentally as definite as would be ex-
pected under the circumstances. Thus, xliii. 14, he alludes to
the shipping of Babylon ; xliv. 27, xlv. i f., to its river and
great gates (Hdt. i. 180) ; xlv, 3, to its treasures (cf. Ter. li. 13) ;
xlvL X f. to Bel and Nebo,and the processions of sacred imagers
AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS XL.-XLV1. I9I
xlvii. 8-10, to the character and habits of the inhabitants ; v, 1 1-13
to its astrologers and sorcerers; v. 15, to the foreign traders
who resorted thither ; xlix. 10, to the mirage ' ; 1. 2b, to the
fish in the river ; liv. 1 1 f., (perhaps) to the p'-ecious stones, for
skill in cutting which the Babylonians were famed.* The pro-
phet would have had no motive for describing in detail the great
Temple and image of Bel as Herodotus doe*^ (\. tSt, 183)3 : but
it is difficult not to think that he had Bab;lu-.;«u idolatry in his
mind, in his satirical descriptions of the methods by which idols
were manufactured (xl. 19, 20 ; xliv. 9-18 ; xlvi. 6, 7), or pro-
duced as occasion required (xli. 6 f.).* Of the animals (about
twenty-five) mentioned by the prophet, the majority are ex-
pressly named among those famiharly known in Babylonia.^ As
regards the trees aird plants mentioned by him, it is no doubt
true that several do not appear to be such as flourish in Baby-
lonia. But it is to be observed that the principal passages in
which they are mentioned (xli. 19 ; Iv. 13 ; Ix. 13) are passages
in which the prophet's mind is fixed on the restoration to Pales-
tine ; and hence it is natural that he should name the trees
which he knew — whether from repute or otherwise — to be
characteristic of that country, or to constitute the "glory of
Lebanon,'*^ The willow — or, rather, poplar — of xliv. 2, which
has been specially urged as an objection to the Babylonian
' An atmospheric phsenomenon occurring in Babylonia (Rawlinson,
•'Ancient Monarchies," ed, 4, 1879, i. p. 30),
= lb. ii. p. 566.
3 We do not know, indeed, that he ever saw them. The exiles must have
formed a body too numerous to be congregated within the city of Babylon
itself: most of them, no doubt, were dispersed in small communities in
different parts of the-^ountry, where they were left to till the soil, and
support themselves upon its produce {cf. Jer. xxix. $, 28). It is at least
as probable that the prophet belonged to one of these communities, as that
he resided in Babylon itself.
4 The argument of the prophecy excludes the supposition that such pas-
sages are allusions to idolatry in Judah under Manasseh. No doubt, the
Babylonian idols which have survived the wreck of time are usually of clay
or stone ; but there is no reason to suppose that wood was not used in their
manufacture as well ; and the prophet's words are at least as decisive that
it was as Dan. v. 4 {referred to, ib. iii. p. 28). The prophet adduces his
illustration from flie most perishable material used for the purpose.
s lb. i. p. 39-41.
* If, indeed, these trees are all Palestinian ; for some are not named else-
where. 0.1 the myrtle, comp. Cheyne, ii. p. 226.
192 ISAIAH.
authorship, is expressly attested for Babylon by the ancient and
high authority of Ps. cxxxvii. 2 (same word). The non-mention
of the palm tree, a common and conspicuous feature of the Baby-
lonian landscape, has been observed as remarkable. But is it
more remarkable than its non-mention by Isaiah himself and
Jeremiah, in spite of its having *' ever been intimately associated
with Palestine,"* and even by Ezekiel, who was acquainted
equally with Palestine and Babylonia ? The only districts of
Palestine specially named by the prophet are Lebanon (xl. i6 ;
Ix. 13), the Sharon (Ixv. 10), and the vale of Achor {ib. ; of.
Hos. ii. 15). Mountains, rocks, forests, when mentioned, are
mentioned quite in general terms (xl. 12 ; xlii. Ii ; xliv. 14-23 ;
li. I ; liv. 10 ; Iv. 12, 13, &c.) : surely there is nothing incredible
in such objects being within the prophet's cognizance, even
though he wrote in the flat and comparatively unwooded plain
of Babylonia 1' So little is definitely known respecting the
precise situation of the author, and the opportunities for ob-
serving nature at his disposal, that from the scenes and objects
mentioned or not mentioned by him, no argument can be drawn
capable of neutralizing the general evidence which assigns for
his prophecy a date during the exile.
II. The evidence of language and style. When the Biblical
writings are examined carefully, individualities of style appear
as one of their most prominent features. Contrast, for instance,
Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel : each of these prophets has stamped
upon his writings an individual character ; each maintains
throughout his own characteristic phraseology, and pursues his
own distinctive veins of thought. The same feature is obser-
vable in the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles and
the Third Gospel profess to be the work of the same author ; and
the more minutely they are examined, the more fully is, this
confirmed by the discovery of a multitude of minute similarities
of expression, which as a rule altogether escape the notice of an
ordinary reader. Between St. Matthew and St. Luke a differ-
ence declares itself in a phrase which it might have been thought
antecedently would not have varied. The one says nearly
always- (32 times) ike kingdom of Heavens the other uniformly
» Tristram, " Natural History of the Bible," p. 378 if.
" ** Rock" in xliv. 8 is of course rem Ps. xviii. 31 (cf. v. a, Deut
xxxii. 4) ; in xlviii. 21 the figure is evidently borrowed frcm Exod. xvii. <
(cf. Ps. Ixxviii. ao ; cv. 41).
AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI. I93
($3 times) t/te kingdom of God* Different writers may approxi-
mate — as witness Jeremiah and Deuteronomy — in the use of a
similar phraseology ; but difference of style is a common, if not
a universal distinction, which obtains between different authors.
Especially do differences of style sometimes show themselves
m types of expression, or, as they may be termed, mannerisms,
affected by particular writers, which are employed by them
without deliberation, and which betray themselves uncon-
sciously. Thus the word straightway is in this way cha-
racteristic of St. Mark's Gospel. He employs it nearly forty
times. St. Luke, though his Gospel is much longer, uses it but
seven times ; St. John only four times. It is St. Mark's habit
of mind to view events under the particular relation expressed
by this word, which the other evangelists commonly disregard.
St. Luke, on the other hand, employs a peculiar form of indi-
rect question, which occurs in no other writer in the New
Testament.' The example just quoted may be treated as a
peculiarity of expression. Examples of a more material cha-
racter may be termed with greater propriety peculiarities of
conception. Such are the representation of truth, and the
reverse, as light and darkness respectively, or the prominence
attached to the idea of witness^ both of which are of repeated
occurrence in St. John's writings. Instances of both kinds
might readily be multiplied. Individual Biblical writers ex-
hibit a preference for particular words and turns of expression,
and give prominence to particular ideas ; their inspiration, so
far from obliterating individualities of style, if possible, inten-
sifying and confirming them.
Now when the prophecies in the Book of Isaiah possessing
an evident reference to the events of Isaiah's lifetime are com-
pared with those relating to the restoration of Israel from
Babylon, and especially with chaps, xl.-lxvi., many remarkable
differences, both of phraseology and conception, disclose them-
selves. The terms and expressions which, in the former series
of prophecies, Isaiah uses, and uses repeatedly, are absent in
chaps, xl.-lxvi. ; conversely, new terms and expressions appear
in chaps, xl.-lxvi., which are without parallel in the first part of
the bool* Sometimes the expressions used in one part of the
book occur never in the other ; in other cases, they occur once
* St. Luke i. 62, vi. 11 viii. 9, ix. 46, xv. 26, xviii. 36, xxil 23 ; Acts v. 84,
z. 17, xvii. 18, xxi. 33.
14
194 ISAIAH.
or twice only in one part of the book, while in the other part
they occur frequently, and often with a peculiar nuance or shade
of meaning. No doubt, if the subject matter of the two parts
varied greatly, it would be natural that to a certain extent dif-
ferent terms should be employed, even though both were by the
same author ; but, as will be seen, the variations between the
two parts of the Book of Isaiah are not to be explained by the
difference ot subject matter; they extend, in many instances, to
points, such as the form and construction of sentences, which
stand in no appreciable relation to the subject treated.
Here is a list of words and phrases recurring in Isaiah, and
therefore characteristic of Isaiah's style (those marked \ being
used only by him), not one of which occurs in chaps, xl.-lxvi. ;
1. The Lord [Heb. Adon], yefurvdh of Hosts .• i, 24 ; iii. i ; z. 161 33 ;
xix. 4.t
2. Not-gods r ii. 8, 18, 20 ; x. 11 (cf. 10) ; xix. i, 3 ; xxxi. 7 (cf. p. 105,).
3. Thefigureof Jehovah's showing Himself Mrfl/fe(/{ii. 11, 17 ; xxxiii. 5},
or lofty (v. 16), or arising (ii. 19, 21 ; xxviii. 21 ; xxxi. 2 ; xxxii. 10), or
lifting Himself up (xxx. 18 ; xxxiiL 3, 10).'
4. Rottenness : iii. 24 ; v. 24.t
5. To mourn (unusual word) : iii. 26 ; xix. 8.+
6. Tke escaped (or body of fugitives) : iv. 2 ; x. 20 ; xv. q ; xxxviL 31, 3-*,
7. A trampling down : v. 5 ; vii. ^5 ; x. 6 ; xxviii. 18.
8. ThGi glory oi a nation, esp. with figures signifying its disappearanwe
or decay : v. 13 (R.V. marg.) ; viii. 7 ; x, 16, 18 ; xvi. 14 ; xvii. 3, v 1
xxi. 16 : cf. xxii.' 18 (of Shebna).
9. Hay : v. 24 ; xxxiii. 11. f
10. Dust (not the usual word) : v. 24 ; xxix. 5. Rare besides.
11. Tht; figure of Jehovah's hand stretched out against a nation or pa