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'6e Camfcrttijje Btftle for ^djoote
antr Colleges,

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH.
CHAPTERS I.— XXXIX.

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Stanford

tljt Camfcr%e MiUt for ^tjools
antr Colleges*
General Editor for the Old Testament: —
A. F. KIRKPATRICK, D.D.
T3'i t\a . O.T. X<£ft.\OL,V> , "Et-igViV., Woo,
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH,
CHAPTERS I.— XXXIX.
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
THE REV. J. SKINNER, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGF.SIS IN
WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
STEREOTYPED EDITION.

(Knmbrftfcje :
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1900
[All Rights reserivcd.\

First Edition 1896. Reprinted 1897, 1900

PREFACE

GENERAL EDITOR FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE present General Editor for the Old Testament
in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
desires to say that, in accordance with the policy of
his predecessor the Bishop of Worcester, he does not
hold himself responsible for the particular interpreta
tions adopted or for the opinions expressed by the
editors of the several Books, nor has he endeavoured
to bring them into agreement with one another. It
is inevitable that there should be differences of
opinion in regard to many questions of criticism and
interpretation, and it seems best that these differences
should find free expression in different volumes. He
has endeavoured to secure, as far as possible, that
the general scope and character of the series should
be observed, and that views which have a reasonable
claim to consideration should not be ignored, but he
has felt it best that the final responsibility should, in
general, rest with the individual contributors.

A. F..KIRKPATRICK.

Cambridge,
August, 1896.

CONTENTS.

PAGES
General Introduction.
Chapter I. Israel and Assyria in the time of Isaiah ... ix
,, II. The Life and Prophetic Activity of Isaiah... xxii
„ III. Isaiah's Prophetic Conceptions  xliii
„ IV. The Character and Genius of Isaiah  lxiii
,, V. Probable Composition of the Book of Isaiah- -
Contents of Ch. I.— XXXIX  lxvi
Note on the Chronology of Isaiah's Time... lxxv
Text and Notes  i — 285
Index  1S7 — 295

The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's
Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordi
nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the
use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by
Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his In
troduction to the Paragraph Bible, published by the Cambridge
University Press.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
Israel and Assyria in the time of Isaiah.'
Isaiah is the most distinguished of the remarkable group of
prophets who enforced the lessons of the Assyrian crisis in the
eighth century B.C. His public career, which covers the last
40 years of the century, was nearly co-extensive with the suc
cessive reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah ; and during the
greater part of that period he exercised a commanding political
influence in Jerusalem. Of no other prophet can it be said with
so much truth that his biography is the history of his time. In
the case of his predecessors Amos and Hosea, or of his con
temporary Micah, a general knowledge of the internal condition
of the country and its foreign relations may suffice for the
understanding of their writings ; but for-any-profitable study of
thpjgorV "f Tgq.iah_the indispensable preliminary is a somewhat
minute acquaintance with thj: cojwsejjf^wnfcyjoj^^
abroad. It is all the more necessary that this should be briefly
sketched here, because the biblical narrative has been so largely
illustrated and supplemented from outside sources, especially
through the decipherment of the Assyrian inscriptions.
The great political fact of the time was the westward ex
tension of the Assyrian Empire. This commenced in earnest,
after a pause of 40 years, with the accession of Tiglath-
pileser III. in 745; and was thenceforward prosecuted by a
succession of vigorous monarchs, till it reached its goal in the
conquest of Egypt by Esarhaddon (672). \ It must have been

x GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
evident to thoughtful observers, even before Isaiah's entrance on
public life, that theTndependent existence of all the smaller
nations of Western^Asia was endangered by the steady advance
of this new and formidable power.') Singly, they were helpless
against the solid and disciplined might of Assyria; while at
the same time they possessed too little stability of purpose to
present a united front to the common enemy. The two
Israelitish kingdoms, from their geographical position, ought
to have been amongst the last to come into collision with the
Assyrian power, and if they had been wise enough to keep
aloof from political entanglements they would at least have
secured a breathing space in which much might have been
accomplished for the furtherance of those moral and religious |
interests which the prophets had at heart.1 The short-sighted j
policy of their rulers, however, involved them in premature and
compromising relations with -the Assyrian Empire ; and in both
cases with disastrous results. J
Before we proceed to fill in the details of the narrative it
is necessary to glance at the condition of the country at the
opening of Isaiah's ministry.
—7 THE Age OF Uzziah. The death of -Uzziah (or Azariah)1
after a successful reign of about 50 years, marks the close of
a singularly brilliant chapter in the history of both North and
South Israel. The crippling of Damascus in the Assyrian
campaigns of 797 and 773 afforded to the kingdom of Samaria
an opportunity of recovering from the long Syrian wars by which
its strength had been exhausted. Under the strong rule of
Jeroboam II. the bounds ofthe empire were extended almost
to the utmost limits of David's conquests (2 Ki. xiv. 25; Am.
vi. 14) ; and wealth no doubt began to flow in rapidly from the
tribute of the subjugated states. Under Uzziah, Judah appears
to have been nearly as prosperous/ The conquest of Edom and
the restoration of the Red Sea port of Elath (2 Ki. xiv. 22)
secured the control of the caravan trade with Southern Arabia;
and the revenue obtained from this source seems to have been
1 On the date of his death, see Chronological Note, p. lXXv f.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

wisely applied to develop the resources of the countryand perfect
its military efficiency (see 2 Chron. xxvi. I — 15)(_ The result
was that when Isaiah began his public work Judah had attained
a degree of wealth, power and civilisation which must have
placed it, along with Israel, in the front rank of the petty
principalities that now separated Egypt from Assyria^) "The
land was full of silver and gold and there was no end of its
treasures; the land was full of horses and there was no end
of their chariots" (Is. ii. 7).
(But this remarkable outburst of material prosperity was
attended in both kingdoms by an aggravation of the social
evils which seem inseparable from every oriental system of
government. The influx of wealth appears to have accelerated
certain economic changes, affecting large masses of the popu
lation, against which the prophets at all times loudly protested.
The spread of debauchery and luxury amongst the upper classes
(Is. iii. 16 — 23; v. 11, 12, 22; xxviii. I — 8; xxxii. 9 ff.) was a
natural consequence of the increased means of enjoyment which
came to these classes from the improved position of the countryj
But still greater evils fallowed from the accumulation of capital
in the hands of a few. The rise of great landed estates (Is. v. 8 ;
Mic. ii. 2, 9) meant the expropriation ofthe old peasant proprietors,
who had been the strength of the state, and the creation of a desti
tute and landless lower class. And if anything were wanting to
enhance the indignation of the prophets at this glaring contrast
between the extremes of poverty and luxury, it was found in the
methods by which it was brought about. The eviction of the
smaller land owners was largely effected by systematic abuses
of the forms of justice, corrupt judges favouring the suit of the
rich man against the poor, in return for a share ofr the spoils
(Is. i. 23; iii. 14, 15; v. 23; x. 1, 2; xxix. 21)/' Hence the
writings of the prophets abound in denunciations of the injustice
and oppression, the avarice and licentiousness which prevailed
in the higher ranks of society at this time (see also Is. i. 17;
v. 7). And although it may be true that these were permanent
features in the life of the Hebrew commonwealth, and would
have attracted the attention of the prophets in any period, it

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

cannot be doubted that they were all greatly aggravated by
fhp peculiar social conditions of the age of Uzziah.
/in these evidences of national declension and disorder the
/prophets of the time read the sure premonition of a terrible
day of judgment But their anxiety was not shared by the
governing classes either in Samaria or Jerusalem. In both
capitals a spirit of optimism and careless security prevailed
in political circles (Am. vi. I, 13)/ The strange lull in the
conquering career of Assyria which preceded the accession of
Tiglath-pileser appears to have fostered the delusion that all
danger from that quarter had passed away. About the time
when Isaiah appears on the scene, however, events took place
which ought to have effectually dispelled that notion/' The
capture of Arpad (circa 740), and Hamath (738), and the inter
vention of Pul (Tiglath-pileser) in the reign of Menahem (2 Ki.
xv. 19) brought the danger close to the doors of North, Israel.
If it be the case, as is held by some Assyriologists, thjat Uzziah
himself, shortly before his death, suffered a defeat at the hands
of Tiglath-pileser1, the lesson cannot have been altogether lost
upon Judah. But no trace of such a disaster is found in the
Old Testament ; nor do the earliest writings of Isaiah suggest
that there was any general uneasiness with regard to the imme
diate prospects of the country.
7 The Syro-Ephraimitic War (c. 735). Perhaps the event
which first roused the politicians of Jerusalem from their dream of
security was an indirect consequence of the forward movement
of Assyria. In 735, shortly after Ahaz ascended the throne,
a combined attack on Judah was clanned by Rezin and Pekah
the kings of Syria and EphrairnT The war, indeed, seems to
1 In two passages of (he annals of Tiglath-pileser, referring apparently '
to the year 739 or 738, an Azria'u of Ja-udi is mentioned as the leading
member of a strong coalition formed for the defence of Hamath. The
question that divides Assyriologists is of course whether this prince is
identical with Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah, or whether he was the otherwise
unknown ruler of a kingdom in North Syria, which is alluded to in
other inscriptions. If the former view be correct it can hardly mean
less than that Judah was the foremost military power in Western Asia
at the time. The arguments on both sides are succinctly given by
McCurdy, History Prophecy and the Monuments, pp. 413 f.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

have commenced before the death of Jotham1 (2 Ki. xv. 37);
but it is clear from Is. vii. 1, 2 that some fresh and startling
development followed the accession of Ahaz, causing the utmost
consternation in Jerusalem. From all we know of the character
of Ahaz he was a man little fitted to cope with a crisis of this
magnitude. In his panic-stricken imagination, the immediate
peril overrode all considerations of ngiipnal honour and political
prudence, and he resolved (to throw(himself on the protection of
the king of Assyria.] This decision has been defended by some
modern historians, as that which would have recommended
itself to any statesman in similar circumstances. It is safer
to trust the unerring political sagacity of Isaiah, in whose
judgment Ahaz at this juncture played the part of a craven.
A calmer view of the situation would have convinced the
king that the danger was not so great as to justify what
was on the face of it a counsel of despair. Nor is it clear
that he gained any substantial advantage in return for his
tribute and his offer of submission. For although Tiglath-
pileser promptly responded to his appeal by ravaging the
Northern and Eastern districts of Israel (2 Ki. xv. 29)2,' this
was probably no more than he would have done of his own
initiative. He was not likely to permit hisifeudatories to carry
on wars of conquest on their own accourjlfand if Ahaz had but
shared the courage and faith of Isaiah, deliverance would have
come without the degrading and dangerous conditions implied
by the Assyrian suzerainty. (See Introductory Note on ch. vii.,
p. 49 f.)
The Fall of Samaria (c. 721). Judah had thus, by the deli
berate act of her sovereign, passed under the hard yoke of the
king of Assyria. It was long, however, before the evil consequences
of this fatal step became fully apparent./ Ahaz appears to have
remained steadfast in his allegiance to Tiglath-pileser, and he
1 Whose independent reign, however, must have been very short.
See Chronological Note.
2 The Assyrian monuments shew that this expedition took place in
734 ; and this fixes approximately the date of the Syro-Ephraimitic war.
The chastisement of Damascus (2 Ki. xvi. 9) took place about two
years later.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

died (probably in 727 x) bequeathing the legacy of political servi
tude and a galling tribute toy*{is son and successor_He^eJaalu
In 727 Tiglath-pileser was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV. The
change of sovereign was the signal for a revolt of several of the
recently subjugated provinces in the West, where Egyptian
intrigue was now busily fomenting disaffection towards the
Assyrian government. There is no evidence that Hezekiah
was involved in any treasonable negotiations at this time, al
though we may be certain that great pressure would be brought
to bear on him to join the conspiracy. In Samaria, however,
the efforts ofthe Egyptian party were successful. Hoshea, the
last king, opened communications with Seve"2 of Egypt, and
renounced his allegiance to Assyria by withholding the annual
tribute. When Shalmaneser advanced against him he seems
to have surrendered, but his subjects prepared to defend the
capital to the last. After a siege of three years Samaria was
captured about 721 ; and the kingdom of the Ten Tribes was
finally incorporated in the Assyrian Empire (2 Ki. xvii. 3' — 6).
Events in the reign of Sargon (722 — 705). The siege
of Samaria, begun by Shalmaneser, was brought to ^conclusion
under Sargon, who succeeded to the throne in 72:2^ In the first
years of his reign, whilst he was occupied with the affairs of
Babylon, the still smouldering insurrection in Palestine suddenly
assumed such formidable dimensions as to threaten the loss of
nearly the whole territory annexed by Tiglath-pileser. But in the
^ear 720 Sargon himself marched westwards, and so effectually
crushed all opposition that for nearly ten years he seems to have
had no more trouble in that region-^He penetrated as far south
as Gaza and terminated a successful campaign by defeating the
allied Philistine and Egyptian troops in the battle of Raphia,
near that city. The event is memorable as the first armed
collision of the rival powers of Egypt and Assyria.
1 On this disputed date, see again the Chronological Note, p. Ixxvij
2 In the Hebrew text pointed so as to read S6 ; in Assyrian Sab'l w
Sib'i. He is frequently identified with the Ethiopian king Sabako, sup
posed at this time to be the over-lord of Egypt. The identification is
questioned by some, who take Sab'6 to be one of the kings who ruled
in Lower Egypt.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

throughout these troubles Judah had maintained an attitude
of wise neutrality which is probably in part at least to be attri
buted to Isaiah's influence with the courtjThe first definite indi
cation ofthe growing restiveness of Judah occurs in an inscription
of Sargon relating to the year 711. He speaks of " [the inhabit
ants] of Philistia, Judah, Edom and Moab who... had to bring
tribute and presents to Asshur, my lord " but who now " medi
tated hostilities and plotted evil, who... sent their tokens of
homage to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, a prince who could not
save them, and sought an alliance with him1." The focus of the
conspiracy on this, occasion seems to have beeR the Philistine
city of Ashdod^gainst which Sargon despatched an expedition
under the Tartan or commander-in-chief (Is. xx. 1). With the
capture of that city the insurrection collapsed. Hezekiah ap
pears to have withdrawn from the league in time to escape
the vengeance of Sargon. y^The hypothesis of an Assyrian
invasion of Judah at this date, at one time adopted by some
high authorities as throwing light on certain important pro
phecies of Isaiah, has never commanded general acceptance,
and is now practically abandoned2/
Sennacherib's Invasion (701). We now come to the last
and most eventful period of Isaiah's long ministry. The early
years of Sennacherib's reign (from 705) seemed to the advisers
of Hezekiah a favourable opportunity for a determined effort
1 The embassy of Merodach-baladan (Is. xxxix.) probably belongs
to this period (c. 713).
2 Cheyne, who held this view in 1889, has now pronounced against it.
The campaign against Ashdod is fully narrated in an inscription of Sargon,
who of course takes the whole credit of it to himself, and writes as
if he had commanded the army in person. If an invasion of Judah had
taken place at this time the silence of the inscription with regard to it
would be inexplicable. There is indeed another inscription of Sargon's,
in which he speaks of himself as " the subduer of the land of Judah,
whose situation is far distant," and this has sometimes been appealed to
in confirmation of the theory under discussion. But the tablet on which
these words occur is now held to be the earliest of all the extant records
of Sargon's reign, and is assigned by Winckler to the year 717. What
ever, therefore, may be the exact meaning of that expression, it certainly
cannot be adduced as evidence of an expedition against Judah in the
year 711.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

to shake off the supremacy of Assyria. In the year following
the accession of Sennacherib, a new monarch succeeded to
the crown of the Ethiopian kingdom, of Napata. This was
the able and enterprising TirhakaJj^fEgyptian, Taharqa; As
syrian, Tarqu), who ultimately asserted his sway over the whole
of the Nile-valley; and vigorously adopted the policy of check
mating Assyria by stirring up disaffection amongst the Assyrian
vassal states in Palestine. At the same time Sennacherib had a
formidable opponent in Babylon, in the person ofthe Chaldaean
rebel Merodach-baladan, who had already for twelve years defied
the power of Sargon, and had been subdued only with great
difficulty. Sennacherib was hardly seated on the throne when
this doughty champion of Babylonian independence reappeared
on the scene, and eventually (before 702) succeeded in establish
ing himself once more as king of Babylon. It has been very
generally supposed that it was at this time that Merodach-
baladan sent his embassy to Hezekiah soliciting his cooperation
against the king of Assyria. Although this view seems less
probable than that which assigns the event to the reign of
Sargon (see p. xv),c1t is certain that the revolt of Babylon
seriously embarrassed Sennacherib, and had an important in
fluence on the course of events in Palestine. There is little
doubt, at all events, that the Ethiopian embassy, mentioned in
ch. xviii., was sent by Tirhakah, and falls within this period
(between 704 and 701). The temptation proved irresistible.
Hezekiah's scruples were overcome, Isaiah's remonstrances
being overborne by the influence of the Egyptian party in the
court, and Judah was definitely committed to rebellion by the
conclusion of a treaty with Egypt1./
1 A difficult point emerges here on account of our uncertainty as to
the precise relations between Tirhakah and Egypt at this time. The
question is whether Tirhakah as yet possessed the effective suzerainty
over Egypt which he ultimately attained, or whether the kings of Egypt
still acted with a certain measure of independence in matters of foreign
policy. On the former alternative the alliance with Egypt referred
to in ch. xxviii. — xxxi. was really an alliance with Tirhakah, and stands
in the closest connexion with the incident of ch. xviii. But if the latter
be correct, the negotiations with Egypt may have been quite inde
pendent of the overtures of Tirhakah. The view followed in this volume

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Having once taken the irrevocable step, Hezekiah seems to
have acted with great spirit and energy. His chief care was
naturally bestowed on the defence of his capital, and we learn
from Sennacherib's inscriptions that with this object he strength
ened the garrison of Jerusalem by enlisting a force of Arabs
and other mercenaries. A further indication of the leading part
he played in the confederacy is furnished by the fact that Padi,
the Assyrian vassal-king of Ekron, having been dethroned and
imprisoned by his subjects, was sent to Jerusalem for safe
custody. /The dangerous pre-eminence thus accorded to Judah
by the revolted states made a reconciliation with Assyria im
possible ; and thus while other kings (as those of Ammon, Moab
and Edom) escaped by tendering their submission, Hezekiah
had to bear the brunt of Sennacherib's vengeance. J
It was not till his third campaign that Sennaxherib, having
previously "accomplished the destruction of Merodach-baladan,"
was able to turn his attention to the state of affairs in the West.
The incidents of that famous expedition are recorded with great
fulness of detail in no fewer than three practically identical
inscriptions of Sennacherib, the best known of which (the so-
called " Taylor-Prism ") is translated in the Records of the Past
(New Series, vol. vi. pp. 80 ff.). In these official narratives the
campaign is divided into four stages : (1) the subjugation of the
Phoenician cities, (2) the chastisement of Tsidqa, king of Ash-
kelon, (3) the operations against Ekron, and (4) the invasion of
Judah. The first two of these may here be passed over as not
immediately bearing on our subject. The people of Ekron, as
we have already seen, had deposed their king Padi, and sent
him in chains to Hezekiah. At the approach of the Assyrian
king they "feared in their hearts" ; but before Sennacherib could
proceed to the siege of the city he had to encounter " a force
without number " of Egyptians and Arabs which was marching
is that ch. xxviii.— xxxi. refers to intrigues with the petty princes ofthe
Delta, that it was these kings whom Sennacherib defeated at Eltekeh
(see p. xviii), and that the rumour of Tirhakah's advance (ch. xxxvii. 9)
warned Sennacherib of a conflict with a far more formidable enemy than
any he had yet encountered. Theprecise date of the Ethiopian embassy
must therefore remain a matter of uncertainty.
isaiat-t O

xviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
to the relief of Ekron. The engagement took place at Eltekeh
(Josh. xix. 44; xxi. 23); and although/Sennacherib claims a
decisive victoryJt has been pointed out that the record omits
the elaborate enumeration of the spoils which usually adorns
the accounts of really important victories of Assyrian kings.
The Egyptians, however, failed in their main object; Ekron
was speedily reduced, and stern punishment was meted out to
the ringleaders of the rebellion. /In order to complete what he
has to say about Ekron the annalist here relates the surrender -,
of Padi by Hezekiah, and his restoration to the throne; but
this no doubt slightly anticipates the actual course of events.
Next follows the account of the operations against Judah, which
may best be given in Sennacherib's own words. " But Hezekiah
of Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke, I besieged 46 of
his strong cities, fortresses, and small cities of their environs
without number, (and) by casting down their walls (?)  I took
them. 200, 1 50 men, young (and) old, male and female, horses,
mules, asses, camels, oxen and sheep without number I brought
out from them, I counted them as spoil. / Himself I shut up
like a caged bird in Jerusalem his royal city i/the walls I fortified
against him (and) whosoever came out of the gates of the city
I turned back. His cities, which I had plundered, I divided
from his land and gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, to
Padi, king of Ekron, and to Tsil-bal, king of Gaza, and (thus)
diminished his territory. To the former tribute, paid yearly,
I added the tribute of alliance of my lordship and laid that upon
him. Hezekiah himself was overwhelmed by the fear of the
brightness of my lordship ; the Arabians and his other faithful
warriors whom as a defence for Jerusalem his royal city he had
brought in, fell into fear. With 30 talents of gold (and) 800
talents of silver, precious stones  a heavy treasure and his
daughters, his women of the palace, his young men and young
women, to Nineveh the city of my lordship, I caused to be
brought after me, and he sent his ambassadors to give tribute
and to pay homage1."
i Rec. of the Past, Vol. VI. pp. 90 f. For other translations see
Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Test. (Engl. Transl.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

We must now compare this circumstantial and undoubtedly,
in the main, reliable narrative with the corresponding account
in. 2 Ki. xviii. 13 — xix. 37 (cf. Is. xxxvi., xxxvii.). We are at once
struck by their remarkable agreement with regard to certain
leading features of the campaign. Both relate (1) the capture
of the "fenced cities" of Judah, (2) the investment of Jerusalem
by an Assyrian army, (3) the submission of Hezekiah and the
exaction of a heavy tribute ; and another important point of
correspondence is (4) that Sennacherib himself^does-aot. claim
to have effected the reduction of Jerusalem, f But there is one(
essential difference between the two records: whereas Senna
cherib represents Hezekiah's surrender as the consequence of
the siege of Jerusalem, the Hebrew historian places it before
the assault on the capital, /it is obviously of the utmost import
ance for the understanding of Isaiah's work that a satisfactory
solution of this discrepancy should be obtained, and a number
of widely diverging theories have been propounded with that
object. (One suggestion is that Sennacherib has purposely
falsified the sequence of events in order to give the appearance
of success to what was really an abortive attack on Jerusalem^
(Other critics have supposed that the biblical narrative combines
the accounts of two entirely different Assyrian invasions of
Judah, one in 701 and another near the close of Sennacherib's
reign2. JBut of this second campaign no independent evidence
whatever has been discovered./ The most reasonable supposi
tion after all is that .Sennacherib's narrative simply breaks off
before reaching the last and most unfortunate stage of the
campaign, in other words that the Old Testament parallel to
the Assyrian account is found in 2 Ki. xviii. 13 — 16, while the
subsequent narrative of vv. 17 ff. refers to events passed over in
Vol. I. pp. 280 ff.), and Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, Vol. II. pp. 95 —
97- 1 So Schrader, Cuneiform Inscr. Vol. I. p. 301.
3 This theory seems to have been first started by the two Rawlinsons.
See G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, Vol. II. p. 165 (2nd Ed.).
In a modified form it is still upheld by Winckler (Geschichte Bab. u.
Assyr. p. 254). A similar view, once prevalent, was that 2 Kings xviii.
13(14) — 16 refers to Sargon's supposed campaign in 711 and what follows
to Sennacherib's in 701. bz

xx GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
silence by the inscription. There is no improbability in the
assumption that Jerusalem was twice blockaded in the course of
the war, provided a sufficient motive can be assigned for a
renewal of hostilities on the part of Sennacherib. Such a
motive is readily enough suggested by the situation in which the
Assyrian king found himself towards the close of this campaign;
and in this way we are led to a conception of the .progress
of events which, if not altogether free from difficulty, has com
mended itself to many of the best critics as affording the most
satisfactory solution of a somewhat intricate problem.
We must assume, then, that after the terms of capitulation
had been arranged and after the first siege of Jerusalem had
been raised, Sennacherib saw reason to change his mind, and to
insist on the absolute surrender of the capital. His position at
the end of an arduous campaign, and in front of an enemy who
might at any time be reinforced from Ethiopia, was becoming
daily more critical, and he probably realised that it would be
a strategical blunder of the worst kind to leave an important
fortress like Jerusalem in the hands of so doubtful a vassal as
Hezekiah. It is possible also that Hezekiah, encouraged by the
rumour of Tirhakah's advance, may have been indiscreet enough
to exhibit some indication of a hostile disposition. At all
events, the steps now taken by Sennacherib reveal at once his
eagerness to obtain possession of Jerusalem, and his inability to
direct the whole force of his army agaiiist it. We are told,
indeed, that he sent from Lachish, "a ?reat host" with the
Rabshakeh and other officers to demand the surrender of
Jerusalem ; but it is evident that the display of force was merely
a stratagem, and that the Great King- relied mainly on the
eloquent tongue of his chief minister. The object of the mission,
in fact, was in the first instance to intimidate Hezekiah by
threats, and failing that to induce the people to rise up against
him. But Hezekiah, now acting under Isaiah's advice, de
clined to enter into fresh negotiations, and the officers retired
baffled to Lachish. A second attempt1 to play on the fears
1 Unless, indeed, we have here two parallel accounts of a single occur--.
rence. See Introductory Note on ch. xxxvi. f.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

of Hezekiah by means of a royal letter met with no better success,
and Sennacherib was obliged to proceed southwards, leaving
Jerusalem still unreduced in his rear.
The state of matters within the walls of Jerusalem during this
crisis will fall to be more fully considered in the next chapter.
Here it is enough to say that the resolute attitude of the king
was due solely to the lofty faith and courage of Isaiah and his
confident and reiterated predictions that the Assyrian should
not be permitted to inflict the smallest injury on Jerusalem
(ch. xxxvii. 6, 7; 21 — 35). These anticipations were more than
realised, when in a single night "the angel of the Lord... smote
in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five
thousand" (xxxvii. 36), and Sennacherib was compelled to return
to his own land1. The political consequences of this mysterious
calamity, as read in the light of our fuller knowledge of Assyrian
history, may seem meagre and disappointing. It is now known
that Sennacherib survived the catastrophe for 20 years and during
that time waged many successful wars. It is certain also that
the deliverance did not permanently affect the relations of Judah
to the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian monarchs still exacted
their yearly tribute from the kings of Jerusalem and treated them
as their subjects. On the other hand it may well be doubted
whether Sennacherib was able to enforce the hard conditions
which he imposed on Hezekiah at the time of his submission2-
The very fact that during the 20 remaining years of his reign
he never again appeared in Palestine, or renewed the attack on
Egypt, is sufficient proof that his policy was permanently altered
by the serious disaster which there befel him. But if we measure
the crisis by the spiritual interests that were at stake we shall
find that/it possesses an importance that cannot be over-esti
mated. /Whatever may be uncertain, it is certain that the
political' existence of Judah was then saved from seemingly in
evitable extinction. If Sennacherib had attained his object the
people would have been led into captivity (see ch. xxxvi. 17).
Israel would have perished as a nation, and with it the hopes on
which the religious future of humanity depended would have
1 See further on ch. xxxvii. 36. 2 See above, p. xviii.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

been lost. That this result was averted was due to the inspi
ration which guided Isaiah throughout his life and to the
providential interposition which crowned his prophecies with
their fulfilment. The events of 701 form, therefore, a fitting
close to the public career of the great prophet, who from this
time vanishes from the stage of history.

CHAPTER II.
The Life and Prophetic Activity of Isaiah.
Of Isaiah's private life very few details can be gathered from
his writings. We know that he grew up to manhood under the
brilliant reign of Uzziah, and he must have been still a young
man, though probably married, when in the year of that king's
death he received his call to the prophetic office. His name, in
Hebrew Yesha'yah-A ("salvation of Jehovah") appears not to
have been an uncommon one in Israel (1 Chr. xxv. 3, 15; xxvi.
25; iii. 21; Ezra viii. 7, 19; Neh. xi. 7), and although to the
prophet himself it had a symbolic significance as embodying
a cardinal principle of his ministry (ch. viii. 18), it throws no
light on the circumstances of his birth or the religious disposi
tion of his parents. Of his father Amoz nothing further is
known. The fancied resemblance of his name to that of the
prophet Amos does not exist in the original, and the notion
that the younger prophet was the son of the older was only
the speculation of some Greek, ignorant of Hebrew ortho
graphy. Equally worthless is the Jewish tradition which makes
Amoz a brother of king Amaziah, and Isaiah consequently
a member of. the royal house of Judah. From the fact, how
ever, that Isaiah was intimately acquainted with the ways of
the court 4nd had at all times ready access to the presence of
the king, as well as from a certain aristocratic loftiness of
thought which appears in his writings, we may probably con
clude that/he belonged to a good family and had enjoyed all
the advantages of education and social intercourse that were

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

open to the son of a prominent citizen of Jerusalem. Of the
religious influences that moulded his youthful character little
can be said. It is possible that a great earthquake in the days
of Uzziah (Am. i. i ; Zech. xiv. 5) may have left an ineffaceable
impression on his mind and furnished the imagery for his first
and most powerful delineation of the great day of Jehovah
(ch. ii. 12 ff.). But Isaiah was not left to interpret the signs
of the times by his own unaided reflections. He had "a more
sure word of prophecy" in the teaching of his own immediate
predecessors Amos and Hosea. Two years before the earth
quake Amos had appeared at Bethel with a message of doom
which sent a momentary thrill of terror through the whole
northern kingdom (Am. vii. 10). His work in North Israel was
continued by Hosea, whose career' preceded that of Isaiah by a
very short interval./The influence of both these prophets can
be clearly traced nT the earlier discourses of Isaiah, and it is
reasonable to suppose that before his own call his mind was
thus imbued with those great prophetic principles to which
he was destined to give such forcible expression?
It was amidst the forebodings naturally-^suggested by the
death of Uzziah that Isaiah became conscious of his prophetic
vocation. The statement that he first saw the Lord "in the
year that king Uzziah died" has doubtless something more than
a mere chronological interest. The aged monarch, who had so
well upheld the credit of the State, was either just dead or else
in the last stages of leprosy. The recent history of the kingdom
of Samaria furnished an ominous warning of the troubles that
might follow the removal of a capable ruler at such a time ; and
it may be that Isaiah had a presentiment that the death of this
king would be the prelude to a period of anarchy and confusion
such as he afterwards pictured as a feature of the divine judg
ment on Israel's sin (ch. iii. 1 ff.). The significance of the vision
of ch. vi. becomes at least somewhat more intelligible to our
minds if we regard it as the answer to apprehensions such as
these. At a time when his thoughts were occupied with the
decease of a sovereign whom he had learned to revere as the
embodiment of wise and experienced statesmanship, there was

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

granted to Isaiah a revelation of Him who was the true divine
King of Israel ; and at the same time he gained a perception of
the ultimate issues of Jehovah's dealings with the nation which
enabled him to face the dark and threatening future with confi
dence and hope.
The spiritual truths impressed on the prophet's mind by this
memorable experience are those which we shall see unfolded
with singular clearness and constancy of purpose throughout
his whole subsequent ministry. An exposition of these truths
in their connexion will be attempted in a subsequent chapter,.
but it is necessary here to specify certain elements of the vision
whose influence appears at all stages of Isaiah's career. Of
these the first and most fundamental is an overwhelming sense
of the majesty and holiness 'of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
These aspects of the divine nature are prominent in nearly every
page of his writings, and the prophet's sense of them is un
doubtedly to be traced to that supreme moment of his spiritual
history when his eyes saw the King, Jehovah of Hosts, and he
shrank in terror from the contact of his holiness (ch. vi.'5). In the
second place, Isaiah was then possessed by. the consciousness
of a life-long mission to be discharged in the service of the
divine King as His messenger and spokesman to Israel. The
alacrity with which he offers himself for this work, without
knowing what it might involve, is a revelation of the ardent
temperament of the man and contrasts strikingly with the hesi
tation displayed by another great prophet at a similar moment
of his life (ch. vi. 8 ; cf. Jer. i. 6). But Isaiah further learned
something of the nature and effects of the work to which he
was thus consecrated. It is a gloomy and discouraging prospect
that is disclosed to him, — a people so hardened in unbelief that
the very abundance of his revelations and the urgency of his
appeals will only render them more and more insensible to
spiritual influences, while step by step the inevitable judgment is
executed upon them until the existing nation of Israel has been
utterly consumed (ch. vi. 9—13). And finally the vision con
tains a ray of hope in the promise of an indestructible remnant
in Israel, a "holy seed" or spiritual kernel of the nation which

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

shall survive the judgment and become the germ of the ideal
people of God (v. 13). This last idea of the "Remnant," which
is one of the most distinctive in Isaiah's teaching, was perhaps
also the first to receive public expression ; for it is embodied in
the name of a son, Shear- JasMb ( = " Remnant shall turn,") who
must have been born to the prophet very soon after his inaugural
vision (see ch. vii. 3). The application of that and other principles
in different situations will appear as we proceed to describe the
various aspects of Isaiah's public work.
//it is convenient to distinguish three periods of Isaiah's*
ministry, which, although very unequal in length, are marked
each by some features peculiar to itself, i. The first period
extends from the death of Uzziah to the beginning of the reign
of Ahaz. ii. The second is the critical period of the Syro-
Ephraimitic invasion, about 735. iii. The third is the time,
of the Assyrian domination, culminating in the invasion arra
deliverance ofthe year 701 1.
i. The discourses commonly assigned to the first period are
found in chs. ii. — iv., v. 1 — 24, ix. 8 — x. 4 + v. 25 — 30. If to
these passages we add ch. i. (which, although certainly not
written before the Syro-Ephraimitic war, may not improbably
be assigned to that -date', and may then be regarded as a final
manifesto summing up the results of the first period of his
work) we have a well-defined group of prophecies, with a
general resemblance to the book of Amos and presenting a
vivid picture of the earliest phase of Isaiah's ministry. Like
Amos, the prophet appears here mainly as a preacher of national
righteousness and of judgment to come. The two great themes
which are the burden of his message are the sin of Israel and
the certainty of national disaster through the agency of the
Assyrians. It has been disputed which of these two intuitions
was primary and which was secondary in the consciousness
of the prophets ; that is to say, whether it was their profound
sense of national sin that led them to the conviction that a great
judgment was inevitable, or whether their intuitive certainty of
what was portended by the approach of Assyria opened their
1 Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, pp. 214, 422 (2nd Ed.).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

eyes to the evidences of national corruption around them. The
question, so formulated, hardly admits of an answer. What is
peculiar to the prophets is the idea of God and of the moral
order of the universe which enabled them to see the connexion
between two sets of facts which to the prevalent religion of the
time stood in no relation to one another. Knowing Jehovah as
the absolutely Righteous One and the omnipotent Disposer of
events they recognised His voice of anger in the thundering
march of the Assyrians, and what they heard confirmed the
verdict of their conscience on the moral condition of their
people. In this respect Isaiah simply represents the attitude
common to the prophets of the Assyrian period, and the two
lines of thought which have been indicated are developed with
equal power and earnestness in his earliest writings.
We have already seen that the social state of Judah was very
similar to that of North Israel in the days of Amos, and Isaiah
deals with the evils of the age in the spirit of his predecessor.
If we may trust a probable arrangement of the discourses his
criticism becomes more incisive and discriminating as time goes
on. At first (in ch. ii.) his attention is directed to the out
standing evidences of ungodliness and worldly pride in the still
prosperous country of Judah. Idolatry, superstition, trust in
wealth and warlike resources — these familiar features of the
nation's life are to the vision of the prophet purified by contact
with the Holy One of Israel, so many symptoms of the irreligious
spirit of his contemporaries. Somewhat later (ch. iii.) he touches
on social evils, the oppression and injustice practised by the
rich and powerful on the poor (vv. g, 14, 15), and the luxurious
fashions of the women of Jerusalem (vv. 16 ff.). In a still later
prophecy (ch. v. 8 — 24) he comes to close quarters with the sins
of action and of thought characteristic of the upper class, de
nouncing in a series of " woes " their violations of the rights of
property in the lawless extension of landed estates (8  10) their
drinking festivities (11, 12, 22), their unjust judgments (23), and
(coming to more spiritual sins) their heedlessness of Jehovah's
working (12), mocking and defiant scepticism (19), and per
version of moral distinctions (20)/ In ch. i. we find an additional:

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

echo of Amos in the exposure of the prevalent delusion that
Jehovah could be propitiated by costly and elaborate ritual
service without regard toJhe character and conduct of the
worshippers (vv. io— i^y^The corrective to this religious error
is given in the parable* of the vineyard (ch. v. 1—7, cf. iii. 14),
which expresses the fundamental prophetic doctrine that Jehovah
"looks for judgment... and righteousness" in the nation which
He has chosen for His own. TJaere is perhaps one respect in
which Isaiah's treatment of national sins is more profound than
that of Amos: he appears to trace all the manifestations of
national corruption to a single source in the absence of a re
ligious spirit, or the knowledge of God, in the men of his time.
Here again we can perceive the influence of the vivid impression
of the glory of God which he himself experienced at the moment
of his call.
The descriptions of the coming judgment that occur in this
cycle of prophecies exhibit all the qualities of Isaiah's powerful
and versatile genius. His very earliest recorded utterance con
tains a sublime vision of the "day of Jehovah," as a day of
earthquake and thunder, when " all that is proud and lofty " in
nature or human civilisation shall be humbled before the glory
of Jehovah's majesty (ch. ii. 12 ff.). Again he pictures Jehovah
as appearing in person to judge the rulers of his people (iii. 14),
or he sees Him standing with outstretched hand to smite the
sinful kingdom ofthe North (ix. 12, 17 etc.). But Isaiah's strong
sense of historic reality leads him to throw out more realistic
descriptions of the judgment than these. Thus in ch. iii. 1 — 7
he conceives it as taking the shape of a period of revolutionary
anarchy in the Judaean state, such as he had already witnessed
in Ephraim (ix. 14 ff.). And although he does not yet mention
the Assyrians byname, it is plain from v. 26 — 30 that he has
them in view as the human instruments of Jehovah's vengeance
on Israel.
The eschatological element of Isaiah's teaching, however, is
as yet simple and undeveloped, although clearly present. He
looks for a purification of the state from its base and worthless
elements and a restoration of the best times of the old monarchy

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

(i. 24—26). The doctrine of the remnant is referred to in 1. 27,
as well as in the name of the prophet's son Shear-Jashub. Of
the ideal age beyond the judgment we have two pictures in
ii. 2—4 and iv. 2—6, although it is not quite certain that either
of these passages belongs to Isaiah's spoken message of this
period. ii. (See chs. xvii. 1— 11, vii., viii.; perhaps also ix. 1—7.)
The second phase of Isaiah's ministry exhibits him in an entirely
new character, that, namely, of a political adviser. In order to
appreciate the importance of this fact we have only to look' at
the contrast which in this respect he presents to Amos and
Hosea in the North. These prophets held the same funda
mental convictions as Isaiah ; they looked forward to a blessed
future for Israel after the work of judgment was completed;
yet their writings contain no hint of political direction for the
leaders of the state. They take up a negative attitude towards
the problems of statesmanship ; and it must have seemed that
the breach between Jehovah and His people was so absolute
that no guidance or counsel could be obtained through the
medium of the prophetic word. Now it is one of Isaiah's chief
distinctions that he revived this political function of prophecy
which had been in abeyance since the time of Elisha. Without
descending from the high spiritual level to which prophecy had
been raised by the work of Amos and Hosea, he was able from
that standpoint to formulate a definite religious policy by which
the nation might be safely guided through the dangers that lay
immediately before it.
The fundamental maxims of Isaiah's statesmanship come first
to light in the crisis of the Syro-Ephraimitic invasion, in the
memorable interview with Ahaz, recorded in ch. vii. The
prophet had already announced (in ch. xvii. 1 — 11) the issue of
the ill-fated alliance between Syria and Ephraim. By its un-
brotherly attack on Judah (see ch. ix. 21) the Northern Kingdom
had but sealed its own doom; and both it and Syria must
speedily fall a prey to the advancing Assyrians. He knew also
that a brief respite would be granted to Judah ; and it was with
the view of securing that this interval should be taken advantage

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

of in the highest interests of the nation that he sought, under
divine direction, a personal meeting with the king. His main
concern was to dissuade Ahaz from seeking to save himself from
a passing danger by placing himself under the protection of
Assyria. He represented the trivial nature of the momentary
peril ; and urged the king with all the weight of his inspired
authority to adopt an attitude of wise passivity, renouncing all
trust in earthly help and dubious political expedients, and re
lying on Jehovah alone to bring a good result out of the present
crisis. How eager he was to bring the king round to a right
mind he shewed by the - offer of a miraculous sign in con
firmation of his right to speak in the name of Jehovah. But it
was all in vain. Ahaz had probably already taken his own line,
and he refused to be turned aside by the fervid appeal of the
prophet. Isaiah, however, did not accept the decision of Ahaz as the
final response of the nation to his message. From the court
he appealed to the people at large, in the series of oracles con
tained in ch. viii., extending probably over a period of many
months. By two symbolic acts he endeavoured to fix indelibly
in the public mind the central fact on which his reading of the
political situation hinged, viz., the speedy destruction of Syria
and Ephraim by the king of Assyria. For this purpose he first
caused a placard to be affixed, with legal formalities, in a con
spicuous position, bearing the inscription "To Maher-shalal-
hash-baz" (viii. I, 2). Then some months afterwards he gave
the interpretation of the motto, in connexion with the birth of a
son, in whose name, as his manner was, he embodied the idea
which at the time was of paramount importance in his work.
" For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father,
and, My mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of
Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria"
(vv. 3, 4). But neither amongst the people did he find any
general acceptance of his message. On every hand he was
confronted by evidences of religious insensibility and confirmed
unbelief. It was his first experience on a large scale of the
truth revealed to him in his inaugural vision, that the effect of

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

his mission would be to produce judicial blindness and hardness
of heart in those whom he addressed. The prophet recognised
that his generation had passed through a spiritual ordeal from
which it emerged with a gloomier destiny and a more certain
looking for of judgment than under better auspices might have
awaited it. It would seem that as he stood there before the
unworthy representative of the house of David, thrown back on
the inward inspiration which guided him, the prophet saw the
whole vista of the future suddenly unfolded before his vision
in darker colours, but in clearer outline than it had ever yet
assumed. The sign which Ahaz did not dare to ask would be
given in spite of his refusal (vii. 14); a child should be born
whose name, Immanuel, " God with us," should be the earnest
of deliverance from the attack of the allied kings {v. 16). But
this happy event does not now close the outlook. Beyond that
deliverance stretches the dreary prospect of a land ravaged by
Assyrian and Egyptian armies, of the cessation of agriculture
for an indefinite period, and a poor and scanty population re
duced to the bare necessities of life (vii. 18 — 25; cf. viii. 7, 8).
In this time of distress the child Immanuel is to grow up, sharing
the poverty and humiliation of his people (vii. 1 5) ; and the full
significance of his name will only be revealed in that glorious
future which here, as always, forms the limit of Isaiah's prophetic
horizon (ix. 1 — 7. See below, p. lviii f.).
Such appear to be the main outlines of the forecast of coming
events which Isaiah published at the time of the Syro-Ephrai
mitic war. That it was remarkably verified in the subsequent
history of Judah is familiar to all readers of the Old Testament.
It is true that the picture contains some minor features which
were not exactly fulfilled. Probably none of the events foretold
took place quite so soon as Isaiah had anticipated. The over
throw of Damascus took place in 732, that of Samaria ten years
later. So again the Assyrian invasion of Judah did not happen
within at most 10 or 12 years, as Isaiah appears to have ex
pected, but was postponed for more than a generation. The
land of Judah was not the theatre of the contest between Egypt!
and Assyria for the mastery of Asia, as is assumed in vii. 18 19.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

But these are matters of detail which do not affect the sub
stantial truth of the prediction, and they are modified in later
utterances of Isaiah. The broad fact remains that Isaiah's public
attitude at this time was based on a foreknowledge of the course
of events which could not have been reached by any estimate
of political probabilities. The immediate danger proved to be
as trivial and evanescent as he persistently declared it to be, while
the fatal results of the course chosen by Ahaz, though deferred
for a time, were experienced in the disasters of Sennacherib's
invasion. We have yet to notice the significant incident which closes
this chapter of the prophet's history (viii. 16 — 18). The rejection
of his message by the people seems to have led to a temporary
cessation of his public activity ; and he marks his sense of the
importance of the event by a singular action, which is described
as "binding up the testimony and sealing the instruction among
his disciples." The expressions no doubt are somewhat obscure ;
but the most natural supposition is that they refer to a written
record of the prophecies delivered during the late crisis,
which Isaiah solemnly sealed in presence of his "disciples," as
a protest against the unbelief of the nation. Jehovah now
"hideth his face from the house of Israel," i.e. he withdraws the
guidance of the prophetic word which had been so coldly
received. It remains for the prophet, and those who share
his faith, to wait for the fulfilment of his word, and he appears
by this act to separate himself and his adherents from the mass
of their contemporaries and to form a new circle of religious
fellowship based on faith in the revelation which Jehovah had
given through himself. It is certain at any rate that at this time
of general unbelief there was a band of men who were known as
"disciples" of Isaiah ; and it may well be that the fact so vaguely
indicated, represents the most influential phase of his activity.
The history of religions shews that the most enduring of all
spiritual influences are those communicated through the close
fellowship of a great personality with a limited number of
susceptible minds, or in short through the relation of master
and disciples. It would be no surprise to find this principle

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

exemplified in the career of Isaiah. It is but the practical de
velopment of his fundamental conception of a spiritual kernel
within the nation;- the "remnant" that should "return" was
being formed under his eyes in the persons ofthe men who at
this time began to detach themselves from an untoward gene
ration and gather round him for inspiration and instruction.
iii. The silence of Isaiah does not seem to have been broken
by any public pronouncement during the remainder of the reign
of Ahaz. In a short oracle assigned by its title to the year of
that king's death (ch. xiv. 29—32), he appears to speak as one
who has an acknowledged position of authority in the direction
of affairs of state ; and such a change in the prophet's relations
to the court would be naturally explained by the accession of
Hezekiah. If we accept the view that Hezekiah succeeded to
the throne in 727 this prophecy would signalise Isaiah's return
to power after about six or seven years of retirement under the
government of Ahaz. It is true that the genuineness ofthe title,
and indeed of the prophecy itself, are widely disputed; but
there does not seem to be any real difficulty in supposing that
Isaiah uttered such an oracle at this time. In any case the
accession of Hezekiah, a ruler of a very different stamp from his
father, must have presented a new opening for the furtherance
of Isaiah's public aims, of which we may be sure he would not
fail to take advantage.
In the early part of this reign, he found an unexpected ally
in the person of Micah of Moresheth Gath, whose work
dates from the years immediately preceding the fall of the
Northern Kingdom (cf. Mic. i. 6 with Jer. xxvi. 18). That the
work of Micah made a profound impression on his contempo
raries is seen from the remarkable incident related in Jer. xxvi.
17 — 19- We learn from that passage that the point which
excited most attention in Micah's teaching was his definite
prediction of the utter destruction of the capital and its sanctu
ary for the sins of the nobles who "built up Zion with blood and
Jerusalem with iniquity" (ch. iii. 10 — 12). This is a thought
which probably found no echo in the message of Isaiah at this
time (see below, p. lxii) ; although it must have been familiar to

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

those who remembered his earlier prophecies. But whilst in this
one respect Micah represents a somewhat different point of view
from Isaiah's, in all essential matters the two prophets exhibit
the most complete agreement. The picture of the state of
Judah presented by the book of Isaiah is confirmed in almost
every particular by the writings of Micah ; and the coincidence
proves that no amelioration of the condition of the common
people had taken place since Isaiah first appeared as a prophet.
Micah, indeed, depicts the wrongs of the peasantry with a
vehement indignation natural in one who lived at a distance
from the capital and in all probability belonged himself to the
class which suffered most severely from the corruption and in
justice which reigned in Jerusalem. It cannot be said that
Isaiah deals less severely with these evils, but his political
interests were wider than Micah's, and he never lost sight of the
importance of good government and the necessity for social
distinctions within the community. Hence while Micah con
templates simply a sweeping away of the intolerable system of
government under which he lived, Isaiah steadily looks forward
to a reformation of the aristocracy as a primary condition of the
welfare of the state. Yet Isaiah must have eagerly welcomed
the response which his teaching met from the common people
as represented by a kindred spirit like Micah. It must have
strengthened his hopes for a better time when all classes of the
nation would cooperate in the promotion of the highest interests
of morality and religion ; when the demand for righteousness
which rose from the ranks of the commonalty would be answered
by "a king reigning in righteousness and princes ruling in judg
ment" (xxxii. i).
In the sphere of politics Isaiah consistently upheld the
maxim that the safety of the state lay in abstinence from
all attempts to recover its independence and in quiet resigna
tion to the will of Jehovah. There is not the least reason to
believe that the prophet ever entertained a hope that by follow
ing the course he recommended Judah might be spared the
crowning disaster of an Assyrian invasion. That great act of
judgment was irrevocably decreed by Jehovah, and could not
ISAIAH <¦"

xxxiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
be finally averted by any hne of policy however prudent or even
religious it might be. Isaiah's purpose was simply to secure
that when the judgment came its salutary effects might be ex
perienced by as large a section of the nation as possible ; and
with this ultimate object in view he counselled a patient accept
ance of the irksome political situation in which Judah was placed,
and above all an attitude of neutrality in the repeated struggles
which were made by the surrounding nations against Assyria,
This of course was on the surface a very different line of action
from that which he urged on Ahaz in the year 735 ; but both
were founded on the one fundamental principle by which Isaiah's
statesmanship was governed. Then, he sought to prevent Ahaz
from entering into an alliance with Tiglath-pileser, involving a
dishonourable subjection to the Assyrian Empire. Now, under
Hezekiah, he sets his face against all schemes for violating that
compact by an alliance with Egypt or any other country opposed
to Assyria. But the religious motive in both cases was his
antipathy to the spirit of unbelief which he discovered in all
attempts to effect political salvation by human wisdom and
the help of heathen states. How jealously at this time he
watched over the first manifestations of hostility towards As
syria, and how prompt he was to check them, is shewn by two
prophecies belonging to the first half of Hezekiah's reign. One
is the oracle on Philistia already referred to (ch. xiv. 29 — 32), in
which he announces a terrible chastisement of the Philistine
cities at the hands of the Assyrians, and stakes the safety of
Israel on Jehovah's power and purpose to protect Mount Zion.
The other (ch. xx.) is dated in the year of the Tartan's expedi
tion against Ashdod (711), and contains a still more emphatic
warning against trie folly of trusting to Egypt for help. From
the fact that Hezekiah had never as yet definitely com
mitted himself to overt rebellion, we may judge that these
warnings were not without effect. It is important to observe
that down to the year 711 Isaiah anticipated a great extension
of the Assyrian Empire before its power should be broken.
The conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia (ch. xx.) was an event
that could not come about in a day, and when the prophet

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

uttered that prediction he cannot have looked for an immediate
termination to the proud and victorious career of Assyria. This
fact has to be noticed because of a certain modification of Isaiah's
outlook in the next great discourse to which our attention must
be directed.
As the inevitable collision between Judah and the world-power
drew near, Isaiah found it necessary to expound in a set dis
course his inspired convictions with regard to the mission of
Assyria and the limits assigned to it in the scheme of Jehovah's
universal government. It was a theme which had never as yet
been systematically handled from the point of view of prophecy.
Both Amos and Hosea had recognised in Assyria the provi
dential instrument of judgment on the sin of Israel, and had
assumed that when its commission was executed it would in
some way be removed and not be permitted to impede the
development of Jehovah's gracious purposes towards His people.
But neither of them was led to reflect on the enigma presented
by Jehovah's use of a human instrument which scorned His
authority and obeyed no law but its own savage lust of plunder
and destruction. It was a problem, however, which could not
fail to thrust itself on the mind of Isaiah, as he marked the
unresting advance of Assyria towards universal dominion and
became aware ofthe ruthless and impious spirit which animated
the masters of those irresistible legions. How could an immoral
force be used for moral ends? When and where and how would
the Assyrian overstep the limits of his commission and appear
in open conflict with the purpose of Him who raised him up?
And when that point was reached, how would Jehovah rid Him
self of the formidable tool which He had fashioned to execute His
strange work on the earth? Such questions as these find their
answer in/ ch. x. 5 — 34, one of the longest and most character- «
istic of Isaiah's utterances and perhaps the grandest exposition of
the religious interpretation of history that ever was written1. (See
the Introductory Note to ch. x. 5 — 34.)
What is most distinctive in Isaiah's representation is that
1 The passage is of uncertain date, but most probably belongs to the
beginning ofthe reign of Sennacherib. 02

xxxvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
the final trespass of the Assyrian is conceived as taking the
form of an assault on the inviolable seat of Jehovah's earthly
government in Jerusalem. It is when he stands under the walls
of the capital, "swinging his hand against the mount of the
daughter of Zion," (v. 32) that a destructive blow will be dealt to
him: "the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall lop the boughs with
terror ; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the
lofty shall be humbled" (v. 33). Thus after Assyria has proved
the impotence of all other gods by destroying in succession the
peoples that served and trusted in them, the breaking of its
power on the soil of Palestine will reveal to all the world the
true divinity of Jehovah, and vindicate the truth that its whole
enterprise had been controlled and guided to this issue by the
Holy One of Israel. Never, perhaps, had a great religious idea
been more boldly staked on the success of a definite historical
prediction. But through all the troubles and excitement that
filled the early years of Sennacherib's reign Isaiah never wavered
in the assurance that his words would be verified by the event.
The expectation of a great and speedy disaster to the Assyrian
armies becomes one of the sustaining motives of his ministry,
and he proclaims it with unhesitating confidence, not only to his
own countrymen (as in ch. xiv. 24 — 27 and xvii. 12 — 14) but also
to the ambassadors from Ethiopia who at this time visited
Jerusalem (ch. xviii.).
This brings us to the important group of prophecies issued
by Isaiah during and immediately before the invasion of Sen
nacherib (ch. xxviii.1 — xxxi. [? xxxii f.]; xxii.). It was a time of
unprecedented activity on the part of the prophet, when nearly
every leading principle of his ministry stands out with singular
clearness and force. It is not easy, however, to form a con
sistent conception of his attitude and action during this crisis.
Two main ideas cross each other throughout the discourses ; on
the one hand the necessity for a severe judgment on Jeru
salem in which the city shall be reduced to the utmost distress
and humiliation, and on the other hand the certainty that the
1 The first six verses of ch. xxviii. must have been spoken before the
destruction of Samaria, but they were probably republished at this time.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

crisis will end in the destruction of Assyria and the introduction
of a glorious era for the people of God. At times (especially in
xxix. 4; xxxii. 13 f.; xxii. 1— 14) the first thought is pushed so
far as apparently to exclude the other, so that the prophet seems
to speak with a double voice, now uttering unrelieved oracles of
doom, and again consoling the people with visions of the
brighter future. The manner in which the two ideas alternate —
each prophecy of judgment passing into a captivating picture
of the idyllic peace and felicity just about to break on the
nation — also presents a literary problem of some difficulty. We
cannot hope to explain these phenomena to our entire satis
faction, because the oracles would naturally be modified iri the
act of committing them to writing, and we do not know to what
extent they correspond with Isaiah's spoken message at the
time. Nevertheless one or two aspects of the situation are
revealed with unmistakeable distinctness ; and on these it will
be best to concentrate our attention.
The most prominent feature of Isaiah's activity which appears
in xxviii. — xxxi., is his opposition to the project of rebellion in
alliance with Egypt. This led him almost single-handed into
a prolonged conflict with the leaders of the Egyptian party,
whose influence was then in the ascendant at Hezekiah's court.
Amongst these men a high official named Shebna (probably
a foreigner) enjoys the distinction of being the only private
individual who falls under the lash of Isaiah's invective (ch. xxii.
1 5 ff.). How great the prophet's political influence was is shewn
by the anxiety of the conspirators to keep him in the dark with
regard to the plot that was being hatched (xxix. 15; xxx. 1).
In this they did not succeed; Isaiah's ceaseless vigilance un
masked their design, and he was able to follow the negotiations
step by step with reiterated warnings. On one occasion we find
him engaged in a heated altercation with the leaders of the war
party, whom he had apparently surprised at a carousal held to
celebrate what they called a "covenant with death and an agree
ment with the underworld" (xxviii. 8ff.). More than once he
satirises the craft and subtlety on which the conspirators prided
themselves ; and denounces the secrecy in which they screened

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

their proceedings as an attempt to outwit the Almighty (xxix. 15;
xxx. 1 — 12; xxxi. 1, 2). A parting glimpse of the ill-fated enter
prise is probably given in ch. xxx. 6, 7, where the prophet pictures
the heavily laden caravan making its way across the desert with
presents from Hezekiah to the potentates of the Nile Valley.
Isaiah's protest was therefore unavailing. The intrigue of the
nobles prevailed over the wiser counsels of the prophet ; and for
the second time in his life he seems to have retired from a boot
less controversy with a solemn testimony against ilie infatuation
which had seized the whole people. Once more, as in the days
of Ahaz, he embodied the substance of his message in a perma
nent' written record, that it might be a witness against the un
belief and rejection of the divine revelation which must surely
end in national disaster (xxx. 8 ff.).
There is no doubt that for the moment the policy adopted by
the court was popular with all classes of the community. The
prospect of a war with Assyria was eagerly welcomed by the
reckless patriotism of the common people; and the spirit of
levity manifested by the capital at this time seemed to Isaiah
not less irreligious than the carnal tendencies of the court.
A certain air of mirth and gaiety appears at all times to have
impressed him as characteristic of the population of Jeru
salem, — the "jubilant city" as he twice names it (xxii. 2 ; xxxii.
13; cf. v. 14). Some of the gloomiest oracles belonging to this
period were called forth by thoughtless exhibitions of this temper
of mind which came under the prophet's observation. Looking
on the merry throng that gathered in the temple court at one of
the great annual festivals, he uttered the "Woe to Ariel" of
ch. xxix. 1 — 4, in which he predicts the humiliation of the im
penitent city within the space of one or two years. Another
time it was the careless and scornful attitude of the women that
moved him to deliver a very similar message of doom (xxxii.
9—14). But the worst display of this feeling seems to have
occurred at the very moment when Isaiah looked for some token
of penitential submission to the will of Jehovah. The difficult
prophecy of ch. xxii. 1— 14, which exceeds in severity any other
in the whole book, refers most probably to what took place

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

when the first blockade of Jerusalem was raised in consequence
of Hezekiah's surrender. That was emphatically a day on which
"the Lord Jehovah of hosts called to weeping and to mourning,
and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth" {v. 12). But
instead of this, it was the occasion of a senseless outburst of
mirth and festivity which astounded the prophet, and for the
moment obliterated from his mind the vision of a happy future.
Heedless of the late disasters, and the humiliating conditions of
peace, the city kept holiday in honour of its deliverance, the
house-tops were crowded with spectators watching the departure
of the Assyrian army, and universal hilarity expressed the pre
valent sentiment of the hour, "let us eat and drink for to-morrow
we shall die" (2/. 13). Isaiah was at first moved to tears by such
a revelation of the incorrigible hardness of the people under
Jehovah's chastisements (v. 4), but at length sorrow gives way to
righteous indignation and in his inner ear there sounded, like
a knell, the awful sentence of rejection, "Surely this iniquity
shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord, Jehovah
of Hosts "(*>. 14).
It may fairly be inferred from these three prophecies that
Isaiah entertained no expectation of salvation for the mass of
his countrymen, and that he was saved from absolute pessimism
only by his unquenchable faith in an elect "remnant" and by the
hopes that sprang from that conviction. There is no section of
his writings where these hopes find grander or clearer expression
than the discourses of Sennacherib's reign. The prophet felt
that the hour of the decisive conflict between Jehovah and the
world-power was at hand; and he knew that in the last ex
tremity Jerusalem would be protected by the direct intervention
of the Almighty (xxix. 7, 8; xxxi. 5). This thought is most
powerfully expressed in an imaginative picture of the judgment
on Assyria contained in ch. xxx. 27 — 33 (cf. xxxi. 8, 9). The
crisis of Jerusalem's fate becomes the occasion of that final reve
lation of the majesty of God to which Isaiah had looked forward
from the beginning of his work, and which he had with increasing
distinctness connected with the overthrow of the Assyrian power.
The whole history of redemption converges to this one event ; it is

xl GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
the consummation of Jehovah's work of judgment on both Israel
and Assyria, and the inauguration of the reign of holiness and
peace reserved for the purified remnant of the nation. Hence
it is that the threats of judgment which the prophet was con
strained by the perverseness of the people to utter are constantly
relieved by ideal pictures of salvation in which he found a refuge
from the discouragements and confusions of the present. It is
possible that these passages may have been addressed in the
first instance to his own disciples rather than to the people at
large ; at all events they shew how firmly he held to the belief
that out of the immediate trial there would emerge a regene
rate nation to enjoy the temporal and spiritual blessings of the
Messianic age (xxix. 17 — 24; xxx. 18 — 26; xxxii. 1 — 8).
We have now traced Isaiah's activity to the close of the first
attack of Sennacherib on Jerusalem, and we have seen that
up to that moment nothing had occurred to modify his stern
verdict on the disposition of the inhabitants. For what follows
we are almost entirely dependent on the historical appendix
of the book (ch. xxxvi., xxxvii.) and the prophecies imbedded
there. We are at once struck by the change that has passed
over the prophet's attitude in the short interval. The note of
rebuke and menace which was so prominent during the first
stages ofthe invasion has wholly disappeared from his teaching;
his tone is one of serene confidence and his message is an un
conditional assurance of the collapse of the Assyrian enterprise.
It is not so difficult as it might appear to account for this sudden
alteration in the prophet's demeanour. The renewal of the
demand for the surrender of Jerusalem had a most salutary
effect on the disposition of Hezekiah, and no doubt on the court
and the populace as well. The king recognised the hopeless
plight in which his adventurous policy had landed him, and,
thoroughly humbled, throws himself unreservedly on the pro
tection of Jehovah and the guidance of His prophet. On the
other hand the perfidious conduct of Sennacherib, and his
blasphemous defiance of the God of Israel, had put him in the
wrong; he had committed the crowning offence against the
majesty of Jehovah which Isaiah had long foreseen. He felt

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xli

therefore that the time of Judah's chastisement was past, and
that of Sennacherib's downfall had arrived. All that remained
for him to do was to sustain the faith and courage of Hezekiah
with the assurance that Jehovah was with him in his refusal to
submit to the demands of Sennacherib. It is not necessary
here to follow the details of the narrative. What is most
remarkable in the oracles of this time is the sobriety of the
prediction on which Isaiah based his encouragement to resist
ance. He drops no hint of the frightful catastrophe which was
to break the power of Assyria in that region for a whole gene
ration. He simply announces that the Assyrian shall "hear
a rumour and return to his own land," there to perish by the
sword (xxxvii. 7), that "by the way that he came by the same he
shall return," without having so much as "shot an arrow" against
Jerusalem (vv. 29, 33, 34 f.). All this of course was strictly ful
filled, and would of itself form a complete vindication of Isaiah's
authority to speak in the name of his God. But the sudden
and terrible calamity which overwhelmed the army of Sennache
rib answered in some degree to the most dramatic of his earlier
prophecies (x. 33 f. ; xvii. 12 ff.; xviii. 3 ff. ; xxx. 27 ff.) and
proved that all through his career Isaiah had been inspired with
a true foreknowledge which no calculation of probabilities could
have attained.
The comparative moderation of Isaiah's last utterances must
not lead us to underestimate the heroism of faith which enabled
him to stand out at this juncture as the saviour of his country.
The political risks of the course he advocated were indeed
tremendous ; for a renewed declaration of war against Assyria
must have seemed to all human sagacity a perfectly desperate
policv. But far more momentous were the religious issues at
stake. If Jerusalem had then been surrendered or captured,
all that had been gained by the work of Isaiah and other
prophets would have been lost to Israel and to the world.
The spiritual religion which lay in germ in the teaching of
Isaiah was not as yet capable of existing apart from the nation
ality in which it had been born, and hence the preservation of
the Hebrew state was of paramount importance for the conser-

xiii GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
vation of the true knowledge of God. Yet with all this in view
Isaiah never wavered. While all around him were paralysed
with fear, his confidence remained unshaken, and in the supreme
hour of danger he boldly announced that the city would be
saved and the word of the Lord established. His success in
this last emergency, after so many defeats at the hands of an
unbelieving nation and its rulers, was an event which has had
"more influence on the life of subsequent generations than all
the conquests of Assyrian kings ; for it assured the permanent
vitality of that religion which was the cradle of Christianity1."
The remainder of Isaiah's life is wrapped in obscurity. How
long he survived the deliverance, how his last years were oc
cupied, in what spirit he faced the problems of a new century,
we cannot tell. It is an attractive conjecture of Duhm that his
most soaring pictures of the Messiah's kingdom (ii. I — 4; xi.
i; — 8; xxxii. 1 — 6) come from his latest years, when the aged
prophet, after a life spent in labour and conflict, turned with
rapture to that ideal future which in spite of all delays and
disappointments must surely be realised. It is an attractive
idea, but nothing more. A Jewish tradition current in the 2nd
century A.D. asserts that he outlived Hezekiah and perished
in the heathen reaction under Manasseh ; but this also, though
not inherently incredible, is destitute of historical value. This
is a case in which the silence of scripture is as instructive as its
speech. For it reminds us that Isaiah's life work really ended
with the events of 701. It was enough for one man to have
guided the policy of his country through its first eventful col
lision with the world power, which in its own ruthless fashion
was preparing the way for a new civilisation ; to have enunciated
the principles of the moral government of the universe that
made monotheism a practical power in history ; to have enriched
eschatology with the figure of the ideal King of God's king
dom ; to have formed within the Jewish state a prophetic party
in which the religion of the spirit eventually detached itself from
its national environment; and to have left behind him an
1 Robertson Smith, Prophets, p. 356.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xliii

illustrious example of that faith in the unseen and eternal with
out which humanity cannot reach the goal appointed for it in
the redemptive purpose of God.

CHAPTER III.
Isaiah's Prophetic Conceptions.
The ruling ideas of Isaiah's ministry are not materially dif
ferent from those of the other great prophets of the same period,
Amos, Hosea and Micah. All these writers are animated by
the same fundamental convictions with regard to the nature and
character of Jehovah the God of Israel, His controversy with
His people, the necessity of a national judgment to be inflicted
through the agency of Assyria, and the final establishment of
Jehovah's kingdom of righteousness and peace. But to this
common body of prophetic doctrine each prophet contributes
something that is distinctive, according as the bent of his genius
or his peculiar experience led rum to develop certain aspects of
truth specially revealed to him(^ In the case of Isaiah we shall
see that from the beginning his message contained some
elements not to be found in the writings of his contemporaries ;
while other distinctive conceptions emerge in the course of his
active ministry. Being preeminently a man of action and a
statesman, his firm grasp of political facts imparts a special
direction to his thoughts of the divine kingdom; and the
necessity of presenting a definite religious policy to the rulers
of the state gives a precision and fulness to his forecasts of the
future in which Ue_js hardly equalled by any other prophet.
At the same timesjhere is an organic unity in his teaching, all
his leading ideas being implicitly contained in a few simple but
comprehensive principles disclosed to him in his inaugural
vision. They may be arranged under three heads : first, those
more immediately connected with the prophet's conception of

xliv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
God; second, his view of Israel; and third, the Messianic hope
in its different aspects.
I. Jehovah and His Work.
Isaiah is a monotheist in the strictest sense of the terra,
There is no sentence in his writings which suggests that he
attributed any sort of real existence to the false gods of the
heathen ; and if he never reasons on the subject of the divine
unity, it is because the fact was too fundamental in his mind to
admit of demonstration. He frequently speaks of idols as " the
work of men's hands" (ii. 8, 20; xvii. 8; xxxi. 7); his favourite
designation for them is 'ellllm ("not-gods" or " nonentities ") a
word which he seems himself to have coined to express his sense
of their unreality. No language could be more opposed to the
spirit of idolatry than this ; for it expressly denies the belief which
is at the foundation ofthe worship of idols, namely, that the image
is the abode of a supernatural being able to protect and help
his votaries. Nor are the prophet's allusions to the primitive
nature-worship which survived in the land (i. 29, 30; xvii. 10, n)
less intolerant, or less decisive as to his attitude towards the
polytheistic tendencies of his countrymen. For him, in short,
there was but one divine Being ; and all his conceptions of God
head are summed up in the revelation which made him a
prophet, the vision of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel (ch. vi.).
It has been already remarked (p. xxiv) that the aspect of the
divine nature chiefly expressed by this vision is that of over
whelming and awe-inspiring majesty. The effect produced on
the mind by Isaiah's magnificent description is far more im
pressive and convincing on this point than any analysis of the
contents of the vision can be. But if we must analyse, we
cannot fail to observe how every touch in the picture emphasises
the general conception of Jehovah as a transcendently glorious
Being, in whose awful presence no unconsecrated mortal can
stand. The throne " high and lofty " on which He sits indicates
that He is a King, and not the King of Israel alone, but the ab
solute, universal Sovereign, {addn) whose glory is the fulness of

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xlv
the whole earth. The fiery creatures, the Seraphs, who are the
ministers of His court, and who reflect something of His ineffable
glory, nevertheless veil themselves before Him in the conscious
ness of their imperfection, while the hymn of praise that con
tinually ascends from their lips expresses their sense of His
adorable and incomparable majesty. Further, the fear of death
which overtakes the prophet as he gazes unbidden on this
solemn mystery, as well as the symbol of his expiation, which is
by contact with the fire in which Jehovah dwells, and also the
sternness of the divine message to Israel, all contribute to the
impression which this scene conveys of Jehovah's unapproach
able majesty.
The chant of the seraphs contains two words which may be
said to sum up the import of the vision in so far as it is a
revelation of God. Of these the first is the word holy, expressing^
what Jehovah is in Himself; while the second — glory — appears
TxTdenote an aspect of His Godhead~wEich is reflected^ in the
works of nature.
In order to understand the significance of the term "holiness"
(godesh) in Isaiah's conception of God, we have to start from a
much lower level of religious thinking than that which is repre
sented by his teaching. The word is not confined to the religion
of Israel, but was used throughout Semitic antiquity as the most
comprehensive predicate of deity, although the idea primarily
expressed by it is somewhat uncertain. If, as many writers
believe, it comes from a root signifying " separation " or " dis
tance " it would embody the notion of the contrast between the
" divine and the human which was perhaps characteristic of the
conception of God common to the Semitic peoples. It is certain
at all events that "holiness" does not express any special attribute
of the divine nature but ratherthe^eneraljiotion ofgodhead, as
distinguishejiirjJm^v-ej^QtJ^erfprm of existence. Such a phrase,
for example, as " the holy gods," which occurs in the inscription
of Eshmunazar king of Sidon, as well as in Dan. iv. 8, 9, 18,
v. 1 1, is a mere redundancy of speech, gratifying the reverential
feeling of the speakers, but conveying no information as to the
character of the gods. Least of all did the term connote ethical

xlvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

purity ; for the deities to whom it was applied by the heathen-
Semites were not only immoral from our point of view, but
were not even regarded as moral beings by- their own wor
shippers1. Now the writings of the Hebrew prophets, and of Isaiah in
particular, mark an important stage in the development of this
notion of holiness. At first sight it might seem inexplicable that
a purely formal idea, expressing no positive conception beyond
that of awe-inspiring power and majesty, should become a
central doctrine of the prophetic theology. But in truth it is the
very vagueness and comprehensiveness of the term which ex
plains the profound significance attaching to it in the mind of
Isaiah. By taking this word, which by universal consent embraced
I all that was distinctive of deity, and restricting it to fehovak,
he expressed the fundamental truth that in the God of Israel
and in Hi™ alone are concentrated all the attributes of true
divinity2. Holiness thus ceases to be an abstract quality shared
by a number of divine beings ; it_eojne5_tOjden.QLei the fulness of
what Jehovah is as He is known from His reve.latignjrf Himself
•RTThe consciousness of the prophet. It signalises the most
notable fact in the religious history of Israel, the formation of
an idea of God which at once placed an impassable gulf between
Jehfivah_and_all-othetJieiiigs-who claimed Jhe_titie_pf_diyine ;
and it is this positive idea of God, expressed in the doctrine of
Jehovah's unique_Jipiiness, that, is the mainstay of Isaiah's
ministry. From this point of view it is immaterial to determine how
much or how little of permanent religious truth may have been
contained in the primitive notion of holiness, which prevailed in
1 With the secondary applications of the word to places, persons and
things we are not here concerned ; but the fact that the Hierodouloi, or
sacred prostitutes, of the Canaanite religion were known as "holy
women " furnishes decisive evidence of the complete divorce in ancient
times of the two ideas of holiness and morality.
2 No attempt is here made to discriminate between what is peculiar
to Isaiah and what is common to him and other prophets. It is not
implied that he was the only, or the first, writer who made this appli
cation of the word " holy."

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xlvii

the Semitic world. It is probable that the word universally
conveyed impressions of the awful might of the Godhead such
as are reflected in Isaiah's vision, just as the prophet's presenti
ment of death may be akin to the popular belief that the direct
sight of God bodes destruction to mortals (Jud. xiii. 22, &c).
This at any rate is an element in Isaiah's idea of God and is
therefore included under the word " holiness." But a term
which embraces every distinctive attribute of deity must neces
sarily expand and deepen with every advance in the true
knowledge of God. Hence we might expect that under the
influence of Revelation the idea would be filled with ethical
contents, and would denote the moral perfectness which belongs
to the character of Jehovah. That this is included in Isaiah's
use of the word appears clearly from the sense of sin which the
vision of God awakened within him. " Woe is me ! for I am
undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips." This conscious
ness of moral defect cleaving to him answers to the conception
of Jehovah as a Being of spotless purity, separated not only
from nature, but from all that is imperfect and sinful — One who
is "of too pure eyes to behold evil" (Hab. i. 13). Thus in
Isaiah's hands the word "holy" becomes a complete expression
for the doctrine of God which is maintained by the prophets. It
denotes first, the natural attributes of power and majesty which
are inseparable from the thought of Deity ; second, the ethical
character and perfection of the God of Revelation ; while finally
by being restricted in its application to Jehovah it asserts His
exclusive right to the adoration and homage not merely of His
own people but of all His rational creatures.
The second word, "glory" (Jtabdd) is used in the Old
Testament in a variety of senses. It is certainly less com
prehensive than "holy," and is perhaps hardly to be con
sidered a strictly theological term. Nevertheless its use in
the Trisagion suggests a striking aspect of Isaiah's con
ception of the relation of God to the universe. In nearly all
cases "glory" means the external manifestation of power or
greatness, whether of a king (Isa. viii. 7; Ps. xxiv. 7 ff.) or a
nation (Isa. xvii. 3, 4; Mic. i. 15) or an individual (Gen. xxxi. 1 ;

xlviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
Job xxix. 20), or humanity as such (Ps. viii. 5)1. The glory of
God is spoken of chiefly in two senses ; first, of the honour and
praise due to Him from men (or angels) (Mai. i. 6) ; and second,
of the dazzling brightness in which he arrays Himself when He
supernaturally manifests His presence on earth (Ez. iii. 23, &c. ;
Ex. xvi. 10, &c). Neither of these meanings, however, quite
suits the use of the term in the second line of the Seraphs'
hymn, which literally translated reads " the filling of the whole
earth is His glory." Obviously "glory" is here something
objective, as distinct from the glory ascribed to God in the
praises of His creatures ; while it is at the same time something
" far more deeply interfused " with nature than the supernatural
phenomena of the cloud of fire and light. The general idea
must be that all which the world contains, all that is sublime
and powerful in nature, is the outward expression and symbol of
the majesty which belongs to Him as the God of all the earth.
This leads us to consider an important development of the
doctrine of Jehovah's universal sovereignty which is conspicuous
in the writings of Isaiah; namely, the idea of a "work" or
" plan " which is the revelation of Jehovah in history. In the
vision the Great King is represented as deliberating with Him
self on the interests of His Kingdom, and calling for a messenger
to represent Him on earth. Isaiah's mind was thus directly led
to the thought of a divine purpose which is being progressively
realised in the providential government of the world. The
thought was evidently one that laid a deep hold upon him (see
ch. v. 12; x. 12, 23; xiv. 24, 26 f. ; [xxii. 11] xxviii. 21 f.).
By the "work" of Jehovah he means chiefly, indeed, (though,
as we shall see, not exclusively), the great consummation of
history towards which events were rapidly hastening. It is a
/ " final and decisive work " which Jehovah is about to execute
(x. 23 ; xxviii. 22). Its goal is the manifestation of His own God
head, and the establishment of His Kingdom of righteousness
on the earth. This is effected in the "day" of Jehovah, which
appears to be conceived from the first as a day of universal
1 Etymologically, the word comes from a root signifying "heaviness "j
hence that which is impressive as a display of power or dignity.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xlix
judgment, in which all human pride will be humbled, and men
will fling their idols to the moles and the bats and hide them
selves from "the glory of His majesty when He arises to terrify
the earth" (ii. 17, 19 ff.). Later on, the idea assumes a more
definite shape in the announcement of a contest between Je
hovah and the power of this world as concentrated in the
Assyrian empire. Jehovah quietly looks on in His dwelling-place
(xviii. 4) until the moment for action has arrived, and then
suddenly His anger explodes against His enemies and consumes
them. But this is not all that Isaiah means by the " work " of
God. Not only_in the supreme j;risi^_of_history_buJ:_Jri_the
stirring political changes, of his time the prophet discerns Jhe
operation nf Jehovah'-? h,3"^- Not to perceive this divine
working is one of the great faults with which he charges the
irreligious leaders of his people (v. 12 ; xxii. 11). Just as Jehovah's
glory fills the whole earth, though the eyes of men are blind to
it, so^His activity pervades^ all human history, although from the
lips of unbelievers the prophet hears the shallow scoff : " let Him
hasten His work that we may see it, and let the counsel of the
Holy One of Israel draw nigh that we may know it" (v. 19).
It is this conception of a continuous work of Jehovah in His
Providence that enables Isaiah to bring the idea of God into
such close contact with the events of his time, and makes the
doctrine of the universal divine Sovereignty so living and prac
tical a principle of his ministry. History is to him a drama
rapidly approaching its denouement, and in the great convulsions
which were shaking the foundations of the political world he
hears the footsteps of the Almighty marching onwards to a day
of crisis and final hope for humanity. And thus Jehovah "reigns
supreme alike in the realm of nature, and the sphere of human
history; and the crash of kingdoms, the total dissolution of the
old order of the Hebrew world, which accompanied the advance
of Assyria, is to the prophet nothing else than the crowning
proof of Jehovah's absolute dominion, asserting itself in the
abasement of all that disputes His supremacy1."
1 Robertson Smith, Prophets, p. 226.

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Such appear to be the leading elements in Isaiah's conception
of God. Special applications of them will meet us when we
come to consider the relations between Jehovah and Israel.
Other attributes than those mentioned are of course frequently
referred to, for example, wisdom (xxviii. 29 ; xxxi. 2), jealousy or
zeal (ix. 7), anger and the like. Judicial righteousness is directly
connected with the idea of holiness in the remarkable sentence:
"the holy God shall sanctify Himself (i.e. shew Himself holy) in
righteousness" (v. 16). But all such attributes are included in the
personal, anthropomorphic idea of God which Isaiah shares
with all the Old Testament writers. In spite of the infinite
distance between God and man, expressed by the term holi
ness, it still remains true that the divine image in man is the
basis of all religious relations between God and man, and that .
Jehovah cannot be rightly conceived, except as endowed with
the attributes and even the emotions of moral personality. It is
to be remarked, however, as characteristic of Isaiah that the
sterner aspects of the divine character are those almost exclu
sively insisted upon. He never speaks of " love " or " kindness"
as attributes of Jehovah. There is indeed a purpose of grace
underlying all His dealings with men, and the thought is ex
pressed that the Lord " waits " till He can have compassion on
the people (xxx. 18). But Jehovah's message through Isaiah
contains no note of yearning affection like that which melted
the tender heart of Hosea. We search his writings in vain for
such pathetic images as the husband seeking with pure and
unselfish love to reclaim the unfaithful wife from a life of shame
and misery, or the father teaching his child to walk, holding it by
its arms. To the strong nature of Isaiah, God reveals Himself
as the absolute Sovereign, of an infinite majesty ; and when He
speaks through him to men it is always in accents of regal
authority.
II. Jehovah and Israel.
Like all the prophets, Isaiah bases his message to his country
men on the conception of a unique relation between Jehovah
and the nation of Israel. In virtue of this relation Jehovah is

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. li
Israel's God, and Israelis Jehovah's people. These propositions
express the two sides of what may be called the religious con
sciousness of the nation ; and the prophets, although they may
have given them an interpretation not understood by the bulk
of their contemporaries, nevertheless assert the principle that
Israel stands in a peculiar relation to Jehovah, and that in a
special sense Jehovah is the God of Israel. And here we come
upon a fact of primary importance in the prophetic view of
religion, although it is one which it is difficult to state briefly in
its full significance without one-sided exaggeration. Religion,
as taught by the prophets, is hot a matter between God and the
individual soul, but between God and the nation. Israel is
invariably conceived by them as a national unity, and frequently
figured as a moral person, and it is this unity, embodied in the
organisation of the state, which is the religious subject. Indi
vidual Israelites are, as a matter of course, bound to acknowledge
and honour Jehovah in their conduct ; but in all directly religious
acts they appear as members of the nation ; and all their rela
tionships to God are determined by the fact that in their several
spheres of life they belong to the community which is the imme
diate object of Jehovah's regard. This is a truth which has to
be constantly borne in mind in reading the prophets ; the love
or faith or obedience they require are faith and love and obedi
ence on the part of the whole people in its corporate capacity,
and the sins they denounce, though committed by individuals,
are sins in which, in virtue of the principle of solidarity, the
whole nation is implicated.
Isaiah's sense of this peculiar relation of Jehovah to Israel is
inseparably bound up with his general conceptions of the divine
nature. The thought of God as the universal Sovereign is spe
cialised in the idea of His kingship over Israel, an idea whose
influence makes itself felt in the whole of the prophet's activity.
Israel is the immediate sphere of Jehovah's royal functions, and
it is in His name that Isaiah claims an authoritative voice in
the direction of the affairs of the state. He speaks to his
countrymen as one who has " seen the King" and has been com
missioned to declare His will as the supreme law ofthe nation.
d2

lii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Thus through the medium of the prophetic word the abstract
doctrine of the divine sovereignty is translated into living and
personal relations between Jehovah the King and Israel His
kingdom. Similarly the supreme quality of holiness, or essen
tial divinity, becomes a practical factor in religion through being
brought to bear on Jehovah's relation to His people. He is, to
use a favourite title of Isaiah's, " the Holy One of Israel1," i.e.
the Holy Being who is the God of Israel. Here again Israel is
conceived as the community within which Jehovah reveals
Himself as He truly is, and by which His character as the Holy
One is to be recognised, and exhibited to the world. The whole
of Isaiah's conception of national religion is summed up in the
phrase to "sanctify the Lord of Hosts" (viii. 13, xxix. 23); that is, to
acknowledge and worship His Godhead, and to cherish towards
Him the sentiment of fear and reverence which was impressed
on the prophet's own mind by the revelation of His holiness.
The prophet's judgment on the actual state of the nation is
but the application of these principles to the religious and social
problems of his time. The. conviction of an irreconcilable breach
between Jehovah and His people, which he shares with all the
great pre-Exilic prophets, springs from his first personal contact
with the awful holiness of Israel's God. The immediate effect
of the vision was to produce- a sense, not merely of his own un
cleanness, but of the uncleanness of the whole actual life of the
nation. He then realised what it was to "dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips" (vi. 5) ; and when he returned to his
place among men, with a conscience purified and quickened
by what he had experienced, he had to bear witness of his fellow-
countrymen that "their tongue and their doings were against
Jehovah to provoke the eyes of His glory" (iii. 8). His own
lips had been purged by contact with the fire which is the
emblem of the divine holiness ; but at the same time he learned
1 The phrase is almost limited to the book of Isaiah, forming one of
the linguistic links between the two great divisions of the book. Else
where it occurs only in Ps. lxxi. 22, lxxviii. 41, lxxxix. 18; Jer. 1. 29,
li. 5; and, in a somewhat different form, in Ezek. xxxix. 7. There is
little doubt, therefore, that it was first introduced by Isaiah.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

that the only fire which could cleanse the unholy nation was the
fire of judgment, which was to consume the base and worthless
elements of the state till only the indestructible remnant, the
holy seed, remained (vi. 13; cf. iv. 4f.).
Thus the sense of Jehovah's holiness has its counterpart
in the conviction of Israel's actual uncleanness, and it is im
portant to observe how every article in Isaiah's indictment of
the nation runs back to this fundamental antithesis. The preva
lent idolatry was a direct and open denial of His Godhead,
a degrading of Him to the level of the "nonentities" of the
heathen Pantheon. Religion, as conceived and practised by the
people, was not the heart-felt recognition of His holy character ;
the homage rendered to Him was purely formal, a "human
tradition learned by rote" (xxix. 13), a profuse and elaborate
sacrificial ritual (i. 10—17). The grinding tyranny of the
upper classes, joined as it was with corrupt administration
of justice, was an abuse of the sacred trust delegated by
the Holy King to the "elders and princes of His people"
(iii. 13 — 15). Israel, the vineyard of Jehovah, is ravaged by
those whom He had appointed to be its keepers, and when
He "looked for judgment, behold bloodshed; and for right
eousness, behold a cry" (v. 7). The religious indifference, the
scepticism, the luxury, the dissipation, of the statesmen and
nobles, all proceed from the same root of insensibility to the
claims of Jehovah's holiness, or the reality of His divinity; and /
their pride in horses and chariots, in fortifications and armies, [
in skilled diplomacy and strong coalitions reTCah3_the.irjitlex.un- *
belief_jn_th^spiritual Power jyhich. rules-the universe. In all
these features of society the prophet reads the symptoms of a
deep-seated national ungodliness and apostasy, of a people in
veiled rebellion against its true Sovereign. "They have forsaken
Jehovah, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger;
they have apostatised and gone backward" (i. 4). They are
children in ungrateful and unnatural revolt against their Father
(i. 2, xxx. 9). The alienation between Israel and its God is
complete ; Israel has forsaken Jehovah, and Jehovah has rejected
His people (ii. 6).

liv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
There is one remarkable fact in Isaiah's ministry that reveals
a darker view of Israel's spiritual condition than was expressed
by any of his predecessors. He entered on his work in the
full consciousness that the effect of his mission would be to
seal the doom of his people (vi. 9 ff.). To many modern writers
such a perception has seemed inconceivable in the case of a
youthful prophet on the threshold of his public career ; and it
has been very generally held that this part of the vision is pro
jected into the past from the disappointing experience of failure
which came to the prophet some years later. But there is no
justification for thus impugning the veracity of Isaiah's narrative.
There is nothing incredible in the thought that in that supreme
moment of inspiration the conviction was flashed into his mind
that a revelation of Jehovah's holiness would be intolerable
to the age in which he lived, so that the men he knew would be
repelled and driven into deeper guilt and sin by every fresh
disclosure of the mind and will of God. He saw, what perhaps
no earlier teacher of Israel had "seen, that the very clearness
and fulness of the knowledge of God becomes a means of
condemnation to men who have sunk so far that they love the
darkness rather than the light. Thus while Amos speaks of
a "fa'mine of the word of the Lord" as the greatest calamity
that could befal Israel, Isaiah grasps the deeper, though seem
ingly paradoxical truth, that a far more dangerous and testing
experience lies in the exceeding abundance of the word of
Jehovah, which is about to be vouchsafed to Israel1.
The profound truth of this intuition was repeatedly verified in
Isaiah's prophetic experience, and more than once he falls back
on it, tracing the impenetrable hardness of the people to a
judicial visitation of Jehovah. He did so when he retired
defeated from his contest with Ahaz and the nation in the time
of the Syro-Ephraimitic war, which was probably the occasion
ofthe first publication of the vision. In still stronger language
he characterises the storm of opposition which was roused against
him by his denunciation of the Egyptian alliance in the reign of
Sennacherib. " They say to the prophets... get you out ofthe way,
1 Duhm.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lv

turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease
from before us" (xxx. u); and Isaiah ascribes their infatuation
to the fact that "Jehovah has poured out on them a spirit of
deep sleep, and closed their eyes and muffled their heads"
(xxix. io).
Isaiah has been called the "prophet of Faith"; and the
designation would be accurate if he were not the prophet of so
many great thoughts besides. The idea that faith must be the
ruling principle of political action for Israel, and is the indis
pensable condition of national salvation, is one to which he
always attached supreme importance. There are three memor
able sayings of his in which this truth is embodied, and which
enable us to understand in what sense he used that great
word of religion. These are : "if ye will not believe, ye shall
not be established" (vii. 9) ; "he that believeth shall not make
haste" (xxviii. 16, — see note on the verse) ; "in returning and
rest shall ye be saved ; in quietness and confidence shall be your
strength" (xxx. 15). These utterances seem to carry us into
the very heart of Isaiah's teaching, for they express that which
was deepest in his own spiritual life. To him revelation was an
articulate personal word from the living God, the Holy One
whom he had seen in vision; and he received it with the un
hesitating confidence due to a Being of infinite wisdom and
power, declaring His purpose in absolute faithfulness and truth.
Isaiah believed and therefore he spoke. And knowing thus by
experience what it was to live by faith, he dared to ask of
statesmen groping their way blindly in a difficult and intricate
situation, not seeing for themselves the work of Jehovah nor the
operation of His hands, that they too should exercise the same
virtue of implicit trust in the God whose sovereign will was made
known to them in the prophetic word. There is no manifesta
tion of loyalty to the Divine King on which the prophet lays
greater stress than this. The capacity for faith in this sense
becomes the measure and test of the nation's religious state;
its refusal to believe is the final evidence that it is beyond the
possibility of political salvation. Even when the fate of the
people as a whole is sealed by the unbelief of its rulers, faith

lvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
remains as the principle of individual religion for those who
separate themselves from the sin of their generation. The
spiritual community which Isaiah saw forming itself within the
physical Israel was constituted by faith in his prophetic message,
and when he says of himself that he will "wait for Jehovah"
(viii. 17), he expresses at the same time the attitude of those
who were his disciples. When in a later prophecy (xxviii. 16)
he speaks of the foundation of God's kingdom as already laid
in Zion and promises safety to "him that believeth," he clearly
means that the impending judgment has no terrors for him
who takes his stand on the sure word of Revelation.

III. Messianic Ideals.
For the germ of Isaiah's eschatology we must go back once
more to his inaugural vision, and the idea of the "remnant,"
which led to so many fruitful developments in the course of his
ministry. The knowledge that a spiritual kernel of the nation
would survive the successive waves of judgment was constantly
present to the prophet's mind, and led his thoughts forward to
an ideal age in which that remnant should blossom out into the
perfect kingdom of the Lord. His writings abound in glowing
pictures of the glorious day towards which events are ripening.
The general conception is that of a new and final order of
things, in which Zion, as the seat of God's kingdom of right
eousness and peace, is the centre of light and blessing for the
nations, and all nature becomes subservient to the needs of
humanity. The representation includes features which are to
our minds supernatural, although on the whole it may be said
that (except in iv. 2—6) nature is merely idealised, through its
evils being eliminated and its beneficent powers indefinitely
enhanced. The later pictures especially (xxix. ff.) are bathed in
an atmosphere of idyllic peace and happiness, the simple joys of
rural life affording apparently to the aged prophet the best
emblem of the perfect felicity reserved for the true people of
Jehovah. For along with this line of thought there always goes
the prophecy of a transformation of the national character. The

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lvii
evil-doer is rooted out of the community, the poor and afflicted
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, the spiritual blindness which
was characteristic of the people is taken away; and the true
knowledge of God is diffused through all ranks and classes of
society (xxix. 18 ff., xxx. 19 ff.). The blessings of Jehovah's
government radiate from Israel to all the nations of the earth ;
" from Zion goes forth revelation and the word of Jehovah from
Jerusalem" (ii. 2 — 4). It is noteworthy that here and else
where (xviii. 7, xix. 24 f.1) the nations are represented as retaining
their political independence, and voluntarily submitting to the rule
of Jehovah, whose just arbitrament supersedes war and brings
in an era of universal peace. Finally it is to be remarked thaf
this golden age is not conceived as a remote goal of history or
the result of a long development, but as the immediate sequel of
the prophet's own age, following closely on the desolation caused
by the Assyrian conquest. In the most brilliant of his Messianic
visions Isaiah compares it to a great light breaking on the land,
dissipating the darkness of the invasion, bringing victory and
rejoicing and prosperity in its train (ix. 1 ff.).
There is just one respect in which Isaiah's doctrine of the
Remnant may be supposed to have given a peculiar direction to
his anticipation of the future as compared with that of other
prophets. The salvation of the remnant is to be effected on the
soil of Judah. Hence the idea of a captivity, though not alto
gether foreign to his thinking (see v. 13), has not the religious
significance which attaches to it in the prophecy of Hosea, or
Jeremiah or Ezekiel. These prophets all appear to have regarded
the Exile as the essential part of the discipline by which the
conversion of Israel was to be effected, and they contemplated
a captivity either of the entire nation or at least of that part of
it with which the hope ofthe future lay. To Isaiah on the other
hand captivity is a mere detail. The great redemption is to be
wrought out within the land of Judah, and (in the later pro
phecies at least) by a deliverance of the capital from the power
ofthe Assyrians. The "holy seed," the nucleus of the new
1 Possibly not Isaiah's.

lviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
kingdom of God, remains in the land ; and the continuity of the
national history is never absolutely broken1.
The development of Isaiah's conceptions of the future, so far
as it can be traced, turns on two great central ideas round which
all the elements of his Messianic predictions group themselves.
One is the idea of the personal Messiah, and the other the doc
trine of the inviolability of Zion.
i. The word " Messiah" (anointed one) is never used in the
Old Testament in the special sense to which it has been con
secrated by Jewish and Christian usage. But it is the most
appropriate term for that conception of an ideal King of the
house of David, which so far as appears originated with Isaiah,
and which proved to be the most perfect of all types of the
Kingdom of God to be found in prophecy. The prophecies of
Isaiah where the figure of this ideal King appears are ch. ix. I—
7, xi. i — 9 and xxxii. i ff. (cf. also xxxiii. 17). It is unfortunate
that the dates of these passages cannot be determined with any
degree of certainty. The prevalent view has been that they
stand in chronological order, the first belonging to the reign of ¦
Ahaz, the second to an early period of Hezekiah's reign, and
the last to the time of Sennacherib's invasion. But this view rests
mainly on the assumption that they belong historically to the
groups of discourses in which they occur, an assumption which
is insufficiently supported by internal indications and hardly
justified by a literary analysis of the book. Hence it is impos
sible to trace with confidence the history ofthe idea in Isaiah's
mind or to fix the time when it was first disclosed to him.
Another difficulty arises in connexion with the Immanuel pro
phecy of ch. vii. 14 — 16. If it could be assumed that in the
mind of Isaiah the child Immanuel was identified with the child
of ix. 6 f., and was therefore the destined sovereign of his people,
it would go far to explain the genesis of the conception of the
ideal representative of the Davidic dynasty. At that moment
Ahaz must have appeared to the prophet an incarnation of all
1 The passage xi. 10 ff., which speaks of a return of exiles, is of
doubtful genuineness ; and one of the arguments against it is just the
use of the word " remnant " for those who have gone into captivity.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lix
that the King of Israel should not be, and although the child
Immanuel is not expressly connected with the house of David,
the idea that he was to take the place of the worthless and
incompetent monarch to whom the sign was given is never
theless suggested by the circumstances of the prophecy (see
note on vii. 14 — 16). It is at least a remarkable coincidence
that both here and in ix. 6 the destiny of the nation is made to
turn on the birth of a child, and even if with most recent autho
rities we reject the Messianic interpretation of vii. 14, there will
still remain a presumption that the two passages stand near to
each other in time. If this conclusion be correct it follows that
the image of the ideal Ruler first dawned on Isaiah's mind in
the dark days when he saw the ruin of his country accelerated
by the weakness and unbelief of the reigning king.
It has been remarked that the three great portraits of the
Messiah, taken in the order in which they stand, exhibit a pro
gressive waning of the mysterious aspects of His character,
until at last the ideal seems to fade into the light of common
day. It is undoubtedly the fact that the attributes and pre
rogatives of the King come to be presented in more sober and
subdued colours and in less exalted language. In ix. 6, he is
endowed with attributes bordering on the divine ; his fourfold
name expressing some extraordinary and mysterious relation to
Jehovah. He is called " Wonderful Counsellor, Hero-God, Father
of Eternity, Prince of Peace." In xi. 1 ff., he is described as
the shoot from the stock of Jesse, and as one uniquely endowed
with the spirit of Jehovah for the perfect discharge of his kingly
functions. And in xxxii. 1 he appears simply as an ordinary good
king, reigning in righteousness and associated with princes of a
like spirit ruling in judgment.
These facts no doubt suggest questions of some interest and
difficulty. But the sense of disparity between the different
representations is relieved by two considerations which have to
be borne in mind in dealing with Isaiah's conception of the
Messiah. In the first place, the thought of the Messianic King
never replaces or overshadows in Isaiah's mind the primary
truth of Jehovah's Idngship over Israel. The earthly king is the

Ix GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
representative of Jehovah and rules in His name, but he is not
himself conceived as a superhuman person, or as sharing the
divine nature in a transcendental sense. This is clear as regards
the second of the three passages (xi. I ff.) where the ideal per
fection of the Messiah's government is ascribed simply to his
possession ofthe fulness ofthe spirit of Jehovah which imparts
to him the insight, the energy, and the piety necessary for his high
office. And this is in accordance with the common teaching of
the Old Testament that the source of all kingly virtues, as
indeed of all capacity for noble and heroic action, is the spirit
of the Lord, resting on men chosen by God for great achieve
ments in His kingdom. Nor does the language of ix. 6 f. when
fairly interpreted imply that the new king is more than human.
What is there described is neither the person of the Messiah nor
his character, but the divine powers that come to light in his
government. There is no reason to think that even the great
titles there bestowed on him, marvellously as they foreshadow the
Christian doctrine of the Person of Christ, expressed to Isaiah's
age anything more than this. When we read that his name shall
be called " Hero-God," or " Everlasting Father," we are not to
understand these terms as conveying the idea that he is a God-
man, or possesses the metaphysical attributes of omnipotence
and eternity. All the four names denote aspects of the Messiah's
rule, which is itself, in virtue of his unique relation to God, the
perfect embodiment and reflection of Jehovah's kingship over
Israel and the world. His relation to Jehovah is, in short,
simply the ideal relation of a king of Israel to Jehovah, and
the only new thing is the completeness with which that ideal is
to be realised through his endowment with the spirit of God.
Now it is possible that Isaiah may have had a deeper sense at
one time than at others of the exceptional qualities required for
the exercise of the functions of kingship, and this may account
for the difference of tone which characterises his utterances at
different periods. But a radical change of view does not appear
to exist, when we remember that from first to last his outlook'
was towards one who should fully realise the divine ends for
which the monarchy existed in Israel.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxi
The second thing to be observed is that in Isaiah's vision of
the future the monarchy itself is but one institution among many,
and presupposes a political organisation after the fashion of the
existing Hebrew commonwealth. Hence there could be no
incongruity, from the prophet's point of view, in thinking of
the Messianic king as surrounded by an aristocracy, who
cooperate with him in securing a just administration of the
reconstructed state (xxxii. i). A reform of the upper classes
was an issue of the judgment on which Isaiah laid great stress
from an early period of his work (i. 26) ; and there is nothing
to suggest that he ever lost sight of this, although he afterwards
attached greater importance to the person of the king. It is
true that in xxxii. 1 the person of the king is not invested with
the halo of divine attributes spoken of in ch. ix. and xi. ; and
this might seem to shew that the passage ought not to be
classed amongst the prophecies of a personal Messiah. But
that is a view which cannot be held, unless we go further
and say that Isaiah had definitely abandoned the idea of the
Messiah when he wrote ch. xxxii. The picture is in any case
a picture of the Messianic age, and the king in the Messianic
age is the Messiah, if the prophet retained his faith in a
Messiah at all, which there is no sufficient reason to doubt.
And in fact when he speaks of a king reigning in righteousness,
he includes what is essential in his conception of the ideal
King ; for it is just the perfect discharge of the recognised
duties of kingship which Isaiah regards as a task of such
transcendent importance as to require the unique endowment
of divine energies and virtues which is the distinctive element
in his more ideal delineations of the Messiah.
2. The two ideas that Zion is the present seat of Jehovah's
sovereignty and that it is to be the centre of the future kingdom
of God appear in a large number of prophecies of Isaiah (i. 26 f.,
ii. 2 — 4, iv. 2 — 6, viii. 18, x. 32 f., xiv. 32, xviii. 7, xxviii. 16,
xxix. I, xxx. 19, 29, [xxxiii. 5, 14, 20 f.,] xxxvii. 32). In these
there is nothing that is peculiar to Isaiah and little that requires
explanation. It was in the Temple that he first saw the glory
of Jehovah, and the thought that He dwelt there seems to have

lxii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
been always present to his mind. And the further thought that
Zion would occupy the same central position in the ideal age
as in the present is a natural and inevitable consequence of the
general principle that the future dispensation is always repre
sented under forms derived from the present.
But there is a particular application of these truths which is
not only distinctive of Isaiah, but apparently limited to a certain
period of his ministry. It is that Zion as Jehovah's sanctuary
is inviolable, that it shall be spared in the impending crisis of
judgment, and form the refuge for those who are saved from the
wreck of the nation, so that its sanctity becomes, along with
the permanence of the Davidic kingdom, a pledge of the
indestructibility of the Jewish state. This concrete form of
the principle does not appear to have been held by the
prophet at the outset of his public life, for in ch. v. 14, 17 the
destruction of Jerusalem seems to be distinctly contemplated.
Nor is it clear that it was enunciated even in the crisis ofthe
Syro-Ephraimitish war, although the allusion to the waters of
Shiloah as an emblem of Jehovah's invisible sovereignty and
the emphasis laid on Jehovah's dwelling in Zion (viii. 6, 18)
may perhaps point in this direction. The first unambiguous
expression of it is probably to be found in xiv. 32, where we
read that "Jehovah hath founded Zion and there the poor of
His people find refuge." From this time onwards Isaiah seems
to have held to the truth as the sheet anchor of his prophecy.
We have seen already how largely it determined his attitude
in the Assyrian invasion, and how signally his confidence was
justified by the event. The assault on the sanctuary of Zion
is the crowning insult of the Assyrian to the majesty of Jehovah,
and by His protection of Jerusalem Jehovah gives to the world
the demonstration of His divinity which as Isaiah anticipated
would be speedily followed by the establishment of His ever
lasting kingdom. It must be admitted, however, that there is
considerable uncertainty as to the precise sense in which Isaiah
maintained this doctrine, and the range which he allowed
to it, even in this last stage of his work. There is one oracle,
usually assigned to this period (xxxii. 9 ff.), which seems to

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxiii
amount to a prediction of the total overthrow of Jerusalem,
and for this reason is pronounced spurious by many critics,
and by one at least is assigned to the opening of his career.
And in other passages threats are uttered (esp. xxii. I ff.,
xxix. i ff.) which appear to contemplate an equally sweeping
catastrophe. The difficulty is to know how much is implied
in the idea of the sanctity of Zion j how far it is equivalent
to the actual preservation ofthe fortress of Jerusalem, and how
far it is a spiritual fact symbolising the safety of those who
in that hour of trial placed their faith in Jehovah's invisible
power. The prophet may not have held an unvarying view on
this point, and it is possible that the doctrine of the inviolability
of Jerusalem was not to his mind the hard and fast dogma
which it has become in the hands of his commentators.

CHAPTER IV.
The Character and Genius of Isaiah.
The possibilities of the prophetic office are nowhere more
splendidly illustrated than in the career of Isaiah. Called in
early manhood to the service of Jehovah, he gave himself to his
mission with a whole-hearted devotion and singleness of aim
which suffered no abatement in the course of a long and
strenuous life. The work of a prophet was the vocation of his
life, and every faculty of his being, every source of influence
open to him, his social position and even the incidents of his
private history, were all made subservient to the one end of
impressing the mind of God on his generation. And to this
task he brought a nature richly endowed with gifts belonging
to the highest order of genius. He is great alike in thought
and action, and unites the profoundest religious insight with a
wide knowledge of men and affairs. If any single quality can
be selected as specially prominent in Isaiah it is an imperious
and masterful decision of character which makes him perfectly
unhesitating in his judgments and inexorable in his demands.
But more remarkable than any one feature is the balance and

lxiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

harmonious working of powers rarely combined in a single
individual. In the union of statesmanlike sagacity with im
passioned and dignified oratory he may be compared with some
of the greatest names in the history of republican Rome ; but
Isaiah had, besides, the rapt vision of the seer and the fervour
of religious enthusiasm. We must not be afraid to think of
him as a 'visionary.' His perceptions of spiritual truth were
such as we call intuitive and were frequently accompanied by
experiences of an ecstatic kind. Although but one vision is
recorded (ch. vi.) he uses several expressions which point to
extraordinary mental processes as the form in which the will
of Jehovah was communicated to him. He speaks of himself
as being in the "grasp of the (divine) hand" (viii. n) ; and of
Jehovah of Hosts as revealed "in his ears" (v. 9, xxii. 14):
phrases which probably indicate that throughout life Isaiah was
guided by that mysterious operation of the divine Spirit which
appears to have been common to all the prophets. But whilst
himself overmastered by the convictions that were thus con
veyed to him, he manifests the most complete self-possession in
the application of these truths to the circumstances of his time.
2n action as in speech he ever proves himself the sanest of
men. His political vision is clear and untroubled, his judgment
unerring, his maxims invariably reasonable and wise/ " Never
perhaps has there been another prophet like Isaiah, who stood
with his head in the clouds and his feet on the solid earth, with
his heart in the things of eternity and with mouth and hand in
the things of time, with his spirit in the eternal counsel of God
and his body in a very definite moment of history1."
.The literary quality most conspicuous in the writings of Isaiah
is the wealth and brilliancy of his imagination. His thought
constantly and spontaneously blossoms into imagery, and the
images are no mere rhetorical embellishments but are always
impressive in themselves and always the appropriate and natural
expression of his idea. No other Old Testament writer has the
same power of picturesque and graphic description, or has at
command such a variety of distinct and vivid impressions from
1 Valeton, Vicrtal Voorlezingen, p. 33.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxv

nature. His memory is stored with simple and homely pictures
of rustic life, and these rise to his mind invested with a singular
dignity and charm in the light of some inspiring and lofty idea.
The reapers irt the valley of Rephaim, and the beating of the
olive trees (xvii. 5 f.), the ox and ass faithful to their master's
stable (i. 3), the lion growling over his prey and defying the
posse of shepherds gathered against him (xxxi. 4), the subtle
rent spreading downwards in the wall until it falls with a
sudden and terrible crash (xxx. 13 f.), the deserted hut of the
vineyard-watchers after the vintage is past (i. 8) : these are
some of the images which his poet's eye had gathered from
scenes familiar to every native of Palestine. Nor does Isaiah's
imagination fail him when he passes from the familiar to the
stupendous, and calls up the destructive agencies of nature to
set forth the awful terrors of the day of Jehovah. The forest
conflagration (ix. 18, x. 16), the inundating flood of waters
(viii. 7 f.), the thunderstorm (xxx. 30 f.), the earthquake (ii. 12 ff.)
furnish him with emblems, strikingly effective, of the final
catastrophe in which the existing order of things is to perish.
On the other hand, there is a peculiar charm in the indistinct
ness of the descriptions of the latter days, where images of
earthly comfort and security shade away imperceptibly into
suggestions of a new creation, in which to our minds there is
more of heaven than earth.
As a master of style Isaiah is supreme among the prophets ;
the only one with whom he can be compared being his pre
decessor Amos. While others seem conscious of the labour of
expression, he wields the resources of the language with the
ease and dexterity of a perfect artist in words. There is an
astonishing directness and sureness of touch in his phrase, as
of one who knows when he has hit the mark and does not need
to strike a second time. The high level of literary excellence
maintained in the prophecies depends largely on the fact that
they faithfully preserve (though doubtless with some condensa
tion) all the effects of the spoken word. The style is one
obviously formed for the^urposes of the orator, who must carry
his audience with him at the moment, trusting nothing to a

lxvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
sustained effort of attention on their part. Hence it is abso
lutely free from affectations and obscurities ; and even the
fondness for paronomasia which is often attributed to Isaiah is
really shewn very sparingly and never without telling oratorical
effect. The poetic form in which the oracles are usually cast
affords no presumption against this view of their origin ; for
in Hebrew the formal difference between poetry and prose is
much less marked than with us, and all impassioned and
elevated speech readily falls into the simple rhythmic structure
characteristic of Hebrew poetry. It would hardly be possible
to characterize the style of Isaiah better than by the four notes
under which Matthew Arnold has summed up the distinctive
qualities of Homer's genius : ypfainness of thought, Plainness of
style, Nobleness, and Rapidity. Enough has perhaps been
suggested to illustrate the aptness with which each of these
terms may be applied to Isaiah. In this case, as in others, the
style is the man ; and in the plainness, and nobleness, and
rapidity of Isaiah's recorded discourses we read the signature
of the glowing and impetuous nature, the lucid intellect, and the
quick decision of character which made this prophet so great a
force in the history of his time.

CHAPTER V.
Probable Composition of the Book of Isaiah-
Contents of Ch. I.— XXXIX.
The book which bears the name of Isaiah is in reality a
collection of prophetic oracles, shewing manifest traces of com
posite authorship, and having a complicated literary history
behind it. Not much less than two-thirds of its bulk consists
of anonymous prophecies, all of which (with the probable excep
tion of ch. xv. f. and the possible exception of ch. ii. 1—4) are of
an age long subsequent to that of Isaiah. To this class belongs
first of all the whole of the latter part of the book, commencing
with ch. xl., the date and authorship of which will be fully dealt
with in the Introduction to the second volume of this commentary.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxvii
But even when we confine our attention to ch. i. — xxxix. we
still find abundant evidences of great diversity of authorship.
Excluding the narrative section (ch. xxxvi. — xxxix.) it is esti
mated that of the prophetic chapters (i. — xxxv.) a little over
two-thirds is occupied by genuine prophecies of Isaiah. In the
following synopsis, passages which are probably to be assigned
to other writers than Isaiah are marked by an asterisk ; for the
grounds on which this conclusion rests in each case, as well
as for the dates attached to the Isaianic oracles, the reader
must be referred to the Introductory Notes on the several
sections. ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS I.— XXXIX.
This first part of the Book of Isaiah naturally falls into four main
divisions: (A) ch. i. — xii. ; (B) ch. xiii. — xxvii. ; (C) ch. xxviii. — xxxv. ;
(D) ch. xxxvi. — xxxix. Of these the first three must have circulated
as separate books, while the last is mainly an extract from the second
book of Kings.
A. Ch. i. — xii. A volume of discourses mainly (though not ex
clusively) concerning "Judah and Jerusalem," as stated in the super
scription (ch. i. i ). The grouping of the oracles seems to shew that the
book was formed by the amalgamation of several minor collections.
i. Ch. i. is an introductory oracle setting forth the grounds of
Jehovah's controversy with Israel. Its date may be the close of the
Syro-Ephraimitic war (c. 734), although the first part (vv. 1 — 17) is
assigned by many critics to the time of Sennacherib (701).
ii. Ch. ii. — iv. A resume ofthe very earliest discourses of Isaiah
(ii. 6 — iv. 1), with a prologue (ii. 2 — 4) and an epilogue (iv. 2 — 6), both
of Messianic import. The new title (ii. 1) suggests that this short
collection once existed separately.
iii. Ch. v. 1 — 24 (somewhat later than the preceding) contains the
parable of the vineyard (1 — 7) followed by a series of woes against the
prevalent sins ofthe upper classes (8—24).
iv. Ch. v. 25 — 30 is the misplaced conclusion of the oracle against
Northern Israel (see vi. below).
v. Ch. vi. — ix. 7 a series of discourses written for the most part in
the crisis of the Syro-Ephraimitic invasion, and probably published
shortly after that event. It consists of: S 2

Ixviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
(i) A preface (ch. vi.), describing Isaiah's inaugural vision of God
and consecration to the prophetic office.
(2) An account of the prophet's eventful interview with Ahaz, and
prophecies arising out of it (ch. vii.).
(3) Further accounts of the prophet's activity during this period
(ch. viii.). (4) A prophecy of the Messianic deliverance and the coining of
the Prince of Peace (ch. ix. 1 — 7).
vi. Ch. ix. 8 — x. 4 (and v. 25 — 30). Announcement of the im
pending ruin of the kingdom of Ephraim (written perhaps before the
alliance with Syria).
vii. Ch. x. 5 — 34. An oracle dealing with the mission and fate of
Assyria. The most probable date is the beginning of the reign of
Sennacherib (c. 704).
viii. Ch. xi. Two Messianic prophecies.
(1) vv. 1 — 9. The Messiah and his kingdom, — possibly the con
clusion of ch. a. ; otherwise the date is uncertain.
*(2) w. 10—16. The Return of Exiled Israelites from all
quarters of the earth.
*ix. Ch. xii. forms a lyrical epilogue to the book (A).
B. Ch. xiii. — xxvii. A series of prophecies by various authors,
mostly dealing with foreign nations.
*(i) Ch. xiii. — xiv. 23. On the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus
(written towards the close of the Exile).
(2) Ch. xiv. 24 — 32. Two oracles of Isaiah's, one (apparently a
fragment, vv. 24—27) announcing the destruction of Assyria, the other
[vv. 28—32) directed against the Philistines. The last is dated in the
year of Ahaz's death; the other probably belongs to the same time as
ch. x. 5 ff.
"(3) Ch. xv., xvi. On Moab. It is probably the work of an
unknown early writer, revised with a postscript (xvi. 13 f.) by Isaiah.
(4) Ch. xvii. 1— 11. On the overthrow of Damascus and North
Israel (written at the time of the alliance between the two powers in the
reign of Ah?-,).
(5) Ch. xvii. 12—14. The destruction of the Assyrians (date
uncertain). (6) Ch. xviii. The same subject, in the form of a charge to
Ethiopian ambassadors (from the beginning of Sennacherib's reign).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxix
(7) Ch. xix. On Egypt. The date cannot be determined. The
last part (vv. 16 — 25) is possibly a post-exilic addition.
(8) Ch. xx. On the fate of Egypt at the hands of the Assyrians.
The date is 711.
*(9) Ch. xxi. Three oracles, on Babylon (vv. 1 — 10), on Edom
(vv. ir, 12), and Arabia (vv. 13 — 17). Probably written near the end
ofthe Exile.
(10) Ch. xxii. 1 — 14. A rebuke addressed to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem at the crisis ofthe Assyrian invasion (701).
(11) Ch. xxii. 15 — 25. A philippic against a high court official
named Shebna; probably from the time of Isaiah's opposition to the
alliance with Egypt.
(12) Ch. xxiii. On Tyre. The date is probably either in the
reign of Shalmaneser (c. 727) or that of Sennacherib. The appendix
(vv. 15 — 18) appears to be post-exilic.
"(13) Ch. xxiv. — xxvii. A long eschatological prophecy of the
world-judgment and the blessedness of Israel lying beyond it. The date
is much disputed, but on the whole the most probable view seems to be
that it belongs to the 4th century B.C.
C. Ch. xxviii. — xxxv. A collection of oracles issued (so far as they
are Isaianic) during the invasion of Sennacherib,
i. Ch. xxviii. consists of three sections :
(1) vv. 1 — 6. Announcement ofthe fall of Samaria (written there
fore before 722, but probably republished as a preface to this group).
(2) vv. 7 — 22. An encounter between Isaiah and the dissolute
courtiers of Jerusalem, with related oracles.
(3) vv. 23 — 29. A parable of Jehovah's providential dealings with
Israel. ii. Ch. xxix. contains
(1) A prediction of the humiliation and ultimate deliverance of
Jerusalem (vv. 1 — 8).
(2) A rebuke of the spiritual blindness and hardness of the people
(vv. 9—14). (3) An allusion to the conspiracy with Egypt, passing abruptly
into a description ofthe ideal future age (vv. 15 — 24).

Ixx GENERAL INTRODUCTION.^ 
iii. Ch. xxx. consists of four sections :
(i) A woe against the promoters of the Egyptian alliance (vv.
*-7)- (2) Isaiah's written protest against this step and the irreligious
state of mind from which it proceeds (vv. 8 — 17).
(3) A picture ofthe Messianic age (vv. 18 — 26).
(4) A judgment scene on the Assyrian king and army (vv. 27
—33)- iv. Ch. xxxi. A renewed denunciation of the Egyptian treaty
(vv. 1—^ ; followed by a promise of mercy to Israel and a threat against
Assyria (vv. 5 — 9).
v. Ch. xxxii. 1 — 8. A picture of the ideal commonwealth of the
Messianic age.
vi. Ch. xxxii. 9—20. A censure of the careless demeanour of the
women of Jerusalem (vv. 9 — 14); passing again into a picture of the
blessedness ofthe future (vv. 15 — 20).
"vii. Ch. xxxiii. A woe against an unnamed oppressor, the writer
rising, through prayer, to the anticipation of the glories of the perfect
kingdom of God. f
"viii. Ch. xxxiv., xxxv. A prophecy of vengeance on Edom and
of the future blessedness of Israel. (Post-exilic.)
D. *Ch. xxxvi. — xxxix. A historical section, narrating :
(1) Sennacherib's demand for the surrender of Jerusalem (ch.
xxxvi. f.).
(2) Hezekiah's sickness and cure (ch. xxxviii.).
(3) The embassy of Merodach-baladan (ch. xxxix.).
If we compare this analysis with the sketch of Isaiah's career
given above (pp. xxv ff.) it is at once obvious that the book as a
whole shews no consistent attempt at chronological arrange
ment. Not only are the anonymous prophecies interspersed
amongst those of Isaiah, but even the genuine discourses of
Isaiah stand in an entirely different order from that in which
they were uttered. We observe further that the Isaianic mate
rial is unequally distributed over the principal divisions of the
book. While A and C are in the main homogeneous (the
anonymous passages occurring only at the end, where we might

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxxi

expect them1), in B the Isaianic oracles are scattered indiscri
minately through the collection and occupy a much smaller
proportion of the whole. These facts, together with the obvi
ously composite structure of A point irresistibly to the conclusion
that the book of Isaiah has reached its present form through
protracted editorial processes, the details of which we can never
hope to trace.
In explanation of this somewhat surprising result of criticism
it may be desirable to call attention to a general characteristic
of prophecy which ought here to be kept in mind. The pro
phets (at least the pre-exilic prophets) were in the first instance
not writers of books but public orators and statesmen. While
they availed themselves of literature as a means of preserving
the substance of their teaching they relied chiefly on the imme
diate effect of their spoken words ; and the methods by which
their discourses were reduced to writing naturally varied with
different prophets, or even with the same prophet at different
times. In some cases little more than rough notes of the
speeches might be preserved, in others they must have been
carefully worked up into finished artistic compositions. Whether
a particular prophet was ever led to prepare a complete edition
of his prophecies depended on the exigencies of his individual
position. In the case of Jeremiah we have an instructive
account of the circumstances in which, under special divine
direction, he addressed himself to this task (ch. xxxvi.) ; and
the volume then written doubtless formed the basis of all
subsequent editions of the book of Jeremiah. Nothing exactly
similar to this is recorded of Isaiah ; but he appears to have
followed the practice of issuing carefully written digests of his
oral teaching at important junctures of his ministry. These
separate rolls, and perhaps other prophecies which he had
never given to the public at all, were probably treasured by his
1 It is right to state, however, that several other passages in C are
denied to Isaiah by a considerable number of recent critics : especially
xxx. 27 — 33, xxxii. 1 — 8 and 9 — 20. Some even have gone so far as to
'dispute tlie genuineness of all the promises of salvation found in this
section.

lxxii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
disciples and handed down to subsequent generations, until
they ultimately found a place in one or other of the collections
of which the present book is composed.
\ Of these aggregates the most interesting and the most com
plex is the first (A, ch. i. — xii.). The nucleus of the collection
/was probably the important volume written by Isaiah at the
/time of the Syro-Ephraimitic war (see above p. xxxi) ; including
(originally perhaps ch. vi. — viii. 18, to which viii. 19 — ix. 7 was
added as a supplement. To this two earlier rolls (ii. — iv. and v.)
were prefixed, for chronological reasons ; the displacement of
v. 25 — 30 was probably accidental and must have taken place
while the oracles were still detached. The great oracle on
North Israel (also of early date) was placed where it stands
because it does not bear on the destiny of Judah ; and it is
naturally followed by the prophecy on Assyria (x. 5 — 34), to
which the Messianic passage ch. xi. 1 — 9 may have already
been attached. /Ch. i. owes its position to its comprehensive
character, and its-~oJayious suitability to form an introduction
to any volume of Isaiah's prophecies. Thus far the collection
might have been completed not long after the death of Isaiah;
but the addition of the late passages xi. 10 — xii. 6 appears to
indicate that the volume existed separately till a time subse
quent to the Exile.
The third collection (C, ch. xxviii.— xxxv.) must have had a
history somewhat similar, though less intricate. It probably
originated with what Isaiah is recorded to have written when
he retired defeated from the contest with the Egyptian party at
court (see above, p. xxxviii). How many of the present prophecies
were included in this publication cannot of course be determined
with certainty ; but it doubtless contained all those referring
to the Egyptian alliance, and therefore most of what we now
read in ch. xxviii.— xxxi. Ch. xxxii. may have been added
afterwards, and ch. xxxiii.— xxxv. belong in all likelihood to the
post-exilic age.
The intermediate collection (B, ch. xiii.— xxvii.) is of a dif
ferent character. It is a series of miscellaneous oracles, most-
of them furnished with specific headings, in which the word

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxxiii
massa (A.V. "burden ") regularly occurs— a term found nowhere
else in the book except in ch. xxx. 61. There is, indeed, no
reason to suppose that in the intention of the compiler it was
restricted to prophecies of Isaiah, although the fact that the
first happened to bear his name naturally caused the whole
to be attributed to him. Since with one exception (ch. xv. f.)
the non-Isaianic passages are of exilic or post-exilic date, the
collection cannot have been formed till a late period. It is not
quite certain that the long apocalyptic prophecy of ch. xxiv. —
xxvii. belonged to this group, although its position, at the close
of a cycle of oracles dealing with the heathen world is somewhat
in favour of this hypothesis. If so, the book must have been
distinct from A and C down to a very late date, for if the three
had been amalgamated, ch. xxiv. ff. would have found its appro
priate place at the close, alongside of xxxiv. f.
The historical section (D) may be assumed to have been
added as an appendix to the other three after they had been
united. Thus for the first time all the scattered remains of
Isaiah's work were brought within the compass of a single
volume, which must again have for a time had a separate
existence, until finally it was combined with the great prophecy
of ch. xl. — lxvi.
An inferior limit for the redaction of the book of Isaiah is
furnished by the work of Jesus the son of Sirach, written as is
generally supposed about 200 B.C. In Ecclus. xlviii. 23 — 25 we
read that "in his (Isaiah's) days the sun went backward and
he added life to the king. He saw by an excellent spirit what
should come to pass at the last ; and he comforted them that
mourned in Zion. He shewed the things that should be to the
end of time, and the hidden things or ever they came.'' These
references appear to imply that the writer read Isa. xxxvi. —
xxxix. and xl. — lxvi. as parts of one book ; and as ch. xxxvi. —
xxxix. have no meaning apart from i. — xxxv., it is a tolerably
1 The peculiar enigmatic titles of xxi. 1, 11 (? 13), xxii. 1 (xxx. 6),
have been thought to point to the existence of a prior group embracing
these five prophecies ; but the indication is too slight to throw much
light on the growth of the collection.

lxxiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
safe conclusion that the book of Isaiah was known in its present
form in the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. Before this
we have no literary evidence of the existence of the Book.
Although the Chronicler (writing about a century earlier) men
tions Isaiah as an author (2 Chron. xxvi. 22 ; xxxii. 32), his
statements do not appear to have any reference to the book
of his prophecies. It is doubtful if either passage means more
than that Isaiah was regarded as the writer of the contemporary
annals of the kings of Judah. But in the time of the son of
Sirach the prophetical Canon was probably already completed,
and the separate books of which it is composed must be at least
of somewhat higher antiquity.
The canonicity of Isaiah was never questioned by the Jewish
Church in later times. There is, however, a curious divergence
of tradition with regard to its place amongst the prophetic
scriptures. The order of the E.V., where the book stands first
among the " Later Prophets " (the strictly prophetic writings)
is that of all printed editions of the Hebrew Bible, as well as of
the Masora and the best MSS. In the LXX. it stands first
amongst the Major Prophets, but is preceded by the so-called
Minor Prophets. A still more peculiar arrangement is given
by the Talmudic treatise Baba bathra (fol. 14 b), where the
order is : Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the Twelve (minor) Prophets.
It has been thought by some that this arrangement betrays a
dim consciousness of the late authorship of the second part of
the book, which is possible, although the Jewish authorities
know nothing of it, and explain the traditional order by rea
soning of a somewhat nebulous kind. (For full details on
this subject see Ryle, Canon of the Old Testament, pp. 273 ff.,
281 f.).
*#* As the plan of this series does not admit of regular citation of
authorities, a list is here given of the principal works on Isaiah consulted
in the preparation of the commentary : The Commentaries of Vitringa
(1724), Gesenius (1821), Hitzig (1833), Cheyne (5th Ed. 1889), Breden
kamp (1S87), Delitzsch (4th Eel. 1889), Dillmann (1890), Duhm (1892).
Ewald, Propheten des Altai Bundes, Vol. 1. (2nd Ed. 1867). Strachey,
Jewish History and Politics, &-Y. (2nd Ed. 1874). W. R. Smilh, The

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. kxv

Prophets of Israel (1S82, Revised Ed. 1895). Guthe, Das Zukunftsbild
des Jesaias (1885). Driver, Isaiah: his Life and Times (2nd Ed. 1893).
G. A. Smith, The Book of Isaiah [Expositor's Bible], Vol. 1. (1889).
Kirkpatrick, The Doctrine of the Prophets (1892). Hackmann, Die
Zukunflsenvartung des Jesaia (1893). Cheyne, Introduction to the Book
of Isaiah (1895).

NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF ISAIAH'S TIME.
It is an accepted principle amongst modem historians and critics
that a. true chronology of the Hebrew kingdom must be based on the
synchronisms established by the Assyrian monuments. From a very
early time the Assyrians followed the system of naming each year after
a high official of the empire ; continuous lists of these eponyms were
kept and have been discovered ; and in these lists (the so-called Eponym
Canon) we have a complete guide to Assyrian chronology, the accuracy
of which has been confirmed by every test to which it has been subjected.
The Old Testament writers, on the other hand (at the time with which
we are concerned), proceed on no fixed chronological system; their
statements are frequently at variance with each other, and the attempt
to treat them as absolute historical data often leads to inextricable con
fusion./ In these circumstances there is no course open to us but to
accept tfie evidence of the cuneiform inscriptions so far as it is available,
and to fill in the details of the scheme as best we may. JThe most pro
bable results are given in the annexed Table, where events that can be
dated from Assyrian records are distinguished by italics. The figures
are in some instances only approximate; and there are two dates of
importance for Isaiah's biography, with regard to which it seems im
possible to arrive at any certain conclusion.
(1) The first is the year of Uzziah's death, which is also the year of
Isaiah's call (ch. vi. 1). From 2 Kings xv. 7 we learn that Uzziah
(Azariah) was succeeded by his son Jotham, to whom a reign of 16 years
is assigned (v. 33). Since we know (Is. vii. 1) that Ahaz was on the
throne in 735, this appears at first sight to give, as the lowest possible
date for the death of Uzziah, the year 751. But if, as is probably the
case, Jptham's 16 years were reckoned from the time when he assumed
the regency on account of his father's leprosy (2 Kings xv. 5), we are
really left without information as to the length of his independent reign
or the date of Uzziah's death. The date given in the table (740) is an

lxxvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
approximation merely. It cannot be brought much lower than this,
because in 735 Isaiah is accompanied by a son, whose name, embodying
an idea of the opening vision, shews that he must have been born after
the prophet's call. Nor on the other hand can it be placed much higher
without throwing the events of 701 into the extreme old age of Isaiah.
The chief point that awaits elucidation is the supposed mention of
Uzziah by Tiglath-pileser in 739 or 738 (see above, p. xii). If this
reference should be ultimately established, the time of Isaiah's call will
be settled within very narrow limits indeed.
(2) A much more intricate problem is presented by the second con
troverted date, that of Hezekiah's accession. The difficulty here arises
from the discrepancy of the biblical data. The two chief passages are :
(a) 2 Kings xviii. 10, where the fall of Samaria (c. 721) is said to
have taken place in the sixth year of Hezekiah ;
(b) 2 Kings xviii. 13, where the year of Sennacherib's invasion
(701) is given as the fourteenth of Hezekiah.
If a be correct Hezekiah ascended the throne about 727, if b be right,
about 7 r 5. The dates of the siege of Samaria and the invasion of Judah
being unassailable, there is no possibility of harmonising these two
statements; we must make our choice between them1. Now, if we
consider the two statements by themselves, it will certainly appear less
likely that the mistake should be in a than in b. For if a be right, the
error in b would be only in the numeral, whereas if b be right both the
figures and the name of the king in a must be false; and it would argue
an almost incredible degree of carelessness in a historian to assign so
important an event as the fall of Samaria to the wrong reign. The
case, however, is not quite so simple as this. The date b is bound up
with the story of Hezekiah's sickness and the extension of his life for 15
years (2 Ki. xx. 6), and this again is closely connected with the ascription
to him of a total reign of 29 years (xviii. 2). Hence a mere alteration of
the numeral in b (say 14 into 24) would not really meet the difficulties,
for the numbers 14, 15, 29 are obviously so related that we cannot
challenge one of them without challenging a second. That is to say, if
Hezekiah reigned 29 years, and if Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled, then
his 14th year must be the true date of his sickness; and it makes no
1 Winckler, however (whom Cheyne seems disposed to follow), rejects
both in favour of 2 Kings xvi. 2, which assigns to Ahaz a reign of
,?T?ear?'. , , eckomng this from,:. 735 we get 720 as the proximate date
of Hezekiah s access10n. But this seems a wholly unjustifiable expedient.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxxvii
difference whether the compiler got it from tradition or arrived at it by
an easy calculation of his own. Now this suggests a probable expla
nation of the date in xviii. 13. It has been inserted by an editor
who assumed that Hezekiah's sickness coincided with the time of
Sennacherib's invasion, whereas in reality the events were separated by
an interval of 12 years. Such a mistake was a natural inference from
the juxtaposition of the two incidents in the separate source whence
these narratives were transcribed first in the books of Kings (xviii. 13 —
xx. 19) and then in the book of Isaiah (xxxvi., xxxix.). (See Intro
ductory Notes to these chapters.) It is not improbable indeed that in
the process a transposition of the narratives was effected, Is. xxxviii. f.
having originally stood before xxxvi. f. But however that may be,
everything points to the conclusion that the 14th year of Hezekiah is the
correct date of his sickness and Merodach-baladan's embassy, but erro
neous when transferred to Sennacherib's invasion.
We are thus left with 2 Kings xviii. 10 as our surest guide to the
year of Hezekiah's accession; and this is the view assumed throughout
this work. It is true that it involves a shortening of the reign of Ahaz
to about 8 years, and consequently a readjustment of the ages of Ahaz
and Hezekiah at their accession (since the former dying at the age of 28
could not have left a son aged 25) but this causes no serious embarrass
ment, where numbers much more important are indubitably wrong.
On general historical grounds neither date can claim to have much
advantage over the other. It might be argued that the change of policy
towards Assyria, first appearing in 711, would be more intelligible if
coincident with a change of sovereign in 715. But there is little force
in the argument ; and it may be fairly balanced by the consideration
that the embassy of Merodach-baladan is more likely to have taken place
about 713 than shortly before 701.

lxxviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE1.
B.C. 745. Accession of Tiglath-pileser III.
740? Death of Uzziah, Jothani sole ruler. Year of Isaiah's
call.
739/8. Hamath subdued.
c. 736. Accession of Ahaz.
735. Syro-Ephraimitic Invasion of Judah.
734. Gilsad, Galilee, &*c, ravaged by Assyrians ; Pekah
dethroned.
732. Subjugation of Damascus.
727. Accession of Shalmaneser IV.
c. 727? Accession of Hezekiah.
•-¦ 727 — 722. Shalmaneser blockades Tyre.
722. Accession of Sargon.
722/1. Pall of Samaria.
720. Sargon in Palestine: defeats Egyptians at liaphia.
in. Capture of Ashdod.
709. Merodach-baladan expelled from Babylon.
705. Accession of Sennacherib.
703. Sennacherib vanquishes Merodach-baladan.
701. Invasion of Phoenicia, Philistia (battle of Eltekeh) ana
Judah (deliverance of Jerusalem).
c. 697 ? Accession of Manasseh.
68 1. Assassination of Sennacherib.
1 Dates established by the Assyrian monuments are indicated by
italics.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. lxxix

TOE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH ARRANGED IN THE
PROBABLE ORDER OF THEIR PUBLICATION.
First Group. Previous to the Syro-Ephraimitic War (740 — 735).
ch. ii. — iv., v. 1 — 24.
ch. ix. 8 — x. 4, v. 25—30.
Second Group. During and immediately after the Syro-Ephraimitic
War (c. 734).
ch. xvii. 1 — n.
ch. vi., ch. vii. f. [?ix. 1 — 7].
[ch. i. ?]
Third Group. During the Assyrian Suzerainty (734 — 70=,).
ch. xiv. 28 — 32 (c. 727).
ch. xxviii. 1 — 4 [6] (before 722).
ch. xx. (711).
Fourth Group. During the Rebellion under Sennacherib (705 —
701).
ch. x. 5—34, xiv. 24—27.
[?xvii. 12 — 14] xviii.
ch. xxviii. — xxxi., xxii. 15 ff.; xxxii. 9 — 20.
ch. xxii. 1 — 14.
ch. xxxvii. 22 — 35.
Of uncertain date: ch. xi. 1 — 9, xxxii. 1 — 8, xix., xxiii.

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH.
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw 1
concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Ch. I. 1. The Superscription. |
The verse is probably best understood as the heading of the first
great collection of prophecies, ch. i. — xii. The contents of these
chapters are described with sufficient accuracy for the purposes of a
title ; whereas the phrase concerning Judah and Jerusalem is unsuitable
to many of the later prophecies, and the note of time forbids us to limit
the reference to ch. i. The second difficulty (but not the first) might be
removed by accepting Vitringa's ingenious suggestion that the first half
of the verse (down to "Jerusalem") was originally the title of ch. i., the
latter part having been added in order to extend its scope to the whole
book. Since, however, there is reason to suppose that ch. i. — xii. once
formed a separate volume (see General Introduction, p. lxxii), it is better
to adopt the view which most fully accounts for all the particulars of
the superscription.
The word vision is used here in the wide sense of a collection of
prophetic oracles (cf. Nah. i. I ; Obad. i). As the prophet was called
a "seer " (hozeh), and his perception of divine truth was called "seeing,"
so his message as a whole is termed a ' ' vision " (MzSn). See further
on ch. ii. i, xxx. io.
Isaiah the son of Amoz] On the name and parentage of the prophet,
see General Introduction, p. xxii.
concerning Judah and Jerusalem) as distinguished from prophecies
on foreign nations, ch. xiii. ff.
in the days of Uzziah. ..Judah] The words indicate generally the period
covered by Isaiah's public ministry. The author of the title probably
understood that the vision of ch. vi. took place in the lifetime of Uzziah.
It is not necessary to suppose that he assigned other prophecies to the
reign of that king.
Ch. I. 2 — 31. The Lord's Controversy with His Peopie.
The passage falls into two main divisions : —
>' i. w. 2 — 20. The moral and religious issues involved in the great
fispute between Jehovah and Israel.
ISAIAH I

2 ISAIAH, I.  -_,/" ^-2\
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth :
For the Lord hath spoken,
(i) vv. 2, 3. Jehovah has discovered rebellion and ingratitude in the
sons whom He has reared and brought to honour. _ This fact, disclosed
to the spiritual perception of the prophet, is the basis of the whole subse
quent argument.
(2) vv. 4 — 9. The prophet, in his own name, presses home the
charge of rebellion; the divine accusation being "translated into
passionate invective and threatening by the prophet " (Delitzsch) (v. 4).
The evidence of Israel's sin is seen in the calamities of the land ; why
should they invite further chastisement by persistent disobedience ? (5 —
8). It is of the Lord's mercy that they are not utterly consumed, like
the Cities of the Plain (9).
(3) vv. 10 — 17. Does Israel imagine that Jehovah can be propitiated
by costly rites and offerings ? Nay, the whole system of ritual worship
ps practised by them is an intolerable insult to Him (10 — 15). The
prophei-'s invective is aimed at a deep-seated fallacy of the popular
religion. In opposition to this mistaken notion he demands moral
reformation and public righteousness as the only service acceptable to
God (16 f.).
(4) vv. 18 — 20. The conclusion of the argument. Jehovah sum
mons the nation to a trial at law, and submits the alternative : prosperity
as the reward of obedience, or destruction as the penalty of continued
rebellion. ii. vv. 21 — 31. The necessity for a purifying judgment. This is
the prominent idea in the second division of the chapter, but the con
nexion of thought is less obvious than in the first. The keynote is
struck in
(1) vv. 21 — 26. A dirge over the decay of civic virtue in Jerusalem
(21 — 23), followed by a threat of judgment (24 f.), and a picture of
the city restored to its pristine purity (26).
(2) vv. 27 — 31. The operation of the judgment is shewn to be two
fold : the deliverance of a converted remnant (27), and the annihilation
of apostates (28). And a further consequence will be a demonstration
ofthe vanity of nature-worship and idolatry (29 — 31).
The chapter, entitled by Ewald 'The Great Arraignment,' stands
worthily as the introduction to Isaiah's prophecies. Its leading ideas —
the breach between Jehovah and Israel, the inefficacy of mere ritual,
the call to national repentance, the certainty of a sweeping judgment- —
are those which underlie not only Isaiah's teaching, hut also that of all
the pre- Exilic prophets ; and these elementary principles are here pre
sented with a force and clearness unrivalled in the Old Testament.
Certain resemblances, both in thought and expression, to the ' Song of
Moses ' (Deut. xxxii. ) have been noted by commentators, but the infer
ence that this discourse is in any sense an imitation of that poem is on
every ground to be rejected. The passage is probably a summary of
several public discourses ; these, however/Tiave been worked up into a
literaiy unity, and there is perhaps a presumption that the original
oracles belong to one and the same period of the prophet's activity.

v. 2.]- ISAIAH, I. 3
I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against me.
What that period was cannot, however, be determined with certainty.
Critical opinion seems to gravitate more and more to the view that the
first part of the chapter (w. 2 — 1 7) belongs to the time of Sennacherib's'
campaign (B.C. 701). This conclusion is based chiefly on the historical
allusions in w. 7 — 9. But it is not quite clear that the expressions
there used might not apply to the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion of circa
735 ; and there are one or two general considerations which plead for
the earlier date. ( 1 ) A presentation of fundamental prophetic ideas so
fresh and powerful as this points to the beginning rather than the close
of Isaiah's career. (2) It is difficult to read the whole chapter in the
light of Sennacherib's invasion. It would be surprising if a series of
discourses uttered during that crisis should contain only a pair of
doubtful indications of their historical setting. It is admitted, more
over, that the allusions to idolatry (29 ff.) are more naturally understood
ofthe reign of Ahaz than of that of Hezekiah, and no counter argument
can fairly be drawn from the assiduous worship of Jehovah referred to
in 1 off. (3) The tone and teaching of the chapter closely resemble the
prophecies uttered by Isaiah in the earliest portion of his public work
(ch. ii. — v.). On the whole it seems not improbable that the passage is
a re'sumi of the principal themes of Isaiah's early ministry, compiled
shortly after the attack by Rezin and Pekah (see on ch. vii.). Fortu
nately the interpretation of the chapter is but little affected by the
question of its date.
2, 3. The heart-rending complaint of Jehovah.
2. the Lord hath spoken] The inner ear of the prophet has heard
the words which follow; he will utter them in trumpet-tones which
shall cause all creation to hear and shudder. The apostrophe to the
heavens and the earth has probably no other force than this (cf. Deut.
xxxii. 1 ; Mic. vi. i, 2 ; Jer. ii. 12), although Dillmann thinks they are
appealed to as witnesses of all that has passed between the Lord and
His people. The dramatic conception of a formal Assize, with Heaven
and Earth for Assessors, the prophet for Herald, and so on, although a
favourite one with commentators, is merely fanciful, and weakens the
rhetorical effect of the passage.
nourished and brought up) The two expressions may be synonymous,
as in ch. xxiii. 4 ; Ezek. xxxi. 4. More probably, however, the second
means "set on high [among the nations]" (cf. R.V. marg.).
children] sons ; the position of the word is emphatic. (Israel; the
son of Jehovah, as Ex. iv. 22 f. ; Deut. xiv. 1, xxxii. 5, 6, 18 ; Hos. xi.
1 ff.) The "sons" are not named here, attention being concentrated on
the tragic fact that He who is Lord of all should know
" How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child."
have rebelled] The charge of rebellion in the mouth of Isaiah (only
here and v. 28) would include three things: (1) the sin of idolatry, (2)
breaches of the moral law, (3) rejection of his own prophetic message
I — 2

ISAIAH, I. [w. 3-

5 The ox knoweth his owner,
And the ass his master's crib :
But Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
A seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters :
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
They are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more?
Ye will revolt more and more :
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
(cf. v. 4). It is possible that the occasion of this revelation may have
been some particular incident of the kind last mentioned, such as e.g. the
decision of Ahaz to call in the help of Assyria (ch. vii.), or Hezekiah's
treaty with Egypt in 701 (cf. ch. xxx. 9 — 15).
3. Israel's ingratitude is rebuked by the instinctive fidelity of the
dumb animals to their human benefactors (cf. Jer. viii. 7). Ox and ass
are mentioned, not as the most stupid animals, but as the only thoroughly
domesticated animals ofthe Hebrews, — lodged probably under the same
roof as their owner and his family.
4 — 9. The prophet speaks.
4. seed (i. e. race or brood, consisting) of evildoers] Cf. Matt. iii. 7,
" brood of vipers." The indef. art. should be omitted in this clause
and the preceding.
children... corrupters] better: sons that deal corruptly (R.V.) ; lit.
"that corrupt [sc. their way]" as Gen. vi. 12.
provoked... unto anger) R.V. , rightly, despised.
Holy One of Israel] i.e. " the Holy One who is Israel's God." Holi
ness was the aspect of the divine nature impressed on Isaiah's mind in
his inaugural vision, and this phrase, common in his writings and
apparently coined by him, sums up his fundamental conception of God
in relation to Israel (see Introd., p. lii, and on ch. vi. below).
they are gone away backward] A pregnant construction, to be
rendered as in R.V. : they are estranged [and gone] backward. The
words are wanting in the LXX.
B. Why] Many comm., following the Vulg., render " On what (sc.
part of the body)." Their meaning is exactly expressed by the line of
Ovid (cited by Gesenius), " Vix habet in vobis iam nova plaga locum."
The idea seems somewhat frigid, and hardly suits the clause imme
diately following. The translation " why " is thoroughly established by
Hebrew usage, is supported by most ancient versions, and ought pro
bably to be retained.
the whole head. ..heart] Not "every head" (in spite of the absence
of the Hebr. art). The commonwealth is conceived as a body, sorely
wounded and sick unto death : afterwards its calamities are described
literally (v. 7).

vv. 6— 8.] ISAIAH, I.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is 6
no soundness in it ;
But wounds, and bruises, and. putrifying sores :
They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither
mollified with ointment.
Your country is desolate, 7
Your cities are burnt with fire :
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in ai
vineyard,
As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
6. The state of the nation is indeed desperate ; no remedial measures
have yet been applied. In the simple surgery of Isaiah's time a wound
was first pressed (to extrude suppurating matter), then bandaged and
softened with oil (cf. Luke x. 34).
7. The situation here described (which was undoubtedly present at
the time of utterance) is that of a land ravaged by foreign troops (land
is " cultivated land "). It has been contended that the word strangers
(foreigners) must refer to the Assyrians, and could not be used of the
allied Syrians and Ephraimites. But there seems no good reason why
an army mainly composed of Syrians should not be designated as
" foreigners." and it is desolate... strangers] Lit., "and a desolation like an over
throw of strangers." If the text is sound it must mean "is such an
overthrow as might be expected at the hands of strangers" (the so-called
Kaph veritatis). This is a weak sense ; and hence Ewald's plausible
emendation, "like the overthrow of Sodom," has been accepted by
most subsequent writers. The word for "overthrow" never occurs
elsewhere except in connexion with Sodom (ch. xiii. 19; Deut. xxix. 23;
Jer. xlix. 18, 1. 40; Am. iv. 11).
8. daughter of Zion] A gen. of apposition=" the daughter, Zion."
It is a personification either of the city or the population of Jerusalem,
or both together. The capital is as yet spared, but its isolation in the
midst of the devastated country suggests to the imagination of the
prophet two homely and vivid pictures of forlorn and dreary solitariness:
like a booth in a vineyard, or a night-lodge in a cucumber field.
Such frail structures, consisting of four poles stuck in the ground, with
cross-pieces supporting a couch and a slight roof or awning overhead,
were erected for the watchers who guarded the fruit or crop from
thieves and wild animals. (See Wetzstein's description in Del. Comm.
on Job, Trans., vol. ii. p. 74, 2nd ed.)
as a besieged city] The exact sense is doubtful. Some render : " like
a city under observation," others : " like a watch-tower."
An interesting parallel to the idea of the verse is furnished by

ISAIAH, I. [w. 9,

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a
very small remnant,
We should have been as Sodom,
And we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom ;
Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Go
morrah.
Sennacherib's boast (in 701) that he shut up Hezekiah in his capital
" like a bird in a cage."
9. the Lord of hosts) In Hebr. Yahveh Tsebadth, a peculiarly
solemn title of the God of Israel, specially common in the prophetic
writings. On the different theories as to the origin of the expression,
see the Note in Cheyne, Comm. i. pp. 1 1 ff. The simplest explanation
of its origin is that which regards it as equivalent to "Jehovah (the
God) of the armies of Israel " (1 Sam. xvii. 45 ; cf. Ex. vii. 4). It is
.true that this cannot be the precise sense in which the phrase is used
by the prophets, since it is a fundamental conception with them that
Jehovah is no longer on the side of the hosts of Israel. But just as
Amos took the phrase "day of Jehovah" from the lips of the people
(see below on ii. 12), and gave it an interpretation diametrically opposed
to the popular one, so he may have done also with this expression. If
this be the correct view, "God of battles" may approximately reproduce
the sense in which it is used by the prophets : Jehovah is still the Lord
of Hosts, although He has disowned those of Israel. Or, if * vaguer
idea be preferred, we may adopt the Kiipios vavTOKpaTiap (All-sovereign
Lord) of the LXX. as sufficiently expressive.
a very small remnant] The adverbial phrase "very small" might
(disregarding the accents) be taken with the following clause, which
would then read " we might readily have been as Sodom, &c." (as in
Gen. xxvi. 10; Ps. xciv. 17, cxix. 87). The word for remnant (sarid)
is only here used by Isaiah. He perhaps purposely avoids shl'dr, which
he would have used in speaking of the ideal remnant that inherits the
hope of the future.
10 — 17. "The false and the true way of seeking God's favour"
(Dillmann). The threatening aspect of public affairs had probably led
to an unwonted display of zeal in the performance of the Temple ritual.
Although the underlying thought of the people is that the bond between
them and their God is maintained by sacrifice, &c, there is no reason
to suppose that they are here conceived as consciously entering this plea
in arrest of judgment. It is not till v. 18 that Jehovah calls the nation
to answer His indictment. — It is to be noted that in these verses there is
a progression from the cruder and more external to the more spiritual
expressions of religious homage : sacrifice, solemn assemblies, prayer.
This shews that what the prophet repudiates is not cultus as such, but
the unholy combination of ritual worship with immoral conduct.
10. rulers of Sodom... people of Gomorrah] Note the singularly

vv. Ii— 13.] ISAIAH, I.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices «
unto me ? saith the Lord :
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat
of- fed beasts ;
And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of
lambs, or of he goats.
When ye come to appear before me, "
Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my
courts?
Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is an abomina- 13
tion unto me ;
effective transition from the last words of v. 9. The word for " ruler "
is the same as the Arabic kadi (found again in iii. 6, xxii. 3) and means
strictly " decider," i.e. judge.
law of our God) Parallel to word ofthe Lord, as in ii. 3. The reference
is not to the Mosaic Law, but to the prophetic revelation which follows
(cf. v. 24, viii. 16, xxx. 9). The word TSrah (primarily " direction,"
then " instruction " or " teaching ") was perhaps originally employed of
the oral directions given by the priests on points of ritual or ethics (see
esp. Hag. ii. 11; Jer. ii. 8, viii. 8, xviii. 18 ; Ezek. vii. 26); but is fre
quently used of the prophetic teaching (Jer. xxxi. 33; Is. xiii. 4, &c.).
It appears always to denote religious instruction, even in such cases
as Prov. i. 8, iii. 1, xiii. 14, &c. Of the Mosaic Law, Deut. i. 5, iv. 8,
and very often.
11. sacrifices] the general term for animal sacrifices ; burnt-offerings,
those entirely consumed on the altar ; of the more ordinary kinds the
deity received the fat and the blood.
I am full of] am sated with. The idea of sacrifice as the food of the
gods seems to belong to the original conception of the rite, and lingered
long in the popular consciousness even of Israel (Ps. 1. 13). See Robertson
Smith, Religion ofthe Semites, p. 224 (Revised Ed.).
12. to appear before me] R.V. marg. (following one Hebr. MS.)
suggests to see my face, which is grammatically easier. It is thought that
here and elsewhere the traditional text has substituted the passive for
the active so as to avoid the appearance of anthropomorphism. On
either view the phrase is a technical one, denoting the act of worship
in the sanctuary: Ex. xxiii. 15, 17, xxxiv. 20, 23 ; Deut. xvi. 16, xxxi.
11; 1 Sam. i. 22.
to tread] Better to trample ; the idea of desecration is implied.
This ending of the question seems weak : LXX. transfers the clause to
the beginning ofthe next verse: " My courts ye shall no more trample;
to bring oblations is vain, &c."
13. oblations] The word is technically used of the meal-offering,
but may embrace sacrificial gifts of every description (Gen. iv. 4).
incense is an abomination] Or (according to the Hebrew accentua
tion), "it is abominable incense to me." The word "incense" meant
originally the sacrificial smoke.

ISAIAH, I. [w. 14—17.

The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assem
blies, I cannot away with;
It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul
hateth :
They are a trouble unto me;
I am weary to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide
mine eyes from you :
Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:
Your hands are full of blood.
Wash ye, make you clean ; put away the evil of your
doings from before mine eyes;
Cease to do evil ; learn to do well ;
Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,
Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
new moon and sabbath (R.V.).^ Cf. 1 Sam. xx. 5, 24 ; 2 Ki. iv. 23 ;
Am. viii. 5 ; Hos. ii. 11; Num. xxviii. 11, &c. ; Ex. xx. 8 ; Gen. ii. 2, 3,
&c. assemblies (lit. "calling together") is the word rendered
" convocation " in the Pent, (see esp. Lev. xxiii.).
it is iniquity... meeting] Render as R.V. I cannot away with (endure)
iniquity and the solemn meeting (festal gathering), i.e. the combination
of the two. The construction is still harsh (but see a somewhat similar ¦
combination in 1 Sam. xv. 23). LXX. has "fasting and idleness";
apparently c$m we'acldh. The true reading may have been {dm wa-
'acdrah, " fasting and solemn assembly " (Joel i. 14, ii. 15).
solemn meeting] (=" throng," Jer. ix. 2), cf. 2 Ki. x. 20; Am. v. 21;
Joel i. 14. A slightly different form is used in the Law for the great
gathering on the last day of the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles
(Lev. xxiii. 36; Deut. xvi. 8, &c). The original meaning of the word
is probably " tempus clausum." (See Robertson Smith, Ret. of the
Semites, Revd. Ed. p. 456.)
14. appointed feasts] the stated festivals dependent on the season of
the year; see Gen. i. 14. trouble is literally burden.
IB. your hands (" spread forth " in the attitude of prayer) are full of
blood] a symbol of cruel wrongs perpetrated or tolerated, including the
guilt of actual murder (v. 21).
16, 17. In opposition to this false service of God, Jehovah calls for
moral reformation and enunciates the true conditions on which the
restoration of His favour depends.
17. relieve the oppressed) E.V. seems here to follow the LXX. The
Hebrew must be translated set right the oppressor (R.V. marg.) —
restrain him within the bounds of justice.
fatherless.. .widow) those who have no natural protectors, and are

vv. 18—20.] ISAIAH, I.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : 18
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow;
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good 19
of the land :
But if ye refuse and rebel, 2°
Ye shall be devoured with the sword :
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
always exposed to wrong when the administration of justice is weak or
corrupt (cf. v. 23 ; ch. x. 2). To defend such is specially the duty of the
judge, but it is also an obligation lying on every one who has influence
in the community. The prophet addresses his hearers ("rulers" and
" people " v. 10) as members of the state ; and his demand is that by
" seeking judgment " they shall exercise the fundamental virtue of citi
zenship. The righteousness which he requires is social righteousness,
iustitia civilis, a public life so ordered as to secure for each individual
his personal rights. The prophets'' passion for justice is always inspired
by a deep sense of the value of the human personality in the sight
of God.
18 — 20. Jehovah condescends to plead.
18. let us reason together] more accurately, let us Implead one
another (Acts xix. 38, A.V.). The idea is that of a legal process in
• which each party maintains his own case (see ch. xliii. 26). It is felt by
some comm. that the legal figure is inconsistent with an absolute offer
of forgiveness in the two clauses which follow. The difficulty would be
obviated by the subtle and attractive rendering (proposed, but now
withdrawn, by Cheyne) " let us bring our dispute to an end " ; but this
is unsupported by grammar or usage. The second member of each
sentence might be taken as an indignant question, "If your sins are...
shall they be white... ?" — or as an ironical concession, "Though your
sins be. ..let them be white... ! " The idea of pardon, however, may be
retained, provided it be understood as conditioned by the alternative of
w. 19, 20.
scarlet and crimson are really synonyms for one colour, properly
" crimson." The dye in question was obtained from the dried and
powdered bodies of an insect (coccus ilicis, in Hebr. tdla'ath shdni=
" bright worm "). There is perhaps no other instance of red used as a
general symbol for sin, though white is the natural emblem of innocence
(Ps. li. 7).
20. ye shall be devoured with the sword] " Sword " is here taken as
an ace. of instrument, a construction of more than doubtful validity in
Hebr. A more idiomatic rendering is : ye shall be made to eat the
sword. An exactly similar expression is used by the Arabs, although
Hebr. analogies are wanting.

ISAIAH, I. [vv. 21—24.

How is the faithful city become a harlot 1
It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it;
But now murderers.
Thy silver is become dross,
Thy wine mixt with water:
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves :
Every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards :
They judge not the fatherless,
Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the
mighty One of Israel, -
21 ff. The elegy (qinah, distinguished by a peculiar rhythm and by
the opening word ikah, "how") is a frequent vehicle of prophetic
utterance. This is the clearest instance in the genuine writings of
Isaiah, and it is characteristic of the ' city prophet (Cheyne), that the
subject is not the nation but the idealised capital. Isaiah is in a good
sense 'laudator temporis acti.' He laments the degeneracy of Jeru
salem, looking back probably to the days of David, when it was the
abode of judgment and righteousness.
21. a harlot] The idea conveyed is perhaps rather deterioration of
character than infidelity to the marriage bond with Jehovah, an image
not used by Isaiah (as by Hos.).
righteousness (fideq) is the principle of right action in individuals or
the community ; judgment (mishpdt) the embodiment of that principle
in judicial decisions, use and wont, and the like. These qualities con
stituted the "faithfulness," trustworthiness, ofthe city.
22. silver and wine may refer to the great men of the city (v. 23)
but more naturally to the "judgment" and "righteousness" of v. 21 ; —
all that was best in her, purity of morals, excellence of character, &c.
The word for mixt occurs only here. The phrase is usually illustrated
by the Latin "castrare vinum," the verb being taken as connected
with that for " circumcise."
wine] better : choice drink, found elsewhere only in Hos. iv. 18.
23. Thy princes are rebellious] In the Heb. a paronomasia, borrowed
from Hos. ix. 15. The "princes" (sdrlm) axe the civil and military
officials of the monarchical constitution, as distinguished from the
zlqenim (sheikhs or elders) of the old tribal system. The charge brought
against them is that as a class they are corrupted by systematic bribery.
They are companions of thieves, conniving at extortion and receiving in
return a share of the spoil. Hence the fatherless and widows, having
no bribes to offer, can obtain no redress ; they cannot even find access to
the seat of judgment.
24. Such men are adversaries and enemies of Jehovah, thwarting His
wishes and purposes for His people. the Lord] " the
Master " or the Sovereign. The title, used absolutely as here (ha-Addn),
is almost peculiar to Isaiah, and is used by him only in introducing a
threat (ch. iii. 1, a. 16, 33, xix. 4; cf. Ex. xxiii. 17, xxxiv. 23).

vv. 25—27.] ISAIAH, I.

Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries,
And avenge me of mine enemies :
And I will turn my hand upon thee, ¦¦
And purely purge away thy dross,
And take away all thy tin :
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, :
And thy counselors as at the beginning :
Afterward; thou shalt be called,
The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, -.
And her converts with righteousness.
the mighty One of Israel] Israel's Strong One, a rare word in Hebr.,
first found in Gen. xlix. 24. See on ch. x. 13. ease me)
Better : appease myself, and so again, avenge myself. By a bold
anthropopathy the divine Being is compared to a man thirsting for
vengeance. 25 resumes the first figure of v. 22, the judgment on Zion being
likened to the smelting of impure ore. turn (or bring back)
my hand] not in mercy, but, as usual, in judgment.
purely] R.V. throughly, lit. " as with lye," i.e. potash, which was
used as a flux to facilitate the separation of the metals. The grammar
is still suspicious. Some, by transposing two consonants, obtain the
sense " in the furnace."
26. The result will be the establishment of a pure administration in
Jerusalem, as in the olden time, Zion once more worthy of her ancient
name, citadel of righteousness (Cheyne), faithful city. The last ex
pression, carrying us back to v. 21, marks the close of the elegy.
Two things are noteworthy in this passage. (1) The ideal is political.
The salvation of Israel is secured when all public offices are filled with
good men ("judges" and " counsellers "). (2) The ideal will be
realised by a restoration of the best days of the past. In later prophecies
Isaiah looks forward to a state of things far transcending anything that
had been achieved in Israel's previous history. Such an anticipation as
this is most naturally assigned to an early period of his career, before
his eschatological conceptions had assumed a definite form.
27 describes the salutary and 28 the judicial aspect of the chastisement
in more abstract terms than those hitherto employed. her converts]
lit. "those in her who turn"; cf. " Remnant-shall-turn" in ch. vii. 3.
redeemed] A very rare word with Isaiah (only again in xxix. 22). It
is doubtful whether the meaning is that she shall be redeemed from her
own sins, or from the troubles they shall have brought upon her. So it
is uncertain whether judgment and righteousness (cf. v. 21) are the
virtues of the redeemed people, or the attributes of God manifested in
the redemption. The former idea is most in accordance with Isaiah's
use of the words, but the latter, which is common in the later parts of
the book, undoubtedly gives the best sense in this connexion.

ISAIAH, I. [w. 28—31.

28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the
sinners shall be together,
And they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have
desired,
And ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye
have chosen.
30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,
And as a garden that hath no water.
31 And the strong shall be as tow,
And the maker of it as a spark,
And they shall both burn together, and none shall
quench them.
28. And the destruction... together] Better as an exclamation : But
destruction of rebels and sinners tog-ether! Rebels, sinners, forsakers
of Jehovah, as in vv. 2 — 4.
29 — 31. The judgment will also bring about a purification of
religion, by revealing the folly of trusting in other deities than
Jehovah. 29. they shall be ashamed) Some MSS. and Ancient Versions have
the second person, possibly a mere correction.
oaks] terebinths. These and the gardens are emblems not of luxury,
but of nature-worship. On " gardens " as seats of heathenish cults, see
lxv. 3, lxvi. 17. The worship of sacred trees and sacred wells (which
were probably the numina of the gardens [Duhm], see v. 30) are two of
the most widely diffused and persistent forms of nature-worship, and
are not extinct in Syria at the present day. •
30. To the nature worshippers themselves the falling leaf of the
terebinth and the failure of the spring in the garden, would mean the
decay of the divine life which was supposed to animate these objects.
To Isaiah, who recognises no divine life in nature but that of Jehovah,
they are simply appropriate images of the collapse of superstition.
31 refers probably (though not certainly) to idolatry in the strict sense
of image-worship. the strong] Apparently "the powerful
(opulent) man." The word occurs only once again in Am. ii. 9.
and the maker of it] Render with" R.V. and his work, i.e. either
" his idol," or " his unrighteous work."
they shall both burn. ..quench them] The " work " is a spark and the
worker like tinder. The idea is that the product of sin will become the
means of the sinner's destruction. Ch. II.— IV.
In these three chapters we seem to have one of the minor collections
of Isaianic oracles from which the present book of Isaiah ha? been
compiled (see Introd., p. Ixvii). That they once existed as a separate

v. I.] ISAIAH, II. 13
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning 2
Judah and Jerusalem.
volume is strongly suggested by two circumstances, (a) The form of
the superscription (ii. 1) as compared with that of ch. i. 1. The repeti
tion of the full designation of the prophet, without any note of time or
subject specially applicable to what follows, would seem to indicate that
this heading was written independently of the general title in ch. i.
(b) The artistic unity and completeness of the section as a whole confirms
the impression of its original independence. It contains (1) an intro
duction (ii. 2 — 4), describing the future glory of Zion as the religious
metropolis of the world ; (2) a series of discourses in which the prophet
assails the prevalent vices and evils of his own day, and announces the
judgment about to fall on the nation (ii. 5 [6] — iv. 1) ; and (3) a con
clusion (iv. 2 — 6), shewing how through judgment the ideal set forth at
the outset shall be realised in the blessings reserved for those who
escape the judgment. The enclosing of the oracles of judgment between
two passages of Messianic import affords clear evidence of literary
design : which is admitted even by critics who (see below) question the
Isaianic authorship of the opening and closing sections.
With regard to the date little difference of opinion exists. At least
the middle portion (ii. 6 — iv. 1) is assigned with hardly « dissentient
voice to the very earliest period of Isaiah's prophetic career. In ii. 6—
22, the material prosperity attained under Uzziah still exists in un
diminished splendour, and (since Isaiah did not receive his prophetic
call till the year of that king's death) the passage is most naturally
assigned to the succeeding reign, that of Jotham. Ch. iii. may have
been written somewhat later. Its picture of anarchy may have been
suggested by tendencies which Isaiah saw around him, caused by the
removal of a strong hand from the helm; and at all events v. 12
applies to no king so well as to the weak and irresolute Ahaz. On
the other hand, the absence of any explicit allusion to the Assyrians
shews that the prophecies belong to the very beginning of the reign,
prior to the events recorded in ch. vii. The whole passage is thus
of great importance as a record of the impressions and ideas with
which Isaiah entered on public life.
II. 1. On the scope of the heading see Introd. Note above. — The
word.  saw] The combination of the verb "see" with the obj.
" word " is not uncommon : Jer. xxxviii. 2 1 ; Hab. ii. 1 ; Am. i. 1 ;
Mic. i. 1, and cf. Is. xiii. 1 ; Hab. i. 1 (burden). In such expressions
both words have undergone a certain process of generalisation ; " word "
denoting the substance of the prophetic revelation, in whatever way
received, and "see" (hazah) describing the spiritual intuition by which
the prophet was enabled to apprehend it. (See on ch. i. 1.)
Ch. II. 2 — 4. Zion the Centre of the Universal Religion
in the Latter Days.
In this striking picture of the Messianic age the following features
should be noticed:— (i) The preeminence, amongst the mountains of

'4

TS'AIAH, II. [v. 2.

i And it shall come to pass in the last days,
That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be esta
blished in the top of the mountains,
the world, of Zion, the acknowledged seat of Jehovah's universal
dominion (cf. Jer. iii. 17; Ps. ii. 6, ex. 2, &c, also Ez. xl. 2). (ii)
The extension of the true religion is effected, not by conquest, but by
the moral inlluence of Israel's theocratic institutions on surrounding
peoples (cf. Is. Ix. 3). The submission of the nations is spontaneous;
they are filled with eager desire to learn the ways of Jehovah (comp.
Zech. ii. 11, viii. 22). Hence (iii) the nations retain their political
independence. They are not .conceived as absorbed in the Jewish
nationality or as incorporated in a world-empire. Jehovah, not Israel,
rules the world, and He rules it by His word, not by the sword, (iv)
The authority of Jehovah, appealed to in all international disputes,
brings war to an end, and ushers in an era of universal peace.
The representation is ideal, yet it contains little to which the hope of
the Church does not look forward as the issue of the Christian dispensa
tion. The only traces of the limitations of the Old Testament stand
point spring from the idea of Zion as the earthly centre of Jehovah's
sovereignty. Even this has been understood literally by many Christians.
But it is more in accordance with the analogy of prophecy to regard it
as one of those symbols of spiritual truth, which, although conceived
realistically by the prophets, were destined to be fulfilled in ways that
could not be perfectly revealed until the true nature of God's kingdom
was disclosed by Christ.
The occurrence of this prophecy, with slight variations, in Mic. iv.
1 — 4, raises a difficult literary problem, for no one will now hold that
the two prophets were independently inspired to utter identical words.
Did Isaiah borrow from Micah or Micah from Isaiah, or both from some
unknown earlier prophet ? Against the first hypothesis it is pointed out
that Micah's prophetic career had not begun till a time considerably
later than the date of these chapters ; hence if either prophet borrowed
from the other the citation must be on the part of Micah. But against
this it is urged that its position in Isaiah and the want ofconnexion
with what follows mark it out as a quptation, and also that it is given
by Micah in what appears to be the more original form. Hence the
third alternative (originally propounded by Koppe in the last century)
has been widely accepted by critics. On this view the utterance of an
older prophet has been adopted by Isaiah and Micah as a " classic "
and perhaps popular expression of the ideal to which they both looked
forward. But a theory which is reached by a process of exhaustion
cannot command much confidence, especially when the process is after
all not exhaustive. The possibility of a later insertion in both places
cannot be ignored, and a certain presumption in favour of Isaiah's
authorship is furnished by resemblances both in matter and style to
other passages in the book (xi. 1 — 8, xxxii. 1 — 8), (so Duhm). At the
same time it cannot be denied that its connexion in the present passage
is somewhat loose, and it must remain doubtful whether it was originally

v. 3-] ISAIAH, II. 15
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow unto it.
And many people shall go and say, 3
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord,
composed as the introduction to this group of prophecies or belongs to
a later stage of Isaiah's life. The assertion that the conception pre
sented would be unintelligible in the age of Isaiah may be disregarded.
As Wellhausen remarks, the prediction is one that would be remarkable
in any age ; it is perhaps even less surprising from the pen of Isaiah
than from that of a later prophet.
2. And it shall come to pass] This formula (so common in con
tinuous discourse) nowhere else introduces a prophetic oration (Ez.
xxxviii. 10 is not really an exception), and shews that the passage has
been detached from its original context. in the last days]
Better, in the after-days (Cheyne) or "latter days" (R.V.), lit. "in
the sequel of the days." The phrase in itself denotes simply the
(remote) future, and is so used in Gen. xlix. 1; Num. xxiv. 14; Deut. iv.
30; xxxi. 29. An exact Assyrian parallel to this use (akhrat yumi) is
given by Cheyne and Delitzsch. By the prophets the expression is
often specialised in an eschatological sense, as in Hos. iii. 5 ; Ez.
xxxviii. 16 (cf. v. 8), and probably Jer. xlviii. 47, xlix. 39, where it
means (as here) the final age of the world's history following the
establishment of the kingdom of God. In Jer. xxiii. 20, xxx. 24, how
ever, the vaguer sense is more probable.
the mountain of the Lord s house] the Temple mount, which is also the
seat of the Messiah's government. The phrase occurs in the parallel
passage in Micah, also in Mic. iii. 12 (" mount of the house") ; 1 Mace.
xvi. 20 (" mount of the temple "). In the next verse it is resolved
into the two members of a' parallelism : " mountain of Jehovah " and
" house of the God of Jacob." established in the'top of....]
Better as R.V. at the head of...(cf. 1 Sam. ix. 22 ; Am. vi. 7) ; although
the translation "as the chief of the mountains" would also be admissible
(Davidson, Synt. § 101 R, 1 a.). A miraculous physical elevation of
Zion may possibly be thought of (Ez. xl. 2 ; Zech. xiv. 10) ; but the
idea (seriously entertained by some) that Zion is to be literally set on
the top of the other hills is too grotesque to be attributed to any
prophet, save under compulsion. In this passage a metaphorical exalta
tion, in respect of political and religious importance, seems to satisfy
all the requirements both of syntax and exegesis (cf. Ps. lxviii. 15 f.).
all (the) nations shall flow] Properly "shall stream," a verb only
used figuratively of the movement of masses of men to great centres of
intercourse like Babylon (Jer. xxxi. 12, li. 44). Instead of "all the
nations " Micah has (in harmony with w. 3 f.) simply " peoples," which
probably preserves the original text. The universality of the true
religion is in either case implied ; and the bare suggestion is perhaps
more effective than an explicit assertion would be.
3. The conflux of nations explained by the desire, everywhere

16 ISATAH, II.  [w-4,5-
To the house of the God of Jacob ;
And he will teach us of his ways,
And we will walk in his paths:
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations,
And shall rebuke many people:
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruninghooks :
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.
s O house of Jacob, come ye,

expressed, to know and practise the ways of Jehovah. Cf. Zech. viii.
20, 21. and he will teach us.. .and we will walk] Or
that He may teach us... and that we may walk. The verb for
"teach" is that from which the noun " TSrdh" (i. 10) is derived;
hence the instruction must be conceived as communicated through the
agency of prophets like Isaiah. of his ways] The
preposition has a, partitive sense (cf. Ps. xciv. 12) : " somewhat of his
ways " ; each people receiving such direction as is adapted to its peculiar
circumstances. The "ways" and "paths" of Jehovah, denoting the
revealed principles and maxims of religion and ethics, are figures too
frequent in the O.T. to need detailed references.
for out of Zion. ..Jerusalem] These may be either words of the
prophet, looking into the future, or of the peoples themselves as they
exhort one another to go up to Jerusalem. In the latter case the verbs
should be rendered in the present tense. the law] i.e.
" Tbrdh." See on i. 10.
4. Jehovah's righteous judgment causes "wars to cease to the ends
of the earth."
among the nations] Here again Micah's language is more indefinite :
"many peoples "; "strong nations afar off."
rebuke] arbitrate for; or, as R.V. marg., "give decision concerning."
Cf. Gen. xxxi. 37 ; Job ix. 33 (" umpire," R.V. marg.). The meaning
of course is that disputes which would otherwise have been settled by
the sword are referred to the just and impartial arbitrament of Jehovah,
whose award is accepted as final.
they shall beat... pruninghooks] For the figure cf. Martial's "falx
ex ense " (Ep. xiv. 34) and on the contrary Ovid (Fast. I. 699), "sarcula
cessabunt, versique in pila ligones " ; also Joel iii. 10. The word ren
dered " ploughshares " is found only in 1 Sam. xiii. 20 f. and in the
parallels in Micah and Joel. Perhaps " mattock."
The cessation of war is a prominent idea in Messianic prophecy. See
esp. Hos. ii. 18 ; Zech. ix. 10 ; and on Is. ix. 5 below.

v. 6.] ' ISAIAH, II. 17
And let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of 6
Jacob,
Because they be replenished from the east,

Ch. II. 6 — 22. The False Glory of Israel to be annihilated
by the Glory of Jehovah in a Day of Judgment.
The passage may be divided into three brief sections : —
i. (vv. 5—9). After a transition verse (5, see below), the prophet
proceeds, in an impassioned appeal to Jehovah, to contrast the actual
condition of His people with the ideal set forth in w. 2 — 4. The city
destined to be the source of light and truth to all nations is at present
a receptacle for the darkest and most degrading errors of heathenism.
Having surveyed the symptoms of apostasy and ungodly pride which
are everywhere around him — foreign superstitions (6), display of wealth
(7), confidence in military resources (7), idolatry (8) — he gives utterance
to the conviction borne in upon his mind, that the sin of the nation is
unpardonable (9). Then follows,
ii. (w. 10 — 17). A powerful description of the physical convulsions
which mark the great "Day of Jehovah." The conception seems to
combine the features of the earthquake with those of the thunderstorm;
it is a judgment directed against all that is "high and lofty" (12) ; i.e.
everything, whether in nature (13 f.) or in human civilisation (15 f.),
which seems to lift its head against the majesty of Jehovah (11, 17).
iii. In vv. t8 — 21 the prophet returns to the subject of idolatry,
describing the sudden despair and ignominious discomfiture "in that
day " of all who put their trust in images. The last verse then sums up
in general terms the lesson of the preceding prophecy.
5 is apparently a transition verse (cf. Mic. iv. 5), " Since this great
destiny is ours, O House of Jacob, let us at least for ourselves rise to the
height of our privileges. But how vain is the exhortation 1 (6) For
Thou, Jehovah, hast rejected, &c." Or, the prophet may be supposed'
to cut short abruptly a line of thought he meant to pursue, and to make
a fresh start at v. 6. But neither of these views is convincing enough to
remove the impression that vv. 2 — 4 are not the original introduction
to 6 ff.
light of the Lord] Not the " light of His countenance " (as Ps.
Ixxxix. 15, xliv. 3), but of His Revelation (cf. Is. li. 4).
6 — 9. The prophet bears witness to Jehovah against Israel. It is
very rarely that Isaiah thus addresses himself directly to God.
6. Therefore thou hast forsaken] For thou hast rejected — a strong
word, used twice (Deut. xxxii. 15 ; Jer. xv. 6) of Israel's rejection
of Jehovah, more frequently as here. This " rejection " is the counter
part of the " rebellion " of ch. i. 2. replenished from the east]
An old and plausible emendation (mqsm for mqdm) gives the sense
"filled with sorcery." Possibly both words were written ("with
sorcery from the east "), one having been dropped in copying because

ISAIAH, II. [\v!7— g.

And are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Their land also is full of silver and gold,
Neither is there any end of their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
Neither is there any end of their chariots :
Their land also is full of idols ;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made :
i And the mean man boweth down,
of their resemblance. ' ' The east " would include Arabia, Syria, and
Mesopotamia, perhaps also Babylonia, " the classic land of magic."
soothsayers] It is not certain what particular form of divination is
indicated by the name. Some take it as derived from the word for
cloud; "cloud-compellers," i.e. rainmakers. On divination amongst
" the Philistines " see I Sam. vi. 2 ; 2 Ki. i. 2. please them
selves in] Lit. strike hands with (R.V.), i.e. "form alliances with."
The expression is not found elsewhere, and the rendering is somewhat
uncertain. Dillmann thinks that " children of strangers " must mean
" foreign youths," who were in request as sorcerers, but the wider
sense (= "strangers," simply) seems preferable. It is probably better
(with Hitzig) to read btdt ("with the hands of") instead of bfyaldl
("with the children of"), rendering simply: "join hands with
strangers." 7. Their land also is full...] Lit. and its (the people's) land has
become filled (and so throughout vv. 7, 8). silver and
gold... treasures] The wealth of the countiy had increased enormously
through commercial activity and the control of the Red Sea traffic
(2 Kings xiv. 22) in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham. These
"treasures" were partly expended in procuring "horses and chariots,"
as in the time of Solomon. The prophets condemn all such accumula
tion of earthly resources, as tending to lead the nation away from
reliance on the help of Jehovah. Cf. Deut. xvii. 16, 17, xx. 1 ;
Is. xxxi. 1 ; Mic. v. 10 ; Zech. ix. 10.
8. idols] Lit. "nonentities." — The word ('eltlim) is almost peculiar
to Isaiah; and appears to contain a scornful play on the word for "gods"
('tlim). work of their own hands] The prophet refuses to
distinguish, as a heathen might, between the false deity and his image ;
the latter alone has real existence. Cf. Hos. xiii. 2 ; Is. xl. 19 f., xli.
7 ; xliv. 12 — 20, &c.
9. boweth down...humbleth himself] If this be the right translation,
the reference must be to the degradation of human dignity involved in
idolatry and superstition, a thought not unworthy of Isaiah. It is
more probable, however (see ch. v. 15), that the words refer to the
judgment at hand, which is as certain as if it had already taken place.
So R.V. is bowed down... is brought low. The verbs may be under
stood either in a reflexive or a passive sense.

w. io— 12.] ISAIAH, II. 19
And the great man humbleth himself;
Therefore forgive them not.
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, 10
For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his
majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, u
And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every 12
one that is proud and lofty,
mean man... great man] In the original the contrast is expressed by
two words for " man," corresponding to homo and vir in Latin, Mensch
and Mann in German, &c. Sometimes, as here, the distinction is
emphasised so as to mark a contrast (Ps. xlix. 2).
therefore forgive them not] Or, and thou canst (or wilt) not forgive
them. The verbal form employed in the Heb. (jussive) properly ex
presses the will or desire of the speaker (as E.V.), but in negative
sentences it "sometimes expresses merely the subjective feeling and
sympathy of the speaker with the act" (Davidson, Synt. § 128, R. 2).
10, 11. It is doubtful whether these verses should be connected
with what precedes or with what follows, Each is of the nature of a
refrain verse : note the resemblances in 10, 19, 21 and in 11, 17. (In
the LXX. v. 10 ends with " to terrify the earth," as 19, 21.) Although
no strophic arrangement can be traced, the verses obviously express the.
keynote of this part of the discourse.
10. Enter into the rock] The clefts and caverns (see w. 19, 21) which
abounded in the limestone rock of Palestine were used as natural hiding-
places in time of invasion (Jud. vi. 2; i Sam. xiii. 6, xiv. 11). Cf. the
still more impressive representation, Hos. x. 8.
11. in that day] The day to be now described in
12 — 16. The conception, although in the highest degree poetic, is
not allegorical. Trees, mountains, ships, &c. are not emblems of
kings, magnates, commerce and the like ; the destruction of all that is
imposing and sublime in nature or art is itself the concrete expression of
the idea that " the Lord alone shall be exalted." The appearing of
Jehovah is depicted under the imageiy of the thunderstorm, an ancient
symbol ofthe Theophany (cf. Jud. v. 4 f. ; Ps. xviii. 7 — 14, xxix.).
12. For the day... proud...] Render, For Jehovah of Hosts hath a
day upon all that is proud... (see R.V. marg.). What the prophet
asserts is that there is a " day of Jehovah," in the sense in which he has
to announce it. From Am. v. 18 we learn that the phrase was already
familiar to the people, but was understood in a sense favourable to
themselves. How they arrived at the idea is not known. Probably the
word "day" was interpreted as "day of battle," Jehovah's "day"
being the day of His victory over the enemies of Israel (see Robertson
2 — 2

ISATKH, IT. [vv. 13—19.

And upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be
brought low :
13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high
and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14 And upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15 And upon every high tower,
And upon every fenced wall,
16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all pleasant pictures.
17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be made low :
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks,
Smith, Proph. of Israel, Revd. Ed. pp. 397 f.). From the time of Amos (if
not earlier) the "day of the Lord " becomes a standing designation of
the prophets for the final manifestation of Jehovah to judge Israel and
the world. Here it is obviously a universal judgment that is predicted.
Id, 16. Works of human art are last mentioned as being nearer to
the sinful pride of man, which is the ultimate cause of the judgment.
16. ships of Tarshish] The largest class of merchant vessels then
used. They were first built by the Phoenicians for the long voyage to
Tartessus (Tarshish) in Spain; but the name (like our "Indiaman")
was applied to large ships whatever their destination. Since the
harbour of Elath was at this time in the possession of Judah the prophet
may allude to fleets sailing thence to the East in the service of Jotham.
More likely, however, he is thinking of the Phoenician argosies which
he had seen in the Mediterranean. pleasant pictures] An
obscure expression, found only here. The noun is thought to be derived
from a verb meaning "to see," but this lends itself to a variety of
senses. The rendering of A.V. seems to rest on the Vulg., "omne
quod visu pulchrum est" ; or perhaps like that of R.V. ("imagery")
on the analogy of a cognate Heb. noun (Num. xxxiii. 52; Prov. xxv. 11);
"watch-towers" (R.V. marg.) is based on the Peshito (see Cheyne,
Comm. 11. p. 137).
18—21. A special feature ofthe judgment will be the extinction of
idolatry everywhere.
18. And the idols. . . abolish] Rather, and as for the idols — they shall
completely pass away (cf. R. V.). If the text be right this is the sense.
But the extreme shortness of the verse, together with some grammatical
anomalies, suggest that the text may have suffered mutilation in the
course of transmission.
19. they shall go] i.e. , as R.V. , men shall go.

VV. 20—22.] ISAIAH, II.

And into the caves of the earth,
For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his
majesty,
When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
In' that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and 20
his idols of gold,
Which they made each one for himself to worship,
To the moles and to the bats;
To go into the clifts of the rocks, 21
And into the tops of the ragged rocks,
For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his
majesty,
When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils : 32
For wherein is he to be accounted of?

holes of the rocks... earth] Better : caves of the rocks and into the
holes of the dust (R.V. and marg.; see on v. 10 above).
to shake terribly the earth] R.V. has " to shake mightily," but the
strict rendering is to terrify the earth : a paronomasia in Heb., easily
imitated in Latin, " ut terreat terrain." There is an undoubted allusion
to an earthquake. Isaiah must have experienced the great earthquake
in the reign of Uzziah (Am. i. 1 ; Zech. xiv. 5) ; and the deep impression
made on his youthful mind furnished him with a presentiment of the
terror of the great day of Jehovah.
20. An expansion of the thought of v. 18. The verse is remarkable
for the absence of parallelism. which they made each one for
himself] R.V. renders more faithfully, "which they made for him."
Probably, however, the verb is an archaic singular wrongly pointed
('asu, read 'asav), the translation being : which he made for himself,
cf. v. 8.
to the moles and to the bats] The sense is not doubtful, although an
accidental division of the word for " moles " in the original (lahpar-
pdrbth) has misled some of the older interpreters.
21. See on vv. 10, 19. Translate: to enter into the hollows of
the rocks and clefts of the crags, &c.
22. whose breath... nostrils] A translation both weak and ungram-
matical, although retained in R.V. Render: in whose nostrils is
a, breath. The breath of the nostrils symbolises the divinely im
parted principle of life in man (Gen. ii. 7) ; and the meaning of the
clause is that man's life is frail and perishable as a breath (cf. Job
vii. 7).
This verse is not found in the LXX., and is regarded by many as a
later insertion in Isaiah's prophecy.

ISAIAH, III. [v. I.

For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
Doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the
stay and the staff,
Ch. III. l— IV. 1. Judgment on the Rapacity and Luxury
of the Upper Classes in Judah.
The passage falls into two sections : —
i. vv. i — 15. A prediction of the impending dissolution of social
order, due to the selfishness and tyranny of the ruling classes.
(1) Jehovah is about to remove all the existing pillars of the state,
and hand over the land to the miseries of incompetent and capricious
government (1 — 4). A state of anarchy will ensue, which will be felt to
be intolerable even by those who have helped to bring it about. A
graphic picture is presented of the futile efforts of the people to restore
some semblance of authority (5 — 7).
(2) The reason of this visitation is next stated ; the unblushing
wickedness which prevails in the land has provoked the "eyes of
Jehovah's glory," the chief guilt lying at the door of the court and the
nobles (8 — 12). The section closes with a vision of judgment; Jehovah
appears in person and sternly calls the authorities of His people to
account for their abuse ofthe trust committed to them (13 — 15).
ii. iii. 16 — iv. 1. The second section, which is perhaps somewhat
fragmentary, is devoted to the fashionable women of the capital. It
contains : —
(1) A diatribe against the frivolity and extravagance of the ladies of
Jerusalem, combined with a threat of the degradation in store for them
(16—24). (2) A picture of the desolation of the city, bereft of her defenders,
who have fallen in war (25, 26).
(3) A description of the effect of this disaster on the surviving
women, who in the depletion of the male population will scarcely find
husbands to take away their reproach (iv. 1).
Throughout the passage the prophet's point of view is somewhat
different from that occupied in ch. ii. 6 ff. There it is the religious
aspect of the people's sin that is emphasised : pride, idolatry, and
reliance on worldly power ; here it is dealt with in its social aspect, as
misgovernment, cruelty, luxury, &c. Again, the judgment in ch. ii. is
represented as an overpowering physical catastrophe ; here it is con
ceived as a destruction of the invisible bonds of society and a setting
loose of the unruly passions of men to prey upon each other. This
vivid apprehension of the evils of anarchy is instructive as the earliest
indication of the statesmanlike quality of Isaiah's genius, and his pro
found sense of the value of good government as the primary condition
of national well-being.
1 ff. The collapse of the social fabric is to be brought about by the
removal of the classes that contribute to the order and stability of the
state. The state of things described might be the effect either of war
and captivity (cf. 2 Ki. xxiv. 14 ; Jer. xxiv. 1 ; xxix. 1) or of a political
revolution. The former view is the more natural, but .it should be

vv. 2—4.] ISAIAH, III.

23

The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
The mighty man, and the man of war, 2
The judge, arid the prophet, and the prudent, and the
ancient,
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, 3
And the counseller, and the cunning artificer, and the
eloquent orator.
And I will give children to be their princes, 4
And babes shall rule over them.
noted that in ch. ix. 8 ff. (addressed to North Israel, and nearly con
temporary with this) a period of revolutionary anarchy precedes the
crowning disaster of the Assyrian invasion.
1. the Lord, the Lord of hosts] as in i. 24 : the Sovereign, Jehovah
of Hosts.
the stay and the staff] The second word is the fem. form of the first.
The conjunction of similar-sounding words (like " bag and baggage " in
English) frequently expresses exhaustiveness. The meaning is simply
"every kind of prop." Cf. Nah. ii. 10; Zeph. i. 15.
the whole stay. ..water] This explanation is exceedingly unnatural in
view of the enumeration which follows. The clause is probably a
marginal gloss (readily suggested by such passages as Lev. xxvi. 26 ;
Ez. iv. 16 ; Ps. cv. 16) which has crept into the text.
2, 3. A list of the officials and prominent persons who form the
"props '' of society. No clear principle of arrangement can be traced,
although the titles tend to fall into pairs, and those in u. 3 are perhaps
of less distinction than those in v. 2. The art. is better omitted
throughout as in Heb.
2. The mighty man, and the man of war] Hero and man of war.
The profession of arms naturally stands first, Judah being still a military
power of some pretensions. In ancient times, moreover, civil and
military leadership were hardly separate.
The prophet is the professional prophet, scarcely distinguishable from
the diviner (wrongly rendered prudent in A.V.), with whom he is
bracketed. The word for ancient is that usually translated elder.
3. honourable man] lit. "man of respect"; either one high in the
king's favour (2 Ki. v. 1) or a man of good social standing, without
official rank (Job xxii. 8).
cunning artificer] lit. "skilled in arts.'' It is disputed whether the
arts in question are mechanical or magical ; hence the alternative
" charmer " in R.V. marg. At all events
eloquent orator should be skilful enchanter (R.V.).
4. The supreme power passing into the hands of weaklings, a Reign
of Terror ensues among the people. The sudden change of speaker is
very striking.
and babes...] Rather, and Outrage shall rule over them. The
word rendered " babes " is really an abstract noun, occurring again
only in ch. lxvi. 4 (A.V. " delusions "). It is derived from a verb

24
5

ISAIAH, III. [w. 5—8.

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by
another, and every one by his neighbour:
The child shall behave himself proudly against the
ancient,
And the base against the honourable.
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the
house of his father, saying,
Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler,
And let this ruin be under thy hand :
In that day shall he swear, saying,
I will not be a healer;
For in my house is neither bread nor clothing:
Make me not a ruler of the people.
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen :
Because their tongue and their doings are against the
Lord,
meaning "to outrage" or "to insult" (see Jud. xix. 25 ; 1 Sam. xxxi.
4 ; Jer. xxxviii. 19 ; Num. xxii. 29), and seems here to denote those
personal affronts and outrages which invariably accompany social con
fusions. The rendering "capriciousness," preferred by many, does not
suit lxvi. 4. Some take the word as adverbial ace. (see R.V. marg.
' ' with childishness shall they rule "), others think the abstract is used
for the concrete (" capricious youths"). But the translation given is per
haps the most forcible, — Outrage instead of Justice.
5. A general description of the state of anarchy ; ' ' the bonds of
discipline and order are loosed, all authority disappears " (Dillmann).
6, 7. Frantic but unsuccessful efforts will be made to induce some one
to undertake the task of maintaining order, v. 6 is the protasis, v. 7
the apodosis. Render: When one man lays hold of another in his
father's house : " Thou hast a cloak, thou shalt be a ruler for us,"
&c. It is the election of a local justice (kadi ch. i. 10), not of a king or
dictator, which is described ; " not an isolated, but a frequently observed
circumstance" (Cheyne). The choice of the people falls on a landed
proprietor who has been fortunate enough to retain his ancestral estate
(his "father's house"), and whose outer garment is a sufficient badge
of respectability. On ruler see i. 10.
7. swear) better, protest, lit. "lift up (sc. his voice)."
healer] lit. "binder-up" (of the wounds ofthe state), see i. 6,
in my house... clothing] " I am as poor as any of you."
8, 9. The ruin so vividly depicted is to the prophet's mind as certain
as if it had been already accomplished, because the moral condition of
the country, and especially of its present rulers, is one that Jehovah
cannot tolerate. The perfects in v. 8 are those of prophetic certainty.
8. ferusalem is ruined] A reference to the " ruin," v. 6.
their tongue and their doings] In word and deed they defy Jehovah

w. 9—12.] ISAIAH, III. 25
To provoke the eyes of his glory.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against 9
them;
And they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.
Woe unto their soul ! for they have rewarded evil unto
themselves.
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him : 10
For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him : u
For the reward of his hands shall be given him.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, 12
And women rule over them.
O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err,
and provoke the eyes of His glory. Cf. Hab. i. 13, " of too pure eyes to
behold evil."
9. The shew of their countenance] The safest translation is that of
R.V. marg., their respecting of persons, i.e. their partiality in judg
ment. The familiar phrase "respect persons" (see Deut. i. 17, &c.)
appears here in the nominal form, the usual infinitive being replaced by
a verbal noun. It is not an objection to this view that such a charge
only applies to a particular class. The prophet deals with the nation
throughout as a political unity, and he knows that the whole people
must suffer for the sins of the rulers.
they declare... hide it not) or, they declare their sin, like Sodom,
undisguisedly. On the construction see Davidson, Synl. § 41, R. 3.
Woe unto their soul  ] or, Woe to themselves for they have done
themselves evil. The injustice they have done to others witnesses
against them and recoils on their own heads.
10, 11. The exclamation at the end of v. 9 leads to a statement of
the universal law of divine retribution. The verses are thought by
some to be interpolated, and even Dillmann admits that they fit but
loosely into the context.
10. Say ye to the righteous] R.V. " say ye of the righteous." But
with a slight change in the consonantal text we may read Happy is the
righteous ! for it is well [with Mm]. The Heb. would then present
an exact parallel to the beginning of the next verse.
12. The threat of v. 4 is already on the way to be fulfilled ; the con
ditions of anarchy are present in the childish character of the reigning
monarch, Ahaz. Cf. Eccl. x. 16. The prophet's pity for the nation
breaks out in the repeated exclamation, "My people !"
children are their oppressors, &°c] Rather, his tyrant (plural of
majesty) is a child and women rule over him (i.e. the people) : the
queen-mother and women of the harem attain an undue and dangerous
influence under such a regime.
they which lead thee cause ihee to err) thy leaders are misleaders,

26 ISAIAH, III. [vv. 13-16.
And destroy the way of thy paths.
13 The Lord standeth up to plead,
And standeth to judge the people.
ti The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients
of his people, and the princes thereof:
For ye have eaten up the vineyard ;
The spoil of the poor is in your houses.
is What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces,
And grind the faces of the poor?
Saith the Lord God of hosts.
is Moreover the Lord saith,
an expression found again in ix. 16. The word, for " lead " is that used
in i. 17, " set right."
destroy] have swallowed up ; according to others : " have confused."
The meaning is that the landmarks of national righteousness have been
effaced from the minds of the people by the conduct of its statesmen
and guides.
13 — 15. A judgment scene, somewhat loosely connected with what
has gone before, but expressing in another form the same sympathy
with the oppressed which appears in v. 12. Jehovah, at once accuser
and judge, comes to vindicate the cause of the poor against their
oppressors. 13. The verse reads : Jehovah has stationed himself to plead, and
is standing to judge peoples. Instead of "peoples" LXX. reads
" his people " (cf. Deut. xxxii. 36), which is easier, since there is nothing
to indicate that a world-judgment is contemplated. It is doubtful
whether the word can denote the separate tribes of Israel. If the Heb.
text be retained, the idea must be that of a general assize, in which
Israel is judged first.
14. Those immediately arraigned are the "elders and princes," the
authorities responsible for the national welfare.
for ye have eaten up] Rather, And you — ye have eaten up. The
indignant remonstrance of Jehovah commences at this point. The
image of the vineyard is fully explained in ch. v. 1 — 7. The point
of the accusation here is that those who should have kept the vineyard
from the intrusion of wild beasts have themselves devoured it.
the spoil. ..houses) the evidence of their sin.
15. The strongest metaphors are used to express the cruelty with
which the poor are treated.
What mean ye that ye crush my people (Prov. xxii. 22), and grind
the face of the afflicted as between two millstones, determined to wring
the uttermost farthing from them. The expression does not occur else
where, but in its fierce energy it may be compared with Mic. iii. 1 and
Am. ii, 7.

vv. 17—20.] ISAIAH, III. 27
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
And walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes,
Walking and mincing as they go,
And making a tinkling with their feet:
Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of 17
the head of the daughters of Zion,
And the Lord will discover their secret parts.
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of 18
their tinkling ornaments about their feet,
And their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, 19
The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the 20
headbands,
16 — iv. 1. An oracle addressed to the women of Jerusalem. Like
Amos (iv. 1 — 3) in Samaria, Isaiah sees in the luxury of these pampered
ladies a measure of the extortions practised by their husbands (cf. also
ch. xxxii. 9 — 12).
16, 17 are connected as protasis and apodosis.
16. daughters of Zion] The " haughtiness " of the daughters of Zion
is displayed in their gestures as they walk abroad. They walk with
outstretched neck, and ogling with their eyes ; tripping along they
go, and tinkling with their feet. The reference in the last words is to
the jingling sound of the anklets (v. 18) and the short chain uniting
them (v. 20) ; the latter also produced the tripping gait mentioned in
the previous clause.
17. smite with a scab] In Heb. a single verb formed from the noun
found in Lev. xiii. 2, 6 ff. (the law of leprosy).
18 — 23. A long and obscure inventory of articles of feminine attire,
occurring "in a profusion which it is difficult to represent" (Cheyne).
It is reassuring to be reminded by Dillmann that all these things (21 in
number) were not necessarily worn at one time. It should also be noted
that many of the ornaments specified were used as charms, as is the
case with Eastern ornaments to the present day.
18. tinkling ornaments about their feet] anklets, see on v. 16, where
the verb "tinkling" is a denominative from this word. cauls .. .round
tires like the moon] Probably the little suns (others, "wreaths ") and
the little moons (Jud. viii. 21, 26, R.V. " ornaments "). Both articles
are said to be still worn by Arab women.
19. The ear-drops (Jud. viii. 26, R.V. "collars") and the arm-
chains and the veils — the last (the Arabian ra'l) is in two parts, one
thrown back over the head from above the eyes, the other hanging
down over the face.
20. The tiaras (Ex. xxxix. 28 ; Ez. xxiv. 17 ; Is. lxi. 3, 10 [R.V.]) and
the foot-chains (see on v. 16; others, "bracelets," as in 2 Sam. i. 10, a
slightly different word), and the girdles and the scent-bottles, and
the amulets.

28 ISAIAH, III. IV. [w. 21—26; 1.
And the tablets, and the earrings,
c The rings, and nose jewels,
' The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles,
And the wimples, and the crisping pins,
1 The glasses, and the fine linen,
And the hoods, and the vails.
i And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell
there shall be stink;
And instead of a girdle a rent ;
And instead of well set hair baldness ;
And instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth ;
And burning instead of beauty.
-, Thy men shall fall by the sword,
And thy mighty in the war.
j And her gates shall lament and mourn ;
And she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
t And in that day seven women shall take hold of one
man, saying,
21. rings] seal-rings, worn on the finger.
nose jewels] Gen. xxiv. 47.
22. The festal garments (Zech. iii. 4) and the tunics and the
shawls (Ruth iii. 15) and the purses (2 Ki. v. 23).
23. The mirrors (made of polished metal, see ch. viii. 1) and the
shifts (Jud. xiv. 12 f.) and the turbans and the overalls (a kind of
veil, Cant. v. 7).
24. A description of the degradation of the high-born women of
Jerusalem, reduced to beggary and slavery. The verse would appear to
connect better with v. 17 than with 18 — 23.
instead of. ..stink] R.V. instead of sweet spices (lit. "balsam")
there shall be rottenness. a rent] Render with R.V. a rope.
well set hair] artificial curls (Cheyne), lit. " turner's work."
baldness] the result of disease, v. 17, or, possibly, a sign of mourning.
a stomacher] an obscure word ; perhaps mantle.
branding instead of beauty ; branding the symbol of slavery.
25, 26. A poetic personification of Jerusalem, the mother city,
mourning the loss of her sons and defenders.
25. The words for "men" and "mighty" (lit. "might") are
poetical terms.
26. her gates] the places of rendezvous in Eastern cities. lament
" and mourn] because they are now deserted. Cf. Lam. i. 4 ; Jer. xiv. 2.
and she, emptied, shall sit upon the ground] Cf. ch. xlvii. 1 ; Lam.
ii. 10; Job ii. 13.
IV. 1. "A companion picture to iii. 6... the male population are in

v. I.] ISAIAH, IV. 29
We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel:
Only let us be called by thy name,
To take away our reproach.
search of a ruler ; the women in search of a husband " (Weir, quoted by
Cheyne). The verse, therefore, represents an episode in that scene of
anarchy which has been the main burden of this prophecy.
let us be called...] let thy name be named over us. The wife bore
the husband's name, but only, it would seem, in such designations as
" Sarai, Abram's wife," Gen. xvi. 1, &c.
to take away...] take thou away our reproach (R.V.). The disgrace
of being unmarried is meant (Jud. xi. 37 f.).
Grotius cites a touching parallel from Lucan (Pharsal. 11. 342) : —
da tantum nomen inane
Connubii : liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis
Marcia.
2—6. The Final State of Zion and the Redeemed Israel.
Beyond the great judgment there is revealed to the prophet a vision
of the ideal religious community, blessed with an exiiherant super
natural fertility impiT1^ t" *^n" c"'1 ("1 2), purified from sin (vv. 3, 4),
and overshadowed by the protecting pr'""''"''' nf Jphnvah_jW 5, 6). It
is a picture~~df the glorious Messianic age which immediately follows
the day of the Lord. Those who inherit its glories are the survivors of
the catastrophe (vv. 2, 3). Although the section has no definite
historical background, it is obviously written as the sequel to ch. ii. iii. ;
the allusion to the " daughters of Zion " (v. 4) would scarcely be
intelligible apart from iii. 16 ff., and possibly the glory of nature
mentioned in v. 2 may form an antithesis to the artificial glories of
civilisation in ii. 7 ff. At the same time it is reasonable to suppose that
the verses have only a literary connexion with the preceding oracles,
and formed no part of Isaiah's spoken message in the time of Ahaz.
By some recent critics (Duhm, Hackmann, Cheyne) the passage
is assigned to a later editor of Isaiah's prophecies, and even so cautious
a scholar as Dillmann hesitates with regard to the last two verses. The
objections are based chiefly on considerations of style, and on the
alleged post-Exilic character of the ideas and the symbolism. It is true
that some leading words (such as those rendered " branch," " create,"
"defence," "covert") do not occur elsewhere in genuine writings of
Isaiah. The imagery also is of a more pronounced apocalyptic cast
than we might expect from Isaiah, and the style seems somewhat
laboured and cumbrous. But on the other hand the main ideas — the
salvation of a remnant, purification through judgment, the regeneration
of nature — can all be paralleled from Isaiah, and this fact must be
allowed some weight in favour of his authorship.
2. The luxuriant vegetation of the Holy Land in the latter days will
reflect glory on the inhabitants as a proof of Jehovah's signal favour — a
frequent thought in Messianic prophecy: Am. ix. 13; Hos. ii. 21 f . ;

30 fyarArr, rv. lyv. 2—4.
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful
and glorious,
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely
For them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion,
And he that remaineth in Jerusalem,
Shall be called holy,
Even every one that is written among the living in
Jerusalem :
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of
the daughters of Zion,
Is. xxx. 23; Jer. xxxi. 12; Ez. xxxiv. 26 — 30, xxxvi. 34 f. ; Zech. ix.
16 f. ; Mai. iii. 12; Joel iii. 18; and cf. Lev. xxvi. 3 — 5 ; Deut. xxviii.
3 — 5, 10 — 12. The verse has a close resemblance to ch. xxviii. 5.
the branch of the Lord] better, the growth of Jehovah, that which
Jehovah causes to grow. The word occurs in the same sense in Gen. xix.
25 (A.V. "that which grew") and Is. lxi. n ("bud"). It stands
in parallelism with the fruit of the land, (not earth) in the next
clause, and both expressions are to be understood quite literally. The
reference to a personal Messiah is thus excluded by the context ; for few
will be prepared to apply both expressions to Christ, the former to His
divine sonship and the latter to His human birth (although this view is
defended by Delitzsch on the analogy of Ez. xvii. 5). It is true that
afterwards the Heb. word for "growth " (femah) came to be used as a
title of the Messiah (Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12), but this usage rests on Jer. xxiii.
5, xxxiii. 15, where the Messiah is described as a scion (femah) ofthe
Davidic house. Observe that it is an entirely different word which is
translated "Branch" in Is. xi. 1.
beautiful and glorious... excellent and comely] better, for beauty and
glory... for a pride and a renown.
to the escaped of Israel] those who have been spared in the day of the
Lord's anger. Cf. ch. x. 20, xxxvii. 31.
3. The character of the escaped remnant. They shall be called holy
ch. Ix. 14, lxi. 6, lxii. 12. "Holiness" here includes the ideas of
consecration to God, and inviolability (Jer. ii. 3) as well as of moral
purity (v. 4).
written among the living] rather, written for life, i.e. not any chance
survivor, but those who are predestined to life (cf. Acts xiii. 48). The
figure is derived from the burgess rolls in which the name of every
qualified citizen was to be found (cf. Neh. vii. 64) ; hence comes the
idea of the ' ' book of life " containing the names of all the true people
of God ; Ex. xxxii. 32 f. ; Ps. lxix. 28 ; Dan. xii. 1 ; Lk. x. 20 ; Phil.
iv. 3; Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xx. 12, 15, xxii. 19 (and cf. "bundle of
life," 1 Sam. xxv. 29). The transition from the secular to the religious
sense may be seen in Ez. xiii. 9.
4. If (once) Jehovah have washed, &c. Although the order is

vv. 5, 6.] ISAIAH, IV. 31
And shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from
the midst thereof
By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place 5
of mount Zion,
And upon her assemblies,
A cloud and smoke by day,
And the shining of a flaming fire by night :
For upon all the glory shall be a defence.
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the 6
daytime from the heat,
And for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm
and from rain.

unusual this verse must be taken as a conditional sentence depending
on v. 3. spirit of burning] better, spirit of extermination
(as in vi. 13 ; 1 Ki. xxii. 46, &c). The medium ot the judgment is the
" Spirit," the divine energy, which is operative alike in the physical
and in the moral sphere (cf. ch. xxxii. 15).
5, 6. The gracious presence of God becomes a visible fact to men's
eyes, in the cloud of fire and smoke which overshadows and protects the
new Jerusalem. The symbolism is drawn from the story of the Exodus
and the tabernacle in the desert (Ex. xiii. 21 f., xl. 34 — 38, &c).
5. upon evety dwelling place ...] rather, over the whole (divine) habi
tation of Mount Zion. The word is never used of human dwellings.
It might be translated, " foundation" ; in either case it is equivalent to
"sanctuary." her assemblies] convocations, worshipping assemblies, as in i. 13.
a cloud... night] better (disregarding the accents), a cloud by day and
smoke with the shining of a flaming fire by night.
for upon all the glory. ..defence] A perplexing clause. A literal trans
lation would be for over every glory (should be) a canopy. So
rendered, the words express a general principle of ceremonial propriety :
wherever there is " a glory " (as e.g. royal majesty) , it must be provid ed
with a suitable canopy. The clause may be a marginal gloss suggested
to a reader by the first part of the verse. The word for "canopy"
occurs only in Ps. xix. 5 ; Joel ii. 16 in the sense of " nuptial pavilion"
(see Robertson Smith, Maniage and Kinship in Early Arabia,^. i68f.).
In post-biblical Hebrew it means (as here) " canopy " in general.
6. a tabernacle] a pavilion as in Ps. xviii. 1 1.
in the daytime] is omitted by the LXX.
for a place of refuge... rain] for a refuge and shelter from storm and
from rain. The mention of these " lesser inconveniences " reads like
an anticlimax. It is certainly difficult to think that Isaiah would have
written so weak a conclusion to an important oracle. The passage
may be fragmentary.

32

•ISAIAH, V. [v. i.

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my be
loved touching his vineyard.
Ch. V.
The chapter consists of three parts : —
i. w. i — 7. The ingratitude of Israel and its approaching rejection
by Jehovah are set forth under the veil of a homely parable.
ii. w. 8 — 24. A series of six " Woes" directed against the prevalent
vices and injustice of the upper classes and leaders of the state.
iii. vv. 25 — 30. Isaiah's first description of the Assyrian invaders,
the agents of Jehovah's chastisement, ^.'ready appearing on the horizon
of the prophet's vision.
There are strong reasons for thinking that iii. formed originally the
peroration of a different prophecy, entirely independent of vv. 1 — 24
(see below), i. and ii., on the other hand, form a connected whole to
which a. 24 forms a suitable and well-marked conclusion. Although they
may not have formed parts of a single spoken address, there are no
grounds for supposing that they ever existed separately in writing.
To what date is this passage (vv. 1 — 24) to be ascribed? By the
consent of nearly all critics, it belongs to the first period of Isaiah's
career, but beyond this it is impossible to speak very definitely. A
comparison with ch. ii. — iv., however, suggests that the prophet has
now acquired a more intimate knowledge of the state of society in Jeru
salem, and is able to lay a firmer hand on the evils of his time. We
shall probably not go far wrong if we assign the prophecy to a slightly
later date than the preceding chapters.
1 — 7. The Parable of the Vineyard and its
Application.
One of the finest exhibitions of rhetorical skill and power which the
book contains. The prophet appears in the guise of a minstrel before
an assemblage of his countrymen, and proceeds to recite the unfortunate
experience of a "friend" of his with his vineyard. The simple story,
told in light popular verse, disarms the suspicions of the crowd, and the
singer, having secured their sympathy, demands a verdict on the course
which a man might be expected to pursue with so refractory a vineyard
as this (v. 3). The answer was so obvious that the people, like our
Lord's hearers on a similar occasion (Matt. xxi. 41), had practically
assented to their own condemnation before they clearly perceived the
drift of the discourse. But from this point onwards the parable becomes
more and more transparent, till at last the prophet, with a sudden
change of rhythm (see on v. 6), throws off all disguise and drives home
the lesson of the whole in the crashing lines of v. 7.
The idea of Israel as the Lord's vineyard probably originated with
Isaiah. (Cf. ch. iii. 14, xxvii. 2 ff. ; Jer. ii. 21, xii. 10 f. ; Ps. Ixxx. 8 ff. ;
Matt. xx. 1 ff., xxi. 33 ff. and parallels.)
1. (Four lines.) The first half of the verse contains the preamble,
the second is the commencement of the poem.

vv. 2, 3.] ISAIAH, V. 33
My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, 2
And planted it with the choicest vine,
And built a tower in the midst of it,
And also made a winepress therein :
And he looked that it should bring forth grapes,
And it brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of 3
Judah,
Now will I sing. ..vineyard] Translate : —
I would sing of my Friend,
my Friend's song about his vineyard.
The A.V. has the merit, however, of distinguishing the two closely
related words used for friend ("wellbeloved" and "beloved"). The
difference probably has only a metrical value. Isaiah does not mean as
yet to excite curiosity as to who the " Friend " is, only he cannot, even
in a parable, divest himself of the consciousness that he represents the
interests of Another. A vineyard had my Friend
On a fertile peak.
a very fruitful hill] lit. "a horn, the son of fatness." "Apertos
Bacchus amat colles" (Verg. Ge'org. 11. 113). The land of Palestine is
no doubt meant, but it is a mistake to allegorise the details of the
imagery. This use of the word "horn" for "hill" is not found else
where in the O. T., but has many parallels in Arabic as well as other
languages (cf. "Schreckhorn," &c). It is chosen here for the sake of
the assonance with the word for "vineyard."
2. (Six lines.) The situation was all that could be desired: and
labour had not been spared. Note the resemblances in Matt. xxi. 33ff.;
Mk. xii. 1 ff. fenced it] digged it (R.V. marg.). The word is
not found elsewhere, but the meaning is certain. gathered out the
stones thereof] In Heb. a single word : lit. "stoned it" (ch. lxii. 10).
The phrase "stone a field," for "clear it of stones," is said to be
common in some parts of England. the choicest vine] A technical
name (collective) for the finest sort of grapes grown in Syria. The word
occurs again in Jer. ii. 21 ; the corresponding noun of unity (fem.) in
Gen. xlix. n. built a tower] for the watchers ; not a mere hut,
as in i. 8.
and also... winepress] yea, and hewed out a winefat (biroX^vtov, Mk.
xii. 1). The yeqeb is the receptacle (here cut out of the rock) into which
the juice flows from the winepress (gath). (Cf. Joel iii. 13; Prov.
iii. 10; Neh. xiii. 15, &c.) The emphasis on this clause calls attention
to the owner's confident expectation of a return for his outlay.
brought forth wild grapes] Cf. Jer. ii. 21.
3. (Four lines.) The beginning of a new stanza is marked by the
" And now " as in v. 5.
ISAIAH jF — *r &<***- 3

34

ISAIAH, V. [vv. 4— 6.

Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
i What could have been done more to my vineyard,
That I have not done in it?
Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth
grapes,
Brought it forth wild grapes?
s And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard :
I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be
eaten up;
And break down the wall thereof, and it shall be
trodden down :
5 And I will lay it waste :
It shall not be pruned, nor digged;
But there shall come up briers and thorns:
betwixt me and my vineyard] The change of person here is the first
hint of a deeper meaning under the words of the song.
4. (Four lines.) The case for the owner of the vineyard.
What could have been done] lit. What more is there to do (cf. 2 Ki.
iv. 13).
wherefore, when I looked.  wild grapes] Lit. why did I look
that it should... and it brought forth wild grapes. The co-ordina
tion of clauses assimilates the ending of the second stanza to that of the
first. (For other examples of the same order, see Davidson, Synt.
§ 126, R. 4.)
5, 6. The hearers are silent, and the prophet proceeds to pass
sentence on the vineyard.
And now, let me tell you, I pray,
What I am about to do to my vineyard.
The construction in the second line is the fut. instans ; the owner's
mind is finally made up.
5. I will take away. . .and break down] better simply, Remove. . .Break
down — absolute infs. in apposition to "what." The vineyard is pro
vided both with a hedge (of thorns) and a wall (of stone).
6. lay it waste) or, make an end of it. The word is thought to be
connected with that rendered "desolate" in ch. vii. 19,— -better
" precipitous," " cut off," hence (as here) " made an end of."
there shall come up. ..thorns] The Heb. is more forcible : it shall go
up in thorns and thistles. "Thorns and thistles," a phrase peculiar
to the book of Isaiah: vii. 23, 24, 25, ix. 18, a. 17, xxvii. 4. The
change of rhythm referred to (Introd. Note above) commences with
this clause — rightly, since the next line reveals the whole drift of the
parable: He who can command the clouds must be no other than
Jehovah himself.

vv. 7, 8.] ISAIAH, V. 35
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain
upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of 7
Israel,
And the men of Judah his pleasant plant :
And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression;
For righteousness, but behold a cry.
Woe unto them that join house to house, 8
7. The formal application of the parable, emphasising two facts :
(i) Jehovah's vineyard is the house of Israel, but especially the men of
Judah, the plant of his delight (R. V. marg.) ; (2) " the wild grapes "
it produces are the frightful oppressions and perversion of justice which
are perpetrated in its midst. The underlying thought is that Jehovah's
signal care and goodness ought to have resulted in a national life corre
sponding to His moral character — a fundamental truth of the prophetic
theology. He looked for judgment (mishpdt), but behold bloodshed (mispdh) ;
For righteousness (cMaqdh), but behold a cry ! (cl'aqdh).
These powerful assonances, which cannot be reproduced in English,
are evidently designed to clinch the moral of the parable in the
memories of the hearers. The "cry" is that of the oppressed, cf. Job
xix. 7. 8—24. Denunciation of the Social Evils which
call down God's Judgment on the Nation.
The indictment contains six counts, each introduced by the word
"Woe," and is addressed exclusively to the upper classes, although the
punishment of their sin falls on the nation as a whole. The prophet
sets before us a vivid picture of a debased aristocracy, in whom public
virtue has been eaten out by avarice and sensuality ; and he traces with
remarkable insight the effect of these sins in the religious insensibility
and perversion of the moral sentiments which characterised the nobles of
Judah at this time.
8 — 10. The first woe, against the absorption of small properties by
the wealthy landowners. Cruel evictions, by which the smaller peasant
proprietors lost not only their homes but the rights of citizenship, were
common in the age of Isaiah, both in Judah and Israel. Cf. Mic. ii.
2, 9 ; Am. ii. 6 f . "The old Israelite state was so entirely based on
the participation of every freeman in the common soil, and so little
recognised the mere possession of capital, that men were in danger of
losing civil rights along "with house and fields, and becoming mere
hirelings or even slaves " (Duhm). An instance of the tenacity with
which the Hebrew yeoman clung to his land maybe seen in 1 Kings xxi.
For legal checks to this evil, see Lev. xxv. 8ff.; Num. xxvii. 1 — 11,
>,xxvi. ; Deut. xxvii. 17.
3—2

36 ISAIAH, V. [w. 9—12.
That lay field to field, till there be no place,
That they may be placed alone in the midst of the
earth !
3 In mine ears said the Lord of hosts,
Of a truth many houses shall be desolate,
Even great and fair, without inhabitant.
^ Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
And the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.
i Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that
they may follow strong drink ;
That continue until night, till wine inflame them !
i And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe,
And wine, are in their feasts :
But they regard not the work of the Lord,
Neither consider the operation of his hands.
8. that they may be... earth] Render with R.V., and ye be made to
dwell alone in the midst of the land; i.e. so that only the few have
residential rights.
9, 10. The divine judgment on this evil. Cf. Am. v. ii.
9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts] The verb is to be supplied
as in xxii. 14 : Inmy ears (hath revealed himself) Jehovah.... It isa
prophetic "audition "; the words which follow seem actually to sound
in his ears. The great houses shall be uninhabited, because —
10. The land shall be smitten with the curse of barrenness ; Jehovah's
remedy for land-grabbing.
ten acres] lit. ten yoke ; a yoke of land being
"As much as two stout oxen
Could plough from morn till night."
one bath] (of wine), — about 8 gallons.
seed of a homer... ephah] The ephah is a dry measure of the same
capacity as the bath ; the homer is ten ephahs (Ez. xlv. 11).
11 — 17. The second woe, against dissipation and the spiritual
blindness which accompanies it. Cf. xxviii. 1, 7 ff.
11. rise up early] Drinking in the morning was considered dis
reputable by the Jews (Eccl. x. i6f. ; Acts ii. 15) and Romans; but
not, apparently, by the Arabs (Gesenius). The word for strong drink
seems to be a general name for various kinds of alcoholic liquors obtained
from dates, honey, raisins, barley, &c.
that continue... inflame them] rather, that sit late into the night,
wine inflaming them.
12. Cf. Am. vi. 5, 6. And the harp... feasts] better, And
guitar and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine constitute their
banquet ; — as if to drown the voice of conscience and destroy the
sense of Jehovah's presence and working in their midst.
the work of the Lord. ..the operation of his hands] i.e. the crowning

vv. 13—16.] ISAIAH, V. 37
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because 13
they have no knowledge :
And their honourable men are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, 14
And opened her mouth without measure :
And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp,
And he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
And the mean man shall be brought down, is
And the mighty man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled :
But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, 16
work of judgment which he is about to execute, and of which there were
many ominous warnings for those who could discern the signs of the
times: "opus aliquod illustre futurum...quod Deus hoc ipso tempore
iam moliebatur" (Vitr.). Cf. v: 19, ch. x. 12, xxviii. 21 ; Ps. xxviii. 5.
A similar thought is expressed in Am. vi. 6, where the luxurious nobles
are charged with insensibility to the " ruin of Joseph."
13. Therefore (because its leaders are so blind) my people goeth
into captivity (proph. perf.). This is the only explicit mention of
exile in Isaiah. Cf. again Am. vi. 7. The next words maybe rendered
either from lack of knowledge (R.V.) or without knowing it — " una
wares" (Cheyne). The former gives the better sense (cf. Hos. iv. 6).
their honourable men. ..their multitude] lit. "its glory "... "its
tumult." The contrast, however, is rightly indicated by A.V. — the
noblesse over against the populace. famished] Hebr. " men of
hunger." But the word for "men" is poetic (iii. 25) and never found
in such phrases as this. The ancient versions, with a different vocalisa
tion, read " dead with hunger," which is obviously too strong. Most
commentators now follow Ewald and Hitzig, and alter the text in
accordance with Deut. xxxii. 24 (R.V. "wasted"), reading "sucked
out (exhausted) with hunger." This involves the change of a single
letter, and yields a suitable parallelism to " dried up with thirst."
14 — 17. A second threatening, in 'a sublime image, of the sudden
destruction of Jerusalem. The transition ¦ to the fate of the capital is
somewhat abrupt. 14. hell hath enlarged herself] better, Sheol
hath enlarged her appetite (Hab. ii. 5). Sheol, the Underworld, the
realm of the dead (like the Greek Hades), is here, as elsewhere,
conceived as a devouring insatiable monster ; cf. Hos. xiii. 14 ; Jon. ii.
2; Cant. viii. 6; Prov. i. 12, xxx. 16.
and their glory... descend into it] Render (nearly as Cheyne) and
down goes her (Jerusalem's) pomp, and her tumult and her uproar
and (all) that is (so) jubilant in her.
15, 16. A reminiscence of the refrain in ch. ii. 9, 11, 17 ; but with
significant modifications. These verses seem to interrupt the connexion
off. 17 with v. 14, and are either parenthetical or interpolated.

ISAIAH, V. [w. 17—20.

17

And God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteous
ness.
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner,
And the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers
eat.
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity,
And sin as it were with a cart rope :
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work,
That we may see it:
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw
nigh and come,
That we may know it.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

16. God that is holy...] the Holy God sanctifies Himself through
righteousness. God "sanctifies Himself," i.e. compels the recognition
of His divinity, by the righteous judgments in which He reveals His
true nature as the Holy One of Israel (cf. xxix. 23).
17. The obverse of the picture in v. 14. The city, with all its
tumult and gaiety, has vanished into the underworld, and now flocks
are seen grazing amidst the ruins, — an image of awful desolation rather
than of " idyllic peace."
Then shall the lambs... manner] And lambs shall graze as in their
pasture (R.V.). strangers] sojourners — perhaps "nomadic
shepherds." But the reading of the LXX. (opK£s=lambs) can be
explained by a slight change in the text and is on some grounds to be
preferred. 18, 19. The third woe, against the mocking scepticism which
leads men to harden themselves in sin. The men addressed do not
believe in the prophet's threats of a day of retribution, yet all the while
they are unconsciously doing their utmost to bring about their fulfil
ment. 18. The figure seems to express two ideas : (1) the determination
with which these men set themselves to work iniquity, and (2) the
inevitable connexion between sin and judgment. The idea of punish
ment is included in the words iniquity (or " guilt ") and sin.
19. An impious challenge to Jehovah to make good His words
spoken through the prophet. This defiant unbelief seems to have been
the reigning spirit in the political circles of Isaiah's time; xxviii. 14 f.,
22 ; cf. Jer. v. 12, xvii. 15.
20. The fourth woe, against those who confuse moral distinctions.

vv. 21— 24.] ISAIAH, V.

39

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, 21
And prudent in their own sight !
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, 22
And men of strength to mingle strong drink :
Which justify the wicked for reward, 23
And take away the righteousness of the righteous from
him.

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble,
And the flame consumeth the chaff,
So their root shall be as rottenness,
And their blossom shall go up as dust :

Amongst the " wise men " of the time (Prov. xxv. 1) there may have
been a class of sophists, who employed their subtlety in making out a
case for abuses condemned by the unsophisticated moral sense.
21. The fifth woe, against the self-satisfied astuteness of the
politicians. That the prophet has the statesmen in his eye is probable
from such passages as xxviii. 9 f., xxix. 14 f., xxx. 1, 10 f., xxxi. 1 f.
22, 23. The sixth woe, against dissolute and corrupt judges. In
w. 11 f. drunkenness was denounced as destructive of all serious
thought ; here it is spoken of as the parent of injustice on the bench.
Cf. Prov. xxxi. 4 f.
22. them that are mighty] heroes.
to mingle strong drink] This was a delicate operation, almost a fine
art, demanding a refined taste and much experience (Prov. xxiii. 30).
The phrase does not mean to dilute with water, which was common
among Greeks and Romans, but rather to enhance by the addition of
aromatic herbs (cf. " spiced wine " in Cant. viii. 2).
23. These valiant drinkers are weak enough in their official capacity ;
they acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent. justify the
wicked] " wicked " and " righteous " are here used in their forensic
sense: "he who is in the wrong" and "he who is in the right" (cf.
Ex. ix. 27). So "take away the righteousness" means "declare
guilty" — the opposite of "justify."
24. The conclusion. Render with R.V.
Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble,
And as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, &c.
The similes are taken from two common customs, the burning of the
stubble in the fields, and the use of dry grass for fuel. The com
parison is completed in a different figure.
root... blossom] The expression is found on a Phoenician sarcophagus
(Eshmunazar), "let him not have root below or fruit above"; and
frequently in the O.T., Is. xiv. 29, xxxvii. 31; Am. ii. 9; Hos. ix.
16, &c.

40

ISAIAH, V. [v. 25.

Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of
hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against
his people,
the law of the Lord of hosts] See on i. 10. The last clause is a
summary description of the sins of the nation ; the source from which
they all spring is the rejection of the prophetic message.
25 — 30. A warlike Nation, summoned from the Ends of the
Earth, is the destined Instrument of Israel's final
Chastisement.
That the Assyrians are here alluded to is certain both from the
explicit statements of later prophecies, and from the terms of the
description itself. It speaks of the foe as characterised by the rapidity
of his movements, the perfection of his discipline and military equip
ment, his love of conquest, and his irresistible might. These features
are no doubt highly idealised (as was natural in a first sketch), but it is
clear that some particular nation is meant, and we can have no hesita
tion in saying that the reference is to the most perfect military machine
that then existed, the Assyrian army.
Although the passage might be explained fairly enough as the
continuation of v. 24, it gains immensely in significance when read
as the final strophe of the prophecy in ch. ix. 8 — x. 4, a position to
which several considerations lead us to assign it. (1) The latter part
of v. 25 occurs as a refrain in ix. 12, 17, 21 and x. 4. It is found
nowhere else and its isolated occurrence in v. 25 distinctly weakens
the force of v. 24. (2) The four equal strophes of ix. 8 — x. 4 corre
spond very nearly in length with vv. 26 — 30. (3) After reading x. 4,
we . feel that the last word has not been spoken : the hand is still
outstretched, we wait to hear of the final blow. The verses before
us supply the appropriate climax. On the other hand, they are not
necessary where they stand, v. 24 affording a satisfactory conclusion.
The hypothesis, to be sure, does not remove every difficulty. It is vain
to speculate as to the reasons which may have led to the transference ;
although it might have been suggested by the appositeness of the
passage as a reply to the challenge of v. 19. Further, v. 25 is far too
short for a compleLe strophe, and therefore can hardly have followed
immediately on x. 4. We must suppose that some verses have been
omitted in the process of transference, as irrelevant in their new
context. 25. Therefore] The Hebr. word differs from that in vv. 13, 14, 24,
and agrees with that in ix. 17. The following tenses are perfects (or
consec. impf.) usually taken as prophetic perf. ; but this is scarcely
natural. Past judgments are probably referred to (see on ix. 8 ff.).
Some think of a pestilence (Am. iv. 10), pestilence being preeminently
the stroke of God (he hath smitten them); others (from the next clause)
of an earthquake. Both may be meant.

vv. 26—29.] ISAIAH, V. 41
And he hath stretched forth his hand against them,
and hath smitten them:
And the hills did tremble, and their carcases were
torn in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, 26
And will hiss unto them from the end of the earth :
And behold, they shall come with speed swiftly :
None shall be weary nor stumble amongst them ; 27
None shall slumber nor sleep ;
Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed,
Nor the latchet of their shoes be broken :
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, 28
Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint,
And their wheels like a whirlwind :
Their roaring shall be like a Hon, 29

their carcases were torn] rather, were as offal, a very common
figure (2 Ki. ix. 37 ; Jer. xvi. 4, xxv. 33; Zeph. i. 17; Ps. lxxxiii. 10).
For all this...] See on ch. ix. 12.
26 — 29. A powerful description of the advance of the invaders, who
however remain unnamed.
26. And he will lift up an ensign] i. e. a signal, set up on a hill
(xiii. 2, xviii. 3, xxx. 17 ; cf. xi. 10, 12) as a point of rendezvous.
(Mark the significant change to the future tense.) the nations
from far] better, a nation from afar (cf. Am. vi. 14). The singular
is demanded by what follows, and is obtained by removing the last
letter of one word to the beginning of the next, exactly as in Jer.
v. 15. will hiss] as in ch. vii. 18 ; Zech. x. 8. The image is
that of a bee-keeper alluring the swarm.
with speed swiftly] because it is Jehovah who calls. " They " should
be "he," to the end ofthe chapter, the nation being individualised.
27. Their accoutrement is perfect down to the smallest detail.
28. bows bent] which was done only for immediate action. his
horses' hoofs... flint] Therefore he will not shrink from riding them on
the rocky soil of Palestine, which was extremely unfavourable to the
use of horses (Am. vi. 12). Similar allusions are frequent in ancient
literature (KpaTepuwvxes tiriroi), the shoeing of horses being unknown in
antiquity. The bows and arrows, cavalry and chariots, are all charac
teristic of the Assyrians.
«9. Their roaring...] Or, he has a roar like that of a lioness, he
roars like young lions and growls seizing the prey, &c. Two words
are here used of the lion's roar, the first is perhaps that uttered as he

42 ISAIAH, V. VI. [v. 30.
They shall roar like young lions :
Yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey,
And shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver /'/.
' And in that day they shall roar against them like the
roaring of the sea :
And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and
sorrow,
And the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
searches for prey, the second the low growl with which he springs on
his victim.
30. Apparently an image of the land in the throes of the invasion.
The verse, which presents many difficulties, may read somewhat as
follows : And he shall growl over him in that day like the growling
of the sea, and if one look to the earth, behold darkness of distress
(and the light is dark) in its clouds. The text is probably in some
disorder. The words in brackets are wanting in the LXX. The first
clause is generally interpreted of the growl of the invader over the
prostrate land; some, however, understand it of the voice of Jehovah
(the thunder) moving overhead and directing the attack. The latter
part of the verse has a general resemblance to viii. 22 ; the words " look
to the earth " seem to require some such antithesis as ' ' look up " in
viii. 21.
in the heavens thereof] The word is not elsewhere used and is of
uncertain meaning. Ch. VI.
Isaiah's Inaugural Vision.
It is now universally acknowledged that this chapter records Isaiah's
initiation into the office of a prophet. The opinion of many older
commentators that it represents a renewal or recovery of the prophetic
consciousness after several years of public activity, was based on the
erroneous assumption that the order of the book is in the main chrono
logical and that the previous chapters contain prophecies from the reign
of Uzziah (see also on v. 5, below). Everything in the narrative itself
suggests that it is an inaugural vision, &. record of the experience by
which Isaiah was made a prophet. The consciousness of standing in a
peculiar relation to God, of personal reconciliation to Him, of being in
His council, and bearing a definite commission straight from Himself,
dates from the moment when in an ecstasy he ' ' saw the Lord. " The
vision is undoubtedly an actual experience, not the mere embodiment
of an idea; it occurred in the death-year of Uzziah, as the prophet,
looking back after some lapse of time, distinctly recalls. Then Isaiah
saw God, not indeed with his bodily eyes, but in a prophetic trance,
in which the ordinary operations of the mind were suspended and
spiritual realities assumed concrete and visible forms. That the publica- \ )

v. I.] ISAIAH, VI. 43
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord 6
tion of the vision belongs to a more advanced stage of the prophet's
ministiy seems implied by the note of time in v. i, and is probable on
other grounds. Its place in the book is best explained by the supposi
tion that it was written as the prologue to a short collection of oracles
(vii. — ix. 7, see General Introd. p. lxxii) giving a summary of Isaiah's
teaching in the early part of the reign of Ahaz. But we have no right
to imagine that the prophet, from his subsequent experience, read into
his original commission elements which it did not convey to his mind
at the time. To suppose that he could not have carried on his work
under the depressing conviction (expressed in w. 9 — 13) that he would
only harden the people in unbelief is to mistake the prophet's attitude
to his work. If there were any force in the argument, it would prove
too much, for it would be necessary to suppose that the chapter was
written after Isaiah's life-work was over. But Isaiah, like his pre
decessors Amos and Hosea and his successors Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
spoke the word of God under an inward constraint, and his writings
contain no sign that he ever cherished any expectations of success
beyond what the vision allows.
The chapter stands unrivalled in the Old Testament both for grandeur
of conception and the majestic simplicity of its style. The narrative
is in prose : the speeches are rhythmical. There are strictly no divi
sions, but for convenience of exposition we may distinguish three
stages in the process of initiation : —
i. w. 1 — 4. The vision of Jehovah in His glory, and the splendours
of His court.
ii. w. 5 — 8. The impression produced by this sight on the mind of
the prophet : at first a crushing sense of imperfection and guilt, which
is transformed by a symbolic act denoting forgiveness into glad self-
surrender to the service of the King.
iii. vv. 9 — 13. His commission to declare the word of God to the
people, with an announcement of its twofold effect : (1) to increase the
spiritual insensibility of the mass of the nation (vv. 9, 10), and (2) to lay
waste the land by a succession of exterminating judgments, which shall
leave only a remnant to form the nucleus of the future people of God
(ii—I3)- 1 — 4. Jehovah appears to the prophet in human form, and as a
King, seated on a throne, surrounded by ministering servants who sing
His praise (cf. 1 Ki. xxii. 19 ff). The scene is the Temple (v. 1),
where Isaiah probably was when the vision occurred. There is no
occasion to suppose that a "heavenly palace" is meant. What the
prophet sees is the spiritual reality of which the Temple was a symbol,
Jehovah's presence as King in the midst of His people. Cf. ch. viii. 18.
1. In the year that king Uzziah died] i.e. about 740 B.C.; see
Chronological Note, pp. Ixxv f. Whether the event happened before or
after the king's death cannot be determined. It lends an additional
interest to the vision if we adopt the latter view, and regard this as the
divine answer to the anxious foreboding thoughts which naturally arose
in a4susceptible mind at the death of a strong and successful ruler.
\

44

ISAIAH, VI. [w. 2, 3.

sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train
s filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each
one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said,
The earthly king has passed away, and now Isaiah sees the true King
in His glory.
/ saw also the Lord] Many codices read here Jehovah, but the name
in the received text is Adonai, the Sovereign (see on ch. i. 24), The
word " also " answers to nothing in the original. The words high and
lofty apply to the throne, not to Jehovah Himself, as in ch. lvii. 15.
his train filled the temple] The skirts of His vesture fill the whole
space, and on these alone, not on the person of Jehovah, Isaiah allows
his eyes to rest.
2. Above it ...seraphims] better, Seraphim were standing over
Him, i.e. in the attitude of service. One standing in the presence of
another who is seated is always said to be over him, whatever their
mutual relations may be : 1 Ki. xxii. 19 ; Gen. xviii. 2, 8 ; Ex. xviii. 13,
&c. The Seraphim (probably "fiery beings ') are mentioned nowhere
else in Scripture as angelic beings. Their function in this vision is
purely symbolical. They are the attendants of Jehovah's court or the
ministers of the invisible sanctuary ; they reflect the glory of God, and
by their presence and actions suggest new and fuller conceptions of His
ineffable majesty. The basis ofthe symbol is obscure. The serpents with
which the Israelites were plagued in the desert are called Seraphim (sing.
Saraph: Num. xxi. 6 — 9; Deut. viii. 15), and some connexion between
the two uses of the word is probable. An intermediate link would be
supplied by the " flying Saraph " of ch. xiv. 29, xxx. 6, — apparently an
allusion to a widely diffused mythological notion ; see Herodotus II. 75
~t;n the winged serpents of Arabia. It is also worthy of notice that the
brazen Saraph (Num. xxi. 8) made by Moses must have been a con
spicuous object in the temple at the time of Isaiah's call (2 Ki. xviii. 4).
On the other hand the analogy of the Cherubim has led to the theory
that both are personifications of the phenomena of the thunder-storm,
the Cherubim representing the dark cloud and the Seraphim the serpent
like lightning (see Cheyne, Comm., and art. 'Cherubim' in Encyc.
Brit.). Different elements, in fact, seem to be combined in the concep
tion of the Saraph ; but whether it had been already incorporated in the
religion of Israel, or whether Isaiah was the first who lifted it into the
sphere of pure spiritual ideas it is quite impossible to say. Isaiah's
Seraphim are winged creatures, but certainly not serpentine in form, pro
bably human, or at least partly human, like the Cherubim (Ez. i. 5—14).
with twain he covered his face...] The sense \s well expressed by the
Targum : "With two he covered his face that he might not see; and
with two he covered his body that he might not be seen."
3. And one cried unto another] (frequentat. impf.). Cf. Rev. iv. 8.
Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of Hosts :
That which fills the whole earth is His glory. \ \

w- 4, 5-]  ISAIAH, VI. 45
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts :
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him 4
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then 5
said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because 1 am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
The word "holy," thrice repeated as if it struck the chord to which the
whole nature of these pure beings vibrated (the ancient church found
here an allusion to the mystery of the Trinity) sums up the meaning of
the vision in so far as it is a revelation of God. The general notion of
holiness is too complex to be analysed here. The root idea appears to
be that of distance or separation. As a predicate of deity it expresses
first of all the awful contrast between the divine and the human,
and then those positive attributes of God which constitute true
divinity, and call for the religious emotions of awe, reverence and
adoration. What Isaiah here receives, therefore, is a new and over
powering impression of the Supreme Godhead of Jehovah ; the whole
impact of the vision on his mind is concentrated in the word which
he hears from the lips of the seraphim. Although the idea of holiness
in the O.T. is never to be identified with that of moral purity, it is
clear from Isaiah's immediate sense of guilt that ethical perfection is
included among the attributes which make up the holiness or Godhead
of Jehovah (see Robertson Smith, Prophets, pp. 224 ff).
The second line ofthe Trisagion celebrates the "glory" of Jehovah,
His manifestation of Himself in nature,— one of the leading thoughts of
the second part of this book (ch. xl. ff. ). The seraphim contemplate
the universal diffusion of this "glory" (sub specie aeternitatis) as a present
fact ; elsewhere it is an ideal yet to be realised: Num. xiv. 21; Hab.
ii. 14.
4. the posts of the door moved] the foundations of the thresholds
shook (R.V.).
was filled (began to fill) with smoke] The smoke symbolises
the " dark side of Jehovah's self-manifestation " (Rev. xv. 8), the
reaction of His holy nature against sin. It answers to the rising con
sciousness of alienation and impurity in the prophet's mind, expressed
in the next verse.
5. Isaiah is overwhelmed with the sense of his own unworthiness ;
he feels himself cut off by a spiritual defect from participation in the
solemn mystery which he, alone of mortals, has been privileged to
behold ; his eyes have seen, but his lips are impure.
/ am undone) The Vulgate and other ancient versions give the
impossible rendering, "I have been silent" (tacui). Jerome's para
phrase is interesting as explaining the genesis of a curious legend, that
Isaiah had already been a prophet, but had lost the gift of inspiration
through his unfaithfulness : " quia tacui et non audacter Osiam regem
corripui, ideo labia mea immunda sunt."
a man of unclean lips] " A pure lip " is required for the worship of

46 ISAIAH, VI. [w. 6—8.
of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the King, the
6 Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto
me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
7 with the tongs from off the altar : and he laid it upon
my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and
8 thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also
Jehovah (Zeph. iii. 9) ; Isaiah would fain join in the praises of the
Seraphim, but the impulse is checked by the uncleanness of his lips,
which is the impurity of his whole nature concentrated, as it were, in
the organs of expression. Isaiah is not yet a prophet ; but in this pro
found, sense of the necessity for a consecration of the faculty of speech
we must surely recognise an unconscious preparation for the task of
speaking the word of God. '
a people of unclean lips] Cf. ch. iii. 8. The vision of God which has
brought his own sin to light, reveals to him also the sinfulness of the
people among whom he dwells. They too are unfit to take the holy
name of Jehovah on their lips ; their whole worship of Him is profane.
And this comes home to him as an aggravation of his guilt, that his
mind is saturated with the atmosphere of ungodliness in which he lives
and moves and has his being.
for mine eyes have seen the King] A second ground for the ejacula
tion " I am undone !" That the sight of God brings death to men is an
idea frequently expressed in the O.T. (Ex. xix. 21, xxx. 20; Jud. xiii.
22) ; the preceding clauses shew that to Isaiah's consciousness the
danger springs from sin, and not from mere creaturely frailty.
6, 7. The ceremony of purification is in many respects unique, and
seems to involve several ideas : (1) It shews that contact with the fire of the
divine holiness is not necessarily destructive even to man. It is possible
to "dwell with devouring fire" (ch. xxxiii. 14). (2) It signifies the
removal from the prophet of all in him which is incompatible with
the holiness of Jehovah. Fire is both a symbol of holiness and an
agent of purification (Num. xxxi. 23 ; Mai. iii. 2). " As earthly fire
binns away external impurity, so the heavenly fire burns away the
defilement of sin, first from the lips, but through them from the whole
man " (Dillmann). (3) It is not without significance that the fire is
taken " from off the altar. " The hot stone (A. V. live coal) was an imple
ment used in common life for transferring heat from the hearth to where
it was required. The meaning of the Seraph's act is that the atoning
efficacy of the altar is conveyed to the person of Isaiah, to his lips in
particular, because there the sin of his nature had seemed to be con
centrated. 7. and thine iniquity. . .purged] and thy guilt passes away and thy
sin is atoned for. The last word is the technical term for the expiatory
effect of the sacrificial ritual.
8. Now for the first time Isaiah hears the voice of God, the purifi-
j^alion of his lips having fitted him for personal converse with Jehovah
"and spiritual sympathy with His purposes.

vv. 9, io.] ISAIAH, VI. 47

| heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I
send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am
I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, 9
Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
And see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, 10
And make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears,
And understand with their heart, and convert,
and be healed.
who will go for us?] The plural is not that of majesty, but includes
the "council of the holy ones " (Ps. Ixxxix. 7), or the angelic " hosts of
heaven" (1 Ki. xxii. 19 f.).
Here am I ; send me) The spontaneity and self-abandonment of this
response are characteristic of Isaiah. He is as yet ignorant of the
nature of his commission, yet he freely accepts it ; and throughout
life he never felt his message to be a grievous burden, as Jeremiah often
did. 9, 10. The first effect of Isaiah's prophetic work : to increase the
spiritual insensibility of the people. The prophet's words will go hand
in hand with the " work of Jehovah," the development of His purpose in
history (v. 12, cf. Am. iii. 7) ; the people shall hear the one and see the
other, but neither will bring them to true insight.
9. this people] A contemptuous designation of Israel, peculiar to
Isaiah : cf. ch. viii. 6, 12, ix. 16, xxviii. 11, 14, xxix. 13 f.
Hear ye indeed..?] Rather:
Hear ye continually, but perceive not
And see ye continually, but understand not.
The verbs, of course, are imperatives. On the force of the inf. abs. see
Davidson, Synt. § 86 c (where, however, a different view of this
particular passage is taken).
10. Make the heart. ..fat] i.e. callous, unfeeling, Ps. cxix. 70. In
Hebrew idiom, the " heart " includes the understanding. shut (lit.
smear) its eyes] cf. xxix. 10, xliv. 18, xiii. 19 f.
The difficulties created in our minds by this startling, and even harsh,
statement of a great law of the spiritual world, are partly due to the
tendency of Scripture writers to refer all things immediately to the will
of God. To the Hebrew mind what we call secondary causes scarcely
exist, at least in the sphere of religion. That which, in given circum
stances, is the inevitable result of God's providential dispensations is
viewed absolutely, apart from its conditions, as a distinct divine purpose.
The truth revealed to Isaiah is that the unbelief of his countrymen
amounts to an incapacity for divine things, which can only be intensified
by the further disclosure of the truth of God. And this, which is the
inevitable issue of his own prophetic mission, is represented to him as

48 ISAIAH, VI. [vv. u, i>.
, Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, ;
Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
And the houses without man,
And the land be utterly desolate,
3 And the Lord have removed men far away,
And there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land.
Jehovah's intention in sending him. Isaiah realises the profound truth
that the most decisive and searching judgment to which men are
subjected lies in the abundance of the revelations of God vouchsafed to
them. It is a principle oftenappealed to in the New Testament, and fre
quently in the very words of our prophet (Matt. xiii. 14 f. and parallels;
Acts xvi. 26 f. ; Rom. xi. 8). " This is the judgment that the light is
come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light;
for their works were evil " (John iii. 19J*
11 — 13. The hardening of the people in unbelief, is to be accom
panied by a series of external judgments, culminating in the utter ruin of
the nation.
11. Lord, how long f] The prophet feels that in the divine counsels
there must be a limit to this process of judicial hardening, that it must
reach a crisis with a day of hope beyond it. But the answer is " Not
till the existing Israel has been annihilated."
Until the cities... without man] (Omit the.) Cf. ch. v. 9.
and the land be utterly desolate] lit. "be wasted to desolation.''
LXX., changing a letter, reads " and the land be left a desolation."
12. and there be a great forsaking... land] . Better, and great be
the vacancy in the midst ofthe land. The word "vacancy" (deserted
place) is used in xvii. 9 : for the thought cf. ch. v. 9, vii. 16 ff.
13. The verse reads :
And should there still be in it a tenth,
It must again pass through the fire,
Like the terebinth and like the oak,
To which a stump (remains) when they are felled ;
A holy seed is the stump thereof.
The last clause is wanting in the LXX., and with its omission it un
doubtedly becomes possible to understand the figure of the verse as
a sentence of final rejection ; not only will the tree be cut down, but its
stump will be destroyed by fire. The usual interpretation (which there
is no reason to abandon) is : As the terebinth and oak when cvri. down
retain the principle of vitality in their roots, which will again spring up
into a great tree (cf. Job xiv. 7 ff.), so the ruined Israel contains the
indestructible germ of the future kingdom of God, the " holy seed " is
wrapped up in it. The difference is not material, since in any view
Isaiah speaks of an extermination of the actually existing people : but
the first explanation excludes Isaiah's characteristic doctrine of the
Remnant, which we should certainly expect to find in his inaugural
vision. It must have been shortly after this time that he gave a signifi-

*• 13-] ISAIAH, VI. VII.

49

But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and 13
shall be eaten :
As a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in
them, when they cast their leaves :
So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
cant expression to that doctrine in the name of his son Shear-jashub
(see on next chapter).
a tenth] Perhaps an allusion to Am. v. 3.
A symbolical representation of the idea of this verse is given in Ez. v.
1 — 4. Cf. also Zech. xiii. 8.
Chapters VII. 1.— IX. 7.
A collection of prophecies belonging to the reign of Ahaz. Two im
portant events in Isaiah's career are here chronicled. (1) The first is
his dibut as a practical statesman, seeking to shape the destinies of his
country by a definite policy urged on the king and his advisers.
(2) The second is the formation of a band of disciples, accompanied
apparently by the prophet's temporary withdrawal from public life (viii.
16 — 18). Hence we obtain an obvious division of the section into two
parts, which may have been separated by a considerable interval of
time, although there is no great reason to doubt that the whole was
written before the death of Ahaz. (1) Ch. vii. 1 — viii. 15 is a summary
of Isaiah's activity during the crisis of the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion ;
(2) viii. 19 — ix. 7 probably represents the instruction communicated by
the prophet to the inner circle of his believing adherents. In both
parts the chapters exhibit the working out in history of the principles
revealed in the latter part of ch. vi. The "great refusal" of Ahaz
(vii. 12), approved as it seems to have been by public opinion, was
a signal illustration of the judicial hardening produced by the over
whelming clearness of the divine revelation ; and the gathering of a
small religious fellowship round the person and family of the prophet
shews how the doctrine of the remnant or the " holy seed " became from
this time a practical ideal in his ministry.
In order to understand Isaiah's words and actions at this period it
is necessary to realise as clearly as possible the salient features of the
political situation created in Judah by the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion.
Hostilities on the part of both Syria and Ephraim against Judah are
recorded as having commenced before the death of Jotham (2 Ki. xv.
37), though there is no mention at that time of a formal alliance between
the two powers. It was only after the accession of Ahaz that the crisis
became acute; and the words of v. 2 seem to point to the sudden
development of a new and formidable danger. This consisted in the
avowed object of the league to destroy the independence of Judah
by the removal of the native dynasty and the establishment of a
creature of the allies on the throne of David (v. 6). It is generally
supposed that the ultimate motive of the attack was to coerce Judah
into a coalition to oppose the westward progress of the Assyrian arms.
ISAIAH 4

5°

ISAIAH, VII. [v. i.i

7 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of
Jotham, the son of Uzziah king of Judah, that Rezin the
king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of
To allay what he perceived to be a groundless alarm on the part of the
king and court was one purpose of Isaiah's memorable interview wilh
Ahaz. But this of itself does not explain the extraordinary vehemence
and urgency of the prophet's appeal. It becomes fully intelligible
only when we understand that he wished to warn the king against the
fatal step, which he afterwards took, of calling in the aid of Assyria
against his two petty foes. It is only reasonable to suppose that this
obvious and tempting expedient had already been discussed in the
royal council and was favourably entertained by Ahaz. Isaiah was
no doubt alive to the grave political dangers which would result from
placing the country in a position of servitude to the "Assyrian Empire.
He also perceived how unnecessary it was for Judah to make any
advances in that direction at this time, since it was quite certain that
the ambitious schemes of Rezin and Pekah would speedily be crushed
by Tiglath-pileser, whether Ahaz applied to him or not. All this
must have been evident to any sagacious observer who kept his head
amidst the general panic caused by the approach of the allied armies.
But the prophet perceived that higher interests than the political future
of the nation were at stake. He was opposed, on religious grounds,
to all compacts with heathen powers as involving disloyalty to Jehovah
and distrust of His power. The crisis presented itself to him as a test
of the religious mind of the people, of its capacity for exercising thai
fearless trust in Jehovah's word which alone could guide it safely
through the complications of the immediate future to the felicity that
lay beyond. Hence the great object of this encounter with Ahaz is
to bring round the king to Isaiah's own attitude of calm reliance on the
help of God, and above all things to dissuade him from compromising
his position by entering into direct relations with Assyria.
Chap. VII. Isaiah's interview with Ahaz and its
consequences.
The chapter is divided into two well-marked sections :
i. vv. i— 17. The prophet meets Ahaz at a critical juncture ofthe
war and holds out a promise of deliverance on the condition of faith in
Jehovah. The king's unbelief is answered by the threat of an Assyrian
invasion. (1) The historical introduction (vv. 1 — 3).
(2) The divine message of assurance and encouragement, ending
with a warning against unbelief (vv. 4—9). (We must suppose that
something in the king's demeanour had betrayed his impatience of the
prophet s exhortation.)
(3) If any sign in heaven or earth will overcome the king's incre
dulity, he has but to name it and it shall come to pass (vv. 10, 11).
Ahaz still remains obdurate (v. 12).

vv. 2, 3.] ISAIAH, VII. 51
Israel, went up towards Jerusalem to war against it, but
could not prevail against it. And it was told the house a
of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim.
And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then 3
said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz,
thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit
(4) Isaiah announces the God-given sign of Immanuel, as a. token
(a) of deliverance from the immediate danger, and (b) of the coming
Assyrian invasion (w. 13 — 17).
ii. w. 18 — 25. An expansion of the threat of v. 17, but probably
not spoken to Ahaz at the time. It is a picture of the desolation of
the land, ravaged by Egyptian and Assyrian troops, and left destitute
of all but the scantiest means of human subsistence.
1. The genealogy of Ahaz seems unnecessary for the contemporaries
of Isaiah, although it might be given to connect the passage with
ch. vi. 1. The latter part of the verse closely resembles 2 Ki. xvi. 5 ;
and it is not improbable that the data were supplied by an editor from
the historical book, in order to make the circumstances intelligible to
later generations of readers. Originally the introduction may have run :
" And in the days of Ahaz it was reported to the house of David," &c.
to war against it, but could not prevail against it] lit. to fight
against it but were unable to fight against it. From 2 Ki. xvi. 5 we
learn that the city was blockaded. It was the object of the allies to
take it by assault, but in this they were baffled, either by reason
of the strength of the place, or because they were compelled to raise
the siege. " Fight " means " fight at close quarters " as 2 Sam. xi. 20
compared with v. 1.
2, the house of David] (Cf. vv. 13, 17) either the court (ch. xxii.
22) or the royal family (i Sam. xx. 16, &c), which must have formed
a numerous and powerful caste, and must have exercised a considerable
influence on the government under a weak king like Ahaz. This was
probably the first time that the Davidic dynasty had been menaced by
a serious danger.
Syria is confederate with Ephraim] lit. Syria has alighted upon
Ephraim (R.V. marg. "resteth"). The idea seems to be that the
Syrian armies already occupy the Ephraimitish territory (settling there
like a swarm of locusts, v. 19 : 2 Sam. xvii. 12) preparatory to the joint
attack. The fine simile at the end of the verse is enough to prove that
Isaiah himself is the narrator.
3. The prophet is instructed to meet Ahaz at a certain point outside
the city, taking his son with him for a sign to the king.
Shear-jashub] "Remnant-shall-turn," i.e. "turn to Jehovah," not
" return from exile" (ch. x. 22). How much the name meant to Ahaz
we cannot tell ; nor is it clear whether the boy was present to have the
incident impressed on his own memory, or to recall to the king's mind
some earlier prophecy of Isaiah in which the name was explained.
4—2

52 ISAIAH, VII. [v. 4.
4 of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field ; and
say unto him,
Take heed, and be quiet;
Fear not, neither be fainthearted
For the two tails of these smoking firebrands,
The latter seems more probable. In any case the name embodies a
fundamental idea of Isaiah's ministry (see on ch. vi. 13), and if it con
veyed any significance to Ahaz at this time it was a prediction at once
of judgment and hope : a remnant shall turn ; but only a remnant !
at the end of the conduit. . .field] On the same spot the Rabshakeh
stood 34 years later and delivered Sennacherib's insulting message to
Hezekiah. It seems therefore to have been within earshot of the wall
(ch. xxxvi. 2,cf. v. 11; 2 Ki. xviii. 17, 26). On what side of the city it is
to be sought is as yet a matter of conjecture. (i)The " upper pool " is by
many identified with the Birket el-Mamilla (about half a mile to the west
ofthe city), from which a canal leads to reservoirs within the walls. In
this case it would be difficult to explain the expression "go out to the
end of the conduit," and besides the distance from the wall is too great.
(2) Tradition fixes the site of the Assyrian camp on the north of the city,
and here an ancient aqueduct (older than Herod's temple) has been dis
covered which pierces the wall to the east of the Damascus gate, and
discharges into a large reservoir in the northern quarter of the city.
If this reservoir be the " upper pool" the end of its conduit would be
the northern extremity of the canal mentioned. (3) A third suggestion
is that the " upper pool " like the " lower pool " (ch. xxii. 9) was in the
south of the city and inside the wall. It has been identified with a
recently-discovered pool near the present pool of Siloam, and a conduit
has also been excavated which carried its surplus water outside the wall,
to where the " fuller's field " is thought to have been. Ahaz was at this
anxious moment devoting his personal attention to the water supply of
his capital. Operations were apparently in progress either for filling
the reservoirs and cisterns within the city, or for stopping the sources
that would be accessible to the enemy. In the historic sieges of Jeru
salem the assailants always suffered more from scarcity of water than
the defenders; and.it is not impossible that the precautions taken on
this occasion were the reason why the allies "were not able to fight
against it."
4. The message to Ahaz begins with an exhortation to composure
and presence of mind (cf. ch. xxx. 15). The prophet does not deprecate
reasonable forethought for the safety of the city, but only the excessive
alarm which might drive the court into a false and dangerous policy.
Take heed, and be quiet) The first verb might be subordinate to the
second: "See that thou keep calm." But it is better to take them
independently : " ut et exterius contineat sese, et intus pacato sit animo "
(Calvin). the two tails... firebrands] Render, with R.V. these two tails of
smoking firebrands. This enterprise is but the last flicker of two
expiring torches. Syria and Israel have both suffered severely from the

w. 5—8.] ISAIAH, VII. 53
For the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the
son of Remaliah.
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, .
Have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, <
And let us make a breach therein for us,
And set a king in the midst of it, even the son of
Tabeal :
Thus saith the Lord God, ;
It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
For the head of Syria is Damascus, i
And the head of Damascus is Rezin ;
And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be
broken, that it be not a people.
Assyrians and their national independence will speedily be extinguished.
Fire is the emblem of war (ch. xiii. 25).
the son of Remaliah] Pekah was a usurper, a novus homo, and Isaiah
never condescends to utter his name. Cf. vv. 5, 9.
5 — 7. The project of Rezin and Pekah is opposed to the purpose of
Jehovah and shall come to nought. The verses form a single sentence,
5 and 6 being the protasis and 7 the apodosis.
6. Change the order with R.V. : Because Syria hath counselled
evil against thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying, &c.
6. and vex it] Rather frighten it (cf. v. 16, where the Qal of the
same verb means "cower"), unless we adopt a conjecture of Gesenius
giving the sense "press it hard." The idea, however, is probably that
the allies trusted greatly to the panic caused by the suddenness of their
attack. make a breach therein) break into it, by forcing the passes; as in
2 Chr. xxi. 17, &c.
the son of Tabeal] Another obscure adventurer like the son of Rema
liah. The form of the name (Tab'el, cf. Tab-rimmon, 1 Ki. xv. 18)
suggests that the protige' of the allies was a Syrian. Their plan is very
complete ; the successor of Ahaz is already nominated.
8, 9. A confirmation of v. 7 ; but the thought is difficult to grasp.
The general meaning seems to be that the league is an attempt to
obliterate the political distinctions which Jehovah has established
between the neighbouring states. (Observe that in v. 16 the prophet
seems to speak as if Syria and Israel had become one kingdom in
virtue of their alliance.) Syria and Ephraim are separate nationalities,
each with its own capital and king ; Judah belongs to neither of them
and is not to be amalgamated with them. In short: "Damascus is
the head of Syria and of nothing else, &c." We may even suppose
(with Ewald) that Isaiah intended to add, "but the head of Judah is
Jerusalem and the head of Jerusalem is Jehovah of Hosts."
8. and within threescore and five years... people] This clause is

54 ISAIAH, VII. [vv. 9— ir.
i And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.
If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be esta
blished.
Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God;
suspicious on several grounds, (i) Because of its position; Ephraim
has not yet been mentioned, and a prophecy of its annihilation would
hardly have been followed by an argument (9 a) which assumes its
continued independence. (2) There is no analogy in the prophets for
so exact a specification of time with regard to a distant event. When the
prophets fix a term of years they use round numbers (ch. xxiii. 17, &c).
(3) Isaiah could not expect to allay the fears of Ahaz by a prediction
that was not to be fulfilled for 65 years. In v. 16 and ch. viii. 4 he
foretells the overthrow of Pekah and Rezin within a very short period.
Even Delitzsch, who defends the verse as a whole, admits the force of
the last two objections and proposes to substitute the words " within a
little while. " But the great majority of commentators agree in regarding
the whole clause as a marginal gloss, intended to be read after the first
half of v. 9. This view ought probably to be accepted ; but Duhm
rightly observes that the gloss must be a very old one, since a late anno-
tator would almost certainly have dated the extermination of Ephraim
from the destruction of Samaria in 721; about 15 years after Isaiah
spoke. What precise even t he had in his mind is indeed very uncertain.
The most plausible conjecture remains that of Archbishop Ussher, who
explained it of the settlement of foreign colonists in Samaria by Esar-
haddon or Asshurbanipal (Osnappar, Ezra iv. 2, 10). Sixty-five years
from the assigned date of the prediction would bring us to about 670 B.C.;
ami Esarhaddon was succeeded by Asshurbanipal about 668. Of course
the chronology need not be strictly accurate.
9. If ye will not believe (la'aintnH) ye shall not be established
(te'dmenll, 2 Sam. vii. 16). One of Isaiah's paronomasias; "gldubet
ihr nicht, so bleibet ihr nicht" (Luther); "if ye will not have faith, ye
shall not have staith " (G. A. Smith). Cf. 2 Chron. xx. 20. The words
mark an epoch in the history of revelation ; never before probably had
the distinctively religious principle of faith been so plainlv exhibited as
the touchstone of character and of destiny (cf. Gen. xv. 6 ; Hab. ii. 4).
Here as throughout Scripture faith means trust in the positive revelation
of God, the faith required of Ahaz being whole-hearted acceptance of
God's word through Isaiah. The doctrine is one of the foundation truths
of this prophet's ministry (cf. xxviii. 16, xxx. 15 ; and see Introd. p. Iv.).
10 — 12. Isaiah's last ineffectual effort to bring Ahaz to the attitude
of faith. A sign is offered and refused.
10. Moreover the Lord spake again] Better, And Jehovah spake
further. The expression does not of itself imply that this second com
munication followed immediately on the first, but that is certainly the
most natural supposition.
11. Ask thee a sign] The " sign " ('6th, mdpheth, here the former),

vv. 12, 13.] ISAIAH, VII. 55
Ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt ¦*
the Lord. And he said, . 13
Hear ye now, O house of David ;
Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye
weary my God also ?
plays a very large part in O.T. religion and with considerable latitude
of meaning. The most important cases are those in which a divine
revelation is attested by some striking event within the range of imme
diate perception through the senses. Such a sign may be a supernatural
occurrence conveying an irresistible persuasion of the divine agency (ch.
xxxviii. 7, 22; Ex. vii. 8 ff. ; Jud. vi. 17, 36 ff. ; 1 Ki. xiii. 1 ff.). But
it may also be an ordinary event, which acquires significance through
its having been foretold, or asked for (Gen. xxiv. 14; 1 Sam. x. 2 ff. ;
xiv. 10; Luke ii. 12). Thus of two predicted events the nearer
may be made a. "sign" of the more remote (1 Sam. ii. 34; Jer. xliv.
29 f.). Or, in a still more general sense, the "sign " may be merely an
incident of the fulfilled prediction, which carries the mind back to the
time of the prophecy, when the sign was appointed (Ex. iii. 12 ; Is.
xxxvii. 30). That for which a sign is here offered to Ahaz is the cer
tainty of divine help, or (what is the same thing) the truth that God
speaks to him through the prophet. Although Isaiah was undoubtedly
prepared to give a miraculous sign (see next clause) it is not to be at
once assumed that the sign actually given (vv. 14 ff.) must be of the
same order.
ask it either in the depth... above] Lit.: going deep to Sheol or
mounting high above (reading she'Slah for she'dldh). It is thought by
some that this translation could be obtained from the actual Hebrew
vocalisation, but this is doubtful. It is at all events the one that would
be most readily suggested by an unpointed text, and it is justified by
the antithetic structure of the sentence. The whole realm of creation,
from the heavens to the underworld, is as it were put at the disposal of
Ahaz for the purpose of this sign. It has been said that Isaiah played
a dangerous game in staking his reputation on so unbounded a choice.
Undoubtedly he did, if he was not speaking under genuine divine
inspiration. 12. The answer of Ahaz reveals his utter incapacity for the faith
which Isaiah demanded. He evidently believes that the sign will
happen if he asks it, yet he cannot trust the spiritual fact which lies
behind it. He is afraid of being committed to a policy in which he has
no confidence, and therefore, under a pretence of reverence, he declines
the ordeal. He will not put Jehovah to the proof. To " put Jehovah
to the proof" is a mark of unbelief (Ex. xvii. 7 ; Deut. vi. 16), but to
refuse a proof which Jehovah Himself offers is an insult to the divine
majesty which exhausts the patience ofthe Almighty.
13. Speaking under the deepest excitement, the prophet proceeds to
unfold the consequences of such impenetrable hardness of heart.
Is it u small thing for you...] Trans. , Is it too little for you to

56 ISAIAH, VII. [v. 14.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign ;
Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son,
And shall call his name Immanuel.

weary men (i.e. the prophet himself) that ye weary, &c. The house of
David is addressed, perhaps because Isaiah had already experienced
rebuffs from the royal princes, although none was so direct a defiance
of God as this of Ahaz. my God] cf. thy God in v. 11. Ahaz has
practically renounced the religion of Jehovah.
14 — 16. The sign of Immanuel. See Additional Note at the end of
this chapter. 14. Therefore] because of this act of unbelief. the
Lord himself] The word is Adonai, as ch. vi. 1.
Behold, a virgin) (LXX. t\ irap8&os, other Greek versions veavis.) The
Hebrew word ('almdh) means strictly " a young woman of marriageable
age." Both etymology and usage (cf. esp. Prov. xxx. 19 ; Cant. vi. 8)
are adverse to the opinion, once prevalent among Christian interpreters
and maintained by a few in recent times, that virginity is necessarily con
noted (see Robertson Smith, Prophets, Revd. Ed. pp. 426 f.). To express
that idea a different word (beth&ldh) must have been employed, although
even it might not be wholly free from ambiguity (? Joel i. 8). It is, of
course, not disputed that 'almdh may be used of a virgin (as Gen. xxiv.
43 ; Ex. ii. 8) ; but even if this usage were more uniform than it is, it
would still be far from proving that virginity was an essential of the
notion. It would appear, therefore, that the idea of a miraculous con
ception was not present to Isaiah's mind at this time, since a prediction
of such astounding import must surely have been clothed in unam
biguous language. Nor does the def. art., which is used in the original,
necessarily denote a particular individual. (Cf. 2 Sam. xvii. 17, and
see Davidson, Synt. § 2 1 e.) So far as grammar and context go, the
expression may mean any young woman, fit to become a mother,
whether as yet married or unmarried.
shall conceive, and bear a son] The same phrase in Gen. xvi. n ;
Jud. xiii. 5. In the passage before us the verbs in the original are both
participles, and might refer either to the present or the future. But it is
doubtful if we can fairly apply one to the present and the other to the
future, translating " is with child and shall bear." Since the birth is
certainly future, it seems natural to take the first verb in a future sense
also. and shall call] An archaic form, easily mistaken for 2nd pers. (so
LXX. &c). The mother names the child, as in Gen. iv. 1, 25; xix.
37 f. ; xxix. 32, &c. An instructive parallel is the naming of the child
Ichabod, born to Eli's daughter-in-law on the dark day when the ark of
God was taken and the glory departed from Israel (1 Sam. iv. 19 — 22).
Immanuel] "With us is God." The battle-cry of Gustavus
Adolphus in the Thirty Years War, " Gott mit tins," was also Isaiah's
watchword for the coming crisis (cf. ch. viii. 8, 10); and like other
great thoughts of his ministry he as it were gives it personal and
concrete actuality by conceiving it as embodied in the name Of a
child.

vv. 15—17.] ISAIAH, VII. 57
Butter and honey shall he eat, 15
That he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the
good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, 16
and choose the good,
The land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both
her kings.
The Lord shall bring upon thee, i7
And upon thy people, and upon thy father's house,
15. Butter and honey shall he eat] This has to be explained by
¦v. 22, where the eating of butter (lit. " thick milk ") and (wild) honey is
a symptom of the primitive simplicity to which human life is reduced by
the cessation of agriculture. The meaning is that the youth of
Immanuel will be spent amidst the privations of a land laid waste by
foreign invaders.
that he may know] This is the rendering of the Vulgate and other
ancient versions, and is maintained still by a few scholars. But the
idea that eating butter and honey promotes the formation of ethical
character is somewhat bizarre. Translate with R.V. when he knoweth
(more precisely "towards the time when, &c"). It must be ad
mitted, however, that exact parallels to this use of the preposition
cannot be produced (though cf. Gen. xxiv. 63 ; Ex. xiv. 27). But what
lapse of time is here indicated? The expression "refuse the evil and
choose the good" must bear the same sense as in v. 16, and from
ch. viii. 4 we see that the event predicted in v. 16 was expected to
happen in a very short time, — within two or three years from the date
of the interview with Ahaz. It would seem, therefore, that the phrase
denotes the age at which a child begins to exercise intelligent choice
between the pleasant and the painful (cf. 2 Sam. xix. 35). Most
commentators, it is true, explain it of the development of moral
consciousness, and think of a period of 10 or 12 years or even longer.
But this introduces a needless discrepancy between this sign and that of
viii. 4. There is nothing improbable in the supposition that Isaiah
expected the Assyrian invasion of Judah (which of course is presupposed
by v. 15) to happen simultaneously with the destruction of Samaria and
Damascus. 16. The " for " seems to go back to v. 14 : he shall be called " God
with us," because whilst he is yet in infancy a signal deliverance shall
be wrought.
the land that thou abhorrest. . .kings] Render : the land before whose
two kings thou cowerest shall be deserted. The two "tails of
smoking firebrands " shall have burned out. Ephraim and Syria are
treated as one territory, ruled by the two allied kings.
17 gives the other aspect, the threatening aspect, of the sign Immanuel,
interpreting v. 15. A calamity involving the king, the dynasty, and the
nation, is the retribution appointed for the unbelief of Ahaz.

58 ISAIAH, VII. [vv. 18—20..
Days that have not come,
From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah;
Even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the
uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
1 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them
In the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks,
And upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a rasor
that is hired,
Namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of
Assyria,
The head, and the hair of the feet :

from the day. ..Judah] The revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam
was the heaviest disaster that had ever befallen the house of David.
The last words, the king of Assyria, may as many think be a gloss,
but they are at least a correct gloss.
18 — 25. Further announcements (not addressed to Ahaz, but pro
bably compiled from fragments of several of Isaiah's prophecies) of the
Assyrian invasion (18 — 20) and its consequences (21 — 25).
18, 19. Judah, as the theatre of the inevitable duel between Assyria
and Egypt for the mastery of Asia, must endure all the horrors of the
double invasion.
18. the Lord shall hiss...] See ch. v. 26. The comparison of the
Egyptians to flies and the Assyrians to bees is thoroughly appropriate,
Egypt being infested with swarms of flies (xviii. 1), while Assyria was
pre-eminently a land of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to
bees in Deut. i. 44; Ps. cxviii. 12. the uttermost part] (or
" end ") naturally suggests the Ethiopians, who however did not become
masters of Egypt till B.C. 728. the rivers (strictly " Nile-arms ")
of Egypt] The word used is an Egyptian name for the Nile.
19. The figure is kept up. desolate valleys] rather, precipitous
ravines (lit. " valleys of precipices "). upon all thorns... bushes]
Render: upon all the thorn-hushes (lv. 13) and upon all the pastures.
These are the places naturally frequented by insects.
20. A new figure for the degradation and impoverishment of Judah
at the hands of Assyria. In the same day) In that day.
with a rasor... river] Better: with the razor hired beyond the
river (Euphrates). There may possibly be here an allusion to the
"hiring" of Assyria by Ahaz (2 Ki. xvi. 7 f.); if so the prophecy is
almost certainly later than vv. 1 — 17.
the king of Assyria] see on v. 17.

vv. 21—25.] ISAIAH, VII. 59
And it shall also consume the beard.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 21
That a man shall nourish a young cow, and two
sheep ;
And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk 22
that they shall give he shall eat butter :
For butter and honey shall every one eat that is left
in the land.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 23
That every place shall be,
Where there were a thousand vines at a thousand
silverlings,
It shall even be for briers and thorns.
With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; 24
Because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, -.5
There shall not come thither the fear of briers and
thorns :
and it shall also consume the beard] and even the beard (the symbol
of manly dignity) it shall take away.
21, 22. The land having gone out of cultivation, the sparse popula
tion is reduced to the pastoral life of the desert. Cf. ch. v. 14, 17,
xxxii. 12 — 14.
22. butter and honey become the staple food of the country ; in normal
circumstances they were only eaten as delicacies along with bread and
flesh (Gen. xviii. 8; 2 Sam. xvii. 29). Immanuel is the representative
of the young generation nourished on this frugal fare (v. 15).
23 — 25. The most costly vineyards, requiring the most sedulous
cultivation, are overrun by thorns and thistles, cf. ch. v. 6.
23. a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings] i.e. "silver shekels."
Schrader reckons the silver shekel as equal to about half-a-crown of
our money, which would make the price of the vineyard about ^125.
But the estimate neglects the important element of variation in the
purchasing power of money. The traveller Burckhardt, who found it
the custom in Syria to estimate the value of a vineyard according to the
number of vines, tells us that good vines are valued at less than three
pence each.
24. With arrows and with bows] the weapons of the hunter (Gen.
xxvii. 3).
25. And on all hills. ..mattock] And as for all the hills that used
to be hoed with the mattock. Such hills were the best sites for vine
yards (ch. v. 2).
there shall not come thither the fear...] This could only mean, in the
present connexion, that there would be no more anxiety about thorns,
&c, because the place was hopelessly overgrown by them. It is better

60 ISAIAH, VII. [v. 25.
But it shall be for the sending forth of oxen,
And for the treading of lesser cattle.
to render with R.V. thou Bhalt not come thither for fear of, &c,
although the construction is certainly harsh. Or the words might be
taken as a continuation of the relative clause, thus: "And as for...
mattock, whither no fear of thorns, &=c. used to come, it shall be, &c."
This is perhaps preferable.
for the sending forth of oxen) i.e. a place where oxen are sent forth
(cf. ch. xxxii. 20). the treading (ch. v. 5) of lesser cattle (R.V. sheep).
Additional Note on Chap. VII. 14—16.
Probably no single passage of the Old Testament has been so
variously interpreted or has given rise to so much controversy as the
prophecy contained in these verses. The difficulties arise mainly from
the fact that while the terms of the prediction are so indefinite as to
admit a wide range of possibilities, we have no record of its actual
fulfilment in any contemporary event. The purpose of this note will be
to indicate the chief fines along which a solution has been sought for,
and to consider how far they satisfy the conditions of a reasonable
historical exegesis. But before entering on this survey, it will be well
to enquire what sort of fulfilment the context would lead us to expect,
or in other words what kind of sign would serve the immediate objects
of the prophet's mission to Ahaz.
We are not entitled to assume as a matter of course that the sign here
given will be in all respects such a sign as Aha? might have asked at an
earlier stage of the interview (v. 11). In the first place it need not
involve an objective miracle, although a miracle of the most stupendous
order was originally put within the option of Ahaz. Any of the senses
in which the word "sign" is used (see on v. 11) in connexion with a
prediction, would satisfy the requirements of v. 14. But further there
is a presumption that the import of the sign will have been changed by
what has taken place in the interval. Isaiah's first message to Ahaz is
an unqualified assurance of deliverance from the designs of Rezin and
Pekah, and the sign first offered would be a sign of that and that alone.
The prospect of an Assyrian invasion was no doubt in the background
of the prophet's horizon, but his message to Ahaz is complete in itself
and takes no account of that final catastrophe. It is manifest, however,
that in Isaiah's mind the whole aspect of affairs is altered by the king's
refusal. The Assyrian invasion is brought into immediate connexion
with the attack of the allies, and a new forecast of the future is pre
sented by the prophet in which three great events follow closely on one
another: (1) the collapse of the project of the allied princes, (2) the
total destruction of Syria and Ephraim by the Assyrians, and (3) the
devastation of Judah by the same ruthless conquerors. And the most
natural supposition is that the new sign will be an epitome of this new
and darker outlook, that is to say it will be a pledge at once of the
immediate deliverance and of the judgment that lies behind it. Indeed

ISAIAH, VII. 61

this view is so obviously implied by vv. 14 — 16 that we are shut up to
it unless, with some critics, we remove v. 15 as an interpolation.
Now there are three features of the prediction in which the import of
the sign may be looked for: (i) the birth of the child, (ii) his name, and
(iii) his history. And of these three the last is certainly an essential
element of the prophecy, as is shewn by vv. 15, 16. With regard to
the other two we can only say that it is antecedently improbable that
either of them should be without some special significance.
(i) If the import of the sign be sought mainly in the birth of the
child it becomes almost necessary to assume that the terms ofthe pro
phecy point to something extraordinary and mysterious in the circum
stances of the birth. This is the case with the traditional Christian
interpretation, which finds in it a direct prediction of the miraculous
conception of the Virgin Mother of our Lord. The chief support of this
view has always been the authority of the Evangelist Matthew, who
cites v. 14 in relating the birth of Jesus (i. 22, 23). But it must be
observed that such a citation is not decisive as to the original sense of
the passage, any more than Matt. ii. 15 determines the original sense of
Hos. xi. 1. The great difficulty of the interpretation is that such an
event could by no means serve the purpose of a sign to Ahaz. It may
be freely admitted, in view of v. 1 r, that the expectation of a partheno
genesis is not too bold to be attributed to Isaiah in this moment of
ecstatic inspiration. But if this be granted on the one hand it must be
conceded on the other that he expected the miracle to be wrought in
the immediate future; his language ("a virgin is about to conceive")
implies that the prediction is on the eve of fulfilment, and the assurance
in v. 16 is nugatory if the promised sign was not to happen for more
than 700 years. Moreover, such an idea would require to be unam
biguously expressed, and we have seen that the word 'almdh does not
connote virginity in-the strict sense. Whatever element of truth,
therefore, may underlie this exegesis, it can scarcely be held to .afford an
adequate solution of the problem presented by the oracle in its primary
and historical application.
(ii) Another class of explanations regards the event as a sign to Ahaz
and nothing more, and of these we may examine first those which find
the chief significance of the sign in the naming of the child. Perhaps
the most persuasive presentation of this view is that given by Duhm.
According to that expositor, the 'almdh is any young mother who may
give birth to a child in the hour of Judah's deliverance from Syria and
Ephraim. "God (is) with us" will be the spontaneous exclamation of
child-bearing women in that time; and to such utterances at the moment
of birth a certain oracular significance was attached, which caused them
to be perpetuated in the name of the child. The child (or children)
bearing the name Immanuel will grow up as a sign to Ahaz, first of the
genuineness of Isaiah's inspiration, who foretold the event, and second of
the yet future judgment threatened on the same occasion and his own
rejection by Jehovah. To this theory no exception can be taken on
grammatical or historical grounds. It is undoubtedly rendered easier by
the excision of v. 15, which Duhm advocates. If that verse be retained
one feels that the sign is rather overloaded by a circumstance which is

62 ISAIAH, VII.

directly opposed to the meaning of the name. And apart from this
there will perhaps remain an impression that justice has not been done
to the emphasis with which the birth is announced. Why, on this view,
should the mother be an 'almdh — a young woman?
(iii) A third view (not to be sharply distinguished from ii) lays stress
not so much on the birth or the naming as on the history of the child,
which becomes a sort of chronological thread on which political events
are strung. The meaning is : before the birth of a certain child Judah
will have experienced a great deliverance (v. 14), before he has emerged
from infancy, Syria and Ephraim will have disappeared (v. 16) and at a
later stage of his development the land of Judah will be reduced to a
pastoral wilderness (v. 15). An interesting parallel is found in the child
Pollio in Vergil's fourth Eclogue, and another from the life of Moham
med has been lately pointed out by Mr Bevan1. And as in these two
cases a particular child is the subject of the sign, so here expositors
have hazarded several guesses as to the identity of the 'almdh. She has
been supposed to be (a) the wife of Isaiah, either the mother of Shear-
jashub, or a second wife (some identifying Immanuel with Maher-
shalal-hash-baz, ch. viii. 3), (b) a damsel in the harem of Ahaz (the
mother of Hezekiah is excluded by the chronology), or (c) a young
woman among the bystanders, indicated by a gesture. None of these
conjectures can be pronounced altogether happy. They are all alike
discredited by a certain touch of vulgarity implied in the designation
of some known individual as "the damsel."
An ingenious modification of the last two theories recently propounded
by an American writer2, differs from all others in excluding the prospect
of deliverance from the import of the sign, whose significance is found
in the contrast between the name of the child and his history. The
name Immanuel embodies the religious optimism of the king and nation,
their false trust in the protection of Jehovah; the hardships through
which the child passes symbolise the providential course of events under
which this delusive confidence must collapse. This interpretation,
however, requires the excision of at least the latter part of v. 16, and
also the rejection of ch. viii. 9, 10 as spurious.
(iv) Another line of exegesis which has commended itself to a large
number of modern expositors starts from the idea that here for the first
time the figure of the personal Messiah is flashed on Isaiah's mind. On
this view the prophecy is invested with profound religious significance,
which is not the case with the two last-mentioned theories. Face to
face with the craven-hearted monarch who had betrayed his trust as
guardian of the liberty and independence of Judah, the prophet receives
this revelation of the true King, as one born to his people in the hour
1 Jewish Quarterly Review, Oct. 1893, pp. 220 ff. The incident is that of a Jew
who was discoursing to an Arab tribe at Medina about the resurrection and the last
judgment. "'But,' said they, 'what is the sigyi (ayat, Hebr. T\\kO of this?' 'A
prophet,' he answered, 'sent from that country yonder/ pointing with his hand
towards Mecca and Yemen. _ ' But when,' they asked,, 'do you think he will come?'
Then he looked at me and said, ' If this boy reaches the full term of life, he will see
him.' And in fact before another day had passed God sent His Apostle to dwell
among us, and we believed on him, &c."
2 F. C. Porter, in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. xiv. 1895, pp. 19—36.

ISAIAH, VII. 63

of danger, sharing their poverty and affliction in his youth and waiting
the time when "the government shall be upon his shoulder" and the
perfect kingdom of God shall be established (ix. 6). The attention is
concentrated on the mysterious personality of the child, that of the
mother falls into the background. She may be some unknown daughter
of the royal house, or a nameless maiden of lowly rank ; the essential
fact is that in the speedy advent of Immanuel, in his name, in his
experience, men will recognise the God-given "sign" of the truth of
the prophet's words. This on the whole seems to be the theory which
affords the most adequate solution of the complex difficulties of the
passage. It satisfies the claims of a truly historical interpretation, and
at the same time it accounts, as none of the other modern theories do,
for the impassioned fervour, the indefinable atmosphere of mystery and
emotion with which the words are surrounded. It is no objection to it
that the anticipation remained an unrealised ideal long after the oppor
tunity for a sign to Ahaz had passed away ; for a similar remark applies
to the whole conception of a personal Messiah, whose appearance Isaiah
certainly expected to synchronise with the Assyrian invasion. Not the
least of its recommendations, indeed, is the fact that it brings this pro
phecy into line with the other great Messianic prophecies of ch. ix. 1 — 7
and xi. 1 ff. ; and if the last words of ch. viii. 8 are rightly rendered
"thy land, O Immanuel" (which however has been disputed, see on
the verse below) a link would be supplied which would make the proof
almost irresistible, since no ordinary child, born or unborn, could be
naturally apostrophised as the owner of the land.
(v) An allegorical interpretation of the prophecy has been advanced
by a few scholars, the ' ' virgin " being taken as a personification of the
Davidic house, or of the religious community, and the child either as
the Messiah, or as a figure of the new generation ; or else the birth is
explained as merely a general symbol of deliverance. But all this is
purely fanciful.
A few words may be added in conclusion on the pre-Christian
acceptation of the passage. From a very early time it seems to have
been recognised that a certain mystery clung to the words, that their
significance was not exhausted by the circumstances in which they were
originally spoken, but that they had an eschatological reference, point
ing forward to the birth of the Messiah, as the wonderful event on
which all the hope of the future hung. The first trace of this tendency
is found in Mic. v. 3 : " therefore will he (Jehovah) give them up until
the time when a (certain) travailing woman hath brought forth, &c."
These words can hardly be explained otherwise than as a reference to
Is. vii. 14; and if it were certain that they were written by a con
temporary of Isaiah they would go far to determine the sense in which
the earlier prophecy should be understood. Since, however, they
belong to a part of the book of Micah whose age is disputed, they may
possibly represent a secondary application of Isaiah's prophecy rather
than its primary intention. A further advance in the same direction
appears to be indicated by the rendering of our passage in the LXX.
It is almost incredible that the use of the word vupdevos for 'almdh in
so important a connexion should be due to mere laxity on the part

64 ISAIAH, VII. VIII.
of the translator. More probably it expresses a belief current in Jewish
circles that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin. A good deal of
evidence has been adduced to shew that such an expectation actually
prevailed amongst both Alexandrian and Palestinian Jews1, and if it
existed it could hardly fail to influence the exegesis of this prophecy. .
It was only when the prophecy was appealed to by the Christians in
proof of the Messiahship of Jesus that the Jewish exegetes seem finally
to have repudiated the Messianic interpretation. They refused to admit
that the word 'almdh could properly be translated "virgin" and fell
back on one or other of the theories mentioned under (iii). The
Christian Fathers on the other hand resolutely upheld the correctness
of the LXX., although the post-Christian Greek versions of Aquila,
Theodotion and Symmachus agree in rendering the word by veavit.
The patristic view maintained an all but unquestioned ascendancy
within the Church till the dawn of historical criticism in the eighteenth
century, when it began to be recognised that on the philological question
the Jews were right.

Chap. VIII. 1—18. Further oracles from the time
of the Syro-Ephraimitish war.
The passage may be analysed as follows : —
i. w. i — 4. The prophet, having utterly failed to influence the
policy of the court (ch. vii. 1 — 17) is directed by Jehovah to impress
his divinely inspired view' of the situation on the public mind by two
significant actions. First, he is to place in some conspicuous position
a large tablet bearing in legible characters the ominous inscription
lmhrshllhshbz; at the same time giving legal formality to the
transaction by taking two prominent citizens as witnesses. Then the
explanation of the word is given in connexion with the naming of a son
born to him soon afterwards. It is a prophecy of the speedy overthrow
of Ephraim and Syria by the king of Assyria. These actions are only
intelligible at a time when the prediction was contrary to common
expectation ; hence they were performed certainly before the conquest
of Damascus (732), and probably also before the embassy of Ahaz to
Tiglath-pileser (2 Ki. xvi. 7).
ii. vv. 5 — 8. A prediction of the Assyrian invasion of Judah. The
people who despise the softly flowing waters of Shiloah (the symbol of
Jehovah's invisible presence and government) shall be inundated by the
waters of the Euphrates (a figure for the might of Assyria).
iii. vv. 9, 10. An oracle of very different import from the preceding.
In an apostrophe to the nations of the world the prophet announces the
frustration of all plans and combinations directed against the sovereign
rule of Jehovah on mount Zion.
iv. vv. 11 — 15. Isaiah relates how in an hour of ecstasy he had
experienced the strong pressure of the divine hand on his spirit, holding
him aloof from the currents of public opinion which flowed around him,
and constraining him to regulate his attitude by the constant thought of
1 See Mr F. P. Badham's letter in the Academy of 8 June, 1895.

vv. i, 2.] ISAIAH, VIII. 65
Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great 8
roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Maher-
shalal-hash-baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses 2
God's presence; and along with this there were revealed to him the
awful consequences of stumbling heedlessly against the purposes of
Jehovah. v. w. 16 — 18. The prophet recognises that a chapter of his ministry
has now closed. He is conscious that Jehovah has withdrawn the
gracious guidance of the prophetic word which the nation has so
emphatically rejected ; and therefore he retires within the circle of his
own adherents to wait for the fulfilment of his words. To these
" disciples " he commits a record of the prophecies delivered during
the crisis, while to the unbelieving people Jehovah has given pledges of
His word in the names of the prophet and his two children.
It would be a mistake to look for a close logical connexion between
these sections. They form a series of detached oracles, which followed
each other at intervals like lightning flashes, illuminating for us the
darkness of the political situation. Along with ch. vii. and probably
also ch. vi., they constitute no doubt the chief part of the "testimony"
which Isaiah "sealed up" among his disciples.
1 — 4. The twofold sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
1. Comp. ch. xxx. 8; Hab. ii. 2. a great roll] a great
tablet (R.V.). The word is used in ch. iii. 23 of polished metal
mirrors ; here it means a smooth flat tablet of wood, stone or metal.
with a man's pen] i.e. "in common characters" (R.V. marg.) easily
legible and understood by the people (Hab. ii. 2). Such a direction
bears witness to an extensive knowledge of writing in Isaiah's time.
The famous inscription in the Siloam tunnel, belonging probably to
this age, is thought to have been carved by the workmen for their
amusement. Maher-shalal-hash-baz] That is, "Haste-spoil-speed-booty." Syn
tactically the enigmatic legend is capable of more than one construc
tion. Most probably the verbs are participles; and then the nouns
may be either ngminative to them, or in the accusative of direction.
I.e. we may translate either "Spoil hasteneth — booty speedeth" or
"Hasting to (the) spoil — speeding to (the) booty." The last seems
preferable. (Comp. Goethe's Raufebold, Habebald, Eilebmte in the
second part of Faust)
concerning) is in Hebr. simply "to" or "for," a formula of dedication
common on seals and epitaphs. The tablet relates to Maher-shalal-
hash-baz. 2. And I took] The Hebr. pointing gives and I will take (as in
R.V.). The speaker is still Jehovah. The LXX. and other old versions
have the imperative ("and take for me") which, as addressed to the
prophet, reads more naturally. Uriah the priest is mentioned in 2 Ki.
xvi. 10 ff. ; Zechariah is unknown, although the name occurs in the
nearly contemporary notices of 2 Chron. xxvi. 5; xxix. 13. He has
even been identified, somewhat rashly, with the author of Zech. ix. — xi.

66 « ISAIAH, VIII. [w. 3— 6.
to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of
3 Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess ; and she
conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me,
4 Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the child
shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother,
the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be
taken away before the king of Assyria.
5 The Lord spake also unto me again, saying,
6 Forsomuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah
that go softly,
And rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son ;
on the ground of Zech. i. I. It is not to be inferred that the two men
were intimate friends of Isaiah, still less that they belonged to the band
of his disciples (v. 16) ; they are called to witness simply as responsible
public persons, trusted by the people.
3. the prophetess] Isaiah's wife is so called, not because she herself
possessed the prophetic gift, but because the husband's designation is
transferred by courtesy to the wife; — as a German might have said "die
Frau Prophetin."
4. The period here indicated, about a year, is of course shorter than
in ch. vii. 16, the date of the prediction being about a year later.
0 — 8. The Assyrian invasion of Judah threatened.
6. the waters of Shiloah) According to Delitzsch the older and
correct pronunciation is Sldlloah. The pool of Siloam (Neh. iii. 15 ;
John ix. 7, now called 'Ain Silwdn) was situated on the south-west side
of the Temple Mount, at the lower end of the Tyropceon valley. From
a very ancient time it has been connected, by a rock-hewn tunnel, with
an intermittent spring (St Mary's well) on the opposite (eastern) side of
the hill, outside the wall. If this work had been executed before
Isaiah's day there could be no reasonable doubt that it is referred to
here. The name (from a verb meaning "send" John ix. 7) suggests
an artificial channel, and the expression "that go softly" exactly
describes the flow of the water along the easy gradient of the tunnel.
Its execution, however, is very generally assigned to Hezekiah, on the
ground of 2 Ki. xx. 20; 2Chr. xxxii. 30; Ecclus. xlviii. 17. Whether this
or some still more ancient aqueduct be intended, the point of the meta
phor is that the waters, flowing " fast by the oracle of God," are a type
(not of the Davidic dynasty, but) of the silent unobtrusive presence and
majesty of Jehovah, who "dwells in mount Zion" (v. 18: cf. Ps.
xlvi. 4).
and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah s son] If the text and translation
be right, we must assume either (a) that " this people" does not refer to
Judah, but to Ephraim or Ephraim and Syria together ; or lb) that the
people of Judah were secretly disaffected towards the house of David and
sympathised with the design of the allied kings. But (a) "this people"
most naturally means those who had refused the waters of Shiloah, the

vv. 7, 8.] ISAIAH, VIII. 67
Now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon 7
them
The waters of the river, strong and many,
Even the king of Assyria, and all his glory:
And he shall come up over all his channels,
And go over all his banks :
And he shall pass through Judah; 8
He shall overflow and go over,
He shall reach even to the neck ;
And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the
breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
people amongst whom the prophet was living (as in vv. 11, 12), i.e. the
inhabitants of Judah ; while (b) is a supposition not probable in itself,
and at variance with vii. 2, viii. 12. We might retain the present text
and translate " rejoice with Rezin, &c," i.e. rejoice in the same kind of
things as Rezin, &c. rejoice in ; but this is extremely forced. The most
likely explanation is that there has been a confusion between two words
of similar sound; and that what the prophet really wrote was not
" rejoice in " but " faint before" (i/tsos instead of msSs). This presents
itself as the easiest solution, although it may possibly require a change
of the following preposition (perhaps mippni instead of 'eth). Render,
therefore, and faint before Rezin, &c. (cf. v. 12 and ch. vii. 2).
7. Now therefore] lit. "and therefore," introducing the apodosis; a
combination not found elsewhere.
bringeth up upon them] Not North Israel, but Judah, "this people."
the waters ofthe river) The Euphrates, explained in the next clause as
a symbol of the Assyrian power. The figure of the verse is based on
the fact that in summer the Euphrates overflows its banks, — an obvious
emblem of the aggressive policy of the great world-power.
8. And he shall pass through Judah] Better as R. V., And he shall
sweep onward into Judah. overflow and go over are rightly taken
as synonyms (not as R.V.).
shall reach even to the neck] (cf. xxx. 28). Judah is in the utmost
extremity of danger, yet is not wholly submerged.
shall fill... land) lit. "shall be the filling (as in ch. vi. 3) of the.
breadth of thy land." "Wings" cannot mean "masses of water
branching off from the main current " ; nor is there any evidence that
the Hebrews spoke of the "wings" of an army, as we do. The figure
of the deluge seems abruptly changed to that of a huge bird of prey,
overshadowing the whole land with its extended wings.
of thy land, O Immanuel] Without any change of the original con
sonantal text we might read, as at the end of v. 10, "...of the land.
For with us is God ! " The change is perhaps not imperatively required
even if Immanuel be an ordinary child ; whereas, on the view that he is
the Messiah, the apostrophe becomes natural. Still there remains a
suspicion that the last part may be a gloss introduced from v. 10.
5—2

68 ISAIAH, VIII. [vv. 9— 12.
> Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be
broken in pieces ;
And give ear, all ye of far countries :
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
> Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought;
Speak the word, and it shall not stand :
For God is with us.
For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand,
And instructed me that I should not walk in the way
of this people, saying,
j Say ye not, A confederacy,
9, 10. The challenge of faith to the combined nations of the world.
Cf! Ps. ii. i—6.
9. Associate yourselves) Rather : Be exasperated. A.V. follows
the Targum and Vulgate, whose translation is based on a wrong gram
matical analysis of the word (the root being ra'a', not rd'dh).
and ye shall be broken in pieces) Lit. : and be dismayed, — a con
secutive imperative (Davidson, Synt. § 64), forming the apodosis of a
conditional sentence.
gird yourselves] for battle against the cause of Jehovah.
10. Take counsel... nought) "If ye resolve on a scheme it shall be
frustrated." speak the word] a word, i.e. "proclaim your resolution."
For God is with us] See on v. 8.
11 — -15. Isaiah was able to stand alone against the nation during
this crisis, because he knew that his thoughts were controlled by a
Power not his own.
11. with a strong hand] Better: while the Hand (of Jehovah)
grasped (me), (an infinitive construction). The phrase (cf. Ezek. iii.
14) refers to a prophetic trance, in which the true view of the aspects
and issue of the situation was borne in upon Isaiah's mind with irre
sistible force. His mind was as it were fixed in one direction, and he
was henceforth proof against the disturbing influences of social opinion
around him.
and instructed me... walk] Or, to warn me against walking. Gram
matically, the clause is a continuation, not of the main sentence ("and
Jehovah spake, &c"), but of the infinitive construction, which is here
resolved into the Imperfect (Qal). the way of this people] the pre
vailing emotions, thoughts and resolves of the hour.
12. A confederacy] Strictly: A conspiracy (R.V. ). But the word
" conspiracy " does not necessarily imply (as some have thought) treason
within the state. It may be used (as the verb is in Neh. iv. 2) of an
external coalition threatening the integrity of the commonwealth. On
the whole this seems to give the best sense here. The "conspiracy" is
the Syro-Ephraimitish alliance, which Isaiah and his adherents are

w. 13 — 15-] ISAIAH, VIII. 69
To all them to whom this people shall say, A. con
federacy ;
Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; 13
And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; 14
But for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of
offence to both the houses of Israel,
For a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jeru
salem.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and is
be broken,
warned not to treat as a serious danger. Another explanation is that
Isaiah and his party were suspected of treasonable complicity in the
designs of the allies (cf. Jer. xxxvii. 13) ; but did they need a super
natural revelation to tell them that that charge was false ? The word has
also been supposed to allude to the spirit of preternatural suspicion that
was abroad, causing every man to suspect his neighbour of being a
traitor. But Isaiah is little likely to have been disturbed by this.
neither fear ye their fear] i.e. "fear not what they fear," but fear
Jehovah alone (v. 13).
13. Render : Jehovah of Hosts, Him shall ye count holy, and let
Him be (the object of) your fear and (of) your terror. "Count holy"
(xxix. 23) ; recognise as the Holy One, especially by absolute trust
in His providential disposition of events; fearing only what would
offend Him.
14. To those who obey this admonition, Jehovah shall be for a
sanctuary ; to all others a stumbling-stone. This contrast would
certainly be clearer if (with the Targ. and Vulg.) we might insert "to
you" after "shall be." But the want of these words hardly justifies us
in changing the text, or even in translating "He will shew Himself a
holy object," in the sense explained by the remainder of the verse.
Although it is doubtful if the word is ever used for "asylum," yet the
sanctuary was in fact an asylum (Ex. xxi. 14; 1 Ki. i. 50, ii. 28, 30),
and there is no great improbability in supposing that that idea is
expressed here.
Two figures are used to set forth the threatening side of Jehovah's
relation to both the houses of Israel : the stone against which one heed
lessly stumbles to one's own destruction ; and the snare in which a wild
animal is caught unawares. Jehovah is a secret and sudden danger to
those who walk in blind unbelief. Cf. Ps. xviii. 26.
15. many among them) Not all ; a. " Remnant shall turn " and be
saved : how, is more fully shewn in the next verses. The expressions of
this verse are reproduced with little variation in ch. xxviii. 13. They
are frequently alluded to in the N.T. (Luke ii. 34; Matt. xxi. 44:
Rom. ix. 33).

70 ISAIAH, VIII. [w. 16— 18.
And be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my dis
ciples.
17 And I will wait upon the Lord,
That hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
And I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord
hath given me
Are for signs and for wonders in Israel
16 — 18. The prophet, recognising the failure of his work as regards
the nation, prepares a written record of his teaching, and deposits this
as a sealed document in the custody of his disciples. By this solemn
act he forms an inner circle of religious fellowship, which is the nucleus
of the new people of God. See General Introd. p. xxxi.
16. Cf. ch. xxx. 8; Dan. xii. 4. Bind up... seal] The imperatives
can only be understood as a command of Jehovah to Isaiah, as in
vv. 1 ff. But in the next verse Isaiah himself is the speaker, and since
the change of person is somewhat abrupt, the suggestion deserves con
sideration that the two verbs are infs. abs. (wrongly vocalised). We
might then translate : " (I will) bind up. ..(I will) seal."
the testimony... the law] testimony... instruction (see on i. 10). Both
words are here used of the contents of the revelations communicated to
the prophet during these months of danger and anxiety ; the former
describes more particularly the evidential character of the predictions,
the latter refers to the practical element in the revelation (as in vii. 4 — 9,
viii. 11 — 13).
among my disciples] i.e. those who had received the prophet's
message, and rallied round him as their spiritual guide.
17. that hideth his face...] A very common expression for Jehovah's
anger: Deut. xxxi. 17 f. ; Mic. iii. 4; Jer. xxxiii. 5; Ps. xiii. 1, xliv.
24 ; Job xiii. 24, &c. The special mark of displeasure which Isaiah has
in view is the cessation of those admonitions and warnings which Jehovah
had sent through him to the people.
will look for him] Better : wUl hope in Him. The counsel which
the nation and the king rejected becomes the rule of the prophet's own
life. 18. / and the children whom the LORD hath given me] Like Hosea,
Isaiah had been directed to embody leading ideas of his teaching in the
names of at least two of his children, Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-
hash-baz. His own name, also, though not an uncommon one, expresses
what we may regard as the most comprehensive idea of his theology—
" Jehovah saves." He and they are thus for signs and portents (cf.
ch. xx. 3 and see on vii. 11) in Israel; the children especially cannot
be seen or named without recalling to mind prophetic utterances of
profound import.

v. 19-1 ISAIAH, VIII. 71
From the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount
Zion.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them 19
that have familiar spirits,
And unto wizards that peep, and that mutter :
which dwelleth in mount Zion] This conception seems to have first
emerged in Isaiah's teaching at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite war,
when Jerusalem was threatened by a foreign army. We have here
perhaps the earliest anticipation of what became afterwards a fixed
element of 'his prophecy — the inviolability of Jerusalem, the earthly seat
of Jehovah's throne.
Chap. VIII. 19 — IX. 7. Esoteric prophecies of the future
addressed to Isaiah's disciples.
The prophet, having now discontinued and "sealed up" his public
"testimony," appears to address himself in what follows to his own
immediate followers. The passage presents, in vivid contrast, two pic
tures; one of the darkness and despair that are settling down on the
incorrigible nation, the other of the light and joy that are to break upon
it with the advent of the Messianic salvation. "The morning cometh
and also the night" (ch. xxi. 12).
i. w. 19 — 22. The night of despair and affliction. The whole of
this section is unusually obscure, but two features can be clearly recog
nised, corresponding to the double prophecy in ch. vi. 9 — 12.
(1) Spiritual darkness, the people resorting to necromancy, &c, in
default of a true revelation ( 19, 20). This we may regard as a symptom
of the last stage of the hardening of heart foretold in vi. 9 f.
(2) Outward distress: men roaming through a dreary land, maddened
by hunger, and seeking relief in vain (21, 22). The fulfilment of vi. 1 1 f.
Ch. ix. 1 (in the Hebr. viii. 23) is a transition verse.
ii. Ch. ix. 2 — 7. The dawn of the Messianic age.
(1) The light and joy ofthe great deliverance (2, 3).
(2) The manner of the deliverance: the overthrow of the Assyrian
tyrant (4, 5). _
(3) The advent of the Messianic King (0, 7).
19, 20. Religion and superstition contrasted.
19. And when they (the infatuated, God-forsaken people) shall say
unto you (believers in divine revelation).
them that have familiar spirits] Hebr. simply hSdbhflh. Strictly, the
'ibh is the "familiar spirit" itself (Lev. xx. 27, &c), i.e. the disembodied
spirit after death; the necromancer or "medium" through whom it
holds communication with the living is ba'al 'dbh or ba'dlath '6bh
(1 Sam. xxviii. 8) — the possessor of an '6bh.
wizards that peep, and that mutter] "Wizards," lit. " knowing ones,"
practitioners of an occult science. Peep (i.e. chirp) and mutter refer to the

72 ISAIAH, VIII. [vv. 20—22.
Should not a people seek unto their God?
For the living to the dead?
> To the law and to the testimony :
If they speak not according to this word,
It is because there is no light in them.
¦ And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and
hungry :
And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be
hungry, they shall fret themselves,
And curse their king and their God, and look upward.
! And they shall look unto the earth;
faint voice, like that of a little bird, which antiquity ascribed to the
shades of the departed : "The sheeted dead did squeak and gibber in the
streets of Rome." Seech, xxix. 4, where the word "peep" is again
used, and comp. Aen. vi. 492 f.; II. xxiii. 101. The LXX. (roi>s iv-
yaarpip-bdovs and ot iic rijs KoMas <pw>ovau>) suggests that the voice
of the ghost was imitated by ventriloquism, which is not unlikely.
should not a people. . .dead?] This seems to be the answer which the
prophet's disciples are to return to the people.
for the living to the dead?) i.e. " should one enquire of the dead (ghost)
on behalf of the living ? "
20. To the law and to the testimony] See on v. 16. Apparently an
exclamation of the distracted people (see on next clause).
The remainder of the verse, where the construction is very difficult,
ought probably to be rendered : surely they shall speak according to
this word when there is no dawn (i.e. no hope) for them (lit. him).
The meaning is that the people will seek direction from the "sure word
of prophecy," but only when it is too late. But the original is so obscure
that no great confidence can be placed in any translation.
21, 22. Another scene, representing the utter desolation of the land,
and the miseries of the survivors.
21. they shall pass through it] Obviously, the land; but something
must have fallen out before this verse, to account for the reference of
the pronoun. Throughout this and the following verse, "they," "their,"
"themselves," should be "he," "his," "himself." The subject is
either the whole nation or an individual Israelite. He wanders through
the land, perhaps seeking an oracle (Am. viii. 12).
they shall fret themselves] Better : he shall break out in anger (the
form is used only here).
curse his king and his God) Not "his king and God" whether
Jehovah or a false god ; but the king because he cannot, and God
because He will not, help. Cf. 2 Ki. vi. 26 f. (see also 1 Ki. xxi. 10).
This gives a much better sense than "curse by his king and his God,"
although the parallel passages are in favour of the latter translation.
22. The last words of the previous verse should be taken along with
this one : and he shall look upward and shall look to the earth : and

vv. 22; i.] ISAIAH, VIII. IX. 73
And behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish;
And they shall be driven to darkness.
Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in 9
her vexation,
When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward did more grievously afflict her by the
way of the sea,
Beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

behold, &c. Whether he look to heaven or earth, no ray of hope shall
appear (cf. ch. v. 30).
trouble and darkness...] Render with R.V. distress and darkness, the
gloom of anguish. The word here translated "gloom" is slightly
different in form from that in ix. 1 , and does not occur again.
and they shall... darkness] Probably: and he shall be chased into
thick darkness. A somewhat similar phrase in Jer. xxiii. 12. Others
render: "and darkness shall be driven (upon him)"; others: "but (the)
darkness shall be dispelled. "
IX. 1. Nevertheless ...vexation) Lit.For(thereis)nogloomtoherthat
(is) in straitness. The sentence is an enigma. Duhm translates it as
a question and regards it as the gloss of a reader who with difficulty had
made up his mind that the "gloom" is metaphorical and justified his
conclusion thus: "For is there not gloom to (a land) that is in straits?"
It is a nice question whether the ancient scholiast or the modem com
mentator displays the greater subtlety here. If the words are retained
in the text we must supply a different tense in the two members, as
R.V. "But (for) there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish."
when at the first... more grievously afflict her] Begin a new sentence
and render as R.V. In the former time he brought into contempt...
but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, &c, or (since the
words for "land" have the ace. termination), "brought contempt on the
land. ..brought honour to it." The subject is Jehovah.
the land of Zebulun... Naphtali] Lower and Upper Galilee.
the way of the sea] either "in the direction of the (Mediterranean)
Sea," or "the region along the West side, of the Sea of Gennesareth."
In the time of the Crusades Via Maris was the name of the road leading
from Acre to Damascus.
beyond Jordan] the land of Gilead (2 Ki. xv. 29).
in Galilee of the nations] (omit "in") the circuit of the nations.
Although the Hebrew word (Galtl) is the origin of the later "Galilee," the
district to which it was applied in the O.T. was only the northernmost
corner of what was afterwards Upper Galilee (see 1 Ki. ix. 11; Josh.
xx. 7, xxi. 32 ; 2 Ki. xv. 29).
These remote provinces are singled out for special mention because
they were the first to be depopulated by Tiglath-pileser (2 Ki. xv. 29),

74 ISAIAH, IX. [vv.

The people that walked in darkness have seen
a great light :
They, that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined.
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased
the joy :
They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the
staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
those parts of the land, therefore, on which the reproach of foreign
dominion will have lain longest when the Deliverance comes. The
prophecy acquired a new and surprising significance when the "good
news of the Kingdom" began to be proclaimed by our Lord first in
Galilee (Matt. iv. 13 ff.). But the following verses (w. 1 — 7) refer of
course to the whole nation.
2, 3. The sudden change of style is remarkable; all at once the
prophecy breaks into a strain of rapturous and animated poetry, which
is sustained to the close. In the Hebr. ch. ix. begins here.
2. have seen] the perfects throughout are those of prophetic certainty ;
the writer is transported into the future.
the shadow of death) Heb. cal-maveth, usually held by scholars to be a
corruption of calmuth ( = "shadow" simply). But the traditional etymo
logy is forcibly defended by Ndldeke in Zeiischr.f. A.T. Wiss., 1897,
pp. 183 f.
3. and not increased the joy] Lit., " unto it thou hast increased
the joy." Lo', "not" and Id, "to it," being pronounced alike, are
sometimes confused in the text of the O.T. There is no reason for
assuming such a confusion here, and R.V. (" thou hast increased their
joy") rightly adheres to the Massoretic text. But it is still better to
adopt a very simple emendation, approved by many expositors (HP^n
for tO'UiT) and translate : Thou hast multiplied the exultation ; thou
hast increased the joy.
before thee] as at the festivals in the sanctuaiy, a phrase often used in
Deuteronomy (xii. 7, xiv. 26, $c).
the joy in harvest] Ps. iv. 8, cxxvi. 5, 6.
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil] cf. ch. xxxiii. 23 ; Jud. v. 30;
Ps. cxix. 162. For "rejoice" read exult.
4, 5. The destruction of the oppressor.
4. Change the order as in R.V. For the yoke of his burden, &c...
thou hast broken.
the staff of his shoulder] (better back) means the staff with which his
back was beaten ; the pronouns refer to Israel.
rod of his oppressor] task-master, as in Ex. v. 6.
in the day of Midian] when the dominion of the Midianites was for
ever broken (Jud. vii.; cf. Is. a. 26). "Day" here means "day of

vv. s, 6.] ISAIAH, IX. 75
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, 5
And garments rolled in blood;
But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given : 6
And the government shall be upon his shoulder :
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller,
The mighty God,
battle," as often in Arabic. The Arabs speak of the hero of many
fights as dhu-V ayydmin, "master of days."
6. The verse reads : For every boot of him that tramped noisily,
and (every) garment rolled in blood, shall be for burning, as fuel for
the fire. The word se'dn is Aramaic and signifies a military boot ; that
rendered "tramped" (sb'en) is a denominative formed from it. The
idea of the verse is that after Jehovah's great victory every vestige of
war shall be burned up in preparation for the kingdom of universal
peace. Comp. the burning of the weapons of Gog's host in Ezek.
xxxix. 9 f. '•"
6, 7. The last and greatest cause of joy is the birth of the Messiah
and his wonderful character and government. When Isaiah expected
the event to take place, cannot be gathered from this prophecy. There
is no reason for supposing that the reference is to a child already born ;
the perfect tense is used, as throughout the passage, from the ideal
standpoint of the writer, which is within the Messianic age. The
birth of the child is most naturally conceived as taking place in the
age of miracle which succeeds the overthrow of the Assyrian ; hence no
part is .assigned to him in effecting the national emancipation.
6. unto us] the survivors of the judgment. Cf. "Immanuel," "God
with us."
the government] This word is found only here and in v. 7, and is of
uncertain interpretation, perhaps "princedom."
his name shall be called] The name of the Messiah consists of a
series of honorific titles, pertaining to Him in His kingly capacity and
expressing mainly the qualities displayed in His government. We may
compare, with Guthe and others, the high-sounding titles assumed by
Egyptian and Babylonian monarchs in their inscriptions, such as,
"Giver of Life iii perpetuity," "Ever Living," "Lord of Life," "Lord
of Eternity and Infinity" &c.
Wonderful, Counseller] Since each of the other names is com
pounded of two words, these expressions are also to -be taken together
as forming a single designation — Wonder-Counseller. The construction
is either construct followed by genitive — "a wonder of a Counseller"
(cf. Gen. xvi. 12), or ace. governed by participle — "one who counsels
wonderful things." Cf. " wonderful in counsel " (of Jehovah) in ch.
xxviii. 29. On counsel as the function of a king, see Mic. iv. 9.
The mighty God] ('il Gibbbr) either "God-like Hero" or Hero-God.
The second is to be preferred, because the title is applied to Jehovah in
ch. a. 21 (cf. Deut. x. 17; Jer. xxxii. 18). These two titles ascribe to

76 ISAIAH, IX. [v. 7.
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end,
Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
To order it, and to stablish it with judgment and with
justice
From henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

the Messiah the two fundamental virtues of a ruler, wisdom and strength
(cf. ch. xi. 2), both in superhuman measure. The predicate of divinity
(like that of eternity in the next name) is not to be understood in the
absolute metaphysical sense; it means that the divine energy works
through him and is displayed in his rule (cf. xi. 2 ff. ; Mi. v. 4 ; Zech.
xii. 8). In the fulfilment the words receive a larger sense.
The remaining two titles describe the character of the Messiah's
government, as (a) paternal, and (/;) peaceful.
The everlasting Father) lit. Father of Eternity. The translation
"Father of booty" is grammatically unimpeachable (see ch. xxxiii. 23 ;
Gen. xlix. 27), but the ideas of fatherhood and booty form an unnatural
association. " Father of Eternity" describes the king, not as "possessor
of the attribute of eternity" but as one who continually acts as a father
to his people.
Prince of Peace] Cf. ch. ii. 2 — 4, xi. 4 ff. ; Mic. v. 5 ; Zech.
ix. 10.
7. The extension and consolidation ofthe Messiah's rule.
Of the increase... end] Rather, For the increase of authority and
for peace without end, &c. The final M (D) in the original points to some
uncertainty of text, which can also be traced in the translation of the
LXX. It is thought by some to have arisen through dittography of the
last two letters of v. 6; v. 7 would then begin "increased is authority."
But the QerS gives the better sense.
upon tlie throne... kingdom] On the throne and kingdom of David.
The Messiah succeeds to David's throne and is doubtless conceived as
his lineal descendant.
to order it] Better, to confirm it. The throne is established (Prov.
xx. 28; Is. xvi. 5) not by force and conquest but by the moral qualities
of judgment and righteousness (see ch. i. 21) in the government.
the zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this) exactly as ch. xxxvii.
32. The word "zeal" or "jealousy" is used oi passion in a variety of
senses, but chiefly with the implied idea of resentment. When applied to
Jehovah it appears always to express the reaction of His holiness called
forth by some injury to His honour. Perhaps the closest parallel to the
idea here is Zech. i. 14, viii. 2 "I am jealous^;- Zion with a great
jealousy."

ISAIAH, IX. 77

Chap. IX. 8— X. 4 (+V. 25—30).
Jehovah's hand stretched out in wrath over His
people. An oracle against North Israel.
The key-note of the prophecy is given in the recurrent refrain —
ix. 12, 17, 21, x. 4, v. 25. (On the reasons for including ch. v. 25 — 30
see on that passage.) It is the most artistically arranged of all Isaiah's
writings, being divided into regular strophes as follows : —
(i) Ch. ix. 8—12. The introduction (vv. 8 — 10) explains that the
oracle concerns the inhabitants of Samaria, and points to the buoyant
assurance and self-confidence which was the habitual temper of the
Northern Kingdom. The prophet then enters on a review of the various
calamities by which Jehovah had sought to bring the nation to repent
ance, the first of these being the aggressions of its powerful neighbours
on the East and the West (w. 11, 12). This was the first stroke of
Jehovah's hand.
(ii) w. 13 — 17. A second blow descends on the impenitent nation
in some sudden disaster by which the state is bereft of its leaders, great
and small (13 — 16); the condition of the people is then seen to be
utterly corrupt, so that Jehovah withdraws His compassion even from
the helpless widows and orphans (17).
(iii) w. 18 — 21. The third visitation is a state of anarchy and
internecine strife, which is described mainly in a succession of powerful
and telling images. The nation is rent by the conflict of rival factions,
the only bond of unity being a common hatred of Judah.
(iv) Ch. x. 1 — 4. The fourth strophe opens with a "Woe" on the
maladministration of the judges, which was always to Isaiah's mind the
chief symptom of a rotten republic (vv. 1, 2). This is followed by an
allusion to a day of slaughter in which the magnates shall vainly seek
safety beneath the slain (3, 4).
[It is possible that another strophe originally stood here, the closing
words of which are preserved in v. 25.]
(v) Ch. v. 26 — 30. The prediction of the Assyrian invasion forms,
as has been already explained, the denouement of this great drama of
judgment. (For the exegesis, see on the passage above, pp. 40—42.)
The refrain is of course dropped; Jehovah's wrath is stayed, His hand
is no longer stretched forth.
It is assumed in the foregoing analysis that the passage is in the main
(down at least to the end of ch. ix.) a retrospect of historical judgments ;
and this is the view naturally suggested by the tenses of the original,
which are with few exceptions perlects, or the equivalents of perfects.
A majority of commentators, however, taking the perfects as those of
prophetic certainty, interpret the oracle as an ideal delineation of the
stages of a judgment yet to come. And it is no doubt conceivable that
the prophet might assume an ideal standpoint on the eve ofthe Assyrian
invasion, regarding the preliminary chastisements as past, although they
were in reality still future at the time of writing. But such a lavish and
continuous use of the prophetic perfect would be unparalleled ; and the
change to the impf. at v. 26 seems too significant to be explained on

78 ISAIAH, IX. [w. 8-10.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob,
And it hath lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know,
Even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria,
That say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
i The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with
hewn stones :

this hypothesis. It is, therefore, on the whole safer to assume that in
ix. 8 — 21 the references are to past events, although it may not be
possible in every case to specify the exact circumstances that are meant.
A shorter oracle arranged on the principle here supposed is found in
Am. iv. 6 — 12.
The date of the prophecy is not easily determined. The most pro
bable view is that it was composed just before the outbreak of the Syro-
Ephraimitish war. A later date (though not perhaps impossible) is
difficult to reconcile with the fact that the issues of that expedition,
so disastrous to the Northern Kingdom, are not mentioned. The
Assyrians, moreover, are described in terms so vaguely poetic as to "
suggest that they were as yet unknown to the Israelites at close quarters.
Syria also is mentioned as the enemy of Israel, without any hint of an
alliance between them ; while it is thought by some that v. 1 1 alludes
to the incipient antagonism towards Judah which afterwards found vent
in the invasion. None of these indications are very decisive, but there
are none to neutralise them (see, however, on vv. io and n below);
and the passage may at least be regarded provisionally as a product of
the earliest period of Isaiah's ministry.
8 — 12. The first strophe (vv. 8 — io being an introduction to the
whole prophecy).
8. Translate : A word hath the Lord sent into Jacob and it shall
light upon Israel. "The Word is in nature and history the messenger
of the Lord" (Del.) cf. Ps. cvii. 20, cxlvii. 15, 18; Is.lv. n. The
"word" here is the following oracle, which has already been "sent,"
and will "light" (cf. Dan. iv. 31) on Israel, bringing about its own
fulfilment. Jacob. ..Israel] here denote the Northern Kingdom, as is plain from
the next verse.
9. shall know] i.e. by its effects; Hos. ix. 7.
th.it say] lit. "saying," i.e. "as follows. A verb seems to have
dropped out ; [for they boast] in pride and stoutness of heart saying.
10. It has been conjectured that these words are a fragment of a
drinking song actually sung in Ephraim. They express the spirit
of bravado which prevailed in the northern capital, cf. Am. vi. 13;
Hos. vii. 9, 10. It is, therefore, not necessary to refer them to any par
ticular recent reverses, such as the inroads of Assyria which punished
the ill-timed attack on Judah. From the time of the Syrian wars there
had been abundant "occasion to use this proverb in Israel."
hewn stones] Cf. Am. v. 11.

r. n, 12.] ISAIAH, IX. 79
The sycomores are cut down, but we will change them
into cedars.
Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of «
Rezin against him,
And join his enemies together;
The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind ; 12
And they shall devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.

sycomores] The wood of the mulberry-fig, spongy but exceedingly
durable, is still the cheapest and commonest building material in
Palestine, cf. I Ki. x. 27.
11, 12. The first blow of Jehovah's hand — loss of territory.
11. Therefore the Lord shall set up] Transl. And (so) Jehovah
exalted. The adversaries of Rezin must, if the text be correct, denote the
Assyrians. But this is not a natural designation (especially if the prophecy
was written before the Syro-Ephraimitish coalition) ; and it is inconsistent
with v. 12, unless, indeed, we suppose that there Syrians are referred to
as auxiliaries in the Assyrian army, which is extremely improbable.
Several codd. read "princes of Rezin"; but this is hardly less objection
able. It seems necessary to delete "Rezin" as a gloss and read simply
his (Israel's) adversaries.
and join ...together] Rather, and stirred up his enemieB (frequenta
tive impf.) cf. ch. xix. 2.
12. The Syrians... behind] Or, Syria on the East and the Philistines
on the West (R.V. marg.).
and they shall devour] and they devoured.
There is no historic record of Philistine aggression on the kingdom
of Ephraim (at least since 1 Ki. xv. 27); nor is there anymentionoTa
Syrian attack about the time when this passage was written. It is
probable that the prophet is looking further back, to the protracted
Syrian wars, from Ahab to Jeroboam II., which formed a distinct and
memorable episode in the history of N. Israel.
For all this... strdched out still] "One ofthe most effective refrain-
verses that have ever been composed." (Duhm.) The figure of Jehovah,
with His arm stretched out in wrath, is kept before the mind of the
reader, as the prophecy advances to its conclusion.
13 — 17. Second strophe. It describes a " day " of terror (which may
be either a battle or a revolution) in which the leaders of the people
suddenly perished. What incident is referred to cannot be determined ;
royal assassinations were frequent after the death of Jeroboam II. (see
2 Ki. xv. 10, 14, 25), and these would naturally be accompanied by
such a massacre of the King's supporters as is here spoken of (cf. ch.
iii. 1 — 4). See also the graphic, though obscure, description of a con
spiracy in Hos. vii. 3 — 7.

80 ISAIAH, IX. [vv. 13—17.
13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth
them,
Neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.
14 Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and
tail,
Branch and rush, in one day.
15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head;
And the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err;
And they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young
men,
Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows:
For every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaketh folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
13. For the people turneth not] But the people turned not. him
that smiteth them] him that smote them. do they seek] did
they seek.
14. Render : And (so) Jehovah cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm-branch and rush, in one day. head and tail] i.e. leader and
. follower, a proverbial expression, like the next phrase.
15 is almost universally regarded as an erroneous explanation of v. 14
and therefore a gloss ; but this is not quite certain. False prophets were
frequently guilty of following where they pretended to lead (1 Ki. xxii.
6 ; Ezek. xiii. 10) and might be very appropriately described as the "tail."
The verse may be objected to on account of its somewhat prosaic
character, but the strophe is not complete without it.
The ancient and honourable] see on iii. 2, 3.
16. Render : And the leaders of this people have become misleaders,
and they of it that are led are swallowed up (or perhaps as iii. 12
confused). 17. A sentence of utter rejection. The unwonted severity of the
threat against the widows and orphans is justified by the universal cor
ruptness of the nation.
a hypocrite) Rather, profane (R.V.), "impious." Cf. ch. a. 6,
xxxii. 6, xxxiii. 14; Job viii. 13; Ps. xxxv. 16.
every mouth speaketh folly) ch. xxxii. 6 ("villany" A.V.). In the
O.T. folly and wickedness are practically synonymous.
18 — 21. Third strophe. As in ch. iii. 1 — 7, the removal of the
pillars of the state is followed by wild confusion and civil war. The
state of things alluded to can be partly realised from passages in the
book of Hosea, e.g. iv. 2, v. n f., vi. 8f., vii. 7, x. 3, 13; and cf. 2 Ki.
xv. 23 — 25.

vv. 18—21.] ISAIAH, IX.

For wickedness burneth as the fire: 18
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And shall kindle in the thickets of the forest,
And they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land i9
darkened,
And the people shall be as the fuel of the fire :
No man shall spare his brother.
And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; 20
And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not
be satisfied :
They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm :
Manasseh, Ephraim ; and Ephraim, Manasseh : 21
And they together shall be against Judah.
18. The smouldering embers of wickedness burst out in a raging
fire : see Hosea's image of the oven, vii. 4, 6.
For wickedness ...thickets] Render, For wickedness burned like a fire
that consumes thorns and thistles, and it set fire to the thickets, &c, .
cf. x. 17, 18. Both wickedness and the punishment of it are likened to
an unquenchable fire; Job xxxi. 12; Deut. xxxii. 22. First the thorns
and thistles are kindled, then the fire catches the trees.
they shall mount... smoke] and they roU upward in a pillar of
smoke ; lit. "a lifting up of smoke.'' The word for " roll upward " does
not occur again; it contains an alliteration with that for "thickets."
19. darkened] Another translation is "made to glow"; the word
is not found elsewhere.
no man sparing his brother. The clause shews that the fire is an
emblem of ungovernable party strife. The sense would be still clearer
if we could ,adopt Duhm's hazardous emendation in the preceding
clause so as to make it read "and the people became like man-eaters
(cannibals)." 20. And one snatched on the right hand and was hungry (still) and
devoured on the left hand and they were not satisfied, &c.
every man the flesh of his own arm] The image would be that of men
maddened with hunger and gnawing their own flesh. The words are
reproduced exactly, with the omission of a single letter, in Jer. xix. 9,
which gives the sense "every man the flesh of his neighbour." It
might be better to assimilate the text here to that reading, since it is the
"cruelty of rival factions" that seems to be described.
21. Manasseh, Ephraim... Manasseh] Ancient tribal jealousies would
naturally be revived in a period of anarchy and civil war. Something
of this kind seems to be implied in the account of the accession of the
usurper Pekah, who murdered Pekahiah, at the head of a band of fifty
Gileadites (2 Ki. xv. 25). The tribal names, however, need not be
taken quite literally; indeed it is hardly probable that the tribes had
preserved their separate identity to so late a time.
ISAU" 6

82 ISAIAH, IX. X. [w. 21 ; 1—4.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
10 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
And that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment,
And to take away the right from the poor of my
people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
And in the desolation which shall come from far?
To whom will ye flee for help?
And where will ye leave your glory?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners,
And they shall fall under the slain.

Fourth strophe. Most critics consider that at this point the
scene changes from Samaria to Jerusalem; (1) because the internal
condition of Ephraim has already been depicted in the last stages of
dissolution and (2) because the abuses here denounced are a constant
feature of Isaiah's prophecies against Judah. In the absence of positive
indications these reasons are hardly sufficient to justify so abrupt a
transition. It would be more plausible to hold with Giesebrecht and
others that the strophe had its place originally among the "woes" of
ch. v. ; but this also seems unnecessary.
1. that decree unrighteous decrees, crV.] Better perhaps, that draw up
mischievous ordinances and are continually writing oppression. The
magnates are addressed not as judges but as legislators; their offence is
that they embody injustice in arbitrary written enactments, which enable
them to perpetrate the most grievous wrongs under legal forms.
and that write... prescribed] The construction is peculiar. The
intensive form of the verb "to write" occurs only here.
2. The effect and real purpose of this legislative activity.
To turn aside the needy from judgment] See on ch. i. 23.
my people] as iii. 12, 15.
3. The unjust lawgivers are reminded that there is a day of revision,
when they must answer to the Supreme Judge.
And what will ye do 1) cf. Hos. ix. 5. day of visitation] cf.
Hos. ix. 7; Mic. vii. 4; Jer. xi. 23, xxiii. 12, &c.
desolation] or, storm ; the word is only employed here by Isaiah. The
"storm" of invasion "comes from far"; cf. ch. v. 26, xxx. 27.
leave your glory] i.e. "your wealth"; Gen. xxxi. 1; Is. lxi. 6,
lxvi. 12.
4. Without me... slain] This clause is veiy difficult. The easiest
explanation perhaps is to take it as the answer to the questions of v. 3 :

v. 4-] ISAIAH, X. 83
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
(they can do nothing) except crouch under the captives and fall
under the slain. Another is "Except one (here and there) crouch
among captives, they must fall under the slain." Objections to both
occur readily enough to anyone who reads the Hebrew, especially the
abrupt changes from singular to plural. An ingenious conjecture of
Lagarde's gives the sense "Beltis crouches, Osiris is broken (Jljnb W3
TQ'N nri; cf. xlvi. 1; Jer. 1. 2), they fall, &c.'-; i.e. the heathen gods
shall be unable to give protection to their votaries. But there is no
evidence that Egyptian deities (Osiris) were worshipped in Israel in
Isaiah's time; and in any case their sudden introduction here would be
surprising. his hand is stretched out still] See on ch. v. 25 ff.

Chap. X. 5—34.
The Judgment of the World-Power. An Oracle
against Assyria.
This great prophecy is the clearest and probably the earliest ex
position ,of that conception of the divine government of the world
which was the guiding principle of the latest period of Isaiah's ministry.
The leading idea of the passage is the contrast between the mission
assigned to Assyria in the scheme of Jehovah's Providence, and the
ambitious policy of universal dominion cherished by the rulers of that
Empire. Assyria was the instrument chosen by Jehovah to manifest
His sole deity by the extinction of all the nationalities that put their
trust in false gods. But the great world-power, intoxicated by its
success, and attributing this to its own wisdom and resource, recognises
no difference between Jehovah and other gods, but confidently reckons
on proving His impotence by the subjugation of His land and people.
Hence it becomes necessary for Jehovah to vindicate His supreme
Godhead by the destruction of the power which has thus impiously
tiansgressed the limits of its providential commission. And this judg
ment will take place at the very moment when Assyria seeks to crown
its career of conquest by an assault on Jehovah's sanctuary on Mount
Zion, the earthly seat of His government. These are the ideas which
lay at the root of Isaiah's heroic faith in the crisis of Sennacherib's
invasion. He did not doubt that Judah's sins required an exemplary
chastisement, or that that chastisement would come by means of the
Assyrians, but he had the firmest conviction that Jehovah's purpose
did not include the violation of His sanctuary, which would in that age
have been equivalent to the extinction of the true religion.
When was this prophecy written? Certainly between the years 717
and 701. The superior limit is given by the list of captured cities in
v. 9. ' Carchemish, the latest conquest there mentioned, was incorpo-
6—2

84 ISAIAH, X.

rated in the Assyrian Empire (although, to be sure, it had been
captured more than once previously) in 717, about five years after the
fall of Samaria. The lower limit is of course the great invasion of 701.
But whether the oracle was uttered near the beginning, middle, or end
of that period is a question on which no agreement has yet been reached.
(1) The opinion that the prophecy belongs to a time not long after
the destruction of Samaria has much to recommend it. The overthrow
of the greater portion of Jehovah's people must have excited the greatest
consternation in Judah, and led to anxious questionings as to where
this seemingly irresistible tide of invasion was to end. This would
be a suitable occasion for the publication of a prophetic oracle on
the true function of Assyria in Jehovah's counsel and the impassable
limit to its power. It is also in favour of an early date that v. 20
seems to contain a reflection on the fatal policy inaugurated by Ahaz
of trusting to Assyria as the best security against national annihilation.
The principal objection to this view arises from the impression, which
is probably a just one, that the prophet regards the crisis, and conse
quently the defeat of Assyria, as imminent (see esp. vv. 28 — 34):
(2) Assuming that an invasion of Judah was either actually carried out
or at least seriously contemplated by Sargon about 711, several critics
have brought this prophecy into connexion with that event. The same
difficulty, however, meets us here in another form. The prophecy of
chapter xx., which undoubtedly belongs to the time supposed, antici
pates a still further extension of the Assyrian conquests to Egypt and
Ethiopia. It seems incredible that when Isaiah had for three years
sought to impress that fact on his countrymen, he should simultaneously
announce the downfall of Assyria as an event just about to take place.
(3) There remains the hypothesis that this oracle belongs generally to
the same period as the group of discourses with which it has the closest
affinities (chs. xxviii. — xxxii.), and was uttered in view of Sennacherib's
invasion in 701. Only, the imaginary description of the invader's route
in vv. 28 — 32 forbids us to place it too near the actual attack. The
Assyrians are there conceived as advancing from the north, which was
the natural course for an Assyrian onslaught on Jerusalem to take.
Sennacherib's expedition, however, came from the Philistine plain, and
for some time previous to the event, it must have been evident that that
was the direction from which danger was to be apprehended. Other
objections to this date have little weight. It is true that none of the
conquests enumerated in v. 9 were effected by Sennacherib in person,
but neither were they all effected by any one king, and if it is the
king who speaks in v. 9 he speaks not in his own name but as the
representative of the might of Asshur. Nor is v. 27 inconsistent with
the fact that Hezekiah had renounced his allegiance to Assyria before
the attack by Sennacherib. The mere withholding of tribute was by
no means equivalent to emancipation from the Assyrian yoke, so long
as Assyria was in a position to enforce submission by an exemplary
chastisement. These arguments are only valid on the assumption of the Isaiani"
authorship and substantial unity of the passage as a whole, easiest
grounds on which this has been disputed by recent writers (see Clf v. 3 :

vv. S, 6.] ISAIAH, X. 85
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, :
And the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
I will send him against a hypocritical nation, <
Introduction, pp. xlviii ff.) are not convincing, and cannot be adequately
discussed here.
Following Ewald, we may divide the prophecy into three main
sections : —
i. vv. 5 — 15. The plan of Jehovah and the plan of Asshur.
(1) The divine mission entrusted to Assyria is boldly contrasted
with the barbarous lust of plunder and conquest, and the glorification
of brute force which characterised the policy of that Empire (5 — 7).
(2) The latter thought is. expanded in a speech put into the mouth
of the Assyrian, in which he enumerates his past successes, and confi
dently anticipates an easy conquest of Jerusalem (8—1 1). The prophet's
answer (12).
(3) A second speech of the Assyrian, full of the spirit of self-exalta
tion and savage delight in the exercise of irresistible power (13, 14);
the section closing with a contemptuous reply on the part of the
prophet, recalling the image of the opening verse (15).
ii. w. 16 — 23. The overthrow of Assyria and its consequences
for Judah.
(1) The destruction of Assyria is described under the two figures of
a wasting disease and a consuming fire (16 — 19).
(2) The conversion of the Remnant of Israel will follow this decisive
manifestation of Jehovah's sovereignty (20 — 23).
iii. w. 24 — 34. The peroration, consisting of:
(1) A message of comfort to the harassed nation (24 — 27).
(2) An ideal description of the march of the Assyrian from the
northern frontier to the walls of Jerusalem (28 — 32) and his sudden
annihilation by the hand of Jehovah (33, 34).
5 — 7. Jehovah's plan contrasted with Assyria's purpose.
5. O Assyrian] Ho Asshur, the name both of the people and its
national god. The god being little more than the personified genius of
the nation, we might almost venture to suppose that he is here directly
addressed and is the speaker in vv. 8 ff. But the word is never used of
the god in the O.T.
the rod of mine anger] the instrument with which Jehovah chastises
the nations, cf. Jer. li. 20.
and the staff... indignation] lit. "and a staff, it is in their hand, my
indignation," — an absolutely refractory clause. Driver (Tenses § 201,
1, Obs.) translates "and a staff is it in their hand, [viz.] mine indigna
tion." But to say in one line that Assyria is the rod of Jehovah's anger
and in the next that His indignation is a staff in their hand is awkward
in the extreme. Better a "flat tautology" than that, although the
objection is meaningless as applied to a synonymous parallelism. It is
best to omit the words "it is in their hand" as a gloss and render and
and" »the staff of mine indignation.
».g,j 6. / will send him, 6fc] Rather: I send him against a profane

86 ISAIAH, X. [vv. 7—10.
And against the people of my wrath will I give him
a charge,
To take the spoil, and to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Howbeit he meaneth not so,
Neither doth his heart think so ;
But it is in his heart to destroy
And cut off nations not a few.
For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
1 Is not Calno as Carchemish?
Is not Hamath as Arpad?
Is not Samaria as Damascus?
As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols,

nation (R.V.). See ch. ix. 17. In a general description ofthe mission
of Assyria it is not advisable to limit the reference to Judah or Israel.
The meaning is that Jehovah sends the Assyrian against any nation
that deserves punishment.
people of my wrath] See ix. 19.
like the mire of the streets] Cf. Ps. xviii. 42 ; Mic. vii. 10.
7. Howbeit he meaneth not so] The charge is not so much that
Asshur exceeds his commission (as in Zech. i. 15), as that he recognises
no commission at all; his policy is entirely oblivious of moral interests.
8 — 11. The first speech of the Assyrian.
8. Are not my officers altogether kings?) Many of them really were
subjugated kings (2 Ki. xxv. 28), and any one of them excelled in
dignity the petty sovereigns ofthe independent states (see ch. xxxvi. 9).
The title "King of Kings" (Ez. xxvi. 7) was already assumed by
Assyrian monarchs.
9. The six cities are enumerated in geographical order from north to
south, the first of each pair being, however, nearer to Jerusalem than
the second. (1) The site of Carchemish (Ass. Gargamtsh) was identified
by Mr G. Smith with the ruins of Jerabis on the right bank of the
Euphrates. As a great centre of the Hittite confederacy it had been
frequently subdued by Assyrian kings, and was ultimately incorporated
in the Empire by Sargon in 717. (2) Calno is probably Kullani, a city
near Arpad, captured by Tiglath-pileser III. about 738. It is probably
identical with the Calneh mentioned in Am. vi. 2 ; but quite distinct
from the Babylonian Calneh of Gen. x. 10. (3) Arpad (now Tell
Erfdd, about 15 miles north of Aleppo) was taken about 740 by Tiglath-
pileser. (4) Hamath (Hamah, on the Orontes, about half way between
Carchemish and Damascus) was taken by Tiglath-pileser in 738 and again
by Sargon in 720. (5) Damascus fell about 732 and (6) Samaria in 722.
10. the kingdoms of the idols] The expression "nonentities" (see
on ch. ii. 8) is surprising in the mouth of the Assyrian ; but not inappro
priate, since even from his point of view the overthrow of so many

vv. ii— 13.] ISAIAH, X. 87
And whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem
and of Samaria ;
Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her n
idols,
So do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord 12
hath performed his whole work
Upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
of Assyria,
And the glory of his high looks.
For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have 13
done it,
And by my wisdom ; for I am prudent :
And I have removed the bounds of the people,
kingdoms might seem a demonstration of the nonentity of their gods
as compared with the solitary might of Asshur.
and whose graven images, ts'c] A circumstantial clause : although
their images, &c.
did excel] "were more than," either in number or importance. The
Assyrian is after all an idolater at heart, measuring the prestige of a
god by the multitude and excellence of his graven images.
11. But Samaria has fallen, her idols have not saved her ; how then
can Jerusalem escape, who trusts in the same deity? Samaria and
her idols i^aneDkiXie^)... Jerusalem and her idols (images).
12. The verse seems to interrupt what might well have been a single
speech of the Assyrian King, by a threat of the doom reserved for him.
The arrogant assumption that Jehovah is a mere tribal deity, who is
defeated when His images are overthrown, rouses the prophet to this
indignant outburst.
when the Lord hath performed] completed, lit. "cut off." The figure
is taken from the cutting off of the finished web from the loom. See
ch. xxxviii. 12; also Zech. iv. 9.
his whole work] The work of chastisement and purification, to be
executed on mount Zion and on Jerusalem.
the fruit of the stout heart (lit. "fruit ofthe pride of heart," seech. ix.
9) of the king of Assyria] The "fruit" is the outcome of his pride in
such language as vv. 8 — 11, 13 f.
13, 14. The second imaginary speech of the king of Assyria. He
ascribes his successes (and how easy have they been ! v. 14) solely to his
own power and wisdom. Comp. the self-glorification of the prince of
Tyre in Ezek. xxviii.
13. / am prudent) Better, I have insight.
I have removed the bounds of the people] (peoples as R.V. ). It was the
policy of the later Assyrian Empire to obliterate national distinctions,

ISAIAH, X. [vv. 14, 15.

And have robbed their treasures,
And I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man;
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the
people :
And as one gathereth eggs that are left,
Have I gathered all the earth;
And there was none that moved the wing,
Or opened the mouth, or peeped.
is Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth
therewith ?
Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that
shaketh it?
As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift
it up,
Or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no
wood.
partly by welding the separate states under a single administration and
partly by wholesale deportation of conquered populations. In the view
of antiquity this was a violation of the divinely constituted order of the
world (see Deut. xxxii. 8). Even in the Messianic age, Isaiah antici
pates that the political integrity of different nationalities will be pre
served (ch. ii. 2 — 4).
their treasures) lit. parata,. "things prepared."
put down the inhabitants) R.V. has brought down... them that sit
(on thrones). Vulg. "in sublimi residentes." That translation is sug
gested by the verb "bring down," which seems to imply that those
referred to were previously exalted. The text is possibly defective.
LXX. reads aelou irbXeis KaToiKOvp.£va.s.
like a valiant man] The QSre (kabblr, a word found only in Isaiah
and Job) means "a great one" (Job xxxiv. 17 [R.V.], 24, xxxvi. 5, of
God). It is difficult to see why in this case the consonantal text was
departed from. It has ke'abbir, either "like a strong one" (Kaph
veritatis), or "like a bull." See on ch. i. 24. The bull as a symbol
of strength figures largely in Assyrian art.
14. The magnificent simile represents the ease with which the
Assyrians had rifled the countries of their treasures, and the panic terror
which their approach everywhere produced.
or peeped] R.V. chirped; the same word as in viii. 19.
15. To a believer in the divine government of the world the self-
exaltation of Assyria is as ludicrous as if a tool were to vaunt itself
against the man who uses it. The two last clauses are exclamations.
against them that lift it up] A plural of majesty, indicating that
Jehovah is meant. Some Hebrew MSS., however, have the singular.
should lift up itself, as if it were no wood] Lit. should lift up not-

vv. 16—20.] ISAIAH, X. 89
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, 16
Send among his fat ones leanness ;
And under his glory he shall kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, 17
And his Holy One for a flame;
And it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers
in one day;
And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his 18
fruitful field,
Both soul and body :
And they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, 19
That a child may write them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 20
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as are escaped of the house of Jacob,
wood. (See R.V.) "Not-wood" is a compound noun like " not-
man" in ch. xxxi. 8 ; "one who is not wood" i.e. a man.
16 — 19. The destruction of the Assyrian army is described under the
two figures of sickness and a conflagration. There is a certain amount
of confusion in the metaphors, and undoubtedly the style deteriorates at
this point.
16. the Lord, the Lord of hosts] as in ch. i. 24. The ordinary printed
editions have the unparalleled expression Addndi Tslbdbth, for which Baer
rightly restores Yahveh Tsebdbth.
send among his fat ones] Better, "send into his fat limbs," the image
being that of a human body. For the metaphor see ch. xvii. 4.
he shall kindle... fire] Better, there shall burn a burning like the
burning of fire. The monotony is as marked in the Hebrew as in
this translation.
17. The same figure as in ch. ix. 18.
18. both soul and body] For similarly abrupt changes of metaphor,
cf. ch. v. 24, viii. 8, xxviii. 18.
and they shall be... fainteth] Render with R.V. marg., and it shall
be as when a sick man pineth away, a return to the figure with which
v. 16 opens. The participle ndsjs occurs nowhere else : A.V. connects
it with nes a standard; the translation "sick man " rests on the analogy
of the Syriac.
19. And the rest] the remnant (R.V.) ; the same word as in vv. 20,
21, 22. shall be few) lit. "a number," a numerable quantity.
a child may write them] i. e. make a list of them.
20 — 23. The conversion of the survivors of Israel.
20. such as are escaped] cf. ch. iv. 2.

90 ISAIAH, X. [vv. 21—24.
Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;
But shall stay upon the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, in truth.
The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob,
Unto the mighty God.
•¦ For though thy people Israel be as the sand of
the sea,
Yet a remnant of them shall return:
The consumption decreed shall overflow with
righteousness.
1 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a con
sumption, even determined,
In the midst of all the land.
t Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts,

shall no more again stay (themselves) upon him that smote them]
an allusion to the Assyrian alliance contracted by Ahaz (2- Ki. xvi.
7 ff.), a policy, however, whose evil consequences were not fully realised
till the reign of Hezekiah. From the false situation in which the nation
was then placed no escape was possible except by the intervention of
Jehovah. After that deliverance the survivors shall adopt the attitude,
consistently advocated by Isaiah, of steadfast reliance on Jehovah alone ;
they shall stay (themselves) upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in
truth (in faithfulness).
21. The remnant, 6-v.] A remnant shall turn. Thus shall be
fulfilled the prophecy embodied in the name of Isaiah's son, Shear-
jashub (ch. vii. 3).
the mighty God] the Hero-God — in ch. ix. 6 a. title of the Messiah,
but here apparently of Jehovah.
22. " For though thy population, O Israel, should be as the sand of
the sea, (only) a remnant in it shall turn (and be saved)." (Cf. Hos. i.
10; Gen. xxii. 17.)
the consumption decreed... righteousness] Render: extermination is
decreed overflowing in righteousness. The "extermination" is the
judgment which reduces the teeming population of Israel to a mere
remnant ; this will be an overwhelming manifestation of Jehovah's
judicial righteousness (see on ch. i. 27). It seems impossible to take
this clause in a consolatory sense, as if the verb "decreed" expressed
the limitation fixed for the judgment. The very similar phraseology of
the next verse, compared with ch. xxviii. 22, shews that the threatening
aspect of the decree is prominent.
23. The verse reads: For an extermination and a decisive work
is the Lord Jehovah of Hosts about to execute in the midst of the
whole earth (or land) : cf. ch. xxviii. 22. The phrase " extermination
and decisive work" is repeated ir. Dan. ix. 27 (cf. xi. 36). The word
for "decisive" is from the verb rendered "decreed" in iast verse.

vv. 25—27.] ISAIAH, X. 91
O my people that dwellest in Zion,
Be not afraid of the Assyrian :
He shall smite thee with a rod,
And shall lift up his staff against thee, after the
manner of Egypt.
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall 25
cease,
And mine anger in their destruction.
And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge' for 26
him
According to the slaughter of Midian at the rock Oreb:
And as his rod was upon the sea,
So shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 27
That his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder,
And his yoke from off thy neck,

24 — 27. In view of this ultimate prospect, the prophet turns with a
message of consolation to the believing kernel of the nation.
24. 0 my people that dwellest in Zion] Cf. ch. xiv. 32, xxx. 19.
Dwelling in Zion is the emblem of security, since it is there that
Jehovah will beat back and destroy the Assyrian (vv. 32 — 34).
he shall smite thee. ..and shall lift up...] These are relative clauses
attached to "the Assyrian." Render: who smites thee. ..and lifts up
his staff, &c. (cf. ix. 4).
after the manner of Egypt] As the Egyptians did in the time of the
Oppression, Exod. v. (cf. for the expressions Am. iv. 10).
25. For yet a veiy little while] Cf. ch. xxix. 17, (xvi. 14).
and mine anger in their destruction] A more grammatical rendering
would be: and mine anger (is directed) to their (the Assyrians')
annihilation. The two clauses of the verse appear to be antithetical ;
indignation (against Israel) comes to an end, wrath (against Assyria)
culminates in its utter destruction.
26. For stir up for him render brandish over him, a sense authenti
cated by 2 Sam. xxiii. 18.
according to the slaughter. . . Oreb] Transl. like the smiting of Midian
at the rock Oreb. For the incident referred to, see Jud. vii. 25 (cf. Ps.
lxxxiii. 9, 11; Is. ix. 4).
and as his rod... Egypt] To be paraphrased thus: "and his rod
(which was stretched out) over the (Red) Sea (at the Exodus from
Egypt), he shall lift up as it was lifted up to destroy the Egyptians."
The last phrase is used in effective antithesis to the use in v- 24.
27. The figures of the burden and the yoke are combined exactly as
in ch. xiv. 25.

92 ISAIAH, X.  [v- V-
And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the
anointing.

and the yoke... anointing] A very difficult sentence. The closest
rendering is that of the margin of R.V. : and the yoke shall be
destroyed by reason of fatness. This has usually been interpreted
to mean that the animal (Judah) will "wax fat and kick" (Deut. xxxii.
15) and break its yoke; or that its increasing fatness will burst the
yoke on its neck (a very odd comparison !). Neither of these senses is
at all tolerable ; according to Isaiah's teaching the prosperity of the
nation only commences after Jehovah has destroyed the Assyrian yoke.
Dillmann's interpretation — Judah will become so vigorous after its
emancipation that no one will ever think of putting it under the yoke
again — is equally unsatisfying. The text is almost certainly corrupt,
and of the various emendations that have been proposed the most
plausible are those which find in the clause a mutilated introduction
to vv. 28 — 32. Prof. Robertson Smith has suggested instead ofthe last
four words : TVP pfi¥t3 "M • '"IT- The twenty-seventh verse
would end with the first word ("the yoke shall cease from off thy
neck"), and the next would begin thus: "A destroyer comes up from
the north ; he comes to Aiath, &c." The alterations are considerable,
but undoubtedly we thus obtain a suitable commencement to the sketch
of the Assyrian advance. Duhm follows on the same lines, but reads,
"he comes up from Pene-Rimmon" (i.e. the Rock Rimmon, a few
miles north of Aiath, Jud. xx. 45). This however plunges us in medias
res as abruptly as before.
28 — 32. A free delineation (mostly in prophetic perfects) of the
march of an Assyrian army towards Jerusalem. The verses are not to
be taken as a prediction that the enemy will actually come by this
route, still less of course are they an oraculum post eventum. They
simply present a graphic picture of the unresting energy and eagerness
of an Assyrian army, and the ease with which it might invade Judah
from the north now that Samaria has fallen. And this is done in order
to introduce the assurance that when the invader does come, and the
prize is just within his grasp, Jehovah will smite him down (vv. 33 ft.).
A passage of very similar character is Mic. i. 10 — 16.
The strategic point in the itinerary here sketched is the Pass of Mich-
mash, the scene of Jonathan's famous exploit against the Philistines
(1 Sam. xiv.), and at this time probably marking the northern frontier
of the kingdom of Judah. It is situated in the modem Wadi Suweinit,
and is guarded by the villages of Michmash on the north and Geba on
the south. The road from Michmash crosses the valley in a south
westerly direction, and about midway between Michmash and Geba
(the whole distance is about two miles) traverses an extremely narrow
defile, where a large army might easily be checked by a handful of
resolute defenders. In vv. 28 f. Isaiah alludes to the precautions that
would naturally be taken to secure a safe passage of this difficult
ravine.

vv. 28—32.] ISAIAH, X. 93
He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; 28
At' Michmash he hath laid up his carriages :
They are gone over the passage : they have taken up 29
their lodging at Geba;
Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim : 30
Cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Madmenah is removed ; 31
The inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day : 32
He shall shake his hand against the mount of the
daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.
28. He comes upon Aiath] 'Ayyath(d. r Chr. vii. 28 [R.V. marg.];
Neh. xi. 31) is no doubt the ancient 'Ai, and was probably two miles
N.W. from Michmash.
Migron] The only known place of this name lay on the south side
of the pass (1 Sam. xiv. 2). Prof. Robertson Smith thinks the operation
indicated is the seizing of this post on the southern side by a coup de
main before attempting to lead the main army through the defile.
Most other commentators, however, hold that some place, not to be
certainly identified, between Ai and Michmash is intended.
laid up his carriages] R.V. layeth up his baggage, deposits his
impedimenta. "Carriages" in old English means of course not that
in which one is carried, but that which one carries (cf. Acts xxi. 15).
29. They go through the pass ; they make Geba their encamp
ment for the night. The latter clause might also be translated as the
eager cry of the Assyrians: "Geba is our night quarters." From this
point the road to Jerusalem lies open ; hence the remaining verses
simply describe the terror spread amongst the villages along the route
of the Assyrians. Ramah (Er-Rdm) is less than two miles due west of
Geba, Gibeah of Saul is probably TulH el-Fill, about halfway between
that place and Jerusalem.
30. Shriek loudly, 0 daughter of Gallim; listen, 0 Laishah.
Neither of these places can be identified.
O poor Anathoth) Translate, with a slight change of pointing, answer
her, 0 Anathoth. Anathoth ('Andla) is about three miles N.N.E. from
Jerusalem. 31. Madmenah (Dung-hill) and Gebim (Cisterns) are both unknown.
For goJher themselves to flee render : hastily secure (their belongings),
Ex. ix. 19.
32. Render with Cheyne : This very day he will halt in Nob,
swinging his hand, &c. Nob (1 Sam. xxi. xxii.; Neh. xi. 32) must be
sought in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, but its site has not yet
been ascertained. The most probable conjecture is that it was on the
height of Scopus overlooking the city from the north.

94 ISAIAH, X. XI. [vv. 33, 34.
1 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
Shall lop the bough with terror:
And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down,
And the haughty shall be humbled.
1 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with
iron,
And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
33, 34. Just when the Assyrian is in sight of his' goal, Jehovah
smites him down. The description naturally passes into figurative and
somewhat vague language. The image is that of a stately forest laid
low by the axe-man.
33. The Lord Jehovah of Hosts, as in v. 16.
The "high ones of stature," and the "lofty ones" (R.V.) are the
great trees ; the epithets keep within the limits of the figure. For be
humbled read lie low.
34. the thickets of the forest (R.V.) cf. ch. ix. 18. The verb in the
first clause is probably passive: "shall be cut down." Lebanon]
Better, the Lebanon. Lebanon means "the white (mountain)" —
either from its snows or its chalk cliffs — and in Hebr. prose always
retains the art.; here, however, the reference is to its forests, which
supply a figure for the Assyrian army.
a mighty one] or " a majestic One " — Jehovah Himself.
Chap. XI.
The overthrow of the world-power is followed by the establishment
of the Messiah's Kingdom. In this chapter, however, we have two
Messianic pictures so distinct in character that it is necessary to consider
them separately.
(i) w. 1 — 9 contain a prophecy of the advent of the Messiah (v. 1),
a description of his character (2) and government (3 — 5) and a picture
of the marvellous transformation of animated nature which is the re
flection of his just and beneficent reign (6 — 9). The passage stands
along with ch. ix. 1 — 7 and xxxii. 1 ff. as one of the three great pre
sentations of the conception of a personal Messiah which the book of
Isaiah contains. Until quite recently the Isaianic authorship of all three
passages was accepted without hesitation by critics of all shades of
opinion. Hackmann and Cheyne now dissent from this view, and rele
gate the whole conception of a personal Messiah to a period subsequent
to the Exile, But their objections are hardly of sufficient weight to
justify so revolutionary a conclusion. The linguistic arguments are
admitted by Cheyne to be indecisive. And while it is true that the
contents of the prophecy do not point unambiguously to the age of
Isaiah, this is not to be wondered at in a delineation of the ideal future.
On the other hand the passage contains no assumptions inconsistent with
Isaiah's authorship. For the decay of the Davidic dynasty, which
appears to be implied in the figure of v. 1, is not a presupposition in the

ISAIAH, XI. 95

sense that the prophecy could not have been written until it was an
accomplished fact. It is assumed only that the reigning dynasty will
have disappeared before the manifestation of the Messiah; and this
expectation is in harmony with Isaiah's whole conception of the progress
of events. It is no more than is involved in the sentence of rejection on
Ahaz (ch. vii. 13 ff.), or perhaps in the anticipation of an overwhelming
national calamity, which the prophet maintained to the end of his
ministry. In any case the Messianic age is a new creation, and if there
was to be an ideal Son of David at all, he must be conceived as a new
shoot from the ancient stock of Jesse.
(ii) w. 10 — 16, on the other hand, describe mainly the formation
of the new Messianic community by the home-gathering of Israelites
from all parts of the world. The arguments against the genuineness of
this passage are more cogent than in the case of (i), and are endorsed
by a wider circle of critics. Here a definite historical situation is
assumed which can only with some violence be harmonised with the
actual circumstances of Isaiah's time. Jews are in exile not only in
Assyria, but in Egypt, Ethiopia, the Mediterranean lands, &c. Further,
these Exiles are described as a "•Remnant," a term which seems to
imply that some have been already restored, and which at all events is
never used by Isaiah of those who have gone into captivity, but of those
who survive the judgment in the land of Israel. It is no doubt possible,
as Delitzsch and Bredenkamp believe, that Isaiah might have been
transported into the future, and dealt with a state of things which was
not to arise till long afterwards. But it is more in accordance with
the analogy of prophecy to suppose that the outlook was conceived in
the circumstances which it presupposes, especially since the undoubted
writings of Isaiah never mention a return from Exile, or a restoration of
the Northern Tribes, or a subjugation of the neighbouring states by
warlike conquest. These facts, and some others which will be referred
to in the Notes, although not conclusive, justify a certain measure of
hesitation in assigning the prophecy to Isaiah; and this uncertainty
should be borne in mind in putting together the various elements which
entered into his vision of the future of God's kingdom.
Ch. XI. 1—9. The Messiah and His Kingdom.
It is interesting to compare this passage with ch. ix. 1 — 7. There
the delineation of the Messianic age starts from its broadest and most
general features — the light breaking on the land, the universally diffused
joy of the redeemed nation — and only at the end centres itself in the
person of the Wonderful Child who is born to ascend the throne. Here
the person ofthe Messiah comes first, and then the healing and regener
ating influences of which he is the channel. To what period of Isaiah's
career the prophecy belongs cannot be determined. The affinity with
ch. ix. 1 — 7 suggests the reign of Ahaz, to which it is assigned by Guthe
in accordance with a particular theory of the development of Isaiah's
eschatology. But since there is no evidence that the idea of the
Messianic King ever lost its significance to the prophet's mind, it might
with equal propriety be referred to any subsequent period of his ministry.

96 ISAIAH, XI. [vv. 1, 2.
11 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots :
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and might,
The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
Duhm places this and the companion oracles of ii. 2 — 4, xxxii. 1 — 5 in
the evening of Isaiah's long life. In its present setting the passage is
no doubt intended as a sequel to ch. x. 5 — 34 and it might even belong
to the same date.
1. The advent of the Messiah. Idea and figure correspond to those
of ch. vi. 13; as a new Israel will spring up from the "stump" of the
old, so the Messianic King will arise from the decayed family of David.
Some commentators find in the image an intentional contrast to that of
ch. x. 34; while the forest of Assyria is cut down never to spring up
again, the stock of Judah's royal dynasty will sprout and flourish.
The precise relation of the Messiah to the reigning branch of the family
is purposely left indefinite (cf. Mic. v. 2).
a ' rod] Better as R.V. a shoot. The word rendered "stem'' occurs
only twice again. Here it bears the same meaning as in Job xiv. 8; it
is the stock which remains in the earth after the tree is cut down.
In Is. xl. 24 it means a " slip " planted in the ground in order to strike
root. The figure, therefore, like " roots " in the next line, seems to
imply the downfall of the dynasty.
a Branch shall grow out of his roots] Render as R.V. a branch out
of his roots shall bear fruit — shall come to maturity. Jesse is men
tioned instead of David probably because of the intentional vagueness
in which the Messiah's origin is left.
2. His supernatural endowment through the spirit of Jehovah with
the qualities of a perfect ruler. The "charismata" are grouped irf three
pairs ; when -we add the separate mention of the spirit of Jehovah at the
head of the list we may perhaps find here the first suggestion of the
"seven spirits" of God (Rev. i. 4). • In reality, however, the three
pairs unfold the different aspects of the " Spirit of Jehovah." The
first pair of virtues are intellectual, the second practical, and the third
religious. wisdom and understanding (or " discernment ") are the fundamental
intellectual qualifications of a judge or ruler. Deut. i. 13; I Ki. iii. 12.
counsel and might] " Counsel " is the faculty of adapting means to
ends or of forming right resolutions; " might" the energy necessary to
carry them through.
of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord] of the knowledge and fear
of Jehovah. It seems necessary here to take "knowledge " as equiva
lent to "knowledge of Jehovah," in spite of the rule that "not more
than one construct can stand before the same genitive" (Davidson,
Syntax, % 27. b). "Knowledge of Jehovah" is insight into His cha-

w. 3, 4-] ISAIAH, XI. 97
And shall make him of quick understanding in the 3
fear of the Lord :
And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears :
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, 4
And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth :
And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth,
racter and His moral claims on men, " fear of Jehovah " is the common
O.T. expression for piety; both together make up the O.T. idea of
religion. 3 — 5. Thus equipped with all the personal qualities needful for his
high office, the ideal King will exercise a perfectly just and equitable
government over his subjects. The Hebrew conception of kingship
includes two functions, leadership in war and the administration of
justice in time of peace (1 Sam. viii. 20). Here, for an obvious reason
(ch. ix. 5), only the civil aspect of the office is dwelt upon.
3. and shall make him.. .Lord] The best translation is that of R. V.
and his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah, lit. "his scent shall
be in, &c." The Messiah shall not only possess true religion himself,
but shall be quick to recognise its presence in others and shall take
delight in it wherever he finds it. The sense is perhaps appropriate,
but the expression is very peculiar, and hence some critics consider that
the clause is » corrupt repetition of the preceding words. (See
Cheyne's Commentary, crit. note.)
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, &c] i.e. in virtue of
the spirit with which he is endowed, he shall not be dependent on the
evidence of his senses, but shall immediately and infallibly discern the
moral condition of men's hearts (cf. 2 Sam. xiv. 20). The second
member of the parallelism shews that more than mere impartiality in
judgment is intended. For reprove render decide, as R.V. marg.
4. The special objects of his care are the defenceless and down
trodden classes (cf. ch. i. 23, x. 2). Observe that the sporadic outbreak
of injustice and violence does not appear to be excluded from Isaiah's
conception of the Messianic age; only, the transgressors are at once
discovered and destroyed.
the meek of the earth] Possibly "the oppressed in the land." Two
words ('ant and 'dndv) are often confounded in the Hebr. Text; the
former means simply to be in abject circumstances, the latter includes
the religious virtue of resignation to an adverse lot (Rahlfs, 'Ant und
'Anaw in den Psalmen).
he shall smite the earth] The word for "earth" (Wee) is probably
written wrongly for 'arte "oppressor." It is not permissible, with Del.
&c, to explain "earth" in the N.T. sense of "the (ungodly) world,"
or "Wicked," in the next clause, of the Antichrist (cf. 2 Thess. ii. 8).
with the rod of his mouth.. .with the breath of his lips] Cf. Rev. i. 6.
The Messiah's sentence has a self-fulfilling energy (cf. Hos. vi. 5;

98 ISAIAH, XI. [w. s— 8
And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the
wicked.
-, And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
> The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together ;
And a little child shall lead them.
i And the cow and the bear shall feed;
Their young ones shall lie down together :
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
3 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the
asp,

Acts v. i — io). This reveals the operation of the "spirit of might," as
v. 3 represents the effect ofthe "spirit of wisdom."
6. "Righteousness" and "faithfulness" are the strength of the
Messiah's government (ch. ix. 7). The girdle is the symbol of resolute
and vigorous action. Comp. the "girdle of truth" in Eph. vi. 14.
6 — 8. This remarkable prophecy of the idyllic state of the brute
creation is imitated in the Sibylline Oracles (iii. 766 ff.) and more faintly
echoed in the Fourth and Fifth Eclogues of Vergil. Similarly, an Arabic
poet (Ibn Onein, quoted by Ges.) speaks of "a righteousness, through
which the hungry wolf becomes tame. " — The description is not to be
interpreted allegorically, as if the wild beasts were merely symbols for
cruel and rapacious men. Neither perhaps is it to be taken quite
literally. It is rather a poetic presentation of the truth that the regene^i
ration of human society is to be accompanied by a restoration of the/
harmony of creation (cf. Rom. viii. 19 — 22). The fact that tame and
wild animals are regularly bracketed together shews that the main idea
is the establishment of peace between man and the animals (Hos. ii.
20) ; the animals that are now wild shall no longer prey on those that ,
are domesticated for the service of man. But the striking feature of the i
prophecy is that the predatory beasts are not conceived as extirpated [
(as Ezek. xxxiv. 25, 28) but as having their habits and instincts changed.!
7. Cf. lxv. 25. shall feed] Better, sliall graze, unless we are to
supply "alike" as in lxv. 25. Some critics prefer to read "shall
associate together," with a small alteration of the text.
8. The most startling contrast of all, — the innocent babe playing
with the deadly serpent.
asp] Heb. pethen, rendered " adder" in Ps. lviii. 4, xci. 13, elsewhere
as here. The species has not been identified. The cockatrice (pph'bni,
rendered "adder" in Prov. xxxiii. 32) is usually identified with the
basilisk (or King-seipent) of North Africa, but that reptile is not found
in Palestine.

vv. 9, io.] ISAIAH, XI. 99
And the weaned^ child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice' den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun- <
tain :
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, i
Which shall stand for an ensign of the people;
To it shall the Gentiles seek:
And his rest shall be glorious.
The word den (only here) is doubtful. The most natural view is that
it is fem. of the word for "luminary" and denotes the glittering eye of
the serpent, which attracts the child like a jewel.
The verb rendered put means strictly " lead " ; comp. ducere manum.
9. It is questionable if the subject here is still the wild beasts (as in
lxv. 25). The second half of the verse is rather against this, and it is
better to translate the first half: none shall do evil or act corruptly in
all, &c.
my holy mountain] Most naturally "Zion," but some commentators
understand it of the whole hill-country of Palestine.
for the earth shall be full. ..sea] Cf. Hab. ii. 14. On the peculiar
participial construction, see Driver, Tenses § 135. (7) Obs.
Ch. XI. (10) 11—16. A Prophecy of the Return from Exile.
10. This verse occupies a position somewhat detached from those
that follow, as is shewn by the repetition of the introductory formula in
v. 11. The thought also is distinct and complete. It is a prophecy of
the attractive influence of the true rel igion over the nations of the world ;
and resembles ch. ii. 2 — 4, although here the personal Messiah is the
central figure. Comp. John xii. 32.
The construction of the sentence involves a casus pendens (Driver,
Tenses, pp. 264 ff.). Render thus: and it shall come to pass in that
day, the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal to the peoples — to
him shall, &c.
a root of Jesse] i.e. the "branch from the roots," of v. 1. The
expression seems tO have become a technical title of the Messiah (cf. ch.
liii. 2; Ecclus. xlvii. 22; Rev. v. 5, xxii. 16). The variation of the figure
from v. 1 rather tells against the Isaianic authorship of this passage.
an ensign] as rallying-point, see on ch. v. 26.
to it shall the Gentiles seek] Rather, of him shall nations enquire —
a phrase used of the consulting of an oracle (ch. viii. 19, xix. 3). The
Messiah is to be the great religious Teacher and Authority of the world.
his rest shall be glorious] his resting-place (Gen. xlix. 15, — here alone
used of a royal residence) shall be glory, cf. ch. iv. 5.

ISAIAH, XI. [vv. u, 12.

And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time
To recover the remnant of his people,
Which shall be left from Assyria,
And from Egypt, and from Pathros,
And from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar,
And from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations,
And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
11, 12. The gathering of the "dispersed of Israel." It is of course
impossible to disprove that in Isaiah's time scattered Israelites were to
be found in all the countries mentioned at the end of v. 1 1. Some
might have been included among the captives whom Sargon settled in
Elam, Babylonia and Hamath ; fugitives from the Northern Kingdom
might have taken refuge in considerable numbers in Egypt at the fall of
Samaria; and the slave-trade might have carried small groups of
Hebrews to the remoter regions. - But the language here seems to imply
a Jewish dispersion on a large scale, and the only wholesale deporta
tions that had taken place in Isaiah's time were those of Northern
Israelites to the Assyrian Empire (2 Ki. xv. 29, xvii. 6). On the other
hand, the references exactly fit the circumstances of the post-exilic
period, when large colonies of Jews are known to have been spread
over the lands here enumerated.
11. the Lord shall set his hand again) Or, the Lord shall again
(lift up) his hand. The verb has to be supplied from the context.
the second time] If the standpoint (actual or ideal) of the prophecy
be post-exilic, the most probable reference would be to the first return
from exile under Cyrus. Otherwise, we must understand " the first time "
of the exodus from Egypt, which is hardly natural, although the pro
phecy does abound in allusions to that great deliverance.
the remnant] An Isaianic word, but used in a non-Isaianic sense.
See introductory note to this chapter. For recover read purchase, Or
"redeem." Pathros (Upper Egypt, Gen. x. 14) and Cush (Ethiopia) are depen
dencies of Egypt; Elam (Susiana), Shinar (Babylonia) and Hamath (see
on ch. x. 9) of Assyria. It should be noticed that the use of the name
"Assyria for the supreme power in Western Asia occurs in post-exilic
writings (Ezra vi. 22).
the islands ofthe sea] The coast-lands or countries bordering on the
Mediterranean. 12. The meaning of the "signal" here is explained by ch. xlix. 22;
it is a signal to the nations to release or even to bring back the exiles.
the dispersed of Judah) The participle in Hebr. is fem. This may
be "a short way of expressing that both sexes will be included"

vv. 13—15:] ISAIAH, XI. 101
From the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, 13
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off:
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines 14
toward the west ;
They shall spoil them of the east together :
They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab;
And the children of Amnion shall obey them.
And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the is
Egyptian sea;
(Cheyne). Giesebrecht, however, explains it by the favourite emblem
(with later writers) of a scattered flock (Ez. xxxiv. 4 ff. ; Zeph. iii.
19). the four comers (lit. " edges," Deut. xxii. 12) of the earth] The
expression occurs only in Ez. vii. 2 (of the land) ; Job xxxvii. 3, xxxviii.
13 (cf. Is. xxiv. 16).
13, 14. The healing of the breach between the Northern and
Southern kingdoms, and their joint conquest of the neighbouring
peoples. 13. The parallelism seems to demand that the adversaries of Judah
be explained as gen. of the subject (those in Judah that are adversaries
to Ephraim). This is not very natural, but it is certainly better than
to take envy of Ephraim as gen. of obj. (envy felt by Judah towards
Ephraim). shall not vex) shall not oppress. It is the verb of which " adver
saries " is the participle. The ascription of " oppression " to Judah and
"envy" to Ephraim is hardly consistent with the relative importance of
the two states previous to 722. At the same time there seems to be here
a clear allusion to ch. ix. 9 — 12, 20.
14. they shall fly] or swoop, as a bird of prey (Hab. i. 8). The
country of the Philistines is compared to a shoulder falling down towards
the sea (cf. Num. xxxiv. 11; Jos. xv. ir, xviii. 12).
them of the east] lit. the children of the East (as R.V.), o. name for
the Arabs of the Eastern desert.
they shall lay. ..obey them] The Hebrew construction is peculiar.
Lit. " Edom and Moab shall be the forth-putting of their hand, and the
children of Ammon their obedience."
15, 16. A miraculous passage prepared for the return of the exiles.
The allusions to the Exodus are palpable and extend to the next
chapter. 15. Cf. Zech. x. 10 f. shall utterly destroy] lit. "lay under
the ban." But the reading of several ancient versions (heherib for
hehMm) gives a better sense : dry up ; cf. ch. 1. z. the tongue
of' the Egyptian sea is the Gulf of Suez (cf. Jos. xv. 1, 5, xviii. 19).

102 ISAIAH, XI. XII. [w. 16; I.
And with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand
over the river,
And shall smite it in the seven streams,
And make men go over dryshod.
>6 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his
people,
Which shall be left from Assyria;
Like as it was to Israel
In the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
12 And in that day thou shalt say,
with his mighty wind] Perhaps with the fierce heat of his breath.
The word rendered "fierce heat" does not occur again in Hebrew, but
a similar Arabic word is used of internal heat (either physical or mental).
The phrase seems misplaced ; it belongs to the figure of the drying up
of the sea, not to that of shaking the hand. over the river] the
Euphrates, as in ch. vii. 20, viii. 7. smite it in the seven streams]
R.V. into seven streams. dryshod] lit. "in sandals."
16. a highway] through river and desert. This miraculous "high
way " is a frequent feature in prophetic descriptions of the return from
exile. Cf. ch. xxxv. 8, xl. 3, 4, xiii. 16, xlix. 11, &c.

Chapter XII.
forms the lyrical epilogue to the first great division of the book (ch. i.
— xii.). It consists of two short hymns of praise (w. 1, 2 and w. 3 — 6)
which are put into the mouth of the ransomed people. As Israel sang
songs of triumph after the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. xv.), so the
restored exiles shall celebrate the great salvation with such psalms of
thanksgiving and joy as these. There is thus an obvious link of con
nexion with xi. 10 — 16, where the anticipations of the Messianic
salvation are throughout largely coloured by reminiscences of the
exodus from Egypt. Nevertheless, the secondary and imitative
character of the chapter is so apparent as almost to exclude the
supposition that it was written by Isaiah. Its literary affinities are
with the Song of Moses, with certain parts of the Psalter, and with
lyrical passages interspersed in the later prophecy of ch. xxiv. — xxvii.
(see the Notes below). With the exception of the expression "Holy
One of Israel" in v. 6 it presents none of the phrases distinctive of
Isaiah's style; and in no other instance does that prophet close an
oracle with a liturgical passage like this. Hence the opinion expressed
by Ewald in 1840, that the chapter is a late addition to the book of
Isaiah, has slowly won a wide acceptance among scholars.
1, 2. The first song, the singer being the individualised community,
as frequently in the Pss.

vv. 3—5.] ISAIAH, XII. 103
O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry
with me,
Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me
Behold, God is my salvation ; 2
I will trust, and not be afraid :
For the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my
song;
He also is become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the 3
wells of salvation.
And in that day shall ye say, 4
Praise the Lord, call upon his name,
Declare his doings among the people,
Make mention that his name is exalted.
Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: s
1. The introductory formula (here and in v. 4) resembles those in
xxv. 9, xxvi. 1, xxvii. 2. thou wast angry] a word never used
by any prophet, but found in Ps. ii. 12, lx. i, lxxix. 5, Ixxxv. 5.
is turned away] The form is that of the jussive ; but it is probably
the contracted form of the consec. impf. which sometimes occurs in
the Pss.
2. Behold, God is my salvation] Better: Behold the God of my
salvation (Ps. lxxxviii. 1).
The second half of the verse is repeated almost verbally from Ex.
xv. 2. my song] the personal suff. is omitted in Hebr., probably
through defective writing.
the Lord JEHOVAH] Hebr. Yah Yahveh, a combination only
recurring in ch. xxvi. 4. Since LXX. and other versions have only
one Divine name here it is possible that the second was added in
explanation of the rarer contracted form "Jah."
my salvation] The word here used (yeshu'dli) is not found in genuine
prophecies of Isaiah (unless ch. xxxiii. 2, 6 be exceptions).
3. A promise connecting the first song with the second (vv. 4 — 6).
wells of salvation] (cf. Ps. lxxxvii. 7). The language is figurative,
denoting the inexhaustible fulness of the Divine blessings prepared for
the people of God.
4 — 6. The members of the redeemed community exhort each other
to publish the praises of Jehovah to the world.
4. The first part exactly as Ps. cv. 1 ; the last clause resembles
Ps. cxlviii. 13, &c.
call upon his name] lit. "call by (means of) His name," i.e. use His
name (Jehovah) in solemn invocation. See 1 Ki. xviii. 24. That the
expression means merely "utter" or "make known" the name, is hardly
probable. The word for "exalted" occurs in ch. ii. 11, 17.
5. excellent things] "Excellence," oh. xxvi. 10; cf. Ex. xv. 1.

104 ISAIAH, XII. [v. 6.
This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion :
For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee.
this is knmon] Better as R.V. let this be known.
6. Cry out] the same word as in ch. x. 30, but in a very different
sense. Cf. ch. xxiv. 14, liv. 1.
inhabitant of Zion) Lit. " inhabitress, " Jerusalem being personified
as a woman, Mic. i. 11 — 15; Jer. xlvi. 19, &c.
Ch. XIII. 1— XIV. 23. The Fall of Babylon.
This is the first of the collection of oracles, dealing mainly with
foreign nations, which forms the second great division of the first part
of the Book of Isaiah (see General Introd.( pp. lxxii f.). It contains
two distinct and complete pieces: (1) a prophecy ofthe impending sack
and capture of Babylon by the Medes (xiii. 2 — 22), and (2) an ode of
triumph to be sung by the Jews over the downfall of their oppressor,
the king of Babylon (xiv. 4 b — 21). These are connected by a few
verses in a style different from either (xiv. 1 — 4 a) ; and the ode, is
followed by a couple of verses which reaffirm the doom pronounced on
Babylon in the end of ch. xiii. (xiv. 22 f.). It is not impossible that
the amalgamation of the two principal sections may be due to an
editor; but the historical situation assumed is the same in both,
and reasons for assigning them to separate authors are not to be
found. That neither the passage as a whole nor either of its component
parts was written by Isaiah appears from the following considerations.
(a) In Isaiah's time Babylon was either a subject province of the
Assyrian Empire or engaged in unsuccessful revolt against it. Here
she is represented as the supreme world-power, the glory of kingdoms,
intoxicated with her own success, and exercising a cruel tyranny over
many nations (xiii. n, 19, xiv. 5 f., 12 ff., 16 f.). -(b) In particular
she is the power that has long held Israel in the thraldom of exile
(xiv. 1 — 3) ; an event which might conceivably have been foreseen by
Isaiah, but which he could not have assumed as known to the men
of his time. But (c) a transference of the world-empire from Assyria
to Babylon is really excluded by Isaiah's scheme of history, since he
conceives the overthrow of Assyria as followed immediately by the
Messianic age. (d) The style and language are not those of Isaiah;
and the spirit of fierce and vindictive triumph over the fallen foe, while
explicable in a writer of the exile period, would be unnatural in the
case of Isaiah. The prophecy, therefore, must have been unintelligible
to the contemporaries of Isaiah ; and on the principle that the prophet
always addresses himself primarily to the circumstances of his own time,
we must assign these chapters to the closing years of the Babylonian
captivity. A more exact determination of their date is scarcely possible.
Even on the question whether they were written before or after the

vv. I, 2.] ISAIAH, XIII. 105
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of 13
Amoz did see.
Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, 2
Exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand,
That they may go into the gates of the nobles.
consolidation of the Median and Persian power by Cyrus in 549,
conflicting inferences are drawn from xiii. 17 (see on the verse below).
It may be added that by such a view the passage is not robbed of its
predictive character. It was certainly composed in anticipation of the
fall of Babylon (538) ; and hence it is a prediction to precisely the same
extent as Isaiah's own announcements of the destruction of Assyria and
the deliverance of Jerusalem (Driver, Isaiah, p. 127).
Chap. xiii. falls into three main divisions. A subdivision of each
into two nearly equal strophes (Duhm) is possible, though less clearly
marked. i. vv. 2 — 8. A magnificently poetical description of the impending
attack. (1) The mustering of Jehovah's host on the north-eastern mountains
(2—4). (2) The approach of the avengers, Jehovah at their head, inspiring
terror and dismay in the city (5 — 8).
ii. vv. 9 — 16. The meaning of the judgment.
(1) The day of Jehovah has at last arrived, heralded by physical
convulsions, to sweep wickedness and tyranny from the face of the
earth (9 — 12).
(2) The flight of foreign merchants from the doomed city and the
massacre of her population (13 — 16).
iii. vv. 17 — 22. The fate of Babylon.
(1) At length the writer lays aside the veil of poetic imagery and
announces in express terms that the invaders are the pitiless barbarians
of Media, and the object of their attack is Babylon (17 — 19).
(2) The prophecy then closes with a weiid picture of the eternal
desolation reserved for the imperial city.
1. The superscription, prefixed by an editor who attributed the
prophecy to Isaiah.
The burden) Rather, The utterance, or "oracle." The word occurs
ten times in the headings of this section of the book (also in ch. xxx.
6). The Heb. is massd', and means literally a "lifting up (of the
voice)." See 2 Kings ix. 25. The A.V., following several ancient
versions, takes it in its commoner sense of "burden" (thing lifted), a
confusion which seems as old as the time of Jeremiah (xxiii. 33 — 40)
and Ezekiel (xii. 10).
which Isaiah... did see] See on i. 1, ii. 1.
2 — 4. Jehovah musters His hosts.
2. Lift ye up a banner] a signal, ch. v. 26.
upon the high mountain] Render, upon a bare mountain; i.e. one
denuded of trees, so that the signal might be clearly distinguished.
the gates of the nobles] The city gates through which the Babylonian

106 ISAIAH, XIII. [vv. 3—6.
I have commanded my sanctified ones,
I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger,
Even them that rejoice in my highness.
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of
a great people ;
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered
together :
The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
They come from a far country, from the end of the
heaven,
Even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
Howl ye ; for the day of the Lord is at hand ;
It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

magnates passed to and fro. The name Babel (Bab-ilu) signifies "Gate
of Gpd."
3. Jehovah speaks.
my sanctified (or consecrated) ones) In ancient times a campaign
was inaugurated with religious ceremonies (i Sam. xiii. 9; Jer. xxii. 7,
li. 28 [R.V. marg.]) and each warrior was a consecrated man (1 Sam.
xxi. 5).
them that rejoice in my highness] Translate as in R.V. my proudly
exulting ones, Zeph. iii. 11.
4. Already the prophet seems to hear from afar the din of the
gathering multitude.
The noise of a multitude] Better as an exclamation, Hark, a tumult.
And so in the next clause, Hark, the uproar of... The "mountains" are
those beyond the Zagros range, N.E. of Babylonia, where the territory
of the Medes lay. To understand them as "ideal barriers" (Cheyne)
weakens the poetry of the passage.
5. The host is now seen in motion, advancing under the guidance
of Jehovah to its appointed goal.
the whole land) Rather, the whole earth. The judgment is directed
against the Babylonian Empire, which from the writer's point of view
was practically co-extensive with the civilised world.
6. The verse is almost identical with Joel i. 15. On the "day of
Jehovah" see on ch. ii. 12.
as a destruction from the Almighty] The Heb. phrase contains an
alliteration which cannot be easily reproduced in English. The
Germans render "wie Gewalt vom Gewaltigen." The word for
"Almighty" is the Divine name Shaddai (see Ex. vi. 3), but its etymo
logy is doubtful. According to one derivation it comes from the same
root as the word for "destruction," so that we might almost venture to
translate "like destruction from the Destroyer." This verse, however,

vv. 7— ii-] ISAIAH, XIII. 107
Therefore shall all hands be faint, 7
And every man's heart shall melt:
And they shall be afraid : pangs and sorrows shall 8
take hold of them ;
They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth :
They shall be amazed one at another;
Their faces shall be as flames.
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, 9
Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate :
And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof 10
shall not give their light :
The sun shall be darkened in his going forth,
And the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, n
And the wicked for their iniquity ;
And I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
can hardly be appealed to in support of that view, since it may imply
nothing beyond the mere play upon words. (See further Robertson
Smith, Old Test, in Jewish Church, pp. 423 f.)
7. "Hands hanging down" and "hearts melting'' are frequent
images of despair (ch. xix. 1 ; Ez. xxi. 7; Job iv. 3; Josh. vii. 5, &c).
8. they shall be amazed one at another] i.e. "look in horror on each
other." their faces shall be as flames] Lit. faces of flames are their faces,
burning with feverish excitement, or perhaps with shame (Ez. vii. 18).
There are no exact parallels to the expression ; cf. Joel ii. 6 ; Nah. ii. 10.
9 — 16. The middle division of the prophecy enlarges on the nature,
purpose and effects of this day of Jehovah.
9. land] Rather, earth, as in v. 5.
10. "The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light," Am. v. 18.
the constellations thereof] The Heb. word (kesil) is used in the
singular in Am. v. 8; Job ix. 9, xxxviii. 31, of a particular constellation,
probably Orion (but according to another tradition, the star Canopus).
Its meaning, 'fool' or 'foolhardy rebel,' seems to point to some legend
of a Titan chained to the sky for his defiance of the gods (Job xxxviii.
31). In the plural ("the Orions") it denotes here Orion and other
constellations that vie with it in brilliancy.
11, 12. Jehovah is again the speaker, as in v. 3. The prophet has
already in v. 9 intimated the purpose of the judgment ; here the thought
is added that in its execution the existing generation will be all but

108 ISAIAH, XIII. [vv. 12— 16.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold;
Even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth shall remove out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hostc,
And in the day of his fierce anger.
And it shall be as the chased roe,
And as a sheep that no ma?i taketh up :
They shall every man turn to his own people,
And flee every one into his own land.
Every one that is found shall be thrust through ;
And every one that is joined unto them shall fall by
the sword.
. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before
their eyes ;
Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

exterminated ; so wide-spread is the wickedness and tyranny of the
world. 12. golden wedge) Render simply gold. Both the words for gold
are rare and poetic.
13. By the outbreak of Jehovah's wrath the material universe is
shaken to its foundations. Such representations are common in the
descriptions of the day of the Lord, and are not to be dismissed as
merely figurative. Cf. ch. ii. 12 ff.
14 — 16. The dispersion and slaughter of the population of Babylon.
The prophecy from this point becomes more explicit in its main refer
ence to Babylon.
14. Those who flee to their own land are the foreign residents who
had been attracted by the wealth and commerce of Babylon from all
parts ofthe world, cf. Jer. li. 44; Nah. ii. 8, iii. 16.
a sheep that no man taketh up) Better : sheep with none to gather
them, Nah. iii. 18. For the figure cf. 1 Kings xxii. 17 ; Ez. xxxiv. 5;
Matt. ix. 36.
15. Every one that is found] Chiefly the natives of Babylon, who had
no land to flee to. The phrase 'every one that is joined unto them' is
better translated, every one that is caught.
16. That the capture of Babylon should be marked by the atrocities
here spoken of was no doubt to be expected from the character of the
Medes (w. 17 f.), but no such crimes appear to have stained the actual
victory of Cyrus. According to Babylonian records he took possession
of the city peacefully. (Re. ords ofthe Past, New Ser. v. 144 ff.) Cf. Ps.
cxxxvii. 9; Nah. iii. 10; Hos. xiii. 16; 2 Kings viii. 12. The last half
of the verse is repeated in Zech . xiv. 2.
17, 18. The description of the character of the invaders, perhaps

vv. 17— 19.] ISAIAH, XIII. 109
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, 17
Which shall not regard silver;
And as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces ; is
And they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye shall not spare children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, 19
The beauty of the Chaldees' excellency,
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
even the mention of their name, is of the nature of a climax to the
terrors of the picture.
17. the Medes] This Iranian people first became a leading power in Asia
when it divided with the Chaldaeans the spoils of the Assyrian Empire
(Bic. 606), but it was not till the rise of the great conqueror Cyrus that
it became a formidable enemy to Babylon. Cyrus, according to the
classical historians, was originally a vassal king of the Median Empire,
reigning over the narrow territory to which the name Persia or Persis
was at first restricted. He is called, however, in Babylonian inscriptions
"King of Anzan," which is explained by Assyriologists to be a small
kingdom in the north of Elam. (See Sayce, in Rec. of the Past, I.e.)
About the year 549 he overthrew the ruling Median dynasty and
placed himself at the head of the whole empire. It has been argued
by some scholars that previous to that event there could be no expecta
tion of a conquest of Babylon by the Medes, and that therefore the
prophecy must be dated between 549 and 538. Others again hold that
if it had been written after 549 the enemy would have been called the
Persians. Both inferences, however, are inconclusive. The first over
looks the fact that before the accession of Cyrus the Medes were a
powerful nation, and indeed the only probable human agents of a
chastisement of Babylon. And against the second it has to be borne in
mind that the name Persia, for the united empire, made its way slowly in
antiquity. In the Bible it first becomes common in the time of Ezra,
although long after that we still read of Medes and Persians (Dan. v.
28, vi. 8, 12) or Persians and Medes (Esth. i. 3, 14, 18). Greek writers
also speak of the wars of independence against Xerxes as rb. M-r]SiKa.
The verse, therefore, furnishes no particular indication of the date of
the prophecy.
which shall not regard (regard not) silver...] They cannot be
bought off by a ransom. Xenophon puts into the mouth of Cyrus in
addressing the Medes the words: ov xpr]p.a.Tuv Sebp-evoi. avv ifwl i^Xdere
(Cyrop. v. 1, 20).
19. the Chaldees' excellency] The territory of the Chaldaeans lay
near the head of the Persian Gulf. Their dominion over Babylon
began with Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar.
as when God overthrew, S-V.] See on i. 7 and cf. Am. iv. 11, where
the same phrase occurs (also Jer. 1. 40).
20 — 22. Babylon, after its overthrow, shall be a perpetual desolation.

ISAIAH, XIII. [vv. 20-

' It shall never be inhabited,
Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to gene
ration :
Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;
Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there;
And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures ;
And owls shall dwell there,
And satyrs shall dance there.
'¦ And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their
desolate houses,
And dragons in their pleasant palaces :
20. the Arabian] Cf. Jer. iii. 2. The word seems originally to
mean "dweller in the desert," but ultimately acquired the force of
a proper name (see Jer. xxv. 24 ; 2 Chr. ix. 14, &c). The site of
Babylon will be shunned even by the wandering nomad, as an accursed
and " uncanny" place.
21, 22. It shall be haunted by wild beasts and creatures of demon
kind, like the jinn of the Arabs. See ch. xxxiv. 11 — 15; Zeph. ii.
14 f.; Jer. 1. 39, li. 37.
21. wild beasts of the desert] The word used means strictly " dwellers
in the desert" and is applied to men in Ps. lxxii. 9. In ch. xxxiv. 14
it seems to denote a particular kind of desert creature.
doleful creatures] Probably " howlers," but what kind of howlers are
meant is altogether uncertain. Some render "owls," others "jackals,"
&c. The word does not occur elsewhere. Owls should undoubtedly
be ostriches. The Heb. name (bendth ya'dnah), as explained by Wetz-
stein (see Delitzsch, Comm. on Job, 2nd Ed., Eng. Tr., vol. 11., p. 340)
means "daughters of the desert." The Arabs have a similar designation
for the bird, — abu es-sahdrd, " father of the desert."
satyrs shall dance there] The noun also means "goats," as in Gen.
xxxvii. 31; but the old translations have mostly perceived that goat-
shaped demons are here intended (so also in ch. xxxiv. 14), the same
beings to which Jewish superstition offered sacrifices (Lev. xvii. 7;
2 Chron. xi. 15 — A.V. "devils"). The transition from the natural to
the supernatural seems strange to our minds, but in the East the belief
in weird creatures (jinn) inhabiting waste places and dangerous spots
is a commonplace.
22. the wild beasts of the islands] R.V. wolves. The word has
certainly nothing to do with that for "island." It probably comes
from another root meaning "to howl"; but again it is impossible to
specify the particular animal.
their desolate houses] The word is 'almdnbth, "widows," which A.V.
following, as so often, Jewish authorities understands figuratively. It is
either a by-form or a copyist's error for 'armfnbtham, their palaces (see
ch. xxxiv. 13). For dragons render jackals (R.V.).

w. 22; 1—4] ISAIAH, XIII. XIV. in
And her time is near to come,
And her days shall not be prolonged.
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, 14
And will yet choose Israel,
And set them in their own land :
And the strangers shall be joined with them,
And they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
And the people shall take them, and bring them to 2
their place :
And the house of Israel shall possess them in the
land of the Lord
For servants and handmaids :
And they shall take them captives, whose captives
they were ;
And they shall rule over their oppressors.
And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord 3
shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear,
and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to
serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the 4
king of Babylon, and say,
Chap. xiv. 1 — 23 contains (1) an Introduction connecting the ode
with the preceding prophecy (vv. 1 — 4 a), (2) a song of triumph over the
king of Babylon (vv. 4 b — 21), (3) an Epilogue (vv. 22, 23).
1. The immediate result of the judgment on Babylon will be the
emancipation of Israel from captivity.
will yet choose Israel] Rather, will again choose, as formerly in
Egypt (cf. Zech. ii. 12).
the strangers] the sojourner, or protected guest; here used, as in
later Hebrew, with the sense of "proselyte": ch. lvi. 3 — 7; Zech. ii.
11, viii. 21 — 23.
2. And the people] And peoples (ch. xlix. 22 f.).
shall possess them] Lit. "serve themselves heirs to them" (Lev. xxv.
46). For the idea cf. ch. Ix. 10, 14, lxi. 5.
they shall take them captives, whose captives they were] Jud. v. 12.
3. thy fear] Rather thy unrest, or "trouble" (R.V.).
the hard bondage] R.V. service. From Ex. i. 14. The analogy of
the Egyptian oppression is prominent in the writer's thoughts.
4. this proverb] The Hebrew word (mdshdl) is used in a variety of
senses. Originally signifying a similitude, it came naturally to denote a
popular proverb or gnomic saying, and finally acquired the sense of a
satire or taunt-song, as here (Hab. ii. 6 ; Num. xxi. 27). In ancient
Israel wit seems to have passed into sarcasm as readily as in more recent

112

ISAIAH, XIV. [vv. 5-8.

How hath the oppressor ceased ! the golden city ceased !
5 The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and
the sceptre of the rulers.
g He who smote the people in wrath with a continual
stroke,
He that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and
none hindereth.
7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break
forth into singing.
8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of
Lebanon, saying,
times. The poem which follows might with equal propriety be
described as a dirge (qinah, 6prjvos in LXX.), commencing as it does
with the characteristic word 'ikh, and exhibiting the peculiarity of the
elegiac measure (the line is broken by a csesura in such a manner that
the second member is shorter than the first. See on ch. i. 21). Such
ironical elegies are common in the prophets of the exile. Another
striking example will meet us in ch. xlvii.
4i5 — 21. The song of triumph over the king of Babylon is one
of the finest specimens of Hebrew poetry which the Old Testament
contains. A division into five strophes, each containing seven long
lines, is distinctly recognisable, and the occasional deviations from strict
symmetry of form are probably due to defects in the text.
ib — 8. The first strophe is like a sigh of relief breathed by the
whole of creation, when the disturber of its peace has vanished from
the scene.
4. The line may be rendered :
How is the oppressor stilled, — stilled the insolent rage!
The translation golden city is an attempt to render the received text,
but can hardly be justified. All the ancient versions read instead of
madhebdh, marhebah, a word which combines the ideas of restlessness
and insolence (see ch, iii. 5).
5. the rulers] here used in the sense of tyrants.
6. He who] Better, as R. V. , that ; the antecedent being the staff.
is persecuted, and none hindereth] R.V. "with a persecution that
none restrained." The parallelism requires instead of "persecution" a
noun cognate with the verb rendered "rule," as in the preceding line.
An easy emendation (mirdath for murddph) supplies this; and this
reading is almost universally accepted. The balance of clauses is then
perfect : —
That struck the peoples in anger, — with incessant stroke;
That trod down the nations in wrath, — with unrelenting tread.
7. they break forth into singing] A favourite idea in the second
part ofthe book: ch. xliv. 23, xlix. 13, liv. 1, lv. 12.
8. the fir trees] Some render "cypresses."

w. o— u.] ISAIAH, XIV. 113
Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against
us.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at 9
thy coming :
It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief
ones of the earth ;
It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of
the nations.
All they shall speak and say unto thee, 10
Art thou also become weak as we ? art thou become
like unto us?
Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the «
noise of thy viols :
The worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover
thee.

no feller is come up] Assyrian kings frequently mention among their
exploits the cutting of trees in Lebanon and Amanus. Nebuchadnezzar,
whose inscriptions have been found on Lebanon, doubtless did the same
thing. 9 — 11. The second strophe forms an effective contrast to the first.
He who had so long troubled the earth becomes a disturbing presence
in the under-world; the earth is now at rest, Sheol is troubled.
9. Hell from beneath] Rather, Sheol beneath. It is best to retain
the Hebrew name of the under-world (she"dl) as is sometimes done by
the Revisers, though not in this passage. An almost exact equivalent
would be the Greek Hades. For the dead, render the shades (rephd'lm)
as in R.V. marg.
the chief ones] lit. "the he-goats," a figurative designation of kings
(Jer. 1. 8; Zech. x. 3).
11. It is doubtful whether this verse continues the address of the
shades. It certainly does not extend further.
For the grave read Sheol. the noise of thy viols] possibly
indicating that the king had been cut down suddenly at a riotous feast
(see xxi. 5 ; Dan. v.).
the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee] (The Heb.
uses two distinct words for "worm.") His lot is far worse than that
of other potentates. No kingly throne is reserved for him in Sheol,
but as one who has been denied honourable burial on earth (v. 19) he
is laid in the "recesses of the pit" (v. 15) and makes his bed in cor
ruption. 12 — 15. The third strophe contains the prophet's reflection on the
sudden fall of the king of Babylon. That he should go to Sheol at
all was a fate never contemplated by his soaring and self-deifying
pride.

114 ISAIAH, XIV. [vv. 12—15.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning !
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations !
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God :
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north :
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides
of the pit.
12. O Lucifer, son of the morning] In his splendour he is likened
to the morning star ; which was worshipped by the Babylonians under
the name of Istar, and is described in Assyrian by an epithet, mustilil
(shining star), which seems to correspond to the word here used
(Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, on this verse). The translation
"Lucifer" (light-bearer) is quite correct, and is needlessly abandoned
by the R.V. By some of the fathers the passage was applied to the fall
of Satan (cf. Luke x. 18); hence the current use of Lucifer as a name
of the devil.
For weaken, read lay prostrate.
13, 14. Not content with his exalted position the king aspired to
equality of rank with the great gods. A similar impiety had already
been put by Ezekiel into the mouth of the prince of Tyre (Ez. xxviii. 2,
6, 9, 14).
13. the mount ofthe congregation, in the sides of the north] Render:
the Mount of Assembly in the uttermost north. We have here apparently
an allusion to Babylonian mythology which is partly elucidated by As
syrian inscriptions. There the chief gods are spoken of as born in " the
house of the mountain-summit of the lands, the mountain of Aralu "
(Schrader, Cuncif. Inscr., ad loc). The conception is very obscure,
and it has not been proved that the Babylonians located their world-
mountain in the north (like the Hindus and Persians). According to
Jensen (Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 201 ff.) the idea of the " world-
mountain " originated in the conception that the earth is itself a huge
hollow mountain, resting on the primeval ocean. However that may be,
there is little room for doubt that the "mount of assembly " in this verse
is the mountain of Aralu where the great gods assemble. The opinion
once prevalent that Zion is denoted was suggested by a similar phrase in
Ps. xlviii. 2 ; but the idea is obviously out of place in the present context.
14. / will be like the most High] Better : I wiU make myself like to
the Most High. The sense of all the previous metaphors is gathered
up in this sentence. The king arrogates to himself divine honour.
15. thou shalt be brought down io Sheol] Such is the end of the

w. 16--19.] ISAIAH, XIV. US
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, 16
and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that
did shake kingdoms;
That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed 17
the cities thereof;
That opened not the house of his prisoners?
All the kings of the nations, even all of them, 18
Lie in glory, every one in his own house.
But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable 19
branch,
And as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust
through with a sword,
"vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself." The Babylonian Hades
(Aralu) seems to have been conceived as situated under the mountain of
the gods. The pit means Sheol, and the sides of the pit are its inmost
recesses, the most dismal part of a land of darkness. These apparently
are reserved for those who have not obtained honourable burial on
earth (see below on w. 18 — 20).
16 — 19. The fourth strophe. The scene here is no longer in Hades,
but on the battle-field, where the dead body of the king lies unburied,
exposed to the derision of men.
16. made the earth to tremble] Better perhaps, troubled the earth.
17. opened not the house of his prisoners] Translate as R.V. let not
loose his prisoners to their home (a so-called pregnant construction).
But from this point the rhythm is defective, and the text is almost cer
tainly in some disorder. The immediate difficulty might be surmounted
by bringing the words "every one in his house" from the end of v. 18
(where they are rhythmically superfluous) to the end of v. 17: thus
(with a slight alteration) 1 —
" That let not loose his prisoners, — each to his home."
But a satisfactory reconstruction of the passage as a whole seems im
possible. 18, 19. The contrast here is that between the honourable burial
accorded to other kings and the indignity to which the king of Babylon
is subjected by being deprived of sepulchral rites.
18. every one in his own house] This yields a perfectly good sense as
it stands, the "house" being the tomb prepared by the king in his life
time. But it forms a short half-line where a long one is required by the
measure; hence the proposal to transfer the words to v. 17 (see on that
verse). 19. cast out of thy grave] Better as in R.V., cast forth away from
thy sepulchre, i.e. flung out unburied. The idea that the body had
been disinterred is inconsistent with v. 20.
like an abominable branch] A worthless scion of the family.
8—2

116 ISAIAH, XIV. [w. 20, 21
That go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase
trodden under feet.
, Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial
Because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy
people :
The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of
their fathers ;
That they do not rise, nor possess the land,
Nor fill the face of the world with cities.
and as the raiment of those that are slain] Render as R.V. clothed
with (i.e. "surrounded by") the slain, on the field of battle.
that go down to the stones of the pit] A difficult expression. In its
present position it is most naturally understood of the hasty and igno
minious burial of a dead enemy by casting stones on the body (cf. 2 Sam.
xviii. 17). The rhythm, however, demands a short line at this point, and
this phrase is much too long. Hence some propose to transfer the words
to the beginning of v. 20, where they would open a new strophe, thus: —
"Those that are buried in graves of stone, with them shalt thou
not be united in sepulture."
On this view they must be a synonym for honourable sepulture, and
the "stones ofthe pit" would denote stone-built tombs. This seems
a less natural sense. A reference to the pit of Sheol (v. 15) is hardly
to be expected in this place.
20, 21. The fifth strophe. The guilt of the king of Babylon, which
descends like a curse on his children and leads to their extermination.
The impression of textual confusion is confirmed by the fact that this
last strophe falls short by about two lines of its proper length.
20. Thou shalt not be joined with them] i.e. either with the kings of
the nations (v. 18) or (if the transposition mentioned be adopted) with
those who lie in stone sepulchres.
thou hast destroyed thy land...] The king has acted as a tyrant not
only to Israel but to his own people.
shall never be renowned] Rather, named (R.V.). Their very names
shall be forgotten.
21. slaughter) a place of slaughter (R.V. marg.).
that they do not rise. .land] R.V. that they rise not up, and
possess the earth.
fill the face of the world with cities) This could hardly be reckoned
a crime, for it would be undoing the wrong that their father had
wrought (v. 17). Some render "enemies" or gain that sense by an
emendation. Others change the word 'artm (cities) into 'iyytm (ruined
heaps). The easiest correction is simply to omit the word, the sense
being complete without it.
The elegy ends here. — The passage just considered (w. 9 — 20) bears
a close resemblance to Ezekiel's dirge over the fall of Pharaoh and his

v. 22.] ISAIAH, XIV. 117
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of 22
hosts,
host (Ez. xxxii. 19 ff.). Many questions of great interest and import
ance are suggested by both. The most important is how far such repre
sentations are to be taken as expressing the fixed belief of the writers or
their age with regard to the state after death. Their affinities with
Babylonian speculation on that subject, taken in connexion with the
fact that such elaborate descriptions of the underworld do not occur
before the Exile, may indicate that the imagination of the writers had
been influenced by their contact with the religion of their conquerors.
In that case it may be reasonable to suppose that they freely availed
themselves of the material thus laid to their hand merely as poetic
imagery, without meaning to attribute strict objective reality to all the
conceptions. At the same time there was a common basis of belief
underlying the Hebrew and Babylonian ideas regarding the future state,
and all that is essential to the understanding of this passage was pro
bably familiar to the minds of the Israelites before the Exile. In the
conception as here presented the following points are to be noted. (1)
Sheol, which is figured as a vast subterranean region, is the common
gathering-place of all the dead. They exist there as shades, rlpha'tm
(v. 9), a word which is usually explained to mean "feeble ones," — weak,
pithless adumbrations of the living form. These are represented as capable
of being roused to a transient interest in human affairs by the arrival
amongst them of so distinguished a personage as the king of Babylon ;
but their ordinary condition is one of utter inactivity, a sort of conscious
death rather than life. It is true that the writer speaks only of kings
and potentates, and throws little light on the state of the common man
after death. Still the Old Testament as a whole knows nothing of
separate spheres of existence for the righteous and for the wicked, and
that idea is certainly not to be imported into the present passage. (2)
We seem to find a clear trace of the antique notion that the lot of the
shade in Sheol depends on the fate of the body on earth. The kings
who have received due interment sit each on his throne retaining the
semblance of their former greatness, while he who was "cast forth
away from his sepulchre" is relegated to the "recesses of the pit."
This, however, is connected with the conviction that the fate of the
body is not accidental ; a dishonoured death expresses the final judg
ment of God on a career of exceptional wickedness. And it is this
judgment of God, executed on earth, which is regarded as reflected and
perpetuated in the condition ofthe disembodied spirit. (3) In this way
the idea of retribution is extended to the other world. There is indeed
an essential difference between the application of the principle here
given and that to which a fuller revelation has led us. As we have seen,
the retribution here spoken of is only the counterpart of a retribution
already manifest on earth, whereas we have learned to look to the future
life to redress the inequalities of the present, and to bring about a per
fect correspondence between character and destiny, never realised in this
world.

118 ISAIAH, XIV. [w. 23— 25.
And cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant,
And son, and nephew, saith the Lord.
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and
pools of water :
And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction,
saith the Lord of hosts.
The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying,
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass;
And as I have purposed, so shall it stand :
i That / will break the Assyrian in my land,
And upon my mountains tread him under foot :
Then shall his yoke depart from off them,
22, 23. The Epilogue, going back on the concluding threat of ch.
xiii. 22. son, and nephew] A phrase recurring in Gen. xxi. 23^ Job xviii.
19. The proper translation is progeny and offspring. In old English
"nephew" means "grandson." Comp. Spenser's Fairy Queen, ii. 8.
29:— But from the grandsyre to the nephewes sonne,
And all his seede, the curse doth often cleave.
(Cambridge Comp. to the Bible, p. 218.)
23. the bittern] (ch. xxxiv. 11; Zeph. ii. 14). Usually rendered
"hedgehog" (R.V. porcupine) in accordance with the LXX. and Vulg.
and the analogy of Arabic. The bittern certainly suits the scene best,
and it is said to have the hedgehog's trick of rolling itself up into an
unrecognisable mass. (Tristram, Natural History ofthe Bible, p. 243.)
pools of water] marshes, caused by the overflow of the Euphrates
when the dykes and canals were no longer kept in repair.
Ch. XIV. 24—32. Two Isaianic Fragments.
i. vv. 24 — 27. An announcement of Jehovah's purpose to destroy
the Assyrians on the soil of Canaan. In spite of the absence of a title
these verses cannot without violence be explained as a continuation of
the oracle on Babylon. They bear every evidence of being a genuine
prophecy of Isaiah; and both in form and substance they shew an
obvious resemblance to those of ch. x. 5 ff. and ch. xviii. Some critics,
indeed, regard them as a misplaced fragment of one or other of these
chapters. Without going so far as this we may at least with some con
fidence assign the passage to the same period of Isaiah's ministry, pro
bably the early years of Sennacherib's reign. .
24. The LORD of hosts hath sworn] cf Am. iv. 2, vi. 8, viii. 7 ; Is.
xlv. 23, liv. 9, lxii. 8. The formula is nowhere else used by Isaiah.
come to pass .. .stand] Combined as in ch. vii. 7.
26. my mountains] i.e. the mountain land of Palestine.
then shall his yoke depart...] See ch, ix. 4, a. 27.

vv. 26, 27.] ISAIAH, XIV. 119
And his burden depart from off their shoulders.
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole »6
earth :
And this is the hand that is stretched out upon all
the nations.
For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall 27
disannul it?
And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it
back?

26, 27. This plan of Jehovah embraces the destinies of all nations
(see ch. xxviii. 22, x. 23, viii. 9). The expression "the whole earth"
is not to be restricted to the Assyrian Empire, nor on the other hand is
the meaning that all other peoples shall suffer the same fate as Assyria ;
it is simply that the event announced is of world-wide importance,
and affects the interests of humanity at large. This indeed followed
from the ambitious designs of Assyria, which could not stop short of
universal empire. But Isaiah no doubt looked deeper than this, and
thought of its bearings on the religious future of mankind. The two
verses are a striking testimony to the grandeur of Isaiah's conception of
the Divine government.
this is the hand that is stretched out] cf. v. 26, ch. v. 25, ix. 12, &c.
ii. vv. 28 — 32. An oracle on Philistia. The Philistines, who are
rejoicing at the fall of some cruel oppressor, are warned that the
dreaded power will soon be re-established in a more terrible form than
ever (v. 29). A contrast is then drawn between the miserable fate of
the Philistines and the peace and security in store for Israel (v. 30). In
v. 31 the warning is repeated, and it is indicated that the formidable
enemy is one who comes from the north. Meanwhile ambassadors
from a foreign people (no doubt the Philistines) are in Jerusalem await
ing an answer to their proposals; and the prophet gives the answer in
the name of Jehovah, as he does in the case of the Ethiopian envoys in
ch. xviii.
The situation which best combines the various allusions of the pro
phecy would seem to be the death of some Assyrian monarch, which in
Isaiah's time was invariably the signal for active conspiracy among the
states of Palestine (General Introd., pp. xiv f.). That the broken rod
is Ahaz and the future oppressor Hezekiah, although suggested by the
title, appears to be excluded by v. 31, where the invasion is said to
come from the north. It is still less natural to suppose that the rod is
a Jewish dominion, and the threatened danger an Assyrian supremacy,
because v. 29 seems to imply that the new tyranny springs from the
same root as the old. Assuming, then, that two successive Assyrian
kings are meant, there are three occasions within the lifetime of Isaiah
which satisfy the conditions required by the prophecy: the death of
Tiglath-pileser III. in 727 ; of Shalmaneser IV. in 722; and of Sargon
in 705. It is hardly possible with the data at our disposal to decide

ISAIAH, XIV. [vv. 28—30.

28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
B9 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina,
Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken:
For out of the serpent's root shall come forth a
cockatrice,
And his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
as. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed,
And the needy shall lie down in safety:
And I will kill thy root with famine,
And he shall slay thy remnant.
between these periods. Each of the monarchs named had ravaged the
Philistine territory ; the death of each was followed by an outbreak of
disaffection in which the Philistines took a leading part, and at any time
Isaiah would have given the advice to his countrymen which he
virtually gives here. On the last occasion we might perhaps have ex
pected a reference to the overthrow of Assyria, as in the answer to the
Ethiopians about the same time (ch. xviii.). The first event mentioned
corresponds approximately with one of the dates assigned for the death
of Ahaz (727), and would therefore go far to vindicate the accuracy of
the superscription.
28. The superscription. The word "burden" (massd') makes it
improbable that the verse was written by Isaiah. It may nevertheless
embody a sound tradition.
the year that king Ahaz died) Cf. ch. vi. 1. Probably 727 B.C. (but
see Chronological Note, pp. lxxvi f.).
Each verse of the short oracle forms a strophe of four lines.
29. whole Palestina] R.V. Philistia, all of thee. On the history
ofthe name "Palestine" see G. A. Smith, Historical Geography, p. 4.
"All Philistia" is addressed because the country was broken up into a
number of cantons, which might not always be united in political senti
ment, as they are at this time.
the rod of him that smote thee) Or simply the rod that smote thee,
as in R.V. On the reference see introductory note above.
a cockatrice] a basilisk (Heb. cepha'). See on xi. 8.
fiery flying serpent] flying saraph. See on ch. vi. 2 and cf. xxx. 6.
It is probably a creation of the popular imagination, here used poeti
cally. The sense of the metaphors is obvious : the power from which
the Philistines had suffered seems at present to have received a fatal
blow, but it will recover itself and assume a more deadly form than ever.
30. While Philistia is utterly destroyed, Israel enjoys perfect security
under Jehovah's protection (see v. 32).
the firstborn of the poor] must be explained as a superlative — "the
poorest of the poor. " But many commentators prefer, by slightly alter
ing the word for "firstborn," to read " in my meadow the poor shall
feed" (cf. xxx. 23).
he shall slay] In spite of the change of person, the subject is still

w. 31, 32.] ISAIAH, XIV.

Howl, O gate; cry, O city; 3J
Thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved :
For there shall come from the north a smoke,
And none shall be alone in his appointed times.
What shall one then answer the messengers of the 32
nation ?
That the Lord hath founded Zion,
And the poor of his people shall trust in it.
Jehovah, not the Assyrian. Or the verb might be equivalent to a
passive, as in R.V. ("shall be slain").
31. As in v. 29 the prophet had rebuked the premature rejoicing of
the Philistines, so here he calls them to public lamentation in view of
the advancing enemy.
thou. ..art dissolved] Render as an imper. melt away, entire Philis
tia I Smoke may be either a symbol of war (Jer. i. 13 f.) or it may be a
vivid picture of the burning villages that mark the track of the invader.
The phrase from the north points almost unmistakeably to the Assyrians
(see on ch. x. 27).
none shall be... times] Most critics render: there is no straggler In
his battalions (cf. ch. v. 27). The last word closely resembles that for
"appointed times," but is differently vocalised, and does not occur else
where. 32. The oracle ends, in a manner characteristic of Isaiah, with a
piece of practical advice to the political leaders of the state. Some
words have probably dropped out of the first half of the verse.
the messengers of the nation] are no doubt Philistine envoys en
deavouring to negotiate an alliance with Judah. They are probably to
be regarded as actually waiting in Jerusalem while the court deliberates
on the expediency of joining the rebellion. The prophet's answer is
unhesitating. that the Lord hath founded Zion] A leading principle of Isaiah's
later ministry ; see on ch. viii. 18, xxviii. 16, and General Introduction,
pp. xxxvi, lxii.
the poor of his people...] Better as R.V., in her shall the afflicted of
his people take refuge.
Ch. XV. XVI. An Oracle on Moab.
These chapters describe a terrible disaster which has overtaken, or is
about to overtake, the proud and hitherto prosperous nation of Moab.
Ch. xvi. 1 3 f. isa postscript, which states unambiguously that an earlier
prophecy is here taken up and reaffirmed in its substance, the time of
its fulfilment being fixed within a term of three years. The language
leaves it uncertain whether the original composition was strictly a pro
phecy or a poetic lament over a visitation which the writer had actually
witnessed. The element of prediction appears in xv. 9 and xvi. 12; but
the rest of the passage reads like a description of current events, and

122 ISAIAH, XV.

certainly exhibits a most minute and accurate knowledge oLthe geo
graphy of the trans-Jordanic region. The writer betrayXa certain
sympathy with the misfortunes of Moab, although ^-expresses the
conviction that the notorious arrogance of that people demanded a
retribution such as it has experienced.
The question of date and authorship is complicated by the peculiar
form in which the oracle is presented. It is obvious that the Epilogue
(xvi. 13 f.) belongs to a later date than the body of the prophecy, and
there is nothing whatever to suggest that both are from the same author.
The internal evidence, indeed, is strongly opposed to such an hypo
thesis. While the Epilogue bears every mark of Isaiah's rapid and
pregnant style that could be expected in so short a piece, the original
oracle (xv. 1 — xvi. 12) presents a singular contrast to the prophecies of
Isaiah. £The pathetic, elegiac strain of this passage, its outflow of purely
¦ human sympathy towards the victims of the calamity, its poverty in
religious ideas, and its diffuse and laboured style, combine to stamp it
with a character foreign to his genius. And this general impression
is confirmed by an examination of the vocabulary, which differs widely
from that of Isaiah. On these and other grounds the majority of critics
since Gesenius have been led to the conclusion that we have here the
work of some unknown prophet, which was republished by Isaiah with
an appendix from his own hand.
With regard to the date of the original prophecy the chief indications
are these : (1) Although the assailants of Moab are nowhere named, we
may at least infer from the fact that the fugitives took refuge in Edom
(xvi. 1), that their country had been invaded from the north. (2) It also
appears from xvi. 1—6 that at this time a strong monarch sat on the
throne of Judah and held the Edomites in subjection (see the notes
below). This last circumstance would seem to take us back at least to
the days of Uzziah, the suzerainty of Edom having been lost in the begin
ning of the reign of Ahaz (2 Ki. xvi. 6) and never recovered during the
lifetime of Isaiah. Perhaps the most plausible conjecture that has been
offered is that of Hitzig (adopted by a number of subsequent commen
tators), that the prophecy refers to the subjugation of Moab by the
North Israelites under Jeroboam II., the contemporary of Uzziah. It
is true that there is no particular mention of this campaign in the Old
Testament, but we know that Jeroboam extended the boundaries of his
kingdom to the "sea of the Arabah" (2 Ki. xiv. 25; Am. vi. 14), and
it is reasonable to suppose that this involved an invasion of Moab. In
every respect the circumstances of the time are in harmony with the
allusions of the prophecy. Hitzig's further suggestion, however, that
the author was Jonah the son of Amittai (2 Ki. xiv. 25), though inge
nious, rests on no solid foundation. There are two earlier wars of
North Israel against Moab which might conceivably be thought of in
this connexion. One is the conquest of the country by Omri in the 9th
century, known to us from the famous Moabite Stone, which comme
morates the war of revenge waged by Mesha against Ahab. The other
is the campaign of Jehoram, Ahab's son, in alliance with Jehoshaphat
king of Judah (2 Ki. iii.). This can hardly be the occasion of the
prophecy, since at that time Judah took part in the subjugation of Moab,

ISAIAH, XV. 123

and would not be likely to be appealed to by the fugitives for succour
(xvi. 1 ff.). Nevertheless the Biblical account of that campaign throws a
valuable light on some features of the passage, and illustrates the bar
barity with which these frontier wars were conducted. We read that
the allies "beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they
cast every man his stone, and filled it ; and they stopped all the foun
tains of water, and felled all the good trees : until in Kir-hareseth only
they left the stones thereof" (2 Ki. iii. 25). We can readily suppose
that Jeroboam's invasion was carried out with equal thoroughness.
The date of the Epilogue (assuming it to be Isaiah's) is comparatively
unimportant. There is no doubt that Isaiah has the Assyrians in view
as the agents of the Divine sentence against Moab. Perhaps the most
likely time for such a prediction would be about 711, when the Moabites
were in revolt against Sargon. At the time of Sennacherib's great
expedition they appear to have held aloof from the conspiracy and
maintained their allegiance to Assyria.
The passage falls into three sections :
i. Ch. xv. The distress of Moab. In one night her two chief cities
have been ruined (v. 1) ; the sanctuaries are crowded with despairing
suppliants, and a cry of agony ascends from all her public places (2 — 4).
The fugitives are then seen making their way through the desolate
country, and collecting their possessions at the brook of the Arabah,
in order to carry them over into Edom (5 — 7). For the war-cry has
circled round the whole land so that no refuge can be found within it
(8), and yet worse things are in store for the survivors (9, xvi. 2).
ii. Ch. xvi. 1 — 6. Moab vainly seeks protection from Jerusalem.
From Edom the fugitives are represented as sending a present (v. 1) to
Jerusalem, along with a piteous and flattering appeal to the Jewish
monarchy (3, 4; v. 2 appears to break the connexion) whose glories are
extolled in terms almost worthy of a Messianic prophecy (5). But the
petition is rejected because of the well-known pride and faithlessness of
the Moabitish nationality (6).
iii. xvi. 7 — 12. There thus remains no hope for Moat, and the poet
once more strikes up a lamentation over the ruined vineyards of the
once fertile country where the vintage song is now stilled for ever (7 — •
10). The personal sympathy ofthe writer finds clearer expression here
than in the earlier part of the poem (9, 11); although his last word
must be a religious application of the calamity of Moab as proving the
impotence of its national deities (12).
iv. Then follows the Epilogue (xvi. 13, 14), really a new prophecy
announcing the fall of Moab within a very brief space of time.
The parallel prophecy on Moab in Jer. xlviii. is a greatly amplified
variation of this ancient oracle. With the exception of xv. 1, xv. 8 —
xvi. 5 and xvi. I2ff. nearly every verse in these two chapters occurs in
a more or less altered form in Jeremiah (the references are given in
the notes below). A comparison of the two passages affords an instruc
tive illustration ofthe freedom used by prophetic writers in handling the
remains of ancient literature.
1. The verse stands somewhat apart from the sequel of the poem.
It announces the catastrophe which has placed the entire country at the

124 ISAIAH, XV. [w. i, 2.
15 The burden of Moab.
Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and
brought to silence;
Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and
brought to silence;
z He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high
places, to weep :
mercy of the invaders, viz. the fall of the two chief cities of Moab.
What follows is a description, not of the further progress of the cam
paign, but first of the universal mourning caused by this sudden blow,
and second, of the flight of the inhabitants. The opening word because
seems to have the force of an interjection, equivalent to "yea" or
"surely." in the night] may be meant literally (by a night attack), or we may
render "in a night," i.e. "suddenly."
Ar] the capital of Moab, lay on the Arnon (Num. xxi. 15, 28). It is
not to be confounded (as is sometimes done) with the later capital
Rabba, which lies about 10 miles further south. Kir of Moab is the
modern Kerak, some 17 miles S. ofthe Arnon. It is perhaps identical
with Kir-hareseth or Kir Heres (ch. xvi. 7, 11 ; 2 Ki. iii. 25); its
situation has always been considered well-nigh impregnable. These
two cities were both S. of the Arnon and therefore within the proper
territory of Moab. Those mentioned in vv. 2 — 4 on the other hand
were in the fertile district to the north (now called El-Belka), which
Israel claimed for the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The possession of
this coveted tract of country was one great motive of the interminable
wars between the two nations. Mesha's inscription on the Moabite
Stone is really an account of the reconquest of this region from Ahab.
At the time of the prophecy Moab must have long held undisputed
possession of these lands.
2 — 4. The wailing of Moab.
2. (Cf. Jer. xlviii. 37.) He is gone up. ..to weep] The sense ofthe
clause is uncertain. If Bayith be a proper name the best rendering
would be that of R.V. marg. Bayith and Dibon are gone up to the
high-places to weep. But Bayith enters so frequently into compound
place-names in this region (Beth-Diblathaim, Beth-Baal-meon, Beth-
Bamoth) that it is hardly likely to have been used alone of a particular
town. Some accordingly take it in its ordinary sense of "house" (here
"temple") and translate, "He is gone up to the temple, and Dibon to
the high places...," — a very harsh construction. The most satisfactory
solution of the difficulty is that proposed by Duhm, who changes bayith
into bath and reads the daughter of Dibon (Jer. xlviii. 18) is gone up
to the high places.... The "high places" are of course the local
sanctuary. Dibon (where the Moabite Stone was found) is only a few miles from
the Arnon, and is naturally the first to receive tidings of the fall ofthe
southern fortresses. On the whole the description observes the geogra
phical order south to north.

vv. 3—5-] ISAIAH, XV. 125
Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba :
On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard
cut off.
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sack- 3
cloth :
On the tops of their houses, and in their streets,
Every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.
And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: ?
Their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz:
Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out;
His life shall be grievous unto him.
My heart shall cry out for Moab ; 5
His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar,
Moab shall howl] Better howleth (other verbs also to be translated
as presents), a peculiar onomatopoetic form occurring also in v. 3 and
xvi. 7.
Nebo] is a town mentioned on the Moabite Stone near the mountain
of the same name. It lay due east of the mouth of the Jordan ; Medeba
a short distance to the S. For over render on.
on all their heads shall be baldness...] On the signs of mourning men
tioned here and in v. 3 see ch. iii. 24, xxii. 12; Mic. i. 16; Job i. 20;
Jer. xli. 5.
3. (Jer. xlviii. 37 f.) on the lops of their houses] See on xxii. 1.
The word streets should not be used twice ; substitute in the second case
broad places (as in R.V.).
weeping abundantly] lit. "going down in weeping,'- an unusually
strong figure. In other passages the eye is said to "go down in tears"
(Jer. ix. 18; Lam. i. 16, iii. 48); but nowhere else is the whole being
spoken of as dissolved in weeping.
4. (Cf. Jer. xlviii. 34.) Heshbon and Elealeh (often mentioned toge
ther) are respectively about 4 and 6 miles N.E. of Nebo. Heshbon,
once the capital of the Amorites (Num. xxi. 26) and afterwards an
Israelitish city (Num. xxxii. 37; Josh. xiii. 17, xxi. 39), is at the time
of the prophecy in the possession of Moab. The site of Jahaz, where
Sihon gave battle to the Israelites (Num. xxi. 23), has not been dis
covered; probably it was some distance south from Heshbon.
the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out] omit "shall" with R.V.
Cf. ch. xxxiii. 7. The "heroes of Moab" are mentioned in a similar
plight in Jer. xlviii. 41.
his life shall be grievous unto him] Rather, as in R.V., his soul
trembleth within him (ethical dative).
6—9. The flight of the Moabites.
5. (Jer. xlviii. 34, 5, 3.) The new theme is introduced by an ex
pression of the writer's sympathy with the homeless fugitives : My heart
crieth out for Moab (cf. xvi. 9, 11).
his fugitives) R.V. renders less suitably " her nobles." The word as

126 ISAIAH, XV. [v. 6.
A heifer of three years old :
For by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall
they go it up;
For in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry
of destruction.
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate :
For the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there
is no green thing.

pointed means "bolts," which is here taken as a symbol for princes.
But it is better, with the Targum and nearly all modern commentators,
to change the vowel, and translate "fugitives" as in xliii. 14, where,
curiously enough, the A.V. gives the same rendering as the R.V. here.
The R.V. however is right in using the fem. "her"; Moab is here
regarded not as a people but as a land.
Zoar (Gen. xix. 22) lies near the S.E. corner of the Dead Sea; the
flight therefore is southward, towards Edom.
a heifer of three years old] R.V. is better: to Eglath-shelishiyah ;
i.e. probably, "the third Eglath." The locality is not known.
the mountingup (the ascent, R.V.) of Luhith is located by Eusebius'
Onomasticon between Rabba and Zoar.
the way of Horonaim] Jeremiah (xlviii. 5) speaks of "the slope of
H.," which lay apparently (v. 34) between Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
6. (Jer. xlviii. 34.) the waters of Nimrim are generally supposed
to be connected with Beth-nimrah (Num. xxxii. 36), now Tell-nimrin,
on the Wadi Shaib, flowing into the Jordan about 8 miles from its
mouth. A place in the south of Moab would perhaps suit the context
better, and explorers have found a Wadi Numeirah running into the
Dead Sea a little south of Kerak. Eusebius also (Onomast.) says that
the place was known in his day under the name ^¦nvvap.apelp, (=the Heb.
ml Nimrim, " waters of N."), and lay to the N. of Zoar. On the stopping
ofthe waters by an enemy, see 2 Ki. iii. 25.
hay. . grass] Better : grass. . .tender grass (R. V.).
7. (Jer. xlviii. 36.) The fugitives have now reached the border of
their own land, and prepare to cross into Edom. The boundary
between the two countries was formed by the Wadi el-Ahsa ("valley
of water-pits, " the scene of the miracle in 2 Ki. iii. 16 ff. See Robertson
Smith, Old Test, in Jewish Ch. p. 147). In all probability this Wadi
is identical with the brook of the willows here mentioned. There is,
however, some doubt about the correct translation of the name, arising
from its similarity to the "brook ofthe wilderness" in Am. vi. 14 (here
pi. 'drdbtm, there sing, 'arabah. Cf. 2 Ki. xiv. 25 "sea of the'drdbdh").
Some regard the word here as an irregular pi. of that used by Amos,
and render "brook ofthe wastes." But the two brooks are not neces
sarily identical, and even if they are, the translation "willows" (or
rather, "poplars") is perhaps to be preferred. Cf. ch. xliv. 4; Ps.
cxxxvii. 2, &c. , for the name of the tree.

vv. 7—9.] ISAIAH, XV. XVI. 127
Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that 7
which they have laid up,
Shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; 8
The howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling
thereof unto Beer-elim.
For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood : 9
For I will bring more upon Dimon,
Lions upon him that escapeth of Moab,
And upon the remnant of the land.

the abundance) is lit. "surplus." that which they have laid up is in
Heb. a single word, meaning something entrusted for safe keeping.
Instead of carry away to read carry over.
8. Summing up the effect of the previous description and explaining
the forsaking ofthe land.
the cry (of destruction, v. 5) is gone round...] We should expect
the two places in the second half of the verse to mark the extreme limits
of the country — the "Dan and Beersheba" of Moab. Eglaim is pvo-
bably the village Mydkztp. mentioned by Eusebius as lying 8 Roman
miles S. of Rabba. Beer-elim ("well of the mighty ones"?) is un
known, but has been plausibly identified with the "well" (Bl'er) of
Num. xxi. 16 — -18, in northern Moab.
9. the waters of Dimon] Dimon is generally supposed to be another
form of Dibon, chosen for the sake of an alliteration with the word for
"blood" (dam). The conjecture may be taken for what it is worth; it
has the authority of Jerome, who says, "usque hodie indifferenter et
Dimon et Dibon hoc oppidulum dicitur," and we know of no other
place Dimon.
I will bring more (lit. "additional [evils]") upon Dimon] This is the
first strictly prophetic utterance in the passage; the speaker is Jehovah.
lions upon. ..Moab] Better: upon the fugitives of Moab (sc. I will
bring) a lion. The "lion" is undoubtedly a symbol for a terrible con
queror, though it is difficult to say who is meant. It can hardly be
Jeroboam II., who has already done his worst, and it is still less likely
that Judah is meant. The peculiar prophetic form of the latter part of
the verse has suggested to some commentators that it may have been
inserted by Isaiah in the original oracle. In that case the "lion" would
almost of necessity denote the Assyrians.

Ch. XVI.
1 — 6. Arrived in Edom, the Moabitish refugees are within the
sphere of Judah's political influence (see Introd. Note). Their first
anxiety, therefore, is to secure protection and the right of asylum by
sending an embassy to Jerusalem.

128 ISAIAH, XVI. [vv. 1—3.

16 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land
From Sela to the wilderness,
Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
z For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of
the nest,
So the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of
Arnon.
3 Take counsel, execute judgment ;

1. Send ye the lamb] R.V. the lambs. The imper. expresses dra
matically the result of the deliberations of the Moabites. The word
"lamb" is to be taken collectively; it denotes the tribute in kind which
the Moabites had been accustomed to pay to the kings of Israel (2 Ki.
iii. 4), but which they now propose to send to the king of Judah, the
"ruler of the land" (of Edom).
from Sela to the wilderness) R.V. less appropriately "which is toward
the wilderness." The wilderness is the desert tract between Sela and
Jerusalem which would have to be traversed by the messengers of Moab.
Sela ("rock"), a city of Edom (2 Ki. xiv. 7), is commonly supposed from
the identity of the designations to be the later Petra. There is, however,
no positive evidence in support of the identification; and Jud. i. 36
seems to point to a locality near the southern end of the Dead Sea
(See Moore, Commentary on Judges, pp. 56 f.).
the mount... Zion] ch. x. 32.
2. The verse gives no good sense in its present position. Not only
does it obscure the connexion between v. 1 and v. 3, but its language of
prediction reveals an affinity with xv. 9. It has probably been mis
placed (so Duhm), and the fact that the Moabites are represented as at
"the fords of Arnon," instead of in Edom, confirms the impression that
we have here an addition to the original prophecy. The images of the
wandering birds and the scattered nest (render as in R.V.) remind us
of Isaiah (ch. x. 14, xxxi. 5). The daughters of Moab are the provincial
towns of Moab, or their inhabitants (cf. Ps. xlviii. 1 1).
3 — 5. The address of Moab, through its ambassadors, to the court of
Judah. Most of the older commentators took a different view of these
verses, holding that here the prophet points out to the Moabites the
way of national salvation through the practice of righteousness, and
exhorts them in particular to shew kindness to any Israelitish refugees
who might seek a home in that country. This interpretation appears
to be followed by the A.V. (see on v. 4). But such an exhortation is
altogether out of keeping with the tone of the prophecy, and would be
very ill-timed in the circumstances to which Moab was then reduced.
The continuity of thought is far better maintained on the view given
above, which is that of most recent scholars.
3. Take counsel, execute judgment] Or, apply counsel, perform
arbitration; i.e. "adopt wise and effectual measures to defend us from
our enemies."

vv. 4—6.] ISAIAH, XVI. 129
Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the
noonday ;
Hide the outcasts ; bewray not him that wandereth.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; 4
Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler :
For the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
And in mercy shall the throne be established: s
And he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of
David,
Judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteous
ness.
We have heard of the pride of Moab ; he is very 6
proud :
make thy shadow as the night...] Be to us as "the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land" (ch. xxxii. 2).
bewray not] lit. "uncover not."
4. Let mine outcasts dwell zvith thee, Moab] Rather, Let the outcasts
of Moab sojourn with thee (as protected guests). This implies a slight
change of the vowel points, but has the authority of the chief ancient
versions in its favour. The A.V. is a correct translation of the text as
pointed, and far preferable to that of R.V., which joins the word Moab
to the next clause, a construction unnatural in the extreme, although
suggested by the Heb. accents. The vocative use of "Moab" in A.V. ,
and probably also in the Massoretic text, implies that w. 3 — 5 are con
ceived as an address to the Moabites.
for the extortioner is at an end...) The rest of the verse cannot, in this
form, be uttered by the Moabites. We may either suppose with Dill
mann that a word meaning "until" has been lost, or (better) with
Hitzig take the clauses as protasis to v. 5, "for when the extortioner,
&c." This is perhaps preferable to regarding it as a reflection of the
prophet himself.
the spoiler] Strictly spoiling (R.V.).
5. And in mercy] If we follow Hitzig's view of v. 4 this would be
rendered "then in mercy." The phraseology of the verse is Messianic
(see esp. ch. ix. 6) but not exclusively so (cf. Prov. viii. 28). In the lips
of the Moabites the language is that of extravagant and (as v. 6 appears
to intimate) insincere adulation. It implies an offer of perpetual sub
mission on the part of the Moabites to the Davidic dynasty, and there
fore the question whether the throne be that of Judah or that of Moab
is immaterial.
and he shall sit '.. .judging] Better: and there shall sit upon it in
faithfulness in the tabernacle of David (cf. Am. ix. 11) one who
judgeth, &c.
hasting righteousness] i.e. as R.V. has it, swift to do righteousness.
6. (Jer. xlviii. 29, 30.) The prayer is rejected. The writer, speak-
isaiah o

13°

ISAIAH, XVI. [w. 7, 8.

Even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath :
But his lies shall not be so.
Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall
howl :
For the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn;
surely they are stricken.
For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of
Sibmah :
The lords of the heathen have broken down the prin
cipal plants thereof,
They are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through
the wilderness :
Her branches are stretched out, they are gone over
the sea. •

ing in the name of his countrymen, exposes the hollowness of Moab's
professions of allegiance and submission, as altogether opposed to the
arrogant spirit for which the nation was notorious. On the pride of
Moab cf. (besides Jer. xlviii. 29) ch. xxv. 1 1 ; Zeph. ii. 8. The national
spirit has found an enduring monument in the inscription of the Moabite
Stone. but his lies shall not be so] Better : the unreality of his pratings (a con
temptuous word, cf. ch. xliv. 25). R.V. "his boastings are nought."
7, 8. (Cf. Jer. xlviii. 31, 32.) Moab's last hope being thus dis
appointed, the poet resumes his lament over the doomed people.
7. the foundations] R.V. renders rightly raisin-cakes. These cakes
of compressed grapes are mentioned less as an article of commerce than as
a delicacy used at religious feasts (cf. Hos. iii. 1, R.V.). The word never
means "foundations." The parallel passage in Jeremiah substitutes the
tamer "men." Kir-hareseth is the same as Kir-heres (v. 11) and perhaps
identical with Kir of Moab (xv. 1).
surely they are stricken) Better, as R.V. : utterly stricken (apposition
to "ye").
8. the fields] means here as in Deut. xxxii. 32 "vineyards."
the vine of Sibmah] Sibmah, in the vicinity of Heshbon, must have
been famous for a choice variety of vines, which are here described
by a title resembling that used in ch. v. 2 for the "choicest vine" of
J ehovah's vineyard.
the lords of the heathen .. .thereof ) Better: whose choice grapes
struck down (i.e. intoxicated) the lords of the nations. For the figure
see ch. xxviii. 1 . The wine of Sibmah was found on the tables of princes
far and near, and its potent effects were well known.
The remainder of the verse celebrates the extensive cultivation of this
variety of the vine on the east of the Jordan. The writer is not think
ing of anything so prosaic as the export trade in the wine of Sibmah ; he
represents the whole vine culture of the district under the image of a

vv. 9—12.] ISAIAH, XVI. 131
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the 9
vine of Sibmah :
I will water thee with my tears, 0 Heshbon, and
Elealeh :
For the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy
harvest is fallen.
And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plen- 10
tiful field;
And in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither
shall there be shouting :
The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses ;
I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for n
Moab,
And mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab 12
is weary on the high place,
single vine, which reached to Jazer in the north, strayed to the desert
on the east, and passed to the (Dead) Sea on the west.
9 — 11. The poet gives vent to his sympathy for Moab. These
verses are amongst the most beautiful in the poem.
9. (Jer. xlviii. 32.) with the weeping of Jazer) i.e. in sympathy
with the weeping of J. I will water thee] lit. drench thee.
for the shouting. . fallen] Render with R.V. : for upon thy summer-
fruits (or rather "fruit-gathering") and upon thy harvest the battle
shout is fallen. The word for "shout" (Mddd) is used both of the
joyous shout of the wine-treaders (Jer. xxv. 30) and of the wild war-cry
of soldiers in a charge (Jer. li. 14). It has the former sense in v. 10,
but the latter here. "Harvest" is used for "vintage" (qdctr for bdfir)
as in ch. xviii. 5 (see the note).
10. (Jer. xlviii. 33.) shouting and vintage shouting are entirely
different words; the first may be translated by joyful noise as in R.V.
the treaders shall tread out no wine] i. e. there shall be none treading
wine. In the last clause — "I have stilled" — the voice of Jehovah is
again heard; some critics, however, read "is stilled."
11. (Jer. xlviii. 36.) my bowels shall sound like a harp] omit
"shall" with R.V. The poet's emotion flows forth spontaneously in the
strains of the elegy. The bowels are the seat of the more intense
emotions (Job xxx. 27), especially of compassion (Jer. iv. 19, xxxi. 20;
Cant. v. 4). Kir-haresh] Kir-heres. See on v. 7.
12. The failure of Moab's religious confidence. The verse reproduces
the thought of xv. 2, at the beginning of the elegy. It reads thus : and
when Moab appears, when he wearies himself, upon the high place,
and enters his sanctuary to pray, he shall prevail nothing. Ewald
however turns the verse into a promise of the conversion of Moab, by
9—2

132 ISAIAH, XVI. XVII. [vv. 13, 14.
That he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he
shall not prevail.
This is the word that the Lord hath spoken con
cerning Moab since that time.
But now the Lord hath spoken, saying,
Within three years, as the years of a hireling,
And the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all
that great multitude;
And the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
continuing the protasis to the end ofthe present text, and completing the
sense as follows (guided by Jer. xlviii. 13) :..."and prevails nothing, then
he shall be ashamed of Chemosh, and turn to Jehovah."
13, 14. The Epilogue. See Introductory Note.
13. since that time] Render aforetime. The expression is used
both of the recent past (as in 2 Sam. xv. 34) and of a remote or even
immemorial past (as Prov. viii. 22; Ps. xciii. 2). The sense here is
indeterminate. 14. If ch. xv. 1 — xvi. 12 describe real events, the verse shews that
in the interval Moab had recovered some measure of its former pros
perity. as the years of a hireling] As the hireling serves for the stipulated
time, but not a moment longer, so the judgment on Moab shall not be
deferred beyond the space of three years (cf. ch. xxi. 16).
the glory of Moab (v. 6) shall be contemned] or "contemptible."
the remnant... feeble) lit. "the remnant shall be small, little (ch. x.
25, xxix. 17 — of time), not strong." It is hazardous to assume that the
"remnant" here is the nucleus of a regenerated Messianic community.
Ch. XVII. 1 — 11. The approaching overthrow of Damascus
and North Israel.
This oracle, the Isaianic authorship of which is beyond question,
should be read after ch. ix. 8 — x. 4 and before ch. vii. It deals mainly
with the fate of the Northern Kingdom ; but the combination of Syria
and Ephraim in one prophecy shews that the league between these two
nations had already been formed. With a serenity of faith which is
more akin to the contemptuous attitude of ch. vii. 4 than to the impas
sioned utterances of ix. 8 ft"., the prophet discloses the inevitable issues
of an alliance based on practical rejection of Jehovah and the adoption
of foreign idolatries (w. iof.). The date is certainly prior to the
Assyrian conquest of Damascus (c. 732), and since there is no mention
of the outbreak of hostilities against Judah, we may fix it in the early
days of the coalition (c. 735).
The passage divides itself into four sections : —
i. w. 1 — 3. An announcement of the impending rain of the king
dom of Damascus, Israel's bulwark against the Assyrians.

vv. 1—3.] ISAIAH, XVII. 133
The burden of Damascus. 17
Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city,
And it shall be a ruinous heap.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken : 2
They shall be for flocks,
Which shall lie down, and none shall make them
afraid.
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, 3

ii. vv. 4 — 6. A figurative description of the fate of Ephraim : his
strength shall be consumed until only an insignificant remnant is
left. iii. vv. 7, 8. The effect of this display of the Divine power on men's
religious attitude.
iv. vv. 9 — 11. A renewed description of the judgment, which is
shewn to be the fruit of Israel's apostasy and devotion to heathen cults.
1 — 3. The fate of Damascus.
1. The burden of Damascus] See on ch. xiii. 1. The title explains why
the prophecy was included amongst those against foreign nations, but
is not quite accurate as a description of its contents. The overthrow of
Damascus, although mentioned first, is but an incident ofthe humiliation
of its ally Ephraim, which is the principal theme of the oracle.
a ruinous heap] The words in Heb. are in apposition ; one of them
is an anomalous formation, is wanting in the LXX., and is rejected by
some critics as possibly a dittography.
2. The cities of Aroer] Hardly, "the (two) cities Aroer" (gen. of
appos.), as a name for the trans-Jordanic territory. If Aroer be really
a proper name, the phrase must be explained by the analogy of Jos.
xiii. 17 "the daughter cities of A." But where was Aroer? The best-
known town of the name, that on the Arnon (Num. xxxii. 34; Deut. ii.
36, &c), is much too far south and belonged to Moab. There seems to
have been another in Ammon (Jos. xiii. 25), but it too is outside the
territory of Damascus and can scarcely have been important enough to
give its name to a district. We must either assume an unknown Aroer
in Syria, or take the word in an appellative sense ("the ruined cities
are forsaken") or else adopt the text of the LXX., which reads
"(Damascus shall be) deserted for ever" (omitting "cities").
shall be for flocks... afraid] cf. v. 17, xxxii. 14, and Zeph. iii. 13; Job
xi. 19.
3. The fortress also... Ephraim] Perhaps: And the bulwark shall
be removed from Ephraim, meaning the kingdom of Damascus, which
had been like a breakwater, sheltering Israel from the Assyrian on
slaught. It is, however, equally possible to understand the "fortress"
of Samaria, or collectively of the fortified cities of North Israel ; and the
parallelism with the next clause may be thought to favour this sense.
But the mention of Samaria seems premature in this stanza, which deals
with the ruin of Syria.

134 ISAIAH, XVII. [vv. 4—6.
And the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant
of Syria :
They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel,
saith the Lord of hosts.
And in that day it shall come to pass,
That the glory of Jacob shall be made thin,
And the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the
corn,
And reapeth the ears with his arm ;
And it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley
of Rephaim.
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking
of an olive tree,
Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost
bough,
Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,
and the remnant of Syria: they shall be] A.V. here follows the
accentuation of the Hebrew; it is better to neglect it and render and
the remnant of Syria shall be, &c, letting the first member of the verse
end with "Damascus."
4 — 6. The fate of Ephraim, in three figures : wasting disease ; the
reaping of corn ; the gathering of olives.
4. in that day] simultaneously with the judgment on Syria. the
glory of Jacob] i.e. his might, his population, his prosperity, &c. (cf. v. 3).
made thin] better, enfeebled. fatness... lean] cf. ch. x. 16.
5. The succeeding pictures are exceedingly graphic, — an evidence of
Isaiah's intense interest in rural life. The reaper gathers the stalks of
wheat with one hand and with the other cuts off the ears close to the
head. audit shall be. ..Rephaim] Render as R.V. and it shall be as when
one' gleaneth ears, &c. See Ruth ii. 2, 7, 15 ff. The clause might per
haps be read as the beginning of v. 6 ; one simile passing insensibly
into another. The " valley of Rephaim," ( = "valley of the giants,") Jos.
xv. 8, xviii. 16 (cf. 2 Sam. v. 18, 22, xxiii. 13), — a fertile plain to the
south of Jerusalem where Isaiah had watched the reapers and gleaners
at work.
6. Yet gleaning grapes... olive tree] Render (cf. R.V.) And glean
ings shall be left in it as at the beating of an olive tree. The olives
were struck down from the higher branches with a stick (ch. xxiv. 1 3 ;
Deut. xxiv. 20) ; the few that were overlooked were left for the poor.
the uppermost bough] The Hebr. word does not occur again except
in v. 9, where (if correct) it must bear a different sense.
the outmost fruitful branches] Render, the branches of the fruitful
tree, — the last word containing perhaps a olav on the name Eohraim.

vv. 7-9.] ISAIAH, XVII. 135
Saith the Lord God of Israel.
At that day shall a man look to his Maker, 7
And his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of
Israel.
And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his 3
hands,
Neither shall respect that which his fingers have made,
Either the groves, or the images.
In that day shall his strong cities be 9

7, 8. These verses do not necessarily point to a conversion of the few
surviving Ephraimites. They rather describe the impression produced
by the vindication of Jehovah's righteousness on mankind at large. Both
in thought and structure, they interrupt the continuity of the oracle, and
may have been inserted later (doubtless by the prophet himself). If
they are removed we have three equal strophes, the first two ending
with a "saith Jehovah," and the last two beginning with "in that day."
7. look to his Maker] cf. xxii. 11. "Look to," i.e. regard with trust
and veneration.
8. the work of his hands. . .that which his fingers have made] phrases
used of idols in ch. ii. 8, 20, xxxi. 7.
the altars. ..either the groves or the images] These words overburden
the rhythm of the verse and are probably explanatory glosses. An
allusion to the brazen-altar of Ahaz (2 Ki. xvi. 10 — 13) is far-fetched,
even if not absolutely excluded by the date. The two last-mentioned
objects are never referred to elsewhere by Isaiah.
the groves] R.V. , rightly, the Asherim. The Asherah or Sacred Pole
was an emblem of divinity which seems to have stood regularly by the
side of the altar in a Canaanitish sanctuary (Jud. vi. 13, 25; Deut. xvi.
21; 2 Ki. xviii. 4, &c). It is regarded by some as an artificial survival
of the sacred tree, under which the altar stood ; by others as the symbol
(or image) of a goddess of the same name. Whether a goddess Asherah
was actually worshipped is a much controverted point; if so, she was
probably nothing more than an impersonation of the material symbol
here referred to. (See Robertson Smith, Relig. of the Semites, Revd. Ed.
pp. 187 ff)
images] probably sun-pillars : R.V. "sun-images. The word
(hammanim, pi.) only occurs in ch. xxvii. 9; 2 Chr. xiv. 5, xxxiv. 4, 7;
Ez. vi. 4, 6; Lev. xxvi. 30. It seems to be connected with Baal-
Hamman, a Phoenician deity (best known from the Carthaginian
inscriptions) whose name appears to designate him as "Lord of the
sun's heat," (cf. the Hebrew hammah used in poetry of the sun: Ps. xix.
6; Job xxx. 28; Cant. vi. 10; Is. xxiv. 23, xxx. 26). The "sun-
pillars " were probably emblems of this deity.
9 — 11. Continued from v. 6. The rejection of Jehovah leads to
failure and disappointment.
9, his strong cities] cf. v. 10, — the "Rock of thy strength."

136 ISAIAH, XVII. [v. io.
As a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch,
Which they left because of the children of Israel :
And there shall be desolation.
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation,
And hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength,
Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants,

as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch] Rather, if the text
must be kept: "as the deserted places of the forest and the height" (so
R.V.). For "forest" cf. i Sam. xxiii. 15, 19; 2 Chr. xxvii. 4; Ez.
xxxi. 3 ("shroud"). "Height" is the word rendered "uppermost
bough" in v. 6, which A.V. here follows. The construction in A.V. is
altogether at fault, and the meaning "bough" cannot possibly be retained.
But this is a case where the LXX. gives the clue to the true text, which
reads like the deserted places of the Amorite and the Hiwite (see R.V.
marg.). This alone gives an intelligible force to the next clause, and
the textual change is comparatively slight save that the two words have
been transposed ("Hiwite and Amorite").
which they left because of] More strictly, which they forsook before,
&c. The passive "were forsaken" (R.V.) is only adopted because the
previous clause contains no suitable subject; the LXX. rendering
supplies this defect, and at the same time makes the reference clear.
10. God of thy salvation] The only occasion on which this impor
tant term (Heb. yesha') is used by Isaiah, although it forms an element
of his own name.
rock of thy strength] A v.ery frequent name of God, cf. ch. xxx. 29,
xliv. 8 (R.V.); Deut. xxxii. (passim); Ps. xix. 14, xxvii. 5, xxxi. 2,
3, &c.
shalt thou plant pleasant plants] R.V. marg. gives thou plantest
plantings of Adonis. The supposed reference is to the Adonis-gardens
mentioned by Greek writers (see Plato, Phaedrus 276). They were
' ' pots of quickly withering flowers which the ancients used to set at
their doors or in the courts of temples." It cannot be denied that such
an allusion furnishes the most striking image conceivable of the futility
of all human projects which (like the Syro-Ephraimitish alliance) are
not grounded in the eternal moral purpose of Jehovah. The question
is whether it is a fair interpretation of the text. Now, there are a
number of scattered proofs, slight but very interesting, that the Syrian
deity known to the Greeks as Adonis, actually bore the name here
rendered "pleasantness" (Na'dmdn). It has been suggested, e.g. that
the anemone, the flower sacred to Adonis, derives its name from this
title of the god ; and in Arabic the red anemone is called by a name
which is explained to mean "wounds of Adonis." For other arguments
see Cheyne's Cornm. and the references there. Adonis being a Syrian
deity, his worship in Israel was a necessary consequence of the alliance
with Damascus. His worship was practised chiefly by women, Ez. viii.
14. The rendering may at least be accepted as giving significance to a
metaphor which is otherwise somewhat colourless,

vv. ii, 12.] ISAIAH, XVII. 137
And shalt set it with strange slips :
In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, 1
And in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to
flourish :
But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief
and of desperate sorrow.
Woe to the multitude of many people, >
Which make a noise like the noise of the seas ;
And to the rushing of nations,
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters. -
set it with strange slips] or, plant it with vine-branches of a strange
(god); see Num. xiii. 23; Nah. ii. 2.
11. The verse reads : In the day when thou plantest thou makest
it to grow, and in the morning when thou sowest thou makest it to
blossom, (but) the harvest disappears in a day of sickness and in
curable sorrow. ' ' However successful your enterprise may seem in its
early stages, it is doomed to failure." For "makest it to grow" we may
render with R.V. "hedgest it in." The words "plant" and "seed" must
be construed alike, both are taken above as infinitives. The word for
"disappears" means "heap" in Ex. xv. 8; Ps. xxxiii. 7, lxxviii. 13 and
so A.'V. here. But here it is better taken as a verb; R.V. rightly
"fleeth away."
Ch. XVII. 12—14. The sudden annihilation of the
Assyrians.
These verses are regarded by some critics as the continuation of ch.
xvii. 1 — 11, by others as the introduction to ch. xviii. Since the refer
ence here is undoubtedly to the Assyrians, the first view has nothing to
commend it, the transition being too sudden and abrupt. The second
view, in spite of identity of subject and a certain similarity in form with
ch. xviii., is also improbable because of the well-marked conclusion in
v. 14 and the completeness of ch. xviii. in itself. It is better, therefore,
to treat the passage as a short independent oracle springing from the
same historical situation as the following chapter.
12. 'Isaiah on his "watch-tower" hears, and we seem to hear with
him, the ocean-like roar of the advancing Assyrian hosts' (Cheyne).
Whether the invaders are already in the land, or are present only to the
imagination of the prophet, it is impossible to determine. The first
half of the verse should be rendered : Ah, the roar of many peoples,
that roar like the roaring of seas. The "many peoples" are the
varied subject nationalities that furnished contingents to the Assyrian
army. The comparison of such tumultuous masses of men to the noise
of waters is frequent in the O.T. : cf. ch. v. 30, viii. 7; Jer. vi. 23, xlvi.
7 f. ; Ps. lxv. 7.

138 ISAIAH, XVII. XVIII. [vv. 13, 14.
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters :
But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off,
And shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains
before the wind,
And like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
And behold at eveningtide trouble;
And before the morning he is not.
This is the portion of them that spoil us,
And the lot of them that rob us.
13. The Assyrians shall perish at the rebuke of Jehovah. The first
clause of the verse is almost identical with the last words of v. 12, and
is wanting in the Peshito and a few Hebr. MSS. It may have arisen
through dittography, although some think the repetition is rhetorically
effective, contrasting the long-drawn-out terror of the invasion with the
sharp and sudden visitation described in what follows.
but God shall rebuke them] Better : but he (Jehovah) rebuketh it
(the tumult of nations). The following verbs should also be rendered
as presents and in the singular number: it fleeth...is chased. The "re
buke" of Jehovah is His voice of thunder (Ps. civ. 7).
chaff of the mountains) Threshing-floors were chosen by preference
on elevated situations, free to the wind, which carried away the stubble
without any artificial winnowing process.
a rolling thing] R.V. the whirling dust, as in Ps. lxxxiii. 13. The
translation "stubble," however, is supported by the analogy of Aramaic
and Arabic words.
For the figure, comp. ch. xxix. 5 ; Ps. i. 4, xxxv. 5, &c.
14. The destruction of the Assyrian shall be accomplished between
evening and daybreak. The expression denotes a very short space of
time, as in Ps. xxx. 5; Job xxvii. 19; but the destruction of Sennache
rib's army took place literally in the night (ch. xxxvii. 36).
And behold. ..he is not] Render: At eventime, behold terror!
before morning, it (the tumult) is gone !
them that spoil us, dV<\] the Assyrians; cf. ch. x. 6, 13.
Ch. XVIII. A prophetic charge to the Ethiopian
Ambassadors.
The theme of this striking prophecy is, like that of the preceding,
the impending overthrow of the Assyrian power; its peculiar dramatic
form is explained by the occasion which suggested it. This appears to
have been the arrival in Jerusalem of an embassy from the Ethiopian
monarch, probably Taharqa (Tirhakah), whose reign is supposed to
have begun about the same time as that of Sennacherib (705). The
object of the embassy must have been either to form an alliance with
Hezekiah against Assyria, or to encourage him in resistance by renewed
assurances of support. The only period at which such an incident is
historically probable is that which preceded the final ruDture between

v. I.] ISAIAH, XVIII. 139
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, 18
Judah and Assyria (c. 702). A date much earlier is inconsistent with
ch. xx., where (in 711) Isaiah predicts an Assyrian conquest of Egypt
and Ethiopia. On the other hand the tone of the prophecy seems to
point to an early stage of the rebellion. There is no trace of the fierce
indignation with which the Egyptian alliance is denounced in ch. xxviii.
— xxxi. ; the prophet does not seem as yet to have anticipated that the
proposals of Tirhakah would be seriously entertained. Hence we may
suppose that his reply to the envoys was intended as a guide to the policy
of the king and his advisers. (See further General Introd., pp. xvi f.) In
that reply Isaiah exhibits a fine combination of the character of the
statesman with that of the man of faith, of the suaviter in modo with the
fortiter in re. While the language breathes the courtly urbanity and
respect due to distinguished strangers from a far country, we can easily
read between the lines a firm rejection of their overtures. Jehovah, he
says in effect, will crush the Assyrian in His own time without human
help ; and that signal judgment will be a demonstration to Ethiopia and
all the world of His supreme Godhead.
The prophecy contains two equal strophes and an epilogue :
i. vv. 1 — 3. The prophet's message to Ethiopia, prefaced by an
imaginative description of the mysterious land and its inhabitants. The
message itself is contained in v. 3, and is an invitation to all nations of
the earth to be spectators of Jehovah's crowning act of retribution on
Assyria. ii. vv. 4 — 6. The divine revelation on which this assurance is
based. For it is as an inspired prophet that Isaiah thus ventures to guide
the policy of his country at this critical juncture. The meaning of the
figure is that Assyria shall be cut down, just when its gigantic plans of
conquest seem to be maturing under the most favourable conditions.
iii. v. 7. The epilogue, describing the effect of this display of
Jehovah's power on Ethiopia. Other embassies, of a far different
character, shall then come from the remote land to do homage to the
name of Jehovah at Mount Zion.
1—3. The charge to the Ethiopian envoys, along with a poetic
description of the land and people. The tendency of the ancient world
to idealise the Ethiopians is familiar to students of classical literature.
To the Greeks they were the "blameless Ethiopians" (Homer), "the
tallest and handsomest of all men" (Herodotus). Isaiah would seem
to have been struck by the fine physique of the ambassadors, and per
haps it was their narrative that furnished his vivid imagination with the
picturesque details crowded into these three verses.
1. The word rendered woe is here neither a 'cry of pity' nor (as
usually in Isaiah) of indignation. It is simply a particle of salutation
(heus) as in ch. Iv. 1; Zech. ii. 6, 7 (10, 11 Heb.). Render: Ha, the
land, &c.
the land shadowing with wings] a much disputed phrase. The most
probable sense is that followed by R.V., the land of the rustling of
wings. The Hebr. noun for "rustling" (celacdl ox cilcal) means a kind of
"locust" (Deut. xxviii. 42), a "harpoon "(Job xli. 7, A.V. "fish-spears"),

140 ISAIAH, XVIII. [v. 2.
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia :
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea,
Even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying,
Go, ye swift messengers,
To a nation scattered and peeled,
To a people terrible from their beginning hitherto ;
and a very similar form means "cymbals" (Ps. cl. 5). The common root-
idea is that of "clanging" or "jingling" ; and if the above translation be
correct the allusion is to the booming swarms of insects which abound
in the Nile-lands. There may even be a special allusion to the dreaded
Tsetse-fly, whose name among the Gallas (calcalja) closely resembles
the Hebr. word here used. The expression is to be understood literally,
not metaphorically of armed hosts. Something might be said for the
rendering of the LXX. and Targ. ("land of winged ships") if it did
not anticipate v. 2. Others render, "land with the shadow on both
sides" (a/jupfoKios) — a supposed allusion to the fact that between the
tropics the shadow falls sometimes on the north and sometimes on the
south. But this seems very fanciful.
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia] The phrase is repeated in Zeph. iii. 10.
Ethiopia (Kush) is used in the Bible somewhat vaguely of the region
south of Syene (Assouan), at the first cataract of the Nile (Ezek. xxix.
10), corresponding generally to the modern Soudan ("land of the
Blacks"). The empire of Tirhakah, which Isaiah has particularly in
view, had its seat at Napata on the great westward bend of the
Nile between Dongola and Berber. Hence it is not inappropriately
described as lying "beyond" the rivers of Kush, i.e. the Nile itself and
its numerous affluents (the Atbara, the Blue Nile, &c).
2. The ambassadors are those who have arrived in Jerusalem. They
had descended the Nile (here called the sea, as in ch. xix. 5 ; Nah. iii.
8) in vessels of bulrushes (R.V. papyrus). These light skiffs, constructed
for one or two passengers, and capable of being carried where the river
ceased to be navigable, are frequently mentioned by ancient writers (cf.
Pliny xiii. 11 "ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt," and other
authorities cited by Gesenius). Their great speed is referred to in Job
ix. 26 ("ships of reed").
Go, ye sivrft messengers] Isaiah's charge to the ambassadors begins
here; they are to return to their own country with this answer. (The
"saying" of A.V. and R.V. is quite misleading.)
a nation scattered and peeled] Render as R.V. : a nation tall and
smooth (lit. "drawn-out and polished"). The latter epithet probably
denotes the bronze-like appearance ofthe skin ofthe Ethiopians; some,
however, take it in the general sense of "beautiful" (fiAyia-roi ml k<£X-
X(o-toi). The Nubians of the Soudan are still a remarkably tall and
handsome race.
terrible from their beginning hitherto] Better : dreaded near and far.
Lit., perhaps, "from where it is and onward," cf. 1 Sam. x. 3, xx. 22,
37. The temporal sense, however, is possible (1 Sam. xviii. 9),
although less natural here.

vv. 3, 4. | ISAIAH, XVIII. 141
A nation meted out and trodden down,
Whose land the rivers have spoiled.
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the 3
earth,
See ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains;
And when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
For so the Lord said unto me, 4
I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling
place
Like a clear heat upon herbs,
And like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

meted out and trodden down] Render: atrong and victorious (lit.
"of strength and treading down"). The Hebr. for "strength" presents
some difficulty. If read as pointed (qav-qav) it looks like a repetition
of the word for "measuring-line" (qav); and this is the origin ofthe
"meting out" of E.V. ("people of line-line"). But this sense has little
probability; and the translation "strength" is warranted by the analogy
of the cognate Arabic noun quvva. It is perhaps better to read it as a
reduplicated form (qavqav), although the word occurs nowhere else.
Note that R.V. rightly takes both nouns in an active sense.
have spoiled] The word is found only here and is of uncertain mean
ing. A more likely translation is "intersect" or (as R.V.) divide.
3. This verse gives the message which the ambassadors are to carry
home to their countrymen, although it concerns all the world as much
as the Ethiopians.
Render : when a signal is lifted up. . .when a trumpet is blown. Cf.
ch. xiii. 2. Since the whole process is supernatural it is idle to enquire
what the "signal" and "trumpet" signify. The verse is simply a sum
mons to be prepared for the moment of Jehovah's decisive intervention.
4 — 6. The purpose of Jehovah, as disclosed to Isaiah by special
revelation. The opening words point back to a definite time when this
illumination came to him, — whether in a moment of ecstasy or not it is
impossible to say.
4. I will take... consider] Better: I will quietly look on, the first
verb being subordinate to the second.
like a clear heat upon herbs] Translate as R.V. : like clear heat in
(or, along with) sunshine. The overpowering heat of the atmosphere in
the height of summer seems something superadded to the effect of the
sun's rays.
like a cloud of dew] The Hebr. word for "dew" means really a fine
drizzling mist: what is meant is possibly the stationary cirrus-cloud in
the upper air, which is called a 'mist-cloud,' in distinction from the
rain-cloud near the earth (so Duhm).
Both expressions are rightly construed as comparisons. The temporal
construction suggested by R.V. marg. ("when there is, &c") is gram
matically possible in the first case, but hardly in the second. The

142 ISAIAH, XVIII. [vv. 5—7.
For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect,
And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,
And take away and cut down the branches.
They shall be left together unto the fowls of the
mountains,
And to the beasts of the earth :
And the fowls shall summer upon them,
And all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon
them.
In that time shall the present be brought unto the
Lord of hosts
Of a people scattered and peeled,
And from a people terrible from their beginning
hitherto ;
A nation meted out and trodden under foot,
points of comparison are apparently two: (1) the motionless stillness of
the noon-tide heat and the fleecy cloud are an emblem of Jehovah's
quiescence. (2) As these natural phenomena hasten the ripening ofthe
fruit, so all providential agencies appear to further and mature the
schemes of Assyria. But the development is suddenly arrested just
before its fruition.
5. Assyria is here compared to a vine, ripening its grapes under the
favourable influences indicated io v. 4. The word for harvest does not
strictly denote ' ' vintage " (see on ch. xvi. 9) ; either the more general term
is employed for the particular, or the vine is conceived as cut down at
that stage of its growth which coincides with the (wheat-)harvest.
Continue as in R.V., when the blossom is over and the flower be-
cometh a ripening grape, &c.
take away and cut down] Rather (to avoid a hysteron-proteron) hew
away, the first verb having merely adverbial force.
6. The figure is now abandoned; instead of the "sprigs and
branches " of the vine, we have the dead bodies of the Assyrian soldiers
left as carrion for unclean beasts and birds, summer .. .winter] a whole
year. The idea is amplified, with somewdiat gruesome details, in Ezek.
xxxix. 1 1 ff. ; cf. also Jer. vii. 33 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 46 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 10.
7. Ethiopia shall then pay homage to Jehovah at Mount Zion, the
earthly seat of His sovereignty.
For the present read a present. The word is rare, occurring again
only in Ps. Ixviii. 29, lxxvi. n, in both passages coupled with the same
poetic word as is here used for "brought."
oi a people] Read from as in the next clause. The idea meant to be
conveyed by the E.V. might be justified by an appeal to ch. xlv. 14,
but it is far more likely that the preposition has been accidentally
omitted in the Hebr. text.

v. 7.] ISAIAH, XVIII. XIX. 143
Whose land the rivers have spoiled,
To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the
mount Zion.
the place ofthe name of the Lord] See 1 Ki. viii. 1 7 ; Deut. xii. 5, 1 1 .
For other anticipations ofthe conversion of Ethiopia, cf. ch. xlv. 14;
Zeph. iii. 10; Ps. lxviii. 31, lxxxvii. 4.
Ch. XIX. An oracle on Egypt.
It is recognised by all commentators that this difficult chapter consists
of two dissimilar parts, although it is doubtful whether the second
division commences with v. 16 or v. iS. For convenience, we may
adopt the arrangement of Delitzsch, who regards w. 16 f. as the con
necting link between the two contrasted pictures of Egypt's future; the
prospect of judgment in vv. 1 — 15 and the remoter prospect of conver
sion and prosperity in vv. 18 — 25. The prophecy may then be analysed
as follows: —
i. vv. 1 — 15. The judgment on Egypt, conceived as executed by
Jehovah in person, who, "riding on a swift cloud," suddenly makes His
presence felt in the Nile-valley. In three equal strophes the prophet
rapidly sketches the consequences of this visitation on the political,
religious, and industrial condition of the country.
(1) vv. 1 — 4. The first effect is the collapse of the Egyptian
religion, which is poetically represented by the trembling of the idols at
the approach of the God of Israel (i). The foundation of the national
self-confidence being thus dissolved there ensues a state of anarchy and
civil war, aggravated by an utter absence of sound political guidance,
which is vainly sought by the aid of sorcery and magical arts (2, 3).
The issue of this state of things is the establishment of a cruel military
despotism (4).
(2) vv. 5 — 10. A series of physical and social calamities is next
described : the drying-up of the Nile (the source of all the material
prosperity of Egypt), the failure of agriculture and the paralysis of the
other industries for which the land was famous (fishing and weaving).
(3) w. 11 — 15. The third strophe depicts the failure of the boasted
traditional wisdom of Egypt(n — 13), with the result that the infatuated
nation reels like a drunkard under its accumulated misfortunes (14, 15).
ii. vv. 16, 17. The Egyptians recognise Jehovah as the author of
their calamities, and so great is the moral impression produced that the
mere mention of the land of Judah fills their hearts with craven terror.
It might seem at first sight that these verses are the continuation of the
previous strophe. But the change of style, from poetry to prose, leads
us to expect a new departure. And in truth, as Delitzsch has pointed
out, the abject fear here spoken of marks the beginning of their con
version to the worship of the true God. Hence the two verses form the
natural transition to the description of that spiritual change, which
follows in
iii. vv. 18 — 25. The passage consists of a succession of concrete

144 ISAIAH, XIX.
predictions indicating the marvellous change which is to take place in
the religious attitude of Egypt and its relations to Israel.
(i) v. 1 8. Five Egyptian cities (one of which is named) shall adopt
the "language of Canaan." (The exact significance of this perplexing
verse must be reserved for discussion in the notes below. )
(2) vv. 19 — 22. The establishment of the worship of Jehovah in
the land of Egypt will be symbolised by the erection of an altar in its
midst and a pillar on its border ; these are also tokens that Jehovah has
taken the Egyptians under His protection (19, 20). By manifold ex
periences of chastisement and deliverance the knowledge of the true
God shall be extended and deepened in Egypt, as it had been in Israel
in the past (21, 22).
(3) vv. 23—25. A third symbol is a "highway" between Egypt
and Assyria — a synonym for peaceful intercourse between Israel's
powerful neighbours on the East and West (23). Both are admitted to
a footing of equality with Israel in the new kingdom of God, and the
three states form a 'Triple Alliance' which is a channel of blessing to
mankind at large (24, 25).
The first section (w. 1 — 15), which few critics have refused to recog
nise as Isaiah's, exhibits an intimate acquaintance with the internal
affairs of the Egyptian Empire. But the historical allusions are too
vague to enable us to assign a definite date to the prophecy, allowing,
indeed, as Dillmann observes, a range of nearly 150 years. The most
natural supposition is that Isaiah has in view an Assyrian conquest of
Egypt, and that the oracle belongs to a time when delusive expectations
of Egyptian support were entertained in Judah. On this assumption,
we might find a suitable date for the prediction, (1) about 720, when
Sargon defeated the king of Egypt at Raphia, or (2) in 711, when the
similar announcement of ch. xx. was issued, or (3) about 702, when the
Jewish politicians were eagerly courting an alliance with Egypt. Be
tween these dates it seems impossible to make a final choice. In either
case the "hard lord" of v. 4 would be the Assyrian conqueror, but it is
not necessary to suppose that the prophet had any particular king in
view. As a matter of fact the subjugation of Egypt was first effected by
Esarhaddon in 672, and this would have to be regarded as the historical
fulfilment of the prophecy. Some critics, however, abandoning the
reference to an Assyrian invasion, have identified the "hard lord" with
an Ethiopian sovereign (Pianchi, whose date appears to be much too
early, or Tirhakah), others with a Persian conqueror (Cambyses, Xerxes,
or even Artaxerxes Ochus), and others with a native despot (PPsamme-
tichus, c. 645).
It is difficult to resist the impression that w. 16 — 25 (whether wiitten
by Isaiah or not) form an appendix composed later than the rest of the
chapter. The difference in form has already been referred to, and still
more remarkable is the change of outlook and general tone. In par
ticular, the promise of a "saviour" in v. 20, although not perhaps
inconsistent with the threat of a "hard lord" v. 4, emphasises the con
trast between the two sections in a manner which makes it little likely
that the two were written together. Objections to Isaiah's authorship
are based partly on the style and language, partly on the sympathetic

vv. 1—3.] ISAIAH, XIX. 145
The burden of Egypt. 19
Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall
come into Egypt :
And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence,
And the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians : =
And they shall fight every one against his brother,
and every one against his neighbour;
City against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; 3
tone of the references to Egypt (and Assyria), but chiefly on the circum
stantial character of the predictions in 18 — 25. The cogency of the last
argument depends greatly on the interpretation given to w. 18, 19. If
this be a specific reference to Jewish Colonies in Egypt and the Jewish
Temple in Leontopolis (erected about 160 B.C.), it must be admitted
that such minute descriptions of far distant events are not in accordance
with Isaiah's ideal anticipations of the future. Hence the tendency of
expositors who maintain the genuineness of the passage is to explain
away the literal sense of the expressions, and to regard them as con
veying a general prophecy of the diffusion of the true religion in Egypt.
It may be doubted if the attempt is successful; and on the whole there
appears to be a balance of probability in favour of the opinion that the
appendix is post-exilic. If it be really the work of Isaiah himself, it is
most intelligible in the evening of his life, when his mind was less occu
pied with current events, and more with the glorious future of the king
dom of God which lay on the horizon of his prophetic vision.
1 — 4. The dissolution of the Egyptian nationality by the judicial
intervention of Jehovah.
1. On the superscription, see on ch. xiii. 1 .
rideth upon a swift cloud] The same representation in Ps. xviii. 10,
civ. 3. It is based on the ancient conception of the thunder-storm as
the emblem of Jehovah's presence.
the idols] the "non-entities" as in ch. ii. 8, &c.
shall be moved at his presence] shall quake (ch. vi. 4, vii. 2) before
him. 2. Jehovah speaks. The description of anarchy and civil war recalls
ch. iii. 5, ix. 18 ff.
/ will set... Egyptians] Lit. I will stir up (see ch. ix. n) Egypt
against Egypt — the general expression for civil discord which is ex
plained in the remainder of the verse. kingdom against kingdom]
LXX. vop.bs tirl vop.bv — a correct translation drawn from the translator's
local knowledge of Egypt. The numerous nomes or cantons were but
loosely federated, and dissensions and local jealousies were always apt
to break out when the central government was paralysed.
3. the spirit of Egypt shall fail] lit. be poured out, cf. Jer. xix. 7.
"Spirit" is here used of intellectual power, as "heart" in v. 1 denotes
courage. ISAIAH IO

146 ISAIAH, XIX. [vv. 4—6.
And I will destroy the counsel thereof:
And they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers,
And to them that have familiar spirits, and to the
wizards.
And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of
a cruel lord ;
And a fierce king shall rule over them,
Saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
And the waters shall fail from the sea,
And the river shall be wasted and dried up.
And they shall turn the rivers far away;
And the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried
up:
I will destroy] or "swallow up," " annihilate," but see on ch. iii. 12.
In their desperation the Egyptians betake themselves to incantations,
a sign in Isaiah's view of hopeless intellectual embarrassment ; ch. viii.
19. The word rendered charmers means "mutterers" (of magical spells).
For the other expressions employed, see ch. viii. 19.
4. R.V. And I will give over (lit. "shut up") the Egyptians into the
hand of a cruel ("hard") lord (in Hebr. plur. of majesty), &c. The
words suggest a foreign ruler and are quite applicable to any Assyrian
monarch likely to undertake the conquest of Egypt. Esarhaddon in
672 and again Asshurbanipal in 662 ravaged the country as far as
Thebes ; the Empire was broken up into twenty petty principalities, and
all attempts at revolt were sternly suppressed until 645, when Psamme-
tichus, one of the native princes, succeeded in shaking off the Assyrian
yoke and uniting Egypt under his own sway.
the Lord, the Lord of hosts] here, as always, in confirmation of a
threat. See on i. 24.
5 — 10. The material and industrial ruin of Egypt.
5. It has been supposed by some that there is a causal connexion
between the judgments here threatened and the political calamities
described in the first strophe. The loss of a stable and beneficent
central administration in Egypt is immediately felt by the peasantry
through the neglect of the vast system of artificial irrigation which is
essential to the maintenance of the fertility of the soil. It is manifest,
however, that the expressions here point to something far more serious
than this, viz. a drying up of the Nile by the direct exercise of Jehovah's
power. Cf. Ezek. xxx. 12 and Job xiv. 1 1 (where the latter part of this
verse is reproduced).
the sea] Cf. xviii. 2. "Nili aqua mari similis est" (Pliny). At the
time of the annual inundation the Nile has far more the appearance of
an inland sea than of a stream ; hence it is still called by the Arabs El-
bahr (the sea).
6. The verse reads: And the streams shall stink, the canals of
Egypt shall become feeble and dry up, &c. The word for "stink" is

vv. 7— io.] ISAIAH, XIX.

M7

The reeds and flags shall wither.
The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the 7
brooks,
And every thing sown by the brooks,
Shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
The fishers also shall mourn, s
And all they that cast angle into the brooks shall
lament,
And «they that spread nets upon the waters shall
languish.
Moreover they that work in fine flax, 9
And they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, 10
All that make sluces and ponds for fish.
an anomalous form in Hebr. That rendered in A.V. "defence" is a
rare name for Egypt (Macbr, cf. Assyr. Musur, Arab. Misr), found also
in ch. xxxvii. 25; 2 Kings xix. 24; Mic. vii. 12. "Canals" (A.V.
"brooks") is literally "Niles" (cf. .vii. 18).
7. The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth ofthe brooks] Usually
rendered as in R.V., "The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the
Nile." The word for "meadows," which does not occur again, is
supposed to mean literally "bare place," hardly a suitable designation!
A safer translation would be, Bare places are on the Nile, on the
(very) brink of the NUe. The LXX. has an entirely different text,
which might suggest : " Bare is all verdure on the brink of the Nile."
every thing sown] A unique term. Perhaps "seed-field," but note
the verb "driven away" which follows. " Seed-field of the Nile " might
mean the alluvial deposit produced by the inundation, which is the
source of Egypt's fertility.
8. Fishing, one of the staple industries of Egypt, is first mentioned,
as that most immediately affected (cf. Ex. vii. 2 1 ). The two methods
referred to, angling and net-fishing, are both depicted on the monuments.
that cast angle into the brooks] R.V. Nile.
9. Textile manufactures, linen and cotton, flourished greatly in
ancient Egypt. fine flax] combed flax (R.V.). For networks read
white-stuffs, probably cotton.
10. Translate as R.V. And her pillars shall be broken in pieces,
all they that work for hire shall be grieved in soul. • The expres
sions, however, are very obscure, and the sense is doubtful. The word
for "pillars" is found in Ps. xi. 3 ("foundations"), but it is disputed
whether the capitalists or the labourers are here regarded as the founda
tions of society. In the second clause A.V. follows Jewish authority
in keeping up the reference to fishing (cf. "networks" in the previous
verse), but its "sluces and ponds for fish" is altogether wrong. LXX.
errs in the opposite direction by dragging in the liquor trade ("manu
facturers of strong drink " [shekar] instead of " workers for hire " [seker]).

148 ISAIAH, XIX. [vv. n— 14.

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools,
The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is
become brutish :
How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise,
The son of ancient kings?
i Where are they ? where are thy wise men ?
And let them tell thee now,
And let them know what the Lord of hosts hath
purposed upon Egypt.
1 The princes of Zoan are become fools,
The princes of Noph are deceived;
They have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the
stay of the tribes thereof.
\ The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst
thereof:
11 — 15. The stultification of Pharaoh's advisers.
11. Surely... fools] Mere fools are the princes of Zoan. Zoan
(Tanis, between the two most easterly mouths of the Nile), an ancient
city (Num. xiii. 22), had played an important part in Egyptian history.
Formerly the seat of the Hyksos kings, it had subsequently given its
name to two native dynasties (21st and 23rd). Partly because of
its proximity to Canaan it is frequently mentioned in the O.T. as repre
senting Egypt. The next clause runs literally : the wisest counsellors
of Pharaoh — stupid counsel (sc. is theirs) I
how say ye unto Pharaoh...] The wisdom of Egypt was the heredi
tary possession of the priestly caste to which the early dynasties be
longed. The counsellors are here introduced boasting of the purity of
their descent from these kings and sages of the olden time. Read (in
both cases) a son.
12. The Pharaoh is now addressed in turn. Where are they, pray,
thy wise men? In face of this problem they are nowhere; they cannot
"know," far less "tell," the purpose of Jehovah towards Egypt.
13. are become fools] Better are befooled — "stultified." Noph is
Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, and an ancient seat of Egyptian
religion and learning. An older form of the Hebrew name is apparently
Moph (Hos. ix. 6); both forms are perhaps contracted from Mnoph
(hieroglyphic Mennofer). The city was situated in the southern corner
of the Delta, near Cairo, which was largely built from its ruins.
even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof] Render : the
corner-stone of her tribes, i.e. her ruling caste. For the metaphor,
cf. Jud. xx. 2; 1 Sam. xiv. 38; Zech. x. 4. The "tribes" may be either
the castes or the nomes (cantons).
14. Their intellectual confusion is caused by "a spirit" from Jehovah
(but not personified as in 1 Kings xxii. 21 f.). u perverse spirit]
Better a spirit of perverseness (R.V.). Cf. "spirit of deep slumber," ch.
xxix. 10.

vv. 15- 18.I ISAIAH, XIX. 149
And they have caused Egypt to err in every work
thereof,
As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, 1
Which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
In that day shall Egypt be like unto women : j
And it shall be afraid and fear
Because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of
hosts,
Which he shaketh over it.
And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, 1
Every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid
in himself,
Because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts,
Which he hath determined against it.
In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt 1
Speak the language of Canaan,
err. ..staggereth] The same verb should be used in both places —
"wander" or "stray." The strong figure has a parallel in ch. xxviii.
7. Cf. Job xii. 25.
15. No concerted action is possible, and every proposal that is
brought forward falls to the ground.
head and tail, palm-branch and rush, exactly as in ch. ix. 14.
16, 17. The terror of Jehovah on the Egyptians. There is an
allusion to the effect of the plagues in the time of the Exodus. See Ex.
x. 7, xi. 3, xii. 33, 36. Then, as in this prophecy, the people of God
became an object of fear to their enemies, through the strokes of
Jehovah's hand.
16. like unto women) timid and faint-hearted (Nah. iii. 13).
be afraid] Better, tremble, as R.V. the shaking (or "swinging")
ofthe hand... which he shaketh) i.e. the repeated blows with which he
smites them, cf. xxx. 32, x. 32, xi. 15.
17. By association of ideas the fear of Jehovah becomes fear of the
land which is His dwelling-place. The verse is intelligible only in this
connexion. every one that maketh... himself] Either "every (Egyptian) to whom
one mentions it, shall fear," or "whenever any one mentions it to him
(Egypt) he shall fear."
the counsel of the Lord of hosts] see v. 11.
18. The verse may mean either (1) that an indefinite, but small,
number of Egyptian cities shall be converted to the worship of Jehovah
and adopt Hebrew as at least their sacred language ; or (2) that at a
certain epoch there shall be five (and no more) Jewish colonies in Egypt
maintaining their national language and religion. On the former view

i5o ISAIAH, XIX. [v. 18.
And swear to the Lord of hosts :
One shall be called, The city of destruction.
"five" is a round number (as in ch. xxx. 17; Gen. xliii. 34; Lev. xxvi.
8; 1 Sam. xvii. 40, xxi. 3 ; 2 Ki. vii. 13), and the verse is a prophecy
of the first beginnings of the conversion of Egypt — a " day of small
things." This interpretation, although grammatically defensible, is not
natural. No parallel can be found in Isaiah's writings to the anticipation
of a gradual dissemination of the true religion by sporadic conversions.
He always treats the nations as units, and it is very questionable if the
idea of a religious schism within the Egyptian nationality could have
presented itself to him or his contemporaries as a desirable thing, or a
realisation of the Messianic hope. If we adopt the second view the
prophecy must have been written at a time when the prospect of
Hebrew-speaking Jewish communes in Egypt was a natural expres
sion of the anticipation that the influence of the Jewish religion would
extend to that country. This was not the case at the very late date
maintained by some critics (B.C. 160). By that time the Egyptian Jews
had so completely abandoned their native tongue that a Greek translation
of the Scriptures had become necessary for their use. This part of the
prophecy is more intelligible at a considerably earlier period, before the
universal solvent of the Greek language had begun to leaven the varied
nationalities of the old world. — It is of course impossible to identify the
"five cities." Hitzig has attempted it by the help of Jer. xliv. i,
adding to the three towns there mentioned, Heliopolis and Leontopolis
(see below).
one shall be called, The city of destruction] The exegesis of this clause
is complicated by a diversity of text, (o) The received text has 'ir
haheres, which in Hebrew can only mean "the city of Destruction." The
insurmountable objection to this reading is that it is inconsistent with
the favourable general sense of the verse; for the translation "city of
[the] destruction of idolatry, &c." is quite unwarranted. Some, how
ever, explain the word by haris, an Arabic epithet of the lion, rendering,
"city ofthe Lion," i.e. Leontopolis, where the Jewish Temple was built.
This might be intelligible as a correction of the reading to be next men
tioned ; hardly as an independent text. Moreover, the Greek translator
of Isaiah knew nothing of it, but followed an entirely different reading
(7 below). (/3) Another reading, found in some Hebrew MSS. and
followed by the Vulg., is 'tr haheres, "city of the Sun," i.e. Heliopolis.
This gives a good sense. Heliopolis, the biblical On (Gen. xli. 50, &c),
might be especially mentioned because of its great importance in the
religion of Egypt, as it is (under the name "house ofthe Sun") in Jer.
xliii. 13. (7) The LXX. reads "city of Righteousness" ('tr haccedeq).
This reading, in itself the least probable of the three, is defended by
some commentators as most in accordance with Isaiah's use of names
as descriptive of the essential quality of the objects (cf. i. 26, iv. 3,
vii. 14, ix. 6). So here "city of righteousness" is regarded not as the
proper name of any one city, but an epithet applicable to any of the
five. On the whole, the suggestion of Cheyne seems as plausible as any,
that the original form was heres, and the reference was to Heliopolis;

vv. 19, 20.] ISAIAH, XIX. 151
In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in 19
the midst of the land of Egypt,
And a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the 20
Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt :
that this was altered by the Egyptian Jews to cedeq and by those of
Palestine to heres (destruction), the motive in both cases being to
establish a reference (in the first case favourable, in the second un
favourable) to the temple at Leontopolis. The latter variant, however,
might be due to accident.
[The Jewish Temple in Egypt was erected about 160 with the sanction
of Ptolemy Philometor and his consort by Onias IV. , the legitimate heir
ofthe high-priesthood at Jerusalem. (Josephus, Ant. XIII. 3, if.; Bell.
Jud. vii. 10, 2 f.) It was a brilliant conception on the part of the
priest, but was probably not dictated by very lofty motives. Having
been ousted from his rights by the intrigues of the apostate party in
Judaea, he sought by this means to retain the state and emoluments of
a great ecclesiastical dignitary. His enterprise cannot have been
regarded with friendly eyes by the patriotic party in Jerusalem, and
afterwards when the new Temple began to divert the stream of Jewish
liberality from Jerusalem, their antipathy increased. The temple was
built, after the model of that at Jerusalem, on the ruins of an Egyptian
temple of the lion-headed goddess Bast (hence the name Leontopolis)
in the Heliopolitan nome.]
19. It was to this verse, according to Josephus (and not to v. 18),
that Onias appealed in support of the legitimacy of his project. The
statement is perfectly intelligible ; it had never occurred to any one to
think of Leontopolis in connexion with u. 18; on the other hand, the
promise of v. 19 was warrant enough.
an altar to the Lord] evidently intended for sacrificial offerings, not a
mere memorial (see v. 21). The writer thus transcends the limits of
the Mosaic legislation, which recognised but one altar of Jehovah.
Some explain the prediction in a symbolical sense, of the spiritual
worship of Jehovah maintained by the Jews and their proselytes. But
this is hardly justifiable.
a pillar at the border thereof] The word maccebd usually denotes the
sacred stones which stood by the idolatrous shrines of Canaan and
whose destruction is enjoined in the Law (Deut. xvi. 22; Ex. xxiii. 24,
&c). From its use here it has been inferred that the prophecy dates
from a time anterior to the promulgation of the Deuteronomic Code in
the reign of Josiah. But it is doubtful if even in the age of Isaiah the
maccebd in this sense could have had positive value as an adjunct of
Jehovah's worship. The word is probably used in the general sense of
a memorial pillar, and may have been suggested by the huge monoliths
which were so characteristic of Egyptian civilisation. This one stands
on the frontier of Egypt, as a sign to every one entering the country
that Jehovah is known there.
20. for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts] i.e. a

152 ISAIAH, XIX. [vv. 21—23.
For they shall cry unto' the Lord because of the
oppressors,
And he shall send them a saviour, and a great one,
and he shall deliver them.
And the Lord shall be known to Egypt,
And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day,
And shall do sacrifice and oblation ;
Yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and per
form it.
And the Lord shall smite Egypt : he shall smite and
heal it:
And they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall
be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
1 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to
Assyria,
reminder that He has a people in Egypt, and that by their presence the
land is consecrated to Him.
The process of conversion in this and the following verses is finely
conceived. First, the name of Jehovah is made known by the religious
observances of the Jewish colonists and proselytes ; then, in a time of
trouble, the Egyptians turn to Him instead of to their faise gods, and
learn to know Him through His answer to their prayers (20, 21); finally
this experience of Jehovah is deepened and purified by a discipline
similar to that to which Israel was subjected in the time of the Judges
(22). the oppressors] Omit the art. ; the reference is quite general.
a saviour] See Jud. iii. 9, 15; 2 Kings xiii. 5.
a great one] Better: a champion. A special allusion to Ptolemy
Soter, or to the Jewish generals who served under Ptolemy Philometor
is not called for.
21. shall be known] Rather: shall make himself known, as R.V.
marg. sacrifice and oblation] animal and vegetable offerings, see on i. n,
13- 22. he shall smite and heal it] lit. "with a smiting and a healing,"
i.e. He will smite only in order to heal (Hos. vi. 1). be intreated]
hear their supplications (Niph. tolerativum).
23 — 25. The incorporation of Egypt and Assyria in the kingdom of
God. On the hypothesis that the prophecy is post-exilic "Assyria"
will here denote the power to whom the reversion of the ancient
Assyrian Empire had fallen. See on ch. xi. 11.
23. a highway] leading of course through Palestine. The ancient
enmity between the two empires is laid aside in consequence of their
common acceptance of the religion of Jehovah. Egypt shall serve
(Jehovah) with Assyria.

vv. 24, 25.] ISAIAH, XIX. XX. 153
And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the
Egyptian into Assyria,
And the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and 2,
with Assyria,
Even a blessing in the midst of the land :
Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 25
Blessed be Egypt my people,
And Assyria the work of my hands,
And Israel mine inheritance.
24. shall Israel be the third] — member of the Messianic League. For
land read earth as R.V. •
25. whom the Lord of hosts shall bless] R.V. for that the Lord of
hosts hath blessed him (Israel). A better sense than either is given by
the LXX. "(the earth;) which Jehovah. ..hath blessed." But the
masculine suffix is opposed to this.
my people and the work of my hands are titles elsewhere confined to
Israel, but here accorded to Egypt and Assyria, the still dearer epithet
mine inheritance being reserved for Israel, — as it were the ancestral
estate of the one true God.

Ch. XX. An Assyrian conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia
PREDICTED.
The chapter is unique amongst Isaiah's discourses as giving the
interpretation of a very remarkable symbolic action performed by the
prophet at the command of Jehovah. For three years he went about
in the garb of a beggar or captive, an object of astonishment and derision
to the respectable inhabitants of Jerusalem. At the end of that time he
published this explanation of his strange conduct. It was a public
protest against the false hopes then entertained of a speedy deliverance
from the Assyrian tyranny through the help of Egypt and Ethiopia
(v. 6).
The date of the prophecy is assured. The expedition mentioned in
v. 1 took place in 711, and is minutely related in two of Sargon's own
inscriptions (see Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions ;\ 'ol. II., pp. 89 ff. [Engl.
Trans.]). At that time Ashdod was the focus of disaffection in Palestine
towards the Assyrian government. Its king, Azuri, had withheld his
tribute and joined with the princes of the neighbouring states (Judah
included) in an appeal to Egypt for succour. For this he was deposed
by Sargon, his brother Akhimit being set up in his place; but Akhimit
was in turn removed by the Ashdodites, who chose one Yaman as their
leader. Sargon then sent his commander-in-chief against Ashdod ; the
city was taken and plundered and its inhabitants led into captivity.
Yaman had fled to the king of Meluhha, but was delivered up to the
Assyrian king. Sargon's forces seem to have been too much occupied

154 ISAIAH, XX. [vv. 1—3.
20 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when
Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against
2 Ashdod, and took it ; at the same time spake the Lord
by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying,
Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins,
And put off thy shoe from thy foot.
3 And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the
Lord said,
Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and
barefoot
Three years for a sign and wonder

elsewhere to allow the work of chastisement to be carried further, and
so for the time Judah escaped the penalty of its meditated revolt.
The chapter is important as shewing that at this date Isaiah still
looked forward to a great extension of the Assyrian conquests.
1, 2. A narrative introduction.
1. Tartan] In Assyrian Turtanu, the official title of the "chief of
the staff." Cf. 2 Kings xviii. 17.
Sargon] (Assyr. Sarrukin) the only mention of this now familiar name
in the O.T. For long it was supposed to be a second name of either
Shalmaneser or Sennacherib (see Tobit i. 15), but the conjecture of *
few scholars that he would prove to be an intermediate king has been
amply verified by the progress of Assy riology ; and Sargon is now one
of the best known, as he was one of the most vigorous, of Assyrian
monarchs. He reigned from 722 — 705.
2. This verse is an explanatory parenthesis. The command here
mentioned must have been given three years before the oracle of w. 3
ff. ; hence the expression "at that time" must be understood in a loose
sense and for spake we must render "had spoken."
sackcloth] the rough garment of hair or coarse linen worn by mourners
in lieu of the customary upper garment; also by prophets (2 Ki. i. 8;
Zech. xiii. 4). It is rather surprising to find that Isaiah wore this
distinctive badge of his profession. He is directed to "ungird" (and
lay aside) this and walk "naked," i.e. in his under-garment (the
kuttoneth), cf. 1 Sam. xix. 24 ; John xxi. 7. The action was ex
pressive of the deepest degradation, and involved no small sacrifice
for a man of Isaiah's position. But that he actually performed it
cannot reasonably be questioned. Cf. Mic. i. 8.
3, resuming v. 1, gives the interpretation of the symbol.
my servant Isaiah] Isaiah is Jehovah's "servant" as a prophet. Cf.
Am. iii. 7 ; Num. xii. 7.
sign and wonder] see ch. viii. 18. By the accents the words "three
years" are attached to this clause in order to convey the sense " a three-
years' sign," meaning "a sign of an event which is to happen after three

vv. 4— 6.] ISAIAH, XX. 155
Upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians 4
prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives,
Young and old, naked and barefoot,
Even with their buttocks uncovered,
To the shame of Egypt.
And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia 5
their expectation,
And of Egypt their glory.
And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, 6
Behold, such is our expectation,
Whither we flee for help
To be delivered from the king of Assyria :
And how shall we escape?

years." But this is very unnatural, and was evidently suggested by a
desire to avoid the notion that the action was kept up for so long a time.
upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia] Ethiopia was at this time the para
mount influence in the Nile-valley, Upper Egypt being completely
under its sway, while Lower Egypt was divided amongst a number of
petty princes. The Sab'e, or Sib'i (?Seve), whom Sargon defeated in
720 is usually identified with the Ethiopian Sabako. Winckler, how
ever, doubts this, and takes Sab'e to have been one of the small
kings of the Delta. (See also Cheyne's Note in 2nd Ed. of Robertson
Smith's Prophets of Israel, p. 428.) "Upon" may be either against
or concerning.
4. The apodosis. lead away] as in 1 Sam. xxx. 2.
the Egyptians prisoners. . .captives] Better as R.V. the captives of
Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia. The two words for exile are both
abstracts used in a concrete sense ; the corresponding verbs denote, the
one the act of making captive, the other the act of going into exile (lit.
leaving the land bare).
to the shame] The word means "nakedness," and the construction is
difficult. 5, 6. The effect which the sight of these miserable gangs of captives
will produce on the inhabitants of Palestine. This is the real motive of
the prophecy. Hezekiah probably took the warning.
they shall be afraid] R.V. better: dismayed. The subject is indefi
nite — "men."
6. this isle] strictly : this coastland (as R.V.). The expression is
most accurately descriptive of the Philistine country; but must include
Judah. Isaiah did not go three years naked and barefoot for the sake
of the Philistines. It no doubt embraces the territory of all the states
concerned in the conspiracy — "this region."
expectation here and v. 5 is "object of expectation." we has a posi
tion of great emphasis in the original.

156 ISAIAH, XXI.

Ch. XXI. Oracles on Babylon, Edom and Arabia.
These three short and difficult oracles form together one ofthe most
singular passages in prophecy. Common to all three are (a) the obscure
oracular utterance, in striking contrast to the terse lucidity of Isaiah's
style, (b) the strongly-marked visionary element in the writer's experience,
and (c) a certain readiness of sympathy with the foreign nations con
cerned in the predictions. These features indicate, if not identity of
authorship, at least a peculiar type of prophetic inspiration, to which
no complete parallel is found in the acknowledged writings of Isaiah.
It is true that expressions characteristic of Isaiah occur in vv. i — 10,
but they are hardly sufficient to remove the impression that the in
dividuality of the writer is distinct from that of Isaiah. In the rest of
the chapter the linguistic evidence is decidedly adverse to Isaiah's
authorship. The oracle on Babel, vv. 1 — 10.
Like whirlwinds in the desert, the prophet has seen in a "hard
vision" the stormy and impetuous advance of the Persian hosts against
Babylon, vv. i, 2.
Unnerved and appalled by what he has seen, his mind is filled with
gloom and foreboding; the immediate prospect of carnage and destruc
tion obscures for the moment the brighter hopes beyond, of deliverance
for Israel, vv. 3, 4.
Another scene is briefly depicted ; a Babylonian carousal within the
walls, suddenly interrupted by the call to arms, v. 5.
The prophet then describes the mysterious inward process by which
the truth had been communicated to him. In spirit he had stationed
"the watchman" (his prophetic consciousness) to scan the horizon for
some indication of the coming catastrophe. After long waiting "the
watchman" descries the appointed sign — a train of riders — and forthwith
proclaims its purport, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," &c, w. 6 — 9.
The oracle closes with an apostrophe to the writer's own people
announcing that what he has seen is the sure word of Jehovah, v. 10.
The question of authorship has to be settled mainly on historical
grounds, and we have to consider in the first place, what conquest of
Babylon is here referred to? (t) According to an attractive theory
propounded by George Smith (the Assyriologist) and elaborated by
Kleinert, the reference is to one of the sieges of Babylon which took
place in Isaiah's lifetime, most probably that by Sargon in 710. The
king of Babylon at that time was Merodach-baladan (see General
Introd., p. xvi, and below on ch. xxxix.), whose friendly intercourse with
Hezekiah is thought to account for Isaiah's interest in the struggle, as
well as for the aversion with which he seems to contemplate the triumph
of Assyria (vv. 3 — 5). (2) The majority of critics hold that the prophecy
belongs to the last decade of the exile and relates to the capture of
Babylon by Cyrus in 538 (see on ch. xiii. f.). This is certainly the
more obvious theory, and the exegetical difficulties which have been

vv. I, 2.] ISAIAH, XXI. 157
The burden of the desert of the sea. 21
As whirlwinds in the south pass through;
So it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
A grievous vision is declared unto me; 2
The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the
spoiler spoileth.
urged against it seem all to be capable of a satisfactory solution. The
"tone of depression " manifested in vv. 3, 4 belongs to the subjectivity
of the writer, and merely proves that he is distinct from the author of
ch. xiii. f. ; it has no parallel in Isaiah's descriptions of the fate of
Judah's allies. The mention of "Elam" and "Media" (v. 2) as the
conquering foe is not incompatible with Isaiah's authorship (see xxii. 6),
but is most naturally explained of the army of Cyrus. The impression
that the author lived at a distance from Babylon is possibly correct (see
on v. 1) ; but there may have been inspired seers in Palestine during
the time of the Exile. On the other hand, v. 10 and the latter part of
v. 2 seem clearly to imply that Babylon herself, and not her conqueror,
is the cruel tyrant under whom the Jews and other nations are
languishing. 1, 2. The "hard vision" of Babylon's fate.
1. The burden of the desert of the sea] Perhaps, The oracle,
"Desert of the Sea." The first of a series of enigmatic headings, all
but peculiar to this section ofthe book: xxi. n, 13, xxii. 1 (cf. xxx. 6).
In the majority of cases they are to be explained as catchwords, taken
from the body of the oracle (in this instance the fourth word of the
original, "desert"). Similarly David's lament over Saul and Jonathan
is entitled the song of "the bow," 2 Sam. i. 18, cf. v. 22. The words
"ofthe sea" are wanting in the LXX. Some render "deserts" (reading
midbartm for midbar-ydm). Others, again, regard the fuller form as
an emblematic designation of Babylon or Babylonia : the country that
was once a sea (8aka.aaa Herod. I. 184) and shall be so again.
in the south] Lit. "in the Negeb," the dry pastoral region in the
south of Judah and beyond. The inference that the prophecy was
written in Palestine is plausible, but not inevitable, since the word is
used of the southern direction. For pass through, render sweeping
along. it (the undefined danger) cometh from the desert] probably the flat
region S.E. of Babylon, between it and Elam. a terrible land] cf.
xxx. 6; Deut. i. 19, viii. 15, &c.
2. A grievous (lit. "hard") vision is declared unto me] — by the
"watchman," v. 6. "Hard" may mean either "calamitous" (1 Ki.
xiv. 6) or "difficult," "hard of interpretation " (John vi. 60).
the treacherous dealer... spoileth] Cf. ch. xxiv. 16. It is difficult to
decide whether this is a description of the besieging foe or of the
conduct of the Babylonians towards their captives. The former view
might be defended by xxxiii. 1 (assuming that the Assyrians are there
alluded to) but it requires us to substitute for "treacherous dealer,"

158 ISAIAH, XXI. [w. 3—6.
Go up, 0 Elam : besiege, O Media ;
All the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Therefore are my loins filled with pain :
Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a
woman that travaileth :
I was bowed down at the hearing of it;
I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me :
The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear
unto me.
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink:
Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
For thus bath the Lord said unto me,
"robber," which is not the exact sense of the word. The other
alternative is supported by the last clause of this verse (see below).
Elam. ..Media] The dominions of Cyrus. The former lay east of
the Tigris and north of the Persian Gulf; Media was the mountainous
district adjoining it on the north. Cyrus, according to the Babylonian
records, was originally king of Anzan, in the north of Elam ; in 549 he
conquered Media, uniting the two in one kingdom. The name
"Persia" never occurs in pre-exilic books.
all the sighing thereof] The misery produced by her (Babylon's)
ruthless oppressions. The verb shews that Jehovah is the speaker.
3, 4. The agitation and terror of the prophet.
3. are my loins filled with pain] Nah. ii. 10.
/ was bowed down at the hearing. ..] or, as R V. I am pained so that
I cannot hear, &c. Similar metaphorical descriptions of mental anguish
are frequent.
4. My heart panted] lit. strayeth; as we should say "my reason
reels." "Heart," as often, is used of the intellect. fearfulness] R.V.
horror. the night of my pleasure] i.e. "my pleasant evening hours," favour
able for visionary communications and therefore dear to a prophet.
(Job iv. 13).
hath he turned] Better : "is turned" ; or "it (the vision) turns.
fear) trembling (as R.V.).
5. The prophet contrasts his own lonely vigils with the careless
security of the Babylonian revellers (cf. Dan. v. ; Jer. li. 39; Is. xiv. n).
Prepare the table, cV<r.] Render as in R.V. They prepare the table,
they set the watch (the only measure of precaution adopted by the
revellers), they eat, they drink.
arise, ye princes] The banquet breaks up in confusion, for the foe
is at the gates.
anoint the shield] Shields were oiled (2 Sam. i. 21), probably to
make the blows glide off them.
6 — 9. Hitherto the prophet has spoken of his vision as a thing

vv. 7— 9-] ISAIAH, XXI. 159
Go, set a watchman,
Let him declare what he seeth.
And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, i
A chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels ;
And he hearkened diligently with much heed :
And he cried, A lion : 8
My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in
the daytime,
And I am set in my ward whole nights :
And behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a 9
couple of horsemen.
And he answered and said,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen;
"announced" to him ; now he proceeds to describe, in a very interesting
passage, the method of its communication. The delineation is figura
tive, but seems in some sense to imply a dual consciousness of the
writer. The watchman is the prophet himself in the ecstatic condition ;
he then sees and hears things beyond human ken. Meanwhile his
ordinary waking consciousness is not suspended, but is ready to receive
and transmit to the world the "watchman's" report. The same figure
is somewhat differently applied in Hab. ii. 1. For the expression, cf.
Jer. vi. 17; Ez. iii. 17, xxxiii. 7.
6. Go, set, &°c] Render, 60 set the watchman, what he seeth he
shall declare.
7. The verse reads: And if he see a troop, horsemen in pairs
(2 Ki. ix. 25), a, troop of asses, « troop of camels, then let him
hearken, hearken hard. This apparently is the expected sign that
great events are on foot ; when the riders are seen the watchman is to
listen intently to discover who they are and what they are doing. The
word for " troop " means always " chariot " (usually collective) ; here it
must be used in the sense of "riding train " like the Arab. rakb. The
procession represents the Persian army. "Asses" and "camels" are
probably introduced as beasts of burden, although both animals are
reported to have been used by the Persians in actual battle.
8. If the text be right, the first clause must read : And he cried (like)
a lion (Rev. x. 3).
My lord] The A.V. seems here to assume that the prophet is
addressed by his watchman. R.V. and most interpreters render
"O Lord" (addressed to Jehovah). Nevertheless A.V. may be right,
although it requires the substitution of 'Adbnl for 'Adbndi.
in my ward] i.e. "at my post."
For whole nights read "all the nights."
9. Hardly has he spoken when the appointed vision appears : And,
behold, here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs (see v. 7).
And in the same breath the watchman declares its significance : Babylon
is fallen, &c. (proph. perf.). Cf. Rev. xviii. 1 f.

160 ISAIAH, XXI. [w. io, n.
And all the graven images of her gods he hath broken
unto the ground.
O my threshing, and the corn of my floor:
That which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel,
Have I declared unto you.
The burden of Dumah.
He calleth to me out of Seir,
Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?
10. The application to Israel, addressed as my threshing (i.e.
threshed one) and my child of the threshing-floor — forcible figurative
epithets of Israel as a nation crushed and down-trodden by the
brutal tyranny of Babylon (cf. ch. xli. 15; Mi. iv. 12 f. ; Jer. li.
33> &c-)-
The oracle on Edom. vv. 11, 12.
The prophet hears (whether in reality or in imagination it is im
possible to say) an urgent cry from Seir, inquiring whether the night
of distress is nearly over (v. n). His reply (v. 12) is equivocal and
confessedly incomplete; at a later time he may be able to read the
signs of the times with a surer vision. The passage is too short and
vague to permit any confident conclusion as to its date ; but it contains
nothing inconsistent with the supposition that it belongs generally to
the same period as w. 1 — 10. Towards the end of the Exile the
Edomites seem to have been on friendly terms with the Babylonians,
from whom they had received a considerable extension of territory
(Ezek. xxxv. 10 ff, xxxvi. 5 ff.). But the supremacy of Babylon is now
threatened by the victorious Cyrus, and Edom is naturally represented
as anxious to learn how the unknown issue of the conflict will affect her
national and commercial interests.
11. The burden of Dumah) The best known place of this name
is the Diimat el-Jendel ("rocky Dumah") of the Arabian geographers
(mentioned in Gen. xxv. 14). It lay to the north of Tema (v. 14)
and south-east of Seir. Jerome is the sole authority for the statement
that there was a Dumah in the land of Seir. The word here, however,
is probably a play on the name Edom (which is found in the LXX.,
and in the margin of some Hebr. MSS.), and at the same time an
allusion to the mysterious character of the oracle (= "oracle of silence").
He calleth] Render as R. V. One calleth.
Watchman, what of the night?] "How far is the night spent : how
long till the morning?" It has been suggested that the phrase may
have been used in inquiring the time of night of the city watchmen.
The word "watchman" here means "guardian" and differs from that
employed in v. 6 (one who is on the look out).

vv. 12, 13.] ISAIAH, XXI. 161
The watchman said,
The morning cometh, and also the night :
If ye. will inquire, inquire ye:
Return, come.
The burden upon Arabia.
In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge,
O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
12. The morning cometh, and also the night] The watchman's
answer is designedly obscure. It may mean either that the seer has
obtained no clear vision of the destiny in store for Edom ; or that he
foresees a transient gleam of prosperity to be followed by a new night
of distress ; or that hope is dawning for some and gloom settling down
on others.
if ye will inquire...] The answer is not final; another time the
purpose of Jehovah may be more clearly indicated, if Edom earnestly
desires to know it. For return, come render with R.V. marg. come
again. It is impossible to suppose that "return" is used in the sense
of "be converted to the worship of Jehovah." The words for "cometh,"
"inquire" (twice) and "come" are Aramaic.
The oracle on Arabia, w. 13 — 17.
A vision (w. 13 — 15) and its interpretation (w. 16, 17). A caravan
of the merchant-tribe of Dedan is seen driven by stress of war from the
regular route, and lurking in solitary places, destitute of food and
water. The travellers are succoured by the hospitality of the neigh
bouring tribe of Tema (vv. 13 — 15). This vision symbolises a. great
destruction within a. short time of the nomadic Arabs, purposed by
Jehovah the God of Israel (16 f.). Here again positive indications
of date are wanting. If the oracle belongs to the same group as the
two which precede, the enemy would be the Persian conquerors of
Babylonia, who are represented as attacking the Arabian caravans that
traded under its auspices. A similar threat against Dedan forms part
of a prophecy of Jeremiah against Edom in the time of Nebuchadnezzar
(xlix. 7 f.l.
13. The burden upon Arabia] The Oracle "In Arabia" (or, "In
the evening "). The catchword of the heading is taken from the second
word of the oracle. LXX. omits the title and in the text renders,
with a different pointing, "in the evening," which gives a good sense
(Ps. xxx. 5). The Massoretic reading may be translated "in Arabia"
(Jer. xxv. 24) or "in the desert," although the word occurs nowhere
else in this sense. Forest must here mean either "scrub" or (like the
corresponding Arab, wa'r) "rough, stony ground."
travelling companies] caravans, as Gen. xxxvii. 25.
Dedanim] Dedanites (R.V.). Dedan (Gen. x. 7, xxv. 3) was an
important trading tribe of Arabia (Ez. xxvii. 20, xxxviii. 13). Since
it is mentioned in connexion with Edom (Jer. xlix. 8; Ez. xxv. 13), its

162 ISAIAH, XXI. XXII. [vv. 14—17-
The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water
to him that was thirsty,
They prevented with their bread him that fled.
For they fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the grievousness of war.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Within a year, according to the years of a hireling,
And all the glory of Kedar shall fail :
And the residue of the number of archers,
The mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be
diminished :
For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.
possessions were probably somewhere near the north end of the Gulf of
Akaba. 14. The caravans are reduced to the direst straits through having to
shun the stations on the regular route where alone their stock of food
and water could be replenished. The prophet calls on the inhabitants
of Tema to supply their necessities. The verse should be rendered :
To the thirsty bring water, 0 ye inhabitants of the land of Tema,
meet the fugitive with bread (suitable) for him. (See R.V.
marg.) Tema (Gen. xxv. 14; Job vi. 19) is the modern Teima in the northern
highlands of Arabia, east of the great pilgrim route from Damascus to
Mecca. In O.T. times it was the seat of an important commercial tribe,
friendly therefore to the Dedanites.
15. The caravans have deserted the frequented paths, because of
armed bands scouring the country.
16 f. The interpretation of the vision is regarded by many commen
tators as a later appendix similar to ch. xvi. 13 f. There is certainly a
surprising resemblance between the two passages, which may suggest
that they are both from the same hand.
16. according to the years of a hireling] See on xvi. 14.
Kedar] a tribe of pastoral nomads (Is. Ix. 7; Ezek. xxvii. 21) in the
Syrian desert (Jer. ii. 10), is here apparently a comprehensive designation
of the north Arabian tribes (cf. Cant. i. 5 ; Ps. cxx. 5).
17. the number of archers] Lit. " of the bows." The bow was the
chief weapon of the Northern Arabs, as of their progenitor Ishmael,
Gen. xxi. 20.

Ch. XXII. 1 — 14. The inexpiable sin of Jerusalem.
The key to this passage— the most lurid and minatory of all Isaiah's
prophecies — is the irreconcileable antagonism between the mood of the
prophet and the state of public feeling around" him. In a time of

ISAIAH, XXII. 163

universal mirth and festivity he alone is overwhelmed with grief and
refuses to be comforted. In the rejoicings of the populace he reads
the evidence of their hopeless impenitence and insensibility, and he
concludes his discourse by expressing the conviction that at last they
have sinned beyond the possibility of pardon. The circumstances recall
our Lord's lamentation over Jerusalem on the day of His triumphal
entry (Luke xix. 41 ff.).
It may be regarded as certain that the prophecy belongs to the
period of Sennacherib's invasion (701), although it is difficult to select
a moment when all the elements of the highly complex situation with
which it deals might have been combined. There is just one incident
that seems to meet the requirements of the case, viz., the raising of the
blockade of Jerusalem, in consequence of Hezekiah's ignominious sub
mission to the terms of Sennacherib (see General Introd., pp. xxxviii f.)
It must be noted that this was not the last episode in that memorable
campaign. The real crisis came a little later when the Assyrian king
endeavoured by threats to extort the entire surrender of the capital.
It was only at that juncture that Hezekiah unreservedly accepted the
policy of implicit trust in Jehovah which Isaiah had all along urged
on him ; and it was then that the prophet stepped to the front with an
absolute and unconditional assurance that Jerusalem should not be
violated. That the earlier deliverance should have caused an outbreak
of popular joy is intelligible enough ; as it is also intelligible that Isaiah
should have kept his eye fixed on the dangers yet ahead. The allusions
to the recent blockade are amply accounted for, and the prophet's
expectation of a terrible disaster yet in store is obviously based on his
view of the continued and aggravated impenitence of his countrymen.
The following analysis of the prophecy is partly influenced by this
reading of the historical setting, and it is right to say that at one or two
points the view adopted is somewhat tentative.
i. vv. 1 — 4. While the city abandons itself to demonstrations of
frantic gaiety, in spite of the disgrace that has overtaken the country,
Isaiah shuts himself up in solitary and inconsolable anguish.
ii. w. 5 — 7. He sees in vision a great day of calamity approaching,
when the Assyrian shall again thunder at the gates of Jerusalem ; and
although the picture is not completed it leaves the impression that the
city's day of doom has arrived.
iii. vv. 8 — 11. At this point (although the transition is extremely
abrupt) the prophet seems to go back to the past, in order to trace the
evidence of the people's unbelief. In the height of the danger they
had paid minute attention to human measures of defence, but with
never a thought of Him whose strange work then appealed so closely
to their conscience.
iv. w. 12 — 14. And this spirit of unbelief remains with them still.
It has caused them to misread the providential lesson of their escape,
and to find an occasion of thoughtless revelry and merriment in what
was so obviously a call to serious reflection and penitence. For
such a sin Isaiah has only a " fearful looking-for of judgment " to
announce. The joy of the people and the sorrow of the prophet. II — 2

164 ISAIAH, XXII. [vv. 1—4.
22 The burden of the valley of vision.
What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up
to the housetops?
Thou that art full of stirs,
A tumultuous city, a joyous city :
Thy slain men are not slain with the sword,
Nor dead in battle.
3 All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the
archers :
All that are found in thee are bound together, which
have fled from far.
4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep
bitterly,
Labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of
the daughter of my people.
1. The burden of the valley of vision] Or, The Oracle "Valley of
Vision. " The heading (prefixed by an editor) is taken from a phrase in
v. 5 (see the note).
What aileth thee now] Better : What meanest thou, I wonder (cf. ch.
iii. 15).
gone up to the housetops] cf. ch. xv. 3; Jud. xvi. 27; Neh. viii. 16.
The flat roofs of the houses are thronged by excited citizens keeping
holiday, perhaps watching some public spectacle. The prophet, wan
dering disconsolate through the streets, ironically inquires the reason
of this unseasonable demonstration.
2. full of stirs] R.V. full of shoutings. joyous city] jubilant
city, as ch. xxxii. 13. A festive disposition seems to have characterised
the inhabitants of Jerusalem in Isaiah's time; cf. also ch. v. 14. That
their gladness on this occasion was "the forced gaiety of despair" is
indicated by nothing in the passage ; it was due to the sense of relief
from imminent peril.
thy slain... battle] Jerusalem's warriors have not met a glorious death
on the battle-field, but have been taken prisoners and ignominiously
executed (see v. 3). Some critics, however, take this clause and the
next verse as the description of a vision which the prophet has of the
future. On that view, which is plausible enough, it would be more
natural to think of deaths from famine and pestilence (Lam. iv. 9).
3. thy rulers] thy chieftains, — the same word as in i. 10, there in
its civil, here in its military sense.
they are bound by the archers] Better: without bow (which they
had thrown away) they were taken prisoners.
all that are found in thee] all of thine that were found. which
have fled from far] Rather as R.V. they fled afar off. The text of the
verse is possibly in some disorder.
4. Look away from me] i.e. "leave me alone," as Job vii. 19.

vv. 5, 6.] ISAIAH, XXII. 165
For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and 5
of perplexity
By the Lord God of hosts. in the valley of vision,
Breaking down the walls, and of crying to the moun
tains.
And Elam bare the quiver 6
With chariots of men and horsemen,
labour not is strictly press not upon me, and spoiling should be
destruction. The prophet's gaze is already on the future.
daughter of my people] The phrase, common in Jeremiah and Lamen
tations, occurs only here in Isaiah.
5 — 7. The connexion here becomes very uncertain. It seems clear
that v. 5 (from its form) must refer to the future, while vv. 8 — 11
undoubtedly go back to what is past. The transition must apparently
take place either at v. 6 or v. 8. Now the tenses in w. 6, 7 would be
naturally construed as historic perfects, and at first sight it seems
obvious that these verses are intimately connected with w. 8 ff., and
belong like them to the past. But on the other hand it has to be
considered that (a) v. 5 is too short to stand alone ; (b) the preparations
for the siege (8ff.) are in any case distinct from (if not prior to) the
assault described in 6 f. ; and (c) there is no evidence of an attempt to
carry Jerusalem by storm during the first blockade. Hence it seems
better, in spite of the violence of the transition at v. 8, to regard
vv. 5 — 7 as an account of what Isaiah has seen in vision, viz., the
return of the enemy in force to the city.
5. The first half of the verse reads : For a day of tumult and tramp
ling and confusion hath Jehovah of hosts, — "a series of inimitable
assonances" (Cheyne) in the Hebr. (cf. Nah. ii. 10 [Heb. 11]). The form
ofthe sentence is the same as in ii. 12.
The words in the valley of vision belong (in spite of the accents) to
the second half ; render : in the valley of vision (they are) battering
down the wall, and a cry (of distress rises) to the mountain. "Valley
of vision " is taken by some as a proper name (valley of Hizzay6n),
though no such place is known ; by others as a mystic name for
Jerusalem (like Ariel, xxix. 1), which is hardly possible, since the word
for "valley" denotes a deep and narrow ravine. Some particular valley
round Jerusalem must be meant, most probably the Tyropceon; but
why it is called the "valley of (prophetic) vision" we cannot tell. The
suggestion that Isaiah lived and had his visions there is very far-fetched.
6. Elam (see on xxi. 2) and Kir (not identified: 2 Ki. xvi. 9; Am.
i- Si 'x- 7) are mentioned as furnishing auxiliaries to the Assyrian army.
There is force in Cheyne's argument that some words may have fallen
out before this verse, since it is difficult to understand the prominence
given to these mercenary troops in the description of the siege. The
"bow of Elam" is mentioned in Jer. xlix. 35.
with chariots of men and horsemen] a difficult expression. Perhaps
"men on horseback among the chariots" (Dillm.).

166 ISAIAH, XXII. [vv. 7—1 1.
And Kir uncovered the shield.
And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys
shall be full of chariots,
And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the
gate.
And he discovered the covering of Judah,
And thou didst look in that day to the armour of the
house of the forest.
Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David,
that they are many :
And ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem,
And the houses have ye broken down to fortify the
wall.
Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the
water of the old pool :
uncovered the shield] Shields when not in use were protected by a
leather covering (Caes. de Bell. Gall. II. 21).
7. And it shall come to pass] strictly, And it came to pass, in the
scene beheld by the prophet.
set themselves... gate] take up their station towards the gate.
8 — 11. The preparations for the siege. Cf. 2 Chron. xxxii. 2 — 5, 30;
2 Ki. xx. 20.
8. he discovered the covering of Judah) Probably "exposed the
defencelessness of the state." The subj. may be Jehovah or the enemy,
or it may be indefinite. The clause is virtually the protasis to the
following "And when the defencelessness of Judah was exposed, thou
didst look, &c."
the house of the forest] of Lebanon (1 Ki. vii. 1, x. 17). It was
evidently used as an arsenal.
9. The first half reads Ye saw (i.e. examined) the breaches of the
city of David (the citadel of Zion, 2 Sam. v. 7, 9) for they were many.
Jerusalem was evidently quite unfit to stand a siege. The water supply
was still defective, as it had been 34 years before (see ch. vii. 3). The
lower pool is not elsewhere mentioned, although its existence is implied
by ch. vii. 3. It was obviously within the walls, and probably lay near
the mouth of the Tyropceon Valley.
10. And ye have numbered the houses] And ye numbered, apparently
to see which could best be spared for the purpose specified in the next
clause, — "to fortify the wall," cf. Jer. xxxiii. 4.
11. For ditch read reservoir as R.V. The "old pool" is veiy
probably the pool of Siloam (though this is not certain) and the "reser
voir " would be intended to retain its surplus water.
between the two walls] a part of the cjity adjoining the royal gardens,
where there was a gate (see 2 Ki. xxv. 4; Jer. xxxix. 4, lii. 7). The

vv. 12—14.] ISAIAH, XXII. 167
But ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof,
Neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long
ago.
And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to 12
weeping, and to mourning,
And to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth :
And behold joy and gladness, 13
Slaying oxen, and killing sheep,
Eating flesh, and drinking wine :
Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall
die.
And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of 14
hosts,
locality is doubtless the entrance of the Tyropceon Valley, where the
wall of the Western Hill and that of Zion (and Ophel) met at a sharp
angle. The space so designated was of course outside the city; whether
it was protected by a third wall crossing the valley we do not know.
but ye have not looked...] but ye looked not. This clause carries us
back to vv. 8, 9, where the same two verbs ("looked," "saw") are
employed. the Maker thereof] Better him that did it.
fashioned it long ago] lit. formed it from afar. The sin of the rulers
of Jerusalem is that same indifference to the work of Jehovah with which
the prophet had charged them many years before (see v. 12). To Isaiah,
history is the evolution of a consistent, pre-determined plan of Jehovah,
to the men of his day it was merely a confused struggle between oppos
ing forces. Their failure to discern the hand of God in the events that
had befallen them was the crowning proof of their spiritual insensibi
lity ; their ill-timed frivolity on this occasion seemed to the prophet to
seal their fate.
12 — 14. The ignoring of Jehovah's presence in this crisis is an un
pardonable sin.
12. in that day did the Lord. ..call] not only by the silent march of
events, but also by the voice of His prophet: see ch. xxxii. n. The call
was to seriousness and humiliation, expressed by the customary signs of
mourning. (Cf. Joel ii. 12; Am. viii. 10; Is. iii. 24, xx. 2, &c.)
13. Instead of this the people rush to drown reflection in riotous
festivities. The immediate occasion of the revelry was no doubt a
great sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah for their unexpected deliver
ance, but this only rendered their irreligious spirit more detestable to
Jehovah (cf. i. 10 — 17).
for to morrow we shall die] Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 32. Probably a current
proverb. But the revellers may very well have been conscious that
their escape had only procured for them a precarious respite. And in
the next verse Isaiah assures them that they shall die.
14. And it was revealed... hosts] Render with R.V. And Jehovah

168 ISAIAH, XXII. [v. i?.'
Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till
ye die,
Saith the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto
this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house,
and say,
of hosts revealed himself in mine ears. The message conies to the
prophet like an external voice, which he knows to be that of the Lord
(cf. ch. v. 9).
Surely...) The form is that of adjuration (cf. xiv. 24).
purged from you) Better; expiated for you. Cf. 1 Sam. iii. 14.
The threat neither implies that the sin could be expiated by the death
of the sinner, nor means merely that guilt would lie on them as long as
they lived ; it is a definite intimation that the unexpiated sin will call
down punishment, and the punishment will be death.
Ch. XXII. 15 — 25. A Philippic against an influential
Politician.
Shebna, the minister here addressed, is supposed from his name and
from Isaiah's indignation at his ambitious desire to have a magnificent
sepulchre in Jerusalem, to have been a foreigner in the royal service.
The office which he holds is the highest in the court, and is of course a
measure of his influence with the king. That he was a partisan of the
Egyptian alliance may be safely assumed, and it is likely that Isaiah had
found in him the most astute and resolute opponent of the policy which
he advocated. This opposition, together with hearty contempt for the
character of the man, is the occasion of Isaiah's only invective against
an individual. The prophecy is therefore probably contemporaneous
with ch. xxviii. — xxxi. Eliakim was probably the leader of the party
favourable to Isaiah's views, and the substitution of the one minister for
the other was equivalent to a radical change of policy on the part of
Hezekiah. This change seems to have taken place before the crisis of
the invasion, for in ch. xxxvi. 3, xxxvii. 2 We find Eliakim in possession
of the dignity which Shebna here holds. But since the latter then
occupied the lower office of secretary, we must conclude that some
compromise had been arranged, and that Shebna's power was not
altogether broken.
The passage contains three parts :
i. The denunciation of Shebna, and the announcement of his depo
sition and banishment, w. 15 — 19.
ii. The installation of Eliakim, and the honour of his family, vv.
20—23. iii. A very perplexing appendix, which seems to warn Eliakim
against nepotism, and to anticipate the ruin of his house, vv. 24, 25.
16. this treasurer] Better: this official. The "this" is contemp
tuous. The word for "official" (sbken) is not elsewhere found. It

vv. 16—18.] ISAIAH, XXII. 169
What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, l6
That thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here,
As he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high,
And that graveth a habitation for himself in a rock ?
Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty 17
captivity,
And will surely cover thee.
He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball »8
seems to mean either "associate " (like the "king's friend" of 2 Sam.
xv. 37, xvi. 16; 1 Ki. iv. 5; 1 Chron. xxvii. 33), or "administrator"
(the Assyrian saknu).
which is over the house] (cf. 1 Ki. iv. 6, xviii. 3). This office has
been compared to that of "mayor ofthe palace" under the Merovingian
kings. 16. We may imagine the meeting between Isaiah and the vizier to
have taken place at the sepulchre which the latter, after the Eastern
fashion, was having prepared in his lifetime. By this act the novus
homo asserted his equality with the aristocracy of Jerusalem, a piece of
presumption which evidently kindles the ire of the prophet.
What hast thou (to do) here? and whom (as kindred or descendants)
hast thou here?) i.e. "Thou neither hast the rights of « citizen, nor
canst claim to be the founder of a family." Shebna 's grave was simply
the monument of his own vulgar and ostentatious vanity.
that thou hast hewed. ..here] (see below) — in so conspicuous a position.
That Shebna actually placed his tomb amongst those of the kings and
princes of Judah is not to be assumed; but he had plainly chosen a
pretentious situation.
as he that heweth...] Render: Hewing out his sepulchre on high!
Graving in the rock an habitation for him ! Ejaculations of unutter
able scorn. The use of the third person suggests that there were
bystanders. 17, 18. The doom of Shebna is set forth in language of extra
ordinary force and passion.
17. will cariy thee away... captivity] Translate: wiU fling thee forth
Violently, 0 thou man. The A.V. preserves the sense but entirely
misses the bold metaphor, which is carried on to the middle of v. 18.
The next words and will surely cover thee, when so rendered, hardly
suit the context. The verb may be the equivalent of an Arabic verb,
meaning "seize," which gives an appropriate idea, although it is the
solitary instance in the O.T. Render accordingly: and wiH seize thee
firmly (lit. "with a seizing").
18. The first half of the verse reads: He will roll thee up in a
bundle (and toss thee) like a ball into a spacious land (lit. "a land
broad on both sides," as Gen. xxxiv. 21; Jud. xviii. 10). The words
"and toss thee" have to be supplied from the context; the construction
i-i pregnant. The figure expresses banishment from Jehovah's territory,
the "spacious land" referring probably to the Assyrian Empire.

170 ISAIAH, XXII. [w. 19—22.
Into a large countiy :
There shalt thou die,
And there the chariots of thy glory
Shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
And I will drive thee from thy station,
And from thy state shall he pull thee down.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
And I will clothe him with thy robe,
And strengthen him with thy girdle,
And I will commit thy government into his hand :
And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jeru
salem,
And to the house of Judah.
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon
his shoulder;
So he shall open, and none shall shut;
there shalt thou die (cf. Am. vii. 1 7) and there shall be thy splendid
chariots, thou shame of thy lord's house) To ride forth with
"chariots and horses" was once regarded as a sign of aspiring to
the highest dignity (2 Sam. xv. 1; 1 Ki. i. 5); later it seems to have
been the privilege ofthe princely caste (Jer. xvii. 25), peculiarly offensive,
therefore, in a foreign adventurer. The concentrated bitterness of the
last words points to something worse than political differences as the
cause of Isaiah's antipathy to Shebna.
19. The subject here is Jehovah ; the change of person resembles
that in x. 12. After v. 18, the verse reads like an anti-climax, but it is
added to prepare for
20 — 23. The elevation of the head of the prophetic party at
court. 20. Eliakim is called my servant as Isaiah is in ch. xx. 3.
21. robe (" tunic ").. .girdle] The palace officials seem to have worn
distinctive liveries ( 1 Ki. x. 5) ; the uniform of the vizier was apparently
a tunic and a girdle of special pattern. The word for "girdle" is used
elsewhere only of the priestly girdle (see Ex. xxxix. 29, &c). For
strengthen, translate gird.
he shall be a father]— a beneficent administrator, as Shebna had not
been. How much in the East the welfare of the people depends on the
character of the vizier is known from the legends of Haroun-al-Rashid.
For the expression cf. Gen. xlv. 8; 1 Mace. xi. 32.
22. the key of the house of David] The symbol of unlimited authority
over the royal household, carrying with it a similar influence in all affairs
of state ; like Pharaoh's signet-ring in the hands of Joseph, Gen. xli.
40 — 44. _ upon his shoulder] Cf. ix. 6 ; and with the whole verse
comp. Rev. iii. 7.

vv. 23—25] ISAIAH, XXII. 171
And he shall shut, and none shall open.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; 23
And he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's
house.
And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his 24
father's house,
The offspring and the issue,
All vessels of small quantity,
From the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of
flagons.
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, 25
Shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be
removed,
And be cut down, and fall ;
And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off:
For the Lord hath spoken it.
23. a nail] usually a "tent-peg" (and so probably in *- figurative
sense, Zech. x. 4) ; but also (Ez. xv. 3) a peg on which household
utensils are suspended. The latter idea (according to v. 25) must be
intended here.
a glorious throne] Better : a seat of honour.
to his father's house] — all his nearest kindred, who are through him
advanced from obscurity to great dignity.
24, 25. If v. 24 stood alone it might be barely possible to interpret
it in a sense favourable to Eliakim. But taken in connexion with v. 25
it seems to convey an imputation of the unworthy exercise of patronage
on his part, — a filling of important offices with worthless relatives and
dependents. Many commentators, it is true, hold that v. 25 refers
back to the fall of Shebna, but this is quite aibitraiy. Shebna is not
likened to a "nail in a sure place" and it is clearly implied that he had
no "father's house" in Jerusalem (v. 16). It is hardly credible that
Isaiah should have uttered such a threat along with the promises in
vv. 20 — 23 ; but the last two verses may be an appendix written later,
when abuses of trust in Eliakim's family had begun to display themselves.
24. An under-current of satire seems unmislakeable.
all the glory] perhaps : the whole weight (see " burden" in next verse).
the offspring and the issue] the scions and the offshoots (Cheyne).
The second expression is decidedly contemptuous, and so (more or less)
are all that follow. It cannot be to Eliakim's credit that the bulk of
his relations are likened to the meanest kitchen utensils.
26. The fall of Eliakim's house, described under the same metaphor.
It is not necessarily implied that the minister himself lived to see this
reverse of fortune ; living or dead, his name was the " peg " of the
family's nobility, and when the crash came, it might truly be said that
the "peg fastened in a sure place" had been removed.

173 ISAIAH, XXIII. [v. i.
23 The burden of Tyre.
Howl, ye ships of" Tarshish ;
Ch. XXIII. An Oracle on Tyre.
The unique position occupied by Tyre in the ancient world engaged
the attention of more than one Hebrew prophet. Ezekiel, in one of the
most original and elaborate of his foreign prophecies (ch. xxvi. — xxviii.),
where he announces her impending overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar,
shews the liveliest appreciation of the genius of that great commercial
city, her unbounded enterprise, her devotion to material interests, and
her self-deifying pride. Very similar in spirit is the simpler and shorter
passage now before us, which, however, is not directed exclusively against
Tyre, but embraces the older though less famous Zidon, and the whole
Phoenician sea-board.
The chapter is clearly divided into two sections : —
i. vv. i — 14. A poem in three strophes on the destruction of the
Phoenician cities and harbours, which is conceived as having already
taken place.
(1) vv. 1 — 5. Ships of Tarshish, homeward bound, are dismayed
on their arrival at Cyprus by the intelligence that the harbours of
Phoenicia are closed to them (1); the once populous and thriving coast-
land lies desolate (2, 3); the sea is now a childless mother and forgets
that she ever had offspring (4) ; Egypt is stricken with terror at the
report of the fall of Tyre (5).
(2) w. 6 — 9. The inhabitants of Phoenicia are ironically urged to
leave the joyous cities which had been theirs from time immemorial,
and seek refuge in their colonies beyond the sea (6, 7). For this is the
purpose of Jehovah, to make an end of the regal power of Tyre, and
cast contempt on all earthly greatness (8, 9).
(3) vv. 10 — 14. But Jehovah's power reaches over the sea, and not
even in their own colonies can the exiled Phoenicians find rest for the
sole of their foot. The distant Tarshish disowns their authority, the
nearer Cyprus is also, for an unexplained reason, untenable. At the
obscure v. 13 we lose the thread of the writer's thought, but in v. 14 the
poem ends as it had begun with an apostrophe to the ships of Tarshish,
whose haven is demolished.
ii. vv. 15 — 18 form an appendix written in a prose style (with the
exception of the "harlot's song," a snatch of popular poetry, in v. 16).
It announces the restoration of Tyre after the lapse of seventy years,
but a restoration under entirely changed conditions, in which the
gains of Tyre shall be consecrated to Jehovah and the use of His
people. There appear to be no valid reasons for refusing to ascribe the
authorship of w. r — 14 to Isaiah. The only serious difficulty is caused
by the reference to "the land of the Chaldaeans" in v. 13; but there
the text is in all probability corrupt (see the notes). There are two
occasions in the time of Isaiah to which the prophecy has been referred.
The earlier is the campaign of Shalmaneser IV. (727 — 722) against
Phoenicia, described at length in a fragment of Menander of Ephesus

v. i.] ISAIAH, XXIII. 173
For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no
entering in :
From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
(Josephus, Ant. IX. 14, 2). Shalmaneser is said to have blockaded the
insular part of Tyre for five years ; but as his entire reign was only
about five years, it is probable that the siege (like that of Samaria) was
finished by Sargon. That the city was captured is nowhere stated, and
the reticence of Sargon rather suggests that the siege issued in a capitu
lation. Phoenicia was again ravaged by Sennacherib in the expedition
of 701, just before the invasion of Philistia and Judah, when the king of
Zidon actually fled to Cyprus. Tyre is not mentioned in the Assyrian
record of this campaign. Either of these invasions would furnish an
adequate occasion lor Isaiah's prophecy, though the second is perhaps
less probable than the first. It may at least be said that the lyrical
character of the passage is more intelligible when the prophet was a
disinterested spectator of events in Phoenicia, than under the strain of
excitement with which he faced the crisis of 701. It is true that Tyre
did not then suffer the complete overthrow which is here contemplated;
but it was nevertheless the first time that her existence had been seriously
threatened, and the absence of a literal fulfilment affords no presumption
against the genuineness of a prophecy.
The appendix (w. 15 — 18) has been thought to bear the stamp of
a later origin. The seventy years' duration of the humiliation of Tyre
may be based on Jeremiah's (xxv. ri f.) determination of the period of
Chaldsean supremacy, and the use to which the riches of Tyre are to be
put (v. 18) is perhaps suggested by such late prophecies as Is. xlv. 14,
Ix. n, lxi. 6. The case, therefore, appears to be closely parallel to
that of the oracle on Egypt in ch. xix. In both we have a prophecy
which is presumably Isaianic, followed by a supplement which there
is reason to regard as post-exilic.
1. The returning ships are apprised, at the last stage of their voyage,
of the disaster that has overtaken their mother-country. Ships of
Tarshish may mean here, literally, "ships trading with Tarshish"
(Tartessus) at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in Spain. See on
ii. 16.
it is laid waste] The unexpressed subject is best left indefinite, —
" a destruction has been wrought."
no house, no entering in] i.e. "no house (harbour) to enter in." Cf.
ch. xxiv. 10 "every house is shut up so that none can enter." The last
word, however, might be joined with the following clause, which would
then run : since leaving the land of Chittim, &c. The vessels learn of
the fall of Tyre, not at Cyprus, but on their voyage thence. The Chittim
are the inhabitants of Kition, in the south of Cyprus, lounded by the
Phoenicians. The name was extended to the whole island, and
ultimately in biblical usage to the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean
(Dan. xi. 30).
it is revealed to them] whether by rumour from flying vessels, or by
eye-sight as they approached the shore, does not appear.

174

ISAIAH, XXIII. [w. 2—5.

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle;
Thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over
the sea, have replenished.
And by great waters the seed of Sihor,
The harvest of the river, is her revenue;
And she is a mart of nations.
Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken,
Even the strength of the sea, saying,
I travail not, nor bring forth children,
Neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up
virgins.
As al the report concerning Egypt,
2. The prophet next apostrophises the inhabitants of the coast
(render so, as in ch. xx. 6), i.e. Phoenicia, calling them to be still, or
rather dumb, with bewilderment.
the merchants (in Heb. collective sing.) of Zidon] Zidon is generally
interpreted throughout this prophecy as standing for Phoenicia as a
whole. This is perhaps unnecessary, although it can easily be justified
by usage (see Deut. iii. 9 ; Jud. iii. 3 ; 1 Ki. xi. 1, &c). Zidon is said
to have been the most ancient of the Phoenician settlements, and its
merchants might naturally be spoken of as having founded the commer
cial prosperity of the country.
3. The easiest translation would be : and on great waters the seed
of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, (was) her revenue, and it (i.e.
her revenue) was the gain of the nations. Shihor might be a name
for the Nile, as in Jer. ii. 18; and the meaning would be that the
revenue of Tyre (or Phoenicia) was derived from the sea-traffic in
Egyptian grain. This was no doubt the case to some extent; but to
suppose that the corn trade with Egypt was a principal source of wealth
to Tyre is contrary to all the information we possess. The expression
of the thought, moreover, is involved and enigmatic, and even if we
call to our aid the subtle suggestion that Tyre, with no agriculture of
her own, nevertheless reaped a rich harvest by her command of the sea,
the idea is still unworthy of Isaiah, and of the rest of this poem.
The translation mart in E.V., instead of "gain" or "merchandise"
is hardly justifiable.
4. even the strength of the sea] Better as R.V. the stronghold of
the sea. The fine figure of the lonely sea denying that she ever had
children is somewhat marred by the introduction of this clause, as if the
poet had corrected himself by an afterthought, and changed the subject
of personification from the sea to Tyre. One is tempted to remove the
words as a gloss.
/ travail not, nor bring forth, 6-v.] Render with R.V. I have not
travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men,
nor brought up (cf. ch. i. 2) virgins.
5. The verse should be read as in R.V. When the report cometh to

vv. 6—8.] ISAIAH, XXIII. 175
So shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Pass ye over to Tarshish ; howl, ye inhabitants of the 6
isle.
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient 7
days?
Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crownings
city,
Whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the
honourable of the earth?

Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. Assyria
being the common enemy of Egypt and Tyre, the report of the latter's
fall is received with the utmost anxiety in Egypt.
6. The second strophe commences here with a summons to the
Phoenicians to betake themselves to their Spanish colony for refuge,
their own country being at the mercy of the invader. So the Tyrians,
when attacked by Alexander the Great, sent all those unfit for war to
Carthage, another western colony. Gesenius instances also the projected
emigration ofthe Dutch merchants to Batavia in 1672 if the independ
ence of Holland should be overthrown.
7. The reference is of course to Tyre, the principal subject of the
prophecy. whose antiquity. ..days] Next to Zidon, Tyre was regarded as the
most ancient city of Phoenicia. Her priests claimed for their temple
the fabulous antiquity of 2300 years in the time of Herodotus (11. 44);
Josephus dates the city's foundation 240 years before the building of
Solomon's Temple (Ant. viii. 3, 1).
her own feet shall carry her...] Render: whose feet used to carry
her.... The reference is not to the future captivity or flight of the
Tyrians (for which the expressions are unsuitable) but to the long jour
neys and residence in foreign parts of her enterprising merchants.
8, 9. This is the execution of Jehovah's purpose, and therefore
irreversible. the crowning city] Or, the crown-giver. Tyre is rightly so-called,
inasmuch as some of her colonies (Kition, Tarshish and Carthage) were
ruled by kings, subject to the mother-city.
whose traffickers) The word is probably the gentilic noun "Canaanite"
which is used with the sense of "trader " in Job xli. 6 [Heb. xl. 30] ; Prov.
xxxi. 24; Zech. xiv. 21, as the collective name " Canaan" is in older
passages (Hos. xii. 7 ; Zeph. i. 11). It was of course from the commer
cial proclivities of the Phoenicians themselves that the word acquired
this secondary significance amongst the Hebrews. The petty trade of
Palestine seems to have been largely in the hands of Tyrian dealers
(Neh. xiii. i6ff.) and hence a Canaanite came to mean a merchant, just
as a Chaldaean came to mean an astrologer and a Scotchman in some
parts of England meant a pedlar.

176 ISAIAH, XXIII. [w. 9—12.

1 The Lord of hosts hath purposed it,
To stain the pride of all glory,
And to bring into contempt all the honourable of the
earth.
. Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tar
shish :
There is no more strength.
He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the
kingdoms :
The Lord hath given a commandment against the
merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
! And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice,
O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon :
9. Jehovah has purposed it in accordance with a fixed principle of
His government.
to stain (render to desecrate) the pride of all glory] The thought is
the same as in ch. ii. 12 ff. For this use -of the verb "desecrate,"
cf. Ez. xxviii. 7.
10 — 14. The third strophe, as usually explained, deals mainly with
the emancipation of the Phoenician colonies from the somewhat strin
gent control of Tyre. But the passage presents many difficulties; and
from the utter uncertainty as to the meaning of v. 13 the general sense
is doubtful.10. as a river] Rather: as the Nile (as R.V.). The people of
Tarshish are now as free of the land they live in as the Nile is of Egypt
in the time of the annual inundation.
there is no more strength) Render as in R.V. there is no girdle
(about thee) any more. The "girdle" (cf. Ps. cix. 19) is supposed to
be a symbol of the restraints hitherto imposed on the colonists by Tyre.
But nowhere else is a man represented as hampered by his own girdle ;
the removal of it is rather a synonym for weakness (Job xii. 21 — the
same root as here — cf. Is. v. 27).
11. He stretched out his hand, &*c] R.V. he hath stretched out...
hath shaken. Cf. ch. v. 25, xiv. 26, 27. The kingdoms are specially
Phoenicia and its dependencies.
the merchant city] Read Canaan and see on v. 8. "Canaan" is the
name used by the Phoenicians of themselves and their colonists, but
this is the only example in the Old Test, of its restriction to Phoenicia.
12. And he said] What follows may be regarded as the "com
mandment" referred to in v. 11.
O thou oppressed (or ravished) virgin, daughter of Zidon] The
epithet "virgin" is applied to Zidon as a fortress hitherto unviolated by
a conqueror. It is an almost inevitable inference that the calamity here
described is the first she has known, at least within living memory.
This would apply to the campaign of Shalmaneser, but not to that of
Sennacherib.

vv. 13—15.] ISAIAH, XXIII. 177
Arise, pass over to Chittim;
There also shalt thou have no rest.
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; 13
This people was not,
Till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in
the wilderness :
They set up the towers thereof,
They raised up the palaces thereof;
And he brought it to ruin.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish : for your strength is laid 14
waste.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 15
13. Every attempt to extract a meaning from the verse as it stands is
beset by insuperable difficulties. Perhaps the best suggestion is that
the fate of Chaldaea is mentioned as a warning example to Tyre:
"Behold the land of the Chaldaeans; this people is no more; the
Assyrian hath appointed it for the beasts of the wilderness, &c." (so
R.V.). This is a fairly good sense; only, "this people is no more"
is hardly a possible rendering of the Hebrew. The reference is
supposed to be to one (probably the last) of Sennacherib's three
conquests of Babylonia, which were certainly carried out with a
thoioughness which would justify the terms of the prophecy. But is
there any evidence that Babylonia was known as the "land of the
Chaldaeans" before the rise of the Chaldaean Empire? There is none
in the Bible. — The text is certainly in disorder, and there is little hope
of recovering the original reading. Ewald's attractive emendation of
f'Canaanites" for "Chaldaeans" fails to meet the case, for the excla
mation "Behold the land ofthe Canaanites" surely comes too late after
so much has been said of the ruin of this very land. The most acute
analysis of the verse is that of Duhm, although, as is usual with this
commentator, it involves an extensive manipulation of the text. To the
original prophecy he assigns only the first and last clauses, and for
"Chaldaeans" he substitutes "Chittim": Behold the land of Chittim,
he (Jehovah) hath made it a ruin" — a continuation of the thought of the
preceding verse. The intermediate clauses are regarded as an interpo
lation and are ingeniously explained as follows: "this is the people that
was founded by the sea-farers (cf. Num. xxiv. 24), they erected its
watch-towers, its cities and its palaces." It seems a pity that so good
a sentence should be denied to the prophet.
14. The poem closes as it began with an apostrophe to the ships
of Tarshish.
your strength] your strong-hold (R.V. as in v. 4).
15 — 18. The appendix. Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years ;
afterwards she shall resume her commercial activity, but its profits shall
be dedicated to Jehovah's people.

178 ISAIAH, XXIII. [w. 16-1 8.
That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
According to the days of one king :
After the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a
harlot.
Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast
been forgotten ;
Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest
be remembered.
And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy
years,
That the Lord will visit Tyre,
And she shall turn to her hire,
And shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of
the world
Upon the face of the earth.
i And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to
the Lord :
15. seventy years] The period fixed by Jeremiah for the duration of
the Exile and the dominion of the Chaldaean Empire (ch. xxv. n f.,
xxix. 10). The number occurs frequently in the later literature : Zech.
i. 12, vii. 5 ; Dan. ix. 2 ff. ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. It is to be noted that
in all these cases there is a reference more or less explicit to Jeremiah's
prediction ; and the use of the number here is probably to be accounted
for in the same way. Ezekiel had used the number "forty" in a pre
cisely similar manner (ch. iv. 6, xxix. 13).
according to the days of one king] The meaning is uncertain. Possibly
it denotes a fixed, unalterable order of things, such as is maintained by
the even rule of a single monarch. Some take it to mean "during the
existence of one dynasty."
shall Tyre sing as a harlot] Rather : it shall happen to Tyre
according to the song of the harlot, — evidently a well-known popular
ballad, quoted in the next verse.
16. The song of the harlot, celebrating the wiles by which a for
gotten prostitute seeks to regain her influence. The song has a light,
dancing rhythm, and consists of six lines of two words each.
make sweet melody] Better : play skilfully.
17. The application of the song to Tyre. The comparison of
commerce to prostitution is found in Rev. xviii. 3 and perhaps in
Nah. iii. 4. Here it signalises the mercenary motive which was
prominent in Tyre's dealings with other nations.
shall return lo her hire) Shall resume her former lucrative activity.
The last word is a technical term for the hire of a harlot.
18. merchandise and hire are synonymous; the one is the literal,
the other the metaphorical designation of the same fact.
holiness to the Lord] i.e. "dedicated" to Jehovah (in opposition to

v. 1 8.] ISAIAH, XXIII. XXIV. 179
lt shall not be treasured nor laid up ;
For her merchandise shall be for them that dwell
before the Lord,
To eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
the letter of Deut. xxiii. i8). The word has no ethical sense; and the
idea of "commerce as the handmaid of religion," if by that it is meant
that Tyre's commerce is to be conducted in a religious spirit, is foreign
to the passage. Tyre is still a "harlot" as of old, and her conversion
to the true God does not appear to be contemplated here.
shall not be treasured nor laid up] as formerly, for the benefit of Tyre
herself. Those that dwell before the Lord are the Jewish people, who
according to another prophecy (ch. lxi. 6) are the priests of humanity.
For durable read stately, as R.V. marg. The word is not found
elsewhere. Chapters XXIV.— XXVII.
It is admitted on all hands that this interesting and difficult group of
chapters, although without a heading, forms a distinct section of the
book of Isaiah. They consist of a single connected prophecy, inter
spersed with lyrical and devotional passages, which appear in some
instances to interrupt the sequence of thought. The general theme is
one of the most familiar in prophecy; it is the "day of Jehovah" in
its terrors, and with its blessed consequences for Israel and for humanity.
But the treatment of that theme is in many respects unique in the
prophetic literature. That the writer had a definite historical situation
in view is abundantly manifest; but its features are designedly veiled
by the use of mysterious and symbolical language, the precise signi
ficance of which frequently eludes our grasp. This is one characteristic
ofthe class of writings known as apocalypses, and the strongly-marked
apocalyptic character of the ideas and imagery has impressed nearly
all commentators. There has perhaps been a tendency to exaggerate
this feature ; if we compare the passage with a typical apocalypse, like
the book of Daniel, the differences are certainly more striking than the
resemblances. In religious importance and depth the chapters are
second to nothing in the prophets. Two great truths in particular, the
universality of salvation and the hope of immortality, stand out with
a clearness and boldness of conception nowhere surpassed in the Old
Testament. The critical questions which arise in connexion with these chapters
are so intricate, and depend so much on the explanation of obscure
allusions, that it will be convenient to economise space by postponing
the consideration of them until the detailed exposition is finished.
Ch. XXIV. The day of Judgment and its
premonitory signs.
The chapter is mainly an announcement of the last judgment, but
partly also a gloomy survey of the actual state of the world. The writer

180 ISAIAH, XXIV. [v. I.
24 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh
it waste,
feels that he is living in the last days, and in the universal wretchedness
and confusions of the age he seems to discern the "beginning of
sorrows." His thoughts glide almost imperceptibly from the one point
of view to the other, now describing the distress and depression which
exist, and now the more terrible visitation which is imminent. It is
only at v. 21 that the transition is finally made to the absolute language
of prophecy. The line of thought is as follows :
vv. 1 — 3. The prophecy opens with a "word" of Jehovah, —the
announcement of an imminent and sweeping catastrophe affecting the
whole earth, and involving all ranks and classes of society in a common
destruction. vv. 4 — 9. The earth is described as withering under a curse, because
of the universal depravity and guilt of its inhabitants (4 — 6). Wine
and music, the customary tokens of social enjoyment, have ceased ; life
has lost its zest; the world is profoundly unhappy (7 — 9).
vv. 10 — 12 depict the desolation and misery of an unnamed city,
which, however, is but typical ofthe state of things everywhere.
v. 13. Resuming the language of prophecy, the writer foretells, under
an image borrowed from Isaiah, the almost complete extermination of
the race of men (cf. v. 6).
vv. 14 — 16. Here 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" (Driver).
Yet, under the influence of his immediate surroundings, he feels that
such rejoicing is premature; and the response of his heart is a cry of
agony. For he knows that judgment has not yet had its perfect work ;
and accordingly, in
vv. 17 — 20, he returns to his main theme, accumulating images of
destruction, in order to set forth the appalling magnitude of the
catastrophe about to overwhelm the earth.
vv. 21 — 23. Here the prophecy reaches its climax in the announce
ment of Jehovah's appearance to vanquish the powers of evil in heaven
and in the high places of the world, and to establish His everlasting
throne in visible splendour on Mount Zion.
1 — 3 briefly announce the theme of the whole discourse, a final and
universal judgment on the world.
1. Behold, the Lord maketh. ..waste] The construction in Heb. is
the fut. instans, — "is about to empty." The metaphor of the verse
(cf. Nah. ii. 10) is exceedingly expressive, the words being "those
which were used for cleaning a dirty dish" (G. A. Smith). Cf. 2 Ki.
xxi. 13. The language exhibits the fondness for assonance which is a
marked peculiarity of the writer's style, far in excess of anything of the
kind in Isaiah.
the earth] Not "the land" (R.V. marg.) of Judah or Palestine.
" The prophecy leaps far beyond all particular or national con
ditions."

vv. 2—5.] ISAIAH, XXIV.

And turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants thereof.
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest ; 2
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress ;
As with the buyer, so with the seller ;
As with the lender, so with the borrower ;
As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury
to him.
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled : 3
For the Lord hath spoken this word.
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, ^
The world languisheth and fadeth away,
The haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; s
Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.

2. The judgment affects all classes alike, without distinction of
rank or fortune.
as with the people .. .priest] Cf. Hos. iv. 9. It would hardly be safe
to infer from this proverbial expression that at the time of the author
the priests formed the aristocracy of the Jewish people. the
buyer... the seller] Ez. vii. 12. the taker ...the giver of usury]
Jer. xv. 10.
3. For land read earth as vv. 1,4, &c.
4 — 6. The earth lies under a curse on account of the wickedness of
its inhabitants.
4. mourneth.. .languisheth .. fadeth away] Another instance of paro
nomasia in the original. Cf. ch. xxxiii. 9; Hos. iv. 3; Joel i. 10.
the haughty people] Lit. " the height of the people," i.e. the noblest
of the people. It is the only case where the word is so used (though
cf. Eccles. x. 6).
5. The earth also is defiled (literally, profaned) under the inhabitants
thereof] That the land of Israel is profaned by the sins of its people,
is a prominent idea in the O.T. ; the conception is here extended to
the whole earth. The condition of the world resembles that which
preceded the Deluge (Gen. vi. n).
changed the ordinance] Rather, disregarded (lit. " passed by ") the
ordinance. the everlasting covenant] The expression is taken from Gen. ix. 16,
and refers to the covenant made after the flood with Noah and his
family as representatives of the human race. The sin of the world lies
in the violation of these fundamental dictates of morality, especially the

182 ISAIAH, XXIV. [vv. 6— n.
i Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,
And they that dwell therein are desolate :
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
And few men left.
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, '
All the merryhearted do sigh.
i The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that
rejoice endeth,
The joy of the harp ceaseth.
' They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
> The city of confusion is broken down :
Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
There is a crying for wine in the streets ;
law against murder, which is the principal stipulation of the Noachic
covenant (Gen. ix. 5, 6). The conception is probably a late one.
6. hath the (or a) curse devoured the earth] Cf. Zech. v. 3.
are desolate) Render with R.V., are found guilty.
the inhabitants of the earth are burned] or burn under the curse,
which is the expression of the Divine wrath. The verb (hdrar) means
"to glow" (Ez. xxiv. 11). or "be parched" (Job xxx. 30), not "be
burned up."
few men left] Desolating and protracted wars have reduced the
population of all countries ; but the process of extermination is not yet
at an end (see v. 1 3).
7 — 9. Joy has vanished from the earth.
7. Cf. Joel i. 10, 12.
8, 9. On the use of music at feasts, along with wine, seech, v. 11, 12;
Am. vi. 5. The verbs in v. 9 should be rendered in the present tense.
. 10 — 12. Even the " city, usually the scene of busy and joyous life,
shares in the universal sadness. It is difficult to say whether a particular
city is meant, or whether the word is used collectively for cities in
general. The fulness of the picture gives the' impression that the writer
has a particular city before his mind, although it stands as a type of
many others throughout the world. If this be so, it is most natural to
refer the description to Jerusalem, where the prophecy seems to have
been written.
10. The city of confusion] (or of chaos, Gen. i. 2) need not mean
"the city destined to become a chaos," still less "the city of idolatry,"
which of course would be epithets inapplicable to Jerusalem. It may
simply be equivalent to " the wasted city."
every house. ..come in] (cf. ch. xxiii. 1) i.e. the surviving inhabitants
have barred their doors, suspicious of the intrusion of unbidden guests.
11. a crying for wine] Rather, as R. V. : a crying because of the
wine. The word for streets, meaning strictly "that which is without,"
is by some rendered "fields"; but this is less natural.

vv. 12—15.] ISAIAH, XXIV. 183
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
In the city is left desolation, 12
And the gate is smitten with destruction.
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among 13
the people,
There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree,
And as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing, 14
For the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud
from the sea.
Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, 15
the mirth ofthe earth is gone] Lit. "gone into exile."
12. In the city is left desolation] after its mirth has gone into banish
ment. 13. The whole human race must perish, with the exception of an
insignificant remnant. Render: For so shall it be in the midst of
the earth among the peoples as at the beating of an olive-tree, as
the after-gleaning when the vintage is over. The images are
borrowed from ch. xvii. 6, and are used in the same sense.
14 — 16. Already, indeed, the prophet can hear songs of praise as
cending from distant parts of the earth, hailing the dawn of a better day;
but he himself cannot share these enthusiastic hopes. It is not likely
that this representation is purely ideal. Events must have occurred
which excited the premature expectation of an immediate deliverance.
It is difficult to conceive the historical situation which is presupposed.
The most natural supposition will be that the singers referred to are
Israelites of the Dispersion, who follow with sympathetic interest the
development of some great crisis in the fortunes of the people of God,
but whose vision is unable to perceive the darker signs of the times
which are manifest to the prophet. A more exact determination of
the circumstances must depend on the date which is found best to
harmonise all the indications of the prophecy.
14. They shall lift up their voice] Rather : These lift up their voice.
The pronoun at the beginning is emphatic and stands in contrast to the
"I" oft*. 16.
they shall sing, for the majesty...] Better (following the accents) they
shout: for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud, &c. The last
words from the sea (i.e. the Mediterranean) point to the West as the
quarter whence the songs of triumph proceed. Cf. " in the coasts," v. 15.
15. The words are those of the hymn of praise from over the sea, as
is shewn by the particle Wherefore, referring to the unexpressed cause
of rejoicing.
in the fires] This gives no sense. R.V. has in the east; strictly
"the (regions of) lights," which is the translation adopted by the
majority of commentators. The idea would then be that the West calls

184 ISAIAH, XXIV. [vv. 16—19.
Even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles
of the sea.
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard
songs, even glory to the righteous.
But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me !
The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ;
Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very trea
cherously.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare,
Are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from
the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit;
And he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit
shall be taken in the snare :
For the windows from on high are open,
And the foundations of the earth do shake.
1 The earth is utterly broken down,
The earth is clean dissolved,
on the East to join in the praise of Jehovah. But the form does not
occur elsewhere and is not improbably written by mistake for "coasts,"
which is repeated in the next line in accordance with what is called ' the
ascending rhythm.'
the LORD God of Israel] The singers, therefore, are in all proba
bility Israelites.
in the isles] in the coasts.
16. Other voices from the uttermost part (strictly, "the skirt") of
the earth are heard singing " Glory to the righteous" i.e. the righteous
people, Israel. But these jubilant utterances of his more fortunately
situated fellow-believers only extort from the prophet a cry of despair.
My leanness] Lit. "emaciation to me," hence R.V. "I pine away."
the treacherous dealers...] Cf. ch. xxi. 2, xxxiii. 1. Assonance is
here carried to an extreme : "deceivers deceive, yea with deceit do
deceivers deceive."
17 — 20. This description of the judgment on the earth and its
inhabitants seems lo connect immediately with v. 13.
17, 18 a recur almost verbatim in Jer. xlviii. 43 f. (cf. also Am. v. 19).
18 b — 20 describe the physical convulsions which accompany the day
of Jehovah.
the windows from on high are opened] An allusion to the story of
the Deluge (Gen. vii. 11, viii. 2). The rest of the imagery is based oil
the phenomena of the earthquake.
19. is clean dissolved] Better, is utterly shivered. For is moved
render staggereth.

vv. 20—22.] ISAIAH, XXIV. 185
The earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall be removed like a cottage;
And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
And it shall fall, and not rise again.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones
that are on high,
And the kings of the earth upon the earth.
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are .
gathered in the pit,
And shall be shut up in the prison,
And after many days shall they be visited.
20. reel to and fro like a drunkard] Cf. Ps. cvii. 27.
shall be removed like a cottage] Better as in R.V. shall be moved to
and fro like a hut. ' The word for "hut " is that used in ch. i. 8 of the
watchman's frail shelter in the cucumber-field. It might here be fitly
rendered "hammock."
the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it) The material fabric
of the earth is as it were crushed beneath the accumulated guilt of its
inhabitants (cf. u. 5, xxvi. 21).
it shall fall, and not rise again] Apparently a citation from Am. v. 2.
21 — 23. The judgment on the powers of evil, and the enthronement
of Jehovah on Mount Zion.
21. the host ofthe high ones that are on high] Lit. the host of the
height in the height. The "host of- the height?' is equivalent to the
"host of heaven" (Jer. xxxiii. 22; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Neh. ix. 6); but
(as these passages shew) the expression may be used either of the stars or
ofthe angels. It is impossible to say which sense is intended here, or
whether both are combined. That celestial beings of some kind are
meant appears clearly from the emphatic contrast with the "kings of
the earth" in the second half of the verse. The heavenly bodies, con
ceived by the ancients as animated, and as influencing the destinies
of men, were objects of false worship, and so might be represented as
part of the evil system of things which has to be overthrown. On the
other hand the idea of patron angels of the various nationalities
appears in the later literature (Dan. x. 13, 20, 21, xii. 1 ; Ecclus. xvii. 17)
and these, as mysteriously related to the earthly sovereignties, might
also be thought of. (On a similar conception in Ps. lviii., lxxxii. , see
Cheyne's Bampton Lectures, pp. 120, 337-)
22. after many days shall they be visited] See Jude 6, "reserved in
everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day"
(cf. 2 Pet. ii. 4); and the following passages from the book of Enoch
(ch. xviii. 14, 16). "This. ..place. ..serves as a prison for the stars
of heaven and the host of heaven. ..And he was wroth with them and
bound them unto the time when their guilt should be complete in the

186 ISAIAH, XXIV. XXV. [v. 23.
1 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun
ashamed,
When the Lord of hosts shall reign
In mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
And before his ancients gloriously.
year of the secret." (See also Enoch xxi. 6.) It is true that the verb
"visited" may bear a favourable sense, and many commentators prefer
that sense here. But this is opposed both to the tenor of the passage
and the analogy of eschatological representations.
23. the moon shall be confounded. ..ashamed] i.e. shall "pale their
ineffectual fires " before the light of Jehovah's presence (see ch. Ix. 19).
A punishment of the sun and moon, as representatives of the "host of
heaven," is not to be thought of. The words "moon" and "sun" are
poetic, signifying respectively "the white" and "the hot." (Cf. ch.
xxx. 26.)
the LORD of hosts shall reign] Lit. "hath proclaimed Himself king."
before his ancients gloriously) Render with R.V. marg. before his
ancients (elders) shall be glory. There is an allusion to the Theophany
seen by the seventy elders of Israel at Mount Sinai, recorded in Ex.
xxiv. 9, 10. It is significant that the representatives of the redeemed
community who stand nearest to Jehovah are not a king and princes,
as in ch. xxxii. 1, nor priests, as in Ezekiel's Temple-vision, but a
council of elders.
Ch. XXV. Songs and Prophecies of Redemption.
The chapter is made up of three distinct sections: —
(1) w. 1 — 5. A psalm of thanksgiving celebrating the downfall of
some heathen city, and a signal deliverance extended to Israel.
(2) vv. 6 — 8. A prophecy of the Messianic dispensation, under the
figure of a feast spread for all nations in Mount Zion. These verses are
obviously the direct continuation of ch. xxiv.
(3) w. 9 — 12. Another hymn of praise, composed in prospect of
the extinction of Moab.
The occurrence of lyrical outbursts such as (1) and (3) constitutes one
of the critical problems presented by this difficult prophecy. Two views
are possible, (a) These passages (and others of a similar character)
may belong to the original plan of the work, and may have been intro
duced by the author himself to mark the various stages in the great
drama which unfolds itself before his prophetic vision. In this case we
must suppose that he assumes an ideal stand-point in the future, from
which he expresses the emotions of those who shall look back on the
fulfilment of his predictions. Or, (b) they may be independent com
positions which have been inserted in the text by an editor or scribe.
(See the Concluding Note, p. 203.)
1 — 5. The writer of the psalm, speaking in the name of the believing
community, praises God for His wonderful providence (v. 1) manifested

vv. 1—4.] ISAIAH, XXV. 187
O Lord, thou art my God ; 25
I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;
For thou hast done wonderful things;
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
For thou hast made of a city a heap ; *
Of a defenced city a ruin :
A palace of strangers to be no city;
It shall never be built.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, 3
The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, 4
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat,
in the overthrow of Israel's enemies (2, 3) and in the mercy vouchsafed
to the nation in a time of trouble (4, 5).
1. The first half of the verse recalls in every phrase the language of
the Psalter. Cf. Ps. lxiii. i, cxlv. 1, cxxxviii. 2, liv. 6, cxviii. 28.
thou hast done wonderful things] as Ex. xv. 11; Ps. lxxvii. 14,
Ixxviii. 12. These "wonders" are the execution (in the recent ex
perience of the nation) of counsels of old; i.e. purposes long since
conceived and revealed. The last clause is perhaps to be translated :
(even) counsels from afar in faithfulness and fidelity.
2. The fall of a hostile city. The word " city" can hardly in this
case be understood collectively, although the terms of the description
are too vague to shew what historic city is intended. AH that appears
is that it is a city which, in the age of the prophet, symbolised the
hostility of the world to the kingdom of God; its identification will
depend on the date assigned to the prophecy. If for instance the
author lived during or shortly after the Exile, the "defenced city" would
be most naturally identified with Babylon (see however on the next
verse). a palace of strangers] Better, of aliens (as in ch. i. 7).
3. The effect of this judgment on the heathen world. The probable
rendering is, Therefore (many) a strong people shall glorify Thee,
(many) a city of terrible nations shall fear Thee. If a single city
were meant we should have a second representative centre of heathenism,
alongside of the " city " of v. 2, and the view that Babylon is there re
ferred to could no longer be maintained. It is easier, however, on
account of the following plurals (in the Heb. "fear" is pi.), to under
stand the word here in a collective sense.
4, 5. Its happy consequences lor Israel. The "for" may reier back
to v. 1 or lo v. 3 ; in either case the judgment on the oppressive city
is regarded as a signal proof of Jehovah's protecting care over His
people. For strength render stronghold, as in R.V.

1 88 ISAIAH, XXV. [vv. 5, 6.
When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm
against the wall.
Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers,
As the heat in a dry place ;
Even the heat with the shadow of a cloud :
The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people
A feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well
refined.
when the blast .. .wall] Lit., "for the blast ofthe terrible ones is as
rain of a wall." The construction is too condensed to be natural.
A better rendering would be "as rain of winter" (reading qor for
qir). But the whole clause is justly suspected by some critics of
being a gloss, on account of its prosaic character, and its doubtful
appropriateness in the context.
6, Render : As heat in a dry place (cf. xxxii. 2) Thou humblest
the pride of aliens; (as) heat by the shadow of a cloud the song of
the tyrants is brought low. The meaning is that as naturalheat,
however intense, is abated by an intervening cloud, so Jehovah has
means of bringing to an end the fiercest oppression to which His people
can be exposed.
6 — 8. This section attaches itself directly to the concluding thought
of ch. xxiv. The feast of v. 6 may be regarded as a coronation-festival,
inaugurating the reign of Jehovah on Mount Zion (xxiv. 23), although
of course the state of things which is thus symbolised is not transitory
but eternal. What is signified is the admission of all nations to com
munion with the one true God, and, as a consequence of this, the
cessation of all the evils of human life. The whole passage, standing
out as it does from a gloomy background of judgment and terror, is one
of the most remarkable and fascinating in the Old Testament.
6. in this mountain] Mount Zion (cf. xxiv. 23), shewing that the
author lived in Jerusalem.
a feast (lit. "banquet") of fat things .. full of marrow] The fat parts
of the animal, which in ordinary sacrifice were reserved for the deity,
were regarded in the East as the choicest delicacy. The same image
is used in Ps. xxxvi. 8, lxiii. 5 of the highest spiritual enjoyment iii
fellowship with God.
wines on the lees well refined] i.e. wine that has been left to stand
long on its sediment, in order that its strength, flavour, bouquet, &c,
might be enhanced by repeated fermentation (cf. Jer. xlviii. n; Zeph.
i. 12). Such old wines had to be strained before being used; hence the
expression "well-refined" in E.V. The choice of terms in the Hebr.
is partly dictated by the assonances : fat things corresponding to wines
on the lees, and full of marrow to well refined. For the image of the

vv. 7, 8.] ISAIAH, XXV. 189
And he will destroy in this mountain
The face of the covering cast over all people,
And the vail that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death in victory; i
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces ;
And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from
off all the earth :
feast as an emblem of the blessings of the kingdom of God cf. ch.
Iv. 1, 2; Ps. xxiii. 5; Matt. viii. 11, xxii. 2 ff. ; Luke xiv. 15 ff. ;
Rev. xix. 9.
7. the face of the covering... nations] More literally : the surface of
the veil that veils all the peoples, and the covering that is woven
over all the nations. The phrase "surface of the veil" is peculiar, but
a similar expression is found in Job xli. 13. It is probably to be
explained as gen. of apposition — "the veil-surface." The veil is not,
as might be supposed, a symbol of spiritual blindness (2 Cor. iii. 14 ff.),
but of sorrow ; the figure being taken from the practice of, covering, the
head in token of mourning (see 2 Sam. xv. 30, xix. 4 ; Jer. xiv. 3, 4 ;
Esth. vi. 12). The prophet has already spoken of the profound wretch
edness in which the world is plunged (ch. xxiv. 7 — 12).
8. He will swallow up... victory] Rather: He hath abolished death
for ever. Cf. 2 Tim. i. 10. The A.V. follows the rendering. of St Paul
in 1 Cor. xv. 54 (Ka.Tcir6$t] 6 Bdvaros els vIkos), but "swallow up" is
needlessly literal, and "in victory" comes from the apostle's familiarity
with Aramaic. The sense, of course, is correctly given. The words
contain the clearest expression of the hope of immortality to be found
in the prophetic writings. The special contribution of prophecy to that
doctrine is reached through the conception of the abolition of death as
a hindrance to the perfect blessedness of the Messianic age. , Although
the prophets rarely touch on this theme, we can see that it was only by
degrees and at a late period that the idea of immortal life became ail
element in their conception of the kingdom of God. The first step
towards it was the anticipation of a great extension of human life, as
in Zech. viii. 4 ; Is. lxv. 26, 22. From this to the belief in an absolute
annihilation of death is no doubt a great advance, but the advance is
made in the passage before us. It might be questioned if the resur
rection of those who had fallen asleep before the advent of the Messianic
kingdom is here contemplated ; but since that doctrine is clearly taught
in the next chapter (v. 19), the question has little importance.
and the Lord God will wipe away tears...] — the traces of past sorrow.
"When Jehovah removes the veil he sees the tears and wipes them
away" (Duhm). Perhaps no words that ever were uttered have sunk
deeper into the aching heart of humanity than this exquisite image of
the Divine tenderness; cf. Rev. xxi. 4.
the rebuk : (render , reproach) of his people... earth] a reversal of the
doom pronounced in Deut. xxviii. 37. The later Jews keenly felt their

190

ISAIAH, XXV. [vv. 9— M.

For the Lord hath spoken it.
5 And it shall be said in that day,
Lo, this is our God ;
We have waited for him, and he will save us :
This is the Lord; we have waited for him,
We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
a For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest,
And Moab shall be trodden down under him,
Even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
1 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of
them,
As he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to
swim :
accumulated national misfortunes as a religious disgrace, a reflection on
the power of their God ; Joel ii. 17 ; Ps. xliv. 14 ff, lxxix. 10, &c. Comp.
with this passage, Zeph. iii. 1 8 ff.
9 — 12. The humiliation of Moab. The heading in v. 9 marks this
as a distinct section. It might indeed be supposed, from the phrase
"in this mountain" in v. 10, and the use of future tenses in 10 — 12,
that the song of praise ends with v. 9 and that 10 — 12 are the con
tinuation of v. 8. But this is unlikely. The express naming of Moab
is not in the manner of the main apocalyptic prophecy, while to take
Moab as a symbolic name for the enemies of God in general is hazardous,
as being opposed to Old Testament usage. The violent contrast between
the spirit of vv. 6 — 8 and that of w. 10 — 12 rather favours the supposition
that the latter was a separate composition. In any event, we must
assume that so passionate an outburst of indignation against Moab was
called forth by some special circumstance, although it is not possible
to connect it with any known historic occasion.
9. Lo, this is our God. ..save us] Or, Behold our God on whom we
have hoped that he should save us. So in the next clause: on whom
we have hoped.
10. The fate of Moab is contrasted with that of Israel. It is as if
one hand of Jehovah rested lightly and protectingly on Zion while the
other crushes and extinguishes Moab.
under him] means " under himself," i.e. in the place where he (Moab)
stands. for the dunghill] R.V. in the water of the dunghill rightly follows
the consonantal text in opposition to the Massoretic -tradition. But it
should have at the same time substituted "dung-pit" for "dunghill."
This word (madmenah) is perhaps a play on the name Madmen (Jer.
xlviii. 2); it also resembles the word for "straw" (mathben).
11. The figure of Moab trying to swim in the dung-pit is sufficiently
graphic, if somewhat repulsive.
in the midst of them] should be (as in R.V.) in the midst thereof, i.e.
of the dung-pit, although there is an enallage generis.

vv. 12; I.] ISAIAH, XXV. XXVI. 191
And he shall bring down their pride
Together with the spoils of their hands.
And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he n
bring down,
Lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
In that day shall this song be sung in the land of 26
Judah ;
We have a strong city;
and he (Jehovah) shall bring down his pride] See on ch. xvi. 6.
together with the spoils of their hands] Perhaps : in spite of the wiles
of his hands. The expression is strange.
12. the fortress... walls] Better perhaps, the towering fortification
of thy walls. This verse has suggested the identification of the city
of xxv. 2, xxvi. 5 f. with a city of Moab. The expressions of the verse
are certainly remarkably parallel to those of xxvi. 5, to which Duhm
thinks that it was a marginal variant. Other commentators also have
surmised that it is misplaced.
shall he bring down, &*c] R.V. more literally, hath he brought
down, &c. The perfects, however, may be those of certainty.
Cii. XXVI. 1 — 19. The Nation's Prayer for a more
complete Salvation.
(1) vv. 1 — 6. The nation praises God for the strength and safety of
Jerusalem, henceforth to be the dwelling place of a righteous, truth-
keeping people (1, 2); for the steadfast faith which is now rewarded
with peace (3, 4), and for the overthrow of a proud hostile city (5, 6).
(2) vv. 7 — 10. The enthusiasm of the opening verses here gives
place to a more subdued and wistful mood. Israel still waits with
ardent longing for the accomplishment of Jehovah's judgments (8, 9 a),
knowing well that only by the discipline of judgment will the inhabitants
of the world learn righteousness (9 b, 10).
(3) vv. 11 — 15. Meditation passes into prayer, — first for the destruc
tion of enemies (11), then for peace to Israel (12a); and this again into
a retrospect of the past history of the nation, in which the writer thank
fully recognises tokens of the Divine presence and help (12 b). Much
has been achieved; foreign tyrants have been swept away (13, 14), the
people has been increased and its territory extended (15).
(4) w. 16—18. But the past has its failures also, and the effect of
them is felt in the present. Israel has learned prayer through severe
discipline (16); yet how vain and ineffectual have all its pain and effort
been ! (17, 18). And apparently the chief source of disappointment is
the scantiness of the population that remains on the eve of the final
glory. (5) v. 19. The last verse comes on us almost with a shock of sur
prise, so far does it seem to exceed the aspiration to which it is the

192 ISAIAH, XXVI. [w. 2, 3.

Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Open ye the gates,
That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may
enter in.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on thee:
Because he trusieth in thee.
answer. It is a promise of life from the dead in the most literal sense,
a resurrection of those members of the community whom death had
seemed to rob of their share in the hope of Israel.
It is difficult to interpret the situation which gave rise to this deeply
interesting meditation. The nation has emerged from a season of great
trouble and oppression, and gratefully acknowledges the mercies it
now enjoys, but this feeling is accompanied by confession'of failure and
an eager longing for a fuller experience of the Divine blessing; Such a
state of mind is in itself perfectly intelligible; the difficulty is that it is
hardly appropriate to the ideal future standpoint to which the psalm is
assigned by the heading. "In that day" — the day of Jehovah's king
dom — the praises of Israel must surely rise higher than the sombre and
almost melancholy strains that appear in the latter part of this poem.
Yet it seems impossible to regard the passage as other than * unity.
The verse-connexion is as a rule very close, and just at those points
where some critics have recognised a discontinuity in the thought (e.g.
after v. 7, or v. 10 or v. 16) the phraseology presents indications of a
studied transition. The poem indeed is remarkable for its concatenated
structure ; that is to say, a word or idea is taken up from one verse and
suggests a new thought for the next (vv. ii., 3f., 7f., 8f., 9f, 10 f.,
17 f). Partly from this peculiarity it is difficult to trace all the windings
of the thought; and clearly defined sections do not exist.
1, 2. These verses might almost have been written for a dedication
of the fortifications of Jerusalem. Cf. Ps. xlviii. i2f.
1. salvation will God appoint... bulwarks] Two interpretations are
possible: (a) "Salvation will He appoint in place of walls and moat"
(see below), implying that Jerusalem has no material defences, but only
the supernatural protection ("salvation") assured by Jehovah (as Ps.
cxxv. 2 ; Zech. ii. 4, 5). (b) "He appoints for salvation (her) walls and
moat" (as ch. Ix. 18). The cilice depends on whether Jerusalem is or
is not conceived as a fortified city. Since "gates" are mentioned in
the next verse, (b) seems more suitable. The word for bulwarks (a
sing.) is usually understood to mean a low outer wall separated by some
space from the wall proper (reix°s "ai ireplTeix°s m the LXX.); other
authorities think it means a ditch or glacis.
2. Comp. Ps. cxviii. 19, 20; Rev. xxii. 14. " Truth " here means
"troth," fidelity (Deut. xxxii.. 20).
3. A stricter rendering might be: A steadfast disposition thou
guardest in constant peace (lit. "peace, peace"), for it is trustful
towards thee (see R.V. maig.). The word for "disposition" is else-

vv. 4—8.] ISAIAH, XXVI. 193
Trust ye in the Lord for ever: <
For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength :
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; 5
The lofty city, he layeth it low;
He layeth it low, even to the ground;
He bringeth it even to the dust.
The foot shall tread it down, 6
Even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
The way of the just is uprightness : 7
Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we 8
waited for thee;
The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the
remembrance of thee.
where translated "imagination" (e.g. Gen. vi. 5, viii. 21). Literally it
means a "thing formed" (as in ch. xxix. 16), and thus may be used
tropically either of that which is formed by the mind (imagination) or
(as here) of the constitution of the mind itself, — the inclination or
character. 4. for in the LORD JEHO VAH is everlasting strength] Render :
for Yah Yahveh (see on xii. 2) is an everlasting Rock (lit. " a Rock of
Ages "). The preposition in may be omitted in English (Bith essentiae).
5, 6. Jehovah has proved himself to be a Rock by the destruction of
"the lofty city"; see on ch. xxv. •*. The principal pause in v. 5 should
be after the word "city."
6. The poor and needy are the Jews, as in ch. xxv. 4. The oppressed
triumph over their oppressors. But that they are actually the instru
ments of Jehovah's vengeance on the "lofty city" is not necessarily
implied. 7, 8. That the way of the righteous is made straight by Jehovah, is
a fundamental principle of religion (Prov. iii. 6, xv. 19, &c), but the
principle is upheld only by Jehovah moving in His own way of judg
ment; therefore the "righteous nation" has waited impatiently for His
judicial interposition.
7. The verse should probably be read : The way of the righteous is
stralghtness; the path ofthe righteous Thou directest straight. The
"way" of the righteous is here not his inward life-purpose, but his out
ward lot. dost weigh] lit. "levellest"; as in Prov. iv. 26,
v. 6, 21 (R.V.).
8. Yea, in the way... for thee] i.e. have stood by the way along
which we expected and desired Jehovah to appear — in judgment.
The rest ofthe verse should be translated as in R.V., to thy name and
to thy memorial is the desire of [our] soul (or, as Cheyne, "heart
felt desire"). "Name" and "memorial" are synonymous, as in Ex. iii.
15; Ps. cxxxv. 1 3 ; Jehovah's memorial is that by which He makes Him
self to be remembered (see v. 13).
ISAIAH 1 ;

194 ISAIAH, XXVI. [vv. 9—12.
With my soul have I desired thee in the night;
Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early:
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not
learn righteousness :
In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see :
But they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at
the people;
Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
i Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us :
For thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
9. The first half of the verse completes the thought of v. 8 ; the
second is linked to v. 10. The speaker is the individualised community.
will I seek thee early] Rather, I seek thee earnestly.
9 b, 10.- The motive of this eager longing for judgment is the convic
tion that only by this method can the world be brought to the practice
of righteousness.
10. the wicked probably includes both the heathen and the apostate
Israelite. the land of uprightness is the Holy Land; even there, surrounded by
the institutions of a pure religion, the wicked outrages the dictates
of morality, having no eyes for the majesty of Jehovah.
11. To the eye of faith the lifting up of Jehovah's hand has been
manifest in the recent history of Israel, but, as in Isaiah's time, there
are some who "regard not the work of Jehovah nor see the operation
of his hands " (ch. v. 12); and for them further judgments are necessary.
The first part of the verse is a categorical statement: Jehovah, thy
hand hath been lifted up, [yet] they see not.
but they shall see. . .people] Lit. , Let them see (and be ashamed) [thy]
Jealousy for the people; i.e. "let them be put to shame when they
see, &c." The clause "and be ashamed" is a parenthesis, separating
the verb from its object. " Jealousy for the people " is gen. of the obj.,
as Ps. lxix. 9. For the idea cf. Zeph. i. 18; Ez. xxxvi. 5. Similarly,
the fire of thine enemies means "the fire (reserved) for thine enemies."
12. thou wilt ordain] or "mayest thou ordain. " peace for us] cf.
v. 3-
for thou also hast wrought...] Better: for even our whole work
thou hast wrought for us ; all that we have achieved — inadequate
though it be (see v. 17) — has been due to thy working for us. A similar
thought underlies the prayer of Ps. xc. 16, 17, where the manifestation
of Jehovah's work is equivalent to His establishing the work of Israel's
hands.

vv. 13—15.] ISAIAH, XXVI. 195
O Lord our God,
Other lords besides thee have had dominion over us:
But by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
They are dead, they shall not live;
They are deceased, they shall not rise:
Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
Thou hast increased the nation : thou art glorified :
Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the
earth.

13, 14. The long heathen domination is now a thing of the past ; the
oppressors have gone to the realm of shades, and shall trouble the world
no more.
13. other lords besides thee] That the reference is to foreign despotisms,
and not as some have thought to false gods, may be regarded as certain.
The rule of the heathen over the people of God was an invasion of
Jehovah's sovereignty, it was inconsistent with the ideal of the Theocracy,
and hindered the perfect realisation of the Divine will in the national life.
by thee only... name] The sense appears to be: "it is through thy
help alone that we can now celebrate thy name." The construction is
not very clear.
14. Render: The dead shall not live, the Shades (Rephd'lm, as in
xiv. 9) shall not rise, &c. In the form of a general proposition the
writer expresses Israel's sense of security with regard to those "other
lords" who have now vanished from the earth. The idea is probably
suggested by ch. xiv. 9ff. There is no contradiction between this
verse and v. 19, nor is there any evidence of a merely nascent belief in
the possibility of a resurrection; because the subjects in the two verses
are different. The resurrection of v. 19 is distinctly represented as
miraculous, and is limited to members of the covenant people; over
those who are unvisited by the life-giving "dew" of Jehovah, the sway
of death is absolute.
therefore...] i.e. in token that they shall never reappear, all traces of
their supremacy have been obliterated.
all their memory] every memorial of them.
15. Thou hast increased the nation] Probably an allusion to ch.
ix. 3. There is no justification for taking the perfects here as
prophetic perfects, or for understanding them in a precative sense.
A real increase of the nation and its territory is regarded as already
effected ; this is one of the successes which Jehovah has wrought for His
people. thou art glorified] thou hast glorified thyself, — by thus exalting
Israel. thou hadst removed... earth] Render with R.V. , thou hast enlarged
all the borders of the land. 13 — 2

196 ISAIAH, XXVI. [vv. 16- 18.
Lord, in trouble have they visited thee,
They poured out a prayer when thy chastening was
upon them.
Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the
time of her delivery,
Is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs ;
So have we been in thy sight, O Lord.
We have been with child, we have been in pain,
We have as it were brought forth wind;
16 — 18. The poet plunges abruptly into a train of reflection on the
depressing side of the nation's experience.
16. in trouble (" distress" or "straits," as ch. xxv. 4) have they visited
thee] i.e. sought after thee. The verb might also mean "missed thee'-'
— felt their need of thee. This was no doubt a spiritual gain, but the
author's complaint is that so little outward benefit has accrued from the
nation's discipline of sorrow.
they poured out... upon them] A difficult clause. The rendering of
A.V. (and R.V.) is perhaps the best that can be made ofthe received
text, but it can hardly be defended. The root-meaning ofthe word for
"prayer" is "whisper," but in usage it is confined to the sense of "en
chantment." It is questionable if it could mean "whispered prayer,"
although the cognate verb in 2 Sam. xii. 19 and Ps. xli. 7 might be
appealed to in support of this view. Moreover, the verbal form " they
poured out" is anomalous, and the syntax of " when thy chastisement
was upon them" is at least hard. The only alternative translation that
requires notice is that of Koppe (adopted by several good commenta
tors): "the binding of a spell was thy chastisement unto them," i.e. it
acted on them with the potency of a spell. The construction there is
easy enough and the textual change is only in the vowel-points ; but the
noun "binding" ("pressure") does not occur, and the simile is perhaps
too bold.
17. The agony of the crisis is compared to the pangs of a woman in
travail, — a common figure, Hos. xiii. 13; Mic. iv. 10, &c.
in thy sight] Or, because of thee — Thy chastening hand.
18. Retaining the figure the prophet dwells on the abortive issue of
the nation's prayers and sufferings. In the last clause he seems even to
give the figure a closer application. For that sentence is no doubt to be
read as in R.V. marg., neither have inhabitants of the world been
born; i.e. the mother- nation has brought forth no children to people the
world. This sense of the verb "fall" is not found elsewhere in Hebr.,
but it occurs in Arabic (cf. also the Greek tcItctciv and Latin cadere) ;
and here it is demanded by the last clause of v. 19. The complaint (of
an insufficient population) seems at first inconsistent with v. 15, but the
discrepancy belongs to the conflict of feeling which runs through the
poem; a certain degree of prosperity has been attained, but not com
plete and final salvation. It is certainly difficult to imagine such a
complaint projected on the ideal horizon of the future. A~ disappoint-

v. I9-] ISAIAH, XXVI. 197
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;
Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
Thy dead men shall live,
Together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust :
For thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.
ment so peculiar must be begotten of actual experience. Comp. ch.
lxvi. 7 — 9.
we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth] Lit. "we do not
make the land salvations"; i.e. we cannot with all our exertions bring
about a condition of freedom, prosperity, peace, &c.
19. The answer to these utterances of disappointed hopes is the
promise ofthe Resurrection. The speaker throughout is the commu
nity, and the words are addressed to God, with the exception of an
apostrophe to the buried Israelites in the middle of the verse. There
is indeed no decisive argument against the view of those who think that
the first half of the verse expresses the longing of the nation for the
restoration of its dead (" May thy dead live, &c"), and the second the
triumphant assurance of the prophet that the prayer shall be fulfilled.
But it is more probable that the language throughout is that of confident
belief and hope.
Thy dead... arise] Render with R.V., Thy dead shall live, my dead
bodies (collect, in Hebr.) shall arise. The dead saints are at once
Jehovah's dead and Israel's.
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs) Better, for a dew of lights is thy
dew (O Jehovah). Comp. James i. 17. The word means "herbs" in
2 Ki. iv. 39, but the idea is too prosaic for this passage. It is a heavenly,
supernatural, dew that is meant ; as soon as this falls on the dead they
awake to life. Duhm refers to a Talmudic representation of a dew
kept in the seventh heaven which is to descend on the bones of the dead
and quicken them into life. "Light" and "life" are frequently and
naturally associated: Ps. xxxvi. 9, lvi. 13; Job iii. 20, xxxiii. 30; John
i. 4. the earth shall cast out the dead] Render: the earth (or the land) shall
bring forth shades (v. 14). The verbis lit. "cause to fall," but obviously
in the sense explained under v. 1 8.
The doctrine of the resurrection here presented is reached through
the conviction, gradually produced by the long process of revelation,
that the final redemption of Israel could not be accomplished within the
limits of nature. It became clear that the hopes and aspirations engen
dered by the Spirit in believing minds pointed forward to the great
miracle here described, and thus the belief in the resurrection was firmly
bound up with the indestructible hopes of the future of Israel (cf. Rom.
xi. 1 5). The idea is exhibited in a form which is immature in the light
of New Testament teaching, but it practically represents the highest

198 ISAIAH, XXVI. [vv. 20, 21.
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,
And shut thy doors about thee :
Hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
Until the indignation be overpast.
For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
The earth also shall disclose her blood,
And shall no more cover her slain.
development of Old Testament revelation on this subject. The only
passage which is slightly in advance of this is Dan. xii. 2, and even
there a universal resurrection is not taught. Here the hope is
restricted to Israelites (see v. 14) and no doubt to those Israelites who
had departed this life in the faith and fear of God. On the other hand,
the teaching of this verse is quite different from such passages as Hos.
vi. 2 ; Ez. xxxvii. 1 — 14. There rising from the dead is but a figurative
clothing of the idea of national regeneration, whereas there can be no
doubt that here a literal resurrection of individuals is foretold.
Ch. XXVI. 20— XXVII. 13. The Conclusion of the Prophecy.
v. 20 resumes the connexion of the prophetic discourse, interrupted
since xxv. 8; and this continues to the end, broken only by the lyrical
passage, xxvii. 2 — 6. The contents, however, are of a somewhat
mixed character, and the divisions are clearly marked.
(1) xxvi. vv. 20, 21. — A call to the people of God to hide themselves
till the indignation be overpast.
(2) xxvii. v. 1. — Announcement of judgment on the great World-
powers. (3) vv. 2 — 6. — A song of Jehovah concerning His vineyard.
(4) vv. 7 — 11. — The moderation displayed in Jehovah's chastisement
of Israel, and the lesson to be learned from it.
(5) vv. 12, 13. — A prophecy of the restoration of the dispersed of
Israel. 20, 21. The storm of judgment is about to burst on the world, but
it will be of short duration; let the people seclude themselves in the
privacy of their chambers and wait for a glorious salvation (cf. Zeph. ii.
3; Dan. xii. 13).
20. enter. ..and shut thy doors about thee] Matt. vi. 6. There is
nothing, however, to suggest that the words here are a summons to secret
prayer, until the indignation be overpast] Job xiv. 13; Dan. xi. 36.
21. the Lord is coming forth (tut. instans) out of his place] i.e.
heaven. Cf. Mic. i. 3.
the earth also. ..blood] Uncovered blood cries for vengeance (Gen.
iv. 11 ; Ez. xxiv. 7, 8) ; and the earth, by drinking in innocent blood,
seems to conspire with the murderer, by concealing his guilt. Comp.
Job's impassioned cry in xvi. 18.
shall no more cover her slain] The idea here is the same : the

vv. l, 2.] ISAIAH, XXVII. 199
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and 27
strong sword
Shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,
Even leviathan that crooked serpent ;
And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day sing ye unto her, ?
earth will expose the dead bodies as evidence against the perse
cutors. It is at least doubtful if there is any thought of actual re
surrection. 1. The judgment on the ungodly powers of this world, is re
presented symbolically as the destruction of three living monsters by
the sword of Jehovah. It is disputed whether the reference is to the
world-power in general, or to a single Empire, or to three separate
Empires. Assuming that they are distinct the " Dragon that is in the
sea ' is almost certainly an emblem of Egypt (ch. li. 9 ; Ez. xxix. 3,
xxxii. 2; Ps. lxxiv. 13). To the reference of the other two we have
no key. It is of the essence of apocalyptic symbolism to be obscure ;
and it will always be possible, at any date, to find representatives, more
or less suitable, of the three creatures, if the prophet wrote during or
soon after the Exile they might denote Assyria and Babylonia; if at a
later period, perhaps Babylonia and Persia, or even Persia and Greece.
For the sword of Jehovah cf. ch. xxxiv. 5, 6, lxvi. 16; Deut. xxxii.
41 f. ; Ezek. xxi. 4, 5, 9 ff., &c. For sore render hard.
leviathan] The word apparently means "twisted," and is originally
an epithet for the serpent. Although applied (probably) in Job xli. to
the crocodile, it is no doubt mythological in its origin, denoting
(like our " dragon ") a fabulous monster figuring largely in popular
legends. It is so used in Job iii. 8 and perhaps Ps. civ. 26 ; as a
political symbol in Ps. lxxiv. 14 and here.
the piercing serpent] the fugitive serpent. The phrase occurs in
Job xxvi. 1 3, where we have the wide-spread myth of the dragon that
devours the sun (in eclipses, &c). See Dr Davidson's Job, p. 20.
How this astronomical dragon came to be specially connected with any
political power we cannot tell ; but we find an analogous case in the
word Rahab as a symbol for Egypt (see on ch. xxx. 7).
even leviathan that crooked serpent] Render : and Leviathan the
tortuous serpent.
the dragon that is in the sea] The sea means here the Nile, as often :
see on xix. 5.
2 — 6. The song of the vineyard, — the counterpart of ch. v. 1 ff. This
peculiar and perplexing passage has little relation to the context. It
seems to fall into two stanzas ; the first (w. 2 — 4 a) expresses Jehovah's
satisfaction in his vineyard (the Theocratic nation), the second (w. 4 b —
5, which however is obscure) states what He would do if it should
again be injured by wicked men. v. 6 forms an appendix.
2. The verse probably runs thus: In that day — "Pleasant vine-

200

ISAIAH, XXVII. [vv. 3-6.

A vineyard of red wine.
I the Lord do keep it ;
I will water it every moment :
Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
Fury is not in me :
Who would set the briers and thorns against me in
battle ?
I would go through them, I would burn them together.
Or let him take hold of my strength,
That he may make peace with me;
And he shall make peace with me.
He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:
yard ! Sing ye of it." The introductory formula (cf. ch. xxv. 9, xxvi. 1)
is here curtailed to the bare note of time, "In that day"; the song
itself begins with the words "Pleasant vineyard." This is preferable
to making the last expression a part of the introduction. The con
struction of the A.V. is opposed to the order of words in the
original. A vineyard of red wine] The reading here (kerem hemer) is that of
the majority of MSS. But a few MSS. (and indeed the common
printed editions), as well as the LXX. and Targ., have kerem hemed
("pleasant vineyard"), and this as yielding the best sense is generally
adopted by commentators. For the phrase see Am. v. 11.
3. do keep it] Better: am its keeper. For I will water... I will
keep, substitute I water... I keep.
4. Fury is not in me] Or, wrath have I none. These words
naturally go with the first stanza, expressing, as they seem to do,
Jehovah's contentment with the condition of His vineyard.
who would set. ..battle] The phrase "Who will give?" is the well
known Hebrew equivalent of the Latin ulinam, "Would that!"
Hence the R.V. ; 0 that the briers and thorns were against me in
battle I
briers and thorns] (ch. v. 6) must here mean heathen intruders.
The next clause reads as in R.V. : I would march upon them. Cf.
2 Sam. xxiii. 6 f.
5. Or let him take hold, &c] Else must he take hold of my
strength: lit. "my stronghold" or asylum: cf. 1 Kings i. 50, ii. 28.
The figure is relinquished ; the idea expressed being that uncon
ditional surrender to Jehovah on the part of the ungodly is the only
alternative to his annihilation.
The two last clauses let him make peace... differ only in the order
of words, and should be translated alike (see R.V.).
6. The verse is attached to the song, but forms no integral part of
it. It reads as in R.V. : In days to come shall Jacob take root, &c.
By a unique ellipsis the word "days" is omitted in the original ; hence
the mistaken rendering of A.V. , "them that come."

vv. 7—9.] ISAIAH, XXVII.

Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote 7
him?
Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that
are slain by him?
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate 8
with it :
He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east
wind.
By this therefore ' shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged ; 9
and fill the face of the world with fruit] For a contrast see ch. xiv. 21.
The fruitfulness anticipated belongs to the sphere of temporal prosperity,
— teeming population, &c.
7 — -11. A summons to national repentance and reformation. Has
Israel suffered the extremity of Divine punishment as its oppressors
have done (7) ? There is a ground of hope in the moderation dis
played by Jehovah in His chastisement of Israel ; the prospect of
ultimate reconciliation is held out ; and this hope will be realised when
all the monuments of idolatry are erased from the land (9). At present
the city lies desolate, a witness to the sinful blindness of the people and
the estrangement of its Creator (10, 11). The section is full of
difficulties. The words of v. 8 stand in no obvious relation to the
context, and are probably to be regarded (with Duhm) as a marginal
gloss to v. 10. The connexion between v. 9 and v. 10 is also somewhat
obscure. 7. For the thought cf. Jer. x. 24, 25. The interrogations imply,
of course, a negative answer ; Jehovah has not smitten Israel as He has
those that smote it. In the second question the reading of LXX. and
Peshito is to be preferred on account of the parallelism : hath he been
slain according to the slaughter of those that slew him (Israel).
8. A very difficult verse. The first word in the Hebr. is supposed
to be a contracted reduplication of sedh (the third part of an ephah) ;
hence "by seah and sean" = "in exact measure," "dealing out punish
ment in carefully adjusted quantities" (Cheyne and Kay). But this
cannot be right. A better, though still precarious, sense is reached by
the help of a word (sa'sa'a) which the Arabs use in driving animals.
The first half of the verse would thus read : By driving her forth, by
sending her away, thou contendest with her (i.e. Israel). The allusion
is to the Exile, and perhaps the figure may be that of a divorced wife.
The last clause reads : he hath removed (her) with Ms rough blast in
a day of east wind (nearly as R. V.).
9. The condition of restoration and forgiveness. Therefore points
back to the idea of v. 7 — the moderation of Israel's punishment, —
while By this, i.e. ("on this condition") points forward to the end of
the verse, the removal of idolatrous emblems.
be purged] be expiated (R.V. marg.).

ISAIAH. XXVII. [vv. 10-

And this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
When he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones
that are beaten in sunder,
The groves and images shall not stand up.
Yet the defenced city shall be desolate,
And the. habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness:
There shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down,
And consume the branches thereof.
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be
broken off:
The women come, and set them on fire :
For it is a people of no understanding :
Therefore he that made them will not have mercy on
them,
And he that formed them will shew them no favour.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the
river unto the stream of Egypt,
and this is all... sin] Better: and this is the whole fruit of the
taking away of his sin. "Fruit" seems here to mean contemplated
or expected issue, — " the aim."
when he maketh all the stones of the altar] Rather, that he should
make all altar-stones, &c.
the groves and images, &°c] or, the Asherim and sun-pillars (see on
xvii. 8) shall not remain standing.
10, 11. A picture of the desolation of Jerusalem, and the explanation
of it. The commoner view is that the same hostile city as in xxv. 2,
xxvi. 5 is referred to, but the latter part of v. n must refer to Israel.
A partial parallel is found in ch. xiii. 19 ff.
10. Yet the defenced city...] Render with R.V. . For the defenced
city is solitary, an habitation deserted (lit. "expelled") and for
saken, &c. The verbs throughout are in the present tense.
11. women come, and set them on fire) i.e. come thither to gather
fuel. u, people of no understanding] (lit. "not a people of discernment")
because it does not perceive that deliverance is delayed solely by its
continued impenitence (ch. xliv. 18).
12, 13. The return from Exile, — a prophecy of the same character as
ch. xi. 11 — 16.
12. the Lord shall beat off. . . Egypt] Rather : Jehovah shall thresh
out from the corn-ears of the River (the Euphrates) unto (those of) the
brook of Egypt, i.e. all that grows between those limits. The term
"beat out" is applied both to the beating of olives from the tree
(Deut. xxiv. 20) and to the beating out of grain with a staff— a more
careful process than the ordinary methods (xxviii. 27; Jud. vi. 11).

v. 13.] ISAIAH, XXVII. 203
And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children
of Israel.
And it shall come to pass in that day, 1
That the great trumpet shall be blown,
And they shall come which were ready to perish in
the land of Assyria,
And the outcasts in the land of Egypt,
And shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at
Jerusalem.
The latter analogy gives the best sense here. The "brook of Egypt"
is the Wadi el Arish, the south-western frontier of Palestine, this and
the Euphrates being the extreme boundaries of the ideal territory of
Israel (Gen. xv. 18, &c). The meaning is that within this territory
Jehovah will carefully separate the corn from the chaff and straw, — the
true Israelites from heathens and apostates. v. 13 then describes,
under another figure, the ingathering of those who were exiled beyond
these limits.
13. the (a) great trumpet] Cf. ch. xviii. 3; Zech. ix. 14; Matt. xxiv.
31; 1 Cor. xv. 52; 1 Thess. iv. 16.
they. . .which were ready to perish] the lost ones.
outcasts] Cf. ch. xi. 1 2.
Concluding Note on Ch. XXIV.— XXVII.
The above exposition has left some general questions in suspense;
and for the most part they are such as cannot be adequately discussed
in this commentary. There are two, however, on which a few
additional observations are necessary, viz., (1) the unity and (2) the
date, of the prophecy.
(1) The question of unity, as raised by the recent criticisms of Duhm
and Cheyne, relates principally to the lyrical passages already marked
off in the notes (xxv. 1 — 5, 9 — 12, xxvi. 1 — 19, xxvii. 2 — 6), although
it is acknowledged that the section xxvii. 7 — 11 presents difficulties
almost as great. As has been hinted above, the commonly accepted
view has been that the lyrics represent flights of the author's imagina
tion, depicting the feelings of the redeemed community after the great
judgment is past. The chief considerations urged against this view are
as follows, (a) If we read consecutively xxiv., xxv. 6—8, xxvi. 20 —
xxvii. 1, 7 — 13, we have a series of conceptions which readily fit into a
consistent picture of the future, and (at least up to xxvii. 1) a very
natural sequence of thought, (b) the songs are distinguished from the
main prophecy in poetic structure and rhythm, as well as in the point
of view they represent, (c) They do not occur at places where their
insertion would be natural if due to the literary plan of the composition,
while one of them (xxv. I — 5) appears to interrupt a close connexion of
thought, (d) The most important of all (xxvi. 1 — 19) is written in a
vein of mingled exultation and despondency inappropriate to the

204 ISAIAH, XXIV.— XXVII.
supposed situation. Although the reader is naturally averse to entertain
ing the idea of interpolation if it can possibly be avoided, it can hardly
be denied that these arguments have a considerable cumulative force.
(b) counts for little or nothing by itself, while the others may involve
merely subjective differences of critical judgment. The crucial case is
probably (d) , where the ' ideal standpoint ' theory could only be main
tained by assuming that the writer's imagination lacks the strength of
wing needful to bear him triumphantly away from the discouraging
outlook of his actual present. It must be pointed out, however, that
the demarcation of the lyrics given in the notes is adopted from Duhm
and Cheyne, and to discuss the question of unity on this basis necessarily
does some injustice to the views of other critics, who might prefer a
different division.
(2) The question of the date of the prophecy is of course influenced
by the view held as to its unity, although to a less extent than might be
imagined, since both the critics named agree in regarding the whole
series of compositions as belonging to the literature of a single general
period. Duhm assigns them to the reign of John Hyrcanus, and finds
allusions to the Parthian campaign of Antiochus Sidetes (B.C. 129) and
the destruction of Samaria (c. 107). But there is really nothing to
warrant these precise determinations, and the theory is negatived by
well-established conclusions as to the close of the O.T. Canon.
Cheyne's view is free from this objection and is in itself very attractive.
The historical background of the prophecy is found in the events which
preceded the dissolution of the Persian Empire (say 350 — 330). The
gloomy survey of ch. xxiv. is explained by the "desolating and pro
tracted wars " of the period, in which the Jews are known to have
suffered severely and during which Jerusalem was not improbably laid
waste by Persian armies. The premature songs of triumph referred to
in ch. xxiv. 16 are supposed to have been called forth by rumours of
the expedition of Alexander the Great, whilst the interspersed lyrical
passages celebrate the Jewish deliverance achieved by the Macedonian
victories. Perhaps the least convincing part of the hypothesis is the
identification of the conquered city of xxv. 2, xxvi. 5, with Tyre or
Gaza, destroyed by Alexander; but in spite of that Cheyne's view
is probably the one which best harmonises the varied indications of the
prophecy (see his Introduction, pp. 155 ff, and the refs. there).
Of rival theories there is perhaps but one that deserves careful exami
nation, that, viz.,. which seeks the occasion of the prophecy in the age
immediately succeeding the Exile, particularly the Babylonian troubles
under Darius Hystaspis. There is, indeed, a surprising number of
coincidences between the phenomena of this prophecy and the circum
stances of that time or the contemporary literature. The expectation
of a great overturning of existing political conditions occurs in the
writings of Haggai (ii. 6, 7, 21 — 23) and Zechariah (i. 11 ff); the idea
of a world-judgment in Isa. xiii. 6 ff. ; the universalism of xxv. 6—8 finds
nowhere a more sympathetic response than in Isa. xl. — lv. ; and even the
' songs of the righteous' (xxiv. 16) have a certain resemblance to xlv. 10.
The allusion to recent idolatry in xxvii. 9 is amply accounted for; and
the "city" (although too muchhas been made of this point) of xxiv. 10 ff,

ISAIAH, XXVIII— XXXIII. 205
xxvii. 10 f. , xxv. a, xxvi. 5 might be Babylon, the "world-city," now
humbled and soon to be utterly destroyed.
The ultimate decision probably turns on certain general features of
the prophecy, which are thought to point to a very late age. These are
(a) its apocalyptic colouring and imagery (see, however, the caveat on
p. 179 above), (b) the advanced form in which it presents the doctrines
of immortality (xxv. 8) and the resurrection (xxvi. 19) ; and (possibly)
(c) the belief in tutelary genii of the nations. With regard to these
phenomena many will agree with Cheyne that they ' ' become the more
intelligible the later we place this composition in the Persian period."
Chapters XXVIII.— XXXII. (XXXIII.).
This important group of discourses is the chief monument of Isaiah's
activity in the early years of Sennacherib's reign. The negotiations
with Egypt which preceded the revolt of 701 form the historical thread
on which the prophecies are strung, and by the help of the prophet's
vivid allusions we can almost trace the development of the conspiracy
from its first inception to the formal ratification of the treaty with Egypt
(see xxviii. 15 [?], xxix. 15, xxx. 1 f., 6 f., xxxi. 1 ff.). The main interest
of the chapters, however, lies in the light they throw upon Isaiah's out
look on the ultimate issue of this great providential crisis. Two leading
ideas cross each other throughout in a manner which causes surprise
and sometimes perplexity. On the one hand there is the anticipation
of a sweeping judgment on the unbelief and perversity of the nation,
and this is occasionally spoken of in terms which appear to imply the
capture of Jerusalem and the complete annihilation of the Hebrew state.
(See on ch. xxii. 1 — 14.) On the other hand the prospect of an
immediate and signal intervention of Jehovah, for the salvation of
Judah and the destruction of the Assyrians, is no less clearly expressed
(as in x. 5 — 34, xvii. 12 — 14, xviii.). The peculiarity ofthe present
section is that these two conceptions are presented in almost regular
alternation (frequently with abrupt transition) while at the same time
it appears impossible to merge them in a single harmonious picture of
the future (see further General Introd., pp. xxxvi f. and the notes
below). That the prophecies are rightly assigned to the reign of Sennacherib
would probably never have been questioned but for the opening verses
(xxviii. 1 — 4), which must undoubtedly have been written before the fall
of Samaria. Accordingly a few critics have held that this passage
determines the date of the whole series, while a larger number detach
ch. xxviii. from the group and assign it alone to the time before the
overthrow of North Israel. It is easier, however, (in view of the
numerous affinities between xxviii. and xxix. — xxxi.) to suppose that
the opening oracle was for some special reason repeated by Isaiah in
the time of Sennacherib, or at least incorporated in a volume of prophe
cies belonging to that period. The objections to throwing the whole
cycle back to the earlier date appear insurmountable. Not only is the
great decisive act of Jehovah anticipated within a very short space of
time (xxix. 1, 2, xxxii. 10), but the whole situation presupposed is such

206 ISAIAH, XXVIII.

as never emerged, so far as is known, prior to the_ years 704— 701.
What we have to do with is evidently no mere series of covert and
underhand intrigues with Egypt; but a formal alliance with that empire
involving an open revolt against Assyria. The nation has resolved to
stake everything on a single desperate venture. Of negotiations with
Egypt in the years 725 — 722 we have no record whatever; and if
any took place they must, like those of 711, have been checked before
leading to a declared rupture with the Assyrians. In these circum
stances it would be extremely hazardous to abandon the assured historical
ground supplied by the events of 704 — 701 in favour of any hypothetical
rebellion at an earlier time.
The principal divisions are marked by the interjection HH ("woe"):
xxviii. 1, xxix. 1, 15, xxx. 1, xxxi. 1, xxxiii. 1.
Ch. XXVIII. Isaiah's encounter with the dissolute nobles
of Jerusalem.
The chapter contains four separate discourses :
i. vv. r — 6. A denunciation of the "drunkards of Ephraim," with
an announcement of the speedy fall of their beautiful city (1 — 4); ending
with a brief glance at the Messianic age beyond the judgment (5,6). That
the first four verses are a real prediction and were therefore uttered before
722 is hardly open to question; but it is not improbable that they were
republished by Isaiah as an introduction to the volume of his prophecies
(cf. xxx. 8) connected with the revolt against Sennacherib.
ii. vv. 7 — 13. For, continues the prophet, the dissipation for which
the northern capital was once notorious is now a startling symptom of
the state of society in Jerusalem (7, 8). . The policy of rebellion has
been hatched by a clique of drunkards. What follows (9 — 13) evidently
reproduces a remarkable dialogue between Isaiah and the leaders of the
Egyptian party at one of their disgraceful orgies. The prophet has
forced his way into the banquet-chamber; the unmasked debauchees
turn on him with insolent raillery, and express in mocking tones their
impatience ofthe irksome monotony of his teaching (9, 10); but Isaiah
throws back their sarcasm in their teeth, telling them of a day when
Jehovah will speak to them in a far more grievous language, which they
cannot fail to understand (ir — 13).
iii. vv. 14 — 22. A warning against the scornful irreligious temper
displayed by the politicians who built their hopes on the' alliance with
Egypt. With fatuous self-confidence they spoke of their cherished
scheme as a covenant with Death and Hell, i.e. as one that secured
perfect immunity from every conceivable kind of danger or evil (14, 15).
The prophet declares that in the storm of judgment which is fast
approaching, every false refuge will be swept away, and those alone
will escape who put their trust in Jehovah's immutable purpose of
salvation towards Zion (16 — 22).
iv. vv. 23 — 29. A justification of God's providential dealings with
Israel, _ based on the analogy of the varied operations of agriculture,
The wisdom of the husbandman is a reflection of the Infinite Wisdom
which governs the world ; consistency of aim with diversity of method

vv. 1—3.] ISAIAH, XXVIII. 207
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of 28
Ephraim,
Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower,
Which are on the head of the fat valleys of them
that are overcome with wine.
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, 2
Which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
As a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
Shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, 3
is the characteristic of both. As the farmer varies his activity from
season to season, and modifies his treatment in accordance with the
nature of his crops, so in the Divine discipline of humanity there is the
same wise adaptation of means to ends, and the same patient pursuit of
a single beneficial aim through the mingled "goodness and severity" of
God. 1—4. The fate of the drunkards of Ephraim. On the luxury and
debauchery of Samaria, see Am. iii. 12, 15, iv. 1, vi. 1, 6.
1. In a single image of great beauty the prophet describes the pic
turesque situation of the city, the tone of its society, and its ripeness
for judgment. Samaria, with its ramparts and white terraced streets
crowning the summit of a low hill, which rises in the middle of a fertile
valley (1 Ki. xvi. 24), is compared to the chaplet of flowers that
wreathes the flushed temples of a reveller (cf. Wisd. Sol. ii. 7, 8). But
the long carousal is nearly over, the wreath is already faded and soon
(v. 3) will be dashed to the ground. The verse should be read :
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And (to) the fading flower of his glorious beauty,
Which is upon the fat valley of the wine-smitten.
overcome (lit. "struck down") with wine] (olvow\i)yes) the last stage
of intoxication. Hard drinking is compared to a combat between the
toper and his drink, in which the latter is victorious, ch. xvi. 8.
2. The reason for the woe of v. 1. Render : Behold Jehovah hath
a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail, a destroying
storm; like a flow of mighty overflowing waters, which casts down
to the earth with violence.
a mighty and strong one] i.e. the Assyrian, Jehovah's instrument (ch.
x. 5)-
a destroying storm] Delitzsch renders, less suitably perhaps, "a
pestilential wind." The word occurs again only in Deut. xxxii. 24; Ps.
xci. 6; but a closely related one in Hos. xiii. 14 (A.V. "destruction").
The image ofthe storm, here presented in three forms, recurs in vv. 15,
i8f. shall cast] Better, casts (perf. of experience, Davidson, Synt. § 40, e).
The subj. is the storm of waters.
with the hand] i.e. with force.

208 ISAIAH, XXVIII.  [vv. 4— 6.
Shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the
fat valley, shall be a fading flower,
And as the hasty fruit before the summer;
Which when he that looketh upon it seeth,
While it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
: In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown
of glory,
And for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his
people,
; And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in
judgment,
3. The verb shall be trodden is in the plural number. Apparently
the prophet intended to include in its subject both the images of
v. i ; but his thoughts were diverted by the other figure which is
developed in v. 4. In the Hebr. the order is : With the feet shall be
trodden down the proud crown ofthe, &c. (as v. 1).
4. Render : And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which
is on the head of the fat valley (v. 1), shall be like the early flg
before the fruit-harvest, &c. These " early figs," which might be
found in the end of June, several weeks before the proper fig-season
(in August), were esteemed a great delicacy; Hos. ix. 10; Mic. vii. 15
Nah. iii. 12; Jer. xxiv. 2.
which when he... seeth] Render: which when any one seeth (lit.
" (the seer) seeth "; indef. subj., Davidson, Synt. § 108, R. 1). To see,
to snatch, to swallow, is the work of a moment. So greedily and hastily
and easily shall the Assyrians devour Samaria !
5, 6. Jehovah Himself the true glory of His people ; a Messianic
pendant to the foregoing picture of Samaria's fall. The phrase in that
day points as usual to the indefinite future of the Messianic age, not to
the day of the judgment on North Israel. Whether the "remnant of
His people " denotes the survivors of the Northern tribes, or those of
Judah, or of the whole nation, it means a converted remnant; and there
is no reason to suppose that Isaiah at any time expected the conversion
of Judah to follow immediately the destruction of Ephraim. He is
here looking beyond the whole series of national judgments, and the
insertion of the promise is evidently suggested by the contrast between
the false glory that has vanished and the true glory which shall endure.
5. a crown of glory) no longer a "crown of pride," as w. 1, 3.
diadem of beauty) The word clphtrah (diadem) occurs again only in
Ezek. vii. 7, 10 (where, however, the sense is disputed). It probably
denotes a " ring " or circlet.
the residue (remnant) of his people) The exact phrase is not found
elsewhere.

vv. 7, 8.] ISAIAH, XXVIII. 209
And for strength to them that turn the battle to the
gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through
strong drink are out of the way;
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong
drink,
They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the
way through strong drink ;
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and nlthiness, 1
So that there is no place clean.
6. Jehovah is not only the beauty of the redeemed nation, but the
source of all civic and martial virtues.
a spirit of judgment] The same phrase (but with a different meaning)
occurs in ch. iv. 4. " Spirit " is used here as in ch. xi. 2. to him
that sitteth in judgment] (or "over the judgment[-seat]") — the king or
the judge (cf. ch. xxxii. 1).
for strength (or, valour) to them that... gate] Better, at the gate,
not the gate of the enemy, but of the city or land (Nah. iii. 13) into
which the enemy have penetrated. The promise is somewhat remark
able for Isaiah (cf. Mic. v. 5 ff.).
7, 8 form the literary introduction to the dramatic incident repre
sented in w. 9 — 13 ; they are not part of Isaiah's spoken discourse on
that occasion. The opening words But these also (R.V.) connect this
section with the preceding, but the connexion is due to similarity of
subject, and not to coincidence of date. There are obvious reasons
why the prediction of the fall of Samaria should be republished in the
time of Sennacherib. The magnates of Jerusalem were following the
lead of Samaria, both in their dissolute habits and in their foolish trust
in an Egyptian alliance ; Samaria is a mirror in which they may read
their own character and their own doom. On intemperance among
the Judsean nobility see ch. v. 11 f., 22.
7. the priest and the prophet] Better : priest and prophet. These
are specially mentioned as the spiritual leaders of the people, who
opposed Isaiah in the name of Jehovah, and backed up the plans of the
politicians with the pretended authority of Divine revelation.
swallowed up of wine] Perhaps, " confused by wine," see on iii. 12.
are out of the way] R.V. have gone astray — see xix. 14.
vision (a peculiar form in the Hebr.) refers to the function of the
prophets; judgment (lit. "judicial matters") to that of the priests (cf.
Deut. xvii. 8 ff., xix. 17; Ezek. xliv. 24). It is not asserted that the
prophets have no visions, but only that, through self-indulgence, they
lack the capacity to discern their real significance.
8. For vomit and filthiness, read filthy vomit.
9—13. The occasion of this remarkable encounter was probably a
feast held to celebrate the renunciation of allegiance to Assyria. Isaiah
Isaiah l4

2IO

ISAIAH, XXVIII. [w. 9—12.

Whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Them that are weaned from the milk,
And drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept ;
Line upon line, line upon line ;
Here a little, and there a little :
For with stammering lips and another tongue
Will he speak to this people.
To whom he said,
This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to
rest;
has surprised the drunkards over their cups and administered some such
rebuke as we read in w. 7, 8. (On the excesses that often accompanied
sacrificial meals, see 1 Sam. i. 13 f.; Am. ii. 8.)
9. The retort of the revellers to Isaiah's recriminations. The
meaning is : "Who are we that we should thus be lectured by this
man? Are we newly- weaned infants, &c. ?" (cf. R.V.). Whom will he
teach knowledge? expresses the injured self-consciousness of the priests;
whom will he make to understand doctrine? that of the prophets. For
doctrine R.V. has the message; the word commonly means "report,"
but here it denotes "that which is heard" (by prophetic audition) from
the Lord, as in v. 19; ch. liii. 1 ; Jer. xlix. 14 ; Ob. i.
10. The topers proceed to mock, in stammering drunken tones, the
excited utterance and the wearisome iterations of the prophet's teaching.
Translate with R.V. (marg.) For it is precept upon precept... rule
upon rule... here a little, there a little. The Hebr. is a series of
monosyllables (cav la-cav cav la-cdv qav la-qdv qav la-qdv z'tr sham
z'lr sham); the sense is not quite certain, but the tones sufficiently
represent at once the disgust of the speakers with the restless per
sistency of their monitor and their own inability to express themselves
distinctly. 11. Isaiah parries the gibe with a terrible threat. Jehovah is about
to employ a more uncouth language, to which their mocking description
will fully apply, viz., the harsh barbarous accents of the Assyrian
invaders. stammering lips] either "stammerings of lip" or "stammerers of lip"
(cf. the Greek use of fidpfSapos). Comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 21.
12. To whom he said] Rather : He who said to them. The verse
reproduces the tenor and aim of all Isaiah's teaching (cf. v. 16; ch.
xxx. 15). He had sought to point out the true way of rest for the
exhausted nation by abstinence from the spirited foreign policy advo
cated by the anti-Assyrian faction. Two translations, however, are
possible. Either: "This (Jerusalem) is the resting-place; give rest to
the weary; and this is the place of refreshment"; or: ThiB (line of
action) is the (true) rest... and this is the (true) refreshment. The

vv. 13-15-] ISAIAH, XXVIII.

And this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
But the word of the Lord was unto them 13
Precept upon precept, precept upon precept;
Line upon line, line upon line;
Here a little, and there a little;
That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken,
And snared, and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, u
That rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with 15
death,
And with hell are we at agreement;
latter seems preferable. The word for "rest" (usually "resting-
place") is used in the same sense as here in 2 Sam. xiv. 17. "The
weary" is the ordinary plebeian, who had everything to lose and nothing
to gain, by the chances of war.
13. But the word ofthe Lord was] Render: And (so) the word of
Jehovah shall be — all that they had scoffingly said about Isaiah's
message (v. 10), a monotonous, intolerable, yet unavoidable, succession
of judgments (cf. v. 19).
that they might... backward] that they may go and stumble back
wards (cf. ch. vi. 11, 12). and be broken... taken] as in ch.
viii. 15.
14 — 22. There is again a literary connexion with what precedes;
although the passage is probably a summary of an independent dis
course. The prophet's aim is to impress on his opponents the disastrous
consequences of persisting in their scoffing attitude towards himself and
his message.
14. ye scornful men] Better: scoffing men. The "scoffer" (lif,
a word almost confined to Pss. and Prov.) represents the last degree
of ungodliness, — open contempt of religion. The phrase here is applied
to worldly politicians, who form their plans in defiance of Jehovah's
revealed will (cf. v. 22 ; ch. xxix. 20).
that rule this people] The prophet's antagonists are the party which
has gained the upper hand in the councils of state ; the king himself is
tacitly acquitted of responsibility.
16 is the protasis to v. 16 f.
Because ye have said] Isaiah no doubt clothes the thoughts of the
conspirators in his own language; but the vagueness of the allusions
corresponds to the air of mystery which shrouded their designs. The
utmost secrecy was observed with regard to the negotiations with Egypt
(ch. xxix. 15, xxx. 1), and it is doubtful if at this time Isaiah knew
exactly what project was on foot.
with hell are we at agreement] Lit. with Sheol we have made a
vision. The simplest explanation of this and the preceding expression
14 — 2

ISAIAH, XXVIII. [v. 16.

When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it
shall not come unto us :
For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood have we hid ourselves :
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone,
A tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation :
He that believeth shall not make haste.

is that the political plot had been ratified by a compact with the dreaded
powers of the underworld. That those who had renounced the guidance
of Jehovah should have recourse to necromancy and other superstitions
was natural (ch. viii. 19). At the same time the phrases may be pro
verbial, or they may merely express Isaiah's abhorrence of the dark
immorality which marked the proceedings. In any case the feeling
attributed to the schemers is one of absolute security against the worst
that fate could bring.
the overflowing scourge] — a mixture of metaphors, which is still further
increased in v. 18.
we have made lies our refuge] The reference might be to conscious
political treachery (towards Assyria), but more probably it is to false
grounds of confidence, such as false oracles (Ezek. xiii. 6 — 8; Mic.
ii. 11), Isaiah putting his own language into their mouth.
16. There is but one true ground of confidence — Jehovah's revealed
purpose with regard to Zion.
Behold, I lay] Strictly : Behold, I am he that hath laid (for the
Hebr. construction cf. ch. xxix. 14, xxxviii. 5). The figure of the
verse requires little explanation ; it is illustrated by the massive and .
"costly" stones which formed the foundations of Solomon's temple
(1 Ki. v. 17). And the general idea is that Jehovah's relation to Israel
is the stable and permanent, though invisible, foundation of all God's
work in the world. Beyond this it is hardly necessary to go in seeking
an answer to the question, Of what is the stone an emblem ? It is not
Jehovah Himself, since it is Jehovah who lays it ; it is not the Temple,
nor Mount Zion, nor the Davidic dynasty, for these are at most but
visible symbols of a spiritual fact disclosed to the prophet's faith. The
foundation stone represents the one element in human history which is
indestructible, viz., the purpose of God, and that purpose as historically
realised in the relation which He has established between Himself and
the people of Israel.
a sure foundation] Transl. with R.V. of sure foundation.
he that believeth shall not make haste] The LXX. reads "shall not
be ashamed" (yebbsh foiydhtsh). Cheyne and others propose a slight
_emendation (yamtish) which gives the sense "shall not give way."
This is the second great passage in which Isaiah emphasises faith as the
primary condition of salvation (ch. vii. 9).

vv. 17—20.] ISAIAH, XXVIII. 213
Judgment also will I lay to the line,
And righteousness to the plummet :
And the bail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
And your agreement with hell shall not stand;
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
Then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you :
For morning by morning shall it pass over, by day
and by night : '
And it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
himself on it:

The image of the verse recurs in Ps. cxviii. 22; and is applied to the
Messiah in Rom. ix. 33, x. 11; 1 Pet. ii. 6 — 8 (following the LXX.
text). 17. The first half of the verse continues v. 16. In order to build on
this foundation, it is necessary that political conduct be conformed to
the eternal principles ofthe Divine government; these are "judgment"
and "righteousness" (see on i. 21), which are here compared to the
builder's line and plummet. Render as in R.V. I will make judgment
the line and righteousness the plummet. Cf. ch. xxxiv. 11.
and the hail...] Every course of action not based on faith in Jehovah,
and not in accordance with the strict rule of the Divine righteousness
will prove a false refuge in the day of judgment, see v. 15 and cf. v. 2.
Comp. also Matt. vii. 24—27. The verb "sweep away" is not found
elsewhere. 18. See on v. 15. shall be disannulled] lit. "smeared over" (cf.
Gen. vi. 14) i.e. "cancelled," "obliterated." The verb is the technical
word for expiate (as e.g. xxii. 14), and although it is nowhere else in the
O.T. used exactly as here, the sense is supported by Syriac usage, and
an alteration of the text is not necessary.
19. From the time that it goeth forth] Render as R.V. As often as
it passeth through (1 Sam. xviii. 30). it shall take you away] The
judgment will be a protracted visitation (like the repeated blows of a
"scourge") and will continue till every one ofthe conspirators has been
carried away.
it shall be a vexation. ..report] Perhaps: it shall be sheer vexation
to interpret audition (the same word as v. 9). That is, all prophetic
oracles shall then be so uniformly and unambiguously terrible, that the
prophet will shrink from the unwelcome task of communicating their
import. 20. A proverbial expression for the intolerable situation which the
politicians are preparing for themselves and their country.

214 ISAIAH, XXVIII. [vv. 21— 23.
And the covering narrower than that he can wrap him
self in it.
For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim,
He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
That he may do his work, his strange work ;
And bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Now therefore be ye not mockers,
Lest your bands be made strong :
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts
A consumption, even determined
Upon the whole earth.

23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice;
Hearken, and hear my speech.

21. The "strangeness" of Jehovah's work (v. 12, x. 12) consists in
his fighting with the foreigners against his own people. The historical
allusions are to David's victories over the Philistines in the vicinity of
Jerusalem; see 2 Sam. v. 20 f.; 1 Chron. xiv. uf. (Baal- Perazim);
2 Sam. v. 25 (Geba); 1 Chron. xiv. 16 (Gibeon, as here). The last part
reads: to perform his act — strange is his act! and to work his work
— barbarous is his work I
22. A final appeal to the "scoffers" (v. 14), based on the irreversible
decision of Jehovah.
be ye not mockers] do not play the scoffer.
lest your bands be made strong] i.e. "lest ye be firmly bound and
delivered up for execution."
a consumption, even determined] an extermination and a decisive
work (as ch. x. 23).
23 — 29. A parable derived from husbandry. The motive of its
insertion in this place was probably the different treatment meted out to
Samaria and to Jerusalem. The precise point of the analogy is some
what uncertain ; but perhaps we may interpret the thought as follows.
There are two parts. The first (vv. 24 — 26) appears to justify Jehovah's
procedure by the end He has in view. As the farmer does not go on
ploughing for ever out of a mere blind passion for ploughing, but ploughs
in order to sow; so Jehovah's work of judgment is to issue in the pre
paration of a seed-plot, and in due time ploughing will give place (in the
case cf Judah) to sowing. The second (vv. 27 — 29) draws the lesson
that the operation of threshing varies with the material to be operated
on. The delicate fennel, e.g. would be destroyed by the rough imple
ments used on coarser grain; and in Judah there is (what there was
not in Samaria) the tender growth of the "holy seed," the nucleus of
the true Israel, for whose sake judgment must be tempered with mercy.
23. The introduction to the parable; cf. ch. xxxii. 9.
24 — 26. Ploughing is followed by sowing.

vv. 24— 26.] ISAIAH, XXVIII. 215
Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? n
Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, =5
Doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the
cummin,
And cast in the principal wheat
And the appointed barley and the rye in their place?
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth 36
teach him.

24. all day] i.e. continually (R.V.), "uninterruptedly." The
emphasis of the question lies on this word.
to sow is an awkward addition and may be a gloss. If genuine
the sense must be paraphrased "seeing he has the intention of sow-
ing." doth he open... ground] Trans, doth he (continually) open and
harrow his ground 7
25. filches (R.V. marg. black cummin [Nigella saliva]) and cummin
[Cuminum sativum] are both mentioned only in this passage. Note
the different methods of sowing ; scatter (of the fitches), sow (of the
cummin), plant (of wheat and barley). The planting of wheat, &c. in
rows is a mark of the most careful husbandry, still practised in Yemen
and Egypt.
the principal wheat] Rather : the wheat in rows (R.V.).
the appointed barley] a very difficult expression. Perhaps "barley in
the appointed place" (R.V.). Both this adjective and that for
"principal" are wanting in the LXX. and are deleted as mistakes or
glosses by Cheyne and others.
the rye in their place] the spelt (others, "vetches") as its border
(see R.V.). The allusion apparently is to a custom of surrounding
certain crops with a protecting border of hardier plants.
26. All this is done in obedience to an inherited, almost instinctive,
wisdom, which rests ultimately on Divine inspiration. See v. 29; and
Ecclus. vii. 15 ("husbandry which the Most High hath ordained").
Verg. Georg. I. 147.
to discretion] to right, i.e. " right, or orderly, method." The word is
that usually rendered "judgment," used here in a non-ethical applica
tion. 27 — 29. Threshing is not bruising. Three methods of threshing are
alluded to. (a) Beating with a rod or flail (cf. Jud. vi. 11; Ruth ii. 17).
'(b) Treading with the feet of cattle (Deut. xxv. 4; Mic. iv. 13; but see
on v. 28). (c) Drawing a heavy wooden sledge, with sharp stones or
iron spikes fixed in its under surface (hdrdc) or a wagon ('dgalah) with
a great number of sharp-edged wheels, over the grain. The point of
the illustration is that the method suitable to one kind of grain would
be ruinous to another (v. 27); and that even the rougher methods are
applied with moderation (v. 28).

216 ISAIAH, XXVIII. XXIX. [vv. 27—29.

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing in- }
slrument, %
Neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin ;
But the fitches are beaten out with a staff,
And the cummin with a rod.
Bread corn is bruised ;
Because he will not ever be threshing it,
Nor break it with the wheel of his cart,
Nor bruise it with his horsemen.
This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,
Which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
27. with a threshing instrument] the sledge (hdruc). a carl
wheel] the wheel of a threshing wagon ('dgdlah).
28. Transl. Is bread (corn) crushed? Nay, he does not keep
threshing it perpetually, &c. If the text be right, the sentence continues j
"and rolling his wagon-wheels and horses over it, &c." But the men
tion of "horses" as employed in agriculture is suspicious, and a better :
sense is gained if, with Duhm, we slightly change the text of that word '¦-
and translate thus: But when he has rolled his wagon- wheel (over
it), he scatters it (i.e. " tosses it up to the wind," — the same word in
Ezek. xvii. 21) without having crushed it.
29. To Isaiah there is something very impressive in the peasant's
subtle yet unpretentious knowledge of his craft; he is like apart of j
nature, and his wisdom seems a direct emanation from the infinite
Wisdom to which all things owe their being (cf. v. 26) .
which is wonderful... working] wonderful is His counsel, great His
wisdom; lit. "He produces wonderful counsel, He magnifies wisdom"
(cf. "Wonderful Counseller," ch. ix. 6). The word rendered "working"
is a technical term of the Wisdom Literature. It seems to denote that
which is essentially rational. "It is said of a state or action when it
corresponds to the idea; and conversely of thought when it corresponds
to the reality" (Davidson, Job, p. 39, in this series).
Ch. XXIX. 1 — 14. The announcement of Jehovah's wonder
ful purpose regarding Jerusalem, and its reception on
the part of the people.
Under the second "Woe" (v. 1) are grouped two oracles, which may
have been originally independent ; or they maybe intimately connected,
the second describing the effect of the first on the minds of Isaiah's
hearers. i. vv. 1 — 8. The impending humiliation and deliverance of Jeru
salem. Jerusalem, apostrophised by the mystic name of "Ariel," is at
present gay and careless and secure, the festal calendar follows its
accustomed course, and this state of things may endure for a short time
longer (1). But already in vision the prophet sees her beset by hosts

tibt 2-]

ISAIAH, XXIX.

217

Joe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt ! 2E
Idd ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
let I will distress Ariel, ,_

emies, and reduced to the lowest depths of despair (2 — 4) when
enly the Lord Himself, arrayed in the terrors of earthquake and
test, appears in judgment (6), and in a moment the scene is changed.
ie very hour of their triumph, the enemies of Zion are disappointed
eir expectation, and vanish like a vision ofthe night (7, 8).
w. 9 — 14. A rebuke of the spiritual blindness and unbelief,
hollow formal religion prevalent amongst all classes of the \
t) vv. 9 — 12. Jehovah has visited the leaders of the people
cial blindness (9f.); the consequence is that neither
ured nor the unlettered can the word of the Lord find
(¦':)• 2) vv. 13, 14. Because the popular religion has degene
chanical routine of traditional observances . Li 3 ) it,
ovah to adopt startling measures, transcending s" '
' insight (14). v',v.!,'Wfc> .
1. Jerusalem's time of joyous securitjMtotl l^eedByeoB^:** an er,d-
o Ariel, Ariel, city where David encaS(pe(fct!f%.,y,;j. (3^ trJtoprd
riel" two explanations (both ancient) ane green, ^g) -ThaLwfflfe*
ders it "Lion of God" is undoubtedly fie one iisilrnabLi rally sue- :
sted by the form of the word. It is also thought tc>tieli;o'n"fi'.rmeifeby
proper name 'ar'eli in Gen. xlvi. 16; Num«^fxvi. .ij: aiisl^fce;
-lion-like men" ('artel) of 2 Sam. xxiii. 20; 1 Chron. xi. 22; althaSfc
1 these analogies are very doubtful (cf. ch. xxxiii. 7). But is it suitabWI
1 the present context? Hardly, unless we take v. 2 to mean that
Jerusalem when driven to bay, will exhibit a prowess worthy of her
mystic appellation ; which is not at all the idea of the passage. The
name is in any case a strange one for a city, and it would be difficult to
account for its selection by Isaiah, (b) The other (and preferable)
explanation is given by the Targum, and is supported by a word which
occurs in two forms (har'el and 'art II) in Ezek. xliii. ijf. It appears
to mean "altar-hearth"; and occurs, probably in the same sense, in the
inscription of the Moabite Stone. The translation here will be either
"hearth of God" or (better) simply "altar-hearth." How Isaiah was
led to such a designation we shall see from v. 2.
where David dwelt] R.V. encamped. Not "against which" David
encamped, as the LXX. fancied (see on v. 3), but which he occupied and
fortified. add ye year to year] i.e. "let a year or two more come and go":
cf. xxxii. 10. The discourse was probably delivered at the leading
festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the " turn of the year "
(Ex. xxxiv. 22) in ancient Israel.
let them kill sacrifices] R.V. has the true rendering: let the feasts
come round ; " run their round " — but only a few times more.
2 — 5. The humiliation and distress of Ariel, at the hands of the
Assyrians.

218 ISAIAH, XXIX. [vv. 3^5.
 r 
And there shall be heaviness and sorrow :
And it shall be unto me as Ariel.
3 And I will camp against thee round about,
And will lay siege against thee with a mount,
And I will raise forts against thee.
a- And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out
of the ground,
And thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
And thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar
spirit, out of the ground,
^^ And thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
/ Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like
y small dust,
And\ the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff
that passeth away :
 -- 2. there shall be heaviness and sorrow] Better : " mourning and lamen
tation" (R.V.); but still better (as reproducing the assonance of the
original): moaning: and bemoaning (Cheyne). The expression recurs
in Lam. iivf'.'
it shall/be unto, me as Ariel] she shall be to me like a (true) altar-
".¦pCa.ph

hearth '{Kaph veritatis). If Ariel meant "Lion of God" this clause

wouldj»MP7'*jv«-'rily have to be understood in a favourable sense ; on the
stewnere followed it may be either a promise or a threat ; the context.
decides for the latter. The meaning is that Jerusalem will be either a
place where the flames of war rage fiercely, or a place reeking with the
blood of countless human victims. We may suppose that Isaiah
addressed these words to the worshippers in the Temple, and that the
great altar with its bleeding victims stood out before his mind as an
emblem of Jerusalem's fate, and suggested the name " Ariel."
3. I will camp against thee round about] see v. 1. LXX. carries the
parallel still further by reading "I will encamp. ..like David," a reading
which would be plausible if "against which" could be fairly supplied
in v. 1. "Round about" is the same word as "like a ball" in
xxii. 18.
with a mount] R.V. with a fort ; perhaps lines of circumvallation.
'Fox forts, read siege-works, as R.V. Comp. Ezek. iv. 1 — 3.
4 explains the "moaning and bemoaning" of v. 2. The verse reads:
And thou shalt be laid low, speaking from (beneath) the earth, and
thy speech shall come humbly from the dust ; and thy voice shall
be like (that of) a ghost (coming) from the earth, and thy speech
shall squeak from the dust. The allusions in the latter half of the
verse are explained under ch. viii. 19. The figures signify the utter
abasement and exhaustion of the "joyous city."
5 — 8. The discomfiture and dispersion of Zion's enemies in the hour
of their triumph.
5. thy strangers] the barbarians who assail thee.

vv. 6—9.] ISAIAH, XXIX. 219
Yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts 6
With thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise,
With storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring
fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against 7
Ariel,
Even all that fight against her and her munition, and
that distress her,
Shall be as a dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and s
behold, he eateth;
But he awaketh, and his soul is empty :
Or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he
drinketh ;
But he awaketh, and behold, he is faint, and his soul
hath appetite :
So shall the multitude of all the nations be,
That fight against mount Zion.
Stay yourselves, and wonder; 9
the terrible ones] or the tyrants.
6. See ch. xxx. 27 — 33. The last words of v. 5 should be read as
part of this sentence. And suddenly, full suddenly, she shall be
Visited, &c. The word for "visit" is ambiguous, being freely used
both of punishment and mercy, but the passive appears never to be
employed in a good sense except here.
7, 8. The figure of the dream is applied in two ways ; first,
objectively, to the vanishing of the enemy ; second, subjectively, to
his disappointment.
7. her munition] perhaps her citadel (R.V. "stronghold").
a dream of a night vision] R.V. a dream, a vision of the night.
8. dreameth, and behold] The invariable formula in narrating a
dream; Gen. xl. 9, 16, xli. 1 ff. ; Dan. ii. 31, vii. 5, 6.
his soul] the seat of appetite and desire: cf. v. 14, xxxii. 6; Prov. vi.
30. A more vivid representation of utter disenchantment than this verse
gives can scarcely be conceived.
9 — 12. The people meet their doom in a state of spiritual stupor,
unobservant of Jehovah's work, and heedless of the warnings given to
them. 9. Stay yourselves, and wonder] Rather (as R.V. marg.), Be ye
amazed and wonder. The first verb is of uncertain derivation.
Probably both express the idea of astonishment. Cheyne (Comm.)
rendered: "astonish yourselves and be astonished."

ISAIAH, XXIX. [vv. 10—13.

Cry ye out, and cry :
They are drunken, but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with strong drink.
For the Lord hath poured out upon you the
spirit of deep sleep,
And hath closed your eyes:
The prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he
covered.
And the vision of all is become unto you as the words
of a book that is sealed,
Which men deliver to one that is learned,
Saying, Read this, I pray thee :
And he saith, I cannot ; for it is sealed :
And the book is delivered to him that is not learned,
Saying, Read this, I pray thee :
And he saith, I am not learned.
Wherefore the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with
their mouth,
cry ye out, and cry] Render : Blind yourselves and be blind. The
root of both verbs is that used in ch. vi. 10 of "smearing" the eyes:
the doom then threatened is now being fulfilled.
they are drunken... they stagger] These perfects should probably be
pointed and translated as imperatives; "be drunken" (so the LXX.).
10. Their infatuation is caused by Jehovah ; see on ch. vi. 10.
deep sleep] The word (tardemah) is nearly always used of a profound
slumber due to supernatural agency (1 Sam. xxvi. 12) and favourable
for the reception of Divine revelations (Job iv. 13). The expiessions
the prophets and the seers are obviously glosses, based on a misconception
of the meaning of the verse. Render : hath closed your eyes, and your
heads hath he covered (or muffled).
11, 12. A distinction is drawn between the ignorance of the educated
and that of the uneducated classes. The man of culture is like one who
•will not break the seal of a sealed book that he may read it ; the man
in the street cannot read it even if unsealed. The passage is interesting
as illustrating the diffusion of literary education in Isaiah's time (cf.
Jer. v. 4, 5).
11. the vision of all] i.e. the revelation of all this (cf. Ps. xlix. 17,
"all that").
learned] is literally "knowing letters."
13, 14. This spiritual insensibility of the people is the outcome of
its whole religious attitude, which is insincere, formal, and traditional.
The contrast implied is that between a religion of mere ritual and one of
moral fellowship with God.
13. draw near (i.e. worship) me with their mouth, and with their

v. 14.] ISAIAH, XXIX. 221
And with their lips do honour me,
But have removed their heart far from me,
And their fear towards me is taught by the
precept of men :
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous 14
work amongst this people,
Even a marvellous work and a wonder :
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men
shall be hid.
lips do honour me] A.V. is here unquestionably right against R.V.,
which slavishly follows the Hebrew accentuation, rendering, " draw nigh,
and with their mouth and with their lips do honour me." with
their mouth. ..their lips] — uttering the prescribed liturgical formulae.
have removed their heart far from me] The heart is the organ of
intelligence and moral obedience and inclination (cf. Prov. xxiii. 26).
their fear towards me] R.V. their fear of me, i.e. their piety,
religion. is taught by the precept of men] Better as R.V. : is (or, has be
come) a commandment of men which hath been taught ; — a human
ordinance learned by rote (cf. Matt. xv. 1 — 9). This pregnant criticism
expresses with epigrammatic force the fundamental difference between
the pagan and the biblical conceptions of religion. Religion, being
personal fellowship with God, cannot be "learned" from men, but only
by revelation (Matt. xvi. 17).
14. Israel being thus" hopelessly estranged from true knowledge of
Jehovah, Jehovah must (and will) reveal His character in a way not to
be misunderstood.
behold, I will proceed] The Hebr. has the same peculiar construction
as in xxviii. 16.
to do a marvellous .. .wonder) Render: to work wonderfully with
this people, — wonderfully and wondrously (cf. xxviii. 21).
the wisdom of their wise men (cf. Jer. xviii. 18) shall perish] — so far
will the issue surpass human forethought.
shall be hid] shall hide itself, in shame and confusion.
Ch. XXIX. 15—24. A Messianic forecast.
The third "Woe" (v. 15), directed against the political intrigue
with Egypt, merely serves as a point of attachment for a glowing
description of the regenerated Israel. The course of thought is as
follows : —
The prophet, having unmasked the designs of the conspirators, ex
postulates with them for pitting their foolish plans against the purpose
ofthe Almighty (w. 15, 16).
Ere long, Jehovah will prove His power by a marvellous trans
formation of nature and society ; the word of the Lord will be received

ISAIAH, XXIX. [vv. 15—18.

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel
from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark,
And they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter's clay :
For shall the work say of him that made it, He made
me not?
Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it,
He had no understanding?
Is it not yet a very little while,
And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the
book,
by the people, now deaf and dumb to spiritual things; the poor and
oppressed shall rejoice in their God (w. 17 — 19).
In that glorious age there shall be neither tyrant nor scoffer, —
neither oppression from without, nor injustice within the state (vv.
20, 21).
The time of Israel's humiliation shall soon pass away, never to return;
and those who at present are perplexed and discontented shall accept the
instruction of true religion (vv. 22 — 24).
15. Cf. xxx. 1, xxxi. 1. that seek deep to hide their counsel from
the Lord] that hide a plan deep from Jehovah. The Egyptian party
at court had done their utmost to conceal their project from Isaiah;
this attempt to deceive God's prophet is an act of rebellion, an atteinpt
to steal a march on Jehovah. That they had other reasons for working
in the dark is no doubt true; but these were of small moment com
pared with the sin of refusing to Jehovah a voice in their counsels
of state.
16. Shall the creature attempt to outwit the Creator?
Surely your turning... clay] Render as R.V. marg.: 0 your per
versity! Shall the potter be counted as clay? " Is there no difference
between maker and thing made ? " On the image of the clay and the
potter, cf. ch. xlv. 9, lxiv. 8; Jer. xviii. 6; Rom. ix. 21 ff.
17. The expressions here were perhaps proverbial ; they are almost
exactly repeated in ch. xxxii. 15.
yet a very little while) as in ch. x. 25 (cf. xvi. 14).
Lebanon is here a synonym for forest (see on ch. x. 34) ; it answers
to " wilderness " (uncultivated pasture-land) in xxxii. 15.
a fruitful field] cf. x. 18.
18. the words ofthe book] There is a reference implied to vv. 11, 12.
"Deafness" and "blindness " are metaphors for the spiritual obtuseness
which at present characterises the nation (v. 10).

vv. 19—22.] ISAIAH, XXIX. 223
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity,
and out of darkness.
The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, 19
And the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy
One of Israel.
For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the 20
scorner is consumed,
And all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
That make a man an offender for a word, 21
And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate,
And turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, 22
concerning the house of Jacob,

19. The meek and poor (as in the Psalms) are the oppressed and
down-trodden lower orders, as contrasted with the irreligious upper
class (w. 20 f.). They have now no hope but in Jehovah; then they
shall obtain fresh joy in Him, because He has delivered them.
20. the terrible one] or "tyrant" probably denotes an external op
pressor (the Assyrian) ; cf. xxv. 3, 4 ; the scorner is the despiser of
religion (ch. xxviii. 14, 22 ; Ps. i. 1, &c).
all that watch for iniquity] Perhaps "those who are wakefully
intent upon plans of mischief" (Mic. ii. 1 ; Am. viii. 5). Some think
the phiase is ironical, implying that those spoken of were appointed
to watch over right, but betrayed their trust in the manner described
in v. 21.
21. That make a man an offender for a word] The verb rendered
"make an offender" usually means "lead into sin" (Ex. xxiii. 33;
Eccles. v. 6, &c.) ; and is so understood in R.V. marg. " make men to
offend by their words." Here, however, the second part of the verse
seems to shew that it is used in a declarative sense (="make a man
out to be an offender"), for a word should be translated either by
a (false) word ; or (as R.V.) in a cause.
him that reproveth in the gate] (cf. Am. v. 10). The person indicated
may be either a judge ("umpire," as Job ix. 33) or a private individual
who stands up for justice in the place of public assembly.
turn aside the fust (from his right, ch. x. 2 ; Am. v. 12) for a thing
of nought] rather, as R.V. with a thing of nought, " on an empty
pretext." 22. who redeemed Abraham] The clause is suspicious both from its
position in the original, and from its contents. There is no incident in
the biblical history of Abraham to which the expression "redeem" is
specially appropriate ; there is, however, a late Jewish legend about his
being delivered from a fiery death prepared for him by his heathen
relations (Book of Jubilees, ch. xii.). The words may be a late inter
polation.

224 ISAIAH, XXIX. XXX. [vv. 23, 24.
Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
Neither shall his face now wax pale.
But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands,
in the midst of him,
They shall sanctify my name,
And sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And shall fear the God of Israel.
They also that erred in spiiit shall come to under
standing,
And they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
not now] spoken from the standpoint of the ideal future.
23. when he seeth his children, the work...] R.V. marg. "when his
children see the work" [lit. "when he (his children) shall see the work,
&c."] Neither rendering is satisfactory, and "his children" should be
omitted as a marginal gloss.
sanctify. . fear] The same words are used in ch. viii. 13.
24. The meaning is that even the least capable and most refractory
classes of the community shall willingly subject themselves to the teach
ing of revelation.
understanding and doctrine are words characteristic of the Hebrew
Wisdom Literature (xxviii. 29).
Ch. XXX. A series of Oracles dealing with the Egyptian
Alliance and its consequences ; the present state and
future prospects of Israel, and the destruction of
the Assyrians.
i. vv. 1 — 7. A "Woe" against the treaty with Egypt, which is
here for the first time referred to in express terms. The Judoean embassy
is already on its way across the terrible desert (6) ; and the prophet
reiterates his warning against it as an enterprise contrary to Jehovah's
will (1, 2) and based on an absurdly exaggerated estimate of the
resources of Egypt (3 — 5, 7).
ii. vv. 8 — 17. Isaiah receives a command to record in writing his
unavailing protest against this fatal step, now irrevocably taken (8). It
is the crowning evidence of the rebellious disposition of the nation, its
contempt for the organs of revelation, and antipathy to the holy rule
of Jehovah (9 — 11). The disastrous consequences are then set forth by
the help of an effective comparison (12 — 14); and finally the true and
false policy for Israel are tersely summed up and contrasted and the
issue ofthe choice that has been made is clearly indicated (15 — 17).
iii. w. 18 — 26. A picture of the blessings reserved for the faithful
remnant in the Messianic dispensation. The principal features are, a
teachable disposition in the people (20, 21), the cessation of idolatry (22),
and a miraculous transformation of the external aspect of nature (23 —
26). The passage is remarkably similar in character to ch. xxix. 1 5 — 24.

vv. I— 4.J ISAIAH, XXX. 225
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, 30
That take counsel, but not of me;
And that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit,
That they may add sin to sin :
That walk to go down into Egypt, 2
And have not asked at my mouth;
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, 3
And the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
For his princes were at Zoan, 4
iv. w. 27 — 33. The destruction of Assyria accomplished by a.
terrible display of Jehovah's might. Jehovah in person suddenly appears
on the scene, not, as in iii. 14, to judge His own people, but to execute
vengeance on their enemies (27, 28); the Israelites are but spectators of
the great catastrophe and accompany its progress with songs of thanks
giving for their deliverance (29 — 32); while the remains ofthe Assyrian
host are consumed on the vast funereal pyre which the .prophet's imagi
nation sees already prepared for their cremation (33).
1 — 5. The futile alliance with Egypt denounced. Comp. xxix. 15,
xxxi. 1.
1. Woe to the rebellious children] See on i. 2, 4 and i. 23; cf. xxx.
9. The "sons" are "rebellious" inasmuch as they have taken this step
without consulting Jehovah, their Father.
that take counsel] Rather, that carry out a plan.
that cover with a covering] R.V. gives in the margin two translations,
between which it is difficult to choose : either that weave a web or that
pour out a drink-offering. The latter is perhaps preferable, although
the noun does not occur elsewhere with the sense of "libation" (see
xxv. 7, xxviii. 20, " covering"). The allusion would be to drink-offer
ings accompanying the conclusion of a treaty (comp. oirovS-q ~ libation
with airov8ai= covenant).
not of (with) my spirit] i.e. not in accordance with the spirit of pro
phecy speaking through Isaiah.
that they may add sin to sin] the sin of concealment to the original
sin of dallying with secular alliances.
2. and have not asked at my mouth] "have not consulted my
prophet" (for the expression cf. Josh. ix. 14; Gen. xxiv. 57).
to strengthen themselves .. .Egypt] Rather: to take refuge in the
refuge of Pharaoh, and to hide in the shadow of Egypt.
3. strength... trust] refuge... hiding; as v. 2.
4, 5. On Zoan, see on ch. xix. 1 1 . Hanes is identified with Hera-
cleopolis magna (Egyptian Hnes, still called Ahnds), situated to the
south of Memphis on an island in the Nile. Zoan and Hanes thus
mark the extreme limits of Lower Egypt, which was at this time ruled
by a number of petty potentates, amongst whom the prince of Sais held
ISAIAH k

226 ISAIAH, XXX. [vv. 5, 6.

And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
They were all ashamed of a people that could not
profit them,
Nor be a help nor profit,
But a shame, and also a reproach.
The burden of the beasts of the south :
Into the land of trouble and anguish,

a kind of primacy and Assumed the title of Pharaoh (v. 1 f.). If the
"princes" and "ambassadors" are those of Judah, the meaning would
be that the embassy would visit all the little courts of the Delta from
North to South and meet with a discouraging reception. There are two
objections to this interpretation, (1) Judah has not been mentioned in
the preceding context and (2) Isaiah's contention appears to be, not that
the Judaean overtures would be coldly received, but that the Egyptians
would be ready enough to promise but slack in performance. It is
more natural to suppose that the "his" refers to Pharaoh, in which case
v. 4 must be read as the protasis to v. 5, the sense being "Great as the
extent of the Pharaoh's sphere of influence may be, yet nothing but
shame will come to those who trust in his help." Render thus: (4) For
though his (Pharaoh's) princes are in Zoan and his messengers reach
to Hanes, (5) Yet all come to shame through a people of no profit to
them, that brings no help and no profit but shame and also reproach.
The reading "come to shame" is that of the Massoretic punctuation
(Qere). The consonantal text (Kethib) has a much harsher word —
"become stinking." The perfect is that of experience.
6, 7. These verses are marked as an independent oracle by a head
ing in the enigmatic style of those in ch. xxi., xxii. Some commentators
regard the title as an editorial note which has crept into the text from
the margin ; but the substance of the oracle, which is a parallel to, rather
than a continuation of, vv. 1 — 5, favours the supposition that it was
originally distinct. From the analogy of xxi. 1, 13, xxii. 1, we should
expect the superscription to be suggested by some striking phrase in the
body of the prophecy. There is, however, nothing in the text as it
stands to suggest "beasts of the south." "The south" means the Negeb,
the desert region to the south of Judah, traversed by the Jewish ambas
sadors on their way to Egypt. The "beasts" might be either the beasts
of burden painfully making their way through it (v. 6) or the wild
animals by which it is haunted (v. 6). That the expression refers to
the hippopotamus (Job xl. 15) as a symbol of Egypt is a hazardous
speculation. The text is probably corrupt, and Duhm's suggestion that
the title reproduces some lost words at the beginning of the oracle is
probably on the right track, although his proposed reconstruction may
not command assent.
6. trouble and anguish] Better perhaps distress and hardship, cf.
Deut. viii. 15; Jer. ii. 6.

w. 7, 8.] ISAIAH, XXX. 227
From whence come the young and old lion,
The viper and fiery flying serpent,
They will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young
asses,
And their treasures upon the bunches of camels,
To a people that shall not profit them.
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose : 7
Therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength
is to sit still.
Now go, write it before them in a table, s
And note it in a book,

the young and old lion] R.V. the lioness and the lion. Hebrew
(like Arabic) possesses a superfluity of synonyms for the lion.
fiery flying serpent] winged Saraph. See on vi. 2, xiv. 29; cf. Num.
xxi. 6. These are some of the terrors braved by the Jewish envoys in
the prosecution of their foolhardy enterprise.
they will carry (R.V. they carry) their riches, &*c.) The ambassadors
take with them a whole caravan of presents to the Egyptian courts.
7. For the Egyptians.. .purpose] Render And as for Egypt — their
help is vain and empty. Cf. vv. 3, 5.
have I cried concerning this] Better, have I called her (R.V.).
Their strength is to sit still] R.V. Rahab that sitteth still, lit.
"Rahab, they are a sitting still," or "Rahab are they, a sitting still."
The sentence is almost hopelessly obscure. "Rahab" is the name of a
mythological monster, a sea-dragon (ch. li. 9; Job ix. 13, xxvi. 12),
which became a symbol of Egypt (Ps. lxxxvii. 4, Ixxxix. 10), although
that use may be based on this verse. Etymologically it signifies
"insolent arrogance" (the root occurs in ch. iii. 5); and probably all
three senses are combined in this instance. The general sense may be,
"This proud boastful monster — its proper name is 'Inaction'."
8. What is it that Isaiah is here directed to commit to writing?
According to Delitzsch, the contents of the short oracle, vv. 6, 7 ;
according to others, merely the pithy sentence with which it closes.
That is not impossible; the mention of a "tablet" indicates some short
and striking inscription. But since a "book" is mentioned along with
the tablet, it is probable that Isaiah at this time wrote down a summary
of all his deliverances on the subject of the Egyptian alliance. Not
improbably the "book" so prepared was the basis of the present
collection of prophecies, ch. xxviii. — xxxii. The incident is closely
parallel to that referred to in ch. viii. 16, where Isaiah prepares docu
mentary evidence of his prophetic actions after his advice had been
rejected by the court and people.
For go read go in — "retire to thy house."
note it should be inscribe it as R.V.
15—2

228 ISAIAH, XXX. [vv. 9 -12.
That it may be for the time to come
For ever and ever :
1 That this is a rebellious people, lying children,
Children that will not hear the law of the Lord .-
> Which say to the seers, See not ;
And to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right tilings,
Speak unto us smooth things,
Prophesy deceits :
1 Get ye out of the way,
Turn aside out of the path,
Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
i Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel,
Because ye despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perverseness,

for the time to come for ever and ever] Render for a future day for a
witness (R.V. marg.) for ever. The pointing has to be altered in
accordance with most ancient versions.
9 — 11. The documents (as "in viii. r6) are a protest against the
persistent disobedience of the people. Render with R.V. For it is, &c.
9. lying children] or faithless sons; see on ch. i. 2, cf. Mai. i. 6.
the law] the instruction, as ch. i. 10.
10. the seers] (1 Sam. ix. 9.)
the prophets] The word rightly rendered "seer" in Am. vii. 12 and
elsewhere. See on i. 1. The prophets referred to can hardly (in view
of v. 11) be merely the false prophets, who were at the beck and call
of the people, but all representatives of the prophetic office. Cf. Am.
ii. 12, vii. 12; Hcs. ix. 7, 8; Mic. ii. 6, 11, iii. 5, 11; Jer. vi. 14, xiv.
13!!. ; Ezek. xiii. ioff.
deceits] illusions; the word is used only here. It is Isaiah's own
estimate that is put into the mouth of the people.
11. Get ye out of the way, turn aside...] i.e. "Discontinue your
hackneyed methods: adopt a more conciliatory tone, and do not seek
to influence us by reiterated prophecies of evil."
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease] The meaning is not, of course,
that the people disown Jehovah as the national deity, but that they
repudiate Isaiah's conception of Him as the Holy One of Israel, and
the teaching based on that conception.
12 — 14. The answer of " Israel's Holy One,'' whose revelation is thus
challenged. 12. this word] the warnings against the Egyptian alliance.
oppression and perverseness (lit. "crookedness")] The first word is
explained of the oppressive war taxation necessitated by the policy
now finally decided on ; this is not altogether obvious, and some prefer,
by transposing two consonants, to read "perverseness and crookedness."
The same words are conjoined in Prov. ii. 15.

vv. 13—16.] ISAIAH, XXX. 229
And stay thereon :
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach 13
ready to fall,
Swelling out in a high wall,
Whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' 14
vessel
That is broken in pieces ; he shall not spare :
So that there shall not be found in the bursting of it
a sheard
To take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water withal out of the pit.
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel ; 15
In returning and rest shall ye be saved;
In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength :
And ye would not.
But ye said, No ; for we will flee upon horses ; i5
Therefore shall ye flee :
13. Disaster will follow their policy with the necessity of a natural
law. The best translation seems to be: Therefore this guilt shall be
to you as a rent descending (lit. " falling ") (and) bulging out in a
high wall, whose crash comes, &c. The slight beginnings of trans
gression, its inevitable tendency to gravitate more and more from the
moral perpendicular, till a critical point is reached, then the suddenness
of the final catastrophe, — are vividly expressed by this magnificent
simile. Comp. Ps. lxii. 3.
suddenly at an instant] Cf. ch. xxix. 5.
14. he shall break it] or : it shall be broken.
that is broken... spare] R.V. "breaking it in pieces without sparing" ;
better : shivering it unsparingly (Cheyne).
in the bursting of it] among its fragments. So completely will the
Jewish state be shattered by the crooked policy of its leaders.
For pit read cistern (as R.V.).
15 — 17. The true policy contrasted with the false.
15 re-echoes the great ruling principle of Isaiah's statesmanship:
comp. ch. vii. 4, 9, xxviii. 16. For saith read with R.V. said.
returning and rest... quietness and in confidence] The first expression
describes the external policy, the second the attitude of mind, demanded
by the occasion. On the one hand, averseness to war (Mic. ii. 8),
renunciation of earthly help and a wise passivity in international affairs ;
on the other, calm reliance on Jehovah: in this last, the prophet says,
they would have manifested the truest "strength" or courage.
16. we will flee] Translate : we will fly (against the enemy). The
word, which in the next clause (as in every other instance) means " flee, "
is chosen because in Hebr. it resembles in sound the word for "horses."

230

ISAIAH, XXX. [w. 17-19-

And, We will ride upon the swift;
Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one;
At the rebuke of five shall ye flee :
Till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain,
And as an ensign on a hill.
And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be
gracious unto you,
And therefore will he be exalted, that he may have
mercy upon you :
For the Lord is a God of judgment :
Blessed are all they that wait for him.
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem :
Thou shalt weep no more :
He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice, of
thy cry ;
When he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
upon the swift] (coursers). In ch. xxxvi. 8 the Rabshakeh seems to
taunt the Judaeans with their childish fondness for horsemanship.
17. Their flight will be disgraceful. The words at the rebuke of five
seem to weaken the force of the preceding hyperbole ; hence some critics
would insert " a myriad" in the second clause, after Lev. xxvi. 8; Deut.
xxxii. 30.
beacon means "flag-staff" (elsewhere "mast"), cf. ch. xxxiii. 23.
18 is frequently explained as a concluding threat — "Therefore will
the Lord wait before having mercy on you " ; will postpone your deliver
ance. But this interpretation does violence to the terms of the verse,
which is really the introduction of a new section, full of glorious pro
mises. The "waiting" of Jehovah is that of anxious expectancy for the
opportune moment of intervention; His " exaltation " denotes His readi
ness to act. The emendation "he will be silent" for "he will be
exalted" is unnecessary. It is difficult, however, to explain the con
junction "therefore," after v. 17; unless we can hold that it has
adversative force ( = " even under these circumstances," " nevertheless ").
The new passage seems to belong to a different time, and to continue
another train of thought : see xxix. 1 5 — 24.
a God of judgment] or "justice."
that wait for him] Cf. ch. viii. 17; Ps. xxxiii. 20, &c.
19. The answer to prayer.
For the people shall dwell...] Rather For, 0 people in Zion that
dwellest in Jerusalem.
thou shalt weep no more .. .gracious] weep thou shalt not, he will
surely be gracious.

vv. 20—23.] ISAIAH, XXX. 231
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity,
and the water of affliction,
Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a comer
any more,
But thine eyes shall see thy teachers :
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, -.
This is the way, walk ye in it,
When ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to
the left.
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images ¦.
of silver,
And the ornament of thy molten images of gold :
Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth ;
Thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, 2
That thou shalt sow the ground withal ;

20, 21. The restoration of religious privileges and instruction.
20. the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction] (cf. i Ki. xxii.
27) the most meagre necessities of existence. The reference is to the
period of distress (perhaps the siege) which precedes the great deliver
ance. shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner] Rather : shall not thy
Teacher (God) hide Himself; (nearly as R.V. marg.). The alternative
rendering "teachers" is no doubt possible, but the verb is in the
singular, and the conception of Jehovah as the personal teacher of His
people, although surprising, gives the fullest meaning to the expressions
of this verse and the next, and is not too exalted for a description of
the Messianic age. If the other view be adopted, the reference must
be to the prophets, who are now driven into concealment, but shall
then freely appear in public. But such an anticipation has no parallel
in Messianic prophecy, and certainly receives no light from the circum
stances of Isaiah's time.
21. thine ears shall hear a word behind thee) that of Jehovah, walk
ing like a Father behind His children. Cf. xxix. iS.
22. The renunciation of idolatry.
Ye shall defile] i.e. "desecrate" (2 Ki. xxiii. 8ff.).
covering. ..ornament] Overlaying... plating, as R.V. An idol con
sisted of a core of wood or inferior metal, overlaid with a costly layer of
silver or gold. The latter part was of course the most valuable, and
perhaps also the most sacred (see Deut. vii. 25 f.).
cast them away, c>v.] scatter them as an unclean thing; Ex. xxxii. 20.
23 — 26. The temporal blessings of the new dispensation.
23. the rain of thy seed] the "early rain" falling in the month of
October.

232

ISAIAH, XXX. [vv. 24—26.
And bread of the increase of the earth,
And it shall be fat and plenteous :
In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the
ground
Shall eat clean provender,
Which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with
the fan.
And there shall be upon every high mountain,
And upon every high hill,
Rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great
slaughter,
When the towers fall.
i Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light
of the sun,
And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of
his people,
bread of the increase of the earth) Perhaps: "bread-corn (xxviii. 2S)
the produce of the ground." Cf. ch. xxxvii. 30.
24. Comp. Paul's " Doth God take care for oxen? " (1 Cor. ix. 9).
that ear] (the obsolete English word for "plough"), strictly till, R.V.
clean provender] salted fodder, i.e. the best fodder (Job vi. 5) mixed
w ith grains of salt. The devotion of cattle to salt in any form is well
known. Gesenius quotes an Arabic proverb which says that "sweet
fodder is the camel's bread, salted fodder is his comfit." The word
for " fodder " (Mitt) is usually explained as " mixture " (farrago) of
corn with beans, vetches, &c. According to Wetzstein (in Delitzsch's
Comm. on this verse) it means " ripe barley." In Syriac it denotes
" fresh corn."
winnowed with the shovel and with the fan] i.e. prepared with the
utmost care. The modern Arabic equivalent of the word rendered
"fan" denotes a six-pronged fork (Wetzstein, in Delitzsch's Isaiah,
2nd ed.). As to the process see on ch. xvii. 13.
25. Even the arid slopes of the hills of Palestine shall then flow with
water. slaughter, when the towers fall] cf. ch. ii. I2ff. It is a vague poetic
allusion to the day of the Lord, when all His enemies are destroyed.
26. moon and sun are, in the original, poetic epithets (see on
xxiv. 23).
as the light of seven days) the light of a whole week concentrated in
one day. But the clause is wanting in the LXX., and being redundant
is probably a late gloss.

vv. 2/— 2^J ISAIAH, XXX. 233
And healeth the stroke of their wound.
Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, 27
Burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is
heavy :
His lips are full of indignation,
And his tongue as a devouring fire :
And his breath, as an overflowing stream, 28
Shall reach to the midst of the neck,
To sift the nations with the sieve of vanity :
And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people,
causing them to err.
Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy 2g
solemnity is kept;
bindeth up the breach... wound] Cf. ch. i. 6.
27, 28. These verses describe the Theophany, in which Jehovah
appears to destroy the Assyrians, cf. Jud. v. 4, 5; Ps. xviii. 7 ff. 1. 3 — 5.
27. the name of the Lord) appears here to be synonymous with
what is elsewhere called the "glory of Jehovah" (cf. the parallelism,
ch. lix. 19; Ps. cii. 15) i.e. the visible manifestation of His presence.
It may have the same sense in ch. xviii. 7, the Temple of the future
being conceived as the scene of a perpetual Theophany (Ezek. xliii. 2 ff.).
Amongst the later Jews the expression "the Name" was commonly
used, out of reverence, to avoid the use of Jehovah (cf. Lev. xxiv. n).
cometh from far] In Jud. v. 4; Deut. xxxiii. 2, the Theophany comes
from Seir or Sinai ; here its origin is left indefinite. Jehovah's coming
is like that of the thundercloud which appears on the distant horizon,
no eye having observed the mysterious process by which it was formed.
In what follows the figure of the storm is inseparably blended with an
anthropomorphic representation of Jehovah.
and the burden thereof is heavy] Render: and with thick uplifting
(of smoke) (Cheyne). R.V. "m thick rising smoke." Cf. Jud. xx. 38.
full oi 'indignation] Perhaps "full of angry foam."
28. Render with R.V. and his breath is as an overflowing stream
that reacheth (lit. "divideth") even unto the neck, &c. (cf. ch. viii. 8).
to sift (lit. "swing") [the] nations with the sieve of vanity '(or ¦" 'ruin")]
i.e. to sift them until they are annihilated.
and there shall be a bridle... err] Better: and (he shall be) a bridle
that causeth to err, in the jaws of peoples; i.e. Jehovah by His
providence, turns the Assyrians aside from their purpose, and frustrates
their enterprise.
29 — 32. Songs of rejoicing arise within the city, while the Assyrians
are slaughtered under its walls.
29. Ye shall have a song] lit. "the song shall be to you." Un
doubtedly, the song is sung by the Israelites, not by an angelic choir,
as is strangely suggested by Duhm. The song will be like that in the

234 ISAIAH, XXX. [vv. 30—32.

And gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe
To come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty
One of Israel.
And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard,
And shall shew the lighting down of his arm,
With the indignation of his anger,
And with the flame of a devouring fire,
With scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian
be beaten down,
Which smote with a rod.
And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass,
Which the Lord shall lay upon him,
// shall be with tabrets and harps :
And in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
night when a feast is hallowed (R.V. marg.). The feast is probably
the Passover, the only festival which, so far as we know, included a
nocturnal ceremony, in the O.T. times. That singing then formed a
part of the ritual (as in the time of Christ: Matt. xxvi. 30), cannot be
proved, but it is not unlikely that this was the case. The reason why
this particular festival is selected for comparison may be that it;,com-
memorated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. It is thought by
many that the "Song of Moses," Ex. xv., was used as a Paschal hymn.
as when one goeth with a pipe] Or : like his who marches with a
flute, &c. (cf. 1 Ki. i. 40) ; in other words, "who takes part in a festal
procession to the Temple."
the mighty One of Israel] the Kock of Israel (R.V.), 2 Sam. xxiii. 3.
30. his glorious voice] Perhaps : the majesty of His- thunder (Ps.
xxix. 3ff.).
the lighting down] The word probably comes from the (Aramaic)
verb used in Ps. xxxviii. 2. It may, however, be derived from the verb
"to rest," the causative of which is rendered "lay upon" in v. 32.
with the indignation of his anger] with furious anger.
scattering] R.V. a blast. The word does not occur elsewhere ; it is
probably a poetic name for a storm.
For tempest read rain storm.
31. Assyria is here named for the first time as the object of the
judgment. The voice of Jehovah is the thunder, as in v. 30. For
beaten down render panic-stricken.
which smote with a rod] (cf. ch. x. 24) Or "when He (Jehovah) smites
with the rod."
32. The verse may be translated as in R.V. And every stroke of
the appointed staff which the Lord shall lay upon him shall be with
tabrets and harps; and in battles of shaking wUl he fight witn
them. The expression "grounded staff" is, however, barely intelli-

v. 33-] ISAIAH, XXX. XXXI. 235
For Tophet is ordained of old;
Yea, for the king it is prepared ;
He hath made it deep and large :
The pile thereof is fire and much wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
doth kindle it.
gible; the emendation "staff of correction" (Prov. xxii. 15) only replaces
one singular expression by another, and is besides too easy to be worth
much. The phrase "battles of shaking "is also difficult. "Battlesof the
swinging (of Jehovah's rod) " is the construction usually put upon it, but
the sense is rhetorically weak. The word for "shaking" is the technical
term for the "wave offering" in the Law (e.g. Lev. vii. 30); hence
Ewald renders "battles of wave-offering," i.e. battles in which Assyria
is devoted to destruction.
33. For Tophet is ordained of old] Render : For a burning-place is
already laid out. Tophet is the name of a spot in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where human sacrifices were offered
to the god Melek or Molek (2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31 f., xix. 6, 13).
According to Prof. Robertson Smith (Religion ofthe Semites, p. 377) the
word was originally pronounced Te"phath, and, like its equivalents in
Aramaic and Arabic, meant simply "fireplace." This view seems pre
ferable to the common derivation, which explains it as a term of con
tempt ("spitting" Job xvii. 6); and it accounts for the generic sense
which the word undoubtedly has in this passage (where, however, a
bye-form lophteh is used). "The Tophet" was so-called because the
most distinctive feature of the revolting rites there practised was the
burning of the victims in a great pit dug in the ground, which consti
tuted the "fireplace."
yea, for the king it is prepared) lit. "even it is prepared for the king "
(not "even for the king it is prepared"). The "king" might be either
the king of Assyria, or the god "Melek" (Molech), or a play of words
alluding to both. But a "witty allusion" in such a passage leads us to
suspect the hand of a glossator. The objection to understanding it of
the king of Assyria is that the emphasis rests on "it" and not on " the
king." the pile thereof] Cf. Ezek. xxiv. 9. For "fire" some other word
must have been used; perhaps "coals of fire" (vnj omitted before EW).
Ch. XXXI. The Impossibility of Human Help : the
Certainty of Divine Protection.
The alliance with Egypt (now apparently consummated) is again the
starting point of this fifth "Woe." As in ch. xxix. 5 — 7, there is some
uncertainty as to where the transition from denunciation to promise takes
place ; but the best division seems to be as follows : —
i. w. 1 — 4. The false confidence of the politicians in the strength
of Egypt (1) is rebuked by an appeal to the infinite contrast between

236 ISAIAH, XXXI. [w- "~3-
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;
And stay on horses,
And trust in chariots, because they are many ;
And in horsemen, because they are very strong;
But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
Neither seek the Lord.
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil,
And will not call back his words :
But will arise against the house of the evildoers,
And against the help of them that work iniquity.
i Now the Egyptians are men, and not God ;
And their horses flesh, and not spirit.
the wisdom and resources of the Almighty and all human craft and
power (2, 3). In a very striking figure the prophet represents Jerusa
lem as the helpless prey in the grasp of Jehovah, and shews how impos
sible it is that any earthly power should intervene for its deliverance (4).
ii. vv. 5 — 9. Yet Jehovah will protect and spare Jerusalem (5). If
Israel would but repent and turn to Him whom they have forsaken,
Who alone is God, able to save them I (6, 7). The Assyrian shall be
destroyed by Jehovah's personal intervention (8, 9).
1. Woe to them that put their trust in the horses and chariots of
Egypt ! The Jews were painfully conscious of their weakness in cavalry
as compared with the Assyrians, and this was one ofthe considerations
that made a league with Egypt so attractive in their eyes (see ch. xxx.
16, xxxvi. 8, 9). Egypt was always renowned in antiquity for its
strength in this arm (Horn. Iliad IX. 383 ; Diodorus, I. 45). To the
prophets horses and chariots were in themselves objectionable as em
bodiments of irreligious militarism (cf. ch. ii. 7); they were of course
doubly so when obtained through compacts with foreign states.
neither seek the Lord] i.e. seek His counsel (xxx. 2).
2, 3. A demonstration of the folly of trusting Egypt rather than
Jehovah. 2. Yet he also is wise] as well as the shrewd diplomatists who have
negotiated this treaty! The words are ironical, yet they have a serious
meaning; the prophet, alone in his view of the political situation,
reassures himself by thinking ofthe transcendent wisdom of Jehovah and
the fixity of His purpose. .
and will bring evil] Rather, brings trouble (cf. Am. iii. 6) in con
sequence of His wisdom.
and will not call back (better: and hath not recalled) his words]
The "words" are such prophecies as xxviii. 16 ff., xxix. 14 ff.. xxx.
13 f-, 16 ff.
the house of [the] evildoers is Judah (ch. i. 4); their help (i.e. "helpers")
is Egypt. 3. men, and not God... flesh, and not spirit] In these antitheses
Isaiah formulates his religious conception of history. The present

4.] ISAIAH, XXXI. 237
When the Lord shall stretch out his hand,
Both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen
shall fall down,
And they all shall fail together.
For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, 4
Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his
prey,
When a multitude of shepherds is called forth against
him,
He will not be afraid of their voice,
Nor abase himself for the noise of them :
So shall the Lord of hosts come down

crisis has not been brought about by the mere collision of earthly forces
(Egypt, Assyria, Judah) ;• faith discerns in it the operation of a spiritual
principle, and knows that that principle must be victorious. "Spirit"
is the energetic indestructible element in the universe, by which all life
is sustained ; and that which is distinctive of the teaching of Isaiah and
the prophets generally is (1) the identification of this principle with the
moral purpose of Jehovah, and (2) the assertion of the supremacy of the
spiritual, thus etliically conceived, over the material. That men could
not stand against God, or flesh against spirit, Isaiah's contemporaries
did not need to be taught ; what separated him from his hearers was the
conviction that there is but one Divine Person, and one spiritual power
in the universe, viz. : Jehovah and His moral government as revealed
in the consciousness of the prophet. Hence he continues : — And Jehovah
shall stretch out his hand, and the helper (Egypt) shall stumble and
the holpen (Judah) shall fall; and together they shall all of them
perish. 4. The verse reads: As the lion growls, and the young lion over
his prey, against whom the whole band of shepherds has been called
out — he is not terrified by their cry, nor dismayed at their shout
ing — so Jehovah of Hosts will come down, &c. Compare with this
truly Homeric simile //. XVIII. 161 f., XII. 299 ff. It is unfortunate that
so graphic an image should be thought capable of two diametrically
opposite interpretations. According to many commentators it expresses
Jehovah's determination to defend Jerusalem against the Assyrians.
But the figure would certainly be "ill-chosen" if the lion were repre
sented as protecting his prey and the shepherds as anxious to destroy it.
The only natural construction is that Jehovah (through the Assyrians, as in
xxix. 3, 4) will hold Jerusalem helpless in His power as the lion holds his
prey ; though the noisy crowd of shepherds (the Egyptians) try to scare
him away. The only advantage of the other view is that the transition
from threatening to promise would be somewhat less abrupt at the
beginning of v. 4 than at the beginning of v. 5 ; but that is not a suffi
cient reason for straining the figure in the way proposed.

238 ISAIAH, XXXI. [vv. 5—8.
To fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend
Jerusalem ;
Defending also he will deliver it;
And passing over he will preserve it.
Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel
have deeply revolted.
For in that day every man shall cast away
His idols of silver, and his idols of gold,
Which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a
mighty man ;
And the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him :
But he shall flee from the sword,
to fight for mount Zion, and for] Render: to fight against... and
against, as in every other case where the phrase occurs (ch. xxix. 7, 8 ;
Num. xxxi. 7; Zech. xiv. 12). The translation "upon mount Zion and
upon" is only adopted in order to maintain the favourable construction
of the verse.
5. Jehovah's protection of Jerusalem is expressed by a very different
figure — that of birds hovering over their nests. The word for birds
denotes especially small, sparrow-like, birds; and its use here might
seem less appropriate than in Ps. xi. 1 as a synonym for timidity. It is,
however, frequently used of birds in general (e.g. Ps. viii. 8).
passing over] The verb is that from which the word Pesah (Passover)
is derived; it occurs again only in Ex. xii. 13, 23, 27. For preserve read
rescue. 6 contains the only summons to repentance in this whole series of
discourses. It must not be understood as implying that the deliverance
of Jerusalem is conditional upon a national repentance. The verse is
connected with v. 7 ; and the thought is that the approaching deliverance
will be a decisive manifestation of the sole deity of Jehovah, which will
put idolatry to shame; and therefore the prophet calls on his hearers to
realise the magnitude of their sin in having forsaken the one true God.
have deeply revolted] cf. i. 5. In spite of the change from second to
third person (cf. i. 29, v. 8), the words children of Israel should
probably be translated as a vocative.
7. Comp. xxx. 22, xvii. 8, ii. 8 and esp. ii. 20.
8, 9. The discomfiture of the Assyrians will be accomplished by
Jehovah Himself. The connexion with what precedes is not very
close. 8. not of a mighty man. ..mean man] R.V. not of man. ..men (see
on ch. ii. 9). Lit. "of a Not-man... Not-mortal," i.e. a superhuman
sword.

v. 9-] ISAIAH, XXXI. XXXII. 239
And his young men shall be discomfited.
And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, ¦
And his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,
Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion,
And his furnace in Jerusalem.
shall be discomfited] R.V. shall become tributary, "be subjected to
bond-service," as 1 Kings ix. 21 f., &c.
9. he shall pass over to his strong hold] The clause is difficult. R.V.
and A.V. marg. take "his Rock" as subj., "Rock" being a figurative
designation either of the king of Assyria or its national deity. This
view has nothing to commend it. The A.V. gives a good sense, but
a better translation perhaps is: "he shall overpass his rock(-refuge)
from terror," the image being that of a hunted animal, which misses
its accustomed hiding-place in its fright.
his princes shall be afraid of the ensign] This rendering might be
explained by ch. xviii. 3 : the Assyrian officers shall be affrighted at the
signal which Jehovah sets up. A better rendering, however, is: his
officers shall be frighted away from the standard, i.e. "even the
officers shall desert the standard in panic" (a pregnant construction).
whose fire is. ..Jerusalem] Better: who hath a fire in Zion and a
furnace (lit. "oven ") in Jerusalem. There is perhaps an allusion here
to the meaning of "Ariel" in ch. xxix. iff. The expressions symbo
lise the two aspects of Jehovah's presence in Zion, light to His friends
and destruction to His enemies (as Ex. xiv. 20). The "oven" is an
emblem ofthe Divine anger in Ps. xxi. 9; perhaps also in Gen. xv. 17.
Ch. XXXII. 1—8. The ideal commonwealth of the
Messianic Age.
This passage, although treated by many expositors as the continuation
of ch. xxxi., bears all the marks of an independent prophecy. Its
insertion in the present group of discourses is sufficiently explained by
the picture it gives of a reformed upper class, in contrast with the irre
ligious and unscrupulous nobility against whom the previous chapters
have been mainly directed. The time of its actual composition cannot
be determined with certainty, but it is perhaps most naturally assigned
to the close of Isaiah's ministry, when his mind was occupied with the
hope of the ideal future. Much has been made of the fact that the
figure of the Messianic King (v. 1) is less idealised than in the great
prophecies of ch. ix. 1 — 6 and xi. 1 — 4. But this circumstance is easily
accounted for by the leading idea of the prophecy (which is the trans
formation of social relationships), and cannot be safely used as a criterion
of date. Still less does it furnish an argument against the Isaianic
authorship of the passage. It is true, however, that in its somewhat
laboured didactic style, and in the terms employed, the passage differs
widely from anything else in the acknowledged writings of Isaiah ; and
the suggestion that it may have owed its final literary form to a later
hand cannot be altogether ignored.

240

ISAIAH, XXXII. [vv. 1—3.

32 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
And princes shall rule in judgment.
2 And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind,
And a covert from the tempest ;
As rivers of water in a dry place,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim,
And the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
The contents of the prophecy are as follows : —
(1) vv. 1, 2. A perfectly just and beneficent government will be
established; king and nobles alike being endowed with the virtues
necessary for their office, and yielding protection to the poor.
(2) vv. 3, 4. Public opinion also will be enlightened and purified;
the people will no longer be misled by false and superficial judgments,
but even the most ignorant will be gifted with the faculty of sound
moral discernment.
(3) vu- 5 — 8. The consequences of this will be that "the aristocracy
of birth and wealth will be replaced by an aristocracy of character "
(Delitzsch) ; men will find their proper level and be estimated at their
true worth (5). To this is appended an analysis ofthe two contrasted
types, the "churl" and the true nobleman (6 — 8).
1, 2. It is characteristic of Isaiah that the renovation of society is
represented as commencing at the top, with the king and aristocracy.
(Cf. ch. i. 26, iii. 1 — -7.) The ideal king has already been described
(ch. ix. 6, 7, xi. 1 — 4)as supernaturally endowed with the virtues of a
perfect ruler; here the emphasis lies on the manifestation of these
qualities in righteous government ; and this, according to the constitu
tional principles of Isaiah's time, required an order of state officials
animated by the same spirit as the king himself.
1. and princes shall rule] Some render emphatically : " and as for
princes — they shall rule," on account of a preposition in the Hebr.; but
this is probably only a copyist's error. On "righteousness" and "judg
ment," see ch. i. 21 ; cf. xi. 4, 5.
2. For a man read each one (of the princes). The meaning of the
figure is that every great man, instead of being a tyrant and oppressor of
the poor (xxix. 20 f.), shall be a protection against calamity and a source
of beneficent activity.
from the tempest] from the rain storm; cf. ch. iv. 6.
the shadow of a great (lit. "heavy") rock] cooler than that of a tree.
Frequently cited parallels (since Gesenius) are the <nct<j tciTpaX-n of Hesiod
(Works, 589) and the "saxea umbra" of Vergil (Georg. III. 145).
3, 4. The quickening of the moral perceptions of the people. Comp.
ch. xxix. 18, 24, xxx. 20 f.
3. shall not be dim] shall not be closed (R.V. marg.). The veib,
although disguised in the pointing, is no doubt the same as that used in
ch. vi. 10, xxix. 10 (lit. "smear"). The curse there pronounced shall he
removed.

vv. 4—7.] ISAIAH, XXXII. 24*.
The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge. 4
And the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to
speak plainly.
The vile person shall be no more called liberal, s
Nor the churl said to be bountiful.
For the vile person will speak villany, 6
And his heart will work iniquity,
To practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the
Lord,
To make empty the soul of the hungry,
And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The instruments also of the churl are evil : 7
He deviseth wicked devices
To destroy the poor with lying words,
Even when the needy speaketh right.
4. the rash] i.e. the hasty, inconsiderate person, who constantly blurts
out crude and ill-judged opinions. The stammerers, on the other hand,
are those who, even when their thoughts are right, lack the gift of clear
utterance. To the former class is promised "understanding," to the
latter the power to speak promptly and " plainly " (lit. lucidities). Sound
judgment and fluent speech combine to form a good popular orator.
B.~~ True ana falseTiobility shall no longer be confounded because of
artificial caste-distinctions.
The vile person] or, the fool ; see the typical specimen, Nabal by name
and by nature, in 1 Sam. xxv.
liberal] Better : noble (in rank). The word denotes, first, one of
generous, self-sacrificing disposition; and then one of noble degree;
Num. xxi. 18 and often.
The word rendered churl occurs only here (and v. 7), and its
meaning is uncertain. The view adopted by most commentators
derives it from a root signifying guile or craftiness (hence Cheyne
well renders knave), bountiful represents another rare word (only
Job xxxiv. 19 [E.V. " rich"]), perhaps man of substance.
6 — 8. The two types contrasted in their conduct.
6. The characteristics ofthe "fool." Render: For a fool speaks
folly and his heart works (LXX. "meditates") mischief, to practise
impiety (cf.ix. 17) and to speak error (xxix. 24) against Jehovah, &c.
The fool here depicted is a free thinker, a practical atheist, as in Ps.
xiv. 1 ; the baneful effect of his principles is seen in his conduct towards
his fellow-men, in his pitiless and cruel selfishness.
to make empty...] to deprive the destitute of their scanty subsistence.
7. Tke instruments] i.e. the weapons or methods, of the knave. The
word is chosen because of its close similarity to that for "knave" (kelai
— keldv). On these machinations ofthe knave, see ch. xxix. 21.
even when the needy speaketh right] in a forensic sense ( = "speaks with
right on his side").
ISAIAH l6

242 ISAIAH, XXXII. [v. 8.
3 But the liberal deviseth liberal things;
And by libera! things shall he stand.
8. But the liberal (the noble man) deviseth liberal (noble) things —
and thereby evinces genuine nobility.
by liberal things...] Better: in noble things doth he continue
(nearly as R.V.). His generous impulses are sustained in his conduct
Ch. XXXII. 9 — 20. To the Women of Jerusalem.
Like the previous sections (xxix. I ff., 15 ff., xxx., xxxi.) this passage
is divided into two parts, — the announcement of judgment on Jerusalem,
and a description of the Messianic salvation (see the analysis below).
It presents, however, two remarkable peculiarities: (1) there is no
reference to the overthrow of the Assyrians, and (2) it contemplates a
complete destruction of Jerusalem and a protracted desolation of the
i land. For these reasons some critics have been led to assign the
! prophecy to a period much earlier than the invasion of Sennacherib;
' and this would be. plausible if it were possible to separate the two parts of
which it is composed (9 — 14 and 15 — 20). But this is difficult on account
of the close connexion established by v. 15 ; and since the latter portion
presents some literary affinities with the other members of this group
of discourses (ch. xxviii. — xxxi.) it will probably be safer to regard the
whole as belonging to the same period. It is possible, no doubt, that
the Messianic conclusion might have been written later than the address
to the women ; but even on that assumption we should have to admit
that the prophet retained the conception of an indefinitely prolonged
depopulation ofthe land, at a late stage of his career.
The contents ofthe prophecy are as follows: —
i. vv. 9 — 14. A threatening oration, addressed to the women of
Jerusalem. The introduction (v. 9) shews that what roused the ire of
the prophet was the careless unconcern and indifference of the women
in face of the reiterated warnings he had uttered. He endeavours to
shake them out of their light-hearted security by the announcement
that "the ingathering shall not come" (10). So clear is the vision of
calamity that he" calls on his hearers to adopt the attitude of mourners
over the ravaged vineyards, the desolate fields, and the deserted palaces
ofthe "jubilant city" (11 — 14).
ii. vv. 15 — 20. Out of this state of collapse and ruin there will
ultimately arise, but after an indefinite period, a new world. Under
the vivifying influence of the Divine spirit, external nature will be
renewed (15), righteousness will dwell in the land (16), and its blessed
fruits will be undisturbed peace and security (17, 18). An unexpected
allusion to the judgment (19) somewhat mars the continuity of the
passage, which ends with a prophetic felicitation of the peaceful and
industrious peasantry who inherit the golden age (20).
9. The women are addressed partly as representing best certain
aspects of the public mind, luxury and complacent ease (ch. iii. 16 ft". ;
Am. iv. 1 ff.); partly because of their function as mourners in seasons
of calamity (Jer. ix. 20).

w. 9— 12.] ISAIAH, XXXII. 243
Rise up, ye women that are at ease, hear my voice; 9
Ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech.
Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless 10
women :
For the vintage shall fail, the' gathering shall not come.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye u
careless ones :
Strip ye, and make ye bare, and gird sackcloth upon
your loins.
They shall lament for the teats, ™
that are at ease... careless] (or, confident) cf. Am. vi. 1.
10. Many days and years] The Hebr. reads literally "days beyond
a year," probably a current popular phrase like "year and day." Both
A.V. and R.V. regard the expression as accus. of duration, but the
context shews that it fixes the point of time when ease and security give
place to anxiety. The meaning is "in little more than a year." Comp.
the less definite note of time in ch. xxix. 1.
The feature of the judgment which is emphasised is the failure of the
vintage and the fruit harvest (gathering) ; what follows shews that this
is not the result of natural causes, but of a wholesale devastation of the
land. The significance of the prediction would depend greatly on the
season of the year at which it was uttered ; on any natural interpretation
of his words, the prophet means to assert that the next year's harvest
will never be gathered.
11. The speaker calls on his female auditors at once to assume the
garb of mourners ; so certain is the calamity. The word for "tremble"
is in the masc. gender in the original, a not uncommon irregularity
(Am. iv. 1; Mic. i. 13, &c). Indeed the next verse presents an
example. strip ye, and make ye bare] — as Arabian women occasionally do in
a paroxysm of grief or terror.
gird (sc. sackcloth) upon your loins] Cf. ch. iii. 24; 1 Ki. xxi.
27; 2 Ki. vi. 30; Job xvi. 15.
The words "be troubled," "strip," "make bare" and "gird" repre
sent anomalous forms in the Hebrew, which are the despair of gram
marians. The imperative no doubt gives the right sense.
12. They shall lament for the teats] R.V. gives a better translation :
they shall smite upon the breasts; but the construction is difficult.
The verb is a masculine plural participle and signifies strictly "to
mourn." The word for "breasts" might by a slight change of points
be read as "fields"; hence some commentators think that the reference
to the women is here abandoned, and render, "men shall mourn for the
fields." If the R.V. is right we must suppose that the word "mourn"
(like the Greek Kbirreaffat) meant originally "smite upon (the breast)"
and is here used in its literal sense. The clause would be somewhat
more easily construed if read as the conclusion of v. it (Duhm, "smiting
16 — 2

244

ISAIAH, XXXII. [w. 13—15-

For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and
briers ;
Yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city :
Because the palaces shall be forsaken;
The multitude of the city shall be left ;
The forts and towers shall be for dens for ever,
A joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks ;
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high,
And the wilderness be a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
on the breasts"), but even with this change the masculine gender is
exceedingly harsh.
13. Upon the land... briers] It is perhaps better to take this as con
tinuing v. 12, rendering thus: For the (cultivated) land of my people,
which goes up in thorns and briers (cf. ch. v. 6) ; yea, for all, &c.
(The verb "goes up" is fem. and must have as its subj. the fem.
"land"; "thorns" and "briers" are masc.)
the joyous city] (see on ch. xxii. 2) may be a genitive depending on
"houses," or may be a parallel phrase, governed by "for."
14. Render : For the palace is forsaken, the tumult of the city is
a solitude (as in ch. vi. 12), &c. The tenses are prophetic perfects.
the forts and towers] Better as in R.V. . the bill and the watch
tower. The first word is ' Ophel, the name of the southern projection
of the hill on which the temple stood (Neh. iii. 26 f., xi. 21; 2 Chr.
xxvii. 3, xxxiii. 14), and is doubtless mentioned as the aristocratic quarter
of the city, near the royal palace. The word translated " watch tower"
occurs nowhere else, and is of uncertain significance; probably, like
Ophel, it denotes a particular locality in the capital.
The phrase for ever must be understood in a relative sense, being
restricted by the "until" of v. 15.
The verse contains an absolute and explicit prediction of the complete
overthrow of Jerusalem. Dillmann's assertion that such an expectation
must have been expressed in different language is inexplicabKvSfid his
distinction between destruction and desolation is sophistical. Surprising
as this idea may be alongside of certain passages in this section of the
book, it is not to be explained away, and after all it does not go very
much beyond what is said in ch. xxix. 4. For a complete parallel,
however, we must go back to the early prophecy of ch. v. 14, 1 7.
15. At last the great transformation of all things will be ushered in,
by an outpouring of spirit (the Heb. has no an.) from on high; i.e.
from heaven, as in ch. xxxiii. 5. The spirit, conceived as a subtle
essence descending upon and then permeating the human world, is said
to be "poured out" as in ch. xxix. 10; Ezek. xxxix. 29; Joel ii. 28 f.
(although different verbs are there used). Any supernatural influence,
even when acting to the injury of man, might be so spoken of (ch. xix. 14,

vv. 16—20.] ISAIAH, XXXII. 245
Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, 16
And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace ; 17
And the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance
for ever.
And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, 18
And in sure dwellings,
And in quiet resting places ;
When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; 19
And the city shall be low in a low place.
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, 20
That send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

xxix. 10), just as a personal "spirit from Jehovah" may be evil or false
(1 Sam. xvi. 14; 1 Ki. xxii. 21 ff). Here the word is used absolutely
and denotes the Divine principle of life, and especially the power by
which the will of God is made to prevail in human society (w. 16 f.).
On the second half of the verse see ch. xxix. 17.
16. "Judgment" and "righteousness," the foundations of social order
(ch. i. 21, 26 f., xxviii. 17), shall then be established throughout the
land. The "wilderness" (i.e. unfilled pasture-land) is not annihilated,
only pushed further into the desert proper ; even there the reign of right
extends. 17, 18. The consequence of this supremacy of righteousness is uni
versal tranquillity and security, — a contrast to the false carnal security
denounced in w. 9, 1 1 .
17. work and effect axe synonyms; both mean literally "work," and
both have the sense of "effect" (the latter only here used in this sense).
quietness and assurance] (R.V. confidence) cf. ch. xxx. 15.
19. The verse reads : And it shall hail at the falling of the forest,
and in lowliness shall the city be laid low. According to most com
mentators the "forest" is a symbol for Assyria, as in ch. x. 18 f., 33 f.
But this is suggested by nothing in the context, and the "city" in the
next line cannot be Nineveh, which is never referred to by Isaiah, and
is far from his thoughts here. The verse as a whole must (if genuine)
be taken as an announcement of judgment on Jerusalem; but it comes
in so awkwardly between w. 18 and 20, that it may not unreasonably
be regarded as an interpolation. On the "hail" as a synonym for
Divine judgment see ch. xxviii. 3, 17, xxx. 30.
20. The prophet apostrophises the happy agricultural population of
the renovated land of Israel. The sentiment may be in part due to his
own dejiglit_in the avocations of the husbandman, but it has to" be
fememlTered_tlTat~^gHculturaT"pfo"spTenty naturally holds ~ prominent
place in Messianic prophecy, as the antithesis to the false refinements
and military pomp of the civilisation that is to be swept away. The

246 ISAIAH, XXXIII. [v. I.
33 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled;
And dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacher
ously with thee !
When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled;
features of the description are, the happiness of the people, the abund
ance of water for the irrigation of the fields, and immunity from danger,
so that "the ox and the ass" canbe safely driven out to pasture, without
fear of their not returning (cf. ch. i. 3). The "thither" ofthe A.V. is
a misleading insertion.
Ch. XXXIII. The Present Distress and the Future Glory
of Jerusalem.
The last of the six "Woes" (see p. 206) is not addressed, like the
others, to the ungodly rulers of Judah, but to some unnamed tyrant and
"spoiler," by whom the land has been reduced to the utmost straits.
The course of thought is as follows :
i. vv. 1 — 13 contain the prophet's appeal to Jehovah against the
oppressors of his country. Commencing with a threat of retribution on
the cruel and treacherous foe (v. 1), he turns for a moment in supplica
tion to God, the only hope of Israel in this time of trouble (v. 2); and
anticipates the speedy dispersion of the enemy before the presence of
Jehovah (3, 4), Who has filled Zion with righteousness and judgment
(5, 6). — At present the city is in the utmost distress through some per
fidious act of the enemy; and the whole land lies waste, mourning in
sympathy with its inhabitants (7 — 9). — But again the prophet's faith
rises triumphant in the midst of danger; the voice of Jehovah is heard
announcing the swift annihilation of the invaders (10 — 13).
ii. vv. 14 — 16. The effect of Jehovah's appearing on the two classes
within the community; on the ungodly, who are seized with terror (14),
and the righteous who dwell securely with the consuming fire of Divine
holiness (15, 16).
iii. vv. 17 — 24. The poem concludes with a picture of the coming
age, when the present danger shall be but a distant memory (18, 19).
The description includes: the vision of the "King in his beauty," and
a far- stretching peaceful land (17); the perfect security of Jerusalem,
protected by Jehovah (20, 21); freedom from disease and forgiveness
of sins, as privileges ofthe redeemed people (24).
If the chapter be Isaiah's, there can hardly be two opinions as to the
circumstances in which it was composed. The unnamed enemy would
necessarily be the Assyrian, and the scene pictured in v. 7 (the ambassadors
of peace weeping bitterly) would seem to refer to some unrecorded
embassy of Hezekiah, which must have returned from Lachish with the
alarming intelligence that Sennacherib, violating every consideration of
honour, insisted on the surrender of the capital (see Gen. Introd., p. xx).
The prophecy would thus follow closely on ch. xxii. 1 — 14; and the
striking contrast between the two passages might throw light on the
prophet's change of attitude at this time. To this theory, which is in

vv. 2— 4.] ISAIAH, XXXIII. 247
And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacher
ously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
C 0 Lord, be gracious unto us ; we have waited for the* : a
Be thou their arm every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of trouble.-'
At the noise of the tumult the people fled; 3
At the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of 4
the caterpillar :
many ways attractive, there are certain objections arising from the
character of the passage. The style and imagery are both unlike
Isaiah's, and the pathetic and plaintive tone of w. 2, 8 f. is hardly
in keeping with the decisiveness which marks all his utterances. Such
a prayer as that in v. 2, where the author identifies himself with his
people, is without parallel in the acknowledged writings of Isaiah.
Some scholars have tried to explain these characteristics by the hypo
thesis that the chapter is the composition of a contemporary and disciple
of the prophet, or a working up of Isaianic material by a later writer.
Critics of a less conservative type pronounce the passage to be post-
Exilic and refer it to some episode of the Jewish struggle for indepen
dence against the Persian or Syrian kings.
1. The enemy is described by epithets which recur in ch. xxi. 2,
xxiv. 16. rlhe obscurity of the reference is somewhat unlike Isaiah,
who is usually perfectly explicit in his references to the Assyrian.
when thou shalt make an end] The Heb. verb used is supposed to
mean "attain"; but it occurs nowhere else, and the reading is probably
at fault. The substitution of a Kaph for the Nun gives the common
verb killdh, "finish," which is the exact sense given by the E.V.
2. The nation's prayer to Jehovah. The writer seems to make him
self the spokesman of the community, a thing which Isaiah rarely does
(see xxxii. 15); nowhere, as here, in a prayer. Cheyne, however, sug
gests that he speaks in the name of his own disciples, for whose sake he
prays that the whole nation may be spared.
be thou their arm] i.e. their strength and defence (Jer. xvii. 5). The
force of the pronoun "their" is uncertain ; some change it (needlessly
perhaps) to "our." On the phrase "every morning," cf. ch. xxviii. 19.
3,4. Assurance of Jehovah's victory, founded on the great deliver
ances of the past. The perfects in v. 3 may be either those of experience,
expressing a general truth often verified in history, or of prophetic
assurance, v. 4 seems to apply this truth to the present crisis.
3. Al the noise ofthe tumult] the convulsions which attend the mani
festation of Jehovah. The phrase is found in 1 Ki. xviii. 41 of a rain
storm, and in Is. xiii. 4 of a multitudinous host.
4. like the gathering of the caterpillar] i.e. "as the caterpillar
gathers." The last word (meaning "devourer") is one of many names
for the locust. It is sometimes taken as gen. of obj. ("as men gather

248 ISAIAH, XXXIII. [vv. 5^7.
As the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon
them.
The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high:
He hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
i And wisdom and knowledge shall be
The stability of thy times, and strength of salvation :
The fear of the Lord is his treasure.
j Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without;
locusts"), the creature being an article of diet among the poorer classes
in the East; but this is opposed to the next clause. On the "running"
of the locust, see Joel ii. 9, where the same verb is employed. The
locusts in the figure represent the Israelites (v. 23).
5, 6. The writer draws encouragement from two thoughts: (1) from
the nature of Israel's God ; He is a spiritual Being, dwelling on high,
beyond the reach of His enemies : (2) from the spiritual blessings He has
conferred on His people. The connexion of these two may be gathered
from ch. xxxii. 15; it is the outpouring of "spirit from on high" that
has produced the fruit of righteousness in the state. That Israel pos
sesses a religion which is essentially spiritual appears to be the ultimate
ground on which the expectation of deliverance is based.
5. judgment and righteousness can mean nothing else than personal
and civic virtues in the inhabitants of the city. Isaiah could not have
written thus of the Jerusalem he knew (cf. i. 2 1) ; if he is the author the
words must express a vivid anticipation of the great change in the
national character which is now on the eve of accomplishment.
6. The verse is difficult and may be construed in several ways. We
might either render ' ' and the stability of thy times shall be a store of
salvation, wisdom, and knowledge" (virtually as R.V. marg.); or take
the words "stability of thy times" as a complete sentence (see Davidson's
.Synt. § 3, Rem. 2), and translate as follows: And there shall be
stability in thy times; wisdom and knowledge are a store of
salvation; the fear of Jehovah is his (Israel's) treasure. The
general idea is that a right religious attitude is the true strength of the
nation and the pledge of its deliverance from all dangers. That the
words "store" and "treasure" were suggested by the depleted treasury
of Hezekiah is not a natural supposition.
The word times is used, as in Ps. xxxi. 15, in the sense of "predeter
mined lot."
7 — 9. For a moment the prophet's faith seems to relax its hold on
the great principles he has enunciated, as he turns to contemplate the
misery and desolation of the present. But in reality this is an additional
plea for the Divine intervention, to be followed by the exultant outburst
oiw. 10—13.
7. their valiant ones] This word is hopelessly obscure. It is usually
translated "God's lions," i.e. 'picked warriors, each as fierce as a lion
and as invincible as his God' (Cheyne: see on xxix. 1, and cf. 2 Sam.
xxiii. 20; 1 Chr. xi. 22); and this is probably the sense intended by

vv. 8— u.] ISAIAH, XXXIII. 249
The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth : 1
He hath broken the covenant,
He hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
The earth mourneth and languisheth :
Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down :
Sharon is like a wilderness ;
And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
Now will I rise, saith the Lord;
Now will I be exalted;
Now will I lift up myself.
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble :

E.V. Another suggestion is that it is a gentilic name, meaning
"inhabitants of Ariel." It is impossible to get beyond conjecture. The
leading of the text ('er'elldm) appears to rest on a false etymology.
It should probably be pointed as a simple plural, 'ar'eltm or (if necessary)
'drl'eltm. The verbs shall cry and shall weep should both be translated
as presents (R.V.).
the ambassadors of peace (omit shall) weep bitterly] Cf. ch. xxii. 4. Taken
in connexion with the last half of v. 8, these words seem to point to the
conclusion of a treaty of peace, which had been shamelessly violated by
the enemy. Those immediately responsible for the arrangement are
naturally loudest in their expression of dismay. We have no certain
knowledge of such negotiations between Hezekiah and Sennacherib,
although such an incident might very well have happened then.
8. The highways lie waste. ..ceasith] cf. Jud. v. 6.
he hath broken the covenant) See on v. 7.
he hath despised the cities] For 'Artm (cities) Duhm proposes to read
'edtm (witnesses), i.e. the witnesses to the broken treaty. There might
no doubt be an allusion to the capture of the fenced cities of Judah,
2 Ki. xviii. 13.
9. The earth mourneth and languisheth] (cf. ch. xxiv. 4, 7) in sym
pathy with the distress of God's people. It is the language of poetry.
The "earth " is neither the whole world, nor merely the land of Palestine ;
its equivalent in modern parlance might be "Nature." The spots men
tioned are those famous for their luxuriant vegetation, and the standing
types of natural beauty and perennial verdure (cf. ch. xxxv. 2 ; Zech.
xi. 1 ; Cant. vii. 4 f.). Instead of hewn down render with R.V. withereth
away. The verb "shake off" requires an object to be supplied, but
"their leaves" (as in R.V.) is decidedly better than "their fruits."
10 — 13. Jehovah's answer to the complaint and prayer of His people.
11. Still the words of Jehovah, addressed to the enemy. The
present tense would be better than the future. For the first figure see
ch. fix. 4; Job xv. 35; Ps. vii. 14.

250

ISAIAH, XXXIII. [w. 12—15.

Your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime :
As thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire.
13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done;
And ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
He that despiseth the gain of oppressions,
That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,
your breath...] Better as R.V. your breath (i.e. "anger") is a fire
that devours you.
12. as the burnings of lime] i.e. " as if burned to lime." An image
probably suggested by Am. ii. 1. The word rendered cut up (R.V.
cut down) only occurs again in Ps. Ixxx. 16.
13. The signal deliverance of Jerusalem will be a great demonstra
tion to all the world of the omnipotence of Israel's God. The verse is
usually taken, and perhaps rightly, as an introduction to the second
half ofthe poem, which deals mainly with the consequences of the great
act of judgment.
14 — 16. Being thus assured of a speedy answer to his prayers, the
writer proceeds, in language of great force and beauty, to describe the
moral effect on the Jewish people.
14. The sinners... hypocrites] Rather: The sinners are afraid in
Zion, trembling hath seized the impious (see on ch. ix. 17). An
ungodly party still exists, in spite of the fact that Zion is filled with
judgment and righteousness (v. 5). The reason of their terror is ex
pressed in what immediately follows.
Who among us shall dwell...] The questions are not merely rhetorical,
introducing the description of the righteous man, as in Ps. xv. 1, xxiv.
3; but an exclamation put into the mouths of the sinners. They
realise at last what Jehovah is, and begin to wonder how they can live
with Him who is a consuming fire. The word "dwell" means
strictly "sojourn as a protected guest," and is the same as that used
in Ps. xv. 1.
everlasting burnings] There is of course no allusion here to eternal
punishment. The " fire " is Jehovah's holiness, manifested in the destruc
tion of His enemies ; and this is called eternal because the Divine wrath
against sin is inexhaustible.
15, 16. A triumphant answer to the fearful self-questionings of the
ungodly. The passage closely resembles Ps. xv. 2ff., xxiv. 4?. First
the character of the true citizen of God's Kingdom is expressed in
general terms, and then the details are given in which the character is
revealed.

vv. 16— 18.] ISAIAH, XXXIII. 251
That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,
And shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
He shall dwell on high :
His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks :
Bread shall be given him ; his waters shall be sure.
Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty : 1
They shall behold the land that is very far off.
Thine heart shall meditate terror. 7
Where is the scribe? where is the receiver?
Where is he that counted the towers?
that shaketh his hands] The metaphor is a very suggestive one, the
verb being the same as that used in v. 9 of the trees shaking off their
leaves. All these phrases, indeed, denote the keenest abhorrence of
evil. 16. he shall dwell on high] (lit. "inhabit heights"), i.e. in absolute
security, as is said of Jehovah Himself in v. 5. the munitions of
rocks] inexpugnable rock-fortresses.
bread shall be given...] The image of a siege is still kept up : the
righteous inhabits a fortress that shall never be starved into surrender.
17 — 24. The idea of the perfect security of the righteous man
leads by an easy transition to more positive features of the golden age.
17. the (or a) king in his beauty] The reluctance of many expositors to
interpret this phrase of the Messiah is incomprehensible. Delitzsch
says that "the king of v. 17 is no more the Messiah than the Messiah
in Mic. v. 1 [E.V. v. 2] is the same person as the king who is smitten
on the cheek in iv. 14 [E.V. v. 1]." But in Micah the humiliated king
is replaced by the Messiah, and surely the same conception would be in
place here. That the king is Jehovah (Vitringa) is no doubt a possible
alternative in view of v. 22, but since whatever be the date of the
passage the Messianic hope must have been a living idea of Jewish
religion, there seems no reason for trying to evade what seems the most
natural explanation. On the "beauty" ofthe king see Ps. xlv. 2.
the land that is very far off] Rather as R.V., a far stretching land
(lit. "a land of distances"), the spacious and ever-extending dominions
of the Messiah. Few verses of the O.T. have been more misapplied
than this.
18, 19. In those days it will require an effort of imagination to recall
the dangers of the present, from which the nation shall have been so
suddenly and so marvellously saved.
18. shall meditate terror] Or, better, shall muse on the terror (R.V.),
— strive to realise its various circumstances which have so completely
disappeared. Where is the scribe 1... receiver] Render with R.V. where is he that
counted, where is he that weighed; the officers who exacted the
tribute. that counted the towers] calculating the strength of the city with a view
to attack it.

252 ISAIAH, XXXIII. [w. 19—23-
Thou shalt not see a fierce people,
A people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive ;
Of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not under
stand.
Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities :
Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,
A tabernacle that shall not be taken down ;
Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed,
Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
But there the glorious Lord will be unto us
A place of broad rivers and streams;
Wherein shall go no galley with oars,
Neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
2 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver,
The Lord is our king ; he will save us.
3 Thy tacklings are loosed;

19. Thou shalt not see the fierce people] Some render "people of
barbarous speech"; cf. ch. xxviii. 11.
of a deeper speech, &c] (Ez. iii. 5), of too deep speech to be
understood. that thou canst not understand] Or, without sense.
20, 21. The permanent peace and inviolability of Jerusalem, the
centre of the true religion: see'ch. xxxii. .18.
20. For solemnities, render festal assembly.
a tabernacle that shall not be taken down] Better (as R.V.), a tent
that shall not be removed. For the figure, cf. Jer. x. 20.
21. Here Jerusalem is represented like the great cities of the Nile and
Euphrates (cf. Nah. iii. 8), as surrounded by an expanse of waters,
protecting it from the approach of an enemy. The idea of course is
purely poetical.
the glorious Lord] Strictly, a glorious One, Jehovah. For a place
of xead instead of, as Hos. i. 10 (where see R.V.).
galley with oars] probably should be flotilla of boats. The meaning
appears to be that the city shall not be approached by any description
of vessels of war. ' ' Pass thereby " may be rendered ' ' pass . over
it." 22. In the New Jerusalem Jehovah is Judge, Lawgiver and Ring,
and therefore also its Deliverer from every danger.
23. The abrupt transition from the glorious future to the present or
the past, in the first part of the verse, is somewhat surprising at this
point. It is not Assyria but Zion which is compared to an unseaworthy
ship, a comparison natural enough in itself, as when we- speak of the
"ship of state."
Thy tacklings are loosed] Or, thy ropes hung slack.

v. 24.] ISAIAH, XXXIII. 253
They could not well strengthen their mast, they could
not spread the sail :
Then is the prey of a great spoil divided;
The lame take the prey.
And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick : ¦.
The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their
iniquity.
they could not well strengthen, cW.] they could not hold fast the foot
of their mast, they did not spread out the sail (or, "the ensign").
The subject here is the ropes ; they could not serve the two purposes
for which they were intended, supporting the mast and extending
the sail. The word rendered well must from its position be a
substantive; it denotes the ptea65p.ii, the cross-beam into which the
mast was let, or else the hole in the keel which received its foot
(lo-TOTridrj). The rendering " sail " is doubtful. The word means else
where "ensign," and one is tempted to translate it "flag." But it is
said that ships had no flags in ancient times (Cornill on Ez. xxvii. 7).
the prey of a great spoil] Rather, " prey of spoil in abundance." The
expression "prey of spoil" is perhaps to be explained like the Latin
praeda exuvianim. The figure of the ship is entirely dropped. On the
word for " prey " see on ch. ix. 6.
24. The healing of disease and the forgiveness of sin are combined
as in Ps. ciii. 3; Matt. ix. 2 ff., &c. To the Old Testament saints sick
ness was the proof of God's displeasure and of sin unforgiven. Hence in
the conception of the Messianic community, the abolition of sickness,
the chief evil of life, is the indispensable pledge that guilt is taken away.
Cf. Ex. xxiii. 25.
Ch. XXXIV., XXXV. A Prophecy of Vengeance on Edom,
and the future blessedness of Israel.
The oracle consists of two sharply contrasted eschatological pictures,
one of judgment, the other of redemption.
i. The first (ch. xxxiv.) commences with a lurid description of the
terrors of the last judgment, which is a universal judgment on the
nations of the world (vv. 1 — 4). But this passes abruptly (w. 5 — 17)
into a threat of special and fearful vengeance on Edom for its implacable
hostility to the people of God (v. 8). An indiscriminate slaughter of
its population is decreed (5 — 8) ; and the land shall be turned into a
perpetual desolation, haunted by desert beasts and creatures of demon
kind (9 — 17).
ii. Ch. xxxv. is a beautiful prophecy of Israel's restoration, in
imagery borrowed chiefly from the second part of the book of Isaiah.
The marvellous transformation of nature, the appearing of Jehovah to
deliver His people, the cessation of human infirmities, and the raising
of a highway for the redeemed of the Lord to return, lead up to the
final promise of everlasting joy and gladness to the ransomed nation,
and the banishment of sorrow and sighing from their midst.

254

ISAIAH, XXXIV. [w. 1—3.

34 Come near, ye nations, to hear;
And hearken, ye people :
Let the earth hear, and all that is therein;
The world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
And his fury upon all their armies :
He hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them
to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out,
And their stink shall come up out of their carcases,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
The passage is post-Exilic. Although the " perpetual hatred " (Ez.
xxxv. 5) of Edom to Judah no doubt dated from the subjugation of the
former country by David (2 Sam. viii. 13, 14), so passionate a longing
for vengeance as we find here is only intelligible after the crowning
exhibition of Edomitish hostility in the day of Jerusalem's calamity
(cf. Ps. cxxxvii. 7; Ezek. xxv. 12, xxxv. 5, 10 ff. ; Obad. 10 — 16).
This conclusion is confirmed by obvious traces of familiarity with
writings belonging to the end of the Exile if not later (chs. xiii., xiv.,
xl. ff., esp. lxiii. 1 — 6), and by the fact that the dispersion of the Jews
is presupposed by ch. xxxv. A more exact determination of its date is
impossible. The mutual antipathy of Judah and Edom continued un
abated for centuries after the Exile, and was constantly inflamed by
fresh encroachments on Judaean territory on the part of the Edomites,
who in this period were being dispossessed of their ancestral possessions
by the growing power of the Nabataeans. Some such incident may
have been the occasion of the threat in Mai. i. 2 — 5 (c. 450 B.C.), and a
succession of them would keep alive the embittered feeling which is
unmistakeably present in this prophecy.
1 — 4. The announcement of the world-judgment, introduced by a
proclamation addressed to all nations. The peoples are invited to come
near, as if for debate (ch. xli. 1, xlviii. 16, lvii. 3), but really to hear their
doom. Cf. ch. i. 2 ; Deut. xxxii. 1 ; Mic. i. 2.
all that is therein] Better, the fulness thereof (R.V.); — the same
word as in ch. vi. 3.
all things that come forth of it] The word is used (1) of vegetation,
the produce of the earth, (2) of a man's issue : here, apparently, by a
mixture of metaphors, of mankind as springing from the earth.
2. For the indignation of the Lord...) Rather, For Jehovah hath
indignation.. .and fury. It is remarkable that no reason is assigned for
Jehovah's anger.
their armies] their host (R.V.). he hath utterly destroyed them)
Lit. he hath made them a devoted thing, — herem, a technical word
for that which is irrevocably devoted to the deity, usually implying
utter destruction. Cf. ch. xi. 15.
3. Cf. Joel ii. 20 ; Am. iv. 10.

vv. 4—7.] ISAIAH, XXXIV. 255
And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scrole :
And all their host shall fall down,
As the leaf faileth off from the vine,
And as a fallen fig from the fig tree.
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven :
Behold, it shall come down upon Idumea,
And upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, 1
It is made fat with fatness,
And with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams :
For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
And the unicorns shall come down with them,
4. The representation seems somewhat confused. Bickell acutely
observes that "the host of heaven" is probably a marginal gloss to
"their host" later in the verse, and that the original subject of the first
clause ("the hills") has been displaced by it. The first line then sup
plies the parallel to the last line of v. 3: —
"And the mountains shall melt with their blood
(4.) And all [the hills] shall be dissolved."
and the heavens. ..as a scrole) Cf. ch. li. 6; Ps. cii. 26; Matt. xxiv.
29; Rev. vi. 13, 14.
fall down., faileth off from... fallen fig] R.V. fade away. ..fadeth
from off. . .fading leaf.
5 — 8. The slaughter of the inhabitants of Edom.
5. my r,vord(see on ch. xxvii. 1) shall be bathed] Better : is drunk ; i.e.
not "with blood" (which suggests an idea foreign to this passage) but
"with fury," in preparation for its work, which is on earth.
Idumea] Read Edom with R.V. The A.V. uses this Greek form
here and in v. 6, and in Ezek. xxxv. 15, xxxvi. 5, without any justifi
cation. the people of my curse] The last word is strictly ban (herem, cf. v. 2):
"the people on whom I have laid the ban."
6. The sword ofthe Lord is filled] Render: A sword hath Jehovah
which is filled, &c.
made fat with fatness] Or, "greased with fat" (different words in the
original). The Edomites are compared to sacrificial animals; cf. Zeph.
i. 7; Jer. xlvi. 10, li. 40; Ezek. xxxix. 17 ff. (See also 2 Sam. i. 22.)
Bozrah (ch. lxiii. 1; Gen. xxxvi. 33; Am. i. 12; Jer. xlix. 13, 22)
was a chief city of Edom, certainly not a place of that name in the
Hauran; more probably El-Bussira, south of the Dead Sea; but
Wetzstein identifies it with Petra.
7. For unicorns render with R.V. wild oxen.

256 ISAIAH, XXXIV. [vv. 8— ii.
And the bullocks with the bulls ;
And their land shall be soaked with blood,
And their dust made fat with fatness.
For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance,
And the year of recompences for the controversy of
Zion.
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,
And the dust thereof into brimstone,
And the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
It shall not be quenched night nor day ;
The smoke thereof shall go up for ever :
From generation to generation it shall lie waste ;
None shall pass through it for ever and ever.
But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it;
The owl also and the raven shall dwell in it :
And he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion,
and the stones of emptiness.

come down] sc. to the place of slaughter, Jer. xlviii. 15, &c.
8. Comp. ch. lxi. 2, lxiii. 4; Jer. 1. 28, li. 6, 11.
the controversy of Zion] with Edom.
9 — 17. The fate of the land of Edom is next represented under two
incompatible images, — first that of a perpetual conflagration (w. 9, 10),
and second that of a dreary solitude, peopled only by "doleful crea
tures" (vv. 11 ff.).
9, 10. The description is no doubt suggested by the volcanic pheno
mena which accompanied the destruction of the neighbouring cities of
the Plain (Gen. xix.; Jer. xlix. 18). The division of clauses in the
LXX. is much preferable to that in the Hebrew Text. Render accord
ingly:... and its land shall become pitch, burning night and day; it
shall not be quenched for ever ; its smoke shall go up from genera
tion to generation ; it shall Ue waste to all eternity, none passing
through it (so Cheyne). The last two clauses prepare for the transition
to the other picture of ruin, which is elaborated in the verses that
follow. 11. the cormorant and the bittern] Zeph. ii. 14. R.V. has "the
pelican (Lev. xi. 18; Ps. cii. 6) and the porcupine"; for the latter see on
ch. xiv. 23.
the line of confusion, and the stones (R.V. plummet) of emptiness] See
on ch. xxviii. 17. These implements of the builder were naturally
employed where a partial destruction (of houses, &c.) was contemplated;
but the image is also extended to the case of complete demolition; 2 Ki.
xxi. 13; Lam. ii. 8. "Confusion", and "emptiness" stand for the
words tohil and bohH, used of the primeval chaos in Gen. i. 2 (cf. Jer.
iv. 23).

vv. 12— 1 5. J ISAIAH, XXXIV. 257
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but 12
none shall be there,
And all her princes shall be nothing.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, 13
Nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof:
And it shall be a habitation of dragons,
And a court for owls.
The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the m
wild beasts of the island,
And the satyr shall cry to his fellow ;
The shrich owl also shall rest there,
And find for herself a place of rest.
There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, - 15
And hatch, and gather under her shadow :
There shall the vultures also be gathered,
Every one with her mate.
12. They shall call the nobles .. .there] A very obscure sentence,
probably through a defect in the text. The rendering of E.V. might
be maintained if with Prof. Weir we suppose a transposition of words
in the original ; the inference being that the monarchy in Edom was
elective (cf. Gen. xxxvi. 31 ff.). More likely, however, "her nobles"
is the subject of a sentence the rest of which is now lost; and the follow
ing words are to be translated "and there is no kingdom there which
they may proclaim."
13. The mention of nobles and princes naturally leads to the palaces
and castles.
dragons... owls] jackals. ..ostriches (R.V.). See on ch. xiii. 21 f.
14. wild beasts of the desert. ..wild beasts of the island. ..sa/yr] See
on ch. xiii. 21 f.
the shrich owl] The Hebr. is Ltlith, a fem. formation from tail
"night." Render with Cheyne: the night-hag. Lilith appears to be
n creation of the Babylonian demonology. ' ' This Lilith plays a great
part in the Talmudic demonology; the cabalistic Rabbis forged a whole
legend in which this spirit is said to have taken a feminine form to
deceive Adam, and to have united herself to him." (Lenormant,
Chaldcean Magic, Engl. Tr. p. 38.) She is mentioned in the Bible
only here.
find for herself a place of rest] On the restlessness of evil spirits, cf.
Matt. xii. 43, "walketh through dry places, seeking rest."
15. the great owl] the arrowsnake as in R.V.
gather under her shadow) The expression is almost meaningless,
when applied to a very small snake. Duhm, by a clever emendation,
reads "shall lay and hatch and heap up her eggs" (biceha for becillak).
16. The verse is remarkable in several respects. It seems to be
a solemn assurance that the foregoing prediction shall be fulfilled
isaiah 1 7

258 ISAIAH, XXXIV. XXXV. [vv. 16, 17; 1.
16 Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read :
No one of these shall fail,
None shall want her mate :
For my mouth it hath commanded,
And his spirit it hath gathered them.
.7 And he hath cast the lot for them,
And his hand hath divided it unto them by line:
They shall possess it for ever,
From generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
35 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for
them ;
And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
literally and down to the smallest details; and must therefore be
addressed to a future generation of readers. This implies a view ofthe
scope and functions of prophecy, which is not that of the older prophets.
Further, the expression "book of Jehovah" appears to point to the
existence of a prophetic canon; and the opening exhortation presupposes
a habit of searching for evidences of the fulfilment of prophecy. All
these circumstances would indicate a late date for the composition of
this oracle. Some commentators, however, have sought to evade this
interpretation by amending the text with the help of the LXX. ; read
ing: "According to their number Jehovah calls them, &c." But the
received text excites no suspicion.
the book ofthe Lord] The immediate reference must be to the present
prophecy, since there is no other which speaks of the desert creatures
that are to possess the land of Edom. But the phrase is too pregnant
to be used of a detached oracle ; we must therefore conclude that it was
destined to be incorporated in a collection of sacred writings.
my mouth... his spirit] The change of person is harsh. Read either
"his mouth" or (better) "the mouth of Jehovah" (LXX. has "Jehovah"
alone). 17. The eternity ofthe judgment is again emphasised (v. 10).
Ch. xxxv. is full of reminiscences of earlier prophecies, chiefly from
ch. xl. ff. Although there is no external mark of transition, there is
no reason to doubt that it is the continuation of ch. xxxiv., and that the
brilliant contrast is designed.
1, 2. Joy in the desert, now transformed into a fertile and luxuriant
plain. Cf. ch. xli. 18 f.
1. solitary place] parched land (R.V. marg.).
The -words for them should be omitted ; what looks like a pronominal
suffix in the Hebr. being produced by an assimilation of the verbal
ending to the following consonant (so already Aben Ezra).
the rose is probably the autumn crocus (R.V. marg.). Cant. ii. I shews
that a meadow-flower of striking beauty is meant. Many commentators

/. 2—7.] ISAIAH, XXXV. 259
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice
Even with joy and singing:
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
The excellency of Carmel and Sharon,
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
And the excellency of our God.
Strengthen ye the weak hands,
And confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart,
Be strong, fear not :
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
Even God with a recompence;
He will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, ,
And the tongue of the dumb sing :
For in the wilderness shall waters break out,
And streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water:

prefer the narcissus, a spring flower exceptionally plentiful in the plain
of Sharon. (Tristram, Nat. Hist, ofthe Bible, pp. 476 f.)
2. the glory of Lebanon. ..Carmel and Sharon] Cf. ch. xxxiii. 9,
xxix. 17 (xxxii. 15).
they (lit. these) shall see the glory of the Lord] ch. xl. 5.
3, 4. An exhortation to the despondent. For the figures of v. 3 see
Job iv. 3, 4.
4. Cf. xl. 9, 10. them that are of a fearful heart) Lit. "the
hasty of heart." The phrase occurs with a different sense in ch. xxxii. 4.
behold, your God. ..recompence] Better (as R.V. marg.) : behold your
God ! vengeance cometh, the recompence of God ; He Himself, &c.
5, 6 a. The removal of bodily infirmities. How far the language is
to be taken figuratively it may be difficult to say. Comp. ch. xxix. 18,
xxxii. 3, 4.
6 b, 7. The transformation of the desert. Cf. ch. xliii. 19, 20, xlviii.
21, xlix. 10.
7. the parched ground) The Hebr. word (shdrdb, only again in
xlix. 10) is generally thought to be identical with Serdb, the Arabic
name for the mirage (so R.V. marg.). Allusions to this remarkable
optical phenomenon, by which even experienced travellers are often
17 — 2

260 ISAIAH, XXXV. [vv. 8, 9.
In the habitation of dragons, where each lay,
Shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
¦• And a highway shall be there, and a way,
And it shall be called The way of holiness;
The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for
those :
The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
1 No lion shall be there,
Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon,
It shall not be found there ;
But the redeemed shall walk there:

deceived, are, as might be expected, common in Arabic literature.
Cf. Koran (Sura xxiv. 39) : —
"The works of the unbelievers are like the mirage in the
desert ;
The thirsty takes it for water, till he comes up to it and finds
that it is nothing."
(Quoted by Gesenius.) The idea in the text, therefore, would be that
the illusion which mocks the thirsty caravan shall become a reality ;
water shall be as common in the desert as the mirage now is. The
rendering "parched ground," however, corresponds with Jewish usage
and the ancient versions; and the sense "mirage" is unsuitable in
ch. xlix. 10.
in the habitation... rushes] A literal rendering of the Hebr. would
be : " in the habitation of jackals, its lair, a court (the word rendered
' habitation ' in E.V. of ch. xxxiv. 1 3) for reeds and rushes." This yields
no sense. The text appears to have suffered extensive mutilation.
8 — 10. The highway in the desert. The image is founded on ch. xl. 3,
xliii. 19, xlix. 11 (xi. 16).
8. The words and a way are superfluous, and may have originated
through dittography.
but it shall he for those] Better (with an emendation of the text):
but it shall be for his people. It is probable also that the next words
should be joined to this clause, — "it shall be for His people when it
walks in the way," i.e. goes on pilgrimage. The verse as a whole
suggests that the way is for the permanent use of pilgrims (cf. ch. xix.
23), not for the temporary purpose of the Return from Babylon (as in
ch. xliii. 19, &c). Another proposed rendering is "and He Himself
(Jehovah) walks in the way for them" (cf. ch. lii. 12). But this is less
natural. fools shall not err therein] If this clause be (as suggested) independent
of the preceding, the meaning possibly is that fools shall not be there at
all. The Hebr. word for "fool" ('evil) connotes moral perversity, not
merely the simplicity of inexperience (Job v. 3 ; Prov. i. 7).
9. the redeemed] cf. ch. li. 10, lxii. 12, lxiii. 4.

v. io.] ISAIAH, XXXV. 261
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads :
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
10. The verse is found verbatim in ch. li. 11. Cf. also li. 3,
lxi. 7.
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads] See ch. lxi. 3 — "a garland
for ashes" (R.V.).

Chapters XXXVI.— XXXIX.
These chapters form the conclusion of the first part of the book
of Isaiah. They contain narratives of three important historical events,
each of which illustrates the commanding influence exercised by the
prophet in the reign of Hezekiah. These are: — (1) the unsuccessful
efforts of Sennacherib to obtain possession of Jerusalem by threats and
blandishments (ch. xxxvi., xxxvii.) ; (2) Hezekiah's sickness and recovery
(cK xxxviii.) ; and (3) the embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah
(ch. xxxix.). At a time when the books of Scripture circulated sepa
rately it was important that readers of the book of Isaiah should have
before them all the information about the career of the great prophet
that could be collected from authentic sources ; and there is no reason
able doubt that these chapters are an excerpt from the canonical books
of Kings (2 Kings xviii. 13 — xx. 19). The view of Vitringa and others
that Isaiah himself is the author, and that the passage was transferred
from his pages to those of the historian, is not borne out by a comparison
of the two texts. Not only is the text in Kings on. the whole superior
to that in Isaiah, but the narrative before us reveals its secondary
character by a tendency towards abridgement and simplification ; and
in other respects shews "manifest traces of having passed through the
hands ofthe compiler of Kings " (Driver, Introd., p. 215). Moreover,
it is extremely unlikely that the death of Sennacherib (B.C. 681) recorded
in xxxvii. 38 happened within the lifetime of Isaiah. That the editor
of the books of Kings drew in his turn upon an older document is
probable; but there is no reason to suppose that the Isaianic editor used
this work as an independent authority.
The only important differences between the two narratives are :
(a) the omission in Isaiah of the account of Hezekiah's submission
(2 Ki. xviii. 14 — 16); and (b) the addition of Hezekiah's Psalm of
Thanksgiving on his recovery (ch. xxxviii. 9 — 20). The omission (a)
can be explained by the author's desire to pass over an incident which
was not of immediate interest for the biography of Isaiah. (Other
critical and historical questions raised by these verses do not concern us
here ; but see General Introduction, pp. xix ff.) The Song of Hezekiah
must have been added from a separate source.

262 ISAIAH, XXXVI. [v. I.
36 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king
Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against
Ch. XXXVI., XXXVII. Hezekiah, encouraged by Isaiah,
resists Sennacherib's summons to surrender.
We have here to all appearance the record of two successive attempts
of the Assyrian king to extort the surrender of Jerusalem ; in the first
instance by a display of armed force (xxxvi. 1 — xxxvii. 8), and then by
a threatening letter to Hezekiah (xxxvii. 9 — 38). There is certainly
some improbability in the view thus presented of Sennacherib's conduct.
The advance of Tirhakah no doubt rendered the possession of Jerusalem
more than ever indispensable to his safety, and a second summons to
Hezekiah after the first had failed is in these circumstances perfectly
intelligible. But it is less easy to suppose that he could have expected
Hezekiah, with Ethiopian succour at hand, and after having defied a
detachment of the Assyrian army, to yield to a mere letter, and one
that simply repeats the former arguments with no additional inducement
to surrender. There is besides a close parallelism between the two
incidents which suggests the possibility that the chapters may contain
two versions of the same occurrence instead of a single narrative of two
successive events. If this view be correct the first narrative breaks off
in the middle of xxxvii. 9 with the words "and when he heard it," and
is resumed and concluded in vv. 37, 38. The duplicate version is given
in the intermediate section (vv. 9 b — 36). The assumption may not be
quite necessary, but it has commended itself even to cautious critics
like Dillmann and Kittel, and deserves consideration. Nor does it
seriously affect the historic credibility of the record. The discrepancies
are perhaps not greater than between parallel accounts in the four
Gospels. 1. (Cf. 2 Ki. xviii. 13.) in the fourteenth year] The year of
Sennacherib's expedition was beyond question 701 B.C. If this was
really the fourteenth year of Hezekiah his accession must have taken
place in 715. On the objections to this date, see Chronological Note,
pp. lxxvi f. Assuming that the arguments there given are valid, the error
in this verse might be accounted for in either of two ways. (1) It has
been suggested that ch. xxxviii. f. stood originally before ch. xxxvi. f.,
and that in the process of transposition the precise specification of time,
which really belonged to ch. xxxviii., was retained as the introduction
to the whole group of narratives. The 14th year of Hezekiah would
thus be the true date, not necessarily of Sennacherib's invasion, but of
Hezekiah's sickness and the embassy of Merodach-Baladan. (2) A
second supposition is that the date was inserted here by an editor, who
arrived at it by a calculation based on ch. xxxviii. 5. Deducting the
15 years' lease of life assured to Hezekiah by the prophet from the
29 years of his reign, he rightly concluded that his sickness must have
occurred in the 14th year of his reign, and supposing further that all
these events were nearly contemporaneous, he substituted this exact
date for some vaguer statement which he may have found in his
original. A third hypothesis, — that the date is correct, but that the

vv. 2—6] ISAIAH, XXXVI. 263
all the defenced cities of Judah, and look them. And the *
king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem
unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, 3
which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah,
Asaph's son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto 4
them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king,
the king of Assyria, What confidence is this where/;? thou
trustest ? I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) / 5
have counsel and strength for war : now on whom dost thou
trust, that thou rebellest against me ? Lo, thou trustest in 6

name Sennacherib has been wrongly written for Sargon, — falls to the
ground with the whole theory of an invasion of Judah by the latter
monarch. all the defenced cities of Judah] Sennacherib himself boasts that he
captured forty-six of them in this campaign,
2. Rabshakeh is not a proper name, but an official designation, like
the Tartan (see ch. xx. 1) and the Rab-saris (chief eunuch) who are
mentioned along with him in 2 Ki. xviii. 17. The Assyrian word is
Rab-saq, said to mean "chief of the officers."
from Lachish] The most important Judaean fortress in the Shephelah,
commanding the road from Egypt. Recent excavations by Mr Flinders
Petrie have identified its site with Tell-el-Hesy, a few miles distant from
the modern Umm Lakis.
the conduit ofthe upper pool...] See on ch. vii. 3.
3. The words "and they called the king" in 2 Ki. xviii. 18 are
omitted. which was over the house] See ch. xxii. 15. It will
be seen that in accordance with ch. xxii. 20, Eliakim here occupies
the office formerly held by Shebna, although the latter still appears in a
subordinate capacity as scribe or rather secretary (R.V. marg).
the recorder] Lit. the remembrancer.
4 — 10. The speech of the Rabshakeh, dealing with the two motives
which might be supposed to have induced Hezekiah to rebel: (1) his
reliance on the help of Egypt (v. 6), and (2) his religious confidence in
Jehovah (v. 7) ; and urging him to submit to the king of Assyria
(w. 8 — 10).
5. I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) &°c] Rather
(as Cheyne and others) Tninkest thou that a mere word of the lips
is counsel and strength for war? "You cannot think so," reasons
the Rabshakeh, "you must have some ground of confidence; what is
it?" The rendering of A.V. which takes the phrase "merely a word
ofthe lips" as a parenthetic ejaculation is intelligible, but hardly right.
In any case the text must be corrected in accordance with that of
2 Kings xviii. 20 ("thou sayest [thinkest] " for " I say [think]").

264 ISAIAH, XXXVI. [vv. 7— 11.
the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt ; whereon if a man
lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it : so is Pharaoh
7 king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if thou say to
me, We trust in the Lord our God : is it not he, whose
high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away,
and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before
8 this altar ? Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my
master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two
thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon
9 them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one
captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy
10 trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And am I
now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy
it? the Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and
destroy it.
11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh,
Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language ;
6. the staff of this broken reed] For the idea, cf. ch. xxx. 1 — 5 ; for
the figure, Ezek. xxix. 6, 7.
7. Not only is Hezekiah destitute of earthly help, but he has forfeited
the protection of his own deity, by what from the heathen point of view
seemed an act of sacrilege, the abolition of the local sanctuaries (see
2 Ki. xviii. 4).
8. give pledges... to) Better (as R.V. marg.): make a wager with.
The taunt must have been peculiarly galling to the war-party in Judah,
who were painfully conscious of their weakness in cavalry; ch. xxx. 16,
xxxi. 1, 3, and v. 9 of this chapter.
9. Hezekiah's power is not equal to that of the lowest official in the
Assyrian Empire; yet he dares to defy the great king! The word ren
dered captain means the governor of a province.
10. That the Assyrian should represent himself as commissioned by
Jehovah to avenge the desecration of his sanctuaries is not by any means
incredible. A precisely similar sentiment is put into the mouth of
Cyrus in his account of the conquest of Babylon. It expresses no
serious religious conviction (see v. 20) ; and the resemblance to Isaiah's
teaching (ch. x. 5 ff.) is either accidental, or is due to a Jewish colouring
unconsciously imparted to the narrative by the writer.
For this land, in the first half of the verse, we read in 2 Ki. xviii. 25
"this place," i.e. Jerusalem.
11, 12. The Judaean ministers, fearing the effect of these threats on
the people, implore the Rabshakeh to speak to them in Aramaic; but
the astute diplomatist immediately perceives his advantage, and sets
himself to stir up disaffection amongst the populace.
11. the Syrian (or Aramean R.V marg.) language] was the medium
of international communication in Western Asia, more especially of

vv. 12—17.] ISAIAH, XXXVI. 265
for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews'
language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master 12
and to thee to speak these words ? hath he not sent me to
the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their
own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then 13
Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great
king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Let 14
not Hezekiah deceive you : for he shall not be able
to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in 15
the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us : this
city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah : for thus saith the king 16
of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and
come out to me : and eat ye every one of his vine, and
every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters
of his own cistern ; until I come and take you away to a land 17
like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of

commerce. Assyrian on the other hand was a barbarous tongue to the
Hebrews (ch. xxviii. u, xxxiii. 19).
the Jews' language] Hebrew is so called only in one other (post-
Exilic) passage, Neh. xiii. 24.
12. that they may eat...) Note the contrast in v. 16. The clause,
therefore, expresses not the desire or purpose of the king of Assyria,
but the effect of submitting to Hezekiah's insane policy.
13 — 20. The Rabshakeh's appeal to the people.
13. the great king] It is to be observed that the speaker consistently
withholds the title of king from Hezekiah.
15. The Lord will surely deliver us] Cf. ch. xxxvii. 35.
16. Make an agreement with me by a present] R.V. Make peace
with me. Lit. "Make to me a blessing" (see R.V. marg.). The
expression does not occur elsewhere, and its exact sense is doubtful.
Probably "make peaceful submission to me."
come out to me] The ordinary phrase for the surrender of a city
(1 Sam. xi. 3 ; Jer. xxi. 9, &c). and eat] that ye may eat. If they
will but yield now, they may at once resume the cultivation of their
fields and orchards.
17. But only for a time! The Rabshakeh does not conceal from
them that their ultimate fate will be deportation ; although he tries to
present it in an attractive light. The parallel verse in 2 Kings (xviii. 32)
contains these additional words "a land of oil olive and of honey, that
ye may live, and not die; and hearken not unto Hezekiah."

266 ISAIAH, XXXVI. XXXVII. [vv. 18—22; 1,2.
18 bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you,
saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of
the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of
19 Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad ?
where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? and have they delivered
20 Samaria out of my hand ? Who are they amongst all the
gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of
my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of
=i my hand ? But they held their peace, and answered him
not a word : for the king's commandment was, saying,
za Answer him not. Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah,
that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and
Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with
their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
37 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that
he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and
2 went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim,
who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and
the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah
18 — 20. The long record of Assyrian conquest shews the folly of
Hezekiah's trust in Divine power. Cf. ch. x. 9 — 11.
persuade] Rather, beguile.
19. On Hamath and Arphad, see ch. x. 9. Sephaivaim has usually
been identified with Sippar to the north of Babylon. Since, however,
it is always mentioned along with Hamath and Arpad, it is more pro
bable that a city in northern Syria is meant. Some consider it to be
the same as Sibraim in Ezek. xlvii. 16 (between Damascus and Hamath).
2 Ki. xviii. 34 adds Hena and Ivvah as in ch. xxxvii. 13.
and have they delivered] Others translate "how much less have they
(the gods of Samaria) delivered." The Hebrew is peculiar.
21. they held their peace] i.e. the people on the wall, as is expressed
in 2 Ki. xviii. 36.
xxxvii. 1 — 4. Hezekiah, thrown back at last on the policy of faith
consistently advocated by Isaiah, sends an influential deputation to the
prophet, entreating him to intercede for the nation in this extremity.
(Cf. 2 Ki. xxii. 12 — 14 ; Jer. xxxvii. 3.) The king's message could not
fail to be interpreted as a public confession of the utter failure of the
policy which had landed him in such a desperate situation.
1. went into the house of the Lord] See w. 14, 15. Cf. 1 Ki. viii.
33, 34-
2. The embassy consists of the two chief ministers, and the "elders
of the priests." The appearance of Shebna on such an errand was
a striking evidence of the completeness of Isaiah's moral victory (ch.
xxii. 15 ff.).

vv. 3—7] ISAIAH, XXXVII. 267
the prophet the son of Amoz. And they said unto him, 3
Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of
rebuke, and of blasphemy : for the children are come to the
birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be 4
the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom
the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the
living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord
thy God hath heard : wherefore lift up thy prayer for the
remnant that is left. So the servants of king Hezekiah 5
came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye 6
say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid
of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants
ofthe king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will 7
send a blast upon" him, and he shall hear a rumour, and
3. a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy] Rather, of
distress and chastisement and rejection. The word for "blasphemy"
(Neh. ix. 18, 26; Ezek. xxxv. 12) is differently pointed from that here
used, which occurs only here and in 2 Ki. xix. 3. The sense "rejec
tion" suits the context better; the king speaks of the "distress" as a
Divine dispensation.
the children are come to the birth...] Obviously a proverbial expres
sion for a crisis which becomes dangerous through lack of strength to
meet it (cf. ch. lxvi. 9; Hos. xiii. 13).
4. It may be] Or "Peradventure." The one hope is that Jehovah
will take notice of the dishonour done to His name by the threats and
blasphemies of the Assyrian king. the Lord thy God] See
ch. vii. 13. The prophet stands nearer to God than other men. Jehovah
is the living God, as opposed to the dead idols to whose level the boast
of the Assyrian had degraded Him. (Cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 26, 36.)
wherefore lift up] Or perhaps "and that thou wilt lift up," — still
dependent on "It may be." The efficacy of intercessory prayer is taught
and assumed throughout the Old Testament : see Gen. xviii. 23 ff. ; Ex.
xxxii. 3iff.; 1 Sam. xii. 19; Am. vii. 2, 5; Jer. xiv. 11, xv. 1, &c.
the remnant that is left] Cf. v. 32. The idea is Isaiah's ; but the
word is not that used elsewhere by the prophet himself.
5. The verse is really subordinate to v. 6, — "And when the servants
...came. ..Isaiah said," &c.
6, 7. Isaiah's answer far exceeds the king's request. He does not
need now to pray, for he is already in possession of the Divine message
for this crisis.
6. the servants) Lit. "the youths." Cf. I Kings xx. 14.
7. / will send a blast upon him] Render as in R.V. I wiH put a
spirit in him, i.e. a spirit of craven fear, depriving him of his natural
courage and resourcefulness. How the spirit will work is stated in what
follows : ». mere rumour will drive him back to his own land, there to

268 ISAIAH, XXXVII. [vv. 8—13.
return to his own land; and I will cause him to falL by the
sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libnah : for he had heard that he was departed
9 from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king
of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And
when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,'
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let
not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
11 Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands by destroying them utterly ; and shalt
12 thou be delivered ? Have the gods of the nations delivered
them which my fathers have destroyed, a/Gozan, and Haran,
and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in
13 Telassar ? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of
meet his death (cf. 2 Ki. vii. 6). There is no allusion in this oracle to
the disastrous blow recorded in v. 36. The "rumour" is no doubt that
of the approach of Tirhakah (v. 9).
8. Libnah] another of the "defenced cities" of Judah (Josh. *. 29).
Its situation is not known.
9. Tirhakah king of Ethiopia is named only here in the O.T. See
General Introduction, p. xvi.
10 — 13. Sennacherib's letter to Hezekiah. It is in substance a
repetition of the chief argument of the Rabshakeh, with the unimportant
modification that Hezekiah is here regarded as deceived by his God,
while the Rabshakeh chose to represent him as a deceiver of his people.
11. by destroying them utterly] Lit. putting them to the ban, see
on ch. xxxiv. 2.
12. my fathers here means "my predecessors"; for the dynasty to
which Sennacherib belonged had been founded by his father Sargon.
The place-names in this verse are all found on the Assyrian monuments.
(See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, on 2 Ki. xix. 12.) Gozan (Assyr.
Guzana) is one of the places to which the Northern Israelites were
exiled (2 Ki. xvii. 6, xviii. 11); it lay on the river Chaboras, a northern
affluent of the Euphrates. Haran is the well-known commercial
emporium of northern Mesopotamia, on another tributaiy (the Belikh)
west of the Chaboras. Rezeph (Assyr. Rasappa) is about 20 miles south
of the Euphrates on the route from Haran to Palmyra. Telassar is in
Assyrian Til-Assuri ("Hill of Asshur"), a name likely to be of
frequent occurrence. The place here can hardly be the Babylonian Til-
Assuri mentioned in the monuments ; it may rather have been one of
the cities of Eden, i.e. the small kingdom called Bit-Adini on the Upper
Euphrates. 13. Hamath... Arphad. ..Sepharvaim] See ch. xxxvi. 19. Hena

vv. 14—18.] ISAIAH, XXXVII. 269
Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and
Ivah? And. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the -4
messengers, and read it : and Hezekiah went up unto the
house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And 15
Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, 16
God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art
the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth :
thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O 17
Lord, and hear ; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see : and
hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to
reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of 18
and Ivah (R.V. more correctly, Iwah) axe not known. The latter is
probably the same as Ava or Awa (2 Ki. xvii. 24).
14 — 20. Hezekiah's prayer in the Temple. Cheyne refers to a strik
ing parallel in the Egyptian version of Sennacherib's overthrow. "On
this the monarch (Sethos), greatly distressed, entered into the inner
sanctuary, and before the image of the god (Ptah) bewailed the fate
which impended over him. As he wept he fell asleep, and dreamed that
the god came and stood by his side, bidding him be of good cheer, and
go boldly forth to meet the Arabian (Assyrian) host, which would do
him no hurt, as he himself would send those who should help him"
(Herod. II. 141, Rawlinson).
14. spread it (the letter) before the Lord] that Jehovah might take
notice of the arrogance displayed by it. The act is symbolic. Similarly
the Jews at the beginning of the Maccabee insurrection spread out in
prayer a copy of the Law, defaced with idolatrous pictures, as a witness
to the outrages perpetrated against their religion (1 Mace. iii. 48).
16. The prayer opens with a solemn invocation of Jehovah, first as
God of Israel, and second as the only true God and Creator of all things. ,
that dwellest between (or, art enthroned upon) the cherubims] Cf.
1 Sam. iv. 4; 2 Sam. vi. 2; Ps. Ixxx. 1. The Cherubim may have been
originally symbolic representations of the storm-cloud (see Ps. xviii. 10)
and hence bearers ofthe Divine Presence (Ezek. i.); but the reference
here is undoubtedly to the two figures over the ark in the Temple;
Jehovah, therefore, is addressed as the God of the Temple.
thou art the God... alone] Thou art (He that is) God alone. The sole
divinity of Jehovah is here presented as a theological consequence of
the doctrine of creation, a fundamental idea in the teaching of ch. xl. ff.
Although the doctrine of creation was held in Israel from the earliest
times, it seems to have been by slow degrees that its full religious signi
ficance was apprehended.
17. open thine eyes... and see] The Hebr. has "thine eye," which is
probably a better reading than "thine eyes" in 2 Ki. xix. 16. So "who
hath sent" is more correct than "who hath sent him" (the messenger).
to reproach the living God] as in v. 4.

270 ISAIAH, XXXVII. [vv. 19—22.
Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire : for they were no
gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone : there-
20 fore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord
our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of
the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast
22 prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria : this is
the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him ;

18. all the nations, and their countries] R.V., following the received
text, has "all the countries (lit., lands) and their land." But the true
reading is preserved in the corresponding verse of 2 Kings, which A.V.
has rightly followed here.
have laid waste] This verb is never used of nations, except in ch. Ix.
12. It differs by a single letter from "laid under the ban" biz/. 1 1,
and ought probably to be altered accordingly.
19. the work of men's hands] Cf. ch. ii. 20, xvii. 8, xxxi. 7.
wood and stone) Deut. iv. 28, xxviii. 36, 64, xxix. 17; Ez. xx. 32.
20. Therefore let Jehovah shew, in this crisis of religion, that He
alone possesses true Godhead.
that thou art the LORD, even thou only] Lit. " that thou art Jehovah
alone," cf. Deut. vi. 4. But the easier, and perhaps the original, read
ing is given by 2 Kings "that thou Jehovah art God alone" (see v. 16).
21 — 35. The answer to the prayer comes in the form of a message
from Isaiah. The message as here given really consists of two distinct
oracles : ( 1 ) a poem, on the pride and the approaching humiliation of
Sennacherib (w. 22 — 29) ; to which is appended a short passage in a
different rhythm addressed to Hezekiah (vv. 30 — 32) ; (2) a definite pre
diction, in a less elevated style, of the deliverance of Jerusalem (vv. 33 —
35). The lyrical passage (vv. 22 — 32) appears to have been inserted in
the narrative from some independent source. Although probably a
genuine work of Isaiah, the recitation of a somewhat elaborate poem is
hardly a natural form for a prophetic communication to take at so
critical a juncture. A terse and pregnant oracle, such as we have in
vv. 33 — 35 suits the situation better, and since these verses contain a
complete and direct answer to the prayer of Hezekiah, we need not
hesitate to regard them as the actual message of the prophet on this
occasion. A slight indication of the original connexion of the narrative
may possibly be found in the "therefore" of v. 33, referring back to the
"whereas" of v. 11.
21. The construction of the verse is entirely altered in 2 Ki. xix. 20
by the introduction of the words " I have heard." It then reads "That
which thou hast prayed... I have heard." But the addition is unne
cessary ; and the text in Isaiah is to be preferred.
22 — 29. The poem on Sennacherib is in substance a Taunt-song'

VV. 23, 24.j lOrtlrtn, AAAVll. 271
The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and
laughed thee to scorn ;
The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at
thee.
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? 23
And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice,
And lifted up thine eyes on high ?
Even against the Holy One of Israel.
By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and 24
hast said,
By the multitude of my chariots am I come up
To the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon ;
And I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the
choice fir trees thereof:
And I will enter into the height of his border, and the
forest of his Carmel.
but in form an elegy, written in the measure characteristic ofthe qindh.
The first two lines (v. 22) read :
She hath despised thee, hath mocked thee— the virgin daughter of
Zion;
Behind thee hath shaken the head — the daughter of Jerusalem.
The prophet anticipates the ignominious retreat of the Assyrian king
("behind thee"), leaving Jerusalem still a "virgin" fortress. To
"shake the head" is in the O.T. a gesture of contempt (Ps. xxii. 7;
Jer. xviii. 16; Lam. ii. 15, &c).
23. "What sort of being is He whom thou hast defied?" The first
two sentences are rhetorical questions, and require no answer. The
last sentence is to be read as an affirmation : Yea, thou hast lifted up
thine eyes to the height against the Holy One of Israel. To "lift up
the voice" means here to speak proudly, not as often to cry aloud (e.g.
ch. xiii. 2).
24, 25. The king of Assyria is represented as boasting of the ease
with which he triumphs over all natural obstacles in the pursuance of
his plans; such language is blasphemy against Jehovah, the Lord of
Nature; although the king himself may be hardly conscious of the sin
he is committing. The tenses in the speech might all be made perfects
by a change of vowels, or they may all be rendered by presents; the
king's meaning being simply that he constantly performs such im
possibilities as these. The Assyrian parallels cited by Cheyne are very
striking (see his Commentary, p. 219 and the references there).
24. For servants 2 Kings has "messengers," as in w. 9, 14.
am I come up] Better, 1 go up. The " I " is emphatic.
the sides of Lebanon means its recesses (R.V. "innermost parts").
the height of his border] Render, its furthest height; or (changing

272 .ISAIAH, XXXVII. [vv. 25— 27.
I have digged, and drunk water ;
And with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the
rivers of the besieged places.
, Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it;
And of ancient times, that I have formed it ?
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be
to lay waste
Defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power,
They were dismayed and confounded :
They were as the grass of the field, and as the green
herb,
As the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted
before it be grown up.
the text in accordance with 2 Ki. xix. 23) its last retreat (lit. "lodging-
place"). the forest of his Carmel] R.V. the forest of his fruitful field (see
ch. x. 18, xxix. 17, xxxii. 15 f.) — perhaps the cedar groves on the highest
ridges. 25. I have digged... water] I (again emphatic) dig and drink foreign
waters. The word "foreign" is to be supplied from 2 Ki. xix. 24. For
the expression cf. Prov. ix. 17, v. 15.
all the rivers of the besieged places] Render with R.V. all the rivers
(lit. "Nile-streams") of Egypt. See on ch. xix. 6. The extravagant
hyperbole covers an empty boast ; no Assyrian army had ever yet set
foot in Egypt, and Sennacherib was not destined to see his dream
fulfilled. 26, 27. In all his successes the Assyrian has been but the unconscious
instrument of Jehovah's eternal purpose. Cf. ch. x. 5 — 15.
26. The verse reads, with a slight change of pointing : Hast thou
not heard? Long ago have I made it, from the days of old have
I formed it : now I bring it to pass, and so hast thou been (able) to
lay waste in ruined heaps defenced cities. Cf. ch. xxii. 11, xliv. 7,
xlvi. 11.
27. Therefore their inhabitants. ..confounded] Better, And their
inhabitants (being) of small power (lit. "short of hand") were terri
fied and ashamed.
grass on the housetops] See Ps. cxxix. 6 — 8.
corn blasted before it be grown up] The Hebr. text reads "a corn
field before it is in stalk" (see R.V.). The A.V. adopts the reading of
2 Ki. xix. 26, which is perhaps to be preferred — "a blasting before it is
in stalk." But neither rendering accounts quite satisfactorily for the
words " before it is in stalk." In all probability they are, as Wellhausen
has suggested, a corruption of the opening words of the next verse,
which is obviously unsymmetrical as it stands.

vv. 28—30.] ISAIAH, XXXVII. 273
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy 28
coming in,
And thy rage against me.
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come 29
up into mine ears,
Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle
in thy lips,
And I will turn thee back by the way by which thou
earnest.
And this shall be a sign unto thee, 30
Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself;
And the second year that which springeth of the same :
28, 29. All the acts of the Assyrian are under the strict surveillance
of Jehovah, who will shew His power over him by dragging him back,
like a wild beast, to his place. If the emendation of Wellhausen (see
on v. 27) be accepted, v. 28 would read : Before me is thy rising up
and thy sitting down (cf. Ps. exxxix. 2), and thy going out and thy
coming in I know, and thy raging against me.
29. For tumult render with R.V. marg. careless ease. "Raging"
and "careless ease" form a contrast, like "rising up" and "sitting
down" in the previous verse.
therefore will I put my hook in thy nose] Cf. Ezek. xix. 4, xxix. 4,
xxxviii. 4.
I will turn thee back...] See vv. 7 and 34.
30 — 32. A sign is given to Hezekiah of the fulfilment of the preced
ing prophecy. But beyond the brief period of hardship which must
follow the invasion, the prophet announces the advent of a new age in
which all his hopes for the future of Israel shall be realised.
30. The "sign" of this verse is of the same nature as that of Ex. iii.
12, and ch. vii. 14. It consists of a series of events, in themselves
natural, which will attest the fact that all the circumstances of the
deliverance had been foreordained by Jehovah, and foretold by His
prophet. such as groivelh of itself] Hebr. sdphlah, the scanty crop produced
by the shaken grains of the last harvest (Lev. xxv. 5, r 1).
that which springeth of the same] shahts or in 2 Kings sdhtsh, a word _
which does not occur elsewhere. It is explained to mean ' ' that which
springs from the roots" of the corn. The import of the sign at all
events is that for two years the regular operations of agriculture will be
suspended. It is uncertain how long a period of Assyrian occupation
is thus contemplated. The year runs from October to October; and
this year must apparently mean the year after that in which the crops
were destroyed by the invader ; for in that year there could hardly be
even sdphiah to eat. We may suppose that the prophecy was spoken
in the' beginning of the year, i.e. in the autumn of 701, before the usual
season of ploughing. The question then arises, Plow long would the
ISAIAH 18

274 ISAIAH, XXXVII. [vv. 31— 35.
And in the third year sow ye, and reap,
And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,
And they that escape out of mount Zion :
The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of
Assyria,
He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shields,
Nor cast a bank against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
And shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
35 For I will defend this city to save it
For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
Assyrians require to remain in the land in order to destroy the prospects
of two successive harvests ? Wetzstein states that at the present day,
unless the ground has been several times broken up in the previous
summer the seed will be lost in the ground. If therefore the Assyrian
occupation lasted into the summer of 700, it would interfere with the
necessary preparations for a crop in the following year, the year of the
shdhis. But even this limited period can hardly be reconciled with the
actual result as recorded in v. 36. Probably therefore the sign does not
fix the term of the Assyrian occupation, but refers to wider effects of the
invasion, the depopulation of the country, the destruction of homesteads,
&c, which rendered an immediate resumption of agricultural activity
impossible. 31, Comp. ch. xxvii. 6.
32. the zeal of the LORD. ..this) From ch. ix. 7.
33 — 35. An assurance that Jehovah will protect Jerusalem, in answer
to Hezekiah's prayer.
33. Therefore probably attaches itself to "whereas" in v. 21 (see
the note on that verse).
34. Cf. w. 7 and 29.
35. / will defend this city] Cf. ch. xxxi. 5, where the same verb is
used. for my servant David's sake] An expression of frequent occurrence
in the books of Kings. See 1 Ki. xi. 13, 34, xv. 4; 2 Ki. viii. 19.
36. The miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's host. It is certainly
remarkable that none of Isaiah's prophecies delivered at the time predict
this appalling disaster, the clearest anticipation of it being in ch. xvii.
12 — 14, an oracle delivered some time before. At the same time some
such occurrence is needed to account for Sennacherib's precipitate

vv. 36— 38.] ISAIAH, XXXVII. 275
Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in 36
the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and
five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning, -
behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king 37
of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at
Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping 3s
in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and
Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they,

retreat before Tirhakah. A confirmation of the main fact is also found
in the Egyptian tradition, according to which Sennacherib had already
reached Pelusium in Egypt, when in a single night his army was ren
dered helpless by a plague of field-mice which gnawed the bows of the
soldiers and the thongs of their shields (Herodotus, II. 141). Since the
mouse was among the Egyptians a symbol of pestilence we may infer
that the basis of truth in the legend was a deadly epidemic in the
Assyrian camp; and this is the form of calamity which is naturally
suggested by the terms of the biblical narrative. The scene of the
disaster is not indicated in the O.T. record, and there is no obstacle
to the supposition that it took place, as in the Egyptian legend, in
the plague-haunted marshes of Pelusium. The silence of Sennacherib
about his misfortune is quite intelligible.
the angel of the LORD] is associated with the plague in 2 Sam. xxiv.
IS. 16-
37, 38. The flight of Sennacherib, and his death at Nineveh. If the
passage be a combination of two parallel narratives, the second ends
with v. 36, while w. 37 and 38 form the conclusion of the first. In the
Hebrew, the first words of v. 37 would be the correct continuation of
"and when he heard it" in v. 9.
38. The official account of Sennacherib's death as given in the
Babylonian Chronicle (Col. iii. 34 — 38) is as follows: "On 20 Tebet
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was killed by his son in a revolt. [23]
years reigned Sennacherib in Assyria. From 20 Tebet to 2 Adar the
revolt was maintained in Assyria. On 18 Sivan Esarhaddon, his son,
ascended the throne in Assyria." (Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Biblio
thek, 11. pp. 281 ff.) The event took place in 681, twenty years after
Sennacherib's disappearance from Palestine. During these years he
claims to have conducted five successful campaigns; but he never found
another opportunity to interfere in the affairs of Palestine, and the very
fact that he lived so long may have been forgotten in Judah before this
history was written.
Nisroch his god] No Assyrian deity of this name has as yet been
found on the monuments.
Adrammelech and Sharezer] Both Assyrian names. The former is
named as the parricide by profane historians (although not in the
inscriptions) ; the latter only here. The motive for the crime is explained
by the statement of Polyhistor, that Sennacherib had placed Esarhaddon
18—2

276 ISAIAH, XXXVII. XXXVIII. [w. i— 5-
escaped into the land of Armenia : and Esar-haddon his son
reigned in his stead.
38 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And
Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and
said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in
2 order : for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah
turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,
3 and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I
have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart,
and have done that which is good in thy sight. And
4 Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to
5 Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the
on the throne of Babylon during his own lifetime, an act which would
naturally excite the jealousy of his other sons (Budge, History of
Esarhaddon, p. 2).
the land of Armenia) R.V.Ararat. Ararat is the Hebrew equiva
lent of the Assyr. Urartu, Armenia.
Ch. XXXVIII. Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery.
1. In those days] The incident must have preceded by some months
the embassy of Merodach-Baladan, the probable date of which will be
considered in the Introduction to ch. xxxix. The order of the chapters
cannot be chronological, and the vague expression "in those days"
need not perhaps mean more than "in the time of Hezekiah." If, as
Delitzsch and others have supposed, ch. xxxviii. f. stood before xxxvi. f.
in the original document, the note of time would naturally refer to some
other events in Isaiah's biography which had been previously narrated.
The best justification of this hypothesis is the solution it furnishes of the
chronological difficulties presented by this group of chapters.
Set thine house in order] Lit. "Give commandment to thy house, ''
the last duty of a dying man (2 Sam. xvii. 23). An example of what is
meant may be found in David's elaborate death-bed charge to Solomon
(1 Ki. ii. I — 9).
2. turned his face toward the wall] (cf. 1 Ki. xxi. 4) an instinctive
expression ofthe feeling that he was alone with God in this bitter moment.
3. with a perfect heart] Lit. "with a whole heart," one absolutely
devoted to Jehovah. Cf. 1 Ki. viii. 61, xi. 4, xv. 3, 14, where the
expression occurs with the addition of the words "with Jehovah." The
motive of this prayer is clearly expressed in the Song of Thanksgiving
which follows (see w. 11, 18, 19).
4. In 2 Ki. xx. 4 we read that "afore Isaiah was gone out into the
middle court," this message came to him. So quickly was the king's
prayer answered. A somewhat similar instance of the revocation of one
prophetic communication by another is that of Nathan in the matter of
the building of the Temple (2 Sam. vii. 3, 4 ff.).

vv. 6-8.] ISAIAH, XXXVIII. 277
Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer,
I have seen thy tears : behold, I will add unto thy days
fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out 6
of the hand of the king of Assyria : and I will defend this
city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, 7
that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken ;
behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which a
6. The verse is greatly abbreviated from 2 Ki. xx. 5. After Hezekiah
the words "the captain of my people" are omitted; and also the sen
tence " I will heal thee : on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house
of the Lord," which follows the word behold. It cannot be doubted
that the historical book here preserves the original text.
the God of David thy father] for whose sake this special mercy is
vouchsafed to the king (cf. ch. xxxvii. 35; 2 Ki. xx. 6).
fifteen years) That the number was arrived at by calculation on the
part of the historian is not to be believed. If there be calculation in
the case at all, it is in the date of ch. xxxvi. 1, which may very possibly
be an inference from this prediction combined with the statement of
2 Ki. xviii. 2. (See on ch. xxxvi. 1.) In any case the assumption that
the prophecy was exactly fulfilled is a legitimate one, and the fourteenth
year of Hezekiah must be accepted as the true date of this sickness.
The only question is whether the writer of ch. xxxvi. 1 may not have
fallen into error by supposing that the date of Hezekiah's sickness fixed
the time of Sennacherib's invasion. On that point see the Chronological
Note, pp. lxxvi f. Since the king began to reign in his twenty-fifth year,
it is after all not a long life that is here promised to him. His reign was
to be doubled.
6. This is the only verse which would lead us to suppose that the
events synchronised with Sennacherib's invasion ; but its genuineness is
doubtful. An unqualified assurance of deliverance is hardly consistent
with the prophet's attitude -to the king's policy at the time supposed.
Hezekiah was deeply committed to projects of rebellion in the first
years of Sennacherib's reign, and a political message from Isaiah in
those circumstances could hardly fail to be accompanied by a warning
against the tendency which prevailed at the court. Since the verse
breaks the connexion between vv. 5 and 7, and since the latter part is a
reproduction (in 2 Kings an exact reproduction) of ch. xxxvii. 35, there
are some grounds for supposing that it has been inserted by the compiler
of the books of Kings.
7, 8. After v. 6, 2 Kings describes the prophet's prescription for
the malady (see on v. 21). The account of the sign also is given in a
much fuller form there. It was granted at the express request of the
king (see v. 22), who had not his father's fear of " tempting the Lord "
(ch. vii. 12). Allowed to choose between a "going forward" and a
" S°i.ng backward " of the shadow, he decided for the latter as not so
"light" a thing (i.e. less conceivable); when, at Isaiah's intercession,
the desired thing happened.

278 ISAIAH, XXXVIII. [v. 9.
is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.
So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was
gone down.
9 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had
been sick, and was recovered of his sickness :
8. The R.V. has (after Ahaz) the phrase " with the sun," which is
wrongly taken by the A.V. as an adjunct of the word "dial" (the sun
dial). It is necessary, however, to strike out the preposition "with"
(as in the LXX.). The whole verse then reads literally: Behold I will
turn the shadow of the steps which the sun has gone down on the
steps of Ahaz backward ten steps; and the sun turned back ten
steps on the steps which it had gone down. We must suppose that
the "steps," whatever they were, could be seen from the sick-chamber
of Hezekiah, to whose mind the sign had an obvious symbolical signi
ficance. The retreating shadow, miraculously lengthening the day, was
a pledge of the postponement of that "night in which no man can
work " which had almost overtaken him. What kind of apparatus is
denoted by the "steps of Ahaz" we have no means of determining.
It is not clear, indeed, that a regularly constructed sun-dial of any kind
is meant : a shadow falling on some flight of steps in the palace-court,
and affording a rough and ready measure of time, would sufficiently
explain the terms used.
9—20. Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery. This poem, which
is not given in the parallel narrative in 2 Kings, must have been inserted
here from an independent source. An external mark of the insertion is
found in the displacement oivv. 21, 22 from their proper context. The
superscription (v. 9) resembles several of those in the book of Psalms,
and was no doubt found in the document from which the poem was
transcribed. The song, therefore, was in all probability traditionally
ascribed to Hezekiah, but whether this judgment rests on historical
authority, or merely on its inherent suitability to his circumstances,
it is impossible to say. The linguistic evidence seems to point to a
late date. The poem, like many of the Psalms, is a record of individual
experience, but adapted for use in the Temple worship (v. 20). The
experience is that of a man who has been brought face to face with
death, who has prayed for life, and has been "heard in that he feared";
but with the reticence which characterises the Psalmists all details of
merely personal interest are suppressed with a view to the liturgical use
of the poem.
The psalm may be divided into two parts (both indicated in the
superscription, v. 9) : —
i. vv. 10 — 1 4. A description of the writer's anguish and despair in
the near prospect of death.
ii. vv. 15 — 20. His joy and gratitude when assured of his re
covery. 9. The writing of Hezekiah] According to some commentators we
should read "A Michtam of Hezekiah" (changing a letter in the Hebr.).

vv. io— 12.] ISAIAH, XXXVIII. 279
I said, in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the 10
gates of the grave :
I am deprived of the residue of my years.
I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the u
land of the living :
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of
the world.
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a »
shepherd's tent :
I have cut off like a weaver my life : he will cut me
off with pining sickness :
The word Michtam occurs in the titles of Pss. xvi:, lvi. — lx. ; but is of
uncertain derivation and meaning.
10. in the cutting off of my days] R.V. In the noontide of my days
(lit. "in the stillness of my days"). The phrase has been variously
interpreted; but the best sense is that given by the R.V., whether the
noon be conceived as the time of rest, or (as in an Arabic idiom) the
time when the sun seems to stand still in the heavens. Hezekiah was at
the time in his thirty-ninth year. (Cf. "in the midst of my days," Ps.
cii. 24.)
the gates of the grave (lit. of Sheol)] Cf. Job xxxviii. 17; Ps. ix. 13,
cvii. 18.
I am deprived (lit. "punished") of the residue of my years] The verb
for "be punished" does not elsewhere bear the sense of "be mulcted"
as it must do in this translation. Duhm, with a different division of the
verse, renders as follows : —
"I said, In the noon-tide of my days I must depart;
I am consigned (cf. Jer. xxxvii. 21) to the gates of Sheol for
the rest of my years."
11. Death is the end of all communion both with God and men.
To see the LORD is to enjoy the sense of His presence in the appointed
acts of worship (see on ch. i. 12). The thought that Sheol afforded no
such opportunities of converse with the living God was that which made
death a terror to O.T. believers (cf. v. 18; Ps. lxxxviii. 5, &c).
the inhabitants ofthe world] The received text has "the inhabitants
of cessation " (hedel), i.e. " of the place where life ceases," an expression
for the underworld. The reading heled ("the world ") is found in some
Heb. MSS.; and is rightly preferred by A.V.
12. Figures setting forth the utter frustration of his hope of life.
The first is that of a nomad's tent, easily pitched and soon removed.
Mine age is departed] Render: My habitation is plucked up
(Cheyne). The sense "habitation" is Aramaic and Arabic, and does
not occur again in the Bible (but see on ch. liii. 8). Elsewhere the
word means "generation," in the sense of " contemporaries, " which is
obviously unsuitable here. Then follow two figures from weaving.
I have cut off] Rather: I have rolled up (R.V.) as the weaver does

280 ISAIAH, XXXVIII. [vv. 13—15.
From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break
all my bones :
From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter :
I did mourn as a dove :
Mine eyes fail with looking upward :
O Lord, I am oppressed ; undertake for me.
i What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and
himself hath done it:
I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my
soul.
the finished web. with pining sickness] should be (as in R.V. marg.)
from the thrum, the threads by which the web is attached to the
loom. from day even to night] i.e. apparently " within twenty-four hours."
13. / reckoned till morning] R.V. has " I quieted myself until
morning." It is better to amend the text slightly and read I cried until
morning. so will he break (better, he breaketh) all my bones] the crushing effect
of pain. Cf. Lam. iii. 4.
14. Like a crane or a swallow) Rather, as R.V., Like a swallow or
a crane. Both words occur again only in Jer. viii. 7. The want of a
copula in Heb., and the unsuitability of the verb "chirp" (E.V.
" chatter ") to the note of the crane suggests that the latter may have
been imported into the text from the passage in Jeremiah. It is wanting
in the LXX.
I did mourn as a dove] Cf. ch. lix. n ; Ezek. vii. 16; Nah. ii. 7.
with looking upward) lit. toward the height, where Jehovah dwells.
undertake for me] become surety for me (Job xvii. 3). The image is
that of a debtor who is being committed to prison.
15, 16. Two extremely difficult verses. As commonly explained,
v. 15 introduces the second half of the song with an exclamation of
amazement at the wonderful deliverance experienced. Literally it reads :
" What shall I say? And He said to me— and He (emphatic) did it;
I shall walk with leisurely pace all my years — because of the
bitterness of my soul."
The words he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it would
refer to the promise of recovery through the prophet, and the fulfilment
of it. This whole conception of the verse is vigorously criticised by
Duhm, who renders thus : —
"What shall I speak and say to Him — since He has done it?
I toss to and fro all my sleeping time — because of the bitterness
of my soul."
The Hebr. word rendered " toss to and fro " is found again only in
Ps. xiii. 4, where it means "to walk in festal procession." Duhm in

vv. 16—19.] ISAIAH, XXXVIII. 281
O Lord, by these things men live, 16
And in all these things is the life of my spirit :
So wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness : 17
But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the
pit of corruption :
For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not cele- 18
brate thee :
They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy
truth.
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this 19
day:

this passage is disposed to connect it with a noun found in Job vii. 4
("tossings to and fro").
16. The thought expressed by E.V. is somewhat as follows : " By
such Divine words and deeds (v. 15) men are preserved in life; and by
such things my spirit is revived." No one will say that this is either
good Hebrew or a natural sense ; and the text is almost certainly
corrupt. The verb "live" closely resembles an Aramaic verb (hivvdh
occurring several times in the O.T.) meaning "to declare"; and this
was evidently read by LXX. : vepl aiirijj yap iptiyye^i) 001. Starting
with this, Duhm makes the verse read :
"Lord, of this doth my heart make mention to Thee,
Give rest to my spirit and recover me, &c."
His emendations however are somewhat sweeping.
so wilt thou. ..live] The first verb is impf. (fut.), the second imperat.
recover me is literally "give me health."
17. Behold, for peace .. .bitterness) (lit. "it was bitter to me, bitter"),
i.e. the bitterness of affliction was mercifully overruled so as to yield
"peaceable fruit" through his recovery (cf. Heb. xii. 11).
but thou hast in love. ..pit] Lit. (according to the Hebrew text)
"and thou hast loved my soul out of the pit..." — a pregnant construction
of perhaps unexampled boldness. The true reading probably is " thou
hast kept back my soul, &c." (hdsakld for hdshaqtd).
For pit of corruption render pit of annihilation.
cast... behind thy back] An image for utter forgetfulness : 1 Ki. xiv. 9;
Neh. ix. 26; Ps. 1. 17. The Psalmist recognises in his deliverance the
pledge that his sins are forgiven and forgotten.
18, 19. The deepest motive for the saint's gratitude is that only on
earth can he know the joys of fellowship with God.
18. With the thought of this verse comp. Ps. vi. 5, xxx. 9, lxxxviii.
10 — 12, cxv. 17.
the grave] Sheol.

282 ISAIAH, XXXVIII. XXXIX. [vv. 20—22.
The father to the children shall make known thy truth.
20 The Lord was ready to save me :
Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instru
ments
All the days of our life in the house of the Lord.
21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and
lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
2; Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up
io the house of the Lord ?
19. the father. ..truth] Cf. Ps. xxii. 30, xlviii. 13, 14, Ixxi. 18,
lxxviii. 3, 4.
20. Perhaps a liturgical appendix, adapting the psalm for congrega
tional use. Hence the transition from 1st pers. sing, to 1st pers. plu.
we will sing... instruments] Rather, we will play with string musi
(" we " including the Levites or the congregation). The word for
"string music" is Neginbth, which occurs frequently in the headings
of the Psalms. Here and in Hab. iii. 9 it has the. suffix of 1st pers. sing.
(" my "), which it is very difficult to explain.
21, 22. Cf. 2 Ki. xx. 7, 8. The verses are obviously out of their
true places here. The pluperfects in the English Translation are ungram-
matical (Driver, Tenses, pp. 84ft".), and we must render And Isaiah
said. ..And Hezekiah said.
21. lay it for a plaister] Lit. rub it. Lump should be cake, as in
R.V. Many commentators suppose that the malady from which Hezekiah
suffered was the plague; and Gesenius explains that the appearance of
the "boil" would be a hopeful, though not a certain, symptom of
recovery. He adds that the application of figs is resorted to by
modern Arabian and Turkish physicians in cases of pestilence.
Ch. XXXIX. The Embassy of Merodach-Baladan.
Merodach-Baladan (in Babylonian Marduk- habal-iddina) was king
of Babylon for twelve years (721—709) in the reign of Sargon, and
again for six months (circa 704) in the reign of Sennacherib. He was
originally the Chaldaean ruler of Bit-Yakin, a small state in southern
Babylonia; and his long and finally unsuccessful struggle for the throne
of Babylon is interesting as foreshadowing the future ascendancy of the
Chaldaeans in the dynasty of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar. That
he was able so long to hold his own against a powerful monarch like
Sargon was largely due to his practice of forming alliances with the
enemies or disaffected subjects of the Assyrian Empire, a policy of
which this chapter furnishes an illustration. Since his final overthrow
by Sennacherib took place before the latter's invasion of Palestine, it is
quite certain that ch. xxxix. (and consequently xxxviii.) is to be dated
before ch. xxxvi. f. There is, however, a difference of opinion as to
whether this embassy belongs to the earlier and longer period of his
reign or to the brief interval of power at the beginning of Sennacherib's
reign. The vague date "in those days" at the beginning of ch. xxxviii.

vv. I, 2.] ISAIAH, XXXIX. 283
At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king 39
of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah : for he
had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And 2
Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of
his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices,
seems of course to favour the latter view. On the other hand it might
be urged that six months was barely long enough for the tidings of
Hezekiah's recovery to reach Babylon and for the messengers to reach
Palestine. But the question is really not to be settled from internal
evidence; and the chief reason for deciding for the earlier period is that
it appears to afford the best solution possible of the chronological diffi
culties connected with the reign of Hezekiah. We shall assume there
fore that this incident actually occurred in or soon after the fourteenth
year of Hezekiah (i.e. about 714). This was the period preceding
Sargon's chastisement of Philistia (see on ch. xx.), when, as he himself
informs us, Judah along with the neighbouring states, while "bringing
presents to Asshur my lord " was " speaking treason." That Judah was
spared on this occasion must have been due to a timely submission
on the part of Hezekiah. And indeed the narrative before us produces
the impression that while the king was greatly flattered by the attention
shewn to him, he yet did not commit himself to a formal treaty, but left
himself free to be guided by the development of events. It follows of
course from this view that the events of ch. xxxviii. f. have no con
nexion with those of ch. xxxvi. f. and that the date of ch. xxxvi. is
wrongly placed.
1. Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan] The form "Berodach"
in 2 Ki. xx. 12 is less correct. Marduk-habal-iddina is described in the
monuments as "son of Yakin"; but this is no reason for doubting the
identity of the pe^on. The latter is probably his dynastic title.
letters] a letter, as ch. xxxvii. 14. LXX. adds koX 7rp6r/3eis, i.e.
"ambassadors," whose presence is assumed in the next verse.
for he had heard] So in 2 Ki. xx. 1 2 correctly. The text here reads
strictly "and he heard." The motive here specified was merely a
pretext to veil the real political object of the mission. This appears
clearly enough in what follows. According to 2 Chron. xxxii. 31 the
embassy was prompted by scientific curiosity with regard to the miracle
ofthe sun-dial.
2. And Hezekiah was glad of them] Not only was his vanity flat
tered, but the arrival of the envoys fell in with political projects to
which he was even then too ready to lend his ear. The reading is
decidedly preferable to the flat and meaningless "heard of them" in
2 Ki. xx. 13 (not LXX.).
the house of his precious things] R.V. marg. has "house of his
spicery," identifying the word with one found in Gen. xxxvii. 25, xliii.
11. But this rendering has only an apparent justification in the "spices"
mentioned below. The right meaning is given by the Targ. and Peshito :
treasure-house. According to the younger Delitzsch it is the Assyrian
bit nakanti. It is obvious that Hezekiah's treasury was still full, which

284 ISAIAH, XXXIX. [vv. 3—6.
and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour,
and all that was found in his treasures : there was nothing
in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah
3 shewed them not. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto
king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men?
and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah
said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from
4 Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine
house ? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house
have they seen : there is nothing among my treasures that
5 I have not shewed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah,
6 Hear the word of the Lord of hosts : Behold, the days
could not have been the case after the ruinous fine exacted by Senna
cherib (2 Ki. xviii. 14—16).
the spices, and the precious ointment] the spices and the fine oil. (Cf.
2 Chron. xxxii. 27.) These natural products of the land were probably
stored for commerce and are mentioned as a source of wealth.
the house of his armour) better : his armoury. It is probably the same
as the "house of the forest (of Lebanon)" in ch. xxii. 8.
3. The prophet's appearance on the scene shews that he suspected
the king of coquetting with a foreign alliance, although it is remarkable
that on neither side is there any explicit allusion to the political aspect
of the affair. Perhaps the first evasive answer of Hezekiah betrays a
consciousness of wrong-doing.
from a far country) He answers that part of the question which
involved least embarrassment. It is hardly likely that he means to
hint that an alliance with so distant a country was out of the question ;
more probably he will excuse himself on the ground of hospitality to
strangers who had come so far. It is noticeable that he does not men
tion the ostensible motive of the embassy.
5. Hear the word ofthe Lord] Isaiah's tone is threatening, because
he sees in this thing a sin against Jehovah. It was not necessary to
specify wherein the offence consisted ; king and prophet understood
each other perfectly. The reception of an embassy from the sworn
enemy of the king of Assyria was in itself an act of rebellion likely to
piecipitate a conflict which Isaiah strove to avert; and the childish
vanity displayed by Hezekiah, his pride in earthly resources, and his
readiness to enter into friendly relations with the powers of this world,
were tendencies against which Isaiah's ministry had been a continuous
protest. All these tendencies sprang from a single root, the lack of that
absolute faith in Jehovah as the all-sufficient guide and protector of the
nation which was the fundamental article of Isaiah's political pro
gramme. 6, 7. This is the only occasion on which a prophecy of the Babylonian
Exile appears to be attributed to Isaiah. It is not easy to reconcile
such a prediction with the particular circumstances in which it is

vv. 7, 8-] ISAIAH, XXXIX. 285
come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy
fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried
to Babylon : nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of 7
thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget,
shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the
palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to a
Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast
spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and
truth in my days.
reported to have been uttered. The announcement naturally left on
Hezekiah's mind the impression that his own days would be spent in
peace, whereas in reality the most critical juncture of his reign still lay
before him, and it is hardly credible that Isaiah should have disclosed
to him the remote fate of his descendants, without warning him of the
more immediate and personal consequences of his folly. This difficulty
would be removed if we could hold that the prophecy was uttered after
the deliverance from Sennacherib ; but we have seen that this supposition
is inadmissible on historical grounds. A more serious consideration is
that Isaiah's Messianic ideal leaves no room for a transference of the
world-power from Assyria to Babylon, or the substitution of the latter
for the former as the instrument of Israel's chastisement. He uniformly
regards the intervention of Jehovah in the Assyrian crisis as the supreme
moment of human history and the turning point in the destinies of the
kingdom of God, to be succeeded immediately by the glories of the
Messianic age. The prediction, moreover, is without a parallel in the
prophetic literature of Isaiah's age (in Mic. iv. 10 the clause "and thou
shalt go to Babylon" is inconsistent with the context, and in all
probability a gloss). These objections are partly neutralised by the
hypothesis that some nearer and more limited judgment is referred to,
such as the imprisonment of Manasseh in Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11)
in the leign of Asshurbanipal. The terms of the prophecy fall short of
a deportation of the people and a destruction of the city, only the fate
of the treasures and the royal family being indicated. No great stress,
however, can be laid on this limitation (comp. a somewhat similar case
in Am. vii. 17) and the suggestion fails to harmonise the prediction
with Isaiah's known anticipation of the course of events. It is possible
that the prophet's actual communication had reached the late writer of
this narrative in a form coloured by subsequent events.
7. The words which thou shalt beget seem, according to usage, to
imply that the calamity would fall on Hezekiah's own children.
8. Good is the word ofthe LORD] An expression of pious resignation,
including repentance ; cf. 1 Sam. iii. 18.
there shall be peace and truth (or steadfastness) in my days] In
the Old Testament the postponement of a calamity is always regarded
as a mitigation of its severity; see I Ki. xxi. 28 f.; 2 Ki. xxii. 18 ff.
Hezekiah's words probably mean no more than that mercy is mingled
with judgment in the sentence pronounced on him.

INDEX.

abbtr (bull, or * strong one'), n, 88
Aben Ezra, 258
Abraham, Jewish legend about, 223
abii es-sak&r& (ostrich), no
'dfdrd/i, 8
adder, 98
AdStij xliv, 10
Adonis, gardens of, 136
Adrammelech, 275
'dgdldk, 215 f.
agriculture, allusions to, xxx, Ixix, 59,
214 ff., 245
Ahaz, 13, 25, 95, 135 ; Isaiah's interview
with, xxviii, lviii, lxviii, 49 ff. ; his
conduct during Syro-Ephraimitic war,
xiii, xxix, lviii, 4, 50, 64; his death,
xiv, xxxii, Ixxvi, 120
Aknds, see Hanes
Ahsa, Wadi el-. 126
Ai, Aiath, 'Ayyat/t, 93
akkrat yumi (As^yr.), 15
Alexander the Great, 175, 204
alliance with Egypt denounced, xxxiv,
xxxvii, 205 ff., 211, 222, 225, 236
alliances, foreign, 18, 50, 284
alliteration, see assonance
''almdh, 56, 61 ff.
Amos, xxiii, xxv f., xxviii, liv, lxv, 6,
19 f.
Amoz, confounded with Amos, xxii
amulets, 27
anarchy, a Divine judgment, xxiii, xxvii,
22 ff., 79, 145 f.
Anathoth (Anata), 93
' ancient ' = elder, 23, 80, 186
anemone, sacred to Adonis, 136
angel of the Lord, connected with pesti
lence, xxi, 275
'dnt and 'dndv, 97
anklets, 27
Anzan, 109, 158
'appear before God/ 7
'appointed barley,' 215
Aquila, Greek transl. of, 64
Ar of Moab, 124
'arabah, 126
Arabia, oracle on, 161 f.
Arabian, no

Aralu (Assyr.), 114 f.
Aramaic, language of commerce and
diplomacy, 264 f.
Ararat=Armenia, 276
Ariel, xxxviii, 217, 249
Arish, Wadi el-, 203
Arnold, M., referred to, lxvi
Aroer, 133
Arpad, xii, 86, 265, 268
Arraignment, the Great, z
arrowsnake, 257
'artificer,' 23
ascending rhythm, 184
Ashdod, xv, xviii, xxxiv, 153
Asherah, 135, 202
asp, 98
ass, 4, 245; used in war by Persians, 159
assembly, see convocation ; Mount of
A., 114
Asshurbanipal, 54, 146, 285
assonance, alliteration, &c, 33, 35, 81,
106, 165, 180, 184, 188, 218, 229
Assyria, westward advance of, ix f, xii,
xxxv, 49; its suzerainty over Judah,
xiii, xxi, xxv; instrument of judgment
on Israel, xxv, xxvii, xxxv f., xliii, 32,
40 ff. , 83 ff., 207; further conquests
anticipated, xxx, xxxiv, 84, 154 ; its
overthrow foretold, xxxvi f., xxxix, xl,
89, 94, 118, 137 ff., 205, 233 ff.
asylum, sanctuary as, 69
Atbara, tributary of Nile, 140
audition, prophetic, 3, 36, 168, 210, 213
Azariah, see Uzziah
Azria'u of J audi, xii note
ba'aldbk, 7
Baba bathra, lxxiv
Babylon, fall of, 108, 156 ff.; oracles
concerning, 104 ff., 156— -160; exile to,
predicted, 284
Badham, F. P., referred to, 64
bahr, E1-, Arabic name for Nile, 146
ban {hereni), 101, 254 f., 268
basilisk, 98, 122
bath (a measure), 36
Mcehd )( befilldh, 257
Beer-Elim, 127

288

INDEX.

Belikh, river, 268
betil, 232
Belka, E1-, 124
bindth ya'andh (ostriches), no
BHh esi>entiae, 193
BethNimrah, 126
beihilldk, 56
Be van, referred to, 62
Bickell, referred to, 255
Birket el-Mamillah, 52
Bit Adini, 268
bit nakanti (Assyr.), 283
Bit- Yak in, 282
bittern, 118, 256
blood, symbol of murder, 8, 35, 198
Blue Nile, 140
bdhti, 256
bowels, seat of emotion, 131
Bozrah. 255
' Braiv.h of the Lord,' 30
Bredenkamp, referred to, 9s
Budge, referred to, 276
bulrushes, vessels of, 140
bulwarks — ir€piTei\os, 192
Burckhardt, referred to, 59
burden = oracle, Ixxiii, 105, 120, 157,
160 f. , 164
burial, importance of, 115 ff.
Caesar, referred to, 166
falmdveth X falnefttk, 74
Calno, 86
Calvin, quoted, 52
camels, used in war, 159
Canaan, of Phoenicia, 176
Canaanite = trader, 175
canon, of O.T., 204; order of Isaiah in,
lxxiv ; of prophets, lxxiv, 258
'captivity' in Isaiah's teaching, lvii, 37
Carchemish, 83) 86
' carriages' = baggage, 93
femah, 30
Chaboras, river, 268
Chaldsea, Chaldaeans, xvi, 108, 177
Chaldasan=asirologer, 175
'chariot* for riding train, 159; see horses
cherubim, 44, 269
Cheyne, quoted or referred to, xv, lxxvi,
6, 9 ff., 15, 20, 24, 27, 29, 37, 44, 84,
93 f., 97, iot, 106, 136 £, 150 f., 155,
165, 171, 185, 193, 201, 203 f.j 212,
215, 218 f., 229, 233, 247 f., 256 f., 263,
269, 271, 279
children, naming of, 56, 61 ; — of Isaiah,
xxv, xxix, 66, 70; — Israel, Jehovah's,
. liii, 3, 4, 225, 228
Chittim, 173, 177
Chronicle, Babylonian, quoted, 275
chronology, Assyrian system of, Ixxv; of
Isaiah's time, Ixxv— lxxvii, 262, 277,
283 ; Table, lxxviii
cockatrice, 98, 120
commerce, compared to prostitution, 178
concatenation, in poetry, 192

'confederacy1 = conspiracy, 68
congregation, mount of, see assembly
consecration of warriors, 106
controversy, Jehovah's, with Israel, liii,
convocation, 8, 31
cormorant, 256
Cornill, referred to, 253
crimson, 9
crocus, autumn, 258
cultus, Isaiah's attitude to, 6
cummin, 215
cuneiform inscriptions, references to, ix,
xii f., xv, xvii ff, Ixxv f., 6, 108 f., 114,
153, 268, 271, 275, 283
Cush, 100, see Ethiopia
Cyrus, 105, 108 f., 156 f., 264
Damascus, x, xiii, xxviii ff., 64, 86, 132;
oracle on, 132 "f.
Darius Hystaspis, 204
daughters=subordinate towns, 128, 133
David, 214, 217; house of, 51, 56, 170
Davidson, quoted or referred to, 15, 19,
25* 34> 47» 5°\ 68, 96, 199, 207 f., 216,
248
day = day of battle, 19, 74, 79.
day of Jehovah, xxiii, xxvii, xlviii, lxv,
6, ig f., 106, 179, 184
death, abolition of, i8cj; covenant with,
xxxvii, an; O.T. view of, 279
Dedan, 161
Delitzsch, quoted or referred to, 2, 5, 15,
30, 54, 66, 78, 95 f., no, 143, 207, 227,
232, 240, 251, 276
Delitzsch, Friedrich, 283
Deluge, 181, 184
demonology, 257
deportation, Assyrian policy of, 88, 265
destruction, city of, 150
devils=goat shaped demons, no
dew, 141; — of herbs, 197
dhu-£ ayy&mtn (Arab.), 75
Dibon, 124
Dillmann, quoted or referred to, 3, 6, 18,
24, 25, 27, 29, 46, 92, 129, M4» l65»
244, 262
Dimon, 127
Diodonis, referred to, 236
dirge, see elegv
disciples, Isaiah's, xxxi, xl, lvi, lxxii, 70
diviner, 23
dragon, 199
dream, figure for disenchantment, 219
drink, strong, 36, 39
Driver, quoted or referred to, 85,99, IOS»
180, 261, 282
Duhm, quoted or referred to, xiii, lii, 12,
M» 29> 35. 54. 61, 73, 79, 81, 92, 96,
105, 124, 128, 141, 177, 189, 191, 197,
201, 203 f., 2l6, 226, 233, 243, 249, 257,
279, 280 f.
Dumah, 160
Dftmat el~yendelt 160

INDEX.

289

ear = plough, 232
early rain, 231
earthquake, of Uzziah's reign, xxiii, 21
east, children of the, = Arabs, 101
Eden, 268
tedim )( idrtm) 249
Edom, x, xv, xvii, 101, 122; oracles on,
160 f. , 253 ff.
Eglaim, 127
Eglath-shelishiyah, 126
Egypt, first encounter with Assyria, xiv ;
alliance with, see alliance ; defeated
by Sennacherib, xvii ; weakness of,
xv, xxxiv, 226 f. , 263 f.; conquest of,
anticipated, xxxiv, 144, 153 ff. ; con
quered by Esarhaddon, ix, 144; oracle
on, 143—153 ; Jewish colonies in, 145,
149 f. ; conversion of, 152
Egyptian party, xiv, xvi, xxxvii, 168,
222
'El Gibbdr, 75
Elam, 100, 109, 158, 165
Elath, x, 20
Elealeh, 125
elegy, Heb., structure of, 10, 112
Eliakim, 168, 170 f., 263
'elflim, xliv, 18
Eltekeh, battle of, xvii f.
emendations, see text
Enoch, book of, 185 f,
ensign = signal, 41, 99, 100, 141
ephah^ 36
Ephraim, kingdom of, see North Israel ;
tribe of, 81 ; opposed to Judah, 101
Eponym Canon, Ixxv
'erep )( 'artp, 97
Esarhaddon, 54, 275; conquest of Egypt
by, ix, 144, 146
Eshmunazar, inscription of, xlv, 39
Ethiopia, relation to Egypt, xvi f., 58,
155; conquest of, anticipated, xxxiv,
84* *53ff.; embassy from, xvif., 138 ff.;
oracle addressed to, 138 — 143
Ethiopians idealised in antiquity, 139
Eusebius' Onomasticon, referred to, i26f.
'evil— fool, 260
Ewald,' referred to, 2, 5, 37, 85, 102, 131,
77. «35
Exile, prophecy of, 284; return from,
95, 97 ff., ico ff., 202 f. ; see captivity
Exodus, references to, 31, 91, 100 ff., 111,
*49
face of Jehovah, to see, 7
faith, in Isaiah's teaching, lv, 50 f., 54,
212, 229
*fall'=be born, 196 f.
familiar spirit, 71.
'fan,' a six-pronged fork, 232
fat, of sacrifices, 7
Faust, Goethe's, referred to, 65

fear of Jehovah=piety, 96, 221
ast. 8, 217 ; emblem of kingdom of God,

fras

189

ISAIAH

ng, early, 208; use in Eastern medicine,
282
fire, symbol cf Jehovah, 46, 239, 250;
emblem of war, 52; of anarchy, 81;
* fires ' = east, 183
'firstborn ofthe poor,' 120
fishing in Egypt, 147
fitches, 215
five, a round number, 150
flag, in ancient ships, 253
flesh and spirit, 236
flux, in smelting, 11
fool, folly, 80, 241, 260
forgiveness, 9, 19, 253, 281
formalism, religious, liii, 221
foundation, laid in Zion, lvi, 212
' foundations' for ' raisin cakes,* 130
fuller's field, 53
'fulness' ofthe earth, xlviii, 45, 254
furnace, 239
future state, ideas regarding, 117
futurum ifistatts, 34, 180, 198
galil— circuit, 73
Galilee, 73
' galley with oars,' 251
Gallim, 93
gardens, f-eats of heathenish cults, 12;
of Adonis, 136
gates, of cities, 28, 209, 223 ; of Sheol,
279
M 33
Gaza, 204
Geba, 92 f., 214
Gebim, 93
Gesenius, referred to, 4, 36, 53, 98, 122,
140, 175, 232, 240, 260, 282
ghost, voice of, 72, 218
Gibeah, 93
Gibeon, 214
Giesebrecht, referred to. 82, 101
girdle, in various connexions, 98, 170, 176
glory = wealth, 82 ; of God, xlv, xlvii f.,
glosses, see interpolations
goats, synonym for kings, 113
godhead, Semitic conception of, xlv
' golden city,' 112
Gozan, 268
Grotius, referred to, 29
groves— Asherim, 135, 202
growl of lion, 41 f.
Guthe, referred to, 75, 95
Hackmann^ referred to, 29, 94
Hamath, xii, 86, 100, 265, 1268
hamttidh (katii?tzaniju) , 135
band, for force, 207, 272; of Jehovah,
lxiv, 68, 79, ng, 194
Hanes, Hnest 225
Haran, 268
haris (Arab, name for lion), 150
harlot, 10, 179; song of, 178; hire of, 178
haritf, 215 f. 19

290

INDEX.

kasakta X hashaqta% 281
hasty,' 241, 259; 'hasty fruit,' 208
hdzdht hazdn, nozeh, 1, 13
head, covered in mourning, 189; muffling
of, Iv, 220
heart, in various senses, 107, 145, 158,
221
' heavens and earth ' apostrophised, 3
hid ad, 131
hedgehog, 1x8
heled X hedel, 279
Heliopolis, 150
hell, see Sheol
hemed )( kemer, 200
Hena, 266, 268
herem, see ban
heres, heres^ 150
Hero-God, lix, 75, 90
Herodotus, referred to, 44, 139, 157, 175,
Heshbon, 125
Hesiod, 240
Hezekiah, xiv if., xxxii, 2, 66; heads
revolt against Sennacherib, xvi f. ;
surrenders, xviii f., yields to Isaiah's
guidance, xl, 266; his sickness, lxxvif.,
276 ff.; his Song of Thanksgiving,
278—282
Hierodouloi, xlvi
high places, 124
history, religious interpretation of, xxxv,
xlviii f., 167, 236
Hitzig, referred to, 18, 37, 122, 129
hiwak (Aramaic verb), 281
Hiwite, 136
HizzayQn, Valley of, 165
holiness of God, xxiv, xlv — xlvii, 1, lii, 4,
38, 45, 69, 76
Holy One of Israel, xxvi, xlix, hi, 4, 90,
102, 104, 228
holy seed, xxiv, lvii, 48, 214
homer, 36
Homer, referred to, lxvi, 72, 139, 236, 237
' honourable man,' 23, 80
'horn 'for hill, 33
Horonaim, 126
horses, unshod in antiquity, 41; in agri
culture, 216; horses and chariots, pride
in, liii, 18, 236 ; privilege of royalty, 170
Hosea, xxiii, 1, 70, 80
host of heaven, 185
Hosts, Lord of, see Jehovah
house = harbour, 173; set in order, 276;
numbering of houses, 166
'house ofthe forest,' 166, 284
housetops, 125, 164; grass on the, 272
hypocrite, 80, 85, 250
Ibn Onein, 98
Ichabod, 56
idols, idolatry, xxvi, xliv, liii, 2, 12, 17 f.,
20 f., 86 f-, 202, 231, 270
Idumaea,#255; see Edom
images^ idols, 87; =sun-pillars, 135, 20a

imagination, 103
immortality, idea of, in O.T., 189, 205
incense = sacrificial smoke, 7
interpolations and glosses, 21, 23, 25, 31,
37, 54, 67, 73, 79, 80, 174, 186, 188, 201,
203 f., 215, 220, 223 f., 232, 245, 255,
277. .
intoxication, images for, 130, 207, 209
invasion, Assyrian, of Judah, xvff.,lxxvi,
41 f., 58 f., 66t 92 f. ; consequences of,
xxi f., xli f. , 59 ; followed by Messianic
age, lvii, 104, 285
Isaiah, his name and parentage, xxii, 1,
70; Jewish traditions about, xxii, xiii;
sketch of his career, xxii — xliii; a city
prophet, 10; his inaugural vision, xxiv,
xliv f., xlvii f., lii, liv, lvi, 42 ff.; periods
of his ministry, xxv; his criticism of
society, xxvi, 17 f., 24 f, 32, 35 ff., his
early eschatology, xxvii f., 11, ig ff. ;
as statesman, xxviii, xliii, li, 22, 49,
119 f., 139; his political programme,
xxviii, xxxiii ff., 52, 121, 155, 210, 229,
284; his activity during Syro-Eph
raimitic war, xxviii ff., 49 ff. ; his
appeal from court to people, xxix,
64 ff.; his withdrawal from public life,
xxxi, 70; his attitude during Assyrian
crisis, xxxvi ff., xl, lxii, 163 ff, 205 ff.,
261 ff.; his triumph, xliif., 266; his last
years, xiii; his prophetic conceptions,
xliii — lxii, 2 ; his character and genius,
lxiii— lxvi ; his style, lxv f. ; compared
with Amos, xxiii, xxv, xxvii £, 43;
with Hosea, xxiii, xxviii, lvii, 43 ;
with Micah, xxxii f. ; with Jeremiah,
xxiv, lvii, 43, 47
Isaiah, book of, its composite authorship,
lxvi; its literary history, lxvi— lxxiii;
analysis of, Ixvii — Ixx; redaction of,
lxxiii ; its order in Canon, lxxiv
islands=coastIands, 100, 155, 174, 184
Israel, North, see North Israel
Istar, associated with planet Venus, 114
Iwah, 266, 269
jackal, nc, 257
Jacob=North Israel, 78
Jahaz, 125
Jazer, 131
jealousy, Divine, 1, 76, 194
Jehovah of Hosts, 6
Jensen, referred to, 114
Jerabis, 86
Jeremiah, xxiv, lvii, lxxi, 43, 47, 178
Jeroboam II., x, 122, 127
Jerome, referred to, 45, 127,160
Jerusalem, gaiety of( xxxviii, 37, 164,
244 ; its destruction contemplated,
xxxii, xxxvi ff., lxii f., 28, 37, 244;
first blockade of, xviii f. , xxxix, 163 ff.,
second ditto, xx, 263; its deliverance
foretold, xxxix, xiii, 127, 267, 274 ; itsde-
generacy, 10 ; its water supply, 52, i66f.

INDEX.

291

Jesus, son of Sirach, lxxiii f.
jinn., no
John Hyrcanus, 204
Jonah ben Amittai, 122
Josephus, referred to, 151, 173, 175
Jothani, xiii, Ixxv, 73, 18, 49
'joyous city,' xxxviii, 164, 244
Jubilees, Book of, 223
Judahj its prosperity under Uzziah, x ff.,
13 ; its social condition, xi, xxvi, xxxiii,
liii, 17 ft, 32 ff. ; under Assyrian suzer
ainty, xiv f., xxxiii ff.; opposed to
Ephraim, 101
judges, corruption of, xi, xxvi, liii, 9, 25,
39) 82
'judgment,* coupled with 'righteous
ness,' 10, n, 35, 76, 213, 240, 245, 248;
other senses, 209, 215
kabbtr, 88
kdbdd, xlvii
kadi, 7, 24
Kaph veritatis, 5, 88, 218
Kedar, 161
keldi, 241
Kerak, 124
kesil, 107
key, symbol of authority, 170
king, ideal, see Messiah
' king in his beauty,* 251
kingship, Hebrew conception of, Ix, 97 ;
of Jehovah, xxiv, xliv, xlviii, li, lv,
43 ff-
Kir, 165; Kir of Moab, 124
Kir-heres, Kir-hareselh, 124, 130 f.
Kition, 173, 175
Kittel, 262
Kleinert, 156
•knowledge of Jehovah, lvii, 96
Koppe, referred to, 14, 196
Koran, quoted, 260
Kullani, 86
Lachish, xx, 263
Lagarde, referred to, 83
Lalshah, 93
land, Hebrew state based on possession
of, 35
'last days,' 15
law, see Tdrah
Lebanon(— white mountain), 94, 113,222,
259, 271
lef, 211
lees, wines on the, 188
Lenonnant, quoted, 257
Leontopolis, Jewish temple at, 145, 150 f.
leviathan, 199
libation, for treaty, 225
'liberal = noble man, 241
Libnah, 268
light, emblem of salvation, lvii, 74
Lilith, 257
line, of builder, 213, 256
lion, lioness, 41 f., 127, 227, 237

lips, unclean, lii, 45 f.
'live coal*=hot stone, 46
& X M> 74
locusts article of diet, 248
Lucan, quoted, 29
Lucifer, 114
Luhith, 126
Luther, quoted, 54
lye=potash, n
maffebdh, 151
Macor= Egypt, 147
madhebdh)( marhebdh, 112
Madmen, Madmenah, 93, 190
magic, 18, 23, 146; Chalda?an, 257
Maher-shalal-hash-baz, xxix, 62, 64 ff., 70
man, *mean' — 'great,' 19, 238
Manasseh, king, xiii, 285; tribe, 81
manufactures in Egypt, 147
Marduk-habal-iddina, see Merodach-
Baladan
Martial, quoted, 16
vtashdl, in
Masora, lxxiv
massd', lxxiii, 105, 120
Massoretic Text, sec Text
mast, 253
mathben, 190
mattock, 16, 59
mayor ofthe palace, 169
M'Curdy, referred to, xii
Medeba, 125
Medes, Media, 104, 109, 158
ineek, 97, 223
memorial, 193, 195
Memphis, 148
Menahem, xii
Menander of Ephesus, 173
Mennofer, see Memphis
Merodach-Baladan, xv f., lxxviif., 156,
28a
Mesha, 122, 124
Messiah, personal, lviii— lxi, 30, 62 f.,
75 f., 95 ff., 251
Messianic age, xxviii, xxxvii, xl, lvi, lxi,
29 ff., 74 ff, 94ff-» 208, 221 ff, 239 — 242,
245 ff.
Micah, xxxii f., 14, 63
mice, symbol of pestilence, 275
Michmash, 92 f.
Michtam, 278
Migron, 93
' mingle ' drink, 39
mirage, 259 f.
mirdath y9?nurdafikr 112
mishpdt) 10, 35 (see judgment)
misfak, 35
A/"ifr(Arab.), see Macor
Moab, 101; pride of, 130, 191; oracles
on, 121 — 132, 190 f.
Moabite Stone, 122, 124 f., 130
Molech (Melek), 235
moon, poetic name of, 186, 232
Moore, referred to, 128

292

INDEX.

Moph (Jlf/wph), see Memphis
mdpheth, 54
mourning, signsof, 28,125,154,167,189,243
m s6s X f»sdst 67
music at feasts, 36, 113, 182
mustilil, Assyr. epithet of Venus, 114
Musur (Assyr.), see Mac6r
mythology, 44, 114, 120, 199
Natdmdn, Syrian name of Adonis, 136
Name of Jehovah, 103, 233
Napata, xvi, 140
narcissus, 259
nation, the religious subject, li
nature- worship, xliv, 2, 12
Nebo, 125
necromancy, 71, 212
Negeb, 157, 226
Neginoth, 282
nephew=grandson, 118
ties, ndses, 89
new moon, 8
night-hag, 257
night-lodge, 5
Nimrim, waters of, 126
Nisroch, 275
Noah, covenant of, 181 f.
Nob, 93
nobles, of Israel, see upper classes ; of
Edom, 257
nomes of Egypt, 145
nonentities, see 'ellltm
North Israel, allied with Ephraim, xii,
51 ff.; oracles against, xxvii f., 77 ff,
132—137
Numeirah, Wadi, 126
oaks, 12, 48
'£bh, 71
oblations, 7, 152
olive trees, beating of, 134, 183, 202
Onj 150
Onias IV., 151
Onomasticon, see Eusebius
Ophel, 167, 244
Orion, 107
ornaments, female, 27 f.
Osiris, 83
0 snapper, 54
ostrich, no, 257
VM, 54
oven, 239
'overthrow' of Sodom, 5, 109
Ovid, quoted. 4, 16
ox, oxen, 4, 60, 245
papyrus, 140
paronomasia, lxvi, 10, 21, 54, 181 (see
assonance)
Passover, 234, 238
Pathros, 100
' peep *= chirp, 71, 88
Pekah, xii, 3, 53, 81
pelican, 256

Pene-Rimmon, 92
Perazim, 214
Persia, Persis, 109, 158, 204
pesah, 238
Peshito, referred to, 20, 138, 201, 283
pethen, 98
Petra, 128, 255
Petrie, Flinders, 263
Pharaoh, 226
Philistines, xiv ff, 79, 101, 214: magic
of, 18; oracle on, xxxiv, 119 ff.
Phoenicia, xvii, 135, 172 ff.
' piercing serpent,' 199
pit = Sheol, 115
planting of wheat and barley, 215
Plato, referred to, 136
' pleasant pictures,' 20
' pleasant plants,' 136
Pliny, referred to, 140, 146
plummet, 213, 256
pool, upper and lower, 52, 166 (see
Siloam)
porcupine, n8, 256
Porter, F. C. , referred to, 62
prayer, 6, 8; intercessory, 267
priest, and people, 181; — and prophet,
209
'principal wheat,* 215
property, rights of, xxvi, 35
prophetess, 66
prophetic party, xxxi f., xiii
prophets, 228 ; political function of, xxviii ;
false, 23, 80, 210
proselyte, in
'provender, clean,' 232
proverb, 11 1
Pul = Tiglath-pileser III., xii
qdftr, 131
qav, 141-
gttidh, 10, 112, 271
qodesh, xlv
qor)[qir, 188
Rabba. 124, 127
Rabsaris, 263
Rabshakeh, xx, 52, 263
Rahab, 227
Rahlfs, referred to, 97
rakb (Arab.), 159
ra' I (Arab.), 27
Ramah (Er-Ram), 53
Raphia, battle of, xiv, 144
' rash,' 241 (see ' hasty ')
Rawlinson, referred to, xix
' reason together,' 9
rebellion, against Jehovah, liii, 3f, 12,
225, 238
Records 0/ the Past, referred to, xvii,
xviii, 108
*redeem," 11, 100, 223
religion, bound up with existence of
state, xli f. ; popular, xxvii, liii, 6, 221
remnant, 6, 95, 160, 132, 134, 208, 267 ;

INDEX.

293

Isaiah's doctrine of, xxiv f., xxviii,
xxxii, xxxix, lvi f., 2, 29 f, 48 f., 52,
69,90
rephaftm, 113, 117, 195
Rephaim, valley of, 134
' reprove '= decide, 97
1 respect of persons, 25
resurrection, doctrine of, 197 f., 205
retribution after death, 117
Rezeph, 268
Rezin, xii, 3, 51, 53 f., 79
righteousness, see judgment; Divine, 1,
11; of Messiah, lix, 76, 98, 240
Rimmon, 92
River, for Euphrates, 58, 67, 102, 202
roar of lion, 41 f.
rock= stronghold, 239, 251; name of
God, 136, 193, 234
'rod'=shoot, 96
'roll,' for tablet, 65
1 root ' and ' blossom,' 39
root of Jesse, 99
rose, 258
ruler, 7, 164
Ryle, referred to, lxxiv
Sabako, xiv, 155
Sab'6, xiv, 155
saknu (Assyr.), 169
Samaria, kingdom of, see North Israel ;
fall of, xxx, lxxvi, 54, 84, 86, 207;
oracle on, xxxvi, 207 f.
sanctify, used of Jehovah, 1, lii, 38, 69, 224
saphlal}, 273
saraph, 44, 120, 227
Sargon, xiv ff, xxxiv, 6, 86, 100, 153 f.,
156, 173, 268; his supposed invasion of
Judah, xv, xix, 84, 263
sarid, 6
sarSm, 10
satyrs, goat-shaped demons, no, 257
Sayce, referred to, 109
scarlet, 9
scepticism among Isaiah's contem
poraries, xxvi, liii, 38
Schrader, referred to, xviii f., 59, 114,
153, 268, 275
Scopus, 93
sea=Nile, 140, 146, 199
Sela, 128
Semites, religious ideas of, xlv, 7, 135
Sennacherib, xvff.,xxxvff, 118 f., 137 ff-,
162 ff., 205 ff. ; his third campaign and
invasion of Judah, xviiff., xx f., xxxvi,
3, 173, 262, 268 f., 274 f; supposed
second invasion, xix ; his assassination,
261, 275
Sepharvaim, 266, 268
Septuagint, references to, lxxiv, 4, 6, 7,
8, 19, 21, 26, 31, 38, 42, 48, 56, 63, 65,
72, 76, 88, 103, 118, 133, 136, 14°, 145>
147, 150, 153, 157, 160 f., 192, 200 f.;
212, 215, 2T7, 220, 232, 241, 256, 258)
278, 280 f., 283

serdb f^Arab.), 259; see sharab
seraphim, xlv, 44
Seve* (So), xiv, 155
Shaddai, 106
shades, see rephaim
shahis, 273
Shaib, Wadi, 126
Shalmaneser IV., xiv, 119, 172 f.
sharab, 259
Sharezer, 275
Sharon, plain of, 259
ski'ar, 6
Shear-jashub, xxv, xxviii, 49, 51, 70, 90
Shebna, xxxvii, 263, 266; oracle on,
168— 171
shekel, 59
She'Sl 37, 55, 113, 211, 279, 281
' shew of countenance,' 25
shields, oiling of, 158 ; covering of, 166
Shihor (Sihor), 174
Shiloah, waters of, lxii, 66
Shinar, 100
Sibmah, vine of, 130
Sibraim, 266
s'gn, 55, 60, 70, T54, 273, 277; offered to
Ahaz, xxix f., 54 f.
Siloam, pool of, 52, 66
Sirach, son of, lxxiii f.
'smear ' = obliterate, 213; used of eyes,
47, 220, 240
Smith, George, referred to, 86, 156
Smith, G. A,, referred to or quoted, 54,
120, 180
Smith, Robertson, quoted or referred to,
xxv, xiii, xlix, 7, 8, 20, 31, 45, 56, 92 (.,
i°7> 135, i55, 235
Sodom, 5, 6, 25
sdken, 168
' solemn meeting,' 8
sons of Jehovah, see children
soul, seat of desire, 219
sowing, methods of, 215
spirit, 145, 209; of or from Jehovah, lx,
31, 148, 225, 244, 267
stars, judgment on the, 185
steps of Ahaz, 278
f strike hands ' = form alliance, 18
sun, poetic name of, 186, 232
sun-dial, see steps
sun-pillars, 135, 202
superscriptions, 1, 13 ; enigmatic, lxxiii,
157, 160, 161, 164, 226
superstition, xxvi, 12, 17 £,.71 f.
Suweinit, Wadi, 92
sword of Jehovah, 199, 255
sycomore=mulberry ng, 79
Symmachus, Greek transl. of, 64
Syrian wars, x, 78 f.
Syro-Ephraimitic alliance and war. xii f. ,
xxv, xxviii, 3, 5, 49 f., 64 ff, 68, 78,
132
Tabernacles, feast of, 217
Taharqa see Tirhakah

294

INDEX.

Tanis, 148
tardemahj 220
Targum, referred to, 44, 68 f., 126, 140,
200, 217, 283
Tarqu, see Tirhakah
Tarshish (Tartessus), ships of, 20, 173,
177
Tartan, xv, xxxiv, 154
taunt-song, in, 271
Taylor Prism, xvii
Telassar, 268
Tell-el-Hesy, 263
Tell Nimrim, 126
Tema (Teima), 160 ff.
' tempt the Lord,' 55
Ten Tribes, revolt of, 58; kingdom of,
see North Israel
tephath, 235
terebinth, 12, 48
' testimony,' 70, 72
Text, Hebrew, errors and emendations,
5, 11, 17 f., 20, 25 f., 37 f., 41 f., 65, 67,
70, 74, 76, 81, 83, 88, 92, 97, 101, no,
112, 115 f., 120, 124, 126, 129, 136,147,
150 f., 157, 161, 177, 184, 196, 2oef.,
212, 215?., 235, 247*m 255, 257 f., 260,
263, 271, 278 f., 281
Theodotion, Greek transl. of, 64
thorns and thistles, 34, 200, 244
threshing, 138, 160, 202; methods of, 215
thrum, 280
Tiglath-pileser III., ix, xii f., 73, 86, 119
Tirhakah, xvi, xx, 138 f., 262, 268, 275
titles, see superscriptions
tohH, 256
tola'ath shant, 9
Tophet, 235
Tdrak, 7, 16, 228
* treacherous dealer,' 157, 184, 247
trees, sacred, 12
Trisagion, xlvii, 44
Tristram, 118, 159
trumpet, 141, 203
TulSlel-FUl, 93
tunnel of Sitoam, 65 f.
Turtanu, 154; see Tartan
tutelary genii of nations, 185, 205
. Tyre, oracle on, 172 — 179
Tyropceon valley, 66, 165 ff.
Umm Lakis, 263
unclean lips, see lips
unicorns, 255
upper classes, sins of, xi, xxvi, liii, 22 ff.,
33, 35 ff-, 206; reform of, lxi, 239 f.
Urartu, 276; see Ararat
Uriah, 65
Ussher, Archbishop, referred to, 54
Uzziah, x, xxii f., 13, 18, 43; his sup
posed defeat at Hamath, xii

Valeton, quoted, lxiv
valley of vision, 164 f.
ventriloquism, 72

Vergil, quoted or referred to, 33, 62, 72,
98, 215, 240
via maris, 73
vine, choice, 33
vineyard, method of estimating value
of, 59 ; parable of, xxvii, 32 ff. ; song
of, 199 f.
virgin, 56, 61, 63; used of inviolate
fortress, 176, 271
visit=puni:-h, 186, 219; =miss, 196
Vitringa, quoted or referred to, 1, 37,
251, 261
Vulgate, referred to, 4, 20, 45, 57, 68, 69,
88, 118, isof.
war, abolition of, lvii, 14, 16
•wa'r (Arab.), 161
watchman, figure for prophetic con
sciousness, 159
watch tower (place in Jerusalem), 244
* way of the sea,' 73
* weigh' for ' level,* 193
Weir, quoted or referred to, 28 f., 257
Well, St Mary's, 66
Wellhausen, referred to, 15, 272 f.
wells, sacred, 12; of salvation, 103
Wetzstein, referred to, 5, no, 232, 255,
274
* whisper =enchantmcnt, 196
wife, bearshusband'sname, 2g;of Isaiah,
62, 66
'wild beasts of the desert/ — 'of the
island,* no, 257
willows, brook 01 the, 126
Winckler, referred to, xv, xix, lxxvi, 155
winepress, 33
wisdom, of Jehovah, 1, 2i6? 236 ; of Mes
siah, g6; human, xxxvii, 39, 87, 221;
of Egypt, 148
Wisdom Literature, characteristic terms
of, 216, 224
wizard, 71
wolves, no
women, 149, 202; as mourners, 242; of
Jerusalem, xxvi, xxxviii, Ixx, 22, 27 ff.,
242 ff; of the palace, xviii, 25 ; Ara
bian, 243
wonder, 154
work of Jehovah, xxvi, xl, xlviii f., 36 f.,
47, 87, 167, 214, 221
world-mountain, of Babylonians &c, 114
world-power, Isaiah's conception of,
xxxv, 83 ff.
wreaths, at banquets, 207
writing, a means of oppression, 82; on
the part of Isaiah, xii, xxxviii, 65, 227 ;
of prophets generally, lxxi
Xenophon, quoted, 109
Xerxes, 109, 144
Yah Yahveh, 103
Yahveh Tseba'oth, 6, 89
Yakin, 283

INDEX.

295

Yaman 153
year, Hebrew reckoning of, 273
yeqeb, 33
yesha't 136
yesk&lah, 103
yoke, 74, 91 f. ; of land, 36
Zagros Mountains, 106
zeal of Jehovah, 1, 76, 274
Zechariah, 65

zepenlm, 10
Zidon, 172 ff.
Zion, seat of Jehovah's sovereignty, lxi f.,
14, 66, 71, 188; centre of Messianic
kingdom, lvi fx, lxi f., 13 ff.; inviola
bility of, xxxiv, xxxvi, lxii f., 71, 91,
121, 212, 252
Zoan, 148, 225
Zoar, 126

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THE CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR
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23/12/01 1 0000

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it belongs. "
Christian World. — "An admirable addition to the well-known
Cambridge Bible Series. Dr Barnes has done his work _ thoroughly
well, and has given us a commentary on Chronicles, which is decidedly
the best to be found in English, in spite of the limitations imposed by
the series in which it appears."
Literature. — " An edition which deserves much praise."
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peared. But we have never done so with greater pleasure, very seldom
with so great pleasure, as we now refer to the last published volume,
that on the Book of Job, by Dr Davidson, of Edinburgh.. ..Wecordially
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stand and enjoy it ; and mature scholars will learn from it."
Psalms. Book I. Church Times. — "It seems in every way a most
valuable little book, containing a mass of information, well-assorted,
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tude to Professor Kirkpatrick for his scholarly and interesting volume. "
Psalms. Books II. and III. Critical Review. — "The second volume
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needed and most useful. Its literary style is attractive. It furnishes all
that is of real value in the form of introduction, and it has a studious
regard for the devout as well as intelligent understanding of the Psalms."
Proverbs. Sunday School Times (Philadelphia). — "A clear, well-
grounded and unusually satisfactory treatment of this greatest of the
Hebrew wisdom books. "
London Quarterly Review.—' ' Such a volume has been greatly needed,
and students will be very thankful for a little book whose merits they
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Job — Hosea. Guardian. — " It is difficult to commend too highly
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to their volumes."
Isaiah. Chapters I— XXXIX. Professor W. H. Bennett in the
British Weekly. — "Dr Skinner's name on the title-page of this book
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Ezekiel. Guardian. — "No book of the Old Testament stands
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it unlikely that it will remain the best for some time to come."
Joel and Amos. Church Bells. — " Professor Driver's latest con
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and doctrine. The introduction and notes place this book among the
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Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. Critical Review. — " No better
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this excellent series, and the present work is equal to its predecessors."
Guardian. — " Prof. Davidson has laid all students of the Old
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4 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS &> COLLEGES.
that has yet appeared.... Small as it is, the volume is well worthy to
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Spectator. — "We may say without hesitation that Professor David
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First Book of Maccabees. Bookman. — "Useful at once to the
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exceedingly interesting and are careful summaries of the best research."
Educational Times. — " An excellent school and college edition."
St Matthew. English Churchman. — "The introduction is able,
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contents of the Gospel, and the original form in which it is supposed
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the Holy Land and of the Sea of Galilee."
St Mark. Expositor. — " Into this small volume Dr Maclear, besides
a clear and able Introduction to the Gospel, and the text of St Mark,
has compressed many hundreds of valuable and helpful notes. In
short, he has given us a capital manual of the kind required — containing
all that is needed to illustrate the text, i. e. all that can be drawn from
the history, geography, customs, and manners of the time. But as a
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a lad requires in order to stand an examination in the Gospel, it is
admirable  I can very heartily commend it, not only to the senior
boys and girls in our High Schools, but also to Sunday-school teachers,
who may get from it the very kind of knowledge they often find it
hardest to get. "
St Luke. Spectator. — "Canon Farrar has supplied students of
the Gospel with an admirable manual in this volume. It has all that
copious variety of illustration, ingenuity of suggestion, and general
soundness of interpretation which readers are accustomed to expect
from the learned and eloquent editor. Anyone who has been accus
tomed to associate the idea of 'dryness' with a commentary, should go
to Canon Farrar's St Luke for a more correct impression. He will
find that a commentary may be made interesting in the highest degree,
and that without losing anything of its solid value.. ..But, so to speak,
it is too good for some of the readers for whom it is intended. "
St John. English Churchman. — "The notes are extremely scho
larly and valuable, and in most cases exhaustive, bringing to the
elucidation of the text all that is best in commentaries, ancient and
modern." Acts. School Guardian. — " We do not know of any other volume
where so much help is given to the complete understanding of one of
the most important and, in many respects, difficult books of the New
Testament." Romans. Expositor. — "The 'Notes' are very good, and lean, as
the notes of a School Bible should, to the most commonly accepted

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and orthodox view of the inspired author's meaning; while the Intro
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Epheslans. Baptist Magazine. — " It seems to us the model of a
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scholarly, but not pedantic."
Guardian. — " It supplies matter which is evidently the outcome of
deep study pursued with a devotional mind."
Philippians. Record. — "There are few series more valued by
theological students than ' The Cambridge Bible for Schools and
Colleges,' and there will be no number of it more esteemed than that
by Mr H. C. G. Moule on the Epistle to the Philippians."
Colossians. Record. — "Those who have already used with pleasure
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They will not be disappointed  No more complete or trustworthy
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Expository Times. — " This is now the Commentary on Colossians and
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Thessalonians. Academy. — "Mr Findlay maintains the high level
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Timothy and Titus. The Christian. — "The series includes many
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Hebrews. Baptist Magazine. — "Like his (Canon Farrar's) com
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It is a work not only of an accomplished scholar, but of a skilled
teacher."

6 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS &> COLLEGES.
James. Expositor. — "It is, so far as I know, by far the best
exposition of the Epistle of St James in the English language. Not
schoolboys or students going in for an examination alone, but ministers
and preachers of the Word, may get more real help from it than from
the most costly and elaborate commentaries."
The Epistles of St John. Churchman. — " This forms an admirable
companion to the 'Commentary on the Gospel according to St John,'
which was reviewed in The Churchman as soon as it appeared. Dr
Plummer has some of the highest qualifications for such a task ; and
these two volumes, their size being considered, will bear comparison
with the best Commentaries of the time."
Revelation. Guardian. — "This volume contains evidence of much
careful labour. It is a scholarly production, as might be expected from
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Wesleyan Methodist Sunday-School Record. — "We cannot speak
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combined with true loyalty to the inspired Word. There is much more
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©fie Sbmalkr ©ambrfoge 23iMe for gbcfiools.
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Cambridge University Press are rendering great services both to teachei-s
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which slipshod work could not have a place."
Christian Leader. — "For the student of the sacred oracles who utilizes
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St Mark. St Luke. Guardian. — "We have received the volumes
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St Luke. Wesleyan Methodist Sunday-School Record. — "We cannot
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St John. Methodist Times. — "A model of condensation, losing
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compass. Many who have long since completed their college curriculum
will find it an invaluable handbook."
Acts. Literary World. — "The notes are very brief, but exceedingly
comprehensive, comprising as much detail in the way of explanation as
would be needed by young students of the Scriptures preparing for
examination. We again give the opinion that this series furnishes as
much real help as would usually satisfy students for the Christian
ministry, or even ministers themselves."

THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT
FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
with a Revised Text, based on the most recent critical authorities,
and English Notes.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Expositor.—" Has achieved an excellence which puts it above criti
cism." Expository Times. — " We could not point out better handbooks for
the student of the Greek."
The Epistle to the Philippians. London Quarterly Review. — " This
is a first rate piece of work, furnished with all the Critical notes that a
student of the text needs, and enriched by many excellent quotations
from divines and commentators.... It will well repay every student to
get this little volume and master it"
Pastoral Epistles. Educational Times. — "Dr Bernard's introductions
and textual notes leave nothing to be desired. They are learned, literary
in tone, and very helpful to the young student."
Guardian. — ' ' This new volume of the Cambridge Greek Testament
will be welcome to many students, both because it supplies a distinct
want and because it supplies it well. Dr Bernard's work is throughout
clear, sensible, scholarlike, and orthodox."
London Quarterly Review. — ' ' Dr Bernard's fine book is a welcome
addition to the Cambridge Greek Testament. The notes are not only
valuable for the student, but often supply new light for the preacher."
Tablet. — " Dr Bernard's edition deserves high praise. Intended
primarily 'for schools and colleges,' it will be found useful by many
whose school or college days are long since past."
Churchman. — " This admirable book should supply a distinct want
— that of a manual edition of the Pastoral Epistles in Greek, with an
introduction and notes, which are on a level with the best and most
recent scholarship — in fact, the volume strikes us as so thoroughly
trustworthy, and so eminently useful, that we believe it will rapidly
become a recognized textbook in all examinations preparatory to
ordination  We most heartily commend this book — whose size
is certainly no measure of its value or usefulness — to all who would
study the Pastoral Epistles to their own personal advantage and with a
view to the improvement of their ministerial work. "
St James. Athenaum. — " This is altogether an admirable text
book. The notes are exactly what is wanted. They shew scholarship,
wide reading, clear thinking. They are calculated in a high degree to
stimulate pupils to inquiry both into the language and the teaching of
the Epistle."
Revelation, journal of Education  " Absolute candour, a feeling
for Church tradition, and the combination of a free and graceful style of
historical illustration with minute scholarship characterise this work.
We wish we had more work of the same kind in the present day, and
venture to think that a mastery of this unpretentious edition would
prove to many a means of permanently enlarging the scope of their
studies in sacred literature."
Cambridge: printed by j. and c p. clay, At the university press.

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