Chapter XLVI
its idols symliolizes the future general extirpation of all idolatry and unbelief, purposed . . . also do it^—(Ch. 43.
Ver. 1-13. Babylon's Idols could not Save themselves, ItUCll LKSS HEK. BUT GOD CAN AND WILL SAVE Israel: (ykl-s is His instkoment. l. Bel—The same ns the I'littMiieian Baal, i. e., lord, the chief god of Babylon; to it was dedicated tlie celebrated tower of Baby-
13.) 13. stout-hearted—stubborn in resisting God (Psalm 76.5; Acts 7.51.) far from righteousness—(Ch. 59. 9; Habakkuk 2. 4.) 13. near—antithetical to "far" (v. 12; ch. 51. 5; 56. 1; 61. 10, 11; Romans, 10. 6-S).' righteousness — answering to "salvation"' in the parallel clause; therefore it means here, my righteous deliverance; righteous, because praving the truth oX God's promises, and so contrived aa to not compromise, butf vindicate. His righteousness (ch.
l(»i, in the c<'nlre of one of tlie two parts into wliioli the city v.-as divided, the palace being in the centre of the olh(;r. Identical with the sun, worshipped on turrets, lioa.sctops, and other high places, so as to be nearer the heavenly hosti^ (Hal)a) (Jeremiah 19.13; 32.29; Zeplianiah
42..21 ; Romans 3. 26.) Zion . . . my glory—ratlier, " I will give Siilvation in Zion; to Israel (1 will give) my glory." [HORSLUY, with Q,UEKN ELIZAniSTH'S ijjBLE.J (Ch. 63. 11; Psalm 11. 7; Luke 2. 32.)
1.5). Oe.sknii;s identifies Bel with the planet Juiiitcr, whicli, with t.lie planet Venus (under the name Astarte or Asluroth), vras worshipped in the East as the rjod^ of I'orlunc, the most propitious star to be born under (iVoCe, ch. la. 11). A<;cordiug to the Apocryphal book, Bel and the Ijragon, Bel was c<ist down by Cyrus, boweth . . . •toopeth— fallet 1 prostrate* (ch. 10.4; 1 Samuel 5.3,4; ?>;alm 20. S). Nebo—Tlie planet Mercury or Hermes, In astrology. Tl)6 scribe of heaven, answering to the Egyp-
CHAPTER XLVII.
Ver. 1-15. The Destruction of Babylon is reprksenteij under the Image of a Royal Vikoin broikjut DOWN IN A Moment from her Magnificent Throne to
48a
/adgmenls nppn Babylmi and Chaldea. ISAIAH XLVIII. The Revelation of the Prophec'cs.
"in full measure." for . . . for—rather, 'notwithstanding the . . . notwithstanding;" "in spite of." [Lowth.] So "for" (Numbers 14. 11). Babylon was famous for "expiations or 'sacrifices, and other incantations, whereby they tried to avert evil and obtain good." [Diodokus Sicv ULUS.] 10. wickedness—as in ch. 13. 11, the cruelty with which Babylon treated its subject states, none sceth me —(PsalmlO.ll; 94.7.) "There is none to exact punishment from me." Sinners are not safe, thougli seeming secret, thy wisdom—astrological and political (ch. 19. 11, &c., 8S to Egypt), perverted-turns thee aside from tlie right and safe path. 11. from whence It rlseth Hebrew, the daum
THE EXTREME OF DEGRADATION. 1. Ill tile dtiat—(J\'ote, .
ch. 3. 26; Job 2. 13; Lamentations 2. 10). virgin— i. e., heretofore uncaptured. [Herodotus, 1. 191.] daughter of Bal)yloji—Babylon and its inhabitants (Notes, ch. 1. 8; 37.
22). no tHrone— The seat of empire was transferred to
.Sliushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his
seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died ; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to
Seleucia. delicate—alluding to the effeminate debauchery and prostitution of all classes at banquets and religious
rites. [CuRTius, 5. 1; Hekodottis, 1. 199; Baruch, 6. 43.] a. millstones— lilie the querns or hand-mills, found in
thereof, i. e., its first rising. Evil shall come on thee without the least previous intimation. [RoSENMtri/LER.] But dawn is not applied to " evil," but to prosperity sliining out after misery (oh. 21. 12). Translate, "Thou shall not see any dawn " (of alleviation). [Maurer.] put . . . off
this country, before the invention of water-mills and wind-mills : a convex stone, made by the hand to turn in a concave stone, fitted to receive it, the corn being ground between them : the ofiice of a female slave in tlie East
ratlier, a,s -Margin, "remove by expiation it shall be never ending, not know—unawares: wliicli thou dost not appreliend. Proving the fallacy of thj' divinations and astrology (Job 9. 5; Psalm as. 8). 13. St.ind—forth
most degrading (Job 31. 10; Matthew 24. 41). uncover tliy locks—rather, "take off thy veil" [Horsley]: perhaps the removal of the plaited hair worn round the women's temples is Included ; it, too, is a covering (1 Corinthians 11.
a scornful eliallenge to Babylon's magicians to sliow whetlier tliey can defend their city, laboured—The devil's service is a laboi-ious yet fruitless one (ch. 55. 2), 13. wearied—(Cf. 57. 10 ; Ezekiel 24. 12.) astrologers—iii., those who form combinations of the heavens ; \yho watch conjunctions anfl oppositions of the stars. "Casters of the configurations of the sky." [Horsley.] Gesenius explains it: the dividers of the heavens. In casting a nativity they observed four signs:—the horoscope, or sign which arose at the time one was born; the mid-heaven;
15) ; to remove it and the veil is the badge of tlie lowest female degradation; in the East the head is the seat of female modesty ; the face of a woman is seldom, the whole head never almost, seen bare (Note, ch. 22. 8). make bare
tlie leg—rather, " lift up (lit., uncover ; as in lifting up tlie train the leg is uncovered) thy flomng train." In Mesopotamia, women of low rank, as occasion requires, wade across the rivers with stript legs, or else entirely put off their garments and swim across. "Exchange thy rich,
loose, queenly robe, for the most abject condition, that of one going to and fro through rivers as a slave, to draw water," &c. uncover . . . tliigli—gather up the robe, so as to wade across. 3. not meet ... as a man—rather, " I will not meet a man," i. e., sufferman to intercede with me—
the sign opposite the horoscope towards tlie west ; and the hypogee. monthly prognosticators—Those wlio at each new moon profess to tell thereby what is about to happen. Join, not as English Version, " save . . . from those things," &c. ; but, "They that at new moons make known from (by means of) tlieyn the things that shall come upon thee." [Maurer.] 14. (Ch. 29.6; 30.30.) not ... a coal—Like stubble, they shall burn to a dead ash, without leaving a live coal or cinder (cf. ch. 30. 14), so utterly shall they be destroyed. 15. Thus, &c.—Sucli shall be the fate of those astrologers wlio cost thee such an amount of trouble and money, thy merchants from thy youth i. e., with whom thou hast traflScked from thy earliest history, t-he foreigners sojourning in Babylon for the sake of commerce
give man an audience. [Hoksley.] Or, " I will not make peace witli any man," before all are destroyed. Lit., strike a league with ; a plirase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [Mauber] (Note, Proverbs I". 18; 22. 26; 11. 15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties. *. As for rather supply, " Thus saith our Redeemer." [Maurer.] LowTH supposes this verse to be the exclamation of a cliorus breaking in with praises, " Our Redeemer ! Jehovah of hosts," &c. (Jeremiah 50. 34). 5. Sit—The posture of mourning (Ezra 9. 4; Job 2. 13; Lamentations 2. 10). darkness— mourning and misery (Lamentations 3. 2; Micah 7. 8). lady of kingdoms—mistress of the world
(ch. 13. 14; Jeremiah 51. 6, 9; Nahum 3. 16, 17). [Barnes.; Rather, the astrologers, with whom Babylon had so many dealings (v. 12-14). [Horsley.] to his quarter lit., straight
before ?Mm<Ezekiel 1.9, 12). The foreigners, whether soothsayers or merchants, shall flee home out of Babylon (Jeremiah 50. 16).
(oh. 13. 19). 6. reason for God's vengeance on Babylon : in executing God's will against His people, she had done so with wanton cruelty (ch. 10, 5, &c. ; Jeremiah 50. 17; 51. 33; Zechariah 1. 15). polluted my inheritance—(Gh. 43. 28.) the ancient—even old age was disregarded by the Chaldeans, who treated all alike with cruelty (Lamentations
CHAPTEE XLVIII.
Ver. 1-22. The Things that befai,!, Babylon Jehovah PREDICTED LONG BEFORE, LEST ISRAEL, SHOULD ATTRIBUTE THEM, IN ITS "OBSTINATE" PERVERSITY, TO Strange Gods (v. 1-5). 1. the waters of Judah—spring from the fountain of Judah (Numbers 24. 7; Deuteronomy
4. 16; 5. 12). [RosENMTJLLER.] Or, "the ancient" means Israel, worn out with calamities in the latter period of its history (ch. 46.4), as its earlier stage of liistory is called its " youth" (ch. 54. 6; Ezekiel 16. 60). 7. so that^through thy vain expectation of being sL queen for ever, thou didst advance to sucli a pitch of insolence as not to believe " these things" (viz., as to thy overthrow, v. 1-5) possible, end of
33. 28; Psalm 68. 26, Margin). Judah has the "fountain'' attributed to it, because it survived the ten tribes, and from it Messiah was to spring, swear toy . . . l.ord—(Ch. 19.18; 45.23 ; 65.16.) mention—in prayers and praises, not In truth—(Jcremiali 5. 2 ; John 4. 24.) 3. For—Ye deserve these reproofs; for ye call yourselves citizens of "the holy city" (ch. 52. 1), but not In truth (ti. 1; Nehemiah 11. 1; Daniel 9. 24); so the Inscription on their coins of tlie time of the Maccabees. "Jerusalem the Holy.'- 3. former—things wlilch have happened in time past to Israel (ch. 42. 9 ; 44. 7, 8 ; 45. 21 ; 46. 10). suddenly—they came to pass so unexpectedly, tliat tlie proplieoy could not have resulted from mere liuman sagacity. 4. obstlna.tc—Hebmv, hard (Deuteronomy 9. 27 ; E«elciel 8. 7, Mar-
It viz., of th-y insolence, implied in her words, " I shall be a lady for ever." 8. given to pleasures—(iVoie, v. 1.) In no city were there so many incentives to licentiousness, lam . . . none . . . beside me—(v. 10.) Language of arrogance in man's moutlr; fitting for God alone (ch. 45. 6). See cli. 5. 8, latter part, widow . . . loss of children—
state, represerfted as a female. When it has fallen is called a widow, because its king is no more ; and childless, because
it lias no inhabitants, they having been carried off as captives (ch. 23. 4 ; 54. 1, 4, 5; Revelation 18. 7, 8). 9. In a moment—It should not decay slowly, but be suddenly and unexpectedly destroyed; in a single niglit It was taken by Cyrus. The prophecy was again literally fulfilled when Babylon revolted against Darius; and, in order
gin), iron sinew—inflexible (Acts 7. 51). brow brassshameless as a harlot (see Jeremiah 6. 28; 3. 3; Ezekiel 3.
to liold out to the last, each man chose one woman of liis family, iui<l strangled the rest, to save provisions. Darius impaled -WW of the revoltera. In . . . perfection—i. e., 484
7, Margin). 5. (See Notes, v. 1, 3.) 6. Thou, &c.—So "ye are my witnesses" (ch. 43. 10). Thou canst testify the prodiction was uttered long before the fulfilment: "see all
Go'P.-i Exhortation to Obedience, ISAIAH XLIX. because of His Power and Providence.
type of Messiah, to whom alone it fully applies (Revelation 5. 2^). his pleasure—not Cyrus' own, but Jehovah's. 15. brought—led hira on his way. he—change from the
this," t'i2., that the event answers to the prophecy, de-
tlai-c—make the fact known as a proof that Jehovah alone
is God (oh. 11. S). new things—viz., the deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus, new in contradistinction from former predictions tliat had been fulfilled (ch. 42. 9; 43. 19). An-
first to the third person. [Barnes.] Jehovah sliall make his (Cyrus') way prosperous. 16. not ... in secret—(Ch.
titypically, the prophecy has in view the "new things" of the gospel treasury (Song of Solomon 7. 13; Matthew 13.
45. 19.) Jehovah foretold Cyrus' advent, not witli the studied ambiguity of heathen oracles, but plainly, from the time, Ac—from the moment that the purpose began to be accomplished In the raising up of Cyrus I was pres-
52; 2 Corinthians 5. 17; Revelation 21. o). From this point forward, ^he prophecies as to Messiah's first and second advents, n nd the restoration of Israel, have a new circumstantial dislinctness, such as did not characterize the previous ones, even of Isaiah. Babylon, in this view, answers to the mystical Babylon of Revelation, liiddcn— which could not have been guessed by political sagacity (Daniel 2. 22, 29; 1 Corinthians 2. 9, 10). 7. Not like natural results from existing causes, the events when they took place were like acts of creative power, such as had never l)Ofore been " from the beginning." even before tlie day wliiii—rather [Maukek], "And before the day (of
ent, sent me—The prophet here speaks, claiming attention to his announcement as to Cyrus, on the ground of his mission from God and Ills Spirit. But he speaks not in his own person so much as in that of Messiah, to whom alone in the fullest sense the words apply (ch. 61. 1 ; John
10.36). Plainly, ch. 49. 1, which is the continuation of ch.
48. from v. 16, where the change of speaker from God (v. I,
12-1.5) begins, is the language of Messiah. Luke 4. 1, 14, IB, shows-that the Spirit combined with the Fatlier in sending tlie Son: tlierefore "His Spirit" is nominative to "sent," not accumttye, following it. 17. teacheth ... to protit—by affliction, such as the Babylonisli captivity, and the present long-continued dispersion of Israel (Hebrews 12.10). 18. peace—(Psalm 119. 165.) Cf. the desire expressed by the same Messiah (Matthew 23. 37; Luke 19.
tlieir occurrence) thou hast not heard of them," i.e., by any human acuteuess; they are only heard of by the present inspiied announcement. 8. Iieardest not—repeated, as also "knewest not," from last verse, from tliat time that—omit that : "^Vo?>i the first thine ear did not open itself," D(2., to o6ejy them. [Rosenmullee.] "To open tlie ear "denotes obedient attention (ch. 50.5), Or, " was not opened " to receive them, i. e., they were not dechired by me to thee previously, since, if thou hadst been informed of them, such is thy perversity, thou couldst not liave Ijeen kept in check. [Maurer.] In the former view, tlie sense of the words following is, "P'or I knew
42). river—(Ch. 33.21; 41. 18), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol oi free, abundant, and ever-Jlowint/ blessingsfrom Him (Ezekiel 47. 1 ; Zechariali 14. &; Revelation 22. 1). righteousness religious 2}rosperili/, the parent of "peace" or national prosperity ; therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism (ch.32. 17). 19. sand—retaining the metaphor of "the sea" {v. 18). like the gravel tliereof—rather, as t!ie Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels;" referring to
tiiat, if I liad not foretold the destruction of Babylon so plainly, that there could be no perverting of it, thou wouldest have perversely ascribed it to idols, or something else than to me " (v. 5). Thus they would have relapsed into idolatry, to cure them of which the Babylonian captivity was sent: so they had done (Exodus 32. 4). After the return, and ever since, they have utterly forsateen idols, wast called—as thine appropriate appellation (ch. 9. 6). from tlie womb—from the beginning of Israel's national existence (ch. 41. 2). 9^ refrain lit., muzzle; His wrath) after the I'eturn, was to be restrained a while, and then, because of their sins, let loose again (Psalm 7iS. 38). for thee—i. e., mine anger towards thee. 10. (iVo/e, ch. 1. 25.) with silver—rather, "/or silver." I sought by afiliction to purify thee, but thou wast not as silver oljtained by melting, but as dross. [Gesenius.] Th5' repeiitance is not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. Rcsenmuller explains, not as silver, not with the intense heat needed to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), i. e., not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better (ch. 1.25; 42.25; Ezekiel 22. 18-20,
tlie countless living creatures, fishes, &Q., of tlie sea, rather than the gravel. [Maurer.] Jerome, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version, liis name . . . cut olF— transition from the second person, "tliy," to the. third, "his." Israel's name was cut off as a nation during tlie Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to wliich the prophecy especially looks (Romans 11. 20). 20. Go . . . forth . . . end of the earth—Primarily, a prophecy of their joyful deliverance from Babylon, and a direction
tliat tiiey should leave it when God opened the way. But the publication of it "to tlie ends of tlie earth" sliows it has a more world-wide scope antitypically ; Revelation
18. 4 shows that the mystical Babylon is ultimately meant, redeemed . . . Jacob—(Ch. 43.1; 44. 22, 23.) 21. Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert. [Kimchi.] The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt (Exodus
17. 6 ; Numbers 20. 11 ; Psalm 78. 15 ; 105. 41) and of tliat from Babylon, a,re blended together; the language, whilst more Immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot wholly refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel. 23. Repeated (ch. 57. 21). All the blessings just mentioned (v. 21) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shall first cast away its wicked unbelief before it sliall inherit national prosperity (Zecliariah 12. 10-14; 13. -1, 9; 14. 3, 14,
22). chosen—or else [LowTH], «rted . . . proved; according to Gesenius, lit., to rub with the touchstone, or to cut inpieces so as to examine (Zechariali 13. 9; Malachl 3. 3; 1 Peter 1. 7). 11. how should my name—Maurer, instead of "my name" from u. 9, supplies "my glory" from the next clause; and translates, "How (shamefully) my glory has been profaned!" In English Version the sense is, "I will n-lVain (v. 9, i. e., not utterly destroy thee), for why should I permit my name to be polluted, which it would be, if the Lord utterly destroyed His elect people" (Ezekiel 20. 9j? not give glory unto another—if God forsook His people fur ever, the heathen would attribute their tri-
20, 21). The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men (Job 15. 20-25, 31-34).
uiiiji/i over Israel to their idols; so God's glory would be given to another. 1*-15. The Almighty who has founded lieaven and earlh, can, and will, restore His people, the first . . . last—(Ch. 41. 4 ; 44, 6.) 13. spanned—measured out (ch. W. 12). when I call . . . stand up together—(Ch. 40.