face of that remarkable country, the Arabian desert, a change first made for the accommodation of returning Israel, seems to be here intended. And what forbids? But let us wait the accumulated evidence of future oracles. The following verses are addressed to the worshippers of the idols, or rather to their upholders. They are challenged to show the superior power which their deluded votaries ascribe to them in explaining the signs of the times, and in explaining to the world concerning those events that had already begun to come to pass, or must hereafter be accomplished. 21. 66 Bring near your cause," shall Jehovah say, Produce your strong powers,' shall the King of Jacob say. ' 22. Approach and declare to us, That which is now coming to pass, The beginnings, what are they? declare to us, 23. Tell us what shall happen hereafter; Then shall we know that ye are Elohim. Ay, bestow good or inflict evil, That we may at once expect and fear. 24. But lo, ye are less than nothing, And your operation less than a bursting bubble,' Prophecy is certainly one of the most unquestionable evidences of a true revelation; and, it should seem, it is "Produce your mighty powers," accidant, inquit idola vestra, quæ putatis esse fortissima;" Hieron. com. in loco. I prefer this to all other interpretations."-BP. LOWTH. "See Simon on yox. Bishop Stock renders " a breath." 3 Perhaps, "He chooseth an abomination that chooseth you." that particular evidence which is destined to shine forth, with peculiar brightness, to the church in the last days: and here the religion of the idolatrous adversary, with all its pretended miracles and lying wonders, will be discovered to be most weak and false. For "the day of the Lord," unforeseen, unexpected, comes upon them as a thief in the night; and, with respect to their leaders and armies, overtakes them in the very spot marked out by all the prophets. But as we shall read hereafter, it is a doom pronounced upon the wicked, that they shall not understand, while the just shall receive increased knowledge on these subjects as the time draws nigh. The twenty-fifth verse, like the second, as explained above, relates to the Saviour's coming: 25. I have raised him up from the north,' and he shall come, From the rising of the sun shall he invoke my name. The Hebrew word in this verse translated north means also" a place of concealment," the recess of a sanctuary. This is possibly its meaning in this place. The progress of the same person from the north and from the east is not, indeed, easy to be explained, unless it refers to the progress of two companies of his returning people, whom he is guiding by his presence: or perhaps the north-east is intended by the phrase. And he shall trample princes like mortar, 1 Or, from the concealed place." * Chaldee. 3 I would render this whole verse thus: "I have raised up one from an obscure corner, one that shall He shall call upon my name, The world's ignorance—culpable ignorance we may no doubt call it - of Christ's coming, is again remarked, agreeably with his own saying in the days of his flesh : "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" 26. Who, at the beginning, declared this that we might know it, And beforehand, that we should say, It is true? No, there was none that declared it, there was none that told it; No, there was none that had heard words! your 27. 'I' first declared' to Zion," Lo, they are here," 28. And I looked, and there was no man, Even at these, and none could advise, When I consulted them, that they might give an answer. "Lo, they are here," relates to "the Lord and his holy myriads ;" and the address seems to imply that there were persons among the idolatrous enemy that should have known the time was come: and when we recollect that the enemy, though fallen into idolatrous superstitions, was at the same time in possession of the book of revelation, the matter seems to be explained. SECTION III. On the Forty-second Chapter. WE proceed with the forty-second chapter. The same subject is still continued. 'See Bp. Lowth's note. * Or, "their gilded idols." VOL. I. 1. BEHOLD my servant whom I will uphold, And he shall pronounce judgment to the nations.' 2. He shall not cry nor exclaim aloud, Nor cause his voice to be heard without: 3. The bruised reed shall he not break, According to truth shall he deliver judgment, It is admitted on all hands, that the chosen servant of Jehovah, in this place, is none other than the Messiah. Those who argue for an intermediate type in the former chapter confess, that here “the veil of the allegory" is "thrown aside." St. Matthew, indeed, is our guide to interpret this of our Lord Jesus Christ. He remarks that the meek and unostentatious character of our Lord, as manifested while on earth, illustrates and fulfils this prophecy of Isaiah. * Not that the prophecy received its full accomplishment at the first advent: the prediction contrasts Christ, in his character of Judge and Ruler, with those proud and ostentatious leaders of the world, that had hitherto attracted the attention of mankind, and had been called "bountiful" and "munificent," though they had corrupted the truth and destroyed the "A rule of right to the nations shall he publish."-STOCK. 2 , pusillanimum fecit, i. e. terruit, prohibuit sive avertit in jecto metu (ut id. Arab. in 4 conjug.)-SIMON. Bishop Stock renders the line: "He shall not slacken, he shall not founder." * Matt. xii. 17, &c. earth. Enough was seen at the first advent to point out our blessed Lord as the humble and lowly object of the Father's choice and the term "judgment," as Bishop Lowth remarks, is a word of very large import, so that the institutions of the Gospel may be included in the view of the Spirit. This is, indeed, "the leaven hid in the lump till the whole shall be leavened." Strictly speaking, however, Christ came not then to judge, but to save. The Father had not then made him "Judge or Divider;" but in this character we know he is one day "to sit upon the throne of his kingdom." The next three verses are addressed by the Almighty to Messiah, in his character of " the Son of Man"- one raised up from among his brethren, according to the style of many of the psalms. 5. Thus hath the "true" God,' Jehovah, spoken, That created the heavens, and stretched them out, 6. I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, And I have strengthened thy hand, and I have helped thee; And I have given thee for a covenant of the people," 7. For a light of the nations, to open the blind eyes; To bring forth the captive from the prison, And them that sit in darkness from the dungeon. Weak as the Saviour might appear in his human nature," made like to his brethren in all things, sin 1 BP. STOCK, 2" For by two MSS. read bw, · The covenant of the age to come,' or the everlasting age,' which seems to give a clearer and better sense."- BP. LoWTH. "A purification,” or “a purifier."-HORSLEY. |