with the temple of the god to whom they were dedicated; with altars, images, and every thing necessary for performing the various rites of worship offered there; and were the scenes of many impure ceremonies, and of much abominable superstition. They made a principal part of the religion of the old inhabitants of Canaan; and the Israelites were commanded to destroy their groves, among other monuments of their false worship. The Israelites themselves became afterward very much addicted to this species of idolatry.

"When I had brought them into the land,
Which I swore that I would give unto them;

Then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree:

And there they slew their victims;

And there they presented the provocation of their offerings;

And there they placed their sweet savour;

And there they poured out their libations."

"On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice;
And on the hills they burn incense:

Under the oak, and the poplar;

And the ilex, because her shade is pleasant."

Ezek. xx. 28.

Hosea iv. 13.

Of what particular kinds the trees here mentioned are, it cannot be determined with certainty. In regard to, in this place of Isaiah, as well as in Hosea, Celsius (Hierobot.) understands it of the terebinth : because the most ancient interpreters render it so; in the first place the LXX. He quotes eight places; but in three of these eight places the copies vary, some having opvc, instead of Tepeßig .And he should have told us, that these same LXX render it in sixteen other places by dpvg: so that their authority is really against him; and the LXX stant pro quercu, contrary to what he says at first setting out. Add to this, that Symmachus, Theodotion, and Aquila, generally render it by opus; the latter only once rendering it by τερεβινθος. His other arguments seem to me not very conclusive: he says, that all the qualities of agree to the terebinth; that it grows in mountainous countries; that it is a strong tree; long-lived; large and high; and deciduous. All these qualities agree just as well to the oak, against which he contends; and he actually attributes them to the oak in the very next section. But, I think, neither the oak, nor the terebinth, will do in this place of Isaiah, from the last circumstance which he mentions, their being deciduous; where the prophet's design seems to me to require an ever-green: otherwise the casting of its leaves would be nothing out of the common established course of nature, and no proper image of extreme distress, and total desolation; parallel to that of a garden without water, that is, wholly burnt up and destroyed. An ancient, who was an inhabitant and native of this country, understands it, in like manner, of a tree blasted with uncommon and immoderate heat; "velut arbores, cum frondes æstu torrente decusserunt." Ephræm Syr. in loc. Edit. Assemani. Compare Psal. i. 4. Jer. xvii. 8. Upon the whole, I have chosen to make it the ilex; which word Vossius (Etymolog.) derives from the Hebrew ; that, whether the word itself be rightly rendered or not, I might at least preserve the propriety of the poetical image.

29. For ye shall be ashamed] Wan, in the second person, Vulg. Chald. two MSS, and one edition; and in agreement with the rest of the sentence.

30. —whose leaves] Twenty-six MSS. and three editions ready, in its full and regular form. This is worth remarking, as it accounts for a great number of anomalies of the like kind, which want only the same authority to rectify them.

Ibid. garden wherein is no water.] In the hotter parts of the eastern countries, a constant supply of water is so absolutely necessary for the cultivation, and even for the preservation and existence of a garden, that should it want water but for a few days, every thing in it would be burnt up with the heat, and totally destroyed. There is therefore no garden whatever in those countries, but what has such a certain supply; either from some neighbouring river, or from a reservoir of water collected from springs, or filled with rain water in the proper season, in sufficient quantity to afford ample provision for the rest of the year.

Moses, having described the habitation of man newly created, as a garden, planted with every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food; adds, as a circumstance necessary to complete the idea of a garden, that it was well supplied with water: (Gen. ii. 10. and see xiii. 10.) “ And a river went out of Eden to water the garden."

That the reader may have a clear notion of this matter, it will be necessary to give some account of the management of their gardens in this respect.

"Damascus," says Maundrell, p. 122. " is encompassed with gardens, extending no less, according to common estimation, than thirty miles. round; which makes it look like a city in a vast wood. The gardens are thick set with fruit-trees of all kinds, kept fresh and verdant by the waters of Barrady (the Chrysorrhoas of the ancients), which supply both the gardens and city in great abundance. This river, as soon as it issues out from between the cleft of the mountain before-mentioned into the plain, is immediately divided into three streams; of which the middlemost and biggest runs directly to Damascus, and is distributed to all the cisterns and fountains of the city. The other two (which I take to be the work of art) are drawn round, one to the right hand, and the other to the left, on the borders of the gardens, into which they are let as they pass, by little currents, and so dispersed all over the vast wood: insomuch, that there is not a garden but has a fine quick stream running through it. Barrady is almost wholly drunk up by the city and gardens. What small part of it escapes, is united, as I was informed, in one channel again, on the south-east side of the city; and, after about three or four hours' course, finally loses itself in a bog there, without ever arriving at the sea." This was likewise the case in former times, as Strabo, lib. xvi. Pliny, v. 18. testify; who say, " that this river was expended in canals, and drunk up by watering the place."

"The best sight," says the same Maundrell, p. 39. " that the palace [of the emir of Beroot, anciently Berytus] affords, and the worthiest to be remembered, is the orange garden. It contains a large quadrangular plat of ground, divided into sixteen lesser squares, four in a row, with walks between them. The walks are shaded with orange-trees, of a large spreading size. Every one of these sixteen lesser squares in the garden was bordered with stone; and in the stone-work were troughs, very artificially contrived, for conveying the water all over the garden: there being

little outlets cut at every tree, for the stream, as it passed by, to flow out, and water it." The royal gardens at Ispahan are watered just in the same manner, according to Kempfer's description, Amoen. Exot. p. 193.

Ths gives us a clear idea of the, mentioned in the first Psalm, and other places of Scripture," the divisions of waters," the waters distributed in artificial canals; for so the phrase properly signifies. The prophet Jeremiah has imitated, and elegantly amplified, the passage of the Psalmist above referred to:

"He shall be like a tree planted by the water side,

And which sendeth forth her roots to the aqueduct :
She shall not fear, when the heat cometh;

But her leaf shall be green;

And in the year of drought she shall not be anxious,
Neither shall she cease from bearing fruit."

Jer. xvii. 8.

From this image the son of Sirach has most beautifully illustrated the influence and the increase of religious wisdom in a well prepared heart:

"I also come forth as a canal from a river,''

And as a conduit flowing into a paradise,

I said: I will water my garden,

And I will abundantly moisten my border:
And lo! my canal became a river,

And my river became a sea."

Eccl'us xxiv. 30, 31.

This gives us the true meaning of the following elegant proverb:

"The heart of the king is like the canals of waters in the hand of JEHOVAH; Whither it pleaseth him, he inclineth it."

Prov. xxi. 1.

The direction of it is in the hand of JEHOVAH, as the distribution of the water of the reservoir, through the garden, by different canals, is at the will of the gardener:

Maundrell (p. 88.) has given a description of the remains, as they are said to be, of these very pools made by Solomon, for the reception and preservation of the waters of a spring, rising at a little distance from them; which will give us a perfect notion of the contrivance and design of such reservoirs. "As for the pools, they are three in number, lying in a row above each other; being so disposed, that the waters of the uppermost may descend into the second, and those of the second into the third. Their figure is quadrangular; the breadth is the same in all, amounting to about ninety paces: in their length there is some difference between them; the first being about one hundred and sixty paces long; the second, two hundred; the third, two hundred and twenty. They are all lined with wall, and plastered; and contain a great depth of water.” /

The immense works which were made by the ancient kings of Egypt, for recovering the waters of the Nile, when it overflowed, for such uses,

are well known. But there never was a more stupendous work of this kind, than the reservoir of Saba, or Merab, in Arabia Felix. According to the tradition of the country, it was the work of Balkis, that queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. It was a vast lake formed by the collection of the waters of a torrent in a valley, where, at a narrow pass between two mountains, a very high mole, or dam, was built. The water of the lake so formed had near twenty fathom depth; and there were three sluices at different heights, by which, at whatever height the lake stood, the plain below might be watered. By conduits and canals from these sluices the water was constantly distributed in due proportion to the several lands; so that the whole country for many miles became a perfect paradise. The city of Saba, or Merab, was situated immediately below the great dam: a great flood came, and raised the lake above its usual height: the dam gave way in the middle of the night; the waters burst forth at once, and overwhelmed the whole city, with the neighbouring towns, and people. The remains of eight tribes were forced to abandon their dwelling, and the beautiful valley became a morass and a desert. This fatal catastrophe happened long before the time of Mohammed, who mentions it in the Koran, chap. xxxiv. See also Sale, Prelim. sect. i. and Michaelis, Questions aux Voyageurs Danois, No. 94. Niebuhr. Descript. de l'Arabie, p. 240.

CHAP. II.

THE prophecy contained in the second, third, and fourth chapters, makes one continued discourse. The first five verses of chapter second fortel the kingdom of Messiab, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their admission into it. From the sixth verse to the end of the second chapter is foretold the punishment of the unbelieving Jews, for their idolatrous practices, their confidence in their own strength, and distrust of God's protection; and moreover the destruction of idolatry, in consequence of the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. The whole third chapter, with the first verse of the fourth, is a prophecy of the calamities of the Babylonian invasion and captivity; with a particular amplification of the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Sion. Chap. iv. 2—6. promises to the remnant which shall have escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour and protection of God.

This prophecy was probably delivered in the time of Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah; as Isaiah is said to have prophesied in his reign; to which time not any of his prophecies is so applicable as that of these chapters. The seventh verse of the second, and the latter part of the third chapter, plainly point out times in which riches abounded, and luxury and delicacy prevailed. Plenty of silver and gold could only arise from their commerce; particularly from that part of it which was carried on by the Red Sea. This circumstance seems to confine the prophecy within the limits, above-mentioned, while the port of Elath was in their hands: it was lost under Ahaz, and never recovered.

2.in the latter days-] "Wherever the latter times are, mentioned in Scripture, the days of the Messiah are always meant ;" says Kimchi on this place and, in regard to this place, nothing can be more clear and certain: The prophet Micah (chap. iv. 1-4.) has repeated this pro

phecy, of the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, and of its progress to universality and perfection, in the same words, with little and bardly any material variation: for as he did not begin to prophesy till Jotham's time, and this seems to be one of the first of Isaiah's prophecies, I suppose Micah to have taken it from hence. The variations, as I said, are of no great importance. Verse second, NT after N, a word of some emphasis, may be supplied from Micah, if dropped in Isaiah: an ancient MS. has it here in the margin: it has in like manner been lost in chap. liii. 4. (see note on the place); and in Psal. xxii. 29. where it is supplied by Syr. and LXX. Instead of

all the nations, Micah has only by, all peoples, as probably it read, seventeen MSS.

by, peoples; where Syr. has ought to be. Verse third, for the second two editions, LXX, Vulg. Syr. Chald. and so Micah iv. 2. Verse fourth, Micah adds, PT, afar off, which the Syriac also reads in this parallel place of Isaiah. It is also to be observed, that Micah has improved the passage by adding a verse, or sentence, for imagery and expression worthy even of the elegance of Isaiah:

"And they shall sit, every man under his vine,

And under bis fig-tree, and none shall affright them:

For the mouth of JEHOVAH God of hosts hath spoken it."

The description of well-established peace, by the image of "beating their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," is very poetical. The Roman poets have employed the same image: Martial, xiv. 34. "Falx ex ense."

"Pax me certa ducis placidos curvavit in usus:
Agricolæ nunc sum; militis ante fui."

The prophet Joel hath reversed it, and applied it to war prevailing over peace:

The prophet Ezekiel has presignified the same great event with equal clearness, though in a more abstruse form, in an allegory; from an image, suggested by the former part of the prophecy, happily introduced, and well pursued:

"Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH :

I myself will take from the shoot of the lofty cedar;

Even a tender cion from the top of his cions will I pluck off:

And I myself will plant it on a mountain high and eminent.

On the lofty mountain of Israel will I plant it;

And it shall exalt its branch, and bring forth fruit;

And it shall become a majestic cedar:

And under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing;
In the shadow of its branches they shall dwell:
And all the trees of the field shall know,

R