LECTURES ON THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. TH CHAP. I. HE vifion of Ifaiah the fon of Amos, which he faw concerning Judah and Jerufalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Thefe words, which feem to have been originally prefixed to the predictions recorded in this chapter, were afterward confidered as the title of the whole facred book. The inspired Writer of the Second Book of Chronicles expressly refers to this divine compofition, as well known by the name which is given it in this verfe. The infcription informs usin what manner thefe prophecies came from God-who was the highly favoured perfon to whom they were communicated- -who were the people whofe fortunes they chiefly related and in what period of time Ifaiah was employed in the prophetical office. The Moft High God hath been gracioufly pleafed in times paft, to speak in divers manners to his fer * 2 Chron. xxxii. 32. vants the prophets. To a few he difcovered his mind, by familiarly converfing with them face to face, as a man with his friend. This intimate intercourse with God Adam enjoyed in paradife, and afterward Mofes in the wilderness, who in this refpect was honoured above all the prophets *. To fome he revealed himfelf by dreams, in which he afforded them those intimations of his pleasure which he judged proper to communicate. In this manner he difclofed his friendly purposes to the patriarch Jacob, refpecting himself and his pofterity +. To others he conveyed inftruction by vifions, in which were exhibited to their view lively reprefentations of thofe things wherein they were to inftruct mankind. In this way the Almighty condefcended to make known his will to our prophet; and therefore he calls thefe prophecies, The VISION wherewith he was favoured. The Lord God who fpake to our fathers, and who fpeaks to us by the prophets, prefented to him a full view of the interefting fubjects which he defcribes, and gave him the most fatisfying difcoveries of what he publishes for our benefit. Thefe things were made as plain and evident to him as if he had seen them with his bodily fight. In his prophecies, therefore, he declares unto us, what he heard with his ears, and faw with his eyes, fo that with great propriety this infpired book is called, THE VISION OF ISAIAH. The highly favoured perfon to whom Jehovah revealed the lively oracles which we are now to confider, and whom he employed to communicate them to his people, was Ifaiah, or as he is called in the New Teftament, Efaias, which being interpreted, fignifies the falvation of the Lord. This is a name highly proper for that prophet by whom God was to give the knowledge of falvation, and on whom he conferred the diftinguished honour of delineating the cha+ Gen. xxviii. 12. et feq. * Deut xxxiv. 10. racter racter of the great Redeemer, and the complete redemption he was to obtain. Names were anciently impofed on children by their parents, not only for the fake of distinction, but to express their hopes and defires respecting them; and we learn from fcripture, that they were often given, by divine direction, exactly descriptive of the character of the perfons who received them. Among the many inftances that might be adduced, I only mention that of Solomon, whofe name fignifies peace; and accordingly, in his days, God gave peace and quietnefs to Ifrael. In like manner, our prophet fully answered the name which, by the direction of divine providence, he had received. He fpake more fully and clearly than the prophets who had gone before him, of that illuftrious Perfon, who is eminently dif tinguished as the falvation of Jehovah, and of those fignal deliverances which afforded striking reprefentations of his great falvation; whilft, in fome refpects, he was an inftructive figure of him who was to come. He seems to have been poffeffed, in an eminent degree, of wisdom and holinefs, of eloquence, zeal, and fidelity in discharging the duties of his office, and of extenfive authority and influence over the people among whom he lived. He was honoured and refpected at court, when Sennacherib, king of Affyria, invaded the land of Judah; being the only man mentioned, who with Hezekiah, prayed and cried to Heaven for deliverance; and being fent to in that season of trouble, rebuke, and blafphemy, he returned the prince a moft comfortable meffage from the Governor among the nations. Nor was he lefs remarkable for his powerful influence with the God of the whole earth, who, in answer to his fupplication, gave the Jewish monarch a fign of his certain recovery from the depths of diftrefs, by bringing back the fhadow ten degrees, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz. To this fhort account of the character of our prophet, I may add, he was not only only a prophet, but a historian, who, as we are told, 2 Chron. xxvi. 22. wrote the acts of king Uzziah's reign, first and last; though that history, with many others, not among the canonical books of fcripture, are long ago buried in the ruins of time. .... The fon of Amoz. It is unneceffary, and would be unprofitable, to inquire into the character, the ftation, and employment of our prophet's father; and therefore I fhall not occupy your time, in reciting the various conjectures which have been formed on thefe fubjects. It is fufficient to remark, that he was probably a refpectable perfon, of confiderable rank, and high reputation among his countrymen : and at the time this prophecy was written, it might be very proper to diftinguifh Ifaiah, by the character of the fon of Amoz, from others of the fame name. Indeed it was frequently the cuftom of the pofterity of Abraham, to mention not only the names of men themselves, but of their fathers; of which innumerable inftances occur in the word of God. Which he faw concerning Judah and Jerufalem. These were the fubjects to which the following predictions relate. In the primary fenfe of the words, their inhabitants, who belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites refiding among them, were doubtlefs intended, in diinction from Ephraim, which included the other tribes of Ifrael. Judah was the land they poffeffed; and Jerufalem was the metropolis of the kingdom, in which their kings and nobles, their judges, priests, and teachers refided, who conftituted the most important part of the nation. The people who dwelt in these places, were chofen of God to be the objects of his peculiar care and fpecial protection; their city and country were deftined to be the theatre on which the Moft High, in the last days, was to difplay the riches of his grace, by eftablishing the kingdom of Jefus Chrift. As that nation afforded a lively reprefentation of the peculiar people of God under the New Teftament, and that city was a figure |