nefs from you for a while, ftill ye are mine, I have the Chapter tender affection of a Parent for you, and fimpathize with XEIU. your Sufferings.

Ver. 2. When thou paffeft through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkeft through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.] The Jews ufe to exprefs great Calamities, and fignal Danger by paffing through Fire and Water, as Pfal. 65. We paffed through fire and water, that is, ftruggled with many Difficulties. The Verbs may be render'd Futurely, When thou shalt pass through the Waters I will be with thee, &c. that is, in all Misfortunes I will fupport and preferve you, and deliver you out of them at laft.

Ver. 3. For I am the Lord thy God, the holy One of Ifrael, thy faviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.] The Senfe of this Verfe, (a) Commentators most (a) Grotiu, agree to be this, when all Judea was ready to be destroy'd A Lapide, by Sennacherib's Army, I diverted his Forces and caus'd Pagninus, the Storm to fall on Egypt and Ethiopia: But Gataker Tirinu.. thinks the Prophet means, I deftroy'd the Egyptians in the Red-fea, for the refcuing of my People; and as for the Ethiopians and Sabeans, refers it to the remarkable overthrow of the Ethiopians by Afa, 2 Chron. 14.9, 15.

Ver. 4. Since thou waft precious in my fight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.] Because thou waft precious in my fight, and honourable, and I loved thee, therefore have I given Men for thee, and People for thy fake; the fame as he faidin the former Verfe, with the Addition of the Reason why he gave Men and People for their Sakes, that is, destroy'd Nations to deliver them, because he had a hearty Kindness for them, and valu'd them above all the People in the World.

Ver. 5, 6. Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy feed from the east, and gather thee from the west. I will fay to the north, Give up, and to the fouth, Keep not back, bring my fons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth:] The Captives of Judah were scatter'd to be fure in all the Corners of Chaldea, therefore the Prophet mentions the Four Cardinal Points, to let them know tho' they were dif

pers'd:

Chapter pers'd from one End of that wide Empire to the other every Region fhould at his Command readily furrender them up, and not keep them in Durance any longer than it was his Pleasure to try their Faith.

XLIIL

(Calvin.

Ver. 7, 8. Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.] That is, I will bring forth the People who are now blind, and refore them to their Sight, I will fet the Deaf at Liberty, and they fhall recover their Hearing; meaning, that tho' they were now blind, and could not fee what belong'd to their Peace, and deaf to all the Prophetic Warnings which he had given them, their Captivity fhould bring them back to their Senfes, and make them for the future more obfervant of his Commands; this I take to be much more natural than to fay with Forerius, Quid aliud eft hoc quàm filii regni ejicientur in tenebras exteriores, which is nothing at all to the pur-. pose tho' countenanc'd by the ancient Interpreters.

Ver. 9. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be affembled: who among them can declare this, and fhew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear and fay, It is truth.] Let them hear fuch indifputable Teftimonies as I can produce for my Divinity and they will foon be convinc'd, and acknowledge that I am the only true God.

Ver. 10. Te are my witneffes, faith the Lord, and my fer. vant whom I have chofen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither fhall there be after me.] The Idols and their fimple Adorers can bring no credible Witneffes to prove that they ever foretold any thing juftify'd by the Event, but ye Ifraelites can teftify for me, who have had from time to time fo pregnant Proofs of my Power and Providence, and my Servant Ifaiah more particularly, whom I have employ'd for this Purpofe, that when ye fee his Predictions fulfill'd ye may believe that I am God; before me there was no God form'd, that is, none of your material Gods form'd and fashion'd by Men can pretend to equal Antiquity with me, I exifted long before them, and fhall continue in Being when they are rotten and gone.

1

Ver. 11, 12. I, even I am the Lord: and befide me there is no Saviour. I have declared, and have faved, and I have fhewed, when there was no strange god among you therefore ye are my witneffes, faith the Lord, that I am God.] I have declared in former Times that I would deliver my People, and accordingly I deliver'd them, when there were no Idols among them to afcribe their Deliverance to; this ye know, and therefore that can witnefs for me that I am God as I pretend to be.

Ver. 13. Tea, before the day was, I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?] Yea, the Idols of the Heathen are fo far from being of equal Continuance with me, that before there was any fuch thing as Light I existed, and my Power is so great, that those I lay my Hands on all the World cannot rescue; and if I fet about to redeem a People all the World cannot hinder me.

Ver. 14. Thus faith the Lord your redeemer, the holy One of Ifrael, For your fake I have fent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles: and the Caldeans, whofe cry is in the fhips.] Because ye are my People, whom I form'd into a Nation, on purpose to fhew my Kindness and Affection to you, when ye have fuffer'd the fix'd Period of your Calamities, I will fend to Babylon Cyrus, who fhall conquer the Chaldeans, who glory in the Number of their Ships, and bring down their proud Nobility, and make them ftoop to the meanest Offices of Slaves; Tigris and Euphrates furrounding Babylon there must needs be a great Number of Veffels on Two fuch Navigable Rivers; but Grotius thinks the Prophet means that the Chaldeans, upon the coming of Cyrus, fhall cry out and exhort one another to retire to their Ships.

Ver. 15, 16. I am the Lord, your holy One, the creator of Ifrael, your King. Thus faith the Lord, which maketh a way in the fea, and a path in the mighty waters:] The Prophet certainly fpeaks of their Forefathers paffing the Red Sea, and therefore the Verbs should be render'd in the Praterperfect Tenfes, Who made a Way in the Sea, and a Path in the mighty Waters, and conducted them thro' the deep Chaẩm as fafely as if they had walked on dry Land.

Ver. 17. Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the powers; they shall lye down together, they shall not rife:

They

T

Chapter

XLIII.

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Chapter they are extinct, they are quenched as tom.] Who brought XLIII. forth the Chariots and Horfes, and all the Strength of Egypt, in full Career to fall on my naked People in the Wilderness, but ftruck them down altogether in a Moment beyond a Poffibility of recovering, and extinguish'd the Flame of Life like a weak Light put under Water.

Ver. 18. Remember ye not the former things, neither confider the things of old? According to our Tranflation the Prophet feems to upbraid them with Forgetfulnefs, as if he had faid, Is it fo long ago fince thefe Things happen'd that ye have quite forgot them? Or do ye look on them as antient Tales, the Truth of which ye are no way concern'd in? But his meaning is, That in regard of this Deliverance which God defign'd them, the former, tho' great and wonderful, fhould in a manner be forgot, inftead of calling him the God of Ifrael, who brought them out of the Land of Egypt, they fhall call him the God that refcu'd them from Captivity in Babylon.

Ver. 19. Behold, I will do a now thing: now it fhall Spring forth, fhall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the defart.] That is, the Kindness I now will fhew you fhall be altogether fingular and unparadell'd, I will not only rescue you out of Bondage, as I did your Fathers, but make your Paffage homeward plain and eafy, as he explains himself in the following Words, I will make a Way in the Wilderness, that is, a convenient and eafy Paffage thro' the Defarts which lye between Babylon and Judea, and not make you wander about, and be ready to ftarve, as your Fathers were; ye fhall not pine away for want of Water, for Rivers fhall flow in the Defarts. Tell me not out of the Rabbins, says Forerius, that the Prophet here fpeaks of the Return of the Jews from Captivity, for that. is to be forgotten, to be rank'd among the obfolete Stories they were to remember no more; but how could that be reckon'd an old Story which was not to be accomplish'd many Years? Neither is it fo reckon❜d inter vetera beneficia, as he calls them, 'tis the paffing the Red Sea he fo calls, which the Prophet brings in only to illuftrate the Power of the Almighty, and to encourage the Fems to believe they fhould be deliver'd from Babylon by the fame God who deliver'd their Ancestors from Egypt; therefore by making

a Way

a Way in the Wilderness the Prophet certainly means making Chapter the return of the Captives eafy, which is much more natu- XLIII. ral than to fay, Per Gentilium deferta corda & invia viam aperiam ad terram promiffam, non Palestina fed cæli neq, per mare Forerius. Rubrum aut folitudinem Sin duce columnâ nubis & ignis, fed per omnia Damonum obftacula duce Chrifto; this fome may call interpreting Scripture, but I think it deferves another Name.

Ver. 20. The beaft of the field fhall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the defert, to give drink to my people, my chofen.] The very Beasts, the wild Inhabitants of the Wilderness, fhall fare the better for the Paffage of my People through their defolate Abodes, being cheer'd with the Refreshment they shall receive from the Water, wherewith I will fupply them.

Ver. 21. This people have I formed for my felf, they shall fhew forth my praife.] This I will do, becaufe I form'd the Jews into a Nation, on purpofe to make them the objects of my Favour, and they fhall fhew forth my praise, that is, magnifie and extol the God of Ifrael, when they find themselves flourish again in their own Land.

Ver. 22, 23, 24. But thou haft not called upon me, O Facob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Ifrael. Thou hast not brought me the small cattel of thy burnt-offerings, neither haft thou honoured me with thy facrifice. I have not caused thee to ferve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incenfe. Thou haft bought me no fweet cane with mony, neither haft thou filled me with the fat of thy facrifices: but thou hast made me to ferve with thy fins, thou haft wearied me with thine iniquities.] Thefe Verfes are a little obfcure in our Tranflation, but may be thus made plain, and connected with what goes before; And I would not have fuffered them to have been carry'd into Captivity, had they been obedient to my Laws : but thou didst not call upon me, O Jacob; All thy Devotion was directed to other Gods; thou waft weary of my Service, O boufe of Ifrael, Thou didst not bring me the small cattel of thy burnt-offering, neither didft thou honour me with thy facrifices, but gaveft that Honour which was due to me, to Gods of thy own making: I for a long time had not put Thee to the expence of coftly Offerings, nor to the trouble

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