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VII.

Kingdom; but the Hebrew Idiom, which we render take Chapter heed and be quiet, fignifies no more than if he had faid, See that thou be not disturb'd in thy Thought, nor look out for Foreign Affiftance; as probably at that very inftant he was contriving by what Methods to engage fome neighbouring Monarch to lend him Affiftance, or make a Diverfion for him: He calls the Confederate Kings, by way of Contempt, Smoaking Firebrands; each of them fingle had been too ftrong for him, and therefore his fancy reprefented their united Forces like a fierce raging Fire, whofe Violence he could not be able to refift: But the Prophet tells him they fhould not be able to do him any confiderable damage, like the ends of two Smoaking Firebrands, they fhould foon expire, or be eafily put out.

Ver. 5. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the fon of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, faying,] To leffen them in the Opinion of Ahaz, and make him entertain meaner Thoughts of them, he will not vouchfafe to mention. their Names; the Syrian, the Ifraelite, and the Son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, but it shall be to no purpose.

Ver. 6. Let us go up against Fudah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and fet a king in the midft of it; even the fox of Tabeal.] The Original fignifies to cut or rend in pieces; Let us rend the Kingdom from Abaz, and divide it among our felves; tho' others, wi our Tranflators, think he means making a Breach in the Walls of Jerufalem, and fo taking it by Storm, 'till when they could not pretend to fet a King in the midst of the Land.

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Ver. 7, 8. Thus faith the Lord God, It fhall not stand, neither fhall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damafcus, and the head of Damafcus is Rezin, and within threescore and five years fhall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.] The common Interpretation of these words is thus, God has decreed, and it shall never come to pass that the Confederate Kings shall take Jerufalem; For Damafcus is the Head or Metropolis of Syria, where Rezin Reigns; and Samaria the Head or chief City where Pekah Reigns; these are the Bounds I have fix'd to thefe Kingdoms, which they shall never pass. The Ifraelites efpecially fhall be fo far from triumph

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Chapter triumphing over their Brethren of Judah, that in a short Vil. time their Kingdom fhall be utterly fubverted, and they carry'd into Captivity. Gataker thinks the words may be thus tranflated, For though Damafcus be the Head of Syria, and Rezin the Head of Damafcus; yet within threefcore and five Years fhall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a People, and Samaria with her Head, Remaliah's Son, shall be broken; as if he had faid, Although the Houfe of Ifrael carry it self so high, relying on their Confederacy with Rezin, who was King of Damafcus, and by reafon thereof hath the greateft part of that Country at command; yet that shall not hinder, but within the time here defign'd, the state of Ifrael fhall be diffolv'd, and the King of Ifrael kill'd in a much shorter time. Sanctius prefers the ingenious Conjecture of St. Cyril, who thinks Definet effe populus vel peribit, fhould by a Zeugma be repeated, Definet aut deficiet Damafcus caput Syria: deficiet princeps & caput Damafci Rezin, deficiet Samaria caput Ephraim, deficiet Samaria caput filius Romelia: Whether this will be allow'd or no, there feems fome diforder in the words, which would more naturally follow one another, if the beginning of the 9th Verfe were interpos'd after thefe words in the 8th, And the Head of Damafcus is Rezin. As to the threefcore and five Years, the Term prefcrib'd to the ruin of the Kingdom of Ifrael, the Jews and (a) other Interpreters, unwilling to allow the leaft flip in the Tranfcribers of the Holy Scripture, begin to reckon the Years of this Prophecy. from the time that Amos foretold the fame thing; which Calculation is grounded on this Suppofition, That Amos prophecy'd 4to Uzzie; but I think it more ingenious to own, with two learned Critics (b), a poffibility of a mistake in the Writer, than to make the Writings themselves unintelligible or ridiculous; for, according to this way of interpreting, the Prophet must be fuppos'd to fay within threescore and five Years, which began long fince, and are now almost expir'd, Ephraim fhall be no more a People, which is making the Prophet fpeak very abfurdly But if we read a Singular for a Plural, Shifh inftead of Shifhim, the Computation will be eafy; for from this time, to the carrying away the Ten Tribes into Captivity by Salmanazar, are Six and Five, that is, Ele

(4) Hayme, Thomas, Sanains.

(b) Grotius, Capel.

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ven Years, Two of the Reign of Phacea, and Nine of Chapter Hofea. (a) Others reckon that the Kingdom of Ifrael vii. was not intirely fubverted by Salmanazar, but by Efarbaddon, in the 24th of Manaffes, to which time, from (4) Funcius in the 3d of Ahaz, are 65 Years. But the King of Affyria ker, Zach. Urcarry'd away Ifrael, (b fays the Sacred Hiftory) that is, fin.

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all Ifrael; or if he left a few poor Wretches behind (b) 2 Kings him, we never meet with the leaft footsteps of Govern- 18.11. ment among them after the Ninth of Hofea.

Ver. 9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliab's fon: if ye will not believe, furely ye fhall not be established.] Several are the Tranflations and Interpretations of the laft words of this Verfe, but ours is agreeable to the Original and Context: What I Say ye may fafely rely on; but if ye will not believe, if ye dare not put Confidence in the Word of God, ye shall never enjoy any ftable Happiness, your Peace fhall be often interrupted by Hoftile Incurfions, and ye your felves carry'd into Captivity, as well as your Brethren of Ifrael. (c) Others think it may (c) Diodat be render'd, Will ye not believe unless ye are confirmed? The Amama.PfeifProphet feeing Ahaz perfift in his Diffidence and Fear, asks him, whether he and his Council would not believe unless they were convinced by a Miracle? which therefore, in the next words, he gives him leave to ask without any Danger of offending God.

Ver. 10, 11. Moreover, the Lord fpake again unto Ahaz, faying, Ask thee a fign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.] He bids him ask a Sign to be perform'd either in Heaven or upon Earth, as the moving of the Earth, or that the Sun may ftand ftill, or go back, or withdraw his Light for a while; which the incredulous King refus'd out of a pretended Principle of Confcience, but in reality, because he was refolv'd to provide for his own fafety a fecurer way, as he thought.

Ver. 12, 13. But Ahaz faid, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he faid, Hear ye now, O house of David, Is it a fmall thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God alfo? As if he had faid, To fufpect my Veracity, is an Affront to the Dignity of that great Of fice I am invested in; but perhaps ye may think it below

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Chapter you to confider, whether ye are injurious to Men, fince VII. ye take the liberty to affront God himself to his Face, and refufe to comply with his kind Offer made in condefcention to your Scruples.

Ver. 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a fign, Behold, a virgin fhall conceive, and bear a fon, and shall call his name Immanuel.] I am very fenfible that the whole Current of the Commentators are against me, except Gro tius; yet I cannot perfwade my felf, but that the Prophet in this place is to be understood in a literal Senfe, of a Virgin who was then to conceive and bear a Son, and by calling his Name Immanuel, was to confirm the King and his Council, that God would be with them at that critical Time of Danger; that is, that he would defend them in their Extremity, and deliver them from their Enemies; and that for this reafon: Because I cannot conceive how an Event, which was to happen above feven hundred Years afterward, could be a rational Inducement for them to believe that they fhould be deliver'd from their prefent Danger; any more than at this (a) Writ(a) nice Juncture, when we are threatned with a Gallic InFrench Fleet Valion, it would be an Argument to us not to fear fo were on the powerful an Enemy, if we fhould be affur'd by a Pro

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phet that feven hundred Years hence, God would work fuch a Miracle for us, as far furpafs'd any thing he had, yet done in the World. This is the only reafon I fhall here mention, defigning in another place to vindicate at large the Interpretation I give of this famous Prophecy: In which, to fhew that I am not fingular in my Opinion, I fhall tranfcribe the Words of the great Huetius; Ambigua Verba Ifta funt Ecce Virgo concipiet & pariet. filium & vocabitur nomen ejus Immanuel. Proximus enim fenfus eft, Virgo in manum Viri conveniet ex eorumque conju gia nafcetur filius qui Nomine fuo Immanuel hoc eft Nobif cum Deus opem Dei Judæos profequentem & prafentem oftendet: occultior vero ille eft, Virgo Spiritus fancti Virtute fine Viri confortio filium Pariet qui cum in lucem prodierit tum. vere erit Nobifcum Deus. And at laft the fame learned Man, who cannot be fuppos'd to have any defign to weaken the Arguments for Chriftianity, having fhew'd that the proofs thereof amount to a Demonstration, concludes

Chapter

VII.

cludes this Subject in these remarkable Words, That the fame Child is meant in all Three Chapters, meaning the 7th, 8th and 9th of Ifaiah. Rabbi David Kimki allow it, but in this Particular he differs from us, the Rabbi maintaining Hezekiah to be that Child, we the Son of Isaiah, confider'd as a Type (a) of Chrift, Et affentientem habemus (a) Huetii Eufebium, Bafilium, Hieronymum, Cyrillum, Theodoretum, demonftrat. & Procopium. Evangel. p.

Ver. 15. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refufe the evil, and chufe the good.] He fhall eat the common Aliment of Children in Judea, which is all along in Scripture defcrib'd as a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, that he may know, that is, until he knows, for there could be nothing in that or any other Food conducing to improve the Child's Knowledge; and fo the Chaldee Paraphraft renders Ledangto by Nath la Fethang donec fciat; and fo the Prafix le is conftantly render'd in le Nolam, which fo frequently occurs in Scripture; what particular Number of Years this proverbial Expreffion denotes we cannot determine precifely, and there is no Neceflity we fhould do fo.

Ver. 16. For before the child fhall know to refufe the evil, and chufe the good, the land that thou abborrest shall be forfaken of both her kings.] If the Child in this Verse be the fame with that in the preceding one, as I am confident no unprejudic'd Reader can deny with any Colour of Reason, then it is the fame with that to be born of the Virgin, and if fo, it must fignify a Child born about that Time, because it could be no manner of Comfort to Abaz that his Enemies were to be cut off 700 Years afterward; and: 'tis ridiculous with fome Commentators to fay, That the Meffiah being invok'd or call'd upon before he knew how to: refufe the evil, and chufe the good, fhould destroy them with his Power; but that Expreffion denotes the fort Period of Childrens arriving to the ufe of Reafon, generally comprehending Three or Four Years. Sanctius makes it shorter, fuppofing thereby is meant the Period of Ablactation, which feldom lafts fo long; fo that if this Prophecy was made in the firft of Ahaz, Pekah was kill'd by Hofea Three Years afterward, for he was kill'd, fays the Hiftorian, in the 20th Year of Jotham, 2 Kin 15. 30. who reigning

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