To the foregoing objections, I take the liberty to add: That in ver. 4. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.' The word translated, and carried, is in the Hebrew, had SABALAM, plural, and its correct literal translation is, Is THEIR load, or burthen: from which it is evident, that the person spoken of, and reverted to, so often in the text, must be such, to whom the singular and plural, will with equal propriety, and grammatical precision apply; and if this agrees with the context, no one single individual can be intended. We will now proceed to give the Jews' explanation of the prophecy. To have a correct understanding of any one vision of the prophecies, it would be necessary to have a thorough knowledge of all vision: at all events it is necessary to preserve the context, to take the whole subject of the vision, if possible, into view. When we are to judge of the meaning of any part of it: the whole has a relation which cannot be broken in upon with safety. This being the case, we must, in order to have a right understanding of the vision, or that part of it now under consideration, consider that part of the prophecy or vision, which will give us, as near as possible, the nearest view, of the intention of the whole. In order to which, I shall choose to begin the first verse of the 52d chapter: although, this is not, as I take it, the beginning of the vision; for itself has relation to what went before but because I presume, by beginning there, we shall be enabled to bring into view the other parts of the vision, necessary to the examination, consideration, and elucidation of the matter in hand. "Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth, there shall no more come in unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." "Awake, awake."-The Prophet calls upon the city of Zion and Jerusalem, to awake, and put on her strength and beautiful garments; to clothe herself with her children, who will, as it were, be born to her in a day. Zion is now a desolation, she is full of the fury of the Lord, she sits solitary, and as it were lethargic: she is called on to awake, for the time has now come for her to be clothed with glandness. The city of Jerusalem, the dwelling place of the Jews, who are her legitimate children, is now in possession of her enemies; she is a captive, removing to and fro. Now the Mahomedans have the possession, then the ......ians, and at present, she is, as were, in the common possession of both Mahomedans and .....ians; and we must now suppose, that both parties of her enemies are driven out of her, and her own legitimate children, are gathered from the four quarters of the world to re-reside in her: she is therefore, called on, by the Prophet to awake from her lethargy, and clothe herself with her children, her beautiful garments. And as a more particular reason, the Prophet says, "For from henceforth, shall no more come into thee, the uncircumcised, and the unclean." "Henceforth," after this, "the uncircumcised," are the ......ians, who pretend they are circumcised in heart, but are not neither in heart, nor in flesh, they are uncircumcised. "The unclean," are the Mahomedans, who use continual ablutions pretending they are clean, but are really unclean: neither of these will any more, be suffered to enter into Zion or Jerusalem. In consequence, this prophecy is not yet fulfilled, the time has not yet come, and will not come till after the invasion of Gog, when God shall have plead with the enemies of Zion and Jerusalem, by fire and sword; when they who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves continually, together with those who eat swines flesh, the abomination, and the mouse, are consumed together, in their warfare against Jerusalem: then no stranger will pass through her any more; then the uncircumcised, and the unclean, will not enter into Jerusalem; then will the Jews be gathered together into Jerusalem, and Judea, in peace and quiet; then will Messiah come; then will the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, destroy the image, by smiting the feet made of iron and miry clay; then will the God of heaven, set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, only to Israel, who are the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and all dominions shall serve and obey him. But as to the kingdom of Gog, the Judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. The seat of the kingdom of the stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, will be Jerusalem and Zion: and therefore Ver. 2. "Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Jerusalem lays now in the dust; she will by and by, arise, shake herself, and sit down : she is now at the command of those who say to her, "Bow down, that we may pass over;" and she lays her body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over: in consequence, she is in the dust, but she will arise and shake herself, and sit down. "Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." The captive daughter of Zion is the Jewish nation, who is called on, to throw off the bands from off her neck: as Daniel hath it, "They shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil, many days;" or as Jeremiah hath it, "And will burst thy bonds ;” when the bonds are burst, they will be easily loosed Ver. 3. "For thus saith the Lord, ye have been sold for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." By becoming the allies of the Romans, the Jews sold themselves for nought; they got no help of them, but were treated as a conquered country: thus, they sold themselves for nought, and they will be redeemed without money. Ver. 4. "For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt, to sojourn there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause." No one will dispute but that the Hebrews, were the people who went down to sojourn in Egypt. "And the Assyrian oppressed them without cause." Who was this Assyrian? Confessedly, Nebuchadnezzar is here intended. And who did he oppress? None but the Hebrews, the Jews, are here intended. Ver. 5. "Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord and my name continually every day is blasphemed." The Romans took away the Jews from their country for nought. "And my name continually every day is blasphemed." By this very power who took away the Jews from their country, is the name of God blasphemed, by a false and idolatrous joining the Almighty God, in fellowship with a strange god. Ver. 6. "Therefore my people [the Jews] shall know my name : therefore, they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak, behold it is me." In that day, that is, in the day of Jacob's trouble, the present day; we mark the promise, and render thanks to thee for all thy tender mercies towards us; and above all for this, that we know thy name; this is all our hope and solace, in this doleful pit of captivity; that thou art he, thou art true, and thy promises and sayings sure. Ver. 7. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." The translators of the Bible have here placed a "" in order to signify that a new subject is begun; this is done to mislead in the original there is no such thing, and in fact, the subject is continued, and continues to the end of the 53d chapter, to wit: the salvation of Israel, (the Jews,) and their prosperity after the coming of the Messiah: and the good tidings here spoken of, has relation to what the prophet has, in this vision, been treating of, the gathering together of the Jews from all parts of the world, to Judea, Jerusalem, &c. the subordination of the Gentiles, and in a word, the bringing again of Zion, as the very next verse has it. Ver. 8. " Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." : Thy watchmen, thy prophets, eye to eye, every one of them, very plainly at present we do not see our signs, but when the Lord shall bring again the captivity of Zion, we shall be as dreamers; then will our mouths be full of laughter, and our tongues of song; we now sow in tears, but then we shall bring in the sheaves with gladness and song; also, as Joel witnesseth, "And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons, and your daughters shall prophecy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." And this is to happen, as saith Joel, ch. iii, "When I shall bring again, the captivity of Judah, and Jerusalem.” These are the watchmen here spoken of, whose feet on the mountain will be beautiful, their tidings will be good, they will report the acceptable year of the Lord; "Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." And Isaiah sings the same burthen here. Ver. 9.Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord hath comforted his people, [the Jews] he hath redeemed Jerusalem," [their city.] : * [To be coucluded in our next.] 130 Subscribers in arrears, to "The Jew," are respectfully requested to forward the amount of their subscription. THE JEW is published monthly, and delivered to subscribers in New-York, at their dwellings, and to distant subscribers, at the Post-Office in New-York, or to any other conveyance ordered, for one dollar and fifty cents, per annum, payable semi-annually in advance. THE JEW will be conducted with candour, temper, and moderation; the language to be always such as should not offend. Derision on subjects held sacred will never be admitted. BEING A DEFENCE OF JUDAISM AGAINST ALL ADVERSARIES, AND PARTICULARLY AGAINST THE INSIDIOUS ATTACKS OF ISRAEL'S ADVOCATE. VOL. II. 1st month, NISAN, MARCH, 5585. NO. 12. The 53d chap. of Isaiah.-(Concluded from our last.) Ver. 10. "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm," and how? "mine arms shall judge the people." "The Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Thus will he make bare his holy arm, according to Isaiah. According to Ezekiel, "And I will plead against him, with pestilence and with blood, and rain upon him and upon his bands, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone." Thus will he make bare his holy arm. Daniel says, "The beast was slain, and his body given to the burning flames." Again, "He shall be broken without hands ;" not by the hands of men, but by the arm of God. So complete will be his destruction, there will be no withstanding the bare holy arm. Zephaniah, "For my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured, with the fire of my Jealousy." Thus we find, God is determined, to reveal his holy arm, in the eyes of all nations. Joel, "For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring again, the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." So that according to Joel, all nations will be present when the holy arm is made bare; and this will be, "In those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. The Jews and their city. Not that it is to be supposed, |