a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

The nation of Israel shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; as a tender plant, whose root is in a dry and barren. soil, when transplanted in a good and rich ground, shoots up, and grows very fast. So will the nation of Israel, when in these days, they will be taken out of the dry ground of their present captivity, and transplanted in the soil of the country of their ancestors, they will grow up, as a tender plant, does in like case. And this will the kings notice, and marvel at: "He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty, that we should desire him." And we cannot doubt, but they must so reason; for let us suppose that the Jews should be gathered together, into their own country, what kind of a nation will they make? in all human probability, the confusion of Bable would be re-enacted; there cannot he in them, as a nation, either form or comeliness; they have not even a common language; they will consist of an hetrogenious mixture of all nations and tongues, French, English, Dutch, German, Russian, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Chinees, and of every language in the world: and as many languages, so many different habits, and peculiarites: so that the kings of the earth. may truly say, “And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Hence, it appears that the speakers will have to see him. The Gentile kings, will in those days, be obliged to be present at Jerusalem, either in person, or by representatives, to give in their adherences to the king Messiah, accepting his dominion over them therefore, the language, "When we shall see him," we shall find there is no beauty, that we should heretofore, have desired him.

Ver. 3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him: he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

The original is altogether in the past tense. He, Israel, was despised and rejected of men, not of God. He was a man of sorrow, and acquainted, or conversant, with, sickness. And this is the manner of the prophet, he speaks of the nation, as of one man; as, "Fear thou not my servant Jacob." "And now hearken my servant Jacob:" and so here, "Behold my servant, [Jacob] shall be prosperous." How should we have had any delight in Israel, when he was the most despised and rejected among all mankind. Thus will the rulers of the Gentiles plead, in extenuation of their having always neglected, and suffered them to be abused. Every indignation imaginable, was cast on him; he was despised, as one whom conscience, or an unclean dis

ease, obliges to hide his face; therefore, was he despised from us: had the Jews came forward boldly, and openly, as men, when imposed upon, having truth on their side, ought to do, we would have seen that justice should have been done them; but since it appeared to us, by their not defending their cause, that they hid their faces, and acknowledged their guilt, of all the crimes and wickedness, falsely laid to their charge; Therefore, he was despised by us, and therefore, we esteemed them not.

Ver. 4. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."

But, they will continue and say, we now discover our mistake; it was not guilt in them, that caused their silence; but rather in meekness, and as a punishment from God, has he willingly accepted all the injuries, and indignities, that we heaped upon him, and put up with all the griefs we put him to: nay, they are made to use the verb x which also means forgiven, pardoned. Then they say, Surely the Jews pardoned our grevious persecutions of them; because they considered that our smiting them, was their proper burden. As I have before explained the word Do they suffered in resignation, and instead of our understanding it properly, we accounted him stricken by God, with the leprosy of sin, and afflicted with the horrors of conscious guilt.

Ver. 5. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

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The same speakers continue, saying, He, Israel, was wounded, or slain by our iniquities; when even we either massacred, or persecuted the Jews; we committed iniquity, he was bruised by our sins: we sinned when we bruised him. "For our transgressions," for our sins; the Hebrew is, y from our iniquities, and my of or from our sins, and so yuan ver. 8. from the iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him." The word rendered chastisement, is 1 and means, here, the instruction, exortation, or preaching; the preaching of our peace, our religion, which we inculcated, and thought to be our Messiah, our peace, was against him, was calculated to perpetuate the enmity of our people against the Jews. This ...... ians cannot deny, that the audience usually leave the preacher, with their imaginations, heated to the utmost of the power of the rhetoric of the minister or preacher, against the poor, innocent, unoffending, and meek Jews, for killing the Lord of life, and glory! what superlative folly often has this occasioned massacres! God keep us! and as such, the kings of the earth will say, with truth, the teaching of our peace, considering reli

gion as having been an instrument of state, to keep the unruly spirits of the wicked in peace, has been levelled against Israel. "And with his stripes we are healed." Still we are not punished for this, our error; the Jews forgive, and their patient sufferings have brought us to the knowledge of truth, and caused our being healed.

Ver. 6. "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turnedTM every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

This explains itself; the same speakers continue speaking, and acknowledge their system of religion to have been erroneous. Jer. xvi. 19. "The Gentiles shall come to thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." "And the Lord has laid on him, the iniqui ty of us all." yn has caused, or made to meet, or center. We all sinned in persecuting Israel; and it was God that has caused it to center on him, (on the Jews) that their sufferings might render them worthy of exaltation. Every nation have abused and persecuted them; and although we might differ with each other, in this we were all agreed, to persecute and abuse the Jews; and as such, as a common center, were our sins, or persecutions, directed against him. Hence the propriety of the word yn made to center, or meet.

Ver. 7. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

The Jews were oppressed and afflicted, but we heard no complaint from them, any more than from a lamb which is brought to the slaughter, or as a tender ewe before her shearers, is dumb, or silent : so when Israel was persecuted, massacred, or plundered, they were as contented as sheep; they did not even open their mouths to complain. Ver. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people, was he stricken."

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The word translated, prison, is y NGOTSAR, and only means, prison, as being restraint, which is the real meaning of the word: and the same speakers say: he, Israel, is now taken from the restraint, he heretofore has been under, when in his captivity, and dispersion among, and under us, and from the judgments we put on him, he now has been taken, or redeemed from all persecution, and mulks. "And who can declare his generation." Who among us will have the affrontery, and audicity to say, his ancestors had no hand in persecuting him. Each of them will acknowledge, "for he was cut off from the land of

the living;" by the means of the wickedness, or transgression of my people was he stricken: we are consequently, all guilty, none can declare his own generation innocent; for here again, is the word yʊan MEPASHANG, by the transgression; and not as translated in the Bible; for the transgression, which should have been yw LYPASHANG.

Ver. 9. "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Often, alas, too often, have poor Jews been charged with crimes they were perfectly innocent of, and which they detested and abhorred; and of which, even their accusers, knew they were guiltless, and only charged them, because they thought them rich, wanting to fleece them, giving them the choice to be massacred, turn their religion, or pay mulk: pay they could not being poor: deny their God, and apostatize, even in appearance, they would not: they rather chose martyrdom, dying for the pretended crimes charged against them, and received the burial of malefactors: at the same time, they were supposed rich, and that rather than give up their money, they would loose their lives: some of them indeed, were rich, and they rather died to disappoint their tyrants: so that the really poor, died with the rich in their deaths, and this is what the Gentile kings are made to say. They, the poor Jews, permitted their graves to be made with wicked malefactors, and died together with the rich ones; because they neither committed wrong against the state, nor would they deceive, and with their mouths pretend to apostatize from their God.

Ver. 10. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

The speakers, wishing to reconcile all this to the justice and goodness of God; say, that the Lord pleased that the Jews should be bruised, in order to cleanse them from the sins they had formerly committed, to make them worthy of their present exaltation; and therefore, he chose that they should be put to grief, and that if they would accept, willingly, of placing themselves inthe room of a sacrifice, to suffer martyrdom, rather than deny their religion, in that case, they should see their seed, their offsprings, enjoying the exaltation, in favor of his God: he should lengthen his days at the resurrection; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands: as it is written, "As the days of a tree, are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands; for they are the seed blessed of the Lord, and their offsprings with them." Isa. 65.

Thus far are the reasonings of the kings of the Gentiles of the following, God himself, is the speaker.

Ver. 11." He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

He, Israel, shall see the travail of his soul, of the longing desire of his soul. He shall see all things finally eventuate as his soul desireth, "and shall be satisfied:" he shall be satisfied in receiving the reward of all his sufferings, and persecutions. "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." Israel, my righteous servant, shall not blame the Gentiles, for the persecutions they shall have received from their hands; for he knows they have not the knowledge of the truth: therefore, he shall justify them; "for he shall bear their iniquities:" he shall put up with, as well as excuse the persecutions, they, the Gentiles, will have made him, Israel, to suffer. Hence, Jews may perceive their path of duty is, to act with candour towards the Gentiles, who are the instruments in the hand of God, to bring about their exaltation, by the means of the sufferings, and indignities, they make us bear we therefore, take all in good part, being assured that—

Ver. 10. "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

"Therefore:" for this reason, shall Israel have his portion among the many, the powerful monarchies of the world; and he, Israel, shall divide the portion of the spoil, as the strong, after the destruction of the army of Gog, as it is written; "And they shall spoil those who spoiled them," Ezek. xxxix. 10. And Zech. xiv. 14. "And the wealth of all the heathen round about, shall be gathered together--gold and silver, and apparel in great abundance ;" and this will be the reward of Israel; because they accepted martyrdom, and bore patiently, all the evil treatment of the Gentiles, while they were in captivity: and this is the meaning of "Because he poured out his soul unto death," and was accounted among the wicked transgressors, and put up with, (bore) or pardoned the sins of many, (sins against himself,) and was the butt, or central target to the trangressors, to level their wickedness at.