highway; gather out the stones; lift up on high a "standard for the peoples. Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense 12 for work is before him.' And they shall call them, 'The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah ;' and thou -shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.'

LVI.

1 THUS SAITH JEHOVAH, Keep ye justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my 2righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of Adam that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth 3his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the foreigner, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah hath utterly separated me from his 'people;' neither let the eunuch say, 'Behold, I am a dry tree.' For thus saith Jehovah to the eunuchs, Those that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things 5 that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even to them will I give in my House and within my walls an appointed place and a name better than sons and

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number of Jews may have been looked for to return to Judea, under the kind treatment which they received from Artaxerxes Longimanus.

No. 33. [Chap. lvi. 1–7.]

THE SABBATH IS TO BE KEPT.

2 That keepeth the Sabbath.] Nehemiah particularly enforced this duty, which had been very much neglected (Neh. xiii. 15).

3 Neither let the Eunuch say, "I am a dry tree."] This may have been written in favour of Nehemiah, who had been a chamberlain in the Persian palace of Susa (Neh. ii. 6).

5 An appointed place.] This was the court of the Gentiles, at the north end of the Temple hill, and on

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daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner, that join themselves to Jehovah, to serve him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for my House shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples, the Lord & Jehovah hath said it; while gathering in the outcasts of Israel, yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

IN THE YEAR that Tartan came to Ashdod [or Azotus], (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him), and fought

the outside of the Temple proper. See Neh. vi. 10, where Delaiah tempts Nehemiah to enter the House of Jehovah, but he refuses.

The sons of the foreigner.] Darius's ambassadors had pleased the Jews by worshipping in the Temple (Zech. vii. 2). Other Persians may have done the same, as they were not idolators.

8 While gathering in the outcasts of Israel.] Thus it was still a subject of regret that so few of the descendants of those families who had fled from the country at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion had since returned.

No. 34. [Chap. xx.]

ON THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES.

1 Tartan came to Ashdod.] In 2 Kings xviii. 17 Tartan is Sennacherib's general, and as such was sent against Jerusalem. He may have taken Ashdod, or Azotus, a Philistine city, at an earlier part of Sennacherib's invasion of Judea.

Sargon, king of Assyria.]

This may be a name for

XX.

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2 against Ashdod, and took it; at the same time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, 'Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot.' And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And Jehovah said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder unto Egypt and unto Ethiopia; so long shall the king of Assyria [Antiochus Epiphanes] lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of 5 Egypt. And [Israel] shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this coast shall say in that day, [B.C. 168,] Behold, such is our expectation, when we flee there for help to be delivered from the king of 'Assyria; and how shall we ourselves escape ?'

Sennacherib, or Sargon may have been his father and colleague on the throne.

3 Naked and barefoot three years.] The cruel occupation of Judea by Sennacherib lasted for three years (2 Kings xix. 29). During this time Isaiah may be said to have suffered with the rest of the nation.

4 So long shall the king of Assyria.] Antiochus Epiphanes held Egypt for three years in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor. In Num. xxiv. 22 and 24, the Greco-Syrian monarchy under Antiochus Epiphanes is called Assyria; and the Persian kings, when they held the same country, were called kings of Assyria (Ezra vi. 22).

5 Ashamed of Ethiopia.] They were often looking to Egypt for help against their eastern enemies, and were usually disappointed. See Lam. iv. 17.

The inhabitant of this coast.] The Philistine coast. The people there, as being near to Egypt, thought most of it as a place of refuge. The writer may have dwelt at Ashdod.

In that day.] B.C. 168, when Antiochus was master of Egypt.

[LXIII. 'WHO IS THIS that cometh from Edom, with dyed 1 garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, bearing himself proudly in the greatness of 'his strength?'

It is I, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 'Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy 'garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat?'

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I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the 3 peoples there was no man with me; and I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my wrath; and their juice shall spurt out upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed ones is come. And I looked, and there was none to 5 help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold; therefore mine own arm wrought salvation for me; and my wrath, it upheld me. And I will tread down 6 the peoples in mine anger, and make them drunk

No. 35. [Chap. lxiii. 1-6.]

ON THE SLAUGHTER OF THE EDOMITES.

1 Who is this that cometh from Edom?] We have no date given to this slaughter of Edomites. It might have been caused by the Persian armies when passing through to the invasion of Egypt; but it suits better with the cruel conduct of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, who invaded Egypt in B.C. 170. Moreover, in Num. xxiv. 21, 22, we have mention of a conquest of Edom by a king of Assyria, probably this Antiochus. In Song of Solomon viii. 5-"Who is this that cometh up from the desert ?"—we have what may, perhaps, be the original of these opening words. That poem may be given to the time when Antiochus was endeavouring to introduce Greek sports into Jerusalem.

3 Of the peoples there was no man with me.] The Jews took no part in this attack upon Edom.

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I will tread down the peoples.] In verse 3 the peoples were the Jews, and they may be the same in

in my wrath, and I will pour down their juice to the earth.

LXIII.

7 I WILL MENTION THE LOVING KINDNESSES of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the 8 multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, 'Surely 'they are my people, children that will not lie;' so he 9 was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he lifted them up, and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and he fought against

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them.

But let him remember the days of old, the Moses [or Raiser up] of his people. Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? 12 Where is He that put his holy spirit within him? that led them by the right hand of Moses, with his glorious arm dividing the water before them, to make for him13 self an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, as a horse in the desert, so that they should not

this verse. Jews and their neighbours were alike illtreated by Antiochus Epiphanes.

No. 36. [Chap. lxiii. 7-lxvi.]

IN THE REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, THE SANCTUARY IS TRODDEN DOWN, A REVOLT IS HOPED FOR.

11 The Moses of his people.] Or the Raiser up of his people. The word is here used in both senses. It seems more probable that the great law-giver and leader received his name from having raised up the people, than from having been himself raised up out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter as said in Exod. ii. 10. 13 As a horse in the desert.] The unshod horses had to be led carefully over the stony ground.