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saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his garments filled the temple. Above it stood the Seraphs [or fiery serpents]. Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain

Assyrians. This, for the moment, seemed a wise step. The Assyrians came at Jotham's bidding as his servants. Psalm xviii., describing Jotham by the last syllable in his name, as the "Upright Man," makes him say,

"Thou deliverest me from the strivings of the people, "And thou makest me the head of nations.

"A people whom I did not know shall serve me.'

Such was the state of Judea when Isaiah began to prophesy and to blame the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the luxurious habits into which this prosperity and wealth had led them. But before the end of Ahaz's reign the country's prosperity was again interrupted by the invasion of the same two enemies, by inroads of Edomites and Philistines, and yet more by the Assyrian army, which, coming in as an ally, was more hurtful than the enemies themselves.

The Lord sitting upon a throne.] Above the cover of the Ark, within the Holy of Holies, while "the train of his garments filled the Temple," that is, the large hall of 1 Kings vi. 3.

2 Above it stood the seraphs.] A seraph is a fiery serpent. Such an image stood in the temple yard in the reign of Ahaz, who had probably placed it there. It was said to have been made by Moses, and was afterwards removed by Hezekiah as idolatrous (2 Kings xviii. 4). But in 1 Kings vi. 23 these images in Solomon's Holy of Holies are called cherubs. The cherubs which Solomon made, and those which Ezekiel afterwards describes, are very different in purpose from those at the gate of the Garden of Eden, in Gen. iii. 24; and this may have led Isaiah to give the new name to the images in the Holy of Holies. The cherubs of the Garden of Eden were like the Cabeiri, or punishing gods of Egypt, if we may judge from their name and their weapon.

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he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to the other, and said,

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Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts;

The whole earth is full of his glory.'

4 And the foundations of the threshold were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the House was filled with 5 smoke. Then said I, 'Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the 'midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.' Then one of the Seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had 7 'taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he made it touch my mouth, and said, 'Lo, this hath touched thy 'lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin for8' given.' Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then said 9 I, 'Here am I; send me.' And he said, ' Go, and tell this people, Ye hear indeed, but understand not; and ye see indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and close up their eyes; 'lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, ' and understand with their heart, and be turned, and be 11 healed.' Then said I, 'Lord, how long?' And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,

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3 With twain did he fly.] The two outstretched wings are alone mentioned in 1 Kings vi. four wings each (Ezek. i. 6).

Ezekiel gives them

4 The house was filled with smoke.] The use of incense, when the priest entered the Temple, naturally led to the smoke as a feature of a vision of Jehovah within the Temple.

5 Mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah.] It was thought that, under ordinary circumstances, no man could see God and live. Compare Gen. xvi. 13; xxxii. 30; Exod. xxiv. 11; and Judges xiii. 22, for this opinion.

11 Until the cities be wasted without an inhabitant.] This points to the close of Sennacherib's invasion, in the middle of Hezekiah's reign, and tells us that this introductory chapter was among the latest of Isaiah's writings.

' and the houses without man, and the land be wasted with desolation, and Jehovah have removed the men far 12 'away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the 'land. But there shall yet be in it a tenth, and it shall 13 ‘return, and shall be for a kindling. As a teil tree, or as an oak, which when they cast their leaves, have an abid'ing stock [the mistletoe] on them; so the holy seed shall 'be its abiding stock.'

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Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah 2 speaketh. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have gone away

backward.

Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there 6 is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh

13 An abiding stock on them.] The few surviving inhabitants of Judea are compared to the mistletoe, the small portion of green and life-like plant which remains on the tree in winter when its own leaves have fallen off.

No. 3. [Chap. i. 2-end, and ii. 5—iii.] Isaiah here appears as a religious reformer. He blames the nation and its rulers for their luxury and injustice to the poor, and for their neglect of the religious duties which the law commands, while they carefully attend to the outward ceremonies. Under Jotham and Ahaz.

2 Hear, O heavens.] These words are again used in Moses's Song (Deut. xxxii. 1). Many of the prophets thus begin in the form of a speech. Their writings were fitted to be read aloud; indeed, the only word in the language for "reading" is to call out.

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sores; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor 7 softened with oil. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by stran8 gers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a cucumber field, as a besieged city. 9 Unless Jehovah of Hosts had left to us a small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

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Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear 11 to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. For what is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith Jehovah.

7 Your land, strangers devour it.] It was attacked in the reign of Ahaz, by Israel and Syria in the north, and by the Edomites in the south (2 Kings xvi.). The chronicler also adds the Philistines as attacking Judea at the same time (2 Chron. xxviii. 18). It was against these enemies that Ahaz invited the help of Tiglath-pilezer, king of Assyria; but the Assyrians only added to his troubles (2 Chron. xxviii. 20). These several invaders of Judea the prophet Joel compares to so many swarms of locusts, of which the last, the Assyrians, were the worst. 10 Ye rulers of Sodom ye people of Gomorrah.] Meaning the rulers in Jerusalem and the men of Judah. With the same figure of speech, Psalm cxx., written after the Captivity, gives yet more foreign names to Jerusalem :

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"Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech [in Circassia], "That I dwell among the tents of Kedar" [in Arabia].

11 What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?] These remarks against the value of the ceremonies ordered by the Levitical Law cannot but have been highly displeasing to the priests of Jerusalem. But at this time Ahaz was governing in a spirit opposed to the priests. The careful enumeration of sacrifices, burnt offerings, rams, fed beasts, bullocks, lambs, hegoats, meal offerings, incense, new-moon days, sabbaths, convocations, appointed feasts, is such that we must

I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or lambs, or he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath 12 required this at your hand, to tread down my courts? Bring no more vain meal offering; incense is an abomina- 13 tion to me; the new moon days and sabbaths, the calling of convocations, I cannot endure; it is iniquity, even the day of restraint [from work]. Your new moon days and 14 your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth 15 your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make you clean; put away the 16 evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, do justice to the fatherless, plead for the widow.

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Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good 19 of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be eaten 20 by the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

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How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full 21 of justice; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of 23 thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards; they do not do justice to the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore the 24 Lord Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, hath said it, Ah, I will ease myself of mine adversaries, and take

believe Isaiah had the early chapters of Leviticus open before him.

16 Put away the evil of your doings.] With the growth of wealth, there had grown up a spirit of injustice to the poor; and though misfortunes had now come upon the nation, the vices of prosperity yet remained.

20 Ye shall be eaten by the sword.] A natural expression in a language which calls the edge of the sword its mouth, meaning its row of teeth.

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