maketh all the stones of the altar as broken chalkstones, the images of Ashera and the Sun-images shall not stand up.

11

For the fenced city [Babylon] shall be desolate, an 10 habitation forsaken, and left like the desert; there shall the calf feed, and there shall it lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When its boughs are withered, they are broken off; the women come and set them on fire. For this is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah 12 will gather his fruit from the channel of the River [Euphrates], unto the valley of Lower Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that he shall blow 13 with a great trumpet, and the wanderers in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come and shall worship Jehovah on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

IV.

In that day [B.C. 538] shall the Branch of Jehovah 2

• The stones of the altar.] The altar had in some way been misused, and is to be repaired. The improper stones are to be removed.

10 The fenced city.] Babylon is so called in chap.

XXV.

2.

12 Will gather his fruit.] The dispersed Jews and Israelites.

No. 25. [Chap. iv. 2-end.]

JUDEA WILL BE PROSPEROUS UNDER ZERUBBABEL.

2 The Branch of Jehovah.] This became a name for Zerubbabel, as in Zech. vi. 12. He was the grandson of king Jehoiachin (1 Chron. iii. 19). He was appointed viceroy of Judea by Cyrus king of Persia, and allowed to lead back the captives home, or at least such as were willing to follow him. While living in captivity he had been obliged to accept the foreign

be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of 3 Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that was left in Zion, and he that remained in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have cleansed the bloodshed of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of 5 burning. Then Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her convocations, a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for the Glory shall be a covering upon 6 all. And it shall be a Tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a -covert from storm and from rain.

XI.

1

And a rod shall come forth from the stem of Jesse, And an off-shoot [Zerubbabel] shall grow out of his

roots;

2 And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest on him;

name of Sheshbazzar (see Ezra i. 8), as it was customary with the Babylonians to put a new name on their captive slaves. See Dan. i. 7. Thus this heir to the throne of David, on his return to Judea, not as king, but as Pasha or Tirshatha, had neither a name nor a title that the Jews could use with satisfaction; and this may explain why, in the writings of this time, he is mentioned so indistinctly.

No. 26. [Chap. xi. xii.]

JUDEA WILL BE PROSPEROUS UNDER ZERUBBABEL. 1 A rod from the stem of Jesse.] Zerubbabel. An offshoot.] This word Nazar may also be translated, separated as a Nazarite. This is the passage quoted in Matt. ii. 23, where we read, "He will be called a Nazarite," which again is understood to mean a Nazarene or native of Nazareth.

2 The spirit of Jehovah.] This is enlarged to mean

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.
And he will take delight in the fear of Jehovah ;
And he will not judge after the sight of his eyes,
Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
But with righteousness will he judge the poor,
And reprove with equity for the lowly of the earth.
And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
Then the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

And the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling to

gether;

And a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed,

Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Then the sucking child shall play on the asp's hole,
And the weaned child put his hand on the viper's den.

six spiritual gifts. To these the Greek of the LXX adds a seventh, namely the Spirit of the fear of God; and thus makes up the mystical number of the Seven Spirits which are before the throne of God in Rev. iv. 5. The LXX endeavours to draw a hidden spiritual meaning out of very simple words.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.] In this highly figurative manner the poet describes the happiness which is to be expected on the release of Judea from the Babylonians. It was perhaps at this time, at the close of the Captivity, that Hebrew poetry was at its highest excellence. Together with the poetry which we have lately met with, we can mention Psalms xlii., xliii., lxxx., cii., cvi., and cxxxvii. as justifying this remark. The reign of Ahaz was the time when Hebrew oratory was at its height. Oratory was hardly to be looked for after the nation's loss of liberty.

3

5

6

7

8

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun

11

tain;

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, As the waters cover the sea.

10 And in that day [B.C. 538] there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the peoples; to him shall the Nations seek. And his resting place shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again a second time to redeem the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Lower Egypt, and from Pathros [or Upper Egypt], and from Ethiopia, and from Elam [or Western Persia], and from Shinar [or Babylonia], and from Hamath [or Syria], and from the 12 islands of the sea. And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the 13 four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly against the borders of the Philistines towards the west; at the same time they shall plunder the Children of the East. Edom and Moab shall stretch forth their hands; and the Children 15 of Ammon shall obey them. And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue [or Bay] of the Egyptian sea; and

14

10 A root of Jesse.] Zerubbabel, as in verse 1.
11 Pathros.] Upper Egypt.

Shinar.] Babylonia, as in Gen. xi. 2.

13 The envy of Ephraim shall depart.] Judah are henceforth to be friendly.

Israel and

14 Against the borders of the Philistines.] Hence the latter half of this chapter, with its spirit of revenge, though of the same age as the poetry, can hardly be by the same writer. He proposes to attack the Jews' neighbours on every side except on the north. On that side all encroachment was stopped by the Persians holding Damascus.

15 The tongue of the Egyptian Sea.] The Bitter Lake,

with his mighty wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people who shall be left from Assyria, like as it was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Lower Egypt.

And in that day thou shalt say,

'Jehovah, I praise thee, though thou wast angry with

me;

'May thine anger turn away, and do thou comfort me. 'Lo, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; For Jah-Jehovah is my strength and my song; 'He also is become my salvation.'

16

1

2

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the 3 wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, 'Praise ye Jehovah, call upon his name, 'Declare his doings among the peoples, 'Make mention that his name is exalted.

'Sing to Jehovah; for he hath done excellent things; 'Let this be known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion;

For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.'

4

6

II.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concern- 1

a salt-water swamp at the northern end of the Gulf of Suez. It had at one time been joined to the sea, and formed the Bay of Hieropolis the Pi-ha-hiroth, of Exod. xiv. 2. It was through the shallow ford between the two, that the Israelites under Moses are supposed to have passed. It was afterwards cut off from the sea, as here described, by the encroaching sands of the desert. The two bodies of water are now (1876), again joined by the Suez canal.

XIII. 2 Jah-Jehovah is my strength.] We had the same unusual word in chap. xxvi. 4, and very probably by the same author.

No. 27. [Chap. ii. 1-4.]

These few words are copied from Micah iv. 1, and are very improperly given to Isaiah.