Isaiah 14:12

12.How art thou fallen from heaven! Isaiah proceeds with the discourse which he had formerly begun as personating the dead, and concludes that the tyrant differs in no respect from other men, though his object was to lead men to believe that he was some god. He employs an elegant metaphor, by comparing him to Lucifer, and calls him the Son of the Dawn; (220) and that on account of his splendor and brightness with which he shone above others. The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need not wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise. Yet it was an instance of very gross ignorance, to imagine that Lucifer was the king of devils, and that the Prophet gave him this name. But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables.

Casting the lot upon the nations, or weakening the nations. (221) Translators have mistaken the meaning of this clause, by rendering the participle הולש (holesh) passively, Thou art become weak, for its signification is active. But as the verb from which it is derived signifies to cast a lot, and as the preposition על, (gnal,) upon, is here added, it is best to take it in this meaning, that, as the ruler and disposer of all countries, he directed them by lot, or held them as his own possessions. And yet I do not reject the other meaning, that he weakened the nations

FT212 Which didst weaken the nations. — Eng. Ver.

FT213 For the origin and application of this “proverb,” see Com. on the Gospel according to John, vol. 1 p. 223, note 1 : — Ed

FT214 Upon the mountain of the congregation. — Eng. Ver.

FT215 “In the outer court, that is, in the part which was chosen for the north side; as it is said, (Leviticus 1:11,) on the side of the altar northward. ” — Jarchi

FT216 “I will ascend above the heights of the thick cloud. My lofty rank does not permit me to dwell with men. I will make for me a small cloud in the air, and will dwell in it.” — Jarchi

FT217 “It is curious that the Welsh language still preserves this meaning of the word beth, a last home; for it is the appropriate term in that language for a grave. ” — Stock

FT218 עולם (gnolam) is derived from עלם, (gnalam,) to hide, and is defined by the lexicographers to mean “an age, a time hidden from men, either unlimited and eternal or limited.” Our author treats it as capable of meaning either time past or time to come. — Ed

FT219 For the bittern. — Eng. Ver. ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους, so that hedgehogs shall dwell in it. — Sept

FT220 And I will make it an iheritance for the porcupine. — Lowth. “The porcupine, which grows to a great size in the islands at the mouth of the Euphrates, as Strabo remarks, b. 16.” — Rosenmuller

FT221 The Hebrew word here used by Isaiah is פלשת (Phelesheth,) from which was derived the word Philistia, afterwards changed to Palestina. An early genealogy informs us that the Philistim, or Philistines, were descendants of Mizraim, a son of Ham. (Genesis 10:14.) — Ed

FT222 Palestina. — Eng. Ver.

FT223 See page 148

FT224 And none shall be alone (or, he shall not be alone) in his appointed times, (or, assemblies.) — Eng. Ver.

FT225 “Jonathan interprets it thus: There will be no one to cause delay in his time in the military forces whom God will assemble to come against you; there will be no one to retard their progress, that he may be solitary, that he may come alone; but all will come at once with prodigious violence.” — Jarchi

FT226 Shall trust in it, (or, betake themselves unto it.) — Eng. Ver.