CHAPTER V _This chapter begins with representing, in a beautiful parable,_ _the tender care of God for his people, and their unworthy_ _returns for his goodness_, 1-7. _The parable or allegory is then dropped; and the prophet, in_ _plain terms, reproves and threatens them for their wickedness;_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:2. _AND GATHERED OUT THE STONES_ - "And he cleared it from the stones"] This was agreeable to the husbandry: "Saxa, summa parte terrae, et vites et arbores laeduct; ima parte refrigerant;" _Columell_. de arb. iii. "Saxosum facile est expedire lectione lapidum;" _Id_. ii. 2. "Lapides,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:3. _INHABITANTS_] ישבי _yoshebey_, in the plural number; _three_ MSS., (_two_ ancient,) and so likewise the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:6. _THERE SHALL COME UP BRIERS AND THORNS _- "The thorn shall spring up in it"] _One_ MS. has בשמיר _beshamir_. The true reading seems to be בו שמור _bo shamir_, which is confirmed by the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Vulgate_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:7. _AND HE LOOKED FOR JUDGMENT_] The _paronomasia_, or play on the words, in this place, is very remarkable; _mishpat, mishpach,_ _tsedakah, tseakah_. There are many examples of it in the other prophets, but Isaiah seems peculiarly fond of it. See Isaiah 13:6; Isaiah 24:17; Isaiah 32... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:8. _WO UNTO THEM THAT - LAY FIELD TO FIELD _- "You who lay field unto field" ] Read תקריבו _takribu_, in the second person; to answer to the verb following. So _Vulgate_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:9. _IN MINE EARS._ - "To mine ear"] The sentence in the Hebrew text seems to be imperfect in this place; as likewise in Isaiah 22:14, where the very same sense seems to be required as here. See the note there; and compare 1 Samuel 9:15. In this place the _Septuagint_ supply the word η... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:11. _WO UNTO THEM THAT RISE UP EARLY_] There is a likeness between this and the following passage of the prophet Amos, Amos 6:3, who probably wrote before Isaiah. If the latter be the copier, he seems hardly to have equalled the elegance of the original: - "Ye that put far away the e... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:13. _AND THEIR HONOURABLE MEN_ - "And the nobles"] These verses have likewise a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking shall perish with hunger and thirst; and Hades shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The imag... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:17. _THE LAMBS_ - "And the kids"] גרים _gerim_, "strangers." The _Septuagint_ read, more agreeably to the design of the prophet, כרים _carim_, αρνες, "the lambs." גדים _gedayim_, "the kids," Dr. _Durell_; nearer to the present reading: and so Archbishop _Secker_. The meaning is, their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:18. _WITH A CART-ROPE_ - "As a long cable"] The _Septuagint,_ _Aquila, Sym_., and _Theod_., for בחבלי _bechabley_, read כחבלי _kechahley_, ως σχοινιω, or σχοινιοις; and the _Septuagint_, instead of שוא _shau_, read some other word signifying _long_; ως σχοινιωμακρω; and so likewise t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:19. _LET THE COUNSEL OF THE HOLY ONE_] _Tryphiodorus_ has an expression something like this: - ______ επει Διος ηλυθε βουλη TRYPH. _Il Excid_. 239. Because the counsel of Jupiter was come. "This expression, ηλυθε βουλη, is, I believe, something uncommon; but it is exactly parallele... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:22. _MIGHTY TO DRINK WINE_] "They show not," says _Kimchi_, "their strength in combating their enemies, but in drunkenness and debauchery.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:23. _THE RIGHTEOUS_] צדיק _tsaddik_, singular, _Sept._ _Vulg_., and two editions.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:24. _THE FLAME_ - "The tongue of fire"] "The flame, because it is in the shape of a tongue; and so it is called metaphorically." _Sal. ben Melec_. The metaphor is so exceedingly obvious, as well as beautiful, that one may wonder that it has not been more frequently used. Virgil very e... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:25. _THE HILLS DID TREMBLE _- "And the mountains trembled"] Probably referring to the great earthquakes in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, in or not long before the time of the prophet himself, recorded as a remarkable era in the title of the prophecies of Amos., Amos 1:1, and by Ze... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:26. _HE WILL - HISS_ - "He will hist"] "The metaphor is taken from the practice of those that keep bees, who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, συρισμασι, by a hiss or a whistle." - _Cyril_, on this place; and to the same purpose _Theodoret_, ib. I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:27. _NONE - AMONG THEM_] _Kimchi_ has well illustrated this continued exaggeration or hyperbole, as he rightly calls it, to the following effect: "Through the greatness of their courage they shall not be fatigued with their march; nor shall they stumble though they march with the utmo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:28. _THEIR HORSES' HOOFS SHALL BE COUNTED LIKE FLINT_ - "The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant"] The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 5:30. _IF ONE LOOK UNTO THE LAND, C._ - "And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the earth"] ונבט לארץ _venibbat_ _laarets_. Και εμβλεψονται εις την γην. So the _Septuagint_, according to the Vatican and Alexandrian copies but the Complutensian and Aldine editions have i... [ Continue Reading ]