CHAPTER VIII _Prediction respecting the conquest of Syria and Israel by the_ _Assyrians_, 1-4. _Israel, for rejecting the_ gentle stream _of Shiloah, near_ _Jerusalem, is threatened to be overflowed by the_ great river _of_ _Assyria, manifestly alluding by this strong figure to the_ _conquests... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:4. _FOR BEFORE THE CHILD_] For _my father and my mother_, one MS. and the _Vulgate_ have _his father and his mother_. The prophecy was accordingly accomplished within three years; when Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, went up against Damascus and took it, and carried the people of it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:6. _FORASMUCH AS THIS PEOPLE REFUSETH_ - "Because this people have rejected"] The gentle waters of Shiloah, a small fountain and brook just without Jerusalem, which supplied a pool within the city for the use of the inhabitants, is an apt emblem of the state of the kingdom and house... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:8. _HE SHALL REACH_ EVEN _TO THE NECK_] He compares Jerusalem, says _Kimchi_, to the head of the human body. As when the waters come up to a man's neck, he is very near drowning, (for a little increase of them would go over his head,) so the king of Assyria coming up to Jerusalem was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:9. _ASSOCIATE YOURSELVES_ - "Know ye this"] God by his prophet plainly declares to the confederate adversaries of Judah, and bids them regard and attend to his declaration, that all their efforts shall be in vain. The present reading, _rou_, is subject to many difficulties; I follow t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:11. _WITH A STRONG HAND _- "As taking me by the hand"] _Eleven_ MSS., (_two_ ancient,) of _Kennicott's_, _thirty-four_ of _De Rossi's,_ and _seven_ editions, read כחזקת _kechezkath_; and so _Symmachus_, the _Syriac_, and _Vulgate_. Or rather _with a strong hand_, that is, with a stron... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:12. _SAY YE NOT, A CONFEDERACY_ - "Say ye not, It is holy"] קשר _kesher_. Both the reading and the sense of this word are doubtful. The _Septuagint_ manifestly read קשה _kashah_; for they render it by σκληρον, _hard_. The _Syriac_ and _Chaldee_ render it מרדא _merda_, and מרוד _merod... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:14. _AND HE SHALL BE FOR A SANCTUARY_ - "And he shall be unto you a sanctuary"] The word לכם _lachem, unto you_, absolutely necessary, as I conceive, to the sense, is lost in this place: it is preserved by the _Vulgate_, "et erit _vobis_ in sanctificationem." The _Septuagint_ have it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:16. _AMONG MY DISCIPLES._] בלמדי _belimmudai_. The _Septuagint_ render it του μη μαθειν. Bishop _Chandler_, Defence of Christianity, p. 308, thinks they read מלמד, _that it be not_ _understood_, and approves of this reading. - Abp. _Secker_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:18. _LORD OF HOSTS_] One MS. reads אלהי צבאות _Elohey_ _tsebaoth, God of hosts_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:19. _SHOULD NOT A PEOPLE SEEK _- "Should they seek"] After ידרש _yidrosh_, the _Septuagint_, repeating the word, read הידרש _hayidrosh_: Ουκ εθνος προς Θεον αυτου εκζητησουσι; τι εκζητησουσι περι των ζωντων τους νεκρους; _Should not a nation seek unto its_ _God? Why should you seek un... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:20. _TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY_ - "Unto the command, and unto the testimony."] "Is not תעודה _teudah_ here the attested prophecy, Isaiah 8:1? and perhaps תורה _torah_ the command, Isaiah 8:11? for it means sometimes a particular, and even a human, command; see Proverbs 6:20, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 8:21. _HARDLY BESTEAD_ - "Distressed"] Instead of נקשה _niksheh,_ _distressed_, the _Vulgate, Chaldee_, and _Symmachus_ manifestly read נכשל _nichshal, stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to_ _fall_; a sense which suits very well with the place. _AND LOOK UPWARD_ - "And he sh... [ Continue Reading ]