CHAPTER IX _This chapter contains an illustrious prophecy of the Messiah._ _He is represented under the glorious figure of the sun, or_ _light, rising on a benighted world, and diffusing joy and_ _gladness wherever he sheds his beams_, 1-3. _His conquests are astonishing and miraculous, as in t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:3. _AND NOT INCREASED THE JOY_ - "Thou hast increased their joy"] _Eleven_ MSS. of _Kennicott's_ and _six_ of _De Rossi's, two_ ancient, read לו _lo, it_, according to the Masoretical correction, instead of לא _lo, not_. To the same purpose the _Targum_ and _Syriac_. _THE JOY IN HARV... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:5. _EVERY BATTLE OF THE WARRIOR_ - "The greaves of the armed warrior"] שאון שאון _seon soen_. This word, occurring only in this place, is of very doubtful signification. _Schindler_ fairly tells us that we may guess at it by the context. The Jews have explained it, by guess I believe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:6. THE GOVERNMENT SHALL _BE UPON HIS SHOULDER_] That is, the ensign of government; the sceptre, the sword, the key, or the like, which was borne upon or hung from the shoulder. Isaiah 22:22. _AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED_] אל גבור _El gibbor_, the prevailing or conquering God. _THE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:7. _OF THE INCREASE_] In the common _Hebrew_ Bibles, and in many MSS., this word is written with the _close_ or final למרבה ם. But in _twelve_ of _Kennicott's_ MSS., and _twelve_ of _De Rossi's_, it is written with the open mem; but here it is supposed to contain mysteries, viz., that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:8. _LORD _- "JEHOVAH"] For אדני _Adonai, thirty_ MSS. of _Kennicott's_, and many of _De Rossi's_, and _three_ editions, read יהוה _Yehovah_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:9. _PRIDE AND STOUTNESS OF HEART_ - "Carry themselves haughtily"] וידעו _veyadeu_, "and they shall know;" so ours and the Versions in general. But what is it that they shall know? The verb stands destitute of its object; and the sense is imperfect. The _Chaldee_ is the only one, as f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:10. _THE BRICKS_] "The eastern bricks," says Sir _John_ _Chardin_, (see _Harmer's_ Observ. I., p. 176,) "are only clay well moistened with water, and mixed with straw, and dried in the sun." So that their walls are commonly no better than our mud walls; see _Maundrell_, p. 124. That... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:11. _THE ADVERSARIES OF REZIN AGAINST HIM_ - "The princes of Retsin against him"] For צרי _tsarey, enemies, Houbigant_, by conjecture, reads שרי _sarey, princes_; which is confirmed by _thirty_ of _Kennicott's_ and _De Rossi's_ MSS., (two ancient,) one of my own, ancient; and _nine_ m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:12. _WITH OPEN MOUTH _- "On every side"] בכל פה _bechol peh_, in every corner, in every part of their country, pursuing them to the remotest extremities, and the most retired parts. So the _Chaldee_ בכל אתר bechol athar, in every place.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:14. _IN ONE DAY._] _Thirteen_ MSS. of _Kennicott_ and _De_ _Rossi_ read ביום _beyom_, in a day; and another has a rasure in the place of the letter ב _beth_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:17. _THE LORD _- "JEHOVAH"] For אדני _Adonai_, a great number of MSS. read יהוה _Yehovah_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:18. _FOR WICKEDNESS_] Wickedness rageth like a fire, destroying and laying waste the nation: but it shall be its own destruction, by bringing down the fire of God's wrath, which shall burn up the briers and the thorns; that is, the wicked themselves. Briers and thorns are an image fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 9:20. _THE FLESH OF HIS OWN ARM_ - "The flesh of his neighbour"] "Του βραχιονος του αδελφου αυτου, the _Septuagint Alexand. Duplex_ _versio, quarum altera legit_ רעו reo, quae vox extat, Jeremiah 6:21. _Nam_ רע rea, αδελφος, Genesis 43:33. _Recte ni fallor_." - SECKER. I add to this ex... [ Continue Reading ]