Isa 4:2, 7:14, 9:5, 40:10, 53:1 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 2. The branch of the Lord -"the branch of JEHOVAH"] The Messiah of JEHOVAH, says the Chaldee . And Kimchi says, The Messiah, the Son of David . The branch is an appropriate title of the Messiah; and the fruit of the land means the great Person to spring from the house of Judah, and is only a parallel expression signifying the same; or perhaps the blessings consequent upon the redemption procured by him. Compare , where the same great event is set forth under similar images, and see the note there. Them that are escaped of Israel -"the escaped of the house of Israel."] A MS. has beith yisrael , the house of Israel.

‏ Isaiah 4:2

Verse 2. The branch of the Lord-"the branch of JEHOVAH"] The Messiah of JEHOVAH, says the Chaldee. And Kimchi says, The Messiah, the Son of David. The branch is an appropriate title of the Messiah; and the fruit of the land means the great Person to spring from the house of Judah, and is only a parallel expression signifying the same; or perhaps the blessings consequent upon the redemption procured by him. Compare Isa 45:8, where the same great event is set forth under similar images, and see the note there.

Them that are escaped of Israel-"the escaped of the house of Israel."] A MS. has beith yisrael, the house of Israel.

‏ Isaiah 7:14

Verse 14. The Lord-"JEHOVAH"] For Adonai, twenty-five of Kennicott's MSS., nine ancient, and fourteen of De Rossi's, read Jehovah. And so Isa 7:20, eighteen MSS.

Immanuel.] For Immanuel, many MSS. and editions have immanu El, God with us.

‏ Isaiah 9:5

Verse 5. Every battle of the warrior-"The greaves of the armed warrior"] 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, as signifying battle, conflict: the Vulgate renders it violenta praedatio. But it seems as if something was rather meant which was capable of becoming fuel for the fire, together with the garments mentioned in the same sentence. In Syriac the word, as a noun, signifies a shoe, or a sandal, as a learned friend suggested to me some years ago. See Lu 15:22; Ac 12:8. I take it, therefore, to mean that part of the armour which covered the legs and feet, and I would render the two words in Latin by caliga caligati. The burning of heaps of armour, gathered from the field of battle, as an offering made to the god supposed to be the giver of victory, was a custom that prevailed among some heathen nations; and the Romans used it as an emblem of peace, which perfectly well suits with the design of the prophet in this place. A medal struck by Vespasian on finishing his wars both at home and abroad represents the goddess Peace holding an olive branch in one hand, and, with a lighted torch in the other, setting fire to a heap of armour. Virgil mentions the custom:-

"-Cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa

Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos."

AEn. lib. viii., ver. 561.

"Would heaven, (said he,) my strength and youth recall,

Such as I was beneath Praeneste's wall--

Then when I made the foremost foes retire,

And set whole heaps of conquered shields on fire."

DRYDEN.

See Addison on Medals, Series ii. 18. And there are notices of some such practice among the Israelites, and other nations of the most early times. God promises to Joshua victory over the kings of Canaan. "To-morrow I will deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire," Jos 11:6. See also Na 2:13. And the psalmist employs this image to express complete victory, and the perfect establishment of peace:-

"He maketh wars to cease, even to the end of the land:

He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;

And burneth the chariots in the fire."

Ps 46:9.

agaloth, properly plaustra, impedimenta, the baggage-wagons: which however the Septuagint and Vulgate render scuta, "shields;" and the Chaldee, "round shields," to show the propriety of that sense of the word from the etymology; which, if admitted, makes the image the same with that used by the Romans.

Ezekiel, Eze 39:8-10, in his bold manner has carried this image to a degree of amplification which I think hardly any other of the Hebrew poets would have attempted. He describes the burning of the arms of the enemy, in consequence of the complete victory to be obtained by the Israelites over Gog and Magog:-

"Behold, it is come to pass, and it is done,

Saith the Lord JEHOVAH.

This is the day of which I spoke:

And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall go forth.

And shall set on fire the armour, and the shield,

And the buckler, and the bow, and the arrows,

And the clubs and the lances;

And they shall set them on fire for seven years.

And they shall not bear wood from the field;

Neither shall they hew from the forest:

For of the armour shall they make their fires;

And they shall spoil their spoilers,

And they shall plunder their plunderers."

R. D. Kimchi, on this verse says this refers simply to the destruction of the Assyrians. Other battles are fought man against man, and spear against spear; and the garments are rolled in blood through the wounds given and received: but this was with burning, for the angel of the Lord smote them by night, and there was neither sword nor violent commotion, nor blood; they were food for the fire, for the angel of the Lord consumed them.

‏ Isaiah 40:10

Verse 10. His reward is with him, and his work before him.-"His reward is with him, and the recompense of his work before him."] That is, the reward and the recompense which he bestows, and which he will pay to his faithful servants; this he has ready at hand with him, and holds it out before him, to encourage those who trust in him and wait for him.

‏ Isaiah 53:1

CHAPTER LIII

This chapter foretells the sufferings of the Messiah, the end for which he was to die, and the advantages resulting to mankind from that illustrious event. It begins with a complaint of the infidelity of the Jews, 1;

the offence they took at his mean and humble appearance, 2;

and the contempt with which they treated him, 3.

The prophet then shows that the Messiah was to suffer for sins not his own; but that our iniquities were laid on him, and the punishment of them exacted of him, which is the meritorious cause of our obtaining pardon and salvation, 4-6.

He shows the meekness and placid submission with which he suffered a violent and unjust death, with the circumstances of his dying with the wicked, and being buried with the great, 7-9;

and that, in consequence of his atonement, death, resurrection, and intercession, he should procure pardon and salvation to the multitudes, insure increasing prosperity to his Church, and ultimately triumph over all his foes, 10, 11.

This chapter contains a beautiful summary of the most peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.

NOTES ON CHAP. LIII

That this chapter speaks of none but JESUS must be evident to every unprejudiced reader who has ever heard the history of his sufferings and death. The Jews have endeavoured to apply it to their sufferings in captivity; but, alas for their cause! they can make nothing out in this way. Allowing that it belongs to our blessed Lord, (and the best men and the best scholars agree in this,) then who can read Isa 53:4-6, 8, 10, without being convinced that his death was a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of mankind? On the first and second verses of this chapter I have received the following remarks from an unknown hand.

"Verse 1. Who hath believed our report?] The report of the prophets, of John the Baptist, and Christ's own report of himself. The Jews did not receive the report, and for this reason he was not manifested to them as the promised Messiah. 'He came unto his own, but his own received him not.' Before the FATHER he grew up as a tender plant: but to the JEWS he was as a root out of a dry ground. 'He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.'

"Verse 2. For he shall grow up] Supposes something to have preceded; as it might be asked, what or who shall 'grow up before him,' &c. As the translation now stands, no correct answer can be given to this question. The translation then is wrong, the connexion broken, and the sense obscured. zeroa, translated the arm, from the root zara. 1. To sow, or plant; also seed, &c. 2. The limb which reaches from the shoulder to the hand, called the arm; or more properly beginning at the shoulder and ending at the elbow. The translator has given the wrong sense of the word. It would be very improper to say, the arm of the Lord should grow up before him; but by taking the word in its former sense, the connexion and metaphor would be restored, and the true sense given to the text. zera signifies, not only the seed of herbs, but children, offspring, or posterity. The same word we find Ge 3:15, where CHRIST is the Seed promised. See also Ge 22:17, 18; 26:4; 28:14. Hence the SEED of the woman, the SEED promised to the patriarchs is, according to Isaiah, the Seed of the Lord, the Child born, and the Son given; and according to St. John, 'the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' then, in this place, should be understood to mean JESUS CHRIST, and him alone. To speak here of the manifestation of the arm or power of God would be irregular; but to suppose the text to speak of the manifestation of Jesus Christ would be very proper, as the whole of the chapter is written concerning him, particularly his humiliation and sufferings, and the reception he should meet with from the Jewish nation.

"The first verse of this chapter is quoted Joh 12:38, and the former part of the same verse Ro 10:16. But no objection of importance can be brought forward from either of these quotations against the above explanation, as they are quoted to show the unbelief of the Jews in not receiving Christ as the promised Messiah."

He hath no form nor comeliness-"He hath no form nor any beauty"] ουκειδοςαυτωουδεαξιωμαιναειδωμεναυτονουδεθεωριαινα επιθυμωμεναυτον He hath no form, nor any beauty, that we should regard him; nor is his countenance such that we should desire him." Symmachus; the only one of the ancients that has translated it rightly.