Isa 8:19, Jer 5:24, Amo 5:8 | JFB | e4.org | 19. Seek unto —Consult in your national difficulties. them . . . familiar spirits —necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God ( , &c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz ( ). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare , which forbids it, ). wizards —men claiming supernatural knowledge; from the old English, " to wit, " that is, know. peep —rather "chirp faintly," as young birds do; this sound was generally ascribed to departed spirits; by ventriloquism the soothsayers caused a low sound to proceed as from a grave, or dead person. Hence the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for "necromancers" here "ventriloquists" (compare ). mutter —moan. should not, &c.—The answer which Isaiah recommends to be given to those advising to have recourse to necromancers. for the living, &c.—"should one, for the safety of the living, seek unto (consult) the dead?" [GESENIUS ]. LOWTH renders it, " In place of (consulting) the living, should one consult the dead?"

‏ Isaiah 8:19

19. Seek unto—Consult in your national difficulties.

them . . . familiar spirits—necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God (1Sa 28:7, &c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz (2Ki 16:3, 4, 10). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare Le 20:6, which forbids it, Isa 19:3).

wizards—men claiming supernatural knowledge; from the old English, "to wit," that is, know.

peep—rather "chirp faintly," as young birds do; this sound was generally ascribed to departed spirits; by ventriloquism the soothsayers caused a low sound to proceed as from a grave, or dead person. Hence the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for "necromancers" here "ventriloquists" (compare Isa 29:4).

mutter—moan.

should not, &c.—The answer which Isaiah recommends to be given to those advising to have recourse to necromancers.

for the living, &c.—"should one, for the safety of the living, seek unto (consult) the dead?" [GESENIUS]. LOWTH renders it, "In place of (consulting) the living, should one consult the dead?"

‏ Jeremiah 5:24

24. rain . . . former . . . latter—The "former" falls from the middle of October to the beginning of December. The "latter," or spring rain in Palestine, falls before harvest in March and April, and is essential for ripening the crops (De 11:14; Joe 2:23).

weeks of . . . harvest—the seven weeks between passover and pentecost, beginning on the sixteenth of Nisan (De 16:9). By God's special providence no rain fell in Palestine during the harvest weeks, so that harvest work went on without interruption (see Ge 8:22).

‏ Amos 5:8

8. the seven stars—literally, the heap or cluster of seven larger stars and others smaller (Job 9:9; 38:31). The former whole passage seems to have been in Amos' mind. He names the stars well known to shepherds (to which class Amos belonged), Orion as the precursor of the tempests which are here threatened, and the Pleiades as ushering in spring.

shadow of death—Hebraism for the densest darkness.

calleth for the waters of the sea—both to send deluges in judgment, and the ordinary rain in mercy (1Ki 18:44).