partially fulfilled, and that its complete fulfilment is to be expected, not in the literal Mount Zion or Jerusalem, but in those various assemblies or societies of true believers, which now possess in common the privileges once exclusively enjoyed by the Holy City and the chosen race of which it was the centre and metropolis.

2. In that day (after this destruction) shall the Branch (or Offspring) of Jehovah be for honour and for glory, and the Fruit of the Earth for sublimity and beauty, to the escaped of Israel, literally, the escape or deliverance of Israel, the abstract being used for the collective concrete, meaning those who should survive these judgments. At this point the Prophet passes from the tone of threatening to that of promise. Having foretold a general destruction, he now intimates that some should escape it, and be rendered glorious and happy by the presence and favour of the Son of God, who is at the same time the Son of Man. The usage of the word Branch in application to an individual will be clear from the following examples. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH, and a king shall reign and prosper" (Jer. 23:5). "In those days and at that time will I cause the BRANCH of righteousness to grow up shall execute judgment" (Jer. 33: 15). forth my servant the BRANCH" (Zech. MAN whose name is the BRANCH” (Zech. 6:12). The Branch is here represented as a man, a king, a righteous judge, a servant of God. Hence it is reasonable to conclude that the same person, whom Jeremiah calls the branch (or son) of David, is called by Isaiah in the verse before us the branch (or son) of Jehovah. The parallel terms correspond exactly to the two parts of Paul's description (Rom. 1: 3, 4), and to the two titles applied in the New Testament to Christ's two natures, Son of GOD and SON OF MAN.

unto David, and he "Behold I will bring 3:8). "Behold the

3. And it shall be, happen, come to pass, that the left in Zion and the spared in Jerusalem, singular forms with a collective application, shall be called holy, literally, holy shall be said to him, i. e. this name shall be used in addressing him, or rather may be used with truth, implying that the persons so called should be what they seemed to be, every one written, enrolled, ordained, to life in Jerusalem Having foretold the happiness and honour which the Son of God should one day confer upon his people, the Prophet now explains to whom the promise was intended to apply. In the preceding verse they were described by their condition as survivors of God's desolating judgments. In this they are described by their moral character, and by their eternal destination to this character and that which follows it.

4. The construction is continued from the verse preceding. All this shall come to pass, if (provided that, on this condition, which idea may be here expressed by when) the Lord shall have washed away (the Hebrew word denoting specially the washing of the body, and suggesting the idea of the legal ablutions) the filth (a very strong term transferred from physical to moral defilement) of the daughters of Zion (the women before mentioned), and the blood (literally bloods, i. e. blood-shed or blood-guiltiness) of Jerusalem (i. e. of the people in general), by a spirit of judg ment and spirit of burning, i. e. by the judgment and burning of the Holy Spirit, with a twofold allusion to the purifying and destroying energy of fire, or rather to its purifying by destroying, purging the whole by the destruction of a part, and thereby manifesting the divine justice as an active principle. This verse contains a previous condition of the promise in v. 3, which could not be fulfilled until the church was purged from the pollution brought upon it by the sins of those luxurious women and of the people generally, a work which could be effected only by the convincing and avenging influences of the Holy Spirit. The word spirit cannot be regarded as pleonastic

or simply emphatic without affording license to a like inter pretation in all other cases. It has been variously explained here as meaning breath, word, and power or influence. But since this is the term used in the New Testament to designate that person of the Godhead, whom the Scriptures uniformly represent as the executor of the divine purposes, and since this sense is perfectly appropriate here, the safest and most satisfacto- ry interpretation is that which understands by it a personal spirit.

5. And Jehovah will create (implying the exercise of almighty power and the production of a new effect) over the whole extent (literally, place or space) of Mount Zion (in its widest and most spiritual sense, as appears from what follows), and over her assemblies, a cloud by day and smoke (i. e. a cloud of smoke), and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory (previously promised, there shall be) a covering (or shelter). The church is not only to be purified by God's judgments, but glorified by his manifested presence, and in that state of glory kept secure by his protection. The presence of God is here denoted by the ancient symbol of a fiery cloud, and is promised to the church in its whole extent and to its several assemblies, as distinguished from the one indivisible congregation, and its one exclusive place of meeting, under the old economy. The two appearances described in this verse are those presented by a fire at different times, a smoke by day and a flame by night. Some regard this as the statement of a general fact, ( over every thing glorious there is protection,' i. e. men are accustomed to protect what they value highly; but the great majority of writers understand it as a prophecy or promise.

6. And there shall be a shelter (properly a booth or covert of leaves and branches, to serve) for a shadow by day (as a protection) from heat, and for a covert and for a hiding-place from storm

and from rain. The promise of refuge and protection is repeated or continued under the figure of a shelter from heat and rain, natural emblems for distress and danger.

CHAPTER V.

THIS chapter contains a description of the prevalent iniquities of Judah, and of the judgments which, in consequence of these, had been or were to be inflicted on the people. The form of the prophecy is peculiar, consisting of a parable and a commentary on it.

The Prophet first delivers his whole message in a parabolic form, vs. 1-7. He then explains and amplifies it at great length, vs. 8-30.

The parable sets forth the peculiar privileges, obligations, guilt, and doom of Israel, under the figure of a highly favoured vineyard which, instead of good fruit, brings forth only wild grapes, and is therefore given up to desolation, vs. 1-6. The application is expressly made by the Prophet himself, v. 7.

In the remainder of the chapter, he enumerates the sins which were included in the general expressions of v. 7, and describes their punishment. In doing this, he first gives a catalogue of sins with their appropriate punishments annexed, vs. 8-24. He then describes the means used to inflict them, and the final issue, vs. 25-30.

In its general design and subject, this prophecy resembles those which go before it; but it differs remarkably from both in holding up to view exclusively the dark side of the picture, the guilt and doom of the ungodly Jews, without the cheering contrast of purgation and deliverance to be experienced from the same events by the true Israel, the Church of God.

This chapter, like the first, is applicable not to one event exclusively, but to a sequence of events which was repeated more than once, although its terms were never fully realized until the closing period of the Jewish history, after the true Messiah was rejected, when one ray of hope was quenched after another, until all grew dark for ever in the skies of Israel.

1. The parable is given in vs. 1-6, and applied in v. 7. It is introduced in such a manner as to secure a favourable hearing from those whose conduct it condemns, and in some measure to conceal its drift until the application. The Prophet proposes to sing a song, i. e. to utter a rhythmical and figurative narrative, relating to a friend of his, his friend's own song indeed about his vineyard. In the last clause he describes the situation of the vineyard, its favourable exposure and productive soil. I will sing, if you please (or let me sing, I pray you), of my friend (i. e. concerning him), my friend's song of his vineyard (i. e. concerning it). My friend had a vineyard in a hill of great fertility (literally, in a horn, a son of fatness, according to the oriental idiom which applies the terms of human kindred to relations of every kind). The common version, now will I sing, seems to take now as an adverb of time, whereas it is a particle of entreaty, used to soften the expression of a purpose, and to give a tone of mildness and courtesy to the address. Sing and song are used, as with us, in reference to poetry, without implying actual musical performance. The Prophet must be understood as speaking of a human friend, until he explains himself. Horn is here used, as in various other languages, for the sharp peak of a mountain, or, as in Arabic, for a detached hill. The preposition does not properly mean on but in, implying that the vineyard only occupied a part, and that this was not the summit, but the acclivity exposed to the sun, which is the best situation for a vineyard.