18 Thine heart shall meditate ter- | the 2 receiver? where is he that countror. Where is the scribe? where is ed the towers? New Translation. 2 weigher. 18. Thine heart shall meditate on the [past] terror-[saying] "Where is now the scribe? "Where is the weigher? "Where is he that counted the towers ?" and the nation shall be at peace; and you shall be permitted to range freely over the whole land, and even over the parts that are now occupied by the forces of the Assyrian. Virgil has a beautiful passage remarkably similar to this: -juvat ire, et Dorica castra, Desertosque videre locos, litusque relictum.-En. ii. 28. 18. Thine heart. The heart of the people of Jerusalem that should be preserved. ¶ Shall meditate terror. This is similar to the ex pression in Virgil: -forsan et hæc olim meminisse juvabit. Æn. i. 203. The sense is, 'You shall hereafter think over all this alarm and distress. When the enemy is destroyed, and the city saved, and the king shall reign in magnificence over all the nation then enjoying peace and prosperity, you shall recall these days of terror and alarm; you shall then ask with gratitude and astonishment, Where are they who caused this alarm? Where are now they who so confidently calculated on taking the city? They are all gone-and gone in a manner fitted to excite astonishment and adoring gratitude.' "Sweet is the recollection," says Roseninüller, "of dangers that are passed." Where is the scribe? How soon, how suddenly has he vanished! The word scribe here (5) evidently refers to some prominent class of officers in the Assyrian army. It is from pp to count, to number, to write; and probably refers to a secretary, perhaps a secretary of state or of war; or an inspector general, who had the charge of reviewing an army. Jer. xxxvii. 15, lii. 25, 2 Kings xxv. 19. ¶ Where is the receiver? Margin as in the Hebrew, weigher. The Vulgate renders this, "Where is he that ponders the words of the law?" The LXX, Where are the counsellors (dup Bouλévovres)?" Probably the word refers to him who weighed the tribute, or the pay of the soldiers; and 19 Thou shalt not see a fierce peo- | salem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle ple; a people of a deeper speech than that shall not be taken down; not one thou canst perceive; of a 3 stammering of the stakes thereof shall ever be retongue, that thou canst not understand. moved, neither shall any of the cords 20 Look upon Zion, the city of our thereof be broken. solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jeru 3 or, ridiculous. New Translation. 19. That fierce people thou shalt not see; Rev. 3. 12. That people of obscure speech which thou couldst not hear, 20. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall behold Jerusalem a quiet habitation, A tent that shall not be moved; Whose stakes shall not be plucked up for ever, And whose cords shall not be broken. refers doubtless to some officer in the army of the Assyrian; probably, I think, to him whose office it was to have charge of the military chest, and to pay the army. Where is he that counted the towers? That is, who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem-either Sennacherib, or some one appointed by him to reconnoitre and report on the means which the city had of defence. Comp. ch. xxxvi. 4. 19. Thou. The Jews; the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¶ Shalt not see a fierce people. Or rather, this fierce and boasting people you shall not see.' They shall not enter the city; but though they are advancing with so much confidence, they shall be suddenly cut off and destroyed. The word rendered fierce," from 1, prob. ably means strong, or wicked. Lowth renders it, "barbarous people," as if it were 3. Michaelis also adopts this reading by supposing an error in transcribing, a change of into 3. Such a change might have easily occurred; but there is no authority from the MSS. for making an alteration in the text. The word strong, or mighty, agrees well with the connexion. A people of a deeper speech. A people speaking a language unintelligible to you; whose language is so deep, i. e. so dark, or obscure, that it cannot be understood by you. This refers to the army of the Assyrians, who spoke the Syrian language, which was understood by some of the Jews, but which was unintelligible to the mass. See ch. xxxvi. 11. Than thou canst perceive. Than you can understand. Of a stammering tongue. See Note ch. xxviii. 11. The margin is "ridiculous;" a sense which the He brew will bear; but the more appropriate meaning is that of a barbarous, or unintelligible foreign language. "Thou shalt see 20. Look upon Zion. Lowth renders this, Zion," by changing the Hebrew text in conformity with the Chaldee. There is no doubt that this accords with the sense of the passage, but there is no authority for the change in the text. It stands in contrast with what had been said in ver. 19. There, the prophet had said that they should no more see those foreign armies that were coming to invade them. Here, he directs them to look upon Zion, implying that they should be permitted to behold Zion in a situation such as he proceeds to describe it. You shall not see that foreign army carrying desolation as they design through the city and the land. They shall be destroyed. But behold Zion! Her you shall see, quiet, prosperous, happy, peaceful.' The city of our solemnities. Where the religious solemnities of the nation were celebrated. A quiet habitation. Free from invasion, and from the terrors of war. A tabernacle. A tent; a dwelling such as was common in the nomadic mode of life in the East. The whole city is described under the image of a tent that is fixed and undisturbed; where the family may reside in safety and comfort. T That shall not be taken down. The sense is, it shall not be struck in order to removal. stakes thereof. Still keeping up the idea of a tent. refer to the poles or fixtures which were driven into the ground in order to fasten the tent to them to enable them to spread it; or to the small stakes or pins that were driven in the ground in order to fasten the cords by which the tent was extended. The following cut will give Not one of the The stakes here 21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place 5 of broad rivers and 5 broad of spaces, or, hands. streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. New Translation. 21. But there the glorious JEHOVAH will be unto us A place of rivers, and streams that are broad; Where no oared galley shall pass, Neither shall any mighty ship go through. an idea of the mode in which tents were commonly pitched, and will serve to explain this passage, as well as the similar passage in ch. liv. 2. ¶ Shall ever be removed. It shall be a fixed and permanent habitation. The word "ever" must mean an indefinite period of duration. Sennacherib had designed to blot out the name of the people of God, and destroy their separate and independent existence. The prophet says that that should never be done. Jerusalem, the residence then of his people and the emblem of his church, would be safe, and would not be destroyed. There would always be a safe and quiet abode for the friends of the Most High. In this sense it accords with the declaration of the Saviour, that the gates of hell should not prevail against his church. Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. Cords were used in tents to fasten the cloth to the poles; or to fasten it to the pins which had been driven into the ground, in order to extend the cloth, and to make it firm. 21. But there. In Jerusalem; or in his church, of which Jerusalem was the emblem. The glorious LORD. The glorious JEHOVAH. Lowth renders it "the glorious name of JEHOVAH," taking Das if it were pointed to be a noun. So the Syriac and the LXX read it. The word glorious means magnificent; meaning that JEHOVAH would manifest himself there as magnificent or great in the destruction of his enemies, and in the protection of his people. ¶ Will be unto us. Unto his people. A place. It seems to be harsh to say that JEHOVAH would be a place; but the meaning is, that he would be to them as such a place; or his presence with them would be like broad rivers and streams; that is, his presence and blessing would be such as would be represented by broad rivers and streams flowing through a land, or encompassing a city. Rivers and streams in a land, or flowing to and around a city, are sources of fertility, the channels of commerce, and objects of great beauty. Such seems to be the idea here. The presence of JEHOVAH would be to them a source of great prosperity and happiness; there would be an increase to the nation of all that could really add to its welfare; and a beauty would be thrown around the city and nation like majestic and useful rivers. It is possible that there may have been some allusion here to some cities that were encompassed or penetrated by rivers and canals, like Babylon, or Memphis in Egypt, &c. Such cities derived important advantages from streams and rivers. But Jerusalem had no such commercial advantages; nothing of this nature to contribute to its prosperity or beauty. The prophet says, that the presence of JEHOVAH would be to them what these rivers were to other cities. ¶ of broad rivers and streams. Heb.rivers, streams of broad spaces, or hands.' The sense seems to be, broad rivers that are made up of confluent streams; or rivers to which many streams are tributary-like the Nile-and which are therefore made broad, and capable of naviga. tion. The phrase here used-in the Heb. broad of hands,'-properly denotes broad on both hands, or as we would say, on both sides; that is, the shores would be separated far from each other. The word hand is often used in Hebrew to denote the side, the shore, or the bank of a river. The following extract will show the importance of such rivers: "In such a highly cultivated country as England, and where great drought is almost unknown, we have not an opportunity to observe the fertilizing influence of a broad river; but in South Af rica, where almost no human means are employed for improving the land, the benign influence of rivers is most evident. The Great, or Orange River, is a remarkable instance of this. I travelled on its banks, at one time, for five or six weeks; when, for several hundred miles, I found both sides of it delightfully covered with trees of various kinds, all in health and vigor, and abundance of the richest verdure; but all the country beyond the reach of its influence was complete desert. Every thing appeared to be struggling for mere existence; so that we might be said to have had the wilderness on one side, and a kind of paradise on the other." Campbell. Wherein shall go, &c. The mention of broad rivers here seems to have suggested to the prophet the idea that broad navigable rivers, while they were the channels of commerce, and the source of prosperity, also gave to an enemy the opportunity of approaching easily with vessels of war, and attacking a city. He, therefore, says that no such consequence would fol low from the fact that JEHOVAH would be to them in the place of broad |