The Re- And they shall go forth, and look

compense Upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed of Sin against me:

For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire 5 be quenched;

And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Notes

p. 1, 1. 1. The heading is to chaps. i.-xii. There are two main divisions in the chapter, vv. 2-20, and vv. 21-31. The country had recently been devastated by a foe, either the Syro-Ephraimitic allies (735) or Sennacherib (701).

p. 1, 1. 5. Jehovah speaks in 11. 5-11; the prophet afterwards. The sin of Israel is insensibility to the goodness, the majesty (iii. 11), and the operations of Jehovah (v. 12).

p. 1, 1. 17-p. 2, 1. 13. The prophet's manner is to express his idea first in a figure and then lit. (cp. vv. 22-25); the figure is that of a body covered with wounds, old weals and fresh sores; the reality is a land devastated by the enemy (p. 2, 1. 6). The 'sickness' is calamity and national paralysis. The clause ' and it is desolate,' etc., may be a marginal expansion.

p. 2, 1. 17. The fate of Sodom had been nearly theirs, the character of Sodom was wholly theirs.

p. 2, 1. 20-p. 3, 1. 12. Jehovah does not strictly repudiate sacrifice, much less prayer, but the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Him (Prov. xxi. 27-xxviii. 9). It is not prayers that Jehovah hears, but those who pray.

p. 3, 1. 15. Judgment' is justice (1. 27).

p. 3, 1. 26. A dirge in dirge metre over Jerusalem. 'Harlot' is unfaithful wife. In Isaiah 'unfaithfulness' is declension from social and civil righteousness.

P. 4, 1. 15. The first' was the time when David was king. p. 4, 1. 25-p. 5, 1. 2. 'Oaks' or terebinths and 'gardens" or groves overshadowing a fountain were the haunts of the nature gods, still sought by the people (lvii. 4, lxv. 3, lxvi. 17; Hosea iv. 13).

p. 5, 1. 2. The maker of it: 'his work.'

p. 5, 1. 6. Heading to a small collection (chaps i.-iv.), the contents of which are: (1) (ii. 1-4) All nations shall yet acknowledge the God of Israel; (2) (ii. 5-iv. 1) through great judgments shall both Israel and the nations be brought to the knowledge of Jehovah; (3) (iv. 2-6) when these judgments are overpast all Zion's citizens shall be holy. ii. 1-4, is found also in Micah iv. 1-4; it was assigned by some collectors to Isaiah and by others to Micah. Its meaning is that Jehovah acknowledged by all peoples becomes umpire in all international disputes, and there is universal peace.

p. 5, 1. 13. For people read 'peoples'; so v. 4.

p. 6, 1. 1. Read: 'for thou hast cast off... they strike hands' (make alliances) 'with the children of strangers.'

p. 6, 1. 13. And man shall be bowed down and men brought low' (through judgments, vv. 11, 17), 'for thou canst not forgive them.'

p. 6, 1. 21. 'The day of the Lord' was the day of his final intervention among his people and in the world. The people imagined it would be for their deliverance, he being their God (Amos v. 18); the prophets teach that it will be His glorious and terrible self-manifestation to all mankind.

p. 7, 1. 3. Ships of Tarshish' are deep sea ships. Possibly Tartessus, west of the straits of Gibraltar.

p. 7, 1. 8.

And the idols shall utterly pass away.'
Man 'in whose nostrils is a breath.'

p. 7, 1. 21. p. 7, 1. 23. Jehovah is so conscious of His own majesty, and that He alone should be exalted by men, that, with a certain irony, He reduces society to a chaotic level, removing every person or class that men thought exalted and trusted in instead of in Him.

p. 7, 1. 26. Omit 'the whole stay of bread,' etc.

p. 8, 1. 2. For the prudent the diviner'; for artificer 'charmer,' and for eloquent orator skilful enchanter.'

p. 8, 1. 22. Heb. uses the perfect, 'is ruined,' etc., to express a

certain future.

p. 9. 1. 16. And you, ye have eaten,' etc.; direct address to the elders and princes. Set to protect the vineyard (v. 7), they themselves have devoured it.

p. 9, 1. 21-p, 10, 1. 24. The women are included in the charge of pride of self and insensibility to God.

p. 9, 1. 23. With wanton eyes: lit. casting their eyes about.' The charge is not immodesty, but levity and pride of self.

p. 10, l. 14. A rent: a rope.'

p. 10, l. 27-p. 11, 1. 22. Final glory of Zion when the judgments are overpast.

p. 10, 1. 27. In that day shall the plant of Jehovah be for a beauty and a glory, and the fruit of the land for a pride and an adornment to them,' etc. That which Jehovah causes to spring up, and that which the native land of Israel produces, shall be their adornment and bring them renown in the eyes of the nations. Reference is to higher things than vegetation (xxxii. 15-18 and xlv. 8).

6

p. 11, 1.6. Written' (ordained) 'unto life' in the Lord's book of life, Exod. xxxii. 32; 1 Sam. xxv. 29; Ps. Ixix. 29; Ezek. ix. 4; Mal. iii. 16.

p. II, 1. 14. The whole dwelling-place.'

p. 11, 1. 23-p. 12, 1. 25. The Lord's hopes and disappointment with his vineyard.

p. II, 1. 23. I will sing of my Friend my Friend's song about his vineyard' (Skinner).

p. 11, 1. 26. For fenced 'digged.'

p. 12, 1. 24. The paronomasias cannot be reproduced: 'he looked for justice' (mishpat) but behold bloodshed' (mispach), 'for righteousness' (sedakah) 'but behold a cry of wrong' (seakah).

p. 12, l. 11-p. 14, 1. 17. Specimens of the 'wild grapes' and six woes pronounced upon them.

1.

A

p. 12, I. 26-p. 13, 1. 4. Nemesis on the accumulation of houses and lands: the houses shall be empty and the lands barren. 'bath,' 6 to 8 gallons; a 'homer,' 8 bushels; an ephah,' tenth of a homer. The crop is a tenth of the seed.

p. 13, 1. 27. After their manner, 'as on their pasture.'

p. 14, l. 29. Were torn, 'were as refuse.' On account of the refrain, for all this,' etc. (occurring again, ix. 12, 17, 21, x. 4), many would read v. 25-30 after x. 4.

p. 15, 11. 1-23. A distant and warlike nation (the Assyrians) shall be God's instrument in destroying his people.

6

p. 15, I. 3. For the nations, a nation."

p. 15, 1. 24-p. 17, 1. 15. Isaiah's inaugural vision. Four steps of mental history: (1) vision of the king; (2) fear of death because of his uncleanness; (3) purification of his sin; (4) immediate impulse to serve the king as messenger to His people. It is a crisis in the prophet's religious life, and a mental history paralleled by many similar histories since then.

The lord or

p. 15, 1. 24. Uzziah died circa 740. 'Sovereign.' This is Isaiah's idea of God. Cp. 'the King,' v. 5. p. 16, 1. 6. The 'smoke' is possibly the self-manifestation of the Lord in response to the worship of the Seraphim (Exod. xix. 18, xxiv. 15; 1 Kings viii. 10; Ezek. x. 4).

p. 17, l. 10. And should there still be in it a tenth, it shall be further consumed, like the terebinth and like the oak, in which a stock remains when they are felled; a holy seed is the stock thereof.'

p. 17, l. 16-p. 23, 1. 29. The Syro-Ephraimitic war (735-734) and Messianic prophecies due to it. Cp. 2 Kings xvi. 5.

p. 17, 1. 26. Shear-jashub, i.e., 'a remnant shall turn' (to the Lord), expresses the prophet's two great ideas: (1) of a desolating judgment, and (2) its effect, the conversion of a remnant. Cp. x. 20-23.

p. 17, 1. 27. A pool, higher up than Siloam, at that time within the walls, has recently been found. The king had gone to inspect the water supply in case of a siege.

p. 18, 1. 3. These two smoking tails of firebrands.'

p. 18, 1. 14. The meaning seems to be: it is only Rezin with Damascus, and only the son of Remaliah with Samaria on one side; on the other side is Jehovah with Jerusalem.

p. 19, 1. 6. Butter, 'thick milk.' Soured milk and wild honey