Page images
PDF
EPUB

of Revenge: But (a) others think the Particle Hoi fhews a Chapter compaffionate Concern in God, how unwilling he was to be forced to fuch Severity.

I.

A Lapide.

Ver. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely (4) Sanctius purge away thy Drofs, and take away all thy Tin.] Having at the twenty fecond Verfe complain'd that all their Silver was turn'd into Drofs, he carries on the fame Metaphor, I will take away thy Drofs and thy Tin; that is, I will make you pass through the Fire of Affliction 'till all the bafe Allay of impure Metals be feparated, 'till you recover your original Purity, and fhine with the fame Luftre as in the Days of your righteous Fore-fathers.

mus Sasbout.

Ver. 26. And I will restore thy Judges as at the first, and thy Counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called, The City of Righteousness, the faithful City.] The (b) generality of Interpreters refer this to the Times of (b) Hieron. the Gofpel; inftead of Judges or Counsellors, fuch as Cyril. AdaMofes and fofhua, God fhall raise up the Apostles who Forerius. fhall govern the People righteously; and then, if ever, (fay they) might Jerufalem be call'd the Faithful City: But with what Propriety of Speech can the Apostles be call'd Judges or Counsellors? Or how could Jerufalem deferve the Title of a Faithful City, at a time when rejected by the Lord of Life? But this is wrefting Scripture with a witnefs, which makes Sanctius confefs, Multa ex his quæ fequuntur in tempus Babylonicum optimè conveniunt, ad Tempus Ecclefia agre admodum trahuntur. The plain meaning of the Prophet is this, When they return to their own Country, they fhall have the Happiness to be govern'd by vertuous, prudent Magiftrates, fuch as of old fat at the Helm of Government in the moft flourishing Times of their State, plainly painting out Zorobabel, Efdrah, and Others, who brought back the Captives into Judea, and had the chief Management of their Affairs. (c) Others think the Prophet is to be understood () Grotius of Sennacherib's Invafion, by which Judgment the Jews were refin'd from their Sins; and after his overthrow refettled in a peaceful Enjoyment of their Poffeffions, with fuch Magiftrates of Integrity over them, as they had in the Times of the Judges: This the Words will

C

bear,

Varabh

Chapter bear, but I think they agree much better with the Ba bylonian Captivity.

I.

Ver. 27. Zion fhall be redeemed with Fudgment, and her Converts with Righteousness.] Bemishpat, with Judgment, that is, fays Sanctius, Non Temere & fine delectu, they were not all to be redeem'd without Exception; but God would make a diftinction between the Good and Bad, those who retain'd their Religion, and those who fell off to Idolatry: Thefe he would fuffer to dye in Gaptivity, but thofe he would carefully pick out of the promifcuous Crowd, and bring them again to their own Poffeffion: But the word may admit another Significa(4) A Lapide tion, (a) Poft juftam fatisfactionem, fcilicet panam Captivitatis 70 an. toleratam.

Menochius

Tirinus.

[ocr errors]

3

Ver. 28, 29. And the deftruction of the Tranfgreffors, and of the Sinners fhall be together, and they that for fake the Lord fhall be confumed. For they fhall be ashamed of the Oaks which ye have defired, and ye shall be confounded for the Gardens that ye have chofen. He gives a reafon why all the Captives fhould not partake of the promis'd Redemption, because of their Idolatry: When the Worshippers of the True God are reftor'd to their Liberty, the Tranfgreffors and Sinners fhall look on their Happiness with Envy, and be afham'd at last to find the Idols they depended on, unable to relieve them. Je bofhu meelim, (b) Caftalio. they fhall be afham'd of the (b) Gods which they had a Zeal for, which they worship'd with warm Affections, or of the Oaks under whofe fhady Branches their tute lary Idols stood; which he expreffes differently in the following words, They shall be confounded for the Gardens; thefe being the places in which they paid their Devotions to their Idols: Here the Perfon is chang'd from the Third to the Second, than which nothing is more common in the Prophetick Writings; the whole Verfe would be much plainer if render'd, They fhall be afham'd of their Idols, or the Oaks under which their Idols flood, on which they fondly doated; they shall be confounded for the Gardens they made choice of to perform their fuperftitious

Devotions therein.

1.

Ver. 30. For ye shall be as an Oak, whofe Leaf fadeth, Chapter and as a Garden that hath no Water.] Having made mention of Oaks and Gardens in the former Verfe, the Prophet hence takes occafion to defcribe the Condition they Thould be reduced to by the Similitude of a decay'd Oak, or a Garden wither'd. for want of Water: Quid triftius Quercu (fays Sanctius) ubi frigus aftus aut acrior aliqua vis florum pulchritudinem excufferit? Quid horto miferabilius cujus amanitati fucceffit fqualor & Haftitas?

Thomas.

Ver. 31. And the Strong fhall be as Tow, and the Maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none Shall quench them.] Kafon, which we render Strong, fignifies any thing, in quo fiducia collocatur (a), and ftands here (4) Forerius for the Idol, the ftrength, as it were, of its Worshippers, on which they intirely depended: The Idol, and the Maker thereof, fhall be destroy'd like Tow, on which a spark of Fire lights, which foon reduces the combuftible Mater to Ashes before it can be extinguish'd.

[blocks in formation]

Numb. 24.

14.
Deut. 4. 30.
31.29.
Prov. 31. 25.

(b) Cypria

The ARGUMENT of Chapter II.

Moft Interpreters understand the former part of this Chapter of the Church of Chrift; upon what grounds I am not able to imagine, unless in Complement to St. Jerom, whofe Errors the fervile Imitators feem fond of following. Sanctius owns the Expreffion (beacharith hadjamin) does not neceffarily fignify the times of the Meffiah, as any one may be convinced who will give himself the trouble to confult the (4)Gen.49.1. (a) Texts referr'd to; and he freely acknowledges, that he who should interpret this Paffage of the flourishing State of the Jewish Nation, increas'd by the Number of Gentiles who join'd themselves with them at their return from Captivity, would not offer any Violence to the Text, which is more than I can fay of their Interpretation, who understand it of the Chriftian Church. The Mountain of the Lord's House certainly fignifies Mount Moriah, on which the Temple stood; which is better than to fay, This Mountain is the (b) Crofs of Chrift, or the Virgin Mary (c), or Chrift (d) himself, or the Church (e) of Chrift: And they find themselves as much put to it to fhew how the Chriftian Church may be faid to be establish'd on the top of the Mountains: The Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apoftles, and other Illuftrious Saints, are the Mountains on which the Church is built, fays One (f); who may be fo called, because, though they liv'd on Earth, they had their Converfation in Heaven. Such abfurd Interpretations are they forced to embrace, who leaving the genuin Signification of the words, will extort fuch a fenfe, in favour of which they are prejudiced by the Authority of fome great Perfon. Nothing, I think, can be more plain, than that the Prophet is defcribing a place, toward which multitudes of People from every Corner flock: That this place is Jerufalem, appears by the third Verfe, where the Prophet explains what he means by the Mountain of the Lord, by naming the City Jerufalem: But the Nations were fo far from flocking to Jerufalem, to embrace the Gospel, that it was carry'd into their feveral Countries, and brought as it were to their doors. But that which most prevails with me, to understand the beginning of the times fucceeding the Babylonian Captivity,

nus in lib. de Sinâ & Sion. (c) Gregor. lib. 1. in 1 Reg. (d) Hieron. Cyril. (e) Athanaf. in Ep. ad Epictetum. (f) Leo Catrius.

1

is the Connection I find at the fixth Verfe, Therefore thou haft forfaken; which to me is a Demonftration, that the first part must be understood of the fame times as the latter, which is no other than the Babylonian Captivity, which having just glanced at, tho' in general Terms, ver. 25. of the first Chapter, and at the 27th, in a very few words promis'd Redemption to Sion; In this he handles the comfortable Subject more largely, and tells them that after fome Tears they fhould be reftor'd to the free Exercife of their Religion in the Land for which it was calculated, and fee their Temple again erected on the fame Mountain it stood before, shining with beautiful Splendor, and attracting to it the Nations round about, at which time they should enjoy an uninterrupted courfe of Happiness, and be at peace with their Neighbours, and among themselves: From whence he takes occafion to advise them to be mindful of God's Command, fince their prefent Afflictions were owing to their Sins: He Speaks as if he faw them already in Chains at Babylon, promises to restore them to the Splendor they enjoy'd before, and lets them know if God feem'd at prefent to have forfaken them, it was for their Idolatry and other National Sins. The Confequence of which, even the Babylonian Captivity, he defcribes in a lofty Strain, and very figurative Expreffions.

CHAP. II..

Chapter
II.

Verse 1. HE word that Ifaiah the Son of Amoz Saw concerning Judah and Jerufalem.] The Hebrew, as well as the Greek Authors, ufe indifferently words of one fenfe to exprefs the Acts of another; and this of Sight particularly is us'd in Scripture for all the reft, for Hearing, Touching (a), Smelling (b), and (a) 1 John Tafting (c): And here, I think, our Tranflators adhere 20. 29. too strictly to the Original, as well as the Vulgat, fince (6) Exod. 5. Dabar fignifies a Thing as well as a Word; and may (c) Pfal. 34. therefore be render'd, that which Ifaiah faw, or the 8. word which Isaiah heard, concerning Judah and Ferufa

lem.

21.

« PreviousContinue »