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Chapter
VIII.

Ver. 17. And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.] Ifaiah profeffes his Refolution of depending intirely upon God, notwithstanding the vifible figns of his displeasure against his People, and the difincouragement he met in his Miftry from their Obftinacy.

Ver. 18. Behold, I and the Children whom the Lord hath given me, are for figns, and for wonders in Ifrael; from the Lord of hofts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.] Tho' thou haft commanded the Roll to be fhut up, because of the Infidelity of thy People, yet I and my Children fhall, by our Names, keep up the Spirits of the Vertuous; as often as they hear Ifaiah mention'd, it will put them in mind of Salvation; as often as the Name of Searjashub founds in their Ears, they will be affur'd that a Remnant shall be preferv'd, Immanuel will put them in mind of God's Protection, and Maher-fhalal-chafh-baz of the quick deftruction of their Enemies.

Ver. 19. And when they shall fay unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar fpirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: fhould not a people feek, unto their God? for the living to the dead?] By the example of Saul, we fee how natural it is to have recourfe to pretended Diviners; and 'tis not unlikely, when they first heard of this Confederacy, the Jews were curious to inquire of its fuccefs at the Mouth of fuch Impoftors, against which the Prophet here warns them.

Ver. 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.] Here the Prophet tells them where they should apply themselves, if they had a mind to receive fatisfation, as to the Event of this Expedition: Let them have recourse to the Law and to the Teftimony; thofe Instructions I have now given them, and that Teftimony of my Veracity which I fhew'd them. But this Interpretation feems to restrain the words too much, which may fairly be understood of the Word of God in general, contain'd in the Sacred Records at that time written or deliver'd to them by word of Mouth, by the Ministry of his Prophets. If they runcounter to thefe, it is because there is no light in them; that is, no Knowledge or Understanding,

derstanding, but the words may be render'd, The morn

Chapter ing Light fhall not arife unto them. (a) Il ny aura point de VIII. matin pour lui (i. e.) de paix & de profperite: And this feems

to be the true meaning of the words rather than the (a) Diodati. former, because the defign of the Prophet being to terrify them from unlawful Divinations, a denunciation of temporal Judgments, comprehended under the Idea of Darkness, would be more effectual to the purpose, than a bare declaration of their Ignorance or fpiritual Blindnefs.

Ver. 21, 22. And they shall pass through it, hardly beftead and hungry, and it fhall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they fhall fret themselves, and curfe their king, and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the Earth: and behold, trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they fhall be driven to darkness.] In the Hebrew, He fhall pass, where we have a Verb without a Nominative Cafe; which is eafily fupply'd by what went before: The Prophet had in the 20th Verfe threaten'd those who, diftrufting his Providence, fhould have recourfe to unlawful Divinations, that they fhould have no Profperity: In this he gives a lively defcription of the wretchedness they should, be reduced to; They fhall wander to and fro about their Country, being hunted from place to place by Foreign Enemies, half ftarv'd with Hunger, and pierced through with Cold, curfing their impotent King for not protecting them, and imputing to him all their Calamities, looking to Heaven for Help, but not a glimpse of Comfort thence, and nothing but Darkness and Horror below. And to aggravate their Mifery, and make their Condition appear ftill more difmal, he tells them they should be furrounded with the Darkuefs of d a Dungeon, fuch as is to be met with in the close Confinement of condemned Malefactors.

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Chapter
IX.

The ARGUMENT of Chapter IX.

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In the last Verfe of the preceding Chapter the Prophet set forth
thofe Calamities which should befal the Jewish Nation, by
the Incurfion of Sennacherib, under the Metaphor of
Darkness; In this be gives them fome Comfort, and tells
them that this Darkness, or state of Affliction, should not be
fo
great as their Brethren of Ifrael fhould undergo, of which
be fpeaks, because of the certainty thereof, as if it had al-
ready befallen them; This turn must be given the words, be-
cause this Chapter is manifeftly a Continuation of the fame
Prophecy as the two preceding Chapters, and was deliver'd
by the Prophet at the fame time, toward the beginning of
the Reign of Ahaz, at which time the Calamities here re-
ferr'd to had not befallen the Kingdom of Ifrael. At the
8th Verfe he returns to the deftruction of the Ifraelites, to-
ward which he tells them the Syrians,' their Allies, on one
band, and the Philistines on the other, fhould contribute
and their inteftine Animofities facilitate their Reduction't
We cannot frew the exact fulfilling of this particular Cir
cumftance, of the Affyrians devouring Ifrael, for want of
Light from Hiftory; but it is very probable Rezin King of
Syria being flain, and that Nation fubdu'd by Tiglath Pi-
lefer, the Affyrians might force them to fenue in their
Wars against Ifrael, or they be ready to take fo favoura
ble an opportunity to fhew their natural hatred of them,
which they difguis'd out of mere Policy as long as they were
in Alliance with them...

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Verse 1.

CHAP. IX.

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Evertheless, the dimness shall not be fuck as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the fea, beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations.] Which way foever this Verfe be interpreted, there is a manifeft Connexion of it with the foregoing Chapter; where having been defcribing the Mifery to which the Jews

fhould

Chapter

IX.

fhould be reduced; in this he carries on the fame Metaphor of Darkness, which fhall not be fo great, he tells them, as fhall be at the Vexation of the Land of Ifrael, when first he shall lightly afflict the Land of Naphtali and Zebulun, faffering the Affyrian Invader to carry fome of their Inhabitants into Captivity: This is more than God at prefent defigns to bring upon the Land of Judah, much lefs will he fuffer them to be intirely cut off, as the Ifraelites were, when God feeing his former light Punishment had no effect on that hardned Nation, fhall afterward more grievously afflict her by the hand of Salmanazar, who fhall carry the remaining part of the Nation left by his Predeceffor into Captivity, and quite diffolve the frame of that Kingdom: Now neither of thefe Afflictions were light of themselves, but the first may be reckon'd fo in comparison of the other; and the dimnefs of Judah, or the Affliction that Nation was to undergo, is faid not to be as great as both conjointly. As if the Prophet had faid, Yet fhall not the Affliction of Judah, by Sennacherib, be fo grievous as the Affliction of Ifrael by Tiglath Pilefer and Salmanazar: For Tiglath Pilefer fhall begin to destroy the Ifraelites, and fhall carry part of them into Captivity; and what he began, Salmanazar fhall make an end of, and quite overthrow that Monarchy; but Sennacherib fhall not be able to deal thus with the Jews; for tho' he fhall over-run all Judea, yet he fhall not prevail against Jerufalem; but after I have made my People feel the fhort effect of my Indignation, they fhall rejoyce at the miraculous Over-throw of the grand Disturber of their Repofe. This (a) is the genuin Senfe (a) Grotius, of this; and, I think, by what follows in this Chapter, Vatablus, the Prophet muft of neceflity be understood of the In Moller, Fanvafion of Judea by Sennacherib, which fhould be attended fenius, Lyrawith very bad Confequences, but not fo bad as the Incurfions of his Predeceffors on their Brethren of Ifrael. The Sea here fpoken of is the Sea of Tiberias, otherwife called the Lake of Gennefareth; and by the way of the Sea is meant that Tract of Land which lies on the other fide of that Lake:

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nus, Sasbout.

Chapter

IX.

Ver. 2. The people that walked in darkness, have feen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light fhined.] The Prophet speaks, fays Gataker, in a prophetical manner, of things to come as already effected: By the People walking in Darkness, he means the Jews fhut up in Jerufalem, furrounded by a great Army, and by the Light which they should be refresh'd with, at the breaking, as it were, of the thick Clouds about them, their marvellous deliverance from an Enemy, to whom they must have fubmitted in a hort time, if God had not fo feasonably stept in between them and Danger.

Ver. 3. Thou haft multiplied the nation, and not increafed the joy: they joy before thee, according to the joy in barveft, and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil.] Moft Interpreters fuppofe the Prophet directs his Speech to Sennacherib, as if he spoke to him at the head of his Troops from the Walls of Jerufalem. Thou haft gather'd a migh ty Army together out of different Nations, and art full of Affurance, and confident of fuccefs; but thou fhalt have no reason to triumph, for while thy Forces furround the City, the Inhabitants, fecure of their God's Protection, hall rejoyce before thee, according to the joy in harvest. But if inftead of the Negative Particle, the Re lative Article Lo be read, (as the Mafforeths in feveral places allow they are confounded) the fenfe will be more eafy and natural. Thou, O God, fhalt multiply the exhaufted Nation of the Jews, and encrease the Joy of it, they fhall joy before thee, according to the joy of harvest, and as victorious Soldiers rejoyce when they divide the spoil. He fpeaks of the Jews coop'd up in their City, who should cheerfully depend on God's Protection, and be fo far from trembling at the fight of Sennacherib and his Army, that they fhould rejoyce with as hearty a Joy as is to be feen among the induftrious Swains when the Toil of Harvest is over with them; or fuch a Joy as fills the Soldier's Heart when the Tumult of Battle is over, and nothing remains but to divide the Spoil.

Ver. 4. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the faff of his fhoulder; the rod of his oppreffor, as in the day of Midian.] That is, thou shalt break the Force of this proud

infult

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