Moses, and commune with him, and would meet with the means the place אהל מועד or הר מועד,people. Therefore appointed by God, where he would present himself; agreeably to which I have rendered it, in this place, the mount of the divine presence. 19. —like the tree abominated]— That is, as an object of abomination and detestation; such as the tree is on which a malefactor has been hanged. "It is written," saith St Paul, Gal. iii. 13. "Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree;' from Deut. xxi. 23. The Jews therefore held also as accursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had been executed, or on which he had been hanged after having been put to death by stoning. "Non suspendunt super arbore, quæ radicibus solo adhæreat; sed super ligno eradicato, ut ne sit excisio molesta: nam lignum, super quo fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepelitur; ne maneat illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in quo suspensus est ille, derva. Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit lapidatus; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus; et sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulatus; omnia hæc cum iis, qui perierunt, sepeliuntur:" Maimonides, apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat. xvi. An. 34. Num. 134. "Cum itaque homo suspensus maxima esset abominationi— Judæi quoque præ cæteris abominabantur lignum quo fuerat suspensus, ita ut illud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem abominabilem. Unde Interpres Chaldæus hæc verba transtulit, sicut virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum:" Kalinski, Vaticinia Observationibus illustrata, p. 342. Agreeably to which, Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiast. i. 17, 18. in his account of the finding of the cross by Helena, says, that the three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our Lord's sepulchre. Ibid. clothed with the slain.] Thirty-five MSS (ten ancient,) and three editions, have the word fully written, was. It is not a noun, but the participle passive: thrown out among the common slain, and covered with the dead bodies. So ver. 11. the earth-worm is said to be his bedcovering. 20. Because thou hast destroyed thy country; thou hast slain thy people.] Xenophon gives an instance of this king's wanton cruelty in killing the son of Gobrias, on no other provocation than that, in hunting, he struck a boar and a lion, which the king had missed: Cyrop. iv. p. 309. 23. I will plunge it-] I have here very nearly followed the version of the LXX: the reasons for which see in the last note on De Poesi Hebr. Prælect. xxviii. 25. To crush the Assyrian-on my mountains] The Assyrians and Babylonians are the same people: Herod. i. 199, 200. Babylon is reckoned the principal city in Assyria: ibid. 178. Strabo says the same thing; lib. xvi. sub. init. The circumstance of this judgment's being to be executed on God's mountains is of importance: it may mean the destruction of Senacherib's army near Jerusalem; and have still a further view: Compare Ezek. xxxix. 4.; and see Lowth on this place of Isaiah. 28. Uzziah had subdued the Philistines, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6,7.; but taking advantage of the weak reign of Ahaz, they invaded Judea, and took and held in possession some cities in the southern part of the kingdom. On the death of Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy, threatening them with the destruction that Hezekiah, his son, and great-grandson of Uzziah, should bring upon them: which he effected; for "he smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof;" 2 Kings xviii. 8. Uzziah therefore must be meant by the rod that smote them, and by the serpent, from whom should spring the flying fiery serpent; that is, Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had been. 30.he will slay] The LXX read, in the third person, aveλe; and so Chald. The Vulgate remedies the confusion of persons in the present text, by reading both the verbs in the first person. 31. From the north cometh a smoke]- That is, a cloud of dust, raised by the march of Hezekiah's army against Philistia; which lay to the south-west from Jerusalem. A great dust raised has, at a distance, the appearance of smoke: "fumantes pulvere campi :" Virg. Æn. xi. 908. 32. —to the ambassadors of the nations] The LXX read D", vv, plural; and so the Chaldee, and one MS. The ambassadors of the neighbouring nations, that send to congratulate Hezekiah on his success; which in his answer he will ascribe to the protection of God. See 2 Chron. xxxii. 23. Or, if ", singular, the reading of the text, be preferred, the ambassadors sent by the Philistines to demand peace. CHAPTER XV. THIS and the following chapter, taken together, makę one entire prophecy, very improperly divided into two parts. The time of the delivery, and consequently of the completion of it, which was to be in three years from that time, is uncertain; the former not being marked in the prophecy itself, nor the latter recorded in history. But the most probable account is, that it was delivered soon after the foregoing, in the first year of Hezekiah; and that it was accomplished in his fourth year, when Shalmaneser invaded the kingdom of Israel. He might probably march through Moab; and, to secure every thing behind him, possess himself of the whole country, by taking their principal strong places, Ar and Kirhares. Jeremiah has happily introduced much of this prophecy of Isaiah into his own larger prophecy against the same people in his xlviiith chapter; denouncing God's judgments on Moab, subsequent to the calamity here foretold, and to be executed by Nebuchadnezzar: by which means several mistakes in the present text of both Prophets may be rectified. 1. Because in the night. That both these cities should be taken in the night, is a circumstance somewhat unusual; and not so material as to deserve to be so strongly insisted upon. Vitringa, by his remark on this word, shows that he was dissatisfied with it in its plain and obvious meaning; and is forced to have recourse to a very hard metaphorical interpretation of it: "Noctu, vel nocturno impetu; vel metaphorice, repente, subito, inexpectata destructione: placet posterius." Calmet conjectures, and I think it probable, that the true reading is 55. There are many mistakes in the Hebrew text arising from the very great similitude of the letters and, which in many MSS, and even in some printed editions, are hardly distinguishable. Admitting this reading, the translation will be: Because Ar is utterly destoyed, Moab is undone! 2. Beth-Dibon:-] This is the name of one place, and the two words are to be joined together, without the inter vening: so Chald. and Syr. ראשיו Ibid. on every head] For UN read N. So the parallel place, Jer. xlviii. 37. and so three MSS (one an .על כל ראש cient). An ancient MS reads Ibid. On every head there is baldness, and every beard is shorn.] Herodotus ii. 36. speaks of it as a general practice among all men, except the Egyptians, to cut off their hair as a token of mourning. "Cut off thy hair and cast it away," says Jeremiah, vii. 29. “and take up a lamentation.” Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οίζύροισι βροτοισι Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλέειν τ' απο δακρυ πάρειων, Hom.Od.iv.197. "The rites of woe Are all, alas! the living can bestow; O'er the congenial dust enjoin'd to shear The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear." Pope, Ibid. shorn-] The printed editions, as well as the MSS, are divided on the reading of this word: some have ר The similitude of the letter and .גרעה others גדועה has like wise occasioned many mistakes. In the present case, the sense is pretty much the same with either reading. The text of Jer. xlviii. 37. has the latter. 4. the very loins-] So the LXX, ǹorpus, and Syr. They cry out violently, with their utmost force. 5. The heart of Moab crieth within her.] For 5, LXX Syr. reads בריחיה For .לבו .the Chald :לב or ,לבו read ; and so likewise the LXX, rendering it ev aury, Edit. Vat. or urn, Edit. Alex. and MS 1. D. II. Ibid. a young heifer] Heb. a heifer three years old, in full strength; as Horace uses equa trima for a young mare just coming to her prime. Bochart observes from Aristotle, Hist. Animal. lib. iv., that, in this kind of animals alone, the voice of the female is deeper than that of the male; therefore the lowing of the heifer, rather than of the bullock, is chosen by the Prophet as the properer image to express the mourning of Moab. But I must add, that the expression here is very short and obscure, and the opinions of interpreters are various in regard to the meaning. Compare Jer. xlviii. 34. Ibid. they shall ascend] For by, LXX and a MS read in the plural. And from this passage the parallel place in Jer. xlviii. 5. must be corrected; where, for "y", יעלה בו which gives no good sense, read 7. shall perish] 178, or 7738. This word seems to have been lost out of the text: it is supplied by the parallel place, Jer. xlviii. 36. Syr. expresses it by y, præteriit; and Chald. by man, diripientur. Ibid. to the valley of willows.] That is, to Babylon. Hieron. and Jarchi in loc. both referring to Psal. cxxxvii. 2. So likewise Prideaux, Le Clerc, &c. 9. Upon the escaped of Moab and Ariel, and the remnant of Admah.] The LXX for TN read N. As Moab was called also Ariel or Areopolis; Hieron. and Theodoret. See Cellarius. They make also a proper name. Michaelis thinks that the Moabites might be called the remnant of Admah, as sprung from Lot and his daughters escaped from the destruction of that and the other cities; or metaphorically, as the Jews are called the princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, chap. i. 10. Bibliothek Orient. Part V. p. 195. The reading of this verse is very doubtful; and the sense, in every way in which it can be read, very obscure. CHAPTER XVI. 1. I will send forth the son-] Both the reading and meaning of this verse are still more doubtful than those of the preceding. The LXX and Syr. read bws, in the first person sing. future tense: the Vulg. and Talmud Babylon, read b, sing. imperative. The Syr. for reads 12, which is confirmed by one MS, and perhaps by a second. The two first verses describe the distress of Moab on the Assyrian invasion; in which even the son of the prince of the country is represented as forced to flee for his life. through the desert, that he may escape to Judea; and the young women are driven forth, like young birds cast out of the nest, and endeavouring to wade through the fords of the river Arnon. 3. Impart counsel-] The Vulg. renders the verbs in the beginning of this verse in the singular number. So the Keri; and so likewise many MSS have it, and some editions, and Syr. The verbs throughout the verse are also in the feminine gender; agreeing with Sion, which I suppose to be understood. 4. the outcasts of Moab-] Setting the points aside, this is by much the most obvious construction of the Hebrew, as well as most agreeable to the context, and the design of the Prophet. And it is confirmed by the LXX, oi quyades Mwab, et Syr. Ibid. the oppressor—] Perhaps the Israelites; who in the time of Ahaz invaded Judah, defeated his army, slay |