CHAPTER XVII _Judgments of God upon Damascus_, 1-3; _and upon Israel_, 4-6. _Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or_ _gleaning that should escape them_, 7, 8. _The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms,_ _and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God_, 9-11. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:2. _THE CITIES OF AROER ARE FORSAKEN_ - "The cities are deserted for ever"] What has Aroer on the river Arnon to do with Damascus? and if there be another Aroer on the northern border of the tribe of Gad, as Reland seems to think there might be, this is not much more to the purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:3. _THE REMNANT OF SYRIA _- "The pride of Syria."] For שאר _shear_, "remnant," _Houbigant_ reads שאת _seeth_, "pride," answering, as the sentence seems evidently to require, to כבוד _cabod_, "the glory of Israel." The conjecture is so very probable that I venture to follow it. _AS T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:4. _IN THAT DAY_] That is, says _Kimchi_, the time when the ten tribes of Israel, which were _the glory of Jacob_, should be carried into captivity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:5. _AS WHEN THE HARVESTMAN GATHERETH _- "As when one gathereth"] That is, the king of Assyria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the reaper strippeth off the whole crop of corn; and the remnant shall be no more in proportion than the scattered ears left to the gleaner.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:8. _THE ALTARS, THE WORK OF HIS HANDS _- "The altars dedicated to the work of his hands"] The construction of the words, and the meaning of the sentence, in this place are not obvious; all the ancient Versions, and most of the modern, have mistaken it. The word מעשה _maaseh_, "the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:9. _AS A FORSAKEN BOUGH, AND AN UPPERMOST BRANCH_ - "the Hivites and the Amorites"] החרש והאמיר _hachoresh vehaamir_. No one has ever yet been able to make any tolerable sense of these words. The translation of the _Septuagint_ has happily preserved what seems to be the true reading... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:10. _STRANGE SLIPS _- "Shoots from a foreign soil."] The pleasant plants, and shoots from a foreign soil, are allegorical expressions for strange and idolatrous worship; vicious and abominable practices connected with it; reliance on human aid, and on alliances entered into with the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:12. _WO TO THE MULTITUDE_] The three last verses of this chapter seem to have no relation to the foregoing prophecy, to which they are joined. It is a beautiful piece, standing singly and by itself; for neither has it any connexion with what follows: whether it stands in its right pl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 17:14. _HE IS NOT _- "He is no more."] For איננו _einennu_ ten MSS. of Dr. _Kennicott's_, (three ancient,) ten of _De Rossi's_, and two editions, and the _Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate_, and _Arabic_, have ואיננו _veeinenno_. This particle, authenticated by so many good vouchers,... [ Continue Reading ]