CHAPTER XXI _Prediction of the taking of Babylon by the Medes and Persians_ _at the time of a great festival_, 1-9. _Short application of the prophecy to the Jews, partly in the_ _person of God, and partly in his own_, 10. _Obscure prophecy respecting Dumah_, 11, 12. _Prophecy concerning the A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:2. _THE TREACHEROUS DEALER DEALETH TREACHEROUSLY, AND THE_ _SPOILER SPOILETH_ - "The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed."] הבוגד בוגד והשודד שודד _habboged boged vehashshoded_ _shoded_. The MSS. vary in expressing or omitting the ו _vau_, in these four words. _Te... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:5. _PREPARE THE TABLE _- "The table is prepared"] In _Hebrew_ the verbs are in the infinitive mood absolute, as in Ezekiel 1:14: "And the animals ran and returned, רצוא ושוב _ratso veshob_, like the appearance of the lightning;" just as the Latins say, _currere_ _et reverti_, for _cu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:7. _AND HE SAW A CHARIOT_, c. - "And he saw a chariot with two riders a rider on an ass, a rider on a camel"] This passage is extremely obscure from the ambiguity of the term רכב _recheb_, which is used three times, and which signifies a chariot, or any other vehicle, or the rider i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:8. _AND HE CRIED, A LION _- "He that looked out on the watch"] The present reading, אריה _aryeh, a lion_, is so unintelligible, and the mistake so obvious, that I make no doubt that the true reading is הראה _haroeh, the seer_; as the _Syriac_ translator manifestly found it in his cop... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:9. _HERE COMETH A CHARIOT OF MEN_, c. - "A man, one of the two riders"] So the _Syriac_ understands it, and Ephrem Syr.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:10. _O MY THRESHING_] "O thou, the object upon which I shall exercise the severity of my discipline; that shalt lie under my afflicting hand, like corn spread upon the floor to be threshed out and winnowed, to separate the chaff from the wheat!" The image of threshing is frequently u... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:11. _THE BURDEN OF DUMAH_ - "The oracle concerning Dumah."] Pro דומה _Dumah_, Codex R. Meiri habet אדום _Edom_; and so the _Septuagint_, Vid. _Kimchi_ ad h. l. Biblia Michaelis, Halae, 1720, not. ad l. See also _De Rossi_. Bishop _Lowth_ translates the prophecy thus: - 11. THE ORACL... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:13. _THE BURDEN UPON ARABIA_ - "The oracle concerning Arabia"] This title is of doubtful authority. In the first place, because it is not in many of the MSS. of the _Septuagint_; it is in MSS. _Pachom_. and I. D. II. only, as far as I can find with certainty. Secondly, from the sing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:14. _THE LAND OF TEMA_ - "The southern country"] Θαιμαν, _Sept_.; Austri, _Vulg_. They read תימן _teiman_, which seems to be right; for probably the inhabitants of Tema might be involved in the same calamity with their brethren and neighbours of Kedar, and not in a condition to give... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 21:17. _THE ARCHERS, THE MIGHTY MEN OF THE CHILDREN OF_ _KEDAR_ - "The mighty bowmen of the sons of Kedar"] _Sagittariorum_ _fortium, Vulg_.; transposing the two words, and reading גבורי קשה _gibborey kesheth_; which seems to be right. The strong men of the bow, the most excellent arche... [ Continue Reading ]