CHAPTER XXIX _Distress of Ariel, or Jerusalem, on Sennacherib's invasion,_ _with manifest allusion, however, to the still greater distress_ _which it suffered from the Romans_, 1-4. _Disappointment and fall of Sennacherib described in terms, like_ _the event, the most awful and terrible_, 5-8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:2. _THERE SHALL BE HEAVINESS AND SORROW_ - "There shall be continual mourning and sorrow"] Instead of your present joy and festivity. _AND IT SHALL BE UNTO ME AS ARIEL_ - "And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar."] That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:3. _AND I WILL CAMP AGAINST THEE ROUND ABOUT_ - "And I will encamp against thee like David"] For כדור _caddur_, some kind of military engine, כדוד _kedavid, like David_, is the reading of the _Septuagint_, two MSS. of _Kennicott's_, if not two more: but though Bishop Lowth adopts thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:4. _AND THY SPEECH SHALL BE LOW OUT OF THE DUST_ - "And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech"] That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:5. _THE MULTITUDE OF THY STRANGERS_ - "The multitude of the proud"] For זריך _zarayich, thy strangers_, read זדים _zedim, the_ _proud_, according to the _Septuagint_; parallel to and synonymous with עריצים _aritsim, the terrible_, in the next line: the ר _resh_ was at first ד _daleth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:7. _AS A DREAM_] This is the beginning of the comparison, which is pursued and applied in the next verse. Sennacherib and his mighty army are not compared to a dream because of their sudden disappearance; but the disappointment of their eager hopes is compared to what happens to a h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:9. _STAY YOURSELVES, AND WONDER_] התמהמהו _hithmahmehu, go on_ _what-what-whatting_, in a state of mental indetermination, till the overflowing scourge take you away. Psalms 119:60. _THEY ARE DRUNKEN, BUT NOT WITH WINE_] Isaiah 51:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:11. _I CANNOT; FOR IT IS SEALED _- "I cannot read it; for it is sealed up."] An ancient MS. and the _Septuagint_ have preserved a word here, lost out of the text; לקרות _likroth_, (for לקראות,) αναγνωναι, _read it_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:13. _THE LORD_ - "JEHOVAH"] For אדני _Adonai_, sixty-three MSS. of _Kennicott's_, and many of _De Rossi's_, and four editions, read יהוה _Yehovah_, and five MSS. add יהוה. _Kimchi_ makes some just observations on this verse. _The vision_, meaning the Divine revelation of all the pro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:17. _AND LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED INTO A FRUITFUL FIELD_ - "Ere Lebanon become like Carmel"] A mashal, or proverbial saying, expressing any great revolution of things; and, when respecting two subjects, an entire reciprocal change: explained here by some interpreters, I think with gr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:21. _HIM THAT REPROVETH IN THE GATE_ - "Him that pleaded in the gate"] "They are heard by the treasurer, master of the horse, and other principal officers of the regency of Algiers, who sit constantly in the gate of the palace for that purpose:" that is, the distribution of justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:22. _WHO REDEEMED ABRAHAM_] As God redeemed Abraham from among idolaters and workers of iniquity, so will he redeem those who hear the words of the Book, and are humbled before him, Isaiah 29:18. _CONCERNING THE HOUSE OF JACOB_ - "The God of the house of Jacob"] I read אל _El_ as a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 29:23. _BUT WHEN HE SEETH HIS CHILDREN, THE WORK OF MINE_ _HANDS__ _- "For when his children shall see the work of my hands"] For בראותו _birotho_ I read בראות _biroth_, with the _Septuagint_ and _Syriac_.... [ Continue Reading ]