CHAPTER XLIV _This chapter, besides promises of redemption, of the effusion_ _of the Spirit, and success of the Gospel_, 1-5, _sets forth, in a very sublime manner, the supreme power and_ _foreknowledge, and absolute eternity, of the one true God; and_ _exposes the folly and absurdity of idolat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:2. _JESURUN_] Jeshurun means Israel. This name was given to that people by Moses, Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 33:5, Deuteronomy 33:26. The most probable account of it seems to be that in which the Jewish commentators agree; namely, that it is derived from ישר _yashar_, and signif... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:4. _THEY SHALL SPRING UP AS AMONG THE GRASS_ - "They shall spring up as the grass among the waters"] בבין חציר _bebeyn_ _chatsir_, "They shall spring up _in the midst of_, or rather, _in_ _among, the grass_." This cannot be right: _eleven_ MSS., and _thirteen_ editions, have כבין _ke... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:5. _SHALL CALL HIMSELF_ - "Shall be called"] Passive, יקרא _yikkare_; κληθησεται, _Symmachus_. _ANOTHER SHALL SUBSCRIBE WITH HIS HAND UNTO THE LORD_ - "This shall inscribe his hand to JEHOVAH"] Και ἑτερος επιγραψει χειρι (χειρα, _Aq., Sym_.) αυτου, Του Θεου ειμι· "And another shal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:7. _LET THEM SHOW UNTO THEM _- "Let them declare unto us."] For למו _lamo_, unto _them_, the _Chaldee_ reads לנו _lanu_, unto _us_. The _Septuagint_ read לכם _lachem_, unto _you_; which is preferable to the reading of the text. But למו _lamo_, and לנו _lanu_, are frequently mistaken... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:8. _FEAR YE NOT_] תרהו _tirehu_ never occurs. Perhaps it should be תיראו _tireu_, _fear ye_. Two MSS. read תהרו _tirehu,_ and one of mine _taharu_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:9. _THAT THEY MAY BE ASHAMED. WHO HATH FORMED A_ _GOD_ - "That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a god"] The _Bodleian_ MS., one of the first extant for its antiquity and authority, instead of מי _mi_, at the beginning of the _tenth_ verse, has כי _ki_, which greatly cle... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:10. Isaiah 44:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:11. _HIS FELLOWS_] חבריו _chaberaiv_: but עבדיו _abadaiv,_ _his servants_ or _worshippers_, is the reading of one of _De Rossi's_ MSS., and of the _Chaldee_. _AND THE WORKMEN, THEY_ ARE _OF MEN_ - "Even the workmen themselves shall blush"] I do not know that any one has ever yet in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:12. _THE SMITH WITH THE TONGS, C._ - "The smith cutteth off a portion of iron"] מעצד _meatstsed_, Participium Pihel of עצד _atsad, to cut_ still used in that sense in the _Arabic_. See _Simonis_ Lex. Heb. The _Septuagint_ and _Syriac_ take the word in this form: but they render it _s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:14. _HE HEWETH HIM DOWN _- "He heweth down"] For לכרת _lichroth_, the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_ read כרת _carath_ or יכרת _yichroth_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:16. _WITH PART _- "AND with part"] _Twenty-three_ MSS., the _Septuagint_, and _Vulgate_ add the conjunction ו _vau_, and ועל _veal_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:17. _HE FALLETH DOWN UNTO IT_] There were _four_ forms of adoration used among the Hebrews: 1. השתחוה HISHTACHAVAH, The prostration of the whole body. 2. קדד KADAD, The bowing of the head. 3. כרע CARA, The bending of the upper part of the body down to the knees. 4. ברך BARACH, Bo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:18. _HE HATH SHUT THEIR EYES _- "Their eyes are closed up"] The _Septuagint, Chaldee_, and _Vulgate_, for טח _tach_, read טחו, _tachu_. Isaiah 6:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:20. _HE FEEDETH ON ASHES_] He feedeth on that which affordeth no nourishment; a proverbial expression for using ineffectual means, and bestowing labour to no purpose. In the same sense Hosea says, "Ephraim feedeth on wind." Hosea 12:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:22. _I HAVE BLOTTED OUT, AS A THICK CLOUD, THY_ _TRANSGRESSIONS, AND, AS A CLOUD, THY SINS_ - "I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a cloud, and thy sins like a vapour"] _Longinus_ admired the sublimity of the sentiment, as well as the harmony of the numbers, in the follow... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:24. _BY MYSELF_] _Thirteen_ MSS., six ancient, confirm the reading of the _Keri_, מאתי meittai.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:27. _THAT SAITH TO THE DEEP, BE DRY_ - "Who saith to the deep, Be thou wasted"] Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 44:28. _THAT SAITH OF CYRUS, HE_ IS _MY SHEPHERD_ - "Who saith to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd"] _Pastor meus_ es; _Vulg_. The true reading seems to be רעי אתה _roi attah_; the word אתה _attah_, has probably been dropped out of the text. The same word is lost out of the text, Psalms 119:... [ Continue Reading ]