CHAPTER LXIV _The whole of this chapter, which is very pathetic and tender,_ _may be considered as a formulary of prayer and humiliation_ _intended for the Jews in order to their conversion_, 1-12. NOTES ON CHAP. LXIV Verse Isaiah 64:1. _O that thou wouldest rend the heavens _- This seems to al... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:2. _AS WHEN THE MELTING FIRE BURNETH_ - "As the fire kindleth the dry fuel"] המסים _hamasim_. "It means _dry stubble_, and the root is המס _hamas_," says _Rabbi Jonah_, apud _Sal. ben Melec_ in loc. Which is approved by _Schultens_, Orig. Heb. p. 30. "The fire kindling the stubble d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:4. _FOR SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD_ MEN _HAVE NOT_ _HEARD_ - "For never have men heard"] St. Paul is generally supposed to have quoted this passage of Isaiah, Isaiah 64:1; Isaiah 2:9; and Clemens Romanus in his first epistle has made the same quotation, very nearly in the same... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:5. _THOU MEETEST HIM THAT REJOICETH AND WORKETH_ _RIGHTEOUSNESS_ - "Thou meetest with joy those who work righteousness"] The _Syriac_ reads פוגע אתה שש בעשי _poga attah_ _shesh baashi_, as above. _IN THOSE IS CONTINUANCE, AND WE SHALL BE SAVED_ - "Because of our deeds, for we have... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:6. _AS FILTHY RAGS_] עדים _iddim_. Rab. Mosheh ben Maimon interpretatur עדים _iddim_, vestes quibus mulier se abstergit post congressum cum marito suo. _Alii_ pannus menstruatus. _Alii_ panni mulieris parientis. - _And we ben made as unclene alle we: and as the_ _cloth of the woman r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:7. THERE IS _NONE_] Twelve MSS. have אין _ein_, without the conjunction ו _vau_ prefixed; and so read the _Chaldee_ and _Vulgate_. _AND HAST CONSUMED US BECAUSE OF OUR INIQUITIES _- "And hast delivered us up into the hands of our iniquities."] For ותמוגנו _vattemugenu_, "hast dissol... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:8. _BUT, NOW, O LORD, THOU_ ART _OUR FATHER_ - "But thou, O JEHOVAH, thou art our Father"] For ועתה _veattah, and now_, five MSS., one of them ancient, and the two oldest editions, 1486 and 1488, have ואתה _veattah, and thou_; and so the _Chaldee_ seems to have read. The repetition h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 64:9. _NEITHER REMEMBER INIQUITY_] For לעד תזכר _laad tizcor_, one of my MSS. has לעד תקצף _laad tiktsoph_, "be not _angry_," as in the preceding clause. This has been partially obliterated, and תזכר _tizcor_, written in the margin by a later hand: but this MS. abounds with words of thi... [ Continue Reading ]