Isaiah 17

14:1-23. The destruction of Babylon is again foretold, and more explicitly connected with the deliverance of Israel from bondage. After a general assurance of God’s favor to His people, and of an exchange of conditions between them and their oppressors, they are represented as joining in a song of triumph over their fallen enemy. In this song, which is universally admitted to possess the highest literary merit, they describe the earth as again reposing from its agitation and affliction, and then breaking forth into a shout of exultation, in which the very trees of the forest join (verses 1-8). By a still bolder figure, the unseen world is represented as perturbed at the approach of the fallen tyrant, who is met, as he enters, by the kings already there, amazed to find him sunk as low as themselves and from a still greater height of actual elevation and of impious pretensions, which are strongly contrasted with his present condition, as deprived not only of regal honors, but of decent burial (verses 9-20). The threatening is then extended to the whole race, and the prophecy closes as before with a prediction of the total desolation of Babylon (verses 21-23).

1. This verse declares God’s purpose in destroying the Babylonian power. For Jehovah will pity (or have mercy upon) Jacob, and will again choose Israel and cause them to rest on their (own) land—and the stranger shall be joined to them—and they shall be attached to the house of Jacob. Jacob and Israel are here used for the whole race. Umbreit correctly understands this not as a mere promise of temporal deliverance and increase to Israel as a nation, but as an assurance that the preservation of the chosen people was a necessary means for the fulfilment of God’s purposes of mercy to mankind in general. The literal fulfilment of the last clause in its primary sense is clear from such statements as the one in Esther 8:17.

3. In this verse and the following context the prophet, in order to reduce the general promise of the foregoing verse to a more graphic and impressive form, recurs to the downfall of Babylon, as the beginning of the series of deliverances which he had predicted, and describes the effect upon those most concerned, by putting into the mouth of Israel a song of triumph over their oppressor. This is universally admitted to be one of the finest specimens of Hebrew and indeed of ancient composition.

4. That thou shalt raise this song over the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden (city) ceased! The king here introduced is an ideal personage, whose downfall represents that of the Babylonian monarchy.

7. At rest, quiet, is the whole earth. They burst forth into singing (or a shout of joy). There is no inconsistency between the clauses, as the first is not descriptive of silence, but of tranquillity and rest. The land had rest is a phrase employed in the Book of Judges (e.g., 5:31) to describe the condition of the country after a great national deliverance. A.—Babylon had subdued all the great powers of Western Asia and Northern Africa—i.e., the whole earth as known to the Jews. When she fell they all breathed freely, and felt themselves at rest. Joyful in the thought of no more servitude to a power so oppressive, they break forth in exultant song. H. C.

8. Not only the earth and its inhabitants take part in this triumphant song or shout, but the trees of the forest. Also the cypresses rejoice with respect to thee—the cedars of Lebanon—(saying) now that thou art fallen, the feller shall not come up against us. Now that we are safe from Thee, we fear no other enemy. The only meaning of these figures that seems consistent with a pure taste is the one proposed by Calvin, who supposes this to be merely a part of one great picture, representing universal nature as rejoicing. The symbolical and mechanical interpretations are as much out of place here as they would be in a thousand splendid passages of classical and modern poetry, where no one yet has ever dreamed of applying them. Both here and elsewhere in the sacred books, inanimate Nature is personified, and speaks herself instead of being merely spoken of.

9. The bold personification is now extended from the earth and its forests to the invisible or lower world, the inhabitants of which are represented as aroused at the approach of the new victim and as coming forth to meet him. Hell from beneath is moved (in commotion) for thee to meet thee (at) thy coming—it rouses for thee the giants (the gigantic shades or spectres), all the chief ones of the earth—it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. A.—The regions of the dead are laid open, and Hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the departed monarchs; they rise from their thrones to meet the king of Babylon at his coming, and insult him on his being reduced to the same estate of impotence and dissolution with themselves. This is one of the boldest figures that ever was attempted in poetry, and is executed with astonishing brevity, perspicuity, and force. This image of the state of the dead is taken from the Eastern custom of burying, those at least of higher rank, in large sepulchral vaults hewn in the rock. We must form to ourselves an idea of an immense subterraneous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all round the sides of which there are cells to receive the dead bodies; here the deceased monarchs lie, in a distinguished sort of state, each on his couch, with his arms beside him and his sword at his head. (See Ezek. 32:27.) These illustrious shades rise at once from their couches, as from their thrones, and advance to the entrance of the cavern, to meet the king of Babylon and to taunt him on his fall. Bp. Lowth.

12. The word hēilēl, rendered Lucifer in the Authorized Version, from the root halal, to shine, here describes the king of Babylon as a shining morning star, to be cast down suddenly from the height of worldly splendor. The frequent application of the words to Satan, and his fall from heaven, is certainly not the direct and proper meaning of the passage. But the analogy is so close between the character of the proud king of Babylon and the lost archangel, the king over all the children of pride, between this political judgment and the revealed warning of our Lord Himself (Luke 10:18), as fully to vindicate this frequent use of the words from the charge of being a gross perversion of the text. The resemblance is very full and complete, both in sin and punishment, between the human and angelic leaders in pride and rebellion, and is fully confirmed by the later prophecies of the New Testament (Rev. 12:9-12; 20:3, 10). Birks.—Tertullian and other fathers, Gregory the Great, and the scholastic commentators, regarding Luke 10:18 as an explanation of this verse, apply it to the fall of Satan, from which has arisen the popular perversion of the beautiful name Lucifer, to signify the devil. Erroneous as this exposition is, it scarcely deserves the severe reprehension which some later commentators give it who receive with great indulgence exegetical hypotheses much more absurd. A.

13. The fall of this proud king was the more fearful by reason of his lofty and even blasphemous pretensions and aspirations. Not satisfied with surpassing everything human and eclipsing all the glory of earth, he had said in his heart, “I will ascend even to heaven itself; I will set my throne above the very stars of God; I will be like the Most High!” The remains of his palace are to-day a huge mass of ruins, sufficing, however, to show that when in their glory they lacked nothing that human genius and the resources of the conqueror of the world could command.

18-20. To heighten his infamy, the prophet represents him as lying unburied, or, if once buried, as being disinterred, exposed, and denied the honors of a decent burial. Through all the ancient world, Jewish or heathen, no infamy or misfortune could exceed that of being denied the honors of interment. Here the king of Babylon is put in contrast with other kings. They all lie in state, every one in his sepulchre, in the “house” appointed for all the living, and often in magnificent tombs, fitted up with immense labor and cost, and with the utmost display; but Chaldea’s proud and cruel king is thrust out as a thing despised, even as the clothing of slain men all bloodstained and polluted, like a carcass to be trodden under every foot. He goes to this doom of infamy because he has destroyed his own land, and slain his own people; his haughty and cruel administration having proved the ruin not of his people only, but of his country, their “land.” The direct enumeration of the points and features of his infamy closes off with a general principle or law of the moral universe: The race of evil-doers shall never be in honor. The posterity of those who are mighty only to do wrong, who have aspirations only in the line of supreme selfishness, must go down to utter infamy. H. C.

21. The dramatic form of the prediction is repeatedly shifted, so that the words of the triumphant Jews, of the dead, of the prophet, and of God Himself, succeed each other insensibly, without any attempt to make the points of transition prominent. A.—Here the prophet lays aside the dramatic figures of the song, and speaks in his own person, denouncing the utter extinction of the guilty dynasty. “After the storming of Babylon by the Medes, the kingdom and royal house, established by Nabopolassar, vanished entirely from history. The last shoot of the royal family was slain as a child of conspirators.” Birks.

22. So was the event. From the first blow struck by Cyrus in the conquest of the city, that kingdom in fact never rose again to power; never regained possession of its former territory; never overspread the earth with its dependent subject cities. This special and striking prophecy that no name or remnant, son or nephew of that fated dynasty should ever rise again to power, has been definitely and undeniably fulfilled. No scion of that royal house ever again sat on the throne of Babylon. Reverting to the strain of these predictions of ruin on the proud monarch of Babylon as culminating in his doom in Sheol, it will be seen that the prophet not only alludes to this after life as a terrible retribution for his sins, but he makes this the fundamental idea of the whole scene. No other one thought is so central; none other so pervades the whole description as this—Retribution for human pride and impiety toward God: Retribution for oppression and wrong toward man. It must be admitted that such and so much prominence must fairly represent both the doctrine taught by the Spirit of God and the views held by the good men of that age, in regard to the state of the wicked after death. H. C.

24-27. There is here a climax which marks strongly the unity of the whole. For in verse 21 we have a prophetic warning; in verses 22, 23 its confirmation by the Lord of Hosts Himself; and here, in verses 24, 28, not only the voice of the Lord of Hosts, but His solemn oath predictive of coming judgment. All creatures are challenged to show whether they can reverse His firm decree or turn back His almighty hand. The warnings and burdens of the more distant future are used to deepen and confirm the certainty of that great visitation, which was nearer at hand, and forms the main central thought in these earlier prophecies. The sore judgment on the Assyrian would also be a gracious reprieve to the kingdom of Judah before its fall, a typical redemption, a pledge of the full and final deliverance in days to come. Birks.—This passage predicts briefly the destruction of the Assyrian army in the Lord’s land. The locality “upon my mountains” corresponds with the prophetic account in chap. 10:28-34, the mountainous region near Jerusalem. It is introduced here to impress strongly the fact that what the Lord purposes He surely performs. Let this prediction against Assyria stand as a sample—an illustrative case—of the certain connection between prediction and fulfilment; between the Lord’s purpose and its execution. In the case of the Assyrian hosts, the fatal blow followed close upon the prophetic word. After it fell, the example would stand before the nation as a solemn voucher for the truth of these predicted judgments on Babylon. Nor is the analogy restricted to the single point of certain fulfilment upon God’s enemies. It covered also another point: deliverance to God’s people. When that blow fell on Assyria, it struck the yoke from the neck of the Lord’s people, and His burden from their back. So should His fatal blow on great Babylon bring speedy deliverance and restoration to His people. H. C.

26,27. The prophet now explains his previous conjunction of events so remote as the Assyrian overthrow and the fall of Babylon, by declaring both to be partial executions of one general decree against all hostile and opposing powers. This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the earth, and this the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. Here Gill is felicitous in paraphrase—“There’s nothing comes to pass but He has purposed, and everything He has purposed comes to pass.” A.—The same hand of power and justice that is to be stretched out against the Assyrian for invading the people of God shall be “stretched out upon all the nations” that do likewise. It is still true, and will be ever so, “Cursed is he that curses God’s Israel” (Num. 24:9). God will be an enemy to His people’s enemies (Ex. 23:22). H.

32 none standeth aloof at his appointed times. What then shall one answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.

15 : 1 The burden of Moab.

For in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nought; for in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nought. He is gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep: Moab howleth over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off. In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth: on their housetops, and in their broad places, every one howleth, weeping abundantly. And Heshbon crieth out, and Elealeh; their voice is heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembleth within him. My heart crieth out for Moab; her nobles flee unto Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah: for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the grass is withered away, the tender grass faileth, there is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood: for I will bring yet more upon Dimon, a lion upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

16 : 1 Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Sela which is toward the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon. Give counsel, execute judgement; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday: hide the outcasts; bewray not the wanderer. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is brought to nought, spoiling ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And a throne shall be established in mercy, and one shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David; judging, and seeking judgement, and swift to do righteousness.

6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogancy, and his pride, and his wrath; his boastings are nought. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn, utterly stricken. For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have broken down the choice plants thereof; they reached even unto Jazer, they wandered into the wilderness; her branches were spread abroad, they passed over the sea. Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the battle shout is fallen. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither joyful noise: no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease. Wherefore my bowels sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres. And it shall come to pass, when Moab presenteth himself, when he wearieth himself upon the high place, and shall come to his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail.

13,14. This is the word that the LORD spake concerning Moab in time past. But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account.

17 : 1 The burden of Damascus.

Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing corn, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches

7 of a fruitful tree, saith the LORD, the God of Israel. In that day shall a man look unto his 8 Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall he have respect to that which his fingers have 9 made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. In that day shall his strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the 10 children of Israel: and it shall be a desolation. For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salva- tion, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore thou plantest pleas- 11 ant plants, and settest it with strange slips: in the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom: but the harvest fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. 12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, which roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing 13 of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the 14 storm. At eventide behold terror; and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

THE burden of Babylon, the main adversary of Judah, is followed by three against the bor- der States on three sides of Palestine; and all these have a common character, agreeing with the date prefixed to the first of them. Sore judgment from Assyrian spoilers was at hand, but Zion was to prove a safe and sure refuge. Birks.

14:28-32. “This burden” is the special prediction of calamity on Philistia. As to the historical allusions in this passage, Palestina is admitted to be the ancient equivalent of Philis- tia, the country of the Philistines, lying along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and on the southwest border of Canaan. The Philis- tines came originally from Egypt; settled in Caphtor (Jer. 47:4—Caphtor probably meaning Crete), and thence took possession of the sea- coast of Canaan. “The rod that smote thee” is the power of Judah; “broken” when for the sins of Ahaz “the Lord brought Judah low,” for “He had made Judah naked”—i.e., defence- less, before her enemies. During the reign of Ahaz the Philistines had invaded the cities of the low country, had taken several, and dwelt there. (See 2 Chron. 28:18, 19.) But let not Philistia rejoice in these transient successes against Judah. A more formidable power will rise against her in the Assyrian hosts. They will desolate her country, and bring final relief to Judah from the Philistines.

32. Philistia is now fallen, and Zion has no more to fear from this ancient and long formid- able foe. What now shall one answer the messengers who may come from foreign nations to ask after the fortunes of Israel? This, that the Lord Jehovah hath laid the foundations of Zion, and His poorest, feeblest children may trust His care and love to protect her to the end. The Lord will never forsake the Zion which Himself has founded!

Chaps. 15 and 16 are in subject one—a prophe- cy of calamity on Moab. In most points this prophecy bears a very close resemblance to Jer. 48, which treats of the fall of Moab. Ezekiel makes a much more brief allusion to this event (25:8-11). Moab, whose country lies on the east side of the southern half of the Dead Sea, with Edom on its southern border, and Ammon on its northern, was, like Ammon, descended from Lot. Together with Ammon and Edom, he was spared from destruction when God gave to Israel for a possession his neighbors, Sihon and Og, of the Amorites, and the nations of Canaan. At some periods Moab seems to have held toward Israel relations half fraternal; yet sometimes they were hostile, and again tribu- tary. H. C.

Chap. 15 is occupied with a description of the general grief, occasioned by the conquest of the chief towns and the desolation of the country at large. Its chief peculiarities of form are the numerous names of places introduced, and the strong personification by which they are repre- sented as grieving for the public calamity. The chapter closes with an intimation of still greater evils. A.

1. The verse states that in a single night the two chief cities of Moab are carried by assault and utterly ruined—brought to a dead silence. Ar Moab was her capital, situated on the south side of the river Arnon. Kir-Mob, a few miles southeast from Ar, was renowned for its mili- tary strength. Its ruins are still identified at Kerak. The fall of these two cities sealed the doom of Moab. H. C.

5. The prophet shares in the sorrow he describes, so vividly is he possessed by the awful picture the Spirit sets before his eyes. In their alarm at the fierce invader, the Moabites are seen hurrying toward Zoar, their extreme southern border. Birks.

Chap. 16 opens with an exhortation to the Moabites to seek protection from their enemies by renewing their allegiance to the house of David, accompanied by an intimation that this prospect of deliverance would not in fact be realized (verses 1-6). From this transient gleam of hope the prophecy reverts to a description of the general desolation and distress, in form almost identical with that in the foregoing chapter (verses 7-12). The prophecy then closes with a specification of the time at which it was to be fulfilled (verses 13, 14). A.

1. In this time of her distress Moab needed the protection of Judah, and felt this need. Hence in this verse the people are supposed to suggest to one another, or, as the sense may be, the prophet suggests to them, the resumption of this tribute in the hope of re-establishing friendly relations. Come and let us again send lambs to the legitimate ruler of our land, “and to the mount of the daughter of Zion.” “From Selah.” “Selah” is the Hebrew word for rock, corresponding to Petra in Greek, both being current names for the famed capital of Edom. This city was mainly built in a deep ravine between the rocks, many of its buildings being hewn from the rock itself. It is named here, we may suppose, either as the place to obtain the lambs, it being a great mart of trade; or as the point where the Moabites, fleeing south, were largely convened. H. C.

6. The prophecy enters here on a new stage, commencing with Moab’s sin, and depicting their fate in still more elegiac strains. Delitzsch.

8-12. The people of Moab are here described by a beautiful and expressive figure, taken from the vine, for the culture of which they were famous, and which had ministered to their habits of sensual indulgence. This “vine of Sibmah,” a chief seat of the vine culture, spreads its choice tendrils on all sides toward the borders of the land, to Jazer northward, into the wilderness on the east and south, and across the Dead Sea westward. But the Assyrian princes and captains, “the lords of the nations,” would break down and destroy its flourishing branches. Their vintage mirth would be exchanged for the war shout of victorious enemies and loud wailings of distress. The prophet ends by recording his deep grief for these sorrows of Moab, and describes their vain resort to senseless idols for help in their time of calamity. Birks.

Chap. 17. The most satisfactory view of the whole passage is that it was meant to be a prophetic picture of the doom which awaited the enemies of Judah, and that while many of its expressions admit of a general application, some traits in the description are derived from particular invasions and attacks. Thus Syria and Ephraim are expressly mentioned in the first part, while the terms of the last three verses are more appropriate to the slaughter of the Assyrian host; but as this is not explicitly referred to, there is no need of regarding it as the exclusive subject even of that passage. The eighteenth chapter may then be treated as a part of the same context. In the first part of chap. 17 the prophet represents the kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim as sharing the same fate, both being brought to desolation (verses 1-3). He then describes the desolation of Ephraim especially, by the figures of a harvest and a gathering of olives, in which little is left to be afterward gleaned (verses 4-6). As the effect of these judgments, he describes the people as renouncing their idols and returning to Jehovah (verses 7, 8). He then resumes his description of the threatened desolation, and ascribes it to the general oblivion of God and cultivation of strange doctrines and practices (verses 9-11). This last might be regarded as a simple repetition of the threatenings in verses 4-6, interrupted by the promise in verses 7, 8. But as the desolation of Syria and Israel was actually effected by successive strokes or stages, as Shalmaneser accomplished what Tiglath-pileser had begun, and as history records a partial conversion of the Israelites from their apostasy between these two attacks, it is altogether natural to understand the prophecy as exhibiting this sequence of events. In the close of the chapter, the prophet first describes a gathering of nations, and then their dispersion by Divine rebuke, which he declares to be the doom of all who attack or oppress God’s people (verses 12-14). A.

2. The prophet predicts that these cities shall be abandoned of their people, probably by removal into captivity, and their ruins and forsaken mansions be appropriated by shepherds for their flocks. There should be no man to claim these forsaken houses; none to molest the flocks folded there.

3. Fortified cities should cease from Ephraim and royalty from Damascus and Syria. The glory of Syria and Damascus, their greatness and prestige as a kingdom, shall disappear, even as in the case of Israel when the Assyrian cast her utterly down.

4-6. The fall of the kingdom of Israel before the Assyrian arms would leave only a few scattering inhabitants, even as a few ears are left when the grain harvest is gathered, or a few clusters of the grape or the olive, far out in the extreme boughs. The valley of Rephaim lay southwest from Jerusalem toward Bethlehem, and is specified here as being near and within sight from the city walls. As if the prophet would say, As you of the city have often seen in the valley of Rephaim. H. C.

7. Some refer this verse partially or wholly to the times of the New Testament, others more correctly to the effect of the preceding judgments on the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is matter of history that after the Assyrian conquest and the general deportation of the people, many accepted Hezekiah’s invitation and returned to the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem (2 Chron. 30:11); and this reformation is alluded to as still continued in the times of Josiah (2 Chron. 34:9). At the same time the words may be intended to suggest that a similar effect might be expected to result from similar causes in later times.

8. The positive declaration of the preceding verse is negatively expressed in this, with a particular mention of the objects which had usurped the place of God. A.

10,11. The prophet now turns his voice of warning directly against Israel, whose league with Syria had led them so far astray. He names the true source of their troubles, and denounces the sure failure of all their schemes to recover political greatness, while forsaking the covenant of their God. The pleasant plants and strange slips are those worldly alliances and expedients, whereby they hoped to regain their lost honor and greatness. Instead of the pleasant crop, so diligently tended, being safely housed, the trees themselves should wither and be cut down, and then be piled into a heap, to be burned up with fire. Birks.

12,13. The vast Assyrian hosts, their sound like the deep roar of the ocean; their rushing like the mighty waters, come on as if they would sweep our beloved Zion utterly away. But God from on high shall rebuke them. One word from His lips scatters them like the chaff on the hills of Judea before the wind, and like a rolling thing (the light thistle down) before the whirlwind! H. C.

14. The abrupt form of the sentence adds to the force of the description. At eventide there was trouble in the mighty camp of Assyria, when the commission of the destroying angel began. Before the morning “he is no more,” the work is done. “When they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of nations!” Birks.

14:28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

29. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a basilisk, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will 31 kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant shall be slain. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou art melted away, O Philistia, all of thee; for there cometh a smoke out of the north, and