Isaiah 29

eateth; &c.] The Assyrians had swallowed up Jerusalem in imagination; but God intended suddenly to disappoint their hopes, and send them away empty and confounded. W. Lowth. 9. Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; &c.] The Prophet upbraids the Jews for their carelessness and stupidity, and compares them to men intoxicated. W. Lowth. Their drunkenness is that drunkenness of intellect, which makes them blind to the prophecies relating to the Messiah, and to themselves, and keeps them to this hour in expectation of a different Messiah from Him whom they crucified. Bp. Horsley. See note on chap. h. 21. 11. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, &c. Rabbies of great antiquity and authority have observed from this text, that the knowledge of their prophecies shall be taken from them, and be lost with the Hebrew, their native language: but the Messiah shall restore to them the understanding of both, and open the sealed book. Compare ver. 18, with what is said ver. 10, 11, &c. Bp. Chandler. See note on chap. viii. 16. 14. — the wisdom of their wise men shall perish. Since this people have trusted to their own wisdom, the very wisest of them shall be blinded; they shall bring down destruction upon themselves by their very wisdom. Bp. Wilson. How remarkably was this verified, when the rabbies and elders of the Jews, fatally mistaking, applied to their ceremonies and traditions, and rejected the Gospel! and ever since have the same orders minded little else than fabulous stories, and vented trifles for profound mysteries. W. Lowth. 17. — Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest! A proverbal saying, expressing a great revolution of things, and explained with great probability to have its principal view, beyond the events then near at hand, to the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. The first were the vineyard of God cultivated and watered by Him in vain, afterwards to be given up and become a wilderness; (see chap. v. 1—7;) the last had been A promise of sanctification. CHAP. XXIX, XXX. The prophet threateneth the people. Before CHRIST about 712. add. know understanding. deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

profit them, &c.] The Egyptians in alliance with the Ethiopians did assist the Jews against Sennacherib, but they were both entirely routed. See chap. xx. 5. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 29:4

4. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, &c.] In prophetick language, speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, stands for being in a weak and low condition. Sir I. Newton. Hezekiah sends ambassadors to bespeak the favour of the king

The senselessness, and deep hypocrisy of the Jews. Before CHRIST about 712. or, chirp. the ground, and thy speech shall

Isaiah 29:6

6. The burden of the beasts of the south:] The word “burden” here seems to be used in its proper sense; the load, not the oracle. Bp. Lowth. — from whence come—the viper and the fiery flying serpent.] The wilderness that lies between Egypt and Judea is thus described by Moses, Deut. viii. 15. W. Lowth. This was designed to be a kind of barrier between the Israelites and Egypt, of which the Lord says, Deut. xvii. 16. “Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” Bp. Lowth. Concerning the “fiery flying serpent,” see note on Numb. xxi. 6. Niebuhr mentions a sort of serpents, as does Pliny also, that twirl themselves by the tail to a branch of one date tree, and so spring to the branches of another; hence the modern Arabs call them “flying serpents:” Anson speaks of flying serpents at the island of Quibo; they “dared themselves” from the boughs of trees upon man and beast, but were without wings. The prophet threateneth the people for their contempt of God’s word. Before CHRIST about 713. Or, to her. latter day. Or, fraud. the battle of potters. have I cried || concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

Isaiah 29:7

7. — therefore have I cried concerning this.] Or, as in the margin, “I have cried to her,” that is, to Jerusalem, that their best security will be to be quiet, and see the salvation which God will work for them; see ver. 15. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 29:10

10. — Prophecy not unto us right things, &c.] These were not the very words they spake, but this was the true meaning of what they said : see their behaviour to Jeremiah, Jer. xx. 1; xxxviii. 4. 6; to Amos, Amos vii. 10; and to Micaiah, 1 Kings xxii. 8. 27. W. Lowth. They conferred all their favours upon such prophets as took care to say nothing that was displeasing or contrary to the politicks of the times, but represented God as favourable to their designs, when He was utterly against them : but the plain-dealing preachers, who spoke to them the word of the Lord without reserve or disguise, were the objects of their hatred and aversion. Reading. 13. — as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall.] The buildings in Asia in general consist of little better than what we call mud-walls; see Sir J. Chardin’s note on chap. ix. 10. Thevenot says much the same of the houses in Persia. This shews how obvious and expressive the image is. The Psalmist uses the same, to imply sudden and utter destruction, Ps. lxii. 3. Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 29:18

18. — therefore will the Lord wait, &c.] The seeming incoherence of the prophetic style would be avoided in many places by regarding the various sense of the Hebrew particles more carefully than interpreters have generally done. The particle rendered therefore may be more clearly here, and in some other places, translated nevertheless; (W. Lowth.) or, in this place perhaps, after this. Dr. Bloyney.

Isaiah 29:19

19. The meek also shall increase their joy] See notes on chap. xi. 4; xxvi. 6.

20. For the people shall dwell in Zion &c.] From this verse to the twenty-seventh, follow many gracious promises of mercy, several of which cannot with propriety be applied to the prosperous times of Hezekiah’s reign, which succeeded to the great deliverance; but we are rather to suppose the Prophet taking a hint from them, and carried on to the better days that were to be under the Gospel. W. Lowth. 22. Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images &c.] See note on chap. ii. 18.

Isaiah 29:21

21. — lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate.] Who plot mischief against those that sit at the city gates to distribute justice; (W. Lowth. See notes on Gen. xxiii. 10; Esther ii. 19;) who try to bring authority into contempt, that they may have their own ends without controul. Bp. Wilson. Chap. XXX. See the introductory note to the preceding chapter. Ver. 1. — that cover with a covering, &c.] This “covering” may mean their seeking refuge and protection from Egypt without any direction from God; (see ver. 2); or, in general, forming schemes to secure themselves, by ungodly methods, called a “covering” or “hidingplace of falsehood:” see chap. xxviii. 15. 17; xxix. 15. W. Lowth. 4. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors come to Hanes.] These are principal cities of Egypt. “Hanes” is called, Jer. ii. 16; xliii. 7; Ezek. xxx. 18. “Tahapanes,” “Tahpanhes,” and “Tahaphnches.” “Zoan” is mentioned, chap. xix. 11. 13. W. Lowth. See the note on the latter place. So fond were the Jews of their Egyptian allies, that even the good Hezekiah sent ambassadors to treat with them for succours against Sennacherib. Thus the best of men are too apt, on the first appearance of danger or surprise, to have recourse his church. 27 God’s wrath, and the people’s joy, in the destruction of Assyria. Before CHRIST about 713. WOE to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: