Isaiah 6

and shall be eaten: &c.] The Hebrew may be translated thus, “But yet in it shall be” left “a tenth, after it is” (or although it is) “again eaten and devoured,” &c.; implying, that, notwithstanding the repeated judgments God should bring upon the Jews, still a remnant should be preserved; and the nation, as a tree, sprout out and flourish again from the old stock. “The holy seed” is called here “a tenth,” in allusion probably to the tithe under the law, set apart for, and consecrated to, God’s service. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. — a teal tree.] Is the same with the linden or lime tree. Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary. — so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.] So shall the remainder of the holy seed, which for the time seemed to lie dead, sprout forth into an abundant increase. Bp. Hall. This verse, though somewhat obscure, has been made clear by the accomplishment of the prophecy. When Nebuchadnezzar had carried away the greater and better part of the people into captivity, there was yet a tenth remaining in the land; the poorer sort left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen under Gedaliah, 2 Kings xxv. 12. 22; and the dispersed Jews gathered themselves together, and returned to him, Jer. xl. 12: yet even these, fleeing into Egypt after the death of Gedaliah, contrary to the warning of God given by the prophet Jeremiah, miserably perished there. Again, in the subsequent and more remarkable completion of the prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dissolution of the commonwealth by the Romans, when the Jews, after the loss of above a million of men, had increased from the scanty residue that was left of them, and had become very numerous again in their country, Hadrian, provoked by their rebellious behaviour, slew above half a million more of them, and a second time almost extirpated the nation. Yet after these signal and almost universal destructions of that nation, and after so many other repeated extermination and massacres of them in different times and on various occasions since, we yet see with astonishment, that the stock still remains, from which God, according to his promise frequently given by his prophets, will cause the people to shoot forth again, and to flourish. Bp. Lowth. See the notes on Deut. xxx. 1. Chap. VII. The king and royal family being in the the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

Ver. 1. — could not prevail against it.] Yet they slew many of the people, and carried away many captives out of Judea, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 6:2

2. — Ephraim.] This being the chief of the ten tribes, is often put for the whole of them. Bp. Newton. — his heart was moved. The word translated “his” relates to the house of David. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 6:3

3. — Shear-jashub] This name, signifying as it is explained in the margin, may allude to the promise made, chap. vi. 13; it imports that God will never wholly cut off his people. W. Lowth. The captives taken by the king of Israel (see note on ver. 1,) were accordingly very speedily sent home: from policy indeed more than compassion, to make friends among the Jews. Bp. Chandler. — of the conduit of the upper pool! There were two pools which supplied Jerusalem with water: “the upper pool,” mentioned here and chap. xxxvi. 2; and “the lower pool,” chap. xxii. 9. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 6:4

4. — and the house was filled with smoke.] Or, a thick cloud; the sign of God’s presence, which filled the temple on extraordinary occasions, 1 Kings xiii. 10. W. Lowth.

5. — for the two tails of these smoking firebrands.] Which are so far from being able to consume any thing else, that they are almost extinguished themselves. W. Lowth. Before CHRIST about 742. tristh on Ephraim. That is, the remnant shall return. b 2 Kings 16. 17. way. thy heart be tender.

Isaiah 6:5

5. — the King, the Lord of hosts.] The same Spirit, which displayed this glorious vision to Isaiah, has given the interpretation of it by the Evangelist St. John. St. John tells us, that Christ was that Jehovah, whom the entranced Prophet saw upon his throne; whose train filled the temple; whose praises were the theme of the seraphick song; whose glory fills the universe. According to the Evangelist, it was Christ’s glory that Isaiah saw: and to Him, whose glory he saw, the Prophet gives the name of Jehovah, and the worshipping angels gave the name of Jehovah God of Sabbath. Bp. Horsley.

Isaiah 6:6

6. — having a live coal in his hand,—from off the altar.] Signifying the gift of utterance, represented by fiery tongues, (Acts ii. 3,) and the efficacy of God’s word in the mouth of the Prophets, compared to fire, Jer. v. 14; xxvii. 29. The use of fire likewise is to cleanse and purify: see the following verse. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 6:8

8. — who will go for us?] God speaks here in the plural number, as in the passage from Genesis referred to in the margin; which is justly thought to imply a plurality of Divine persons. W. Lowth. See notes on Gen. i. 26.

Isaiah 6:9

9. And he said, Go, and tell this people, &c.] St. Paul (Acts xxviii. 25, 26,) saith expressly, that it was the

and who will go for us? Then said I, † Here am I; send me.

Isaiah 6:10

10. Make the heart of this people fat, &c.] The Prophet speaks of the event, the fact as it would actually happen; not of God’s purpose and act by his ministry. The Prophets are in other places said to perform the thing which they only foretell, Jer. i. 10; Ezek. xliii. 3. Bp. Lowth. Even a blessing foretold is said to come from the foreteller. Rosenmuller, Bp. Stock. All the expressions here used signify no more, than that God, for the former provocations and impenitency of this people, did leave them to their own hardness and blindness, so that they did not desire to understand, and make use of the means of their recovery.

Thus God often punishes great and notorious offenders, by permitting them to fall into temptations; which, meeting with a vicious disposition, are likely to be too hard for them, considering how, by a long habit of wickedness, and wilful commission of sin, they have made themselves an easy prey to every temptation, and have driven the Spirit of God from them, and deprived themselves of those aids and restraints of his grace, which He ordinarily affords, not only to good men, but likewise to those who are not very bad. Abp. Tillotson.

This prophecy might relate in some measure to the state of the Jews before the Babylonish captivity; but it did not receive its full completion till the days of our Saviour; and in this sense it is understood and applied by the writers of the New Testament, (John xii. 40; Acts xxviii. 27;) and by our Saviour Himself, Matt. xiii. 14, 15. Bp. Newton.

Isaiah 6:11

11. Then said I, Lord, how long?] Namely, How long shall this obstinacy, and the punishment it will bring upon this people, continue? W. Lowth.

And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, &c.] And hath not the world seen all the particulars here set down exactly fulfilled? Have not the Jews laboured under a spiritual blindness and infatuation, in “hearing but not understanding,” in “seeing but not perceiving” the Messiah, after the accomplishment of so many prophecies, after the performance of so many miracles? And in consequence of their refusing to “convert and be healed,” have not “their cities been wasted without inhabitant?” &c. Have they not been “removed far away” into the most distant parts of the earth? and hath not their removal or banishment been of now 1700 years’ duration? and do they not still continue deaf and blind, obstinate and

Q 2 A remnant shall be saved. Ahaz, being troubled with fear, Before CHRIST about 758. Or, when it is returned, and hath been brevised. Or, stock, or, stem. men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.