EDINBURGH: /V5/

ANDREW ELLIOT, 15 PRINCE'S STREET; JAMES THIN, 55 SOUTH BRIDGE.

MDCCCLXV.

EDINBURGH

• TKD BY JOHN GKEIG AND SON, 01 D PHYSIC GARDENS.

Isaiah. He had made some progress in revisal for a second edition, and some scores of corrections and improvements made by himself on his own dopy have been collected by a scholarly friend and transmitted to ns. These have been incorporated in this present edition, which may there fore be said to contain its eminent author's latest emendations.

The refined taste and classical acquirements of Bishop Lowth are seen in the many beautiful references and apposite illustrations which adorn to pro fusion his popular work. But the reckless treatment which he applied to the text in his repeated and superfluous alterations and suggestions with out evidence or necessity, mars the utility of the scanty exegesis which is contained in his Commentary. The volume of the late Dr Henderson of Highbury is of great merit and ripe scholarship, and commends itself to us as the result of skilful and sanctified erudition. It often suggests the way

to discover the truth, if in any case it fail to reveal it. Yet, with all its perspicuity, its brevity or curtness is a marked defect. On many points, in connection with which acute and sagacious decisions are given, we long for a fuller statement of those philological principles by which the critic has been guided, and a more minute enumeration of those objec tions to his own views which are often dismissed with a simple allusion to their existence, or are set aside with the bare mention of their age, author ship, and valueless character. Mr Barnes of Philadelphia has compiled three excellent volumes of Notes on Isaiah with no little dexterity and success. But these annotations, from their very nature, do not come into competition with the Commentary of Professor Alexander. We have classed together only the more prominent Works on Isaiah for the sake of a brief compari son, and we deem it unnecessary to place on such a list the productions of Hitzig or Hendewerk, Knobel or Ewald, Drechsler or Umbreit, Jenour or Stock, Noyes or Macculloch.

We do not, however, mean to make this republished Exposition the theme of unqualified or indiscriminate eulogy. No one, indeed, saw its defects more readily than did its author himself, and no one could be more prompt to acknowledge or correct them, for with all his gifts and greatness he had the simplicity and candour of a child. Yet we reckon it among the best Commentaries on Isaiah of any age or in any language. It embodies in it the fruits of many years of continuous toil and research, and its size gives it the advantage of a gratifying fulness. Professor Alexander possessed consummate scholarship. He discovers intimate acquaintance with the nicer peculiarities of Hebrew philology, in its tenses, particles, and more delicate combinations; and at the same time possesses no little relish for the aesthetic element — the buds and blossoms of oriental poetry. His unfailing stores of auxiliary erudition are ever at disciplined command, and are applied with eminent judgment. The value of his publication is also enhanced by the excellent synoptical accounts of the labours and opinions of former and contemporary authors, which are to be found under almost every verse. The Work is pervaded also by a sound exegetical spirit; the spirit of one who had been " baptized into Christ." For his daily study of the Bible was never to him a mere professional occupation.

Interesting views of the nature of prophecy in itself, and in its relations as well to the Jewish Commonwealth as to the Church of the Redeemer, abound in the following pages. The reveries of Teutonic criticism are unsparingly held up to scorn, and the " old paths" are proved to be still the safest and best. The Exposition is free from extraneous matter. It has no digressions; no learned lumber obstructs the reader's way with its conceited and multifarious curiosities. The principles which the author has laid down for his own guidance in the extreme literalness of his ver sion, are sometimes followed, however, with such rigidness and system as might afford facetious remarkings to any satirical reviewer. This pecu liarity, however, some may consider no blemish, but may rather hail it as an improvement, In one word, this Transatlantic Commentary is cautious

viii EDITOR'S PREFACE.

and reverent in its textual criticism, — in its habitual demeanour towards those " words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." It is no less expert, ac curate, and felicitous in its philology, basing it on the acknowledged laws of mind and principles of language. Its hermeneutical canons are always sagacious and in general correct, while the exegesis is distinguished by its harmony and vigour, and relieved by its exalted and luminous concep tions. Nevertheless we are not so sanguine as to anticipate for the author whom we have been honoured to introduce, that his readers will assent to all his hypotheses, or will be converted to his marked and favourite interpretations of those paragraphs and sections, the precise meaning and fulfilment of which are in the present day topics of keen and protracted controversy.

This edition has been printed with great care. The editor has read all the sheets with attention as they passed through the press, and has corrected very many errors, both in the Hebrew and English text of the American original. Alexander's Isaiah has" already taken its own place in the front rank of biblical works; and our belief is that a " Contribution " so dis tinguished by its learning and piety will be cordially welcomed and speedily naturalised among us. May the inspired classics always engage that admiration which they so justly merit for their originality and truthfulness, their simplicity and pathos, their magnificent imagery and varied music. But, above all, may they attract the living faith of every admirer to those blessed truths and promises which they have been so wisely and graciously employed to reveal to a fallen and dying world, for the old prophetic harp was tuned to the utterance of the noblest thoughts and mysteries, the majesty, unity, and spirituality of Jehovah, the holiness of his law, the in finitude of his love, and the might, triumphs, and wonders of that covenant by which our apostate race is to be reclaimed and glorified.

JOHN EADIE.

To prevent misapprehension, and facilitate the use of the following work, some explanation may be needed with respect to its design and execution. The specific end at which it aims is that of making the results of philo logical and critical research available for purposes of practical utility. In attempting to accomplish this important purpose, it was soon found indis pensable to fix upon some definite portion of the reading public, whose capacities, acquirements, and wants might be consulted in determining the form and method of the exposition. Some learned and ingenious works in this department have been rendered to a great extent practically useless, by the want of a determinate fitness for any considerable class of readers, being at once too pedantic for the ignorant, and too elementary for the instructed. In the present case there seemed to be some latitude of choice, and yet but one course on the whole advisable. Works exclusively adapted to the use of profound orientalists and biblical scholars are almost prohibited among ourselves at present, by the paucity of competent writers and congenial readers. Works designed for the immediate use of the unlearned must of necessity be superficial and imperfect, and are proved by experience to be not the most effective means of influencing even those for whom they are expressly written. The obscurer parts of Scripture, or at least of the Old Testament, can be most effectually brought to bear upon the popular mind by employing the intermediate agency of an intelligent and educated ministry. The people may be best taught in such cases through their teachers, by furnishing a solid scientific basis for their popular instructions. Under the influence of these considerations an attempt has here been made to concentrate and economise the labours of the ministry in this field, by affording them a partial succedaneum for many costly books, and enabling them to profit by the latest philological improvements and discoveries, without the inconveniences and even dangers which attend a direct resort to the original authorities.

What has now been said will explain a feature of the plan, which might at first sight seem to be at variance with the ultimate design of the whole work, to wit, the exclusion of the practical element, or rather of its formal exhibition in the shape of homiletical and doctrinal reflections. A work

x PREFACE.

upon Isaiah so constructed as to constitute a series of hctures or expository sermons, instead of doing for the clergy what they need and what they wish, would be attempting to do for them that which they can do far better for themselves, by presenting one of the many forms in which the substance of the book may be employed for the instruction and improvement of their people. The effect of this consideration is enhanced by an impression, which the author's recent labours have distinctly made upon his mind, that much of the fanciful and allegorical interpretation heretofore current has arisen from a failure to discriminate sufficiently between the province of the critical interpreter, and that of the expository lecturer or preacher; the effect of which has been to foist into the Scriptures, as a part of their original and proper sense, a host of applications and accommodations, which have no right there, however admissible and even useful in their proper place. Let the professional interpreter content himself with furnishing the raw material in a sound and merchantable state, without attempting to prescribe the texture, colour, shape, or quantity of the indefinitely varied fabrics into which it is the business of the preacher to transform it. From these considerations it will be perceived that the omission now in question has arisen, not merely from a want of room, and not at all from any dis regard to practical utility, but on the contrary, from a desire to promote it in the most effectual manner.

Another point, which may be here explained, is the relation of the fol lowing commentary to the authorised English Version of Isaiah. It was at first proposed to make the latter the immediate basis of the exposition, simply calling in the aid of the original to rectify the errors, or clear up the obscurities of the translation. The primary reason for abandoning this method was its tendency to generate an indirect and circuitous method of interpretation. A still higher motive for the change was afforded by its probable effect in promoting thorough biblical learning, and discouraging the sluggish disposition to regard the common version as the ultimate authority, and even to insist upon its errors or fortuitous peculiarities as parts of a divine revelation. The contrary disposition to depreciate the merits of the English Bible, by gratuitous departures from its form or sub stance, is comparatively rare, and where it does exist is to be corrected, not by wilful ignorance, but by profound and discriminating knowledge of the version and original. The practical conclusion in the present case, has been to make the Hebrew text exclusively the subject of direct interpretation, but at the same time to give the common version all the prominence to which it is entitled by its intrinsic excellence, and by its peculiar interest and value to the English reader. It may be thought that the shortest and easiest method of accomplishing this object would have been that adopted by Maurer, Knobel, and some other writers, who, without giving any continu ous version of the text, confine their comments to its difficult expressions. It was found upon experiment, however, that much circumlocution might be spared in many cases by a simple version, or at most by an explanatory paraphrase. A literal translation of the whole text has therefore been

PREFACE. xi

incorporated in the present Work, not as a mere appendage or accompani ment, much less as a substitute or rival of the common version, which is too completely in possession of the public ear and memory to be easily displaced even if it were desirable, but simply as a necessary and integral part of the interpretation. The grounds of this arrangement will be stated more fully in the Introduction, of which it may as well be said in this place as in any other, that it makes no pretensions to the character of an ex haustive compilation, but is simply, as its name imports, a preparation for what follows, consisting partly in preliminary statements, partly in general summaries, the particulars of which are scattered through the exposition.

Another question, which presented itself early in the progress of the Work was the question whether it should be a record of the author's indi vidual conclusions merely, or to some extent a history of the interpretation. The only argument in favour of the first plan was the opportunity which it afforded of including all Isaiah in a single volume. As to economy of time and labour, it was soon found that as much of these must be expended on a simple statement of the true sense as would furnish the materials for a synopsis of the different opinions. The latter method was adopted, there fore, not merely for this negative reason, but also for the sake of the addi tional interest imparted to the Work by this enlargement of the plan, and the valuable antidote to exegetical extravagance and crudity, afforded by a knowledge of earlier opinions and even of exploded errors.

These advantages were reckoned of sufficient value to be purchased even by a sacrifice of space, and it was therefore determined to confine the pre sent publication to the Earlier Prophecies (Chaps. I.-XXXIX.), the rest being reserved to form the subject of another volume. The separation was the more convenient, as the Later Prophecies (Chaps. XL.-LXVI.) are now universally regarded as a continuous and homogeneous composition, requir ing in relation to its authenticity a special critical investigation.*

But although it was determined that the Work should be historical as well as exegetical, it was of course impossible to compass the whole range of writers on Isaiah, some of whom were inaccessible, and others wholly destitute of anything original, and therefore without influence upon the progress of opinion. This distinction was particularly made in reference to the older writers, while a more complete exhibition was attempted of the later literature. Some recent writers were at first overlooked through accident or inadvertence, and the omission afterwards continued for the sake of uniformity, or as a simple matter of convenience. Some of these blanks it is proposed to fill in any further prosecution of the author's plan. The citation of authorities becomes less frequent and abundant, for the most part, as the Work advances, and the reader is supposed to have become familiar with the individual peculiarities of different interpreters, as well as

* [The original American edition thus described, and published at different times, formed two volumes of unequal size, and that division of volumes, the result of necessity, has therefore not been followed in the present reprint.]

xii PREFACE.

with the way in which they usually group themselves in schools and parties, after which it will be generally found sufficient to refer to acknowledged leaders, or the authors of particular interpretations. The prominence given to the modern German writers has arisen not from choice but from neces sity, because their labours have been so abundant, because their influence is so extensive, and because one prominent design of the whole Work is to combine the valuable processes and products of the new philology with sounder principles of exegesis. Hence too the constant effort to expound the book with scrupulous adherence to the principles and usages of Hebrew syntax as established by the latest and best writers. The reference to par ticular grammars was gradually discontinued and exchanged for explanations in my own words, partly for want of a conventional standard alike familiar to my readers and myself, partly because the latter method was soon found upon experiment to be the most effectual and satisfactory in reference to the object which I had in view.

The appearance of the Work has been delayed by various causes, but above all, by a growing sense of its difficulty and of incapacity to do it justice, together with a natural reluctance to confess how little after all has been accomplished. To some it will probably be no commendation of the work to say that its author has considered it his duty to record the failure as well as the success of exegetical attempts, and to avoid the presumption of knowing everything as well as the disgrace of knowing nothing. His deliberate conclusion from the facts with which he has become acquainted in the prosecution of his present task, is that quite as much error has arisen from the effort to know more than is revealed, as from the failure to apply the means of illustration which are really at our disposal. As ad vantages arising from delay in this case may be mentioned, some additional maturity of judgment, and the frequent opportunity of re-consideration with the aid of contemporary writers on Isaiah, of whom seven have appeared since this book was projected, besides several auxiliary works of great impor tance, such as Fiirst's Concordance, Nordheimer's Grammar, Havernick's In troduction, Robinson's Palestine, the later numbers of Gesenius's Thesaurus, and the last edition of his Manual Lexicon. It is proper to add, that although the plan was formed, and the collection of materials begun more than ten years ago, the Work has been wholly, and some parts of it re peatedly, reduced to writing as it passed through the press. The advan tages thus secured of being able to record the last impressions, and to make use of the latest helps, has this accompanying inconvenience, that changes insensibly took place in the details of the execution, tending to impair its uniformity without affecting its essential character. To such external blemishes it is of course unnecessary to invite attention by any more par ticular description or apology.

Since the printing ^of the volume was completed, the typographical errors have been found to be more numerous than was expected, although for the most part less injurious to the work than discreditable to the author who is justly accountable for this defect, on account of the very imperfect state

PREFACE. xiii

in which the manuscript was furnished to the printer. Instead of resorting to the usual apologies of distance from the press, and inexperience in the business, or appealing to the fact that the sheets could be subjected only once to his revision, he prefers to throw himself upon the candour and in dulgence of his readers, and especially of those who have experienced the

same mortification.

[The lacuna indicated by these asterisks is merely a brief list of Errata, which have of course been corrected in the present reprint.]

The want of uniformity too in the insertion or omission of the Hebrew points is certainly a blemish, but will not, it is hoped, occasion any serious inconvenience, even to the inexperienced reader. It arose from the acci dental combination of two different methods, each of which has its advan tages, the one as being more convenient for beginners, the other as favouring the useful habit of deciphering the unpointed text, and rendering typogra phical correctness more attainable.

THIS Volume * is a sequel to the one which appeared about a year ago, under the title of The Earlier Prophecies, the two together forming a con tinuous Commentary on Isaiah. While the same plan has been here retained without alteration, I have aimed at greater uniformity of execution, as well as a more critical selection of materials. The reasons for a separate investigation of these later chapters have been stated in the introduction to the other volume. In addition to the authors there enumerated, I have carefully compared the English Version and remarks of Noyes (second edition, Boston, 1848), and die Cyro-jesaianischen Weissagungen of Beck (Leipzig, 1844) ; the first of which, though elegant and scholar-like, is too closely modelled on Gesenius to afford much new matter, and the other is remarkable chiefly for the boldness of its ultra-rationalistic doctrines, and the juvenile flippancy with which they are expressed. Of both these works occasional citations will be met with in the present volume.

In the exposition of the last seven chapters, too polemical an attitude, perhaps, has been assumed with respect to a distinguished living writer, Dr Henderson, to whose abilities and learning I have elswewhere endea voured to do justice. The prominence here given to his book has arisen from his happening to be not only the best but the sole representative of certain views among the professed expounders of Isaiah. As to the ques tion in dispute, the ground which I have taken and endeavoured to main tain is the negative position that the truth of these " exceeding great and precious promises " is not suspended on the future restoration of the Jews to Palestine, without denying such a restoration to be possible or pro mised elsewhere.

In this, as well as in the other Volume, I may possibly have pushed the rule of rigorous translation to an extreme; but if so, it is an extreme from which recession is much easier and safer than recovery from that of laxity and vagueness. By the course thus taken, I am not without hope that

[* This is the Preface prefixed by the Author to his second volume, which he designated The Later Prophecies of Isaiah. — ED.]

PREFACE. xv

some light may be thrown upon the darker parts of Hebrew Grammar, and especially the doctrine of the tenses, which can never be completely solved except by a laborious induction of particulars. While I deem it proper to observe that I have read only two sheets of the volume during its progress through the press, I am happy to add, that it has passed through the hands of Mr W. W. Turner, to whom so many other works in this department are indebted for the accuracy of their execution.

I have still kept steadily in view, as my immediate readers, to whose wants the work must be adapted, clerg}7men and students of theology con sidered as the actual or future teachers of the church. Through them I may perhaps indulge the hope of doing something to promote correct opinions and a taste for exegetical pursuits, as means of intellectual and spiritual culture, even though this should prove to be my last as well as first contribution to the stores of sacred learning.

INTRODUCTION.

THE English words prophet, prophesy, and prophecy, have long been appro priated, by established usage, to the prediction of future events. To pro phesy, according to the universal acceptation of the term, is to foretell, and a prophet is one who does or can foretell things yet to come. This re stricted application of the terms in question has materially influenced the interpretation of the prophetic scriptures by modern and especially by Eng lish writers. It is necessary, therefore, to compare the common use of these expressions with the corresponding terms in Greek and Hebrew.

The Greek n%o<p'/irng (from vrgfywi) is used in the classics not only to denote specifically a foreteller, but more generally an authoritative speaker in the name of God, in which sense it is applied to the official expounders of the oracles, and to poets as the prophets of the muses, i. e. as speaking in their name, at their suggestion, or by their inspiration. This latitude of meaning, in the classical usage of the term, agrees exactly with its appli cation in the Greek of the New Testament, not only to those gifted with the knowledge of futurity, but in a wider sense to inspired teachers or expounders of the will of God in the primitive church. It is evident, therefore, that our prophet, prophesy, and prophecy, are much more restricted in their im port than the Greek words from which they are derived, as employed both by the classical and sacred writers.

It may be said, however, that in this restricted usage we adhere to the primary and proper import of the terms, as the wgo in ffgopjj/a/ and rgo^rj;, no less than the prce in pradico, must have originally signified before, i. e. beforehand. Even this might be plausibly disputed, as the primary sense of flrgo would seem to be not temporal but local, the idea of priority in time being given b}r the best lexicographers as secondary to that of antece dence or priority in place, in which case the particle in composition may have originally signified, not so much the futurity of the things declared, as the authority of the person who declared them. (Compare ^osffrug, argc/Vra/AEyog, antistes, prcetor, prof ectus, foreman.} But even granting that the obvious and common supposition is correct, viz., that the irgo in CT^O^/A/ and its derivatives has primary reference to time, the actual extension of

the terms to other authoritative declarations, and especially to those made in the name of God, is clear from the usage both of the classics and of the New Testament. Looking merely to these sources of elucidation, we might still assert with confidence, that the modern use of the words prophet and prophecy is more restricted than that of the Greek terms from which they are derived.

But this is a very small part of the evidence on which the affirmation rests. The prophets, of whom the New Testament chiefly speaks, are not heathen prophets, nor even the c^of r,rai of the apostolic churches, but the prophets of the old dispensation. The terms applied to them must there fore be interpreted, not merely by a reference to etymology, or to classical usage, or to that of the New Testament itself, but by an appeal to the import and usage of the Hebrew term?, which the Greek ones are designed to re present. As soon as we resort to this sort of illustration, the doubt which seemed to overhang the question, when considered as a question of Greek usage, disappears. We have here no probabilities to balance as to the primary import of a particle, no extension of the mean ins; of the whole word to account for or explain away. The etyrnolog}7 of N*1?} and the cognate verbal forms, makes it impossible. to look upon foresight or prediction as their primary and necessary import. The only derivation, which can now be regarded as philologically tenable, is that which makes the word origi nally signify the act of pouring forth or uttering, a natural figure in all languages for speech, and more especially for public, solemn, and continuous discourse. In actual usage, the Hebrew words are admitted by modern writers of all schools and creeds to signify specifically one who speaks (or the act of speaking) for God, not only in his name and by his authority, but under his influence, in other words, by divine inspiration. The precise unto Moses, See, I hare made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy pwphel, i. e. thy interpreter, thy organ of communication. (See Gesenius's Thesaurus, s. v. &O3). The etymology proposed by Kedslob, which gives X*?3 the sense of a person sprinkled or baptized with the Spirit of God, if it can be established, only makes the primary and essential refer ence to inspiration still more certain than the common one. The few de partures from this simple elementary idea, which the lexicons still recognise, may all be reduced to it more easily and naturally than to any other. For example, when Abraham is called a prophet (Gen. xx. 7), there is no need of diluting the sense of the expression into that of a mere friend of God, which is sufficiently implied in the strict and common sense of an inspired person. It is equally unnecessary, on the other hand, to give the verb the sense of raving or becoming mad, when applied to Saul (1 Sam. xviii. 10), since it is there expressly mentioned that an evil spirit from God had come upon him, so that he was really inspired, however fearful and mysterious the nature of the inspiration may have been. A complete induction of par ticulars would shew, with scarcely the appearance of a doubtful case or an exception, that the essential idea, running through the whole Hebrew usage of the verb and noun, is that of inspiration. The suggestion of Gesenius, that the verb is used exclusively in passive or reflexive forms because the prophet was supposed to be under a controlling influence, is not improbable in itself, and harmonizes fully with the usage of the words as already stated.

Another obvious deduction from the usage of the language is, that although N*?3, like many other terms of such perpetual occurrence, is employed both in a wider and a mere restricted sense, the distinction thus made is not that