also in that passage itself: "And they besieged Ahaz, and could not fight"—is most simply reconciled by the remark that a fruitless struggle can, as it were, not be called a struggle, just as, e. g., in the Old Testament, such as have a name little known are spoken of as being without a name.

Ver. 2. "And it was told to the house of David, saying; Aram rests upon Ephraim. Then his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, like as the trembling of the trees of the wood before the wind."

The representative of the house of David was, according to ver. 1, Ahaz, to whom the suffix in refers. It is thereby intimated that Ahaz does not come into consideration as an individual, but as a representative of the whole Davidic family, of which the members were responsible, conjunctly and severally, and which in Ahaz denied their God, and gave themselves up to the world's power,-a deed of the family from the consequences of which a heroic faith only, like that of Hezekiah, could deliver, but in such a manner only that it at once became valid again when this faith ceased, until at length in Christ the house of David was raised to glory. Ver. 19 shows that must be taken in the signification "to let oneself down," "to sit down," "to encamp." The anguish of the natural man, who has not his strength in God at the breaking in of danger, is most graphically described.

נוח

Ver. 3. "And the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field."

Why is the Prophet to seek out the king just at this place? The answer is given by chap. xxii. 2. "And a reservoir you make between the two walls for the waters of the old pool: and not do ye look unto him who makes it (viz., the impending calamity), and not do ye regard him who fashioned it long ago." When a siege of Jerusalem was imminent, in the lower territory, the first task was to cut off the water from the hostile army. This measure Hezekiah, according to 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, took against Sennacherib: “And he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men, to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they helped him." That might be done in faith; but he who, like Ahaz, did not stand in the faith,

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sought in it, per se, his safety; his despairing heart clung to such measures. The stopping of the fountains was, in his case, on a level with seeking help from the Assyrians. It is thus in the midst of his sin that the Prophet seeks out the king, and recalls to his conscience: "take heed and be quiet." But why did the Prophet take his son Shearjashub with him? It surely cannot be without significance; for otherwise it would not have been recorded, far less would it have been done at the express command of the Lord. As the boy does not appear actively, the reason can only be in the signification of the name. According to chap. viii., the Prophet was accustomed to give to his sons symbolical names which had a relation to the destinies of the nation. They were, according to chap. viii. 18, " for signs and for wonders in Israel." But as an interpretation of the name, the passage chap. x. 21 is to be considered: "The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God." The word 1 can, accordingly, be understood of returning to the Lord, of repentance only, comp. chap. i. 27; Hos. iii. 5. But with repentance the recovery of salvation is indissolubly connected. The reason why it is impossible that they who commit the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never recover salvation lies solely in the circumstance, that it is impossible that they should be renewed to repentance. The fundamental passage, which is comprehended in the name of the Prophet's son: "And thou returnest unto the Lord thy God. And the Lord thy God turneth thy captivity (i.e., thy misery), and hath compassion upon thee, and returneth and gathereth thee from all the nations" (Deut. xxx. 2, 3), emphatically points out the indissoluble connection of the return to the Lord, and of the return of the Lord to His people. This connection comes out so much the more clearly, when we consider that, according to Scripture, repentance is not the work of man but of God, and is nothing else but the beginning of the bestowal of salvation; comp. Deut. xxx. 6: "And the Lord thy God circumciseth thine. heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with. all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live;" Zech. xii. 10. King and people feared entire destruction; and it was at this that their powerful enemies aimed. Isaiah took his son with him "as the living proof of the preservation

of the nation, even amidst the most fearful destruction of the greater part of it." After having in this manner endeavoured to free their minds from the extreme of fear, he seeks to elevate them to joyful hopes, by the prophetical announcement proper, which showed that, from this quarter, not even the future great judgment, which would leave a portion only, was to be feared.

Ver. 4. "And say unto him: Take heed and be quiet; fear not, nor let thy heart be tender for the two ends of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and of the son of Remaliah."

The words "Take heed" point to the dangerous consequences of fear; comp. ver. 9: "If ye do not believe, ye shall not be established." On the words "be quiet," lit., make quiet, viz., thy heart and walk, comp. chap. xxx. 15: "For thus saith the Lord : By returning and rest ye shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not." Such as he was, Ahaz could not respond to the exhortation to be quiet. Quietness is a product of faith. But the way of faith stood open to Ahaz every moment, and by his promising word and by his example, the Prophet invited him to enter upon it. In the words: "Fear not," &c., there is an unmistakeable reference to Deut. xx. 1, ff., according to which passage the priest was, on the occasion of hostile oppression, to speak to the people: "Let not your hearts be tender, and be not terrified." That which, in the Law, the priest was commanded to do, is here done by the Prophet, who was obliged so often to step in as a substitute, when the class of the ordinary servants fell short of the height of their calling.— The "firebrand" is the image of the conqueror who destroys countries by the fire of war, comp. remarks on Rev. viii. 8. The Prophet is just about to announce to the hostile kings their impending overthrow; for this reason, he calls them ends of firebrands, which no longer blaze, but only glimmer. He calls them thus because he considers them with the eye of faith; to the bodily eye a bright flame still presented itself, as the last words: "For the fierce anger," &c., and vers. 5 and 6 shew. Chrysostom remarks: "He calls these kings 'firebrands,' to indicate at the same time their violence, and that they are to be easily overcome; and it is for this reason that he adds 'smoking,' i.e., that they were near being altogether extinguished."

Vers. 5, 6." Because Aram meditates evil against thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: Let us go up against Judah, and drive it to extremity, and conquer it for us, and set up as a king in the midst of it the son of Tabeal."

We have here, farther carried out, the thought indicated by the words: "for the fierce anger," &c. The interval, in the original text, between vers. 6 and 7 is put in to prevent the false connection of these verses with ver. 7 (Hitzig and Ewald).

always means "to loathe," "to experience disgust;" here, in Hiph. "to cause disgust," "to drive to extremity;" comp. my work on Balaam, Rem. on Num. xxii. 3.—y means always: "to cleave asunder," "to open," "to conquer"-The words: "For us,” show that Tabeal is to be the vassal only of the two kings. The absolute confidence with which the Prophet recognizes the futility of the plan of the two kings, forms a glaring contrast to the modern view of Prophetism. Ver. 2 shows in what light ordinary consciousness did, and could not fail to look on the then existing state of things.

Ver. 7. "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass." (A plan stands when it is carried out.)

Ver. 8. "For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in threescore and five years more, Ephraim shall be broken, and be no more a people."

Ver. 9. "And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.

blished."

If ye believe not, ye shall not be esta

Each of these two verses forms a complete whole.-The words: "For the head of Aram," &c. to "Rezin" receive their explanation from the antithesis to vers. 5 and 6, where the king of Aram and the king of Ephraim had declared their intention of extending their dominion over Judah. As, concerning this intention and this hope, the Lord has declared His will that it shall not be, we must understand: Not as regards Judah, and not as regards Jerusalem. It is in vain that men's thoughts exalt themselves against the purposes of God. From Aram, the Prophet turns, in the second part of the verse, to Ephraim: "And even Ephraim ! What could it prevail against the Lord and His Kingdom! It

surely should give up all attempts to get more; its days are numbered, the sword is already suspended over its own head." But inasmuch as it is possible, although not likely, that Ephraim, before its own overthrow, may still bring evil upon Judah, this is expressly denied in ver. 9: Samaria, according to the counsel of God, and the limit assigned to it, is the head of Ephraim only, and not, at the same time, of Judah, &c. With this are then connected the closing words: "If ye believe not, ye shall not be established" (properly, the consequence will be that ye do not continue) which are equivalent to: it is hence not Samaria and the son of Remaliah that you have to fear; the enemy whom you have to dread, whom you have to contend against with prayer and supplication, is in yourselves. Take heed lest a similar cause produce a similar effect, as in the last clause of ver. 8 it has been threatened against Ephraim.-This prophecy and warning, one would have expected to have produced an effect so much the deeper because they were not uttered by some obscure fanatic, but by a worthy member of a class which had in its favour the sanction of the Lawgiver, and which in the course of centuries had been so often and so gloriously owned and acknowledged by God.1

1 The words: "In threescore and five years more, Ephraim shall be broken and be no more a people," have, by rationalistic critics, without and against all external arguments, been declared to be spurious. The reasons which serve as fig leaves to cover their doctrinal tendency are the following: (1) "The time does not agree, inasmuch as the ten tribes sustained their first defeat very soon afterwards by Tiglathpilezer; the second, nineteen to twenty-one years later, by Shalmanezer, who, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, carried the inhabitants of the kingdom of the ten tribes away into captivity." But the question here is the complete destruction of the national existence of Israel; and that took place only under King Manasseh, when, by Azarhaddon, new Gentile colonists were brought into the land, who expelled from it the old inhabitants who had again gathered themselves together; comp. 2 Kings xvii. 24 with Ezra iv. 2, 10. From that time, Israel amalgamated more and more with Judah, and never returned to a national independence. This happened exactly sixty-five years after the announcement by the Prophet. Chap. vi. 12 compared with ver. 13 shows how little the desolation of the country (ver. 16) is connected with the breaking up as a nation. It is, more. over, at least as much the interest of those who assert the spuriousness, as it is ours to remove the chronological difficulties; for how could it be imagined that the supposed author should have introduced a false chronological statement ? His object surely could be none other than to procure authority for the Prophet, by putting into his mouth a