Isa 41:2, 10, 45:8, 51:5 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 2. The righteous man] The Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have read tsaddik . But Jerome, though his translation has justum , appears to have read tsedek ; for in his comment he expresses it by justum, sive justitiam . However, I think all interpreters understand it of a person. So the Septuagint in MS. Pachom . εκαλεσεναυτον, "he hath called him;" but the other copies have αυτην, her . They are divided in ascertaining this person; some explain it of Abraham, others of Cyrus. I rather think that the former is meant; because the character of the righteous man, or righteousness, agrees better with Abraham than with Cyrus. Besides, immediately after the description of the success given by God to Abraham and his posterity, (who, I presume, are to be taken into the account,) the idolaters are introduced as greatly alarmed at this event. Abraham was called out of the east; and his posterity were introduced into the land of Canaan, in order to destroy the idolaters of that country, and they were established there on purpose to stand as a barrier against the idolatry then prevailing, and threatening to overrun the whole face of the earth. Cyrus, though not properly an idolater or worshipper of images, yet had nothing in his character to cause such an alarm among the idolaters, . Farther, after having just touched upon that circumstance, the prophet with great ease returns to his former subject, and resumes Abraham and the Israelites; and assures them that as God had called them, and chosen them for this purpose, he would uphold and support them to the utmost, and at length give them victory over all the heathen nations, their enemies; . Kimchi is of the same mind and gives the same reasons. He gave them as the dust to his sword -"Hath made them like the dust before his sword"] The image is strong and beautiful; it is often made use of by the sacred poets; see ; , and by Isaiah himself in other places, . But there is great difficulty in making out the construction. The Septuagint read kashtam, charbam, their sword, their bow , understanding it of the sword and bow of the conquered kings: but this is not so agreeable to the analogy of the image, as employed in other places. The Chaldee paraphrast and Kimchi solve the difficulty by supposing an ellipsis of liphney before those words. It must be owned that the ellipsis is hard and unusual: but I choose rather to submit to this, than, by adhering with Vitringa to the more obvious construction, to destroy entirely both the image and the sense. But the Vulgate by gladio ejus , to his sword, and arcui ejus , to his bow, seems to express lecharbo, to his sword , and lekashto, to his bow , the admission of which reading may perhaps be thought preferable to Kimchi's ellipsis.

‏ Isaiah 41:2

Verse 2. The righteous man] The Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have read tsaddik. But Jerome, though his translation has justum, appears to have read tsedek; for in his comment he expresses it by justum, sive justitiam. However, I think all interpreters understand it of a person. So the Septuagint in MS. Pachom. εκαλεσεναυτον, "he hath called him;" but the other copies have αυτην, her. They are divided in ascertaining this person; some explain it of Abraham, others of Cyrus. I rather think that the former is meant; because the character of the righteous man, or righteousness, agrees better with Abraham than with Cyrus. Besides, immediately after the description of the success given by God to Abraham and his posterity, (who, I presume, are to be taken into the account,) the idolaters are introduced as greatly alarmed at this event. Abraham was called out of the east; and his posterity were introduced into the land of Canaan, in order to destroy the idolaters of that country, and they were established there on purpose to stand as a barrier against the idolatry then prevailing, and threatening to overrun the whole face of the earth. Cyrus, though not properly an idolater or worshipper of images, yet had nothing in his character to cause such an alarm among the idolaters, Isa 41:5-7. Farther, after having just touched upon that circumstance, the prophet with great ease returns to his former subject, and resumes Abraham and the Israelites; and assures them that as God had called them, and chosen them for this purpose, he would uphold and support them to the utmost, and at length give them victory over all the heathen nations, their enemies; Isa 41:8-16. Kimchi is of the same mind and gives the same reasons.

He gave them as the dust to his sword-"Hath made them like the dust before his sword"] The image is strong and beautiful; it is often made use of by the sacred poets; see Ps 1:4; 35:6; Job 21:18, and by Isaiah himself in other places, Isa 17:13; 29:5. But there is great difficulty in making out the construction. The Septuagint read kashtam, charbam, their sword, their bow, understanding it of the sword and bow of the conquered kings: but this is not so agreeable to the analogy of the image, as employed in other places. The Chaldee paraphrast and Kimchi solve the difficulty by supposing an ellipsis of liphney before those words. It must be owned that the ellipsis is hard and unusual: but I choose rather to submit to this, than, by adhering with Vitringa to the more obvious construction, to destroy entirely both the image and the sense. But the Vulgate by gladio ejus, to his sword, and arcui ejus, to his bow, seems to express lecharbo, to his sword, and lekashto, to his bow, the admission of which reading may perhaps be thought preferable to Kimchi's ellipsis.

‏ Isaiah 41:10

Verse 10. Be not dismayed- veal tishta, "AND be not dismayed." The vau is added by twenty-one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., thirty of De Rossi's, and one of my own, and three editions. It makes the sense more complete.

‏ Isaiah 45:8

Verse 8. Drop down, ye heavens] The eighty-fifth psalm is a very elegant ode on the same subject with this part of Isaiah's prophecies, the restoration of Judah from captivity; and is, in the most beautiful part of it, a manifest imitation of this passage of the prophet:-

"Verily his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring from the earth,

And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Even JEHOVAH: will give that which is good,

And our land shall yield her produce.

Righteousness shall go before him,

And shall direct his footsteps in the way."

Ps 85:9-13.

See the notes on these verses.

These images of the dew and the rain descending from heaven and making the earth fruitful, employed by the prophet, and some of those nearly of the same kind which are used by the psalmist, may perhaps be primarily understood as designed to set forth in a splendid manner the happy state of God's people restored to their country, and flourishing in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue; but justice and salvation, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, and glory dwelling in the land, cannot with any sort of propriety, in the one or the other, be interpreted as the consequences of that event; they must mean the blessings of the great redemption by Messiah.

Let the earth open, &c.] Jonathan, in his Targum, refers this to the resurrection of the dead; the earth shall be opened, veyechon meiteiya, and the dead shall revive. A plain proof that the ancient Jews believed in a future state, and acknowledged the resurrection of the dead.

Let them bring forth salvation-"Let salvation produce her fruit"] For vaiyiphru, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac read vaiyiphrah; and one MS. has a rasure close after the latter vau, which probably was he at first.

‏ Isaiah 51:5

Verse 5. My righteousness is near] The word tsedek, righteousness, is used in such a great latitude of signification, for justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, salvation, &c., that it is not easy sometimes to give the precise meaning of it without much circumlocution; it means here the faithful completion of God's promises to deliver his people.