--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 857 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/857/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 857. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/857/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 857. Isaiah · 77 of 79 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/857/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/857/#p-N [¶0] Into their bosom - For על al, ten MSS. and five editions have אל el. So again at the end of this verse, seventeen MSS. and four editions have אל al. - L. ### Verse 7 [¶2] Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers "Their iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers" - For the pronoun affixed of the second person חם chem, your, twice, read הם hem, their, in the third person; with the Septuagint and Houbigant. - L. ### Verse 8 [¶4] A blessing is in it - The Hebrews call all things which serve for food ברכה berachah, "a blessing." On this verse Kimchi remarks: "As the cluster of grapes contains, besides the juice, the bark, and the kernels, so the Israelites have, besides the just, sinners among them. Now as the cluster must not be destroyed because there is a blessing, a nutritive part in it; so Israel shall not be destroyed, because there are righteous persons in it. But as the bark and kernels are thrown away, when the wine is pressed out, so shall the sinners be purged away from among the just, and on their return from exile, shall not be permitted to enter into the land of Israel;" [Eze 20:38]. [¶5] For my servant's sakes "For the sake of my servant" - It is to be observed that one of the Koningsburg MSS. collated by Lilienthal points the word עבדי abdi, singular; that is, "my servant," meaning the Messiah; and so read the Septuagint, which gives a very good sense. In two of my old MSS. it is pointed עבדי abadai, and עבדי abdi, "my servant, "this confirms the above reading. ### Verse 9 [¶7] An inheritor of my mountains "An inheritor of my mountain" - הרי hari, in the singular number; so the Septuagint and Syriac; that is, of Mount Sion. See [Isa 65:11] and [Isa 56:7], to which Sion, the pronoun feminine singular, added to the verb in the next line, refers; ירשוה yereshuah, "shall inherit her." - L. ### Verse 10 [¶9] Sharon - and the valley of Achor - Two of the most fertile parts of Judea; famous for their rich pastures; the former to the west, not far from Joppa; the latter north of Jericho, near Gilgal. ### Verse 11 [¶11] That prepare a table for that troop "Who set in order a table for Gad" - The disquisitions and conjectures of the learned concerning Gad and Meni are infinite and uncertain: perhaps the most probable may be, that Gad means good fortune, and Meni the moon. "But why should we be solicitous about it?" says Schmidius. "It appears sufficiently, from the circumstances, that they were false gods; either stars, or some natural objects; or a mere fiction. The Holy Scriptures did not deign to explain more clearly what these objects of idolatrous worship were; but chose rather, that the memory of the knowledge of them should be utterly abolished. And God be praised, that they are so totally abolished, that we are now quite at a loss to know what and what sort of things they were." Schmidius on the place, and on [Jdg 2:13], Bibl. Hallensia. [¶12] Jerome, on the place, gives an account of this idolatrous practice of the apostate Jews, of making a feast, or a lectisternium, as the Romans called it, for these pretended deities. Est in cunctis urbibus, et maxime in Aegypto, et in Alexandria, idololatriae vetus consuetudo, ut ultimo die anni, et mensis ejus qui extremus est, ponant mensam refertam varii generis epulis, et poculum mulso mixtum; vel praeteriti anni vel futuri fertilitatem auspicantes. Hoc autem faciebant et Israelitae, omnium simulachrorum portenta venerantes; et nequaquam altari victimas, sed hujusmodi mensae liba fundebant. "In all cities, and especially in Egypt and Alexandria, it was an ancient idolatrous custom on the last day of the year, to spread a table covered with various kinds of viands, and a goblet mixed with new wine, referring to the fertility either of the past or coming year. The Israelites did the same, worshipping all kinds of images, and pouring out libations on such tables," etc. See also Le Clerc on the place; and on [Isa 66:17], and Dav. Millii Dissert. v. [¶13] The allusion to Meni, which signifies number, is obvious. If there had been the like allusion to Gad, which might have been expected, it might perhaps have helped to let us into the meaning of that word. It appears from Jerome's version of this place, that the words τῳ δαιμονιω, to a demon, (or δαιμονι, as some copies have it), and τῃ τυχῃ, to fortune, stood in his time in the Greek version in an inverted order from that which they have in the present copies; the latter then answering to גד gad, the former to מני meni: by which some difficulty would be avoided; for it is commonly supposed that גד gad signifies τυχη, Fortune. See [Gen 30:11], apud Sept. This matter is so far well cleared up by MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. II., which agree in placing these two words in that order, which Jerome's version supposes. - L. [¶14] My Old MS. Bible translates: That putten the borde of fortune; and offreden licours upon it; and so the Vulgate. Ἑτοιμαζοντες τῳ δαιμονιῳ τραπεζαν, και πληρουντες τῃ τυχῃ κερασμα. Preparing a table for the demon, and filling up, or pouring out, a libation to fortune." [¶15] Septuagint. [¶16] Ye have set up an aulter unto fortune [¶17] And geven rich drink offeringes unto treasure. [¶18] Coverdale. ### Verse 12 [¶20] Therefore will I number you - Referring to Meni, which signifies number "Rabbi Eliezar said to his disciples, Turn to God one day before you die. His disciples said, How call a man know the day of his death? He answered, Therefore it is necessary that you should turn to God to-day, for possibly ye may die to-morrow." ### Verse 13 [¶22] My servants shalt eat, but ye shall be hungry - Rabbi Joachan ben Zachai said in a parable: There was a king who invited his servants, but set them no time to come to the feast. The prudent and wary who were among them adorned themselves; and, standing at the gate of the king's house, said, Is there any thing lacking in the king's house? i.e., Is there any work to be done in it? But the foolish which were among them went, and mocking said, When shall the feast be, in which there is no labor? Suddenly, the king sought out his servants: they who were adorned entered in, and they who were still polluted entered in also. The king was glad when he met the prudent, but he was angry when he met the foolish. Therefore he said, Let those sit down, and let them eat; but let these stand and look on. [¶23] This parable is very like that of the wise and foolish virgins, Matthew 25, and that of the marriage of the king's son, Matthew 22. ### Verse 15 [¶25] Shall slay thee "Shall slay you" - For והמיתך vehemithecha, shall slay thee, the Septuagint and Chaldee read והמיתכם vehemithechem, shall slay you, plural. ### Verse 17 [¶27] I create new heavens and a new earth - This has been variously understood. Some Jews and some Christians understand it literally. God shall change the state of the atmosphere, and render the earth more fruitful. Some refer it to what they call the Millennium; others, to a glorious state of religion; others, to the re-creation of the earth after it shall have been destroyed by fire. I think it refers to the full conversion of the Jews ultimately; and primarily to the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. ### Verse 18 [¶29] Rejoice for ever in that which I create "Exult in the age to come which I create" - So in [Isa 9:5] אבי עד abi ad, πατηρ του μελλοντος αιωνος, "the father of the age to come," Sept. See Bishop Chandler, Defence of Christianity, p. 136. ### Verse 19 [¶31] The voice of weeping, etc. - "Because of untimely deaths shall no more be heard in thee; for natural death shall not happen till men be full of days; as it is written, [Isa 65:20] : There shall be no more thence an infant of days, i.e., the people shall live to three or five hundred years of age, as in the days of the patriarchs; and if one die at one hundred years, it is because of his sin; and even at that age he shall be reputed an infant; and they shall say of him, An infant is dead. These things shall happen to Israel in the days of the Messiah." - Kimchi. ### Verse 20 [¶33] Thence "There" - For משם mishsham, thence, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read שם sham, there. ### Verse 22 [¶35] They shall not build, and another inhabit - The reverse of the curse denounced on the disobedient, [Deu 28:30] : "Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof." [¶36] For as the days of a tree - It is commonly supposed that the oak, one of the most longlived of the trees, lasts about a thousand years; being five hundred years growing to full perfection, and as many decaying: which seems to be a moderate and probable computation. See Evelyn, Sylva, B. 3 chap. 3. The present emperor of China, in his very ingenious and sensible poem entitled Eloge de Moukden, a translation of which in French was published at Paris, 1770, speaks of a tree in his country which lives more than a hundred ages: and another, which after fourscore ages is only in its prime, pp. 37, 38. But his imperial majesty's commentators, in their note on the place, carry the matter much farther; and quote authority, which affirms, that the tree last mentioned by the emperor, the immortal tree, after having lived ten thousand years, is still only in its prime. I suspect that the Chinese enlarge somewhat in their national chronology, as well as in that of their trees. See Chou King. Preface, by Mons. de Guignes. The prophet's idea seems to be, that they shall live to the age of the antediluvians; which seems to be very justly expressed by the days of a tree, according to our notions. The rabbins have said that this refers to the tree of life, which endures five hundred years. - L. ### Verse 23 [¶38] They shall not labor in vain "My chosen shall not labor in vain" - I remove בחירי bechirai, my elect, from the end of the twenty-second to the beginning of the twenty-third verse, on the authority of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and a MS.; contrary to the division in the Masoretic text. - L. The Septuagint is beautiful: My chosen shall not labor in vain, neither shall they beget children for the curse; for the seed is blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them." [¶39] Nor bring forth for trouble "Neither shall they generate a short-lived race" - לבהלה labbehalah, in festinationem, "what shall soon hasten away." Εις καταραν for a curse, Sept. They seem to have read לאלה lealah. - Grotius. But [Psa 78:33] both justifies and explains the word here: - ימיהם בהבל ויכל yemeyhem bahebel vayechal בבהלה ושנותם babbehalah ushenotham "And he consumed their days in vanity; [¶40] And their years in haste." μετα σπουδης, say the Septuagint. Jerome on this place of Isaiah explains it to the same purpose: "εις ανυπαρξιαν, hoc est, ut esse desistant." ### Verse 24 [¶42] Before they call, I will answer - I will give them all they crave for, and more than they can desire. ### Verse 25 [¶44] The wolf and the lamb, etc. - The glorious salvation which Jesus Christ procures is for men, and for men only: fallen spirits must still abide under the curse: "He took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham."