shall be left in the land; but it is rather to be extended
unto all, righteous and unrighteous.
\*Ver. 23. \\And it shall come to pass in that day; [that]
every place shall be\\, &c.] Barren and unfruitful, for
want of men to till the ground: \*\\where there were a
thousand vines at a thousand silverlings\\; which were
so good, as to be sold or let out for so many silver
shekels {m}; or the fruit of them came to such a price;
see \\#So 8:11\\: \*\\it shall [even] be for briers and thorns\\;
for want of persons to stock the ground and culti-
vate it.
\*Ver. 24. \\With arrows and with bows shall [men] come
thither\\, &c.] For fear of wild beasts, serpents, and
scorpions, as Jarchi; or in order to hunt them, as
others; or because of thieves and robbers, as Aben
Ezra: \*\\because all the land shall become briers and thorns\\;
among which such creatures, and such sort of men,
would hide themselves.
\*Ver. 25. \\And [on] all hills that shall be digged with
the mattock\\, &c.] Which could not be ploughed with
a plough, but used to be dug with a mattock or spade,
and then sowed with corn: \*\\there shall not come thither
the fear of briers and thorns\\; where thorns and briers
used not to grow, and where there was no fear or dan-
ger of being overrun with them, as the vineyards in
the valleys and champaign country; yet those places
should become desolate in another way; or rather,
there shall be now no fences made of briers and thorns,
which deter cattle from entering into fields and vine-
yards thus fenced: \*\\but it shall be for the setting forth of
oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle\\; there being no
fence of briers and thorns to keep them out, cattle both
of the greater and lesser sort should get into the corn,
and feed upon it, and make such places desolate,
where much pains were taken to cultivate them. The
Targum is, \*"it shall be for a place of lying down of
"oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks of sheep;"\*
not for pastures, but for folds for them; though the
Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions,
suggest these places should become pastures; and
therefore some understand this as a prophecy of a
change in the country for the better, and of the great
fruitfulness of it after the Jews' return from the Baby-
lonish captivity.

\*Ver. 1. \\INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 8\\

\*This chapter contains a confirmation of the sudden
destruction of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel, by
another sign; a threatening to those that gloried in the
kings of those nations, with an invasion of their land
by the Assyrian monarch; a sarcastic address to those
that joined in confederacy against Judah; some direc-
tions and instructions to the people of God; and some
prophecies concerning the Messiah, and the miserable
estate of the Jews, that should reject him and his
Gospel. The sign given is a son of the Prophet Isaiah,
whom his wife conceived and bore, and whose name
was written with a man's pen, Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
of which there were witnesses, whose names are men-
tioned; and 'tis predicted, that before this child should
have knowledge to call his father and mother, Da-
mascus and Samaria, the chief cities of Syria and
Israel, would be taken and spoiled by the king of
Assyria, \\#Isa 8:1-4\\ who would invade, the land of
Israel, and even pass through the land of Judah, as a
chastisement not only of the Israelites that rejoiced in
Rezin and Remaliah's son, the kings of Syria and Israel;
but also of those Jews who chose to be under them,
or neglected the promise of God, and applied to Assy-
ria for help, \\#Isa 8:5-8\\ and then both the people of
Israel and of Syria are addressed, in a sarcastic way, to
associate and take counsel together, when they should
be broke to pieces, and their connsel come to nought,
\\#Isa 8:9,10\\ and the prophet being instructed by the
Lord how to behave among the people of the Jews,
advises them not to join with them whose cry was a
confederacy with Assyria, nor to be afraid of the two
kings that were come up against them, but to sanctify-
the Lord of hosts, and trust in him, and make him the
object of their fear and dread, \\#Isa 8:11-13\\ which
is enforced from the consideration of what the Lord,
who is no other than the Messiah, would be, both to
his own people, and to his enemies; to the one a
sanctuary, and to the other a stone of stumbling, a
rock of offence, a gin, and a snare, \\#Isa 8:14,15\\ then
follows an instruction to the prophet to take care of
the Gospel of Christ, and communicate it to his dis-
ciples, \\#Isa 8:16\\ upon which the prophet determines to
keep waiting and looking for his coming, who at pre-
sent was hidden from the people of God, \\#Isa 8:17\\
wherefore the Messiah is introduced, as presenting
himself and his children to the prophet's view, which
would be for signs and wonders in Israel, gazed at
and reproached, \\#Isa 8:18\\ and then the folly and vanity
of seeking counsel of the Scribes and Pharisees, when
Christ should be come in the flesh, is exposed; whose
Gospel should be attended to, and not those dark and
blind guides, \\#Isa 8:19,20\\ and the chapter is concluded
with the wretched condition of the Jews that called
Jesus accursed; they should pass through the land,
and find no food; and look into it, and see nothing
but darkness and misery, \\#Isa 8:21,22\\.

\*Ver. 1. \\Moreover the Lord said unto me\\, &c.] This
is another prophecy, confirming the same thing that
was promised in the preceding chapter \\#Isa 7:1-25\\; namely, safety
to the Jews from the two kings of Syria and Israel,
which combined against them: \*\\take thee a great roll\\;
or volume, a writing book, a roll of parchment, in
which form the ancients used to write, \\#Ps 40:7\\. The
Targum renders it, a %table%; a writing table, such an
one as Zacharias called for, \\#Lu 1:63\\ and this was
to be a %great% or large one, because much was to be
written in it; or what was to be written was to be
written in large letters: \*\\and write in it with a man's pen\\;

{m} Which was about two shiilings and sixpence of our money.