betook themselves t6 sleep and rest: yet thus shall they
be cut down; or shorn {l}; as the wool is shorn off the
back of a sheep with sheers; or grass or corn is mowed
with a scythe; or else as the hair of a man's head and
beard are shaved with a razor; which sometimes was
done, not only in a way of ignominy and contempt, as
David's servants were served by Hanun, 2 Sam. x. 4.
but as a token of servitude; hence those words of the
poet {m}, ,, after thou art a servant, dost thou let thy
"hair grow ?" upon which it is observed {n}, that it be-
longs to freemen to let the hair grow; and so the phi-
losopher says ø, to let the hair grow, or to nourish it,
is commendable with a Lacedemonian, for it is a sign
of liberty; for it is not for him who lets his hair grow
to do any servile work; and .it was usual with con-
querors. to shave the conquered, and such as were car-
ried captives P, which some think is referred to in
Deut. xxxii. 42. and render the latter clause of that
verse," and there shall be captivity, by reason of the
"head of nakedness of the enemy ;" that is, there
should be captives whose heads should be made bare,
or shaved by the enemy the conqueror {q}; hence the
king of Assyria, when a conqueror, is compared to a
sharp razor, that should shave the head, and feet, and
beard, even all sorts of people, Isa. vii. 20. but now he
and his army should be shaved themselves; that is,
conquered, slain, or taken captives, and become
slaves, and treated with contempt; all which may be
taken into the sense of this phrase, and serve to illus-
trate it: when he shall pass through; when the angel
should pass through the camp of the Assyrians, then
were they cut down by him in great numbers, a
hundred and fourscore and five thousand slain at once,
2 Kings xix. 35: though I have afficted thee, I will af-
flict thee no more: or any longe_r ; though the Lord
had afflicted the people' of the Jews by the Assyrian
king, the rod of his anger, again and again, yet after
this he would afflict them no more by him; for other-
wise they were afflicted afterwards, yet not by the As-
syrians, but by the Babyloninns, Syrians, and Romans,
Some understand this, as before, of the Ninerites and
Assyrians, that should be utterly destroyed at once,
and their affliction should not be a second time; see
yet. 9. so Abarbinel: or, I will not hear thee any more {};
as he did formerly, when they repented at the preach-
ing of Jonah.
Ver. 13. For no.w will I break his yoke from off thee,
&c.] The Assyrian yoke from off the Jews, who had
been obliged to pay tribute, or send presents to the
king of Assyria, from the tithes of Ahaz; and were in
bondage, whilst shut up and besieged by his army,
and the country all around laid under contribution;
from all which they were delivered when his army
Was in that dreadful manner destroyed: a,zd will burst
thy bonds in sunder; and set thee entirely free from the
bondage of the enemy, and all fear of it; a type of that
freedom from the yoke of sin, Satan, and the law,
which the people of God have by Jesus Christ.
Vet. 14. And the Lord hath given a commandment
concerning thee, &c.] This is directed to Sennacherib
king of Assyria, as the Targum expresses it; and so
Jarchi and Kimchi; and signifies the decree of God
concerning him, what he had determined to do with
hint, and how things would be ordered in Providence
towards him, agreeably to his design and resolution:
that no more of thy name be sown; which is not to be
understood-that he should have no son and heir to
succeed him; for Esar-haddon his son reigned in his
stead, 2 Kings xix. 37. and after him, according to
Ptolem's canon, Saosduchinus and Chyniladanus. but
-       Y        ft,'            '    'd     t~'         ~1"
the memory of his name should no be spread m the
earth; or the fame of it, with any marks of honour and
glory, but of shame and disgrace. So the Targum,
"neither shall be any memory of thy name any more :"
out of the house of thy gods will I cut of the graven
image and the molten image; called the house of 2Ntis.ú
roch his god, 2 Kings xix. 37. where he was slain; and
some say that after that it ceased to be a place of
worship, being polluted with his blood. Josephus {}
calls it his own temple, where he usually worshippeal,
for which he had a peculiar regard, and for his god
Nisroch; but who this deity was is not certain.
Selden says {}, he knew nothing, nor had read any'
thing of him, but what is mentioned in the Scripture.
Some of the Jewish writers {w} take it to be a plank of
Noak's ark; and Mr. Basnage {x} is of opinion that it is
Janus represented by Noah's ark, who had two faces,
before and behind; a fit emblem of Noah, who saw
two worlds, one before, and another after the flood.
Some say Dagon the god of the Philistines is meant,
which is not likely; see the note on Isa. xxxvii. 38.
but, be he who he will, there were other idols besides
him, both graven and molten, in this temple, as is
here expressed; very probably here stood an image of
Belus or Pui, the first Assyrian monarch, and who;was
deified; and perhaps Adrammelech the god of the Se-
pharvites was another, since one of Sennacherib's sons
bore this name; and it was' usual with the Assyriaus,
Chaldeans, and Babyloninns, to give the names of their
gods to their princes, or insert them in theirs: here
also might be the AsSyrian Venus, Derceto, Semiram iso
and others: fishes also were worshippeal by the Assy-
finns, in honour ofDerceto; and doves in remem-
brance of Semiramis, said to be nourished by one in her
infancy, and turned into one at her death; hence those
creatures became sacred in Assyria, and were not suf-
fered to be touched and killed, as Philo observed at
Ascalon; see the note on Hos. xi. 11. and Lucian y at
Hieropolis in Syria ;' where, he says, of all birds, they
think the dove most holy; so that they count 'it very
unlawful to touch them; and if by chance they do,
they reckon themselves unclean that whole day; heuce

{l} \^wzwgn\^ tonsi, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{m} \~epeita dhta doulov wn komhn eceiv\~; Aristophanes in Avibus, p. 584.
{n} Scholia Graec. in ib.
{o} Aristotel. rhetor. l. 1. c. 9.
{p} Tonsa comas imo Barathri claudere recessu. Claudian in Ruffin.
l. 1. prope finem, Vid. Barthium in ib.
{q} Lydius de Re Militari, l. 6. c. 6. p. 237.
{r} \^dwe al\^ non ultra, Pagninus, Montanus; non amplius, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.
{s} \^dwe Knea al\^ non exaudiam te amplius, Burkius.
{t} Antiqu. l. 10. c. 1. sect. 5.
{u} De Dis Syris, Syntagm. 2. c. 10. p. 329.
{w} Vid. Jarchi in Isaiam, c. 37. 38.
{x} In Calmet's Dictionary,in the word Samaritans.
{y} De Dea Syria.