Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_002.TXT

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hence their Rabbins, he says, compare Isaiah to a citi-
zen, and Ezekiel to a countryman. And Jerom {g} ob-
serves, that Isaiah is so eloquent and polite, that there
is nothing of rusticity in his language; and that his
style is so florid, that a translation can't preserve it.
Moreover, another reason of this book being placed
first may be the bulk of it; it being larger, and con-                                                                                       '
taining more chapters, than any of the greater prophets,
and almost as many as all the lesser prophets put to-
gether. That Isaiah was the writer of this book is not
to be questioned; many of the prophecies in it are by
name ascribed to him, \\#Mt 13:14 15:7 Joh 12:39 Ro 10:20,21\\
though some others might be
the compilers of it, collect his prophecies, and digest
them in order: so the Jews say {h}, that Hezekiah and
his company wrote Isaiah, &c. At what time, and in
whose days he prophesied, may be learnt from \\#Isa 1:1\\
by which it appears that he prophesied long, and lived
to a good old age. He began to prophesy about A. M.
3236, and about seven hundred and seventy
years before Christ. Abulphara-
gius, an Arabic writer, says {i}, he lived an hundred and
twenty years, eighty five of which he prophesied. It
is a generally received tradition with the Jews, that he
lived to the time of Manasseh, and that he was sawn
asunder by him; and which has been embraced by the
ancient Christian writers, and is thought to be referred
to in \\#He 11:37\\.
\\See Gill on "He 11:37"\\. But
Aben Ezra on \\#Isa 1:1\\ observes, that had he lived to the
time of Manasseh, it would have been written, and is
of opinion that he died in Hezekiah's time. Accord-
ing to the Cippi Hebraici {k}, he was buried at Tekoah,
over whose grave a beautiful monument was erected;
though Epiphanius {l}, or the author of the Lives of the
Prophets that go by his name, says he was buried
under the oak of Rogel, near the fountain of Siloam;
and it is a tradition with the Syriac writers, that his
body lay hid in the waters of Siloah; \\see Gill on "Joh 5:4"\\
but these are things not to be depended on;
and alike fabulous are all other writings ascribed to
him, besides this prophecy; as what are called the as-
cension of Isaiah, the vision of Isaiah, and the con-
ference of Isaiah. This book contains some things his-
torical, but chiefly prophetical; of which some relate
to the punishment of the Jews, and other nations; but
for the most part are evangelical, and concern the
kingdom and grace of Christ; of which some are de-
livered out more clearly and perspicuously, and others
more obscurely, under the type of the deliverance of
the Jews from the Babylonish captivity.

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

\*This chapter, after the inscription, contains a charge
of aggravated sin against the Jews; God's rejection of
their ceremonial sacrifices and service; an exhortation
to repentance and obedience, with a promise of pardon;
a deploration of their sad estate; a prophecy of their
restoration to a better; and of the destruction of ido-
latrous sinners. The inscription is in \\#Isa 1:1\\ in which
are the title of the prophecy, a vision; the writer of it
described by his name, his descent, and the times in
which he prophesied; and the subject of the prophecy
is Judah and Jerusalem. The charge against the Jews
is rebellion against the Lord, and the heavens and earth
are called as witnesses of it; which is aggravated by
the relation they stood in to God, and by the favours
bestowed upon them, \\#Isa 1:2\\ by their more than brutish
stupidity, \\#Isa 1:3\\ by the multitude of their sins, which
were of a provoking nature, \\#Isa 1:4\\ by the uselessness
of chastisements, the whole body of the people, from
the highest to the lowest, being afflicted without being
the better for it, and so generally depraved, that no re-
gard was had to any means of reformation, \\#Isa 1:5,6\\
and by the desolation it brought upon them, which is
illustrated by several similes, \\#Isa 1:7,8\\ and by the
grace and goodness of God in reserving a few, or other-
wise they must have been for their punishment, as
they were for their sins, like Sodom and Gomorrah,
\\#Isa 1:9\\ wherefore both rulers and people are called upon
under those names to hearken to the law of God, and
not trust in and depend upon their sacrifices and other
rites of the ceremonial law, together with their hypo-
critical prayers; all which were abominable to the
Lord, since they were guilty of such dreadful immo-
ralities, \\#Isa 1:11-15\\ when they are exhorted
to repentance for sin, to the obedience of faith, and
washing in the blood of Christ, whereby their crimson
and scarlet sins would become as white as wool and
snow, otherwise destruction must be expected,
\\#Isa 1:16-20\\ and then a lamentation is taken up
concernng the deplorable state of Jerusalem, represent-
ing the difference between what it was now, and what
it was formerly, and the sad degeneracy of the people,
rulers, and judges, \\#Isa 1:21-23\\ upon which the
Lord foretells what he thought to do: to avenge him-
self of his enemies; to purge his church and people;
to restore them to their former uprightness and in-
tegrity; and to redeem them with judgment and
righteousness, \\#Isa 1:24-27\\ and the chapter is
concluded with a denunciation of utter destruction
upon wicked men, who are described and pointed at as
idolaters; which will cover them with shame and con-
fusion, \\#Isa 1:28,29\\ and which is illustrated by the
fading of the leaves of an oak, and by a garden parched
with drought, \\#Isa 1:30\\ and it is suggested that it will be
by burning with fire unquenchable, \\#Isa 1:31\\.
\*Ver. 1. \\The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz\\, &c.]
This is either the particular title of the prophecy con-
tained in this single chapter, as Jarchi and Abarbinel
think; seeing the second chapter \\#Isa 2:1\\ begins with another
title, %the word that Isaiah saw%, &c. or rather it is the
common title of the whole book; since it is the vision

{g} Ad Paulam, ut supra
{h} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. ?
{i} Hist. Dynast. p. 43.
{k} P. 11. Ed. Hottinger.
{l} De Vitis Prophet. c. 7. & Isidor. Hispalens. de Vit. & Mort.
    Sanct. c. 37.