{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/clarke/isa032.htm","path":"bib/cmt/clarke/isa032.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/isa032.htm","text":"Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke, [1831]\nProphecy of great prosperity under Hezekiah; but, in its highest sense, applicable to Christ, Isa 32:1-8. Description of impending calamities, Isa 32:9-14. Rejection of the Jews, and calling of the Gentiles, Isa 32:15. The future prosperity of the Church, Isa 32:16-20.\nBehold, a king shall reign in righteousness - If King Hezekiah were a type of Christ, then this prophecy may refer to his time; but otherwise it seems to have Hezekiah primarily in view. It is evident, however, that in the fullest sense these words cannot be applied to any man; God alone can do all that is promised here.\nAnd princes - \u05d5\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd ve-sarim, without \u05dc lamed, to; so the ancient Versions. An ancient MS. has \u05d5\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5 vesaraiv, and his princes.\nAs the shadow of a great rock - The shadow of a great projecting rock is the most refreshing that is possible in a hot country, not only as most perfectly excluding the rays of the sun, but also as having in itself a natural coolness, which it reflects and communicates to every thing about it.\nSpeluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra.\nVirg. Georg. 3:145.\n\"Let the cool cave and shady rock protect them.\"\n\u0395\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b5\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u03a3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9,\n\u0391\u03c5\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b5 \u03c7\u03c1\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b1\u03c0\u03bf \u03ba\u03b1\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\u00b7 \u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c4' \u03b7\u03b4\u03b7\n\u0395\u03b9\u03b7 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9\u03b7 \u03c4\u03b5 \u03c3\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd, \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u0392\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.\nHesiod. 2:206.\n\"When Sirius rages, and thine aching head,\nParched skin, and feeble knees refreshment need;\nThen to the rock's projected shade retire,\nWith Biblin wine recruit thy wasted powers.\"\nAnd the eyes of them that see shall not be dim \"And him the eyes of those that see shall regard\" - For \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 velo, and not, Le Clerc reads \u05d5\u05dc\u05d5 velo, and to him, of which mistake the Masoretes acknowledge there are fifteen instances; and many more are reckoned by others. The removal of the negative restores to the verb its true and usual sense.\nThe vile person shall no more be called liberal - The different epithets here employed require minute explanation.\nThe vile person - \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc nabal, the pampered, fattened, brainless fellow, who eats to live, and lives to eat; who will scarcely part with any thing, and that which he does give he gives with an evil eye and a grudging heart.\nLiberal - \u05e0\u05d3\u05d9\u05d1 nadib; the generous, openhearted, princely man, who writes on all his possessions, For myself and mankind, and lives only to get and to do good.\nThe churl - \u05db\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9 kilai, the avaricious man; he who starves himself amidst his plenty, and will not take the necessaries of life for fear of lessening his stock.\nThus he differs from \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc nabal, who feeds himself to the full, and regards no one else; like the rich man in the Gospel. The avaricious man is called \u05db\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9 kilai, from \u05db\u05d9 ki, for, \u05dc\u05d9 li, myself; or contracted from \u05db\u05dc col, all, and \u05dc\u05d9 li, to myself: all is mine; all I have is my own; and all I can get is for myself: and yet this man enjoys nothing; he withholds\nFrom back and belly too their proper fare: -\nO cursed lust of gold, when for thy sake\nThe wretch throws up his interest in both worlds,\nFirst starved in this, then damned in that to come!\nBountiful - \u05e9\u05d5\u05e2 shoa, he who is abundantly rich; who rejoices in his plenty, and deals out to the distressed with a liberal hand.\nThe vile person will speak villany \"The fool will still utter folly\" - A sort of proverbial saying, which Euripides (Bacchae, 369) has expressed in the very same manner and words: \u039c\u03c9\u03c1\u03b1 \u03b3\u03b1\u03c1 \u03bc\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u00b7 \"The fool speaks folly. \"Of this kind of simple and unadorned proverb or parable, see De S. Poes, Hebr. Praelect. xxiv.\nAgainst the Lord \"Against Jehovah\" - For \u05d0\u05dc El, two MSS. read \u05d0\u05dc al, more properly; but both are of nearly the same meaning.\nThe instruments also of the churl are evil \"As for the niggard, his instruments are evil\" - His machinations, his designs. The paronomasia, which the prophet frequently deals in, suggested this expression \u05d5\u05db\u05dc\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 vechelai kelaiv. The first word is expressed with some variety in the MSS. Seven MSS. read \u05d5\u05db\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9 vekili, one \u05d5\u05db\u05dc vechol, another \u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9 vecoli.\nTo destroy the poor with lying words \"To defeat the assertions of the poor in judgment\" - A word seems to have been lost here, and two others to have suffered a small alteration, which has made the sentence very obscure. The Septuagint have happily retained the rendering of the lost word, and restored the sentence in all its parts: \u039a\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03bd \u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u00b7 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d4\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 ulehapher dibrey ebyon bemishpat, \"And disperse the words of the poor in judgment. \"They frequently render the verb \u05d4\u05e4\u05e8 haphar by \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9, A MS. reads \u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 uledabber, which gives authority for the preposition \u05dc lamed, to, necessary to the sense, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read \u05d1\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 bemishpat, In judgment.\nLiberal things \"Generous purposes\" - \"Of the four sorts of persons mentioned Isa 32:5, three are described, Isa 32:6, Isa 32:7, and Isa 32:8, but not the fourth.\" - Secker. Perhaps for \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 vehu, and he, we ought to read \u05d5\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2 veshoa, the bountiful.\nRise up, ye women \"ye provinces. \"Ye careless daughters \"ye cities.\" - Targum.\nFrom this verse to the end of the fourteenth, the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans appears to be foretold.\nGird sackcloth - \u05e9\u05e7 sak, sackcloth, a word necessary to the sense, is here lost, but preserved by the Septuagint, MSS. Alex. and Pachom., and 1. D. II., and edit. Ald. and Comp., and the Arabic and Syriac.\nTremble - be troubled - strip you - \u05e4\u05e9\u05d8\u05d4 peshotah, \u05e8\u05d2\u05d6\u05d4 regazah, etc. These are infinitives, with a paragogic \u05d4 he, according to Schultens, Institut. Ling. Hebr. p. 453, and are to be taken in an imperative sense.\nThey shall lament - for the pleasant fields \"Mourn ye for the pleasant field\" - The Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read \u05e1\u05e4\u05d3\u05d5 siphdu, mourn ye, imperative; twelve MSS., (five ancient), two editions, the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Syriac, and Vulgate, all read \u05e9\u05d3\u05d4 sadeh, a field; not \u05e9\u05d3\u05d9 shedey, breasts.\nShall come up thorns and briers \"The thorn and the brier shall come up\" - All the ancient Versions read \u05d5\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e8 veshamir, with the conjunction. And an ancient MS. has \u05ea\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d5 taaleh bo, \"shall come up in it, \"which seems to be right; or rather \u05d1\u05d4 bah: and there is a rasure in the place of \u05d1\u05d5 bo in another ancient MS.\nYea, upon all the houses of joy - For \u05db\u05d9 ki, the ancient Versions, except the Vulgate, seem to have read \u05d5 ve. \u05db\u05d9 ki may perhaps be a mistake for \u05d1\u05d5 bo, or \u05d1\u05d4 bah, in it, above mentioned. It is not necessary in this place.\nThe description of impending distress which begins at Isa 32:13 belongs to other times than that of Sennacherib's invasion, from which they were so soon delivered. It must at least extend to the ruin of the country and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings which follows was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensation; they belong to the Kingdom of Messiah. Compare Isa 32:15 with Isa 29:17 (note), and see the note there.\nThe palaces shall be forsaken - The house of the sanctuary (the temple) shall be destroyed. - Targum.\nThe forts \"Ophel\" - It was a part of Mount Zion, rising higher than the rest, at the eastern extremity, near to the temple, a little to the south of it; called by Micah, Mic 4:8, \"Ophel of the daughter of Zion. \"It was naturally strong by its situation; and had a wall of its own, by which it was separated from the rest of Zion.\nAnd the fruitful field - \u05d5\u05d4\u05db\u05e8\u05de\u05dc vehaccarmel. So fifteen MSS., six ancient, and two editions; which seems to make the noun an appellative.\nThe work of righteousness - Righteousness works and produces peace.\nThe effect of righteousness - \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05ea abodath, the culture. Righteousness, cultivated by peace, produces tranquillity of mind and permanent security. Reader, hast thou the principle? If so, dost thou cultivate it? If thou dost, thou hast peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and a sure and certain hope of everlasting life.\nThe city shalt be low all a low place. \"The city shall be laid level with the plain\" - For \u05d5\u05d1\u05e9\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 ubashephelah, the Syriac reads \u05d5\u05db\u05e9\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 ukeshephelah. The city - probably Nineveh or Babylon: but this verse is very obscure. Saltus; Assyriorum regnum: civitas; magnifica Assyriorum castra. Ephrem Syr. ire loc. For \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d3 ubarad, a MS. has \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d3 vaiyered; and so conjectured Abp. Secker, referring to Zac 11:2.\nThat sow beside all waters \"Who sow your seed in every well-watered place\" - Sir John Chardin's note on this place is: \"This exactly answers the manner of planting rice; for they sow it upon the water, and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and asses, who go mid-leg deep; and this is the way of preparing the ground for sowing. As they sow the rice on the water, they transplant it in the water. \"Harmer's Observ. vol. 1 p. 280. \"Rice is the food of two-thirds of mankind.\" Dr. Arbuthnot. \"It is cultivated in most of the eastern countries.\" Miller. \"It is good for all, and at all times.\" Sir J. Chardin, ib. \"Le ris, qui est leur principal aliment et leur froment (i.e., des Siamois), n'est jamais assez arrose; il croit au milieu de l'eau, et les campagnes ou on le cultive ressemblent plutot a de marets que non pas a des terres qu'on laboure aver la charue. Le ris a bien cette force, que quoy qu'il y ait six ou sept pieds d'eau sur lui, il pousse toujours sa tige au dessus; et le tuyau qui le porte s'eleve et croit a proportion de la hauteur de l'eau qui noye son champ. Voyage de l'Eveque de Beryte, p. 144. Paris, 1666. - L. \"Rice, which is the principal grain and aliment of the Siamese, can never be too much watered. It grows in the water, and the fields where it is sown resemble marshes rather than fields cultivated by ploughing. Rice has that property that although it be covered with water six or seven feet deep, yet it raises its stalk above it; and this grows long in proportion to the depth of the water by which the field is inundated.\"","title":"Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke: Isaiah: Isaiah Chapter 32","type":"page"}