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and I have trodden them down in mine anger, and I have trampled them in my fury; and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. 4. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. 6. And I trod down the people in mine anger, and made them drunk in my fury, and I brought down their strength to the earth.

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7. ISAIAH. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses-17. O Lord, why hast thou made us † to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Bring back, for thy servants

* I trod.] "Both the Lxx and the Vulgar Latin translate "this and the following sentences of this verse in the præter66 perfect tense, which agrees better with the context, where "Christ is described as having his garments already stained "with blood!" Mr. Lowth in loc.

+ Why hast thou made us?] "The words might better have "been rendered, why hast thou suffered us? for the form, "called Hiphil in Hebrew, often denotes only permission, "and is rendered elsewhere to that sense by our translators." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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sake, the tribes of thine inheritance *. 18. It is little, that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain; that our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. 19. We have been from old time as those whom thou didst not bear rule over; who have not been called by thy name †,

COMMENTARY.

In this most august prophecy, Isaiah, having fully predicted the restoration of Israel, introduces the Lord as proclaiming to the daughter of Zion the advent of her Saviour.

Suddenly, and almost ere the proclamation has been made, a new and awful vision bursts upon his sight. He beholds the Messiah returning from the conquest of his enemies, from the overthrow of Antichrist. His garments are stained with the blood of the symbolical vintage; for the day of vengeance is in his heart, the year of his redeemed is come. Struck with astonishment, the prophet

*Bring back, for thy servants sake, the tribes of thine inheritance."]"That is, Turn their captivity for the sake of thy "servants Abraham and Israel (ver. 16.), to whom thou "madest the promises." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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Who have not been called by thy name.] Thou hast re"jected us altogether, and dost disregard us, as if we had never had any relation to thee, nor ever were called thy people which sense agrees very well with the present con“dition of the Jewish nation, which hath continued for many ages without king or prince or sacrifice, as the prophet "Hosea foretold. Hos. iii. 4." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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inquiries

inquires who this mighty conqueror can be. The Lord answers, It is I that speak in righteousness, I that am mighty to save. Yet more astonished at this declaration, Isaiah again asks, Why then art thou red in thine apparel? If thy office be salvation, why do I behold thee sprinkled with blood, and wet with slaughter, so that thou art like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? Christ replies, The blood, which thou beholdest, is the blood of my irreclaimable enemies; the blood of those, who have dared to assault thy people even in the midst of their heaven-appointed restoration. Elate with shortlived success, exulting in having planted their tabernacles between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, flushed with the pride of uncontrouled victory, Antichrist and his associates have at length madly rushed upon their fate, and tempted the Most High to bring upon them swift destruction. Alone I trod the wine-press; for this hath been no mortal warfare. When ruin stared my people in the face, when their foes had overflowed and passed over, when they had entered into the glorious land, when many countries had been overthrown, when all human aid was vain: then did I, the Lord, stand forth, and arise in my fury. none to help, there was none to uphold. mine own arm brought salvation unto own strength I trod down the people. I made them drunk in my fury: they came to their end, and there was none to help them.

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Thus divinely instructed in the nature of the terrific vision, the prophet humbly gives thanks unto the Lord for his goodness, and acknowledges his eternal justice and truth. Though the adversaries have for a time trodden down his sanctuary, yet God was never their God. But the tribes of Israel are still the Lord's, although they have long been removed from the land of their inheritance, and have been scattered among the nations.

That this vision of the Messiah relates to the last days, and to his second advent, is, I think, manifest both from its immediate connexion with the restoration of the Jews, and from the description being applicable to no part of his ministry during the period of his first advent*. Then, as Isaiah elsewhere predicts, he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: now he appears as a mighty conqueror, sprinkled with the blood of his prostrate enemies. Then he was oppressed, he was afflicted, he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; he was taken from prison and from judgment; he was cut off out of the land of the

*See Bp. Lowth in loc. who rightly refers this prophecy to the last days, though I cannot think that it has any relation to the overthrow of Gog and Mageg mentioned by Ezekiel and St. John. It plainly describes the same events, as those foretold in Rev. xix. to them accordingly the father of that eminent prelate supposes it to allude. See Mr. Lowth's Comment on Isaiah Ixiii. 2, 3.

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living; he was slain; he was buried: now he victoriously treads the wine-press of his indignation; he tramples upon the people in his anger; the day of vengeance is in his heart; he is glorious in his apparel; he travels in the greatness of his strength. Two such entirely different descriptions must either relate to two entirely different persons, or to the same person at two entirely different periods. That they both however equally relate to the Messiah, is universally allowed. They must therefore relate to him at the two different periods of his first and second advent. Accordingly, as I have just observed, we find the present description immediately connected with the restoration of Israel: whence it will follow, that it relates to some yet future manifestation of the Messiah.

But it may be asked, Why is he then represented as coming from Edom and from Bozrah? I answer: As the ships of Tarshish, when connected with the restoration of the Jews, mean not not literal Tyrian vessels, but the navy of some great maritime people, some modern Tyre: so Edom, when similarly connected, means, not the literal Edom, but some profane enemy of God and his people, who is to be revealed in the last days. This enemy, as we learn from other collateral prophecies, will be a mighty power within the limits of the Roman empire, which shall either be the tenhorned beast himself under his last head, or a notoriously infidel state united with that last head.

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