144 lines
10 KiB
XML
144 lines
10 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Is.i" n="i" next="Is.ii" prev="Is" progress="0.58%" title="Introduction">
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<h2 id="Is.i-p0.1">Isaiah</h2>
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<hr/>
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<pb id="Is.i-Page_1" n="1"/>
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<div class="Center" id="Is.i-p0.3">
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<p id="Is.i-p1" shownumber="no"><b>AN</b></p>
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<h3 id="Is.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
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<h4 id="Is.i-p1.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
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R V A T I O N S,</h4>
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<h5 id="Is.i-p1.3">OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET</h5>
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<h2 id="Is.i-p1.4">I S A I A H.</h2>
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<hr style="width:2in"/>
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</div>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.i-p2" shownumber="no"><span class="smallcaps" id="Is.i-p2.1">Prophet</span> is a
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title that sounds very great to those that understand it, though,
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in the eye of the world, many of those that were dignified with it
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appeared very mean. A prophet is one that has a great intimacy with
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Heaven and a great interest there, and consequently a commanding
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authority upon earth. Prophecy is put for all divine revelation
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(<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.20-2Pet.1.21" parsed="|2Pet|1|20|1|21" passage="2Pe 1:20,21">2 Pet. i. 20, 21</scripRef>),
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because that was most commonly by dreams, voices, or visions,
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communicated to prophets first, and by them to the children of men,
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<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.6" parsed="|Num|12|6|0|0" passage="Nu 12:6">Num. xii. 6</scripRef>. Once indeed God
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himself spoke to all the thousands of Israel from the top of Mount
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Sinai; but the effect was so intolerably dreadful that they
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entreated God would for the future speak to them as he had done
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before, by men like themselves, <i>whose terror should not make
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them afraid, nor their hands be heavy upon them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.7" parsed="|Job|33|7|0|0" passage="Job 33:7">Job xxxiii. 7</scripRef>. God approved the
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motion (<i>they have well said,</i> says he, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.27-Deut.5.28" parsed="|Deut|5|27|5|28" passage="De 5:27,28">Deut. v. 27, 28</scripRef>), and the matter was then
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settled by consent of parties, that we must never expect to hear
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from God any more in that way, but by prophets, who received their
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instructions immediately from God, with a charge to deliver them to
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his church. Before the sacred canon of the Old Testament began to
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be written there were prophets, who were instead of Bibles to the
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church. Our Saviour seems to reckon Abel among the prophets,
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<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.31 Bible:Matt.23.35" parsed="|Matt|23|31|0|0;|Matt|23|35|0|0" passage="Mt 23:31,35">Matt. xxiii. 31, 35</scripRef>.
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Enoch was a prophet; and by him <i>that</i> was first in prediction
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which is to be last in execution—the judgment of the great day.
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<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.7" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.14" parsed="|Jude|1|14|0|0" passage="Jude 1:14">Jude 14</scripRef>, <i>Behold, the
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Lord comes with his holy myriads.</i> Noah was a preacher of
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righteousness. God said of Abraham, He <i>is a prophet,</i>
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<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.7" parsed="|Gen|20|7|0|0" passage="Ge 20:7">Gen. xx. 7</scripRef>. Jacob foretold
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things to come, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1" parsed="|Gen|49|1|0|0" passage="Ge 49:1">Gen. xlix.
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1</scripRef>. Nay, all the patriarchs are called <i>prophets.</i>
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<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.15" parsed="|Ps|105|15|0|0" passage="Ps 105:15">Ps. cv. 15</scripRef>, <i>Do my
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prophets no harm.</i> Moses was, beyond all comparison, the most
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illustrious of all the Old-Testament prophets, for with him the
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Lord spoke <i>face to face,</i> <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.10" parsed="|Deut|34|10|0|0" passage="De 34:10">Deut.
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xxxiv. 10</scripRef>. He was the first writing prophet, and by his
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hand the first foundations of holy writ were laid. Even those that
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were called to be his assistants in the government had the spirit
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of prophecy, such a plentiful effusion was there of that spirit at
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that time, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.12" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.25" parsed="|Num|11|25|0|0" passage="Nu 11:25">Num. xi. 25</scripRef>. But
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after the death of Moses, for some ages, the Spirit of the Lord
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appeared and acted in the church of Israel more as a martial spirit
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than as a spirit of prophecy, and inspired men more for acting than
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speaking. I mean in the time of the judges. We find the Spirit of
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the Lord coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Samson, and others, for the
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service of their country, with their swords, not with their pens.
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Messages were then sent from heaven by angels, as to Gideon and
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Manoah, and to the people, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.13" osisRef="Bible:Judg.2.1" parsed="|Judg|2|1|0|0" passage="Jdg 2:1">Judges ii.
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1</scripRef>. In all the book of judges there is never once mention
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of a prophet, only Deborah is called a prophetess. Then the word of
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the Lord was precious; there was no open vision, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.14" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.1" parsed="|1Sam|3|1|0|0" passage="1Sa 3:1">1 Sam. iii. 1</scripRef>. They had the law of Moses,
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recently written; let them study that. But in Samuel prophecy
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revived, and in him a famous epocha, or period of the church began,
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a time of great light in a constant uninterrupted succession of
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prophets, till some time after the captivity, when the canon of the
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Old Testament was completed in Malachi, and then prophecy ceased
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for nearly 400 years, till the coming of the great prophet and his
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forerunner. Some prophets were divinely inspired to write the
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histories of the church. But they did not put their names to their
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writings; they only referred for proof to the authentic records of
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those times, which were known to be drawn up by prophets, as Gad,
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Iddo, &c. David and others were prophets, to write sacred songs
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for the use of the church. After them we often read of prophets
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sent on particular errands, and raised up for special public
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services, among whom the most famous were Elijah and Elisha in the
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kingdom of Israel. But none of these put their prophecies in
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writing, nor have we any remains of them but some fragments in the
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histories of their times; there was nothing of their own writing
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(that I remember) but one epistle of Elijah's, <scripRef id="Is.i-p2.15" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.21.12" parsed="|2Chr|21|12|0|0" passage="2Ch 21:12">2 Chron. xxi. 12</scripRef>. But towards the latter end
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of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, it pleased God to direct his
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servants the prophets to write and publish some of their sermons,
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or abstracts of them. The dates of many of their prophecies are
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uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the days of Uzziah king
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of Judah, and Jeroboam the second, his contemporary, king of
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Israel, about 200 years before the captivity, and not long after
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Joash had slain Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the courts of the
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temple. If they begin to murder the prophets, yet they shall not
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murder their prophecies; these shall remain as witnesses against
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them. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets; and Joel, Amos,
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and Obadiah, published their prophecies about the same time. Isaiah
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began some time after, and not long; but his prophecy is placed
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first, because it is the largest of them all, and has most in it of
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him to whom all the prophets bore witness; and indeed so much of
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Christ that he is justly styled the <i>Evangelical Prophet,</i>
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and, by some of the ancients, <i>a fifth Evangelist.</i> We shall
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have the general title of this book (<scripRef id="Is.i-p2.16" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.1" parsed="|Isa|1|1|0|0" passage="Isa 1:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) and therefore shall here only
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observe some things,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.i-p3" shownumber="no">I. Concerning the prophet himself. He was
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(if we may believe the tradition of the Jews) of the royal family,
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his father being (they say) brother to king Uzziah. He was
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certainly much at court, especially in Hezekiah's time, as we find
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in his story, to which many think it is owing that his style is
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more curious and polite than that of some other of the prophets,
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and, in some places, exceedingly lofty and soaring. The Spirit of
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God sometimes served his own purpose by the particular genius of
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the prophet; for prophets were not speaking trumpets,
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<i>through</i> which the Spirit spoke, but speaking men, <i>by</i>
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whom the Spirit spoke, making use of their natural powers, in
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respect both of light and flame, and advancing them above
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themselves.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.i-p4" shownumber="no">II. Concerning the prophecy. It is
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transcendently excellent and useful; it was so to the church of God
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then, serving for conviction of sin, direction in duty, and
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consolation in trouble. Two great distresses of the church are here
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referred to, and comfort prescribed in reference to them, that by
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Sennacherib's invasion, which happened in his own time, and that of
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the captivity in Babylon, which happened long after; and in the
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supports and encouragements laid up for each of these times of need
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we find abundance of the grace of the gospel. There are not so many
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quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out of all, the
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prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express
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testimonies concerning Christ, witness that of his being born of a
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virgin (<scripRef id="Is.i-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.1-Isa.7.25" parsed="|Isa|7|1|7|25" passage="Isa 7:1-25"><i>ch.</i> vii.</scripRef>)
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and that of his sufferings, <scripRef id="Is.i-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.1-Isa.53.12" parsed="|Isa|53|1|53|12" passage="Isa 53:1-12"><i>ch.</i> liii</scripRef>. The beginning of this
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book abounds most with reproofs for sin and threatenings of
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judgment; the latter end of it is full of wood words and
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comfortable words. This method the Spirit of Christ took formerly
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in the prophets and does still, first to convince and then to
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comfort; and those that would be blessed with the comforts must
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submit to the convictions. Doubtless Isaiah preached many sermons,
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and delivered many messages to the people, which are not written in
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this book, as Christ did; and probably these sermons were delivered
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more largely and fully than they are here related, but so much is
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left on record as Infinite Wisdom thought fit to convey to us <i>on
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whom the ends of the world have come;</i> and these prophecies, as
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well as the histories of Christ, are written <i>that we might
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believe on the name of the Son of God, and that, believing, we
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might have life through his name; for to us is the gospel here
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preached as well as unto those</i> that lived then, and more
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clearly. O that it may be mixed with faith!</p>
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</div2>
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