Isaiah 66:19 Kommentar

The scope of this chapter is much the same as that of the foregoing chapter and many expressions of it are the same; it therefore looks the same way, to the different state of the good and bad among the Jews at their return out of captivity, but that typifying the rejection of the Jews in the days of the Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in the world. The first verse of this chapter is applied by Stephen to the dismantling of the temple by the planting of the Christian church (Act 7:49, Act 7:50), which may serve as a key to the whole chapter. We have here, I. The contempt God puts upon ceremonial services in comparison with moral duties, and an intimation therein of his purpose shortly to put an end to the temple, and sacrifice and reject those that adhered to them (Isa 66:1-4). II. The salvation God will in due time work for his people out of the hands of their oppressors (Isa 66:5), speaking terror to the persecutors (Isa 66:6) and comfort to the persecuted, a speedy and complete deliverance (Isa 66:7-9), a joyful settlement (Isa 66:10, Isa 66:11), the accession of the Gentiles to them, and abundance of satisfaction therein (Isa 66:12-14). III. The terrible vengeance which God will bring upon the enemies of his church and people (Isa 66:15-18). IV. The happy establishment of the church upon large and sure foundations, its constant attendance on God and triumph over its enemies (Isa 66:19-24). And we may well expect that this evangelical prophet, here, in the close of his prophecy, should (as he does) look as far forward as to the latter days, to the last day, to the days of eternity.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 66 This chapter treats of the same things as the former, the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, and the regard had to them that did believe; the conversion of that people in the latter day; the calling of the Gentiles, and the happy state of the church in the last times. The causes of the rejection of the Jews were their unworthy notions of God, as if he was confined to the temple of Jerusalem, and to be pleased with external sacrifices, now both at an end under the Gospel dispensation; a better sacrifice being offered, and a more spiritual worship set up everywhere; which notions are considered, Isa 66:1, and because they were set upon their ways and works, and rejected the Gospel of Christ, they are threatened with ruin, Isa 66:3 and the disciples of Christ, whom they excommunicated and persecuted, have a promise of divine appearance for them, while vengeance shall be taken on their enemies, their city and temple, Isa 66:5, nevertheless, in the latter day, there will be a large and sudden conversion of this nation of the Jews, which is signified by the birth of them, which will be matter of great joy to all the true lovers of the interest of Christ, Isa 66:7 and what will add to the prosperity, joy, and comfort of the church of Christ at this time, will be the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles, Isa 66:12 at which time the vials of God's wrath will be poured out upon antichrist and his followers, Isa 66:15 and the chapter is concluded with a fresh account of large conversions of men of all nations, and of the union of Jews and Gentiles in one church state, which shall long remain, and be undisturbed by enemies, who will be all slain, and their carcasses looked upon with contempt, Isa 66:18.

And I will set a sign among them,.... Either a miraculous sign, something wonderful, as the word is often used, Exo 4:8, not the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in the presence of men of all nations; or the miracles wrought in the Gentile world by the apostles, in confirmation of the Gospel; but rather the wonderful conversion of the Jews, Isa 66:8, or those wonders, the time of the end of which is inquired, Dan 12:6 or else some distinguishing sign or mark is meant; such an one as was set on Cain, and on those that sighed and mourned for the sins of Jerusalem, Eze 9:4, and may intend the seal or mark of Christ's Father's name, in the foreheads of his people, to distinguish and preserve them from being hurt with others, Rev 7:3, or, best of all, a sign or ensign to gather persons together; which, though not the usual word for an ensign, is sometimes so used, as in Psa 74:4, and so may intend Christ, who is a sign that has been spoken against, Luk 2:34 and is set up in the ministration of the Gospel, to gather souls unto him, Isa 10:10, and which, as it was attended with great success in the first times of the Gospel, will also in the latter day, Isa 2:2, and I will send those that escape of them; meaning, not the apostles and first preachers of the word, that escaped the perverseness and frowardness of the Jewish nation, their rage and persecution, and the wrath that came upon them to the uttermost; but those that shall escape at the defeat of the Turks, and at the ruin of mystical Babylon, and at the fall of the tenth part of the city, Rev 11:13 and who also, in a spiritual sense, will escape the pollutions of the world, through the grace of God, and knowledge of Christ; the vengeance of divine justice; the curses of the law, and wrath to come; hell and eternal damnation, by fleeing to Christ; these, some of them, will be made preachers of the Gospel; as who so fit as those to warn sinners of their danger, to show men the way of salvation, and publish the good tidings of the Gospel, and will be sent of God with a commission from him "unto the nations"; in order to gather them to Christ and his church, and behold his glory: particularly to "Tarshish", a word sometimes used for the sea; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it "the nations in the sea"; or, as the Targum, the province of the sea, the maritime provinces, those that lie nearest the sea; the Persian and Arabian seas; or Tartessus in Spain; and may be put for the whole country: Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow; which some take to be the same with Put and Lud, or Lybia and Lydia, which go together, Jer 46:9 both countries in Africa, famous for archery; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it Africa and Lydia; though Bochart, and after him Vitringa, take Pul to be the same with Philas, an island upon the Nile, above Syene, between Ethiopia and Egypt, of which Diodorus Siculus (m) and Strabo (n) make mention; or Elephantine, the same with Phil, near the other. Kimchi interprets those that draw the bow of the Turks: to Tubal and Javan; which the same version renders Italy and Greece: and the isles afar off; even as far as the West Indies: what places and countries are exactly and precisely meant cannot be determined; only, in general, that into various parts of the world, east, west, north, and south, even the most distant, the Gospel and Gospel ministers shall be sent: even to those that have not heard my fame; or, "my report" (o); the Gospel, which is a good and true report of Christ; this the nations, covered with gross darkness, the Pagan ones, have not so much as heard of, but now shall, through these men being sent unto them: neither have seen my glory; in the glass of the Gospel, that having never been set before them; and so have never seen the glory of Christ, as the only begotten of the Father; his comeliness and beauty, the fulness of grace in him, nor any of the excellencies of him, either of his person or offices: and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles; this, those that are escaped, or the preachers sent to the nations, shall do; they shall declare publicly, plainly, and clearly, that Christ is the brightness of the divine Glory; shall declare the glory of his deity; of his rich grace and love to sinners, in suffering and dying for them; of his salvation, how great, complete, suitable, and glorious it is; with all the glorious truths of the Gospel, peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life, by Christ. (m) Bibliothec I. 1. p. 23. (n) Geograph, l. 17. p. 552, 562. (o) "meum auditum", Pagninus, Montanus; "the report of me", Gataker.

“And from them I will send” the sign “to Tarshish, Tubal and Javan,” and to all the other cities, which came to help the house of Gog in its fight against Zerubbabel, that is, against Christ, who was symbolized by Zerubbabel, the king of the people in its return from captivity to the land of the inheritance of the Lord. Therefore the revolt of the nations against Zerubbabel prefigured what the prophet foretold about Christ by saying, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.”

(Verse 18, 19.) But I come to gather together with all nations and tongues their works and thoughts: and they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and will send some of them, who have been saved, to the nations in the sea ((or sea)), to Africa, to Lydia spreading the bow, to Italy and Greece, to distant islands: to those who have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. LXX: And I know their works and thoughts, and I come to gather all nations and all tongues: and they shall come and see my glory, and I will send a sign upon them: and I will send some of them, who have been saved, to the nations, to Tarshish and Put, and Lud and Mosoch and Tubal, and to Greece, and to distant islands, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory. Before I explain what the enumeration of many nations signifies, it must be briefly said about the variety of interpretation. Tharsis, in the Hebrew language, is called sea; and (as they say) the region of India: although Josephus, changing the letter, thinks that Tarshish is now called Tarsum, a city of Cilicia, to which Jonah, fleeing from Joppa, wanted to go (Jonah 1). Phud, or Phul, however, refers to the Libyans, and the whole of Africa up to the sea of Mauritania, in which the river that is now called Phud, and the whole region around it, is named Phutensis. But the Lydians are called Lud, whose colonists, the Etruscans, who are now called the Tuscans, were once the most skilled in shooting arrows, and they are now said to be arrow shooters. For this reason, it is written in Hebrew as Mosche Ceseth, which all translated similarly without the Septuagint, interpreting it as 'those who shoot arrows.' And the Septuagint put μοσὸχ, interpreting the word as a name. If this is accepted, it means 'Cappadocians,' whose capital is Mazaca, which later received the name Caesarea from Caesar Augustus. Those who do not know what they want, even in Genesis (Chapter X) the last son of Aram, that is, the Syrians of Damascus, who are called Mes, are interpreted as μοσὸχ: for which we more correctly transfer to Moeonas. Thubal, however, is interpreted as either Italy or Iberia, that is, Spain, from the river Iberus, from which today the region of Spain is called Celtiberia. Concerning these, Lucanus (Lucan, Book IV) beautifully says: The Celts of Gaul mixing with the Iberian people: whom we can call Gallo-Hispanics. The Greeks, however, who are called Javan in the Hebrew language, are signified by Jonas: hence Greeks are also called Jones, and the Ionian Sea. And it should be considered that the Eastern nations are mostly descended from Japheth, one of Noah's sons: although Tharsis and Phut, as well as Shem and Ham, that is, the names of India and Africa, were also mentioned, in order to show the whole world. Therefore, the Lord comes to gather the works and thoughts of each individual. From this, we learn that not only actions but also thoughts will be judged on the day of judgment. For whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5). Regarding this, it is said: 'Now their own thoughts have surrounded them: when the Lord will judge the hidden things of men according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ' (Romans 2:15). So that what the Apostle writes may be proven true by the judgment, with thoughts accusing and satisfying one another, on the day when God will judge the hidden things of men. That all our thoughts, gathered together at once, may be proven by the just judge, whether our conscience accuses us or satisfies us for our wrongdoing, whether there are more sins or good deeds, whether they are old or new, whether they have been erased by repentance or rebuilt with new crimes, as the Lord says: 'I will give them their ways upon their heads, and I will repay their thoughts to them' (Hosea 9:7). He who formed every heart and understands all their works. (Psalm XXXII, 15) About whom we also read in another place: You alone know the hearts of men. (2 Chronicles VI, 30) For no one knows what is in a man, except the spirit of man that is in him. (1 Corinthians II) Therefore, God speaks through Jeremiah: Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places, and I will not see him? (Jeremiah XXIII, 23) Finally, it is said to the scribes and Pharisees: You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts (Luke XVI, 15). In this, it should be considered that he did not say 'Father,' according to the blasphemies of heretics, so as not to appear to exclude the Son, but 'God,' which is common to both the Father and the Son. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this was in the beginning with God (John I, 1, 2). About which John also writes: But Jesus himself did not believe in them, because he knew all men, and he did not need anyone to bear witness of man: for he himself knew what was in man (John 2:24-25). This is also consistent with this: But Jesus knowing their thoughts (Luke 6:8). And in another place: But Jesus knowing their wickedness (Matthew 22:18). And to prevent any doubt, when heretics maliciously slander the Word of God, that it knows all things, it is stated more fully in the Epistle to the Hebrews: For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in his sight. But all things are naked and open to his eyes, to whom our speech is. (Hebrews IV, 12). But after all thoughts have been gathered into one, accusing or defending us: then all peoples and languages ​​will be brought together with their thoughts. And according to the Apostle Paul, we not only read the languages ​​of men but also of Angels (I Corinthians XIII). From this it is understood that all creatures are to be judged by the Lord, not only on earth, but in the air and in the heavens, as he himself said in the passages above: My sword is intoxicated in heaven, and it will come down to the earth (Isaiah 34:5). But everyone will come to see the glory of God, and he will put a sign on them, as shown in the beginning of the book of Ezekiel under the interpretation of the Hebrew letter Thau (Ezekiel 9). By this sign, the hand of the one who struck will flee. This was also marked on the doorposts of houses in Egypt when Egypt was perishing, and only Israel remained untouched (Exodus 12). Concerning this sign that King Ahaz of Judah did not want to receive, the prophet Isaiah testifies: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isaiah 7:14). And so the Prophet prays for what was promised: Show me a sign for good (Psalm 86:17). And in another place: You have given a sign to those who fear you, that they may flee from the face of the bow (Psalm 59:4). The Lord left this to us as he ascended to the Father, or placed it on our foreheads, so that we may freely say: The light of your face, Lord, has shone upon us (Psalm 4:7). But what follows: And I will send those who have been saved to the nations: and he enumerates them individually, seems to be contrary to our interpretation. For if it is said of the Day of Judgment: how does the coming of the Savior recur to the first, when the Apostles are sent to the Gentiles, and hear from the Lord: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. XXVIII, 19.) This is how it is resolved: The Day of Judgment is preached, or rather threatened, so that out of fear of future punishment, they may receive the coming of the Savior and the Gospel of the Apostles, who are to be sent before. But beautifully he said, 'And I will send out of them that shall be saved' (Isai. LXVI, 18). For unless the Lord had left us seed, we had been made as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrha. And the Apostle says: 'The remnants, he saith, have been saved' (Rom. IX, 27). These are sent to the Gentiles in Tharsis, and Phud, and Lud, and Mosoch, and Thobel, and Greece, and to many islands which are far off, and have not heard my name, nor seen my glory. Of which we have already spoken in the account above (Ch. XII). Now the anagoge must be sought. Tharsis signifies the exploration of joy: so that we may consider not those things which are in the present, but those which are in the future; and may deserve to hear: 'Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matt. XXV, 21). Concerning which the Apostle Peter also writes: 'Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (I Pet. I, 8); so that we may praise God, saying: 'Our mouth is filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation' (Ps. CXXV, 2). And what follows, Phud is interpreted as the exclusion of the mouth: that we may exclude all blasphemy, and speak those things which are good, and say: My mouth shall declare thy righteousness, O Lord: all the day long thy salvation (Psalm 70:15). And again: I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy salvation (Psalm 39:11). Lud also in our language signifies usefulness, and Mosoch signifies extension, and Thubal, or Thobel, signifies mourning, or turned, or universal: all of which are in accord with the calling of the nations, that they may follow usefulness through the confession of their soul, forgetting the past and extending to the future. And let the ancient sins be mourned, and let them be dragged to lamentation and sadness, which leads to life. Blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves will laugh (Matthew 5). And let everyone turn to the Lord, so that they may later pass to grace, and know the saying by the Apostle: Glory and honor, from peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and to the Greek (Romans 2:10): for God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. Furthermore, that which is said: And to the distant islands, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory, applies to them, of whom we read above: Those to whom it has not been announced about him, they will see; and those who have not heard, they will understand (Isaiah 55:5). And again: I manifested myself to those who did not question me: I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah LXV, 1). I said: Behold, I am here, to those who do not call upon my name. However, we often said that the islands signify either all the nations of the world, or the Churches dispersed throughout the whole world.

It is with them [the apostles] that the prophecy found its accomplishment, because it was they who preached the gospel to all nations.

Second, he sets out the summons to judgment: and I will set a sign, the edict of Cyrus, among them, that is, the Jews who were with Zorobabel and the other leaders; to the Gentiles, to the nations whom the Jews had been dispersed; Lydia them that draw the bow, for they are good archers; my glory, which will appear in your liberation, above: he shall set up a sign unto the nations (Isa 11:12). Or he sets the sign of the cross on the apostles, so that they might convert all nations to God, as though prepared for judgment.

This chapter treats of the same subject with the foregoing. God, by his prophet, tells the Jews, who valued themselves much on their temple and pompous worship, that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; and that no outward rites of worship, while the worshippers are idolatrous and impure, can please him who looketh at the heart, Isa 66:1-3. This leads to a threatening of vengeance for their guilt, alluding to their making void the law of God by their abominable traditions, their rejection of Christ, persecution of his followers, and consequent destruction by the Romans. But as the Jewish ritual and people shadow forth the system of Christianity and its professors; so, in the prophetical writings, the idolatries of the Jews are frequently put for the idolatries afterwards practiced by those bearing the Christian name. Consequently, if we would have the plenitude of meaning in this section of prophecy, which the very content requires, we must look through the type into the antitype, viz., the very gross idolatries practiced by the members of Antichrist, the pompous heap of human intentions and traditions with which they have encumbered the Christian system, their most dreadful persecution of Christ's spiritual and true worshippers, and the awful judgments which shall overtake them in the great and terrible day of the Lord, Isa 66:4-6. The mighty and sudden increase of the Church of Jesus Christ at the period of Antichrist's fall represented by the very strong figure of Sion being delivered of a man-child before the time of her travail, the meaning of which symbol the prophet immediately subjoins in a series of interrogations for the sake of greater force and emphasis, Isa 66:7-9. Wonderful prosperity and unspeakable blessedness of the world when the posterity of Jacob, with the fullness of the Gentiles, shall be assembled to Messiah's standard, Isa 66:10-14. All the wicked of the earth shall be gathered together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many, Isa 66:15-18. Manner of the future restoration of the Israelites from their several dispersions throughout the habitable globe, Isa 66:19-21. Perpetuity of this new economy of grace to the house of Israel, Isa 66:22. Righteousness shall be universally diffused in the earth; and the memory of those who have transgressed against the Lord shall be had in continual abhorrence, Isa 66:23, Isa 66:24. Thus this great prophet, after tracing the principal events of time, seems at length to have terminated his views in eternity, where all revolutions cease, where the blessedness of the righteous shall be unchangeable as the new heavens, and the misery of the wicked as the fire that shall not be quenched. This chapter is a continuation of the subject of the foregoing. The Jews valued themselves much upon their temple, and the pompous system of services performed in it, which they supposed were to be of perpetual duration; and they assumed great confidence and merit to themselves for their strict observance of all the externals of their religion. And at the very time when the judgments denounced in Isa 65:6 and Isa 65:12 of the preceding chapter were hanging over their heads, they were rebuilding, by Herod's munificence, the temple in a most magnificent manner. God admonishes them, that "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;" and that a mere external worship, how diligently soever attended, when accompanied with wicked and idolatrous practices in the worshippers, would never be accepted by him. This their hypocrisy is set forth in strong colors, which brings the prophet again to the subject of the former chapter; and he pursues it in a different manner, with more express declaration of the new economy, and of the flourishing state of the Church under it. The increase of the Church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the Christian faith, are to be employed in the Divine mission to the Gentiles, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gentiles as an offering to God; see Rom 15:16. And both, now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable. These two chapters manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans. - L.

That draw the bow - I much suspect that the words משכי קשת moshechey kesheth, who draw the bow, are a corruption of the word משך meshek, Moschi, the name of a nation situated between the Euxine and Caspian seas; and properly joined with תבל tubal, the Tibareni. See Bochart, Phaleg. Isa 3:12. The Septuagint have μοσοχ, without any thing of the drawers of the bow: the word being once taken for a participle, the bow was added to make sense of it קשת kesheth, the bow, is omitted in a MS. and by the Septuagint. That have not heard my fame "Who never heard my name" - For שמעי shimi, my fame, I read, with the Septuagint and Syriac, שמי shemi, my name.

THE HUMBLE COMFORTED, THE UNGODLY CONDEMNED, AT THE LORD'S APPEARING: JERUSALEM MADE A JOY ON EARTH. (Isa. 66:1-24) heaven . . . throne . . . where is . . . house . . . ye build--The same sentiment is expressed, as a precautionary proviso for the majesty of God in deigning to own any earthly temple as His, as if He could be circumscribed by space (Kg1 8:27) in inaugurating the temple of stone; next, as to the temple of the Holy Ghost (Act 7:48-49); lastly here, as to "the tabernacle of God with men" (Isa 2:2-3; Eze 43:4, Eze 43:7; Rev 21:3). where--rather, "what is this house that ye are building, &c.--what place is this for My rest?" [VITRINGA].

sign--a banner on a high place, to indicate the place of meeting for the dispersed Jewish exiles, preparatory to their return to their land (Isa 5:26; Isa 11:12; Isa 62:10). those that escape of them--the Gentile survivors spared by God (see on Isa 66:18; Zac 14:16). Isa 2:2-3; Mic 5:7; and Zac 14:16-19 represent it, not that the Jews go as missionaries to the Gentiles, but that the Gentiles come up to Jerusalem to learn the Lord's ways there. Tarshish--Tartessus in Spain, in the west. Pul--east and north of Africa: probably the same as Philoe, an island in the Nile, called by the Egyptians Pilak, that is, the border country, being between Egypt and Ethiopia [BOCHART]. Lud--the Libyans of Africa (Gen 10:13), Ludim being son of Mizraim (Egypt): an Ethiopian people famous as bowmen (Jer 46:9): employed as mercenaries by Tyre and Egypt (Eze 27:10; Eze 30:5). Tubal--Tibarenians, in Asia Minor, south of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and Araxes. Or, the Iberians [JOSEPHUS]. Italy [JEROME]. Javan--the Greeks; called Ionians, including all the descendants of Javan, both in Greece and in Asia Minor (Gen 10:2-4). my glory . . . Gentiles-- (Mal 1:11).

But a remnant escapes; and this remnant is employed by Jehovah to promote the conversion of the Gentile world and the restoration of Israel. "And I set a sign upon them, and send away those that have escaped from them to the Gentiles to Tarshiish, Phl, and Ld, to the stretchers of the bow, Tbal and Javan - the distant islands that have not heard my fame and have not seen my glory, and they will proclaim my glory among the Gentiles. And they will bring your brethren out of all heathen nations, a sacrifice for Jehovah, upon horses and upon chariots, and upon litters and upon mules and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring the meat-offering in a clear vessel to the house of Jehovah." The majority of commentators understand vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth (and I set a sign upon them) as signifying, according to Exo 10:2, that Jehovah will perform such a miraculous sign upon the assembled nations as He formerly performed upon Egypt (Hofmann), and one which will outweigh the ten Egyptian 'ōthōth and complete the destruction commenced by them. Hitzig supposes the 'ōth to refer directly to the horrible wonder connected with the battle, in which Jehovah fights against them with fire and sword (compare the parallels so far as the substance is concerned in Joe 3:14-16, Zep 3:8, Eze 38:18., Zac 14:12.). But since, according to the foregoing threat, the expression "they shall see my glory" signifies that they will be brought to experience the judicial revelation of the glory of Jehovah, if vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth (and I set a sign upon them) were to be understood in this judicial sense, it would be more appropriate for it to precede than to follow. Moreover, this vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth would be a very colourless description of what takes place in connection with the assembled army of nations. It is like a frame without a picture; and consequently Ewald and Umbreit are right in maintaining that what follows directly after is to be taken as the picture for this framework. The 'ōth (or sign) consists in the unexpected and, with this universal slaughter, the surprising fact, that a remnant is still spared, and survives this judicial revelation of glory. This marvellous rescue of individuals out of the mass is made subservient in the midst of judgment to the divine plan of salvation. those who have escaped are to bring to the far distant heathen world the tidings of Jehovah, the God who has been manifested in judgment and grace, tidings founded upon their own experience. It is evident from this, that notwithstanding the expression "all nations and tongues," the nations that crowd together against Jerusalem and are overthrown in the attempt, are not to be understood as embracing all nations without exception, since the prophet is able to mention the names of many nations which were beyond the circle of these great events, and had been hitherto quite unaffected by the positive historical revelation, which was concentrated in Israel. By Tarshish Knobel understand the nation of the Tyrsenes, Tuscans, or Etruscans; but there is far greater propriety in looking for Tarshish, as the opposite point to 'Ophir, in the extreme west, where the name of the Spanish colony Tartessus resembles it in sound. In the middle ages Tunis was combined with this. Instead of ולוּד פּוּל we should probably read with the lxx ולוּד פּוּט, as in Eze 27:10; Eze 30:5. Stier decides in favour of this, whilst Hitzig and Ewald regard פול as another form of פוט. The epithet קשׁת משׁכי (drawers of the bow) is admirably adapted to the inhabitants of Pūt, since this people of the early Egyptian Phet (Phaiat) is represented ideographically upon the monuments by nine bows. According to Josephus, Ant. i. 6, 2, a river of Mauritania was called Phout, and the adjoining country Phoute; and this is confirmed by other testimonies. As Lud is by no means to be understood as referring to the Lydians of Asia Minor here, if only because they could not well be included among the nations of the farthest historico-geographical horizon in a book which traces prophetically the victorious career of Cyrus, but signifies rather the undoubtedly African tribe, the לוד which Ezekiel mentions in Isa 30:5 among the nations under Egyptian rule, and in Isa 27:10 among the auxiliaries of the Tyrians, and which Jeremiah notices in Jer 46:9 along with Put as armed with bows; Put and Lud form a fitting pair in this relation also, whereas Pul is never met with again. The Targum renders it by פּוּלאי, i.e., (according to Bochart) inhabitants of Φιλαί, a Nile island of Upper Egypt, which Strabo (xvii. 1, 49) calls "a common abode of Ethiopians and Egyptians" (see Parthey's work, De Philis insula); and this is at any rate better than Knobel's supposition, that either Apulia (which was certainly called Pul by the Jews of the middle ages) or Lower Italy is intended here. Tubal stands for the Tibarenes on the south-east coast of the Black Sea, the neighbours of the Moschi (משׁך), with whom they are frequently associated by Ezekiel (Eze 27:13; Eze 38:2-3; Eze 39:1); according to Josephus (Ant. i. 6, 1), the (Caucasian) Iberians. Javan is a name given to the Greeks, from the aboriginal tribe of the Bawones. The eye is now directed towards the west: the "isles afar off" are the islands standing out of the great western sea (the Mediterranean), and the coastlands that project into it. To all these nations, which have hitherto known nothing of the God of revelation, either through the hearing of the word or through their own experience, Jehovah sends those who have escaped; and they make known His glory there, that glory the judicial manifestation of which they have just seen for themselves. The prophet is speaking here of the ultimate completion of the conversion of the Gentiles; for elsewhere this appeared to him as the work of the Servant of Jehovah, for which Cyrus the oppressor of the nations prepared the soil. His standpoint here resembles that of the apostle in Rom 11:25, who describes the conversion of the heathen world and the rescue of all Israel as facts belonging to the future; although at the time when he wrote this, the evangelization of the heathen foretold by our prophet in Isa 42:1. was already progressing most rapidly. A direct judicial act of God Himself will ultimately determine the entrance of the Pleroma of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, and this entrance of the fulness of the Gentiles will then lead to the recovery of the diaspora of Israel, since the heathen, when won by the testimony borne to Jehovah by those who have been saved, "bring your brethren out of all nations." On the means employed to carry this into effect, including kirkârōth, a species of camels (female camels), which derives its name from its rapid swaying motion, see the Lexicons. (Note: The lxx render it σκιαδίων, i.e., probably palanquins. Jerome observes on this, quae nos dormitoria interpretari possumus vel basternas. (On this word, with which the name of the Bastarnians as ̔Αμαξόβιοι is connected, see Hahnel's Bedeutung der Bastarner fr das german. Alterthum, 1865, p. 34.)) The words are addressed, as in Isa 66:5, to the exiles of Babylonia. The prophet presupposes that his countrymen are dispersed among all nations to the farthest extremity of the geographical horizon. In fact, the commerce of the Israelites, which had extended as far as India and Spain ever since the time of Solomon, the sale of Jewish prisoners as slaves to Phoenicians, Edomites, and Greeks in the time of king Joram (Oba 1:20; Joe 3:6; Amo 1:6), the Assyrian captivities, the free emigrations - for example, of those who stayed behind in the land after the destruction of Jerusalem and then went down to Egypt - had already scattered the Israelites over the whole of the known world (see at Isa 49:12). Umbreit is of opinion that the prophet calls all the nations who had turned to Jehovah "brethren of Israel," and represents them as marching in the most motley grouping to the holy city. In that case those who were brought upon horses, chariots, etc., would be proselytes; but who would bring them? This explanation is opposed not only to numerous parallels in Isaiah, such as Isa 60:4, but also to the abridgment of the passage in Zep 3:10 : "From the other side of the rivers of Ethiopia (taken from Isa 18:1-7) will they offer my worshippers, the daughters of my dispersed ones, to me for a holy offering." It is the diaspora of Israel to which the significant name "my worshippers, the daughters of my dispersed ones," is there applied. The figure hinted at in minchâtı̄ (my holy offering) is given more elaborately here in the book of Isaiah, viz., "as the children of Israel are accustomed (fut. as in Isa 6:2) to offer the meat-offering" (i.e., that which was to be placed upon the altar as such, viz., wheaten flour, incense, oil, the grains of the first-fruits of wheat, etc.) "in a pure vessel to the house of Jehovah," not in the house of Jehovah, for the point of comparison is not the presentation in the temple, but the bringing to the temple. The minchah is the diaspora of Israel, and the heathen who have become vessels of honour correspond to the clean vessels.