up (or away). The transition to the future in the last clause is analogous to that in v. 19, and has the same effect of showing that the point of observation is an intermediate one between the beginning and the end of the destroying process. The essential meaning of the whole verse is, that God can extirpate them, not only in the end, but in a moment; not only in the height of their prosperity, but long before they have attained it. It is possible, that the words may have reference to the national existence of Israel as a nation, the end of which, with the continued and more glorious existence of the church independent of all national restrictions, may be said to constitute the great theme of these prophecies.

25. And (now) to whom will ye liken me, and (to whom) shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. He winds up his argument by coming back to the triumphant challenge of v. 18.

26. Lift up on high your eyes and see-who hath created all these? (and who is) the (one) bringing out by number their host? -to all of them by name will he call-from abundance of might and (because) strong in power-not one faileth (literally, a man is not missed or found wanting). The same exhortation to lift up the eyes occurs elsewhere in Isaiah (ch. 37:23. 49: 18. 60: 4). The construction is not, see (him) who created these, or, see who created these, but, as the accents indicate, see, behold, the heavens and the heavenly bodies, and then a distinct interrogation, who created these? To bring out is a military term, as appears from ch. 43: 17 and 2 Sam. 5: 2. It is applied as here to the host of heaven in Job 38: 32. The sense is that the stars are like an army which its leader brings out and enumerates, the particular points of the resemblance being left to the imagination.

27. Why wilt thou say oh Jacob, and why (thus) speak oh Israel? Hidden is my way from Jehovah, and from my God my

cause will pass (or is about to pass) away. The precise question asked by the Prophet is not why hast thou said, why dost thou say, or why shouldest thou say, but why wilt thou still go on to say, implying that it had been said, was still said, and would be said again. The two names of the patriarch are here combined, as in many other cases, to describe his offspring. Hidden may either mean unknown, or neglected, or forgotten, in which last sense it is used below in ch. 65: 16. The same verb is applied in Gen. 31: 49 to persons who are absent from each other and of course out of sight. Way is a common figure for the course of life, experience, or what the world calls fortune, destiny, or fate. The figure in the last clause is forensic, the idea that of a cause or suit dismissed, lost sight of, or neglected by the judge. The expression is analogous to that in ch. 1: 23, where it is said of the unjust judges, that the cause of the widow does not come unto them or before them. The state of mind described is a skeptical despondency as to the fulfilment of God's promises. This form of unbelief is more or less familiar to the personal experience of believers in all ages, and the terms of the expostulation here are not restricted to any single period in the history of Israel.

28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The God of eternity (or everlasting God), Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, will not faint, and will not tire; there is no search (with respect) to his understanding. That he will not faint or tire, implies sufficiently in this case that he neither does nor can, while it expresses his unwillingness to do so. The ends of the earth is a common Hebrew phrase for its limits and all that they include. This verse contains an answer to the unbelieving fears expressed in that before it, which ascribed to God an imperfection or infirmity with which he is not chargeable. The last clause may either be a general assertion that he cannot leave his people unprotected through a want of understanding

and of knowledge, or, a suggestion that his methods of proceeding, though inscrutable, are infinitely wise, and that the seeming inconsistency between his words and deeds, far from arguing unfaithfulness or weakness upon his part, does but prove our incapacity to understand or fathom his profound designs. Even supposing that the former is the strict sense of the words, the latter is implicitly contained in them.

29. Giving to the faint (or weary) strength, and to the powerless might will he increase. He is not only strong in himself, but the giver of strength to others, or, to state it as an argument a fortiori, he who is the only source of strength to others must be strong himself, and able to fulfil his promises. The construction is similar to that in vs. 22, 23, not excepting the transition from the participle to the finite verb.

and faint, and chosen There is here an obWhat is there denied of

30. And (yet) weary shall youths be (youths) shall be weakened, be weakened. vious allusion to the terms of v. 28. God, is here affirmed, not only of men in general, but of the stoutest and most vigorous, aptly represented by the young men chosen for military service. That the prominent idea here conveyed is that of manly strength and vigour, is not questioned. The intensive repetition of the verb may either be expressed by the addition of an adverb, as in the English Version (utterly fall), or retained in the translation as above.

31. And (on the other hand) those waiting for Jehovah shall gain new strength; they shall raise the pinion like the eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. The marked antithesis between this verse and that before it, justifies the use of but in English, although not in the original. To wait for or expect implies faith and patience. This is also the old English meaning of the phrase to wait upon, as applied to ser

vants who await their master's orders; but in modern usage the idea of personal service or attendance has become predominant, so that the English phrase no longer represents the Hebrew one. The class of persons meant to be described are those who show their confidence in God's ability and willingness to execute his promises, by patiently awaiting their fulfilment. The restriction of these words to the exiles in Babylon is entirely gratuitous. Although applicable, as a general proposition, to that case among others, they admit of a more direct and striking application to the case of those who under the old dispensation kept its end in view, and still "waited for the consolation of Israel," and "looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:25, 38.) The phrase translated they shall gain new strength properly means they shall exchange strength; but the usage of the verb determines its specific meaning to be that of changing for the better or improving The sense is therefore correctly given in the English Version (they shall renew their strength). Of the next phrase there are three distinct interpretations. 1. They shall mount up with wings. 2. They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle. The reference is then to the ancient belief of the eagle's great longevity and of its frequently renewing its youth. (Psalm 103: 5.) The rabbinical tradition is that the eagle, at the end of every tenth year, soars so near the sun as to be scorched and cast into the sea, from which it then emerges with fresh plumage, till at the end of the tenth decade or a century complete, it sinks to rise no more. 3. A third construction, simpler than the first and more agreeable to usage than the second, gives the verb its ordinary sense of causing to ascend or raising and the noun its proper sense of pinion, and connects the two directly as a transitive verb and its object, they shall raise the pinion (or the wing) like the eagles. In the last clause the verbs are introduced together for the third time in a beautiful antithesis. In v. 28 they are applied to Jehovah, in v. 30 to the strongest and most

vigorous of men, as they are in themselves, and here to the waiters for Jehovah, the believers in his promises, who glory in infirmity that his strength may be perfect in their weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9.)

CHAPTER XLI.

UNTIL the ends of Israel's national existence are accomplished, that existence must continue, in spite of hostile nations and their gods, who shall all perish sooner than the chosen people, vs. 1-16. However feeble Israel may be in himself, Jehovah will protect him, and raise up the necessary instruments for his deliverance and triumph, vs. 17–29.

1. Be silent to me, oh islands, and the nations shall gain new strength; they shall approach, then shall they speak, together to the judgment-seat will we draw near. Having proved the impotence of idols in a direct address to Israel, Jehovah now summons the idolaters themselves to enter into controversy with him. The challenge is a general one directed to the whole heathen world, and islands is a poetical variation for lands or at the most for maritime lands or sea-coasts. Silence in this connection implies attention or the fact of listening, which is expressed in Job 33:31. The imperative form at the beginning gives an imperative sense likewise to the future, which might therefore be translated let them approach etc. There is an obvious allusion in the first clause to the promise in ch. 40: 31. As if he had said they that hope in Jehovah shall renew their strength; let those who refuse renew theirs as they can. The participle then makes the passage more graphic by bringing distinctly into