your hands, and the high encomiums y was pleased to bestow on it: your gene Erudition; your veneration for our most h

ly Religion; and the high esteem you a held in by thofe that have the happiness knowing you, all point out the peculiar pro priety of infcribing a work of this nature t your Name.

That you may long live to be an honou and an ornament to our Nation, is the un

ter liv, verfe 1. and is continued to the end, of the last verse of chapter lv.

The purport of this prophecy is, to comfort the Jewish nation, and prevent its defpair in this long and dreadful captivity; and, under the image of a barren woman, who did not bear, and was deferted by her hufband, the Prophet exhorts her to rejoice, and exprefs her Joy in the liveliest manner, on the reconciliation of her husband, and the great increase of her family; afVOL. II. furing

B

J

Dag of beunitno i bus .I sh

furing her that the fhall no more go captivity, &c. as will be feen in the planation ITAT11221 In verfe ift. He fays," Shout for joj thou barren. that didft not bear; break f into Joyful fhouting, and exult, thou didft not travail: for more are the chil of the defolate, than of the husbanded man, faith the LORD." The barren wor denotes the Jewish nation, which in c tivity, is as a barren woman, deferted by husband; and the hufbanded woman, notes the Gentiles, who enjoy plenty peaceɔ in theirmown, country, as a wom that lives at eafe with her husband, and furrounded by her children. Thus alfo 1995 10.5lisy i st Pfalmift compares the. nation in captivi to a barren woman *, " He maketh the ba g dliwel eda ren woman to dwell in the midst of h Dis virɔ [vibesib bus gol 211 nig household, (and to be) the Joyful moth dymow found 10 sem silt 1967 of children of this to fo The Prophet verse 2d. cor ມ ີ tinues to pursue the

large the

figure, Saying "Er

of thy tent; and let the ca hod elgige fl

nem place I VO

nopies of thy habitation habitations be extended: fpar

not; lengthen thy cords, and firmly fix th

tast 194 6 99 Co

takes, By this figurative expreffion, th

the ex

r joy, O

eak forth

ou that children

ded wowoman

n cap

by her

7, de

and

Prophet informs us of two things; firft, the increase of the nation, which is reprefented, by the command of extending the canopy, and lengthening the cords, that they may have more room and fecondly, the firmly established state of the nation; fo that they shall no more go into captivity and which is fhewn by the firmly fixing the ftakes: for during the captivity, that the nation was bandied about, and driven from place to place, their tent of courfe, was obliged to be frequently removed; confequently, the takes could not be firmly fixed: but, as at the redemption, the nation will be firmly established, and not to go into captivity more; the stakes of the tent, will then be firmly fixed. This, he farther illustrates, by fhewing, what he meant by the enlargement of their habitations &c. verse 3d, &c. "For on the right hand, and on the left, thou shalt burft forth with increase; and thy feed fhall inherit the nations; and they fhall inhabit the defolate cities. Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded; and blush not, for thou shalt not be brought to reproach for thou fhalt forget the shame of thy youth; and the reproach of thy

J

B 2

widowhood

widowhood thou shalt remember no mor Having thus fhewn in what manner, th fhall enlarge the tent by bursting forth the right hand, and on the left: and whi feems alfo to allude to what Ezekiel fa that Jerufalem, and the temple &c. is be much larger at the time of the rest ration, than it was in the time of Solomo and that they shall inherit all the natio promised to Abraham*; so that the borde of the land will reach to Hamath, acco ding to what the Prophet Zechariah fays as Abarbanal obferves: and likewife info med us that they will no more go int captivity, as above mentioned; and tha they shall forget the fins which they com mitted in the land, before the captivity which he calls the fhame of her youth and also what they fuffered during th captivity, which he calls the reproach o her widowhood; he proceeds to affign the cause of this great change, verse 5th. "For thy husband is thy maker; the LORD of Hofts is his name: and thy redeemer is the Holy ONE of Ifrael: the God of the

The Kenites, Kennizzites, and Kadmonites, as mentioned Vol. I. page. 13. 13. &c. + Zech. ix. 2.

whole