The burden of Damascus and of Israel. 1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. 7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. the groves, or the images. 10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: 11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. 12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14 And behold at eventide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. LECTURE 1118. 8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either Evil, though overruled for good, is no less liable to punishment. The prophet Amos makes mention of the wickedness of Damascus, in terms which shew that the judgments here denounced upon that city were most amply deserved. See Amos 1.4. But Damascus made common cause with Israel in vexing Judah. And therefore the prophet passes on to the calamities impending over Israel. He beholds the cities near to Aroer forsaken, and the strongholds of Ephraim overthrown; and both the glory of Damascus, and that of Israel, overtaken by a common ruin. It was indeed the same monarch of Assyria who cut Israel short, in the days of Pekah, and who, at the instigation of Ahaz king of Judah, took Damascus, and took captive its inhabitants. See 2 Kings 15. 29. 16. 9. And it was after the desolation of Israel by Tiglath-pileser, that some few amongst the remnant left behind, turned, as here predicted, to God their Maker, and shewed "respect to the Holy One of Israel." At the invitation of Hezekiah, when he was about to keep the passover, "divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem." 2 Chron. 30. 11. Even then however the strong cities of Israel were but " as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch;" that is to say; their inhabitants were few in number, like the fruit left on a high branch as not worth the labour of reaching it. And even of this remnant the greater part were doomed to cherish their fatal love of idol worship. They would continue to plant images, and would set their land full of strange gods, as though with slips of foreign trees, until they reaped an abundant harvest, "in the day of grief and desperate sorrow," until they were finally and utterly removed out of the land. See 2 Kings 17. 6—23. From this painful vision of Israel's desolation, how consoling to turn, as the prophet now turns, to the miraculous deliverance of Judah, under the reign of the good king Hezekiah; the deliverance from the army of Sennacherib. The forces which had destroyed Israel are seen to advance after a short respite, under another king, to defy Jerusalem. The noise of their multitude is heard "like the rushing of mighty waters." But He who can still the raging of the sea when its anger is at the height, had resolved to rebuke this proud invader, and his mighty host; to chase them as chaff before the wind, and as a cloud before the whirlwind. "And behold at eventide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us." Yes, though that spoiling was appointed by God to be for the chastisement of his people, though the Assyrian was the rod of his anger, see ch. 10. 5, first to lay waste Israel, and hereafter also to level Jerusalem to the ground, yet must the destroyer be himself destroyed. His pride, ambition, covetousness, and cruelty, are not excused, but are rather so much the more inexcusable, for being directed against the people of the Lord. Let not then the wicked presume that they are safe, because God overrules their wickedness for good. But rather let them tremble to reflect, that He can and will make their punishment, as well as their wickedness, redound to the benefit of his people, and to his own divine glory. Ethiopia is charged to note God's judgments. 1 Woe to the land shadowing in the heat of harvest. with wings, which is beyond 5 For afore the harvest, when the rivers of Ethiopia: the bud is perfect, and the sour 2 That sendeth ambassadors by grape is ripening in the flower, the sea, even in vessels of bul- he shall both cut off the sprigs rushes upon the waters, saying, with pruning hooks, and take aGo, ye swift messengers, to way and cut down the branches. a nation scattered and peeled, 6 They shall be left together to a people terrible from their unto the fowls of the mounbeginning hitherto; a nation tains, and to the beasts of the meted out and trodden down, earth: and the fowls shall sumwhose land the rivers have mer upon them, and all the spoiled! beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. 7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning 4 For so the LORD said unto hitherto; a nation meted out me, I will take my rest, and I and trodden under foot, whose will consider in my dwelling land the rivers have spoiled, to place like a clear heat upon the place of the name of the herbs, and like a cloud of dew LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. LECTURE 1119. The present which all men ought to give to God. The country to which this obscure prophecy was most probably addressed, is Ethiopia in Africa, nearly the same with that which is now called Abyssinia; and which, in respect of the land of Israel, lay "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," to the south of those rivers which were called by its name. Thus much at least is certain, that Sennacherib, the monarch of Assyria, whose miraculous discomfiture is predicted at the close of the preceding chapter, was engaged in warfare at the same time with Tirhakah king of Ethiopia. See 2 Kings 19. 9. Egypt also appears to have been then in league with Hezekiah. See 2 Kings 18. 21. And it is known from other historic records, that Egypt, which lay between Jerusalem and Ethiopia, was about the same period in close connection with the latter country; having for its sovereign a prince of Ethiopian extraction. Finding therefore the doom of Sennacherib at the end of the chapter preceding this, and observing that "The burden of Egypt," ch. 19. 1, occupies the chapter following, we may deem it highly probable, that the subject of this chapter is a solemn message to the king of Ethiopia, bidding him note the great judgment which the Lord was about to inflict upon their common enemy, the king of Assyria. Besides a wide difference of opinion as to the general subject of this prophecy, there is also much difficulty as to the right translation of many expressions in it, as will be seen in the margin of our bibles, where many different translations are suggested. And it has been thought that the first word translated " Woe," is no more, in this place, than a term calling attention to the message about to be delivered. But Ethiopia might be doomed to woe hereafter, for its idolatry, though for the present in league with the people of the Lord. And the message might begin with warning, though it consisted of good tidings in the main. It is addressed to a land "shadowing with wings," words which perhaps refer to the multitude of its winged insects. It is spoken of as sending ambassadors both "by the sea," that is, the Red Sea close at hand, and "in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters," that is on its rivers, and especially on the upper portion of the Nile. This may mean that it carried on a great commerce both by river and by sea. It is described to the swift messengers, who are supposed to bear the prophets message, as "a people scattered and peeled," which expression may refer to its extensive territory, or, like other expressions in the same verse, may allude to circumstances now unknown. See Ezek. 30. 9. And it is told, nay, all the inhabitants of the world are told, to mark the interference of the arm of the Lord in behalf of his own chosen nation. All were to watch for the ensign which He would soon lift up upon his mountains. All were to listen for the trumpet which He soon would blow. For whilst the proud invader would defy his power, and rush on in full confidence of success, God would wait, as He had revealed to Isaiah, in calm and quiet rest, like the stillness of the midday heat, taking his own season to cut off, and to cut down, and to take away, the pride and power of Sennacherib, and to make the multitude of his host the fowls of the mountains, and for the beasts of the earth. prey for Of the Ethiopians, thus invited to observe God's judgments, it is further here foretold, that they would bring "the present unto the Lord of hosts." They would be among those nations, of whom we read in the sacred history, that after this miraculous deliverance," many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth." 2 Chron. 32. 23. And further, when we call to mind the fact, that Abyssinia has long been a nation professing Christianity, though now separated from the rest of Christendom by the realms of unbelievers, we shall be inclined to think, that these words foreshew another offering, that "the present," here spoken of, is that gift of themselves to God, through Christ, which they and we and all the "dwellers on the earth," owe to Him for his great salvation. The burden of Egypt, of its princes and people. 1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts. 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. 6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up the reeds and flags shall wither. 7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. 9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. 10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. 11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. 14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. LECTURE 1120. The misery of having no useful employment. Amongst the great nations of antiquity, none were more nearly connected with the history of the Israelites than Egypt. How appropriate to the gross superstitions of that infatuated country is this account of the effect of the visitation of the Lord, "the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it!" How awful, in a time of |