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more Power then they to preferve his Worshipers; and by Chapter his Question he implies a strong Denial, as much as to fay: XXXVII. Thou shalt be deliver'd no more than they were.

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Ver. 12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telaffar?] He argues from the long Succeffes his Ancestors had injoy'd: None of the gods whofe Countries they had dedroy'd, making oppofition to them for fome Ages. The Places here mention'd were well known in thofe Days: There was a Gozan and Hara in Media, as Bochart obferves (lib. 3. Phaleg. chap. 14.) where Rezeph was is uncertain: But Ptolomy mentions fuch a City in Syria, where St. Ferom places Thelaffar; and there were more Cities than one in thefe Countries call'd Adana, which is the fame with Eden.

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Ver. 13. Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arphad, and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, Henah and Ivah] Nothing can be further obferv'd of this, but that the fury of Rabfhekah encreas'd: So that what he had utter'd in Words, he now more deliberately fet down in Writing: Affirming boldly that their God was a Del ceiver if he promis'd them Deliverance.

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Ver. 14. And Hezekiah received the letter from hand of the meffengers, and read it and Hezekiah went up unto the boufe of the Lord, and fpread it before the Lord.] He could: approach no nearer then to the outward Court of the Temple: Where at the entrance of the Priests Court, he look'd toward the Sanctuary, God's Dwelling Place, and laid this Letter before him.

Ver. 15, 16. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, Saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Ifrael, that dwelleft between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou haft made heaven and earth. Here he directly thwarts the blafphemous opinion of the Affyrians; that the God of Ifrael was but the Particular Lord of that Country, not the Universal Sovereign, which Hezekiah acknowledg'd him to be, because the Creator of the whole World.

Ver. 17. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and fee and hear all the words of Sennache

Chapter rib, which hath fent to reproach the living God.] He speaks XXXVII. in fuch a Language as Men ufe, when they earnestly be feech others not to neglect their Supplication, but vouchfafe to attend and give a gracious Aufwer to them.

Ver. 18. Of a truth, Lord, the Kings of Affyria has laid waste all the nations, and their countreys.] Do not boast of • more than they have done,

Ver 19. And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of mens hands, wood and stone: therefore they have deftroyed them.] They had prevail'd he acknowledges over their gods, as well as over Men, but it was because they were not fo good as Men, being mere Wood and Stone....

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Ver. 20. Now therefore, O Lord our God, fave us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.] He befeeches him to diftinguish himself from thofe Idols, by giving them fuch a Deliverance as might demonftrate to all the World, that he was the Living God; Superior to all others, who were not able to fave their Worshippers.

Ver. 21. Then Ifaiah the fon of Amoz fent unto Hezekiah, faying, Thus faith the Lord God of Ifrael, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib King of Affyria:] He knew by the Spirit of Prophecy, that Hezekiah had prefented his Cafe to God in the Temple, who bid Ifaiah affure him his Petition was granted.

Ver. 22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken con• cerning him, The virgin, the daughter of Zion hath defpifed thee, and laughed thee to fcorn, the daughter of Jerufalem bath fhaken her head at thee.] Thefe words comprehend the whole City: For by the Daughter of Sion, he means the People that Inhabited the upper part of the City, where the Kings Palace ftood; and by the Daughter of Jerufalem, the People of the lower part of the City, and all that was not comprehended under the Name of Sion: They Shaked their heads at him, which is the, fame with defpifing and laughing him to fcorn: For Jhaking the Head is the Pofture of thofe that Mock at others. He calls Sion a Virgin, because this Fortress fince David Conquer'd it, had been never taken by any Enemy; Joash indeed King of Ifrael took Jerufalem, and brake down

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the Wall of it, but I think the Fort of Zion had ne- Chapter ver been taken.

Ver. 23. Whom haft thou reproached and blafphemed? and against whom haft thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the holy one of Ifrael.] To lift up the Eyes on High, is the Action of those who have Haughty Thoughts of themselves; and over-look others with Contempt and Scorn. God is call'd the Holy One with refpect to his Peerless Perfections; and the Holy One of Ifrael, as having a peculiar refpect to them above All People, who therefore fhould be defended by his Almighty Power.

Ver. 24. By thy fervants haft thou reproached the Lord, and haft faid, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the fides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice firtrees thereof and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forrest of his Carmel.] This is an admirable Defcription of the boafting of a King, puff'd up with great Succefs, and is as much as if he had faid, What Place is there into which I cannot make my Way, when I have gone even with my Chariots in great Number to the top of high Mountains? To Lebanon it felf, through the most difficult Paffages which I have open'd and plain'd for them. Who fhall hinder me from cutting down its talleft Cedars and Firr Trees? (perhaps he means their Princes and great Men) and when I have done, from Marching, and taking up my Quarters in the. extremeft Borders of the Land, climbing up to the top of Carmel, (which was toward the Mediterranean Sea,) or entring into all the Fruitful Places of the Country, by making an entire Conqueft of it? For fo Carmel often fignifies not a Mountain but a fruitful Field; in the Language of this Prophet, Ifaiah 18. 16, 10.

Ver. 25. I have digged and drunk water, and with the fole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. He brags that he had march'd with his Army through frange Countries, and in the driest Places, where it was thought his Army would die with Thurft. But he digg'd till he found Water: And with the Sales of his Feet dried up all the Rivers of Befieg'd Places, which

XXXVII.

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Chapter is commonly thought to fignifie that he had gone dryXXXVII. fhod with his whole Army over great Rivers, whofe

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Streams he turn'd another way: And fo had taken the ftrongest Foretreffes, furrounded with deep Waters and great Ramparts: But Bachart has made a plainer Paraphrafe upon thefe words, which he thus Tranflates. I have dried up the Rivers of Egypt: As much as to fay, I will enter as easily into Egypt, in which you confide, as if when I come thither, all the Rivers wherewith it is inviron'd, were dried up. See his Hierozoic P. 2. lib. 5. chap. 15. For the Hebrew word Mafor, which we Tranflate every where "Befieg'd Places or Defences, or Fortreffes, fhould rather be taken for the Singular Number of Meforaim; which by Contraction is call'd Mitzraim, that is, Egypt. And if this be allow'd, the Senfe then is here, as I faid before, I have dried up all the Rivers of Egypt; which was the higheft Vaunt he could make of his Power, and numerous Forces. Thus, Ifaiah 19.6. The brooks of defence fhall. be dried up, is Interpreted by Kimki, the Rivers of Egypt fhall be emptied; and more plainly Mich. 7. 12. where from the Foretrefs to the River, is fo obfcure that it is not to be understood. But from Egypt to Euphrates, is fuch clear Senfe that one cannot but think it fhould be fo Tranflated: For those were the bounds of the Land of Canaan.

Ver. 26. Haft thou not heard long ago, how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou fhouldeft be to lay wafte defenced cities into ruinous heaps.] Thefe are the Words of God in answer to thofe empty Boafts, but what is this to what I have done? Haft, thou not heard how I brought my People dry-fhod thro' the Red Sea? How in ancient Times, I fay, long before thou or thy Ancestors were born, I did this by my own Strength alone, without the help of Nature or Art, (for fo the Word futzar, which we tranflate form'd, is us'd, Gen. 2. 8. and other places.) And it is I that have now brought thee to do all these Things of which thou braggeft, thou couldst not have done one of them without my Leave; who therefore permitted it that I might punish thofe Cities by thy Hand which I had devoted to Deftruction.

Ver. 27. Therefore their inhabitants were of fmall power, Chapter they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grafs of the XXXVII. field, and as the green herb, as the grafs on the house tops, and as corn blafted before it be grown up.] This was the Reafon that the People of thofe Cities whereof thou fpeakeft were fo very feeble and unable to oppofe thee, because I deliver'd them into thine Hand.

Ver. 28. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.] As much as to fay, there are none of thy Motions hidden from me, for before thou cameft from thine own Country I knew with what Design thou marchedst out, and what thou haft done fince wherefoever thou haft enter'd, and understand with what Rage and Fury thou art come up to deftroy my Dwelling-place. Ver. 29. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into my ears: therefore will I put my book in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou cameft.] I have heard the Noife thou makest with thy furious Threatnings and with thy great Army which hath enter'd Judea; he compares his abfolute Power over him to that of a "Fisherman, who, let a Fish tumble ever fo much in the Water, hath it faft by a Hook he hath fix'd in his Nofe; or to a Man upon a Horfe or Mule, whom he can turn which way he pleafe when he hath a Curb in his Mouth; even fo, faith God, I will do with thee, draw thee back, prefs thou ever fo much to compa thy Designs, into thine own Country, without any Success.

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Ver. 30. And this shall be a fign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year fuch as groweth of it felf: and the fecond year that which Springeth of the fame and in the third year fow ye and and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.] This is spoken to Hezekiah, and is not intended as a Sign of the Truth of his Prophecy, because it was to come after that was fulfill'd, but a Token of God's extraordinary Favour and Love to them when Sennacherib was gone, and they were. in fear of another Enemy, viz. a grievous Famine: for tho' he had trodden down or eaten up all the Corn with his Army, yet they fhould find fufficient left to maintain them this Year, which was the 14th of Hezekiah, and tho' the next was the Sabbatical Year, in which they

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