17 And the residue of the number of archers, 1 the mighty men of the chil 1 bows. dren of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spok. en it. New Translation. 17. And the remaining number of the bowmen, The mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be diminished : For JEHOVAH, God of Israel, hath spoken it. from the march of the Assyrian through their land, either on his way to Judea or to Egypt. 16. Within a year. What has been said before was figurative. Here the prophet speaks without a metaphor, and fixes the time when this should be accomplished. It is not usual for the prophets to designate the exact time of the fulfillment of their prophecies in this manner. According to the years of an hireling. Exactly; observ. ing the precise time specified. Job vii. 1. See the phrase explained on ch. xvi. 14. ¶ All the glory. The beauty, pride, strength, wealth, &c. ¶Of Kedar. Kedar was a son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 15). He was the father of the Kedareneans or Cedrai mentioned by Pliny (Nat. His. v. 11). They dwelt in the neighborhood of the Nabatheans, in Arabia Deserta. These people lived in tents, and were a wandering tribe, and it is not possible to fix the precise place of their habitation. They resided, it is supposed, in the south part of Arabia Deserta, and the north part of Arabia Petrea. The name Kedar seems to be used sometimes to denote Arabia in general, or Arabia Deserta particularly. See Ps. cxx. 5, Cant. i. 5, Isa. xlii. 11, lx. 7, Jer. ii. 10, xlix. 28, Ezek. xxvi. 21. ¶ Shall fail. Shall be consumed, destroyed (nb). 17. And the resiue of the number. That is, those who shall be left in the invasion. Or perhaps it may be read, there shall be a remnant, or a remainder of the number of bowmen; the mighty men of Kedar shall be diminished.' ¶ Of archers. Hebrew, "of the bow;" that is, of those who use bows in war. The bow and arrow was the common instrument in hunting and in war among the ancients. ¶ Shall be diminished. Heb. "shall be made small;" they shall be reduced to a very small number. We cannot indeed determine the precise historical event to which this refers, but the whole connection and circumstances seem to make it probable that it referred to the invasion by the Assyrian when he went up against Judah, or when he was on his way to Egypt. CHAPTER XXII. ANALYSIS OF vs. 1-14. THIS chapter is made up of two prophecies; the first comprising the first fourteen verses, and addressed to the city of Jerusalem; and the second (vs. 15-25) relating to the fall of Shebna, the prefect of the palace, and to the promotion of Eliakim in his place. They may have been delivered nearly at the same time, but still the subjects are distinct. The first (vs. 1-14) relates to Jerusalem. See Note on ver. 1. It has reference to some period when the city was besieged, and when universal consternation spread among the people. The prophet represents himself as in the city, and as a witness of the consternation. He (1) describes (vs. 1-3) the alarm that prevailed in the city at the approach of the enemy. The inhabitants flee to the tops of the houses either to observe the enemy or to make a defence, and the city is filled with alarm and distress, mingled with the tumultuous mirth of a portion who regard defence as hopeless, and who give themselves up to revelry and gluttony, because they apprehended that they must at all events soon die. The prophet then (2) describes (vs 4-8) his own grief at the impending calamity, and especially at the state of things within the city. It is indeed a day of trouble, and his heart is pained. He portrays the distress; describes those who cause it, and the people engaged in it; and says that the valleys around the city are filled with chariots, and that the horsemen of the enemy have come to the very gate. He then (3) describes the preparations which are made in the city for defence. Vs. 9-11. The inhabitants of the city had endeavored to repair the breaches of the walls; had even torn down their houses to furnish materials, and had endeavored to secure the water with which the city was supplied from the enemy; but they had not looked to God as they should have done for protection. The scope of the prophecy therefore is, to reprove them for not looking to God, and also for their revelry in the very midst of their calamities. The prophet then (4) describes the state of morals within the city. Vs. 12-14. It was a time when they should have humbled themselves, and looked to God. He called them to fasting and to grief; but they supposed that the city must be taken. and that they must die, and a large portion of the inhabitants despairing of being able to make a successful defence, gave themselves up to riot and drunkenness. They said, 'we must die soon. Why therefore should we not eat and drink and enjoy life as long as it lasts, since it must soon end.' To reprove this, was one design of the prophet; and perhaps also to teach the general lesson that men, in view of the certainty of death, should not madly and foolishly give themselves to sensual indulgence and to sin. There has been a difference of opinion in regard to the event to which this prophecy refers. Most have supposed that it relates to the invasion by Sennacherib; others have supposed that it relates to the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. Vitringa and Lowth suppose that the prophet had both events in view; the former in vs. 1-5, and the latter in the remainder of the prophecy. But it is not probable that it has a two-fold reference. It has the appearance of referring to a single calamity; and this mode of interpretation should not be departed from without manifest necessity. The general aspect of the prophecy has reference, I think. to the invasion by Sennacherib. He came near the city; the city was filled with alarm; and Hezekiah prepared himself to make as firm a stand against him as possible, and put the city in the best possible state of defence. The description in vs. 9-11 of the preparation made for defence agrees exactly with the account given of the defence which Hezekiah made against Sennacherib in 2 Chron. xxxii. 2; and particularly in regard to the effort made to secure the water of Siloam for the use of the city, and to prevent the Assyrians from obtaining it. In 2 Chron. xxxii 2, seq. we are told that Hezekiah took measures to stop all the fountains of water without the city, and the brook (Kedron), in order that the Assyrians under Sennacherib should not find water; and that he repaired the walls, and built new towers of defence in the city, and placed guards upon them. These circumstances of coincidence between the history and the prophecy, show conclusively, I think, that the reference is entirely to the invasion under Sennacherib. This occurred 710 years before Christ. 1 The burden of the valley of vision. | What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the s Deut. 22. 8. New Translation. VISION XIX. CHAP. XXII. 1-14. Jerusalem. 1. THE BURDEN OF THE VALLEY OF VISION. What aileth thee now, That all thy inhabitants are gone up to the house-tops? house-tops? 1. The burden. Note ch. xiii. 1. The valley. . Septu agint, paçayyos, valley. Chaldee, "The burden of the prophecy respecting the city which dwells (i. c. is built) in the valley, which the prophets have prophecied concerning it." There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is intended. See vs. 9, 10. It is not usual to call it a valley, but it may be so called, either (1) because there were several valleys within the city and adjacent to it, as the vale between Mount Zion and Moriah; the vale between Mount Moriah and Mount Ophel; between these and Mount Bezetha; and the valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of the brook of Kedron, &c.,without the walls of the city: or (2) more probably it was called a valley in reference to its being encompassed with hills, rising to a considerable elevation above the city. Thus Mount Olivet was on the east, and overlooked the city. Thus in Ps. cxxv. 2, it is said, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people." Jerusalem is also called a valley, and a plain, in Jer. xxi. 13: "Behold I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord." Thus it is described in Reland's Palestine, "the holy city is placed in the midst of valleys and hills." See Gesenius. It was cominoa with Isaiah and the other prophets to designate Jerusalem and other places, not by their proper names, but by some appellation that would be descriptive. See ch. xxi. 1, xxix. 1. TOf vision. Note ch. i. 1. The word here means that Jerusalem was eminently the place where God made known his will to the prophets, and manifested himself to VOL. II.* 12 2 Thou that art full of stirs, a tumul- men are not slain with the sword, nor tuous city, a ' joyous city: thy slain | dead in battle. b What is the cause of the commotion and tumult that exists in the city? throws himself at once into the midst of the excitement; sees the agitation and tumult, and the preparations for defence which were made, and asks the cause of all this confusion. ¶ That thou art. That the inhabitants of the city; that old and young; that all classes of the people fled to the house-tops, so much that it might be said that all the city had gone up. To the house-tops. Houses in the East were built in a uniform manner in ancient times, and are so to this day. See a description of the mode of building in my Notes on Matth. ix. 1, seq. The roofs were always flat, and were made either of earth that was trodden hard, or with large flat stones. This roof was surrounded with a ballustrade (Deut. xxii. 8), and furnished a convenient place for walking, or even eating and sleeping. Whenever, therefore, any thing was to be seen in the street, or at a distance; or when there was any cause of alarm, they would naturally resort to the roof of the house. When there was a tower in the city, the inhabitants fled to that, and took refuge on its top, or roof. See Judges x. 50-53. The image here is, therefore, one of consternation and alarm, as if on the sudden approach of an enemy. 2. Thou that art full of stirs. Of tumult; of commotion; of alarm. Or perhaps this whole description may mean that it was formerly a city distinguished for the hum of business, for pleasure-a busy, active, enterprising city. The Hebrew will bear this, but I prefer the former interpretation, as indicating mingled alarm and consternation, and at the same time a disposition to engage in riot and revelry-indicating more clearly the real character of the people. A joyous city. A city exulting; rejoicing; given to pleasure, and to riot. See the description of Nineveh in Zeph. ii. 15. It is remarkable that the pro 3 All thy rulers are fled together, | that are found in thee are bound togethey are bound 2 by the archers: all ther, which have fled from far. a 2 Kings 25.5, 11. 2 of the bow. New Translation. 3. All thy leaders have fled together; They are bound [by fear] from using the bow; They had fled [to thee] from afar. phet has blended these things together, and has spoken of the tumult, the alarm, and the rejoicing, in the same breath. This may be either because it was the general character of the city thus to be full of revelry, dissipation and riot, and he designates it by that which usually and appropriately described it; or because it was, even then, notwithstanding the general consternation and alarm, given up to revelry, and the rather on account of the approaching danger. So he describes the city in vs. 12, 13, where he says, that when God called them to seriousness and fasting they had given themselves up to dissipation, under the assurance that they must inevitably be destroyed. T Thy slain are not slain with the sword. The words thy slain here seem to be intended to be applied to the soldiers on whom the defence of the city rested; and to mean those who had not died an honorable death in the city in its defence, but who had fled in consternation, and who were either taken in their flight and made cuptive, or who were pursued and put to death in an ignominious flight. To be slain with the sword here is equivalent to being slain in an honorable engagement with the enemy. But here the prophet speaks of their consternation, their cowardice, and of their being partly trampled down in their hasty and ignominious flight by each other, and thus slain; and partly of the fugitives being overtaken by the enemy, and thus put to death. Perhaps also there may be the idea that many might die by famine or the pestilence; but the main idea seems to be that of cowardice, pusillanimity, and the ignominious death that would result. 3. All thy rulers are fled together. The general idea in this verse is plain. It is designed to describe the consternation which would take place at the approach of the invader, and especially the timidity and flight of those on whom the city relied for protection and defence. Hence, instead of entering calmly and firmly on the work of defence, |