Commentary on the Old Testament Volume 2-4, Biblical commentary 7 · Isaiah · Preface
THE PREFACE.
WHo Isaiah was, and at what time he wrote, appears Chap. 1. He was the son of Amos, the brother of Azariah King of Judah, as it is commonly held, saith Calvin; wherefore he was of the bloud royal. The time of his prophesying was in the reign of the same Azariah or Ʋzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, which Calvin reckoning to Jotham 16, to Achaz 16, and to Hezekiah 29, sums up 61. But he laboured in prophesying longer, viz. in the dayes of Ʋzziah also, but how many years is uncertain, only Chap 6. because he had a vision in the year that Ʋzziah died, it is certain that he prophesied in his time also that in Chap. 5. haply, as some conjecture ten years. That he continued after Hezekiah also it is generally agreed, because he was slain by Manasseh his son, that wicked Idolater by being sawn asunder, being so hated by him, because he was a true Prophet of God, that he was not spared from a most cruel death, although of his kindred, and that very near.
The Scope of his writing, as of all the Prophets, is to set forth true Doctrine according to the Law, whereupon their Prophecies be, as it were, Commentaries, and to inveigh against sin, whereby the Law is transgressed, and to comfort the penitent and reformed; and lastly to fore-tell the coming of Christ, and things pertaining to his Kingdom, and the consolations of the Gospel more plainly, whereas the Law figured out these things in Sacrifices and Ceremonies more obscurely. And in this point Isaiah excels all the rest of the Prophets, being therefore worthy to be called the Evangelical Prophet, as being herein more plain and full. He also prophesies against divers particular Countreys round about Judea, for the better understanding whereof, it is necessary, saith Luther, to know the scite of those Countreys, the knowledge whereof he briefly gives thus. Sodom, where was the dead sea, lay Eastward from Judea, beyond it Moab and Ammon, further East Babylon or Caldaea, and beyond it Persia: Northward was Mount Libanus, and beyond it Syria and Damascus, the chief City thereof, beyond Syria, Assyria, and is more towards the East. Westward Philistia and Tyrus and Zidon, yet more West. Southward lay Aegypt, the Red Sea, Ethiopia, Edom and Midian, of which Aegypt declined more West. And for the understanding of the Prophecie the better, he greatly commends the knowledge and remembrance of the Histories set forth, 2 King. and 2 Chron. because it is adaptated to them. For excellency of this Prophecie, it is generally preferred before any other, as containing in it all Rhetorick, Ethicks and Theology, as Jerom saith. And whereas some make a question, whether the Prophets understood their own Prophecies, he derides them, because the holy Prophets were most wise men, being called Seers, and therefore were not used as instruments only to utter the secrets of God, but also to understand them, and to apply them to others. And to prove this further, he alledgeth that 1 Cor. 14. The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets.
Now although Isaiah be placed first of all the Prophets, yet it is to be understood, that Hosea was contemporary with him, because he uttered also his Prophecy in the time of Ʋzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah: yet because, Hos. 1. 2. it is said, The Lord spake first to Hosea; some gather, that he began before all the rest. Under the same King Ʋzziah also was Amos, and as Expositors agree, Joel, although his time be not noted, because as Junius saith, he is placed between Hosea and Amos, and there is nothing to intimate a different time, but the same, the matter agreeing so well to the time of Ʋzziah. The next three Obadiah, Jonah and Micha, are by some also made contemporanean Hieronym. in Hos. c. 1.with the former, but Junius proves Jonah to have been more ancient then any of them, because he prophesied in the time of Amaziah, father of Ʋzziah, or before, seeing he is said to have fore-told, what victories Jeroboam should obtain, who began to reign over Israel, an. 15. of Amaziah, as is commemorated, 2 King. 14. 24. But whereas he placeth Obadiah long after as contemporary with Jeremy and Ezekiel; it is more probable, that he prophesied also in the time of Amaziah, before Jonah, because of the destruction of Edom, which was by Amaziah, before his overthrow received at the hands of Jehoahaz King of Israel. Micha prophesied in the time of Jotham, 2 King. 14.Ahaz and Hezekiah. Nahum, as Junius thinks most probable, by the arguments somewhat before the Captivity of Israel by Tiglath Pileser King of Assyria, because he fore-tels the destruction of Nineveh, the chief City of Assyria for the comfort of the faithful in Israel against their miseries suffered at the Assyrians hands, but in Tiglath Pileser there is a mistaking, for it 2 King. 17.was by Salmanasar in the 12th of Ahaz. Habakkuk prophesies about the same time, threatning, as Jeremiah, the coming of the Caldees, and lamenting it, or at the least at the end of Josiah his reign. Zephany in the dayes of Josiah. Haggai and Zechary after the return of the Jews from their Captivity in the time of Darius; And Malachi after the Temple built last of all others, reproving the abuses committed about the Temple and service of God. Ezekiel was of the same time with Jeremiah. And Daniel in the time of the Captivity unto the end of those seventy years. To take the Prophets therefore according to their times, 1. was Obadiah. 2. Jonah. 3. Hosea. 4. Isaiah. 5. Joel. 6. Amos. 7. Micha. 8. Nahum. 9. Habakkuk. 10. Jeremy. 11. Ezekiel. 12. Zephany. 13. Daniel. 14. Haggai. 15. Zechary. 16. Malachi. And the consideration of each ones time availeth not a little to the understanding of their Prophecies.
But to say somewhat more of Isaiah in particular. He was the son of Amos, brother to Amaziah, the father of Azariah, according to the Hebrews tradition, and Manasseh, as they say, was his daughters son, so that he was his grand-father, being at the time of his Martyrdom by Manasseh an hundred twenty six years old. And his Martyrdom as is generally held by all Expositors was by sawing asunder, whereunto that Heb. 11. 37. Some were cut asunder, is applied. Some have held Isaiah to be the son of Amos the Prophet, as Epiphanius and Clemens Alexandrinus, but that Amos is written with foreign for the first letter, and foreign for the last, this with foreign and foreign Amoz. And his manner of writing sheweth, that he came not of a Cowherd, as Amos was, but of a royal Stock, being brought up at the Court, which commonly is eloquent and quaint in phrases. He is worthily placed first of the Prophets for his high birth, his excellency this way, and because in abundance of visions he exceeds all the rest, and had things more plainly revealed unto him. The cause why his grandchilde Manasseh put him to this cruel death, was his reproving Chap. 1. 10.his Idolatry, and calling him and his Princes, Princes of Sodom, and because he said, he saw the Lord, who is invisible, and threatned the rejection of the Jews, and vocation of the Gentiles, &c. as Jerom saith out of the Jews tradition. Of this Prophecie are two principal parts: 1. Comminatory and sad, to Chap. 40. 2. Joyful and comfortable, from thence to the end of the Prophecie. In the first principal are five particulars. 1. Threatnings against the Jews for their great wickednesses against which he exclaims and prophesieth of their destruction by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians, and by the Romans, when rejecting Christ Jesus, they should be given over to blindeness, to Chap. 7. 2. Prophecies touching Christ to come of a Virgin, and his Kingdom, to Chap. 13. 3. Burthens of Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Aethiopia, Aegypt, Idumea, Arabia, Judea and Tyre, to Chap. 24. 4. A Prophecie of the destruction of the world, of hell fire, and the glory of the faithful, and the destruction of the Kingdom of Leviathan, to Chap. 28. 5. A repetition of the judgements threatned against Israel and other particular Countreys, and the whole world mixedly, to Chap. 36. After which to the 40th is nothing but the History of Hezekiah and Sennacherib. The second principal part being a Prophecie of Christ and his Kingdom is full of Promises, Comforts and Exhortations; yet some objurgations and threatnings are mixed.