Isa 55:8-13 | Clarke

Isaiah 55:8-13

Verse 9

For as the heavens are higher - I am persuaded that כ caph, the particle of comparison, is lost in this place, from the likeness of the particle כי ki, immediately preceding it. So Houbigant and Secker. And their remark is confirmed by all the ancient Versions, which express it; and by the following passage of Psa 103:11, which is almost the same: - הארץ על שמים כגבה כי haarets al shamayim chigboah ki יראיו על חסדו גבר yereaiv al chasdo gabar "For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So high is his goodness over them that fear him."

Where, by the nature of the sentence, the verb in the second line ought to be the same with that in the first; גבה gabah, not גבר gabar: so Archbishop Secker conjectured; referring however to Psa 117:2. Verse 12

The mountains and the hills - These are highly poetical images to express a happy state attended with joy and exultation.

Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant

Intonsi montes: ipsae jam carmina rupes,

Ipsa sonant arbusta.

Virg. Ecl. 5:61. "The mountain tops unshorn, the rocks rejoice;

The lowly shrubs partake of human voice."

Dryden. Verse 13

Instead of the thorn "Instead of the thorny bushes" - These likewise (see note on Isa 55:12, and on Isa 54:11 (note)) are general poetical images, expressing a great and happy change for the better. The wilderness turned into a paradise, Lebanon into Carmel: the desert of the Gentiles watered with the heavenly snow and rain, which fail not to have their due effect, and becoming fruitful in piety and righteousness: or, as the Chaldee gives the moral sense of the emblem, "instead of the wicked shall arise the just; and instead of sinners, such as fear to sin." Compare Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2; Isa 41:19.

And instead of - The conjunction ו vau is added, ותחת vetachath, in forty-five MSS. of Kennicott's several of De Rossi's, and five editions; and it is acknowledged by all the ancient Versions. The Masoretes therefore might have safely received it into the text, and not have referred us for it to the margin. But this is no uncommon case with them. Even in our own Version the best reading is very often found in the margin.