Isa 1:1 | Clarke | STEP | On the term prophet, and on the nature and several kinds of prophecy, I have already discoursed in different parts of this work. See the notes on (note); (note), and the preface to the four Gospels, and Acts of the Apostles. A few things only require to be recapitulated. נבא naba signifies not only to foretell future events, but also to pray and supplicate; and נביא nabi, the prophet, was by office not only a declarer of events still future, but the general preacher of the day; and as he frequently foresaw the approach of disastrous times, such was the wickedness of the people, he employed his time in counseling sinners to turn from the error of their ways, and in making strong prayer and supplication to God to avert the threatened judgments: for such predictions, however apparently positive in their terms, were generally conditional; strange as this may appear to some who, through their general ignorance of every thing but the peculiarities of their own creed, suppose that every occurrence is impelled by an irresistible necessity. To his own conduct, in reference to such matters, God has been pleased to give us a key (see Jeremiah 18.) which opens all difficulties, and furnishes us with a general comment on his own providence. God is absolute master of his own ways; and as he has made man a free agent, whatever concerns him in reference to futurity, on which God is pleased to express his mind in the way of prophecy, there is a condition generally implied or expressed. As this is but seldom attended to by partial interpreters, who wish by their doctrine of fatalism to bind even God himself, many contradictory sentiments are put in the mouths of his prophets. In ancient times those who were afterwards called Prophets were termed Seers; . הראה haroeh, the seeing person; he who perceives mentally what the design of God is. Sometimes called also חזה chozeh, the man who has visions, or supernatural revelations; ; . Both these terms are translated seer in our common Version. They were sometimes called men of God, and messengers or angels of God. In their case it was ever understood that all God's prophets had an extraordinary commission and had their message given them by immediate inspiration. In this the heathen copied after the people of God. They also had their prophets and seers; and hence their augurs and auguries, their haruspices, and priestesses, and their oracles; all pretending to be divinely inspired, and to declare nothing but the truth; for what was truth and fact among the former, was affected and pretended among the latter. Many prophets and seers are mentioned in the sacred writings; but, fragments and insulated prophecies excepted, we have the works of only Sixteen; four of whom are termed the former or larger prophets, and twelve, the latter or minor prophets. They have these epithets, not from priority of time, or from minor importance, but merely from the places they occupy in the present arrangement of the books in the Bible, and from the relative size of their productions. The Jews reckon forty-eight prophets, and seven prophetesses; and Epiphanius, in a fragment preserved by Cotelerius, reckons not fewer than seventy-three prophets, and ten prophetesses; but in both collections there are many which have no Scriptural pretensions to such a distinguished rank. The succession of prophets in the Jewish Church is well worthy of note, because it not only manifests the merciful regards of God towards that people, but also the uninterrupted succession of the prophetic influence, at least from Moses to Malachi, if not before; for this gift was not withheld under the patriarchal dispensation; indeed we might boldly ask any man to show when the time was in which God left himself without a witness of this kind. To show this succession, I shall endeavor to give the different prophets in order of time. 1. The first man, Adam, has an undoubted right to stand at the head of the prophets, as he does at the head of the human race. His declaration concerning marriage, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife," is so truly prophetic, that no doubt can be formed on the subject. There was then nothing in nature or experience to justify such an assertion; and he could have it only by Divine inspiration. The millions of instances which have since occurred, and the numerous laws which have been founded on this principle among all the nations of the earth, show with what precision the declaration was conceived, and with what truth it was published to the world. Add to this, his correct knowledge of the nature of the different animals, so that he could impose on them names expressive of their respective natures or propensities; which proves that he must have acted under a Divine inspiration; for known only to God are all his works from the beginning. 2. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, is expressly called a prophet; and St. Jude, , , has preserved a fragment of one of his prophecies, relative to the corruption of the ante-diluvian world, and the approaching judgments of God. 3. Noah was a prophet and preacher of righteousness, and predicted the general deluge, and the time of respite which God in his mercy had granted to the offenders of that age. 4. Abraham is expressly called a prophet also, ; and it appears from , that he partook of the Divine anointing. 5. Isaac, , predicted the future greatness of his son Jacob, and of the race that was to spring from him. 6. Jacob was so especially favored with the prophetic gift, that he distinctly foretold what should happen to each of his sons. See Genesis 49. 7. Joseph was favored with several prophetic visions, and had the gift of interpreting dreams which portended future occurrences; (see Genesis 27, 40, 41.); and foretold the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt; . Thus far the prophetic influence extended through the patriarchal dispensation for about two thousand three hundred and seventy years from the creation. With the Jewish dispensation the prophetic gift revived; and, 8. Moses became one of the most eminent prophets that had ever appeared. He not only enjoyed the continual prophetic afflatus, but had such visions of and intercourse with God as no other person either before or since was favored with; and by which he was highly qualified to perform the arduous work which God had given him to do, and to frame that Code of Laws which had no equal before the promulgation of the Gospel. See . He predicted expressly the coming of the Messiah. See . 9. Aaron, the brother of Moses, his prime minister and God's high priest, was also a partaker of his Divine influence, and declared the will of God to Pharaoh and the Israelites, not merely from information received from Moses, but also by immediate communication from God. See . 10. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, is expressly called a prophetess, ; . 11. Joshua, who succeeded Moses, was a partaker of the same grace. He was appointed by Moses under the especial direction of God; ; ; and has always been reckoned among the Jews as one of the prophets. See Sirach 46:1-6. Though I cannot place them in the same rank, yet it is necessary to state that, by the Jews, several of the judges are classed among the prophets; such as Othniel, Ehud, Samson, and Barak. 12. Deborah, the coadjutor of Barak, is called a prophetess, . During her time, and down to the days of Eli the high priest, prophecy had been very scarce, there having been very few on whom the Spirit of the Lord had rested; for "the word of the Lord was scarce in those days, and there was no open vision;" . 13. Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, is supposed to have partaken of the spirit of prophecy; and to have foretold, at least indirectly, the advent of the Messiah, and the glory that should be revealed under the Gospel. See her Song, . And what renders this more likely is, that it is on the model, and with many of the expressions, of this song, that the blessed Virgin composed her Magnificat, . 14. Samuel, her son, was one of the most eminent of the Jewish prophets, and was the last, and indeed the greatest, of the judges of Israel. In his time the prophetic influence seems to have rested upon many; so that we find even whole schools or colleges of prophets which were under his direction. See , ; , and elsewhere. 15. David united in himself the character of prophet and king, in the most eminent manner; and from his reign down to the captivity the succession was not only not interrupted, but these extraordinary messengers of God became very numerous. 16. Gad flourished under his reign, and was emphatically called David's Seer, ; , , ; and it appears that he had written a Book of Prophecies, which is now lost, . 17. Nathan lived also under the same reign, ; and, in conjunction with Gad, composed a book of the acts of David, . 18. To Solomon also, son of David, the prophetic gift has been attributed. This might be implied in the extraordinary wisdom with which God had endowed him, ; ; ; and in his writings several prophetic declarations may be found, even independently of the supposed reference to Christ and his Church in the Song of Solomon. 19. Iddo is termed a Seer, ; ; and was one of Solomon's biographers. 20. Shemaiah lived under Rehoboam; he is called a man of God, and to him the word of prophecy came relative to Judah and Benjamin, . Some think this was the same person who was sent to Jeroboam relative to his idolatry; see , etc. 21. Ahijah, the Shilonite, prophesied to Jeroboam, . 22. Hanani the Seer prophesied under Azariah and Asa, . 23. Jehu, son of Hanani, prophesied under Jehoshaphat, , ; ; ; and . 24. Azariah, the son of Oded, prophesied under Asa, . 25. Elijah prophesied under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. 26. Elisha succeeded Elijah under the same reigns. And these eminent men had many disciples on whom the spirit of prophecy rested. They, and their masters, Elijah and Elisha, prophesied in the kingdoms both of Israel and Judah. Their histories make a prominent part of the first and second Books of Kings; and are well known. 27. Micaiah, the son of Imlah, prophesied under the same reign, . 28. Hosea prophesied under Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, and under the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah. 29. Isaiah was contemporary with Hosea, but probably began to prophesy a little later than he did. 30. Amos prophesied about the same time. 31. Jonah, son of Amittai, is supposed to have been contemporary with the above. 32. Eliezer, the son of Dodavah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah, . 33. Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, prophesied against Judah and Israel under the same reign, . 34. Micah prophesied against Samaria and Jerusalem, in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. 35. Oded, father of Azariah, prophesied against Asa, . 36. Nahum prophesied under Hezekiah. 37. Joel, under Josiah. 38. Jeremiah, about the same time. 39. Zephaniah, under the same reign. See their prophecies. 40. Huldah, the prophetess, was contemporary with the above. 41. Igdaliah, called a man of God, and probably a prophet, was contemporary with Jeremiah, . 42. Habakkuk lived about the end of the reign of Josiah, or the beginning of that of Jehoiakim. 43. Ezekiel lived under the captivity; and prophesied in Mesopotamia, about the time that Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem. 44. Obadiah lived in Judea, after the capture of Jerusalem and before the desolation of Idumea by Nebuchadnezzar. 45. Daniel prophesied in Babylon during the captivity. 46. Haggai prophesied during and after the captivity. 47. Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, prophesied under Jehoiakim. See , . 48. Zechariah, son of Barachiah, flourished in the second year of Darius, a

Isaiah 1:1

Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Isaiah

On the term prophet, and on the nature and several kinds of prophecy, I have already discoursed in different parts of this work. See the notes on Gen 15:1 (note); Gen 20:7 (note), and the preface to the four Gospels, and Acts of the Apostles. A few things only require to be recapitulated. נבא naba signifies not only to foretell future events, but also to pray and supplicate; and נביא nabi, the prophet, was by office not only a declarer of events still future, but the general preacher of the day; and as he frequently foresaw the approach of disastrous times, such was the wickedness of the people, he employed his time in counseling sinners to turn from the error of their ways, and in making strong prayer and supplication to God to avert the threatened judgments: for such predictions, however apparently positive in their terms, were generally conditional; strange as this may appear to some who, through their general ignorance of every thing but the peculiarities of their own creed, suppose that every occurrence is impelled by an irresistible necessity.

To his own conduct, in reference to such matters, God has been pleased to give us a key (see Jeremiah 18.) which opens all difficulties, and furnishes us with a general comment on his own providence. God is absolute master of his own ways; and as he has made man a free agent, whatever concerns him in reference to futurity, on which God is pleased to express his mind in the way of prophecy, there is a condition generally implied or expressed. As this is but seldom attended to by partial interpreters, who wish by their doctrine of fatalism to bind even God himself, many contradictory sentiments are put in the mouths of his prophets.

In ancient times those who were afterwards called Prophets were termed Seers; 1Sam 9:9. הראה haroeh, the seeing person; he who perceives mentally what the design of God is. Sometimes called also חזה chozeh, the man who has visions, or supernatural revelations; 1Kgs 22:17; 2Kgs 17:13. Both these terms are translated seer in our common Version. They were sometimes called men of God, and messengers or angels of God. In their case it was ever understood that all God's prophets had an extraordinary commission and had their message given them by immediate inspiration.

In this the heathen copied after the people of God. They also had their prophets and seers; and hence their augurs and auguries, their haruspices, and priestesses, and their oracles; all pretending to be divinely inspired, and to declare nothing but the truth; for what was truth and fact among the former, was affected and pretended among the latter.

Many prophets and seers are mentioned in the sacred writings; but, fragments and insulated prophecies excepted, we have the works of only Sixteen; four of whom are termed the former or larger prophets, and twelve, the latter or minor prophets. They have these epithets, not from priority of time, or from minor importance, but merely from the places they occupy in the present arrangement of the books in the Bible, and from the relative size of their productions.

The Jews reckon forty-eight prophets, and seven prophetesses; and Epiphanius, in a fragment preserved by Cotelerius, reckons not fewer than seventy-three prophets, and ten prophetesses; but in both collections there are many which have no Scriptural pretensions to such a distinguished rank.

The succession of prophets in the Jewish Church is well worthy of note, because it not only manifests the merciful regards of God towards that people, but also the uninterrupted succession of the prophetic influence, at least from Moses to Malachi, if not before; for this gift was not withheld under the patriarchal dispensation; indeed we might boldly ask any man to show when the time was in which God left himself without a witness of this kind.

To show this succession, I shall endeavor to give the different prophets in order of time.

1. The first man, Adam, has an undoubted right to stand at the head of the prophets, as he does at the head of the human race. His declaration concerning marriage, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife," is so truly prophetic, that no doubt can be formed on the subject. There was then nothing in nature or experience to justify such an assertion; and he could have it only by Divine inspiration. The millions of instances which have since occurred, and the numerous laws which have been founded on this principle among all the nations of the earth, show with what precision the declaration was conceived, and with what truth it was published to the world. Add to this, his correct knowledge of the nature of the different animals, so that he could impose on them names expressive of their respective natures or propensities; which proves that he must have acted under a Divine inspiration; for known only to God are all his works from the beginning.

2. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, is expressly called a prophet; and St. Jude, Jde 1:14, Jde 1:15, has preserved a fragment of one of his prophecies, relative to the corruption of the ante-diluvian world, and the approaching judgments of God.

3. Noah was a prophet and preacher of righteousness, and predicted the general deluge, and the time of respite which God in his mercy had granted to the offenders of that age.

4. Abraham is expressly called a prophet also, Gen 20:7; and it appears from Psa 105:15, that he partook of the Divine anointing.

5. Isaac, Gen 27:27, predicted the future greatness of his son Jacob, and of the race that was to spring from him.

6. Jacob was so especially favored with the prophetic gift, that he distinctly foretold what should happen to each of his sons. See Genesis 49.

7. Joseph was favored with several prophetic visions, and had the gift of interpreting dreams which portended future occurrences; (see Genesis 27, 40, 41.); and foretold the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt; Gen 50:25. Thus far the prophetic influence extended through the patriarchal dispensation for about two thousand three hundred and seventy years from the creation.

With the Jewish dispensation the prophetic gift revived; and,

8. Moses became one of the most eminent prophets that had ever appeared. He not only enjoyed the continual prophetic afflatus, but had such visions of and intercourse with God as no other person either before or since was favored with; and by which he was highly qualified to perform the arduous work which God had given him to do, and to frame that Code of Laws which had no equal before the promulgation of the Gospel. See Deu 24:10. He predicted expressly the coming of the Messiah. See Deu 18:18.

9. Aaron, the brother of Moses, his prime minister and God's high priest, was also a partaker of his Divine influence, and declared the will of God to Pharaoh and the Israelites, not merely from information received from Moses, but also by immediate communication from God. See Exo 4:15.

10. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, is expressly called a prophetess, Exo 15:20; Num 12:2.

11. Joshua, who succeeded Moses, was a partaker of the same grace. He was appointed by Moses under the especial direction of God; Num 27:18-23; Deu 34:9; and has always been reckoned among the Jews as one of the prophets. See Sirach 46:1-6. Though I cannot place them in the same rank, yet it is necessary to state that, by the Jews, several of the judges are classed among the prophets; such as Othniel, Ehud, Samson, and Barak.

12. Deborah, the coadjutor of Barak, is called a prophetess, Jdg 4:4. During her time, and down to the days of Eli the high priest, prophecy had been very scarce, there having been very few on whom the Spirit of the Lord had rested; for "the word of the Lord was scarce in those days, and there was no open vision;" 1Sam 3:1.

13. Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, is supposed to have partaken of the spirit of prophecy; and to have foretold, at least indirectly, the advent of the Messiah, and the glory that should be revealed under the Gospel. See her Song, 1Sam 2:1-10. And what renders this more likely is, that it is on the model, and with many of the expressions, of this song, that the blessed Virgin composed her Magnificat, Luk 1:46-55.

14. Samuel, her son, was one of the most eminent of the Jewish prophets, and was the last, and indeed the greatest, of the judges of Israel. In his time the prophetic influence seems to have rested upon many; so that we find even whole schools or colleges of prophets which were under his direction. See 1Sam 10:5, 1Sam 10:10; 1Sam 19:20, and elsewhere.

15. David united in himself the character of prophet and king, in the most eminent manner; and from his reign down to the captivity the succession was not only not interrupted, but these extraordinary messengers of God became very numerous.

16. Gad flourished under his reign, and was emphatically called David's Seer, 2Sam 24:11; 1Chr 21:9, 1Chr 21:19, 1Chr 21:20; and it appears that he had written a Book of Prophecies, which is now lost, 1Chr 29:29.

17. Nathan lived also under the same reign, 2Sam 7:2; and, in conjunction with Gad, composed a book of the acts of David, 1Chr 29:29.

18. To Solomon also, son of David, the prophetic gift has been attributed. This might be implied in the extraordinary wisdom with which God had endowed him, 1Kgs 3:5-9; 2Chr 1:7; 2Chr 7:12; and in his writings several prophetic declarations may be found, even independently of the supposed reference to Christ and his Church in the Song of Solomon.

19. Iddo is termed a Seer, 2Chr 12:15; 2Chr 13:22; and was one of Solomon's biographers.

20. Shemaiah lived under Rehoboam; he is called a man of God, and to him the word of prophecy came relative to Judah and Benjamin, 1Kgs 12:22-24. Some think this was the same person who was sent to Jeroboam relative to his idolatry; see 1Kgs 13:1, etc.

21. Ahijah, the Shilonite, prophesied to Jeroboam, 1Kgs 11:29-39.

22. Hanani the Seer prophesied under Azariah and Asa, 2Chr 16:7.

23. Jehu, son of Hanani, prophesied under Jehoshaphat, 1Kgs 16:1, 1Kgs 16:7; 2Chr 16:7; 2Chr 19:2; and 2Chr 20:34.

24. Azariah, the son of Oded, prophesied under Asa, 2Chr 15:1.

25. Elijah prophesied under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel.

26. Elisha succeeded Elijah under the same reigns. And these eminent men had many disciples on whom the spirit of prophecy rested. They, and their masters, Elijah and Elisha, prophesied in the kingdoms both of Israel and Judah. Their histories make a prominent part of the first and second Books of Kings; and are well known.

27. Micaiah, the son of Imlah, prophesied under the same reign, 1Kgs 21:9.

28. Hosea prophesied under Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, and under the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.

29. Isaiah was contemporary with Hosea, but probably began to prophesy a little later than he did.

30. Amos prophesied about the same time.

31. Jonah, son of Amittai, is supposed to have been contemporary with the above.

32. Eliezer, the son of Dodavah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah, 2Chr 20:37.

33. Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, prophesied against Judah and Israel under the same reign, 2Chr 20:14.

34. Micah prophesied against Samaria and Jerusalem, in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

35. Oded, father of Azariah, prophesied against Asa, 2Chr 15:8.

36. Nahum prophesied under Hezekiah.

37. Joel, under Josiah.

38. Jeremiah, about the same time.

39. Zephaniah, under the same reign. See their prophecies.

40. Huldah, the prophetess, was contemporary with the above.

41. Igdaliah, called a man of God, and probably a prophet, was contemporary with Jeremiah, Jer 35:4.

42. Habakkuk lived about the end of the reign of Josiah, or the beginning of that of Jehoiakim.

43. Ezekiel lived under the captivity; and prophesied in Mesopotamia, about the time that Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem.

44. Obadiah lived in Judea, after the capture of Jerusalem and before the desolation of Idumea by Nebuchadnezzar.

45. Daniel prophesied in Babylon during the captivity.

46. Haggai prophesied during and after the captivity.

47. Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, prophesied under Jehoiakim. See Jer 26:20, Jer 26:21.

48. Zechariah, son of Barachiah, flourished in the second year of Darius, a