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Show 236 ADDRESS Surely then OF THE PROPTIET this business would be assigned, tacitly or expressly, to our nation. we safely arrive, reasoning a priori. ces of the case enforce it. teresting a duty, relative prophecies so abundantly ISATAH. ADDRESS either should not prevail, to an event on which the rest, would not be left to un- then, sweep [hs prophecy kings 2 Kings, xvii. | ; we learn that river maria, or Israel, had already fallen. laments, chap. v. 13; ‘ Therefore myo people Royare gone J a into captivity, because they have no knowledge. There is one passage which seems to place the captivity of Israel just subsequent to the prophecy of this prophet, Isai. vii. 8, where Jerusalem was invaded by a coalition of the king of Syria and the king of Israel ; —lIsaiah, to show that this joint effort against the Jews which of the should nation of The main body then, before, and were swept away in the days of Ismah. This must have most deeply He finds presented in vision, away long banishment. He also beholds in visiona great nation arising there in the last days; a land of freedom and religion. He hears the whisper of the Spirit of inspiration, directing him to address that far sequestered and happy land, and call their attention to the final restoration of his people. cities (or \ Accordingly Isaiah scene, gleanings it seems, had been gone jected brethren. ‘Inthe ninth year of Ho- of Gozen, and in the the / over the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic, far in the _ West, or going down of the sun, the continent of their shea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away tnto Assyria, and piaced them in Halah, and Habor by the even time to the days of the final restoration of his long re- the tweifth territories) of the Medes.” ‘Tins event then, must have been in the days of Isaiah. In Isai. xxxvi. 19, where Rabshakah is insulting the officers of Hezekiah, he says, ‘Where are the gods of Hamah, and Arpad? Where are the gods of Scpharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?’ Here it seems Sa- away Behold this man of God, then, wrapt in the visions of the Almighty, casting an eye of faith down the lapse of of Judah.” “in must allude to a finishing affected his pious heart. And it is natural to view him revolving in his anxious mind the place of their long exiiement; and delighted with a view of their final restoration. was ‘in the days Uzzi- and Hezekiah, But it seems from the passages just quoted, that the remains of the Israclites.”?> and treats largely up- year of Ahaz.Hoshea began to reign overSamaria.” Aud 4a threescore and Israel. Hence Scott says upon the passage; * It is computed to have been sixty-five years from thie prediction to the time that Esarhaddon carried away place 725 years before Christ. Isaiahis supposed to have begun his ministry about the year 760 before Christ; and 35 years before the expulsion. He lived ihen, it appears, to see the expulsion of the ten tribes. And his pious heart must have been deeply affected in verse 9 we are assured; “ within 937 the main body of Israel were gone betore this period, or the end of sixty-five years. ‘This prediction ple.” the expuision of Isracl is supposed to have taken Butin predicted ISAIAH. And we might expect so in- Oi the restoration of his brethren. Ahaz, PROPHET five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a peo- is the most evangelical prophet; with the event. THE At this conclusion The circumstan- certain deductions, but would be expressly enjoined. We may then open the prophetic scriptures with some good dezree ol confidence, that the assiziment of sucha task is somewhere to be found. And where so natural to be found asin the prophecy of Isaiah? He ah, Jotham, OF 7 ; : : ’ Isaiah xviii. verse ts “ Ho, land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethioma.”? Our transiators render this address, ‘Wo to the land.”°— But this is manifestly incorrect, as the best exposi tors agree. ‘The Hebrew particle here translated Wo to, is a particle of friendly calling, as well as of denouncing, And the connexion in any given place must decide Which rendering shall be given. In this place, the whole connexio n and sense decide, that the word is here afriendly call, ar address; as in this Ppassave; * Ho every one that thirsteth, coine ye to the waters,” RE land addressed, lies “ beyond the rivers of Ethipla.” It is agreed that these rivers mea n the mouths ae > |