Isa 22:11-14 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 11 Unto the maker thereof "To him that hath disposed this" - That is, to God the Author and Disposer of this visitation, the invasion with which he now threatens you. The very same expressions are applied to God, and upon the same occasion, : - "Hast thou not heard of old, that I have disposed it; And of ancient times, that I have formed it?"

‏ Isaiah 22:11-14

Verse 11

Unto the maker thereof "To him that hath disposed this" - That is, to God the Author and Disposer of this visitation, the invasion with which he now threatens you. The very same expressions are applied to God, and upon the same occasion, Isa 37:26 : - "Hast thou not heard of old, that I have disposed it;

And of ancient times, that I have formed it?" Verse 13

Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die - This has been the language or all those who have sought their portion in this life, since the foundation of the world. So the poet: -

Heu, heu nos miserif quam totus homuncio nil est!

Sic erimus cuncti, postquam nos auferet orcus.

Ergo vivamus, dum licet esse, bene.

Alas alas! what miserable creatures are we, oniy the semblances of men! And so shall we be all when we come to die. Therefore let us live joyfully while we may.

Domitian had an image of death hung up in his dining-room, to show his guests that as life was uncertain, they should make the best of it by indulging themselves. On this Martial, to flatter the emperor, whom he styles god, wrote the following epigram: -

Frange thoros, pete vina, tingere nardo.

Ipse jubet mortis te meminisse Deus.

Sit down to table - drink heartily - anoint thyself with spikenard; for God himself commands thee to remember death.

So the adage: -

Ede, bibe, lude post mortem nulla voluptas. "Eat, drink, and play, while here ye may:

No revelry after your dying day."

St. Paul quotes the same heathen sentiment, 1Cor 15:32 : "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Anacreon is full in point, and from him nothing better can be expected: - Ὡς ουν ετ' ευδι' εστιν, Και πινε και κυβευε Και σπενδε τῳ Λυαιῳ· Μη νουσος, ην τις ελθῃ, Λεγῃ, σε μη δει πινειν.

Anac. Od. xv., 50:11. "While no tempest blots your sky,

Drink, and throw the sportful dye:

But to Bacchus drench the ground,

Ere you push the goblet round;

Lest some fatal illness cry, 'Drink no more the cup of joy.'"

Addison. Verse 14

It was revealed in mine ears "The voice of Jehovah" - The Vulgate has vox Domini; as if in his copy he had read קול יהוה kol Yehovah; and in truth, without the word קול kol, voice, it is not easy to make out the sense of the passage; as appears from the strange versions which the rest of the ancients, (except the Chaldee), and many of the moderns, have given of it; as if the matter were revealed in or to the ears of Jehovah: εν τοις ωσι Κυριου, in the ears of the Lord, Septuagint. Vitringa translates it, Revelatus est in auribus meis Jehovah, "Jehovah hath revealed it in mine ears," and refers to 1Sam 2:27; 1Sam 3:21 : but the construction in those places is different, and there is no speech of God added; which here seems to want something more than the verb נגלה nigleh to introduce it. Compare Isa 5:9, where the text is still more imperfect.

The Lord God of hosts - אדני יהוה צבאות Adonai Yehovah tsebaoth. But אדני Adonai, Lord, is omitted by two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and by two of my own; by three editions, and the Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic.