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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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reject the second given as the sign , there being not anymore , yea rather much less reason why he should admit the latter than confide in the former . But when * in confirmation of anything predicted , another event which at the time appears very improbable , is foretold and is seen actually to take place according to all the circumstances of the prophecy , proof
is given of the ability of the person predicting tp foresee ; the attention of the person to whom the prediction is addressed is arrested , and strong , irresistible evidence is set before him that the other event foretold will assuredly
come to pass . II . In order to escape the charge of absurdity arising out of the former supposition of Dr . Kennieott ' s , Dr . Blayney proposes , while he still refers this prophecy to Christ , a new mode of interpreting tbe sign given to Ahaz . The prediction contained
in the 14 th and 15 th verses according to Dr . B . is not the sign of the event foretold in the 17 th to the 25 th verses , but is the event of the accomplishment of which his latter prophecy , and that contained in the 16 th verse ,
are the sign . r lhe sign therefore , cannot be given to confirm Ahaz in the belief of what is said in the 7 th , 8 th and 9 th verses , but to confirm the Judaites of that time , and the Jews of all succeeding ages , in the
belief and expectation of the Messias . In vindication of this interpretation Dr . B . says , ( Sermon , p . 6 , ) " It can hardly be supposed that God who was justly offended at the impious distrust
of Ahaz , would make any fresh effort to conquer his fears , or soothe him with further hopes of deliverance . " But is not the whole history of the Jewish nation , and of the divine
dispensations to mankind , a proof that God does act towards sinners with such patience , long-suffering and mercy ? Then , why can it be hardly supposed that he should act thus in
the present instance towards a king of the royal race of David , especially «" , in addressin g the king , we suppose mm to address the people at large ? Ur . B proceeds : " The reproof that JoiJowed upon his refusal of the sign Jeered him , instead of comfort , breat hes only a design to punish /' nue , here is a reproof and remonstrance with him for his contempt of
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the Lor < J . And if it breathes a design to punish , it is in perfect harmony with what is said in the 9 th verse , "If ye will not believe , surely ^ c shall not be established . ' So M the 13 th verse , if he continued per * £ rse , and would not hearken nor believe the Lord , he would weary out the patience not only of mtfn but of God also , and would then meet with that
punishment which is predicted * in the close of the chapter . There seems no reason to suppose that it breathed only a design to punish ,- except conditionally , on the ground of Ahaz persisting in his unbelief and sin . This is the usual mode of the divine dispensations .
1 . But it seems that forcible objections may be made against this whole method of interpreting these prophecies . The connexion and scope of the context seem to oppose it . The
Lord continuing still to speak unto Ahaz , calls on him to ask for a sign . Now a sign of what can we suppose that Ahaz would imagine was meant , and would the connexion lead us to
expect ? If one had not read or heard of this prophecy being applied to Christ , would one from what is here said by the prophet , have ever been persuaded that the sign here spoken of , referred to an event in which Ahaz was intimately concerned , and which was foretold in order to
confirm him in the belief of another event to which he as a wicked man and an idolater would pay no regard , and in which , as it would not happen till several hundred years after his death , he could feel no interest ? Do not these things appear so clearly
manifest , " that it would require no small degree of artifice and perverse ^ ness to give them any other application" ? Blayney * s Sermon , page 9 . Every one , from attentively perusing this chapter , and unaffected by any
hypothesis , would immediately say , that the sign must be a sign of the event which had been foretold , and of the truth of the prediction of which it was evidently the design of the Lord , by the mouth of the prophet , to convince the king .
2 . This method of understanding it , is abundantly confirmed by all parallel passages in which signs of any thing predicted are asked for , or are granted ; while the method fol-
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gfr . S . Fte&mkn vn the Prepkeoie * of Isaiah , eh . viL 501
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 501, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/5/
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