So. Many nations `caused to wonder'.

Reason. Unheard of things.

Having corrected our translation and assembled our passage under its respective headings we can now proceed.

`Astonished', Hebrew shamem.- This word is translated `astonish' when applied to the mind, or `desolate' when

applied to land or city, and then, by a figure quite common among us, the word `desolate' is applied to the state of

mind also. We have an example of this double use in Leviticus:

`And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished' (Lev.

The reader will keep in mind the parallel word `startle' or `wonder' of verse 15. The book of Job confirms this:

`Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth' (Job 21:5).

So Isaiah 52:15 may read `wonder' and the sequel, `Kings shall shut their mouths at Him', continues the thought.

Three passages in Ezekiel will increase our understanding of the nature and character of the `astonishment' of

Isaiah 52:14. Two of these passages relate to the fall of Tyre, and the third to the mystical king of Tyre, probably

Satan himself:

`Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their

broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall

tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee' (Ezek. 26:16).

Here is a picture of desolation of mind. Thrones vacated; royal insignia laid aside; trembling at every moment:

this is `astonishment' in the Biblical sense. Ezekiel 27:35 and 28:19 should be read in conjunction with the above

verse. The degree of desolation intended can be gathered from the fact that this same word is used to describe `the

abomination that maketh desolate' (Dan. 9:26,27; 11:31; 12:11), and the effect upon Daniel, `I was astonished at the

vision' (Dan. 8:27). When therefore we read, `As many were astonished at thee' let us not pass by the word, as of

little importance. In Isaiah 52:14 and in one or two other places the Authorized Version uses the older spelling of

the word, `astonied' which is derived from the old French word estoner, and allied with the word `stun', and

sometimes derived from stony and used as petrify. For our present purpose the modern spelling is preferable. The

astonishment here referred to, in Isaiah 52:14, was produced by the humiliation and suffering to which this august

Servant of Jehovah stooped.

`His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men'.

The structure (page 75) has already informed us that in the original `visage' and `beauty' are the same word.

We have already referred to Daniel 8:27 in connexion with the word `astonish': we now refer to it again, as it

uses the Hebrew word mareh, `visage' or `beauty'. `I was astonished at the vision' (Dan. 8:27). Roah, `to see',

from which this word is derived, is found in Isaiah 52:15:

`That which had not been told them shall they see'.

What Israel failed to see, Isaiah himself saw,

`Mine eyes have seen the King' (Isa. 6:5).

and we are assured by John that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ, and spoke of Him (John 12:41), and it is in this very

connexion that Isaiah 6:10 is quoted:

`He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand

with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them' (John 12:40).

This `visage' which Israel failed `to see' was `more marred than any man'. In the opening chapter Israel were

charged by Isaiah with being `corrupters' (Isa. 1:4) and the context makes one almost suspect the condition known

as leprosy. This word, translated `corrupt', is the word that gives us `marred' in Isaiah 52:14. Leprosy most

certainly is in view in Isaiah 6. There we find king Uzziah who had been stricken with leprosy and Isaiah