Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:7-9
Your country is desolate - The description of the ruined and desolate state of the country in these verses does not suit with any part of the prosperous times of Uzziah and Jotham. It very well agrees with the time of Ahaz, when Judea was ravaged by the joint invasion of the Israelites and Syrians, and by the incursions of the Philistines and Edomites. The date of this prophecy is therefore generally fixed to the time of Ahaz. But on the other hand it may be considered whether those... read more
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:7
At the end of the verse, זרים zarim . This reading, though confirmed by all the ancient versions, gives us no good sense; for "your land is devoured by strangers; and is desolate, as if overthrown by strangers," is a mere tautology, or, what is as bad, an identical comparison. Aben Ezra thought that the word in its present form might be taken for the same with זרם zerem , an inundation: Schultens is of the same opinion; (see Taylor's Concord.); and Schindler in his Lexicon explains it... read more