“So shall he sprinkle many nations.”—Isaiah lii., 15.
This is considered by many superficial readers as conclusive evidence in favor of pedobaptism, or pedorantism. “Is it not found in connection with the passage which the Eunuch was reading when he was joined by Philip? And as the prime minister of Candace could have known nothing about baptism until Philip preached it to him, in preaching Jesus, is it not clear as the sun that the Eunuch was sprinkled?”
The passage: “So shall he sprinkle,” etc., is one concerning which many of the best Hebrew critics have been in doubt; but this does not stand in the way of those empirics who can only resort to the imperfect version of King James, and often in proportion to their ignorance, so is their presumption and their dogmatism. [107]
Upon this paragraph Dr. Clarke observes: “I retain
the common rendering, though I am by no means satisfied with it.”
One reason which he gives for his dissatisfaction is the scholarly one,
that when the word nazah is used in the sense of sprinkle,
the water sprinkled is in the accusative case, and the thing upon
which the water is sprinkled is preceded by the preposition
gnal. This is also in accordance with Gesenius.
Dr. Clarke, after presenting various opinions, views, and “conjectures,” none of which sustains the view of sprinkling water in this passage, still remained “by no means satisfied.”
The truth is that he very well knew that there was an insurmountable grammatical difficulty in the way of the common version, and like an honest man confesses it.
The Septuagint has “astonish” instead of “sprinkle,” mistaking, as Gesenius supposes, the original term.
What, then, is the interpretation? Let Gesenius, the great Hebrew scholar, instar omnium, answer.
The first definition which he gives of nazah is to exult; the second is to sprinkle, when followed by the preposition gnal, or al, as aforesaid. In the Hiphil or causative conjugation, he says, “to cause to leap for joy; to make rejoice,” and quotes the very passage under consideration, and translates: “So shall he cause many nations to rejoice in himself.”
Without laying any claim to rank among the learned, the writer would remind the flippant dogmatists and critics upon the letter of King James, that
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
E. H. H.
How is it that a Christian can collect twenty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and possess it, putting it entirely out of use except to serve his own carnal purposes, and at the same time be aware of the fact that brethren and strangers are in serious need of the daily wants of life. Suffering and destitution in every conceivable shape gaze upon these heaps of dead treasure. But alas, pleading is vanity. Covetousness, oh, how cruel! [108]
[Volume V: January, 1868]
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15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shalt they consider. (Isaiah lii, KJV)