Isaiah 43:22-24

22-24. Sweet cane A “reed of fragrance,” from which perfuming extracts and ointments are made; used also in costly offerings. It is said “sweet cane” is not to be found in Syria. Gainsaying this, I quote from my journal of route from Sinai to Hebron, date March 6, 1870: “Found to-day, sixteen hours from Beersheba, in Wady El Abriad, moist from recent rains, a very fragrant reed, resembling Andropogon calamus, but the genus and species of which are unknown. These stalks were three feet high, of last year’s growth, and very fragrant.”

The tenor of these verses does not hold well with the preceding. The writer falls back to describing Jacob in another character than that which fits him for immediate restoration. How could this have been written by an unknown prophet at the end of the exile? But it tallies completely with Isaiah, through all these prophecies. From one subject to another he often leaps to the reader’s surprise. Then there is another difficulty for anti-supernaturalistic critics. The pious Jews were forbidden to offer sacrifices elsewhere than at Jerusalem. No remedy for the critics but to mutilate, as usual, the passage, and consign it to another origin. Yet this need not be done. The break here in Isaiah’s style of address, is in this wise explainable: His spirit had glowed in view of the grand Messianic outcome which the literal deliverance from exile suggested. But he at once bethought himself how unworthy, even yet, they were for so great a mercy, and he reminded them of it to show how great a gratuity they were to share, and how low in humiliation they needed to be. Failure of proper devotion to the temple was made an illustration of Israel’s habit of unfaithfulness.