Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 6:13

13 But yet in it shall be a tenth , and it shall return , and shall be eaten : as a teil-tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves : so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof .

A small Remnant reserved, that Number being put indefinitely, as is very usual.

To wit, out of the Babylonish Captivity, into their own Land.

That Remnant shall be devoured and destroyed a second time, by the Kings of Syria, and afterwards more effectually by the Romans.

Or, Yet as, &c. Or, Nevertheless a[illegible: 1+ letters] &c. such Particles being frequently understood in the Hebrew, as hath been noted again and again. So the Sence of the following Words of the Verse seems to be this, Although the Iewish Nation shall undergo a second and a greater Desolation by the Romans, yet there shall be another Remnant, not such an one as that which came out of Babylon, which, for the most part, were corrupt and degenerate, as appears by the Sacred Histories and Prophesies relating to that time; but an Holy Seed, a number of Elect and Godly Israelites, who shall afterwards look upon him whom they pierced, and mourn over him, as is said Zech. 12. 10. and by me be received to Mercy.

Who when their Leaves are withered and cast, as it is in Winter, have a Substance, or Subsistence, or Support within themselves, to wit, a Vital Principle, which preserves Life in the Root and Body of the Tree, and in due time sends it forth into all the Branches. But others take the Hebrew Word, Shallecheth, for the Proper name of a Place, to wit, a Causeway which led from the Palace to the Temple, 1 Chron. 26. 16. and so the Place is and may be rendred thus, As a teil-tree (or, [illegible: 1+ letters]n elm) and as an oak (the Singular Number for the Plural, as is very frequent) As the elms and the oaks which are at or by Shallecheth (on both sides of which Way such Trees were planted, to beautifie and to support that Causeway, as some have observed) have [illegible: 1 word] or support in them, either, 1. for themselves; they stand fast and firm, when other Trees are blown down: or, for the Way which they uphold.

Or rather, the support (as the same Word seems to be taken in the next foregoing Clause) thereof, to wit, of the Land or People, which, were it not for the sake of these Elect Persons, should be totally and finally rooted out; or, of that Tenth part, which shall be delivered and preserved for the sake of that Holy Seed, those true-hearted Israelites which are among them.

Marginal references: Or, when it is returned, and hath been broused.; Or, stock and sten[illegible: 1+ letters].