An external argument of still greater weight is the testimony of the New Testament. Above all, it is the declarations of our Lord himself which here come into consideration. In Luke xxii. 37, He says that the prophecies concerning Him were drawing near their perfect fulfilment ([Greek: ta peri emou telos echei]), comp. Matt. xxvi. 51, and that therefore the declaration: "And He was reckoned among the transgressors" must be fulfilled in Him. In Mark ix. 12, the Lord asks: [Greek: pos gegraptai epi ton huion tou anthropou, hina polla pathe kai exoudenothe], with a reference to "from man," and "from the sons of man" in lii. 14,—to "He had no form nor comeliness" in ver. 2,—to "despised," [Hebrew: nbzh], which, by Symmachus and Theodotian is rendered by [Greek: exoudenomenos], in ver. 3. In the Gospel of John, the Lord emphatically and repeatedly points out, that the words: "When His soul hath given restitution," are written concerning Him; compare remarks on ver. 10. After these distinct quotations and references, we shall be obliged to think chiefly of our passage, in Luke xxiv. 25-27, 44-46 also. The opponents themselves grant that, if in any passage of the Old Testament the doctrine of a suffering and atoning Messiah is contained, it is in the passage under review. The circumstance also, that the disciples of the Lord refer, on every occasion, and with such confidence, the passage to the Lord, likewise proves that Christ especially interpreted it of His sufferings and exaltation. Of Matt. viii. 17, and Mark xv. 28, we have already spoken. John, in chap. xii. 37, 38, and Paul in Rom. x. 16, [Pg 332] find a fulfilment of chap. liii. 1 in the unbelief of the Jews. In Acts viii. 28-35, Philip, on the question of the eunuch from Ethiopia, as to whom the prophecy referred, explained it of Christ. After the example of De Wette, Gesenius lays special stress on the circumstance, that the passage was never quoted in reference to the atoning death of Christ. But Peter, when speaking of the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, makes a literal use of the principal passages of the prophecy under consideration, 1 Pet. ii. 21-25; and it is, in general, quite the usual way of the New Testament to support its statements by our passage, whensoever the discourse falls upon this subject; comp. e.g., besides the texts quoted at ver. 10, Mark ix. 12; Rom. iv. 25; 1 Cor. xv. 3; 2 Cor. v. 21; 1 John iii. 5; Pet. i. 19; Rev. v. 6, xiii. 8. Even Gesenius himself acknowledges elsewhere, that we have here the text for the whole Apostolic preaching on the atoning death of Jesus. "Most Hebrew readers"—so he says, Th. iii. S. 191—"who were so familiar with the ideas of sacrifice and substitution, could not by any means understand the passage in any other way; and there is no doubt that the whole apostolic notion of the atoning death of Christ is chiefly based upon this passage." The circumstance, that the reference to this passage appears commonly only in the form of an allusion, and not of express quotation, proves only so much the more clearly, that its reference to the atoning death of Christ was a point absolutely settled in the ancient Church.

In favour of the Messianic interpretation are not only the passages from the second part, chap. xlii., &c., but also, from the first part, the passage chap. xi. 1, which so remarkably agrees with chap. liii. 2, that both must be referred to the same subject.

To these external reasons, the internal must be added. The Christian Church—the best judge—has at all times recognised in this prophecy the faithful and wonderfully accurate image of her Lord and Saviour in His atoning sufferings and the glory following upon them, in His innocence and righteousness, in His meekness and silent patience (the New Testament, in speaking of them, frequently points back to our passage), and in the burial with a rich man, ver. 9. The most characteristic feature is the atoning character of the suffering of the [Pg 333] Servant of God, and of the shedding of His blood. Several interpreters have endeavoured to explain away this feature which they dislike. Kimchi says: "One must not imagine that the case really stands thus, that in Israel the captivity actually bears the sins and diseases of the heathens (for that would be opposed to the justice of God), but that the Gentiles at that time, when seeing the glorious deliverance of Israel, would thus judge concerning it." A futile evasion! It is not the Gentiles who speak in chap. liii. 1-10, but the believing Church. Every sincere reader will at once feel, that it is not the foolish fancies of others which the Prophet communicates in these verses, but the divine truth made known to him. The doctrine of the substitution, the Prophet, moreover, states in his own name, by saying, "He shall sprinkle many nations;" and so likewise in the name of God, in chap. liii. 11, 12. According to Martini, De Wette, and others, the expressions are to be understood figuratively, and the contents and substance to be this only, that those severe calamities which that divine minister would have to sustain would be useful and salutary to His compatriots. But the fact that the same doctrine constantly returns under the most varied expressions, is decidedly in favour of the literal interpretation. Thus, it is said in chap. lii. 15, that the Servant of God should sprinkle many nations; in liii. 4, that He bore our diseases and took upon Him our pains; in ver. 5, that He was pierced for our transgressions; in ver. 8, that He bore the punishment which the people ought to have borne; in ver. 10, that He offered his soul as a sin-offering; in ver. 11, that by His righteousness many should be justified; in ver. 12, that He bore the sins of many, and poured out His soul unto death, and that He could make intercession for transgressors, because He was numbered with them. To this it may still be added that in chap. lii. 15 ([Hebrew: izh]), liii. 10 ([Hebrew: awM]), and ver. 12: "He bears the sins of many," (compare Levit. xvi. 21, 22; Michaelis: "Ut typice hircus pro Israelitis") the Servant of God appears as the antitype of the Old Testament sin-offerings in which, as has been proved (compare my pamphlet: Die Opfer der heil. Schrift, S. 12 ff.), the idea of substitution in the doctrine of the Old Testament finds its foundation. There cannot be the least doubt, that the Prophet could not express himself more clearly, strongly, [Pg 334] and distinctly, if his intention was to state the doctrine of substitution; and those who undertake to explain it away, would not, by so doing, leave any thing firm and certain in Scripture. Rosenmueller (Gabler's Journal, ii. S. 365), Gesenius, Hitzig have indeed candidly confessed that the passage contained the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction, after Alshech had, among the Jews, given the honour to truth.



IV. EXAMINATION OF THE NON-MESSIANIC INTERPRETATIONS.

Passing over mere whims, three explanations present themselves which require a closer examination, viz.—(1), that which makes the whole Jewish people the subject; (2), that which refers it to the godly portion of the Jewish people; and (3), that which refers it to the collective body of the Prophets. The following reasons militate against all the three interpretations simultaneously.

1. According to them, the contents of the section in question present themselves as a mere fancy; and its principal thought, the vicarious suffering of the Servant of God is an absurdity. According to them, the prophets can no longer be considered as godly men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; and their name [Hebrew: nbia], by which they claimed divine inspiration, is a mere pretence. And this reflection is, at the same time, cast upon the Lord, who, throughout, treats these visionaries as organs of immediate divine communications.

2. According to all the three explanations, the subject is not a real person, but an ideal one, a personified collective. But not one sure analogous instance can be quoted in favour of a personification carried on through a whole section, without the slightest intimation, that it is not a single individual who is spoken of. In ver. 3, the subject is called [Hebrew: aiw]; in vers. 10 and 12 a soul is ascribed to Him; grave and death are used so as to imply a subject in the Singular. Scripture never leaves any thing to be guessed. If we had an allegory before us, distinct hints as to the interpretation would certainly [Pg 335] not be wanting. It is, e.g., quite different in those passages where the Prophet designates Israel by the name of the Servant of the Lord. In them, all uncertainty is prevented by the addition of the names of Jacob and Israel, xli. 8, 9; xliv. 1, 2, 21; xlv. 4; xlviii. 20; and in them, moreover, the Prophet uses the Plural by the side of the Singular, to intimate that the Servant of the Lord is an ideal person, a collective, e.g., xlii. 24, 25; xlviii. 20, 21; xliii. 10-14.

3. The first condition of the vicarious satisfaction which, according to our prophecy, is to be performed by the Servant of God, is, according to ver. 9 ("Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth"), but more especially still, according to ver. 11 ("He, the righteous one, my Servant, shall justify the many") the absolute righteousness of the suffering subject. He who is himself sinful cannot undergo punishment for the sins of others. He is, on the contrary, visited for his own sins, both as a righteous retribution, and for sanctification. Of such an one that would indeed be true which, according to the second clause of ver. 4, was only erroneously supposed in reference to the Servant of God. All the three interpretations, however, are unable to prove that this condition existed. All the three interpretations move on the purely human territory; but on that, absolute righteousness is not to be found. At the very threshold of Holy Writ, in Gen. ii. and 3, compare v. 3, the doctrine of the universal sinfulness of mankind meets us; and how deep a knowledge of sin pervades the Old Testament, is proved by passages such as Gen. vi. 5, viii. 21; Job xiv. 4, xv. 14-16; Ps. xiv., li. 7; Prov. xx. 9. That is not a soil on which ideas of substitution could thrive.—The doctrine of a substitution by men is indeed nowhere else found in the Old Testament; and Gesenius, who (l. c., S. 189) endeavoured to prove that "it is very general" has not adduced any arguments which are tenable or even plausible. The guilt of the fathers is visited upon the children, only when the latter walk in the steps of their fathers, and the latter are first punished; comp. Genuineness and Authenticity of the Pentateuch, Vol. ii. p. 446 ff. The same holds true in reference to 2 Sam. xxi. 1-14, The evil spirit which filled Saul, pervaded his family, at the same time, as we here see in the instance of Michal. It was probably in the [Pg 336] interest of his family, and with their concurrence, that the wicked deed had been perpetrated. (Michaelis says: "In order that he might appropriate their goods to himself and to his family, under the pretext of a pious zeal for Judah and Israel.") As Saul himself was already overtaken by the divine judgment, the crime was punished in the family who were accomplices. In 2 Sam. xxiv. the people do not suffer as substitutes for the sin, which David had committed in numbering the people; but the spirit of pride which had incited the king to number the people, was widely spread among them. But the fact, that the king himself was punished in his subjects, is brought out by his beseeching the Lord, in 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, that He might rather visit the sin directly upon himself The sin of David and Bathsheba is not atoned for by the death of the child (2 Sam. xii. 15-18), for David had already obtained pardon, ver. 13. It is not the child which suffers, but David, whose repentance was to be deepened by this visitation. In the fact, that the whole army must suffer for what Achan has committed (Josh. vii. 1), a distinct intimation is implied, that the criminal does not stand alone, but that, to a certain degree, the whole community was implicated in his guilt. Substitution is quite out of the question, inasmuch as Achan himself, with his whole family and posterity, was burnt. Least of all, finally, can Dan. xi. 35 come into consideration. According to Gesenius, it is there said: "And they of understanding shall fall, in order to purge, purify, and make white those (the others)." But [Hebrew: bhM] refers rather to the [Hebrew: mwkiliM] themselves. Thus, nowhere in the Old Testament, is even the slightest trace found of a satisfaction to be accomplished by man for man; nor can it be found there, because, from its very commencement. Scripture most emphatically declares: [Greek: pantas huph'hamartian einai], Rom. iii. 9.

The explanation, which makes the Jewish people the subject, has already been overthrown by the parallel passages, before arriving: at the section under consideration. "Even so far back as chap. xlii. 1, difficulties are met with," remarks Beck. "How is it possible that the people who, in ver. 19 of that chapter, are described as blind and deaf, should here appear as being altogether penetrated by the Spirit, so as to become the teachers of the Gentiles?" "Chap. xlix. is a true [Pg 337] cross for the interpreters." "Finally, the section, chap. l., Hitzig himself is obliged to explain as referring to the Prophet; and thus this interpretation forfeits the boast of most strictly holding fast the unity of this notion."

But still more decisively is the interpretation overthrown by the contents of the section under discussion. The Servant of God has, according to it, voluntarily taken upon Himself His sufferings (according to ver. 10, He offers himself as a sacrifice for sin; according to ver. 12, He is crowned with glory because He has poured out His soul unto death). Himself sinless, He bears the sins of others, vers. 4-6, 9. His sufferings are the means by which the justification of many is effected. He suffers quietly and patiently, ver. 7. Not one of these four signs can be vindicated for the people of Israel. (a). The Jews did not go voluntarily into the Babylonish exile, but were dragged into it by force. (b). The Jewish people were not without sin in suffering; but they suffered, in the captivity, the punishment of their own sins. Their being carried away had been foretold by Moses as a punitive judgment. Lev. xxvi. 14 ff.; Deut. xxviii. 15 ff. xxix. 19 ff., and as such it is announced by all the prophets also. In the second part, Isaiah frequently reminds Judah that they shall be cast into captivity by divine justice, and be delivered from it by divine mercy only; comp. chaps. lvi.-lix., especially chap. lix. 2: "Your iniquities separate between you and your God, and your sins hide His face from you that He doth not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips speak lies, and your tongue meditates perverseness. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood, their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not, and there is no right in their paths; they pervert their paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace. Apostacy and denying the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood." Comp. chap. xlii. 24: "Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto His law." Farther, [Pg 338] chap. xliii. 26, 27, where the detailed proof that Israel's merits could not be the cause of their deliverance, inasmuch as they did not exist at all, is, by the Prophet, wound up by the words: "Put me in remembrance, let us plead together, declare then that thou mayest be justified. Thy first father hath sinned, and thy mediators have transgressed against me. Therefore I profane the princes of the sanctuary, and give Jacob to the destruction, and Israel to reproaches." It is solely to the mercy of God that, according to chap. xlviii. 11, Israel owes deliverance from the severe suffering into which they fell in the way of their sins. One may confidently assert there is not a single page in the whole book, which does not offer a striking refutation of this view. And most miserable are the expedients to which, in the face of such facts, the defenders of this view betake themselves. Rosenmueller was of opinion, that the Prophet introduced those Gentiles only as speaking, who, by this flattery, wished to gain the favour of the Jews,—without considering that it is just in the words of the Lord, in ver. 11, that the absolute righteousness of the Servant of God is most strongly expressed. Hitzig is of opinion, that the people had indeed suffered for their sins; but that the punishment had been greater than their sins, and that by this surplus the Gentiles were benefited. But the Prophet expressly contradicts such a gross view. He repeatedly declares that the punishment was still mitigated by mercy; that, in the way of their works, Israel would have found total destruction. Thus, e.g., chap. xlviii. 9: "For my name's sake will I be long-suffering, and for my praise will I moderate mine anger unto thee, that I cut thee not off;" chap. i. 9: "Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom; we should have been like unto Gomorrah." In order to be fully convinced how much this view of Israel, enforced upon the godly men of the Old Testament, is in contradiction to their own view, the prayer of Ezra may still be compared in Neh. ix., especially ver. 20 ff.—(c.) The sufferings of the Jewish people cannot be vicarious, because they are destitute of the very first condition of substitution, viz., sinlessness and righteousness. That even Hitzig does not venture to claim for them. But how can an ungodly man, even supposing that his punishment is too severe, justify others [Pg 339] by a righteousness of his which does not exist? Finally—The fourth sign, patience, so little belongs to the Jewish people, that it is one of the main tasks of our Prophet himself to oppose their murmuring impatience; comp. e.g., chap. xlv. 9 ff.

Against the hypothesis that the people are the subject of the prophecy, there is the circumstance that it carries along with it the unnatural supposition that, in chap. liii. 1-10, the heathens are introduced as speaking. Decisive against this supposition are specially the designation [Hebrew: emi] in ver. 8, and the most forced explanation to which it compels us, in some verses, especially ver. 2.

The interpretation which considers the godly portion of the people to be the subject of the prophecy, is overthrown by the fact that, according to the view of Scripture, even those who, in the ordinary sense, are righteous, are unable to render a vicarious satisfaction for others. For such, absolute righteousness is required. But the "righteous ones" are begotten by sinful seed (Ps. li.), and they have need daily to pray that God would pardon their secret sins, Ps. xix. 13; they themselves live only by the pardoning mercy of God, and cannot think of atoning for others, Ps. xxxii. Even for believers, the captivity is, according to chap. xlii., the merited punishment of their sins. In that passage, the greatness of the mercy of God is pointed out, who grants a twofold salvation for sins, while infinite punishment should be their natural consequence. It is not to a single portion of the people, but to the whole, that, in the passages formerly quoted, every share in effecting deliverance and salvation is denied. How little an absolute righteousness existed in the elect, sufficiently appears from the fact, that, in the second part, it forms a main object of the Prophet to oppose their want of courage, their despair and distrust of God. Farther—The ungodly could not by any means consider the sufferings of the righteous ones as vicarious, because they themselves suffered as much; and as little could they despise the godly on account of their sufferings. It is a mere invention, destitute of every historical foundation, to assert that it was especially the God-fearing who had to suffer so grievously in the captivity. On the contrary, their fear of God gained for them the respect of the Gentiles; and among [Pg 340] their own people also, whose sinful disposition was broken by the punishment, they occupied an honourable position. Ezekiel we commonly find surrounded by the elders of the people, listening to his words; and Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai, Ezra, and Nehemiah, richly furnished with the goods of this world, enjoyed high esteem in the Gentile world. The fact that the supporters of this hypothesis are compelled to have recourse to such an unhistorical fiction, which has been carried to the extreme, especially by Knobel, sufficiently proves it to be untenable.

In opposition to the interpretation which refers the prophecy to the collective body of the Prophets, Hitzig very justly remarks: "The supposition that, by the Servant of God, the prophetic order is to be understood, is destitute of all foundation and probability." In commenting on chap. xlii. we remarked, that there are no analogous cases at all in favour of such a personification of the prophetic order. Moreover, the defenders of this view commonly deny, at the same time, the genuineness of the second part. From this stand-point it becomes still more evident, how untenable this hypothesis is. A prophetic order can, least of all, be spoken of during the time of the Babylonish captivity. With the captivity, Prophetism began to die out. Jeremiah in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel among the exiled, already stood very much isolated. Jeremiah, during the last days of the Jewish state, stands out everywhere as a single individual, opposed to the whole mass of the false prophets. "There is no more any prophet," is, at the time of the destruction by the Chaldeans, the lamentation of the author of Ps. lxxiv. in ver. 9. According to an unanimous tradition (comp. 1 Maccab. ix. 27, iv. 46, xiv. 41, and the passages from the Talmud and other Jewish writings in Knibbe's history of the Prophets, S. 347 ff., and in Joh. Smithi Dissert. de Prophetis, in the Appendix to Clericus' Commentary on the Prophets, chap. xii.), Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were the last of the prophets, and according to the historical books and their own prophecies, the only prophets of their time. How, now, were it possible that the Prophet should speak of a great corporation of the prophets, who become not only the founders and rulers of the new state, but who are to enlighten all the other nations of the earth with the light of the time religion, [Pg 341] and incorporate them into the church of God? Of all that is characteristic of the vocation of the prophets, nothing is found here; while, on the other hand, almost everything which is said of the Servant of God is in opposition to the vocation and destination of the prophets. That which here, above everything, comes into consideration is the vicarious satisfaction. Chap. vi., where the Prophet when, after having administered the prophetic office for several years, he beheld the Lord, exclaims: "Woe is unto me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips," is sufficient to show how far the thoughts of such a vicarious satisfaction were from the prophets. Such is surely not the ground from which the delusion of being substitutes for others can grow up. All those who entertained such a delusion, such as Gichtel, Bourignon, Guyon, were misled into it by proudly shutting their eyes to their own sinfulness. It would surely be abasing the prophets without any cause, if we were to assign to them that delusion. Moreover, the hopes which here, according to these interpreters, are uttered in reference to the prophetic order, contradict its idea, and institution. A prophetic pride would here come out, such as is not equalled by priestly pride in all history. Schenkel, no doubt, is right in remarking against the interpretation which makes the Jewish people the subject of the prophecy,—an interpretation of which Hitzig is the representative: "Is it to believed that the prophets, whose object all along it was to suppress the moral pride of the people, should wantonly have awakened it by such a thought?" But Hitzig is equally in the right when, in opposition to Schenkel and others who refer this prediction to the prophetic order, he remarks: "It is quite obvious, how very unsuitable it would be to limit the hitherto wretched condition and the future glory of the people to the prophets, as if they alone, as true [Greek: katakurieuontes ton kleron], constituted the people." According to this hypothesis, the prophets are supposed to flatter themselves with the hope that they would be the rulers of the state again flourishing, and would celebrate worldly triumphs. Altogether apart from the folly of this hope, it was entirely opposed to the destiny of the prophetic order. By divine institution, the dominion in the Kingdom of God had for ever been given over to David [Pg 342] and his family. By usurping it, the prophets would have rebelled against God, whose lights they were called to uphold.—Farther, As the principal sphere of the ministry of the Servant of God, the heathen world here appears. But with it, the prophets have, nowhere else, any thing to do; their mission is everywhere to Israel only.—The sufferings which the prophets had to endure during the captivity, were not different from those of the people. Every proof, yea, even every probability, is wanting that, during the time of the captivity, the prophets—and history mentions and knows only Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel—were pre-eminently afflicted. On the contrary, they occupy an honourable position. Jeremiah receives, after the capture of Jerusalem, proofs of esteem from Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is entrusted with the highest public offices. Ezekiel is held in honour by his compatriots. How then could the people despise the prophets on account of their sufferings? How could they imagine that they had been smitten by God? How could they afterwards conceive the idea that the sufferings of the prophets had a vicarious character?—To what quarter soever we look, impossibilities present themselves; and if, moreover, we also look at the parallel passages, we must indeed wonder, that a hypothesis altogether so untenable should ever have been listened to.



CHAPTER LV. 1-5.

The Lord exhorts those who are anxious to be saved, to appropriate the blessings of salvation which are so liberally offered, and which, although bestowed without money and price, can alone truly satisfy the soul, vers. 1 and 2. For He is to make with them a covenant of everlasting duration, in which the eternal mercy promised to the family of David is to be realized, ver. 3. David—such is the salvation in store for the Church—is to be a witness, prince, and lawgiver of all the Gentiles who, with joyful readiness, shall unite themselves to Israel.

[Pg 343]

Ver. 1. "Ho, all ye that thirst, come ye to the water, and ye that have no silver, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price."

The discourse is addressed to the members of the Church pining away in misery. By the water, salvation is denoted, as is not unfrequently the case, comp. chap. xii. 3: "And with joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation," xliv. 3; Ps. lxxxvii. 7, lxxxiv. 7, cvii. 35. The thirsty one is he who stands in need of salvation. To the words: "Ho, all ye that thirst, come ye to the water," the Lord refers in John vii. 37: [Greek: ean tis dipsa erchestho pros me kai pineto], where the [Greek: pros me] had been added from ver. 3. It is to be observed that Christ there appropriates to himself what Jehovah is here speaking. Michaelis says: "Christ, in consequence of the highest identity, makes the words of the Father His own." There is an evident reference to the same words in Rev. xxi. 6 also: [Greek: ego to dipsonti doso ek tes peges tou hudatos tes zoes dorean]. Similarly in Rev. xxii. 17: [Greek: kai ho dipson erchestho, ho thelon labeto hudor zoes dorean]. In a somewhat more distant relation to the words before us, but yet undeniably depending upon them, is John iv. 10: [Greek: su an etesas auton kai edoken an soi hudor zon]. Vers. 13, 14: [Greek: pas ho pinon ek tou hudatos toutou dipsesei palin. hos d'an pie ek tou hudatos, hou ego doso auto ou me dipsese eis ton aiona]. And so does, in another aspect. Matt. xi. 28: [Greek: deute pros me hoi kopiontes kai pephortismenoi kago anapauso humas], which, however, has still nearer points of resemblance to ver. 3; for [Greek: deute pros me] corresponds to [Hebrew: lkv ali] in that verse; the words [Greek: kago anapauso humas], to: "Your soul shall live" there, but yet in such a way that there is, at the same time, a reference to Jer. vi. 16; the [Greek: kopiontes kai pephortismenoi] are the thirsty ones in the verse before us. It is remarkable to see how important this unassuming declaration was to our Lord, and how much He had it at heart. We are thereby urgently called upon, by means of deep and earnest study and meditation, to arrive at the full meaning of the Old Testament, which is everywhere connected with the New Testament, not only by the strong and firm ties of express quotations, but also by the nicest and most tender threads of gentle allusions. Even Matt. v. 6: [Greek: makarioi hoi peinontes kai dipsontes ten dikaiosunen] comes into a close relation to our passage, as soon as it is recognized that [Greek: dikaiosunen] is not the subjective righteousness [Pg 344] which is excluded from that context, but rather righteousness as a gift of God, the actual justification, such as takes place in the bestowal of salvation; so that, hence, the righteousness there corresponds with the water here. The subsequent "eat" furnishes the foundation for the fact, that the need of and desire for salvation, is designated by hunger also,—"Come ye, buy and eat." [Hebrew: wbr] "to break," is used of the appeasing of thirst (comp. Ps. civ. 11), and hunger (comp. Gen. xlii. 19); and corn is called [Hebrew: wbr] for this reason that it breaks the hunger. The verb never means "to buy" in general, but only such a buying as affords the means of appeasing hunger and thirst. Nor does it, in itself, stand in any relation to corn, except in so far only as the latter is a chief moans of appeasing hunger. This we see not only from Ps. civ. 11, but also from that which here immediately follows, where it is used of the buying of wine and milk. The buying of necessary provisions is commonly designated by the Kal; the selling by the Hiphil. In Gen. xli. 26, the selling too is designated by the Kal. He who causes that one can break or appease, may himself also be designated as he who breaks or appeases. This verb, so very peculiar, and the noun [Hebrew: wbr], occur in a certain accumulation, in the history of Joseph only; elsewhere, their occurrence is sporadic only. It is then to the hunger of Israel in ancient times, and to its being appeased by Joseph, that the double [Hebrew: wbrv] alludes; and from this circumstance also the fact is to be explained, that it is first used in reference to food; comp. [Hebrew: wbrv vaklv] in our verse, with [Hebrew: wbr akl] in Gen. xlii. 7-10. Christ is the true Joseph, who puts an end to the hunger and thirst of the people of God, by offering true food and true drink.—The word "eat" suggests substantial food, bread in contrast to the drink by which it is surrounded on both sides; compare John vi. 35: [Greek: ego eimi ho artos tes zoes. ho erchomenos pros me ou me peinase] [Hebrew: wbrv] [Greek: kai ho pisteuon eis eme ou me dipsese popote]. Ver. 55: [Greek: he gar sarx mou alethos esti brosis, kai to hima mou alethos esti posis]. From the sequel (comp. vers. 6, 7), it appears that the thrice repeated coming and the buying are accomplished by true repentance, the [Greek: metanoia], which is the indispensable condition of the participation in the salvation. In John vi. 35, the words: [Greek: ho erchomenos pros me] are explained by: [Greek: ho pisteuon eis eme]. Faith is the soul of repentance.—The circumstance that the [Pg 345] buying is done without money, intimates that the blessings of salvation are a pure gift of divine grace. These blessings of salvation are first designated by water; afterwards, by wine and milk,—thus approximating to those passages in which the blessings of the Kingdom of Christ appear under the image of a rich repast, to which the members of the Kingdom are invited as guests, Ps. xxii. 26-30; Matt. viii. 11, xxii. 2; Luke xiv. 16; Rev. xix. 9.—Some Rationalistic interpreters understand, by the offered blessings, the salutary admonitions of the Prophet; but decisive against these are vers. 3 and 11, according to which it is not present, but future blessings, not words, but real things which are spoken of, viz., the salvation which is to be brought through Christ. What that is which constitutes the substance of this salvation, we learn from chap. liii. It is the redemption and reconciliation by the Servant of God. Yet we must not, after the manner of several ancient interpreters, limit ourselves to the "evangelical righteousness." On the contrary, the whole fulness of the salvation in Christ is comprehended in it; and according to vers. 4 and 5, this includes the dominion over the world by the Kingdom of God,—its dominion over the Gentile world, and the investiture of its members with the full liberty and glory of the children of God.

Ver. 2. "Wherefore do ye weigh money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken, hearken unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

From ver. 3, we see that it is not the Prophet, but the Lord who speaks. "That which is not bread," and "that which satisfieth not," is something which outwardly has the appearance of good and nutritious food, and to obtain which the hungry ones therefore strive, and exert themselves with all their might, but which afterwards shows itself to be food in appearance only, and which has not the power of satisfying. "That which is not bread," is, in the first instance, the imagined salvation which they sought to obtain from idols for much money. This appears from the intentional literal reference to chap. xlvi. 6, where the Prophet reproves the folly of those who, in the face of the living God, "lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, [Pg 346] that he make it a god, work also and fall down." With perfect justice Stier remarks: "Notwithstanding the connection with, and allusion to, the circumstances of that time, the word of the Prophet is to be understood in a general, spiritual way, as a melancholy, bitter lamentation over the general misery, and man's deep-rooted perverseness in running with effort and exertion, after that which is pernicious to the soul, and in serving some Baal better than Jehovah." "Fatness" occurs as a figurative designation of the glorious gifts of God, in Ps. xxxvi. 9 also.

Ver. 3. "Incline your ears and come unto me, hear and your soul shall live, and I will grant to you an everlasting covenant, the constant mercies of David."

The introductory words allude, in a graceful manner, to two Messianic psalms, and remind us of the fact, that the prophecy before us moves on the same ground as these psalms. On "incline your ear, and come unto me, hear," comp. Ps. xlv. 11: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear (from the fundamental passage, the Singular is here retained), and forget thy people and thy father's house." On "your soul shall live," comp. Ps. xxii. 27: "The meek shall eat and be satisfied, they shall praise the Lord that seek Him, your heart shall live for ever." Analogous are the references to Ps. lxxii. in chap. xi. The soul dies in care and grief In the words: "I will grant to you," &c., there follow the glad tidings which are to heal the dying hearts. [Hebrew: krt brit] is used of God, even where no reciprocal agreement takes place, but where He simply confers grace; because every grace which He bestows imposes, at the same time, an obligation, and may hence be considered as a covenant. The onesidedness is, in such a case, indicated by the construction with [Hebrew: l], comp. chap. lxi. 8: "And I give them their reward in truth, and I make (grant) to them an everlasting covenant," Jer. xxxii. 40; Ezek. xxxiv. 25; Ps. lxxxix. 4. Since to make a covenant is here identical with granting mercy, [Hebrew: akrth] may also be connected with the subsequent "the constant mercies of David," and there is no necessity for supposing a Zeugma. The everlasting covenant here, is the new covenant in Jer. xxxi. 31-34; for the words "I will make" show that, here too, a new covenant is spoken of. The substance of the covenant to be made is expressed in the words: [Pg 347] "The constant mercies of David," &c. By "David," many interpreters here understand the descendant of David, the Messiah, who, in other passages also, e.g., Jer. xxx. 9, bears the name of His type. Even Abenezra refers to the fact that, in ver. 4, the Messiah is necessarily required as the subject. The constant mercies of David are, according to this view—in parallelism with the "everlasting covenant"—the mercies constantly continuing, in contrast to the merely transitory mercies, such as had been those of the first David. According to the opinion of other interpreters, David designates here, as in Hos. iii. 5, the family of David who, in Ps. xviii., and in a series of other psalms, speaks in the name of his whole family. As regards the sense, this explanation arrives at the same result. For, according to it, the Messiah is He in whom the Davidic house attains to its fall destiny, the channel through which the mercies of David flow in upon the Church. For the latter interpretation, however, is decisive the evident reference to the divine promise to David, in 2 Sam. vii., especially vers. 15, 16: "And my mercy shall not depart from him (thy race) ... and constant ([Hebrew: namN]) is thine house, and thy kingdom for ever before thee, thy throne shall be firm for ever;" compare Ps. lxxxix. 29: "My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant is constant in him." Ps. lxxxix. 2, 50: "Lord, where are thy former mercies which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?" likewise suggest that, by David, not simply Christ is to be understood, but the Davidic family. The constant mercies of David are, accordingly, the mercies which have been sworn to the Davidic house as constant, which, therefore, can never rest until Christ has appeared with His everlasting Kingdom, in which they find their true and full realization. In the expectation of the Messiah from the house of David, the prophecy under consideration goes hand in hand with chap. xi. 1, where the Messiah appears as a twig which proceeds from the cut-down tree of Jesse; and with chap. ix. 6, according to which He sits on the throne of David. This passage alone is fully sufficient against those (Ewald, Umbreit, and others) who advance the strange assertion, that the Prophet had altogether given up the idea of a Messiah from the house of David, and had distributed His property between Cyrus and the prophetic order, [Pg 348] or the pious portion of the people. It is of the greatest importance for the explanation of those passages which treat of the Servant of God, and forms a point of union for the Messianic passages of the first and second part. The passage before us is quoted in Acts xiii. 34: [Greek: hoti de anestesen auton ek nekron, meketi mellonta hupostrephein eis diaphthoran houtos, eireken. hoti doso humin ta hosia Dabid ta pista]. [Greek: hOsia Dabid], sancta Davidis, are the sacred, inviolable, inalienably guaranteed mercies and blessings which have been promised to the house of David. As certainly as these must be granted, so certainly Christ, who was to bring them, could not remain in the power of death.

Ver. 4. "Behold, I give him for a witness to the people, for a prince and lawgiver of the people."

Here, and in ver. 5, we have the expansion of the mercies of David. Their greatness and glory appear from the circumstance that, around his scion, the whole heathen world, which hitherto was hostile and pernicious to the Church of God, will gather. The Suffix in [Hebrew: nttiv] can refer only to David, or the family of David. From the connection with chap. liii., it appears that it is in his descendant, the righteous One, to whom the heathen and their kings do homage, that David will attain to the dignity here announced. [Hebrew: ed] has no other signification than "witness." Every true doctrine bears the character of a witness. The teacher sent by God does not teach on his own authority, [Greek: a me eoraken embateuon], but only witnesses what he has seen and heard. With a reference to, and in explanation of the passage before us, Christ says to Pilate, in John xviii. 37: "For this end was I born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." And the passages, Rev. i. 5: "And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness," and Rev. iii. 14: "These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness," likewise point back to the passage before us; compare farther, John iii. 11, 32, 33. In John xviii. 37, Rev. i. 5, His being a witness is, just as in the passage before us, connected with His being a King; so that the reference to this passage cannot be at all doubtful. It is intentionally that [Hebrew: ed] is put at the head. It is intended to intimate that the future dominion of the Davidic dynasty over the heathen world shall be essentially different from that which, in former times, it exercised [Pg 349] over some neighbouring people. It is not based upon the power of arms, but upon the power of truth. He in whom the Davidic dynasty is to centre shall connect the prophetic with the regal office; just as already, in the prophecy of the Shiloh, in Gen. xlix. 10, the prophetic office is concealed behind the royal. The contrast to the first David can the less be doubtful, that, while [Hebrew: ed] is never applied to him, it is just the subsequent [Hebrew: ngid] which, in a series of passages, is ascribed to him. In 2 Sam. vi. 21, David himself says that the Lord appointed him to be ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel; in 2 Sam. vii. 8, Nathan says: "I took thee from the sheep-cot to be ruler over my people, over Israel;" comp. 1 Sam. xxv. 30; 2 Sam. v. 5. In those passages, however, David is always spoken of as a ruler over Israel; so that even as regards the [Hebrew: ngid], the second David, the prince of the people, is not only placed on a level with the first David, but is elevate d above him. For the dominion by force which David exercised over some heathen nations, [Hebrew: ngid] was the less appropriate designation, inasmuch as it designates the ruler as the chief of his people.

Ver. 5. "Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He adorneth thee."

The words here are addressed to the true Israel, to the exclusion of those souls who are cut off from among their people, compare Ps. lxxiii. 1, where Israel and those that are of a clean heart go hand in hand,—and, in substance, they also were addressed in vers. 1 and 2. For the thirsty ones, who are there called upon to partake of the blessings so liberally offered by the Lord, are just the members of the Church. In connection with that glorification of David, the Church shall invite nations from a great distance, who were hitherto unknown to it, to its communion; and those nations who hitherto scarcely knew by name the Church of God shall joyfully and willingly comply with the invitation; comp. chap. ii. 2. This great change proceeds from the Lord, the Almighty and Holy One, who, as the protector and Covenant-God of His Church, has resolved to glorify it; for He adorneth thee. This glorification consists, according to chap. iv. 2, in the appearance of [Pg 350] Christ, the immediate consequence of which is the conversion of the heathen world.

We must now review that exposition by which Rationalism has endeavoured to deprive our passage of its Messianic import,—an attempt in which Grotius led the way. Gesenius, whom Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald, and Knobel follow, translates in vers. 3 and 4: "That I may make with you an everlasting covenant, may show to you constant mercies, as once to David. Behold, I have made him a ruler of the nations, a prince and lawgiver of the nations," and refers both of the verses to the first David. In ver. 5, then, the mercy is to follow which, in some future time, God will bestow upon the whole people, as gloriously as once upon the single David. But this explanation proves itself to be, in every aspect, untenable.[1]

We are the less entitled to put "mercies like David's" instead of "the mercies of David," that these mercies are, elsewhere also, mentioned in reference to the eternal dominion promised to David for his family; comp. Ps. lxxxix. 2, 50. With the epithet, "constant," these interpreters do not know what to do. Apart from the promise of the eternal dominion of his house, no constant mercies can, in the case of David, be pointed out which would be equally bestowed upon the people, and upon him. Moreover, [Hebrew: namniM] distinctly points back to 2 Sam. vii. Ver. 4 forms, according to this explanation, "a historical reminiscence, most unsuitable in the flow of a prophetic discourse" (Umbreit). But what in itself is quite conclusive is the circumstance, that the first David could not by any possibility be designated as the witness of the Gentile nations. It indeed sounds rather naive that Knobel, after having endeavoured to explain [Hebrew: ed] of the "opening up of the law," feels himself obliged to add: "The word does not, however, occur anywhere else in this signification." Nor could David, without farther limitation, be designated as "the prince and lawgiver of the peoples;" and that so much the more [Pg 351] that, in ver. 5, there is an invitation to the Gentile world, and that, in ver. 4, too, the Gentile world, in the widest sense, is to be thought of.

After the promise, there follows, in vers. 6-13, the admonition to repentance based upon it. Repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, vers. 6, 7. Do not doubt that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, because it does not seem probable to you. For the counsels of God go beyond all the thoughts of men; and, therefore. He and His work must not be judged by a human measure, vers. 8, 9. With Him, word and deed are inseparably connected, vers. 10, 11. This will be manifested in your redemption and glorification, vers. 12, 13.



[Footnote 1: Vitringa already remarked in opposition to it: "This exposition is rather far fetched, and is the weakest of all that can be advanced. I add, that the constancy of the promises given to David does not appear, if we exclude the Kingdom of the Messiah. But are any other promises of constant and eternal blessings, such as are here promised, to be thought of?"]



THE PROPHECY—CHAP. LXI. 1-3.

As in chaps. xlix. and l., so here, the Servant of God is introduced as speaking, and announces to the Church what a glorious office the Lord had bestowed upon Him, namely, to deliver them from the misery in which they had hitherto been lying, and to work a wonderful change in their condition. In vers. 4-9, the Prophet takes the word, and describes the salvation to be bestowed by the Servant of God. In vers. 10 and 11, the Church appears, and expresses her joy and gratitude.

According to the Jewish and Rationalistic interpreters, the Prophet himself is supposed to be speaking in vers. 1-3. That opinion was last expressed by Knobel: "The author places before his promises a remembrance of his vocation as a preacher of consolation." In favour of the Messianic interpretation, in which our Lord himself preceded His Church (Luke iv. 17-19), are conclusive, not only the parallel passages, but also the contents of the prophecy itself, which go far beyond the prophetic territory, and the human territory generally. The speaker designates himself as He who is called, not merely to announce the highest blessings to the Church, [Pg 352] but actually to grant them. He does not represent himself as a mere Evangelist, but rather as a Saviour.

Ver. 1. "The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach glad tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening to them that are bound."

On the words: "The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me," compare chap. xi. 2, xlii. 1. [Hebrew: ieN] always means "because of" The whole succeeding clause stands instead of a noun, so that, in substance, "because of" is equivalent to "because;" but it never can mean "therefore." Nor would the latter signification afford a good sense. The verb [Hebrew: mwH] must, in that case, be subjected to arbitrary explanations. The anointing, whether it occurs as a symbolical action really carried out, or as a mere figure, is always a designation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; compare 1 Sam. x. 1, xvi. 13, 14, and remarks on Dan. ix. 24. Since, then, the anointing is identical with the bestowal of the Spirit, the words: "because the Lord hath anointed me" must not be isolated, but must be understood in close connection with the subsequent words; so that the sense is: And He hath, for this reason, endowed me with His Spirit, in order that I may preach good tidings, &c. The [Hebrew: enviM] are the [Greek: praeis] in Matt. v. 5; [Hebrew: eni] and [Hebrew: env] are never confounded with one another. The LXX., whom Luke follows, have [Greek: ptochois]. This rendering does not differ so much from the original text as to make it appear expedient to give up the version at that time received. In the world of sin, the meek are, at the same time, those who are suffering; and the glad tidings which imply a contrast to their misery, show that, here especially, the meek are to be conceived of as sufferers. The [Hebrew: enviM], in contrast to the wicked, appear, in chap. xi. also, as the people of the Messiah.—"The binding up"—Stier remarks—"already passes over into the actual bestowal of that which is announced." The term [Hebrew: qra drvr] is taken from the Jubilee year, which was a year of general deliverance for all those who, on account of debts, had become slaves; compare Lev. xxv. 10: "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land for all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee year unto you, and ye [Pg 353] shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Such a great year of liberty is both to be proclaimed and to be brought about by the Servant of God. For He does not announce any thing which He does not, at the same time, grant, as is clearly shown by ver. 3. His saying is based upon His being and nature; He delivers from the service of the world, and brings into the glorious liberty of the children of God.—Most of the modern interpreters agree with the ancient versions in declaring it to be wrong to divide the word [Hebrew: pqHqvH], although this writing is found in most of the manuscripts. The word is, "by its form of reduplication, the most emphatic term for the most complete opening," and designates, "opening, unclosing of every kind, of the eyes, ears, and heart, of every barrier and tie from within, or from without." The LXX., proceeding upon the fact that [Hebrew: pqH] occurs, with especial frequency, of the opening of the eyes, translate: [Greek: kai tuphlois anablepsin]. Luke does not wish to set aside this version, because it gives one feature of the sense; and partly also because of the close resemblance to the parallel passage, chap. xlii. 7, which, in this way, was brought in and connected with the passage under consideration. But since outward deliverance and redemption are, in the first instance, to be thought of, when opening to the captives is spoken of, be, in order to complete the sense, adds: [Greek: aposteilai tethrausmenous en aphesei], borrowing the expression from the Alexand. Vers. itself in chap. lviii. 6.

Ver. 2. "To proclaim a year of acceptance to the Lord, and a day of vengeance to our God, to comfort all that mourn."

"A year ... to the Lord" is a year when the Lord shows himself gracious and merciful to His people; compare chap. xlix. 8. The words farther still allude to the Jubilee year; and it is in consequence of this allusion, that we can account for its being a year instead of a time, indefinitely. In that year, a complete restitutio in integrum took place. It was, for all in misery, a year of mercy, a type of the times of refreshing (Acts iii. 19) which the Lord grants to His Church, after it has been exercised by the Cross. Hand in hand with the year of mercy goes the day of vengeance. When the Lord shows mercy to the meek, and to them that mourn, this shall, at the same time, be accompanied by a manifestation of anger [Pg 354] against the enemies of God, and of His Church. The one cannot be thought of without the other. The mercy of the Lord towards His people is, among other things also, manifested in His sitting in judgment upon His and their enemies, upon the proud world which afflicts and oppresses them. It is only in this respect that the vengeance here comes into consideration; and it is for this reason also, that the first feature at once reappears in the third verse. The Lord, in quoting the verse, limits himself to the first clause, "His first coming into the world was in the form of meekness," and, therefore, in the meantime, the bright side only is brought out.

Ver. 3. "To put upon them that mourn in Zion,—to give them a crown for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness; and they shall be called terebinths of righteousness, planting of the Lord for glorifying."

It is in this verse that it comes clearly out, that the speaker is not merely to announce the mercy of God, but, at the same time, to bestow it; that the announcement is not an empty one, but one which brings along with it that which is promised; that it is not a Prophet or Evangelist who speaks, but the Saviour. Such a change cannot be effected by merely announcing it. Everywhere, in the second part, it is brought about, not by words, but by deeds. How were it possible that by mere words, as long as the reality stood in glaring contrast to them, the believers could become terebinths of righteousness, a glorious planting of the Lord?—The connection of the two verbs [Hebrew: wvM] and [Hebrew: ntN] is to be accounted for from the circumstance, that the pronoun suited the first noun only—the ornament for the head. It is only when [Hebrew: wvM] is understood in the sense, "to put upon," or, "to put on," that there is a sufficient reason for adding [Hebrew: ntN]; but that is not the case when it is taken in the signification "to grant," "to appoint." [Hebrew: par] "crown," and [Hebrew: apr] "ashes," are connected with one another, because mourners were accustomed to strew ashes on their heads. The expression "oil of joy," which is to be explained from the custom of people anointing themselves with oil in cases of joy, is taken from Ps. xlv. 8. As the Messiah there appears as the possessor of the oil of joy, so, here, He appears as the bestower. In chap. lv. 3, there is [Pg 355] likewise an allusion to Ps. xlv., and along with it, to Ps. xxii. The "spirit of heaviness" refers to chap. xlii. 3. The fact that, instead of it, they receive "garments of praise," intimates that they shall be altogether clothed with praise, songs of praise for the divine goodness which manifested itself in them; on the garments as symbols of the condition, compare remarks on Rev. vii. 14. The "righteousness" which is appropriate to the spiritual terebinths, is the actual justification, which the Lord grants to His people at the appearance of the Messiah. There is in it an allusion to the planting of paradise; God now prepares for himself a new paradisaical plantation, consisting of living trees.

[Pg 356]



THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH.

By the inscription, the Prophet's origin is, in a way rather uncommon, traced back to his fourth ancestor, Hezekiah,—no doubt the king. He appeared as a prophet under the reign of Josiah—before the time, however, at which the reforms of that king had attained their completion, which took place in the 18th year of his reign—and, hence, prophesied, like his predecessor Habakkuk, in the view of the Chaldean catastrophe. The prophecy begins with threatening judgment upon the sinners, and closes with announcing salvation to the believers,—a circumstance which proves that it forms one whole. The threatening is distinguished from that of Habakkuk by the circumstance, that it has more of a general comprehensive character, and does not, as is done in Habakkuk, view the Chaldean catastrophe as a particular historical event. It is not an incidental circumstance, that the Chaldeans are not expressly mentioned by Zephaniah, as is done by Habakkuk, and was done by Isaiah. The Prophet can, therefore, have had them in view as being, in the first instance only, the instruments of Divine punishment.

The prophecy begins, in chap. i. 2, 3, with announcing the judgment impending over the whole world. Then, the Prophet shows how it manifests itself in Judah; first, in general outlines, vers. 4-7; then, in detail, vers. 8-18. In close connection, this is followed by a call to repent, in chap. ii. 1-3. This call is founded on the fearful character of the impending judgment which, according to vers. 4-15, will be inflicted not only upon Judah, but also upon the world, and will especially bring destruction upon all the neighbouring nations: in the [Pg 357] West, upon the Philistines; in the East, upon Ammon and Moab; in the South, on Cush; in the North, upon Nineveh, upon whose destruction the Prophet especially dwells, since, up to that time, it had been the bearer of the world's power.

In chap. iii., in the first instance, the threatening against Judah is resumed. Apostate Jerusalem, corrupt in its head and members, irresistibly hastens on towards judgment. But, notwithstanding, "the afflicted and poor people of the land" shall not despair. On the contrary, as salvation cannot proceed from the midst of the people, they are to put their trust in the Lord. By His judgments (viz., those declared in chap. ii., which at last shall bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, compare Isa. xxvi. 9: "For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness") will He break the pride of the Gentile world, and bring about their conversion,—and the converted Gentile world will bring back to Jerusalem the scattered Congregation. Being purified and justified, it will then enjoy the full mercy of the Lord.

The principal passage is chap. iii. 8-13.

Ver. 8. "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my right is (i.e., the exercise of my right consists in this) to gather the nations, and to assemble the kingdoms, to pour out upon them mine indignation, all the heat of mine anger; for all the earth shall be devoured by the fire of my jealousy. Ver. 9. For then will I turn unto the nations a clean lip, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one shoulder. Ver. 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall they bring my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed for a meat-offering to me. Ver. 11. In that day shall thou not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then will I take away out of the midst of thee them that proudly rejoice in thee, and thou shall no more be haughty on mine holy mountain. Ver. 12. And I leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they trust in the name of the Lord. Ver. 13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid."

[Pg 358]

Zephaniah, who opens the series of the prophets who are preeminently dependent upon other prophets, just as Habakkuk closes the series of those pre-eminently independent, leans, in this section, chiefly upon Isaiah; and it is from this circumstance that it appears, that the person of the Messiah, although not appearing here, stands in the background and forms the invisible centre.

"Therefore" ver. 8: Since the salvation cannot proceed from the midst of the people, inasmuch as, in the way of their works, they receive nothing but destructive punishment. On the words: "Wait ye upon me," compare Hab. ii. 3. "The day that the Lord rises up to the prey" is the time when He will begin His great triumphal march against the Gentile world. With the words: "For my right," &c., a new argument for the call "Wait ye upon me," commences. But this does not by any means close with the 8th verse, but goes on to the end of ver. 10. First: Wait, for I will judge the nations. It is not without meaning that, as regards your hope, I refer you to the judgment upon the Gentiles; for, in consequence of this judgment, their conversion will take place, and a consequence of their conversion is, that they bring back to Zion her scattered members. In the thought, that the judgments upon the Gentile world will break their hardness of heart, and prepare them for their conversion, Zephaniah follows Isaiah, who, e.g. in chap. xix., exemplifies it in the case of Egypt, and in chap. xxiii. in that of Tyre. The bruised reed and the faintly burning wick is not merely a designation of the single individuals who have been endowed with the right disposition for the kingdom of God, but of whole nations. "The clean lip" in ver. 9 forms the contrast to the unclean lips in Is. vi. With unclean lips they had, in the time of the long-suffering of God, invoked their idols, Ps. xvi. 4. On the words: "To serve Him with one shoulder," comp. Is. xix. 23: "And Egypt serves with Asshur." The words: "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," in ver. 10, rest on Is. xviii. 1. In both of the passages, Ethiopia is the type of the whole Gentile world to be converted in future. In Is. xviii. Ethiopia offers itself and all which it has to the Lord; here it brings the scattered members of the community of the Israelitish people to the Kingdom of God. [Hebrew: etr] always means "to supplicate," [Pg 359] never "to burn incense." Ezek. viii. 11 must thus be translated: "Every man, his censer in his hand, and the supplication of the cloud of incense went up;" compare remarks on Rev. v. 8. The dispersed members of the Church supplicate that the Lord would again receive them into His communion (compare Hos. xiv. 3; Jer. xxxi. 9, 18; Zech. xii. 10); and these supplications cannot remain without an answer, since they from whom they proceed stand in a close relation to the Lord. "The daughter of my dispersed" is the daughter or communion, consisting of the dispersed of the Lord, just as in the phrase "the daughter of the Chaldeans," the Chaldeans themselves are the daughter or virgin. The designation, in itself, plainly suggests the dispersed members of the old Congregation, inasmuch as they only can be designated as the dispersed of the Lord. To this, moreover, must be added the reference to Deut. iv. 27: "And the Lord disperses you among the nations;" xxviii. 64: "And the Lord disperses thee among all the nations from the one end of the earth even unto the other,"—an announcement which, at the time of Zephaniah, had already been fulfilled upon the ten tribes, and the fulfilment of which was soon to commence upon Judah. It is only when the members of the old Congregation are understood by the suppliants and dispersed, that the call, "Wait ye upon me" is here established and confirmed. The offering of the meat-offering signifies, in the symbolism of the Mosaic law, diligence in good works, such as is to be peculiar to the redeemed. A single manifestation of it is the missionary zeal which is here shown by the converted Gentiles.

In harmony with the Song of Solomon, Isaiah announces in several passages, that the converted Gentiles shall, at some future period, labour for the restoration of Israel; compare the remarks on Is. xi. 12. Zephaniah here specially refers to the remarkable passage, Is. lxvi. 18-21, which we must here subject to a somewhat closer examination: Ver. 18. "And I ... their works and their thoughts; the time cometh to gather all Gentiles and tongues, and they come and see my glory." The first hemistich still belongs to the threatening. The holy God and unholy men, the unholy members of the Church to which the Lord spake: "Ye shall be holy, for I am holy," and their sinful thoughts and words are simply placed beside one another, [Pg 360] other, and it is left to every one to draw from it the inference as to the fate awaiting them. "I and their works"—what an immense contrast, a contrast which must be adjusted by the judgment! With the threatening, the Prophet then connects, by a suitable contrast to the rejection of a great part of the covenant-people, the calling of the Gentiles. The glory of the Lord, which the Gentiles see, is His glory which, up to that time, was concealed, but is now manifested; compare Is. xl. 5, lx. 2, lii. 10, liii. 1. Ver. 19. "And I set a sign among them, and send from among them escaped ones unto the nations, to Tarshish, &c., to the isles afar off that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they declare my glory among the Gentiles,"—The suffix in [Hebrew: bhM] can refer to those only from among the nations and tongues who have come and seen the glory of God. They are sent out to bring the message of the living God, the message of salvation to those also who hitherto have not come. By the demonstration of the Spirit and power, they are marked out as blessed of the Lord, as His servants, separated from the world given up to destruction. Just as the wicked, the servants of the prince of this world, have their mark, Gen. iv. 50, so have the servants of God theirs also, which may be recognised by all who are well disposed. It is only by one's own fault, and at one's own risk, that the sign is not understood. The fact that "unto the nations" forms the beginning, and the "isles afar off"—isles in the sea of the world, kingdoms—the close, shows that the single names, Tarshish, &c., are only individualizations. In the following verse, too, all the heathens are spoken of Ver. 20: "And they bring, out of all nations, your brethren for a meat-offering unto the Lord, upon horses, &c., to my holy mountain to Jerusalem, as the children of Israel bring the meat-offering in a clean vessel unto the house of the Lord." It is in this verse that it clearly appears, that Zephaniah depends upon it; and it is by the offering of the spiritual meat-offering that his dependence is recognized. The subject in "they bring" is the Gentiles, to whom the message of salvation has been brought. They, having themselves attained salvation, offer to the Lord, as a meat-offering, the former members of His Kingdom who were separated from it. It is they, not the Gentiles who have become believers, who in the second [Pg 361] part of Isaiah, are throughout designated as the brethren. Salvation is first to pass from Israel to the Gentiles, and shall then, from them, return to Israel. The two verses before us thus contain a sanction for the mission among the heathens and among Israel. Vers. 18 and 19 divide the conversion of the Gentiles into two main stations; it is only when the Church has arrived at the second, that the missionary work among Israel will fully thrive and prosper. To the clean vessel in which the outward sacrifice was offered, correspond the faith and love with which they, who were formerly heathens, offer the spiritual meat-offering. Ver. 21: "And of them also will I take for Levitical priests, saith the Lord." Of them, i.e., of those who formerly were heathens; for it is to them that, in the words preceding, a priestly function, viz., the offering of the meat-offering, is assigned. Of them also; not merely from among the old covenant-people, to whom, under the former dispensation, the priestly office was limited. The fact that the priests are designated as Levitical priests, is intended to keep out the thought that the point in question related only to priests in a lower sense, beside whom the Levitical priesthood, attached to natural descent, would continue to exist in full vigour. Priests with full dignities and rights are here so much the more required, that, according to what precedes, the point in question does not refer merely to a personal relation to the Lord, to immediate access to the throne of grace, but to the priestly office proper.

Vers. 11-13 describe the internal condition of the redeemed Church of the future,—a condition so different from the present one. The expression, "they that proudly rejoice in them," is from Is. xiii. 3. [Hebrew: ki] in ver. 13 is to be accounted for from the fact, that wherever there exists the blessing promised by the Law of God (Lev. xxvi. 6) to faithfulness, faithfulness itself must exist.

In ver. 14 ff., the Jerusalem of the future is addressed; compare the expression, "at that time," ver. 20.

[Pg 362]



THE PROPHET JEREMIAH.



GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

In Malachi iii. 1, the Lord promises that He would send His messenger who should prepare the way before Him, who was to come to His temple, judging and punishing; vers. 23, 24 (iv. 5, 6): that before the coming of His great and dreadful day, before He smites the land with a curse, He would send another Elijah, who should bring back the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. Even before this prophecy was expressed in words, it had actually been given in the existence of Jeremiah, who, during the whole long period of forty-one years, before the destruction, announced the judgments of the Lord,—who, with burning zeal and ardent love to the people, preached repentance,—and who, even after the destruction, sought the small remnant that had been left, and was anxious to secure it against the new day of the Lord, which, by its obstinate impenitence, it was drawing down upon itself. It is this typical relation of Jeremiah to John the Baptist and Christ, of which the Jewish tradition had an anticipation, although it misunderstood and expressed it in a gross, outward manner, by teaching that, at the end of days, Jeremiah would again appear on earth,—it is this, which invests with a peculiar charm the contemplation of his ministry, and the study of his prophecies.

The name of the Prophet is to be explained from Exod. xv. 1, from which it is probably taken. It signifies "The Lord throws." He who bore it was consecrated to that God who with an almighty hand throws to the ground all His enemies. From chap. i. 10: "See, I set thee to-day over the nations [Pg 363] and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant," it appears that it was by a dispensation of divine providence, that the Prophet bore this name with full right, and that the character of his mission is thereby designated. The judging and destructive activity which the Prophet, as an instrument of God, is to exercise, is here not only placed at the commencement, but four appellations are also devoted to it, whilst only two are devoted to his healing and planting activity. As the object of the throwing, we have to conceive, not of the unfaithful covenant-people only. This appears from the mention of the nations and kingdoms here, and farther, from ver. 14, where the Lord says to the Prophet: "Out of the North the evil breaks forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth." To be the herald of the judgment to be executed upon the whole world by the Chaldeans, was so much the destiny of the Prophet, that, in chap. i. 3, the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in which this judgment was brought to a close, as far as Judah was concerned, is mentioned as the closing point of his ministry. The Prophet, as is reported by the book itself, still continued his ministry even among the remnant of the people; but that is lost sight of The "carrying away of Jerusalem" is treated as the great closing point; just as, in a manner altogether similar, it is, in the case of Daniel, in chap. i. 21, the year of Israel's deliverance, although, according to chap. x. 1, his prophetic ministry extended beyond that period.

Jeremiah was called to his office when still a youth, in the 13th year of king Josiah, and hence one year after the first reformation of this king, who, as early as in the 16th year of his life, and the 8th of his reign, which lasted 31 years, began to seek the Lord. A king such as he, unto whom no king before him was like, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, (2 Kings xxiii. 25), in the midst of an evil and adulterous generation, is a remarkable phenomenon, as little conceivable from natural causes as the existence of Melchizedec without father, without descent—isolated from all natural development—in the midst of the Canaanites who, with rapid strides and irresistibly, hastened on to the completion of their sin. His existence has the same root as that of Jeremiah,—a fact which becomes the [Pg 364] more evident when we take into consideration the connection of the Regal and Prophetical offices in Christ for the salvation of the people hastening anew to its destruction, and the faithfulness of the Covenant-God, and His long-suffering which makes every effort to lead the apostate children to repentance. The zeal of both, of Josiah and Jeremiah,—although supported by manifold assistance from other quarters, as e.g. by the prophetess Huldah and the prophet Zephaniah—was unable to stem the tide of prevailing corruption, and, hence, to stop the tide of the divine judgments. The corruption was so deeply rooted, that only single individuals could be saved, like brands from the burning. It had made fearful progress under the protracted reign of Manasseh, whose disposition must be regarded as a product of the spirit of the time then prevailing, of which he must not be considered as the creator, but as the representative only, 2 Kings xxiii. 26, 27, xxiv. 3, 4. The scanty fruits of his late conversion had been again entirely consumed under the short reign of his wicked son Amon; it had indeed so little of a comprehensive or lasting influence, that the author of the Book of Kings thought himself entitled altogether to pass it over. It was even difficult to put limits to outward idolatry; and how imperfectly he succeeded in this, is seen from the prophecies of Jeremiah uttered after the reformation. And even where he was successful in his efforts; even where an emotion was manifested, a wish to return to the living fountain which they had forsaken, even there, the corruption soon broke forth again, only in a different form. With deep grief, Jeremiah reprovingly reminds the people of this, whose righteousness was like the morning dew, in chap. iii. 4, 5: "Hast thou not but lately called me: My Father, friend of my youth, thou? Will He reserve His anger for ever, will He keep it to the end? Behold, thus thou spakest, and soon thou didst the evil, didst accomplish"—an accomplishment quite different from that of the ancestor. Gen. xxxii. 29. Since the disease had not been healed, but had only been driven out from one part of the diseased organism, the foolish inclination to idolatry was followed by as foolish a confidence in the miserable righteousness by works, in the divine election,—the offering up of sacrifices, &c., being considered as the sole condition of its validity. "Trust ye not in lying words"—so [Pg 365] the Prophet is obliged to admonish them in chap. vii. 4—"saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are they" (the people imagined that they could not be destroyed, because the Lord had, according to their opinion, for ever established His residence among them; compare 1 Cor. iii. 17; 1 Tim. iii. 15). "Thou sayest, I am innocent; His anger hath entirely turned from me; behold I plead with thee, because thou sayest: I have not sinned," chap. ii. 35. "To what purpose shall there come for me incense from Sheba, and sweet cane, the goodly, from a far country? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasant unto me," chap. vi. 20. Towards the end of Josiah's reign, the approaching judgment of God upon Judah became more perceptible. The former Asiatic dominion of the Assyrians passed over entirely to the Chaldeans, whose fresh and youthful strength so much the more threatened Judah with destruction, that from the Assyrians they had inherited the enmity to Egypt, on account of which Judah obtained great importance in their eyes. According to the announcement of the prophets generally, and of Jeremiah especially, who, at his very vocation, had it assigned to him as his main task to announce the calamity from the North, it was by the Chaldeans that the deadly stroke should be inflicted upon the people implicated in the conflicts of these hostile powers; but it was the Egyptians who inflicted upon them the first severe wound. Josiah fell in the battle with Pharaoh Necho. The people, conscious of guilt, were, by his death, filled with a fearful expectation of the things that were to come. They had forebodings that they were now standing at the boundary line where grace and anger separate (compare remarks on Zech. xii. 11); and these forebodings were soon converted into bitter certainty by experience. Jehoiakim ascended the throne, after Jehoahaz or Shall um, had, after a short reign, been carried away by the Egyptians. He stood to his father Josiah in just the same relation as did the people to God, in reference to the mercy which He had offered to them in Josiah. A more glaring contrast (see its exhibition in chap. xxii.) can hardly be imagined. Throughout, Jehoiakim shows himself to be entirely destitute not only of love to God, but also of the fear of God; he furnishes the complete image of a king whom God had given in anger. He [Pg 366] is a blood-thirsty tyrant, an exasperated enemy to truth. At the beginning of his reign, some influence of Josiah's spirit is still seen. The priests and false prophets, rightly understanding the signs of the time, came forward with the manifestation of their long restrained hatred against Jeremiah, in whom they hate their own conscience. They bring against him a charge of life and death, because he had prophesied destruction to the city and temple; but the rulers of the people acquit him, chap. xxvi. This influence, however, soon ceased. The king became the centre around whom gathered all that was ungodly, which, under Josiah, had timorously withdrawn into concealment. Soon it became a power, a torrent overflowing the whole country; and that the more easily, the weaker were the dams which still existed from the time of Josiah. One of the first victims for truth who fell, was the prophet Urijah. The king, imagining that he was able to kill truth itself in those who proclaimed it, could not bear the thought that he was still living, although it was in distant Egypt, and caused him to be brought thence (see l. c). The fact that Jeremiah escaped every danger of death during the eleven years of this king's reign, although he ever anew threatened death to the king and destruction to the people, was a constant miracle, a glorious fulfilment of the divine promise given to him when he was called (i. 19): "They shall fight against thee, and they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." The threatened divine punishment advanced, under Jehoiakim, several steps towards its completion. In the fourth year of his reign, Jerusalem was, for the first time, taken by the Chaldeans (compare "Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel," p. 45 ff.), after the power of the Egyptian Empire had been for ever broken by the battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates. The victor this time acted with tolerable mildness; the sin of the people was to appear in its full light by the circumstance, that God gave them time for repentance, and did not at once proceed to the utmost rigour, but advanced, step by step, in His judgments. But here too it was seen that crime, in its highest degree, becomes madness; the more nearly that people and king approached the abyss, the greater became the speed with which they hastened towards it. It is true that they [Pg 367] did not remain altogether insensible when the threatenings of the Prophet began to be fulfilled. This is seen from the day of fasting and repentance which was appointed in remembrance of the first capture by the Chaldeans (compare "Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel," p. 49); but fleeting emotions cannot stop the course of sin. Soon it became worse than it had been before; and therefore the divine judgments also reached a new station. Even political wisdom advised the king quietly to submit to dependence on the Chaldeans, which was, comparatively, little oppressive. It was obvious that, unsupported, he could effect nothing against the Chaldean power; and, to the unprejudiced eye, it was as obvious that the Egyptians could not help him;