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Chap. viii. 23 (ix. 1). "For not is darkness to the land, to which is distress; in the former time he has brought disgrace upon the land of Zebulun and the hind of Naphtali, and in the after-time he brings it to honour, the region on the sea, the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles."
[Hebrew: ki] stands in its ordinary signification, "for." Allow not yourselves to be turned away by anything from trusting in the God of Israel; hold fast by His word alone, and by His servants,—such was the fundamental thought of the whole preceding section. It meets us last in ver. 20, in the exhortation: [Pg 71] "To the Law and to the testimony!" in so far as this is rich in consolation and promise. The Prophet, after having, in the preceding verses, described the misery which will befal those who do not follow this exhortation, supports and establishes it by referring to the help of the Lord already alluded to in vers. 9 and 10, and to the light of His grace which He will cause to shine into the darkness of the people,—a darkness produced by their unbelief and apostacy; and this light shall be brightest where the darkness was greatest. All the attempts at connecting this [Hebrew: ki] with the verse immediately preceding instead of referring it to the main contents of the preceding section, have proved futile. [Hebrew: ki] can neither mean "nevertheless," nor "yea;" and the strange assertion that it is almost without any meaning at all cannot derive any support from Isaiah xv. 1: "The burden of Moab, for in the night the city of Moab is laid waste;" for only in that case is [Hebrew: ki] without any meaning at all, if [Hebrew: mwa] be falsely interpreted.—Ver. 22, where the phrase [Hebrew: mevP Cvqh] "darkness of distress" is equivalent to "darkness which consists in distress" (compare also: "behold trouble and darkness" in the same verse), shows that [Hebrew: mveP] and [Hebrew: mvcq] are substantially of the same meaning.—Our verse forms an antithesis to ver. 22; the latter verse described the darkness brought on by the guilt of the people; the verse under consideration describes, in contrast to it, the removal of it called forth by the grace of the Lord.—[Hebrew: la] may either be connected with the noun, or it may be explained: not is darkness. It cannot be objected to the latter view that, in that case, [Hebrew: aiN] should rather have stood; while the analogy of the phrase: "Not didst thou increase the joy," in chap. ix. 2 (3), seems to be in favour of it. Here we have the negative, the ceasing of darkness; in chap. ix. 1 (2) the positive, the appearance of light. The suffix, in [Hebrew: lh] refers, just as the suffix, in [Hebrew: bh] in ver. 21, to the omitted [Hebrew: arC].—The [Hebrew: k] in [Hebrew: ket] is, by many interpreters, asserted to stand in the signification of [Hebrew: kawr]: "Just as the former time has brought disgrace," &c. But as it cannot be proved that [Hebrew: k] has ever the meaning, "just as;" and as, on the other hand, [Hebrew: ket] frequently occurs in the signification, "at the time" (compare my remarks on Numb. xxiii. 13 in my work on Balaam), we shall be obliged to take, here too, the [Hebrew: k] as a temporal particle, and to supply, as the subject, Jehovah, who [Pg 72] always stands before the Prophet's mind, and is often not mentioned when the matter itself excludes another subject. Moreover, it is especially in favour of this view that, in vers. 3 (4), the Lord himself is expressly addressed.—As regards [Hebrew: aHrvN], either [Hebrew: ket] may be supplied,—and this is simplest and most natural—or it may be taken as an Accusative, "for the whole after-time."—[Hebrew: hql] means properly to "make light," then "to make contemptible," "to cover with disgrace," and [Hebrew: hkbid] properly then, "to make heavy," "to honour,"—a signification which indeed is peculiar to Piel, but in which the Hiphil, too, occurs in Jer. xxx. 19; the two verbs thus form an antithesis. The [Hebrew: h] locale in [Hebrew: arch] (the word does not occur in Isaiah with the [Hebrew: h] paragog.) shews that a certain modification of the verbal notion must be assumed: "to bring disgrace and honour." [Hebrew: arch] thus would mean "towards the land." The scene of the disgrace and honour, which at first was designated in general only, is afterwards extended. First, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali only is mentioned, because it was upon it that the disgrace had pre-eminently fallen, and it was, therefore, pre-eminently to be brought to honour; then the whole territory along the sea on both sides of it.—[Hebrew: iM] can, in this context which serves for a more definite qualification, mean the sea of Gennesareth only ([Hebrew: iM knrt] Numb. xxxiv. 11, and other passages), just as, in Matt. iv. 13, the designation of Capernaum as [Greek: he parathalassia] receives its definite meaning from the context.—[Hebrew: drK] occurs elsewhere also in the signification of versus, e.g., Ezek. viii. 5, xl. 20, 46; it will be necessary to supply after it [Hebrew: arC], just as in the case of the [Hebrew: ebr hirdN] following. It is without any instance that [Hebrew: drK] "way" should stand for "region," "country." The region on the sea is then divided into its two parts [Hebrew: ebr hirdN], [Greek: peran tou Iordanou], the land on the east bank of Jordan, and Galilee. The latter answers to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali; for the territory of these two tribes occupied the centre and principal part of Galilee. In opposition to the established usus loquendi, many would understand [Hebrew: ebr hirdN] as meaning the land "on the side," i.e., this side "of the Jordan," proceeding upon the supposition that the local designations must, from beginning to end, be congruous. Opposed to it is also the circumstance that, in 2 Kings, xv. 29, the most eastward and most northward countries, Peraea and Galilee are connected. [Pg 73] In that passage the single places are mentioned which Tiglath-pilezer took; then, the whole districts, "Gilead and Galilee, the whole land of Naphtali." By the latter words, that part of Galilee is made especially prominent upon which the catastrophe fell most severely and completely. In the phrase, "Galilee of the Gentiles," Galilee is a geographical designation which was already current at the time of the Prophet. There is no reason for fixing the extent of ancient Galilee differently from that of the more modern Galilee,—for assigning to it a more limited extent. We are told in 1 Kings ix. 11, that the twenty cities which Solomon gave to Hiram lay in the land of Galil, but not that the country was limited to them. The qualification, "of the Gentiles," is nowhere else met with in the Old Testament; it is peculiar to the Prophet. It serves as a hint to point out in what the disgrace of Galilee and Peraea consisted. This Theodoret also saw. He says: "He calls it 'Galilee of the Gentiles'because it was inhabited by other tribes along with the Jews; for this reason, he says also of the inhabitants of those countries, that they were walking in darkness, and speaks of the inhabitants of that land as living in the shadow and land of death, and promises the brightness of heavenly light." It is of no small importance to observe that Isaiah does not designate Galilee according to what it was at the time when this prophecy was uttered, but according to what it was to become in future. The distress by the Gentiles appears in chap. vii. and viii. everywhere as a future one. At the time when the Prophet prophesied, the Jewish territory still existed in its integrity. In vers. 4, and 5-7, he announces Asshur's inroad into the land of Israel as a future one; in the present moment, it was the kingdom of the ten tribes in connection with Aram which attacked and threatened Judea. The superior power of the world which, according to the clear foresight of the Prophet, was threatening, could not but be sensibly felt in the North and East. For these formed the border parts against the Asiatic world's power; it was from that quarter that its invasions commonly took place; and it was to be expected that there, in the first instance, the Gentiles would establish themselves, just as, in former times, they had maintained themselves longest there; comp. Judges i. 30-38; Keil on 1 Kings ix. 11. But very soon after this, [Pg 74] the name "Galilee of the Gentiles" ceased to be one merely prophetical; Tiglathpilezer carried the inhabitants of Galilee and Gilead into exile, 2 Kings xv. 29. At a later period, when the Greek empire "peopled Palestine, in the most attractive places, with new cities, restored many which, in consequence of the destructive wars, had fallen into decay, filled all of them, more or less, with Greek customs and institutions, and, along with the newly-opened extensive commerce and traffic, everywhere spread Greek manners also," this change was chiefly limited to Galilee and Peraea; Judea remained free from it; comp. Ewald, Geschichte Israels, iii. 2 S. 264 ff. In 1 Maccab. v. Galaaditis and Galilee appear as those parts of the country where the existence of the Jews is almost hopelessly endangered by the Gentiles living in the midst of, and mixed up with them. What is implied in "Galilee of the Gentiles" may be learned from that chapter, where even the expression reverts in ver. 15. With external dependence upon the Gentiles, however, the spiritual dependence went hand in hand. These parts of the country could the less oppose any great resistance to the influences of heathendom, that they were separated, by a considerable distance, from the religious centre of the nation—the temple and metropolis, in which the higher Israelitish life was concentrated. A consequence of this degeneracy was the contempt in which the Galileans were held at the time of Christ, John i. 47, vii. 52; Matt. xxvi. 69.—But in what consisted the honour or the glorification which Galilee, along with Peraea, was to obtain in the after-time? Chap. ix. 5 (6), where the deliverance and salvation announced in the preceding verses are connected with the person of the Redeemer, show that we must not seek for it in any other than that of the Messianic time. Our Lord spent the greater part of His public life in the neighbourhood of the lake of Gennesareth; it was there that Capernaum—His ordinary residence—was situated, Matt. ix. 1. From Galilee were most of His disciples. In Galilee He performed many miracles; and it was there that the preaching of the Gospel found much entrance, so that even the name of the Galileans passed over in the first centuries to the Christians. Theodoret strikingly remarks: "Galilee was the native country of the holy Apostles; there the [Pg 75] Lord performed most of His miracles; there He cleansed the leper; there He gave back to the centurion his servant sound; there He removed the fever from Peter's wife's mother; there He brought back to life the daughter of Jairus who was dead; there He multiplied the loaves; there He changed the water into wine." Very aptly has Gesenius compared Micah v. 1 (2). Just as in that passage the birth of the Messiah is to be for the honour of the small, unimportant Bethlehem, so here Galilee, which hitherto was covered with disgrace, which was reproached by the Jews, that there no prophet had ever risen, is to be brought to honour, and to be glorified by the appearance of the Messiah. It was from the passage under review that the opinion of the Jews was derived, that the Messiah would appear in the land of Galilee. Comp. Sohar, p. 1. fol. 119 ed. Amstelod.; fol. 74 ed. Solisbae: [Hebrew: baret dglil itgli mlka mwita]. "King Messiah will reveal himself in the land of Galilee." But we must beware of putting prophecy and fulfilment into a merely accidental outward relation, of changing the former into a mere foretelling, and of supposing, in reference to the latter, that, unless the letter of the prophecy had existed, Jesus might as well have made Judea the exclusive scene of His ministry. Both prophecy and history are overruled by a higher idea, by the truth absolutely valid in reference to the Church of the Lord, that where the distress is greatest, help is nearest. If it was established that the misery of the covenant-people, both outward and spiritual, was especially concentrated in Galilee, then it is also sure that He who was sent to the lost sheep of Israel must devote His principal care just to that part of the country. The prophecy is not exhausted by the one fulfilment; and the fulfilment is a new prophecy. Wheresoever in the Church we perceive a new Galilee of the Gentiles, we may, upon the ground of this passage, confidently hope that the saving activity of the Lord will gloriously display itself.
Chap. ix. 1 (2). "The people that walk in darkness see a great light, they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them light ariseth."
"The people" are the inhabitants of the countries mentioned in the preceding verse; but they are not viewed in contrast to, and exclusive of the other members of the covenant-people,—for [Pg 76] according to chap. viii. 22, darkness is to cover the whole of it—but only as that portion which comes chiefly into consideration. Light is, in the symbolical language of Scripture, salvation. That in which the salvation here consists cannot be determined from the words themselves, but must follow from the context. It will not be possible to deny that, according to it, the darkness consists, in the first instance, in the oppression by the Gentiles, and, hence, salvation consists in the deliverance from this oppression, and in being raised to the dominion of the world; and in ver. 2 (3) ff., we have, indeed, the farther displaying of the light, or deliverance. But it will be as little possible to deny that the sad companion of outward oppression by the Gentile world is the spiritual misery of the inward dependence upon it. Farther,—It is as certain that the elevation of the covenant-people to the dominion of the world cannot take place all on a sudden, and without any farther ceremony, inasmuch as, according to a fundamental view of the Old Testament, all outward deliverance appears as depending upon conversion and regeneration. "Thou returnest," so we read in Deut. xxx. 2, 3, "to the Lord thy God, and the Lord thy God turneth to thy captivity." And in the same chapter, vers. 6, 7: "The Lord thy God circumciseth thy heart, and then the Lord thy God putteth all these curses upon thine enemies." Before Gideon is called to be the deliverer of the people from Midian, the Prophet must first hold up their sin to the people, Judg. vi. 8 ff., and Gideon does not begin his work with a struggle against the outward enemies, but must, first of all, as Jerubbabel, declare war against sin. All the prosperous periods in the people's history are, at the same time, periods of spiritual revival. We need only think of David, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah. Outward deliverance always presents itself in history as an addition only which is bestowed upon those seeking after the kingdom of God. Without the inward foundation, the bestowal of the outward blessing would be only a mockery, inasmuch as the holy God could not but immediately take away again what He had given. But the circumstance that it is the outward salvation, the deliverance from the heathen servitude, the elevation of the people of God to the dominion of the world, as in Christ it so gloriously took [Pg 77] place, which are here, in the first instance, looked at, is easily accounted for from the historical cause of this prophetic discourse which, in the first instance, is directed against the fears of the destruction of the kingdom of God by the world's power. Ps. xxiii. 4; "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," must so much the more he considered as the fundamental passage of the verse under consideration, that the Psalm, too, refers to the whole Christian Church. It was in the appearance of Christ, and the salvation brought through Him, in the midst of the deepest misery, that this Psalm found its most glorious confirmation.—[Hebrew: clmvt], "darkness of death," is the darkness which prevails in death or in Sheol. Such compositions commonly occur in proper names only, not in appellatives; and hence, by "the land of the darkness (shadow) of death," hell is to be understood. But darkness of hell is, by way of a shortened comparison, not unfrequently used for designating the deepest darkness. The point of comparison is here furnished by the first member of the verse. Parallel is Ps. lxxxviii. 4 ff., where Israel laments that the Lord had thrust it down into dark hell. The Preterite tense of the verbs in our verse is to be explained from the prophetical view which converts the Future into the Present. How little soever modern exegesis can realise this seeing by, and in faith, and how much soever it is everywhere disposed to introduce the real Present instead of the ideal, yet even Ewald is compelled to remark on the passage under consideration: "The Prophet, as if he were describing something which in his mind he had seen as certain long ago, here represents everything in the past, and scarcely makes an exception of this in the new start which he takes in the middle." At the time when the Prophet uttered this Prophecy, even the darkness still belonged to the future. As yet the world's power had not gained the ascendancy over Israel; but here the light has already dispelled the darkness.
It now merely remains for us to view more particularly the quotation of these two verses in Matt. iv. 12-17. [Greek: Akousas de]—thus the section begins—[Greek: hoti Ioannes paredothe, anechoresen eis ten Galilaian.] Since, in these words, we are told that Jesus, after having received the intelligence of the imprisonment of [Pg 78] John, withdrew into Galilee, we cannot for a moment think of His having sought in Galilee, safety from Herod; for Galilee just belonged to Herod, and Judea afforded security against him. The verb [Greek: anachorein] denotes, on the contrary, the withdrawing into the angulus terrae Galilee, as contrasted with the civil and ecclesiastical centre. The time of the beginning of Christ's preaching (His ministry hitherto had been merely a kind of prelude) was determined by the imprisonment of John, as certainly as, according to the prophecy of the Old Testament, the territories of the activity of both were immediately bordering upon one another, and by that very circumstance the place, too, was indirectly determined; for it was fixed by the prophecy under consideration that Galilee was to be the scene of the chief ministry of Christ. If, then, the time for the beginning of the ministry had come, He must also depart into Galilee. The connection, therefore, is this: After he had received the intelligence of the imprisonment of John—in which the call to Him for the beginning of His ministry was implied—He departed into Galilee, and especially to Capernaum, vers. 12, 13; for it was this part of the country which, by the prophecy, was fixed as the main scene of His Messianic activity, vers. 14-16. It was there, therefore, that He continued the preaching of John, ver. 17.—[Greek: Kai katalipon ten Nazaret]—it is said in ver. 13—[Greek: elthon katokesen eis Kapernaoum ten parathalassian, en horiois Zaboulon kai Nephthaleim.] Christ had hitherto had His settled abode at Nazareth, and thence undertook His wanderings. The immediate reason why He did not remain there is not stated by Matthew; but we learn it from Luke and John. In accordance with his object, Matthew takes cognizance of this one circumstance only, that, according to the prophecy of the Old Testament, Capernaum was very specially fitted for being the residence of Christ. The town was situated on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesareth. Quite in opposition to his custom elsewhere, Matthew describes the situation of the town 80 minutely, because this knowledge served to afford a better insight into the fulfilment of the prophecy of the Old Testament. The designation [Greek: ten parathalassian] stands in reference to [Greek: hodon thalasses], in ver. 15. [Greek: En horiois], &c., may either mean: "In the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali," i. e. in that place where [Pg 79] the borders of both the countries meet,—or [Greek: ta horia] may, according to the analogy of the Hebrew [Hebrew: gbvliM], denote the borders in the sense of "territory," as in Matt. ii. 16. From a comparison of [Greek: ge Zaboulon kai Nephthaleim] of the prophecy in ver. 15, to which the words stand in direct reference, it follows that the latter view is the correct one. Whether Capernaum lay just on the borders between the two countries was of no consequence to the prophecy, and hence was of none to Matthew.—The phrase [Greek: hina plerothe] does not, according to the very sound remark of De Wette, point to the intention, but to the objective aim. The question, however, is to what the [Greek: hina plerothe] is to be referred,—whether merely to that which immediately precedes, viz., the change of residence from Nazareth to Capernaum, or, at the same time to [Greek: anechoresen eis ten Galilaian]. The latter is alone correct. The prophecy which the Evangelist has in view referred mainly to Galilee, or the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali in general; but, according to the express remark of the Evangelist, Nazareth itself was likewise situated in Galilee. The advantage which Capernaum had over it was this only, that in Capernaum the [Greek: hodon thalasses] of the prophecy was found again, and that, therefore, thence the [Greek: peran tou Iordanou] of the prophecy also could be better realized, inasmuch as across the lake there was an easy communication from that place with the country beyond Jordan. The connection is hence this: After the imprisonment of the Baptist, Jesus, in order to enter upon His ministry, went to Galilee, and especially to Capernaum, which was situated on the lake, in order that thus the prophecy of Isaiah as to the glorification of Galilee, and of the region on the lake, might be fulfilled.—Matthew has abridged the passage. From chap. viii. 23 (ix. 1) he has taken the designation of the part of the country, in order that the agreement of fulfilment and prophecy might become visible. The words from [Greek: ge—ton ethnon] may either be regarded as a fragment taken out of its connection, so that they are viewed as a quotation, and as forming a period by themselves (this, from a comparison of the original, seems most natural);—or we may also suppose, that the Evangelist, having broken-up the connection with the preceding, puts these words into a new connection, so that, along with the [Greek: ho laos], which has become an apposition, they form [Pg 80] the subject of the following sentence. At all events, [Greek: hodon] takes here the place of the adverb, although it may not be possible to adduce instances and proofs altogether analogous from the Greek usus loquendi.—The confidence with which Matthew explains chap. viii. 23, and ix. 1 of Christ can be accounted for only from the circumstance that he recognized Christ as He who in chap. ix. 5, 6, (6, 7) is described as the author of all the blessings designated in the preceding verses. It was therefore altogether erroneous in Gesenius to assert that there was the less reason for holding the Messianic explanation of chap. ix. 5, 6, as there was no testimony of the New Testament in favour of it.—It is quite obvious that Matthew does not quote the Old Testament prophecy in reference to any single special event which happened at Capernaum; but that rather the whole following account of the glorious deeds of Christ in Galilee, as well as in Peraea, down to chap. xix. 1, serves to mark the fulfilment of this Old Testament prophecy, and is subservient to this quotation. This passage of Matthew explains the reason, why it is that he, and Luke and Mark who closely follow him, report henceforth, until the last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, exclusively facts which happened in Galilee, and in Peraea, which likewise was mentioned by Isaiah. The circumstance that this fact, which is so obvious, was not perceived, has called forth a number of miserable conjectures, and has even led some interpreters to assail the credibility of the Gospel. To Matthew, who wished to show that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the interest must, in the view of the prophecy under consideration, be necessarily concentrated upon Galilee; and Mark and Luke followed him in this, perceiving that it was not becoming to them to open up a path altogether new. This was reserved to the second Apostle from among the Evangelists.
Ver. 2 (3). "Thou multipliest the nation to which thou didst not increase the joy; they joy before thee like the joy in harvest, and as they rejoice when they divide the spoil."
The Prophet beholds the joy of the Messianic time as present; he beholds the covenant-people numerous, free from all misery, and full of joy; full of delight he turns to the Lord, and praises Him for what He has done to His people.—One [Pg 81] of the privileges of the people of God is the increase which at all times takes place after they are sifted and thinned by judgments. Thus, e.g., it happened at the time after their return from the captivity, comp. Ps. cvii. 38, 39: "And He blesseth them, and they are multiplied greatly, and He suffereth not their cattle to decrease. They who were minished and brought low through affliction, oppression, and sorrow." But this increase took place most gloriously at the time of Christ, when a numerous multitude of adopted sons from among the Gentiles were received into the Church of God, and thus the promise to Abraham: "I will make of thee a great nation" ([Hebrew: gvi] as in the passage before us, and not [Hebrew: eM]), received its final fulfilment. From the arguments which we advanced in Vol. i. on Hosea ii. 1, it appears that the increase which the Church received by the reception of the Gentiles is, according to the biblical view, to be considered as an increase of the people of Israel. The fundamental thought of Ps. lxxxvii. is: Zion the birth-place of the nations; by the new birth the Gentiles are received in Israel. The manner in which the Gentiles show their anxiety to be received in Israel is described by Isaiah in chap. xliv. 5. The commentary on the words: "Thou multipliest the nation," is furnished to us by chap. liv. 1 ff., where, in immediate connection with the prophecy regarding the Servant of God who bears the sin of the world, it is said: "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing, and shout thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." Comp. also chap. lxvi. 7-9, and Ezek. xxxvii. 25, 26: "And my servant David shall be their prince for ever. And I make a covenant with them and multiply them." Several interpreters, e. g. Calvin, Vitringa, suppose that the Prophet in this verse (and so likewise in the two following verses) speaks, in the first instance, of a nearer prosperity, of the rapid increase of the people after the Babylonish captivity. Vitringa directs attention to the fact, that the Jewish people after the captivity did not only fill Judea, but spread also in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. And surely we cannot deny that in this increase, no less than in the new flourishing of the people after the defeat of Sennacherib also, there is a prelude to the real fulfilment; [Pg 82] and that so much the more that these precursory increases, happening, as they did, regularly after the decreases, were bestowed upon the covenant-people with a view to the future appearance of Christ. These increases enter into a still closer relation to the prophecy under consideration, if we keep in mind that in chap. vii. the Prophet anticipates in spirit the appearance of Christ, and that it is with this representation that, in the Section before us, chap. viii. 8, 10 are connected. In order to refute the explanation of Umbriet: "Thou hast multiplied the heathen, and thereby thou hast removed all joy; but now," &c., it will be quite sufficient to refer to the parallel passage, chap. xxvi. 15: "Thou increasest the people, O Lord, thou art glorified, thou removest all the boundaries of the land," where, just as in the verse before us, by [Hebrew: hgvi] "the people," Israel is designated; and that is frequently the case where the notion of the multitude, the mass only is concerned, comp. Gen. xii. 2.—"Thou didst not increase the joy" stands for: to whom thou formerly didst not increase the joy, to whom thou gavest but little joy, upon whom thou inflictedst severe sufferings. The antithesis is quite the same as in chap. viii. 23 (ix. 1), where the former distress is contrasted with the light which is now to shine upon them, the former disgrace with the later glory; and in the same manner in chap. ix. 1 (2), where the present light is rendered brighter by being contrasted with the former darkness. The contrast of the present increase with the former absence of joys shows that the joy is to be viewed as being connected with the increase, and that if formerly the joy was less, the reason of it was chiefly in the decrease. Ps. cvii. 38, 39, 41, shews how affliction and decrease, joy and increase, go hand in hand; farther, Jerem. xxx. 19: "And out of them proceed thanksgivings, and the voice of the merry ones; and I multiply them, and they do not decrease; and I honour them, and they are not small." The decrease is a single symptom only of a depressed, joyless condition, which everywhere in the kingdom of God shall be brought to an end by Christ. Most of the ancient translators (LXX., Chald., Syr.) follow the marginal reading [Hebrew: lv], "to him" hast thou increased the joy. According to many modern interpreters, [Hebrew: la] is supposed to be a different mode of writing for [Hebrew: lv]. But no proof that could stand the test can be brought forward for [Pg 83] such a mode of writing; nor is there any reason for supposing that [Hebrew: la] stands here in a different sense from what it does in chap. viii. 23, and it would indeed be strange that [Hebrew: lv] should have been placed before the verb. At most, it might be supposed that the Prophet intended an ambiguous and double sense: not/(to him) didst thou increase the joy. But altogether apart from such an ambiguous and double sense, behind the negative, at all events, the positive is concealed; thou multipliest the people, and increasest to them the joy, thou who formerly didst decrease their joy, &c.; and it is to this positive that the words refer which, in Luke ii. 10, the angels address to the shepherds: [Greek: me phobeisthe, idou gar euangelizomai humin charan megalen hetis estai panti to lao hoti etechthe humin semeron soter, hos esti Christos Kurios]; comp. Matth. ii. 10.—In the following words, the Prophet expresses, in the first instance, the nature of the joy, then its greatness. The joy over the blessings received is a joy before God, under a sense of His immediate presence. The expression is borrowed from the sacrificial feasts in the courts before the sanctuary, at which the partakers rejoiced before the Lord, Deut. xii. 7, 12, 18, xiv. 26. In Immanuel, God with his blessings and gifts has truly entered into the midst of His people. With the joy at the dividing of the spoil, the joy is compared only to show its greatness, just as with the joy in the harvest; and it is in vain that Knobel tries here to bring in a dividing of spoil.
Vers. 3, (4). "For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his neck, the rod of his driver thou hast broken as in the day of Midian."
In this verse, the reason of the people's joy announced in the preceding verse is stated: it is the deliverance from the world's power, under the oppression of which they groaned, or, in point of fact, were to groan. He who imposes the yoke and the staff, the driver, (an allusion to the Egyptian taskmasters, masters, comp. Exod. iii. 7; v. 10), is Asshur, and the whole world's power hostile to the Kingdom of God, which is represented by him, and which by Christ was to receive, and has received, a mortal blow. A prelude to the fulfilment took place by the defeat of Sennacherib under Hezekiah, comp. chap. x. 5, 24, 27; xiv. 25. After him. Babel had to experience [Pg 84] the destructive power of the Lord, the single phases of which, pervading, as they do, all history, are here comprehended in one great act. Although the definitive fulfilment begins first with the appearance of Christ in the flesh, who spoke to His people: [Greek: tharseite, ego nenikeka ton kosmon], yet after what we remarked on ver. 2, we are fully entitled to consider the former catastrophes also of the kingdoms of the world as preludes to the real fulfilment.—[Hebrew: wkM] "shoulder" does not suit as the membrum cui verbera infliguntur; it comes, as is commonly the case, into consideration as that member with which burdens are borne. The staff or tyranny is a heavy burden, comp. chap. x. 27: "His burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder." "As in the day of Midian" is equivalent to: as thou once didst break the yoke of Midian. This event was especially fitted to serve as a type of the glorious future victory over the world's power, partly because the oppression by Midian was very hard,—according to Judges vii. 12, Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the East broke in upon the land like grasshoppers for multitude, and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seaside for multitude—partly because the help of the Lord (thou hast broken) was at that time specially visible. "I will be with thee," says the Lord to Gideon in Judges vi. 16, "and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man;" and Judges vii. 2: "The people that are with thee are too many, as that I could give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying: Mine own hand hath saved me."
Vers. 4, (5). "For every war-shoe put on with noise, and the garment rolled in blood: it is for burning, food of fire."
We have here the reason why the tyranny is broken: for the enemies of the Kingdom of God shall entirely and for ever be rendered incapable of carrying on warfare. If the noisy war-shoes, and their blood-stained garments are to be burned, they themselves must, of course, have been previously destroyed. But, if that be the case, then all war and tyranny are come to an end, "for the dead do not live, and the shades do not rise," chap. xxvi. 14. The parallel passages, Ps. xlvi. 10, and Ezek. xxxix. 9, 10, do not permit us to doubt that the burning of the war-shoes and of the bloody garments come into consideration here as a consequence of the destruction of [Pg 85] the conquerors. Nor can we, according to these passages, entertain, for a moment, the idea of Meier, that those bloody garments belong to Israel.
Vers. 5 (6). "For unto us a child is horn, unto us a son is given, and the government is upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero, Ever-Father, Prince of Peace."
The Prophet had hitherto spoken only of the salvation which is to spread from Galilee over the rest of the country; it is first here that its author, in all His sublime glory, comes before him; and, having come to him, the prophecy rises to exalted feelings of joy. In chap. vii. 14, the Prophet beholds the Saviour as being already born; hence the Preterites [Hebrew: ild] and [Hebrew: ntN]. If any one should imagine that from the use of these Preterites he were entitled to infer that the subject of the prophecy must, at that time, already have been born, he must also, on account of the Preterites in vers. 1 (2) suppose that the announced salvation had at that time been already bestowed upon Israel,—which no interpreter does. Hitzig correctly remarks: "Because He is still future, the Prophet in His first appearance, beholds Him as a child, and as the son of another." Whose son He is we are not told; but it is supposed to be already known. Ever since the revelation in 2 Sam. vii., the Messiah could be conceived of as the Son of David only; compare the words: "Upon the throne of David" in vers. 6 (7), and chap. xi. 1, lv. 3. As the Son of God the Saviour appears as early as in Ps. ii.; and it is to that Psalm that the "God-Hero" alludes, and connects itself. Alluding to the passage before us, we read in John iii. 16: [Greek: houto gar egapesen ho theos ton kosmon] ("The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this,") vers. 6 [7], [Greek: hoste ton huion autou ton monogene edoken].—When grown up, the Son has the government upon His shoulder. The Prophet contrasts Christ with the world's power, which threatened destruction to the people of God. This, then, refers to the Kingly office of Christ, and the state of glory. Parallel is the declaration of Christ in Matt. xxviii. 18, [Greek: edothe moi pasa exousia]. The Lord has also, in John xviii. 37, confirmed the truth that He is King; and it is upon the ground of His own declaration that Pilate designates Him upon the cross as a King. Although His Kingdom is not of [Pg 86] this world, John xviii. 36, it is, just for that very reason, so much the more all-governing. The [Greek: enteuthen] in that passage is contrasted with the words "from heaven" in Dan. ii., by which, in that passage, its absolute superiority over all the kingdoms of the world, and its crushing power are declared to be indissolubly connected.—"The shoulder" comes, here also, as in vers. 3 (4), chap. x. 27, into consideration in so far as on it we bear; comp. Gen. xlix. 15; Ps. lxxxi. 7. The bearer of an office has it, as it were, on his shoulders.—The Jewish interpreters, despairing of being able, with any appearance of truth, to apply the following attributes to Hezekiah, insist that, with the exception of the last, they denote Him who calls, not Him who is called: the Wonderful, &c., called him Prince of peace. Altogether apart from the consideration that this is in opposition to the accents, the mentioning of so many names of Jehovah is here quite unsuitable; and, in all other passages, the noun put after [Hebrew: wmv qra] designates always him who is called. Modern Exegesis has tried everything with a view to deprive the names of their deep meaning, in order to adapt them to a Messiah in the ordinary Jewish sense, hence, to do that of which the Jews themselves had already despaired. But, in doing so, they have considered the names too much by themselves, overlooking the circumstance that the full and deeper meaning of the individual attributes, as it at first sight presents itself, must, in the connection in which they here occur, be so much the rather held fast. The names are completed in the number four,—the mark of that which is complete and finished. They form two pairs, and every single name is again compounded of two names. The first name is [Hebrew: pla iveC]. That these two words must be connected with one another (Theodor.—[Greek: thaumastos bouleuon]) appears from the analogy of the other names, especially of [Hebrew: al gbvr] with whom [Hebrew: pla iveC] forms one pair; and then from the circumstance that [Hebrew: iveC] alone would, in this connection, be too indefinite. The words do not stand in the relation of the Status constructus, but are connected in the same manner as [Hebrew: pra adM] in Gen. xvi. 12. [Hebrew: iveC] designates the attribute which is here concerned, while [Hebrew: pla] points out the supernatural, superhuman degree in which the King possesses this attribute, and the infinite riches of consolation and help which are to be found in such [Pg 87] a King. As a Counsellor, He is a Wonder, absolutely elevate d above everything which the earth possesses in excellency of counselling. As [Hebrew: pla] commonly denotes "wonder" in the strictest sense (comp. chap. xxv. 1: "I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonders," Ps. lxxvii. 15: "Thou art the God that doest wonders;" Exod. xv. 11); as it here stands in parallelism with [Hebrew: al] God; as the whole context demands that we should take the words in their full meaning;—we can consider it only as an arbitrary weakening of the sense, that several interpreters explain [Hebrew: pla iveC] "extraordinary Counsellor." Parallel is Judges xiii. 18 where the Angel of the Lord, after having announced the birth of Samson, says: "Why askest thou thus after my name?—it is wonderful," [Hebrew: plai], i.e., my whole nature is wonderful, of unfathomable depth, and cannot, therefore, be expressed by any human name. Farther—Revel. xix. 12 is to be compared, where Christ has a name written that no man knows but He himself, to intimate the immeasurable glory of His nature. That which is here, in the first instance, said of a single attribute of the King, applies, at the same time, to all others, holds true of His whole nature; the King is a Wonder as a Counsellor, because His whole person is wonderful. A proof, both of the connection of the two words, and against the weakening of the sense, is afforded by the parallel passage, chap. xxviii. 29, where it is said of the Most High God [Hebrew: hplia ech], "He shows himself wonderful in His counsel."—The second name is [Hebrew: al gbvr] "God-Hero." Besides the ability of giving good counsel, a good government requires also [Hebrew: gbvrh] strength, heroic power: comp. chap. xi. 2, according to which the spirit of counsel and strength rest upon the Messiah. What may not be expected from a King who not only, like a David in a higher degree, possesses the greatest human measure of heroic strength, but who is also a God-Hero, and a Hero-God, so that with His appearance there disappears completely the contrast of the invisible Head of the people of God, and of His visible substitute,—a contrast which so often manifested itself, to the great grief of the covenant-people? The God-Hero forms the contrast to a human hero whose heroic might is, after all, always limited, [Hebrew: al gbvr] can signify God-Hero only, a Hero who is infinitely exalted above all human heroes [Pg 88] by the circumstance that He is God. To the attempts at weakening the import of the name, chap. x. 21, where [Hebrew: al gbvr] is said of the Most High, appears a very inconvenient obstacle,—a parallel passage which does not occur by chance, but where [Hebrew: war iwvb] stands with an intentional reference to chap. vii.: "The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the Hero-God," who is furnished with invincible strength for His people; comp. Ps. xxiv. 8: "The Lord strong and a hero, the Lord a hero of war." The older Rationalistic exposition endeavoured to set aside the deity of the Messiah by the explanation: "strong hero." So also did Gesenius. This explanation, against which chap. x. 21 should have warned, has been for ever set aside by the remark of Hitzig: "Commonly, in opposition to all the usus loquendi, the word is translated by: strong hero. But [Hebrew: al] is always, even in passages such as Gen. xxxi. 29, "God," and in all those passages which are adduced to prove that it means "princeps," "potens," the forms are to be derived not from [Hebrew: al], but from [Hebrew: ail], which properly means 'ram,'then 'leader,''prince.'" By this explanation, especially the passage Ezek. xxxii. 21, which had formerly been appealed to in support of the translation "strong hero," is set aside; for the [Hebrew: ali gbvriM] of that passage are "rams of heroes." Rationalistic interpreters now differ in their attempts at getting rid of the troublesome fact. Hitzig says, "Strong God"—he erroneously views [Hebrew: gbvr], which always means "hero," as an adjective—"the future deliverer is called by the oriental not strictly separating the Divine and human, and He is called so by way of exaggeration, in so far as He possesses divine qualities." A like opinion is expressed by Knobel: "Strong God the Messiah is called, because in the wars with the Gentiles He will prove himself as a hero equipped with divine strength." The expression proves a divine nature as little as when in Ps. lxxxii. 1-6, comp. John x. 34, 35, kings are, in general, called [Hebrew: alhiM], "gods, Like God, to be compared to Him, a worthy representative of Him, and hence, likewise, called God." It is true that there is one [Hebrew: al gbvr] only, and that, according to chap. x. 21, the Messiah cannot be [Hebrew: al gbvr] beside the Most High God, excepting by partaking in his nature. Such a participation in the nature, not His being merely filled with the power of [Pg 89] God, is absolutely required to explain the expression. It is true that in the Law of Moses all those who have to command or to judge, all those to whom, for some reason or other, respect or reverence is due, are consecrated as the representatives of God on earth; e.g., a court of justice is of God, and he who appears before it appears before God. But the name Elohim is there given in general only to the judicial court, which represents God—to the office, not to the single individuals who are invested with it. In Ps. lxxxii. 1, the name Elohim in the expression: "He judgeth among the gods" is given to the single, judging individual; comp. also ver. 6; but this passage forms an isolated exception. To explain, from it, the passage before us is inadmissible, even from chap. x. 21, where [Hebrew: al gbvr] stands in its fullest sense. It must not be overlooked that that passage in Ps. lxxxii. belongs to higher poetry; that the author himself there mitigates in ver. 6, in the parallel member, the strength of the expression: "I have said ye are Elohim, and sons of the Most High ye all;" and, finally, that there Elohim is used as the most vague and general name of God, while here El, a personal name, is used. Hendewerk, Ewald, and others, finally, explain "God's hero," i.e., "a divine hero, who, like an invincible God, fights and conquers." But in opposition to this view, it has been remarked by Meier that then necessarily the words ought to run, [Hebrew: gbvr al]. It is farther obvious that by this explanation the [Hebrew: gbvr al] here is, in a manner not to be admitted, disconnected and severed from those passages where it occurs as an attribute of the Most High God; comp. besides chap. x. 21; Deut. x. 17; Jer. xxxii. 18.
The third name is Father of eternity. That admits of a double explanation. Several interpreters refer to the Arabic usus loquendi, according to which he is called the father of a thing who possesses it; e.g., Father of mercy, i.e., the merciful one. This usus loquendi, according to the supposition formerly very current, occurs in Hebrew very frequently, especially in proper names, e.g., [Hebrew: Tvb abi]. "Father of goodness," i.e., the good one. According to this view. Father of eternity would be equivalent to Eternal one. According to the opinion of others. Father of eternity is he who will ever be a Father, an affectionate provider, comp. chap. xxii. 21, where Eliakim [Pg 90] is called "Father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;" Job xxix. 16; Ps. lxviii. 6. Luther, too, thus explains: "Who at all times feeds His Kingdom and Church, in whom there is a fatherly love without end." The latter view is to be preferred unconditionally. Against the former view is the circumstance that all the other names stand in direct reference to the salvation of the covenant-people, while, in the mere eternity, this reference would not distinctly enough appear. And it has farther been rightly remarked by Ewald, that that usus loquendi in Arabic always belongs to the artificial, often to jocular discourse. Whether it occur in Hebrew at all is still a matter of controversy; Ewald, Sec. 27, denies that it occurs in proper names also. On the other hand, the paternal love, the rich kindness and mercy, exceedingly well suit the first two names which indicate unfathomable wisdom, and divine heroic strength. The rationalistic interpreters labour very hard to weaken the idea of eternity. But the "Provider for life" agrees very ill with the Wonder-Counsellor, and the God-hero. The absolute eternity of the Messiah's dominion is, on the foundation of 2 Sam. vii., most emphatically declared in other passages also (comp. vol. i., p. 132, 133), and meets us here again immediately in the following verse. The name Ever-Father, too, leads us to divine Majesty, comp. chap. xlv. 17: "Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded in all eternity" chap. lvii. 15, where God is called [Hebrew: wkN ed] "the ever dwelling;" farther, Ps. lxviii. 6: "A Father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows is God in His holy habitation," where the providence of God for the personae miserabiles is praised with a special reference to that which He does for His poor people.—Hitzig's explanation: "Father of prey," does not suit the prophetic style, and has, in general, no analogy from Hebrew to adduce in its favour. The circumstance that, in the verse immediately following, the eternity of the government is mentioned, shows that [Hebrew: ed] must be taken in its ordinary signification "eternity."
The fourth name, Prince of peace, stands purposely at the end, and is to be considered as strongly emphatic. War, hostile oppression, the distress of the servitude which threatens the people of God,—these are the things which, in the first instance, [Pg 91] have directed the Prophet's eye to the Messiah. The name points back to Solomon who typified Christ's dominion of peace, and who himself, in the Song of Solomon, transfers his name to Christ (comp. my Comment. S. 1 ff.); then to the Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10 (comp. vol. i, 84, 85). We should misunderstand the name were we to infer from it that, in the Messianic time, all war should cease. Were such to be the case, why is it that, immediately before, the Redeemer is designated as God-Hero? Peace is the aim; it is offered to all the nations in Christ; but those who reject it, who rise up against His Kingdom, He throws down, as the God-Hero, with a powerful hand, and obtains by force peace for His people. But war, as far as it takes place, is carried on in a form different from that which existed under the Old dispensation. According to Micah v. 9 (10), ff., the Lord makes His people outwardly defenceless, before they become in Christ world-conquering; comp. vol. i., p. 515. According to chap. xi. 4, Christ smiteth the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slayeth the wicked.
Ver. 6 (7.) "To the increase of the government and to the peace, there is no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, so that he establisheth it, and supporteth it by justice and righteousness, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this."
There is no reason for connecting this verse with the preceding one; in which case the sense would be: "For the increase of government and for peace without end." For chap. ii. 7; Nah. ii. 10; Job. xvi. 3—in which [Hebrew: l] with [Hebrew: qC] occurs in the very same sense—clearly show that the [Hebrew: l] in [Hebrew: lwlvM] and [Hebrew: lmrbh] may very well be understood as a mere sign of the Dative. And the objection that the following [Hebrew: lhkiN], &c. would, in that case, be unsuitable, is removed if it be explained: so that He establisheth, &c., or: by His establishing, &c.; comp. Ewald, Lehrbuch der Hebr. Sprache Sec. 280 d. The words designate the basis on which the increase of government and the peace rest. The Kingdom of God will, through the Redeemer, acquire an ever increasing extent, and, along with it, perfect peace shall be enjoyed by the world. For it is not by rude force that this kingdom is to be founded and established, as is the case with worldly kingdoms, in which increase of [Pg 92] government and peace, far from being always connected, are, on the contrary, irreconcilable opponents, but by justice and righteousness. Parallel is Ps. lxvii. In vers. 11-15 of that Psalm, the Psalmist just points to that "by which all nations and kings are induced to do homage to that king; it is just that which, in the whole Psalm, appears as the root of everything else, viz., the absolute justice of the king." Decrease of government and war without end were, meanwhile, in prospect, and they were so, because those who were sitting on the throne of David did not support his kingdom by justice and righteousness. But the Psalmist intimates to the trembling minds that such is not the end of the ways of God with His people; that at last the idea of the Kingdom of God will be realized. From the fundamental passage, Ps. lxxii. 8-11, and parallel passages, such as chap. ii. 2, 4; Mic. v. 3 (4); Zech. ix. 10, it is obvious that, as regards the endless increase of the government, the Prophet thinks of all the nations of the earth. On the peace without end, comp. Ps. lxxii. 7; chap. ii. 4; Mic. v. 4 (5), and the words: "He speaketh peace unto the heathen," Zech. ix. 10. The [Hebrew: l] designates the substratum on which the increase of dominion and the peace manifest themselves; the dominion of the Davidic family and its kingdom gain infinitely in extent, and in the same degree peace also increases. In these words the Prophet gives an intimation that the Messiah will proceed from David's family, comp. chap. xi. 1 where he designates Him as the twig of Jesse.—[Hebrew: hkiN] "to confirm," "to establish," used of throne and kingdom, 1 Sam. xiii. 13, comp. 14; 1 Kings ii. 12, comp. ver. 24, and farther, chap. xvi. 5.—The words: "from henceforth even for ever" do not, as Umbreit supposes, refer to every thing in this verse, but to the words immediately preceding. That the words must be understood in their full sense, we have already proved in our remarks on the fundamental passage, 2 Sam. vii. 13: "And I will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever;" see Vol. i. p. 131. Michaelis says: "So that that promise to David shall never fail." The [Hebrew: eth] does not refer to the actual, but to the ideal present, to the first appearance of the Redeemer, to the words: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government is upon His shoulder."—This great change is brought about [Pg 93] by the zeal of the Lord who raises this glorious King to His people; comp. John iii. 16. The zeal in itself is only energy; the sphere of its exercise is, in every instance, determined by the context. In Exod. xv. 5; Deut. iv. 24; Nah. i. 2, the zeal is the energy of wrath. In the passage before us, as in the Song of Solomon viii. 6, and in chap. xxxvii. 32: "For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and escaped ones out of Mount Zion; the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this," the zeal of God means the energetic character of His love to Zion.
We must, in conclusion, still make a few remarks, on the interpretation of vers. 5 and 6. The older interpreters were unanimous in referring these verses to the Messiah. Even by the Jews, this explanation was abandoned at a subsequent period only. To the Messiah this passage is referred by the Chaldean Paraphrast, by the Commentary on Genesis known by the name Breshith Rabbah in the exposition of Genesis xli. 44 (see Raim. Martini Pugio fidei, Vol. iii. sec. 3, chap. xiv. Sec. 6), by Rabbi Jose Galilaeus in the book Ekha Rabbati, a Commentary on Lamentations (see Raim. Matt. iii. 3 chap. 4, Sec. 13). Ben Sira (fol. 40 ed., Amstel. 1679), mentions among the eight names of the Messiah, the following from the passage before us: Wonderful, Counsellor, El Gibbor, Prince of Peace. But the late Jewish interpreters found it objectionable that the Messiah, in opposition to their doctrinal views, was here described as God; for doctrinal reasons, therefore, they gave up the received interpretation, and sought to adapt the passage to Hezekiah. Among these, however, Rabbi Lipmann allows the Messianic explanation to a certain degree to remain. Acknowledging that the prophecy could not refer exclusively to Hezekiah, he extends it to all the successors from the House of David, including the Messiah, by whom it is to attain its most perfect fulfilment. Among Christian interpreters, Grotius was the first to abandon the Messianic explanation. Even Clericus acknowledges that the predicates are applicable to Hezekiah "sensu admodum diluto" only. At the time when Rationalism had the ascendancy, it became pretty current to explain them of Hezekiah. Gesenius modified this view by supposing that the Prophet had connected his Messianic wishes and expectations with Hezekiah, and [Pg 94] expected their realization by him. At present this view is nearly abandoned; after Gesenius, Hendewerk is the only one who still endeavours to defend it.
Against the application to Hezekiah even this single argument is decisive, that a glory is here spoken of, which is to be bestowed especially upon Galilee which belonged to the kingdom of the ten tribes. Farther—Although the prophecy be considered as a human foreboding only, how could the Prophet, to whom, everywhere else such a sharp eye is ascribed, that, from it, they endeavour to explain his fulfilled prophecies,—how could the Prophet have expected that Hezekiah, who was at that time a boy of about nine years of age, and who appeared under such unfavourable circumstances, should realize the hopes which he here utters in reference to the world's power, should conquer that power definitively and for ever, should infinitely extend his kingdom, and establish an everlasting dominion? How could he have ascribed divine attributes to Hezekiah who, in his human weakness, stood before him? Finally—The undeniable agreement of the prophecy before us with other Messianic passages, especially with Ps. lxxii. and Is. xi., where even Gesenius did not venture to maintain the reference to Hezekiah, is decidedly in opposition to the reference to Hezekiah.
THE TWIG OF JESSE. (Chap. xi., xii.)
These chapters constitute part of a larger whole which begins with chap. x. 5. With regard to the time of the composition of this discourse, it appears, from chap. x. 9-11, that Samaria was already conquered. The prophecy, therefore, cannot be prior to the sixth year of Hezekiah. On the other hand, the defeat of the Assyrian host, which, under Sennacherib, invaded Judah, is announced as being still future. The prophecy, accordingly, falls into the period between the 6th and the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign. From the circumstance that in it [Pg 95] the king of Asshur is represented as being about to march against Jerusalem, it is commonly inferred that it was uttered shortly before the destruction of the Assyrian host, and hence, belongs to the fourteenth year of Hezekiah. But this ground is not very safe. It would certainly be overlooking the liveliness with which the prophets beheld and represented future things as present; it would be confounding the ideal Present with the actual, if we were to infer from vers. 28-32 that the Assyrian army must already have reached the single stations mentioned there. The utmost that we are entitled to infer from this liveliness of description is, that the Assyrian army was already on its march; but not even that can be inferred with certainty. In favour of the immediate nearness of the danger, however, is the circumstance that, in the prophecy, the threatening is kept so much in the background; that, from the outset, it is comforting and encouraging, and begins at once with the announcement of Asshur's destruction, and Judah's deliverance. This seems to suggest that the place which, everywhere else, is occupied by the threatening, was here taken by the events themselves; so that of the two enemies of salvation, proud security and despair, the latter only was here to be met. The prophecy before us opens the whole series of the prophecies out of the 14th year of Hezekiah, the most remarkable year of the Prophet's life, rich in the revelations of divine glory, in which his prophecy flowed in full streams, and spread on all sides.
The prophecy divides itself into two parts. The first, chap. x. 5-34, contains the threatening against Asshur, who was just preparing to inflict the deadly blow upon the people of God. The fact that in chap. xi. we have not an absolutely new beginning before us, sufficiently appears from the general analogy, according to which, as a rule, the Messianic prophecy does not begin the prophetical discourse; but still more clearly from the circumstance that chap. xi. begins with "and;" to which argument may still be added the fact that the figure in the first verse of this chapter evidently refers to the figure in the last verse of the preceding chapter. Asshur had there been represented as a stately forest which was to be cut down by the hand of the Lord; while here the house of David appears as a stem cut down, from the roots of which a small twig shall [Pg 96] come forth, which, although unassuming at first, is to grow up into a fruit-bearing tree. The purpose of the whole discourse was to strengthen and comfort believers on the occasion of Asshur's inroad into the country; to bring it home to the convictions of those who were despairing of the Kingdom of God, that He who is in the midst of them is greater than the world with all its apparent power; and thereby to awaken and arouse them to resign themselves entirely into the hands of their God. It is for this purpose that the Prophet first describes the catastrophe of Asshur; that, then, in chap. xi., he points to the highest glorification which in future is destined for the Church of God by the appearance of Christ, in order that she may the more clearly perceive that every fear regarding her existence is folly.
The connection of the two passages appears so much the more plainly when we consider, that that which, in chap. x., was said of Asshur, and especially the close in vers. 33 and 34: "Behold Jehovah of hosts cuts down the branches with power, and those of a high stature shall be hewn down, and the high ones shall be made low. And He cuts down the thickets of the forest with the iron, and Lebanon shall fall by the glorious one," refers to him as the representative of the whole world's power; that the defeat of Sennacherib before Jerusalem is to be considered as the nearest fulfilment only, but not as the full and real fulfilment.
From the family of David sunk into total obscurity—such is the substance—there shall, at some future period, rise a Ruler who, at first low and without appearance, shall attain to great glory and bestow rich blessings,—a Ruler furnished with the fulness of the Spirit of God and of His gifts, filled with the fear of God, looking sharply and deeply, and not blinded by any appearance, just and an helper of the oppressed, an almighty avenger of wickedness, ver. 1-5. By him all the consequences of the fall, even down to the irrational creation, in the world of men and of nature, shall be removed, ver. 6-9. Around Him the Gentiles, formerly addicted to idols, shall gather, ver. 10. In ver. 11-16 the Prophet describes what he is to do for Israel, to whom the discourse was in the first instance addressed, and upon whom it was to impress the word: "Fear not." Under Him they obtain deliverance [Pg 97] from the condition of being scattered and exiled from the face of the Lord, the removal of pernicious dissensions, conquering power in relation to the world which assails them, and the removal of all obstacles to salvation by the powerful arm of the Lord.
The reference of the prophecy to the Messiah is, among all the explanations, the most ancient. We find it in the Targum of Jonathan, who thus renders the first verse: [Hebrew: vipq mlka mbnvhi diwi vmwiHa mbni bnvhi itrbi]. St. Paul quotes this prophecy in Rom. xv. 12, and proves from it the calling of the Gentiles. In 2 Thes. ii. 8 he quotes the words of ver. 4, and assigns to Christ what is said in it. In Rev. v. 5, xxii. 16, Christ, with reference to ver. 1 and 10, is called the root of David. The Messianic explanation was defended by most of the older Jewish interpreters, especially by Jarchi, Abarbanel, and Kimchi.[1] It is professed even by most of the rationalistic interpreters, by the modern ones especially, without any exception (Eichhorn, De Wette, Gesenius, Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald), although, it is true, they distinguish between Jesus Christ and the Messiah of the Old Testament,—as, e.g., Gesenius has said: "Features such as those in ver. 4 and 5 exclude any other than the political Messiah, and King of the Israelitish state," and Hitzig: "A political Messiah whose attributes, especially those assigned to him ver. 3 and 4, are not applicable to Jesus."
But the non-Messianic interpretation, too, has found its defenders. According to a statement of Theodoret, the passage was referred by the Jews to Zerubbabel.[2] Interpreters more numerous and distinguished have referred it to Hezekiah. This interpretation is mentioned as early as by Ephraem Syrus; among the Rabbis it was held by Moses Hakkohen, and Abenezra; among Christian interpreters, Grotius was the first who professed it, but in such a manner that he assumed a higher reference to Christ. ("The Prophet returns to praise Hezekiah in words under which the higher praises of Christ are concealed.") He was followed by Dathe. The exclusive reference to Hezekiah was maintained by Hermann v. d. [Pg 98] Hardt, in a treatise published in 1695, which, however, was confiscated; then, by a number of interpreters at the commencement of the age of Rationalism, at the head of whom was Bahrdt. Among the expositors of the last decade, this interpretation is held by Hendewerk alone.
The reasons for the Messianic interpretation, and against making Hezekiah the subject of the prophecy, are, among others, the following:—
1. The comparison of the parallel passages. The Messiah is here represented under the figure of a shoot or sprout. This has become so common, as a designation of the Messiah, that the name "Sprout" has almost become a proper name of the Messiah; compare the remarks on chap. iv. 2. A striking resemblance to ver. 1 is presented by chap. lviii. 2, where the Messiah, to express His lowliness at the beginning of His course, is, in the same manner as here, compared to a feeble and tender twig. Ps. lxxii. and the prophecies in chap. ii., iv., vii., ix., and Mic. v., present so many agreements and coincidences with the prophecy under consideration, that they must necessarily be referred to one and the same subject. The reception of the Gentile nations into the Kingdom of God, the holiness of its members, the cessation of all hostilities, are features which constantly recur in the Messianic prophecies.
2. There are features interwoven with the prophecy which lead to a more than human dignity of its subject. Even this circumstance is of importance here, that the whole earth appears as the sphere of His dominion. Still more distinctly is the human sphere overstepped by the announcement that, under His government, sin, yea, even all destruction in the outward nature is to cease, and the earth is to return to the happy condition in which it was before the fall. According to ver. 4, He slays the wicked in the whole earth by His mere word,—a thing which elsewhere is said of God only; and according to ver. 10, the heathen shall render Him religious reverence.
3. A future scion of David is here promised. For [Hebrew: vica] in ver. 1 must be taken as a praeteritum propheticum, as is evident from its being connected with the preceding chapter, which has to do with future things, and in which the preterites have a prophetic meaning; as also by the analogy of the following preterites from which this can by no means be separated. But [Pg 99] at the time when this prophecy was composed, Hezekiah had long ago entered upon the government.
4. The circumstances under which the Prophet makes the King appear are altogether different from those at the time of Hezekiah. According to ver. 1 and 10, the royal house of David would have entirely declined, and sunk into the obscurity of private life, at the time when the Promised One would appear. The Messiah is there represented as a tender twig which springs forth from the roots of a tree cut down. In the circumstance, too, that the stem is not called after David, but after Jesse, it is intimated that the royal family is then to have sunk back into the obscurity of private life. This does not apply to Hezekiah, under whom the Davidic dynasty maintained its dignity, but to Christ only. Farther: In ver. 11 there is an announcement of the return of not only the members of the kingdom of the ten tribes, but also of the members of the kingdom of Judah from all the countries in which they were dispersed. This must refer to a far later time than that of Hezekiah; for at his time no carrying away of the inhabitants of Judah had taken place. This argument is conclusive also against the false modified Messianic explanation as it has been advanced by Ewald, according to which the Prophet is supposed to have expected that the Messiah would appear immediately after the judgment upon the Assyrians, and after the conversion and reform of those in the Church who had been spared in the judgment. The facts mentioned show that between the appearance of the Messiah, and the Present and immediate Future, there lay to the Prophet still a wide interval in which an entire change of the present state of things was to take place. Ver. 11 is here of special importance. For this verse opens up to us the prospect of a whole series of catastrophes to be inflicted upon Israel by the world's powers, all of which are already to have taken place at the time of the King's appearance, and which lay beyond the historical horizon at the time of the Prophet.
A certain amount of truth, indeed, lies at the foundation of the explanation which refers the prophecy to Hezekiah. The fundamental thought of the prophecy before us: "The exaltation of the world's power, is a prophecy of its abasement; the abasement of the Davidic Kingdom is a prophecy of its exaltation," [Pg 100] was, in a prelude, to be realized even at that time. But the Prophet does not limit himself to these feeble beginnings. He points to the infinitely greater realization of this idea in the distant future, where the abasement should be much deeper, but the exaltation also infinitely higher. To him who had first, by a living faith, laid hold of Christ's appearance, it must be easy, even in the present difficulty, to hope for the lower salvation.
The distinction between the "political Messiah" of the prophecy before us, and "Jesus of Nazareth"—a distinction got up by Rationalism—rests chiefly upon the fact that Rationalism knows Christ as the Son of Man only, and is entirely ignorant of His true eternal Kingdom. Hence a prophecy which, except the intimation, in ver. 1, of His lowliness at first, refers altogether to the glorified Christ, could not but appear as inapplicable. But it is just by ver. 4, to which they chiefly appeal, that a "political Messiah" is excluded; for to such an one the words: "He smiteth the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slayeth the wicked" do not in the least apply. And so likewise vers. 6-9 altogether go beyond the sphere of a political Messiah, All that at first sight seems to lead to such an one belongs to the imagery which was, and could not fail to be, taken from the predecessors and types on the throne of David, since Christ was to be represented as He in whom the Davidic Kingdom attains to its full truth and glory.
In the whole section, the Redeemer appears as a King. This is altogether a matter of course, for He forms the antithesis to the king of Asshur. It is quite in vain that Umbreit has endeavoured to bring political elements into the description. Thereby the sense is essentially altered. We must keep closely in view the Prophet's starting-point. Before those who were filled with cares and fears, lest the Davidic Kingdom should be overturned by the Assyrian kingdom, he holds up the bright image of the Kingdom of David, in its last completion. When they had received that into their hearts, the king of Asshur could not fail to appear to them in a light altogether different, as a miserable wretch. The giant at once dwindled down into a contemptible dwarf, and with tears still [Pg 101] in their eyes they could not avoid laughing at themselves for having stood so much in awe of him.
As is commonly the case in the Messianic prophecies, so here, too, no attention is paid to the development of Christ's Kingdom in time. Everything, therefore, is fulfilled only as to its beginning; and the complete fulfilment still stands out for that future in which, after the fulness of the Gentiles has been brought in, and apostate Israel has been converted, the consequences of the fall shall, in the outward nature also, be removed.
Ver. 1. "And there cometh forth a twig from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit."
The circumstance that the words in the first verse are completed in the number seven, divided into three and four, intimates that the Prophet here enters upon the territory of the revelation of a mystery of the Kingdom of God. Totally different—so the Prophet begins—from the fate of Asshur, just now proclaimed, shall that of the royal house of David be. Asshur shall be humbled at a time when he is most elevated. Lebanon falls through the mighty One: but the house of David shall be exalted at a time when he is most humbled. Who then would tremble and be afraid, although it go downward? Luther says: "This is a short summary of the whole of theology and of the works of God, that Christ did not come till the trunk had died, and was altogether in a hopeless condition; that hence, when all hope is gone, we are to believe that it is the time of salvation, and that God is then nearest when He seems to be farthest off!" The same contrast appears in Ezek. xvii. 24. The Lord brings down the high tree of the world's power, and exalts the low tree of the Davidic house. The word [Hebrew: gze] does not mean "stem" in general, as several rationalistic interpreters, and Meier last, have asserted, but rather stump, truncus, [Greek: kormos], as Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, translate. This is proved from the following reasons: (1) the derivation from [Hebrew: gze], in Arabic secuit, equivalent to [Hebrew: gde], "to cut off," chap. ix. 9; x. 33. The [Hebrew: gdeiM] in latter passage clearly refers to the [Hebrew: gze] here. The proud trees of Asshur shall be cut down; from the cut down trunk of David there shall grow up a new tree overshadowing the earth, and offering glorious fruits to them that dwell on it.—(2) The usus loquendi. The signification, "stump," is, by [Pg 102] the context, required in the two passages in which the word [Hebrew: gze] still occurs. In Job xiv. 8, it is obvious. The whole passage there from vers. 7-9 illustrates the figurative representation in the verse under review. "For there is hope of a tree; if it be cut down it will sprout again, and its tender branch does not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stump thereof die in the dust, through the scent of waters it buds, and brings forth boughs, like one newly planted." We have here the figure of our verse carried out. That which water is to the natural tree decaying, the Spirit and grace of God are to the dying tree, cut down to the very roots, of the Davidic family. In the second passage. Is. xl. 23, 24, it is only by a false interpretation that [Hebrew: gze] has been understood of the stem in general. "He bringeth princes to nothing, He destroyeth the kings of the earth. They are not planted; they are not sown; their stump does not take root in the earth." The Prophet, having previously proved God's elevation over the creature, from the creation and preservation of the world, now proves it from the nothingness of all that which on earth has the greatest appearance of independent power. It costs Him no effort to destroy all earthly greatness which places itself in opposition to Him. He blows on them, and they have disappeared without leaving any trace. If God's will be not with it, princes will not attain to any firm footing and prosperity (they are not planted and sown); they are like a cut-down stem which has no more power to take root in the earth. A tree not planted dries up; corn not sown does not produce fruit; a cut down tree does not take root.—(3.) The connection. In the second member of the verse we read: "A branch from his roots shall bear fruit." Unless we mean to adopt the altogether unsuitable expedient of explaining it of a wild twig which shoots forth from the roots of a still standing tree, we cannot but think of a stem cut down to the very root. Against the opinion of Hendewerk who remarks: "An indirect shoot from the root which comes forth from the root through the stem;" and against Meier's opinion: "The root corresponds with the stem, and both together form the living tree," it is decisive, that in ver. 10, the Messiah is simply, and without any mention being made of the stem, designated as [Hebrew: wrw] "a shoot from the root." Farther, chap. liii. 2, where the Messiah is represented [Pg 103] as a shoot from the root out of a dry ground.—(4.) It is only when [Hebrew: gze] has the meaning, "stump," that it can be accounted for why the [Hebrew: gze] of Jesse, and not of David, is spoken of—(5.) The supposition that the Messiah shall be born at the time of the deepest humiliation of the Davidic family, after the entire loss of the royal dignity, pervades all the other prophetical writings. That Micah views the Davidic family as entirely sunk at the time of Christ's appearance, we showed in vol. I. p. 508-9. Compare farther the remarks on Amos ix. 11, and those on Matth. ii. 23 immediately following.—Hitzig is obliged to confess that [Hebrew: gze] can designate the cut-off stem only; but maintains that Jesse, as an individual long ago dead, is designated as a cut-off tree. But against this opinion is the relation which, as we proved, exists between this verse and the last verses of the preceding chapter; the undeniable correspondence of [Hebrew: gze] with [Hebrew: gdeiM] in chap. x. 33. In that case the antithesis also, so evidently intended by the Prophet, would be altogether lost. It is not by any means a thing so uncommon, that a man who is already dead should have a glorious descendant. To this it may further be added that, according to this supposition, the circumstance is not all accounted for, that Jesse is mentioned, and not David, the royal ancestor, as is done everywhere else. Finally—In this very forced explanation, the parallel passages are altogether left out of view, in which likewise the doctrine is contained that, at the time of Christ's appearance, the Davidic family should have altogether sunk. The reason of all these futile attempts at explaining away the sense so evident and obvious, is none other than the fear of acknowledging in the prophecy an element which goes beyond the territory of patriotic fancy and human knowledge. But this dark fear should here so much the more be set aside, that, according to other passages also, the Prophet undeniably had the knowledge and conviction that Israel's course would be more and more downward before it attained, in Christ, to the full height of its destiny. We need remind only of the prophecies in chap. v. and vi.; and it is so much the more natural here to compare the latter of them, that, in it, in ver. 13, Israel, at the time of the appearing of the Messianic Kingdom, is represented as a felled tree,—a fact which has for its ground the sinking of the [Pg 104] Davidic race which is here announced. We farther direct attention to the circumstance that in our prophecy itself, Israel's being carried away into all the countries of the earth is foreseen as future,—a circumstance which is so much the more analogous, that there also, as here, the foreknowledge clothes itself in the form of the supposition and not of express announcement. With regard to the latter point, it may still be remarked that Amos also, in chap. ix. 11, by speaking of the raising up of the tabernacle of David which is fallen, anticipates its future lowliness.—The question still arises:—Why is it that the Messiah is here designated as a rod of Jesse, while elsewhere, His origin is commonly traced back to David? Umbreit is of opinion that the mention of Jesse may be explained from the Prophet's desire to trace the pedigree as far back as possible; in its apparent extinction, the family of the Messiah was to be pointed out as a very old one. But if this had been his intention, he would have gone back beyond Jesse to the older ancestors whom the Book of Ruth mentions; and if he had been so anxious to honour the family of the Messiah, it would, at all events, have been far more suitable to mention David than Jesse, who was only one degree removed from him. The sound view has been long ago given by Calvin, who says: "The Prophet does not mention David; but rather Jesse. For so much was the dignity of that family diminished, that it seemed to be a rustic, ignoble family rather than a royal one." It was appropriate that that family, upon whom was a second time to be fulfilled the declaration in Ps. cxiii. 7, 8: "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; He lifteth up the needy out of the dunghill, that He may set him with princes, with the princes of His people,"—in which, the second time, the transition should take place from the low condition to the royal dignity, should not be mentioned according to its royal, but according to its rustic character. This explanation of the fact is confirmed by the circumstance that it agrees exceedingly well with the right interpretation of [Hebrew: gze]: Jesse is mentioned and not David, because the Davidic dignity had become a [Hebrew: gze]. The mention of Jesse's name thus explained, agrees, then, with the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, announced by Isaiah's cotemporary, Micah. Christ was to be born at Bethlehem, because that residence was peculiar to the [Pg 105] family of David during its lowliness; comp. vol. I., p. 508-9.—The second hemistich of the verse may either be explained: "a twig from his roots shall bear fruit," or, as agrees better with the accents: "a twig shall from his roots bear fruit." The sense, at all events, is: A shoot proceeding from his roots (i.e., the cut-off stem of Jesse) shall grow up into a stately fruitful tree; or: As a tree cut down throws out from its roots a young shoot which, at first inconsiderable, grows up into a stately fruit-bearing tree, so from the family buried in contempt and lowliness, a King shall arise who, at first humble and unheeded,[3] shall afterwards attain to great glory. Parallel is Ezek. xvii. 22-24. The Messiah is there compared to a tender twig which is planted by the Lord on a high hill, and sends forth branches and bears fruit, so that all the birds dwell in the shadow of its branches.—It has now become current to explain: "A branch breaks forth or sprouts;" but that explanation is against the usus loquendi. [Hebrew: prh] is never equivalent to [Hebrew: prH] "to break forth;" it has only the signification "to bear," "to bear fruit," "to be fruitful." Gesenius who, in the later editions of his translation, here explains [Hebrew: prh] by, "to break forth," knows, in the Thesaurus, of no other signification. In the passage of Ezekiel referred to, which may be considered as a commentary on the verse before us, [Hebrew: ewh pri] corresponds to the [Hebrew: iprh] here. The change of the tense, too, suggests that [Hebrew: iprh] does not contain a mere repetition, but a progress. This progress is necessary for the sense of the whole verse. For it cannot be the point in question that, in general, a shoot comes forth; but the point is that this shoot shall attain to importance and glory. [Hebrew: iprh] comprehends and expresses in one word that which, in the subsequent verses of the section, is carried out in detail. First, there is the bestowal of the Spirit of the Lord whereby He is enabled to bear fruit; then, the fruit-bearing itself. |
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