covenant of absolute exclusiveness, Gen. xvii. 7. The Servant of God is called the personal and embodied Covenant, because in His appearance the covenant made with Israel is to find its full truth; and every thing implied in the very idea of a covenant, all the promises flowing from this idea, are to be in Him, Yea and Amen. The Servant of God is here called the Covenant of Israel, just in the same manner as in Mic. v. 4 (comp. Ephes. ii. 14), it is said of Him: "This (man) is Peace," because in Him, peace, as it were, represents itself personally;—just as in chap. xlix. 6, He is called the Salvation of God, because this salvation becomes personal in Him, the Saviour,—just as in Gen. xvii. 10, 13, circumcision is called a covenant, as being the embodied covenant,—just as in Luke xxii. 20, the cup, the blood of Christ, is called the New Covenant, because in it it has its root. The explanation: Mediator of the covenant, [Greek: diathekes enguos], is meagre, and weakens the meaning. The circumstance that the Servant of God is, without farther qualification, called the Covenant of the people, shows that He stands in a different relation to the covenant from that of Moses, to whom the name of the Mediator of the covenant does not the less belong than to Him. From Jer. xxxi. 31, we learn which are the blessings and gifts which the Servant of God is to bestow, and by which He represents himself as the personal Covenant. They are concentrated in the closest connection to be established by Him between God and His people: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." It is only in the New Covenant, described in that passage of Jeremiah, that the Old Covenant attains to its truth. The second destination of the Servant of God, which, according to the context, here comes into special consideration, is, to be the Light of the Gentiles. By the realization of this destination, an important feature in [Pg 222] the former was, at the same time, realized. For it formed part of the promises of the covenant with Israel that, from the midst of them, salvation for all the families of the earth should go forth, as our Saviour says: [Greek: he soteria ek ton Ioudaion estin.] Light is here, according to the common usus loquendi of Scripture, a figurative designation of salvation. In the parallel passage, chap. xlix. 6, light is at once explained by salvation. The designation proceeds upon the supposition that the Gentiles, not less than Israel, (comp. chap. ix. 1 [2]) shall, until the appearance of the Servant of God, sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,—that they are in misery, although, in some instances, it may be a brilliant misery. The following verse farther carries out and declares what is implied in the promise: "Light of the Gentiles." Parallel is chap. lx. 3: "And the heathen walk in thy (Zion's) light"—they become partakers of the salvation which shines for Zion—"and kings in the brightness which riseth to thee."—The supporters of that opinion, which understands Israel by the Servant of God, are in no small difficulty regarding this verse, and cannot even agree as to the means of escape from that difficulty. Several assume that [Hebrew: eM] is used collectively, and refer it to the Gentile nations. But opposed to this explanation is the evident antithesis of [Hebrew: eM] and [Hebrew: gviM]; and it is entirely overthrown by the parallel passage in chap. xlix. Scripture knows nothing of a covenant with the Gentiles. According to the view of the Old, as well as of the New Testament, the Gentiles are received into the communion of the covenant with Israel. Others (Hitzig, Ewald) explain: "covenant-people, i.e., a mediatorial, connecting people, a bond of union between God and the nations." But the passage, chap. xlix. 8, is most decidedly opposed to this. Farther—The parallelism with [Hebrew: avr gviM] shows that [Hebrew: brit eM] is the status constructus. But f[oe]dus alicujus, is, according to the remark of Gesenius, f[oe]dus cum aliquo sancitum. Thus in Lev. xxvi. 45, the covenant of the ancestors is the covenant entered into with the ancestors; Deut. iv. 31; Lev. xxvi. 42 (the covenant of Jacob, the covenant of Isaac, &c.) According to Knobel: "the true theocrats are to become a covenant of the people, the restorers of the Israelitish Theocracy, they themselves having connection and unity by faithfully holding fast by Jehovah, and by representing His cause." This explanation, [Pg 223] also, is opposed to the usus loquendi, according to which "covenant of the people" can have the sense only of "covenant with the people," not a covenant among the people. And, farther, the parallel passage in chap. xlix. 8 is opposed to this interpretation also, inasmuch as, in that passage, the Servant of the Lord is called [Hebrew: brit eM], not on account of what He is in himself, but on account of the influence which He exercises upon others, upon the whole of the people: "That thou mayest raise up the land, distribute desolate heritages, that thou mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth," &c. In that passage the land, the desolate heritages, the prisoners, &c., evidently correspond to the people. Finally—A covenant is a relation between two parties standing opposite one another. "The word is used," says Gesenius, "of a covenant formed between nations, between private persons, e.g., David and Jonathan, between Jehovah and the people of Israel." But here no parties are mentioned to be united by the covenant.

Ver. 7. "That thou mayest open blind eyes, bring out them that are bound from the prison, and from the house of confinement them that sit in darkness."

On account of the connection with the "for the Light of the Gentiles," which would stand too much isolated, if, in the words immediately following, Israel alone were again the subject of discourse, the activity of God here mentioned refers, in the first instance, to the Gentiles; and the words: "them that sit in darkness," moreover, evidently point back to "for the Light of the Gentiles." But from chap. xlix. 9, and also from ver. 16 of the chapter before us, where the blindness of Israel is mentioned, it appears that Israel too must not be excluded. Hence, we shall say: It is here more particularly described how the Servant of God proves himself as the Covenant of the people and the Light of the Gentiles, how He puts an end to the misery under which both equally groan. It will be better to understand blindness, in connection with imprisonment, sitting in darkness, as a designation of the need of salvation, than as a designation of spiritual blindness, of the want of the light of knowledge. That is also suggested by the preceding: "for the Light of the Gentiles," which, according to the common usus loquendi, and according to chap. ix. 1 (2) is not to be referred to the spiritual illumination especially, [Pg 224] but to the bestowal of salvation. To this view we are likewise led by a comparison of ver. 16: "And I will lead the blind by a way that they knew not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known, I will change the darkness before them into light, the crooked things into straightness." The blind in this verse are those who do not know what to do, and how to help themselves, those who cannot find the way of salvation, the miserable; they are to be led by the Lord on the ways of salvation, which are unknown to them. In a similar sense and connection, the blind are, elsewhere also, spoken of, comp. Remarks on Ps. cxlv. 8.—On the words: "Bring out them that are bound from the prison," Knobel remarks: "The citizens of Judah were, to a great extent, imprisoned; the Prophet hopes for their deliverance by the theocratic portion of the people." A strange hope! By this coarsely literal interpretation, the connection with "for the Light of the Gentiles" is broken up; and this is the less admissible that the words at the close of the verse: "those that sit in darkness," so clearly refer to it. Imprisonment is a figurative designation of the miserable condition, not less than, the darkness, which, on account of the light contrasted with it, and on account of chap. ix. 1 (2), cannot be understood otherwise than figuratively. Under the image of men bound in dark prisons, the miserable and afflicted appear also in Ps. cvii. 10-16; Job xxxvi. 8, where the words, "bound in fetters," are explained by the parallel "holden in the cords of misery." When David, in Ps. cxlii. 8, prays: "Bring my soul out of the prison," he himself explains this in Ps. cxliii. 11 by the parallel: "Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble;" comp. also Ps. xxv. 17: "O bring thou me out of my distresses." If we here understand the prison literally, we might, with the same propriety in other passages, also, e.g., in Ps. lxvi. 11, understand literally the net, the snare, the trap.

Ver. 8: "I the Lord, that is my name, and my honour I will not give to another, nor my glory to idols. Ver. 9. The former (things), behold, they came to pass, and new (things) do I declare; before they spring forth, I cause you to hear."

We have here the solemn close and exhortation. At the close of chap. xli. it had been pointed out, how the prediction of the Conqueror from the East serves for the glory of Jehovah, [Pg 225] who thereby proves himself to be the only true God. Here the zeal of God for His glory is indicated as the reason which has brought forth the prediction of the Servant of God and His glorious work,—a prediction which cannot be accounted for from natural causes. It is thus the object of the prophecy which is here, in the first instance, stated. It is intended to manifest the true God as such, as a God who is zealously bent on His glory. But the same attribute of God which called forth the prophecy, calls forth also the events prophesied, viz., the appearance of the Servant of God, and the victory over the idols accomplished thereby, the bringing forth of the law of God over the whole earth through Him, and the full realization of the covenant with Israel. The thought is this:—that a God who does not manifest and prove himself as such, who is contented with the honour granted to Him without His interference, cannot be a God; that the true God must of necessity be filled with the desire of absolute, exclusive dominion, and cannot but manifest and prove this desire. From this thought, the prophecy and that which it promises flow with a like necessity.—According to Stier, [Hebrew: rawnvt], "the former (things)" means "the redemption of the exiled by Cyrus," which in chaps. xli. xlviii. forms the historico-typical foreground, whose coming is here anticipated by the Prophet. But the parallel passages, chaps. xli. 22, xliii. 9, xlviii. 3, are conclusive against this view; for, according to these passages, it is only the former already fulfilled predictions of the Prophet and his colleagues, from the beginnings of the people, which can be designated by "the former (things)." By "the new (things)" therefore, is to be understood the aggregate of the events which are predicted in the second part, to which belongs the prophecy of the Servant of God which immediately precedes, and which the Prophet has here as pre-eminently in view (Michaelis: et nova, imprimis de Messia), as, in the parallel passage chap. xli. 22, the announcement of the conqueror from the East. Both of these verses seem to round off our prophecy, by indicating that such disclosures regarding the Future are not by any means intended to serve for the gratification of idle curiosity, but to advance the same object to which the events prophesied are also subservient, viz., the promotion of God's glory. The [Pg 226] modern view of Prophetism is irreconcileable with the verses under consideration, which evidently shew, that the prophets themselves were filled with a different consciousness of their mission and position And in like manner it follows from them, that there is no reason to put, by means of a forced interpretation, the prophecy within the horizon of the Prophet's time, seeing that the Prophet himself shows himself to be thoroughly penetrated by its altogether supernatural character.



[Footnote 1: This embarrassment becomes still more obvious in the explanation of Vatke, who understands by the Servant of God, "the harmless ideal abstract of the people;" and that of Beck, who understands thereby "the notion of the people."]

[Footnote 2: The Hebrew word is [Hebrew: mwpT], which means "judgment," "right," "law." Dr. Hengstenberg has translated it by Recht, which is, as nearly as possible, expressed by the English word "right," (jus,) as including "law" and "statutes."—Tr.]



CHAPTER XLIX. 1-9.

The Servant of God, with whose person the Prophet had. by way of preparation, already made us acquainted in the first book of the second part, in chap. xlii., is here, at the beginning of the second book, at once introduced as speaking, surprising, as it were, the readers. In ver. 1-3, we have the destination and high calling which the Lord assigned to His Servant; in ver. 4, the contrast and contradiction of the result of this mission; the covenant-people, to whom it is, in the first instance, directed, reward with ingratitude His faithful work. In ver. 5 and 6, we are told what God does in order to maintain the dignity of His Servant; as a compensation for obstinate, rebellious Israel, He gives Him the Gentiles for an inheritance. From ver. 7 the Prophet takes the word. In ver. 7 the original contempt which, according to the preceding verses, the Servant of God meets with, especially in Israel, is contrasted with the respectful worship of nations and kings which is to follow after it. Ver. 8 and 9 describe how the Servant of God proves himself to be the embodied covenant of the people, and form the transition to a general description of the enjoyment of salvation, which, in the Messianic times, shall be bestowed upon the Congregation of the Lord. This description goes on to chap. l. 3, and then, in chap. l. 4 ff., the person of the Servant of the Lord is anew brought before us.

The Messianic explanation of our passage is already met with in the New Testament. It is with reference to it that [Pg 227] Simeon, in Luke ii. 30, 31, designates the Saviour as the [Greek: soterion] of God, which He had prepared before the face of all people (comp. ver. 6 of our passage: "That thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth"), as the [Greek: phos eis apokalupsin ethnon kai doxan laou sou Israel]; comp. again ver. 6, according to which the Servant of God is to be at the same time, the light of the Gentiles, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. Ver. 1: "The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name," is alluded to in Luke ii. 21: [Greek: Kai eklethe to onoma autou Iesous, to klethen hupo tou angelou pro tou sullephthenai auton en te koilia] (comp. i. 31: [Greek: sullepse en gastri kai texe huion kai kaleseis to onoma autou Iesoun]) as is sufficiently evident from [Greek: en te koilia] sc. matris, which exactly answers to the [Hebrew: mbTN] in the passage before us. In Acts xiii. 46, 47, Paul and Barnabas prove, from the passage under review, the destination of Christ to be the Saviour of the Gentiles, and their right to offer to them the salvation despised and rejected by the Jews: [Greek: idou strephometha eis ta ethne. houto gar entetaltai hemin ho Kurios. tetheika se eis phos ethnon tou einai se eis soterian heos eschatou tes ges.] In the destination which, in Isaiah, the Lord assigns to Christ, Paul and Barnabas recognize an indirect command for his disciples, a rule for their conduct. In 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2, ver. 8 is quoted, and referred to the Messianic time.

It is obvious that the Jews could not be favourable to the Messianic interpretation; but the Christian Church has held fast by it for nearly 1800 years. Even such interpreters as Theodoret and Clericus, who are everywhere rather disposed to explain away real Messianic references, than to find the Messiah where He is not presented, consider the Messianic interpretation to be, in this place, beyond all doubt. The former says: "This was said with a view to the Lord Christ, who is the seed of Abraham, through whom the nations received the promise." And when, in our century, men returned to the faith, the Messianic interpretation also returned. If the Church has Christ at all, it is impossible that she should fail to find Him here.

Gesenius, and those who have followed him, appeal to the circumstance, that the Messiah could not well be introduced as speaking, and, least of all, in such a manner, without any introduction [Pg 228] and preparation. But it is difficult to see how this argument can be advanced by those who themselves assume that a mere personification, the collective body of the prophets, or, as Beck expresses it, the Prophet [Greek: kat'exochen] as a general substantial individual, or even the people, can be introduced as speaking. The introduction of persons is a necessary result of the dramatic character of prophetic Speech, comp., e.g., chap. xiv., where now the king of Babylon, then the inhabitants of the Sheol, and again Jehovah, are introduced as speaking. The person who is here introduced as speaking is already known from chap. xlii., where he is spoken of. The prophecy before us stands to that prophecy in the very same relation as does Ps. ii. 7-9, where the Anointed One suddenly appears as speaking, to the preceding verses, where He was spoken of The Messiah is here so distinctly described, as to His nature and character, that it is impossible not to recognise Him. Who but He should be the Covenant of the people, the Light of the Gentiles, the Saviour for all the ends of the earth? The point which was here concerned was not, first to introduce Him to the knowledge of the people. His image existed there already in sharp outlines, even from and since Gen. xlix. 10, where the Peaceful One meets us, in whom Judah attains to the full height of his destination, and to whom the people adhere. The circumstance that it is just here that the Messiah appears as speaking, forms the most appropriate introduction to the second book, in which He is the principal figure.—It is by a false literal interpretation only that ver. 8, 9 have been advanced in opposition to the Messianic interpretation.

The arbitrariness of the non-Messianic interpretation manifests itself in this also, that its supporters can, up to this day, not agree as to the subject of the prophecy. 1. According to several interpreters—Hitzig, last of all—the Servant of God is to be Israel, and the idea this, that Israel would, at some future period, be the teacher of the Gentiles, and would spread the true religion on earth. It is apparently only that this interpretation receives some countenance from ver. 3, where the Servant of the Lord is called Israel. For this name does not there stand as an ordinary nomen proprium, but as an honorary name, to designate the high dignity and destination of the Servant of God. As this name had passed over from [Pg 229] an individual to a people, so it may again be transferred from the people to that person in whom the people attain their destination, in which, up to that time, they had failed But decisive against this explanation, which makes the whole people the subject, is ver. 5, according to which the Servant of God is destined to lead back to the Lord, Jacob and Israel (in the ordinary sense), who then must be different from Him; ver. 6, according to which He is to raise up the tribes of Jacob; ver. 8, 9, according to which He is to be the Covenant of the people, to deliver the prisoners, &c. (Knobel remarks on this verse: "Nothing is clearer than that the Servant of God is not identical with the mass of the people, but is something different.") Supposing even that the people, destined to be the teachers of the Gentiles, appear here as speaking, it is difficult to see how, in ver. 4, they could say that hitherto they had laboured in vain in their vocation, and seen no fruits, since hitherto the people had made no attempt at all at the conversion of the Gentiles. 2. Maurer, Knobel, and others, endeavour to explain it of the better portion of the people. But conclusive against this interpretation is ver. 6, according to which the Servant of God has the destination of restoring the preserved of Israel, and hence must be distinct from the better portion; ver. 8, according to which He is given for a Covenant of the people, from which, according to ver. 4 and 6, the ungodly are excluded; so that the idea of the people is identical with that of the better portion. In general, the contrasting of the better portion of the people with the whole people, Jacob and Israel, the centre and substance of which was formed just by the [Greek: ekloge], can scarcely be thought of, and is without any analogy. Nor is the mention of the womb. and bowels of the mother, in ver. 1, reconcileable with a merely imaginary person, and that, moreover, a person of a character so indistinct and indefinite,—a character which has no definite and palpable historical beginnings. The parallel passages, in which the calling from the womb is mentioned, treat of real persons, of individuals.—3. According to several interpreters (Jarchi, Kimchi, Abenezra, Grotius, Steudel, Umbreit, Hofmann), the Servant of the Lord is to be none other than the Prophet himself. No argument has been adduced in favour of this view, except the use of the first person, ("If here, without introduction and preparation, a discourse begins with the first [Pg 230] person, it refers most naturally to the Prophet, who is the author of the Book"),—an argument of very subordinate significance, and the more so that the person of the Prophet, everywhere else in the second part of Isaiah, steps so entirely into the background behind the great objects with which he is engaged. To follow thus the first appearance may, indeed, be becoming to a eunuch from Ethiopia, but not a Christian expounder of Scripture. The contents of the prophecy are decidedly in opposition to this opinion. Even the circumstance that a single prophet should assume the name of Israel, ver. 3, appears an intolerable usurpation. Farther— Like all the other prophets, Isaiah was sent to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles; but at the very outset, the most distant lands and all the distant nations are here called upon to hearken. The Lord says to His Servant that the restoration of Israel was too little for Him, that He should be a light and salvation for all the heathen nations from one end of the earth to the other; kings and Princes shall fall down before Him, adoring and worshipping. The Prophet would thus simply have raised himself to be the Saviour. Umbreit expressly acknowledges this: "He is to be the holy pillar of clouds and fire which leads the people back to their native land, after the time of their punishment has expired. But a still more glorious vocation and destination is in store for the prophets; they receive the highest, the Messianic destination." The usurpation of which the Servant of God would have made himself guilty, appears so much the more clearly, when it is known, that the work of the Servant of God comprehends even all that also, which is described in ver. 10-23, viz., the blossoming of the Church of God, her enlargement by the Gentiles, &c. It is obvious that, if the interpretation which refers this prediction to the prophets were the correct one, the authority of the Old Testament prophecy would be gone; the authority of the Lord himself would be endangered, inasmuch as He always recognizes, in these prophets, organs of divine inspiration and power. A vain attempt is made at mitigating this usurpation, by imperceptibly substituting the collective body of the prophets for the single prophet. This view thus leads to, and interferes with another which we shall immediately examine. But if we would not give up the sole argument by which this [Pg 231] exposition is supported, viz., the use of the first person, everything must, in the first instance, apply to and be fulfilled in Isaiah; and the other prophets can come into consideration only as continuators of his work and ministry. He is entitled to use the first person in that case only, when he is a perfect manifestation of prophetism.—4. According to Gesenius, the Servant of the Lord is to be the collective body of the prophets, the prophetic order. In opposition to this view, Stier remarks: "We maintain that, according to history, there did not at that time (the time of the exile, in which Gesenius places this prophecy) exist any prophetic order, or any distinguished blossom of it; that hence it was impossible for any reasonable man to entertain this hope, when viewed in this way, without looking farther and higher." Ver. 1 is decisive against a mere personification. The name of Israel, too, in ver. 3, is very little applicable to the whole prophetic order. This is sufficiently evident from the fact that Gesenius, in his Commentary, declared this word to be spurious; and it was at a later period only, when he had become bolder, that he endeavoured to adapt it to his self- chosen subject. Nowhere in the Old Testament do the prophets appear like the Servant of God here—as the Covenant of the people, ver. 8, as the Light of the Gentiles, ver. 6.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ver. 1. "Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far; the Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name."

As the stand-point which the Messiah occupies in the vision of the Prophet, we have to conceive of the time, at which He had already entered upon His office, and had already experienced many proofs of the Jews'unbelief and hardness of heart,—an event of the Future, the foresight of which was, even in a human point of view, very readily suggested to the Prophet after the painful experience acquired during his own long ministry; comp. chap. vi. For the fruitlessness of His ministry among the mass of the covenant-people, ver. 4, as well as the great contempt which the Servant of God found among them, ver. 7, are represented as having already taken place; [Pg 232] while the enlightenment of the Gentiles, the worship of the kings, &c, which are to be expected by Him, are represented as being still future. In the same manner, in chap. liii., the humiliation of the Servant of God appears as past; the glorification, as future, the reason why the isles are addressed (comp. remarks on chap. xlii. 4) appears in ver. 6 only, at the close of the discourse of the Servant of God, for all that precedes serves as a preparation. In that verse, the Servant of the Lord announces that the Lord had appointed Him to be the Light of the Gentiles; that He should be His salvation unto the ends of the earth. It is very significant that the second book at once begins with an address to the Gentiles, inasmuch us, thus, we are here introduced into the sphere of a redemption which does not refer to a single nation, like that with which the first book is engaged, but to the ends of the earth. At the close of the first book, in chap. xlviii. 20, it was said: "Declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth, say ye: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob." The fact that the redemption, in the first instance peculiar to Jacob, is to be proclaimed to all the nations of the earth, leads us to expect that these nations, too, have their portion in the Lord; that at some future period they are to hear a message which concerns them still more particularly. This expectation is realized here, at the opening of the second book. The fact that the Gentiles are to listen here, as those who have a personal interest in the message, is proved by the circumstance, that the words: "Unto the ends of the earth," in ver. 6 of the chapter before us, point back to the same words in chap. xlviii. 20.—The Lord had called me from the womb. It is sufficient to go thus far back in order to repress or refute the idea of His having himself usurped His office, and to furnish a foundation for the expectation that God would powerfully uphold and protect His Servant in the office which He himself had assigned to Him. Calvin remarks on these words: "They do not indicate the commencement of the time of His vocation, as if God had, only from the womb, called Him; but it is just as if it were said: Before I came forth from the womb, God had decreed that I was to undertake this office. In the same manner Paul also says that he had been separated from his mother's womb, although he was chosen before [Pg 233] the foundation of the world." To be called from the womb is, in itself, nothing extraordinary; it is common to all the servants of the Lord. Jeremiah ascribes it to himself in chap. i. 5: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee;" and in harmony with this passage in Jeremiah—not with that before us—Paul says in Gal. i. 15: [Greek: ho theos ho aphorisas] (corresponding to: I have sanctified thee) [Greek: me ek koilias metros mou.] But we have here merely the introduction to what follows, where the calling, to which the Servant of God had been destined from the womb appears as quite unique.—From the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. The name is here not an ordinary proper name, but a name descriptive of the nature,—one by which His office and vocation are designated. This making mention was, in the case of Christ, not a thing concealed; the prophecy before us received its palpable confirmation and fulfilment; inasmuch as, in reference to it, Joseph received, even before His birth, the command to call Him Jesus, Saviour: [Greek: texetai de huion kai kaleseis to onoma autou Iesoun. autos gar sosei ton laon autou apo ton hamartion auton], Matth. i. 21, after the same command had previously come to Mary, Luke i. 31; comp. ii. 21, where, as we have already remarked, there is a distinct reference to the passage before us.

Ver. 2. "And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and He hath made me a sharpened arrow, in His quiver hath He hid me."

According to the common interpretation, the words: "He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. He hath made me a sharpened arrow," are to express only such a gift of powerful, impressive speech as is common to all the servants of God, to all the prophets. But the two subjoined clauses are opposed to that interpretation. The second and fourth clauses state the reason of the first and third, and point to the source from which that emanates which is stated in them. There cannot be any doubt but that in the second and fourth clauses, the Servant of God indicates that He stands under the protection of divine omnipotence, so that the expression: "Whom I uphold," in chap. xlii. 1, is parallel. The shadow is the ordinary figure of protection. The figure of the sword is dropped in the second clause, and hence the objection, that a drawn sword does not require any protection, is out of place. This will [Pg 234] appear from a comparison of chap. li. 16: "And I put my words in thy mouth, and I cover thee with the shadow of mine hand," where the sword is not mentioned at all, and the shadow belongs simply to the person. The quiver which keeps the arrow is likewise a natural image of divine protection. The two accessory clauses do not suit, if the first and third clauses are referred to the rhetorical endowment of the Servant of God; that does not flow from the source of the protecting omnipotence of God. These accessory clauses rather suggest the idea that, by the comparison of the mouth with the sharp sword, of the whole person with the sharpened arrow, there is indicated the absolutely conquering power which, under the protection of omnipotence, adheres to the word and person of the Servant of God, so that He will easily put down everything which opposes,—equivalent to: He has endowed me with His omnipotence, so that my word produces destructive effects, and puts down all opposition, just as does His word; so that there would be a parallel in chap. xi. 4, where the word of the Servant of God likewise appears as being borne by omnipotence: "He smiteth the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slayeth the wicked." To the same result we are led also by a comparison of chap. li. 16, where the word of the Lord, which is put into the mouth of the Servant of God, is so living and powerful, so borne by omnipotence, that thereby the heavens are planted, and the foundations of the earth are laid. But of special importance are those passages of Revelation which refer to the verse under consideration. In chap. i. 16, the sharp two-edged sword does not by any means represent the power of the discourse piercing the heart for salvation; but rather the destructive power of the word which is borne by omnipotence. It designates the almighty punitive power of Christ directed against his enemies. "By the circumstance, that the sword goes out of the mouth of Christ, that destructive power is attributed to His mere word, He appears as partaking of divine omnipotence. For it belongs to God to slay by the words of His mouth, Hos. vi. 5." The same applies to chap. ii. 16. On Rev. xix. 15: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations," we remarked: "the sharp sword is not that of a teaching king, [Pg 235] but that of omnipotence which speaks and it is done, and slayeth by the breath of the lips. How Christ casts down His enemies by the word of His mouth is seen, in a prophetical instance, John xviii. 6; Acts ix. 4, 5." With the sword, Christ appears even where He does not mean to destroy, but to bring salvation; for, even in those who are to be blessed, hostile powers are to be overcome. The image, however, is here, in the fundamental passage, occasioned by the comparison of the Servant of God with the conqueror from the East, whose sword, according to chap. xli. 2, the Lord makes as dust, and his bow as the driven stubble. Where the mere word serves as a sword, the effect must be much more powerful. The conquering power throwing down every opposing power, which, in the first clause, is assigned to the mouth, is, in the third clause ("And He hath made me a sharpened arrow"), attributed to the whole person. He, of whom it was already said in Ps. xlv. 6: "Thine arrows are sharp, people fall under thee, they enter into the heart of the king's enemies," is himself to be esteemed as a sharp arrow.

Ver. 3. "And He said unto me: Thou art my Servant, O Israel, in whom I glorify myself."

"My Servant" stands here as an honorary designation; to be the Servant of God appears here as the highest privilege, as is evident not only from the analogy of the parallel passages, which treat of the Servant of God (comp. remarks on chap. xlii. 1), but also from the parallel second clause. In it, the Servant of God is called Israel as the concentration and consummation of the covenant-people, as He in whom it is to attain to its destination, in whom its idea is to be realized. (It is evident from ver. 5, and from those passages in the second part in which the people of Israel is spoken of as the Servant of God [comp. remarks on chap. xlii.], that Israel must here be understood as the name of the people, not as the name of the ancestor only.) Haevernick rightly remarks that the Messiah is here called Israel, "in contrast to the people to whom this name does not properly belong." Analogous is Matt. ii. 15, where that which, in the Old Testament, is written of Israel, is referred to Christ. As the true Israel, Christ himself also represents himself in John i. 52; with a reference to that which in Gen. xxviii. 12 is written, not of Jacob as [Pg 236] an individual, but as the representative of the whole race, it is said there: [Greek: ap'arti opsesthe ton ouranon aneogota, kai tous angelous tou theou anabainontas kai katabainontas epi ton huion tou anthropou.] All those declarations of the Old Testament, in which the name of Jacob or Israel is used to designate the election, to the exclusion of the false seed, the true Israelites in whom there is no guile,—all those passages prepare the way for, and come near to the one before us. Thus Ps. lxiii. 1: "Truly good is God to Israel, to such as are of a clean heart;" and then Ps. xxiv. 6: "They that seek thy face are Jacob," i.e., those only who, with zeal and energy in sanctification, seek for the favour of God. In the passage before us, the same principle is farther carried out. The true Israel is designated as he in whom God glorifies, or will glorify himself, inasmuch as his glorification will bear testimony to God's mercy and faithfulness; comp. John xii. 23: [Greek: eleluthen he hora hina doxasthe ho huios tou anthropou]; xvii. 5: [Greek: kai nun doxason me su pater.] The verb [Hebrew: par] means in Piel, "to adorn," in Hithp. "to adorn one's self," "to glorify one's self." Thus it occurs in Judg. vii. 2; Is. x. 15; lx. 21: "Work of my hands for glorifying," i.e., in which I glorify myself; lxi. 3: "Planting of the Lord for glorifying." There is no reason for abandoning this well-supported signification either here or in chap. xliv. 23: "The Lord hath redeemed Israel and glorified himself in Israel." If God glorifies himself in His Servant, He just thereby gets occasion to glory in Him as a monument of His goodness and faithfulness. Our Saviour prays in John xii. 28: [Greek: Pater doxason sou to onoma.] The Father, by glorifying the Son, glorifies at the same time His name. Those who explain [Hebrew: atpar] by: per quem ornabor, overlook the circumstance that, also in the phrase: "Thou art my Servant," the main stress does not, according to the parallel passages, lie in that which the Servant has to perform, but in His being the protected and preserved by God.

Ver. 4. "And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for emptiness and vanity; but my right is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

The Servant of God, after having spoken of His sublime dignity and mission, here prepares the transition for proclaiming His destination to be a Saviour of the Gentiles, to whom His whole discourse is addressed. He complains of the small [Pg 237] fruits of His ministry among Israel; but comforts himself by the confidence placed upon the righteousness of God, that the faithful discharge of the duty committed to Him cannot remain without reward. The speaking on the part of the Servant of God in this verse refers to the speaking of God in verse 3. Jerome, who remarks on this point: "But when the Father told me that which I have repeated, I answered Him: How wilt thou be glorified in me, seeing that I have laboured in vain?" recognised this reference, but erroneously viewed the words as being addressed to the Lord. It is a soliloquy which we have here before us. Instead of "I said," we are not at liberty to put: "I imagined;" the Servant of God had in reality expended His strength for nothing and vanity. As the scene of the vain labour of the Servant of God, the heathen world cannot be thought of; inasmuch as this is, first in ver. 6, assigned to Him as an indemnification for that which, according to the verse before us, He had lost elsewhere. It is Israel only which can be the object of the vain labour of the Servant of God; for it was to them that, according to ver. 5, the mission of the Servant of God in the first instance referred: The Lord had formed Him to be His Servant, to bring back to Him Jacob and Israel that were not gathered. Since, then, the mission is directed to apostate Israel, it can the less be strange that the labour was in vain. To the same result we are led also by the circumstance that, in ver. 6, the saving activity of the Servant of God appears as limited to the preserved of Israel, while the original mission had been directed to the whole. And this portion to which His activity is limited, is comparatively a small portion. For that is suggested by the circumstance that to have the preserved of Israel for His portion is represented as a light thing—not at all corresponding to the dignity of the Servant of God. As, in that verse, the preserved of Israel form the contrast to the mass of the people given up by the Lord, so in the verse under consideration, the opposition which the Servant of God finds, is represented as so great, that His ministry was, in the main, in vain; so that accordingly the great mass of the people must have been unsusceptible of it.—In the view that a great portion of the people would reject the salvation offered in Christ, and thereby become liable to judgment, the Song of Solomon [Pg 238] had already preceded our Prophet. As regards the natural grounds of this foresight, we remarked in the Commentary on the Song of Solomon, S. 245: "With a knowledge of human nature, and especially of the nature of Israel, as it was peculiar to the people from the beginning, and was firmly and deeply impressed upon them by the Mosaic laws,—after the experience which the journey through the wilderness, the time of the Judges, the reign of David and of Solomon also offered, it was absolutely impossible for the enlightened to entertain the hope that, at the appearance of the Messiah, the whole people would do homage to Him with sincere and cordial devotion." How very much this was the case, the very first chapter of Isaiah can prove. It is impossible that one who has so deeply recognized the corrupted nature of his people, should give himself up to vain patriotic fancies; to such an one, the time of the highest manifestation of salvation must necessarily be, at the same time, a period of the highest realization of judgment. The same view which is given here, we meet with also in chap. liii. 1-3. In harmony with Isaiah, Zechariah, too, prophesies, in chaps. xi., xiii. 8, that the greater portion of the Jews will not believe in Christ. Malachi iii. 1-6, 19, 24, contrasts with the longed-for judgment upon the heathen, the judgment which, in the Messianic time, is to be executed upon the people itself.—On the words: "My right is with the Lord, and my reward with my God," compare Lev. xix, 13: "The reward of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning." The God who watches that among men the well-earned wages of faithful labour shall not be withheld, will surely himself not withhold them from His Servant. The right, the well-deserved reward of His Servant is with Him; it is there safely kept, in order that it may be delivered up to Him in due time. That which the Servant of the Lord here, in the highest sense, says of himself, holds true of His inferior servants also. Their labour in the Lord is, in truth, never in vain. Their right and their reward can never fail them.

Ver. 5. "And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be a Servant to himself, to bring Jacob again to Him, and Israel which is not gathered, and I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God was my strength. Ver. [Pg 239]6. And He saith: It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my Servant only to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, and I give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my Salvation unto the ends of the earth."

The confidence which the Servant of the Lord has placed in Him has not been put to shame by the result, but rather has been gloriously justified by Him. He who was, in the first instance, sent to Israel, is appointed to be the Saviour of the Gentiles, in order to compensate Him for the unbelief of those to whom His mission was in the first instance directed. And now, i.e., since the matter stands thus (Gen. xlv. 8),—since Israel, to whom my mission is, in the first instance, directed, reject me. Saith the Lord—That which the Lord spoke follows in ver. 6 only, which, on account of the long interruption, again begins with: "And He saith," equivalent to: I say. He hath spoken. The declaration of the Lord has reference to the destination of His Servant to be the Saviour of the Gentiles. This declaration is, in ver. 5, based upon two reasons:—first, the frustration of the original mission of the Servant of the Lord to the Jews; and secondly, on the intimate relation in which He stands to the Lord, who cannot withhold from Him the reward which He deserves for His work. In the New Testament, also, the mission of Christ appears as being at first directed to the Jews only. The Lord says, in Matt. xv. 24: [Greek: ouk apestalen ei me eis ta probata ta apololota oikou Israel.] He says, in Matt. x. 6, to the Apostles, after having forbidden them to go to the heathens, and to the Samaritans, who were nothing but disguised heathens: [Greek: poreuesthe de mallon pros ta probata ta apololota oikou Israel.] Paul and Barnabas say, in Acts xiii. 46: [Greek: humin en anankaion proton lalethenai ton logon tou Theou. epeide de apotheisthe auton kai ouk axious krinete heautous tes aioniou zoes, idou strephometha eis ta ethne.] It is rather an idle question to ask what would have happened, if the Jews as a nation had accepted the offered salvation. But so much is certain that here, in the prediction, as well as in history, the rejection of Christ, on the part of the Jews, appears to have been a necessary condition of His entering upon His vocation as the Saviour of the Gentiles. Those who understood the people by the Servant of the Lord refer [Hebrew: lwibb] to Jehovah, and consider it as a Gerund. [Pg 240] reducendo, or qui reducit ad se Jacobum. In the same way they explain also the Infinit. with [Hebrew: l] in the following verse, as also in chap. li. 16. But although the Infinit. with [Hebrew: l] is sometimes, indeed, used for the Gerund., yet this is neither the original nor the ordinary use; and nowhere does it occur in such accumulation. Moreover, by this explanation, this verse, as well as the following ones, are altogether broken up, and the words [Hebrew: lwvbb ieqb aliv] must indicate the destination for which He was formed. And it is not possible that Jehovah's bringing Jacob back to himself should be a display of Israel's being formed from the womb to be the Servant, inasmuch as the bringing back would not, like the formation, belong to the first stage of the existence of the people.—"And Israel, which is not gathered." Before [Hebrew: awr], [Hebrew: la] must be supplied. According to the parallel words: "To bring Jacob again to Him," the not gathering of Israel is to be referred to its having wandered away from the Lord. It was appropriate that this should be expressly mentioned, and not merely supposed, as is the case in: "To bring Jacob again to Him." The image which lies at the foundation, is that of a scattered flock; comp. Mic. ii. 12. Parallel is Isaiah liii. 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way."—To the words under consideration the Lord alludes in Matt. xxiii. 37: [Greek: hIerousalem ... posakis ethelesa epi sunagagein ta tekna sou hon tropon episunagei ornis ta nossia heautes hupo tas pterugas kai ouk ethelesate]; comp. also Matt. ix. 36: [Greek: idon de tous ochlous esplanchnisthe peri auton hoti esan eskulmenoi kai erhrimmenoi hosei probata me echonta poimena.] On account of chap. xi. 12, it will not do to take [Hebrew: asP] in the signification of "to snatch away," "to carry off," as is done by Hitzig. Moreover [Hebrew: nasP] means, indeed, "to be gathered," but never "to be carried off" The Mazoreths would read [Hebrew: la] for [Hebrew: lv]: "And that Israel might be gathered to Him." Thus it is rendered, among the ancient translators, by Aquila and the Chaldee; while Symmachus, Theodoret, and the Vulgate express the negation. Most of the modern interpreters have followed the Mazoreths. But the assumption of several of these, that [Hebrew: la] is only a different writing for [Hebrew: lv], is altogether without foundation, compare the remarks on chap. ix. 2; and the reading of the Mazoreths is just like all the Kris, a mere conjecture, owing its origin, as has already been [Pg 241] remarked by Jerome, only to a bad Jewish patriotism. The circumstance that, with the sole exception, of 2 Chron. xxx. 3,—an exception which, from the character of the language of that book, is of no importance—the verb [Hebrew: asP] in the signification "to gather" has the person to whom it is gathered never joined to it by means of [Hebrew: l], but commonly by means of [Hebrew: al], is of so much the greater importance, that [Hebrew: l] has nothing to do with [Hebrew: al]. When Stier remarks that ver. 6, where Jacob and Israel were again beside each other in a completely parallel clause, proves that Israel's gathering can be spoken of positively only, he has overlooked the essential difference of ver. 5, which refers to the position of the Servant of God towards the whole people and ver. 6, which refers to His destination for the election.—The words: "And I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is my strength," i.e., my protection and helper, recapitulate what, in ver. 2 and 3, was said about the high dignity of the Servant of God, of which the effect appears, in ver. 6, in His appointment to be the Saviour of the Gentiles, after the mission to Israel has been fruitless. In ver. 6, it is not the decree of the salvation of the Gentiles through Christ which forms the subject (that decree is an eternal one), but rather that this decree should be carried out. It is for this that Israel's unbelief offers an occasion "As the salvation of the elect among Israel (in reference to the great mass, the Servant of God had laboured in vain, ver. 4) would be too small a reward for thee, I assign to thee in addition to them, an infinitely larger inheritance, viz., the whole heathen world." [Hebrew: wvb] in Hiphil frequently means "to lead back," in the ordinary sense, but sometimes also "to lead back into the former, or normal condition," "to restore," compare remarks on Dan. ix. 25; Ps. lxxx. 4. The parallel, "to raise up," which is opposed to the lying down (Ps. xli. 9), shows that here it stands in the sense of "to restore." The local leading back belongs to the sphere of Koresh, to whom the first book is dedicated; but, with that, the abnormal condition of misery and abasement, which is so much opposed to the idea of the people of God, is not completely and truly removed. That which the Servant of God bestows upon the elect of Israel, viz., raising up and restoration, is, in substance, the same which, according to what follows, He becomes to the Gentiles, [Pg 242] viz., light and salvation. By becoming light and salvation to the elect of Israel, He raises them up and leads them back, inasmuch as this was the normal, natural condition of the covenant-people, from which they had only fallen by their sins. It is to that, that the election is restored by the Servant of God. By the tribes of Jacob, the better part only of the people is to be understood, to the exclusion of those souls who are cut off from their people, because they have broken the covenant of the Lord, comp. ver. 4. This appears from the addition: "And the preserved of Israel" (the Kethibh [Hebrew: neiri] is an adjective form with a passive signification; the marginal reading [Hebrew: ncvri] is the Part. Pass.); just as, similarly in Ps. lxxiii. 1, Israel is limited to the true Israel by the explanatory clause: "Such as are of a clean heart." The verb [Hebrew: ncr], "to watch," is, according to Gesenius, especially used de Jehova homines custodiente et tuente. Hence, the preserved of Israel are those whom God keeps under His gracious protection and care, in contrast to the great mass of the covenant-breakers whom He gives up. Chap. lxv. 13, 14: "Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit," likewise points to a great separation which shall take place in the Messianic time. Light (compare remarks on chap. xlii. 6), and salvation are related to one another, as the image to the thing itself From the circumstance that the point here in question is the reward for the Servant of God, who is to be indemnified for the loss which He suffered by Israel (comp. ver. 4), it is obvious that we must not explain: "that my salvation be," but: "that thou mayest be my salvation;" for it is only when He is the salvation that such an indemnification is spoken of Moreover, the Infinitive with [Hebrew: l] can here not well be understood otherwise than in the preceding clause. The servant of God is the personal salvation of the Lord for the heathen world; comp. chap. xlii. 6, and, in the chapter under consideration, ver. 8, where He is called the covenant of the people, because this covenant finds in Him its truth; compare also the expression: "This man is peace," in Mic. v. 4 (5). Gesenius rightly remarks, that [Pg 243] there is here an allusion to the promises given to the Patriarchs, Gen. xii. 3, &c. In Christ, the Shiloh to whom the people adhere, the old promise of the future extension of salvation to all the Gentiles is to be fulfilled.

Ver. 7. "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to Him that is despised by every one, to the abhorrence of the people, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and prostrate themselves because of the Lord that is faithful, the Holy One of Israel that hath chosen thee."

Hitherto, the Servant of the Lord has spoken: here, the Prophet speaks of Him. He gives a short and comprehensive summary of the contents of ver. 1-6, the rejection of the Servant of God by the people to whom His mission was, in the first instance, directed, and His appointment to be the Saviour of the Gentiles. The matter is traced back to the Redeemer of Israel and their Holy One, i.e., the high and glorious God, because the Servant of God is, in the first instance, sent to Israel as [Greek: diakonos peritomes huper aletheias theou eis to bebaiosai tas epangelias ton pateron], Rom. xv. 8; but still more, because He himself is the concentration of Israel (ver. 3), the [Greek: kephale tou somatos tes ekklesias], Col. i. 18,—He in whose glorification the true Israel, as opposed to the darkened refuse, attain to their right. According to the context, the contempt, &c., must proceed chiefly from the apostate portion of the covenant-people: The princes and kings must, according to ver. 6 (comp. chap. lii. 15), be conceived of as heathenish ones. The verse under consideration merely exhibits, in short outlines, the contrast already alluded to in the preceding context. It cannot appear at all strange that the Prophet foresees the reproach of Christ, and His sufferings from the ungodly world. In those Psalms which refer to the suffering righteous one, righteousness and the hostility of the wicked world are represented as being inseparably connected with each other. Hence it cannot be conceived of otherwise, but that the Servant of God, who, in His person, represented the ideal of righteousness, should, in a very special manner, have been liable to this hostility. Moreover, it can be proved that, in some Psalms which refer to the suffering righteous one, David has, besides the individual and the whole people, in view, at the same time, his own [Pg 244] family, and Him in whom it was to centre; comp. my commentary on Ps. Vol. iii. p. lxxx. ff. There seems here to be a special reference to Ps. xxii. 7, 8: "And I am a worm and no man, a reproach of man and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, open their lips, shake their heads;" and it is the more natural to assume this reference that, in chap. lii. 14; liii. 3, this passage also is referred to [Hebrew: bzh] is, after the example of Kimchi, viewed by several interpreters as an infinitive form standing in place of a Noun, "despising or contemning," instead of "contempt," and this again instead of "object of contempt." Others view it as the Stat. construct. of an adjective [Hebrew: bzh] with a passive signification. This latter view is more natural; and the reason which Stier adduces against it, viz., that of verbs [Hebrew: lh] no such forms are found, cannot be considered as conclusive. [Hebrew: bzh-npw], literally the "despised one of the soul" might, according to Ezek. xxxvi. 5: "Against Edom who have taken my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with the contempt of their soul," mean, "who is inwardly and deeply despised," the soul being viewed as the seat of the affections. But we are led to another explanation by the fundamental passage, Ps. xxii. 7, and by the circumstance that [Hebrew: npw] is here parallel to [Hebrew: nvi], and that the latter corresponds to the [Hebrew: eM] in Ps. xxii. "The despised one of the soul" must, accordingly, be he who is despised of every one. The soul corresponding to man in Ps. xxii. is, as it were, conceived of as a great concrete body. In a similar manner, "soul" is used for all that has a soul, in Gen. xiv. 21, where the king of Sodom says to Abraham: "Give me the soul, and take the goods to thyself."—"To the abhorrence of the people." [Hebrew: teb] in Piel never has another signification than "to abhor." Such is the signification in Job ix. 31 also, where the clothes abhor Job plunged in the dirt, resist being put on by him; likewise in Ezek. xv. 25, where Judah abhors his beauty, disgracefully tramples under feet his glory, as if he hated it. In favour of the signification: "To cause to abhor" (Roediger: horrorem incutiens populo, qui abominationi est populo), interpreters cannot adduce even one apparent passage, except that before us. We are, therefore, only at liberty to explain, after the example of Kimchi: "to the ... people abhorring," i.e., to him against whom the [Pg 245] people feel an abhorrence. [Hebrew: gvi] is used of the Jewish people in Is. i. 4 also. Hofmann is of opinion that it ought to have the article, if it were to refer to the Jewish people. But no one asserts a direct reference to them; it designates, in itself, the mass only, in contrast to single individuals, just as [Hebrew: eM] in Ps. xxii. The abhorrence is felt by the masses—is popular. The fact that it is among Israel that the Servant of God meets this general abhorrence, is not implied in the word itself, but is suggested by the whole context. While [Hebrew: npw] and [Hebrew: gvi] designate the generality of this hatred, [Hebrew: mwliM] points to the highest places of it. Of heathen rulers this word occurs in chap. xiv. 5; of native rulers, in chap. lii. 5; xxviii. 14. The heathen rulers can here come into consideration, in so far only as they are the instruments of the native ones; comp. John xix. 10: [Greek: legei auto ho Pilatos. emoi ou laleis; ouk oidas hoti exousian echo staurosai se kai exousian echo apolusai se.] The servant of rulers forms the contrast to the servant of the Lord. But in the words: "Kings shall see," &c., it is described how the original dignity finally breaks forth powerfully, and reacts against the momentary humiliation. It was especially at the crucifixion that Christ presented himself as "He that was despised by every one, as the abhorrence of the people, as the servant of rulers." The historical commentary on these words we have in Matt. xxii. 39 ff.: [Greek: hoi de paraporeuomenoi eblasphemoun auton k.t.l. homoios de kai hoi archiereis empaizontes meta ton grammateon kai presbuteron elegon. allous esosen k.t.l. to d'auto kai hoi lestai hoi susaurothentes auto honeidizon auton.]—After [Hebrew: irav] "they shall see," the object must be supplied from ver. 6, viz., the brilliant turn which, under the Lord's direction. His destiny shall take,—His being constituted the light and salvation of the Gentiles. The kings who sit on their thrones rise up; the nobles who stand around the throne prostrate themselves. The Servant of God is the concentration of Israel, ver. 3. Hence His glorification is, at the close, once more traced back to the Holy One of Israel; and that so much the rather, because the glorification which is bestowed upon Him is bestowed upon Him for the benefit of the Congregation, whom He elevates along with himself out of the condition of deep abasement; comp. vers. 8 and 9. The verse before us forms the germ of that which, in chap. lii. 13, is carried out and expanded.

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Ver. 8. "Thus saith the Lord: In the time of favour have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for the Covenant of the people, that thou mayest raise up the land, divide desolate heritages. Ver. 9. That thou mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness: Come to light; they shall feed in the ways, and on all bare hills shall be their pasture."

The time of favour may be either the time when God shows His delight in, and favour to His Servant, and, in Him, to the Church, q. d., of delight in thee, mercy for thee,—in which case chap. lx. 10 would be parallel: "In my wrath I smote thee, and in my favour have I had mercy on thee;" or, "in the time of favour," may be equivalent to: "at the agreeable, acceptable time" (LXX., which Paul follows in 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2, [Greek: kairo dekto], Vulg. tempore placito); in contrast to a preceding unacceptable time, in which the Lord seemed to have forsaken His Servant, in which it appeared as if He had laboured in vain, and spent His strength for nought and vanity. Acceptable is the time to all parties, not only to the Servant of God, but also to those who are to be redeemed through Him; and not less to God, to whom it is a joy to pour out upon His Servant the rivers of His salvation. The Preterites in ver. 8 must be viewed as prophetic Preterites. Concerning "Covenant of the people," compare remarks on chap. xlii. 6. The idea of the people is more closely defined and qualified by ver. 6 and 7. The souls who have been cut off from their people, because they have broken the covenant of the Lord, and despised His Servant, are justly passed by. But since [Hebrew: eM] can here be understood of the better portion of the people only, of the invisible Church in the midst of the visible, the Servant of God cannot be the better portion of the people.—In the words: "That thou mayest raise up the land, divide desolate heritages," the bestowal of salvation is described under the image of the restoration of a devastated country. In ver. 9, the misery of the Congregation of God is described under the image of pining away in a dark prison; comp. remarks on chap. xlii. 7. With the second half of the verse, there begins a more general description of the glorious salvation which the Lord will giant to His people; and the person of the Mediator [Pg 247] steps into the back-ground, in order afterwards to come forth more prominently. The ways and bare hills have come into consideration as places which, in themselves, are completely barren, and which the wonderful grace of God can alone cause to bud and flourish.



CHAPTER L. 4-11.

The Servant of God here also appears as speaking. In ver. 4, He intimates His vocation: God has bestowed upon Him the gift of comforting those who are weary and heavy laden. He then at once turns to His real subject,—the sufferings which, in fulfilment of this vocation he has to endure. The Lord has inwardly manifested to Him that, in the exercise of His office. He shall experience severe trials; and willingly has He borne all these sufferings, all the ignominy and shame, ver. 5, 6. With this willingness and fortitude He is inspired by His firm confidence in the Lord, who, he certainly knows, will help Him and destroy His enemies, ver. 7-9. The conclusion, in ver. 10 and 11, forms the prophetic announcement of the different fates of the two opposing parties among the people. At the foundation of this lies the foresight of heavy afflictions which, after the appearance of the Servant of God, will be laid upon the covenant-people. That portion of the people who are devoted to the Servant of God, are told to hope in the midst of the misery, and may hope; their sorrows shall be turned into joy. But the ungodly who, without regarding the Lord, and without hearkening to His Servant, would help themselves, will bring destruction upon themselves by their self-willed doings, and shall be visited by the avenging hand of the Servant of God.

An intimation of the lowliness of Christ at His first appearance occurs as early as in chap. xi. 1. In chap. xlii. 4, the words: "He shall not fail nor run away," intimate that the Servant of God has to struggle with great obstacles and difficulties in the exercise of His calling. According to chap. xlix. 4, He will labour in vain among the great mass of the covenant-people, [Pg 248] and spend his strength for nought and vanity. In ver. 7, it is expressly intimated that severe sufferings shall be inflicted upon Him by the people. That which was there alluded to, is here carried out and expanded. But the suffering of the Servant of God is here described from that aspect only which is common to Christ with His members. It is first in chap. liii. that its vicarious power is pointed out. The Servant of God comes here before us in His deepest humiliation. Even in the description of His vocation in ver. 4, the most unassuming aspect, the prophetic office only, is brought forward. It is only quite at the close that a gentle intimation is given of the glory concealed behind the lowliness: He there appears as the judge of those who have rejected Him.

In the Messianic explanation of this Section, the Lord himself has gone before His Church. We read in Luke xviii. 31, 32, [Greek: paralabon de tous dodeka eipe pros autous. idou anabainomen eis hIerosoluma kai telesthesetai panta ta gegrammena dia ton propheton to huio tou anthropou. paradothesetai gar tois ethnesi kai empaichthesetai kai hubristhesetai kai emptusthesetai kai mastigosantes apoktenousin auton.] There cannot be any doubt that the Lord here distinctly refers to ver. 6 of the prophecy under consideration. There is, at all events, no other passage in the whole of the Old Testament, except that before us, in which there is any mention made of being spat upon. But in other respects, too, the reference is visible: "I gave my back to the smiters ( [Greek: mastigosantes], LXX. [Greek: eis mastigas]), and my cheeks to those plucking ( [Greek: empaichthesetai]—the plucking of the beard, an act of degrading wantonness), my face I hid not from shame ( [Greek: hubristhesetai]) and spitting." Bengel draws attention to the fact of how highly Christ, in the passage quoted, placed the prophecy of the Old Testament: "Jesus most highly valued that which was written. The word of God which is contained in Scripture is the rule for all which is to happen, even for that which is to happen in eternal life." If, in respect of the high estimation of prophecy, our age were to follow in the steps of Jesus, it would also most readily agree with Him as regards the subject of the prophecy before us. This alone is the cause of the aberration from Him, that people confined and shut up the prophet within the horizon of his time, and then imagined that he could not know anything of the suffering of Christ. It was altogether different in the [Pg 249] ancient Christian Church. In it, the Messianic interpretation prevailed throughout; and Grotius, who in a lower sense would refer the prophecy to Isaiah, and, in a higher sense only, to Christ, met with general opposition, even on the part of Clericus.

In favour of the Messianic explanation there is the remarkable agreement existing between prophecy and fulfilment, comp. Matt. xxvi. 67, 68: [Greek: Tote eneptusan eis to prosopon autou kai ekolaphisan auton. hOi de erhrapisan legontes. propheteuson hemin, christe, tis estin ho paisas se]; xxvii. 30: [Greek: kai emptusantes eis auton elabon ton kalamon kai etupton eis ten kephalen autou],—an agreement, the significance and importance of which are only enhanced by the circumstance that one of the most individualizing features of the prophecy, viz., the plucking off of the beard, is not met with in the history of Christ; for it is just thereby that this agreement is proved to be a free and spontaneous one. Farther—The exactness with which, in ver. 10 and 11, the destinies of Israel, after the rejection of Christ, are drawn; and the destruction which the mass of the people, who did not believe in the Servant of God, prepared for themselves, by their attempts to help themselves by their own strength, by enkindling the flame of war, whilst those who fear the Lord and listen to the voice of Hs Servant, obtain salvation. Farther—Ver. 11, where the Servant of God ascribes to himself the judgment upon the unbelieving mass of the people: "From my hand is this to you," in harmony with Matt. xxvi. 64 and other passages, where the Son of Man appears as executing judgment upon Jerusalem. Finally—The parallel passages.

Most of the modern interpreters assume that the Prophet himself, Isaiah, or Pseudo-Isaiah, is the subject of the prophecy. Jerome mentions that this explanation was the prevailing one among the Jews of his time. The explanation which refers it to the better portion of the people, found only one defender, viz., Paulus. The explanation which refers it to the whole of the Jewish people, or to the collective body of the prophets, has been entirely abandoned, although it is maintained in reference to the parallel passages.

Since it is undeniable that this Section is related to the other prophecies which treat of the Servant of God,—and hence an identity of subject is necessarily required—those who, in the [Pg 250] Section under consideration, are compelled to give up their former hypothesis, themselves bear witness against the correctness of it, at the same time, also against the soundness of their explanation of the passage before us. For an explanation which compels to the severance of what is necessarily connected, cannot be right and true. It is only then that Exegesis has attained its object, when it has arrived at a subject in whom all those features, which occur in the single prophecies which are connected with each other, are found at the same time. Knobel, in saying: "This small unconnected Section, is the only one in the whole collection, in which the Prophet speaks of himself only, and represents his suffering's and hopes," has thereby himself pronounced judgment upon his own interpretation of this Section, and at the same time, of the other prophecies of the Servant of God.

Moreover, the Prophet would here form rather a strange figure; he would appear as it were, as if he had been blown in by a snow-storm. According to Hofmann, he describes how he is rewarded for his activity and zeal in his vocation. But how does this suit the contents of the second part, which evidently is a whole, the single parts of which must stand in a close relation to its fundamental idea! It is only a person of central importance that is suitable to this context. It is only when we refer it to Christ, that the expectations are satisfied which were called forth by the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. This call is answered only by pointing to the future Saviour of the world.

One element of truth, indeed, there is in the explanation which makes the Prophet the subject. It is revealed to him, indeed, that the Servant of God shall undergo persecution, shame, and ignominy; but he has the natural substratum for this knowledge in the experience of himself and his colleagues, comp. Matt. xxiii. 29-37; Heb. xi. 36, 37. The divine, wherever it enters into the world of sin, as well as the servant of truth who upholds it in the face of prevailing falsehood, must undergo struggles, shame, and ignominy. This truth was confirmed in the case of the prophets as types, in the case of Christ as the antitype. All that which the prophets had to experience in their own cases was a prophecy by deeds of the sufferings of Christ; and we should the less have any difficulty [Pg 251] in admitting their knowledge of this, that it would be rather strange if they were destitute of such knowledge.

Ver. 4. "The Lord Jehovah hath given me a disciples tongue, that I should know to help the weary with a word: He awakeneth morning by morning, wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear as the disciples."

The greater number of expositors explain a disciple's tongue by: "A tongue such as instructed people or scholars possess,—an eloquent tongue." But [Hebrew: lmd], everywhere else in Isaiah, means "pupil," "disciple," and is used especially of the disciples of the Lord, those who go to His school, are instructed by Him; comp. chaps. viii. 16; liv. 13. A disciple's tongue is such as the disciples of the Lord possess. Its foundation is formed by the disciple's ear mentioned at the close of the verse. He who hears the Lord's words, speaks also the Lord's words. The signification, "learned," is not suitable in the last clause of the verse, and its reference to the first does not permit of our assuming a different signification in either clause. Just as here the Servant of God traces back to God that which He speaks, so Jesus says, in John viii. 26: [Greek: kago ha ekousa par'autou tauta lalo eis ton kosmon], comp. iii. 34: [Greek: hon gar apesteilen ho theos ta rhemata tou theou lalei.] The verb [Hebrew: smK], which occurs only here, means, according to the Arabic, "to help," "to support;" Aquila: [Greek: huposterisai], Vulg. sustentare. Like other similar verbs, e.g., [Hebrew: smK], in Gen. xxvii. 37, it is construed with a double accusative: "that I may help the weary, word," i.e., may support him by comforting words. The weary or fatigued are, like the bent reed, the faintly burning wick, in chap. xlii. 3; the blind, the prisoners sitting in darkness, ibid., ver. 7; the broken-hearted, chap. lxi. 1; them that mourn, ibid., ver. 2. Just as here the Servant of God represents the suffering and afflicted ones as the main objects of His mission, so Christ announces, that His mission is specially directed to these, comp. e.g., Matt. v. 4; xi. 28. In order to be able to fulfil this mission. He must be able to draw from the fulness of God, who looketh to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, chap. lxvi. 2, and who alone understands to heal the broken in heart, and to bind up their wounds, Ps. cxlvii. 3.—In the words: "He wakeneth, &c." we are told in what manner the Lord gives to His Servant the disciple's tongue. To waken [Pg 252] the ear is equivalent to: to make attentive, to make ready for the reception of the divine communications. The expression "morning by morning" indicates that the divine wakening is going on uninterruptedly, and that the Servant of God unreservedly surrenders himself to the influences which come from above, in which He has become an example to us.

Ver. 5. "The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, and have not turned back."

The phrases "to open or uncover the ear" have always the signification, "to make known something to some one," "to reveal to him something." "to inform him," both in ordinary circumstances (comp. 1 Sam. xx. 12; Ruth iv. 4), and on the religious territory, comp. 2 Sam. vii. 27: "For thou, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of thy servant, saying: I will build thee an house;" Isa. xlviii. 8: "Thou heardest not, thou knewest not, nor was formerly thine ear opened;" chap. xlii. 20: "The ear was opened to him." According to this well established usus loquendi, "The Lord hath opened mine ear," can only mean: The Lord hath revealed to me, hath informed me inwardly; Abenezra: [Hebrew: glh svdv li] "He has made known to me His secret." What the Lord has made known to His Servant, we are not here expressly told; but it may be inferred from ver. 6, where the Servant declares that which, in consequence of the divine manifestation, He did, viz., that He should give His back to the smiters, &c. The words: "The Lord hath opened mine ear" here are connected with: "The Lord wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear," in the preceding verse: The Lord has specially made known to me that, in carrying out my vocation, I shall have to endure severe sufferings. To this subject the Servant of God quickly passes over, after having, in the introduction, described, by a few features, the vocation, in the carrying out of which these sufferings should befal Him. As the authors of these sufferings, we must conceive of the party opposed to the weary, viz., the proud, secure, unbroken sinners. On "I was not rebellious," compare what, in Deut. xxi. 20, is written of the stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father; and farther, the words: [Greek: plen ouch hos ego thelo all'hos su], Matt. xxvi. 39.

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Ver. 6. "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to the pluckers, I hid not my face from shame and spitting."

The words express in an individualizing manner the thought, that the Servant of God, in His vocation as the Saviour of the personae miserabiles, would experience the most shameful and ignominious treatment, and would patiently bear it. In God's providence, part of the contents was literally fulfilled upon Christ. But the fact that this literal agreement is not the main point, but that it serves as a hint and indication only of the far more important substantial conformity which would take place, although the hatred of the world against the Saviour of the poor and afflicted should have manifested itself in forms altogether different,—this fact is evident from the circumstance that regarding the fulfilment of the words: "and my cheeks to the pluckers"—plucking the cheeks, or plucking off of the beard being the greatest insult and disgrace in the East, comp. 2 Sam. x. 4—there is no mention in the New Testament history.

In vers. 7-9 we have the future glory, which makes it easy for the Servant of God to bear the sufferings of the Present. If God be for Him, who may be against Him?

Ver. 7. "But the Lord Jehovah helpeth me, therefore I am not confounded, therefore I make my face like a flint, and I know that I am not put to shame."

[Hebrew: nklmti] refers to [Hebrew: klmvt] in the preceding verse. He whom the Lord helps is not confounded or put to shame by all the ignominy which the world heaps upon him. The expression: "I make my face like a flint" denotes the "holy hardness of perseverance" (Stier); comp. Ezek. iii. 8. In that passage it is especially the assailing hardness which comes into consideration; here, on the contrary, it is the suffering one. There is an allusion to the passage before us, in Luke ix. 51: [Greek: egeneto de to sumplerousthai tas hemeras tes analepseos autou, kai autos to prosopon autou esterixe tou poreuesthai eis hIerousalem.]

Ver. 8. "He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with one? Let us stand together; who has a right upon me, let him come near me."

In the confidence and assurance of Christ, His redeemed ones, too, partake,—those that hear the voice of the Servant of God, ver. 10, comp. Rom. viii. 33, 34, where this and the [Pg 254] following verse are intentionally alluded to. The justification is one by deeds. It took place and was fulfilled, in the first instance, in the resurrection and glorification of Christ, and, then, in the destruction of Jerusalem.—[Hebrew: bel mwpTi] literally, "the master of my right," i.e., he who according to his opinion or assertion which, by the issue is proved to be false, has a right over me, comp. the [Greek: en emoi ouk echei ouden] which, in John xiv. 30, the Lord says in reference to the chief of His enemies.

Ver. 9. "Behold the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them."

That which is said herein reference to the enemies of Christ is, in chap. li. 8, with a reference to our passage, said of the opponents of those who know righteousness, and in whose heart is the law: "The moth shall eat them up like a garment." Enmity to Christ and His Church is, to those who entertain it, a prophecy of sure destruction. The words: "The moth shall eat them," are farther expanded in ver. 11, where it is described how the people who ventured to condemn the Servant of God, become a prey to destruction.

The Servant of God closes with a double address; first, to the godly; and then, to the ungodly.

Ver. 10. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the word of His Servant? When he walketh in darkness, in which there is no light to him, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

From the words: "Of mine hand," in ver. 11, it appears that the Servant of God is continuing the discourse. Hence "the voice of His Servant," q.d., the voice of me who am His Servant. By the words: "Among you," the address is directed to the whole of the people. In this two parties are distinguished. The first is formed by those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of His Servant. Both of these things appear as indissolubly connected. The fear of God must necessarily prove itself in this, that He whom He has sent is obeyed. It is a mere imagination on the part of the people to think that they can fear God without obeying the voice of His Servant; comp. John v. 23. There is in this an allusion to the emphatic "Unto him ye shall hearken," which, in Deut. xviii. 15, had been said in reference to the Prophet. [Pg 255] From ver. 11 it appears that the darkness in which those walk who fear the Lord, is not to be understood of personal individual calamity which befals this or that godly one, nor of the sufferings which happen to the pious godly party, in contrast to the ungodly wicked, but rather that we have before us the foresight of a dark period of sufferings which, after the appearance of the Servant of God, shall be inflicted upon the whole people; so that both of the parties,—that devoted to the Servant of God, and that opposed to Him,—are thereby affected, but with a different issue. For in ver. 11, it is described how the ungodly, who likewise walk in darkness, endeavour to light up their darkness by a fire which they have kindled, but do so to their own destruction. Behind the exhortation: "Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God," there is concealed the promise: he may trust, his darkness shall be changed into light, his sorrow into joy. When the destruction of Jerusalem approached, the cry came to believing Israel: "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke xxi. 28. In the destruction of apostate Israel, not obeying the Servant of God, but persecuting His faithful ones, they beheld the beginning of the victory of the true people of God over the world.

Ver. 11. "Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that gird sparks,—walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. From mine hand is this to you; ye shall lie down in pain."

The image begun in the preceding verse is continued. The pious walk in confidence and patience through the lightless darkness, until the Lord kindles a light to them. Those who do not hear the Lord, who do not obey the voice of His Servant, kindle a fire which is to light up their darkness; but instead of that, they are consumed by the fire. Thus the Servant of God, who brings this destruction upon them, obtains His right upon them.—The fire is often in Scripture the fire of war, chap. ix. 18; Jer. li. 5; Rev. viii. 7-10. According to several interpreters (Hitzig, Ewald, Knobel), it is assumed that the discourse is here not of "self-assistance by rebellion," but "of the attacks of the wicked upon the godly, and of the destruction, into which these attacks turn out for their authors." But this view is opposed by the circumstance that the darkness [Pg 256] is common to both parties; hence, it must come from some other quarter. The fire which the wicked kindle is destined to enlighten the darkness in which they also are, which is especially evident from the words: "Walk in the light of your fire." They now have a light which enlightens their darkness; but this self-created light consumes them.—To gird stands for, "to surround one's self with a girdle," "to put on a girdle." In substance it is equivalent "to provide one's self with it."—The [Greek: hapax legomenon] [Hebrew: ziqvt] cannot with certainty be explained from the dialects. The connection and parallelism are in favour of the signification "sparks," "flames," which is found as early as in the Septuagint ( [Greek: phloga]), and Vulg. (flammas). In Syriac [Hebrew: ziqa] has the signification "lightning." Those who explain it by "fiery darts" are not at liberty to refer it to the [Hebrew: zqiM] in Prov. xxvi. 18. The signification "flames" (not "sparks," as Stier holds), is, in that passage, quite suitable; simple arrows could there not be mentioned after the fiery darts without making the discourse feeble.—[Hebrew: lki] "walk ye," is equivalent to: "ye shall walk," yet with an intimation of the fact that this result, as we are immediately afterwards expressly told, proceeds from the speaker: sic volo, sic jubeo. The words: "From mine hand is this to you," are, by those who make the Prophet the subject of this prediction, supposed to be spoken by Jehovah. But throughout the whole section, the Lord is always only spoken of, and never appears as speaking. The words are in harmony with the exalted dignity which, elsewhere also, is attributed by the Prophet to the Servant of God who plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, chap. li. 16; whose mouth the Lord makes like a sharp sword, chap. xlix. 2; who is the personal salvation, the Saviour for the whole earth, chap. xlix. 6; and the embodied Covenant for the covenant-people, chaps. xlii. 6; xlix. 8. The last passages, especially, are of no small importance. The saving and judging activity go hand in hand, and cannot be separated. We have here thus the Old Testament beginnings and preparation for the doctrine of the New Testament, that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, The Servant of God, in the highest sense, is Lord and judge of the fellow servants.—The [Hebrew: l] in [Hebrew: lmecbh] serves for designating the condition: so that you belong to pain, [Hebrew: wkb] occurs in [Pg 257] chap. xliii. 17 of the Egyptians lying down; comp. Ps. xli. 9: "He that lieth shall rise up no more." In the announcement that Israel's attempt to help themselves would turn out to their destruction, the Song of Solomon, in chap. iii. 1-3; v. 7, has preceded our Prophet: "The daughter of Zion, in her restlessness, endeavours to bring about, by worldly, rebellious doings, the Messianic salvation. It is in vain; what she is seeking she does not find, but the heavenly watchmen find her."